Google Nexus 2 gets Android 2.3 Gingerbread
More details are surfacing on Google’s latest hush-hush incarnation of its own-brand smartphone, the Nexus Two. The reportedly Samsung-designed follow-up to last year’s Nexus One has been tipped to be the first handset on the market to come running Android 2.3 – or Gingerbread, as the kids call it.
The updated Gingerbread OS is rumoured to include an updated user interface, improved social networking capabilities and access to an Android music store, although Google remains tight-lipped on whether the handset even exists.
From what details have been leaked so far, the Google Nexus Two looks and feels a lot like the Samsung Galaxy S, with a 4″ AMOLED touchscreen and a black gloss plastic shell. New additions include the now compulsory front-facing camera for all those video calls you’re itching to make.
The Google Nexus Two is expected to get its big debut at a Samsung press event in New York on November 8th. More details when we have them.
Samsung Galaxy Europa review
If you’re in the market for a budget Android phone then chances are you’ll be having a tough time making up your mind as there are so many of the blighters around. The Samsung Galaxy Europa (GT-i5500) offers Wi-Fi, 3G and Bluetooth, along with 140MB of internal memory and a 2.8-inch touchscreen.
At first glance, the Europa looks classy enough with its shiny, black fascia and metallic frame and snappy silver Google logo on the back. However, once you get it in your hand, it feels a little flimsy. The upside of that is that it weighs just 102g meaning that you can barely feel the weight of it in your bag, and measuring in at 56 x 108 x 12.3mm, it’s certainly small and slim enough to fit into your pocket. The glossy back panel means that your phone will be plastered with smudgy fingerprints soon enough and it is something of a dust magnet as well, but the asymmetrically curved back does make it comfortable to hold. Read more 
Nexus Two does exist ?
After going most of the year with very little noise on the Nexus One’s successor — a phone Google has never committed to making, by the way — we’ve gotten a handful of conflicting rumors about this thing in the past few days. Let’s take a swipe at the buzz that’s circulating this week:
- British publication City A.M. says the Nexus Two is a Carphone Warehouse exclusive, will be released in time for the holidays, and probably won’t be made by Samsung.
- Android and Me is convinced that the Nexus Two will in fact be a Samsung product, will be announced at its November 8th press conference, will ship with Android 2.3 Gingerbread (assuming 3.0 is Honeycomb), and will be available on multiple carriers. Read more
Droid 2 update begins with promise of better battery life and more
We’ve receive a number of reports that a 2.3.20 software update for Verizon’s Droid 2 is slowly making the rounds this morning. The OTA push promises a number of improvements and enhancements with the promise of better battery life, faster transitions between WiFi and 3G data connection, and quicker location tracking when using GPS being perhaps the most notable. Here’s the full breakdown as we understand it:
Improvements:
- Improved battery life.
- Heightened proximity sensor accuracy to enable faster screen response.
- View the Weather widget in both landscape and portrait orientation.
- Simpler setup, improved user interactions, and better notifications for Visual Voice Mail.
- Background Email Sync during display inactivity for better user experience.
- Support for email domain suffixes containing more than three characters.
- Keep text messages organized with chronological in-box screen.
- Edit text messages after you’ve inserted a video file.
- Improved audio sound during recorded video playbacks.
- Stream Guided Tour videos on device in Help Center application with ease.
- Faster location tracking during GPS navigation.
- Faster transitions between Wi-Fi and 3G in data connection. Read more
Walgreens now selling $100 Maylong M-150 Android tablet
Kmart may have been the first department store to get into the cheap Android tablet business, but it looks like Walgreens isn’t about to stay out of this race to the bottom — it’s now offering the Maylong M-150 Android tablet for a mere $100. As you can see above, it’s pretty much the tablet of your dreams. Not only does it run Android, but it boasts a familiar iPad design and interface, plus Internet Explorer for a web browser (icon), and access to the always useful “App Market.” As for specs, it looks like you’ll get a 7-inch resistive touchscreen with an 800 x 480 resolution, a 400MHz VIA VM8505+ processor, built-in WiFi, an unspecified amount of built-in flash memory, and a microSD card slot or expansion. Head on past the break for a video, and hit up the source link below if you’re ready to place your order.
