Hasta La Gadget!

AT&T’s is beefing up its Android portfolio with the addition of a new phone. Samsung Captivate, a smartphone with a 4-inch touchscreen and Android 2.1 operating system, will be the latest device to hop on AT&T’s network.

The phone is part of Samsung’s Galaxy S family of devices, and has an OLED screen, 1 GHz Samsung Hummingbird processor and a 5-megapixel camera with 720p video recording capability.

The device also has a feature called Samsung Social hub that integrates the user’s social networking services, messages, email, calendars and contacts, similar to what Motorola does with its MotoBlur user interface.

This will be AT&T’s fifth Android phone and fulfills the promise that the company made at the beginning of the year to have at least five Android devices on its network in 2010. So far, Motorola’s Backflip and an unsubsidized version of Google’s Nexus One are available on AT&T. Earlier this week, AT&T announced the HTC Aria, a mid-range Android smartphone. The wireless carrier has said earlier it also plans to offer Dell’s first smartphone, Aero, this summer.

The Captivate is the first Android smartphone from Samsung on AT&T’s network. The phone has an MP3 player and offers up to 32 GB of storage for music and video.

AT&T hasn’t disclosed pricing or shipping date for the device.

See Also:

• 20 Android Phones You Can Buy Today (or Soon)
• Half of All Android Phones Now Sport Android 2.1
• Android Welcomes App Store’s Rejects With Arms Wide Open
• AT&T Plans 5 Android Smartphones in 2010
• Independent App Stores Take On Google’s Android Market

Photo: Samsung Captivate/AT&T

Android 2.1 aka Eclair is eclipsing other flavors of the Google-designed operating system to become the dominant version on Android phones.

50 percent of Android phones now run Android 2.1, compared to about 37 percent a month ago and 27 percent in April. The rest of Android devices are split between almost evenly between Android 1.5, aka Cupcake, and Android 1.6, or Donut.

The data comes from Android Developers, the official Android developers’ community website, and is based on operating system data reported by devices accessing the Android Market during a 2-week period ending June 16.

The rapid rise of the Android 2.1 indicates that the fractured nature of the platform–a major concern among Android developers and users–may no longer be an issue by the end of the year. In the 16 months since the first Android phone hit the market, Google has made four major upgrades to the operating system.

So far, smartphone makers seemed to be unable to keep up with that pace. Android smartphones running different versions of the OS also make it more expensive for developers to create apps since they have to ensure it runs on multiple versions.

But in the last few months, companies such as Motorola and HTC have been steadily updating the operating systems on their older phones. For instance, HTC confirmed Thursday that it will upgrade the Android 1.5-powered HTC Hero to 2.1 by the end of the month.

Meanwhile, Google Nexus One, Motorola Droid and HTC Incredible users among others can look forward to the next Android update called Android 2.2 or FroYo. FroYo updates will flow this summer.

See Also:

• Sprint, HTC Unveil First 4G Android Phone
• Android Fragmentation Declines, But Older Versions Still Rule
• Android Comes of Age at Google Developer Conference
• Independent App Stores Take On Google’s Android Market

Data: Android Developers

It’s sort of hard to believe, but AT&T finally has an Android phone worth paying attention to. Mind you, the AT&T compatible Nexus One is easily the best Googlephone on America’s largest GSM operator, but this is the first one that the company has bothered to brand and sell on a subsidized plan within its own stores. Pundits could argue the reasons why forever, but considering that the carrier’s doing all it can just to keep up with the demand for iPhones, it’s hard to imagine that AT&T has been longing to pursue Android with reckless abandon. Believe it or not, it’s been over 1.5 years since T-Mobile gave the world the first taste of a mobile OS that would soon rival (and surpass) the other options already on the table, but outside of the forgettable Backflip (and the nowhere-to-be-found Aero), there’s been no Android to speak of on AT&T. HTC has somehow managed to break down the blue and orange walls, piercing the heart of a hardened operator and squeezing a delightful mid-range Android smartphone into a lineup that’s about to be monumentally overshadowed by the iPhone 4. So, is the HTC Aria worth the $129.99 that you’ll be forced to pay on a 2-year agreement when it ships on June 20th? Read on to find out.

Continue reading HTC Aria review

HTC Aria review originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Thu, 17 Jun 2010 11:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re delighted to see that Android has built yet more momentum behind Eclair since its last platform version distribution report two weeks ago, moving the mark from 45.1 to an even 50 percent of all devices in the field (that doesn’t include 2.0 or 2.0.1, which have been swiftly banished from relevance now that all 2.0 devices have received 2.1 updates). Unfortunately, Cupcake and Donut — versions 1.5 and 1.6, respectively — simply refuse to die, together accounting for basically all of the remaining half. That’s down a little under 5 percent from the beginning of June, though, so at least we’re moving in the right direction — and a couple well-placed OTAs from HTC, Motorola, and Samsung would obliterate most of the remainder, we figure. Version fragmentation is an enemy of this platform, regardless of what Google says — so let’s just fast-track a bunch of Froyo ROMs and put all this talk behind us, alright?

[Thanks, Drew]

Android 2.1 picks up steam in latest platform stats, 1.5 and 1.6 still contenders originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Jun 2010 22:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As cameraphone picture quality goes, the story is that it’s not really about the sensor resolution, it’s about the optics — and if you want to go by that rule, Altek’s beastly Leo should probably have your attention. Just because you’ve got a huge, telescoping lens doesn’t mean it’s any good, of course, but we’d argue that it’s a good sign in a world dominated by tiny, plastic lenses atop 8 and 12 megapixel sensors of questionable heritage. Indeed, the Android-powered monster has bowed at CommunicAsia 2010 as promised, bringing a 14 megapixel CCD with an honest-to-goodness 3x optical zoom and 720p video capture, WVGA display, 802.11n WiFi, and HSPA for a Q4 ’10 release. Amazingly, Altek plans on selling it for $499 — unlocked, we assume — and CNET Asia managed to score a few minutes with it this week. Follow the break for video from the event along with Altek’s press release.

Continue reading Altek’s Leo in the wild: point and shoot, Android phone, or both?

Altek’s Leo in the wild: point and shoot, Android phone, or both? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Jun 2010 16:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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