Hasta La Gadget!

First LG flat-out says on public record that Windows Mobile 7 is bound for 2010, and now we’ve gotten apparent word that the company has narrowed said release window to September of this year — at least as far as its own devices are concerned. That comes via high-profile French tech blogger Eric of Presse Citron, who while attending a LG Design Lab tweeted (both in French and immediately after in English) that LG Mobile will release a Windows Mobile 7 device in September and an Android 2.1 device in April, first in the US and then Europe just after. The tweets are now gone, but WMPoweruser managed to catch both via Google cache, while we have corroborated just the French one by similar means. So, misheard claims from the company or accidental slip-up of NDA’d secrets? MWC is starting to look more and more interesting.

LG releasing Windows Mobile 7 phone in September and Android 2.1 in April? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 16 Jan 2010 10:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you caught our coverage during CES 2010 (and you better have!), then you probably saw our quick sit-down with Senior Product Manager for Android, Erick Tseng. We had such a good time chatting with him and had so many other questions, we thought having him on the Engadget Show made lots of sense! So, this Saturday, January 16th, Erick will join us live on-stage to answer all of our burning questions (and yours too — shout them out in comments). We’ll also be doing a wrap-up of all the gear we saw at CES during our editors roundtable, we’ll be flying the Parrot A.R. Drone live and in-person, and we’re giving away a bunch of stuff to audience members (including CES swag, limited edition Engadget t-shirts… and a Nexus One courtesy of Google)! Oh, and we’ll have more chiptune goodness from our friend Glomag. Don’t miss this one, it’s going to be crazy.

The Show is sponsored by Sprint, and will take place at the Times Center, part of The New York Times Building in the heart of New York City at 41st St. between 7th and 8th Avenues (see map after the break). Tickets are — as always — free to anyone who would like to attend, but seating is limited, and tickets will be first come, first served… so get there early! Here’s all the info you need:

• There is no admission fee — tickets are completely free
• The event is all ages
• Ticketing will begin at the Times Center at 2PM on Saturday, doors will open for seating at 4:30PM, and the show begins at 5PM
• You cannot collect tickets for friends or family — anyone who would like to come must be present to get a ticket
• Seating capacity in the Times Center is about 340, and once we’re full, we’re full
• The venue is located at 41st St. between 7th and 8th Avenues in New York City (map after the break)
• The show length is around an hour

If you’re a member of the media who wishes to attend, please contact us at: engadgetshowmedia [at] engadget [dot] com, and we’ll try to accommodate you. All other non-media questions can be sent to: engadgetshow [at] engadget [dot] com.

Subscribe to the Show:

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Continue reading The Engadget Show tapes tomorrow with Erick Tseng of Google, our CES wrap-up… and we’re giving away a Nexus One!

Filed under: Announcements

The Engadget Show tapes tomorrow with Erick Tseng of Google, our CES wrap-up… and we’re giving away a Nexus One! originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 15 Jan 2010 16:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hidden among the barcode readers, music players and games in the marketplace for Android software may be apps that could steal your online banking credentials or infect your phone.

Google removed about 1 percent of the apps posted to the Android Market last year, according to a 2009 filing Google made to the FTC (.pdf). While most of those apps were removed because of user complaints about adult content or copyright violations, two apps attempted to gain access to users’ financial information, according to InformationWeek.

“I am surprised it is that much,” says Artem Petakov, co-founder and CTO of WorkSmart Labs, which offers the Cardiotrainer app, referring to the number of apps removed. “I assumed the user reporting and flagging was working better than that.”

The possibility of malicious apps in the Android Market has some developers wondering if Google needs to police the marketplace better. It has also raised questions about the impact of these security holes on consumer confidence and app marketing by developers.

Google launched the free, open source Android OS with the T-Mobile G1 phone in October 2008. Unlike Apple, which tightly controls the submission and the review process for its App Store, Google has taken a much more open approach with the Android Market. Developers don’t have to wait for Google’s approval to get an app into the store. Instead, the search giant and Android creator is counting on users flagging suspicious or malicious apps.

Last month, two credit unions posted a warning to their customers about a rogue app that uses phishing techniques to gain access to a user’s banking credentials. Once Google was notified, it moved quickly to remove the app along with about 50 others written by the hacker.

Android Market’s malware-related challenges are not surprising, says Patrick Mork, vice-president of marketing for GetJar, a company that has a catalog of 60,000 apps and runs its own app stores for phones.

“Whenever you have an app store, you always have a challenge with people putting inappropriate content or not following guidelines,” says Mork. “It’s part of the trade, what it takes to run a retail operation.”

What Google needs is better monitoring systems and a greater emphasis on ensuring a vibrant yet safe marketplace.

“The most immediate thing they could do is to tighten up their content policing mechanisms,” says Mork. “They could add more staff to review apps in greater depth.”

Google declined to disclose how many employees it has policing the Android Market.

Android OS could make changes to its user interface to educate consumers who are downloading apps as to the kind of permissions the app has, says Petakov.

Google has a strong interest in keeping the Android Market clean and free. If consumers are spooked or worried about safety of the apps from the Android Market, it could lead to fewer app downloads. That in turn could eat away at developer support for the fledgling operating system.

“Running an operating system and running a retail store front are two different things,” says Mork. “Consumer confidence is very important in the latter.”

Still, the developers that Wired.com spoke to were clear that Android’s open model needs to continue.

“We have benefited so much from the instant posting of our app,” says Petakov. WorkSmart Labs releases a version of their app every two weeks.  “I prefer this over the iPhone model.”

See Also:

• Android Welcomes App Store’s Rejects With Arms Wide Open
• For the iPhone’s App Store, Quantity Really Does Matter
• Android’s Rapid Growth Has Some Developers Worried

Photo: p_kirn/Flickr

If you liked what you saw of Dell’s Mini 5 / Streak Android tablet-MID-phone-thing at CES but didn’t feel like you had enough of a chance to really see it in action, the gray market has come through for you again. We’ve just gotten pinged with this video of our friend Six-fingers handling what looks to be a fully functioning device, replete with Dell’s custom Android skin. You can see the company’s customized keyboard, navigation, and apps in the clip, and also raise your eyebrows at the fully functioning multitouch in the browser. Andy Rubin is going to hate this. Take a look at the full clip after the break, but prepare to be taken to a land of enchantment and mystery by the soundtrack.

[Thanks, Alexis S]

Continue reading Dell’s Mini 5 / Streak tablet UI exposed on video

Dell’s Mini 5 / Streak tablet UI exposed on video originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Jan 2010 13:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Native app multitouch, you say? It’s a dream that most US Android users have failed to experience, but Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha has let loose some promising words. In an interview with Laptop, he asserted that the company will be more proactive in getting the two-finger (or more) shuffle into its Google devices — more specifically he said, “I think you will see us deliver multitouch in the majority of our devices going forward. There’s a complex set of factors, not all of them technical.” That last bit’s pretty ominous, but nothing we haven’t surmised before, and frankly, it all sounds a lot better than “we’ll consider it.” Also discussed in the interview is the inevitability of tablet experimentation, and the (un)likelihood of a Motoblur phone landing in Google’s online store. “I think clearly the bias is towards Google Experience devices.” Perhaps, but we’ll be interested to see what HTC has to say about that.

Multitouch coming to ‘majority’ of future Motorola devices, says CEO originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Jan 2010 02:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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