Well, that is the rumor at least. According to AndroidCentral, the above image is of a new phone for T-Mobile being called the “MyTouch 3G HD”. This device is also being rumored to possibly be the new HSPA+ phone that has been talked about lately as the HTC Vision/Blaze/Vangaurd. They are also saying that it does resemble the silhouette that T-Mobile put on their teaser page for their first HSPA+ phone (which if you make the phone face the other way, it kinda does actually).

If the image above is an actual device, then it looks like we have a nice sized screen (hence the HD moniker). And if it is the HTC Vision than the rumor is it’ll be 3.7″ or so. We also have the normal Home, Menu, Back, then “Genius” button at the bottom and a trackpad. The button on the side of the device would be either a lock button or, more likely, a dedicated camera button. And an interesting little thing you might notice is what looks like a front facing camera at the top right…

Anyone on T-Mobile excited?

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So Dell has announced that they are ready to start pre-selling the Dell Streak tomorrow from Dell.com/Streak. While this is great new for AT&T users, for which the Streak will have full support for their 3G network, but they also announced that “At this point, we do not have plans for supporting T-Mobile’s 3G network; Dell Streak will not be certified for T-Mobile operation overall.” So T-Mobile users are kind of out of the picture for this device (unless you only use Wifi and/or are happy with just EDGE internet, then in that case…).

This comes as kind of a shock since Dell’s FCC filings for T-Mobile’s AWS 3G frequencies were found a while back.

No one can confirm if this means there will not be a T-Mobile version at all and they just filed for the FCC patent while they deciding on what frequencies to put in “just in case”, or if there might be a T-Mobile version later on. Judging by the comment from Dell though, I’d say a T-Mobile version is looking more and more like it just won’t happen.

Any AT&T users picking one up?

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So just a little interesting tidbit of info. T-Mobile today just announced (relatively quietly) that their new HSPA+ 21mbps network now covers more than 85 million people and that pushes them past Sprint’s current WiMax coverage. What does that mean? Well, that T-Mobile is now the largest network with 4G speeds.

Now, we say 4G speeds because HSPA+ is technically not a 4G technology like WiMax and LTE, but HSPA+ has already been proven faster than Sprint’s WiMax network and is backwards compatible to pretty much all of T-Mobile’s 3G devices so that counts for us

Take a look at the HSPA+ coverage map (then select See Cities with HSPA+) and see if your city is up and running soon.

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A Chinese site, HiAPK.com, have come across what seems to be some blurry shots of a new Droid device they believe is headed to Verizon here in the States. There is no way to confirm if this is a real device (the sheer blurriness of the photos and the super shady video might suggest its a fake to be honest. I mean who’s hands are really that shaky, seriously?!), but might be worth keeping an eye out for… Check out more pics and a quick video below and tell us what you think.

Source

Please keep in mind that these are preview (not intended for retail sale units) and things can change between now and release as well as bugs worked out etc.

Slashgear’s 20 Minute Video Review

Here is their actual written preview as well.

Engadget’s Preview

Engadget takes a good long look at the preview device from Samsung they were allowed to put through it’s paces. Complete with images and videos. Check it out here.

BoyGeniusReport’s  Preview

BoyGeniusReport takes a crack at a preview as well complete with images, but no videos. Check it out here.

MobileCrunch’s Preview

Another written preview like BGR’s with images but no videos. Click here to view.

Thanks to an Engadget reader who decided to go searching through the Droid Does website’s source code, we have what very well might be the first official images of the Motorola A955 aka the Droid 2 for Verizon (even though we’ve seen some other fuzzy, leaked shots before). Engadget is also reporting that the device is slated for August this year for all you keyboard loving Android users. Now, if only someone could find the official specs…

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So the original Motorola Droid is apparently going to be the last device without a digitally signed bootloader from Motorola. What does that mean? Well, it means that there is no flashing of custom recovery images and no easy way of flashing custom ROMs like the majority of Android devices. In a blog post on the Motorola Dev website, they explained their position on custom roms etc. basically saying that if you want to flash custom ROMs, “we highly recommend obtaining either a Google ADP1 developer phone or a Nexus One, both of which are intended for these purposes. At this time, Motorola Android-based handsets are intended for use by consumers and Android application developers, and we have currently chosen not to go into the business of providing fully unlocked developer phones.”

