Sony Ericsson’s first step into the Android world and it is a pretty well hyped one. Everyone’s expecting a lot of things from the device and it is one of my personal favorites amongst the upcoming Android device. When it was first released back in November last year, it did see a lot of excitement and hype around it. The main thing going for it is the custom UI and two new apps that will be exclusive on the XPERIA X10 – MediaScape and TimeScape.

These two Apps are probably going to be the biggest selling points on this device other than a really great 4inch WVGA capacitive touch screen, UMTS/HSPA support, WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth and other such standard features. It will also have an 8.1 megapixel camera, making it lucrative for a lot of people who believe in the “bigger is better” standard. And that is a majority of the current collection of consumers.

Vodafone has become the first carrier anywhere to announce an official release date for the phone and their announcement says that it is coming in April this year. No word on pricing but it is expected to be on the higher-end like most other flag ship Sony Ericsson phones.

Sony Ericsson has always had the glamorous approach to making phones with their signature designs but their recent models have failed to live up to the current trends in industrial designs for phones. Hence, even the XPERIA X10 does not look all that great even though it is gearing up to be a flagship device.

Still, Sony Ericsson’s efforts to marry the online social and multimedia experience through their twin apps is seen as something that is going to be pretty compelling when it comes to choosing an Android device later this year. The second half of 2010 is going to jam packed with great Android options from Motorola, HTC, Google And Sony Ericsson and may be others. So wait a while if you are planning to buy one.

The XPERIA X10 won’t have the latest version of Android probably, because of the development time required to make the custom UI and apps.

[read]

Remember the Sony Ericsson Phone that carried the code name Kurara? Well, it has finally been made official as the ‘Vivaz’. I want to meet their marketing team, ’cause that’s one name I do not want that name on a phone I own! What the heck is a Vivaz?! Even if it is one of those fancy names, Kurara was much better. I can almost imagine what went on in the Marketing Department *cue: Dream sequence*.

It sounds to me like Sony Ericsson head honchos finally gave in and decided that between the Nexus One and the Apple Tablet and then the new iPhone, they would be lucky to get in any publicity around the launch of a new low end phone that is meant to serve as the consolation model for a high-end phone that didn’t really take-off. So they asked the marketing team to quickly come up with a name during the last 5 minutes of their lunch break before they sent the thing over to the graphic designers for all the PRs.

There isn’t much to say about the phone because the last leak said it all. This is meant to be the low end replacement for the 12 MO behemoth Satio. The press release was pulled by the company that put it up but the specs got documented immediately. The 8.1 MP camera is there, as is AGPS, WiFi, VT-out, etc. It is running on Symbian, just like the Satio. Price is unknown at this point but it will much cheaper than the Satio.

[read]

Here we are once again, with a round up of all that is hot in tech in the past few days. A lot has been happening as usual with the year end approaching. The anticipation for the new year is building with so many different companies readying their devices for launches through the first two quarters of 2010. Of course, not all of them are talking about it but the leaks do that work for them, whether they like it or not. So get over to the other side and get updated.

Nvidia ION 2 Confirmed, Not A Figment Of Tech Imagination

NVIDIA has fially confirmed that the ION 2 exists, only they call it the “next generation ION”. They confirmed its existence to Fudzilla a few days back during a conference call.

NVIDIA’s original plan had apparently been to start selling ION 2 by the end of this year. But with the original ION still pretty fresh on the market, manufacturers requested the company to hold off releasing the new version till they have recouped their own investments. So even the CES 2010 date (that was rumored earlier) has been delayed and the new date is some time around Q2 2010. However, CES 2010 will not be completely ION-free. It will have a few devices to showcase the ION’s power.

