Hasta La Gadget!

Geeks and Star Wars fans can soon get a souped-up limited edition of the Droid 2 phone. Verizon Wireless will introduce a R2-D2 Droid phone in a custom box resembling carbonite, a fictional compound in the Star Wars universe. The phone will include features such as themed widgets, media dock and a new app.

The phone will be available online starting September 30. At $250 after a $100 mail-in rebate and with a new two-year contract, the R2-D2 Droid will be more expensive than the regular Droid. The Droid 2 costs $200 with a rebate and a new contract.

The back of the R2-D2 Droid phone has a graphic pattern designed to look like the Astromech Droid from the Star Wars saga. The phone will come pre-loaded with special notification sounds, ringtones and wallpapers.

Other Verizon customers with Android devices running Android 2.1 OS or higher won’t entirely be left out. They will be able to download an app from the Android Market called ‘The Empire Strikes Back.’ The app lets users browse and download Star Wars related content such as trivia and games. ‘

Verizon introduced the second generation Droid phone in August with a faster 1 GHz processor and Android 2.2 Froyo operating system.

See Also:

• Verizon Denies Tethering, Hot Spot Features to Droid Customers
• Motorola Introduces Droid 2 Phone
• Motorola Droid Rules Android
• Droid X Debut Leaves Hardcore Android Fans Leery
• Droid 2 Teardown Reveals Beefed-Up Processor, Few Other Changes

Photos: Verizon Wireless

Just how badly do you want Star Wars branding on your Droid 2, eh? You’d better want it bad, because Verizon has just announced that it’ll be charging $249 for the privilege of owning an R2-D2 Limited Edition — with a $100 mail-in rebate on contract, which means that you’ll actually be paying $350 up front. Then again, for that dinero you get not just the funky-looking phone but a Star Wars-themed dock and a box custom-designed to look like carbonite (Harrison Ford not included, we presume). You’ll also get a variety of custom live wallpapers, sounds, photos, widgets, and a “binoculars app,” which we imagine is some sort of digital zoom tool. Conspicuously missing is any sort of indication that this features the rumored 1.2GHz processor from the also-rumored Droid 2 World Edition, so the wait for that news continues. CTIA next week, perhaps.

On a related note, other Verizon customers with Android 2.1 (and higher) devices will be able to access a special Empire Strikes Back app and related content for a one-time charge of $2.99, which will include a trivia app to test your muster as a George Lucas fangirl or fanboy. Meanwhile, look for the phone to go live on this Thursday, September 30. Follow the break for the full press release and a couple more pics!

Continue reading Verizon Droid 2 R2-D2 Edition lands September 30 for $249

Verizon Droid 2 R2-D2 Edition lands September 30 for $249 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Sep 2010 12:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sharp has a pair of new e-readers coming to stores this December. At the same time, the company will be launching its own book-store, called Galapagos. But all is not quite what it seems.

The e-readers come in two sizes, a 5.5-inch 1024×600 resolution model and a 10.8-inch 1366×800. They both have Wi-Fi, but lack 3G, and they will connect to the new Galapagos store for books and periodicals (magazines and newspapers will be delivered automatically). But here’s the twist: both these machines run Android as an OS, making them essentially tablet-computers. The version of Android that they use is “heavily modified”, and it won’t connect to the Android Market (mostly because the screen is to high-res), but it is still an Android tablet, and you should therefore be able to install any version of Google’s open-source OS on there.

Sharp has yet to let on how much it will charge for the machines, but if it has any hope of selling in the e-reader market, it’s going to have to be cheap. Sell the ten-incher for anything over $350 and you’re going to lose sales to the iPad. The other competitor is the Kindle, and that’s almost cheap enough to give away in cereal-boxes.

We’ll keep an eye on this. Who know that Sharp, of all companies, would be sneaking an Android tablet into stores?

Galapagos product page [Sharp]

Sharp Introduces Galapagos E-Book Readers and Platform [Akihabara News]

Galapagos press release [Sharp / Scribd]

See Also:

• Velocity Cruz Android Tablet: 7-Inch Display, $300
• Chinese Counterfeiters Release First Android Tablet
• $250 Korean Android Tablet Looks Strangely Familiar
• India's New Android Tablet Looks Pretty Great
• Your Froyo Tablet Probably Won't Support Android Market

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Fancy the idea of having Big Brother track your handset if it goes missing, but aren’t so keen on owning an iPhone, ponying up for MobileMe and signing a deal with AT&T? Fret not, fretful one, as Verizon Wireless has just launched an extension of its Total Equipment Coverage program that essentially provides the same services, but for VZW-branded BlackBerry, webOS and Android phones. The full list of compatible phones is down there in the source, and the best news is that the Mobile Recovery app is offered free of charge to those already ponying up $10 per month for TEC. When enabled, it will allow users to remotely lock the device, sound an alarm (solving the infamous “couch cushion” dilemma) and wipe contacts from the phone. If a recovery proves unsuccessful, the carrier will supposedly provide you with a next-day replacement, but we’ve got an idea that there are quite a few lines of fine print to read beforehand. At any rate, it’s a lovely option to have — particularly if you’re already paying for TEC — and it’s available to download and activate as we speak.

Continue reading Verizon’s Mobile Recovery: like ‘Find my iPhone,’ but for VZW Android, webOS and BlackBerry handsets

Verizon’s Mobile Recovery: like ‘Find my iPhone,’ but for VZW Android, webOS and BlackBerry handsets originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Sep 2010 02:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Yesterday, we saw that LG’s Optimus One might ship with WiFi calling, and that’s all well and good, but a new leak suggests the Optimus was just the tip of a UMA iceberg to come. The above picture is one of several allegedly leaked training slides obtained by TmoNews, highlighting a dedicated “Wi-Fi Calling” app that may come pre-installed on upcoming Android devices, one of which just might be that new T-Mobile G2. Before you raid your piggybank in hopes of free VoIP calls, however, know that this app-ified brand of WiFi calling isn’t necessarily the seamless switching solution we’ve wanted all along; that little yellow “limitations” tab reportedly explains that as soon as you leave the WiFi radius, you effectively drop your call.

T-Mobile to bundle Wi-Fi Calling app with future Android devices? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 26 Sep 2010 17:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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