The HTC Desire has to be one of the best lookign mobile handsets on the market. Unlike some other mobile companies who think that customers only want one specific colour, HTC has done a silver version of its popular Desire handset.
This silver handset may be the very colour AT & T goes with when it launched the Desire on the US market.
via BGR
MOG the US streaming music service that is on the rise has just launched its mobile app for iPhone and Android at SXSW.
MOG’s current web service costs $5 a month, but users wanting access via mobile too will pay $10. The app includes local cacheing to listen to music when a user loses their connection. The apps will launch in the second quarter of this year, and CEO David Hyman has revealed that in the UK, the service will cost £5 and £10 without or with mobile access.
The pricing may have implications for Spotify’s upcoming US launch – in Europe it charges £9.99 / €9.99 a month for its premium service, including mobile access. Spotify boss Daniel Ek gives his SXSW keynote tonight…
Listeners have been asking Rhapsody to add offline listening and now this has been added to their iPhone app. Their development team is getting close to submitting an updated app to Apple for approval.
A Rhapsody Android app will also leave private beta in the coming days and be available for download in the Android marketplace.
It has been reported over at MocoNews that Yahoo! has been dropped by T-Mobile in favour of Google. The default search engine on the Motorola Backflip will be Google.
Yahoo will continue to provide some content services like mail, messenger, and news on certain phones, but the company confirmed to MocoNews that they are no longer providing search results to T-Mobile USA phones.
Google already had a deal in place to provide search results via their default status on all of T-Mobile’s line of Android phones. However, AT&T raised eyebrows this week when it opted to replace the built-in Google search functions in Android in favor of Yahoo! search. The very premise of Android is that it should increase Google’s position among the mobile search market. However, Android’s open-source nature means that companies are not obligated to make Google the default search engine on Android phones.
It’s unclear how profitable mobile search deals can be for search engines, but they are very enticing for carriers. How enticing? Well, Microsoft paid Verizon $500 million for the privilege of making Bing the default search engine on Verizon-branded devices. That’s big money for a small device.
“Yeah I don’t feel like scrolling down my contact list, I just want to scribble a letter and let the phone do the rest”. I guess that was the original idea when they’ve started developing the Android gesture search.
And the functionality is as simple as that, just scribble a letter in your Google phone and Android will recognize the letter as an input, and you’ll get the result. Here’s a little sample:
This feature will be available on Android 2.0 or higher. And the gesture search will work not only with contacts, but you can find applications, bookmarks, music, etc.
Also the system has some interesting features:
Is it just me or are new Android handsets coming out everyday? The newest is the Samsung Galaxy Spica which will reportedly go on sales for $79.99 on a 3 year contract. The Samsung Galaxy Spica will also be available for $449.99 without strings.
Features:
So far there is a bit of confusion about what OS it will ship with, but some people who say they are in the know think the Galaxy Spica will be shipped out with Android 2.0 as opposed to 1.5.
Motorola Droid is definitely one of the most understated smart phones. Well, perhaps not understated, just over-shadowed by the likes of the iPhone and more popular Android devices from HTC. However, it would seem as though Motorola are keeping their hopes up for the OS by releasing a new update for all Droid devices. I don’t think anybody expected it to come this soon.
The announced the impending update, which will ‘start to roll out this week’ on their official Facebook page. Besides from announcing the new update, they go on to tease us anxious fan-boys by saying that they “will have more information to share on other device upgrades later”. So maybe some of Moto’s other devices are due for a service check.
Let’s hope that the new update fixes the known Droid bugs and maybe even gives the OS a slight facelift.
Handsets are hot, the Nexus One, iPhones, and more to come that are sure to burn a hole in our pockets as we look for the best form and function phones we can use. Most recently Android has become the new mobile OS that is driving the market crazy, perhaps even surpassing the usability of the iPhone OS. There seems to be little room for the Windows OS on mobile platform, but they still power some pretty nice handsets, and the new upcoming Sony Ericsson Aspen is just one of them.
Planned for a Quarter 2 release with no price tag attached, the Sony Ericsson Aspen is part of the company’s GreenHeart line. This means you’re going to find a much more eco-friendly handset then in previous models. To set this handset apart the site states that the Aspen will “offer eco-friendly features like a power saving mode, eco mate application, electronic manuals, waterbourne painting, and a body made form recyclable materials.”
While a Windows OS phone may not seem attractive, the Aspen is, and with new developments to the OS, it’s sure to go hand in hand very well. The device will offer a full QWERTY-keyboard for quick messaging, microSD storage, a 2.4in QVGA screen, 3.5mm head phone jack, FM radio, GPS, WIFI, Google Maps and so much more.
Com2Us has released the first iPhone and Android Cross platform game, Homerun Battle 3D. Its great to see a cross platform multiplayer game supported for the iPhone and Android. Com2Us say they have 400,000 players registered on their server, so finding an opponent should be easy enough.
In the demonstration video, where a Motorola Droid meets an iPhone, in the top right hand corner of each display, a window shows your opponents plays, and sure enough it echoes what’s happening on the other phone.
It has been reported in the last few days that the iPhone has been losing some of its smartphone marketshare, maybe the new Android powered phone from Motorola could impact this even further. Motorola is releasing their Motorola Devour.
Features:
Well it looks like Motorola has another good mobile handset here and Verizon is more than willing to take it in to its fold. But wait, why drop the “Droid” branding? The Motorola DROID sort of put Motorola back into the smartphone map if only Google did not spoil it with the release of the Nexus One.
Is the Motorola Devour just a teaser of a better Motorola Android device to come? I’ll leave that to your wild imagination folks. In the meantime, in case you find this Android device interesting, Verizon is offering it through various plans such as Nationwide Talk plans for $39.99 monthly access, Nationwide Talk & Text plans at $59.99 monthly access and an unlimited data package access that will cost you $29.99 monthly.
Engadget is reporting about the HTC Sprint WiMax ‘Supersonic’ mobile phone.
Features:
While word is that it is fast, and Snapdragon has been speculated, the new rumors don’t confirm the specific processor used inside. Since the software is still in its early stages, it doesn’t appear that the new handset will be offered any time soon. Unfortunately, no release date details–rough or otherwise–are available.
As far as aesthetics, the Supersonic was seen in white, but may come in a variety of colors. It will also feature a kickstand on back to allow for convenient upright use.
That’s all the details that have been offered, but they definitely help to paint a promising picture as we work our way to 4G.
