As important as phones can be in our daily lives, there are some reasons to avoid them entirely. Here are ten such reasons which may actually succeed in turning you into an anti-social, handsaw-owning phone avoider..

Reprinted with permission from Matthew Inman aka "The Oatmeal," a former web designer turned comic artist. You can see more of his work on The Oatmeal or in 5 Very Good Reasons to Punch a Dolphin in the Mouth, the comic book which he self published last year.

Acer's updated its Android range of phones with the Liquid e, running Android 2.1 and built using a Qualcomm Snapdragon 768 MHz processor, so isn't quite as zappy as some others we've seen recently.

While we don't have images of the Liquid e yet (seen above is the previous Liquid model), it has a 3.5-inch capacitive touchscreen is a WVGA job, the camera is a 5.0-megapixel sensor with autofocus; and there's Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and HSDPA/HSUPA on the wireless side.

Internally, the ROM is 512MB (with a microSD slot), RAM is 256MB and an accelerometer, light sensor and proximity sensor all feature. Full release and specs below, with pricing and availability not yet known. Acer's not exactly known for its smartphones, but this Liquid e sounds like quite a step-up from the first Liquid which we saw last year.

Acer is proud to present Liquid e, the new version of the already well known Liquid smartphone.

Acer Liquid e features the latest Android™ 2.1 Operating System (aka Éclair). Building on the processing and graphical capabilities of the Qualcomm™ Snapdragon™ and its high definition screen, Liquid e is the state-of-the-art for multimedia, web browsing, and social media integration. It should thrill both avid users of internet on-the-go and new users eager to experience the rich possibilities offered by this innovative device.

This appealing high definition smartphone is the ideal solution for users demanding the best from their devices and in particular for high-definition video playback or streaming, gaming and browsing smoothly rich-content internet sites.

What's new on Liquid e with Android Éclair 2.1:
• Home screens - The new version now handles five home screens by default, allowing users to easily install more applications from the rich selection available on the Android Market, as well as shortcuts and widgets;
• Quick Contacts – a feature that lets users easily switch between the address book and the social network applications;
• Live wallpapers to customize your Liquid e on the fly;
• A new keyboard layout with an extended dictionary for predictive input;
• An updated version of the Android browser, supporting HTML5, double-tap zooming, video tagging support and geo-location API support.

With its 3.5" high-definition capacitive touch screen, Acer Liquid e offers an unparalleled experience when watching pictures or videos, and proposes an abundance of new applications on Android™ Smart Handhelds - games, professional applications and web applets that will enrich the end user experience.

Powered by the powerful Qualcomm™ Snapdragon™ processor, Acer Liquid e provides instant access to web pages, smooth streaming of videos or music, and instant response from popular mail, maps and search applications. The high-speed processing capabilities and high-speed internet access (HSPA) of Snapdragon™ brings to life the Android™ experience: no idle-time, almost instant uploads of web pages and downloads of rich multimedia content. The developer community can now take full advantage of these capabilities to bring to market innovative applications that demand raw computing power and superior handling of 3D graphics.

We recently heard that Android 2.1 was on its way to the Droid, but now sources tell AndroidandMe that all U.S. Android phones will be receiving Android 2.1 firmware in coming months, though some will require a wipe to upgrade.

As we've heard is the case with the Droid, some niceties like animated wallpapers probably won't make the jump, but if the updates come to fruition, increased text-to-speech support and enhanced widgets will likely come along with them. The price of getting up to date, Androidandme explains, might be wiping your phone clean. A bummer, but that's life.

Google has shown its awareness that fragmentation is a serious issue for Android, so it wouldn't be surprising to see them try to make things a little more even across the board. The G1 and MyTouch are supposedly candidates for the first wave of updates, so keep an eye out for confirmation in coming weeks. [AndroidandMe]

While Android 1.6 is still writhing around in amniotic fluid, BGR had the nerve to publish shots of version 2.0 "Eclair," which doesn't even have a formal due date yet. They look great. Sorry, 1.6: I'm already over you.

You're best off trudging through the entire gallery here, since BGR has annotated every little shot with accompanying (and sometimes subtle) changes. That said, here are some of the highlights (keep in mind that some of these could be subtle features of Donut, or handset manufacturer add-ons—for all we know, this is Motodroid):

• The whole system feels much faster, especially the browser. Apparently it renders about as fast as the 3GS's, though part of that could be down to the hardware (What is it, BG?)

• The browser also gets double-tap-to-zoom (some current ROMs already come with this)

• Facebook friends are integrated right into the contacts system

• Voice control has been scattered through the whole system, and even gets its own dedicated dashboard

• There's an upgraded version of Google Maps, with layer support

• Native MS Exchange support

• A unified email inbox, for joining multiple accounts

• A YouTube homescreen widget, which enables two-click uploads

• A "Car Home" app offers larger shortcuts for functions you might need while driving, as well as easy access to voice control

There are plenty more little here-and-there adjustments, lots of which seem like they're not quite finished. In any case, the earliest we can expect to see this on a phone is when Motorola's barely-not-mythical Sholes decides to materialize in store, which could be as soon as Christmas. More shots at [BGR]

Omnifone's MusicStation music download store—which is pre-loaded on all HP laptops—is also getting an Android launch if you're looking for another way to download music on your Nexus One. [Business Wire]

I want to believe Asustek Computer chairman Jonney Shih when he says his company's Android phone will arrive "this year," because the more people use Android handsets, the more hardware options we'll have, the better the software gets, the more vibrant the App Market will become. Plus, I crave balance: the Garmin-Asus Nuvifone G60 was a barely-mitigated disappointment, so a solid Google piece is well overdue. But when it comes to Asus phones, release dates should be taken as tentative until the device is literally in your hands. [Digitimes via Slashgear]

AT&T's first Android phone won't ship with Google Search. Instead, The Motorola Backflip's home screen will sport a Yahoo Search widget, and its browser will run Yahoo searches by default. Yep. I think that's what they call a burn.

It'll be the first Android device of any kind with Yahoo as the main search engine, which makes sense: Android is Google's platform, so Google Search is a natural fit. But Android's also an open platform, which means that carriers can do with it what they please—including denying its creator a chunk of valuable search revenue.

AT&T's undisputed bread and butter is the iPhone, which means that appeasing Apple is high on their priority list. And it's hard to see what other advantage this move has for the carrier other than scoring a point in their patron's favor in the escalating Apple-Google feud.

There are four more AT&T Android phones on the horizon, and it'll be interesting to see how many of them follow this same track. That'll probably have something to do with the consumer response to Yahoo. In the meantime, the Backflip exposes a noticeable chink in Google's Android armor: an open system is, by definition, one you can get shut out of. [Engadget via Android Community]

Absolutely dread going to your location wireless provider's store and having to be social? If it's one of your worst nightmares, hopefully this will help you change that.

Guest post by a "connect" in the wireless industry.

Do:
Buy at the end of the month or during bad weather. It's funny, but the best time to buy a phone is at the end of the month. Every store has a quota to hit and the sales reps are a lot more tempted to make a good deal if it's the end of the month. They'll most likely be offering better discounts to try and get those final sales for their quota. Also, on days when the weather is really bad, the store has probably been slow most of the day and the reps are bored. We're not kidding. They'll want to talk to you and want to sell you something. The sales reps have probably made nothing in terms of money for that day and they'll be eager to try and make a deal for you.

Take the features:
Use them as a bargaining tool. This is a great way to get extra discounts or deals on a phone. Tell the rep you'll sign up for the data plan (if not already required based on the phone like a smartphone) plus insurance and other extra features if they'll cut you a small deal on the equipment. ARPU (Average Revenue Per Unit) is always a huge goal for managers and employees, and it adds a large amount to our commission check. You can always take these features off (if they're not contracted like the smartphone data plans) if you don't use them. Just know that most wireless carriers require features to be active for a certain amount of time or else the representative won't get the commission from it.

Also, try to find a rep that is passionate. It might seem like common sense, but we can't tell you how many people just enter the store and mosey on over to any boring dope and expect greatness. Look for a rep that looks happy to be there. That rep will most likely be an upfront person and be detailed on equipment and plan pricing. If the rep is trained well enough, he or she will know about other carrier's pricing and plans as well, making this much easier on you.

Ask the representative to be blunt and honest - telling your rep from the get-go to be straightforward and to-the-point will save both of you a lot of trouble. They'll get the job done faster and you'll get the info you're asking for without all the corporate mumbo-jumbo that they're supposed to shove in your head.

Plus, if you don't already have a phone in mind, ask the representative what phone they use. If they're carrying it, it's most likely a decent phone. Most likely.

Sales reps can usually budge on the equipment pricing, accessories, or waiving activation fees depending on whether you're at a corporate store or an indirect dealer. But something they can't do is budge on the plan pricing; that's something no one can adjust - only the retention department over the phone can.

If you see a better price at another store or online, ask for a price match. This requires a print out of the ad that you saw, but you'd be surprised how many people don't care, or don't come prepared. Corporate stores can only price match in this fashion, too. Buying at a corporate store versus a 3rd party store (Costco, Sam's Club, Radio Shack) has its benefits such as better trained employees and usually original/more encompassing warranties.

Don't:
Don't threaten to leave your carrier if the representatives you're talking to don't give you a good deal. Sales reps know your contract length and they know you aren't going to pay that $200 ETF to get little Timmy off your plan and into an iPhone because they won't give you $50 off that dumbphone he wants. Things like telling them that you've been with them for 10+ years and you deserve 5 BlackBerry Bolds for free will only frustrate the poor guy. When it comes to equipment cost, the amount of years you've been with a carrier as a customer doesn't mean too much. Also don't say that you'll get a better deal by switching from x-carrier to y-carrier if you don't know for sure if it's exactly true. A good rep knows when a customer is lying and they'll pretty much be done trying to work with you at that point.

Remember to play it smart. Don't try and ask for a smartphone without a data plan. That's like buying a brand new BMW and not wanting to put premium gas in it. The reps most likely can't make that happen due to restrictions with the way those plans work. Also never ask to speak to the manager while negotiating for a better deal. You're undermining the representative and are only going to annoy the manager.

Upgrades (phone discounts you get when extending your current contract with your existing carrier) mean pretty little to the sales reps in terms of commission. The rep doesn't make much on these kinds of contracts and if you're going to give them a really hard time about pricing, they'll either pass you to another rep or put 0% effort into trying to help you out.

Tips from reps we know:
• "I've had high maintenance customers bring a store employee coffee or thank you card after working really hard for them. Doing even the smallest things like that will get us to do pretty much anything you want in the future or fix any problem you might have down the road."
• "Reps work on commission; it's how they pay their bills, feed their kids, and pretty much survive. It's really aggravating when you spend 45 minutes in the store talking to us about plans and pricing and then come back the next day to sign up with our co-worker on our day off."
• "Reps are people too. We have our good and our bad days. Act like a decent human being and you'll be treated with the same respect."

All in all, pretty standard stuff though like we said, you'd be surprised how many people don't really get the big picture. Hopefully this makes shopping for a new phone, wireless plan, and even carrier a little easier on you the next time around!

While this post tried to encompass all wireless carriers in the U.S., some have different policies and practices and it's best to visit their respective website to learn about plan/feature requirements, and any sales/rebates they have available before you go to the store.

BGR features the latest tech news, mobile-related content and of course, exclusive scoops.

It's not an OS update like we were hoping, but BlackBerry has taken the lid off its free Enterprise Server Express software which syncs the smartphones to Microsoft Exchange and Windows Small Business Servers.

It's a less-whizzy (ie, free) version of BES for small businesses or individuals who don't want to fork out for the full service. It'll still wirelessly synchronize email, calendar, contacts, notes and tasks, allow for edits of Word, Excel and PowerPoint files and access files on the business network, which should be enough for the average user. Out in March.

It's not an OS update like we were hoping, but BlackBerry has taken the lid off its free Enterprise Server Express software which syncs the smartphones to Microsoft Exchange and Windows Small Business Servers.

It's a less-whizzy (ie, free) version of BES for small businesses or individuals who don't want to fork out for the full service. It'll still wirelessly synchronize email, calendar, contacts, notes and tasks, allow for edits of Word, Excel and PowerPoint files and access files on the business network, which should be enough for the average user. Out in March.

T-Mobile is replacing the antiquated trackballs on BlackBerry's Pearl 8100 and 8120, and the Curve 8320 smartphones for free from the 15th of February, to any customers who are having problems with them. It's one of the reasons RIM moved from trackballs to optical trackpads, so if you aren't having problems yet, mark my words: you will. [TMO News via Electronista]

Good news—Digitimes is reporting that many of the Taiwanese phone suppliers are ditching resistive touchscreens and focusing their attentions on ramping up production of the much more superior capacitive panels. Today is a great day to be a finger. [Digitimes]

On March 18, at the Baselworld watch show in Switzerland, a vaporous French company called Celsius X-VI-II will unveil the Papillon, a $300,000 mobile phone that is packed with the most advanced micro-mechanics of any gadget ever created.

All of this according to a recent profile in PCMag, one that frankly raises more questions than it answers. In the piece, Celsius co-founder Alejandro Ricart offers a vague picture of his team's ambition, citing high-end Swiss watches as the inspiration for his company's ultra-luxury, mechanical mobile phone.

"We want to take the useful functions of the cell phone and try to re-think them, and re-create them in a mechanical way," he explained. One such suggested mechanism is a kinetic hinge that powers the phone when it's flipped open and closed shut.

Sascha Segan, PCMag's reporter, seems pretty enthralled by the whole business, describing the device as a "hand-made art-watch with more than 600 mechanical components, many of which are visible to the naked eye."

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Papillon is French for "butterfly," an insect that apparently inspired the design of the phone and, when you come to think of it, is sort of a strange little creature in its own right. As you can see, a butterfly floats fleetingly through the teaser clip for the phone.

All of this is quite bizarre and potentially very dumb, like something out of a Dan Brown novel*, and it certainly feels like it could all blow away in a cloud of vapor. The x-ray shown above is the only image of the phone available. But in a genre of gadget that is almost categorically uninteresting to us, this ultra high-end device has piqued our curiosity. [Celsius X VI II via PCMag]

*If Celsius's shadowy forces silence me for making all of this public, or for ripping the weird promo video from their site without permission, just FOLLOW THE SIGNS.

Google may've delayed the launch of two Samsung and Motorola Android phones last week, but if you speak to the Chinese government, they have no problems with Google (their free-speaking arch-nemesis) offering their wares in the country. [Reuters]

If you need more evidence that American culture has jumped the shark, check out the second Coca Cola phone to hit in as many weeks. There's just one thing worth mentioning: IT ACTUALLY WORKS.

You can even buy it now, and the price is pretty mind boggling too, at just $6.64. Sadly it's not powered by Coca-Cola, nor is it a cellphone, but at 1:1 scale this landline phone will definitely be a talking point at house parties.

The dial pad is located on the base of the cup, and you hold it just like you would a normal phone—look closely, and you can see a mouthpiece and speaker. Pretty crazy stuff. [LightInTheBox via ChipChick via Gearfuse]

One of the most exciting things about Android was the idea that it could be ported back to older handsets. This turned out to be harder than expected, except or a few HTCs and, amazingly, a Palm Treo from 2004.

The 650, which runs old-school Palm OS, must be straining to boot Google's mobile OS, working with just 32MB of RAM and a 312MHz processor—a far cry from even the G1, which isn't known for its snappy performance. But, with time and patience, she flickers to life anyway. And for its mere fact of existence, this Frankensteinian monster should be applauded. Onward and downward, brave Android hackers. [Engadget]

Yes, your eyes are deceiving you, LG's not licensed the StarTAC design. Phew. That telescopic antenna doesn't just harp back to ye olden days though, it also receives a digital TV signal, one of the first US DTV devices.

Joining the Lotus clamshell is the DP570MH portable DVD player, which will play DVDs and over 800 channels of live digital TV thanks to the LG2160A ATSC-M/H chip, which LG's offered to Dell for use in its laptops, and manufacturers of in-car receivers such as Kenwood. The DVD player has a four hour battery life when playing TV, which is only two hours less than the iPod Touch.

I'm all for DTV devices, but surely LG could've picked a better handset to introduce to the US market, considering the Lotus has been floating around since the end of 2008? [LGE via Engadget]

In case you're interested Google, www.Google-Nexus-1.com is being sold buy-it-now for $5,000, described as a "a premier domain name for millions of hits." [eBay]

Here's the story. Designer Jeremiah Whitaker spent nine months at Microsoft working on Windows Mobile 7 (according to his LinkedIn), and published an example of user experience on his site—which is believed to be from Microsoft.

Accompanying the above images, he wrote:

"NDA dictates I keep this vague. For a leading cell platform I created UX flows of common controls and usages. After client review I created flash demos. Those demo's were then reviewed and passed on to SectionSeven development to create interactive prototypes".

The design company SectionSeven has been working with Microsoft recently, so he wasn't exactly encrypting his work on the mobile platform's user experience very well. It's like he wanted to be found out.

The diagrams, while not exactly clear, do hint at the possibility of multitouch for Windows Mobile 7 phones, or at least some new gestures not needed previously on their platforms. Last week a list of the minimum required specs that Microsoft has supposedly issued to manufacturers leaked out, with at least a 3.6-inch WVGA display needed for WinMo7 handsets, along with a 1GHz processor. Both these elements would certainly be well-suited to a multitouch UI. [Jeremiah Whitaker via Microsoft Kitchen via The Unwired]

Firefox Mobile for Android is inevitable, it's just a question of when. While it's still vague, at least we know it's on the cards for late this year, with Mozilla's VP of mobiles telling TechRadar the hold up is due to different code:

"Android has been built on a Java platform, whereas [Firefox Mobile] is based on C and C++ code. Until last year when [the Open Handset Alliance] released the NDK (native development kit) which allowed native code as part of the app, it was simply impossible."

[TechRadar]

These are the first photos of Microsoft's Project Pink phones, snatched from deep within the bowels of the Microsoft/Verizon industrio-complex —not the Turtle, but the larger, Sidekick-like Pure. This doesn't look like Windows Phone 7, so what is it?

The shots come just hours after a leaked advertising campaign for the Turtle outed Verizon as a carrier for the Pink Turtle, without so much as a mention of the Pure.

Our tipster confirms the Pure is also headed to Verizon, but doesn't have a release date. (Though it's hard to imagine the release date would fall too far out of line with the Turtle, which is expected to hit stores at the end of April. Business Week's claim that the release will be May or June of this year supports this.) Anyway, this thing: It's strange! The paneled interface, with fixed squares for everything from music (with Zune typography) and email to RSS feeds and what looks like a unified social networking hub. As hinted earlier, the aesthetic is similar Windows Phone 7, but the software is distinctly not Windows Phone 7. This looks like Windows Phone 7: Feature Phone edition.
Our source got a few seconds to use the Pure, and said it was intuitive, "better than Android," and decorated with Windows Phone 7-style animations throughout. That said, the app situation still doesn't add up. There's apparently an download screen for new apps, but it's not populated with anything yet. This could mean two things: Either the Pink phones will tap into the Windows Phone 7 marketplace somehow, which would be great (but also doesn't make sense), or they'll have apps like the Zune has apps—which is to say, only sort of, and only from selected partners.

