Looks like Acer might actually pull off what they set out to do in the first place with Google’s Chrome OS. They wanted to be the first out the gate and if the reports are true, they are actually going to make it. And the moment of revelation will come soon because word is that they are going to unveil their Chrome OS product at this year’s Computex, which will start with the start of the next month.

Google did say that the second half of this year would see the proper, hardware launch of Chrome OS and it seems like that promise will be met with room to spare. If Acer does introduce a Chrome OS device at Computex this year, we will get to see the Chrome OS in real action as soon as June 1st — the day Computex starts.

Computex, of course, is a pretty nice event to show off your latest OS and your latest hardware at. So Acer won’t just be putting it out there without anyone to look at it. But there remains one very important question — what will Acer be bringing out at Computex?

The obvious reply would be a netbook. That is what the Google Chrome OS is designed for, that is where Acer has a lot of competition right now (mostly from Asus) and that is what is the easiest to make at this point. But speculations are floating around in the industry suggesting that it might be something else as well.

Like a tablet may be. Love it or hate it, the tablet is here to stay and Apple’s iPad has made sure that portable computing would never be the same again. So where would the rest of them go if not to a place where their product line includes a healthy dose of new-age tablets? This has pushed every big computer company to come up with their own versions of the tablet but so far they have not been able to match the speed and performance of the iPad. Forget the elegance.

Chrome OS is built to be spartan from day one. It is lean, has nothing but the basics on the device and includes only the bare minimum drivers and such low level things. So it has extremely fast boot times and is supposed to be snappy even on weaker devices. On the Chrome OS, the OS is basically the Chrome browser and everything is done online. All the app are online, most of the data is in the cloud and the emphasize on it is so strong, there’s still confusion about whether it will be able to play local media or not.

Acer might also surprise with something entirely new. We cannot be sure. I would say that the netbook has a high possibility of happening and the tablet has a lower possibility. And they have more experience in making netbook and netbook like devices than a tablet. However, since Google has hinted at Chrome OS incorporating touch-based inputs, the possibility of it coming out at computex cannot be fully ruled out.

[read]

This week has been extremely exciting for smartphone lovers simply because the HTC roadmap leak happened. It confirmed that the company is making a super powerful Android Snapdragon phone. Also, the Satio makes a come back after Sony Ericsson releasing a fix for the issues. Get to the other side for more.

HTC 2010 Roadmap Leaks

This is definitely the biggest story in phones this week. HTC’s internal roadmap for the year 2010 (or at least the first half of 2010) has been leaked and how. It contains 8 phones and most of them look delectable.

These phones are divided into four categories – Design/Lifestyle; Social; Performance and Productivity. The first two categories have two phones each. The third and the fourth have one and three phones respectively. All categories except the ‘Productivity’ have Android phones. The last category has three Windows Mobile phones and is aimed mainly at the business/enterprise crowd.

The main focus is on the sole ‘Performance’ phone in the entire line up – the HTC Bravo. This is the fabled/rumored/speculated Snapdragon Android phone. Yes, it exists! And it is coming to the world (parts of it anyway) in April 2010. To know more about these phones, read this.

Sony Ericsson’s Satio Returns To Shelves

After facing a lot of issues in the hands of consumers, Sony Ericsson’s latest super phone – the Satio – was pulled from the shelves. Sony Ericsson has finally released updates for the phone and it is now back on the shelves and selling again.

Satio is Sony Ericsson’s flagship phone for multimedia experience on the go. This mantle will probably pass to the XPERIA X10 when it gets released early next year. [read]

PeekFon Email Device Takes Tries To Start A New Life In Europe

The PeekFon device – a phone like device that helps you check, reply and organize your emails and attachments – has received a less than enthusiastic response from the US. After all, people already have their phones to do that for them and spending on this one-trick dog will simply be a waste of money for them.

To make the best of the situation, FON’s CEO has announced that the device is now headed for the Europe. According to him, Europeans have a reason to get a phone like this that the US people don’t have. Europeans move around the continent a lot and hence end up paying a lot of roaming charges for their phones. With this device, they wouldn’t have to do this. So hopefully that will make them buy the PeekFon. We’re still skeptical about a one-trick device in a world of convergence but who knows – it just might work. [read]

Acer Liquid A1 Video Unboxing

Engadget has gotten their hands on the Acer Liquid A1, which has just started shipping in the UK. As is usually the case, they have promptly opened up the areas that can be opened up.

The previous impressions of this phone have been less than stellar and hence there isn’t much to expect from this phone. But thing change, so here’s hoping it might. Still, I don’t think this will prove to be much of a competition to other Android phones, let alone the iPhone, which is currently the phone to beat. [Fanboy opinion may vary.] [read]

Nokia Takes On Cheap-phones

Despite being the world’s largest handset manufacturer, Nokia has so far been unable to get into some specific pockets where others rule the roost. One example would be the US market and the other would be the Chinese and its surrounding markets.  While trying to market the high-end phones like the N900 and the X6 in the US market, Nokia had to find another way to compete in the Chinese space, which is completely opposite to the US market.

So for that market, Nokia has made their cheapest navigation phone so far. This move might seem slightly weird at first but think about it – navigation is something that is usually only seen in high-end phones and it isn’t easy for Shanzai makers to replicate. So this might be hit for Nokia after all, even as the US market has barely warmed up to them. However, the N900 has seen a lot of demand and at least that part is looking up for Nokia. [read]

Want A Free iPhone? Join A School In London

Not just any school though. You have to be a student at the Gumley House Convent School in London to have a chance at getting a free iPhone from the school. They will be deploying free iPhones to a closed group of 30 students as the start of an experimental program to see if the phone can help them in their studies.

