DoubleTwist adds some polish to Android with new media player app

Peruse the Android Market this morrow and you might come across a hot new addition from the folks at DoubleTwist. That’s right, the iTunes-aping desktop sync manager has gone native on the Android platform and early feedback on its media player implementation has been positive. The free music and video player app does that whole seamless thing quite well, apparently, interfacing directly with your Windows or Mac computerino and porting over relevant playlists, ratings and media. A widget and other features are coming soon, though you’ll likely have to pay for them, given the “free for a limited time” note on the download page. Better get it while the gettin’s good.

DoubleTwist adds some polish to Android with new media player app originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Jun 2010 05:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung Galaxy S launches in Europe, hitting US ‘later this year’

So that simultaneous global launch isn’t going to materialize quite as we were told, but Samsung is indeed bringing the Galaxy S to the widest possible audience. The Korean giant has made its 2010 flagship official in Europe today, meaning you should be able to sign your life away to your favorite carrier in exchange for it very soon indeed. We’re told the 4-incher will be making its American debut later in the year, though a protracted delay appears unlikely. Pricing on the Galaxy S might not turn out to be all that democratic, but its comprehensive choice of more than 100 global carriers sure will be, and might suggest we’ll get a choice of networks when the phone finally makes its way Stateside. Hang tight, gringos, not long to go now.

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Samsung Galaxy S launches in Europe, hitting US ‘later this year’ originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Jun 2010 03:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dell Streak Coming to US With And Without Carrier Support

Dell’s five-inch, Android-powered Streak tablet will probably come to a US wireless carrier, and will also be sold unlocked in the US, Dell’s president of communications solutions Ron Garriques said at the D8 conference today.

Other reports are saying Dell’s Ron Garriques said the Streak will be sold unlocked on dell.com for $500, but that’s not the whole story. On the video on AllThingsD’s Web site, Garriques strongly implies the Streak will be available through US carriers as well.
Price “will be a carrier decision,” he said. “We’ll also sell it on Dell.com. … With a two-year deal that’ll really be carrier driven but from an unlocked perspective it’ll be in the $500 range,” he says on the video.
We have a hands-on with the Streak from back when it was called the “Mini 5” (which I still think is a better name.) We’ll get a review model as soon as we can.
Our own Michael Miller has much more news from D8 on his blog, Forward Thinking.

HTC EVO 4Gs flooding into Best Buys, some Radio Shacks opening at 6AM on Friday

EVO fever — have you caught it? Things are seriously starting to ramp up in preparation for Friday’s festivities, the day that Sprint’s EVO 4G hits shelves (though most will likely be sold before they even touch a shelf, truth be told). Radio Shack hit us up with the knowledge earlier today that it’ll be opening some locations as early as 6AM — and what’s more, they claim to have “specifically set aside” some units for folks who didn’t pre-order, so that might be your best chance. We’re also getting a bunch of shots from tipsters who say their Best Buy locations have started taking delivery of the retail units, so at least you’ll know they’ll be in stock on Friday — but for how long is another question altogether.

[Thanks to everyone who sent these in!]

HTC EVO 4Gs flooding into Best Buys, some Radio Shacks opening at 6AM on Friday originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Jun 2010 20:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aava Virta Android reference platform will be the first shipping Moorestown smartphone

Sure, Intel might not be planning for Moorestown-based smartphones to hit the market for at least another six months, and the LG GW990 might have died a quiet death, but that’s not stopping Aava from getting right in the game with its Virta Android, an Atom Z600-based reference smartphone designed for developer testing. Slated to ship in Q3, the Virta features a Moorestown processor, a 3.8-inch 864 x 480 capacitive touchscreen, quad-band EDGE radios with AT&T 3G support, WiFi, Bluetooth, a five megapixel video camera, and a microSD slot. We’re assuming the shipping version will look a lot like the prototype Aava device we’ve been seeing for a while now, but Aava has some fancier renders up on its site, so we’ll see what happens and how much this costs when this thing arrives.