The more we see, the more the Pure and Turtle look like they're stacking up to be Zune-ified followups to the Sidekick. It's an interesting move, but who does Microsoft think they're going to sell this thing to? Tweens?

Update: Firmware Leak

We've got our hands on leaked Pink firmware, and we've dumped all the icons and photos we could extract. Sadly, there's not way to run this right now, but we can see a lot of what's shown above, like the homescreen application icons, in full resolution. There are also traces of Zune, as well as Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, and Windows Live. There are some shots (discovered by someone else who's got the firmware) that show a lockscreen dialer, but these are likely placeholders of some sort. Also tucked away in the firmware are default wallpapers for both phones, in their rumored resolutions. Finally, we've got a shot from the Turtle's unremarkable camera, which appears to have flash.

(Filenames included in the gallery, because they're pretty descriptive.)

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Here's what we can glean from the dump so far:

• The carrier is definitely Verizon, though there are references in the firmware to AT&T and T-Mobile in the US (which are probably placeholders, since the rest of the evidence points to CDMA radios as standard for these phones.) There are also references to a wide range of foreign carriers in the UK, mainland Europe and Asia, but again, most of these carriers don't support what looks like the initial version of the handset's CDMA hardware, as far as I can tell.

• The OS is based on Windows CE, like the Zune and Windows Phone 7. This doesn't mean a ton to users, but the guy who passed us the firmware sums up what that means under the hood:

Everything is programed in .NET a lot like 7 is. It does not say it inside the files where I have seen, but It is coded in XAMl and is in the structure that CE 7 is supposed to be structured, it is my belief that it will be based off CE 7, and it will have a lot of tie in to Windows Live as well.

• Turtle and Pure codenames are used in the firmware, but that doesn't mean that those'll be the shipping names for the product. There are also codenames for the "Pride" and "Lion" handsets, which appear to just be the international versions of the Turtle and Pure, respectively.

• The Turtle's screen is 320x240, while the Pure's is 480x320—the same as the iPhone.

• There are reference to something called "The Loop," which sounds like some kind of central social networking hub.

We're powering through the firmware dump now, so we'll post more as we get it. [Special thanks to our tipsters, and Conflipper]

In between all the exciting rumors of when Google's Nexus One will be released and how much it will cost, there's at least something that's confirmed: Google submitted a trademark application for "Nexus One."

Android.in writes that the application was filed on December 10th, a bit before all the excitement about Nexus One began, which they speculate could mean that there'll be little involvement by carriers, but who knows at this point? I'm just going to keep staring at mysterious countdowns. [AndroidOS.in]

Joking they were not, when Google vowed to take down China. Ok, that's not exactly what they said—but after refusing to launch two Android phones there mid-January, they've now pulled out of a developers event in Beijing. Updated.

Following developer events at TED and MWC (plus the upcoming GDC), they were scheduled to tour around Asia, visiting Hong Kong, Taiwan and Beijing with armfuls of Nexus Ones to give away. Really driving the point home, they've pulled out ahead of the event next week. Not launching Android phones from Motorola and Samsung is one thing, but no Nexus Ones? This could be the end of China's censorship, for once and for all. [Reuters]

Update: A Google spokesperson contacted All Things D to set the record straight: Google didn't cancel any event in Beijing, because there was no Beijing stop on the Nexus One tour to start with.

The spokesperson explained: "The reports are incorrect...There was not a Nexus One launch event scheduled in Beijing. Google is hosting 3 Android Developer Labs in Asia over the next couple weeks in Singapore, Taipei, and Hong Kong...We never planned to hold an Android Developer Lab in Beijing, and suggestions that we did plan one are not true." [All Things D]

Google Earth is available on Android! (Isn't is weird that this didn't happen earlier? It's been on the iPhone for a year! Anyway.) The catch? For now, it only works on the Nexus One, which basically nobody owns. Don't worry, Droiders: Soon.

For now, Google Earth will only work on handsets with Android 2.1, which effectively limits it to the Nexus One. The good news is that the Droid, and some older HTC handsets, are due for a 2.1 upgrade relatively soon. The bad news is that even Google can't even escape Android's increasingly worrying fragmentation problem with its own apps, on its own operating system. This doesn't bode well.

Anyway, the app looks almost exactly like it does on the iPhone, meaning that you get to play God with a barren, lifeless Earth, in full 3D, with your fingers. Oh, and there's voice navigation! So there's that. [AndroidGuys]

It will no longer cost you more to cancel a Nexus One contract than it does to buy a Nexus One. But Google's still imposing a $150 "equipment recovery fee" on top of T-Mobile's $200 ETF.

The change comes on the heels of an FCC inquiry into out-of-control termination fees. Up until now, Nexus One owners were expected to pay $350 in the event of canceling or downgrading their T-Mobile contracts within 120 days. With the new Terms of Sale, however:

"You agree to pay Google an equipment subsidy recovery fee (the "Equipment Recovery Fee") in the event you cancel or downgrade your wireless plan within 120 days of activation of wireless service. If you activate a new line of service with T-Mobile, your Equipment Recovery Fee will be $150 USD if you cancel or downgrade your service plan within 120 days of activation."

Obviously, Google doesn't want folks selling phones under contract for profit, and they claim not to make any money off of equipment recovery. But while $150 extra is better than $350 extra, it's still a huge fine to impose on someone for changing their mind. [Google Terms of Sale via WSJ]

Less than 24 hours after Google employees were gifted Nexus One Google phones, and started twitpic-ing them, the handset has turned up on FCC's site with a few of the specs detailed.

With the model number PB99100, the HTC-built "NEXUSONE" (as it's listed) is apparently quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, as we heard yesterday, with UMTS/HSUPA on the 850/1700/1900 frequencies, according to the FCC-digging Engadget. This means that the Nexus One will be capable of 2Mbps upload speeds and 7.2Mbps download speeds.

Other specs discovered amongst the FCC jargon include a microSD card slot, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1. Got any more details for us? Hit us up on tips@gizmodo.com now. [Engadget]

Another personal encounter with the Nexus One is recorded in history forever, and while Tnkgrl wasn't allowed to exercise her camera finger, she's written on her blog that it's "extremely thin," but more importantly, there's a severe lack of multitouch...UPDATE

While she concedes that it's "much nicer looking in person," the lack of multitouch in the browser and Maps is a bummer. Here's what she noticed when having a fondle with the Nexus One:

- It's much nicer looking in person than in pictures
- There's a 4 GB micro-SD card installed
- The battery capacity is 1400 mAh
- The screen appears to be OLED (same size/resolution as the Motorola Droid)
- 3G works on T-Mobile USA :)
- I can confirm that there's no 3G on AT&T (EGDE only)
- It's definitely unlocked
- It's super snappy! Faster than the Droid…
- There's no multitouch support in the browser or in Google Maps
- There's no dedicated camera key, but it's the same camera interface as the Droid
- The trackball can be used to focus (like on other HTC devices)
- Low-light performance is decent, but the flash is weak
- Calls are routed the normal way, not using data (VoIP), and sound fine
- The home screen is divided into 5 panes (like the Sense interface on the HTC Hero)
- It's using a micro-USB connector for data/power
- There are some gold contacts at the bottom edge, for a dock perhaps?
- Did I mention it's fast?

The lack of a camera button disturbs me, but other than that, it sounds like a fairly ho-hum Android phone. [Tnkgrl via Engadget]

UPDATE: Alright commenters, you have your wish. Tnkgrl only said there's no multitouch support "in the browser or in Google Maps," which still doesn't eliminate the option of multitouch in other areas of the phone. And of course, it's still just early days yet—there's no reason to believe that Tnkgrl got her hands on a final production unit.

Google wasn't exactly dancing for joy at the first week sales figures of the Nexus One, if the rumored 20,000 units is anything to go by. But that could change, with a Walmart advert saying it's "coming soon."

Currently only Google and T-Mobile sell the Nexus One in the States, although Verizon is supposedly going to stock it sometime in 2010.

No clues on when it'll actually go on sale, or how much it'll set you back, but with Walmart Wireless trying to corner that lucrative cheapie zone, with any luck they'll have some good deals for the Nexus One. [Walmart via Android Community]

Yesterday's report from Android tracking site AndroLib that the Android Market had probably surpassed 20,000 apps was heartening for Android users and industry watchers alike. Minor issue! According to Google, they overshot the figure by about 20%. Still, the current count of 16,000 apps sit on a pretty healthy growth curve, if not a particularly steep one. So anyway, continue to party! Just a little less hearty. [MobileCrunch]

Over at DroidForums they've got a tutorial on how to hack your Droid to enable GUI Wi-Fi tethering, as Moto's Android may do many things, but it stops short at hooking up with your laptop or other wireless gadget.

Modder WebAcoustics says of the hack:

"Please note that this involves rooting your phone, installing a custom recovery image, and a custom kernel. This is not for the faint of heart"

If that doesn't intimidate you, then hop on over to DroidForums for the details. [DroidForums via The Gadgets via Engadget]

A few blurry pics and a viral video that was promptly yanked from YouTube have led to the official announcement of the Puma Phone, aka, the phone that makes me wish I was more sporty.

When I was a kid, if someone turned up wearing Puma sneakers instead of Nike/Adidas/Converse, they were ridiculed. Looking back, it was pretty harsh, but had we known Puma would be putting its name to a phone this stylish, I doubt we would've hung that poor kid from his shoelaces on the monkeybars. (I kid, obviously—it was from his braces.)

Despite this phone being made by Sagem (not exactly a brand you can boast about), it's a pretty incredible device—the specs are decent enough, but the overall experience of using one is amazing. It's been styled to an inch of its life, with every corner of the custom OS looking like it's stepped out of a graphic designer's wet dream.

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It's a pretty ordinary touchscreen phone shape, feels nice in your hand with quite a good build (it actually reminded me a bit of the first HTC Touch in terms of size and shape, only painted with gloss), but not as well built as the stuff coming out of HTC nowadays. It's light, but does feel quite plastic.

Flipping it over though reveals the kicker—a solar panel for charging in the sun. It's not the first phone with a solar panel, but Puma's paws have got right into the nitty gritty of the functionality—with the phone telling you how many minutes you've got charged up by solar power, and what that translates to in terms of messages you can send, minutes you can talk for, and so on.

It also rewards you, with the minutes being exchanged for Puma merchandise in the store. It's a really neat touch, and will definitely be an incentive to charge as much as you can by mother nature's rays.

Sadly, it's the screen that lets the hardware down—it's a 2.8-inch QVGA TFT capacitive touchscreen with 240 x 320 pixels, and while it was responsive it just wasn't the sharpest picture we've seen on a phone. It may do with the fact that every single screen is bright red, but even looking at Dylan, the Puma Phone's pet puma, who strolls past the screen roaring at you, it was a bit of a muddy image.

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There's two ways you can go on the homescreen—towards the sports side, or the lifestyle screen. Sports has all the fitness programs, like a pedometer, bike tracker, run tracker, compass, alarm, stopwatch and RSS for sports-related news. Every program is very Puma Phone—bright red, and stylised.

The lifestyle screen has everything else you could possibly need—music player (which is a very cool turntable, where you see the arm dropping the Puma logo-record onto the player and then spinning around—it actually lets you scratch); messages, email, camera and so on. The social app opens up to display your Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube accounts, which are pretty basic but quite clear and easy to use.

Shooting photos on the 3.2-megapixel camera was pretty similar to the experience of using an Android phone—very easy to use, and the LED flash and 6x digital zoom worked well too. I took a few snaps in the bright strip lighting-lit room and they were clear with no visible complaints. It also handles video conferencing at VGA resolution (see that forward-facing camera, there?), but I didn't try that out.

To make a call quickly, or get to one of your other oft-used apps, the 'magic carpet' can be pulled up, almost like the opposite of Android's curtain, which comes down. There, you can make a quick phone call or see the Puma store.

Needless to say, I think it'll be a real shocker at Mobile World Congress. While Microsoft's big Windows Phone 7 was surprising, we kind of expected it to deliver on the good stuff. The Puma Phone has come out of nowhere, and I can definitely see it becoming a viable second phone for anyone sporty-inclined. It won't replace your smartphone, but there's enough new features and incentives to continue using it (charging the solar panel to collect enough points to buy Puma stuff), so it's definitely worth your attention. [Puma Phone]

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Video from our friends at Recombu:

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Leaked photos of the BlackBerry Magnum (aka, a cross between a Bold 9000 and Storm, aka, my DREAM BlackBerry) didn't manage to illustrate that touchscreen well, but how 'bout a video fondling?

While The Cellular Guru's Magnum was just a prototype, lacking in a working OS, he was able to demonstrate the touchscreen display and Bold 9000-type aesthetics. As someone who's owned both the 9000 and 9700, I've got to say I'm pleased to see a return to the more premium build quality, though I'm hopeful the back will be made with the same leatherette finish (the prototype in the video was missing the back cover).

Other notables are the larger keyboard, optical trackpad and micro USB port. It remains to be seen whether the touchscreen will improve on the first and second-gen Storm's efforts, but here's hoping it'll be more responsive. I don't think my little heart could take the pain of having a touchscreen QWERTY 'berry with a buggy display.

Check out the video for the intimate fondling of the Magnum (and comparison between the 9000 and 9700), and with any luck we won't have to wait too long for this device to get the official nod, with Mobile World Congress just weeks away. [The Cellular Guru]

Inspired by the Nexus One (which HTC made), the Desire—or Bravo, if you prefer—has a 3.7-inch AMOLED screen with multitouch, with 480 x 800 pixels. It's the best display I've seen on a phone for a while.

Internally, a 1Ghz Snapdragon chip, 512MB of ROM and 576MB of RAM, 1400 mAh battery, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS all lurk. The camera is 5.0-megapixels with autofocus and flash. It's running Android 2.1 with HTC Sense, and will be available in a couple of months time. It's better-specced than the Legend, but with those looks, the Legend will steal the show I'm sure.

gawkerGallery(5472643,5,'');

newVideoPlayer( {"type":"video","player":"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/tL60j3iDgLk&hl=en&fs=1&fmt=22","customParams":[],"width":500,"height":412,"ratio":0.824,"flashData":"","embedName":null,"objectId":null,"noEmbed":false,"source":"youtube"} ); If you're a Nexus One owner and you have a sense of adventure—or are black-out drunk—you can now flash an alpha version of the leaked HTC Desire ROM on your phone. Speaking of Flash, this ROM has it.

Have you secretly harbored Desire-envy ever since its unveiling at MWC? This is your chance to close the gap; the Desire ROM will give you its Sense UI as well as support for Flash 10.1, apparently.

Of course, this is all very experimental, so things are buggy and it's more of a curiosity than a permanent makeover. But a cool curiosity, nonetheless. As usual, proceed with extreme caution. [Redmond Pie via Boy Genius Report]

Inspired by the Nexus One (which HTC made), the Desire—or Bravo, if you prefer—has a 3.7-inch AMOLED screen with multitouch, with 480 x 800 pixels. It's the best display I've seen on a phone for a while.

Internally, a 1Ghz Snapdragon chip, 512MB of ROM and 576MB of RAM, 1400 mAh battery, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS all lurk. The camera is 5.0-megapixels with autofocus and flash. It's running Android 2.1 with HTC Sense, and will be available in a couple of months time. It's better-specced than the Legend, but with those looks, the Legend will steal the show I'm sure.

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Here's what our friends at TechRadar had to say in their hands on:

Those that watched the Nexus One announcement unfold but wished that HTC had plugged its cool Sense overlay onto the phone will be pleased, as this is what the Desire is all about.

Essentially it's the same phone as the Google Nexus One, with the slim 11.9 depth chassis and smooth exterior making it a real joy to hold in the hand.

It's a little on the large side thanks to packing a 3.7-inch OLED screen, but HTC has had a look at the few foibles the Nexus One has and sorted them out on the Desire.

The main difference lives on the front of the phone - the trackball has been replaced with an optical option instead, meaning a less tactile feel when trying to navigate through menus.

It's not a real negative point though - it's just that some people might have to take a while to get used to not actually scrolling anything physical.

The touch sensitive buttons on the front of the HTC Desire, which our review pointed out were a little bit fiddly, have been replaced by physical keys, which respond nicely to the touch and allow easier access through the phone.

The Sense UI is back in force on top of Android 2.1, and it's even more cracking than before. The phone is fully multi-touch enabled, and this is never better exemplified than in the Leap view.

Simply pinch inwards on one of the home screens, and the Desire shows off all the currently running displays in an easy to poke format, meaning no more scrolling to get to the other end of your screen.

The WVGA screen is just tip-top for multimedia as well - we've moaned in the past that the Android music player is staid and boring.

But we're glad to report that this element has been put right with the Sense overlay, offering you the chance to slide through artists, albums and songs at the bottom of the device.

Video on the Desire also looks great, as you might imagine - you can watch all variety of codecs on the phone and the 3.7-inch OLED screen gives some scarily deep blacks and lovely colour saturation, as well as a terrific response time for fast moving scenes.

The internet browser on the HTC Desire is up there with the best of them - we managed to load a couple of fairly heavy websites in a few seconds - over an EDGE connection, which is miles faster than most competitors.

We're mightily impressed with the HTC Desire, and can see that this is going to be a real iPhone contender in 2010, no matter what Steve Jobs brings out later this year.

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Photos courtesy of Tech Radar.

One phone that didn't get leaked to death before the announcement was HTC's HD Mini. After yesterday's WinPho7 launch, Windows Mobile 6.5.3 may seem tired, but the hardware on this industrial wonder is anything but.

I mentioned the word "industrial," which is possibly the best word I can think of it. If the Legend is the sexy younger sister, and the Desire is the brainy older sister, then the HD Mini is the younger emo brother. With visible screws on each corner of the back, it's rugged, hard and very manly, almost giving the Droid a run for its money. It may not be powered by Android, but I still think this phone is worth your attention—at least, until Windows Phone Series 7 launches.

Photos courtesy of our friends at ElectricPig

Specs-wise, the 3.2-inch capacitive HVGA screen has 320 X 480 pixels, a 600Mhz processor has been used, and RAM and ROM are at 384MB and 512MB respectively. The camera is the typical 5.0-megapixel autofocus/flash affair, and Bluetooth, GPS and Wi-Fi are included—you can actually turn the phone into a Wi-Fi hotspot, like with the HD2.

Here's a video from Recombu, who deemed it "small and slightly pointless." But only slightly!
newVideoPlayer( {"type":"video","player":"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/JB7gXIsUby8&hl=en&fs=1&fmt=22","customParams":[],"width":500,"height":412,"ratio":0.824,"flashData":"","embedName":null,"objectId":null,"noEmbed":false,"source":"youtube"} );

Slicked over Windows Mobile is HTC Sense, which makes it bearable, but with Windows Phone 7 Series just around the corner, the HD Mini may just find it's the slightly-emo stepchild.

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One phone that didn't get leaked to death before the announcement was HTC's HD Mini. After yesterday's WinPho7 launch, Windows Mobile 6.5.3 may seem tired, but the hardware on this industrial wonder is anything but.

