Microsoft Is The Winner In Google-Motorola Deal, Says Acer Exec

OEMs are already raising an eyebrow (or both) at the Google-Motorola deal and rumors have started surfacing of manufacturers being unhappy about the move. Samsung is even said to be considering leaving Android for its own platform.

Walter Deppeler, president of Acer's operations in Europe, Middle East and Africa, said Microsoft was the real winner of the Google-Motorola deal, "as the deal makes Google a direct rival to its phone-making clients". "They work against some of their clients," he said. "It was a good gift to Microsoft". There was no official statement from Acer for the future but the president of operations said the company will definitely take the deal in consideration before deciding on future platform choices.

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Android Update Alliance Put Under Microscope, Gingerbread Found Missing

Remember back at Google I/O when the folks at Google announced an alliance between manufacturers that would all but guarantee you’d have updates sent to your Android devices up to and including 18 months after its inception date? Have you heard anything about that group since? Not just a whole heck of a lot, right? Well check it out, the folks at AndroidAndMe have done a study taking into account every released device at this very moment and have found which devices have the most current OS (and we’re talking only about smartphones here, not tablets), that OS being Android 2.3 Gingerbread right this moment. What they’ve found, first of all, is that HTC is in the clear lead with 13 devices on Gingerbread while Samsung is the closest behind with 9 devices on Gingerbread in total.

Lets not forget Sony Ericsson and Motorola who sit down next in line with 5 and 4 devices respectively on Gingerbread, then noting that Pantech has none, Casio has none, and Kyocera is tied with LG at 1 device in total. Most groups have more Android 2.2 FroYo devices than they do Gingerbread devices, with the grand exception being, again, HTC with 9 more devices on Gingerbread than on FroYo. Both Samsung and Motorola have one more device on FroYo than on Gingerbread while both Kyocera and Sony Ericsson’s entire collection (1 and 5 respectively) are updated to Gingerbread. Because of this last factoid you could argue that it’s Sony Ericsson and Kyocera, not HTC, that’s winning this update battle.

On the other hand, per the original announcement of who would be in the Update Alliance in the first place, the following manufacturers are the true members:
HTC
Samsung
Sony Ericsson
LG
Motorola
The big four carriers, red, yellow, blue, and pink, are all included in the carrier list of members of the Update Alliance, along with Vodafone and, of course, Google (though Google isn’t a carrier, they’re certainly on the list of those working to bring updates asap to devices.) How Google is working to do this, and indeed how any of these groups are working to do this is still a mystery.
As far as how many phones, by manufacturer, have received an update which were either out at the time of the announcement or have been released since, the numbers are much closer to one another, HTC still in the lead with 14 out of its 24 devices receiving an update, Samsung in second with 13/33, Motorola next with 10/25, LG after that with 9/15, and Sony Ericsson in last place with 4/14. These are the manufacturers that are in the alliance.
Finally there’s one big gigantic undeniably large and in charge list in the gallery below courtesy of AndroidAndMe which contains every single Android device out right at this moment. Have a look at it and let us know what you think of or what you know of the Android Update Alliance thus far. Seem like a successful initiative to you?
[via AndroidAndMe]

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Andy Pad now on Amazon – same price, same everything

A reseller calling itself “Verticool” has just started selling the Andy Pad tablet via Amazon, if you’d rather the newly launched Android device came with the usual Amazon terms & conditions attached to it.
The prices are the same as buying direct, with both the standard Andy Pad available for £129 and the Pro model going for £179. You get free P&P on both. BUT THAT’S NOT ALL!

In a bid to make this news even less interesting, that’s a photo of Verticool’s Andy Pad branded Andy pad
Carry Case which is also now available. Look, it says “Andy Pad” on it, so potential muggers know it’s not an iPad so they may as well leave you alone.

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Best Buy memo points to October 21 US iPhone 5 release

A source of GoAndroid has leaked details of an internal Best Buy memo, which includes a significant hint at the iPhone 5’s release date. For those in the US, at least.

The memo explains that an “Apple Fixture Installation” will take place at 6am on the morning of Friday October 21. Interesting.

There’s nothing more specific in the memo, and no mention of the iPhone 5 per se, but October is being touted by many rumour mongers as the arrival date for Apple’s next smartphone.
The tipster explains that a 6am start with a manager on hand is quite unusual, but that a similar thingy happened when the iPhone 4 touched down last year.
Further backing up the idea of an October 21 release for the iPhone 5, the tipster revealed that Best Buy Mobile managers will attend a meeting on October 10 to discuss “upcoming BIG release dates”.
Considering Apple has yet to fire out a save-the-date, October 21 is looking like as good a guess as any for now. Salt? Maybe just a sprinkle.