I don’t think Motorola realizes just how many “end consumers” love to flash custom ROMs (XDA Developers, our own site, and many others could attest to that). They are shooting themselves in the foot in my opinion. The benefit of the custom ROMs for consumers are new UI’s, optimization, customization beyond belief (just look at any Cyanogen ROM), full backups, overclocking, extra RAM (via Swap), and so much more. And as far as the manufacturer’s are concerned, all of these added features cost them NOTHING. The developers who make these custom ROMs work for donations (if that, some won’t even except them) that people who use their ROMs are generally happy to give. Motorola doesn’t have to pay them, and they are making their devices better, why wouldn’t Motorola want this?

In their blog post, they go on to state all the legal jargon about how they aren’t doing anything against the open source agreements (including GPLv2, etc.) to stop people from yelling saying if they lock the bootloader, then it isn’t “open source”. We know that they can lock the bootloader if they really want, my question isn’t if it goes against being open source, but just why, as a business decision, they decided to do it. What harm comes from giving an unlocked bootloader and even root access for that matter if you provide a disclaimer saying enabling it will void your software warranty (as the Nexus One does etc)? What does Motorola have to lose?

Anyone else think this is dumb of any manufacturer to do?

Anyone else think that more manufacturers should go the way of the Nokia N900, and just provide root access out of the box? Didn’t seem to hurt Nokia any…

Hit the source link for the full blog post from Motorola.

PS That isn’t too say we CAN’T load custom ROMs… Just check out our How To Root the Milestone, Load a Custom ROM on the Milestone, and our Custom ROMs for the Milestone section. The Milestone has a locked bootloader as well, we get around it by loading custom ROMs through ADB and Nandroid Backup. But this method still doesn’t allow us to load custom recovery images and makes for a much harder way of creating or loading custom ROMs.

Source via Androidandme

Well, if you fall into that category or you just want to try you hand at developing for a different OS, Microsoft has officially released their Windows Phone 7 Tools under a Beta label. If you’ve been following Windows Phone 7′s development since it’s official unveiling in February, here are some key points to note about the new release:

• Microsoft Expression Blend is now fully integrated into the Windows Phone 7 Developer tools
• If you have a developer phone on the way, the tools has the ability to unlock it for use.
• XAP Development tool to deploy XAP files to the developer phone.
• Windows Phone 7 API is just about finished, and the close to finished API is included in the Developer Tools Beta.
• New controls are coming in a few weeks (like Pivot), they didn’t make it into the beta.
• Silverlight for Windows Phone controls have been updated.

If you are interested in learning more about Windows Phone 7 development, they are having free courses starting July 20th. Head here to sign up.

Planning to make an app but haven’t requested a device yet? Here is what Microsoft had to say as part of this beta release:

“Devices for Developers

We made a promise last month that we would be getting pre-production preview devices to developers this month. We are keeping that promise. In fact, the very first preview devices were awarded last week to a pair of pretty amazing high-school students who won the Windows Phone “Rockstar” contest as part of the Imagine Cup. When we saw what they had done, we knew we had to get them preview phones.

Starting next Monday (July 19th), we start shipping the devices more broadly. Sadly, we will not be able to meet all of that demand.  We are planning to set up deploy and test labs in major cities to make it a little easier for everyone who wants to have access to a preview phone to have it. More on that soon.

Lastly, to get your name in the queue, assuming you haven’t already sent in an email, you can now send an email to wp7req@microsoft.com.  A field representative will get back to you as soon as possible. Again, these are preview phones, so they are limited in quantity. When you send email, please include the following information:

• Your name
• Company name, if applicable
• What city/state/country you are located in
• App(s) you plan on developing (category and brief description)”

So make sure you get your emails in to get your phone ASAP.

Happy developing everyone!