I mentioned the word "industrial," which is possibly the best word I can think of it. If the Legend is the sexy younger sister, and the Desire is the brainy older sister, then the HD Mini is the younger emo brother. With visible screws on each corner of the back, it's rugged, hard and very manly, almost giving the Droid a run for its money. It may not be powered by Android, but I still think this phone is worth your attention—at least, until Windows Phone Series 7 launches.

Specs-wise, the 3.2-inch capacitive HVGA screen has 320 X 480 pixels, a 600Mhz processor has been used, and RAM and ROM are at 384MB and 512MB respectively. The camera is the typical 5.0-megapixel autofocus/flash affair, and Bluetooth, GPS and Wi-Fi are included—you can actually turn the phone into a Wi-Fi hotspot, like with the HD2.

Slicked over Windows Mobile is HTC Sense, which makes it bearable, but with Windows Phone 7 Series just around the corner, the HD Mini may just find it's the slightly-emo stepchild.

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Waking up to fresh photos of an unofficial phone is always welcome, but I do wish all these spyshots of the HTC Incredible would be accompanied with a bit of meat. Some bacon for my breakfast, you could say.

It's already shown up in Verizon Wireless' inventory system, and we've heard a few details on the inner workings of the handset—but as to when it's expected to go on sale, why don't you tell me, eh punk? [DevDroid via AndroidCentral]

The HTC Incredible, a leaked cellphone code name that first made the rounds back in December, is the real deal, as seen in these sneak peak pics from Pocket Now. Can you say brown? You'll see: Updated.

Very original Zune coloring, no? Lots of contours and wacky shapes going on in the rear too (and probably a prototype placeholder, we hope).

There are some specs to go along with the leak, those being an Android 2.1 OS with HTC Sense, running on a Snapdragon CPU. A rumored 256MB of RAM accompanies a roughly 3.5-3.7" WVGA screen (possibly AMOLED? That's unconfirmed).

Dual LED flashes adorn the brownish backplate, and an optical mouse pointer resides down near the bottom. Thoughts?

Update: Now with video:

Now it looks red... [Pocket Now]

The chocolate brown HTC Incredible has reappeared on the scene, this time in Verizon Wireless' inventory system. Is the Android phone close to announcement? It's peculiar HTC hasn't officially announced it yet, instead outing the Legend and Desire.

The Android 2.1 phone (with HTC Sense slicked on top) is rumored to run on a Snapdragon processor, with 256MB of RAM and a 3.5 - 3.7-inch WVGA display. If traces of the Incredible are appearing on Verizon's system, then it'd make sense if it's outed shortly—right, HTC? [Berry Scoop via Android Community]

Image Credit: Pocketnow

Glimpsed in the most hi-res outfit we've seen so far is the HTC Legend, which—if rumors prove correct—should be shown off next week at MWC.

It still looks like the Hero only with a unibody aluminum shell, but according to Dutch carrier KPN it'll go on sale March. KPN's advert for the Legend touts it as having a 600Mhz processor, an optical trackpad instead of the ball seen on previous models, and a 3.2-inch AMOLED capacitive touchscreen. The other specs gleaned from KPN seem par for the course—a 5.0-megapixel camera with LED flash, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and Android 2.1 (Eclair), and it looks like it'll be running HTC Sense, the Android skin which they've used on a lot of their recent models.

The leaked pics we saw recently of the Legend showed it as having black plastic inserts at the base and top of the back casing, where the SIM card, microSD card slot and camera are. It's still got a chin by the looks of the profile photo on KPN's site, but if you ask me that's a good thing. This is definitely a phone to get excited about. [Tweakers via Electronista]

That HTC Legend handset from the leaked roadmap we saw the other week has just been given another airing in public, with the Hero-esque aesthetics and specs revealed. LED flash, anyone?

Part of the "Lifestyle" range of phones HTC is cooking up, the Legend will contain a Qualcomm MSM7227 processor, which was revealed earlier this year for budget (sub-$150) smartphones. It'll be fast, but it's no Snapdragon, with the CPU clocking in at 600MHz. Internal memory is listed at 512MB with 256MB RAM, and the battery is a 1300 mAh floozy—again, nothing special, with the Hero having a 1500 mAh battery.

A 3.2-inch HVGA AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 5.0-megapixel camera with autofocus and LED flash (a one-up on the Hero, there), microSD slot, Bluetooth 2.1, GPS, G-sensor, digital compass, 3.5mm headphone jack and microUSB port round the Legend off nicely, but it's only the addition of an optical trackpad and LED flash which are the main differences between this and the Hero. Supposedly it'll launch in March according to Ai.rs, and the leaked roadmap of launches. I've still got one more question for HTC—will the bottom of the chin actually be red or green? [Ai.rs]

HTC's had some faulty plumbing lately: first pics of the Incredible leak over the weekend, and now we've got our first look at the HTC Legend in the wild—complete with an ooo-shiny aluminum back.

The design—particularly the aluminum casing and optical sensor trackpad—jives with what we'd heard recently, as does the apparent HTC Sense interface.

It's a different look for HTC, but I'd say not an unwelcome one. It's especially comforting to know we're not looking at a slew of brown-backed *cough* Incredible *cough* handsets. If the rest of the rumored specs—inclduing a 5.0-megapixel with LED flash, a 600MHz Qualcomm MSM7227 processor, and 512MB of internal memory—pan out, this looks like a nice step up from the Hero. Hopefully we'll find out for sure at the Mobile World Congress next week. [Engadget]

Running Android 2.1 with HTC Sense, it's got a 3.2-inch AMOLED screen with 320 x 480 pixels, capacitive but of course. The camera is 5.0-megapixels with autofocus and flash; there's a 600 MHz processor and 512MB ROM (with microSD card slot), 384MB of RAM. The battery is 1300 mAh, so a bit less than the Hero, and the usual Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS are included.

One interesting thing to note about the Legend is that it's got a few new tricks up its Android sleeve. A "helicopter view" which is almost like Mac OS X's exposé means you can pinch the screen to view all the five Android homescreens, switching between the widgets easily.

A new FriendStream scrobbles all status updates. photos and links from your various social networking sites (currently, Twitter, Facebook and Flickr are supported), but you can still use the individual widgets and apps if you prefer.

It's out in Europe late March/early April in Europe, with worldwide availability to be confirmed. I've got to say, after getting hands-on with it recently this will definitely be my next Android handset.

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With HTC's upcoming crop of Androids, you'll be able to separate people into two distinct groups: those who spring for the brainier, better-specced Desire, and those who get bowled over by the beautiful, yet lesser-specced Legend.

The Desire (or Nexus One) is the final word in the Androidsphere—it's a mark of someone who knows what they're doing, who wants to show people they NEED that extra computing power. If you compare it to the Legend, you could be justified in saying Legend-salivators are more shallow, ignoring the might of a Snapdragon processor in lieu of a unibody aluminum shell and slim build.

You'd be wrong, however.

I Mean, It Is Just a Sequel

The internal upgrades are minor, when you consider it next to the HTC Hero, but like the Empire Strikes Back, sometimes sequels are far better than the original. While we found the Hero "tragically flawed" in its slugginess, the Legend's slightly more powerful 600MHz processor behaved—well, like a legend. The 3.2-inch screen has the same amount of pixels as the Hero, but swaps the HVGA for a more superior AMOLED. The 5.0-megapixel camera is still the same quality, but has the much-welcomed addition of a flash. You get the picture—the Legend is building on the Hero's quality in incremental upgrades, but every change, however minor, radicalizes the experience of using the Legend.

It's running Android 2.1, which as any Hero owner knows should be released as an over-the-air update soon. One day. The jump from 1.6 to 2.1 is impressive—it's a lot faster, the multitouch is better, there's greater integration of social networking profiles with contacts, and HTML5 support, amongst other—admittedly small—changes.

Design Works

Plain and simple—the Legend is the most well-built phone I've ever had in my hand. You just know when you feel the weight of it, the cool curved exterior of the unibody aluminum shell, and touch the ultra-responsive touchscreen. It's that sensation when you first tenderly held the original iPhone, which has been long-missing in the market.

The bottom and top of the back is actually made from rubberized plastic though, so there are no issues with wireless signals—unlike the first generation of the iPhone. Removing part of the case reveals a very thin battery and a touch-sensitive catch which keeps the SIM and microSD cards encased. It's a small point, but it's also the most polished example of a phone's innards that I've ever seen.

Just like BlackBerry, HTC is migrating its trackballs to optical trackpads. This is a relief, but in actual fact I barely had to use the trackpad—only when having to make an edit when typing out messages or emails. The screen is just so responsive, with nary a wrongly-actioned command made, that you can imagine HTC forgoing the trackpad altogether at a later date.

Only eight buttons reside on the Legend's body. The on/off button up top, the two volume controls on the top left, and then on the lower face, home, menu, back and search. They all worked well, though the home, menu, back and search keys did feel a bit cheap in comparison to the high-end feeling of the rest of the handset.

Same Old Camera?

HTC's used the same 5.0-megapixel camera as we saw on the Hero, but the addition of a flash is a new and exciting step for them—strange as that sounds. As you can see from the two photos below, the flash is very strong—too strong, I'd say. However, the quality is decent in lowlight conditions—noisy for sure, but I've seen worse.

My friends in lowlight at a cinema before Alice In Wonderland 3D

In daytime I had a lot more luck. Testing it out on some cakes in my kitchen in the late afternoon sun retained the nice rays of sun across the cakes, with the yellow of the flowers showing up bright. But even at 5MP, the general image performance isn't enough to ditch your point and shoot just yet.

Testing indoors with daylight

More Sense Than HTC Sense

Most manufacturers are skinning Android with their own proprietary interfaces...MOTOBLUR, Mediascape, S-Class, they're ok, but I'd almost rather use Android in its natural flavor than have to put up with some of their issues.

There just ain't no Android phone like a HTC Sense Android phone. It's simply the best skin an Android could ask for, even without the minor improvements seen in the Legend. By far the pick of the bunch is the new "Leap" view—or "Helicopter view" as it was known in-house when designed. It works much like Mac OS X's Exposé function, bringing all seven homescreens up as thumbnails. The feature is very useful, particularly if you just can't remember which screen your mail, or the weather widget, is listed on. The pinch command takes some getting used to, but once you've got the gesture down-pat, it's a godsend.

Leap—or helicopter—view

But with ever feature that will be used often comes one with no point at all. FriendStream is a nice enough widget, which collates all your friends' updates from Twitter, Facebook and Flickr into one feed, but for anyone who's a purist and likes to see every form of update on each social networking site, it will be removed quickly from the homescreen. I preferred using HTC's own brilliant Twitter widget, Peep, for the full Twitter options, and the Facebook app to see every form of action. The Flickr integration is handy, being able to see when my contacts upload photos, but not necessary if you get email notifications already.

Plus, FriendStream just felt slow sometimes—in fact, on a very speedy phone, it felt incongruous in comparison to everything else, often updating with tweets quite a few minutes later than the Twitter widget did. It's not a big problem, but for someone who relies on Twitter heavily as a source of entertainment, it became a source of frustration.

FriendStream

Respectable Battery Life

The Legend ran 36 hours before it died on me. Not too bad, considering I had an hour-long call plus about five shorter ones, sent and received around 20 text messages, and spent almost a whole day browsing the web, checking Twitter, and showing it off to my friends. After the horror of seeing my G1's battery deplete in half a day when I first bought it, the Legend's 1300mAh battery ran to my satisfaction.

The Legend Is The Most Solid Android Phone I've Used

True, other phones may be better specced, but with that premium build it's like comparing a Sony Vaio (not a bad laptop, sure) to a MacBook. Sometimes there's just no contest. While the extra horsepower and added touches of the Nexus One and Desire are nice, I found the Legend more than satisfactory.

It wasn't sluggish, certainly didn't have bugs or issues like the G1 and Hero, and while it'll inevitably slow down and have you cursing the fact you didn't spring for something with a Snapdragon chip, I'm going to award it possibly the highest accolade a reviewer can gift a device: I'm going to upgrade to one.

It's not the best Android phone. That badge still belongs to the Nexus One, or possibly the Desire, when we review it. But it's one of the best all-rounders, when you consider the hardware—and the feeling you're left with once it leaves your hand. I feel bereft without it.

Superb hardware quality

HTC Sense is better than ever

Addition of camera flash

Super-fast and responsive

FriendStream could be faster

Camera flash isn't perfect

The HTC Legend hasn't been announced for the US market yet, with the European launch sometime this month.

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HTC swept the show with the sexy Legend, well-specced Desire and rugged WinMo HD Mini, and while US availability hasn't been confirmed yet we can let our UK readers in on the good news. All phones will hit eXpansys on the 12th of April, with the HD Mini at £349.99, the Legend at £399.99 and Desire at £449.99.

Alternatively, T-Mobile and Orange will be flogging the Desire, with carriers for the Legend and HD Mini not yet confirmed. [eXpansys]

UPDATE: Commenter Hearthatvoiceagain tells me O2 and Vodafone will also have the Desire. As will 3 Mobile—it's turning into quite a free-for-all type handset. Anyone got news on the Legend or HD Mini?

A new feature that's making its way onto all of HTC's Android phones via its Sense overlay is the "helicopter view," as they call it internally. It's like Mac OS X's Exposé function, letting you see all homescreens instantly.

Recombu has shot a hands-on video of the Desire, which specs-wise is identical to the Nexus One, only with HTC Sense slicked over the top. It's a quick look at what to expect, and how you'll be accessing all those lovely homescreen widgets in the future. [Recombu]

newVideoPlayer( {"type":"video","player":"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/coN-ZMW4TLs&hl=en&fs=1&fmt=22","customParams":[],"width":500,"height":412,"ratio":0.824,"flashData":"","embedName":null,"objectId":null,"noEmbed":false,"source":"youtube"} );

This isn't a Nexus One celebrating Gay Pride month—it's CNET Crave UK's broken Google phone. According to HTC's technical support, "they don't go in pockets," lest the screen gets cracked.

Only thing is, Crave UK swears up and down the Nexus One suffered the damages while charging on a desk—with no tampering by vicious iPhone users recorded. After being recommended by Google to speak to HTC's technical support, Crave was told that "putting a phone in a tight pair of jeans and sitting down would usually cause the kind of damage," and that "people sometimes forget that they don't go in pockets." Say what?

Here's the second stinging lash—the cracked screen will cost £180 to fix. That's $270, or $100 more than the whole phone's parts cost, according to iSuppli. Yeouch. [Crave UK]

From Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish, a reader writes in to remark on the continued place of youtube, twitter and the camera phone in Iran's struggle:

Watching your continuing coverage of the people of Iran continuing their fight for freedom I was struck, and touched, by the presence, in every picture, in every piece of footage, by the universal presence of cellphones and cameras. No matter how chaotic, no matter how frightened they may be, the protesters held their phones high. Not a brave few but a brave many pressed into the violence, stood right next to the regimes thugs and pointed their cameras. It seems like the ultimate act of defiance; no matter how you try to shut us down or shut us up, we will expose you. You can kill us, but the world will know that we never stopped fighting.

I urge you to continue to use your platform to show us this incredible fight. Before this started, the people of Iran seemed alien and vaguely threatening. Now, I see a young woman, veil shoved back and cellphone in the air, and this lefty atheist woman sees a sister clear across the world.

I sometime imagine that what we write about here is not important, but then a post like this comes along and reminds me that gadgets are more than toys and corporate tools for some in this world. And it makes me very happy.
[The Daily Dish]

Moblin is, of course, the open source mobile Linux that's been seen on phones and netbooks with Intel's Atom processor. Maemo was seen on Nokia's N900, and was pretty much heralded as the savior for their phones, especially with the latest version, Maemo 6, expected to debut on some phones this year.

While the jury is out on whether we need another mobile OS, MeeGo "will acelerate industry innovation and time-to-market for a wealth of new internet-based applications and services and exciting user experiences," according to reps from both Intel and Nokia, at a Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona.

Actual firm information on what MeeGo will look like, do or why the hell there's a market for it are beyond me, but all shall be revealed soon, I'm sure. [MeeGo via TechRadar]

From the MeeGo site:

MeeGo includes:

* Performance optimizations and features which enable rich computational and graphically oriented applications and connected services development
* No-compromise internet standards support delivering the best web experiences
* Easy to use, flexible and powerful UI/app development environment based on Qt
* Open source project organization managed by the Linux Foundation
* State of the Art Linux stack optimized for the size and capabilities of small footprint platforms and mobile devices, but delivering broad linux software application compatibility

MeeGo currently targets platforms such as netbooks/entry-level desktops, handheld computing and communications devices, in-vehicle infotainment devices, connected TVs, and media phones. All of these platforms have common user requirements in communications, application, and internet services in a portable or small form factor. The MeeGo project will continue to expand platform support as new features are incorporated and new form factors emerge in the market.

Word is that Apple has added a new layer to the approval process, called a static analysis tool. This particular static analysis tool is intended to scan for the use of private APIs in submitted apps, and flag them if it finds any. For quite a few people, evidently, this means that apps that were kosher a while ago are, with their next updates, very suddenly not. Time for a FORENSIC RECAP! From Craig Hockenberry, developer of Twitterrific, and Guy Who Noticed This Early:

To which John Gruber (Daring Fireball) knowingly responded:
So yeah, what the hell does any of this mean?

Apple gives developers a bunch of public application programming interface (APIs) which are essentially documented, permitted tools or calls that they can invoke in their apps. For example, Apple has an API for recording microphone input, which developers can use, and which Apple, by publishing them, has basically promised to keep intact and working. Private APIs are calls and features that only Apple uses, and which they don't really tell developers about. There could be a few reasons for this: either they specifically don't want developers to use them, for security or consistency reasons, or they're not finished and subject to change, which means that for devs to use them would be risky—their apps could just break with the next system update, since these private APIs are, in effect, volatile. Remember all those early jailbreak apps, before the App Store was open? Those were built using entirely private APIs, many of which became public later. Anyway!

There's always been an official ban on the use of private APIs, but Apple hadn't really been enforcing it to date, partly because it's just hard to tell sometimes—unless the private API is used in a terribly obvious way, finding them is a matter of taking to apps with a fine-toothed code-comb, which the current crew obviously can't do, and which machines—as in, software—would be good at. With these new static analysis tools, Apple has created a machine filter for apps that breach this rule.

Given that actually App Store policy hasn't changed, this shouldn't amount to anything more than better rule enforcement for app devs. Shouldn't. Introducing something automated like this, even if it's a "serious tool, not simplistic" as Gruber claims, is bound to end in tears. Congratulations, developers! Your next appeal against app rejection will be to a piece of software, which has no capacity to feel your pain. Devs: Let us know if you've run up against this thing in the comments, and if it was fair. [Twitt-ah]

As an iPhone user, I definitely chuckled a bit, before I returned to weeping silently in a corner as my phone tried to make an outgoing call from the greater Boston area without success. Must be the storm. Must be. [YouTube via Engadget]

I have to admit I was surprised at the iPhone and BlackBerry 8300 series did so well here—the two most popular handsets in the country, going into 2010, are full-fledged smartphones. Also surprising: people still buy Razrs. Razrs!

