Author: AndroidGuys

The two new Android handsets from HTC, the Legend and Desire, appear to have their US destinations already mapped out.  According to Boy Genius Report, the Desire will be headed for AT&T when it arrives here in the states.  Rumored to maintain the Desire branding, it will also find itself a home in the Google store.  BGR’s source also says that there may be some cosmetic changes (color, finish, etc) upon arrival.

As for the HTC Legend, it’s said to be headed for Sprint. We can’t say this comes as much of a surprise to us. The Legend is the direct descendant of the Hero, which Sprint redesigned for the US. BGR has been told that Sprint will modify it (probably remove chin) and market it as the Hero2 once it hits the Now Network. We hope that the carrier doesn’t strip the Legend of its character. Not only does the handset feature a chin, but the single piece of aluminum body gives it a distinct look. Hey Sprint, don’t knock this down to a standard slab phone!

Our latest podcast, #40, is in the can and available for downloads and streaming.  There was quite a bit to cover as we came out of Mobile World Congress.  Joining us this week were Sam and Nicole as well as Nick Gray (HTC Source), and Andrew Kamika (Androinica).  Lisa Campbell stopped by to talk about Kids Eat For and Triple D at the top of the show and Matt Haggerty of ChickenBrick Studios helped with the Q&A.  [Topics after the jump]

Topics for this week:

Lisa Campbell, Kokopelli Software

Post MWC Wrap Up and Discussion (Raphael Savina of AndroidGuys)
HTC Legendand DesireAnnounced
AT&T Announces BACKFLIP for March 7th
HTC Desire ROM ported to Nexus One
App Announcements and Updates,

• Google Earth
• Google Listen
  
• Google Shopper
• Google Goggles
  
• Gowalla
• eBay
  

Sprint WiMAX-Capable Handset by Summer
http://www.androidguys.com/2010/02/19/sprints-wimax-handset-supersonic-launch-summer/

Our weekly podcast is held on Monday nights at 10:00PM EST for those of you interested in tuning in live.  We also offer a chat room each week, which opens roughly 15 minutes prior to us going on the air.  Be sure to subscribe to the podcast feed on BlogTalkRadio or via iTunes!

Visit the site for Episode #41 on BlogTalkRadio!  Download this week’s podcast directly through this link.

Slacker, Inc. has finally pulled the curtain back and announced their v2.0 of their software for Android handsets.  The big update in this new version is that Slacker Radio Plus subscribers have the ability to cache their favorite stations onto their Android phones whether or there’s a data connection or not. 

Cached stations are stored on the handset and can be played back anywhere and everywhere with minimal battery drain and zero fear of losing signal.  Further, you’ll also be able to enjoy ad-free listening, song lyrics, unlimited song skipping, unlimited song requests and more.It’s a simple as selecting “Cache Station” within the application. Users can opt to manually cache the station(s) or set it up to auto-refresh.

“Android users can now enjoy their music anywhere they go with our personalized and feature-packed Slacker Radio for Android 2.0,” said Jonathan Sasse, senior vice president of marketing at Slacker. “The benefits of the new station caching feature enable listeners to travel far beyond Wi-Fi or mobile connections to enjoy a continuous and unrivaled music experience.”

Features within Slacker Radio 2.0 for Android:

• Music library featuring millions of songs
• High-quality stereo playback
• Over 120 professionally programmed genre stations
• Create custom stations based on artists or songs
• View artist biographies and photos
• View album art and reviews
• “Peek Ahead” artist and album preview
• Pause and skip songs
• Rate songs as favorites
• Ban the songs and artists you don’t like

Feature of Slacker Radio 2.0 with Slacker Radio Plus:

• Wireless station caching – listen to Slacker Radio without a Wi-Fi or mobile network connection
• Greatly improved battery life on cached station playback
• Auto Station Refresh – effortlessly updates cached stations overnight
• Unlimited song skipping
• Ad-free listening
• Complete song lyrics
• Unlimited song requests for creating stations

Slacker Radio 2.0 should be hitting the Android Market any moment for free.  If you want to take advantage of the station caching, you’ll need a Slacker Radio Plus account which runs $3.99 per month.

Taimur Asad of Redmond Pie has been playing with the HTC Desire ROM on his Nexus One these last few days.  As many of you might know, it features Adobe’s Flash Player 10.1 as part of the build.  So what’s the best way to test out how well that works?  Log into Facebook and play FarmVille, of course. 

As you’ll see in the video, it runs pretty well.  Taimur admits that prior to playing with it on the Nexus One, he hadn’t even tried out FarmVille.  That explains his hesitation and awkwardness in the clip.

While it sounds great at first, games like this might not translate as well onto a 4-inch screen as we’d hoped.  If any of you play any Facebook games on a netbook, you can attest to the difference between a 10-inch screen and a full blown 19″ or larger monitor.  Still, this does help give you that quick fix not currently available on any other platform.

