Hasta La Gadget!

Ahead of HTC’s big announcement, a tipster has leaked this screen-grab from Target Mobile showing the HTC Rhyme (formerly the Bliss), ready for eager fans to pre-order from September 22nd — apparently the official launch date. Target Mobile looks to have exclusive rights on a plum-colored version of the Verizon handset, previously seen in white and green. The leak also adds some early details on the rumored charm notifier, which lights up to announce incoming calls and messages. It appears to connect to the headphone jack and will apparently work “outside of clothing.” In-ear buds appear to be included and, while it’s still unclear whether these will also be Beats Audio offerings, it certainly would be name-appropriate. Handset details sound pretty concrete, seemingly confirmed by another leak at Unwired View, with a 3.7-inch WVGA Super LCD screen (matching that on the HTC Desire S), Android Gingerbread and a rear-facing five megapixel camera. According to the leaks — and even the official-looking renders — it will be one of the first phones to arrive with HTC’s refreshed Sense 3.5 UI. The smart money is on an appearance at HTC’s soiree later today, and we’ll be there to find out for sure.

Update: We just got word from Target’s PR team that the Rhyme will go up for pre-order tomorrow, September 21st, instead of the 22nd. The rep also confirmed that the retailer will be accepting pre-orders at 1,492 Target Mobile locations through the 26th (the Rhyme goes on sale on the 29th).

HTC Rhyme preorders said to begin September 22, Plum-colored exclusive at Target? (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Sep 2011 08:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging to get updated. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it’s easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don’t escape without notice, we’ve gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery from the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!

Official Android updates

• The HTC Merge on US Cellular can now be bumped up to Android 2.3.4. It appears to be a manual install, so visit here to download the file and learn exactly how to update your device. [via UnwiredView]
• HTC has added another device to its growing list of phones and tablets that now support the HTCDev bootloader unlock tool. [via PocketDroid]
• The LG Optimus S on Sprint is now on the receiving end of an OTA Gingerbread rollout. [via UnwiredView]
• Great news, Samsung Infuse 4G users: you’re getting an update. The bad news: it’s a maintenance fix, rather than a full-out Gingerbread upgrade. Still, it may be worth the download if you have the time or opportunity. [via AndroidCentral]
• Samsung has released the kernel source for the Epic 4G Touch. [via PocketNow]
• Sprint’s certainly getting a lot of love this week, and we’re not done yet: the Motorola Photon 4G is beginning to push out another smallish bug fix meant to curb WiFi issues experienced by a few users, and appears to be a gradual rollout. [via SprintFeed]
• The original Motorola Droid X is expected to receive a maintenance refresh as early as tomorrow, which is intended to resolve a widespread issue with the keyboard. If you’re in this category, definitely keep a close eye out on this space. [via Droid-Life]
• We’re hearing that the Droid 2 R2-D2 update to Gingerbread, which we originally reported on last week, is officially rolling out to eager fanboys and fangirls countrywide. [via AndroidCentral]

Unofficial Android updates, custom ROMs and misc. hackery

• Those CyanogenMod7 builds for the HTC Sensation and EVO 3D we were talking about last week? They’re now available. As extremely early builds, download and flash at your own risk. [via AndroidCentral]
• Since we’re talking so much about HTC, here’s one more thing: you can now grab a ROM for your HTC Desire HD that enables the beats audio technology. [via GSMArena and Android Community]
• A dev has been hard at work pulling various Motorola Atrix ROMs and porting them over to the Droid X2. The first one available is plain vanilla Android 2.3.4, if you’re just not feeling up to using MotoBlur (aka the now-nameless Moto UI). [via Droid-Life]
• The initial build of the Motorola Droid Bionic bootstrap is available for install, which essentially will enable you to bootstrap your recovery and create backups on your device. Custom ROMs still aren’t around for the Bionic yet (although early builds of CM7 began showing up this week), but the bootstrap is a big step toward achieving that goal. [via Droid-Life]

Other platforms

• Symbian’s Anna update is continuing to expand support to more countries, including Italy, Switzerland, Taiwan and Turkey. The refreshes for the US, Canada and Australia — according to an email from Nokia — is expected to arrive within the next two weeks. [via MyNokiaBlog]

Refreshes we covered this week

• AT&T Windows Phone 7 devices to receive Mango this fall
• BlackBerry PlayBook to get OTA update next month that will offer native email, calendar

Refresh Roundup: week of September 12, 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 18 Sep 2011 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Looks like Mango’s got yet another trick up its sleeve — at least, a trick that’ll be noticeable on HTC’s looming Titan. Windows Phone Director Aaron Woodman — the same Aaron that stopped by our own Engadget Show a few months back — recently paused to show off a Tango video calling application on the aforementioned handset. We knew good and well that the front-facing Titan camera would be put to use by something, and now you know. ‘Course, the “demo” looks pretty well scripted — don’t expect an accurate representation of video quality over a crowded 3G network — but it sure serves to make the wait that much harder. Have a peek yourself just after the break.

[Thanks, Stephen]

Continue reading Tango video calling demoed on Mango-based HTC Titan (video)

Tango video calling demoed on Mango-based HTC Titan (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Sep 2011 16:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC Bliss to be called the Rhyme, launching September 20? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Sep 2011 05:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading HTC Sensation XE gets official, packing 1.5GHz dual-core CPU and Beats Audio

HTC Sensation XE gets official, packing 1.5GHz dual-core CPU and Beats Audio originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Sep 2011 05:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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