Motorola's fall from grace started when they couldn't come up with a serious successor to the megapopular original Razr, so it's kind of sad to see that right up until their Android renaissance—and maybe even through it—the Razr, now in version 3, is still a core part of their business. But there's a broader point here, about how people use their phones: there are still plenty of folks lingering in the dull, barely-connected land of the dumbphone, where LG appears to be King, but they're emigrating in droves, because they crave one thing: internet:

Smart, dumb, whatever: today, phones are for going online. Which, if you believe Nielson's scores, means phones—especially smartphone—are pretty much for Google. Now, get your pencils out, and let's draw a straight line between Google's dominance on the mobile web and the mysterious but very real Nexus One. Easy, wasn't it? [Nielson]

One of the first questions I asked HTC when I saw the HD2 was "will it come with Android?" Don't get me wrong, I'm a WinMo user from way back, but with that 4.3-inch screen, it's perfect for Google's OS.

If these leaked photos of the HTC Supersonic are anything to go by, then it seems HTC has enough sense to do a similarly-specced phone, but with Android. Like the HD2, the screen is 4.3-inches, and internally there's meant to be a 1GHz Snapdragon chip, and a 5.0-megapixel camera. The extremely blurry photos turned up on the Android Mobile OS site, with the sneaky-snapper claiming it'll be carried by Sprint and will be a WiMAX device, but curiously it'll only be running Android 2.1, though HTC's brilliant Sense skin will be prominent on it.

We don't like to put too much faith in all these grainy leaked pics, but if it's true, the Supersonic will be my next phone for sure. [Android Mobile OS via Android Community Slashgear]

After eyeing up renders, this caught-in-the-wild snapshot of the HTC Bravo comes accompanied with information on its Android partner the Legend, which hasn't been salivated over quite as much as it should, considering it's supposedly packing a unibody aluminum casing.

The photo above is of the HTC Bravo, which was first outed in the leaked HTC roadmap. According to the Polish site Komorkomania, who got hands-on with the two phones, it still features the four buttons and optical sensor trackpad, and will go on sale April. Specs include a 3.7-inch AMOLED screen, 1GHz Snapdragon processor, Wi-Fi, GPS, 512MB RAM, Dolby for Mobile audio, 5.0-megapixel camera with 720p video recording and will run Android 2.1 with HTC Sense.

While they couldn't take photos of the Legend, Komorkomania said that during their hands-on with it, they were made aware of the unibody aluminum casing (HTC taking design cues from Apple?) with plastic inserts so the cover can be removed easily for access to the SIM card, microSD and battery. That was made evident during the leaked roadmap, but supposedly it'll also come with a 5.0-megapixel camera, AMOLED screen with 480 x 800 pixels, and optical sensor trackpad just like on the Bravo.

I must admit, I'm dead excited for these two phones to be officially announced. The Hero was a great device, but these two pack more weight—and will hopefully come with a later version of Android than the 2.1 they've been spied with. [Komorkomania via Electricpig]

Shack Friday! Get it?! Instead of Black Friday? You still there? Is this thing on? Anyway, the RadoShack Black Friday ad has leaked to the Internet, and with it a number of purported "deals" and discounts on popular electronics. [CrunchGear]

As we become more aware of the various viscera inside our gadgets, otherwise unremarkable gadgets seem suddenly... strange. Take the LG Arena Max LU9400: It's almost definitely a feature phone, but it's got the spec sheet of a Nexus One.

The Arena Max is a 3.5-inch screen handset with all the iron you'd expect, including a Wi-Fi, GPS and a five-megapixel camera, and a little you wouldn't, like a 1GHz Snapdragon processor—the same brain you'd find in the Nexus One, the HTC Touch HD2, and the Sony Xperia X10. In other words, it's a monster.

But if it's anything like its predecessor—and these early shots seem to indicate that it is—it'll be treated to (burdened by?) an in-house OS and UI, most probably LG's flashy-but-limited S-Class experiment. If you're the kind of person who doesn't fret over your phone's spec sheet this probably won't matter; if you are, you'd probably just buy a real smartphone anyway.

Anyway! The Arena Max is expected to launch in Korea soon, with a wide—including stateside—release following right after. [All About Phones via Slashgear]

This LG Mini GD880 is so good-looking it makes my brain hurt at the injustice of it (presumably) running LG's S-Class OS, and not Android. Still, there's some nice spec to back up this slim 16:9 phone.

Just like the Chocolate phone before it, the display has a 16:9 aspect ratio, in this case at 3.2-inches. LG hasn't released many details about the internals just yet, but we do know it has a 5.0-megapixel camera with face detection, Wi-Fi, and HSDPA 7.2Mbps connectivity.

The lack of buttons, metal finishings and square corners make it look like it'll be part of their more "premium" range of handsets, so expect to pay a pretty penny if you want it PAYG, otherwise it'll most likely go for the usual month contract fees when it goes on sale in March in Europe—with worldwide availability expected shortly. I'm going to harass LG for confirmation of the OS, but with Mobile World Congress starting this weekend, I'm sure we'll find out a whole load more then. [LG]

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That slick-looking Mini GD880 phone from LG that was introduced last week has been handed some more details for its profile card at MWC. It'll be the first phone to support LG's new 3-Way Sync service, Air Sync.

It's a fancy way of saying it continually syncs over the air using that very-2010 term "cloud computing", backing up browsing habits, photos, videos, calendars and contact details. Information is exchanged from the phone to the user's computer, with the last 100 websites visited on the PC being transferred to the GD880, embarrassing search results and all.

It'll be available in the UK in April, with international release details expected later. For the full story on the specs, head on over here.

LG's first Windows Phone 7 handset, which got shown off recently in the sweaty palm of a Microsoft director at the Engadget Show, will be called the LG Panther. Apparently. We know LG likes silly names, but Panther?

Of course, there's a more famous Panther in our world—2003's OS X 10.3, from Apple. The rumored names comes via the UK site Best Mobile Contracts, which we've never heard of so can't vouch for how solid this rumor is—but after Cookie, Viewty, and whatever else they've managed to slip past their marketing team, Panther is hardly the least-flattering if indeed that's what LG names it. [Best Mobile Contracts via WMPowerUser via TechRadar]

Self-described cellphone cynic and "father of Linux" Linus Torvalds decided to get a Google Nexus One the other day. And while the customer service lines may be clogged over the phone's performance, Daddy Linux is positively pleased as punch.

Unsurprisingly, the man who invented the most popular open source operating system in the world is a "happy camper" over the fact that this cellphone runs Linux. But Linux alone wasn't enough to get Linus on board with the rest of the smartphone crazy 21rst century, no sir. His previous phones, in fact—the ones he mostly used to "play Galaga" on long flights—also had various versions of Linux, but lacked that certain spark.

Pinch to zoom touch capability and GPS were what finally got Torvalds to commit, and commit he has. The Nexus One "is a winner" he wrote yesterday, adding that it no longer feels as though he's forced to drag along a cellphone for "just in case" emergencies.

So, Google, as you frantically work the phones in that customer support center and stare longingly at other company's smartphone sales, take some solace in the fact that the Father of Linux is out there, somewhere, playing games on your Linux phone. [Linus Torvalds via Laughing Squid]

German researchers are working on mobile phone technology that would convert silent mouth movements into speech. It's an ingenious way to have a noiseless conversation, but if they don't get it right there could be some unfortunate mix-ups.

The tech—developed at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology—involved uses electromyography, and measures the electrical potentials generated by muscle activity in the face to translate mouth movements into speech. You'd be able to speak silently, but the person on the other end of the line would hear what you were saying loud and clear.

Of course, lip-reading is an inexact science—even more so, I would imagine, when implemented by a machine. So while you'll be able to share PIN numbers without sharing it with the whole room, you'll want to proceed with caution on more intimate conversations. [Cellular News via Dvice]

In this war there are two battles: the polite, traditional fight between expensive, full-featured apps like Navigon and TomTom, and the I-will-undercut-you-if-it-means-killing-my-own-mother gorefest of the cheaper apps, like MotionX and Gokivo. With RoadMate, Magellan has taken the road less bloody.

Debuting at $80 (and presumably climbing to $100 later), RoadMate recreates as much of the Magellan dedicated PND experience as possible, which means the interface is a full conversion—there's very little in the way of iPhone-ness here, even down to a replacement keyboard. In addition, it falls on the conservative side of the map storage debate, holding its data locally—great for when you might be in a bad service area, but not so great if you don't want to set aside 1.3GB of space for an app.

The rest of the feature list is appropriate to the price: spoken street names, simulated lane guidance, 3D landmarks, in-app music controls and address book integration are all there, as are a few newbies like a "Find Your Car" GPS function and a pedestrian mode, and a "OneTouch" menu, which is basically a panel of search shortcuts for stuff like pizza and nearby gas stations.

I can't pass judgment on this app without running it through its paces (which yes, we will do eventually) but it comes at an awkward time. While cheap apps have been nipping at the heels of more expensive, prestige brand apps for a few months now, Google's telegraphed their intention to nuke the hell out of everyone, someday, which can't be the best way to lead into a new product launch. RoadMate is available in the App Store now. [Magellan]

A Winnipeg man has been dumped by his girlfriend of two and a half years, after she found his phone riddled with sext messages. Only problem? He didn't write any of them. Virgin Mobile did.

Apparently the cheeky monkeys over at Virgin Mobile had pre-loaded a number of suggestive text messages into at least one Samsung model, ranging from the relatively innocuous "Be there soon" to the crystal clear "Booty call." When the wrongly accused man's girlfriend found them, she naturally assumed she was a cuckolded Canuck.

The dumpee, identified only as "Darren P," called Virgin Mobile to complain, and was told to put it in writing. So it sounds like if any action is going to be taken, it'll be a while.

It's not clear yet if he's reconciled with his ex after these revelations came to light. But even if she comes crawling back, make sure to think it over, Darren P. She was looking through your phone! She thought you actually used the phrase "booty call" to make a booty call! Surely there are other fish in the frozen tundra of Winnipeg. [Metro UK via The DW]

This KINGK N99 phone has all the makings of a proper knock-off. It looks just like the Motorola AURA! It has a Nokia logo! It has a Transformers Autobot logo! It even has a 1.3 "magapixel" camera.

Just in case this KINGK tickles your fancy, you can import it from—where else—China for $159.99 now. Do let us know if it "caters to the taste of male friends" like it says on the website. [SZPrice via UberGizmo]

Aaron Woodman, the director of consumer experiences for Microsoft's mobile division, was a guest on today's Engadget Show, and he had a nice surprise for everyone: a prototype of LG's Windows Phone 7 Series phone.

There's not a whole lot in the way of details—it's a slider that's a bit thicker than the iPhone, it has a 5MP camera, and sports six hardware buttons—but it's still exciting to see the new operating system on a branded device for the first time.

Woodman wouldn't confirm nor deny if Windows Phone 7 Series would support Mac OS, only mentioning that it was a topic the team was currently discussing. Hey, at least the notion hasn't been shut down out of hand, so we'll take this as a no news is good news type of thing for now.

Head over to Engadget for more pictures and a quick video clip of the LG phone in the round. [Engadget]

We've been so caught up in the Windows Mobile 7 launch date rumors, we almost forgot about Microsoft's supposed leaked minimum specifications requirements. After all, this is a company that issued maximum Windows 7 netbook specs.

Supposedly, Microsoft's weighing down on hardware manufacturers wishing to create tidy little phones for the platform, with the following list of minimum specifications garnered by Eldar Murtazin, the editor of leaky site Mobile-Review:

- 1GHz processor
- 3.6-inch WVGA display
- G-sensor accelerometer and compass
- 8GB of internal storage
- 5.0-megapixel camera

I've got to say, if Murtazin is on the money with this list of minimum requirements, then we're in for a treat—though potentially an expensive one, with some of those specs bound to push the cost of each device north-ways. [Eldar Murtazin on Twitter via Unwired View]

Don't expect much more than a 2.2-inch QVGA screen, A-GPS, 5.0-megapixel camera with LED flash and noise cancellation via the two microphones. It comes in six different colors—namely, black, black satin, silver, grey, blue and red, with the price not yet known. [Mobiado release pdf]

You can't talk about the Devour, Motorola's new slide-out QWERTY Android phone, without talking about the Droid, Motorola's favored child. And it's precisely when pitted against the Droid that the Devour stops making sense.

The Price

The Devour runs $150, with a two-year Verizon contract. But not really. (More on that later.)

What It's Supposed to Be

When the Devour was announced, I called it a "Baby Droid with Motoblur." That's not quite right, it turns out. Despite a measurably smaller screen, the Devour is actually a bit larger than the Droid. It's a hefty, machined aluminum slab of a device that feels sturdy in your hand and a bit fat in your pocket. It's a continuation of the Droid's design philosophy, if not its actual design: The Devour obviously copies some stylistic traits, but the Droid's goldish finish and sharp edged evoke an entirely different past than the Devour's matte silver, slightly more rounded profile. A child of the 70s speaks the Droid's retrofuturistic design language; the Devour speaks more to a future-forward 90s sensibility. At any rate, it looks nice.

And it feels nice, too—gone is the Droid's lifeless slider, replaced with a springy mechanism that just begs to be fiddled with. The tapered sides give you a place to rest your index fingers during typing. Speaking of which, the Devour's keyboard, with slightly raised, perfectly rounded and neatly spaced keys, is a welcome improvement over the Droid's. And instead of a trackball or d-pad, the Devour has a small, inset touchpad on its lower-left chin. So far, so good.

Then you turn it on.

This is when it becomes clear what the Devour is meant to be, which, despite the apparent improvements, is something less than a Droid. The smaller screen—3.1 inches to the Droid's 3.7—pushes fewer pixels, too, at just 320x480 vs 854x480. The camera, which shoots 3MP photos, suffers from poor color and clarity issues to a greater extent than the already mediocre sensor of its predecessor.

And the software! Oh, the software. Here's how Jason summed up the Motoblur widget philosophy in his original Cliq review:

The four widgets of note are the status widget, the messaging widget, the happenings widget and the news/RSS widget. The news widget is self-explanatory, and really cool that a phone would have a built-in RSS reader right on the home screen, but the others are a little bit trickier. The status widget lets you update your "status" to any of your social networking sites, like Facebook or Twitter. The messages widget consolidates ALL your 1:1 messaging, like emails, SMS, DMs on Twitter or private messages on Facebook. The happenings is a feed of other people's status updates on your social networks.

Motoblur is as good here as it's ever been, aided by plenty of tweaks, faster hardware, and a more developed underlying operating system. (This is the first time we've seen it laid atop of Android 1.6; the Cliq was a 1.5 handset.) But as Motoblur has inched forward, Android has outpaced it. And unfortunately its stablemate, the Droid, is one of the best exemplars of why you don't need to mess with Android.

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What was so refreshing about the Droid was that its software was essentially untouched—Android 2.0, which was at the time the newest build of the OS, had been left alone to represent Google vision for Android, without interference from Motorola or Verizon. And because Android 2.0 was so good, it took the wind out of the sails of alternative Android interfaces like HTC's Sense or Motoblur.

Motoblur's greatest sin isn't that it can be a bit confusing to navigate at first, or that it feels a bit crowded on a 3.1-inch screen, or that its inbuilt Twitter and Facebook functionality depends too much on sending you to an external browser; it's that in pursuit of a custom interface and minor, proprietary features—Flash Lite in the browser, DLNA media sharing and proprietary voice command and nav software to compete with Google's native solutions—Motorola has left Devour users with an out-of-date version of Android. Android is an OS that's fragmented, and 1.6 is one of the fragments that's getting left behind. Even some Google apps won't work on Android 1.6, like Goggles or Google Earth. (Update: Goggles apparently works on 1.6, but I can't find it in the Android Market on the Devour. Ideas?) Of course, an upgrade is possible, but a Blur-adorned Android will always lag a version or three behind vanilla Android, which seems to be assimilating many of its most important features anyway.

The redeeming factor here should be that it's cheaper than the Droid by about $50, positioned to appeal to people who might otherwise buy a messaging phone, but who don't want to put down for a Droid. But even at launch, this price positioning doesn't work.

What It Really Is

if you're a Verizon customer, holding this next to a messaging feature phone, the choice is pretty clear: go with the smartphone.Thing is, that's a false dilemma. You have other options.

Before the Devour hits shelves later this week, it will have been undermined by one of its biggest sellers. Best Buy, at launch, will be selling it for $100, alongside the Droid, also priced at $100. The $150/$200 Devour/Droid distinction will remain intact at Verizon stores, but you can probably depend on these lower prices to be an option from here on out.

What you're getting with the Devour, then, is a downgraded Droid. Sure, the keyboard is a bit better, and the styling may appeal to some people alienated by the Droid's aggressive lines, but if you're a Verizon customer, holding these two potential purchases in your hands—which, by the way, have access to the exact same smartphone plans—it's hard to imagine why you'd opt for the silver one. [Motorola]

Elegant, brushed aluminum design

Better keyboard and slider than the Droid; generally better hardware than the Cliq

Motoblur works reasonably well for social networking hounds, but later versions of Android with dedicated social apps serve just as well

Same street price as the Droid, which is just a better phone.

It's stuck on Android 1.6, rendering it incompatible with some newer apps—even apps from Google

Psst, Droid owners. Here's how to hack Android 2.1 onto your happy little Motorola friend.

The Android 2.1 firmware update doesn't bring much to the Droid plate, apart from added speed (the video below shows one modder unenthusiastically exclaiming "I'm amazed by how fast it is"), three new homepage screens, and Google news and weather. There's no multitouch, but then, you already know how to do that. [AllDroid via Engadget]

Honestly, I never thought I'd see the day when I could write about Moto's corporate struggles and actually be able to put a positive spin on it, but it does sound like the right decision has been made up above. [NY Times]

A follow-up from the Cliq, called the Cliq XT—or Quench, depending on where you live—has been shown off running Android 1.5 (which is a shame when most companies are looking at 2.1 now), and has MOTOBLUR.

Whether that's for better or worse, I'll leave up to you to decide—but in the meantime it has support for Adobe Flash Lite, a 3.1-inch 320 x 480 screen and a 5.0-megapixel camera with autofocus and flash. A-GPS with turn-by-turn directions, and Wi-Fi and HSDPA connectivity.

On sale sometime in the next month or two, it'll be exclusive to T-Mobile in the US, under the name of Cliq XT, but in other parts of the world it'll be known as the Quench. Hate to say it Moto, but with Android 1.5 you're not quenching my desire for an Eclair. Full release below. [Motorola]

Today Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) announced QUENCH with MOTOBLUR, Motorola's Android-powered content delivery service, which organizes messages and synchronizes contacts to keep conversations in constant motion. QUENCH's sleek touch-screen design, combined with great navigational features such as pinch and zoom and a touch pad, as well as the inclusion of Adobe Flash Lite, make browsing the web on its 3.1" high-resolution display a breeze. Motorola QUENCH™ will be available beginning in the first quarter of 2010. In the U.S., it will be called CLIQ XT™ and be available next month exclusively through T-Mobile USA. This is the eighth Android-powered device launched by Motorola around the globe.