Rogers will be the first carrier to offer Acer’s Liquid e handset in the coming spring. Not only will this be the first Android 2.1 handset in North America*, but it also marks the first Acer device to hit the continent as well. The Liquid e features a Snapdragon processor running at 768MHz, a 3.5-inch screen, and a 5-megapixel camera. The price will be announced as we get closer to launch date.

Source: Electronista

*Officially released and supported by a carrier.

The official Google Earth application has arrived in the Android Market this morning.  We haven’t seen any news from the Google Mobile blog yet, so we’re trying to dig through a few things.  As of right now, we know it doesn’t show up for Android 1.5 or 1.6 but Nexus One owners have confirmed it to be available.  A few of our twitter followers have indicated that it’s not showing up for them either.  So it appears that it does require Android 2.1 which makes sense to us.  We just saw our first glimpse of it when the Nexus One was unveiled.

So for those of you with a Nexus One, head to the Android Market and download.  In the meanwhile, the rest of us will have to wait on an update.

AAVA Mobile, a startup comprised of “engineering wizards”, was in Barcelona last week to show off their reference design for OEMs and ODMs.  This unnamed device, based on Intel’s Moorestown processor is being touted as the first fully open mobile device. 

We found a page on the AAVA Mobile site that breaks down the future of smart phones as seen through the eyes of their developers.  While some of the stuff is already on its way to being commonplace, it’s interesting to see just where they think our phones could be before long.

ETH University of Zurich, a science and technology university, recently released a new application named AppAware which aims to build a social network around the Android Market.  Want to see what others are installing, updating, and removing?  Become “App Aware” of what’s going on!  It’s also possible to integrate App Aware into your twitter account so that you can share all the little things you add, update, or delete from your phone.

As we read through the comments from the Android Market, we sense a pretty happy crowd.  Plenty of adjectives like ‘cool’, ‘excellent’, and ‘helpful’ in the first few reactions.  However, the twitter integration might turn some people off.   As the Android Market grows, and presumably App Aware, twitter users could potentially find themselves bombarded with updates.  Imagine following a few hundred people who are constantly updating their phone in some capacity and you could quickly find yourself in information overload.

On the other hand, the app by itself appears practical and would be a great place for new Android users.  The UI looks clean and to the point, forgoing any clutter.  There’s also a nifty little meter that shows the total number of installations and removals for specific titles to give indication as to whether or not you should even bother downloading that app you were weighing.

Those of you interested in picking up a Motorola Droid might want to consider checking out Wirefly.  While Amazon and LetsTalk are offering the phone for $99, Wirefly has for $50 after instant discount for both new or existing Verizon Wireless customers who sign a 2-year agreement.  It’s not known exactly how long this promotion will last so be sure to jump on it if you’ve been thinking about grabbing a Droid.

Thanks Jeff!

We’ve seen the Archos A5 and know about the Archos A7. Apparently they’ve got another device up their sleeves and the plan is to pull it out at CeBIT, the world’s largest computer expo next month (March 2-6). As to what this second unit is, the only thing we have to go on is that it will be low cost and specifically designed for the home.

Will it be a 9-inch unit a la the iPad? Will Archos put out a WiFi-only internet device? Guess we’ll just have wait a few weeks and find out!

Source: Carrypad via Engadget & SlashGear

Just a few days ago we reported on Paul O’Brien and his loading of the brand new HTC Desire ROM onto his rooted Nexus One.  At the time, he was keeping the ROM to himself as it appeared to have a watermark on it. Not anymore!

Paul has released an alpha version of the ROM for you guys who have root access on your Nexus One handsets.  According to him, it’s a tad buggy but works great overall.

Aside from the FM radio, there appear to be no hardware incompatibilities that will cause a problem between the two devices. Even the noise canceling microphone is functional in this ROM. The only problems with the ROM are related to the fact it’s early Beta. The biggie here is graphical glitching – you’ll see this as you start using the ROM.. The camera application does not yet record at 720P and is locked to a max res of 3 Megapixels all symptoms of an early Beta release, simple as that.

As with all rooting and modding, things are done at your own risk.  Be really careful with that superphone!  Want the step-by-step directions?  Head to RedmondPie and get started.  They’ve laid everything out nicely.

From almost day one, we’ve been saying here at AndroidGuys that we expect to see some DVRs and set-top-boxes with Android under the hood.  After reading an article on the Wall Street Journal, it appears we might finally be seeing some more movement out of the hardware manufacturer.  Rather than spinning off Motorola into two completely different divisions for mobile and home products, CEO Sanjay Jha will be heading up the new entity.

One of the first elements to be shared will be Motoblur, currently a feature on newer Motorola phones that combines address books with email and social-networking accounts. The company is testing Motoblur on TV boxes, where it will likely appear this year, though that could slip to 2011, Mr. Jha said in an interview.

Do you guys think that MOTOBLUR or Android would work well on a DVR?  Would you take either platform into consideration were you to purchase a new DVR?