The iPhone is an obvious choice for these things because not only is it super-easy to use and has a vast array of apps – but also because Apple computers are already common in schools, colleges and universities across Europe and mainly the US. [read]

Samsung Memory Cards Will Survive Whilst Roughin’ It

If you want an SDHC card for those times when you feel like trying out the superspy lifestyle – there’s one from Samsung. These new SDHC cards are of close kin to similar USB pendrives that are extremely hard to destroy or damage. Not only are these SDHC cards waterproof but they are also magnet proof. So if your next mission takes you to high-tension facilities where giant alternators and rising electric arcs form the backdrop of your climactic battle – you won’t lose those precious points you’ve been collecting on your mobile games. [read]

Update to Android 2.0.1 Manually

For those Droid users who simply cannot wait for the Android 2.0.1 update to be rolled out wirelessly to them – there’s a manual solution that will do it for you. There’s a guide that will… umm, guide you through updating your phone from your SD card. [AllDroid via Engadget]

Nokia 6700 Classic Gold Edition

And this is from the usual super-expensive-phone-that-we-can-never-own category – the Nokia 6700 Classic Gold edition. It is a simple Nokia phone that has been done up in gold. It is hand cut and polished to perfection. But other than that – it is your usual 6700, which is not very exciting. I would rather have that diamond iPhone. Come to think of it, this 6700 Gold phone also falls into the expensive-but-useless category. [read]

Here we are again with our weekly netbooks update. This week sees some future products seeing the light of day and getting leaked. One interesting thing to watch is the entourage eDGe video demo. It may be a prototype unit (production in February 2010) but it does impress. And then we have this really cool new Firefox plugin. Get over to the other side and get updated.

Blumpit Turns Any Touchscreen Into A Useful Tablet

Do you own a touchscreen enabled device but what you have always wanted (at least for the past one year or so) is a tablet that has a simple interface that makes your everyday life simpler? Well, now you can do easily and for free. And without any pain at all.

Introducing Blumpit – a new and extremely creative Firefox plugin that gives you a simplified interface so that you can use your PC solely via the touchscreen. That’s right – all you need is Firefox and this free plugin. It basically gives you an onscreen keyboard and a widget-based interface. It also has games. The company behind Blumpit plans to sell its own tablet soon. No details on that one yet though. [Read]

Acer 1820PTZ Netvertible Up For Pre-Order

Talking about tablets and netbooks, here’s another one of them netbook-tablet devices. This one’s from Acer and it is called the 1820PTZ – a very simple model name to remember. This 11.6inch convertible netbook is available for pre-order from multiple sellers at the UK for around £530. [read]

Acer Goes Ferrari Red

Do you like netbooks and do you like fast cars? Do like Ferrari in particular and do you think Acer makes okay/great netbooks? If you do, then you would be happy to know that Acer’s Ferrari One netbook/ultraportable (11.6”) is now available in the US. Starting at $600. It is powered by AMD’s new dual core 1.2GHz Congo processor and also has ATI Radeon 3200 graphics. [read]

Cool Netbook Mod: Dell Mini 9 To Dual Touch Screen

Know about the Microsoft Courier? It is a dual-screen tablet device that does not officially exist. A modder from the Dell forums has just hacked his Dell Mini 9 in order to replace the screen and the keyboard with two touchscreens. The modder, called Pak-Kei, says that he will be making this even better with a custom casing. [read]

Blueberry Flavored Sugar On A Stick

Sugar Labs originally made the Sugar on a stick OS for the XO-1 OLPC netbook. Version 1 was released back in June and now they have released v2 – Blueberry. It has basic features like web browsing, downloading and eBook reading. Watch the demo for more information. [read]

Want It Super Cheap? China Has It, As Usual

Do you want to go super cheap on your next netbook purchase? You are may be thinking $250 or so. How about $160 or $146 even? AOJIE, a company from China has two netbook models that retail at the equivalent of those amounts.

The $146 netbook uses a 1.6GHz ARM chip from VIA. The $160 model uses an Intel Atom N270 CPU. They both come with Windows XP, 1024×576 pixel resolution, Wi-Fi, USB, 1.3MP webcam, etc. The catch here is that they come with 512MB RAM and 4GB SSD Storage. [read]

Pine Trail Netbooks From Samsung Coming In 2010

Sorry to be Captain Obvious here but it seems like Samsung does have plans for using the Pine Trail chip for making newer, better netbooks. A French Samsung rep confirmed this fact at the Netbook World Summit that is happening at Paris. The netbooks are apparently going to be thinner and with longer battery life. [read]

JooJoo Tested Out By Techies

Several high profile tech blogs have had their impression of the JooJoo tablet and the feelings have been mixed and mostly on the not worth it side in my opinion. The device is apparently powerful enough to handle 1080p YouTube videos but the touch sensitivity is apparently pretty bad.

That is equivalent to having a pretty bad keyboard and mouse/touchpad on non-tablet devices. The onscreen keypad really does seem like a pain and then there is the price  — $500 for an Internet device? No thanks! We have really great netbooks in that range. You can get a Dell Vostro V13 for that price. [CNET, Engadget, Gizmodo, Wired]

Linux On 33% Netbooks

Any surprises? There shouldn’t be really. After being the base for all the lightweight, netbook optimized OS’, this was bound to happen. Besides, it is free and easily customizable and you can choose from so many different distributions. It lets you choose how involved you want to be with your OS – Über Geek mode or average consumer mode. Analysts have finally found out that Linux runs on 1/3 of all netbooks. [read]

The X100e Has Siblings In The Pipeline

After rumors of a ThinkPad branded Lenovo netbook hit the market, there was a lot of the usual excitement. And now that excitement just might explode all over the place because it seems like the X100e is actually part of at least 3 (almost) confirmed ThinkPad netbooks. Thanks to RealTek, whose WLAN modules are used by these netbooks, and FCC – we now have some kind of confirmation for these models. [read]

Entourage eDGe Prototype Gets Shot (On Video)

The eDGe from Entourage is the world’s first ‘Dualbook’. That is a name given by the company to devices that have two screens – one eInk and the other normal LCD. The purpose of the device is to act like a MID/Netbook and an eBook reader at the same time. The first generation prototype of the Entourage eDGe was spotted at an event and it was shot for a video demo of the software. This is only a prototype and the production unit is expected to be much faster, better and slimmer.