"As we continue to expand Motorola's portfolio of Android-powered devices, we remain committed to delivering more of what people want from their handheld devices in easier ways," said Sanjay Jha, co-CEO of Motorola and CEO of Motorola Mobile Devices and Home business. "QUENCH with MOTOBLUR showcases Motorola's design heritage by offering a compelling differentiation from the traditional Android experience, giving people an easier way to have more messaging, more Web and more music."

MOTOBLUR is Motorola's Android-powered content delivery service created to make phones more personal and socially smart. It is the first solution to sync contacts, posts, messages, photos and much more - from sources such as Facebook®, MySpace, Twitter®, Gmail™, work and personal e-mail and Last.FM - and automatically deliver them to the home screen. Content is fed into easy-to-manage streams allowing you to spend less time managing your life and more time living it.

Messaging is made easier on QUENCH with the combination of MOTOBLUR features, a palm and pocket-friendly design and Swype, a new feature that makes responding to messages and entering text easier than ever. MOTOBLUR keeps happenings, messages, news feeds and more readily available for browsing and responding on the customizable home screen. Contact information, such as email addresses, profile pictures and phone numbers, is automatically synced whenever the details change online, so there's no need to manually update.

QUENCH delivers a complete Web experience on a full touch-screen device with pinch and zoom capabilities. Navigation is enhanced with a front-facing, centrally-located touch pad, so it's easier and more intuitive to flick through the Web. Adobe Flash Lite enables rich media content such as banners and videos to be displayed and fully enjoyed on the 3.1" high-resolution display.

The innovative new connected media player on QUENCH is not only connected to the Internet but your social networks as well. QUENCH connects you to your music with a new style of media player that lets you buy and instantly download music from an MP3 store while integrating third-party apps such as TuneWiki, SoundHound, GoTV, and YouTube™. The music search feature makes finding your songs easy while synchronized lyrics in any language you choose make learning songs easier than before. Share your favorite tracks, discover new ones2, find lyrics, watch videos, and stream FM radio.

QUENCH enables clear calls using dual microphones and noise cancellation technology, while crystal clear pictures are enabled by a 5.0 megapixel camera with autofocus and LED flash. Finding information online or within the device is made even easier with voice-activated search (English only). Simply say what you are looking for and QUENCH will find contacts, serve up Google™ Web search results based on location, or launch applications. Android Market™ provides fast access to more than 20,000 apps and widgets for limitless customizations and enhancements to QUENCH. Extras such as 3G and Wi-Fi® access, aGPS and stereo Bluetooth®1 make QUENCH a solid Android-powered device.

Finally, MOTOBLUR provides end-users with convenience and peace of mind, as lost devices can be located from a secure personal information portal and even remotely erased if necessary. Then, one user name and password brings back your contacts, messages and connectivity to your previously configured networks and email providers. Plus, with over-the-air updates, Motorola has the ability to improve current features and add new ones to QUENCH, ensuring the overall experience is continually enhanced.

Availability
QUENCH with MOTOBLUR will be available in multiple regions around the globe beginning in Q1 2010. In the U.S., the device will be called CLIQ XT with MOTOBLUR and will be available exclusively through T-Mobile USA beginning next month. For specific regional availability and pricing, contact your local Motorola representative. For more information, product specifications and images of QUENCH, please visit Media Center Fact Sheets. For multimedia assets from Mobile World Congress, visit MWC 2010 Press Kit. Also, follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

An HTC Android phone popped up today, offering few clues—aside from a few hastily snapped pics—about what it's called, what it does, or what it wants.

Touch sensitive menu keys? Check.

And there's our pal Android, and a camera of indeterminable mega pixelage. [The Unlockr via BGR]

Our colegas at Gizmodo Brazil got themselves a nice little get: A previously unseen Motorola Android prototype, which was apparently shown to employees of the company last week. So, what is this thing?

Giz.br editor Pedro accurately describes it as a sort of keyboardless version of the Backflip we saw at CES. The front styling is a bit more garish than the Backflip's, but the size, general aesthetic, Android build (1.5) and software skin (Motoblur) all fit the Backflip/CLIQ mold. UPDATE: And given the familiar rear styling, we may have a (code)name: The Zeppelin. It's apparently hitting Brazilian streets within a month—still no word on a US release.

The more pressing question is whether or not we'll ever see this phone. Motorola's now pumping Motoblur'd handsets out through two—count 'em—major US carriers, and as a presumed budget piece, it'd fit nicely in either Verizon or AT&T's product lines, if they'd have it. But stateside, we've got nothing—that the first pics of this prototype device showed up in one of its potential markets, as opposed to its place of manufacture, and that this market is nowhere near the US, means Motorola's latest may never pass through immigration. Or maybe it will! My breath, it is bated.

Full gallery and (Portuguese) writeup at [Giz Brazil]

The 32GB Nokia X6 just got a complementary 16GB counterpart. It lacks the awkwardly named "Comes With Music" feature of its big brother, but keeps the 3.2-inch capacitive screen and is compatible with (newly free) Ovi maps navigation.

Other specs? Why, of course! The 16GB X6 has pretty sick battery life, with 18 hours of standby and 35 hours of music playback. It's also got a 5-megapixel camera that also shoots video, TV-out, and comes pre-loaded with games from EA and Gameloft.

No word on pricing yet, unfortunately, which is really the thing that'll determine whether it's worth a closer look. With a release in just a few months, expect more details to emerge soon along those lines. [Nokia via Engadget]

Yesterday we heard that a CDMA version of the Nexus One was approved by the FCC, and now Neowin has word from an anonymous Google employee that the Google phone will land on Verizon on March 23. That's the day the CTIA wireless convention kicks off and it's less than a month away; Perhaps a bit sooner than we'd expected, but certainly plausible. [Neowin]

The early outlook on the Nexus One—just 20,000 sold in its first week—hasn't gotten any better. After a month on the market, Google's moved just 80,000 phones. Compare that to the original iPhone and Droid launches.

The relative sales results, shown above and using estimates by Flurry Analytics, aren't pretty for Google. Granted, it's not an entirely fair comparison. Droid and the iPhone were marketed within an inch of their lives, and had better carrier support than the Nexus One does on T-Mobile. But even taking that into consideration, 80,000 phones in a month? That's borderline embarrassing.

If nothing else, it's a reminder that as much as we care about Google's entry into phone hardware in these parts, to the public at large they're still a niche player at best. I also wonder, though: that few units, and they still can't handle their volume of customer support complaints? Yeesh. [WSJ; Furry Analytics ]

The iPhone 3G may be the most popular phone in the US, but Gartner's annual phone sales tally still puts Symbian as being the most-used smartphone OS worldwide. Snapping at its heels, BlackBerry's OS has less than half the sales.

And the iPhone? They may have 14.4 per cent market share worldwide (a nice rise from 2008's 8.2 per cent share), but they're still a far way off from Symbian's 46.9 per cent. Android's done very nicely for itself, rising from 0.5 per cent market share in 2008 to 3.9 per cent in 2009. Windows Mobile unsurprisingly fell from 11.8 to 8.7 per cent in the last 12 months.

Symbian sales may've dropped 5.5 per cent between 2008 and 2009, but Nokia's doing a bit better, with only a 2.2 per cent fall. They're still top of the list for worldwide sales, though (on paper) need to be watching out for Samsung and LG, who increased their sales by 3.2 per cent and 1.7 per cent each.

The full scorecards of stats are included here for your perusing, but it's worth noting that next year's Gartner report is bound to show some major shaking-up. Windows Mobile should be on the rise with the launch of Windows Phone 7, and Motorola, buoyed by Droid sales and whatever else they have in store for us this year, should hopefully be seeing an increase in market share, not a decrease like they've seen in the last year. [Gartner via Hexus]

Why'd Nokia give away Ovi Maps for free to other OS users? Unless they're...planning an Android phone themselves? We've already heard whispers they're to release just one Maemo device this year—and they can't possibly survive on Symbian alone.

Greig Williams, who is Nokia's general manager for the Alps and South East Europe, told the Austrian newspaper Die Presse that porting Ovi Maps to Android and Windows Mobile "will be the next step."

It'd be crazy of them to release their free turn-by-turn navigation service on other operating systems, unless it was all some grand scheme to woo consumers back to Nokia, so I'm reading into Williams's comments that Nokia's working on devices running Android and Windows Mobile. There. I said it. Perhaps it's not the end of Nokia after all. [Die Presse via Electricpig]

UPDATE: Our early morning hysteria has just been crushed. CRUSHED. Nokia told Engadget that Williams was misquoted by Die Presse and they're in the process of taking the quote down. Way to ruin the fun, Nokia.

Nokia's slashing the number of smartphone models by half this year, but at least we know one of them will be a doozy, if true: the N8-00 is rumored to sport a 12-megapixel lens and the new Symbian^3 OS.

That camera lens will be big news for Nokia, as it'll also shoot in 720p too, according to French site Tom's Guide. The touchscreen will be a capacitive multitouch affair, and will go on sale in summer if it doesn't turn out to be too good to be true.

Interestingly, speculation is also claiming Nokia's going to do a major rebrand of its series, which could prove to be a further lash of the critic-whip if it does anything other than simplify matters. Currently, it has all manner of series names and services, including XpressMusic, Classic and Navigator, but at MWC they're expected to announce a streamlined five main lines.

The C-series will be low-end candybars like Nokia's known for, the X-series will be multimedia and music-angled devices presumably all Coming With Music (if they don't kill off their music download service first). The E-series will remain the business, QWERTY range; the N-series its more premium, upmarket line and finally the S-series will be even more luxurious and limited.

With any luck some of their new devices and strategies will be revealed next week at MWC, along with the inevitable gloating over their latest financial results. I really do want things to pick up for Nokia, honest—it'd please me so much to see them do something good next week. [Tom's Guide via BGR]

Great news—according to Nokia Taiwan's general manager Michael Hsu, they're going to be launching Symbian^3 in the third quarter of 2010, and the Android-looking Symbian^4 in early 2011. Maemo 6, meanwhile, will be seen on Nokia phones in the second half of 2010. [Digitimes]

Giving away Ovi Maps with turn-by-turn navigation for free should help those numbers rise even more, but they'll be needing to work on some solid hardware launches to reel in the punters. Reports of cutting smartphone launches in half just don't help matters, Nokia. You've still got to get your act together. [TechCrunch]

Do you C? Because they're laying it on pretty thick (and so am I!). So coy, that Nokia. Too bad they're doomed. Maybe these phones will help. Otherwise, C ya later. [Engadget]

One lucky guy in the UK found himself on the receiving end of a very cool Nokia promotion, where he had to hack open a PC-controlled box, revealing a shiny new N900 inside.

Utku, a Product Manager at web design agency Mint Digital, managed to get a Nokia N900, copy of Modern Warfare 2 on the PS3, and a few other presents out of the box by following the commands at hackerbox.co.uk, which was printed on a card on the box, dropped off at his office this morning.

They plugged it into a MacBook via USB, but couldn't get any joy. After connecting it to a Windows machine, they followed the commands, and judging by the photos, the sentence "connecting people" worked like magic, and the box opened with a cloud of smoke.

Corny, yes. Promotional propaganda, true. But it sure does makes me smile. [Nokia Hackerbox via Utku via SlashGear]

Re-enactment of the box hacking, below:

Yet more to-ing and fro-ing about the Windows Mobile 7 launch, this time with Digitimes pointing at a Mobile World Congress announcement of an end-of-2010 launch. It's nothing we haven't heard before, but they're piling up thick 'n fast now.

HTC hasn't been too sure on whether the HD2 will be upgraded with WinMo 7, but there's talk of a new HTC phone in town—the Obsession, or Diamond3, which Boy Genius Report believes will be offered on AT&T and T-Mobile. LG is also readying a phone for the big Microsoft push, called the Apollo—which WMPowerUser and Let's Go Digital are claiming will have an enormous amount of spec.

It's all pretty dubious, to say the least—a WinMo phone with a 10-megapixel camera and 720p video recording? Let's Go Digital has published a picture of the supposed device, which looks just like the Viewty Smart running Windows Mobile 6.5. I honestly don't know what to think about Windows 7 anymore, just make it all go away while I lie down and whimper for a while. [Digitimes]

Seen sporting a Cyon badge (LG's Korean phone brand), the LG Maxx LG9400 is powered by Snapdragon and the dashed dreams of anyone hoping it'd be an Android handset instead of another disappointing S-Class phone.

That Snapdragon chip from Qualcomm is actually the QSD8650 model, a little faster than the QSD8250 one that's used in most of the Snapdragon phones on the market today. The display is a 3.5-inch WVGA job, with an optical trackpad, GPS, Wi-Fi, 5.0-megapixel camera (capable of shooting HD video), DivX and T-DMB mobile TV support.

There's no word on whether it'll launch in other parts of the globe, but I bet LG won't confine it to just South Korea. [Telecoms Korea via Unwired View]

If you can bear to part with your Nexus One for three weeks, send it in and pay $175 for the paintjob, or purchase a brand new one—with paintjob—for $800. The Nook is priced at $125 for a three-week splattering of paint on your very own ereader, or for a brand new one it's $400. I could spend hours just imagining picking out the colors on the Nexus One I don't actually own. [Colorware Nook, Colorware Nexus One]

Hark! Did you hear the heralded Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein confirm the webOS 1.3.5 update? It's on its way soon for all Pre and Pixi owners, and will gift a better battery life, more speed and stronger Wi-Fi.

The Ares app development program will of course mean thousands more apps will be available for download, and the 1.3.5 update will help with installing them. As well as talking about the webOS update, Rubinstein also gave hope to non-Sprint fans everywhere, commenting:

"We don't believe in building large portfolios of products. Our focus is around having a small family of really great products. Right now we have two great products in Pre and Pixi and our objective right now is to expand with more carriers and more regions."

They'll probably hold off on releasing update 1.3.5 until CES, where they're expected to announce something big. [PreCentral]

Whoa, whoever said Palm didn't have any decent games will definitely be eating their hat for dinner tonight. Assassin's Creed: Altaïr's Chronicles has just hit the Palm Pre app store, last seen on the DS, iPhone and Symbian phones.

The prequel to the first Assassin's Creed is a couple of years old now, but still worth checking out as it's probably one of the biggest names to hit the Pre (apart from Doom and Quake, which aren't exactly official). I say Pre, and not webOS—sadly, the Pixi and Pixi Plus are too underpowered. Available now for $6.99. [PreCentral]

The Ares pitch: a stupid-simple way for developers to crank out webOS apps for the Pre and the Pixi, without ever leaving their browsers. It looks like a clever concept; we'll have to see if it actually works. UPDATED

It works! I've never designed an app in my life, but that didn't stop me from creating a masterpiece in, like, four minutes.

As far as I can tell this is something like a full development SDK, insofar as the regular MojoSDK can be considered a full developement SDK. That is to say, while anyone with any development experience will have no problem creating apps with it—in fact, a layperson with a few spare afternoons could probably make something—they're still going to be of the same web-app-like caliber we've gotten used to in the App Catalog. Games, modal UIs, and a lot of the advanced features that make Android and iPhone apps shine are a little beyond Ares' reach, I think. Still, pretty cool stuff. [Palm]

It's a light device, at 115g in weight, but feature-packed with a solar panel on the back for charging by mother nature's rays. The more you charge by the sun, the more points you collect, which can be spent in the Puma store. You can see how many extra minutes you can talk for, or play music for, or how many extra texts you can send, from charging by the sun. It's little things like this which show how much attention has been paid to all the aspects of the Puma Phone's design.

The screen is a 2.8-inch QVGA TFT capacitive panel, with 240 x 320 pixels. Battery life isn't as great as some others on the block, with just a 880 mAh component being used, but the solar panel will more than compensate for that. A 3.2-megapixel camera with LED flash and 6x digital zoom is on the back, with a forward-facing camera for VGA video conferencing on the front.

As it's intended for being strapped to your arm, or shoved in your pocket to calculate stats on your training, the compass and A-GPS add strength to the pedometer and GPS tracker functions.

For a full hands-on preview of the Puma Phone, check it out over here, but in the meantime be content with knowing it'll go on sale in Europe in the next two months—with worldwide details expected soon after. [Puma Phone]

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The Snapdragon processor from Qualcomm is fast becoming the standard chip for smartphones—both Android and Windows Mobile—but surprisingly we haven't seen anything that can harness its performance in gaming. That may change this year, according to Qualcomm.

Speaking to Mobile-Entertainment at Mobile World Congress, their VP of product management, Mark Frankel, said:

"There will be, by the end of this year, specific game-centric platforms launched around Snapdragon"

"You'll be able to see clearly that gaming is the main focus of those devices. There'll be a category of gaming devices that hasn't been on the marketplace before using Snapdragon."

The lack of gaming-centric phones was something we were bemoaning recently, although that could change with the Xbox 360 integration in Windows Phone 7 Series. [Mobile-Entertainment]

We've seen bits and pieces of Qualcomm's FLO live TV service, curiously even on an iPhone, but at MWC it'll be showing it off on Snapdragon-powered smartbooks. It enables real-time updates via Twitter while watching live TV.

If you don't have a Twitter account, or can't stand the thought of getting updates about footballers while watching a sports match, Qualcomm will also give the viewer info from breaking news services and other e-magazines. FLO TV has heaps of different channels to watch, including ESPN, Comedy Central, MTV, NBC and Nickelodeon. The jargon-filled press release is below, but in the meantime there should be some solid news including product launches with FLO TV coming this week. [Qualcomm via TechRadar]

Image credit: Electricpig

Qualcomm Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM), a leading developer and innovator of advanced wireless technologies, products and services, today announced FLO-EV, the next evolution of the FLO™ air interface for new deployments of mobile TV and other advanced broadcast mobile media services. Intended primarily for international markets, FLO-EV builds on the success of FLO technology to enable a rich suite of mobile content and services with greater channel capacity and significant performance improvements. FLO-EV is designed to help wireless operators lower the deployment costs for delivering multimedia content to mobile devices.

Analysts have predicted the global market for mobile media services will surpass $90 billion by 2018. Adoption of mobile media is being driven through a combination of increasing consumer awareness and industry investment. Wireless operators, broadcasters and content providers are all seeking to implement the best technologies to drive new mobile media business models. FLO-EV can help them by substantially lowering the cost of rolling out mobile media services while preserving features critical to the user experience, such as high-quality video, reduced power consumption, rapid channel changing times and increased channel capacity.

"As a technology enabler and leader in the mobile media space, Qualcomm is continually looking to improve the capabilities of FLO technology to deliver more advanced broadcast services to our worldwide customers," said Neville Meijers, senior vice president and general manager of MediaFLO Technologies. "FLO-EV is the result of our continued innovation and dedication to providing the most compelling and technically advanced offering to both wireless operators and mobile media consumers. By pushing the envelope with our design and development efforts, we are confident of staying at the forefront of the rapidly expanding and dynamic mobile media industry."

