The Android Site

Perhaps a bit steep at $6.99 just for a theme, but Elecite has a HTC Hero, Sense UI theme for your Blackberry Bold, Storm, Tour and 8900 series device. But if you’re locked into a Blackberry for the foreseeable future, this might be the only way to get your Android fix. Here’s the full details on the theme, and check out the video below for a full demo of what you’re dishing out 7 bucks for:

The massive homescreen allows for 5-6 customizable icons, profiles/manage connections buttons, a Today page with hidden today items for phone log, messages and calendar icons, a Media page with quick access buttons to music, media and pictures, and finally, a dedicated menu for quick access to your options, contacts, and more.

[Product Page] [via CrackBerry]

Ben Marvin Software Android, Blackberry, theme

Ben Marvin Archos, Hardware, News, Video Android, Archos, Archos 5, Hardware, Internet Media Tablet, News, Video

While there’s already portions of the Android Donut code in various ROMs floating around, such as the Cyanogen Experimental ROM, it has yet to trickle down to carrier releases and general public consumption. But just to give you a *taste* of what’s right around the corner, a giant donut joins the Cupcake and the Android Robot outside the GooglePlex in California.

[via Phandroid]

Ben Marvin Google, News Android, donut, Google, Pictures

Not much to say here. There current rumor is that the sequel to the HTC Touch HD will be running the latest Android instead of Windows Mobile 6.1 or 6.5 like most other HTC handsets. Other rumored features are said to be a 100Mhz bump in processor speed from 528Mhz to 628.

[via Unwired View]

Ben Marvin HTC, Rumors Android, HD2, HTC, Rumors, Touch HD2, Windows Mobile

Flyscreen is an application that came from non-smart phones, and is just now being worked for Android, and soon Blackberry devices. Like the Symbian version, it’s essentially a layer on top of your normal Android lock screen that gives you access to widgets and RSS feeds. Integrating Twitter, Facebook, or your favorite blog, and access to weather and news. And it’s not just a one-way information center, there’s also sharing options and integrated search. If it catches on, people are going to be spending a lot more time on their lock screen than just checking the time or battery life.

TechCruch is giving away 1,000 invites to try out the application before it’s released to the general public. Not sure if they’re all used up or not, but you can still head over to the FlyScreen site and check out all the features of this unique application. We have yet to try it ourselves (still waiting on an invite) but you can be sure we’ll put it through its paces.

[FlyScreen via TechCrunch]

Ben Marvin Software Android, Facebook, Flyscreen, lockscreen, News, Software, Twitter, weather, widgets

This is the Sunno S880 a new smart phone headed to China around the middle of October. What makes is unique is that it will be running Android and Windows Mobile. It’s unclear if it’s a dual-boot configuration or simultaneous running of both OSes. Specs include a 806MHz processor, 8-MP camera, 3.6″ WVGA display, GPS navigation, Wi-Fi connectivity and 128MB or 256MB RAM. No word on if this will be coming to Europe or North America, but you can bet people will at least be talking about it.

[Read via Cloned In China]

Ben Marvin Hardware, News, Pictures Android, China, Chinese, Dual OS, GPS, Hardware, News, Sunno S880, Wifi, Windows Mobile

The so called Dell Mini 3i was unveiled at a live demonstration in China today. And we’re seeing the first decent shots of Dell’s entry into the Android smartphone market. Don’t get too excited yet, it’s only coming to China as far as we know. Specs include a 360×640 3.5 inch touchscreen, Bluetooth, GPS, 3MP camera (with a flash), 950mAh battery, MicroSD slot, and no 3G. And it will be running the Android-derived “OPhone 1.0″ OS, aka Open Mobile System, which is more or less China Mobile’s flavor of Android.

It’s a fine looking piece of hardware, but the specs are meager. Lets hope Dell has something to bring to the North American and European markets sometime soon. Hit the link for more shots.