The new ION will have more than 5 hours of battery life and 5-10 times faster graphics performance as compared to what’s available from Intel’s Pinetrail — according to the company. [read]

Asus’ Latest Netbooks With Pinetrail Go Official

click for larger image

The Asus Eee PC 1005P and the 1005PE netbooks were leaked quite some time back as the first Asus netbooks to be powered by the Pinetrail platform. Of course, it is not like they were not going to make netbooks with Intel’s new chips. The netbooks have now gotten official shots and you can ogle them as much as you want.

They are both 10.1inch netbooks and come with the new Atom N450 processor from Intel and GMA 3150 graphics. The 1005P comes with 160GB storage and the 1005PE comes with 250GB storage. They both come with WiFi b/g and a 6-cell lithium-ion battery. RAM is standard netbook fare at 1GB. The 1005P costs about $395 and the 1005PE costs about $439. [read]

New Phones from Palm, Motorola and LG Leaked

It seems like Verizon is expecting a whole new roster of phones some time pretty soon. If everything about this is true, then the carrier will receive one new phone for each of three major mobile OS’ — WebOS, Android and Windows. Of course, I won’t blame you if you are only interested in the Android device because frankly, I do not see the WebOS or Windows making a splash right now.

Palm will apparently be releasing a new model called the Palm Pre Plus. It could possibly have some extra features that will differentiate it from the original Palm Pre but why Palm would want to cannibalize its own sales and upset a partner in the process, I don’t know.

Then there is the Motorola Devour A555. They are certainly keeping the ‘scary’ feel of their phones alive. It is is supposed to be the “little brother” of the Droid and is also believe to be the Calgary. It also has the MOTOBLUR interface to top off the insult (of being a limited, wannabe DROID phone). So it is basically a phone that no one will want.

The LG VS750 is a Windows Mobile phone (WinMo 6.5). This is Verizon’s first LG phone. It will apparently support both GSM and CDMA networks and hence be a world phone. I can see this being pushed at business users. [read]

Google’s Nexus One Is Now Confirmed, About Time Too

Because the leaks made it pretty certain that the Google Nexus One phone was anything but a figment of Arrington’s imagination. There have been a lot of hands on pics and some videos (which are no longer available) that show the phone in action. So if you are planning to buy a super phone, hold on for a bit longer.

New reports have claimed that the phone only support’s T-Mobile’s 3G and hence you will be limited to EDGE on AT&T’s network. At least this way you will get more coverage on AT&T!

Nexus One still is an unlocked phone but I guess the US 3G spectrums are just too haywire for one phone to support all networks. [read]

DoCoMo Prepares For LTE

Whilst the rest of the world is still struggling with 3G connectivity, DoCoMo has started its operations to start LTE service by this time next year. They are currently in the process of upgrading and changing their base stations to support the new service.

LTE stands for Long Term Evolution and it is the new standard that is basically 3G on steroids. It is ‘technically’ not 4G but it gives speeds that are unimaginable on current 3G services. [read]

Nook Updates to 1.1, Nothing Ground Breaking

We’ve all been talking about the Nook having a lot of potential in the right hands and have been expecting the update to fix issues. Well, the update is here and users have not reported anything significant so far. Even if it is all under the hood, they should’ve at least fixed the bugs that had been uncovered earlier. There have been no reports of such things happening, although there are scattered reports of better performance. If you have a Nook and have updated it, we would love to hear from you. Tell us about your experience, what do you think? [read]

XPERIA X10 On  the FCC, Again

Sony Ericsson’s latest and greatest phone — the XPERIA X10 (also their fist ever Android phone) — has appeared on the FCC again. Only this time, the phone has 3G bands that match those used by AT&T. So it looks like another great phone is about to go into the clutches of AT&T. Although Sony Ericsson unveiled the phone (in order to put down the wild speculations probably) some time back, they are still unclear about the exact dates. Their time frame has been early 2010 but whether or not they will make it is a big question. Also, the FCC unit had no brading on it and that has started another round speculations, which I won’t join, yet. [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]

When it comes to phones, the last few days have been particularly exciting. It seems like all the companies coordinated their leaks and rumors to be in succession or tandem. We have updates in the elusive HTC Dragon/Passion, the Sony Ericsson Kurara and even the Google Phone. Yes, apparently Google is making a phone. Plus, we have two super deals in smarpthones – Palm Pre and BlackBerry Curve on the cheap!