FLO-EV features a variety of technical enhancements to the original FLO Rev. A air interface (TIA-1099), including a 3-5 dB improvement in performance with the same spectral efficiency. This link margin can translate into a 30-50 percent reduction in capital and operating costs to deploy a FLO-EV network. Moreover, the costs savings can be realized without negatively affecting channel change times or increasing power consumption on the mobile device, thereby preserving a high-quality user experience. FLO-EV is well suited for new mobile TV network launches and as an upgrade to existing FLO Rev. A networks. FLO-EV can increase the channel capacity of a FLO Rev. A network by 50 percent or more using the existing transmit sites with no increase in radiated power.

The MediaFLO™ services platform enables the broadcast delivery of high-quality mobile entertainment and information to the mass market. In addition to live mobile TV, the MediaFLO platform supports enhanced mobile broadcast services such as streaming video and audio, clipcasting media, datacasting, interactive applications and targeted advertising – providing a compelling mobile media experience while enabling profitable business models. Invented for mobility and complementary to 3G and Wi-Fi services, the MediaFLO platform is designed to increase capacity and coverage and reduce costs for multimedia content delivery to unlimited mobile devices simultaneously. The MediaFLO platform is based on the FLO™ air interface, an open standard recognized by ETSI, ITU-R and TIA. Additional information is available at www.mediaflo.com.

Seeing Google Voice repeatedly bash its forehead against the gates of the App Store gave competitor Ribbit an idea: why not just cut the features Apple and/or AT&T are scared of, like calling and texting? And so they did.

Ribbit proper is a direct Google Voice competitor, which means it offers number consolidation, calls, contacts management and, well, pretty much everything you need to become your own personal phone carrier. Ribbit for iPhone, though, is a little more bare: calling, texting and address book functions have been replace with the iPhone native functions, leaving only the company's voicemail service intact. But for a lot of people, this is actually pretty great: you get to keep you number, your voicemail gets replaced with transcribed, unlimited, web-stored recordings, and at least for now, it's all free. [iTunes via ReadWriteWeb via Lifehacker]

Here's the WinMo-running M10 and Android-powered A50 both leaked in January. Problem is we still think they should get out of hardware and into apps.

But back to the phones. They're boasting it brings "more location technology than any other smartphone," as you'd expect from the satnav dudes at Garmin. The hardware isn't all that surprising, with a 3.5-inch HVGA capacitive touchscreen, a 3.0-megapixel camera with autofocus and geotagging, Bluetooth, 4GB of internal storage (with the usual microSD card slot) and an accelerometer. No word on Wi-Fi just yet.

Bundled with the phone is a car mount and power cable for the car, which is a nice touch—nothing worse than having to fork out for additional accessories after laying down a few hundred on the actual device. The software is, of course, Garmin's turn-by-turn navigation.

It'll go on sale sometime in the first six months of 2010—nice and vague—and the price hasn't been announced (or rumored, in the M10's case) just yet.

That aforementioned M10 (above) won't be showing up with Windows Mobile 7, launching instead with 6.5.3 (though presumably it'll be available for a software update once WinMo 7 launches at the end of the year). Specs sound just like they did when Asustek president Benson Lin blabbed last month about it, with the 3.5-inch WVGA resistive touchscreen, 4GB of internal storage, 512MB of RAM and the same again for ROM. Garmin and Asustek have chosen a 600MHz Qualcomm MSM 7227 chip which won't steal too many headlines, but at least it's running the most recent version of WinMo, eh? Again, wouldn't it be neat if you could get a Garmin app on a phone that was closer to 1GHz or on an iPhone?

The rumored price was $435 last month, but we'll keep you updated once we receive official word. [GSM Arena and BusinessWire]

As someone who's using v5.0.0.321, I'm very interested in hearing that BGR's sources have tipped them off to the possibility that not only has RIM started work on OS 6.0, but OS 5.2 should be released this year. [BGR]

Champagne corks stopped popping in Rubinstein's office long ago, but speculation suggesting Palm might be working on a WiMax phone with Sprint could see the CEO buying in a few crates of Veuve.

Palm embarked on a massive bender with Sprint last year, launching its first webOS products with them, so it's not the craziest rumor we've heard. It'd certainly be a big launch for Palm to get behind, though HTC was thought to be working with Sprint on something similar. [Computerworld via BGR]

A 3.0-inch capacitive WQVGA TFT touchscreen, 3.2-megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, A-GPS, Bluetooth 2.1, and Google Maps 3.0 seems to be the crux of it, with memory listed as 200MB, expandable via the microSD card slot. Yes, it's a budgetphone, but it's the first that we've seen using TouchWiz 2.0 Plus, (with the Jet, Omnia II and Tocca Ultra being some of the phones using TouchWiz 2.0), so hopefully we'll see a few new UI features when we catch a glimpse of it next week at MWC. [Samsung]

There's a "Specialized Projector UI" feature in there too, hinting at the projector functionality to come. The European release date period is Q3 2010, with no word on a U.S. release date at this time. [Samsung via Engadget]

It was hardly a well-kept secret by any stretch of the imagination, but at MWC Samsung's Wave S8500 has raised its head. It's running the new Bada OS, and has one of those 3.3-inch SUPER AMOLED screens we saw before.

The SUPER AMOLED screen is a 3.3-inch capacitive job, with an 800 x 480 resolution—not shabby, to say the least. The larger 3.5-inch display of the iPhone for example has 480 x 320 pixels. Anyway, it's also the first phone to have Bluetooth 3.0, as rumored yesterday, using the 802.11 protocol for transferring data at around 24Mbps. Speedy-fast, you could say.

A 1Ghz processor and 2GB of storage has been popped into the typical-looking Samsung exterior, along with a 5.0-megapixel camera (with autofocus and flash), capable of shooting video at 720p. Wi-Fi, GPS and HSDPA connectivity round it off.

Going back to the Bada OS, this was first unveiled in November but now we know that it's compatible with Samsung's TouchWiz 3.0 interface (a step up from the 2.0 Plus, which was seen on the leaked Monte last week).

It'll be out in April, and while I've never particularly been impressed by a Samsung phone before (far from it, in fact), the Wave does have some interesting specs—like that AMOLED display. Wait and hear our verdict when we get hands-on with it, because as you know...things don't always turn out like the marketer boasts.

Samsung's barely released details about its new operating system Bada (indeed, for a while there we weren't even sure it was an operating system), but they're already talking tough.

We do know now at least that the first Bada phone will be released in late March/early April, with Samsung's mobile division President, Shin Jong-Kyun boasting "we seek to make a big success with Bada...The portion of Bada devices will rise significantly this year." The jury's still out on whether we actually need another low-end phone OS, with Bada's biggest rival no doubt being Symbian, but the early screengrabs we saw at least looked...colorful. [The Korea Herald]

Seen here is the first SUPER AMOLED PHOOOONNNNEEE from Samsung, which is so SUPER you must wear a protective suit to touch it, lest you become SUPER too.

We knew their integrated AMOLEDs were on the way soon, and while the first device (which supposedly has a 3.3-inch WVGA AMOLED touchscreen) hasn't been named/specced-out, at least we know it'll have more sharp corners than the Motorola Droid. Crazy boasts are already being thrown around, suggesting the AMOLEDs will be five times brighter than the average phone, and will perform 20 per cent better when used outside—which is definitely an important issue, for anyone who struggles using their phone in direct sunlight. [Korea Times via OLED-display]

UPDATE: Yes, they're just panels, not the actual phone. I need new glasses, I accidentally slept on them (and damaged them) the other night. Long story.

Made in under 10 minutes for less than two bucks, this adjustable smartphone car mount was created by one very frustrated Scion XB driver, fed up of not being able to find a suitable cradle.

Using some PVC parts picked up at a hardware store, plastic coated wire and adhesive-backed craft foam, Instructables user NiftyCurly constructed the cradle you can see above, which he describes as being a "rock solid, quick and dirty $2 mount." [Instructables]

Sony Ericsson's image has been given a lift with the Aspen smartphone—which they're billing as the "latest addition to Sony Ericsson's Greenheart portfolio." But that's now what's piqued our interests—this baby's packin' Windows Mobile 6.5.3.

It's the first handset to run on the latest version of WinMo, and it's surprisingly a huge step up over anything we've seen in Microsoft's OS previously. It's more intuitive to use, and supports capacitive screens with multitouch.

Moving onto the hardware however, this QWERTY dude has a 2.4-inch QVGA TFT touchscreen display, A-GPS, 3.2-megapixel camera with 4x digital zoom, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. What makes the Aspen eco-friendly? The power-saving mode, eco mate application, GreenHeart panel and the charger and box are made from recycled materials.

Coming on iconic black and white silver, the Aspen will be sliding down the slopes in the second quarter of 2010.

Fresh from the Mobile World Congress, here's the latest on Sony Ericsson's brand new Vivaz Pro, including white hot rear shots!

The phone is an update on the Vivaz line, adding a QWERTY slide-out keypad, 720p video recording, and a 720Mhz processor. The 3.2-inch screen has touch, and the aforementioned video-capable cam boasts 8.2 megapixels.

SE says the phone, even with the keyboard, is "ultra-thin," with dimensions that are "almost" as thin as the original Vivaz handset. SE claims there's only 2mm's difference between the two.

Release date is a tentative Q2 2010. [SEMCBlog, Infosynch World]

Full release below:

Sony Ericsson Vivaz™ pro, announced today, adds a QWERTY keyboard to the touch screen offering, delivering a user experience optimised for messaging and entertainment. The full QWERTY keyboard allows consumers to communicate quickly and efficiently via email, SMS or social networking updates.

Just like flagship phone Sony Ericsson Vivaz™, announced in January, Sony Ericsson Vivaz™ pro allows consumers to produce and broadcast their best experiences in HD video. The open platform also allows users to personalise their entertainment experience by downloading great applications through PlayNow™ and the Symbian Developer Community.

"Having announced Sony Ericsson Vivaz™ in January we are now adding a sister phone that includes a QWERTY keyboard along with the touch screen for a superior messaging and entertainment experience," said Daniel Sandblom Marketing Business Manager, Sony Ericsson. "Sony Ericsson Vivaz™ pro meets the increased consumer demand for QWERTY devices without compromising on any entertainment features."

Sony Ericsson Vivaz™ pro features the new design philosophy 'human curvature', which will become a consistent feature of the Sony Ericsson portfolio going forward. Designed to mirror the shape of the human body, and at the same time delivering a precise and compelling way of interacting with the phone, Sony Ericsson Vivaz™ pro is instantly recognisable.

Sony Ericsson Vivaz™ pro
>> Full slide-out keyboard for faster typing
>> Stay in touch through email, Twitter™, Facebook™, blogging and chat
>> View everything on the 3.2" 16:9 wide touchscreen
>> Capture the action in HD resolution – upload to YouTube via Wi-Fi™
>> PlayNow – immediate online access to applications, games and music.

Sony Ericsson Vivaz™ pro supports UMTS HSPA 900/2100 and GSM GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900, UMTS HSPA 850/1900/2100 and GSM GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900.

Sony Ericsson Vivaz™ pro will be available in selected markets from Q2 in the colours Black and White.

Sony Ericsson is also unveiling the Hi-Fi Stereo Headset MH710. Enjoy best-in-class clear audio while on the move and handle music and calls with just one touch.

Sony Ericsson Vivaz™ pro

Camera
5.1 megapixel camera
4x digital zoom
Auto focus (photos)
Continuous auto focus (video)
Face detection (photos)
Geo tagging
Image stabiliser
Photo light
Send to web
Smile detection
Touch capture
Video light
Video recording (720p HD recording)

Music
Album art
Bluetooth™ stereo (A2DP)
Media player
Music player
Music tones (MP3/AAC)
PlayNow™
TrackID™

Web
Bookmarks
Google™ search (from standby)
Web feeds
WebKit web browser

Voice
Speakerphone
Vibrating alert
Video calling (main camera)

Messaging
Conversations
Email
Handwriting recognition
Instant messaging
Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync®
Picture messaging (MMS)
Predictive text input
Sound recorder
Text messaging (SMS)

Design
Auto rotate
Full slide-out keyboard
Picture wallpaper
Symbian OS™
Touchscreen

Entertainment
3D games
Facebook™ application
FM radio
Java
Twitter™ application
Video streaming
Video viewing
YouTube™

Organiser
Alarm clock
Calculator
Calendar
Document readers
Flight mode
Notes
Phone book

Location-based services
A-GPS
Google Maps™
Wisepilot™ turn-by-turn navigation

Connectivity
3.5 mm audio jack
Bluetooth™ technology
DLNA Certified™ (photos and audio)
Micro USB connector
Modem
PictBridge printing
Synchronisation
TV out (VGA resolution)
USB mass storage
USB support
Wi-Fi™

Preloaded applications
Facebook™ – social networking
Google Maps™ – navigation
QuickOffice – Microsoft® Office viewer (trial version)
PDF Viewer (trial version)
Road Sync – synchronisation
SMS Preview – messaging app
Twitter – social networking
YouTube™ – video sharing
Wisepilot™ – navigation
World Mate – clock and weather app
Quadrapop
Rally Master Pro

Screen
>> 16:9 nHD touchscreen (TFT)
>> 16,777,216 colour
>> 3.2 inches
>> 360 x 640 pixels
>> Scratch-resistant

Accessories
In-Box:
>> Sony Ericsson Vivaz™ pro
>> Battery
>> stereo portable handsfree
>> 8 GB microSD™ card
>> micro USB cable for charging and file transfer

Optional:
>> Hi-Fi Wireless Headset with FM Radio MW600
>> Hi-Fi Stereo Headset MH710

Facts 1)2)
Size: 109 x 52 x 15 mm
Weight: 117 grams

Phone memory: Up to 75 MB
Memory card support: SanDisk microSD™, up to 16 GB

Memory card included: 8 GB microSD™ card

Operating system: Symbian™ S60 5th edition
Processor: 720 MHz

Talk time GSM/GPRS: Up to 12 hrs 30 min
Standby time GSM/GPRS: Up to 430 hrs

Talk time UMTS: Up to 5 hrs 10 min
Standby time UMTS: Up to 440 hrs

Video call time: Up to 2 hrs 30 min

Availability and versions
Networks
UMTS HSPA 900/2100
GSM GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900

UMTS HSPA 850/1900/2100
GSM GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900
Available in selected markets from Q2 2010

Colour
>> Black
>> White

Fresh from the Mobile World Congress, here's the latest on Sony Ericsson's brand new Vivaz Pro, including white hot rear shots!

The phone is an update on the Vivaz line, adding a QWERTY slide-out keypad, 720p video recording, and a 720Mhz processor. The 3.2-inch screen has touch, and the aforementioned video-capable cam boasts 8.2 megapixels.

SE says the phone, even with the keyboard, is "ultra-thin," with dimensions that are "almost" as thin as the original Vivaz handset. SE claims there's only 2mm's difference between the two.

Release date is a tentative Q2 2010. [SEMCBlog, Infosynch World]

Full release below:

Sony Ericsson Vivaz™ pro, announced today, adds a QWERTY keyboard to the touch screen offering, delivering a user experience optimised for messaging and entertainment. The full QWERTY keyboard allows consumers to communicate quickly and efficiently via email, SMS or social networking updates.

Just like flagship phone Sony Ericsson Vivaz™, announced in January, Sony Ericsson Vivaz™ pro allows consumers to produce and broadcast their best experiences in HD video. The open platform also allows users to personalise their entertainment experience by downloading great applications through PlayNow™ and the Symbian Developer Community.

"Having announced Sony Ericsson Vivaz™ in January we are now adding a sister phone that includes a QWERTY keyboard along with the touch screen for a superior messaging and entertainment experience," said Daniel Sandblom Marketing Business Manager, Sony Ericsson. "Sony Ericsson Vivaz™ pro meets the increased consumer demand for QWERTY devices without compromising on any entertainment features."

Sony Ericsson Vivaz™ pro features the new design philosophy 'human curvature', which will become a consistent feature of the Sony Ericsson portfolio going forward. Designed to mirror the shape of the human body, and at the same time delivering a precise and compelling way of interacting with the phone, Sony Ericsson Vivaz™ pro is instantly recognisable.

Sony Ericsson Vivaz™ pro
>> Full slide-out keyboard for faster typing
>> Stay in touch through email, Twitter™, Facebook™, blogging and chat
>> View everything on the 3.2" 16:9 wide touchscreen
>> Capture the action in HD resolution – upload to YouTube via Wi-Fi™
>> PlayNow – immediate online access to applications, games and music.

Sony Ericsson Vivaz™ pro supports UMTS HSPA 900/2100 and GSM GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900, UMTS HSPA 850/1900/2100 and GSM GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900.

Sony Ericsson Vivaz™ pro will be available in selected markets from Q2 in the colours Black and White.

Sony Ericsson is also unveiling the Hi-Fi Stereo Headset MH710. Enjoy best-in-class clear audio while on the move and handle music and calls with just one touch.

Sony Ericsson Vivaz™ pro

Camera
5.1 megapixel camera
4x digital zoom
Auto focus (photos)
Continuous auto focus (video)
Face detection (photos)
Geo tagging
Image stabiliser
Photo light
Send to web
Smile detection
Touch capture
Video light
Video recording (720p HD recording)

Music
Album art
Bluetooth™ stereo (A2DP)
Media player
Music player
Music tones (MP3/AAC)
PlayNow™
TrackID™

Web
Bookmarks
Google™ search (from standby)
Web feeds
WebKit web browser

Voice
Speakerphone
Vibrating alert
Video calling (main camera)

Messaging
Conversations
Email
Handwriting recognition
Instant messaging
Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync®
Picture messaging (MMS)
Predictive text input
Sound recorder
Text messaging (SMS)

Design
Auto rotate
Full slide-out keyboard
Picture wallpaper
Symbian OS™
Touchscreen

Entertainment
3D games
Facebook™ application
FM radio
Java
Twitter™ application
Video streaming
Video viewing
YouTube™

Organiser
Alarm clock
Calculator
Calendar
Document readers
Flight mode
Notes
Phone book

Location-based services
A-GPS
Google Maps™
Wisepilot™ turn-by-turn navigation

Connectivity
3.5 mm audio jack
Bluetooth™ technology
DLNA Certified™ (photos and audio)
Micro USB connector
Modem
PictBridge printing
Synchronisation
TV out (VGA resolution)
USB mass storage
USB support
Wi-Fi™

Preloaded applications
Facebook™ – social networking
Google Maps™ – navigation
QuickOffice – Microsoft® Office viewer (trial version)
PDF Viewer (trial version)
Road Sync – synchronisation
SMS Preview – messaging app
Twitter – social networking
YouTube™ – video sharing
Wisepilot™ – navigation
World Mate – clock and weather app
Quadrapop
Rally Master Pro

Screen
>> 16:9 nHD touchscreen (TFT)
>> 16,777,216 colour
>> 3.2 inches
>> 360 x 640 pixels
>> Scratch-resistant

Accessories
In-Box:
>> Sony Ericsson Vivaz™ pro
>> Battery
>> stereo portable handsfree
>> 8 GB microSD™ card
>> micro USB cable for charging and file transfer

Optional:
>> Hi-Fi Wireless Headset with FM Radio MW600
>> Hi-Fi Stereo Headset MH710

Facts 1)2)
Size: 109 x 52 x 15 mm
Weight: 117 grams

Phone memory: Up to 75 MB
Memory card support: SanDisk microSD™, up to 16 GB

Memory card included: 8 GB microSD™ card

Operating system: Symbian™ S60 5th edition
Processor: 720 MHz

Talk time GSM/GPRS: Up to 12 hrs 30 min
Standby time GSM/GPRS: Up to 430 hrs

Talk time UMTS: Up to 5 hrs 10 min
Standby time UMTS: Up to 440 hrs

Video call time: Up to 2 hrs 30 min

Availability and versions
Networks
UMTS HSPA 900/2100
GSM GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900

UMTS HSPA 850/1900/2100
GSM GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900
Available in selected markets from Q2 2010

Colour
>> Black
>> White

The X10 was Sony Ericsson's first Android phone and had really decent specs, yet failed to impress us. Dumbing it down and adding a "Mini" and "Mini Pro" tag doesn't sound too promising.

