Developages - Development and Technology Blog

Filed under: Cellphones

Not even a fortnight after HTC’s Touch HD went official in Germany, out pops a review from Deutschland calling it the best thing since sliced bread. Okay, so maybe our translation skills are a bit off, but one thing’s for sure — it was hailed as the first “iPhone killer to deserve that name.” Right off the bat, reviewers praised the TouchFLO 3D interface for masking Windows Mobile, and of course, the expansive display was drooled upon numerous times. Additionally, critics praised the Opera browser while scolding Internet Explorer, and while it’s hard to say for certain whether the battery life was remarkable, it definitely seemed to get their vote of approval. Of note, the 3.5-millimeter headphone jack was also loved, making us weep while thinking of what could have been with the T-Mobile G1. At any rate, it seems pretty clear that the Touch HD is going to rock some socks off, but we’re trying to push it out of our minds until it becomes available on this side of the drink. Too bad that approach isn’t working at all.

[Via WMPowerUser]

Read - Early Touch HD review
Read - Video showing off Stocks tab

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

So the good news is that T-Mobile has decided to keep right on taking pre-orders for the G1 through October 21, just one day before the handset’s official launch. The bad news, though, is that it doesn’t mean you’ll be getting your Android on come October 22. Turns out that the initial allotment of G1s set aside for pre-orders is now sold out completely, and any names taken between now and launch will be allotted phones being shipped “at a later date.” It’s not clear if a “later date” means a week, a month, or a decade after the 22nd, but for the sake of everyone involved, we hope its the former.

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Original post by Chris Ziegler

Filed under: Cellphones

Ah yes, the natural progression of a release. First comes the hands-on at the introduction, then comes the leaked user manual, then comes the pre-order fiasco — now, it’s time for those always titillating in the wild shots. The box and handset are nothing out of the ordinary / surprising (respectively), but at least you now know that bona fide unboxing images are just around the bend.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

If you’re a T-Mobile customer who’s been dozing off for the past few days, you’ve already missed your chance to pre-order yourself a G1. With any luck, that won’t be a problem and you’ll just be able to march into a store on or around October 22 and pick one up the old-fashioned way, but the window of opportunity for an utterly stress-free Android buying experience is closed. We don’t have hard numbers on just how many units were being offered through the pre-order program, but 60,000 is getting tossed around as a rumor, which would work out to about 10 percent of the total outlay HTC is said to be aiming for by year’s end. Of course, if you’re not a T-Mobile customer, this is all business as usual and you’re just chuckling under your breath that everyone’s stuck in the same boat now, aren’t you, you sick puppy?

[Via TmoNews]

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Original post by Chris Ziegler

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

If you’re a T-Mobile customer who’s been dozing off for the past few days, you’ve already missed your chance to pre-order yourself a G1. With any luck, that won’t be a problem and you’ll just be able to march into a store on or around October 22 and pick one up the old-fashioned way, but the window of opportunity for an utterly stress-free Android buying experience is closed. We don’t have hard numbers on just how many units were being offered through the pre-order program, but 60,000 is getting tossed around as a rumor, which would work out to about 10 percent of the total outlay HTC is said to be aiming for by year’s end. Of course, if you’re not a T-Mobile customer, this is all business as usual and you’re just chuckling under your breath that everyone’s stuck in the same boat now, aren’t you, you sick puppy?

[Via TmoNews]

Update: Well, that was quick — the “Log in to order” button is working once again. Any bets on how long until they’re out a second time?

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Original post by Chris Ziegler

Filed under: Cellphones

Let’s do a quick recap, shall we? So we pretty much know everything there is to know about Verizon’s forthcoming BlackBerry Storm save for the price and release date, and so far as we can tell, Verizon’s version of the Touch Diamond is still expected to be totally underpowered compared to Sprint’s iteration. Now that we’ve rounded the tables, let’s have a look at this image above. This here is Verizon’s internal training schedule, and given that employees have to complete their Storm courses before November 2nd and their Touch Diamond courses before December 3rd, we’d say you now have a pretty good idea of when these two will be landing. Hey VZW — think you could make that “Blocking Features Assessment” available to the public? We’re guessing it’d be a real hit.

[Thanks, Anonymous]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

It’s going to be a few weeks yet until your unwashed hands are touching an actual G1, so how’d you like some reading material to pass the days in the meantime? T-Mobile has trotted out its first Android phone’s user’s manual — probably not on purpose, if we had to guess — and there are some interesting little morsels in there that’d be even more interesting if you actually had the phone in front of you. For example, did you know the G1 had a status light? Don’t see those too often these days. You’ve also got a full rundown of the notification icons, apps (including the Android flavor of T-Mobile’s myFaves app), and — get this — procedure for battery removal. Fancy that! [Warning: PDF link]

[Via TmoNews, thanks Jose]

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Original post by Chris Ziegler

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

How many Google and HTC engineers does it take to build an Android phone? We don’t have the punchline to that one, exactly — but at least we have a pretty good idea of how long it takes. HTC’s Chief Marketing Officer has revealed that it kicked off negotiations with Google some five years ago — before it had even acquired Android, interestingly — and has been deeply embedded in the Android team for the past three years. That’s a long frickin’ time, but we figure the first model’s probably ten times harder to throw together than its successors are, so hopefully we’ll see a nice cadence of “HTC Innovation” from here on out. We know it’s been said many times before, but it probably bears repeating: Touch Pro and Touch HD with Android, guys. Please.