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HTC Ruby springs another leak

It’s been an odd journey for the HTC Ruby. It was originally dismissed as a codename for the HTC Arrive, essentially the US version of our QWERTY-rocking HTC 7 Pro. But it seems that the HTC Ruby is, in fact, very much its own beast, boasting a spec sheet that threatens to punch most other smartphones in the gob, with a kick to the groin thrown in for good measure.

 There’s a range of shots and a whole bunch of specs to get hot and bothered about.
A previous leak showed the HTC Ruby in white, but it appears to have done a reverse Michael Jackson. Fortunately for the HTC Ruby, if you wanna be my smartphone it don’t matter if you’re black or white.
And what of these specs? How does a 4.3in 960 x 540 qHD display with a 1.5GHz dual-core processor sound? Throw in an 8MP camera, 1GB RAM, 16GB storage and Android 2.3 with Sense 3.5, and we’re sold.

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New Motorola Defy+ smartphone to launch this month in Europe markets

Apple’s successful appeal for a second injunction to block the Samsung Galaxy Tab series in a court in Germany has snatched away a chance from Samsung to showcase its latest tablet devices at one of the world’s largest consumer electronics shows.
The South Korea based Samsung Electronics, which is the closest competitor of Apple in the tablet market, has recently pulled out its newly released Galaxy tab 7.7 from the IFA electronics show which is being held in Berlin after a court in Dusseldorf accepted Apple’s call for a countrywide ban on the Samsung tablets on 2^nd September, said a Seoul based spokesperson of Samsung named James Chung.
Chung, however, did not confirm if the court orders had reached Samsung yet. An Apple spokesperson named Steve Park, meanwhile, could not provide any immediate statements on the ruling.
Chung said that Samsung has full respect for the decision of the court, adding that the South Korean electronics giant believes that it will severely affect the choice for the consumers in Germany. He said that Samsung will try out all avenues, which include legal action, to defend its rights for intellectual property in the country.

Apple and Samsung are currently engaged in legal conflicts across three different continents, as Apple, which is also one of Samsung’s biggest customers for displays and chips, has alleged that the Galaxy range of devices have copied various design features of the iPhones and the iPad. Just last month, the Dusseldorf court had awarded Apple a temporary ban on the sales of the previous Galaxy Tab 10.1 model in all of the countries which form the European Union.
Analysts estimate that the ruling which came in August could have led to Samsung selling as many as half a million fewer tablets during the year. Samsung had earlier planned to showcase the Galaxy Tab 7.7 in addition to its other devices to this year’s edition of the IFA, which has over the last few years come to be a battleground for those companies who want to lure customers to alternatives for Apple’s iPad and iPhones.
Samsung, while it did not reveal the total number of tablets that it sold this year, has aimed to increase the sales of its tablets to more than five times this year as compared to 2010 when the first Galaxy Tab based on Google’s Android platform was released.

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Samsung announces it will not buy WebOS

Choi Gee Sung, the CEO of Samsung, has declared that the company will never think about buying the WebOS platform that was recently scrapped by HP. He said that instead of considering a move to buy the beleaguered OS, the company is planning to pursue another strategy. The Samsung head said this when he took the stage at the IFA show held this week in Berlin, adding that the South Asian electronics giant is working very hard behind the scenes in developing its own Bada mobile OS.

Samsung has had a remarkable run in the smartphone market during the last couple of years, after it released a number of very successful devices based on Google’s Android platform. However, Google’s recent acquisition of Motorola has had people reconsidering the future of the Android landscape with many of the other Android based manufacturers thinking about deploying its alternatives, which led to the speculations that the purchase of HP’s WebOS platform might help Samsung maintain its pace in the smartphone market.

However, even as Samsung attained new heights with its growing lineup of the Galaxy series based on Android, this recent announcement from its CEO means that it isn’t looking for potential replacements for the Android platform; instead, it’s considering concentrating more in its own Bada mobile platform which was chosen for its new line of the Wave smartphones.


Samsung hasn’t yet announced the expected release date or pricing for the new devices; however, it is reported to have been looking to offer the developers of mobile apps with an all new full software development kit for the Bada OS in near future.