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Aava Virta Android reference platform will be the first shipping Moorestown smartphone originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Jun 2010 18:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dell Streak: $500 unlocked in US, available next month

We’ve just learned at D8 today that Dell will be offering the Streak to US customers direct from its website — unlocked — starting next month for $500. That’s later than the June 4 date that UK customers will be enjoying, but it’s earlier than it could’ve been — Dell had merely been giving “later this Summer” guidance previously. More on this as it develops!

Dell Streak: $500 unlocked in US, available next month originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Jun 2010 17:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola Flips Out Its New Android Phone

Motorola is set to rival HTC in the ability to crank out Android phones at a breath-taking pace. Motorola has introduced a new phone called Flipout that features a pivoting pop-out keyboard and a compact touchscreen display.

The Flipout will have a 2.8 inch screen, 3 megapixel camera, video recording capability, Wi-Fi and GPS. It will run the Android 2.1 version of the operating system.

The phone will also have the Motoblur Android skin that we have already seen on other Motorola devices such as the Cliq and Backflip. Motoblur aggregates e-mails, messages and status updates from different social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Myspace to present it as a stream of data on a single screen.

With its square form and social networking features, the Flipout seems like a good alternative to Microsoft’s recently launched Kin Two phone. But it is not clear if the device will make it to the U.S. Motorola already has Backflip, a device with a nifty mode that allows its to be placed on the desk like an alarm clock and the Cliq, the first of its phones featuring the Motoblur skin.

Sure, its about giving consumers choice but with the Cliq, Backflip, Devour and Droid already out, is there such a thing as too many phones from a company? Especially when the features start to blur and minor tweaks in hardware design are all that sets one device apart from the other.

The Flipout will launch in the next few weeks in “certain regions around the world,” says Motorola. The company won’t disclose pricing either but that’s likely to depend on the deals it can ink with the wireless service providers.

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Photo: Flipout/Motorola


Latest Android stats show pre-2.1 versions still reign supreme

Fragmentation’s a red herring, eh, Google? We’d suggest you look at your own stats, where — as of yesterday, anyway — fragmentation was alive and well, no matter how you define it. In the two-week period of Google’s data collection ending June 1, some 54.5 percent of devices in the field were still using pre-Eclair versions of Android, a pretty sorry stat considering that it was released back in late 2009 and xda-developers members have proven countless times that every Android phone ever made can run 2.0 and above with aplomb. To be fair, 2.1 picked up significant steam since the last roundup and the trailing devices aren’t entirely Google’s fault — manufacturers and carriers need to take most of the blame for the delays in getting upgrades pushed out — but it’s Google’s wild development pace that has left this trail of premature obsolescence in its wake. Upgrades are good, but necessitating that your development community has its eyeballs on at least four versions of your platform (1.5, 1.6, 2.1, and 2.2) is generally bad.

Latest Android stats show pre-2.1 versions still reign supreme originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Jun 2010 13:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AT&T Just Killed Unlimited Wireless Data (and Screwed Everybody in the Process) [At&t]

Unlimited, all-you-can-eat wireless data was a beautiful thing for Apple devices on AT&T, delivering streams of Pandora, YouTube videos, a million tweets, and hundreds of webpages without worry. And now it’s dead. More »

Acer Stream preview at Computex 2010

We’ve seen Acer’s Android 2.1-powered Stream a time or two before, but we couldn’t resist the opportunity to give it a look ourselves here in Taipei. Acer’s full gamut of smartphones were out on display, but this 3.7-inch monster was easily the standout. Build quality was remarkable, and the screen was downright luscious; viewing angles on the AMOLED panel were nothing short of incredible, and the haptic feedback was a nice touch, too. The 1GHz Snapdragon CPU handled the transitions within the OS with poise, and it actually felt a good bit lighter than some of the other touchscreen-based smartphones that we’ve played with recently. ‘Course, we couldn’t help but long for Froyo, but with a hardware set this powerful, we wouldn’t be shocked to see it handed down shortly. Vid’s after the break, vaquero.

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Acer Stream preview at Computex 2010 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Jun 2010 06:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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