Hasta La Gadget!

We’re past mid-March and rapidly approaching the early Q2 launch estimates for the Android 2.1 update for HTC’s Hero. Now Engadget Chinese has tipped us to an official HTC release date issued on Plurk (a very popular, local Twitter-like social service) in HTC’s home country of Taiwan: April 26th. So we should see the update go hot globally, with the latest version of the Sense UI in tow, at about the same time. You know, if you haven’t grown tired of waiting and already hacked it in.

HTC Hero update to Android 2.1 on April 26th in home country of Taiwan originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 26 Mar 2010 07:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Free, ad-supported phones have long been a rumored endgame for Android, but the way that model ends up playing out may not happen the way everyone thought. mocoNews is citing “multiple sources who are familiar with the deals” in saying that Google has been sweetening the pot for both manufacturers and carriers of Android devices by tossing in a cut of the ad revenue generated from their services — search, Maps, and the like. This would certainly explain Android’s stratospheric rise through the ranks in carriers’ lineups around the globe, and — more importantly for consumers — gives them more wiggle room to slap huge subsidies on handsets (assuming the trickle-down economic effect kicks in at all). For competitors, Google offers a unique value proposition here that can’t really be met by anyone except perhaps Microsoft — and with Redmond looking to reestablish its relevance in the mobile space this year more than any other in recent memory, we could definitely see the two sparring to line Verizon’s and AT&T’s pockets with the most green. Naturally, all the parties involved have clammed up — no one’s saying a peep about whether this is true, or to what extent — but we certainly wouldn’t be surprised.

Google cutting in Android carriers, manufacturers on ad revenue? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Mar 2010 18:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oh, brother. This just keeps getting better and better, and by “better and better,” we mean “uglier and uglier.” Google’s abrupt decision to stop censoring results in China and redirect users on the mainland to the outfit’s Hong Kong portal has stirred up all sorts of tense feelings around the globe, and if you thought this whole war would be confined to the desktop, you were sorely mistaken. China Unicom, which is gearing up to present its customer base with a few more smartphone options with Android loaded on, recently announced that it wouldn’t be using Google as the search engine on those very phones. Lu Yimin, president of the operator, was quoted as saying that his company was “willing to work with any company that abides by Chinese law,” but that it didn’t have “any cooperation with Google currently.” Granted, this is just the latest in a series of blows to Android’s proliferation in the world’s biggest nation, but you can really tell it’s getting personal now. C’mon guys — can’t we just hug it out?

China Unicom won’t use Google’s search engine on Android phones originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Mar 2010 16:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s been a little over a month since Verizon announced it would unleash the VoIP hounds on select smartphones, an interesting move given AT&T’s wrangling with the FCC over Google Voice and begrudging approval of Skype over 3G. Early this morning the Skype Mobile app hit the Android Marketplace for Verizon devices (and only Verizon devices), and while it does work on 3G, it curiously doesn’t work on WiFi — at all. Click on through for some screenshots and our impressions.

Continue reading Skype Mobile for Verizon on Android hands-on (with WiFi off)

Skype Mobile for Verizon on Android hands-on (with WiFi off) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Mar 2010 08:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Remember that ultra-low-cost Android-powered tablet that Marvell was showing off back at MWC this year? It seemed neat enough considering the aggressive goal of getting it into Chinese customers’ hands for somewhere around $100, but there was a single unforgivable problem: the iWonder logo was upside-down. Fatal flaw, right? Well, not to worry, because Marvell’s back with the iWonder here at CTIA, and this time the logo’s facing precisely the same direction as the display (in landscape mode, anyhow). We’ve also learned that the tablet is being produced in a wide variety of colors — we saw white at MWC, black here — so if you’ve ever dreamed of owning a cherry red Google-powered tablet that’s as big as your frickin’ skull, Marvell knows a guy who knows a guy who can probably hook you up.

iWonder Android tablet fixes major bug: the logo is right-side-up originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Mar 2010 14:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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