Triple threat: Motorola Droid X2, LG Revolution, and HTC Trophy to launch May 12 on Verizon Wireless

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A month ago we told you that Verizon was going to have some nice releases for April and May. It looks like the Motorola Droid X2 and the LG Revolution are on schedule and will be released next Thursday, May 12. The HTC Trophy (WP7) which was originally expected to hit in April, will now be released next Thursday as well.
For those waiting for the Sony Xperia PLAY, you will be happy to know that it has been scheduled for Thursday, May 26th. This phone was also originally scheduled for April, but due to some bugs it was pushed back.
The Droid X2 will be Verizon’s first dual-core Tegra 2 phone. The LG Revolution will be a 4G LTE phone and be the first Android phone with Netflix support.  The HTC Trophy will be Verizon’s first Windows Phone 7 device.
It looks like the Verizon stores will be pretty busy next Thursday.

 

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FroYo now on 66pc of Android devices; Honeycomb on 0.3pc

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According to the latest Android platform figures from Google, Android 2.2 ‘FroYo’ is now on over 65% of the total Android devices, while Android 2.1 aka Éclair is still present on 25% of the phones.
Gingerbread is limited to just 4% of the total market because the delay by device vendors in pushing the updates. First Gingerbread devices have just start reaching market from the likes of HTC, while Samsung is still waiting for release a Gingerbread phone apart from Nexus S.
Motorola is totally absent from the scene, no Gingerbread device till now, and its track record with updates is worse than none. Sony Ericsson is the only vendor with two Android 2.3 devices in the market, and third is waiting to be launched, but the Earthquake in Japan has created some supply issues.
Coming to Honeycomb, its platform share hasn’t crossed even 1% and is just 0.3%. We are hoping that the recent tablet launches by Acer and Asus will help improve this figure. Samsung is again waiting for production of their Honeycomb tablets.

Android Version	Distribution
Android 1.5	2.3%
Android 1.6	3.0%
Android 2.1	24.5%
Android 2.2	65.9%
Android 2.3	4%
Android 3.0	0.3%

 

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Spotify Mobile App Now Available for All (Still Not in the US, Though)

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If you have been a Spotify Free user jealous of premium users and their access to the Spotify app on mobile devices, today is your lucky day. The music streaming and download service has made their Android app open to all users, bringing the ability to sync your Spotify playlists wirelessly with your smartphone.
Unfortunately, Spotify is still unavailable for those living in the United States. That may change soon, sort of. Recent rumors suggest Spotify is in talks with Google over a new-format Google Music service. When and if that happens, it may be the only taste of the wildly popular music player the US gets. For everyone else, feel free to download it now.
 

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HTC Desire HD and Incredible S Android 2.3 Gingerbread going OTA now

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HTC has confirmed it is pushing out the Android 2.3 Gingerbread update for the HTC Desire HD and HTC Incredible S. The OTA update will be flagged up with a message on the smartphones themselves, and bring the handsets up to speed with newer HTC devices like the HTC Desire S.

Of course you’ll still have HTC Sense and all the usual apps, but we’re expecting a little extra speed and stability thanks to the joys of Gingerbread. HTC advises backing up your phone before you upgrade, though it’s not clear if the update will actually wipe your phone in the process.
We’re checking our Desire HD now and will report back when we find out more. Let us know how you get on in the comments!

Update – HTC Desire HD Firmware Over The Air (FOTA) update
Your phone will receive a notification of FOTA update when it is made available. Simply press OK to accept the update via a data connection such as Wi-Fi or GPRS/3G. After installing the update, you can confirm a successful update by confirming the Build number (From the Home Screen go to MENU> Settings> About Phone> Software Information> Software number). The new Build number after the update will be 2.36.405.5. Update: Android 2.3 upgrade. Note：Please back up your data first before upgrading your phone. We recommend using a free Wi-Fi hotspot or an unlimited data plan to apply this update. If not, standard data connection charges may apply. For any questions, please contact us at http://www.htc.com/www/CA_Hotline.aspx
Update – HTC Incredible S Firmware Over The Air (FOTA) update
Your phone will receive a notification of FOTA update when it is made available. Simply press OK to accept the update via a data connection such as Wi-Fi or GPRS/3G. After installing the update, you can confirm a successful update by confirming the Build number (From the Home Screen go to MENU> Settings> About Phone> Software Information> Software number). The new Build number after the update will be 2.12.405.7. Update: Android 2.3 upgrade. Note：Please back up your data first before upgrading your phone. We recommend using a free Wi-Fi hotspot or an unlimited data plan to apply this update. If not, standard data connection charges may apply. For any questions, please contact us at http://www.htc.com/www/CA_Hotline.aspx

 

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Galaxy S II gets root-friendly insecure boot ROM

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The Samsung Galaxy S II has only been on the market for a short while – and units are still in high demand – but we’ve already seen one of the first hacks of the smartphone. MoDaCo’s Paul O’Brien has come up with a custom GSII insecure boot image that allows for adb shell root and adb remount.