There’s also a talk of the production version supporting HD video and 3D graphics thanks to Marvell’s Armada chip. [read]

Alright folks, it is Monday again and it is time to catch up with everything that has been happening all around. This week has opened with a frenzy of things happening and it was really hard to narrow it down to the really interesting bits for everybody.

So this time we have the world’s first commercial SpaceShip being unveiled. First as in it is intended to be the first of a fleet of such vehicles that will take space tourists out into the space. Then there’s Apple kicking out developer along with over 1000 apps from the app store and the CrunchPad finally showing up in public. Get over to the other side and start getting updated.

Virgin’s Commercial Space Ship Unveiled

Virgin has unveiled SpaceShipTwo – the vehicle that will take commercial space tourists to the final frontier. It will take flight tomorrow and will only go high enough to give travellers about 5 minutes of zero-gravity experience. But it will soon be pushing that boundary. Proper space flights are planned for the year 2011. [read]

CrunchPad Shows Up As JooJoo

The CrunchPad has finally shown up, courtesy FusionGarage and it has been re-branded as JooJoo. The CEO of FusionGarage (barely) showed it off to the public gathering and was apparently busy taking jibes at Arrington. The demo was decidedly shoddy and the tablet still seems dodgy. The price has been hiked to almost double of original plans at $499. More reason to wait and watch is the threat of legal action from Arrington, which Chandra brushed away.

We might be looking at glorified vaporware that is soon to drown in legal quagmire and mud-slinging. [read]

Apple Kicks Cheating Dev Along With 1000+ Apps

With over 100,000 apps in the app store, finding cheating and scamming developers is pretty hard. But Apple has always shown a zero-tolerance policy towards anyone who has tried to scam their way into prominence.

The loop holes like tweaking the name were closed and the review system was fine tuned when they were pointed out as faults to Apple. Similarly, when iPhoneography and SCM pointed out to Apple that developer Molinker was probably scamming the system and fooling users, Apple was prompt in its response.

Apple immediately kicked out the developer along with the 1000+ apps that were submitted by the entity. Let’s just hope Apple develops a system for flagging these suspicious activities so that these rogue developers do not make it bad for the rest. [read]

Apple Confirms Buying Lala

Apple has confirmed buying the online music streaming start-up called Lala. The company said that they usually acquire such companies from time to time but they usually do not divulge details or what their intention is. That is as good as telling everyong to just back off and get back to their work.

But we know better, so we will talk about a future browser-based music streaming application from Apple. [read]

Hulu For Magazines To Be Announced

All Things D’s Peter Kafka tweeted about Hulu launching a new service tomorrow called ‘Hulu for Magazines’. Even though Hulu is generally well-known and loved for being free of charge, this endeavor is likely to have a subscription model from the very beginning. [read]

Entourage eDGe Gets Demo On Video

Entourage’s eDGe is gathering quite a following around it. After it was first announced, we didn’t take it all that seriously. After all, start-ups with concept products often tend to disappear.

But now, the product is shaping up to be more and more desirable. The company is now claiming that the production model will have HD video and 3D graphics! Now that is something that would really push a lot of people into considering this device as their do-it-all device instead of a netbook. Video by netbooknews.de.

Catch With The Dogg On UStream

Snoop Dogg’s latest album  Malice In Wonderland will be launched through a web-TV experience for thousands, may be millions of online viewers. UStream’s new premium service where hours of real, unedited celebrity footage can be viewed live everyday will be featuring this special event. The camera will follow the artist around on the day of the launch, streaming live unedited footage. [read]

Cowon’s Next-Gen HD PMP Spotted On YouTube

Looks like an ad for Cowon’s V5 HD has just leaked out into the open. The 18 second spot provides no details but it does show that the PMP sports a large screen that just might live up to the claim of it being HD. [read]

$100 TouchScreen PMP From Haier

Haier’s Theatre PMP is going for pretty cheap – only $100 for a 4GB version. The player has a capacitive 3inch touchscreen and it plays all your usual media file formats. Now that looks like a good deal. The battery rated at 12 hours of audio playback, so you can expect around 4hours of video playback. Of course, the I cannot expect it to give you all this for $100 and still maintain build quality. [read]

Acer Preparing ION 2 Netbooks [?]

ION 2 from NVIDIA is the next upgrade to the ION chipset for Intel’s Atom processors. ION 2 brings to the table more than 2 times the current graphics power and switchable graphics. But most importantly, it supports the next generation Atom Pine Trail processors that will debut early 2010 onwards. It also supports VIA’s Nano processors.

Digitimes claims that NVIDIA has received orders for ION2 chips from Acer. If this is true, then we can expect ION 2 based netbooks from Acer in 2010. That means an unprecedented amount of graphics crunching power on your netbook. [read]

Fujitsu Makes Another Pricey UMPC

There are exactly two things about the UMPCs that Fujitsu makes – 1) They are really great 2) They are really expensive.

Fujitsu has made another UMPC called the UH900. It has an Atom Z530 processor in its core and has a 64GB SSD inside it. Screen size is 5.6inches and it is running Windows 7.  According to estimates, it will retail for something around $1,417 in Hong Kong when it debuts. But the new look and the specs might be really worth it. [read]

The usual netbook Wednesday has been deferred to this day this week, so your weekly netbook update is here a day late. Check out this week’s edition for news of Acer’s Chrome OS netbook rumors, a cheap tablet netbook, Jolicloud and more.