They're both on sale in the second quarter of 2010, and run Android 1.6, with a 2.6-inch touchscreen and 5.0-megapixel camera and 600MHz processors. You may be wondering what separates the Mini from the Mini Pro, considering they're both very similar sounding so far. It's just the addition of a slide-out QWERTY on the Mini Pro—and some extra colors for the Mini. Greeeeaaat.

Full release:

Today sees the announcement of Xperia™ X10 mini and X10 mini pro, compact versions of Xperia™ X10, which will deliver powerful and application packed mobile phones into the industry. By introducing mobile phones that are both compact and clever, Sony Ericsson is challenging the norm and defining a brand new offering that combines high specification features with a version of Sony Ericsson's powerful UX platform specifically designed for smaller devices.

Xperia™ X10 mini and X10 mini pro with slide out QWERTY keyboard offer an open and intuitive communication entertainment experience and build on the human curvature design philosophy debuted by the Sony Ericsson Xperia™ X10. Combining the Android platform with signature applications and a customisable UX platform, communication truly becomes entertainment with these new mobile phones. To enhance the experience, pick and choose from a multitude of applications at Android Market™ and co-create a mobile phone experience that is entirely unique. Users can go one step further and customise the home screen's four corners and widgets to access the most needed applications for limitless possibilities.

The two sister mobile phones incorporate the signature application Sony Ericsson Timescape™ which brings all communication together in one place so users can see at a glance text messages, missed calls, and Facebook™ and Twitter updates, without having to open lots of different applications. The interactive music player also uses the "infinite button" to pull together all music content from the music store and YouTube™ – a smart way to search for new tracks from a favourite artist.

"There has been an enormous buzz around Xperia™ X10 so it is really exciting to be already unveiling compact versions of this powerful proposition." Said Rikko Sakaguchi, EVP and Chief Creation Officer, Sony Ericsson. "With the X10 mini and X10 mini pro we have pushed the boundaries of what is possible with smaller devices and are giving consumers exactly what they want; two high performance mobile phones with a fully customisable user experience platform and a stunning ultra-compact design."

Xperia™ X10 mini and X10 mini pro
>> Sony Ericsson Timescape™ - brings together all communication in one place
>> Four corner control – applications, calls, web, the consumer decides. Four customisable icons for ultimate control
>> 5 megapixel camera and video - share creations via the web
>> Music player links to music stores and YouTube™ - access the world of music
>> Android platform - with Google™ services and Android Market™
>> QWERTY keyboard - slide and text for quick and easy messaging (Xperia™ X10 mini pro only)

X10 mini and X10 mini pro supports HSPA 900/2100 and EDGE 850/900/1800/1900, HSPA 850/1900/2100 and EDGE 850/900/1800/1900.

The X10 mini will be available in selected markets from Q2 in the colours Pearl White, Black, Pink, Lime, Red and Silver

The X10 mini pro will be available in selected markets from Q2 in the colours Black and Red.

Sony Ericsson is also introducing the Portable Stereo Speakers MS450, to deliver rich on-the-go sound and the Hi-Fi Headset MH810 with remote with superior audio and remote media and call handling.

Log on to The Sony Ericsson Product Blog for more information: http://blogs.sonyericsson.com/products

- ENDS -

Xperia™ X10 mini and X10 mini pro

Camera
5 megapixel camera
Auto focus
Geo tagging
Photo and video light
Sony Ericsson Album application
Video recording

Music
Bluetooth™ stereo (A2DP)
Music player
PlayNow™
TrackID™

Web
Bookmarks
Pan and zoom
WebKit web browser

Communication
Sony Ericsson Timescape™ with...
- Facebook™ status updates, friend's photo, inbox messages and friend requests
- tweets, replies and direct messages from people you follow on Twitter™
- incoming text and picture messages
- missed calls

Messaging
Email
Instant messaging
Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync®
Picture messaging (MMS)
Predictive text input
Text messaging (SMS)
Design
Auto rotate
Full slide out keyboard (X10 mini pro only)
Picture wallpaper
Touchscreen

Entertainment
Infinite button
Quadrapop game
Sony Ericsson FM radio
Video player
Video streaming

Organiser
Calendar
Flight mode
Phone book with dialer
Sony Ericsson Home with widget
Tasks

Location-based services A-GPS
Google Maps™
Wisepilot™ turn-by-turn navigation* (free trial version)

Connectivity
3.5 mm audio jack
Bluetooth™ technology
Micro USB connector
NeoReader® barcode scanning app
Sony Ericsson Sync
USB mass storage support
USB support
Wi-Fi™

Google™ Services
Android Market™
Gmail™
Google Maps™ with Street View
Google Search Widget
Google Talk™
Google Voice Search™**
YouTube™
** The Google Voice Search service is not available in all markets

Screen
16,777,216 colour TFT touchscreen
2.55 inches
240 x 320 pixels (QVGA)
Scratch-resistant

Accessories
In-Box:
>> Sony Ericsson Xperia™ X10 mini/ Xperia™ X10 mini pro with battery
>> Micro USB cable for charging, synchronisation and file transfer
>> Stereo portable handsfree
>> 2GB microSD™ memory card
>> User documentation

Optional:
>> Portable Stereo Speakers MS450
>> Hi-Fi Headset with Remote MH810

Facts 1)2)

Xperia™ X10 mini:

Size: 83 x 50 x 16 mm
Weight: 88 grams

Phone memory: Up to 128MB

Memory card support: SanDisk microSD™, up to 16 GB
Memory card included: 2GB

Operating system: Google™ Android 1.6
Processor: 600 MHz Qualcomm MSM7227

Talk time GSM/GPRS: Up to 4 hours
Standby time: GSM/GPRS: Up to 285hrs

Talk time UMTS: Up to 3.5 hours
Standby time: UMTS: Up to 360 hrs

Xperia™ X10 mini pro:

Size: 90 x 52 x 17 mm
Weight: 120 grams

Phone memory: Up to 128MB

Memory card support: SanDisk microSD™, up to 16 GB
Memory card included: 2GB

Operating system: Google™ Android 1.6
Processor: 600 MHz Qualcomm MSM7227

Talk time GSM/GPRS: Up to 4 hours
Standby time: GSM/GPRS: Up to 285hrs

Talk time UMTS: Up to 3.5 hours
Standby time: UMTS: Up to 360 hrs

Availability and versions
Networks

UMTS HSPA 900/2100
GSM GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900

UMTS HSPA 850/1900/2100
GSM GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900

Available in selected markets in Q2 2010

Colours
Xperia™ X10 mini:
Black
Pearl White
Lime
Pink
Red
Silver

Xperia™ X10 mini pro:
Black
Red

Sony Ericsson, which is apparently narrowing down the release date for their Snapdragon-powered Android phone in stages—it was Q1 before—has posted a new release date(ish)! The X10 will make your Droid feel inadequate in February. [Slashgear]

A leaked roadmap had previously indicated that Sprint would be launching a 4G WiMax handset sometime in 2010, and now the company has confirmed that we'll be seeing the technology within the next few months. But is the network ready?

Well, sort of. Sprint's been working with Clearwire on building up a 4G WiMax network since 2007, and while it's taken longer than they thought, they do have it up and running in 27 markets that serve 30 million people. But! Those markets currently don't include biggies like New York, San Fransisco, and DC, and 4G. WiMax hasn't been put to the test by a wide audience.

Still, they've got to do it sometime, and sooner is better than never for those who can use it. There's speculation that the handset in question will be the HTC Supersonic, an Android WiMax phone that leaked just last month. [Forbes via Electronista]

newVideoPlayer( {"type":"video","player":"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/CW0DUg63lqU&hl=en&fs=1&fmt=22","customParams":[],"width":500,"height":412,"ratio":0.824,"flashData":"","embedName":null,"objectId":null,"noEmbed":false,"source":"youtube"} ); Oh, hello! A trip to the YouTube wayback machine shows that 1996's Steve "Great Artists Steal" Jobs might have taken issue with Steve Jobs 2010, and his patent lawsuit firebombing of HTC. Irony!

The comment was made during a 1996 PBS documentary called "Triumph of the Nerds," and looks a smidge hypocritical in light of today's events. As does this one:

"We have always been shameless about stealing great ideas."

Goodness. If that's true, then lawyering up against innovative competitors must be the one of the best ideas you ever heard.

In fact, compare the above to what Jobs said just today in the press release about the HTC lawsuit:

"We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We've decided to do something about it. We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours."

Emphasis added. That's quite a 180 for a company and a man who have always been known for respecting and triumphing innovation. A disappointing one, at that.

Update: To clarify, and as is clear in the video, Jobs was quoting Pablo Picasso in the headlined quote. The follow-up quote is all him. [YouTube via commenter Fractal the Meek]

Did you blink during the Super Bowl commercial breaks? Too bad if you did, because it means you may have missed the anemic number of gadget or tech-related commercials worth talking about tomorrow at the water cooler. But! Megan Fox!

Megan Fox is an obvious choice, for obvious reasons (if she's your thing): She had a Motoblur, and we're a gadget blog! See? Obvious. Anyway, tweeting from a tub on her new phone, she pondered what would happen if she sent a picture of her bathing out to the world. Hijinks ensued, people were hurt, and even a gay couple somehow got distracted by the fox that is Megan Fox:

newVideoPlayer( {"type":"video","player":"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/qffDaLmDinw&hl=en&fs=1&fmt=22","customParams":[],"width":500,"height":412,"ratio":0.824,"flashData":"","embedName":null,"objectId":null,"noEmbed":false,"source":"youtube"} );

And such is the power of Fox that there were scenes that didn't make the final cut.

Then there was Beyonce, fresh off her Grammy performance, performing again for Vizio. Surrounded by Internet memes and celebrities, Twitter and what appeared to be an army of automobile assembly line robots (hopefully not ones from Toyota), she sang and sold that company's Via/Internet Apps technology. Think Internet on your HDTV, not because I say so or because that's exactly what it is, but because that's the message Vizio assaulted viewers with during the 60-second clip:

newVideoPlayer( {"type":"video","player":"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/cHxmRSYDazE&hl=en&fs=1&fmt=22","customParams":[],"width":500,"height":412,"ratio":0.824,"flashData":"","embedName":null,"objectId":null,"noEmbed":false,"source":"youtube"} );

Tough love was the story for Intel's Jeffrey the Robot. The commercial was supposedly for Intel's Core processor line, but I know the truth: Robot uprising. It 20 years' time we can all look back at this commercial, when poor Jeffrey was snubbed For The Last Time by his human overlords:

newVideoPlayer( {"type":"video","player":"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/bbifmRBBN6Q&hl=en&fs=1&fmt=22","customParams":[],"width":500,"height":412,"ratio":0.824,"flashData":"","embedName":null,"objectId":null,"noEmbed":false,"source":"youtube"} );

Lastly, there's one we actually covered yesterday. Google. Its poignant ad about a search-happy boy in love with a French girl aired yesterday, on the Internet, which is probably fitting. We'll revisit it again here if you missed it tonight:

newVideoPlayer( {"type":"video","player":"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/nnsSUqgkDwU&hl=en&fs=1&fmt=22","customParams":[],"width":500,"height":412,"ratio":0.824,"flashData":"","embedName":null,"objectId":null,"noEmbed":false,"source":"youtube"} ); Sigh.

Personally, for me the ads were a bit stale this year. Even the Bud Light beer ads, which have made me laugh out loud on occasion in years past, felt a little tired. Betty White was a standout though, and there were back-to-back ads depicting grown men in their underwear. Possibly a first there. Also a first: Seeing a two-timing baby talk about eTrade while his "milk-a-holic" girl on the side blew up his shit over a webcam.

The one Bud Light ad I will give props to, however, was their Autotune bit. It's a stretch including here on Gizmodo, but we have a history with that app (iPhone, anyone?), and we'll take an opportunity here to thank Budweiser for hopefully killing the tech off for good with this Super Bowl ad:

newVideoPlayer( {"type":"video","player":"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/mXoPloew3bk&hl=en&fs=1&fmt=22","customParams":[],"width":500,"height":412,"ratio":0.824,"flashData":"","embedName":null,"objectId":null,"noEmbed":false,"source":"youtube"} );

OK, I admit it, I smiled a bit watching that a second time. Guilty.

The entire crop is over at YouTube in one convenient package (Fox's is notably absent at the moment, although they appear to be updating throughout the night).

It's an admittedly small sample size from a start-up social network, but even so: that's ice cold. MocoSpace surveyed 20,000 of its 10.3 million members, and found that SMS is the weapon of choice for 47% of phone break-ups.

Other disheartening statistics gleaned from the study: a third of MocoSpace users have used their phone to flirt with someone else while on a date, and 57% have used their phone to end a relationship.

I don't know what that says about the state of American Dating, but I do think the moral of the story is don't get too close to a MocoSpace user. They'll chew you up and spit you out in 160 characters or less. [TechCrunch]

Bad Valentine is our own special take on the beauty—and awkwardness—of geek love.

Don't shy away at the sound of that "S" word. I've got some reassuring news for anyone who's ever thrown their N95 across the room in horror. Starting today, Symbian^2 will be offered as a free open source download for anyone wanting to tinker with it. The details are a bit thin on the ground so far, but at least it shows Symbian is finally starting to view Android as a threat.

Once Symbian^3 is launched later this year, it won't be quite as attractive fooling around with Symbian^2 behind its back, so best to start early and get in a few months of quality time together before the jealousy sets in. [Wired]

Details were shed on the open source Symbian^3 platform just a week ago, but at Mobile World Congress the friendly guys at The Symbian Foundation got reckless with details on HDMI support, and both 2D and 3D gaming graphics.

It'll be "feature complete" within the next month or two, and the first products with the platform will be released in the third quarter. More information is below via the press release, but do check out this spiffy video of the Android-esque multi-screens with widgets, and Cover Flow-like media player. [Business Wire via Nokia Conversations]

newVideoPlayer( {"type":"video","player":"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/rdGyZYrix9g&hl=en&fs=1&fmt=22","customParams":[],"width":500,"height":412,"ratio":0.824,"flashData":"","embedName":null,"objectId":null,"noEmbed":false,"source":"youtube"} );

The Symbian Foundation today unveiled the Symbian^3 (S^3) platform, the first entirely open source release following the platform's transition to an open source license on 4 February, 2010, which was the largest of its kind in history.

S^3 is expected to be "feature complete" by the end of Q1 and the release will include: significant usability and interface advances, faster networking, acceleration for 2D and 3D graphics in games and applications, HDMI support (High-Definition Multimedia Interface), music store integration, an improved user interface with easier navigation and multi-touch gesture support, a feature-rich homescreen, and the ability to run even more applications simultaneously.

Members of the Symbian community, including device creators, network operators, hardware technology providers, professional services companies and application developers are already engaged with S^3 and the first devices using the platform are expected to ship as early as Q3 this year.

S^3 introduces major advances, which include:

* HDMI support enables users to plug their phone into a TV and watch a high-definition movie at 1080p quality without a Blu-ray player.
* Music store integration embedded within the radio enables users to identify a song and learn more about it. The addition of a "buy now" button, which links with the user's chosen music store, makes purchasing easy.
* More efficient memory management due to Writeable Data Paging allows more applications to run in parallel for a faster, more complete and efficient multi-tasking experience, especially on mid-range hardware.
* A new 2D and 3D graphics architecture takes full advantage of the hardware acceleration available to deliver a faster and more responsive user interface. Users, developers and device creators will all benefit greatly from the visual enhancements and smooth transitions that will significantly improve the look-and-feel of their applications and services. Combined with industry-standard OpenGL ES, the new architecture also provides a great platform for high performance games – all without slowing the phone down.
* The industry-leading networking architecture, ready for 4G networks, provides next-generation Internet experiences on today's devices. Consumers will benefit from the architecture's ability to seamlessly balance each individual application's needs regarding factors such as bandwidth, latency and jitter. This improves the consumer's experience of network-dependent applications and Internet services like VoIP and media content streaming.
* One-click connectivity for all applications greatly simplifies the process of connecting to the Internet, without interrupting the user. New global settings allow the user to configure platform-wide behaviour, for example ensuring the device automatically switches from cellular to WLAN when a free WLAN network is available.
* Usability enhancements across the user interface include the adoption of a direct "single tap" interaction model, making it much easier to complete common tasks on a device. Multi-touch support for gestures such as "pinch-to-zoom" forms the basis of a gesture framework that can be extended and leveraged by the developer community.
* The Homescreen takes a big step forward with support for multiple pages of widgets and a simple flick gesture to move between them. The widget manager makes discovery and download of new widgets simple and support for multiple instances of a native widget means that consumers can monitor multiple weather forecasts, news feeds, social networking accounts or multiple email accounts simultaneously through a common interface.

Lee M. Williams, Executive Director of the Symbian Foundation, said: "S^3 is another huge milestone in the evolution of our platform. Now that it is fully open source, the door is open to individual contributors, device creators and third-party developer companies, as well as other organizations, to create more compelling products and services than ever before. We have enjoyed significant momentum since we completed S^2, with companies including Sun, Nokia, Ixonos, Comarch and Accenture, among others, contributing to S^3. We are now looking to build on this momentum and remain on course to complete S^4 later this year."

The developer experience has also been greatly improved. The Qt toolkit is pre-integrated into all kits and the runtime in S^3 will run on existing devices back to S60 3.1. The Web Runtime support provided in the platform remains a key part of the developer story, allowing web developers to directly re-use their skills in HTML, CSS, Javascript and AJAX to create Homescreen widgets and standalone applications.

Hey, T-Mobile customer, do you have any idea that your wireless carrier is actually owned and operated by German telecom giant Deutsche Telekom? No? Well, ignore everything I just said, because it probably won't be true soon.

If you're interested in why DT would spin off their entire US arm, it's just a matter of numbers:

T-Mobile USA has languished under perceptions that its wireless network is inferior and lacks reach, a major shortcoming as customers turn to their cell phones to surf the Internet and stream video. In the third quarter, 77,000 users walked away from T-Mobile USA, while AT&T and Verizon Wireless added millions of customers.

DT is a conservative company, T-Mobile USA, while massive, represents a fraction of their business, or a medium-sized liability, depending on how you look at it.

