Review of Sony Ericsson Vivaz 2

Sony Ericsson has had some missteps lately, mostly with not updating their most recent phones beyond version 1.6 of the Android OS. They have some promising phones on the horizon though, with the Xperia Arc leading the pack. Also starting to get a little attention, however, is the MT15i, which is rather like the Vivaz, but sporting the Android the OS. We haven’t heard a lot of talk about this phone, but it’s being positioned to appeal more to the entry-level crowd, rather than those looking for the most powerful phones on the market. It won’t be sporting the Tegra-2 processor, but it also won’t be priced at that level. Based on the review over at mobile-review.com, it may be one of the better choices for those looking for budget-conscious, entry-level Android device.
The MT15i is a more solid offering than some of Sony’s previous phones, having a little more heft, but feeling like a more “quality” device.  The LCD screen is somewhere in the three-inch neighborhood, supporting a 480×854 resolution and their “BRAVIA” technology to improve the overall image quality.  This phone is expected to drop in the UK market somewhere around April, and will be an excellent offering for anyone looking for their first Android phone. No word on whether or now we’ll see it here in the US, but we’ll keep you posted as more details become available.READ MORE....
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What would you use an Android Tablet for most?

There are going to be so many tablets coming out in the next little while that we may start asking ourselves how important it is that we get one. They’ll all be in different shapes and sizes, options, specs, etc. Obviously, like choosing a computer before, the hardware you bought was likely the result of some self-analyzation on what you plan on using it for. Then came smartphones, same deal. What specs will be good enough for what you plan on doing with it. Is it for business or pleasure? Do you take alot or pictures or not? Video, video chat?
Yes, there are going to be as many options with tablets as there are with computers, laptops, and smartphones. In-Stat, a market researcher, did a report called US Consumers’ Attitudes and Behaviours Toward the Emerging Tablet Market, which they stated, “After close to a decade of negligible demand, the tablet market is finally gaining mass market appeal”.
Stephanie Ethier, senior Analyst at In-Stat also said;

Last year’s small crop of tablets was being touted as potential e-readers; a way to compete against the extremely popular Amazon Kindle line-up…But this next generation of tablets is clearly being marketed as consumer multimedia consumption devices positioned to compete squarely against the Apple iPad.

Tablets are predominantly being used for email, internet and multimedia currently, but we are also seeing the business sector look towards tablets for their solutions as well. Deloitte research firm did another report where they predict that 25% of all tablet sales will be by businesses for business activity.

55% of people surveyed who currently own tablets said they spend at least 9 hours a week using them for various things already discussed. So where do you stand? What would you use a tablet for? How long do you think you’d use it a week? maybe the real question here is this…What will having a tablet do for you that you can’t already do on your Android smartphone?READ MORE....
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HTC Sensation Is This The Tablet Version Of Sense?

HTC filed a European trademark on January 19th for the term “HTC Sensation”  the extrapolation for the trademark reads:
“Mobile phones, smartphones, wireless phones, wireless devices, portable computers and personal digital assistants, computer hardware and software for mobile, portable and wireless devices; user interface software; computer hardware and software for user interfacing, telecommunications and telecommunications services; computer hardware and software for transmitting and receiving voice, image, data, audio, video and multimedia content; wireless modems; headsets, headsets with wireless transmission function, connection cables, cradles, mounts, face plates, batteries, power adaptors, chargers, cases, in-vehicle chargers, in-vehicle holders, remote controls, keyboards, microphones, loudspeakers, leather pouches for mobile phones.”
The trademark is loose and could be used for a variety of things but we know that HTC Sense is their custom UI for both windows and Android phones. HTC has released their Sense 2.0 version on it’s newer phones. They are also offering a Sense online for users to store their most important information in the cloud.
As far as custom UI’s go many sites, us included and our friends over at Droidlife seem to agree that Sense is the least painful of any of the custom UIs. I actually like the widgets and friendstream in Sense on the HTC Evo Shift 4G.
Its not a far cry to think that “Sensation” is the name of the Sense version for tablets and we already know that HTC has three tablets coming out this spring.READ MORE.... JOIN US ON FACEBOOK

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Android TV Set-Top Box

Good day to you reader,

We have just received some great images of some upcoming Android TV Set-Top Boxes. They all are, essentially, Android in a box. Featuring USB reader, and SD Card support, they all have Android 2.2 baked in.

