Hasta La Gadget!

We’ve been able to confirm in a chat with Dell spokesfolks this evening that the lovely Mini 5 won’t ship with the Android 1.6 build (also known as Donut) that we’ve seen so far — instead, it’ll be running “something newer.” They wouldn’t say what that newer version would be — and to be fair, we’re not sure they even knew since Android is always a moving target on account of Google’s breakneck development pace — but it was specifically mentioned that Flash compatibility was something they had on their radar, suggesting that something really, really fresh might be needed. Then again, they also mentioned that the giant phone / MID / thingamajig is going to be totally upgradeable, something that fellow Android skinners HTC and Motorola have both had to reassure the Android-buying public over. How this all shakes out remains to be seen, but let’s put it this way: Eclair, at minimum, seems to be a lock by the time the Mini 5 is on a shelf near you.

Dell Mini 5 will run ‘something newer’ than Android 1.6 at launch originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Feb 2010 15:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you thought the (admittedly weak) Liquid e was all Acer had in store for Mobile World Congress, you’d be badly mistaken. We’ve got a foursome of other smartphones on tap, so we won’t waste any time breaking ’em down. Up first is the neoTouch P300 and neoTouch P400, each of which ship with Windows Mobile 6.5.3. The P300 gets a luscious 3.2-inch WQVGA touch panel, slide-out QWERTY keyboard (backlit, no less!), WiFi and a March ship date, while the May-bound P400 packs a 3.2-inch HVGA touchscreen, 600MHz Qualcomm 7227 CPU, WiFi and a 3.2 megapixel camera. Moving on, there’s the beTouch E110 (shipping in March in black and dark blue), complete with a 2.8-inch touch panel, Android, 3 megapixel camera, FM tuner and a 1,500mAh battery. Finally, the beTouch E400 touts Android 2.1, the same 600MHz power plant as on the P400, a 3.2-inch HVGA resistive touchscreen, smart LED lighting (acts as a message indicator) and an April ship date. Pricing remains a mystery on the whole lot, but we’re hoping to learn more as we dig our heels in at the show.

Acer launches neoTouch P300 / P400, beTouch E110 / E400 smartphones originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Feb 2010 11:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Barcelona — Sony Ericsson has jumped aboard the Android Train at the Mobile World Congress 2010. Of three new handsets announced, two use Google’s phone OS, and only the poor, dull Vivaz still uses the tired Symbian OS.

The Android phones are the Xperia X10 Mini and Pro. The main difference between the two tiny handsets is the slide-out QWERTY keyboard on the pro model. In fact, so similar are these handsets that even their mother, the bigger Xperia X10 releasewd last year, has trouble telling them apart.

Both have touch-screens, small at just 2.55-inches and with a decidedly last-century VGA resolution (240 x 320). They also have 5MP cameras, A-GPS, the standard Webkit browser and, on top of the usual Android OS, a lot of customization.

The most obvious tweak is Timescape, which is a kind of floaty cover-flow view for contacts, pictures, missed calls or pretty much anything that can be put in a list. Imagine the bits of information on a series of translucent pieces of paper, hovering in space, and you have the idea. Whether this is useful or not is debatable.

The touch screens are also less than perfect, with a slightly laggy feel that comes from resistive touch. But then, these are clearly aimed at the non-smart market: Android OS 1.6 isn’t going to attract any of the geeks buying the Droid or Nexus.

This fragmentation of the Android range so early in its life is bound to lead to problems, with so many different devices with differently tweaked skins running on top. The irony is that, with its new Windows 7 Phone, Microsoft has moved from this fragmented position into a much more Apple-like approach, with minimum hardware specs and tight relationships with manufacturers and carriers.

Xperia X10 Mini and Pro [Sony Ericsson]

Convergence has always been a big theme in tech, and its focus at MWC this year seems to have landed firmly on procuring an application platform that is OS-agnostic. Earlier today, we heard of the big carrier cabal intent on slaying the beast that is multi-platform development through cooperation, but if you ask Adobe the answer is much simpler: just slap AIR on your phone. The company’s grand vision of the future sees AIR as the facilitator of a “feature-rich environment for delivering rich applications outside the mobile browser and across multiple operating systems.” If that sounds like your cup of tea, it’s now available on Android and there are a number of cool demo videos at the DevNet link below. As to Flash Player 10.1, that’s also heading to Android, to be completed within the first half of this year, while also including support for WebOS, Symbian, Windows Mobile and BlackBerry devices. We all know who’s missing from that party, but Reuters reports Adobe has expressed confidence that Apple will “eventually bow to market pressure” and join in on the fun as well. We shall see. Video of AIR apps running on the Droid awaits after the break.

Continue reading Adobe brings AIR to Android, promises Flash 10.1 in the first half of the year

Adobe brings AIR to Android, promises Flash 10.1 in the first half of the year originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Feb 2010 07:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It looks like the next generation of little green robots just got a little bit faster, with Comsys Mobile announcing its ComMAX CM1125 reference design at Mobile World Congress 2010 (and beating HTC to the punch). It’ll apparently find life inside Windows Mobile handsets as well, where it will not only offer WiMAX, but bring GSM/Edge, WLAN, GPS, Bluetooth, and even FM radio to the table, all in a design with “exceptionally low power operation.” It’s said to be able to switch from WiMAX to Edge seamlessly, though we image that transition would feel something like being inside KITT on Turbo Boost and hitting the Emergency Braking System. No word on when we’ll see phones at retail based on this design, but we’ll endeavor to bring you more information on this design (as well as more Knight Rider references) as the show progresses.

Comsys joins GSM and WiMAX into holy matrimony under Android as ComMAX CM1125 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Feb 2010 06:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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