Android 2.1 with HTC Sense
600MHz Qualcomm MSM7227 processor
512MB ROM/384MB RAM
3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen (320×480)
5-megapixel camera
2GB microSD card included
Dimensions 4.1″ x 2.3″ x .46″
Weight (with battery): 3.8 ounces
Battery: 1200mAh
Quadband EDGE (850/900/1800/1900), dual band HSPA (850/1900)
Digital compass, WiFi, aGPS, HSPA 7.2
Available on June 20, $129.99 after $100 mail-in rebate and 2 year contract.
It kind of reminds me of the HD Mini which didn’t end up coming to the states. I’ll ping HTC in a minute to see if they’re gonna give out more info.
Tim Bray has joined the Android team at Google, so get used to him speaking for the platform.
The 55 year old co-creator of the XML standard left Sun and picked up at Google this week, and explained in his blog some of the reasons why he chose Google over a company like Apple.
In short, he thinks Android is the place to be, and had this to say about the iPhone:
“The iPhone vision of the mobile Internet’s future omits controversy, sex, and freedom, but includes strict limits on who can know what and who can say what. It’s a sterile Disney-fied walled garden surrounded by sharp-toothed lawyers. The people who create the apps serve at the landlord’s pleasure and fear his anger.
I hate it.
I hate it even though the iPhone hardware and software are great, because freedom’s not just another word for anything, nor is it an optional ingredient.
The big thing about the Web isn’t the technology, it’s that it’s the first-ever platform without a vendor (credit for first pointing this out goes to Dave Winer). From that follows almost everything that matters, and it matters a lot now, to a huge number of people. It’s the only kind of platform I want to help build.
Apple apparently thinks you can have the benefits of the Internet while at the same time controlling what programs can be run and what parts of the stack can be accessed and what developers can say to each other.
I think they’re wrong and see this job as a chance to help prove it.
The tragedy is that Apple builds some great open platforms; I’ve been a happy buyer of their computing systems for some years now and, despite my current irritation, will probably go on using them.”
I don’t think I’m alone in giving this a big round of applause.
“Sterile” …what a good word to describe iPhone.
I too am a daily Mac user who has absolutely no interest in the iPhone. It’s simply not exciting (the goddamn iPad just serves to remind me how boring the platform is) despite the elegant hardware and snappy interface. It’s so uniform and uninspiring and STERILE. Nobody goes “Wow, is that an iPhone?” anymore. Nobody. Because once you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all, and they’ve been the same for three years now.
My peer group is increasingly being overtaken by Android devices, and any time someone pulls out their phone, there’s a conversation between them about different facets of the platform, UIs, apps, and future developments. It’s a more inclusive environment not only to OEMs and developers, but also to users.
It’s funny that ZDNet’s Dana Blankenhorn said “This beat is about to get a lot more fun” now that Tim Bray is involved, because I always thought it was the most exciting area in all of mobile technology.
Maybe it just takes someone of his stature to make people believe it.
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.
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!
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.”
It took me a while to get into podcasts…like very long…like I had an iPod for 3 years before I even considered checking any out. And this is coming from a guy who runs errands on Saturday mornings just so he can listen to Car Talk, Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, and This American Life in close succession. This is coming from a guy who would subject his bandmates to old tapes of Johnny Dollar and Nero Wolfe when on tour.
So, long story short, it took me a while, but I eventually learned that I love podcasts. However, using mp3 players without their own wireless connection kind of makes the acquisition of podcasts a little bit tiresome…especially if you don’t use iTunes. So being able to get them wirelessly as soon as they come out is probably one of my top five favorite media conveniences. It’s definitely up there with Kindle whispernet shopping and Netflix Instant streaming. (I’ll think of a couple more later.)
I used DoggCatcher for a while when the app was still pretty new, but it really sucked the battery, sucked up resources, the interface was crap, and there was no easy method of content discovery. On top of all that, they started charging for the full version. It was at that point that I uninstalled it. I haven’t had a podcatcher on my phone since then.
check that out!
So I’m stoked on Google Listen, the new Android-exclusive podcatching app in Google Labs. Like most of Google’s stuff, it’s simple and straightforward. You search for podcasts you already know, download them, subscribe to them, or stream them instantly. On 3G you can get a good chunk of a podcast listened to, but once you hit the spot where it would normally pause to buffer, it actually starts all the way over again and you can’t jump back to where you were interrupted. It’s an annoyance, but they’ll fix it…they’re Google.
You can also discover new content by browsing through recent and most popular searches, or by entering topical search terms. For example, if you don’t know exactly which show you want to listen to, but you want it to be about some current event, just type in the event or the date. It’s a good use of search. I suppose it may actually be more a search tool than a podcatcher, but I haven’t decided yet. I have only been using it for one day.
Like the title of this post says, if it’s made by Google, even as a Lab, you can expect a certain degree of awesomeness.
Scan this to download Google Listen!
Humorously, In the Listen FAQ, it asks: “Will Listen work on my iPhone, Palm Pre, or Newton?”
Hey everybody! My name is Tim Conneally and this is Android Bakery, a place where we’ll look at the exciting new developments in Google’s mobile operating system: the hardware, the apps, and the lifestyle.
I chose the blog format because I’d like to write without having to limit my bias or tendency to think aloud. So for the first post in Android Bakery before we delve into any awesomeness, I will provide a full disclosure.
I am primarily a writer for Betanews.com, a developer and co-founder of Baltimore-based event mapping site Localist.com and stockholder in several wireless infrastructure and software companies: specifically Motorola, Alcatel-Lucent, and Nuance Communications.
I am a huge fan of Google and its services, so that’s why I got into Android even before the G1 was released. Since it’s been out, I’ve followed a number of burgeoning software companies as they’ve helped the platform grow, and I really love to watch the ecosystem change as it fulfills the demands of the mobile user.
My primary goal for this site is to have a single post per day: a review of an Android App released that day, a video of me flipping out about something, or an interview with software developers.
If you enjoy Android as much as I do, I’d love to hear from you, and I’ll have my first real post later tonight.
Hey everybody! My name is Tim Conneally and this is Android Bakery, a place where we’ll look at the exciting new developments in Google’s mobile operating system: the hardware, the apps, and the lifestyle.