Get over to the other side to get updated on the latest in the phones.

The (HTC) Dragon/Passion Lives!

The HTC Dragon apparently does exist and it is undergoing testing and usage at Google headquarters. This comes from TechCrunch, who have it from a very reliable source. The top Android people are apparently using it right now. It does carry the Snapdragon inside and is said to be the next superstar Android phone. See, I told you it was real! [read]

More Google Phone Rumors

TechCrunch’s Micheal Arrington reports that they have it from a very reliable source that the Google phone is very real. Google has a vision of what an Android phone should be like and making their own phone would be the only way such a vision can be realized to its full extent. But that does not mean that they would make their own phone. It basically means that they would have someone else design a phone according to their specifications and only according to their specifications.

Google has denied the notion though, saying that they would not make a phone and compete with their own partners. So TechCrunch surmises that they could be making a mobile device that would only have VoIP and not traditional phone network support. Of of this is getting very exciting. [read]

More Details On The Sony Ericsson Kurara

Sony Ericsson’s latest phone to be leaked – the Kurara, has just received a fresh new dose of leaks. According to the owner of Mobile Review, Kurara has been gravely underestimated so far. The phone is not all that slow after all. It is powered by an ARM Cortex A8 chip and has 256MB RAM to go along with it. Not only that, it also has PowerVR graphics that is definitely going to make any old Symbian OS look like it is on speed boosting steroids. [read]

MSFT: Apps Irrelevant On (Modern) Smatphones, Us: Yeah, Rrrright

This has to be the most laughable quote in recent times, that too from someone who represents a company as big as Microsoft. Microsoft’s Chief Software Engineer Ray Ozzie was recently quoted at a developer’s conference saying that apps do not matter to modern smartphones. He also does not like the fact that people mostly concentrate on the apps and not the hardware. Okay, last time I checked Microsoft is mostly known for making software like Windows and Office suites. Saying stupid things like that just because your mobile platform has 1000 apps and Apple’s has a 100 times that, is not a very intelligent thing to do. This is akin to saying applications don’t matter on computers. So what are we supposed to do with a handheld computing devices? Play catch? [read]

Palm Pre $79.99 On Amazon

If you want a smartphone at a never before price, Amazon has just slashed the price of the Palm Pre to $79.99. This can be taken as a clear signal that the device or the market in general has not been doing very well. Still, this is an insanely low price if you are in thr market for a smartphone, especially for a certain stocking. [read]

Contract-Free $300 BlackBerry Curve 8520 From T-Mobile

Want a BlackBerry Curve but you think it’s too expensive for you? T-Mobile has just the right deal for you. They are offering a BlackBerry Curve 8520 for just $300 and get this – there’s no contract attached to it. So you can do whatever you want with it. It does come with one month’s service. Yes, this will make a great gift for someone. Pony up people, yuletide is breaking in. [read]

N900 Goes On Sale In the US Without Any Carrier Backing

Nokia failed to find a carrier for its latest smartphone – the N900 Maemo5 phone. So it has gone on ahead without them and started selling the phone for $649 without any kind of subsidy. May be this is why the gorgeous phone will fail. US is not the kind of market that will pay so much for a phone, they are too used to contracts and subsidies even if it means they ultimately pay more than they needed to. With a depressed economy, no one really has much liquidity.

