Archive for the ‘Android News’ Category

Android gets drafted for the US Army

That’s right folks, our favorite platform will be helping the US Army out in the near future. The platform was chosen by the US Army in order to power their smartphone which will be hitting the troops in a while. This was made as an effort to help the soldiers on the battlefield to stay connected at all times and to be honest, Android seems like a pretty solid choice for the task. The Google’s Android platform has already seen itself modified into a version for the Army which has been developing a prototype named at the time the “Joint Battle Command-Platform”.

Obviously there are some issues which I’m concerned with and the most important one is the fact that – is Android secure enough to serve in a military environment? I know that the operating system recently won an award as being the most secure operating system out on the market, yet that was received after the platform received some severe blows from some malware which sneaked its way to the Android Market. Obviously there are tons of modifications which will be taken in order to fix any such exploits, yet my question remains – is a commercial software out on the market really going to cut the high standards required for the military service?

Android gets drafted for the US Army

Android gets drafted for the US Army

The other issue which I would like to raise is obviously connected to the smartphone you will be handing out to your troops. I would have some issues when thinking at a HTC Desire S in the hands of a soldier accustomed to the military grade equipment and I think that the durability is probably one of the largest issues at hand. Sure there are some pretty rugged smartphones out on the market, but my question remains – will those suffice in a combat scenario? Is your average Motorola Defy or Casio G’zOne Commando going to be enough for the requirements of a battlefield?

Android gets drafted for the US Army

Android gets drafted for the US Army

I guess it’s really too soon to tell as this has just been recently announced, yet my concerns are valid I feel. The best thing in this direction is to wait it out and maybe we’ll take a few looks at something custom made for the Army. Stay tuned for more!1

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April 29th, 2011 androidencyclopedia

Posted in Android News

Intel’s chip will be powering 6 Android notebooks

The tension between Intel and Microsoft has been growing so slowly, that Intel’s CEO argued on Nokia’s decision to go for the Windows Mobile platform rather than picking Android OS. Notebook manufacturers claim the fact  that Intel’s x86 chipset will be landing on several notebooks which will run the Android operating system.

Inventec and Compal Electronics have claimed that these upcoming Android notebooks should be announced in April. According the them, the chances are high for Intel to make the official announcement in Beijing at their Intel Developer Forum which will be held on the 12th and 13th of April. In case the company won’t be set for the announcement, it’s rumored that we will still hear about these devices powered by the Intel chipset sometimes later this year – most likely at the Computex Taiper conference.

Intel's chip will be powering 6 Android notebooks

Intel's chip will be powering 6 Android notebooks

For those of you wondering why this is great news, well just think about how much it costs a company to get the license for Windows OS. Now take that number and delete it. That’s right folks, if the notebook manufacturers head over towards Android OS this will largely decrease the production cost and we will be getting cheaper and cheaper devices running with our favorite platform. The fact that Intel decided not to use their MeeGo platform, might also suggest that the manufacturer wants to leverage the marketing strength of the Android platform especially amongst enthusiasts. Despite that, even MeeGo is free and we might even see some devices pop up this year as well.

There are rumors about Intel working heavily with Google on a Chrome OS based notebook, but there are just rumors for the time being. In any case, grab your Android smartphone and your Android notebook ( powered by an Intel processor of course ) and head over to a nearby caffe to show off – I know I will.1

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April 1st, 2011 androidencyclopedia

Posted in Android News

T-Mobile’s Sidekick 4G is kicking it off officially!

A while back T-Mobile announced that they were really pulling back on the Sidekick but that they would be replacing it with a worthy successor. A lot of the hardcore fans of the original Sidekick had their issues in trusting this announcement from the company, but worry not as the new T-Mobile Sidekick 4G is here and it’s finally official.

T-Mobile’s Sidekick 4G is coming to save those hardware fans out there thanks to its physical keys at the bottom and the optical trackpad (something we didn’t get to see in quite a long while). The device has seen an overhaul when thinking in terms of design, but a true geek phone has to come with more than just a prettier body design. As such, the physical slide-out QWERTY keyboard has seen some remodeling done and the images show off the device looking pretty darn good with the keys being separated and spaced nicely.

T-Mobile Sidekick 4G - coming this spring!

Spec wise the T-Mobile Sidekick 4G is coming with the 1 GHz Hummingbird processor under its shiny new hood as well as 512 MB of RAM. The company made the new Sidekick 4G with the help of Samsung which stayed true to the original devices design. T-Mobile’s Sidekick 4G comes with a 3.5 inch display as well and all of this is well “covered” by Android 2.2 Froyo with the Touchwiz user interface slapped across it. There are tons of new features which have been announced for the T-Mobile Sidekick 4G, elements such as Sidekick Group Text and Cloud Text which will enable you to talk to your friends and families cross platform. The device comes preloaded with Facebook and Twitter as well as the Sidekick Media Room which is basically one place in which you can check out videos, movies, YouTube, T-Mobile TV and listen to music or Slacker Radio.

