Hasta La Gadget!

One of the biggest knocks against the HTC Flyer when it launched (besides the extra $80 the stylus would cost you) was that it shipped with a Sensed-up version of Gingerbread, instead of the more tablet-appropriate Honeycomb. But, with the Android 3.1-packing Puccini now official, the Taiwanese manufacturer is working to bring the rest of its inbetweeners up to speed and, as usual, the devs appear to have sprung a leak. There’s not much information about the early Flyer Honeycomb beta that just dropped on MoDaCo, courtesy of Paul O’Brien, but it’s already packaged up in RUU form and ready for flashing. It goes without saying, this is not for the faint of heart. If you cherish things like stability and reliability (you know, if you’re a wimp) it’s probably best to hold out for an official release. The bold can download it now at the source link.

HTC Flyer Honeycomb ROM leaks, not for the timid tableter originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Sep 2011 17:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re about a week away from this year’s IFA, but that’s no reason for the tech teases to dry up. According to a report on This Is My Next, a bevy of product logos from Sammy’s Android trade show app were unearthed by a tipster searching for clues in the APK. Among the soon-to-be unveiled products are the new Galaxy Tab 7.7, Wave 3 and Galaxy Note. While we’ve haven’t heard much about the Note, we aren’t really surprised to see a 7.7-inch (we assume) iteration of the OEM’s popular Honeycomb tablet and an update to its Bada OS-running Wave smartphone line. Not to worry folks, you won’t have to live with the suspense for long — we’ll be reporting live from Berlin before you know it.

Samsung’s IFA app unveils Galaxy Tab 7.7, Wave 3 and Galaxy Note originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Aug 2011 16:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In other obvious news, Android and iOS continue to sit pretty atop the US smartphone market, according to a recent NPD study. The current titans of the mobile industry both saw their pieces of the OS pie increase in Q2 of 2011, putting Andy Rubin’s green robot in the lead with 52 percent and Apple at 29 percent. Newly adopted webOS, and Microsoft’s WP7 and Windows Mobile all managed to cling to their respective 5 percent shares with no yearly change, leaving only BlackBerry OS to experience an 11 percent decline. But the real meat and potatoes of the report focuses on Google’s soon-to-be in-house partner: Motorola. Despite the rosy picture painted by recent acquisition talks, the company appears to be facing tough competition from Android OEM rivals, and the wireless market as a whole. In regard to overall mobile phone share (read: dumbphones, et al.) and smartphone-only, Moto saw a 3 percent year-to-year decline, with its biggest loss coming from Android unit sales — a 50 percent drop to 22 percent of the market. Will the rosy glow of Mountain View “help inspire new paths to differentiation” for Moto, or are we just looking at a repeat of the “RAZR era?” While you ponder these pressing questions, head past the break to read the full report.

Continue reading Android still king of the US smartphone hill, Motorola facing a market nosedive

Android still king of the US smartphone hill, Motorola facing a market nosedive originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Aug 2011 17:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Android’s always had a best friend forever (or, for the time being) in Verizon. Together, the two companies were able to establish Andy Rubin’s mobile OS as a serious platform competitor, fighting back against the then threat of AT&T’s exclusive iPhone juggernaut with Moto’s Droid. Flash forward to present day and it’s no wonder Big Red’s SVP John Thorne is giving a public-facing, albeit tentative, thumbs up to Google’s Motorola Mobility acquisition. Thorne’s official line on the deal concerns the “stability [it might bring] to the ongoing smartphone patent disputes,” but the executive declined to comment further, citing a lack of known details for the proposed buyout. Certainly, the wireless operator has good reason to keep a close eye on the takeover, as a recent Chitika survey pegs it with a commanding 41 percent share of active Android handsets. So far, only Nokia has come out from behind Microsoft’s shadow, hailing the move as a boon for WP7 and casting shade on Google’s intentions. As for the rest of the industry, it appears they’re all making heavy use of that nifty statement generator. Hit the more coverage link to see what we mean.

Verizon embraces Google’s Moto Mobility deal, hopes for an end to patent disputes originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Aug 2011 19:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hey, you folks remember the VPhone? Honestly, we had forgotten about it too. The debut handset from Saygus first started making the rounds in late 2009 sporting, what were at the time, high-end features, like a front facing camera and a 624MHz processor. Well, times have changed and now that the Android-powered phone has finally won approval through Verizon’s open development initiative it’s, at best, decidedly mid-range. While the 256MB of RAM and chunky, sliding QWERTY remain, the VPhone has received some minor upgrades on its journey to Big Red — that XScale core has been bumped to a seemingly arbitrary 806MHz and Donut has been swapped for Froyo or Gingerbread. The one thing that the relative unknown still has going for it is hacker friendly features, such as an unlocked bootloader and the ability to run custom ROMs from an SD card. Sadly, there is still no word on an actual release date or price, but at least we know Saygus hasn’t completely fallen off the face of the Earth.

Saygus VPhone finally wins approval from Verizon, not so high-end anymore originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Aug 2011 12:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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