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One year after the first Android phone debuted, the open-source mobile operating system is finally picking up some steam.

Verizon has partnered with Google to offer two new mobile devices based on Android. The additions may add some excitement to the carrier’s otherwise lackluster smartphone lineup.

Verizon announced that it will have two Android-based phones in the “coming weeks.” It hasn’t said which Android phones will be on its network but there are two likely candidates: Motorola Sholes and the HTC Hero.

In June, HTC introduced the Hero, a phone with a 3.2-inch touchscreen display, GPS, a digital compass, a 5-megapixel auto focus camera and expandable microSD memory. The device features an anti-fingerprint coating on the screen for smudge resistance and a Teflon coating on the exterior. The phone has a specially designed user interface that lets users organize create different customized content profiles around specific functions or times. Users can also add widgets such as Twitter, Facebook, weather and e-mail to the phone.  Verizon rival Sprint has already said it will offer the HTC Hero on its network.

The Motorola Sholes is still under wraps. Motorola hasn’t announced the device yet but leaks online suggest that it is strong candidate for Verizon. The Sholes is expected to have a 3.7-inch touchscreen, a 5-megapixel camera, GPS and Wi-Fi.

Motorola said it will have a new Android phone ready for consumers later this year. In September, Motorola announced the Cliq, a phone that focuses on social networking. The Cliq will be available on T-Mobile.

Verizon also took a jab at AT&T and the iPhone in its announcement today. Verizon said its new phones will support Google Voice on its network, something that Apple reportedly rejected for the iPhone.

Photo: Google CEO Eric Schmidt (left) and Lowell McAdam, CEO of Verizon Wireless, show the two new Android devices they have planned for the year.
Verizon

See Also:

• Why You Can’t Get a Good Phone With Verizon
• Verizon Mifi: Personal Wi-Fi Coming this Month
• Verizon Leads, AT&T Runs Last in Wired.com’s 3G Speed Test
  

It’s perhaps wishful thinking to suggest that Verizon has finally opened up after years of crippling features on its handsets, but a partnership struck today with Google certainly seems a step in the right direction. The deal is set to bring a number of Android-powered devices to the wireless network, “leverag[ing] the Verizon Wireless network and the best of the Android open platform to deliver leading-edge mobile applications, services and devices.”

Sounds good, but the deal with Android has always been that the hardware manufacturers get to skin the open OS as they see fit, so it’s easy to imagine Verizon loading down an otherwise terrific handset with a bunch of proprietary software like, say, V-Cast.

Looks like we’ll get our answer in a couple of weeks when the carrier introduces new Android-based handset. Motorola Sholes, anyone?

Verizon has some of the crappiest phones available, so there’s been no shortage of leaks about it getting an Android phone. Now the Verizon/Google love-affair is official: Big Red will introduce two Android-based handsets “within the next few weeks”.

Verizon plans to support Google Voice, saying you either have an open device or you don’t, and theirs will be open. Hopefully that means VoIP calls over 3G will be possible. No word if one of the two Android phones will be the Verizon Motorola Sholes/Droid, but we’ll fill you in when we know more. [PR Newswire]

Verizon Wireless and Google plan to co-develop several Android-based devices that will be pre-loaded with innovative applications from both parties as well as third-party developers. The family of Android phones on the Verizon Wireless network will come from leading handset manufacturers.

This one’s about as early as it gets, but what you’re looking at above is purported to be a screenshot of a firmware build for a hereto unheard of Android device called the HTC Dragon. Now, that’s interesting enough in and of itself, but the real kicker is that the phone is said to pack a 1GHz processor (most likely Snapdragon), which should help make HTC’s Sense UI snappier than ever — the rumored 800 x 480 display certainly doesn’t hurt things either. Not much more to go on than that, unfortunately, but you can check out a few more exciting screenshots at the link below.

[Via HTCPedia]

Filed under: Cellphones

HTC Dragon Android device surfaces in firmware build, could pack 1GHz processor originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When it comes to device previews, Best Buy has been burned plenty before. The big box retailer has had its private affairs leaked online countless times, cited as the source of all manner of device rumors. The company has gotten a touch more savvy, it seems, when it comes to how much information it’ll reveal in such a document. Occasionally, however, what’s available can be eye opening.

Take the company’s latest holiday preview, recently posted over at Boy Genuis Report. Alongside the already announced HTC Hero and Motorola Cliq is a super secret “Verizon Android Device” listed with a TBD release date. What could it be? We’re betting on the still unannounced–but oft leaked–Motorola Sholes (Tao?) handset.