But here’s the good part – the waiting list is apparently already full! [read]

Gartner Predicts Money Transfer Soon To Be #1 App

According to the analysts at Gartner, ‘Money Transfer’ applications will reign over the smartphones in the coming year. They have released a top 10 list of what they think will be the future of mobile apps. The list depends on a lot of factors such as impact on consumers, users and industries. [read]

AT&T Fights Back Verizon – The Carrier War Is Officially On

AT&T has launched an ad that lashes back against Verizon’s “there’s a map for that” and other ads. It has Luke Wilson attaching magnets to a check list that shows AT&T has faster 3G than Verizon and other points where the Blue Beach Ball complete trounces Verizon. So is it effective? Not really. Is it lame? Absolutely so. Besides, I’d rather have slightly slower connection all over the place than a faster connection at only few locations. [read]

UK Might Get Mobile TV Before The Olympics

If you are in the UK and you wanted Mobile TV yesterday, do not lose hope yet. Olympics tend to hasten up many things in host countries and it could be driving UK towards proper mobile TV in time for the 2012 Olympics. This news is courtesy the company who intends to make it happen – MediaFLO. According to PocketLint, a company official dropped quite a few broad hints that they are targeting the Olympics MediaFLO is already operating in the US. [read]

Japan To Beat Everyone Else To LTE, As Usual

NTT Docomo, Japan, has declared that they will be moving to a LTE network as soon as December 2010. LTE or Long Term Evolution is the next generation in mobile data networks, bringing with it a lack of latency and faster data speeds. The rest of the world will still be in the testing phase if Docomo really rolls it out that soon. That’s what you can expect from Japan though, they are always on the cutting edge. May be it is the Samurai in their blood. [read]

XPERIA X1 No Get Windows Mobile 6.5, X1 Be Sad

Sony Ericsson has declared that they would not be updating the XPERIA X1 to Windows Mobile 6.5. Looks like they want to get rid of those phones as fast as they can. I would do same with my embarrassing science project from the yester years. [read]

It’s the start of the week again and a lot has happened in tech world while your recharged your batteries through the weekend. Get to the other side and start catching up.

Software:

Apple To Psystar: Get Your OWN Super-Advanced OS

Apple is judged to be in the right in their case against Psystar. Psystar was selling non-Apple computers with OS X installed on them, which clearly violates Apple’s EULA. But the full scope of the legal war is not cleared yet. [read]

Google OS Coming Soon?

New rumors suggest that Google’s Chrome OS is coming to us sometime this month and not next year. It will likely be a public beta for Google’s usual extended testing. [read]

Windows 7 Gets Hacked For Keyless Activation

Here we go – Windows 7 has been hacked again! This time it works by completely bypassing the activation DLL and suppressing all the popup reminders. No, I don’t think it will last long either. [read]

Apple Fixes Video Snag In the New 27 iMacs

A video error that was plaguing the new 27” iMacs has been fixed by Apple. It was apparently caused by AirPort. [read]

iPhone Gets ARGH: Augmented Reality Ghost Hunting

Want to go ghost hunting? Try it on your iPhone. [read]

DJay Gets Its Own Controller

The popular Djay app for the Mac-owning bedroom DJs now has its own dedicated controller called Spin. It is made by renowned Dj gear manufacturer Vestax and is modeled after their successful line of VCI-100 and VCI-300 professional DJ MIDI controllers for other, professional DJ-ing software. [read]

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Phones:

Nokia’s N900 Has Been Released, Now On Pre-order

Nokia has released their much-anticipated smartphone – the N900. It runs on the Maemo5 OS and is Nokia’s best bet against the iPhone. So far, I see a great smartphone but nothing close to being an iPhone-killer. For more details and my opinion, visit gHacks.net.

