Hasta La Gadget!

CyanogenMod developers received free Samsung Galaxy S II phones, the successors to its highly successful Galaxy S (pictured above). Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

In an attempt to woo its Android developer base, Samsung recently shipped a number of its smartphones to members of a highly popular phone modification group.

On Monday, four members of the CyanogenMod software team received Galaxy S II smartphones in the mail, direct from the company at no charge.

“All four of us involved in the porting process for the first Galaxy S received a new phone,” CyanogenMod team member Kolja Dummann told Wired.com in an interview. “After the [Galaxy S II] launched in Europe, we just asked about getting some of those phones. Samsung agreed.”

The phones came with one simple directive — get CyanogenMod working on the phone.

Essentially, CyanogenMod replaces the stock operating system on your Android phone with a customized build, letting you make tweaks and adjustments that you wouldn’t have otherwise been able to before. Customizations range from changing visual details — like slapping a sleek new uniform skins onto the user interface — to under-the-hood boosts like overclocking the phone’s CPU.

It’s uncommon for a device manufacturer to hand phones over to a community of developers like CyanogenMod. Companies like Motorola and HTC are known to ship devices with locked bootloaders, essentially restricting a user’s ability to customize his or her phone. While frustrating to budding modders, locking the phone down also prohibits a number of headaches on the carriers’ end — like the phone returns that come from users screwing up their devices in attempts to modify them.

“I’ve never heard of vendors giving phones to CyanogenMod or other community developers,” Dummann said. The CyanogenMod development team typically relies on donations from the developer community at large, or purchasing the devices themselves.

Samsung’s gesture is one of many recent manufacturer moves to court the developer community. Last week, HTC announced it would no longer ship smartphones with locked bootloaders. Motorola has also flirted with the idea of future unlocked device releases, though the developer community remains skeptical.

Of course, hackers and phone modification junkies make up a small contingent of total phone purchases on the market. Cyanogen’s estimated user base floats somewhere in the 500,000 range. According to Android product management director Hugo Barra, the company has activated over 100 million Android devices since the platform’s launch. So catering to the modding community isn’t a straightforward play for marketshare by the manufacturers.

It will help, however, to silence the vocal minority of users upset with receiving locked down phones. After Motorola’s Atrix was released with a locked bootloader, modders started an online campaign against the company’s locked-down policy, often bombarding Moto’s Facebook page with less-than-flattering comments.

If nothing else, Samsung’s actions may bolster support from the developer community who in turn can influence others to buy the company’s phones.

Samsung did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The plan seems to be working on at least one of the developers who received a free phone.

“You will not hear me bad-mouth Samsung again,” CyanogenMod team member Atinm tweeted on Monday.

A leaked instructional video highlights new features of Motorola’s latest Droid phone.

By Casey Johnston, Ars Technica

Some instructional videos featuring the Motorola Droid 3 on Verizon’s network surfaced on YouTube on Sunday, thanks to enthusiast blog PhonePad. The two videos show off the buttons on the phone, the various methods of text input on the Droid 3 (physical keyboard, virtual keyboard, and Swype), and handing of contact information.

Details on the Droid 3 have been trickling out for some time now. The device is expected to have a 4-inch, 960×540 qHD display and a dual-core processor, as well as an HDMI-out port and an 8-megapixel camera with a flash that will take HD video. Boy Genius Report has speculated that the phone will not have access to Verizon’s 4G LTE network, a decision that wouldn’t situate it well against competitors in the coming months.

The Droid 3 instructional videos are directed at beginners, and don’t focus on what is new or different about the phone from its predecessors. A couple physical changes of note are the migration of the power button from the top right of the phone—where it was on the Droid 2—to the top center, and the addition of a number row to the physical keyboard. The top sliding layer of the Droid 3 also no longer fully covers the bottom portion.

An official release date and price for the Droid 3 still haven’t been announced, but recent speculation pegs it for a launch later this month. The videos posted to YouTube were taken down, but we’ve embedded a Vimeo-hosted video of the Droid 3 below.

Motorola Droid 3 / Milestone 3 Partie 2 / 3 from Fred on Vimeo.

We’re not going to mince words, the Motorola Atrix has a number of urgent software issues that make it tough to recommend, but at least AT&T is pricing the Blur-saddled smartphone into the realm of reason. As of right now, the dual-core Tegra 2 device can be purchased for $99.99 when signing a two-year agreement with Ma Bell. Its qHD display resolution, 1GB of RAM and 14.4Mbps HSPA+ capabilities are still pretty much top notch, so if you can figure out a way to make peace with Motorola’s software, now might be the time to strike.

