Author: Ali Fazel

The Vodafone 845, the first Vodafone-branded Android device, is now confirmed for a May launch. No specific date has been given, just May and "coming soon." There is an official video of the phone, and while I can’t confirm this, the video makes it look as if it has a resistive touch screen. The first thought behind that is "ouch," but it doesn’t look too bad in the video. It’s expected to be offered as a bargain phone, so we can’t really complain about the lack of fancy features. Video after the break. Thanks to Dave for sending this in. [Vodafone]

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Samsung and Yahoo have teamed up and extended a "Strategic global partnership for mobile" that will effect Android phones as well as phones running Samsung’s bada OS. What does this mean for you? Well if you’re planning on buying an Android-powered Samsung phone you might be in the same shoes as Motorola Backflip users on AT&T. Samsung phones may replace standard-on-Android Google services with Yahoo services for search, email, contacts, calendar, news, and weather. Yowza. So for those of you thinking of purchasing a Samsung Galaxy S, would this affect your decision? Let us know in the comments! [via BusinessWire]

More details have become available for the Lenovo LePhone, and not all of them are pretty. Previously thought to be running Android 2.1, it now appears to be running a highly-customized version of Android 1.6 that is being called LEOS (LEnovo OS?).

Despite some quirks such as a proprietary data cable and a back with "striped texture feels like a touch rusty iron in the same chip," the reviewer seems to like the phone quite a bit. The source is all in Chinese, but it’s worth a look even with a poor translation. [CNbeta.com]

Lenovo took a headfirst leap into the mobile market Monday by launching its LePhone. With this entrance into the market, Lenovo expects to expand heavily into the mobile Internet services arena and within five years generate 10 percent to 20 percent of its total revenue strictly from mobile sales. That’s quite a goal for a new player in the market, but they’ve definitely started on the right path by choosing the world’s largest cell phone market for the first in what looks to be the first in a series of many phones.

We’ve pictured it before, and Phil seems to have his doubts about the keyboard, but when was the last time you saw an optional keyboard? I like it. Anyone anxious to see this hit U.S. shores? Let us know in the comments! [PhoneArena]

Not to be left out of the fun, T-Mobile appears to possibly be getting a phone that looks suspiciously like the Samsung Galaxy S. The Bluetooth SIG has approved a Samsung SCH-T959 following the Samsung T-Mobile naming convention with specs that point to the Galaxy S. Features listed for the device are a 4-inch AMOLED touch screen, Android OS, and TouchWIZ 3.0. Confusingly, the SIG report also calls the phone the T939, which is the Samsung Behold 2, but could just be a typo. [UnwiredView]

Sprint users, rejoice! The much-anticipated Android 2.1 update is coming to the HTC Hero and Samsung Moment in early May. Maybe now everyone will stop jumping at every rumor out there… A closer look after the break [Androidforums]

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Well isn’t that cute? Pictures of the world’s second smallest Android handset, the Huawei Joy (aka Vodaphone 845), have turned up on the Internets. (What’s the smallest, you ask?) With a 2.8-inch screen and a 3.2 MP camera, the specs aren’t anything to write home about, but it does cover all the bases and it is an adorable little gadget, isn’t it? Three more pictures after the break. [Unwired View]

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The folks over at Game Gripper have come up with an incredibly needed add-on for the Droid. This handy-dandy gadget slips over the Droid’s keyboard and does the work of pressing the keys for you, bringing the feel of a real controller to you anywhere you are. Not exactly a high-tech solution, but who needs that? Video of it in action after the break.  [GameGripper via Engadget]

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What’s black and white and red all over? The new myTouch Slide, of course! Semi-official (hey, it hasn’t been announced yet) pictures have come out showing the next step in the line of T-Mobile HTC Android phones in Technicolor. By offering color options and adding some form of  HTC’s Sense to the phone, it looks like they’re really pushing the customization of the myTouch series of phones. Hopefully they’ll drop those bubbles, though …

So who wants what color? [CellPhone Signal]

Android 2.1+ Along with the update to Android 2.1 comes enhanced Exchange ActiveSync support. This is great news for business users, especially the enhanced security features. There is one thing that was bothering me about it, though, and even caused me to take my work e-mail off of my phone: the Exchange lock screen. On my Sprint HTC Hero with 2.1, having my work e-mail on my phone means that instead of a pattern unlock I had to use an alphanumeric password. This quickly got annoying, especially considering the phone locks when the screen goes off.

Then I found Lockpicker [market link]. It allows you to set your unlock pattern, add your Exchange e-mail account, and then enable Lockpicker. From the developer:

I just whipped an app together that disables the Exchange lock screen as soon as the server has enforced its policy by using a background service and an observer on the system setting. This requires no polling, scripting, etc. and survives reboots/enforcements.

So there you have it. That’s all you do and the app does the rest. This has made my life just that much easier. There is also a donate version [market link] if you would like to help support the developer. Note: Your IT department might not be too happy with you if you use this. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

You read that right. Starting Monday, Verizon reportedly is launching its NFL coverage after wrestling away rights from Sprint. [via Gizmofusion] Included will be live streaming video of draft coverage, Thursday night games, NBC Sunday night games, and live audio of every NFL game. Combine that with player stats, Red Zone videos, and fantasy football integration and you’ve got yourself a winner.

This is available for the Motorola Droid and Devour, and the HTC Droid Eris. The app is free for the 2010 season but will become a paid app starting Jan. 11, 2011. There are no additional fees to use the service (yet, anyway), but note that it does count against your data usage. 

Oh, and if you can’t wait until Monday, the app’s already leaked out and is available at Droid-Life.

We’ve all heard how tablet computers are the "next big thing" in mobile computing. Since the announcement of the iPad, there have been multiple vendors showing their take on the tablet computer. ICD has announced their Gemini tablet that is set to ramp up the arms war in the tablet computing sector. With it’s Tegra 2 SOC and 11.2 inch screen, this beast will have the power and multimedia capabilities to stand with the best. More after the break.

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Would you look at that! Google is getting serious about selling the Nexus One and marketing the Android platform, too. Apparently the folks over at Mountain View have decided not to take the reported less-than-stellar sales (and we’re still not buying that, by the way) lying down. A recent Google job listing calls for:

The Android space is a big opportunity for Google, and an area of strategic importance. As Product Marketing Manager for Android and Nexus One, you support the Direct-To-Consumer marketing plans and initiatives that will be rolled out in the coming months. You are focused on increasing the number of device sales and increasing awareness of the Nexus One brand.

This is refreshing news, especially since Google’s flagship phone is set to be on all four major carriers by this summer. How will this affect the sales of the phone, when potential buyers still won’t be able to lay their hands on it until after they’ve ordered the phone? Only time can answer that question, but this definitely looks to be a positive next step. [Google via Phandroid]

One week after launching the iPhone app, Digg’s making its next push into the mobile space with its first native app for Android devices. It’s launching right now in the Android Market, and below is a quick snapshot of the features.

• Designed specifically for Android devices, a great experience on Android for browsing Digg
• Browsing of stories in list view and with a comments page
• Digging and burying of both stories and comments
• Landscape mode
• Using an in-app browser to pan around and zoom in and out of content. On the Nexus One, multi-touch is enabled
• Both me dium and high resolution sized screens are supported

Hit the break for the official announcement as well as more screenshots, and you can download the Digg app here (Market link).

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