Dell Streak review

Streak. It needs no introduction, as this slate’s been gaining a lot of attention amongst gadget lovers around the world. Thanks to the UK launch last Friday, we were one of the first on this planet to procure Dell’s finalized Android 1.6 phone from O2. Yep, you heard right — Engadget’s now in possession of two Streaks, with the older one still in its original and somewhat unstable prototype state. Our new toy sports a matte “carbon” finish instead of chrome (no word on future availability; the red version’s coming in two weeks’ time), and now 399MB of RAM instead of 405MB (according to Android System Info app; yet it’s advertised as 512MB). Anyhow, now that we have the real deal, there’s plenty to go through, so join us after the break to see if the Streak’s really going to start a new trend.

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Dell Streak review originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 06 Jun 2010 18:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Acer beTouch E130 kicks it BlackBerry-style, but runs Android 1.6 (video)

It’s not everyday that we come across an Android phone with an exposed keyboard, so naturally Acer’s beTouch E130 caught our eye here at Computex. The BlackBerry-esque phone is equipped with a 2.6-inch QVGA touchscreen display, a scroll ball and a full QWERTY keyboard. In hand the device felt really solid, and though the screen is smaller than most Android phones, the rough-feeling scroll ball is great for navigating the menus. The keyboard is probably our favorite part of the phone — like Nokia’s E71, it has a rubber-like coating giving the keys a nice bounce. But all of that good stuff came to a bit of a halt when we realized that the E130 is part of Acer’s lower end BeTouch line — it packs only a 416MHz ST-Ericsson CPU, 256MB of RAM, and 512MB of ROM. Additionally, it runs a now-dated Android 1.6 OS. We guess we can’t expect every smartphone to boast a 1GHz Snapdragon and a beta version of Froyo, though. Vid’s after the break, if that’s what you’re into.

Continue reading Acer beTouch E130 kicks it BlackBerry-style, but runs Android 1.6 (video)

Acer beTouch E130 kicks it BlackBerry-style, but runs Android 1.6 (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 06 Jun 2010 10:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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‘iPhone vs Android’ report finds Apple has three times Google’s market share

It’s oftentimes easy for us to get swept up in Android mania and forget that Google’s mobile platform is still in its infancy. Then we get cold hard numbers like these — showing iPhone OS owning 28 percent of the US smartphone market and closing in on RIM’s leading 35 percent — and we face up to the realization that Android handsets still account for less than one in every ten smartphones owned by Americans today. In spite of collecting 28 percent of all consumer smartphone purchases in the first quarter of 2010 (according to NPD), Google’s OS was only able to climb up a couple of percentage points in terms of total market share, showing just how long a road lies ahead of its world-conquering plans. Guess that now explains why Apple’s response to the earlier numbers was so nonchalant.

Other intriguing figures include a high rate of loyalty among iPhone OS and Android users, with 80 percent of the former and 70 percent of the latter expressing a preference for the same OS in their next phone — both rather shaming Microsoft and RIM’s numbers, which were a mediocre 34 and 47 percent, respectively. Funnily enough, despite its inflammatory title, this report finds Android and iPhone users are more similar to each other than anyone else — an uncomfortable fact for both parties to deal with, we’re sure. The source link contains some more demographic comparisons, so why not go check them out and drop some sage analysis for us in the comments?

‘iPhone vs Android’ report finds Apple has three times Google’s market share originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 05 Jun 2010 15:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony Ericsson prepping a 5-inch Android phone with QWERTY keyboard? (updated)

Well, this is just great timing. What we’re looking at here is supposedly a Sony Ericsson smartphone, which seems to sport a five-inch screen and a hinged slide-out keyboard like the HTC Shift and the Eking S515. Even if this prototype turns out to be legit, our tipster — who has a solid track record — says it’s only running on Android 2.1 and that development is in its infancy while low-level drivers are being tested. Well, we can probably wait, except we’re also told that internally SE doesn’t appear to have any plans for 2.2 yet. Cue the angry tomatoes and eggs, but bring us a PSP phone any day and we’ll call off the rally.

Update: We’ve received word from a second highly-trusted source who says that the display is 5.5 inches (too big to fit in the front pocket), and runs a clean Android 2.1 install. Oh, and it’s launching in the fall.

Sony Ericsson prepping a 5-inch Android phone with QWERTY keyboard? (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 Jun 2010 02:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HP says it’s in the smartphone market, after all

HP CEO Mark Hurd certainly caused a few sad faces yesterday when he told investors and analysts that HP “didn’t buy Palm to be in the smartphone business,” and now the company is trying to walk that back a little — rest easy, folks, because there are definitely more webOS smartphones on the way. Apparently what Hurd was really trying to say was that HP is excited about using webOS as the foundation for all types of smaller web-connected devices, and smartphones are just a part of that universe — a part HP intends to pursue. Phew. Now, can we see these new webOS devices, please? Here’s the full statement from HP:

When we look at the market, we see an array of interconnected devices, including tablets, printers, and of course, smartphones. We believe webOS can become the backbone for many of HP’s small form factor devices, and we expect to expand webOS’s footprint beyond just the smartphone market, all while leveraging our financial strength, scale, and global reach to grow in smartphones.