Source

Have an idea for an Android app but never learned how to write code? Or perhaps you are proficient in writing code but just too darn lazy to make that app you were thinking about? Well, Google wants to help. App inventor is a web-based program that you can use to make Android apps. It reminds me a bit of Visual Studio but it’s actually easier to use as it has some features that allow you to not have to write any code at all. Take a look at the video below for the how one cat lady makes something to remind her of what her cat sounds like…

Ready to make your own cat sound app? Hit the source link below and fill out a request form and Google will give you access. And feel free to suggest some how tos for us to do regarding the new program, happy to help!

Source via Engadget

For those unaware, T-Mobile is in the process of rolling out their HSPA+ 3G network, this network upgrade already covers 25 markets and 75 million people in the US with plans to cover 185 million people by the end of the year. The main benefit of this network is that it will increase the speeds of all their current 3G devices, without the need for consumers to buy a new phone. With that said though, most of T-Mobile’s phones have the ability to download at up to 7.2mbps and with their HSPA+ network to have a theoretical peak download speed of 21mbps, they aren’t able to take full advantage of the new speeds.

Well, T-Mobile has just announced through a Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile USA’s parent company) spokesperson, that they will be launching an HSPA+ enabled smartphone developed by HTC this year in September to take full advantage of the new network peak speeds.  Engadget actually believes that this September device could be the HTC Vision recently spied.

This news also comes right after a picture was taken at a T-Mobile manager’s meeting showed possible plans to increase their HSPA+ network to 42mbps before 2011. Now, a spokesperson for Deutsche Telekom wanted to clarify:

According to the Deutsche Telekom spokesman, the carrier has not made a decision on that. “T-Mobile USA has not decided yet if they will use the new 42 Mbps standard or maybe rollout LTE for the US,” he said in an emailed response. “This decision will be made at a later point of time after having considered all necessary aspects and the experiences made with both HSPA+ and LTE in the other markets of Deutsche Telekom.”

The reason being is that apparently the 42mbps HSPA+ upgrade would require new hardware on the cell towers just like a move to LTE would (and unlike the 21mbps upgrade that only required new software supposedly) so they are going to wait and see which makes more sense.

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Engadget has put together a little test showing the speed differences between the iPhone 4 and the Nexus One’s browsers. The first test was done with Flash enabled on the Nexus One and the second test was done with it disabled (to make it fair since, as we all know, the iPhone doesn’t support Flash). Take a look at the videos for the results.

So it seems that BBC News, gdgt, and The Onion all came out as pretty much a tie in that test, with the iPhone 4 loading Engadget a second or two quicker than the Nexus and the Nexus loading the New York Times a second or two faster.

Now that was with Flash enabled, the next video is with it disabled:

With Flash off, the Nexus One seems to load all the pages faster than the iPhone, except BBC News that seems to be a tie. So I think it is safe to say that Google did a good job with the Android 2.2 browser, no?

Samsung loves to talk about how their 1ghz Hummingbird chipset blows similar 1ghz processor chipsets out of the water (like the Snapdragon). Well, someone with a Samsung Galaxy S (running a Hummingbird chipset) and an HTC Desire (running a 1ghz Snapdragon chipset) decided to put that to the test by running Quake on both devices. Take a look at the video below for the results.

So the Hummingbird definitely wins here, looks like Samsung wasn’t kidding.
Regardless, I can’t help but wonder how having Android 2.2 on both devices would help them both even further…

UPDATE: Regardless of whether this is testing the GPUs or the processors or any other part of the chipsets, we can all agree that any phone you buy at the moment with a Snapdragon inside will perform the same in comparison to a Hummingbird inside, right?

Source

According to TmoNews, the above picture was taken at a T-Mobile manager meeting held in Seattle last week. It would seem that T-Mobile has plans to double their up and coming HSPA+ network from 21mbps to 42mbps which would allow them to not have to switch to a new 4G technology to compete with Verizon’s LTE network due out at the end of 2011 (and as we know, their current 21mbps 3G is already getting faster average speeds than Sprint’s current WiMax 4G network).