Samsung’s Galaxy Spica i5700 Android Phone Finally Official

A follow up to Samsung’s Galaxy, running on the Android OS has been rumored for a long time. And lo – it is finally here. Codenamed the i5700, real name the Galaxy Spica. [read]

ZiiLABS To Demo Zii Android Smartphone In December

Creative’s sub-concern ZiiLABS has promised to demo a new Android Smartphone this December. It will likely run the ARM Cortex A8 1GHz processor that they were showing off recently. [read]

XPERIA X10 Gets UK Launch Date

Sony Ericsson’s UK website says that the XPERIA X10 Android phone will be landing in the UK sometime in February. That has got to be the most specific time frame we have heard till date. Last we heard it was the ‘first half of 2010’. [read]

Droid Has Been Selling Pretty Well

Motorola’s Droid, being sold by Verizon, has been selling pretty well it seems. Some reports put it at having sold over 250,000 units in the initial week that just went by. [read]

VIA Making XP/Android Phone

Chip-maker VIA joins the ranks of Acer and others and ventures into making a smartphone. This one will run Windows XP and Android. So now we have Viewsonic, VIA and that other company called ITG making Windows XP smartphones. [read]

Dell’s Smartphone To Start Off With China And Brazil

Dell will begin selling its first ever smartphone in China and Brazil. The company will be selling the Mini 3 touchscreen phone in these countries. [read]

Nokia E72 Begins To Ship (Finally)

After a long wait, Nokia has finally decided to start shipping the E72 in the US. The new smartphone improves over the wildly successful E71 smarpthone. But in the face of the iPhone and Android phones like the Droid, it is likely to pale. [read]

Windows Mobiles Slides Further Down

Microsoft has lost even more mobile market share this quarter, making it probably the biggest loser of the season.  Down to about 7% from about 11% of the total. [read]

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Portables:

NVIDIA’s Tegra Will Power next-Gen Nintendo DS

According to sources at DigitalFoundry, the next Nintendo DS will run on NVIDIA’s Tegra chip. Given Tegra’s graphics power, this could get interesting. [read]

Want An MP4 Player With A 4.3” 720p Screen? Japan Has One

Hallods from Japan treats you to the first real HD PMP that has a 4inch screen displaying a 720p resolution. Now that’s nice! And it crunches quite a few video formats too. [read]

Crunchpad Tablet Is NOT Dead, Yet

According to Micheal Arrington, father of the Crunchpad – the affordable crowd sourced slate, the Crunchpad is doing pretty well and all the high price rumors are completely untrue. [read]

Atom N450 (Pineview) Netbooks Spied On FCC

Lenovo’s new Pineview netbooks have been spotted on the FCC, which means next-gen Atom netbooks are heading for us right now. We are very likely to see them in the next two months. [read]

Mobinova’s Beam Smartbook Spied On FCC

Remember the Beam from Mobinnova? Well, it is has just popped up on the FCC. So it is likely to launch really soon. [read]

New 12.1” MSI Notebook Emerges, Silently

There is a new netbook on the block and it is called the L2100. It is from MSI and for some reason the company has not made any announcements about it. [read]

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Misc:

The Core i7 iMac Benchmarks Quite Well

Apple has been applauded for its decision to make quad-core iMacs and now that the benchmarks are coming in – people are even more happy about it. It is quite a performer [read]

Fabulous NVIDIA ION Case Mod

NVIDIA was running an ION case modding contest and now they have finally found a winner. It was won by Bill Owen of Mnpctech.com and it looks really, really cool! [read]

Cooler Master’s Sizzling New Chassis

Cooler Master, a well-respected name in the pc community, has made a new AMD version of its popular HAF 932 chassis. Available in blood red, this is one cool tower to have! [read]

AMD Phenom Overclocked To Cross 7GHz!

An AMD Phenom II chip was overclocked to achieve a speed of 7.08GHz! Yes there were overheating issues, which is why they had to use liquid Helium! Talk about getting serious about it. This is a world record by the way. [read]

Your Data Engraved In Stone, Lasts A 1000 Years

A new company claims to have made a new form of DVD that is made out of a synthetic stone that will last you a 1000 years and will never get scratched or destroyed. [read]

Toshiba Launches Chair Into Edge Of Space

The newest Toshiba Ad for their new REGZA LED TV, the one that features local dimming and other enhancements.

