DROID RAZR Teardown; How Did Motorola Get It So Thin? [Video]

you’d know I was amazed by how thin the Motorola Droid RAZR was considering all the things you get inside the 4.3 inch package. Thankfully, Motorola knows how to read minds. Or Phandroid reviews. They’ve posted a video showing how they were able to get the RAZR into a 7.1mm thin and light package. Watch the video above if you’re really curious.
If for some reason you wanted Motorola to go deeper than that, iFixIt has posted their teardown of the device. These features show the process of taking it apart and putting it back together in a nice, informative gallery. See just how everything falls into place as if it were still on the manufacturers’ production line. Head over there for the full teardown. [iFixIt]

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Verzo Kinzo Android smartphone now shipping for $459

When we first heard that Verzo was going to launch a luxury oriented Android device back in August the ship date was pegged as sometime in September. That launch month came and went and so did the next month. If you had a hankering for that Kinzo phone for some reason, the device is now finally shipping. As of today you can get the Android device for $459.

The phone is mostly a style thing with a custom skin over the older Android Froyo OS. The hardware is lackluster as well. The phone has a 4.3-inch multitouch screen with a resolution of 800 x 480. The phone has quad-band GSM radios and some of the bands covered will work for the AT&T network. The processor is a slower TI OMAP 3630 at 1GHz and it has 512MB of RAM.
The front camera is a 0.3MP unit and the rear is a 5MP autofocusing camera. It has a light sensor accelerometer, and a proximity sensor. The smartphone also has GPS integrated. It has a 1590 mAh battery that should power the device for nine hours on GSM and up to 360 hours of standby. The phone also comes with some accessories as well. It has a leather case, car charger, and a set of earphones.

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Schmidt: we’ll support Android partners in lawsuits

Google exec Eric Schmidt has been partying hard (and presumably doing some work too) in Asia this week. We’ve had some great quotes, including the claim that Motorola won’t be favoured, the assertion that Android preceded the iPhone (technically sort of true), and some waffle about Siri affecting the way we searchonline.

Now, during a stint in Taiwan, Schmidt has been reiterating Google’s support for its Android partners in the war against Apple.

Of course, Taiwan is home to one of the most prolific Android handset manufacturers, namely HTC. It’s well into double figures this year alone. Encroyable.

"We tell our partners, including the ones here in Taiwan, we will support them," Schmidt revealed. "For example, we have been supporting HTC in its dispute with Apple because we think that the Apple thing is not correct."

Earlier this week, Schmidt responded to the late Steve Jobs’ claim (via his biography) that Google had “f**king ripped off the iPhone”, saying: “I think most people would agree that Google is a great innovator and I would also point out that the Android effort started before the iPhone effort."

Yeah, it might’ve started before, but it’s a question of how Android evolved to compete with iOS. There’s no denying the similarities.

Anyway, that’s for a series of judges across the globe to decide; I'm merely a lowly commentator.

via: PC Pro

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Kindle Fire Won’t Run All Android Apps, Amputates APIs

I’m a huge fan of the upcoming Amazon Kindle Fire: priced at ridiculously low $200 (and available for pre-order), it’s sure to be one 2011′s holiday sensations. It’s rare you find an Android device that affordable, and when you do, it’s usually some overseas wannabe tablet they sell in a drug store. The Amazon Kindle, though, is fully featured. Almost.

Amazon has already stated there will be thousands of Android apps available on the Fire through the Amazon App Store and told us that they have been especially approved for the Kindle Fire itself to ensure a great Fire-proof experience. But a recent Robert Scoble comment on G+ shows that the reason all apps won’t be on the Kindle Fire goes well beyond Amazon being picky about quality:

I interviewed one company today that has an awesome Android app (millions of downloads already). They went through and demoed their new thing to me. Made me want to turn in my iPhone and go with the Android, but can’t talk about it until next week. Then they pulled out a Samsung Tablet and said “it works here too.”
That was all great, until I asked them “what about the Amazon Kindle Fire?”
They said “nope, Amazon is keeping our app from running.”
“Huh?”
Turns out that Amazon has turned off many APIs that are available on other Android devices, so many Android apps won’t run on the Amazon Kindle Fire.

This may disturb the hardcore Android fan but I don’t anticipate it will slow sales. It’s Amazon. It’s a Kindle. It’s an Android. And it’s only $200. Now matter what way you slice the pie that’s a pretty darn good offer. Not to mention, I’m sure the masses at the Kindle Fire Forums will be painstakingly assist each other to get the absolute most out of the Fire by any means necessary.
Did you plan on buying the Kindle Fire for yourself or as a gift? Does this affect your decision at all?