The excision could come as either a partial spinoff, a merger with another American carrier (and not an AT&T or a Verizon—we're talking the likes of MetroPCS), or an IPO. Whatever happens, we'll probably hear about it within "the next two months." [WSJ]

Headphones: Your smartphone is now your primary media player, too, so you're going to need to ditch the headphones or headset it came with. Yes, they all suck; no, your phone's aren't the one exception. If you don't care about a microphone, treat yourself to a decent pair of in-ear headphones. If you do, get a midrange wired headset.

Storage: Phones either come with internal storage, like the Pre or the iPhone, or taunt you with "expandable" storage, which pretty much means they've got an empty microSD slot. If your phone comes with less than 2GB of space and has said slot, you need to fill it. Buying a microSD card is a little different than buying a regular SD card, because speed doesn't really matter, and nothing you're using your phone demands particularly high transfer speeds. This is a place to store your music, photos and videos—that's it. Buy these online, where branded 8GB cards regularly dip below $20—in stores, you'll pay much, much more. Also, don't worry too much about getting a full-sized SD adapters, as pictured above. Most phones will allow you to mount your smartphone's microSD card as mass storage when they're plugged into a computer, so removal is rarely necessary.

Cables: Pick up a spare charging cable for your phone. For most smartphones this is a simple mini/microUSB cable, while for iPhones it's an iPod dock connector. Why worry about the spare? Think of it this way: if you lose your only iPod cable, you can't listen to music until you buy another one. If you lose your only iPhone cable, you're out of touch with the rest of the world in a matter of hours.

What You Don't

Of course, the temptation of new accessories is great, and there are legions of companies waiting to seize on your post-transactional bliss. When buying smartphone accessories, proceed with caution.

A dock: Again, people have a tendency to confuse their PMPs with their phones, which may look and act similar, but are used in a completely different way. Unless you want to dock your smartphone near your bed to use as an alarm, it's going to be charging—and syncing—with your computer whenever it's not in your pocket. An impulse-purchased dock will, in all likelihood, live a lonely life. Don't let this sad thing happen!

A branded navigation mount: These are almost always overpriced, and all they really do is hold your phone in your line of sight. Just buy a dirt-cheap windshield or dash mount, buy a 12v DC converter to plug your USB charging cable into, and you've got all the functionality you need for about $20.

Cleaning Kits: Cleaning your smartphone isn't hard, and it shouldn't cost you much at all. Just follow our instructions, and avoid any smartphone-specific cleaning kits. They're a guaranteed waste.

Bluetooth anything: Bluetooth headsets can make anyone look like a dweebish soccer dad, and while they might make chatting on the phone while driving more legal, they don't really make it much safer. Just hold your phone like a normal human, put it on speakerphone, or take the call later. You should avoid Bluetooth headphones too, but for a different reason: they suck. They sound terrible, they'll drain your phone's battery and they're overpriced. If you have to buy a pair, spend as little as possible.

Getting Started

If your smartphone is a newborn, this is where we teach it to walk.

Contacts: Somehow, in over two decades of cellphone development, we haven't settled on a simple way to transfer contacts from one phone to another. Here's how you should proceed through this somehow-still-painful process:
• Get your carrier to do it. If you're upgrading handsets on one carrier, they should be able to transfer your contacts, and probably for free. If you're switching carriers, there may be a small fee. Don't spend more than five bucks.
• Use your SIM. Are you on AT&T or T-Mobile? Is your smartphone on the same carrier as your old dumbphone? Most phones will have an option to write all contacts to a SIM card, which is the little chip that your phone uses to identify itself on a cell network. Do this, pop your old card out, pop it into your new smartphone, and transfer all your contacts from the old SIM onto your new phone's memory. Sadly, this won't work with Verizon or Sprint phones, which are CDMA-based, and therefore don't have SIM cards at all.
• Google Sync. Through a protocol called SyncML, Google Sync supports quite a few features phones, and can pull all your contacts into your Google account. Your new smartphone can then yank them back down from the cloud. Bonus: they're now backed up to Google server's, too.

Email: Email, you'll find, is one of the best things about owning a smartphone. Setting up your email varies from smartphone to smartphone (iPhone, Android, Palm Pre, Windows Mobile) and service to service (Exchange and Gmail setups will be completely different, obvious) but there are few rules of thumb to keep in mind during account setup. For example, use IMAP (versus POP) whenever you can—this will keep your messages and their read/unread statuses in sync with your desktop clients. And since most of your email downloading will be happening over 3G, set the individual message size limit at or below about 10kb. This will ensure your messages come in quickly, but also that you have something to read once they arrive.

Calendars: If you keep a Google Calendar, having it sync with your smartphone is a revelation. Android phones will automatically sync with your default Google account's calendars, as will the Pre, while the iPhone will need to be configured with CalDav. If you don't keep a calendar, your new smartphone is a good excuse to start.

Media and Syncing: Most smartphones rely on some kind of desktop software to transfer personal info, music, video and photos to and from the handset. For the iPhone, this basically means downloading iTunes—which you have to do anyway. For BlackBerry, this means downloading BlackBerry Desktop Manager. Windows Mobile phones are best served by Windows Device Center, while Android and Palm phones—and optionally Windows Phones, iPhones and BlackBerrys—play nice with doubleTwist, a cross-platform music player/media syncing app.

Converting Video: You can't just copy your torrented videos or home movies over to your smartphone; you need to downsample those videos, stat. Just download Handbrake for this—it's basically magic, and it works on Windows, OS X and Linux. These instructions are iPhone-centric, but videos converted to 320x240 h.264 will be suitable for most new smartphones.

Apps! Apps! Apps! Apps!

Without apps, smartphones are nothing. With apps, they're practically anything. Every smartphone platform has an app storefront now, from Apple's pioneering App Store to BlackBerry's App World to the Android Market, and they're all, to different extents, treasure troves.

iPhone: First stop, Gizmodo's Essential iPhone Apps Directory. These are the best of the best, and everything you need to make your iPhone into a mobile powerhouse. If you're averse to spending money on your new iPhone—this thing wasn't cheap, after all—check out our Essential Free Apps. We do regular posts and weekly roundups around here too, so just keep an eye out.

Android: It's got the second best app selection, which is to say there's some really great stuff out there. Our Essential Android Apps roundup cuts through the noise of the App Market, while our monthly roundups keep you up to date with the latest additions to the store.

BlackBerry: We cover the biggest new additions to App World, but it's best to defer to a specialist site like CrackBerry for this one—they have their own app store too, which isn't really much better or worse than BlackBerry's janky official shop.

Palm: We've just pulled one of our patented "Essential" roundups fresh out of the oven, so consult that first. Beyond that, PreCentral's official app reviews are fairly fantastic. Also worth checking out is their extensive homebrew app gallery, which has about as many decent apps in it as the official Catalog.

Windows Mobile: App development for WinMo isn't exactly picking up nowadays but there's a tremendous backlog of useful reviews and materials at WMPowerUser, WMExperts, XDA and MoDaCo. And yeah, we occasionally still do Windows Mobile app roundups, though until things get exciting again, expect less, not more.

Living Happily Ever After

Lastly, a few odds and ends to make sure your metal'n'plastic darling lives a happy life, at least before the end of its two-year contract.

How to back up your smartphone: Your smartphone probably contains as much personal data as your computer, and it's subjected to way more physical risk. Preempt the pain. Back it up.

How to keep you smartphone clean: These little machines are fantastic at collecting fingerprints, dust and grime. Wipe them off every once in a while.

Any other tips for new smartphone owners? Chuck them down in the comments. Happy Holidays!

Hey, that's their words, not mine—I'm almost lost for any. "Sculptured by a European artist…the phone plugs into any wall-jack and is fully-guaranteed." I bet, just look how classy this gent seems with an ear full of cleavage.

Keep it tasteless 1984. I've no idea what fine publication this appeared in, but it looks like the sales came out of Mission, Kansas. And no, the 1800 number no longer works.

How much would this ultimate conversation piece have set you back? Just $75, including 3-6 week shipping. That's an insane $150 bucks today. I wonder how many they sold... [Paco Camino and LiveJournal via CopyRanter]

Online retail is nothing new, but now brick and mortar stores want to get in on the high-tech action. The New York Times has a disquieting look at new technologies that will make you shop 'til your signal drops.

Take, for example, Norma Kamali's boutique in Manhattan, which recently implemented a system called ScanLife that allows shoppers to find more information on products from their smart phones. So far, so good. But ScanLife also lets shoppers buy those products from their phones, even when seen in passing in a display window, even when the store is closed. Impulse buying just got a whole lot more impulsive.

Sure, ScanLife will certainly make physical shopping more convenient, but you have to wonder if it's going to make shopping too convenient.

Whereas ScanLife could make it dangerously easy for you to spend your money, another system called Presence, developed by IBM, could make it downright annoying to do so. Presence tracks you as you walk through the store and reminds you of things you might have forgotten you wanted to buy. By way of example, the Times article describes a trip to the supermarket in which Presence beams coupons to your phone in real time as you walk through the aisles and suggests items that would go well with the one you just put in your cart.

Of course, shoppers will have the option of using these new systems; no one is going to force you to augment your shopping. But at the same time, the internet age has a way of sweeping people up into using new technologies, even when the headaches equal the benefits. Presence could let you pinpoint an item's location in an unfamiliar grocery store, but would this capability be worth it if it came at the price of shopping with an overbearing digital assistant?

The article mentions Crate & Barrel and Walmart specifically as companies who are interested in these types of systems, but you can be sure that all major retailers are considering software that let you use your gadgets to spend more money on their products. Still, I imagine that many people will be content keep on window shopping the old-school way, without their phones and without their credit cards. [New York Times]

Running Android 2.1 with HTC Sense, it's got a 3.2-inch AMOLED screen with 320 x 480 pixels, capacitive but of course. The camera is 5.0-megapixels with autofocus and flash; there's a 600 MHz processor and 512MB ROM (with microSD card slot), 384MB of RAM. The battery is 1300 mAh, so a bit less than the Hero, and the usual Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS are included.

Here's a video from Recombu, who called it their favorite Android phone to date:
newVideoPlayer( {"type":"video","player":"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/iVfJaRsuS6E&hl=en&fs=1&fmt=22","customParams":[],"width":500,"height":412,"ratio":0.824,"flashData":"","embedName":null,"objectId":null,"noEmbed":false,"source":"youtube"} );

And here's what our friends at TechRadar had to say:

The aluminium body replaces the Hero's Teflon coating, and while it might be susceptible to scratching from keys or loose change, it certainly adds a premium look to the device.

When we first used the Hero earlier in 2009, it was apparent that the phone had some serious firmware issues - we're happy to report that the Legend doesn't suffer this way, at least not from the outset.

The capacitive 3.2-inch HVGA screen might look a little bigger, but that's because the phone is actually slimmer and thinner than before - HTC tells us this is because it's been able to save space by making it all out of one solid block, thus removing the need for a frame.

Another upgrade to the screen is the fact it's now an OLED rather than your conventional LCD - this means vivid colours and drop dead gorgeous contrast ratios like those seen on the Samsung Jet. We can't wait to try watching an extended video session on this device.

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Photos courtesy of TechRadar.

One interesting thing to note about the Legend is that it's got a few new tricks up its Android sleeve. A "helicopter view" which is almost like Mac OS X's exposé means you can pinch the screen to view all the five Android homescreens, switching between the widgets easily.

A new FriendStream scrobbles all status updates. photos and links from your various social networking sites (currently, Twitter, Facebook and Flickr are supported), but you can still use the individual widgets and apps if you prefer.

It's out in Europe late March/early April in Europe, with worldwide availability to be confirmed. I've got to say, after getting hands-on with it recently this will definitely be my next Android handset.

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It's not the Android phone that Asustek's president was bragging about yesterday, but the WinMo 6.5.3 model we heard whispers of actually looks nicer than expected, if this Taiwanese pre-order picture extravaganza is anything to go by.

The listed specs are exactly what Asustek president Benson Lin promised they'd be, namely a 3.5-inch WVGA resistive touchscreen, 5.0-megapixel camera, Qualcomm 7224 600MHz processor and GPS functionality. At least we now know that it's also sporting 512MB RAM and the same again for internal storage, with a microSD card slot for extra back-up funsies.

As is typical with these Garmin-ASUS collaborations, the M10 will be tailored for drivers and will come bundled with a car holder. It'll be $435 when it goes on sale in Taiwan, in early February just like Lin said. As you can see from the branding on the base of the phone, it's under the Nuvifone range—looks like they haven't been too scarred by the reaction to the G60 and M20, then. [ASUS Taiwan via Slashphone via Engadget]

As mentioned in our review, the added RAM in the Palm Pre Plus means you can run "a LOT" of apps. You know, like 10! Absurdist logic site PreCentral asks the obvious question: why not 50?

Anyway, I'm stuck on the third mission of GTA: Chinatown Wars on my iPhone, because I keep getting calls while I'm playing, which shuts down the game completely. So, my question is, is this Pre Plus making fun of me? Because it sure feels that way. [PreCentral]

With the announcement of Windows Phone 7, Microsoft's made it clear that they're finally—and truly—getting back into the game. They also brutally kneecapped their existing phone software, effectively taking Microsoft out of mobile for the next six months.

The last time a company broke so cleanly with their past like this, it was Palm, and the circumstances where similar: Palm OS was old and tired, and long overdue for a replacement. Palm as a company was perceived as lagging behind the rest of the players, and many had gone so far as to give up hope for anything interesting coming from them before a seemingly inevitable collapse. Then, they announced the Pre, discontinued their other phones, and clawed their way back into the running. They left their old OS out to die. They did it because they had to.

With Windows Phone 7, Microsoft has done the same thing, leapfrogging from a straining platform that bears a glaring resemblance to its earliest ancestors to the most exciting piece of mobile software the tech world has seen since the iPhone. Here's the difference: Windows Mobile 6.5.x isn't going away. When Palm preannounced the Pre, their Palm OS and Windows Mobile phones still existed, but there were only a few, and their phaseout was just over the horizon. Microsoft, on the other hand, is keeping Windows Phone 6.5.x alive for enterprise—we'll see more than a few Windows Mobile 6.5.3 phones announced before Mobile World Congress is over. Some of these phones—the standard issue corporate gear, the slide-out QWERTY emailing machines—will live out their dreary lives in so many belt holsters, as if nothing was announced in Barcelona today. The rest—the touchscreen consumer hardware, the phones you'll be able to pick up at your local Best Buy—have just been so brutally and thoroughly maimed, and rendered so spectacularly unbuyable, that Microsoft has effectively taken themselves out of the phone market until October—at the earliest.

Yes, Everything Is Different Now: Microsoft is ready to barge back into consumer smartphones, and they're not fucking around. But before they can, they need to purge, and that's exactly what they're doing. Microsoft just went on sabbatical from the category they helped invent. They better hope it pays off.

In 2000, Budweiser brought us the inimitable—or perhaps slightly imitable—"Wassup" commercial. Okay, maybe very imitable—Grandmas, Superfriends, Teletubbies, you name it, everyone got into the action.

I always get a little misty when I think of the manners and mores of men who lived in times of yore. The way they used cordless phones and had their friends pick up the princess-phone "extension" lines in the kitchen; the way they clacked away at their clunky desktops while staring at CRT screens. Shit, I mean, they actually had spoken-word conversations with each other! Girls were girls and men were not tied to wireless devices. Those were the days.

Anna Jane Grossman will be with us for the next few weeks, documenting life in the early aughts, and how it differs from today. The author of Obsolete: An Encyclopedia of Once-Common Things Passing Us By (Abrams Image) and the creator of ObsoleteTheBook.com, she has also written for dozens of publications, including the New York Times, Salon.com, the Associated Press, Elle and the Huffington Post, as well as Gizmodo. She has a complicated relationship with technology, but she does have an eponymous website: AnnaJane.net. Follow her on Twitter at @AnnaJane.

In this week's conservative, undersexed app roundup: Guitarists, assisted! Camera and video apps, replaced! Final Fantasy yearning, sated! Science, wielded like a sword! Birds, projectilized! Beautiful puzzles, conquered! And more...

The Apps

If you'd like to view the following gallery as a single page, click here.

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This Week's iPhone News

• Winter Weather May Trigger Your iPhone's Moisture Indicator

• Forbidden Apple: On The Death of iPhone Sex Apps

• Tantalizing iPhone Code Clues Hint at Future Video Chat Capability

• More Fun Than Unfollowing, Now You Can Sh*t On Twitter With the Bird Turd iPhone App

• 5000 Casualties of the App Store Boob War

• Apple Rejects a Non-Sexual, Non-Violent, Non-Alcoholic App For Reasons Unknown

• Swimsuit Catalog Banned While Sports Illustrated Swimsuit App Remains in App Store

• Apple's "Boobie Apps" Banning Resulted In the SuicideGirls' Removal, Despite it Contradicting Schiller's Criteria

• So Apple Bans Girls In Bikinis, But A Shirtless Gay Dude Washing A Car Is OK?

• iPhone 3.2 Beta 3 SDK Simplifies Developing Universal iPad/iPhone Apps (Or Not)

• New "Explicit" Category in App Store Could Herald Return of Sexy Apps

• Apple Removes Explicit Option From iTunes

• Ask an Expert: How To Watch Porn on Your iPhone

• When It's Okay to Pay For an App

• The iPod Touch Is This Generation's Tamagotchi

This list is in no way definitive. If you've spotted a great app that hit the store this week, give us a heads up or, better yet, your firsthand impressions in the comments. And for even more apps: see our previous weekly roundups here, and check out our Favorite iPhone Apps Directory. Have a great weekend, everybody!

For today's data dump: the iPhone now accounts for nearly a fifth of new smartphones, and BlackBerrys are on a surprisingly serious tear, passing a 20% in world market share. So, uh, who's losing?

Well, for one, Nokia, whose smartphones have failed to penetrate at all in the US, despite massive popularity overseas, and whose Symbian OS is starting to look downright old. Manufacturers like LG and Motorola, who for the last year were depending mostly on the waning Windows Mobile 6.1, have had a rough time of it, while Palm, presumably included in the "Other" category, consolidated its line to one phone for the duration of 2009, which has done wonders for its image, but unfortunately not for its sales.

Interestingly enough, Apple and RIM are doing spectacularly well for similar reasons: both have appealed to mainstream consumers with new products—the marked-down iPhone 3G and cheap-but-decent BlackBerry Curve line, respectively—while pushing app stores as a selling point. And honestly, look around. Smartphones are decidedly a thing right now.

I'll be interested to see what happens next year, when Android's had a little time to spread its wings. It looks like Google helped buoy HTC a little bit this year, but Android phones are still a rare sight. [Ars]

It gets tiresome, that old "Android doesn't have any games!" refrain, especially now that it's not really true. Disgruntled French site Android HD has compiled annotated video proof of at least 50 worthy titles. See, look! Right there! Fun. [AndroidHD]

There are times when I let my voicemail fill up to the point of callers getting the "Sorry. Mailbox is full. Please try again." message. This is why.

Click on the image for a closer look.

Look, I'll return missed calls even if you don't command me to do so, I promise. Unless you're annoying. [Doghouse Diaries]