The other benefit of HSPA+ is that all HSDPA devices (all of T-Mobile’s Android line up as well as the majority of their other phones) will all get a nice speed increase, unlike WiMax/LTE that you will need to buy a special LTE/WiMax phone for.

Now if this is true, all they need to do is get this network in more cities ASAP, get some higher-end Android phones, and they’d be some serious competition for the other big guys. Time will tell.

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So not all the phones in LG’s new “Optimus” series will be Android, but at least the first two will. And not just any Android, LG says Android 2.2 will be on the phones at launch (not that amazing of a feat depending on how late these phones come out, considering rumors have Gingerbread scheduled for October, so we’ll see).

The first two phones are the “One” and the “Chic”. The One is a higher end device and will feature a 3.8″ capacitive touchscreen, an OMAP3630 processor, HD camera, and HDMI support. Where as the Chic is geared more towards fashionistas with it’s “sleek design” but no word on specifications yet.

The Optimus series is scheduled to be released during the second half of 2010, but no specific dates or pricing is available yet.

The other thing LG announced in their press release is an Android powered tablet… but no word on any specs, just that they “are working on one for 2010″.

Source

So the old rumors might be dispelled with these new ones (or they could both be wrong and have some totally other features… oh, rumors). But regardless here are the latest rumors surround what seems to be HTC’s first high end Android phone with QWERTY keyboard (about time).

Might not be the killer specs we heard rumored a while ago, but still not too shabby. And for people waiting for a decent spec’d, physical keyboard toting Android device, this might be what you’ve been waiting for.
I personally would have liked Android 2.2 without Sense and a 5 row keyboard (like the Touch Pro 2), but at least its a step in the right direction.

What do you guys think?

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In case you didn’t know, Nokia and Intel have joined their respective OS’s (Maemo and Moblin) into a new OS called MeeGo. People have caught a glimpse of the alpha version of MeeGo for netbooks already but we have been waiting for the handset/mobile version’s release. Well, Nokia announced today that the MeeGo pre-alpha OS is available for download. It is missing a lot of the features we were expecting (like home screen widgets for example), but it still has all the basic necessities (and a large known bug list). If you are curious what it is going to look like, here is a video:

If you are still curious about it and are brave enough to risk your N900, as soon as some kind soul creates a simple flashable image of the OS for N900, you will most likely be able to flash the new image via our How To Hard Reset the N900 procedure (just use the new image instead of the Maemo image).

If anyone sees a flashable MeeGo image lying around, feel free to send us a link and we’ll do a how to for those who want to try it out!

Android 3.0, aka Gingerbread, has been mentioned here and there ever since Android 2.2 (Froyo) was announced, but not too much is known about what it brings to the table. Well, according to a Russian writer for the Unwired Review, a podcast in Russian with Eldar Murtazin, from Mobile-Review.com, on Digestiv reveals a few details about the upcoming OS update. (If you speak Russian, feel free to listen to the podcast here).

So here’s what he mentioned:

So we can see from the list why the new minimum hardware requirements. If they plan to have the entire UI mimic the Nexus One Gallery app AND have a higher resolution of 1280×760, it would require some serious hardware and they want to guarantee that that experience is as smooth as possible etc.

As for Google trying to eliminate the need for 3rd party skins like HTC Sense, I’m all for this.
This started to get popular when HTC did it with great success on Windows Mobile, but that was because Windows Mobile REALLY needed it. It hadn’t gotten a UI update in a long time, and people were getting sick of having to use a stylus to select the tiny icons etc. HTC Sense saved Windows Mobile for your average consumer, giving them a more intuitive and user friendly way to interact with the underlying OS.
Now, Android though is a different story. It came out of the box with intuitive controls etc., so the skins became more of an aesthetic feature than a functional solution like with Windows Mobile. With all the new Android updates (at least to me) the skins are becoming more of a hassle than they are worth. You can tell what chaos they have caused when you see all the different Android versions that are out in the market. The majority of the ones that are on lower versions of Android are that way because they have a custom UI’s on them. The manufacturers of these devices don’t want to re-program and release a new version of their custom UI everytime Google releases a new Android version (which has been very close together ever since Android’s initial launch) and who could blame them.
I say let the manufacturers make their own custom Widgets, Apps, etc. for Android, but instead of loading them into the ROM of the device, just put them on the Market like any other developer. Heck, even charge a little for them ($1 for a pack of HTC Sense widgets that work on any Android device, might be something people would actually buy).  This way we can help stem the Android OS division and give people the choice to have the manufacturers’ extra features.