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Original post by Chris Ziegler

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

T-Mobile, HTC and Google stood hand in hand yesterday to debut the first Android phone, the T-Mobile G1. It felt a bit like a new era for the mobile industry — though the rollerblading seemed a tad out of place — with high-profile companies backing a Linux-based, touch-driven mobile OS, and spouting the word “open” every two sentences. But, naturally, high aims alone don’t build a killer phone; there are a lot details to get right, and a lot more that Google and company have seen fit to leave in the hands of developers. Let’s take a look at what’s working so far, and what might need some more time in the oven:

Continue reading T-Mobile G1 impressions: what we love, what we don’t

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Original post by Paul Miller

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The G1, the first Android-powered headset, could be transformed in ways that maker HTC and carrier T-Mobile can’t imagine. Google’s Android is open to developers, who could write apps to unlock T-Mobile’s G1, tether it as a modem or other things, an analyst said. 

Google is calling the announcement of the T-Mobile G1 an important milestone in the young history of Android. The first Android-powered handset to come to market is made by HTC with a touchscreen and a slide-out keyboard.

The combination of Google’s open-source Android mobile operating system, T-Mobile service, and HTC manufacturing comes less than a year after the Open Handset Alliance unveiled plans for Android.

Developers will have unfettered access to the G1’s hardware and software capabilities to inspire innovation. The possibilities are vast, and more than 1,700 applications were developed during the Android Developer Challenge. Google engineers have also developed applications.

Developers will soon be able to distribute their applications to real handsets through the beta version of Android Market. Handset manufacturers and wireless carriers will be able to incorporate Android innovations into their own new handsets and service offerings. And users will get better handsets and more choice. 

When the G1 comes to market in October, legions of developers and hackers will transform the device in ways that HTC and T-Mobile can’t even imagine, predicted Michael Gartenberg, vice president of mobile strategy for Jupitermedia.

Not only does Android allow applications access to the phone’s functionality, but the platform itself will also be open. The Open Handset Alliance plans to open-source the entire Android platform by the end of the year. 

For a decidedly other look at the G1 , check out Gizmodo.

Tags: android developer challenge, g1, google, htc, open handset alliance, t-mobile

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Original post by nafiz

Filed under: Cellphones

Well, we’ve seen the Nokia 5800 Tube’s keyboard, home screen, video player, and uh, Bat-Sonar, so we might as well keep going with these shots of the browser. Kudos to Nokia for delivering something just slightly more impressive this time around than we’re used to from S60 Touch, but we’re still not feeling the super-90s aesthetic — check out those icons at the bottom. We’re still hoping to be blown away when this thing finally launches, but it’s looking less and less likely with each new screenshot.

[Thanks, Marie]

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Original post by Nilay Patel

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

At this point, we’ve seen the Tube from everyone but Nokia — heck, even Morgan Freeman got a chance to show it off — and it looks like that trend isn’t going to abate any time soon. Another round of in-the-wild shots of the supposed XpressMusic 5800 have popped up (yes, the latest prototype seems to have dropped the “XpressMedia” badge), showing off a pretty uninspiring keyboard that we can only hope has no bearing on the final product. Guess that’s why they haven’t announced this sucker yet, eh? We hope?

[Via The Nokia Blog]

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Original post by Chris Ziegler

Filed under: Transportation

We’ve been hearing rumors about a partially solar-powered Prius, but Car and Driver’s got some info on the 2010 model scheduled to make an appearance at the Detroit Auto Show in January, and it doesn’t appear that sunlight plays a prt quite yet. The popular hybrid gets a more angular shape, but it still basically looks like a shoe — which isn’t to say it’s not an improvement over that earlier rendering, which looked like a terrifically ugly shoe. Dimensions are only slightly bigger, as Toyota wants people to “recognize the Prius as a Prius” but the engine gets a small boost to 1.6 liters while fuel economy is said to be improved over the current model’s 48 / 45 EPA numbers. There’s also a plug-in version in the works, but the battery tech to make that happen is still under development, and supplies will be limited to the “hundreds of units rather than thousands.” All this is partially speculation on C/D’s part, so we’re still holding out hope for solar panels, but we’ve got a feeling that’s not going to happen for a while yet.

[Via TG Daily]

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Original post by Nilay Patel

Filed under: Transportation

According to Nikkei, Toyota’s apparently going to be equipping future high-end Priuses with Kyocera-built root-mounted solar panels. Somewhat counterintuitively, the sun’s rays won’t be used to power the car itself, but will instead run the AC. It also sounds like your next solar-assisted Prius won’t be around for a while, as the panels aren’t designed in yet, nor will they be until early next year when Toyota starts work on revamping the line.

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Original post by Ryan Block

Filed under: Portable Audio

What? Pigbuds a little too raunchy for you? If so, maybe the Aygo editions will suit your style. Quite honestly, we have absolutely no idea where these automotive-inspired speakers / earbuds can even be purchased, but those head over heels for their commuter car will surely do whatever it takes to find out.

[Thanks, Tom]

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Original post by Darren Murph