Hasta La Gadget!

Choice is a good thing, and Android users certainly have a lot of choices. Default launcher or Launcher Pro? Fancy animated live wallpaper or static picture of adorable puppies? Stock browser or alternative? It’s that last question that has plagued so many, and to offer some guidance PC World pitted six of the Market’s top choices against each other. The 2.1 and 2.2 stock browsers entered, along with Skyfire 2.0, Opera Mini, Dolphin HD, and Mozilla Fennec (the pre-beta release of what could bring Firefox to your phone). The winner? Well, you can see the ultimate speed results above, with SkyFire surprisingly trumping Opera Mini, though that one seemingly has ’em beat when it comes to repeat-visits. However, the full story when it comes to things like page rendering and Flash compatibility is naturally a good bit more complex. For those details you’ll need to click on through.

[Thanks, Tim]

Six Android browsers enter the ring, only one reigns supreme originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Sep 2010 02:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, dear reader, we’ve got a pair of minor revelations for you, assuming this picture is real. First, that mid-range Android slatephone the Kyocera Zio is headed to Sprint, with the familiar Sanyo branding. Second, and perhaps more importantly, the elusive Samsung Transform has finally shown its face. Since that mug looks just like the Epic 4G, however, you can color us a bit confused — Sprint’s the only carrier without a keyboard-less Galaxy S, so that might make sense, but then why would they call it the Transform? As far as we can tell, it hasn’t been tested for WiMAX, so perhaps it’s an Epic without the 4G, plus a new form factor of some sort? Odds are we’ll find out soon, given the company it’s keeping: that BlackBerry Curve 3G 9330 got shipped off to Sprint just this last week.

Samsung Transform pictured in Sprint document, alongside Kyocera… err, Sanyo Zio? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Sep 2010 20:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Since the Epic 4G launched on Sprint August 31, we’ve been receiving notes from owners on various issues they’ve experienced with the phone. We’ve heard about and experienced problems with the supposedly-fixed GPS, to surprisingly slow 3G uploads (fix on the way), to odd issues with battery drain and glitchy market install problems. Now that we’re facing the end of Sprint’s 30-day return period, we’re wondering if Sprint and Samsung have shown enough of a commitment to resolving any problems to keep owners and potential buyers hanging on. Check after the break for a few of the issues we’ve found and what can be done about them, and let us know in our poll how optimistic you are about the future of this otherwise well-received device.

Continue reading Epic 4G: problems so far — and a few solutions

Epic 4G: problems so far — and a few solutions originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Sep 2010 16:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dell’s 5-inch Streak tablet may not be on a tear but the company is still moving forward with plans to introduce its second Android tablet.

Dell plans to launch a 7-inch tablet “in the next few weeks” and a 10-inch tablet within a year, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. Dell’s founder and chief executive Michael Dell briefly showed the device at a Oracle conference last week but didn’t offer any details about the product.

Dell’s move to a larger screen tablet is in keeping with the company’s strategy of slowly but steadily introducing new handheld devices. In February, Neeraj Choubey, general manager of the tablets division at Dell told Wired.com that the Streak aka Dell 5 Mini would be the first in a series of devices.

“We are going to have a family of tablets,” Choubey said. “The first one is a 5-inch screen but we want to scale that up to a variety of screen sizes.”

Since the introduction of the Apple iPad earlier this year, almost every major PC maker has announced that it is working on devices that can rival the iPad.

Just this month, Samsung, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion and tablet startup Kno announced new products. Samsung showed a 7-inch tablet called Galaxy Tab that will be available on four major U.S. carriers –AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile in time for holiday season shopping.

Meanwhile, RIM has announced the BlackBerry PlayBook, a 7-inch tablet targeted at business users and consumers. The PlayBook is expected to be available early next year.

Tablet startup Kno is focusing on students with 14-inch single screen and dual-screen tablets that are expected to be available by the end of the year.

Apple has sold more than 3 million iPads so far.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has canceled its planned tablet ‘Courier’ while HP is trying to integrate the Palm webOS into its tablet products.

The 7-inch Dell tablet could make the company a real contender in the tablet space. With its 5-inch display, the Streak is more like a super-sized phone than a real tablet. Dell has also priced the Streak like a phone –offering the device for $300 with a two-year contract on AT&T.

So far, there’s no word on pricing for the 7-inch Dell tablet. But Dell will have plenty of competition to keep it real with its upcoming tablet.

See Also:

• Tablet Wars: How the BlackBerry PlayBook Measures Up
• Build Your Own Tablet for $400
• How the Tablet Will Change the World
• Dell’s Streak Tablet Is Priced Like a Phone
• Attack of the Pads: Tablets Take On Apple

Photo: Dell Streak (Jon Snyder/Wired.com)

Good news, folks. It’s looking like the tablet pool will be enriched with another 7-inch contender, running Android, within only a few weeks. The Wall Street Journal cites Dell’s Greater China President Amit Midha as saying that the 7-inch slate we witnessed Michael teasing a few short days ago will be with us “very, very soon.” Reiterating earlier promises of a family of tablets, Midha claims there’ll be “a whole slew” of new devices emerging from Dell’s labs over the next 6 to 12 months, which will include 10-inch, 4-inch and 3-inch form factors. Android is confirmed as the OS on the 7-incher, but Windows will be making an appearance somewhere along the line as well. Plenty to look forward to, then.

Dell launching 7-inch Android tablet in ‘next few weeks,’ 10-incher to follow a few months later originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Sep 2010 04:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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