Archive for the ‘hardware’ category

Sony Ericsson’s Xperia X10…now kind of like the iPod line

February 14th, 2010

I’m lying on the floor watching the Olympics with a stomach full of vindaloo and a post-prandial coffee in my hand.

I’ve got to tell you…I’m kind of glad that I’m not in Barcelona right now.

Though I did really want to go to GSMA’s Mobile World Congress 2010, the exciting announcements so far haven’t been anything extremely shocking.

The first noteworthy announcement today was that Sony Ericsson’s first Android device, the gorgeous Xperia X10, is now the parent a full family of devices. The new members of the Sony Ericsson Android family include the X10 mini and X10 mini pro. It’s a bit like the iPod line now, you’ve got the full-sized version, and the miniature ones (one with keyboard, one without, lots of color choices.) Not a bad way to go, actually.

Here’s the features and stats right from Sony Ericsson:
Timescape UI
“Four corner control”
5 megapixel camera and video
QWERTY keyboard – slide and text for quick and easy messaging (Mini pro only)
X10 mini and X10 mini pro support HSPA 900/2100 and EDGE 850/900/1800/1900, HSPA 850/1900/2100 and EDGE 850/900/1800/1900.

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


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

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

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Samsung’s got a 2.1 device especially for South Korea

February 4th, 2010

It’s the first Samsung device to run Android OS 2.1. and the first Samsung device in South Korea. Kind of a big deal when they’re supposed to do a lot with this whole Bada thing. Called the SHW-M100S, the new device will arrive in March on SK Telecom. This means I can head over to the random SK Telecom store I found in Little Korea and maybe be able to get my hands on it.

Some early features/specs listed:
Android 2.1 with TouchWIZ UI
800MHz processor
3.7″ AMOLED touchscreen (WVGA),
5 megapixel camera with 720p video capture
802.11n
Full GPS
T-DMB mobile broadcast TV

Not too shabby!

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“MotoROI” —So what’s it mean?

January 17th, 2010

Motorola just announced another new device, the MotoROI.

We’ve had the MotoRAZR, MotoROKR, MotoRIZR…but, MotoROI? what the fuck does that even mean?

I laughed when I first saw it because we commonly encounter ROI in venture capitalist blogs and such as “return on investment,” which would be kind of hilarious in Motorola’s case…it’s effectively investing everything in the Android platform, and this is what we get. Is that really what they’re going for here?

If his device ran Android 1.6, it would have been perfectly named MoTOROID!

*waiting for laughter*

…this might help…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toroid_(geometry)

see?

Toroid=Donut!

RDRR!!

Seriously though, I’m looking for what they’re going for in Korean. There’s a popular Korean site called “Roiworld” which has fashion games for little girls and shit. I’m having trouble because 저는 한국말 잘못 해요 and pretty much the only things I know in Korean end in a “da” or a “yo.”

Watch, it’s probably something stupid like KRAZR.

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Keeping up with the Androids

January 15th, 2010

Since I’ve now handled almost all of the following devices, I decided to re-do my “140 characters” list and just do a simple rundown of every Android phone with pictures. We’re going to see a lot more at Mobile World Congress. I really want to go, but it’s a little expensive, and I’ve got about 5 trips coming up that are going to be expensive. I also really really really want a Sony Vaio X Signature Series (VPCX115KX/S)…but that’s $1,589.99. money.

RELEASED/CONFIRMED:

G1
G1 (HTC Dream) This is the phone that started it all one year ago: Keyboard, Chin, Trackball, Slider, and Android 1.0

MyTouch3G
Mytouch3G (HTC Magic) , (Dopod) It’s still got the chin, but no keyboard. Shellable, skinnable, endorsed by Whoopi.

HTC Hero
HTC Hero (World) Slim and sexy, this is the first ‘droid with a custom UI #HTCSense The CDMA version is Sprint’s first Android device.

HTC Tattoo
HTC Tattoo yet another all-touch device with HTC Sense bound for Europe. Mysteriously ditched the “chin” but went with custom shells.

HTC Droid Eris
HTC Droid Eris (HTC Desire) Launch partner of Verizon Droid, standard 528MHz CPU, very similar to the Hero.


HTC Nexus One  Sold directly through Google, all-touch, 1GHz Snapdragon, cross-carrier, world phone. Very controversial and reputed to have some problems, but otherwise a totally compelling device.


Motorola Cliq/Dext the first Android phone from Moto, which unveiled MotoBLUR, the second big UI premiered for Android. Thanks to the timing of the big data loss of 2009, this became a replacement for many Sidekicks.