Now of course, we have yet to see what the Gingerbread UI will look like? I mean it is possible it would suck and we’ll be begging for HTC Sense back, right? I guess we’ll see within the next 4 months…

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Well, according to the FCC and Dell’s CEO, that’s the case. Dell CEO announced in May that “this [phone] will be available starting next month, first with our partner 02 Telefonica [sic] in Europe, then later this summer with our pretty good partner here in the United States, AT&T”. So that’s about as plain as you can get with a confirmation that the Dell Streak is headed to AT&T and most likely available on contract for a subsidized price.

Regardless, T-Mobile users heard word that the Dell Streak would also be available unlocked via Dell’s website around the same time. The question was though, did that mean unlocked with AT&T’s 3G frequencies built in? Or a different version from the AT&T bound one with T-Mobile’s 3G frequencies built in?

Well, according to the FCC, there will be a T-Mobile 3G version headed for the US.

AWS means T-Mobile’s 3G bands by the way. So that pretty much confirms that anyone on a GSM carrier here in North America will be able to get a version of the phone.

Combine this with the fact that we already have root access on the Dell Streak (and with it the ability to load custom ROMs), and the Dell Streak with a Custom Android 2.2 ROM on it and your GSM company’s 3G frequencies built in and this device sounds pretty good, no?

Source and Source

Samsung is pushing their latest Android powerhouse, the Samsung Galaxy S. It first was announced for T-Mobile as the Samsung Vibrant, then on AT&T as the Samsung Captivate, Verizon’s version will be the Samsung Fascinate, US Cellular is getting one (although we aren’t sure of the name yet), and Sprint is getting the until now, rumored, Samsung Galaxy S Pro (a Galaxy S with a slide out qwerty keyboard) and calling it the Samsung Epic 4G. Here is the rumored spec breakdown and comparison of each:

So as you can see not a lot of differences (minus the QWERTY keyboard and 4G for Sprint’s version). And it’s obvious with the HTC Evo 4G doing so well on Sprint why they didn’t want another keyboard-less device too similar (at least with the keyboard they figure they are targeting a different demographic who need a keyboard that wouldn’t have bought the Evo). Got to say this is also a nice win for Samsung, great for branding and recognition when you are on every major carrier.; customers can then choose your phone instead of the carrier.
Anyone getting one of these? Feature set seems pretty close to a certain device that just launched on AT&T… maybe this gives some people a choice they didn’t have last year…

So apparently an Apple employee calling himself Alpha, decided to share with the world some of the things that Apple is doing with the new iPhone 4. We’re not talking about new features for the user, but new roadblocks for jailbreakers and unlockers.

Here’s the quote itself:

As far as Base Bands go it does not matter what baseband you TRY to get on the iPhone cause in the iOS4 there is a line of code we wrote that stands for OAU also known as “Over Air Updates”. How it works is every 7 to 14 days We (Apple) and AT&T send a message to your iPhone that gathers some data from your iPhone without you knowing and we see what is running, baseband and firmware. We then send a following message. “There are optional updates for your iPhone, Would you like to install them now?” two options “Yes” or “Later”. Those are what would would call “OPTIONAL UPDATES” Now there are things called “MANDATORY UPDATES”. They tend to work the same way, grab data from the iPhones sends it to AT&T and us then back to your iPhone with the message, “Your iPhone (name of iphone) must be updated to the current AT&T standards to run”, your only option is to “Accept” Now you can try to work your way around it until you get the second mandatory message again “You must plug iPhone into iTunes and update” If you don’t do this you will then receive no Signal from the network anymore and your iPhone will potentially lock up with no signs of use until you update your iPhone via iTunes. You all agreed to this terms and condition when you installed iTunes 9.2 and then again once you updated to iOS4.