Acer Netbook At FCC

Looks like there is another suspected netbook from a major manufacturer passing through the FCC. While these FCC snooping posts are becoming old hat now, I guess voyeuristic excitement of seeing something before it is meant to be seen still prevails.

So Wireless Goodness has spotted something that looks like an Acer netbook passing through the mandatory FCC approval process. Okay, so it has a Windows XP sticker and WiFi too. Which basically means it is just like all the other netbooks that you have seen so far. And don’t even think of PineTrail on this one. Just doesn’t sound like a PineTrail machine to me. [read]

Acer Launching Chrome OS Netbook

Now this is a more exciting piece of news about an Acer Netbook. According to the Gossip lovers Digitimes, Acer is planning a netbook for the second half of 2010. What’s so special about it is that it will be running the Chrome OS.

This is of course the first time we have some sort of claim from someone that the company is planning to work with the Chrome OS. But then again, if Android’s success is any indicator, Google knows what it is doing. So the companies are likely to be better off dabbling in this new offering from Google. [read]

Intel Atom SDK Arrives

Just like it promised at the Intel Developers Forum this year, Intel has taken out an SDK for its Atom Developers program. Under this program, Intel is looking to stimulate and encourage app development that is centered around the Atom – Intel’s current star processor.

Intel is really banking on this one to succeed because it really, really wants the Atom to become more universal than it is. What that means is that they would like to eat ARM and VIA’s lunch as its own but it is too far away from doing that. So we’ll see how this goes for Intel. [read]

Jolicloud To Take On Chrome

Okay, at the risk of repeating the bleeding obvious, I will report this story too. Jolicloud, light-weight linux-based OS for netbooks, has decided that it will challenge the upcoming mega (small) OS for netbooks. We’re talking about Chrome OS of course. It has been released to developers only some time back and already it is flooding the news.

What they are attempting to do is to match Chrome OS’ boot time. This video shows off a 13 second boot time and they are still trying to cut it down (probably). But this is still better than the current Chrome OS. And given the fact that Jolicloud has nothing even close to Google’s huge support team, it is a pretty respectable achievement for the project. Let’s hope they make a nice operating system in the interim so that we something to turn to in case Google suddenly decides that it owns you(r data) in the near fututre. [read]

Asus’ Seashell 2 Netbook

I don’t get it. Why make a modern Atom-based netbook and not include ION on it. I am sure the companies know all too well the ION is the key to great gaming and HD movies on an Atom Netbook. So why keep it away.

Anyway, so the first thing that you would love to hate about the netbook is the freaky pink color. I mean this is not even the cutesy pink. It is actually bordering hot pink. But they you will start looking for another color because the Seashell 2 looks very well-designed. The model code is Eee PC 1008P and it will carry the new PineView Atom N450 processor. [read]

Malata Making It To The US [?]

Remember the Malata tablet netbook I talked about a week or two back? That one that was cheaper than the Asus T91 and had multitouch? Yes, it looks it has popped up on the FCC. Liliputing reckons that it might be rebranded and sold under another brand name in the US. That actually has a high probability of happening because no one really knows Malata in the US.

The 10”, Atom N270 powered device that folds into a tablet should be pretty popular here given that the price is only slightly higher than a comparable non-touchscreen netbook. No information about pricing obviously but I am sure that whoever will sell the Malata netbook tablet will do so to attract customers with the lower price tag. [read]

Entrourage eDGe Gets Lives Video

The Entourage eDGe from Taipei caught our attention about one month back when it was capitalizing on all the interest generated by the Nook’s arrival and Spring Design showing their Alex to the world.

It is a dual screen netbook-ebook dual purpose device. It opens like a book and has a color touchscreen on the right and the e-ink screen on the left. The two screens are linked and you can actually view colored images associated with e-text and you can also probably use it to take notes.

Now NetbookNews has done a video hands on with the device and the results are displayed above. Let me know what you think in the comments section below. I am really wondering about what the average consumer would think about such a device. [read]

ARM Wants To Create Better Netbooks

Graham Budd, ARM COO, feels that the netbooks in today’s market simply do not do justice to what the consumer wants. As a result, he is looking to improve that by using ARM chips to build netbooks.

These netbooks will be faster, cheaper and will also boot really fast. He also said that they would help reduce the footprint down further because the chips will consume a very low amount of power that does not produce enough heat to need cooling fans. That is all fine and dandy but since he is talking about making a category between a smartphone and a laptop, he is actually working on a very niche crowd here.

ARM has the technology to pull this off but whether those models will be successful, depends on whether the consumer is really looking for a smaller device. I draw the line at netbooks. The next step is to get a smartphone and nothing in between. [read]

It seems that the PC manufacturers are quite stringent about the introduction of Windows 7, such that several PC makers have already started of upgrading their products. The latest PC manufacturing company that has joined the list is Acer, who according to reports have come up with a 3D Laptop called Acer Aspire 5738DG-6165. This startling revelation from the PC making honcho marks the company’s first venture in the 3 D market.

Although this is not the first laptop with a 3D screen as Sharp Corp. had already unveiled a 3D laptop in the year 2003. But the basic problem with Sharp Corp. was the fact that the users had to fix their head in a way to witness the 3D effect. The main difference between Sharp’s laptop and Acer is the price range. Whereas Sharp laptop was priced at $3,300, the newly released Acer’s laptop is priced at $780, thereby shaping up the laptop more than an affordable one.

Sources revealed that the laptop will be shipped with a movie playing software. The laptop which is already being billed as one of its kind has already generated a considerable amount of buzz in the tech/gadget arena. This exquisitely designed device comprises of stunning features that will surely draw the attention of laptop aficionados. Moreover, the price tag is affordable enough for the commoners.

As a round-up, Acer 5738DG-6165 is a well equipped laptop with a thick frame. Billed as a haven for gaming aficionados, the laptop is surely set to make a mark in the PC arena. A review of the device will be updated soon.