Motorola Droid
Motorola Droid aka “Sholes,” “Tao,” and “Touchstone.” QWERTY slider as thin as an iPhone. VZW’s first Android and first Android 2.0 (eclair) device. A killer.

Motorola Backflip
Motorola Backflip, aka “Enzo,” a weird form factor with keyboard on back of chassis and trackpad behind the screen, also rocks the MotoBLUR interface.


Motorola MotoROI, First released in China and South Korea, this powerful device features 720p video capture with HDMI output and has a fully-featured 8 Megapixel camera. Rumors say it’ll be released in the U.S. also.


Huawei U8220 aka T-mobile Pulse, the first prepaid all-touch Android device “perfect entry level smartphone”


Huawei U8230 3.2 megapixel camera on the back, VGA cam on the front, update to the T-Mobile Pulse.


LG inTouch MAX (GW620) aka “Etna” this QWERTY slider was launched in EU, turned up unlocked in France €450, and is now available in the UK on Virgin and T-Mobile.


LG GT540, don’t know the name of this one, but is all-touch, runs 2.0, and comes in various colours. Launched at CES, coming to EU/Asia


Acer A1 or Acer Liquid, like Motorola, Acer said it’s focusing on Android now. Launched UK 10/14, runs Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset.


Dell mini 3i, one of China Mobile’s first Ophones, rumored to be AT&T’s first Android phone, we’ll have more. Dell is good with staying in touch.


Lenovo O1, another TD-SCDMA Ophone for China. Pretty, but not likely to come to the U.S.


Samsung Galaxy, @I7500, typical Samsung quality display, all-touch AMOLED with light sensor, not a “Google phone,” available in Germany, Austria, and Poland.


Samsung Behold 2, shown with #TouchWiz #Cube UI, will be first Samsung droid phone in US on T-Mobile


Samsung Moment, thought to be the #InstinctQ, this 800Mhz QWERTY monster came to Sprint and is being test marketed as an ATSC TV.


Samsung Galaxy Spica @I5700, 800MHz CPU, 3.2-inch HVGA, a 3mpix cam, 180MB internal memory. Actually quite dull. Announced on Nov 16.

@GeeksPhoneONE QWERTY slider available in EU (Spain) in December “extremadamente ágil y eficiente!”

@SaygusV1 Their V1 has 2-way video calling and is a huge, heavy monster of a phone


Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, comes with slick UI and new “UX Platform,” powered by Snapdragon. SE is forgoing the Android praise and just sticking with making phones. This thing is big and burly, it’s one of 2 I still haven’t played with yet.

UNCONFIRMED:

@MotorolaDevour aka @Calgary…the name has shown up for 2 years, and only recently has any actual evidence shown up.  We’ll see at CES!

@MotorolaHeron or @IronMan This Windows Mobile phone was pulled from AT&T, listed as “specifications subject to change due to move to Android.” Whereabouts unknown.

@MotorolaZeppelin Spotted in China in a regulatory filing, with not much known besides 5Mpx camera, and HDMI output

@MotorolaOpusOne – Supposed to be the first iDen Android Device, to ship with 1.5, 3.1″ screen, 3 megapixel cam—looking cheap

@TMobile “Tap” shown on the Samsung Behold II launch paper…possibly a #ZTE device?

@INQ committed to an Android device, but we haven’t seen anything yet.

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LG’s new Android 2.0 device: launched in U.S., not selling in U.S…(?!)

January 13th, 2010

I  made it my mission to handle every Android device at CES 2010…and believe me, there were a lot of Taiwanese manufacturers cranking out random ass Android-based devices…but there were also a fair amount of major companies showing off new phones and new uses of the platform.

LG actually debuted a new Android phone at CES with pretty much no fanfare whatsoever and a very forgettable name (GT540)…however,  it’s actually a pretty slick phone destined for Europe and Asia. Sorry, fellow Yanks.

GT540 specs that LG is advertising:

  • Custom theme and active widget (I guess it’s just one of each)
  • Social Networking Manager:  Linkbook 1.3, SNS Widget, Dedicated Client
  • Motion UI player
  • DivX and WMV support
  • 3Megapixel camera with face detection and tagging as well as camera effects
  • Support for LG 3Way Sync

This phone totally has the Y2K bug.

Click that picture to enlarge it and see what I’m talking about.

LG surprised me with its new smartphones, and I actually ranked the Expo’s keyboard as the best of the dozen or so new devices I tested. There was another LG Android device there which has already been released, so I’m going to have to update my “every handset” list.

Up next: Huawei’s unbranded Android sets (including 2 camera model), Broadcom VOIP units, Android-powered microwave, and more!

