When the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 came out, about 6 months ago, it was one of the highest spec’d Android phones available. With it’s 8.1MP camera, and 1Ghz SnapDragon processor as well as a 4 inch touchscreen, it still can hold its own with the flagship phones of today (Droid X and HTC EVO 4G). But there’s one little thing holding it back, and that’s the fact that it STILL runs Android 1.6 and that’s not suppose to change till later this year. But the good news for AT&T users, is that you should soon have yet another option in Android. Just passing AT&T’s technical review, it’s said to be available “in the coming weeks”, which could be sometime next month. We don’t want to know what AT&T is going to do to the phone meanwhile, but let’s hope they don’t chain it up too much. No other immediate info is available, but look for it around $200 on a new two year contract.
Is anyone still excited about this phone like they were at the beginning of 2010?
Something about all the Android phones out today is that they all seem to have one of two form factors. Either a large touchscreen only device, or one with a sliding (or flipping) keyboard. Enter the Acer beTouch E130. It has a monoblock qwerty form factor that will have previous Blackberry and some Windows Mobile users feeling right at home.
Featuring a 2.6-inch QVGA touch screen, 256MB of RAM, 512MB of ROM, and a 416 MHz processor and runs Android 1.6 as well as an optical trackpad. Now just looking at those specs you would think it’s the worst Android phone ever. But without a huge screen you probably won’t be running many medi-acentric applications. And the form factor will probably appeal most to texters and emailers.
All cheesy post titles aside, TmoNews is reporting that T-Mobile US is starting to deliver OTA Donut (Android 1.6) updates to select G1 handsets as of midnight last night, and select myTouch handsets later on tonight. As with the previous Cupcake update, it’s very slow at first, presumably to catch and issues before everyone can be affected. And if all goes well, everyone (excluding rooted, custom ROM phones) will get a delicious box of Donuts in their inbox. It comes as no surprise since they updated the My Account application just last night to be Donut-compatible.
Drop us a comment if you have gotten an update yet, or if you haven’t and just want to share your excitement. And we’ll keep you posted once we dig up a link to the official firmware for those wishing to do manual updates.
And in case you’ve been under a rock, here’s what the update brings:
An improved Android Market experience that makes it easier to discover great applications.
An integrated camera, camcorder, and gallery interface.
Updated Voice Search, with faster response and deeper integration with native applications, including the ability to dial contacts.
Updated search experience that make it easier to search various sources, such as browser bookmarks & history, contacts, music, and the web, directly from the home screen.
I know the question you have all been asking is: When will I see Donut on my phone? Well here’s the answer, straight from Google: “You can expect to see devices running Android 1.6 as early as October.”
As far as the features of Android 1.6 itself, we have QVGA and WVGA screen resolutions, new telephony APIs to support CDMA (Like the upcoming Sprint Hero), gesture APIs, a text-to-speech engine, and the ability to integrate with Quick Search Box. A more in depth list of updates is outlined here on the Android Developer’s site. Or you can watch the video below:
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