Here at Otaku Gadgets, we are pretty grateful about the new trend in cell phones. With the iPhone and Android fighting it out and the others squatting on the sidelines, you have to admit that this is an interesting time to be using and buying cell phones in. However, in the face of all that improvement in the mobile OS arena, Microsoft is still lagging behind. If Steve Ballmer can publicly wish that they could skip 6.5 and go straight on to Windows Mobile 7, I think I am justified in saying that we feel something similar.

But that is only a passing thought before we dive in to the madness of it all. BlackBerry is struggling to catch up it seems and Palm is probably resting after the Pre and App Catalogue updates. Get to the other side for this week’s round up.

BlackBerry Bold 9700 Coming to AT&T And T-Mobile

BlackBerry is bringing back the classic feel with the Bold 9700. It has the QWERTY keypad that BlackBerry addicts have come to rely on and love. The Bold has been a long time coming and it marks RIM’s attempt to profit from a ‘traditional’ BlackBerry Phone after the Storm failed to impress much.

This 3G and WiFi enabled GSM phone will reach US soils soon where it will be on offer from both AT&T and T-Mobile.

If you have used the Curve, think of this as the Curve with a couple of new features. [read]

Sony Ericsson Susan Leaks, Another Android Phone?

Another week, another fresh wave of leaked news and photos. This time it is a classic candybar-style phone from Sony Ericsson, code named Susan. Why they chose that name, I would not want to or try to guess. The intriguing part is the UI of the phone. It seems like it is running Android under that hood.

This was concluded from the way the icons are located at the bottom of the screen but the status icons above the text are in the wrong order. But then again, OEMs can easily tweak Android’s UI to their heart’s content. Thus, it remains a mystery till more information is had.

Looks like the rumor mill is running out of big things to come up with. This one’s actually a pretty boring phone when compared to the XPERIA X3, HTC Dragon or the Droid – all recently leaked Android phones. [read]

Phone Charging Fuel Cells For Real!

“Allow me to welcome you to the future. Would you like a fuel pack for your fuel-cell phone charger?”

You folks might remember that I had posted about fuel cells in my CEATEC round up some time back. Well, turns out that Toshiba has actually gone ahead and manufactured some of them. Only 3,000 of them in fact and they will be up for sale sometime soon. The device is called Dynario and they take methanol to charge your phone up. [read]

SIM-Free HTC HD2 On PreOrder on Amazon UK

The HTC HD2 is due to be released on November 20^th this year in the UK but Amazon UK already has it on pre-order. Pre-order customers are to get a free Bluetooth headset with the HD2, same for the Touch2 and the Tattoo.

The price tag for this sleek new WinMo phone is a hefty £560 (SIM-free) but it is worth it for the people who really don’t to be tied to a contract. It has the gorgeous sense UI from HTC that hides the clunky Windows Mobile 6.5 UI and replaces it with a smooth and attractive UI.

Verizon + CDMA iPhone + 4G LTE Rumor

Like I reported this Monday, Verizon is apparently both attacking the iPhone and testing out the next generation (CDMA apaprently) of the device on it the 4G LTE network. Things are obviously quite hush-hush but do take this with a nice and big pinch of salt. It is still unverified. [read]

Google Coming Up With Its Own Android Phone?

There is word from a blogger that Google is going to come up with their own line of branded phones running the Android OS. With most major phone makers and others like Dell and Acer already walking the Android way, Google has a pretty big roster right now. Apprently they are going to have over 50 Android phones pretty soon (so said folks at Google), which is much larger than what they have now.

So why does Google want their own phones? Maybe they couldn’t resist the urge to show the world exactly how good an Android phone can be and decided to take matters in their own hands. Eric Schmidt probably took a leaf out of Steve Jobs’ journal and is now busy overlooking the device.

Apprently, there is a Chrome OS netbook in the works too. [read]

The Droid Onslaught Continues, It’s “Fast, Scary Fast”

More Droid marketing material is on display at BGR and this time they are taking the Terminator/generic man vs. machine armageddon movie approach. The droid is being portrayed as this red glowing eye and they manage to make it sound quite threatening and powerful. I wonder if they are thinking of frightening us into buying one? Well, I won’t put anything past those crazy ad agencies. Sometimes they are brilliant but plenty of times they are just plain weird! [read]

The HiPhone F320: Just For Laughs

You know those knock offs of famous phones that you get to see when a phone is in high demand. Remember all the iPhone knock offs? Well, this time such a company has gone too far and made something that looks like they got one of those round dial-bearing phones to mate with an iPod Nano and produce this aberration. Have a few laughs. [read]

Motorola Calgary Is the Uglier Droid

Motorola has gone ahead and made the ugly version of the Droid. So they put all the good ideas into Droid and all the rejects in to Calgary. It’s this clunky and tire looking device that Verizon is getting and is also an Android phone. At what point Motorola thought it a good idea I don’t know. May be Verizon wanted a cheaper Droid and Motorola let them have it. [read]

Acer’s neoTouch Reviewed And Hated

Remember the Acer neoTouch? Well, it looks like Acer’s n00b status in the phone market is showing all the ugly signs on its non-Android neoTouch phone. For a company that has no consumer software experience, making a great smartphone is pretty hard work. They should’ve just stuck to making Android phones. Phone Arena has reviewed the set what they have written is not pretty.

Bottomline – do yourself a favor and stay away from this phone. Period. [read]

Video Of Rejected Windows Marketplace Apps Mocks iPhone Apps

Microsoft used to make fun of Apple at the fact that Mac OS X hardly has the number of applications that Windows has. Now that Apple has 75,000 plus apps in their App store and Microsoft has about a 100 in their Windows Mobile Marketplace, the tables have turned decisively.