The PlayStation Phone
It’s hard to believe that what we’re looking at is real — but we assure you, the picture above is in fact the PlayStation Phone you’ve long been waiting for. As we reported back in August, the device you see is headed into the market soon, likely boasting Android 3.0 (aka Gingerbread), along with a custom Sony Marketplace which will allow you to purchase and download games designed for the new platform. The device snapped up top (and in our gallery below) is sporting a 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8655 (a chip similar to the one found in the G2, but 200MHz faster), 512MB of RAM, 1GB of ROM, and the screen is in the range of 3.7 to 4.1 inches. Looking almost identical to the mockup we hit you with this summer, the handset does indeed have a long touchpad in the center which is apparently multitouch, and you can see in the photos that it’s still bearing those familiar PlayStation shoulder buttons. For Sony buffs, you’ll be interested to know that there’s no Memory Stick slot here, but there is support for microSD cards.
The particular model in these shots is still in prototyping mode. As such, the unit doesn’t have a custom skin (not even SE’s Timescape design seen on the Xperia devices), and is said to be rather buggy. We’re digging into more facts as we speak, but it’s likely that much of what we reported earlier is still accurate, and though the device could still be headed for a 2010 release, 2011 is looking much more realistic. Still, there’s a lot of time between now and the holidays… so keep your fingers crossed!
Samsung Galaxy Tab available in Israel
The Samsung Galaxy is on an all out, world-wide blitz (I’m in defensive NFL mode, its Sunday) ready to take on the ever demanding and popular iPad.
Israel is the latest, adding another location the Samsung Galaxy Tab is available. The tab will be offered exclusively by Cellcom where it’ll cost 89NIS ($25 US) per month in 36 installments, which adds up to 3,604NIS ($900 US). The only Galaxy Tab available is the 16GB version, not the 32GB . If you decide to grab this Galaxy Tab, the purchase requires an additional 89NIS ($25 US) monthly data plan.
Acer Liquid Metal S120 spotted running Android 2.2 on AT&T bands in FCC
Rumors of a 3.6-inch 800 x 480 Liquid Metal handset from Acer have been heating up in recent months. Now the aluminum handset said to be housing an 800MHz Qualcomm MSM7230-1 processor just cleared the FCC sporting GSM/EDGE 850/1900 and WCDMA Band II and V making it the perfect candidate for an AT&T launch. The listing also confirms Android 2.2 Froyo, GPS, Bluetooth, and 802.11b/g/n WiFi on the tested model S120 DVT2 (that’s Design Verification Test 2) prototype. With an October launch set for the UK, well, it won’t be long before we see this babe in North America. A bit of documentary evidence after the break.
Lumigon T1 with ICEpower amplifiers officially unveiled, to arrive 'by the very end of this year'
Just as promised, Denmark-based Lumigon has finally lifted the curtains over its much hyped T1 Android handset. Specs include an 800MHz Freescale i.MX515 chipset with an optional Qualcomm HSDPA modem, along with a 3.5-inch 480 x 800 capacitive touchscreen LCD, 5 megapixel autofocus camera, A-GPS, Bluetooth and FM radio. What the Scandinavian company’s really selling here, though, is the phone’s multimedia features: not only does it have a FM transmitter, a HDMI dock and Bang & Olufsen’s renowned ICEpower audio amplifiers, but it also doubles up as an “innovative” universal remote control for your various AV devices — pretty unique for an Android device, we’ll give you that. Interestingly, the press release omits any mention of Froyo, so here’s a glimmer of hope that Lumigon will manage to skin whatever the latest version of Android will be in time for the launch — a few lucky outlets will receive the phones “by the very end of this year,” just in time for your Christmas refunds.
Winamp comes to Android, one of our childhood dreams is realized
Here’s a blast from the past: Winamp, that mainstay media player of college dorms and LAN parties since time immemorial (er, 1997 or so) has made the leap from PC to handset with the release of Winamp for Android. This bad boy is available for Android 2.1 and up, and features a playback widget for the Android desktop and Last.fm integration. But that ain’t all! If you install Winamp 5.59 beta on your PC, you can sync and manage your libraries via USB or WiFI. Pretty sweet! We only have one questions, really: will it still whip the llama’s ass? Check out the QR code after the break (or search the Android Market) for the mobile app.
AIVAnet 