Verizon posts Droid Incredible video, has excellent taste in apps

Are we posting this HTC Incredible promo video even though we’ve already put up our full review just because the Engadget Android app makes cameo appearances at 1:05 and 3:23, much like we posted the EVO 4G video because it featured Engadget in the news widget? Yes, we are. Any other questions? Video after the break.

P.S.- It’s officially called the Droid Incredible, but Verizon’s dude-man only ever calls it just “the Incredible.” Odd, no?

[Thanks, Lyndon]

Continue reading Verizon posts Droid Incredible video, has excellent taste in apps

Verizon posts Droid Incredible video, has excellent taste in apps originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Apr 2010 17:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Droid Incredible review

At this point, the HTC Incredible should seem like pretty familiar territory to our readers. We first caught wind of the device in a ROM leak back in December of 2009, and shortly thereafter saw lots of little snippets on the phone that made it clear it was headed our way. Of course, it’s a potent combination that’s been put together here — an HTC-made, Verizon-locked device sporting a 1GHz Snapdragon CPU, 8GB of internal storage, 748MB of ROM, a microSD slot (with support for up to 32GB cards), an 8 megapixel camera with dual LED flash and autofocus, 480 x 800 AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, and most importantly, Android 2.1 with HTC’s Sense UI on-board. The combo of America’s largest (and some say best) 3G network with a super-fast, Sense-equipped Android phone is a match made in nerd heaven. We’ve seen a near-exact device in the HTC Desire — basically the Incredible for the European market — and the internals and screen technology are almost identical to the Nexus One, but the Incredible has a personality that’s all its own. So is this the next killer device on the US market? Or have we heard this tune before? Read on for the answers you seek!

Continue reading Droid Incredible review

Droid Incredible review originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Apr 2010 00:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Verizon’s Droid Incredible pre-order page is live, delivery on April 29th

Hey — there it is! The Droid Incredible can be yours right now! Well, you can pre-order it on Verizon’s site, anyway, and they’re listing April 29th as the delivery date. The phone is $199 on contract, so if you can’t wait to get ahold of this 3.7-inch WVGA AMOLED, 1GHz Snapdragon-boasting beauty, well, hit up the source link.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Verizon’s Droid Incredible pre-order page is live, delivery on April 29th originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Apr 2010 00:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC Droid Incredible Review: More Like Impressive [Review]

The Droid Incredible follows HTC’s standard remix formula: Two parts existing phoneware—Android 2.1 with Sense, speedy processor—one part fresh spice—Verizon’s network. More »

What’s With All the Android Phones? Here’s How to Pick Just One [Smartphones]

It’s a near-weekly occurrence: HTC, or Motorola, or someone releases a brand-new Android phone. There are a ton of them! But really, there are only a few worth buying. Here are the best Android phones on each carrier. More »

Game Gripper puts your Droid’s D-pad where it belongs (video)

Game Gripper brings a little D-pad to your Droid (video)

There’s nothing better than a simple solution to a complex problem, and for Droid owners that problem is a keyboard that’s not exactly well-suited for gaming. Having a D-pad is great, but having it on the wrong side is a bummer. The Game Gripper moves it over to a more appropriate position on the left and adds another eight buttons to boot, instantly converting one of the best Android handsets on the market into one of the best gaming handsets. From what we can tell the Gripper buttons simply press the keys below on the keyboard and, while we’re guessing resulting button feel doesn’t live up to professional gamer standards, we’re decidedly intrigued — especially for $15. If you’re not convinced, check out the demo video after the break, but be prepared to be humming the Super Mario World theme to yourself all day before clicking that play button.

Continue reading Game Gripper puts your Droid’s D-pad where it belongs (video)

Game Gripper puts your Droid’s D-pad where it belongs (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Apr 2010 09:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Palm’s Jon Rubinstein: ‘I think we have a better product than Droid’

It’s been a rough month or so for Palm, as the only thing keeping the company’s tanking stock price from falling completely into the gutter are buyout rumors — RIM here, HTC there, even Lenovo, for some crazy reason. But that’s apparently not enough to get CEO Jon Rubinstein down: he just sat down with Fortune for a remarkably candid chat, saying that although his company hasn’t done so well, he still thinks there’s potential — and that he obviously wishes some things had gone better. The big one? The Verizon launch — and Jon thinks that if the Droid and Pre had had their launch dates flipped, the Pre would have done better.