But that didn’t stop them from making a video that mocks Apple for, get this, having so many apps! They are basically saying that they allow only the serious ones. Yeah right Microsoft. [read]

Welcome to another edition of Netbooks Wednesday, your weekly round up of the latest in netbooks. Rounding them up has been getting harder recently because the netbook segment is currently going through a bit of an identity crisis with the launch of the CULV powered ultra-portable computers. These 11inch models with ultra low voltage processors are neither netbook nor notebook proper. Anyway, if you see some of them in the round up, you will know why. Get to the other side and enjoy.

Asus Japan Introduces Eee PC 1005HR HD Netbook

After single-handedly coming up with the netbook and putting it on the market, Asus has become famous for putting market favorites out on the shelves. One of the best-selling netbooks has been the Eee PC 1005HA. The ‘SeaShell’ design and the build quality make it a really great product. And now, it is about to get even better because Asus Japan has launched a new version of this netbook, called the 1005HR. It’s the same model with one major difference – it has a high resolution screen that displays 1366×768 pixels. You also get WiFi b/g/n, 250GB HDD, 1GB RAM and 1.66GHz Atom N280 graphics.

Oh yeah – it runs on Windows 7. As if you needed me to tell you that.

Entourage eDGe is a Dualbook = Netbook + eBook Reader + Notepad

The Entourage design team had this great idea – why not make a small netbook, ebook reader and notepad fit inside one device. A quick prototyping later, the product was out in broad daylight and it was named eDGe. Why the DG is in caps, I have no idea. But so far, I agree with the design team – it is a cool idea.

It opens up like a book and has dual 10.1” screen to help you surf the web and read eBooks. The touchscreen takes care of navigation but you need a stylus to work with it. However, it does support a Bluetooth keyboard for faster typing. This machine will retail at $490 in Feb ’10. It has tiny 4GB internal memory with 3GB free for the user, but you can expand it further with the card slot. The ePaper side also accepts Wacom Digitizers.

Google Planning Google-Branded Chrome OS Netbook

Seems like Google is planning its own line of branded things. So you have the branded gPhone and then you have the branded gNetbook. Wait, what? Yes, apparently the Chrome OS and Android OS makers are not satisfied with what the big shot mobile companies are all making. So they will make their own phone and their own netbook that will run the Chrome OS. You know what they say – if you wanna do it right, do it yourself! Looks like Google took that one very seriously. [read]

Gigabyte Updates T1028X And M1022X Netbooks With Windows 7

Gigabyte has been in the business for a long time and it has its fair share of netbooks like most other computer manufacturers. Now that Windows 7 is out, two of their many netbooks have been upgraded to Windows 7 Starter. As you know, the starter edition does not have the 3 apps limit anymore, so it makes sense to upgrade them.

The two models are M1022X and T1028X. However, one caveat is this – the T1028X is a convertible touchscreen netbook and the Windows 7 Starter edition does not support multitouch. That makes the deal worse in my eyes, not better. This happened in Japan [read]

Eee Keyboard Touchscreen Is Now Resistive

Okay, so this is not exactly a netbook but it is close. As I mentioned earlier – we are having a bit of identity crisis here. Asus’ Eee keyboard, keyboard that has a computer inside it, has just gotten itself an upgrade. The built in touchscreen is now a resistive touchscreen. So what and how bad was it before the upgrade? I don’t think I want to know. [read]

Fujitsu To Launch Windows 7 Netbooks

With Windows 7 in the market, wave upon wave of upgrades are only to be expected. So Fujitsu has jumped right into the thick of things and has announced Windows 7 netbooks and laptops. We are concerned with the M2011 netbook and the LifeBook P3010. Granted, the Lifebook runs on an Intel CULV chip, but when you give me an 11inch device powered by a low-voltage chip – I call it a netbook.

The M2011 has Windows 7 Starter and is going for around $450, while the LifeBook P3010 is coming in November and will probably have Windows 7 Home Premium, and sell for around $550.

Someday, maybe, Microsoft will learn to make just one single OS and sell that. Amen.

Acer Timeline Ultraportables To Get 12 Hour Battery Life

Acer’s Timeline series has an 11inch ultraportable, which is about to get a serious upgrade. The Timelines all use CULV processors for Atom-beating performance without hogging the battery and now they will have a hefty 9-cell battery to give you 12 hours of running time. Isn’t that great?

The current lineup has only 6-cell batteries – poor things. [read]

Haleron Bold To Sport D510 Atom Pine Trail Processor

Remember the company that made the dual-processor touting Swordfish netbook? Yeah, the one that has two physically linked processors sharing the workload and a battery life that is as good as not being there.

So they have gone ahead and announced on Twitter that they are going to bring out a new series called Bold and it will feature the next generation Pine Trail Atom CPU – The D510. Yes, please make another dual-processor netbook that one wants. Our readers need the laugh to lighten things up around here. [read]

Asus Eee PC 1201HA Officially Confirmed, Coming Mid-November

We had been hearing about this new Asus netbook called the Eee PC 1201HA. Even though I have lost count of the total number of Eee things we have now, rumors are always interesting because they have that forbidden, voyeuristic angle to them.

But now it is all official. Asus Italy have given in and said that they can’t take it anymore and we can have it now. Okay, so may be they did not use those exact words. In any case, we can have it now for €399. [read]

Acer’s 1820PT 11.6” Multitouch Netbook-Convertible Is For Real

And you thought that Asus was the only one with a netbook-tablet-convertible. Acer will do anything that Asus can do – at least it seems like that in the netbook segment.

It has long been rumored that Acer has a tablet netbook and now Netbook Italia has spent some time getting pizza stained fingers all over the rumored device, thereby proving that it does exist. The Acer 1820PT is powered by a CULV dual core processor and it is quite thin. Looks like Acer might have a winner here. [read]

Asus Launches ‘Business Class’ Eee PC 1005HA With XP Pro

What do you do when you run out of ideas to refresh your netbooks? You take a well-aged OS (about 8 years), take the richer bouquet (the ‘Pro’ version would do) and make it the base for a new bottle. Et voila! You have a new netbook.