To kick up the media hub features of the T-Mobile Sidekick 4G, the company also has the Samsung Media Hub running on the device, which allows you to purchase movies or TV programs via the hub. Shows can come from a wide array of stations such as CBS, Fox, MTV Networks, NBC Universal and so on.

The T-Mobile Sidekick 4G is obviously exclusive only to T-Mobile customers and won’t be available anywhere else, but considering the iconic presence of the first Sidekick I would hazard in saying that those who didn’t enjoy the first Sidekick won’t be busting down the doors over at T-Mobile to get one. Then again, let’s wait for the first few hands-on and maybe the company will be getting some new activations thanks to it. We’ll see about that though. Stay tuned for more, and check out the official page below!

The official T-Mobile Sidekick 4G page.1

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March 15th, 2011 Catalin Mengheris

Posted in Android News

Motorola Droid 3, Droid X 2 and Targa smile for the camera!

The two devices which actually helped Android smartphones make their entrance on the North American stage are finally receiving some successors. After we saw last year the Motorola Droid 2 come out and sport a ton of improvements to the original Motorola Droid, this time around we’ve gotten the chance to get a glimpse at what the Motorola Droid 3 will be looking like. Also, thanks to the same Howard Forum member, wnrussell, we’ve gotten some pictures of the Motorola Droid X 2 as well as of a yet unconfirmed device named the Motorola Targa.

Motorola's Droid 3

The only issue with such great news is the fact that we don’t really know much about any of the devices apart from the fact that the Motorola Droid X 2 does come with Verizon branding on it and so does the Motorola Targa. The biggest surprise is actually the Targa which sports 4G connectivity and shows of a small hump on the rear where it’s camera is placed as people have been speculating on the megapixels for that and apparently it will have 13 megapixels. Note though that all of this is still very much so in the rumor department.

Motorola’s Droid 3 is actually the one which brought a real smile on my face because I did enjoy greatly both of its predecessors and it’s fun to see that the manufacturer brought the Motorola Droid “chin” back into the frame. It will have a full QWERTY keyboard, although we didn’t get any pictures of  the device with its slide-out keyboard. All three devices look pretty cool and are bound to sport some nice features considering what the Motorola Atrix 4G and the Motorola Droid Bionic are coming with to the party, so expect to see more of these in the near future. I’ll be coming back as soon as there’s more on the subject. Check out the links below for the forum threads as well as all the pictures.

Link to the Droid 3, Droid X 2 and Targa1

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March 15th, 2011 Catalin Mengheris

Posted in Android News

Sprint’s Kyocera Echo goes live on the 17th of April!

A while back we’ve gotten the chance to look at one of the most interesting smartphone concepts out there – dual-display. Although it seemed like all fun and games, Sprint officially announced the release date for the Kyocera Echo dual-screen smartphone. The smartphone did impress a lot of people ( me included ) with some of the cool features the dual-screen implementation had brought forth. The only issue was at the time the price tag for the device, but it seems that one has been taken care of as well.

Sprint announced that the Kyocera Echo dual-screen Android smartphone will be available for pre-orders starting with the 26th of March and will be available starting with the 17th of April. For those of you who were worried maybe about the price tag, worry no more as the Kyocera Echo will set you back only $199.99 for a 2 year contract with Sprint. This really seems like one of the best deals out there considering that you get for it.

Sprint Kyocera Echo - $199.99 with contract. Out on the April 17!

Kyocera’s Echo dual-screen Android smartphone will be shipping with two ( that’s 2 ) 3.5 inch WVGA displays which will bring the diagonal of the combined display to 4.7 inches. The Echo will also be coming with a 5 megapixel camera with 720p HD video recording as well as Wi-Fi b/g connectivity, Bluetooth 2.1 and all of this running on Android 2.2 Froyo. For power, the Kyocera Echo will find its speed in the 1 GHz processor under the displays, 512 MB of RAM and if you worry about storage, you’ll find 1 GB of built-in storage space as well as micro SD card slot.

The only issues found with the Kyocera Echo at the first announcement were connected rather to the occasional lag the device experienced ( mostly because the applications were still being optimized to take full advantage of the two displays ) and to the fact that it wasn’t running Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Other than that, the device seemed very solid and the hinge felt stiff and robust without giving in showing that Kyocera spent quite some research dollars developing this thing.

Considering the low price tag for the device on contract and the fact that it’s the first Android smartphone to pull this trick on us ( the dual-screen I mean ) it sure looks good. The design might be a touch industrial and rough around the edges for some people but I liked it. It tells me one thing – I have two screens, who cares that I’m just rectangular! Fear my displays human! Ok, it’s not saying that, but I like to imagine it does. Until next time!1

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March 15th, 2011 Catalin Mengheris

Posted in Android News, Android Phone
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2013-05-21 07:46:36