Hasta La Gadget!

Hold on to your hats, people, there’s a wind of awesomeness coming through. The Nexus S is no longer the only Gingerbread game in town, courtesy of supercurio over on the xda-developers forum, who has ported the hot new phone’s Android 2.3 install over to its Samsung forefather, the Galaxy S. The port is described as being unmodified from the Nexus S original, although quite a few basic functions like voice, WiFi, and GPS (insert joke about Galaxy S GPS woes) aren’t yet operational. All the same, we agree with supercurio that it’s looking “super smooth” and look forward to seeing him and the rest of the xda crew polish this stock Android baby off in short order.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Samsung Galaxy S receives Gingerbread port right from the Nexus S source (video)

Samsung Galaxy S receives Gingerbread port right from the Nexus S source (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 18 Dec 2010 07:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We know this isn’t exactly the news you wanted to hear, AT&T customers, but it’s comforting to know that the diminutive Aria has been upgraded to Froyo somewhere, isn’t it? HTC’s support page for Southeast Asia now reports availability of an over-the-air update to build 2.37.708.5 for the phone, which brings it up to Android 2.2 — topped off with Sense, of course — presumably along with all the normal benefits of Froyo like tethering, improved enterprise support, and some serious performance boosts. It’s unclear when this update will take a flight across the Pacific to AT&T’s version — but if nothing else, it’s good to know that HTC’s officially gotten the Aria working with something newer than Eclair. Remember, the glass is half full.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

HTC Aria gets Android 2.2 update… but not on AT&T yet originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Dec 2010 23:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Coming this February, at a Mobile World Congress near you, from the company that popularized the Service Pack: a second major update to Windows Phone 7. The observant among you will already be leaping out of their seats to point out that the first WP7 update hasn’t even been delivered yet, but it seems like Microsoft’s calendar stretches beyond the next month and the company’s already churning away on enhancing and improving its rebooted mobile OS. Such is the scuttlebutt coming out of WinRumors, and it’s kind of hard to argue with the postulation that Steve Ballmer wouldn’t be keynoting MWC in 2011 without something significant to announce. Word is that users will be getting added customization options for their phones, while developers will gain an extra few API hooks and controls that will ideally lead to more sophisticated apps in WP7’s future. Sounds good to us, now how about some landscape love, Microsoft?

[Thanks, Jay]

Microsoft said to be planning second Windows Phone 7 update for MWC in February originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Dec 2010 07:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, we’ve got to hand it to LG for quickly doing the right thing here by keeping people informed and ultimately making the best decision for its customers. Just two days after a Facebook spat that suggested the Optimus series of midrange Android handsets wouldn’t be getting Android 2.3 Gingerbread thanks to a seemingly made-up 1GHz processor requirement, they’ve reversed the decision, saying that “all” of the models that fall under the Optimus One guise (presumably including the Vortex, Optimus T, Optimus S, Optimus M, and Optimus U) would be getting upgraded. Here’s the full statement:

“LG will upgrade all Optimus One smartphones currently using the Froyo OS to the next version of the Android OS, Gingerbread. Details of the upgrade schedule will be announced locally in due course. We sincerely apologize for the confusion and misunderstanding that was caused regarding this issue.”

Respect, LG. Respect.

LG commits to upgrading Optimus Ones to Gingerbread, angry hordes abate originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Dec 2010 16:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You might remember yesterday’s brouhaha over LG’s seemingly false claim that Android 2.3 Gingerbread requires a 1GHz processor or better, using it as a justification for keeping an official upgrade out of the hopes and dreams of Optimus One owners around the globe — but the good news is that it appears to have been a misunderstanding. Here’s the official statement from LG:

“LG released information prematurely regarding the minimum processor upgrade requirements for the LG Optimus. Google recently announced the Gingerbread platform and has not yet published the Gingerbread Compatibility Definition Document (CDD) or the public branch open source code. Once the CDD and the source code is public, LG will evaluate the upgradability of the Optimus Series. We apologize for any confusion or misunderstanding. We will alert you as soon as more information on this topic is available.”

So they’re taking responsibility for jumping the gun and have committed to “evaluating the upgradability” of the Optimus line once Google’s published Gingerbread’s official requirements and turned loose the source code. Of course, it’s possible they’ll ultimately find another reason for keeping the phones stuck on Froyo — but for now, we’ve got a sliver of hope.

LG pulls back, ‘will evaluate’ upgrading Optimus series to Gingerbread when specs and source code are public originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Dec 2010 20:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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