Asus is selling old wine in a new bottle, with an extra gig of RAM and a grand old OS – XP Professional. They call it the Eee PC 1005HA Business Edition.

You know, I have always wanted to be an overpaid sales and marketing consultant. Maybe I will send my résumé to Asus Japan. [read]

Lenovo IdeaPad S12 Gets ION

The Lenovo IdeaPad S12 celebrates Windows 7 by finally getting the full version ION and not ION LE. Finally, a netbook that dares to be out in full IONic glory. [read]

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That’s it for this week. Have fun in all the Windows 7 frenzy, and check back tomorrow for the latest in phones and smartphones.

As everyone waits for the Éclair release of the Android OS (Éclair is the codename for version 2.0), the web is rife with talks of even more new Android phones and devices. A lot of things have changed since I reported about it the last time. When I say a lot of things have changed, what I really mean is that the lovable green robot has gotten itself another smattering of delectable new phones and devices. I am slavering just by looking at the array. Could it be, that this loyal Apple fan is actually considering something other than an iPhone? Oh, how the world has changed!

Anyway, a little competition is always good for companies like Apple. ‘Don’t let ‘em get too complacent’ is what I always say. But we, the users, have it the best actually. Companies are tripping over each other to bring out the best just for us!

Anyway, the latest on the Android awaits you on the other side.

Acer Liquid A1 Android Phone

Acer has announced a new (Qualcomm) Snapdragon-based smartphone that will be running on the Android OS. They are calling it the Liquid A1. The phone seems to be following the usual form factor that has be become common post the iPhone. It has a large touchscreen and there is no keyboard. Acer of course did not say anything about the hardware when they announced the phone.

But the hardware specs have finally been leaked and it only serves to confirm that the phone indeed runs on a 1GHz Qualcomm processor (i.e. the Snapdragon) like the HTC HD2 and the rumored HTC Dragon. There is now a video that shows the custom UI that the Liquid will be sporting. No words on whether the phone would be able to change shape like the T1000 in Terminator, thus living up to its name. DARPA already has one by the way. Stay tuned for Judgment Day news.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X3 Android Phone Spotted (Again)

We have more live shots of the Sony XPERIA X3 and its looks every bit the looker high-end SE phones usually are. On the surface we see a 4inch touchscreen, which is huge for a touchscreen phone and the resolution is 852×480. More good news is that the touchscreen is capacitive.

The phone’s running Android and it definitely looks like it is almost ready for the market. So we won’t be very surprised it comes out right after the Éclair release. Besides, the specifications were gained from an Expansys product page that was accidentally put up ahead of schedule. That is enough reason to believe that it is right around the corner. I’m just glad that Sony Ericsson too is going the Android way. I have always loved their high-end phones but the first XPERIA’s UI was just too drab. [read]

More Pics Of the Motorla Sholes/Droid

In case you have not been keeping up with rumors, there is a new Motorola phone that is doing its rounds around rumorsville. It started getting passed around as the Motorola Sholes but newer evidence suggests that the official name would be Motorola Droid.

It is an Android phone and before you start thinking back to the CLIQ debacle, let me tell you that this is a ‘Google Experience’ phone. So it will have no UI customization and hence no MOTOBLUR madness. It has the same form factor as the CLIQ but it looks far better. There is the QWERTY keyboard in place too. Boy Genius Report seems to have struck a gold mine of a source from which they are digging up live shots of the device and its UI. I just made a Sholes/Droid round up yesterday for gHacks.net, check it out here. The video above is the boot video, complete with the robot voice even.

Giant Éclair Delivery Heralds 2.0 Release?

A giant (foam) Éclair was delivered to the Google front lawn recently and it is currently sitting pretty beside the Green robot, the Cupcake (1.5) and the Donut (1.6). Now this is no news on its own but combined with the fact that the Donut was delivered only days before 1.6 was released, it gives us hope that the 2.0 is on its way. Although, we already know what to expect thanks to the detailed UI walkthrough on the Motorola Droid.

Dell Mini 3i Android Phone

Micheal Dell, the CEO of Dell, has been quite vocal about the Mini 3i. This being very new grounds for companies like Dell and Acer, it is understandable that he would be slightly anxious about it. He has recently announced, yet again, that the Android loading Dell smartphone will be arriving next year. But this time, he had something new to say.

He said that Android is not the only OS that Dell is looking at. Whatever he means by that, I hope he doesn’t mean that he is going for LiMo or something similar.  The Dell Mini 3i is probably going to AT&T, there hasn’t been any official word on it yet.

Acer’s Android-Windows 7 Dual Booting Netbook Is Now Up for Sale

Acer will soon be releasing a dual booting version of its D250 netbook. This news comes from us from all over the web and it looks like they will have Windows 7 dual booting with the more exciting bit – Android. Android will replace the usual Linux OS that graces the usual instant start up options. Android will let you view your photos, surf the Internet and do all the light stuff. When you want to do serious work, you have to switch to Windows 7.

Archos 5 Android MID Is Holding Steady

Archos 5 has attracted a lot of attention for using Android with its latest MID. But it hasn’t gotten amazing reviews mainly because of the lack of apps for it. But the Donut (1.6) using device is holding pretty steady in the market.  Fears of its firmware being unstable have been allayed and it looks like it is pretty stable for the time being. It has a 5inch capacitive touchscreen and comes from the long line of MIDs from the same named company.

“Android Adoption Is About To Explode”, Says Schmidt

Eric Schmidt was heard saying this when he was at the Q3 earnings conference recently. And he is quite right. With more and more heavyweight companies pulling their weight behind the OS, the green juggernaut is about to become very big indeed.

