Hasta La Gadget!

Hoping to spoon-feed your Droid X some Froyo before the official OTA rollout? You’d better do it now — Motorola’s sending out cease and desist emails in an attempt to shut the leaked ROM down. We can’t say whether it’s just red tape or to protect customers from a EVO 4G-like non-final build, but for whatever reason Motorola’s director of information security is asking sites like MyDroidWorld to remove the files ASAP. Given the company’s recent history with the mod community, however, we imagine there’s some sort of walled-garden reason behind it.
[Thanks, Dustin D.]

Motorola clamps down on Droid X’s leaked Android 2.2 upgrade with cease and desist scare originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 22 Aug 2010 08:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If the rumors of an August 18th Android 2.2 update prove true, we’d say Verizon Wireless couldn’t have picked a better time to get HTC’s Droid Incredible back in stock. ‘Course, we suspect you’ll think differently if you’ve been waiting for your backorder to clear over the past few weeks, but we digress. As of this moment in time, the handset — which has been tough to get thanks to AMOLED shortages — is in stock and shipping as early as today, with an unchanged $199.99-on-contract price tag. Better hurry if you’re looking to buy — who knows when those panels will hit yet another production snag.

HTC Droid Incredible finally returns to stock, not a moment too soon originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Aug 2010 16:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Droid’s slated for a second helping of Froyo, the Droid 2 came with one, the Droid X will see Android 2.2 by early September — when’s Droid number four getting its due? According to Mashable‘s anonymous sources, August 18th will be the day Verizon begins the Droid Incredible’s OTA rollout — which lines up pretty well with what we heard a couple weeks back, not to mention the fact that HTC just released the handset’s Android 2.2 source code. As always, dates slip and Verizon often dishes out small batches at a time, but now you’ve got a ballpark estimate to assuage your troubled mind. And hey, you can always go shoot something in 720p if you get tired of waiting.

Droid Incredible getting a spoonful of Froyo on August 18th? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 14 Aug 2010 23:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s the Engadget Podcast….to go! Would you like a little Joanna Stern with that? Easy on the Ziegler, buddy – and 86 the Paul, please. All that plus a special toy for kids ten and under that manage to listen all the way to the end.

Update: If you’ve been unable to download the podcast in iTunes or Zune, it’s because we had a naming issue — it’s since been fixed and should download properly once the cache breaks. Sorry for the inconvenience!

Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel
Guests: Joanna Stern, Chris Ziegler
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Music: California Gurls

00:01:30 – The Engadget Show – 011: Peter Molyneux, Fable III, Milo, BlackBerry Torch, Windows Phone 7
00:01:40 – BlackBerry Torch review
00:12:48 – Exclusive: Sony Ericsson to introduce Android 3.0 gaming platform and PSP Go-like smartphone
00:18:38 – Microsoft to open mobile games studio, develop and incubate Windows Phone 7 titles
00:24:42 – Exclusive: Upcoming Apple TV loses 1080p playback, gains apps… and will be renamed iTV
00:36:10 – iPod touch coming in a ‘few weeks’ with dual cameras and Retina Display, suggests John Gruber
00:39:49 – CDMA iPhone in engineering tests, may arrive in January, says John Gruber
00:43:05 – Plastic Logic kills QUE, ‘shifts focus’ to second-generation ProReader
00:43:56 – Notion Ink Adam delayed, this time investors are to blame (updated!)
01:47:00 – Notion Ink Adam priced at $498, lives up to promise of being below $499
00:50:20 – Dell Streak on sale August 13 for $300 on AT&T contract, $550 without
00:51:14 – Off-contract Dell Streak is still SIM-locked to AT&T, wrongs still being done in the world
00:52:40 – Exclusive: Dell Thunder prototype rumbles into the wild (video)
00:57:05 – Motorola Droid 2 (and R2-D2 edition!) finally official: Android 2.2, Swype, $200 on contract
00:57:50 – Droid 2 R2-D2 edition spied in the wild, ready to repair your X-wing
00:58:30 – Motorola’s Droid 2 in the wild, looking as blue as ever
01:04:18 – Motorola’s Jha says MOTOBLUR brand will fade from view
01:05:22 – Epic 4G coming August 31st for $249.99 on contract (updated)
01:06:14 – HP CEO Mark Hurd resigns over sexual harassment investigation (updated with liveblog!)
01:07:35 – Former HP CEO Mark Hurd rewarded with a $40m severance after being forced to resign over fraudulent expense reports
01:09:42 – HP tells employees webOS tablet coming Q1 2011
01:11:20 – Pre designer Peter Skillman latest to leave Palm, entire senior staff now in exodus
01:14:56 – Google and Verizon announcing something policy-related at 1:30PM ET — we’re liveblogging right here
01:16:00 – Google and Verizon publish joint policy proposal for ‘an open internet’
01:17:00 – Google and Verizon’s net neutrality proposal explained

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Continue reading Engadget Podcast 208 – 08.13.2010

Filed under: Podcasts

Engadget Podcast 208 – 08.13.2010 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Aug 2010 15:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Even by mid-2010 standards, Verizon’s original Droid still looks and feels thoroughly modern — after all, it set a pretty high benchmark for the upper end of Android’s product portfolio when it launched late last year, and Motorola has managed to keep it updated through two major revisions of the platform along the way (in fact, it’s still just one of a very few devices running Froyo commercially at this point). That said, it’s got a handful of minor design flaws, none of which are really showstoppers in and of themselves but add up to make the phone a little less enjoyable to use than it could’ve been.

That’s where the Droid 2 comes in: a phone that’s less of an all-new, blockbuster product like the Droid X or EVO 4G and more of a genuine “version 2.0” type of effort — hence the name, we suppose — targeting some specific pain points we all experienced with the first-generation device. And just because it doesn’t have the beastly, in-your-face appeal of the Droid X doesn’t mean Verizon isn’t considering it an important device; quite the contrary, actually, rolling out a big new ad campaign and making it the first Droid model to be offered in an official R2-D2 version (and let’s be real: you can never downplay the significance of a gadget with a good Star Wars angle).

To put it plainly: on the heels of the Droid, the Droid 2’s got some big shoes to fill. Let’s find out whether they’ve pulled it off.

Continue reading Droid 2 review

Droid 2 review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Aug 2010 14:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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