One of the analysts on our earnings call asked if we had launched when Droid launched, and Droid launched when [we] launched at Verizon, would the story have been opposite? I said I think we have a better product than Droid, and customers would have been happier with it.

It’s certainly an interesting thought experiment, but we’ve always said that the Pre’s marketing had a lot to do with its failure on Big Red as well — and Palm apparently agrees, since it’s fired its ad agency and Jon told Fortune that Verizon’s changing their ads as well. As for the buyout rumors? Well, obviously Jon didn’t say much, but it sounds like he’s not too interested — although that can always change if the right suitor comes to the table . We’ll see if Ruby actually manages to turn things around — we’ve got some ideas on how to make that happen. Hit the source link for the full interview.

Palm’s Jon Rubinstein: ‘I think we have a better product than Droid’ originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Apr 2010 16:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Adobe AIR developer demonstration: one game, five platforms, all the same code

We love the idea of Android apps running on iPhone and vice versa, and that’s exactly what Adobe’s selling with its multiplatform development solution AIR — but though we’ve seen a demo here and there, conversations we’ve had with the company led us to believe that AIR was not yet up to the task. However, Adobe dev Christian Cantrell has the proof — he created a game of Reversi that runs on five platforms without having to change a single line of code. In a video after the break, he demonstrates iReverse running on OS X, Windows 7, Ubuntu Linux, the iPhone, a Droid and the new iPad, explaining how it took only a series of seriously tiny platform-specific wrappers to make his program function on each. Since each platform has its own hardware strengths, this kind of convergence isn’t always a good thing — but if it provides extra incentive for developers to get cracking on hot new apps, we’re all for it.

Continue reading Adobe AIR developer demonstration: one game, five platforms, all the same code

Adobe AIR developer demonstration: one game, five platforms, all the same code originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Apr 2010 10:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Droid mercifully gets a manual 2.1 update option

As is pleasantly often the case with Android devices, it turns out there’s already a quick, easy, nearly painless way to circumvent the phased rollout of Android 2.1 to Verizon’s Droids out in the field. Anyone who’s already been through this will feel right at home with the process: grab the binary straight from Google (so you know it’s legit, which is always nice), rename the file, transfer it to your microSD card, and reboot to the recovery mode screen. The rest is pretty self-evident, and when all is said and done, you’ll have a Droid equipped with the very latest and greatest that Google has to offer. Let us know how it goes, y’hear?

Droid mercifully gets a manual 2.1 update option originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Mar 2010 15:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola DROID 2.1 Update: Manual Install Guide

droid 2.1 - update 1.jpg
Way back in January, Motorola’s CEO promised that his company would push out an update to the Motorola DROID smartphone so it would be updated from Android 2.0.1 to Android 2.1. Though it’s just a dot release, 2.1 brings a lot of new features, specifically multi-touch in the Web Browser and Picture Gallery (check the official list of updates here).

Since then, Motorola prematurely announced the availability of the update on two separate occasions — first in February, and then again in Mid-March. Yesterday, it finally went out to a small group of DROID owners. Sadly though, you’ll have to wait your turn to receive the update. Instead of pushing the update out to everyone, the updates are staggered over the course of a few days. Luckily, one of the users in the lucky group that was first to get the update has posted the file online so everyone can bathe in its goodness.

So now Motorola DROID owners, it’s time for to make a life choice.
Life Choice 1:
Wait days on end for a notification to pop up on your phone that the Android 2.1 update is available to download and install.
Life Choice 2:
Take matters into your own hands and follow Droid-Life.com’s walkthrough on how to install the official Android 2.1. I followed the walkthrough this morning for my DROID, the entire process takes about five minutes and zero effort.