In case you are wondering, Google earns from the Android Os from all the mobile searches that it generates. Eric said that quarter on quarter growth for Q3 2009 in mobile searches was 30%, although he didn’t reveal absolute numbers. Still, looks like the party is going to be pretty good for Google this next quarter too.

This is the weekly round up of everything that is happening in the world of cell phones. We don’t cover wired phones because they are dying a slow but certain death. If you think otherwise, we would love to hear from you! Get to the other side and tell us why in the comments section below the post.

Blackberry Storm 2 Up For Pre Order

Blackberry Storm 2 is RIM’s attempt to placate the masses that were angered by the original Storm that completely failed to live up to all the expectations. The new Storm 2 features improvments on the SurePress technology and will also feature Blackberry OS 5.

The Storm2 will be available in the UK on Vodafone and is currently up on pre order. Those who order now will be getting theirs on October 26^th. Well, it’s not that long a wait and you might forget about it too in all the Windows 7 hype.

One little tip – the Mossberg review that accidentally (?) got posted ahead of time, shows the author’s opinion that the OS is showing signs of aging and he clearly wasn’t very impressed with the browser.

Giant Éclair Delivered To Google’s Front Lawn Means 2.0 Is Coming Soon?

Not the actual release yet but a giant Éclair was delivered to Google’s front lawn to accompany the Android, Cupcake and Donut models that are already there. Éclair, the codename for Android 2.0, is the highly anticipated update to the fast growing mobile OS from Google. But there was no news of it actually being released anytime soon.

But last time round (1.6 Donut), the foam confection came in just days ahead of the actual developer release. So we are all hopeful. In the meantime, enjoy the short video. [Part 1, Part 2]

HTC HD2 On T-Mobile USA?

There was already news that the Windows Mobile 6.5 based HTC HD2 smartphone is headed for T-Mobile UK and now there seems to be a rumor and a spy shot of a slide that shows an HD2-like HTC phone being described with a T-Mobile branding. The upshot of it all is that this might mean that the HTC HD2 is coming to the US on T-Mobile. The official word on HD2 coming to USA has only been about it arriving sometime next year.

As Engadget writer Donald Melanson rightly points out, there is no talk of Windows Mobile 6.5, this might be the rumored Android equipped Snapdragon powered phone that has the same hardware apparently. [read]

WiFi Goes Peer-to-Peer, Bluetooth Soon To Be Redundant

WiFi is going p2p. No, not in the illegal way. It basically means that you will no longer need to use Bluetooth for quick transfers and you will no longer have to put up with the ungodly slow speed and short range. I will risk repeating everyone else and say – why didn’t they make this happen sooner?!

Solar Cell Phones Give Hope

Solar powered cell phones can bring about positive economic changes in the far-flung regions of the earth where there is no electrical grid or electricity is too scarce and expensive. This Reuters report exemplifies a self-employed man from Uganda who has never missed a call ever since solar powered mobile phones were introduced to the country.

While it is nothing to us, it means that people can finally earn a living in the remote places where they live and that would mean more business and a stronger economy. [MSNBC]

Walmart’s Straight Talk Wireless Plan Is Lucrative, The Phones Are Not

Walmart has introduced two no-contract plans under the banner ‘Straight Talk’. The first plan is $30/month and gives you 1000 voice minutes, 1000 text messages and 30MB of data. However, the highlight is the second plan where for $15 extra per month you can get unlimited everything – voice, text and data. And it is usable at any time (no off-peak, on-peak catch here).

But before zipping to Walmrt, let me tell you that there’s a catch. There always is you know. The plans will work only with the phones that come with them. And trust me, working with unlimited data and voice on a LG Slider 290 or a Samsung 451 is not my idea of a great deal.

Acer’s Liquid Android Snapdragon Phone And More

Looks like Acer will actually launch their Liquid Android phone in kwwping with the declared schedule, which is Q4 2009. They are calling it the first Snapdragon powered phone running Android 1.6. (speeding ahead of HTC probably). Well, those are a lot of qualifiers to be the first but at least it will be here soon. [read]

The company has been preparing to launch their line of Windows 6.5 mobile phones as well. There’s the beTouch line for those who care about looks and the neoTouch for those who care about features and power. [read]

iPhone OS 3.1.2 Jailbreak Cracks Everything Else As Well

The iPhone Dev team has done it again. They have updated their “Pwnage Tool” to help jailbreak iPhone OS 3.1.2 and also every other iPhone and iPod Touch except the iPod 3G. [jailbreak]

Another Motorola Droid/Sholes Leak

Looks like the Motorola Sholes will be called the Droid after all. The Boy Genius Report blog has a fresh set of leaked photos and it is definitely nice to look at. As expected, this will be a true Android phone and none of the MOTOBLUR fluff. [read]

Vodafone Gets Three New Phones In The UK

LG GM 750, HTC Tattoo and Sony Ericsson Satio – these are the three new phones that Vodafone is offering to the UK crowd just as the holiday season approaches. The first two phones are free on the £25/month 2-year contract. The Satio (also known as the Idou) is going to be free on the £35/month 2-year contract.

Armani Windows Phone Goes Official Specs

The Giorgio Armani co-branded phone from Samsung has finally been given its own press release, even though it was shown last Friday. The highlight of the phone is the 3.5inch AMOLED touchscreen and the superb styling. [read]

Microsoft Recovers ‘Most Of’ Sidekick Data

Microsoft has issued a letter to T-Mobile Sidekick users saying that they have recovered ‘most, if not all’ data that was lost in the T-Mobile data loss debacle. Meanwhile, after trying to sooth the fuming crowd with $100 gift cards, T-Mobile is now allowing the affected customers to leave mid-contract without paying. [read]

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That sums up this week’s round up. See you all tomorrow with some fresh gadget news.