Hasta La Gadget!

LAS VEGAS — After months of sneak peeks and speculation, Motorola has finally unveiled its iPad competitor. Accompanying the tablet, the company introduced the latest version of its popular Droid smartphone.

Dubbed the Xoom, the tablet will indeed be running Honeycomb, the OS described by Motorola as the first version of Android designed entirely for use on a tablet.

Unfortunately, a fully-functional Xoom wasn’t made available for playing around with, but the short demo played onstage at Wednesday’s press conference gave audience members something to think about. From what we’ve seen, Honeycomb’s user interface is very sexy, and very different from the Gingerbread UI we’re used to.

Although price points weren’t disclosed, the details that were shared made the Xoom a tablet worth watching. It boasts a dual-core 1-GHz processor, 10.1-inch widescreen HD display, a 2-megapixel front facing camera for video chat capability and a rear-facing 5-megapixel camera, which captures 720p HD video.

The Xoom will launch with 3-G and WiFi connectivity in the first quarter of 2011. In the second quarter, it will be available for the next-generation 4G LTE network  Fret not, early adopters – those that buy early can upgrade the tablet to 4G later.

Motorola did not announce an official release date or price.

Also noteworthy was the latest addition in Motorola’s Droid series, the Droid Bionic. The Bionic has a 4.3-inch screen, a dual-core processor under the hood (like the Xoom), and  512 MB of RAM. It will be compatible with Verizon’s new 4G network.

The Droid Bionic joins the earlier announced Motorola Atrix and LG Optimus 2x, two other smartphones with dual-core CPUs.

Brian Chen contributed to this report.

Android 2.3, get your Android 2.3! A Gingerbread ROM for the Droid Incredible that’s been cooking on xda-developers for a couple of weeks is finally looking ready for mass consumption. It hit version 4 overnight, fixing a few niggling issues and enabling the 8 megapixel camera, which leaves only its video recording and GPS functions on the to-do list. Otherwise, it’s looking like a very slick implementation of Google’s latest OS, and it’s particularly pleasing to see how its responsiveness has improved between builds. Hit the source link for more info, though don’t expect to find out why HTC, Verizon et al can’t do things this quickly themselves.

[Thanks, Stuart]

Continue reading Droid Incredible takes a stable bite out of Gingerbread (video)

Droid Incredible takes a stable bite out of Gingerbread (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Dec 2010 02:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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With Gingerbread freely distributed to the open-source masses, it probably won’t surprise you to hear there already a custom ROM for Google’s darling Nexus One. But what if we told you Android 2.3 is now available for the HTC HD2 as well? That’s right, the Windows Mobile 6.5 powerhouse can now snap off a sugary piece of the same Android code, and from what we hear in the XDA-developers forums, it works pretty decently, too. Like the Samsung Galaxy S we saw getting the green tie treatment this morning, the HTC HD2 and Nexus One don’t exactly have stable, fully functional builds, but as long as you know what you’re doing and don’t need petty luxuries like cameras, GPS receivers and official Google apps, you’ll probably be just fine. Find files and a modicum of instruction at our source links below.

Update: While these cookies are half-baked, unconfirmed and potentially dangerous to those not well versed in the art of Android hackery, we’re hearing that the HTC EVO 4G, original Motorola Droid and HTC Desire are now sporting early Gingerbread ROMs too. It seems the source code is relatively easy to compile for other phones, so with any luck there’ll be a compatible build for your device soon.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

HTC HD2 and Nexus One get some Gingerbread crumbs (update: EVO, Droid and Desire, too) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 18 Dec 2010 22:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink The Gadgets, Android Central  |  XDA-developers, Chris Soyars  | Email this | Comments

Earlier this month, we told you the story of a man in north Texas whose exploding Droid 2 sent him to the hospital, resulting in a blood splattered handset and a face full of stitches.

The man, Aron Embry, told the press, “Once I got to the mirror and saw it, it was only then I kind of looked at my phone and realized that the screen had appeared to burst outward.” He showed off the phone, shattered and covered in blood, a pretty convincing sight as it appeared on the local news.

Things, however, may not be quite what they seem. We got word this morning from a Motorola employee involved with Droid development that the phone may not have exploded at all. The Droid 2 in question “was a phone that got dropped,” the employee told PCMag. “[T]he guy didn’t notice the glass had cracked […]so when he put it to his ear, he cut himself.”

Yowtch. A North Texas man’s Droid 2 exploded during a phone call, and he has the shattered, blood splattered handset and face stitches to prove it. Aron Embry ended a call, heard a loud pop, and then felt what turned out to be blood trickling down his face. It was coming out of his ear.

There was no damage to Embry’s hearing, but the resulting trip to the local emergency room resulted in four stitches. “Once I got to the mirror and saw it, it was only then I kind of looked at my phone and realized that the screen had appeared to burst outward,” he told the local news.

Embry had purchased the phone a mere two days before.

Motorola issued a statement following the event,

Motorola’s priority is, and always has been the safety of our customers, and all Motorola products are designed, manufactured and tested to meet or exceed international and local standards for consumer safety. We will reach out to the consumer and investigate this thoroughly.

Score a point for Bluetooth. Video of the coverage after the jump.