You know, when in grade school you saw this cool thing the other kid had and you wanted one too? At that age, it is sometimes hard to accept that some kids’ parents can give them expensive things and your parents simply can’t. So you may be do some DIY thing and try to impress everyone with the results. But no one pays much attention to your handy work because what the other kid has is the real deal. I think Samsung has been feeling like the left out kid in terms of smartphones, which is why they have come up with their own mobile OS.

So remind me again, Samsung, how many Mobile OS’ do we have in the market? Let’s count ‘em off from top to bottom, shall we? As on Q2 2009, on extreme top you have Symbian with a huge majority, thanks to Nokia and the others. Next you have the whole bunch of Blackberries pushing their OS up. Immediately after that you have Apple’s juggernaut the iPhone OS. Then comes Windows Mobile and after that comes the superfast growing Android from Google. The rest of the lot (Palm’s WebOS, some misc. Linux OS, etc.) are way below, together amounting at little over 3.3% of the entire market.

Even with this, why did you bring out a new mobile OS? You could’ve made good Android phones with that kind of time and money. You are nowhere near Apple, RIM or the big Symbian handset makes like Nokia and Sony Ericsson. And even out of them, only one seems to have a future on their current path – iPhone OS. Plus, there is the Android looming over us, growing larger everyday.

Thus, I am sorry to tell you Samsung that your Bada OS needs to be pretty bada BIG and compelling to snatch some visible market share. My take on it is that it will be akin to vaporware. Poof! And you have made an open platform? Are you really willing to take on Android? My sympathies lie with the poor dev who have to work this. [read]

If there’s one gadget that we all carry, it has to be the cell phone. We all need them, love them and have our favorites amongst them. But they come and go so very fast that it is hard for the consumer to keep track of what’s going on. So Otaku Gadgets helps you by supplying you all the important phone stuff, every Thursday.

Sony Ericsson:

XPERIA X10 Official, Coming In Early 2010

If you are in the market for a smartphone that does everything, then you really should wait. Because just when you thought it was a toss up between the Droid and the iPhone – out comes the X10. The latest device on Sony Ericsson’s XPERIA line is a Snapdragon powered, Android 1.6 running, 4inch touchscreen toting beast that craves for your attention. Read previews here and here.

Kurara Spied On, Looks Like Stripped Down Satio

Here we have a new leaked phone from SE called Kurara. Word on the street is that this is the basic version of the tricked out Satio. It apparently has a 3.5inch AMOLED touchscreen, 8.1megapixel camera and runs on Symbian S60 5^th Generation OS. And it has been leaked twice already. [read]

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Nokia:

Nokia N900 Gets Monthly Pricing In The UK

As the n900 inches towards its release date (16^th November), the UK has finally gotten some pricing details on the device. If you are getting it from Orange on a 24-month contract, you can get it for as low as £20 per month. For more details, go here.

New Nokia Snapdragon Phone For AT&T [?]

Nokia may be the biggest mobile handset manufacturer in the world but they mean nothing to the US market. The Finnish giant is apparently looking to change all that with a new smartphone for partner-in-crime AT&T. Giving AT&T another good phone might be a crime for some customers though.

The only detail available on the device is that it will be powered by the Snapdragon processor and that it will be a smartphone. The Snapdragon rules out N900 and it is almost near release, not under development. [read]

For a list of high profile phones that run the Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, go here.

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HTC:

Eris, The $100 Android Phone

Verizon Wireless is slowly making good on its promise of offering three Android phones. HTC has introduced a cheap Android phone – the Eris on VZW and it costs only $100. It has a 3.2” multitouch display, WiFi, GPS and a 5.1megapixel camera built into it. [read]

HTC Dragon Is Also HTC Passion [?]