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What to expect for Android at CES 2010

December 28th, 2009

I’ll be at CES for Betanews again this year, and in addition to BN reporting and lending a hand on the Plan8 Podcast, I’ll be singling out Android goodies in my usual fashion.  To simultaneously whet your appetitie for next week, and help me remember the booths to visit, here are some of the Android drops I’ll be looking for in the miles of floorspace at CES:

  1. Notion Ink  Android Tablet (with Pixel Qi “transflective” display and nvidia Tegra GPU)
  2. Snapdragon-powered (1GHz) Devices (Passion/Nexus One/more)
  3. Qualcomm’s newest mobile chipsets
  4. LG Prada 3 or other devices from LG
  5. MIPS/ Tensilica System-on-a-Chip for Android-powered audio devices
  6. Rumored Dell Android Tablet, pretty much anything Android from Dell
  7. Saygus Vphone - the CES Innovation award-winning 2-way video phone running Android
  8. A ton more devices from HTC (Legend? All those from that supposed leaked roadmap) and Motorola (Backflip, Calgary, etc?)
  9. Nvidia Tegra 2
  10. More platform-defining apps, possibly from Google…but not necessarily.

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140 characters about every Android handset thus far.

October 5th, 2009

More Android Phones keep comin’, so here’s a rundown of what we’ve got in the immortal language of Twitter. I’m going to keep updating this post as more devices come out, so #havenofear. After updating this a number of times, I’ve decided to organize this list by phones that have been released or announced first, then followed by rumored devices.

RELEASED/CONFIRMED:

@HTCDream, @TmobileG1 This is the phone that started it all one year ago: Keyboard, Chin, Trackball, Slider, and Android 1.0

@SamsungGalaxy, @I7500, typical Samsung quality display, all-touch AMOLED with light sensor, not a “Google phone,” avail in Germany, Austria, Poland

@HTCMagic, @Mytouch3G, @Dopod, It’s still got the chin, but no keyboard. Shellable, skinnable, endorsed by Whoopi.

@HTCHero (World) Slim and sexy, this is the first ‘droid with a custom UI #HTCSense The CDMA version is Sprint’s first Android device.

@HTCTattoo yet another all-touch device with #HTCSense bound for Europe. Mysteriously ditched the “chin” but went with custom shells.

@HTCDroidEris, @HTCDesire Launch partner of Verizon Droid, standard 528MHz CPU, very similar to the Hero

@HTCNexusOne  Sold directly through Google, all-touch, snapdragon, very controversial.

@MotorolaCliq, @MotorolaDext first Android phone from Moto, features #MotoBLUR, second big UI for droid. Surefire Sidekick replacement.

@MotorolaDroid aka @sholes aka @tao aka @touchstone. QWERTY slider as thin as an iPhone. #VZW’s first Android and first Android 2.0 (eclair) device. A killer.

@MotorolaBackflip, aka @Enzo, a weird form factor with keyboard on back of chassis and trackpad behind the screen, also rocks #motoBLUR

@TmobilePulse, #Huawei makes this, the first prepaid all-touch Android device “perfect entry level smartphone”

@LG GW620, @LGEtna this QWERTY slider was launched in EU, turned up unlocked in France €450. lacks d-pad/trackball but has arrow keys.

@LG GT540, don’t know the name of this one, but is all-touch, runs 2.0, and comes in various colours. Launched at CES, coming to EU/Asia

@AcerA1, @AcerLiquid, like #Moto, #Acer said it’s focusing on Android now. Launched UK 10/14, runs Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset.

@Dellmini3i, one of #ChinaMobile’s first Ophones, rumored to be AT&T’s first Android phone, we’ll have more. Dell is good with staying in touch.

@LenovoO1, another TD-SCDMA Ophone for China. Pretty, but not likely to come to the U.S.

@SamsungBehold2, shown with #TouchWiz #Cube UI, will be first Samsung droid phone in US on T-Mobile

@SamsungMoment, thought to be the #InstinctQ, this 800Mhz QWERTY monster is headed for Sprint in Nov.

@SamsungGalaxySpica @I5700, 800MHz CPU, 3.2-inch HVGA, a 3mpix cam, 180MB internal memory. Actually quite dull. Announced on Nov 16.

@GeeksPhoneONE QWERTY slider available in EU (Spain) in December “extremadamente ágil y eficiente!”

@SaygusV1 Their V1 has 2-way video calling and is a huge, heavy monster of a phone

@SonyEricsson Xperia X10, comes with slick UI and new “UX Platform,” powered by Snapdragon. SE is forgoing the Android praise and just sticking with making phones.