The above video is a demonstration by MIPS who were showing off their concept for an Android-based DVR from CES earlier in the year.  (Source: Androinica’s Andrew Kameka )

Hey what do you know?  The Dell Mini 5 keeps getting a tad bit better every time we look at it.  Today we’ve learned that the that big giant cell phone with a 5-inch screen will have a docking station.  If you watch the video below you’ll briefly see the unit docked and a mention of HDMI and USB.  The entire video is in Greek so feel free to skip to the very end for the goods.

We can’t wait to hear what kind of price point this thing has and what kind of plans will be available once it’s announced. Does the Dell Mini 5 seem more appealing to you with the idea of running your pictures and video through HDMI?

Source: Engadget

Sprint plans to have their first 4G WiMAX-capable handset on the market before the summer gets started.  According to Forbes, the carrier told them that the device will arrive a few months earlier than expected.  So which handset will this be?  It’s widely rumored to be the HTC Supersonic, which also boasts a 4.3-inch touch screen, Android 2.1, and the latest version of Sense UI.

As of now, Sprint’s WiMax network covers over 30 million people in 27 U.S. markets but the plan is to expand into new markets of the next few weeks.  The goal for the end of the year is to blanket around 120 million people.  Wonder if they’ll be using Walmart to help build out the network?

Thanks Jackson!

Google has unveiled their latest Android application, Shopper.   Using the camera built into your Android handset, users can find information and pricing on CDs, books, DVDs, video games, and other products.  There are a variety of ways to find results.  Take a picture of the item, scan its barcode, or speak the name of it, and watch it go to work. 

Check out some of the other great features found in Google Shopper!

• Save your history and favorites – Shopper saves your history and lets you star your favorites for later.
• Share your finds with friends –Find something you want to share? Click on the share link to post to Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, Instant Messagig, etc..
• Detailed product information – Find prices, reviews, specs, and more. Shopper is powered by Google Product Search.

Unlike Google Goggles, Shopper only needs Android 1.5 to work.  That means CLIQ, Behold II, and Hero owners can download it today!

Scan the barcode below with your handset and download it from the Android Market!

T-Mobile USA has started pushing out over-the-air (OTA) updates to both their Motorola Cliq and Samsung Behold II handsets.  While neither of them are updates to Android 2.1, they both are steps in the right direction.

Aside from bug fixes and performance improvements, the Cliq update addresses a few other points.

• Improved battery life
• Improved software performance and stability
  • Improved widget response
  • Decreased “Force Close” error messages
• New Manage Sim Card application
• Support of .WMA and .WAV media files
• Replacing the imeem mobile application with the Slacker Radio application

The Samsung Behold II OTA update features:

• Improved touch screen and dialer functions
• Fix MMS, Messaging, and E-Mail issues
• Improved battery function
• New applications (Evernote, Where’s Waldo, and Midnight Bowl 2)

We haven’t heard what titles constitute the “new applications” pushed to the Behold II.  If you are among the few who own this handset and get the update, let us know what they are!

Source: TmoToday, TmoToday, TmoNews

A leaked photo of one of Best Buys price sheets indicates the retail provider’s asking price for the Motorola Devour.  Thanks to a craft ninja armed with a blurrycam, we can see that Best Buy plans to charge $149.99 for the next Android handset for Verizon.  Of course, you have to sign a 2 year agreement to get it for that price.

Considering the specs, what do you guys think?  On the mark or should it be lower?

Source: Engadget

Chances are pretty good that you’ve lost your remote control a time or two in the past, be it in the couch cushions or under the bed.  Chances are also pretty good that you almost always know where your cell phone is at a given moment.  Verizon understands this and has announced their FiOS Mobile Remote application for the Motorola Droid.

Starting this week, Verizon customers with FiOS TV and a Motorola Droid can use their Android phone to control their HD set-top-box.  All your favorite control features and functions come along for the ride, including changing channels, manage parental controls, pausing, rewinding, fast forwarding or recording TV shows.  On top of that users can transfer individual photos from the phone to the TV or view stored photos in a slide show.

Users can also import favorites from the TV to the Droid and then use the phone to pull up these channels on any FiOS TV.  If your phone rings, the Droid will automatically mute the TV for you.  According to Verizon, setup is a breeze.  Download the app from the Android Market and then pair it with the WiFi network using the Mobile Remote Widget on the TV.  Once you register your phone number, you’re off and running!

Mobile Crunch spent a few minutes with a product analyst for Opera Software at Mobile World Congress earlier this week. He demonstrated the forthcoming Android version of their Opera Mobile browser on a Nexus One. Keep in mind that is not an actual app that you can download from them or the Android Market. Rather, this is something they’re hoping an OEM picks up and installs onto a handset. [Video after the jump]

The official eBay app for Android is now available in the Android Market. Created for Android 1.6 and above, it lets users do all the typical eBay stuff – search auctions, buy fun things, pay for purchases, check the items you’re selling, leave feedback, and set alerts. As of right now, the application is only available for the US market, but plans are in place to expand that shortly.

Here’s a lesser known fact – eBay is one of the founding 34 members of the Open Handset Alliance. Listed as a “software company”, I can’t figure out what it is they bring to the table. My only guess is that it has something to do with Skype somehow.

Look for the official eBay application in the Android Market today!