The phone that has been touted as the Android version of the HD2 – the HTC Dragon, is apparently headed for Verizon with the name HTC Passion. But didn’t we see the Dragon on the OS screenshots? Well, the one who leaked the phone is now saying that the Passion is the CDMA version of Dragon GSM phone. [read]

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Apple:

iPhone China Sales Disappoint

Apple finally went through with launching the iPhone in China last week. The company had to go overcome a lot of hurdles and challenges in order to get this done. The result? The iPhone has been doing very poorly in the world’s largest market. The first week has seen only 5000 iPhones selling. Plus it seems like people really can’t afford the thing. [read]

RFID Being Added To the iPhone [?]

Apple has apparently been testing out a next-gen iPhone with a RFID Chip built into it. Exactly how Apple will choose to use it (if it does at all) is still unclear. Apple may put it to multiple usage – shop at (Apple) stores with your iPhone, create better iPhone finder, replace your credit card, etc. Whatever Apple does with the RFID, it is bound to be pretty ground breaking. [read]

CNET UK Hates On Apple

CNET UK has awarded the iPhone the Worst Phone Ever award. Why the effort all of a sudden? Well, they point out that the iPhone, for all that it can do, does not work properly as a basic phone.

I will add here that this also makes for an amazing title that will attract eyeballs, lots of ‘em.

App Store Has 100,000 Apps (GASP!)

‘Tis true folks — the app store has hit 100,000 apps and has gone beyond it. Now you have even more reason to hate the time that you will be wasting sifting through them. Plus new developers have even more competition. However, Apple does try to make it worth everyone’s while, so we will continue to love the iPhone. [read]

iPhone Perceived As Strong Down Under

A new survey in Australia has shown that the country perceives the iPhone as a stronger brand than its competitors like Nokia and Sony Ericsson. [read]]

Blacksn0w arrives, cracks iPhone OS 3.1.2, Apple No Like

The BlackSn0w unlock for the latest crop of iPhones has finally arrived. It comes from the same man who made purplera1n and blackra1n some time back. Blacksn02 has been released as a separate app on the Cydia app store. Thus far, Apple has failed to keep hackers away from the iPhone. [read]

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LG:

Chocolate Touch Is One Ugly Chocolate

The follow up the to stylish LG Chocolate, the Chocolate Touch disappoints with its looks and feel. So much so that I am reaching for a Hershey’s dark right now. To punish yourself with it, you have to go to Verizon [read]

EVE AKA GW620 Debuts On Roger Wireless (Canada)

Remember LG’s first Android phone, the EVE (GW620)? Well, it has finally shown up in its full glory on Canada’s Roger Wireless. [read]

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Saygus VPhone V1, Averizon’s 3^rd Android [?]

The Saygus VPhone V1 has cleared the FCC but now what? Could it be the rumored Open Development phone that Verizon’s supposed to get as its third Android phone? We know Verizon would not have two superstars on the team, so this might occupy the mid-range on the Android Trio. [read]

Droid Tethers At $30/Month (Extra)

Well, if there’s one thing that the iPhone does not do (yet) and the Droid does – it is the tethering option that has just been found out. You can have it by paying for $30 extra per month but you will have to wait till next year to get it. But AT&T might make good on its promise by then. Or they might not. [read]

AT&T Starts Selling Samsung Mythic And Flight

The Samsung Mythic and Flight phones, that were announced last month, are now available on AT&T. They both have touchscreens and the Flight has a QWERTY keypad. The Mythic supports AT&T Mobile TV, which incidentally drops to $9.99/month this month. Other than that, they are your usual fare. [read]

David Pogue Coins ‘App Phone’

David Pogue has been thinking out loud and he thinks that the term ‘smartphone’ has had its day. Phones like the iPhone and the Droid need a new name. He coins the term ‘app phone’. [read]

The highly anticipated update to the Sony Ericsson XPERIA line is finally here and it is called the X10. The main points of attraction on this phone are – the Android OS, the custom UI, the large capacitive touchscreen and the 8.1mp camera. It has been through several leaks and spy shots in the past month or two. And it seems like they were pretty much spot on. Get over to the other side to get the full low down on what is apparent about this new fangled Android phone from Sony Ericsson.