UNCONFIRMED:

@MotorolaDevour aka @Calgary…the name has shown up for 2 years, and only recently has any actual evidence shown up.  We’ll see at CES!

@MotorolaHeron or @IronMan This Windows Mobile phone was pulled from AT&T, listed as “specifications subject to change due to move to Android.” Whereabouts unknown.

@MotorolaZeppelin Spotted in China in a regulatory filing, with not much known besides 5Mpx camera, and HDMI output

@MotorolaOpusOne – Supposed to be the first iDen Android Device, to ship with 1.5, 3.1″ screen, 3 megapixel cam—looking cheap

@TMobile “Tap” shown on the Samsung Behold II launch paper…possibly a #ZTE device?

@INQ committed to an Android device, but we haven’t seen anything yet.

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10+ new Android phones from Motorola in 2010? FALSE.

September 21st, 2009

Being a tech industry analyst has got to be a hell of a job. If you make it to the point where people look forward to hearing what you have to say (the point of punditry, maybe?) you really don’t have to make any huge, Earthshaking predictions. You just use what you know about market trends, developing technologies, and company/leadership personalities, and you won’t sound like a fool…even if you’re not exactly right.

But some analysts aren’t that conservative.

There are also the big game hunters, who go for the big predictions and the big payoff. Unfortunately, the more big predictions you miss, the more you need to make to get your reputation back up.

Last week, Trip Chowdry of Global Equities Research predicted that Motorola will release at least 10 new Android phones in 2010, priced between $39 and $399.

I saw this prediction, and I instantly got the “do you believe this guy?” look on my face, with palms upflipped and a half smile against a scowling brow…the Andrew Dice Clay look.

No disrespect meant, but Chowdry doesn’t exactly have the best record for big predictions. In May, he predicted that the Palm Foleo would make a comeback. In January, He predicted that Costco would sell $149 iPhones. In 2007, he even predicted that Google would “lose its technological edge” to a semantic search startup called Powerset (which was bought by Microsoft in 2008.)

Track record aside, a lineup with “at least” 10 Android phones is an insane prediction, and here’s my reason, using some simple reasoning instead of what appears to be bombastic inference.

Premise A.) Motorola averages between 26-30 handsets a year.

Premise B.) Android is a smartphone OS.

Premise C.) Motorola’s best-selling handsets are not smartphones.

Conclusion– Motorola is not going to have a lineup made up of more than 30% smartphones, especially when 72% of all phones sold are feature phones.

Yes, Motorola has said it will be shifting its focus from feature phones onto smartphones, and it has said it will put Android at the heart of that, but a launch of more than ten devices on Android in one year would not only be an unprecedented shift, but totally bonkers. I’m not saying I don’t think it will happen eventually, but Motorola has gone through literally dozens of different OSes in its history, and this is another instance of past behavior shaping our preception of future behavior.

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Face it, Tattoos aren’t cool any more.

September 8th, 2009

In case you missed it today, HTC announced its fourth Android device, the “Tattoo” (which was formerly called “Click”.)

Everybody’s expecting it to be the cheapest Android phone yet, which is itself an exciting possibility, but I look at the device with absolute boredom.

I see you have a tattoo. You are 88% more likely to be a douchebag.

I see you have a tattoo. You are 88% more likely to be a douchebag.

Design-wise, it’s HTC’s third all-touch Android phone in a row (if you don’t count local variations,) and the only unique thing it has going for it is its faceplate changeability.

Once you get into cosmetic “improvements” like that, I get extremely, violently, bored. Any time a company gets into the business of slapping prefabricated “art” on my tech devices, I want to give said company a flying axe handle to the head. I don’t want to see tribal tattoos or urban camouflage on ANYTHING much less on the device which I will prominently hold up to my face in public or have sitting on my lap for hours on end.

Get that shit away from me NOW.

Art-related stuff like Dell Studio notebooks and iGoogle skins I can get down with. Those prominently feature the artists’ names and are unique to their tastes and talents. There is absolutely nothing unique about the shit they’re slapping on the HTC Tattoo. Even the name offends me…I feel like that’s up there in bad names with Motorola Rokr. Why not just name it the HTC BAD BOYZ or something?

Furthermore, this gets into the realm of things that I hate: The separation of “Tattoo” from “Art.” But that’s a rant for a non-tech blog or a day where I have more time to bitch.

On a more fundamental level though, there’s another issue with the Tattoo.

Reportedly, it has been equipped with a resistive touchscreen to get to its lower pricetag. I know how sucky a bad resistive touchscreen can get. You ever use a Chumby? HA. They say you don’t need a stylus for it, but you just try setting an alarm on that thing without one. Resistive touchscreens make me think of business geeks with a coke nail that they grew to make interaction with their phone easier because they don’t want to have to whip out a stylus.