[163.com translated via TechCrunch]

Ben Marvin Dell, Hardware, News Android, China, China Mobile, Chinese, Dell, Hardware, Mini 3i, News, Pictures

Dennis Strigl, chief operating officer of Verizon confirmed that at least one Android handset is on the way to Verizon. With the recent news of CDMA support in coming versions of Android, we knew it would only be a matter of time before the hardware was available. And it’s good to see big players like Verizon jumping into the Android arena and giving some robot love to their customers. He didn’t share too many details as far as when we would see something, or what handsets it might be, only saying “Android is on our roadmap, we have a great device lineup.”

With carrier roadmaps getting leaked like they do these days, hopefully there will be more details coming soon.

[via Wired]

Ben Marvin News Android, CDMA, News, Verizon

Yet another Android handset from a rather unknown manufacturer. Available from a Russian company called Vobis Computer, and previously known as a Windows Mobile handset called the Mobinnova Ice. The handset is called the HighScreen PP5420, and it appears to already be on sale in Russia only for 15,990 Rubles, or about $514USD. The unique selling point is the secondary touch-sensitive OLED display that replaces the trackball on most of the other Android handsets we’re familiar with. As well as being the first Android handset for Russia. Hit the link for the full the specs.

[HighScreen PP5420 (Translated page)] [via Unwired View]

Ben Marvin Hardware Android, handsets, Hardware, HighScreen PP5420, OLED, Russia, Vobis Computer, Windows Mobile

Hot on the heels of the HTC Hero announcement is what seems to be HTC tooting their own horn a little. They seem to be very proud that the HTC Hero will be the first Android phone to support Adobe Flash, and rightly so. Flash seems to be one of the most desired features requested on smartphones for the past 5 years. Although curiously, not many users want to switch to a Symbian device for it. No matter, we knew it was coming and here it is, before the iPhone, before Palm, before Blackberry. Android is on the cutting edge here.

Don’t forget to check out the video link at the bottom, not only is the Flash demo impressive, but there’s some awesome up close shots of the HTC Hero. Oh, and did you notice he’s using multi-touch?

SAN JOSE, Calif. and LONDON – June 24, 2009 - Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) and HTC, a global designer of mobile phones, today announced that the new HTC Hero is the first Android phone to ship with support for Adobe® Flash® Platform technology. The new phone delivers a more complete Web browsing experience and provides access to a broad variety of Flash technology based content available on the Web today.

“As the first Android device with Flash, the new HTC Hero represents a key milestone for Android and the Flash Platform. With close to 80 percent of all videos online delivered with Adobe Flash technology, consumers want to access rich Web content on-the-go.” said David Wadhwani, vice president and general manager, Platform Business Unit at Adobe. “The collaboration with HTC offers people a more complete Flash based Web browsing experience today and presents an important step towards full Web browsing with Flash Player 10 on mobile phones in the future.”

The new HTC Hero is a key element of the HTC experience and a new generation of HTC mobile phones and devices. Users can browse and discover a broad set of Web content and applications not supported by mobile phones in the past. People can also view YouTube videos using Flash technology, and enable full screen viewing mode by simply double tapping the screen.

“Adobe Flash is an important core technology for people interacting and experiencing the Web, it is only natural to be offering it on the new HTC Hero first,” said John Wang, chief marketing officer, HTC Corporation. “We look forward to continuing our close collaboration with Adobe and to bringing Flash Player 10 support to our phones in the future.”

The HTC Hero delivers powerful, compatible video playback performance using Flash technology, and interactive content enabled by ActionScript® 2.0. Users can enjoy and navigate through Web videos using intuitive video controls. With progressive streaming of large MP3 audio files from a Web server and the local file storage, the HTC Hero provides a seamless audio experience. Support for Sorenson and On2 VP6 codecs enables higher quality video and playback of existing Web content. A demo of the user experience enabled by the Flash Platform on the HTC Hero and the Android operating system can be viewed at www.adobe.com/go/htchero.

Ben Marvin Uncategorized Adobe Flash, Android, Flash, HTC, HTC Hero, Press Release