Android TV claims to be a TV tuner box, a Media player, a game console, an internet box, and aims to provide a great internet TV experience.

Features:

• Watch Digital TV and Local Multimedia on android 2.2 embedded system
• Digtal TV receiver
• supports ATSC/DVB-T/ISDB-T/D-TMB/DVB-S/DVB-S2/DVB-T2 on an Android embedded system
• HD Media Player
• Video playback up to 1080p resolution Connects high-definition TV via HDMI interface
• Supports HDMI 1.3 digital audio/video interface, supports 720(50/60Hz)/1080i(50/60Hz)/1080P(50/60Hz)
• Online Music and Video, Send & Receive Email, Instant Message, Google Products
• Flash video supported
• Support most of Web2.0 Social Network, share infomartions with friends on Facebook, Flicker, Twitter. Uploading files onto YouTube.
• An Android APK installer
• Installation of third party applications.
• Wifi/Wired network connection
• 2.4G Wireless Remote Operation



• Support Internal HDD and external HDD, Support 2GB NAND and up to 32GB TF Card.

Check out the images for more info! Looks like these things are going to be pretty cheap and awesome. Stay tuned!READ MORE.... JOIN US ON FACEBOOK

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Samsung Galaxy S, Galaxy Tab to Get Gingerbread in Five Months

Don’t get your hopes up too fast: this rumor comes from an Amsterdam-based site called SamFirmwares – one we’ve never heard of before. Still, they seem to have a sizable following and we’ll play with this rumor on a boring weekend: the Samsung Galaxy S and Tab are expected to receive Android 2.3 at the end of Q1 or the beginning of Q2 2011, as they alleged on their Twitter account. Yes, I know: we’re still waiting on Froyo for most of their American variants. That’s why we’re approaching this rumor with a high degree of uncertainty and with the smallest of grains of salt. I suggest you do the same. Either way, it’s nice to have any sort of inkling of hope that Samsung is trying to improve its game. The frequency of updates Samsung has doled out is considered by many to be subpar. As much as we want to believe, we will take this with a grain of salt.

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Using a Bluetooth gamepad with your Android phone

I got a free Android phone, the  HTC Magic , with my cheap phone contract. Android is fantastic, but I’ve always wished it had a keyboard so I could type and play games more easily. I wondered if I’d be able to ever get an external keyboard, or even a gamepad, and clip it on.

Well, now you can. Tiny bluetooth keyboards (and their drivers) that work with an Android phone are a bit expensive and unreliable at time of writing, but there is a cheap game controller: the BGP100 bluetooth gamepad:

So I bought one to try it out.
Getting it to work though was tricky – this is all pretty new, and I couldn’t find a good how-to. So I wrote one:

1. Buy a BGP100. I got mine from dealextreme.com for $25 USD (worldwide shipping was free).
2. Download the Gamepro driver from the Android Market
3. Switch Bluetooth on, if it isn’t already. For my HTC Magic (Android OS 1.5 I think) I press Menu, choose Settings, Wireless controls and tick Bluetooth.