But this brings me to my main issue. I know quite well that Android is a touch OS; but when you’re a big company in the business of making internationally distributed consumer electronics devices, how hard would it be, really, to port Android down to a non-touch device if you’re just looking to save money? Rather than attempt to preserve the experience you’d get with a capacitive touchscreen, you just create a new button-based experience.

I’d love to see a BlackBerry-style Android device. HTC makes the Dash and the Ozone and they’re fantastically comfortable devices. I know..I know, I favor keyboards. I’m sorry. But I strongly believe that anyone who’s had to rely on a smartphone in a high-pressure work situation will agree with me: hard keys are needed for hard work.

We’ve got devices from Motorola coming this week, and some from LG on the horizon. They all at least have keyboards, but what I’m really looking for from HTC is something like the BlackBerry Bold: a smaller touchscreen and a full candybar keyboard. Or hell, just a re-designed Android interface that we can drop into non-touch devices.

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AT&T, the Anti-Android (Aka “Fun with Pie Charts”)

August 28th, 2009

MKM Partners analyst Tero Kuittinen told The Street yesterday that AT&T ditched its plans to carry a Motorola Android phone, referring to the HTC Heron which Motorola originally designed to be a Windows Mobile phone, and then reportedly retracted at the last minute to load up with Android instead.

A lot of pundits have put a lot of weight behind Motorola’s first two Android handsets, saying that this is the company’s “last chance” to recover its phone-producing arm, or some sort of swan song because of the spin-off that was supposed to take place in the third quarter of 2009.

Last October, Co-CEO Sanjay Jha said “While our strategic intent to separate the company remains intact, we are no longer targeting the third quarter of 2009, primarily due to the macro-economic environment, stresses in the financial markets and the changes underway in Mobile Devices.”

Not having support from AT&T is a big detriment, some say, as it’s the only carrier consistently stealing subscribers away from other carriers.

But wait, AT&T didn’t just cock-block Motorola. It’s actually given the big thumbs down to TWO companies offering an Android device. Apparently it pitched HTC’s Lancaster into the dumpster this summer as well, only that time, we don’t know exactly why. Rumors were that it could have been too underpowered or perhaps even too problematic for a successful launch.

Because AT&T is the exclusive iPhone carrier, people often forget that it offers any other smartphones. Maybe they don’t consider any other products noteworthy, I don’t know. But the point is, AT&T’s selection of smartphones is led by Windows Mobile. Check this out:

AT&T's smartphone roster by OS

AT&T's smartphone roster by OS

If you look at these stats as a direct reflection of the U.S. smartphone market as a whole, you’ll notice right away that the OS distribution is kind of out of whack. Yes, AT&T has 70 million subscribers, and that’s an important factor in the availability of an OS…but how much does it really determine market position?

I mean, does Windows Mobile have the lion’s share of the domestic smartphone market because it is the most common OS in AT&T’s smartphones? Of course not: Blackberry does, then iPhone, THEN Windows Mobile.

Let’s assume that on September 10th, T-Mobile and Verizon get Motorola Android phones, and lets see how their charts look.

Here are our friends over at T-Mobile. We know those zany Germans love Android (they got the Samsung Galaxy before anyone else, after all.) However, we see that Android happens to be T-Mobile’s ONLY smartphone OS that isn’t Windows Mobile or Blackberry. It’s probably because they’re too busy gunking up their phone lineup with those silly Sidekicks.

T-Mobile's smartphone OS distribution

T-Mobile's smartphone OS distribution

And here’s Verizon. As you can see, they’re the most balanced/least diverse smartphone carrier in our list thus far.

Verizon's Smartphones if they get Motorola Sholes

Verizon's Smartphones if they get Motorola Sholes

AT&T already offers the most diverse selection of Smartphones, at least by operating system…so maybe it’s not trying to thin the proverbial broth by adding any old mediocre Android device to the pool.

Now, you’re probably going to say “Hold up a second, fancy pants! Where’s the Palm Centro in all this?”

I know right? Check Sprint, they’re the only carrier still offering Palm’s (awesome) gear as of this very moment. While we’re looking at them, you’ll notice that Sprint’s got quite a diverse OS lineup…but that diversity is mostly due to Palm’s multi-platform delivery.

No Android here...yet.

No Android here...yet.

So yes…my point. The carriers we expect to have Android on them also happen to be the ones with the least diverse smartphone selection.

I know there’s only a correlative link between number of OSes and likelihood of new OS adoption (and not a causal one,) so don’t bite my face off for pointing it out.

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