Google Nexus One stands with iPhone and Hero, interface gets a 5-minute walkthrough

The Google Nexus One trickle continues. Today’s two menu items include a 5-minute demonstration of the Android 2.1 interface — shaky, sure, but it’s a pretty thorough rundown of all the menus. We’re also serving up some low-resolution picture comparisons of the Nexus One laying side-by-side with the iPhone and HTC Hero. It
still eludes us how all these leaking parties don’t seem to have in their possession a decent DSLR or camcorder (feel free to give us a buzz, we’ll gladly help out). Video after the break.

Continue reading Google Nexus One stands with iPhone and Hero, interface gets a 5-minute walkthrough

Google Nexus One stands with iPhone and Hero, interface gets a 5-minute walkthrough originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Dec 2009 23:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Another Google Nexus One sighting, this time a wee bit more clear

How a phone given to thousands of employees still manages to be nothing more than an occasional blip on the internets continues to boggle our mind. This latest Nexus One / “Google Phone” sighting comes care of two Twitter chatters — @djrobrob and the less protected account of @phillm. It’s the clearest shot of the interface we’ve gotten, and given our previous go-to videos have been subsequently pulled, the best “motion picture” interpretation we’ve got — take a look for yourself after the break.


Continue reading Another Google Nexus One sighting, this time a wee bit more clear

Another Google Nexus One sighting, this time a wee bit more clear originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Dec 2009 01:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nook 1.1 doesn’t affect hacks, root still possible

The NookDevs team hasn’t wasted any time poring over the recently-released Nook 1.1 update, and there’s good news: 1.1 can still be rooted, and rooted 1.0 devices will stay that way after the update. In other news, nookdevs team member robbiet480 just sat down with Nookaholic for an interview, and he dished a few tidbits: the Nook’s Android build is called “Bravo,” the internal WiFi had to be tweaked to stop turning itself off every three hours, and Bravo itself is basically Android 1.5. Nothing major, but we’re definitely getting the feeling the Nook is going to be leading a double life as both a mom-friendly ebook reader and a happy-hacker hardware playground from here on out, you know?

[Thanks, Cameron]

Nook 1.1 doesn’t affect hacks, root still possible originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nook 1.1 update hitting now

Right on schedule, the Barnes and Noble Nook is kicking out a software update (we rebooted to get the download to start). We’ve heard this will fix some of the issues we had with the unit in our review — but we’ll update you once we’ve had a little time to play around with it.

Some things we’ve noticed so far:

  • Page updating on the E Ink display does seem to be a tiny bit faster. Nothing mindblowing, but a little bit better.
  • B&N has fixed the page numbering issues. There is now a clear number and progress bar along the bottom of the screen.
  • Overall the navigation and color screen loading times seem improved. The experience is definitely faster — even scrolling through book covers seems a bit improved.
  • There is still pausing and lag in the UI. This isn’t a sea change, but it’s clear they’ve cleaned some elements up.

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

Update: You can take a look at all the changes right here.

Nook 1.1 update hitting now originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Dec 2009 12:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 hits the FCC again, this time with AT&T’s 3G bands

Yes, you might recall a version of Sony Ericsson’s mighty X10 getting FCC approval last week — but this one isn’t quite the same. This time around, we’ve got WCDMA 850 / 1900 accompanying the quadband EDGE, which is heartwarming news for anyone on AT&T, Rogers, Bell, or Telus, though the complete lack of branding on the FCC’s test unit leaves us to speculate wildly over which of those carriers (if any) will brand the unit — and more importantly, whether any will be on shelves before frickin’ 2011. In the meantime, we’re guessing SonyStyle sales are a lock — so get your save on.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 hits the FCC again, this time with AT&T’s 3G bands originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Dec 2009 12:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Camangi WebStation makes FCC test bench appearance, torn down for good measure

Might this make it by the end of the year? Camangi has been touting its “early bird” pre-orders for the WebStation Android tablet for nearly a month now, and has been indicating things would ship before the month is through. Now we have confirmation that if that date doesn’t happen you won’t be able to blame the FCC. Our favorite US independent agency (next to NASA) issued its approval of the device back on November 14, and shared some lovely disassembly pictures for good measure (after the break). This means the thing isn’t likely to kill you or to make your TV go all weird, but doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll hit your mailbox before the holidays are over. That, dear readers, is up to a higher power: Santa Claus.

Continue reading Camangi WebStation makes FCC test bench appearance, torn down for good measure

Camangi WebStation makes FCC test bench appearance, torn down for good measure originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Dec 2009 08:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC Espresso’s revised Sense UI spotted?