[Thanks, Logan]

Atrix 4G available for $100 from AT&T, just 50 bucks per Tegra 2 core originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Jun 2011 03:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Verizon and Motorola have kept a tighter lid on the Droid 3 than many recent smartphones we’ve seen, but a nice big leak just sprang from the bottom of the pot — startup gadget blog PhonePads obtained three tutorial videos of the five-row QWERTY slider strutting its stuff. While there’s no discussion of any dual-core silicon, there is indeed an 8 megapixel camera on board, which is apparently capable of 1080p HD video recordings. Other changes include what seem to be a pair of volume keys on the right edge (instead of the usual rocker), the apparent lack of a dedicated camera button, and both micro-USB and mini-HDMI on the left edge in the Droid X2 configuration. You’ll apparently still get your Swype virtual keyboard, but it’s hard to say what version of Android the handset will include — Verizon clearly states “Software Shown Not Final” on every single video. Find more footage after the break.

Continue reading Motorola Droid 3 leaks out in tutorial vids, confirms 8MP camera and 1080p recordings (video)

Motorola Droid 3 leaks out in tutorial vids, confirms 8MP camera and 1080p recordings (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 05 Jun 2011 13:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC's Incredible 2 smartphone, which runs version 3.0 of the company's Sense software. Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

HTC Sense customers may soon be able to download apps optimized just for their handsets.

HTC announced Thursday it will soon launch the HTC OpenSense software development kit, which aids developers in creating apps designed specifically to interact with HTC’s Sense software.

HTC Sense is the company’s custom graphical user interface, built atop the Android platform. Because HTC is competing with other manufacturers like Samsung and Sony Ericsson — all three of which ship phones using the Android platform — Sense’s custom interface serves to differentiate HTC phones from other devices.

Instead of having the stock Android interface, for example, the company’s hardware comes with HTC’s version of many common apps. On an HTC phone, Twitter is relabeled as “Peep.” Menu screens also come preloaded with things like an HTC-branded media player, and calendar and contacts apps.

“As the devices become more and more alike, manufacturers will do anything they can to differentiate themselves,” Gartner research analyst Ken Dulaney told Wired.com.

The OpenSense SDK looks promising. HTC reps say developers can create apps which utilize the stylus pen for HTC’s new Flyer tablet device, as well as the stereoscopic 3-D display. If HTC lures more developers into creating apps that interact with Sense, that means more content available specifically for HTC devices — which, in turn, gives potential customers more reasons to purchase HTC-made products.

Software developers are the lifeblood of mobile platforms. Without them, places like Apple’s App Store or the Android Market would be devoid of content. Thus it makes sense, so to speak, for smartphone manufacturers to court developers, drawing them to a specific platform.

HTC’s approach of inviting programmers to code apps for its smartphones is a stark contrast to Motorola’s relationship with developers. On the same day that HTC made its dev-friendly announcement, rival manufacturer Motorola had a few less-encouraging comments regarding the apps coming from the Android developer community.

At a technology conference Thursday, Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha deflected questions on the battery life of his company’s products, placing the blame on the apps rather than the hardware.

“For power consumption and CPU use, those apps are not tested,” said Jha, referring to Android’s “open” policy of not vetting applications submitted to its Market. Google removes apps that violate its developer distribution agreement, but no system of evaluating an app’s power efficiency exists on the Market’s side. Jha went on to say that 70 percent of Motorola’s device returns are because of applications affecting performance.

Whether or not Jha’s comments are accurate, it’s a dangerous move for a company head to pass the buck to quality issues related to apps on the Android Market. Apps, of course, provided by the developer community.

A Motorola spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Jha took the opportunity to make a plug for Motorola’s own custom graphical user interface, Motoblur. Jha said Motoblur development is advancing to the point where it can warn users how much battery a given app will use. Depending on how much power there is left on the phone, you’ll then be able to decide whether or not you want to run the app.

Two companies, with two very different approaches to drawing attention to the graphical interface, and two very different effects on developers.

On a tech blog, commenter Daniel McDermott’s opinion summed up the response to Jha: “It’s insane to think Moto would pass on the blame of their crappy skin on to other 3rd party devs when they can’t even get their own phones right.”