4. Enable Gamepro in you phone settings. For my phone, I press Menu, choose Settings, Locale & text, and tickMMG GamePro. Below that should be MMG GamePro Settings.
5. Open MMG GamePro Settings. Choose your Gamepad Model (Gamepad BGP100 for me, but Zeemote JS1 works too).
6. Scan for your gamepad by pressing scan to get the Bluetooth Address (switch it on first – on the BGP100 the power switch is a sliding switch next to the R button). You’ll need that address later, write it down.
7. Skip the Registration Key for now. Leave it blank; first we need to test that everything works.
8. Hit [Save] to save your GamePro settings.
9. Change Android’s current “Input Method”. Right now your phone is using a virtual touch keyboard (or physical keyboard if you have one) as it’s Input Method. To change it to GamePro, long press on almost any standard textbox (for example, start the standard android messaging app, create a new message, press and hold inside the “To” field) and hit Select input method and choose MMG GamePro. Then quit that app. Note that you will have to change the input method back after playing. (I haven’t found a convenient way to do this yet – anyone want to write a widget that toggles bluetooth and the input method?)
10. Test. You should now be able to go to the Android home screen and use the d-pad (or joystick) to highlight icons.
For more info, get the PDF of the official manual. It’s a bit confusing and some steps are missing, unexplained, or out-of-order (hence the need to write this) but it has some screenshots, and more details on several of the steps..READ MORE....JOIN US ON FACEBOOK

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Review of Sony Ericsson Vivaz 2

Sony Ericsson has had some missteps lately, mostly with not updating their most recent phones beyond version 1.6 of the Android OS. They have some promising phones on the horizon though, with the Xperia Arc leading the pack. Also starting to get a little attention, however, is the MT15i, which is rather like the Vivaz, but sporting the Android the OS. We haven’t heard a lot of talk about this phone, but it’s being positioned to appeal more to the entry-level crowd, rather than those looking for the most powerful phones on the market. It won’t be sporting the Tegra-2 processor, but it also won’t be priced at that level. Based on the review over at mobile-review.com, it may be one of the better choices for those looking for budget-conscious, entry-level Android device.
The MT15i is a more solid offering than some of Sony’s previous phones, having a little more heft, but feeling like a more “quality” device.  The LCD screen is somewhere in the three-inch neighborhood, supporting a 480×854 resolution and their “BRAVIA” technology to improve the overall image quality.  This phone is expected to drop in the UK market somewhere around April, and will be an excellent offering for anyone looking for their first Android phone. No word on whether or now we’ll see it here in the US, but we’ll keep you posted as more details become available..READ MORE....
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Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 Teaser Video Real or Not?

Yes folks a teaser video of what is purportedly the next generation Samsung Galaxy Tab which is supposed to be making an appearance at Mobile World Congress and will of course be the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2, has appeared on the net, and naturally we have that video for your viewing appraisal below.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 video comes our way courtesy of Phone Arena and by way of OLED-DISPLAY who says it’s the official trailer for the Android packing Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 and also have a list of specifications, which are…
A 7 inch Super AMOLED display with 2048 x 1200 pixel resolution, Android 2.3 Gingerbread on launch and upgradeable to Android 3.0 Honeycomb along with a 3D display after the upgrade, NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor, Gorilla Glass, 8 megapixel camera with dual LED flash and 1080p HD video, 3 megapixel front facing camera WiFi, Bluetooth, 64GB internal memory, microSD expansion up to 32GB, 3G, compass, gyroscope, and accelerometer.
Apparently the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 will become available in black-black, white-silver or black-silver. Apparently there is some concern as to whether this Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 teaser video is the genuine article though, so hit that play button and let us know if you think it is the real deal or not…enjoy.READ MORE....
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Internal Documents Leaked – Minimum Prices for Verizon’s Upcoming Devices

Some leaked documents seem to show off the expected minimum prices we might see on the Motorola Xoom tablet and the HTC Thunderbolt that will be hitting Verizon in the near future. No firm release dates have yet been announced for either device, and these prices aren’t necessarily “release” prices, but it’s something. The Xoom is likely to premiering somewhere around $799 — at that price, probably unsubsidized. We’ve seen some great things from Motorola’s tablet in the information that’s been coming forth, and we’re excited about its launch, although that price is a little steep. The HTC Thunderbolt is expect to be priced somewhere in the $249 neighborhood, which is about standard for a device of its specs. Hopefully we’ll get some launch dates soon, and you know we’ll keep you posted as soon as any new information turns up..READ MORE....
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