First things first – it is not running Android 2.0 yet, as many of us have been expecting. But it makes sense because they have been building the custom UI on top of Android and they possibly did not have enough time to work on the Eclair release because Google has made it available only recently. The phone is expected to arrive on the market in the first half of the year 2010.

The rumors put the code name as Rachael and now it seems like Rachael was actually the name of the custom UI, which is what is actually signified by the infinity symbol. SE is calling it the ‘Open OS’ but it is basically Android 1.6 with a custom UI. However, this custom UI does add a lot of features that are unavailable on the other Android phones.

The spotlights are on the two main features –Timescape and Mediascape. Timescape can be accessed by touching the infinity symbol and it is meant to consolidate all your communications. This is one of the most enticing features of the phone.

When you have a contact, you communicate with him or her on various different platforms. You call, you text, you tweet, you Facebook, you email, etc. What Timescape does is it brings all those communications to one central place for you to see. All you have to do is choose a contact and it will display all the communiqués that you have had with that person. I am not entirely sure about the twitter part but the website does mention Facebook. So they are looking to make this a set that compliments your always-connected lifestyle.

Moving on to the Mediascape feature, this is where the face-off with iPhone will be really worth seeing. Mediascape, as the name suggests, is a media browser feature that gives you access to all the images, music and videos that you have on your device. It breaks away from the traditional display style or artists/albums/etc.. Instead, it will display songs that you have favorited, the ones that you have recently played and such. This way, it actually manages look quite similar to the Zune HD. Now whether that similarity is a coincidence, we are not too sure about. But it is for the better anyway. All other smartphones in the market have failed to deliver a rich media experience that can rival the iPhone’s. If SE comes through on their promises, we might finally see some real competition for the iPhone.

Although, by that time we are likely to have a new iPhone in our midst and probably something that pushes the envelop far beyond the reaches of the current ‘catch-up’ playing crop. But Android will at least be able to beat the iPhone by the sheer number of devices.

The X10 has generated this much interest because of two important things – Android and Snapdragon. Everyone has been super excited about a new Android phone that will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 1GHz processor. This is not the first Snapdragon Android phone though, that title belongs to Acer Liquid A1. But that one has completely failed to impress and Acer underclocked the chip at just around 700MHz. Not cool.

The XPERIA X10 on the other hand has kept the clock speed at the native 1GHz. Since the phone has not seen a commercial release yet, hands on details are hard to come by. But Engadget (and others) have reviewed a pre-production unit and they have quite a bit to say about the device.

According to them, there is a clear difference in the speed of the device versus the majority of the devices in the market and that is where the Snapdragon really shines. But more clock speed also means more power consumed and that is the part that worries us all. However,  the device tested was only pre-production, so there may be hope yet.

The X10 was reported to lack enough responsiveness and there was apparently a distinct lag during certain functions. So the reviewer wasn’t too impressed by the UI.

It is true that what SE is trying to do with the device is something that is totally different from what they usually do. They are also gunning for pretty big things (Timescape and Mediascape), which have been attempted by several other companies before. And most of them have failed miserably. Take the Motorola CLIQ for instance, with its MOTOBLUR features. It failed make the tinniest impression on most of us. And as a result, it is all but forgotten completely under the whole Droid hype.

It seems like SE knows that they are on to something big here, so they have announced that the new phone will be the flagship of a whole new line of products. I say if their sound quality, camera quality, media features and social network/online communication integration is properly done – we can finally say that the iPhone has some serious competition. And we do want the iPhone to have some competition because it will hopefully drive innovation faster than Apple’s usual fastrate.

In the meantime, what we are asking from Sony Ericsson is really quite a lot and we understand that. So do not get your hopes up yet. Instead, just know that another great Android phone is coming and it may be the first of an entire new line of phones.

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Enjoy the pics