Hasta La Gadget!

If Windows Phone 7 isn’t your thing and the upcoming Venue doesn’t interest you — or hey, if you just live in India — you might be interested to know that Dell has just introduced a pair of new India-specific (for the moment, anyway) Android phones designed specifically to be sold for a song without getting a carrier subsidy involved. First up, the XCD28 sports a 2.8-inch display (hence the name), a 3.2 megapixel cam, 200MB of internal storage expandable with up to 16GB worth of microSD, and FM radio; it sells for Rs. 10,990 (about $247) devoid of a contract. Moving upmarket a bit, the Rs. 16,990 ($382) XCD35 goes with a 3.5-inch capacitive display. Both devices feature 3G support for India’s up-and-coming high-speed networks, WiFi, Bluetooth, and that overwhelming sense of freedom that comes with not signing a contract at the point of purchase. Look for the XCD28 to be available right now, while the 35 follows next month — no word on when we might see them outside India, but it turns out they’re little more than rebranded versions of ZTE’s Racer and Blade, so you can just pick ’em up in ZTE livery if you’re elsewhere.

[Thanks, Pradeep]

Dell intros XCD28 and XCD35 Android phones for India originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Nov 2010 14:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve already established that the Nexus S is almost certainly a Samsung — but what else do we know about it? Well, a quick search for pictures taken with a Nexus S on Flickr and Picasa produced some 5 megapixel results, believe it or not, and some of those users’ albums had been using a Samsung handset with model number GT-i9020 just a few days earlier. If we had to guess, a recent firmware update changed the EXIF identifier for these shots from the code to the actual retail name — Nexus S, that is — which explains the switchover. We’ve got both an FCC filing and a Wi-Fi Alliance certification for the i9020, and it’s definitely a smartphone with 802.11 b / g / n (single-band, unfortunately) and AWS 3G, a radio choice that ties it in nicely with T-Mobile as the Best Buy leak would have us believe.

Interestingly, a little digging reveals that all of these shots on photo sharing sites are coming from Google employees and families of Google employees — and Sammy’s i9000 series is closely tied to the Galaxy S line, which makes sense considering how much the Nexus S seems to look like a Galaxy S. Oh, and if that wasn’t enough, the FCC label documentation for the i9020 lines up perfectly with the leaked picture. So yeah, it’s all kind of coming together — all we need now, Google, is an official Gingerbread and hardware announce. Let’s do this thing.

Update: It appears there are actually two very similar Nexus S candidates that passed the FCC: the GT-i9020, and the GT-i9020T. We’re starting to think one of them might be destined for Europe, as it’s labeled “EU” (the other is “TMB”) though both appear to support AWS for 3G. In case you need any extra corroboration, Samsung specifically calls out the GT-i9020T as a Google Android handset with a 5 megapixel autofocus camera, Bluetooth, WiFi and dual-band 850/1900 GSM frequencies. [Thanks, Armo]

Google Nexus S is the Samsung GT-i9020? (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Nov 2010 13:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, this was rather unexpected. Earlier today, Best Buy Mobile published a humble (if not incomplete) ad for the “Nexus S for T-Mobile,” touting both its “pure Google” experience (i.e. vanilla Android) and holiday availability exclusively from Best Buy. It’s gone now, saved only by the grace of Google cache. To be honest, all we can do is speculate beyond that. An anonymous tipster to RadioAndroid pegged the Nexus S name late last month and claimed it would feature Android 2.3 Gingerbread, a 4-inch Super AMOLED screen, and a Hummingbird processor. TechCrunch later described a Samsung-borne “Nexus Two” that has since been delayed due to some serious hardware issue. Is this a placeholder from the online devs? Does / did the S stand for Samsung, or something else entirely? And most importantly, is this presumed follow-up to Nexus One actually coming out, or did you just get your hopes up for nothing?

Nexus S for T-Mobile gets brief Best Buy Mobile nod: there and gone again originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Nov 2010 10:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So it was written, and so has it been done. Hot on the heels of T-Mobile, the little Samsung Galaxy Tab 7-inch Android tablet that could just hit Verizon retail for $599.99. Of course, that’s before taxes and options for month-to-month data plans (with $35 activation fee) are factored in starting at $20 per month for 1GB on up to $80 for 10GB. So feel free to jump right in if the idea of waiting for a Super AMOLED version, a 10.1-inch flavor, or a tablet-tuned Android release sounds like crazy talk.

[Thanks, Spencer T.]

Samsung Galaxy Tab lands on Verizon for $599.99 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Nov 2010 01:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Looks like Fox has finally made a decision, following the other major networks, Hulu and several cable channels by opting to block streaming video on its website from Google TV devices. Blocking by Flash ID is the order of the day and takes simple browser workarounds out of play, so unless users want to go the PlayOn route, there’s large swaths of legitimate video on the web that’s now inaccessible. This same type of blocking is likely to affect other devices like the Boxee Box that launches tonight, so prepare for a bit more preening by the “get an HTPC!” crowd while fans of dedicated media streamers will have to look elsewhere for video to feed their hardware.

Fox.com joins NBC, ABC and CBS by blocking Google TV originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Nov 2010 18:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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