Among the seemingly thousands of Android-powered HTC handsets rumored for the first half of 2010, little is known of the mysterious Espresso — the codename was found in a 2.1 ROM and a sketchy report claims that it’ll have a QWERTY keyboard for an MWC announcement, but other than that, we’re in the dark. Anyhow, Italian site hdblog.it now claims to have some shots ripped off the Espresso’s display, and at a glance, you can tell this isn’t quite the Sense we’re used to from the Hero. The bar along the bottom now features direct access to People — a feature we’d already heard would be revised for HTC’s next round of Android phones — and app icons have apparently been graced with translucent surrounds that are… well, not exactly pretty. We’ve got to keep our opinions in check until we actually see a shipping ROM, of course, so hopefully those talks of an MWC unveiling in February pan out.

HTC Espresso’s revised Sense UI spotted? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Dec 2009 03:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ICD Ultra Android tablet hands-on

As you may have noticed, we had a chance to get our hands on a fairly interesting little tablet made by ICD dubbed the Ultra. The 7-inch, touchscreen tablet (resistive in the version we saw, but with capacitive versions to come) sports quite an impressive set of specs, including a 1GHz Tegra T20 CPU, 512MB of RAM and 512MB of ROM, 4GB of hardwired storage, 2G / 3G radios, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1, a 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera, HDMI out, USB 2.0, and a microSD slot. The device also has an accelerometer, ambient light sensor, and 3.5mm headphone jack. The version we had a chance to play with — a prototype running Android 2.0 — was blazingly fast when it came to 1080p playback and web browsing (as you can see in the video), but was pretty incomplete as far as the rest of the software was concerned (though the company says they’re working on optimizing the experience all around). In terms of pricing, ICD reps didn’t have a solid number, though they said they expect the Ultra to sell for somewhere in the $249 price range, with potential for free, subsidized versions depending on what kind of deals they work out with partners. We expect to see a whole slew of devices like this at CES in just a few weeks, but this is nice a taste of things to come. Check out our exclusive hands-on pics in the gallery below!

Update: The video in question is right here!

ICD Ultra Android tablet hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 20 Dec 2009 15:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola’s XT701, MT710, and XT800 do Android for China’s big three carriers

Even through the lean years, Moto’s been making waves in China where it enjoys comparably high popularity — it was one of the first major manufacturers to throw its support behind the nation’s homegrown TD-SCDMA 3G tech, after all, and it’s had a tendency to get the company’s sexier WinMo smartphones like the SURF. On that note, it doesn’t come as much of a surprise to see that they’ve now announced not one, not two, but three fairly attractive, high-end Android handsets specifically for duty in the Far East, one for each of China’s big three carriers (each of which employs a different 3G technology, per the gub’mint’s orders). Starting on the left, the XT701 is the phone that we’d believed to be the Sholes Tablet — and considering that it uses HSPA for China Unicom’s airwaves, we still have no reason to believe it couldn’t make the leap across the Pacific. The MT710 (pictured center) is an OPhone for China Mobile and stands the least chance of making an unfettered jump to another continent since it uses a completely customized UI along with a positively China-only TD-SCDMA radio. Finally, the XT800 on the right looks like a Dell Mini 3i done right to us, rocking dual-mode GSM and EV-DO for China Telecom’s rather heterogeneous network. We’ve got to hand it to Moto here: by all appearances, these 3.7-inch WVGA, 5 megapixel beasts could get Android fans drooling pretty much anywhere in the world, so let’s get ’em over to Europe and America on the double, eh?

[Thanks, Vitala]

Motorola’s XT701, MT710, and XT800 do Android for China’s big three carriers originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 Dec 2009 16:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How would you change Motorola’s Droid?

The anti-iPhone. The phone that “does.” The first Motorola device that we’ve seen in years that’s downright awe-inspiring. Naturally, we’re referring to the Droid. VZW spent all kinds of money to hype up this Android 2.0 handset as the phone to get if AT&T’s 3G coverage was just too weak for your liking, and it seems to have been at least decently effective. We know the phone had its fair share of quirks right off the bat, but we’re happy to say that most of those nuisances were taken care of via firmware update. Still, we know geeks, and those suckers are never happy. If you were in charge of redesigning this thing, what aspects would you tweak? Is the slide-out QWERTY up to snuff? Is the display crisp enough? Are the transitions snappy enough? Do you wish it was impossible to turn off the “Droid” sound emission each time you received an email? Dish out your hot fury below.

How would you change Motorola’s Droid? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 Dec 2009 01:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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