These recent statements have also led to speculations that the renewed focus of Samsung on its own mobile platform could help the company avoid a number of its ongoing legal battles with Apple which are being fought out in courts in as many as three different continents. The company based in Cupertino California has also filed lawsuits against Samsung’s Galaxy devices across the world, thus focusing on a non-Android OS might give Samsung some respite from this legal onslaught.

There are also other reasons why Samsung could gain from a move away from Android, for an instance its fellow rival in Android based phones, HTC, has already called time on the Google OS, announcing new phones based on Microsoft’s Windows Phone Mango.

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HTC Inspire 4g Full Specs

The HTC Inspire 4G was released in January of 2011, and followed in the footsteps of the big-screen, multimedia packed 4G mindset and formula that seemingly every other smartphone manufacturer has employed this year. Make a big rectangular phone with a large, clear screen, add a powerful processor and tons of multimedia options, and the buying public will snatch it up.
And following that formula has worked well for HTC and AT&T, who offers this capable HTC 4G phone on their 4G network. Let’s take a look at the specs on this popular HTC AT&T smartphone.

Display
The screen of the Inspire is 4.3 inches, and has the four familiar Android menu buttons below it, as well as three capacitive keys. The display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass, and offers 480 x 800 pixel resolution, with multitouch gesture support. Typical for 4G phones, a proximity sensor and a light sensor are also present.

Software and OS
On the software side, Android 2.3 is supported through an over the air upgrade, and the processor on board is a single core Snapdragon 1.0 GHz chip, backed up by 768 MB of RAM memory. Android’s 2.3 Gingerbread operating system is the most current Android operating system to date. The HTC Sense user interface overlays the Android system, and provides one of the most efficient and simple UIs of all mobile handsets.

Camera
The HTC Inspire 4G also offers an eight megapixel rear facing camera, with geo-tagging, special effects, autofocus and dual LED flash. The ability to record video in 720p high definition is also on board.

Extras
Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity, microSD and microUSB slots are also present, and by way of DLNA tethering, HTC Inspire 4G owners can wirelessly send videos, movies and games to a DLNA capable TV monitor for enjoyment on a bigger screen. Full Adobe flash player support is provided as well.
Sprint and Verizon have become very aggressive with the pricing of their first-generation 4G handsets as of late. AT&T has followed suit, and dropped the retail price of the HTC Inspire 4G to $29 with a two-year activation. It is hard to call the HTC Inspire 4G a value or budget priced handset, however, at a price significantly in the bottom half of the 4G retail pricing structure for most handsets, that is exactly what this Android smartphone is.  Find out more information about the technical specifications, functions, and features in this HTC Inspire 4G Review.

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One smartphone takes “Spider” concept to be a tablet, gaming device and laptop?

 

Korea’s KT telecommunications provider was showing off a new device that takes three popular devices and makes the work as one.  The project called, “Spider Concept” combines the Spider smartphone running the Android Gingerbread operating system with a custom user interface.  Take any other peripherals and connect it to the Spider phone and you have a smartphone that can work like a handheld gaming device, tablet computer and laptop all in one.  This concept could be intriguing to those that have one of each of these devices and would like to gain the power of having them all work as one device.

The Android powered Spider smartphone comes with a huge 4.5-inch screen at 1280 x 800 resolution and a dual-core 1.5 GHz Qualcomm processor.  The phone sports an 8MP camera on the back and a 3MP camera on the front side that capture in full HD with 16GB of internal memory for storing images and video.  This phone is just the power center for all of the devices and all you have to do is insert the phone into the tablet, laptop or gaming device shell and the phone does all the rest.
When you put the phone into the tablet shell, you immediately get a 10.1-inch screen device called the Spider PAD.  Take the phone and put it into the laptop shell and you get a larger, unknown screen size a full QWERTY keyboard and a USB drive for a mouse or other add-on device.  The other device the phone powers is the gaming device.  Take the phone and put it into the gaming kit and you have yourself a clone of the Playstation Portable gaming system.  With a D-pad on the right and four other buttons on the left and it’s all controlled via the Spider smartphone.
The launch for the KT Spider Concept has not been confirmed, but is expected to be this year in Korea.  There hasn’t been any information regarding the price of the Spider Concept kit or whether or not you will see the system launched internationally.  The company did say they will be watching closely how the device launches locally in Korea before it decides to whether it will make sense to launch it internationally.

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