With that being said go ahead try to unlock the iPhone it will only last 14 days max then you will have to break that update for that one week then again and again we currently have 6 months worth of updates for this iOS4. Apple and AT&T now have complete control over their iPhones and what their customers are putting on them without them knowing anything about it. Many of the people I work with don’t agree with this but even in our computers when people call in to Apple Care Support we can see if your iPhone is running a jailbreak and what baseband is currently on the iPhone. We have been instructed to not support any one with these things and possible void your warranty of the iPhone for Breaking a contract Rule.

So basically, he is saying that iOS 4 automatically pings Apple every 7 to 14 days with the baseband and firmware information and if it isn’t up to par it will essentially lock up the phone forcing you to update with iTunes (and lose your jailbreak). Now, I know for a fact that we have a perfectly good jailbreaking solution for the iPhone 3G running iOS 4 and it doesn’t relock so I’m wondering if this anti-jailbreaking solution is already circumvented, or if it just only applies to new iPhone 4′s?

Anyone know anything else about this? Does the Dev Team know about this?

UPDATE: Please don’t send us why you think this is wrong and then say how we made it up. Follow the source links and talk to them about it. We are simply reporting what we saw and just like you don’t know if there is any validity to this at all. I’ve never heard of a manufacturer sending out an OTA (as this employee claims Apple will do to lock your phone). Usually carriers can do that, not the manufacturer. So if it’s AT&T doing this (again if this is even real at ALL), than obviously it won’t matter (since if you unlock your phone, you won’t be on AT&T, right?).

I’m willing to bet this is what Apple tells their employees to spread the fear of why you shouldn’t jailbreak etc. (I’ve heard plenty of stories from Apple employees in the stores over the years about how jailbreaking the phone will cause it to instantly void the warranty, cause you to not be able to use the App Store, explode, cause nuclear winter etc.)

Source via SFGate

Another rumor about the HTC Vision device is that it’s form factor is supposedly “like the HTC Desire with a physical QWERTY keyboard”.

Don’t start drooling just yet (I know I am), keep in mind the first word in the title of this post and let’s see how this unfolds…

Anyone think there’s any validity to this?

UPDATE: Scotty from AndroidGuys contact me to correct a few things that TMoNews incorrectly stated apparently:

1. It was a T-Mobile employee, not an HTC employee
2. He didn’t definitely say it is the Vision, but they it MAY be connected to the Vision.
3. It MAY be connected to the Emerald Project as well.

Source

“I’m gonna ask rock star Kostas… to come on. And Kostas has brought with him Windows Phone 7, which we launch this October.”

Whoops. Not sure if that confirms anything, but it sure does fit in with the Telstra roadmap leak, so it is possible. Wonder if she meant to say it or if it just slipped? Check out the video of the presentation itself, the line is the very first line she says in the video…

Any body language specialist want to analyze if she was telling the truth?

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According to a “reliable source” at DroidForums.net, Android 2.2 will be coming to the Motorola Droid by the end of July and will be coming to the Droid X in late August. So if you are into waiting for official ROM releases, mark your calendars and hope the source is right.

For you Sprint Evo users, Sprint just announced the Android 2.2 will be coming to the Evo, although they didn’t give a specific timeframe other than soon. Here is what Sprint just released about Android 2.2 for you:

“With the Android 2.2 upgrade, customers can expect improvements to include the following benefits: updates to user interface, improved EAS Support, improved browser performance, including Flash 10x Support, voice dialing over Bluetooth and application storage on external memory.”

So Froyo cometh?

Source and Source

This doesn’t mean much to the end consumer (at least for now), but it is good news. So what does that mean? Well, it means that manufacturers can now download the source code from Google and get to work on Froyo releases for their devices. What else does it mean? That developers can now start messing with it to make some custom ROMs for all the poor neglected Android devices still stuck on say Android 1.5 etc.

Which do you think will come out first? Ya, us too.

So devs, come and get your Froyo! Then send us your new Froyo ROMs and we’ll pop them up on the site for everyone to enjoy!

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