The ROM itself doesn’t actually root the Galaxy S II, but it will allow owners to push the su binary and Superuser APK required for root. It also disables the flash-recovery script, replacing it with a call to /data/local/custom-scripting.sh.
It’s not the first root – one method was released at the tail end of April – but we’re definitely excited to see more modders turn their attention to the Galaxy S II. While the phone itself impressed us in our review, we also saw plenty of potential as a platform for custom ROMs.
 

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Vodafone HTC Sensation pre-orders open ahead of May 19 release

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Vodafone UK have begun taking pre-orders for the HTC Sensation, ahead of what’s expected to be a May 19 release date for the dual-core Android smartphone. Announced last month, the Sensation will be priced from free with a new, two-year agreement of £35 ($58) per month or above.

Your money – and commitment – gets you a 4.3-inch qHD display, 8-megapixel camera, Android 2.3 Gingerbread and the latest version of HTC Sense with a clever lock-screen that integrates various widgets and app shortcuts. There’s also Qualcomm’s new dual-core 1.2GHz processor keeping things running, and 1080p HD video capture.
The Sensation is expected to launch in the US later in 2011 as the T-Mobile Sensation 4G, but for the moment Vodafone have exclusivity on the handset in Europe. No word on how long that will last for. More details on the HTC Sensation in our hands-on report.

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HTC ChaCha launch tipped by HTC Facebook events

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HTC only confirmed a Q2 2011 release window for the HTC ChaCha, one of its two “Facebook phones” announced at MWC 2011 a few months back; however, it seems the company’s own Facebook pages have tipped more accurate dates. HTC Germany has announced a series of Facebook-centric events in Dortmund (Germany), Wien (Austria) and Zürich (Switzerland) kicking off June 18.

The Austrian event follows on July 2, while the Swiss event will take place on July 18. We’ve seen HTC hold similar public launch events before; the HTC Sensation gave them cause to stage a party in London last month for the new flagship.

Of course, that doesn’t mean the ChaCha – and perhaps its Facebook friend the HTC Salsa – won’t arrive in other markets first. HTC’s European range often goes on sale in the UK initially, so it’s possible the Android smartphone may show up there prior to mid-June.

 

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Google Voice Integration With All Sprint Numbers is Now Live

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Sprint and Google have been beta-testing a full integration of Google Voice with the Sprint network over the past several weeks, and today the service has been declared “live.” Sprint customers can now use their Sprint number to run all of their Google Voice services, allowing them to set the phone to ring at multiple locations, or even different locations determined by the caller or time of day. Or if you’d prefer, you can have all outgoing calls go out through your Google Voice service. This brings a lot of versatility, and the process is fairly seamless, though by default it will disable SMS messages from coming into your phone and route them through Google Voice instead. This feature isn’t hard to reverse, and tonight we’ll be bringing you a quick how-to on that, plus any other tips and tricks we find this afternoon.  Catch the video promo after the break, and head to the official site to get started.

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What is the HTC Kingdom?

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Earlier today, two ROMs from unknown devices were leaked, referred to as the HTC Kingdom and HTC Rider. Code in the Rider ROM makes reference to KT-KR, Korea’s cellular network, making it probable that this is going to be a Korean-released phone. While early reports seemed to indicate that the Kingdom was the HTC EVO 3D, some ROM developers dissecting the leak have come to the conclusion that it’s some other device. This seems to stem mostly from the fact that while the HTC EVO 3D has stated specs of 1 Gig of RAM and a 4.3″ qHD screen, the code in the Kingdom leak mentions specs of 768 Megs of RAM and a 4″ qHD screen. Other developers argue that the code also refers to the device as the PG86100, the model number of the EVO 3D. Regardless, the developers are still working on cracking this ROM wide open, and there are several developers already attempting to port the ROM to various devices, including, of course, the current HTC EVO. Time will tell what device this mystery ROM originates from, but I, for one, am looking forward to some of the ROMs these brilliant ROM chefs are going to cook up.
 

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