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Amazon to invest $100 million in Indian operations; hire 3,000 people

The Andhra Pradesh (AP) government has revealed that Amazon is planning a ₹ 500 crore ($100 million) investment in the expansion of its Development Center in Hyderabad and looking to hire 3,000 more people, according to a report by AlooTechie.
Amazon’s vice-president John Schoettler and Ponnala Lakshmaiah, minister for information technology in AP, met to discuss the various legal issues involved with the allotment of land for the expansion of Amazon’s offices, which currently employs about 3,300 people in a 200,000 square feet complex.
It’s no secret that the AP government is thrilled to have Amazon running its enterprises team, financial and ordering services and inventory management out of the state’s capital, as it actively encourages multinational technology companies to expand operations there. Facebook, in particular, has benefited from the state’s support and recently completed its first successful year of operations in Hyderabad.
The operations back-end is not the only thing on Amazon’s expansion agenda for India, as the e-commerce company is reportedly planning to get into online retail in India in the first quarter of 2012. The company currently has stores in Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
Speaking of giant retailers running e-commerce operations out of India, the world’s largest retailer Walmart announced plans to bring its @WalmartLabs initiative to India with the opening of an innovation lab in Bengaluru, its first outside the USA. The hiring has already begun and the company hopes to kick off operations soon with 100 employees onboard.

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Firefox for Android 9.0 beta build features better optimization for tablets

Mozilla has released a new build of Firefox beta for Android that features an all new experience for tablets. According to blog post by Firefox team, this build comes with a new UI for slates, new action bar and much more.
The beta build also gives web developers new tools to take camera input into their web apps directly from Firefox, and a new HTML5 form validation API.
Firefox 9.0 Beta for Android Features:

• Faster startup times
• Added languages
• New UI for Tablets
• Full-Screen Portrait Browsing
• Tab Optimization: Tabs are shown as thumbnails in the left panel of Firefox Beta (landscape).
• New Action Bar with Quick Access Buttons

Download

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Motorola RAZR to be priced at INR 34K in India, coming soon

Motorola RAZR could be making its way to stores very soon in India, as stated by the company’s country office earlier. This sleek and powerful smartphone will be priced at INR 33,990, as posted on the smartphone listing on Flipkart.
Motorola India will be releasing its most anticipated smartphone of the year RAZR in the country very soon and we all have been guessing the price for a long time and thanks for the coming soon listing on the popular online retailer, we know it is going to cost us a hefty INR 33,990.
There are a lot of reasons of the almost unreasonable pricing in the country, and I am not sure how many of you are actually going to spend this much to grab the phone. The depreciation of rupee in the recent times is one major factor, which has also forced other manufacturers to think about correcting their existing smartphone prices as well. As all these smartphones are manufactured outside India, exchange rates play a very important role along with all the duties and taxes on how a particular device is going to be priced in the country.
Coming back to RAZR, it features a dual core 1.2GHz TI OMAP processor, 4.3 inch Super AMOLED Advanced display with Gorilla Glass, just 7.1mm thickness, Kevlar fibre on the back to increase durability, and 8MP rear camera with 1.3M front shooter.

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Motorola seeking testers for special project for the Original DROID

According to Droid Life, some original Droid owners have received an odd email from the Motorola Feedback Network which usually conducts Soak tests on many current devices. The email states that they are “preparing a project” for the users of the OG Droid. No one knows what this actually mean at this point because we’re talking about a two-year old phone here. Check it out:

hanks for joining the Motorola Feedback Network. We are preparing a project for owners of the original Motorola Droid on Verizon, and would like to invite you to participate. Click this link to take a short enrollment survey for this project. Please note that you must be a member of the Motorola Owners’ Forums to take part.
If you are no longer using your original Droid and wish to update your Motorola Feedback Network profile so you can be part of projects for a different Motorola phone, please click here. If you use the same computer as previous registrations, you can update your profile. If you do not, simply re-register with your current Motorola product. To opt out of the MFN see the link at the bottom of this email.
This is a confidential project under the terms of the Motorola Feedback Network. Do not post any details or information about this project on any public sites.
Thanks — we hope to be in contact with you soon.
- Matt
Motorola Owners’ Forums
Motorola Feedback Network

We still don’t know if this is an indication of a software bump to Gingerbread or some other enhancements/bug fixes. We’ll just have to wait and see what Motorola has for the selected Original Droid enthusiasts who are probably as excited and anxious as we are. What do you guys think?
via Droid Life

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Amazon Wireless Offering Droid RAZR For $111.11 In Celebration Of 11/11/11 (That’s Over $180 Off) Deal

The Droid RAZR, despite not being officially released until 11/11/11 at 11:11 am EST, has already been given an insane price cut by Amazon Wireless, available for preorder tonight and sale tomorrow at just $111.11, a discount of more than $180.00 if you sign up for a new two-year agreement. If you want to upgrade your current device, the RAZR is available for $199.99, which is still a great deal.

Wondering why this deal is so awesome? Take a look at some of the RAZR’s impressive specs:
4.3-inch qHD Super AMOLED display
1.2GHz dual-core processor
1GB RAM
8MP rear shooter, front facing camera
16GB built-in storage, 16GB microSD card
Android 2.3.5
7.1mm thin, 127 grams
1800mAh battery
Made with Kevlar fiber
Gorilla Glass
Motorola Splash Guard
Webtop cabpable
4G LTE
Bluetooth 4.0




If you’ve been waiting for the RAZR’s official release but like to shop around, Amazon Wireless’ offering is a perfect opportunity to get a deep discount on the latest member of the Droid family. Head over to AW’s sale page to take advantage of the deal.

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