HP says it’s in the smartphone market, after all originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Jun 2010 17:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dell Streak 16GB in stock on O2 UK website

Mesmerized by that 5-inch display? Looking to get in on the action for yourself? If you’re in the UK, take note: the Dell Streak is listed as “in stock,” with prices starting at free on contract.

[Thanks, Luke]

Continue reading Dell Streak 16GB in stock on O2 UK website

Dell Streak 16GB in stock on O2 UK website originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Jun 2010 16:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HP CEO: “We didn’t buy Palm to be in the smartphone business”

You’d think spending a billion dollars on a smartphone company would indicate a desire to, say, make and sell smartphones, but you’d apparently be thinking wrong: HP CEO Mark Hurd just told investors at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch tech conference that his company “didn’t buy Palm to be in the smartphone business,” and that he’s not going to “spend billions of dollars trying to go into the smartphone business; that doesn’t in any way make any sense.” Yes, that sound you’re hearing is Jon Rubinstein’s heart breaking into a million tiny pieces. According to Hurd, HP was actually more interested in Palm’s IP — specifically webOS, which he wants to put on “tens of millions of HP small form-factor web-connected devices.” Sure, that makes sense, and it lines up perfectly with HP’s plan to “double down on webOS” and put it on everything from netbooks and slates to printers, but hey, Mark? You should really look into the smartphone business when you get a second, okay? Just trust us on this one.

We didn’t buy Palm to be in the smartphone business. And I tell people that, but it doesn’t seem to resonate well. We bought it for the IP. The WebOS is one of the two ground-up pieces of software that is built as a web operating environment…We have tens of millions of HP small form factor web-connected devices…Now imagine that being a web-connected environment where now you can get a common look and feel and a common set of services laid against that environment. That is a very value proposition.

[Thanks, Steve]

HP CEO: “We didn’t buy Palm to be in the smartphone business” originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Jun 2010 19:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Intel Moorestown tablets will arrive before smartphones, won’t hit for at least six months

Digging all the Moorestown tablets and phones we’ve been seeing at Computex? Yeah, us too, but it looks like we’re still going to be waiting a considerable amount of time for them to hit the market. According to Intel’s Anand Chandrasekher, the first Moorestown devices won’t pop up for at least six to twelve more months. That may be after the end of 2010 mark we had heard before, but let’s hope Intel is using the time to get things just right. Anand also said that the first Moorestown products will be tablets rather than smartphones, the latter arriving sometime in the first half of 2011 — not too surprising given handset manufacturers’ history of designing and optimizing around ARM silicon and the fact that the smartphone flavor of the Intel-friendly MeeGo OS is still in development.

Intel Moorestown tablets will arrive before smartphones, won’t hit for at least six months originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Jun 2010 08:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Acer Stream preview at Computex 2010

We’ve seen Acer’s Android 2.1-powered Stream a time or two before, but we couldn’t resist the opportunity to give it a look ourselves here in Taipei. Acer’s full gamut of smartphones were out on display, but this 3.7-inch monster was easily the standout. Build quality was remarkable, and the screen was downright luscious; viewing angles on the AMOLED panel were nothing short of incredible, and the haptic feedback was a nice touch, too. The 1GHz Snapdragon CPU handled the transitions within the OS with poise, and it actually felt a good bit lighter than some of the other touchscreen-based smartphones that we’ve played with recently. ‘Course, we couldn’t help but long for Froyo, but with a hardware set this powerful, we wouldn’t be shocked to see it handed down shortly. Vid’s after the break, vaquero.

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Acer Stream preview at Computex 2010 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Jun 2010 06:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Intel demos Android 2.1 on Moorestown smartphone (video)

Intel’s barking up all kinds of trees (ones planted by Qualcomm, NVIDIA and ARM) with its Moorestown Atom platform, and while it’ll be quite some time before we see an Atom Inside sticker gracing the face of a smartphone, the company’s making sure the world sees what it has ramped up so far with reference builds here in Taipei. Aava Mobile was kind enough to build a number of prototypes for Intel to showcase at Computex, and while the vast majority were running Moblin, a couple were humming along with Android 2.1 underneath. We were able to get our hands around one here at the show, and while performance seemed decent enough, it certainly didn’t floor us any more than a 1GHz Snapdragon has in the past. Granted, we weren’t able to seriously tax it due to having no internet connection and no pre-loaded HD multimedia, but casual users probably won’t notice a significant boost in screen transitions. Don’t take our word for it, though — jump on past the break for a video of Intel doing Eclair.

Continue reading Intel demos Android 2.1 on Moorestown smartphone (video)

Intel demos Android 2.1 on Moorestown smartphone (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Jun 2010 05:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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