Android

When Is an Android Device Not an Android Device?

When the Grid 10 was announced by the ever-reliable Chandra Rathakrishnan last month, it was said to run Android apps but not be an Android device. This was later clarified to mean that it is actually an Android kernel running the show, but thoroughly skinned and possibly even forked to a version of Android incompatible with future Google-backed updates. We’ll see someday, maybe. Now TechCrunch is reporting that Amazon’s long-rumored tablet will be hitting the market in a couple months, running a completely forked Android kernel. This one is apparently pre-2.2 (how far pre is undefined) and has been so modified…

Editorials

To iPad or Not to iPad?

It’s simply the latest variation of that popular topic: is your [thing] better than my [thing], or is it the other way ’round? Wine, or beer? Ford or GM? Tastes great, or less filling? Mac or PC? “Firefly” or “Buffy”? (“Firefly”, dammit!) Yesterday, your faithful Gear Diary team was hashing over the topic of iPad, or Android tablet. As you might expect with a collection of Appleheads, PC mavens, UNIX and Linux folks, and all the rest, it got heated, involved, and nerdly. It started with a friendly discussion between Francis and Joel as to which device Joel might…

News & Features

New Sony Reader Leaks — How Badly Do They WANT to Fail???

Big news if you’re a Sony fan! A Dutch site has leaked pictures and specifications of the new Sony Readers. (The same ones Sony has been denying were coming) They look…well, let’s check out the specs and then I’ll give my opinion. Translated from Google: Description The Sony PRS-T1 watching his brother looks on Mobile, the Xperia, with its curves and high quality chrome finish. Thin and light, so easy to take. The Sony PRS-T1 weighs only 168 grams. The screen is of the highest quality and provides optimal reading conditions. And while the battery will not suffer it. The Sony PRS-T1 read it one…

Editorials, News & Features

Yet Another Reason Why It Seems Android Users Love to Relive Their Windows Suffering

I have been an Android user since 2009, and have no intent on switching. But let’s be honest – in many ways the OS mirrors DOS and Windows. For example, on my original Droid, the split between the internal storage and SD card was absurd – I would have 14GB of memory on my SD card, but get ‘low memory’ warnings trying to install a 2MB app because nothing would let itself be installed in ‘HIMEM.SYS’. Another Windows-like behavior? The Add/Remove Control Panel – or, the ‘Manage Applications’ system item. This is the place you go to move apps to…

News & Features

Putting Android Tablet Sales In (Humorous) Perspective

The iPad is not yet 1.5 years old, and Android tablets are approaching their first anniversary. But while one product is mature and selling well, the other is still struggling to find success, and with some good reasons – the fragmentation that plagues Android smartphones is worse on tablete; app compatibility restrictions are often nonsensical; and the core design choices made are often counter-intuitive. Marco Arment, the creator of InstaPaper and Marco.org has put together an amusing look at how the sales of all Android tablets compare to sales of some obscure video game console ‘failures’. HP hasn’t released any…

Reviews

The AT&T HTC Status Android Mobile Phone Review

If you are a Facebook junkie who can’t go for even five minutes without checking in, then I may have found the perfect phone for you. HTC recently brought one their two Facebook-integrated phones to the US; somewhere along the way, the device formerly known as the ChaCha became the Status. You may remember that the ChaCha was the candy-bar style Android phone with full QWERTY keyboard that so impressed me at Mobile World Congress — mainly because its keyboard blew away the one on the BlackBerry Bold I was using while traveling. the phone formerly known as “ChaCha”, shown without its AT&T logo in Barcelona…

Editorials

Twin Posts of Different Bloggers: C’mon people … we can do better than THIS!

We each wrote a post about a rumor that took on a life of its own and, in the process, lowers the credibility of all of us. With apologies to Dan Fogelberg and Tim Weissberg, the posts really are “Twin Posts of Different Bloggers” so we thought we would combine them into one. First up… Michael’s post… And THIS is How Unconfirmed Rumors Become Fact Yesterday at TechCrunch I saw this article talking about “Android’s Dirty Secret: Shipping Numbers Are Strong But Returns Are 30-40%“. I sent a message linking it to the Gear Diary team, but said: Wow ……

News & Features

Gear Diary Video Round-Up

Last week saw us post a larger number of videos than ever. In them we took a first look at the AT&T Status phone running Android 3.2.2, Carly talked to us about the benefits of Chromebooks and why they might be a great choice for you and we launched not one but two contest/giveaways. Missed any of them? Well we’ve gather all of them together along with links to each post… Gear Talk: iPad 2 Case Roundup Read It! Judie’s Orbino Padova for iPad 2 Has Arrived: Here’s a First Look Read It! Gear Giveaway: Judie Attended Intel’s Upgrade…

Editorials

The Ballad of an Android Fan…

I’ve talked before about my Motorola Droid. We’ve had a love/hate relationship over the last 18 months or so, but all good things must come to an end. Ours has a specific end date, as I am up for a new phone on August 12th. Unfortunately, none of the Android offerings on Verizon have me terribly excited, and in fact, I’m questioning whether an Android phone is my next step. It started when I headed to Verizon Wireless’s site to check out their phone selection. The Thunderbolt, Charge, and Revolution are all 4G LTE, which is intriguing and a good…

Gear Bits, News & Features

Androids in SPAAAAAACE!

image courtesy Brighthand When the alien invaders arrive, they’ll no doubt swing by the International Space Station for a quick rest stop before invading Earth. Let’s hope they’re fans of open source software and not iOS fans since they’ll find Samsung Nexus S phones powering several satellites there. According to Brighthand: SPHERES were created by a group of undergraduate students at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in conjunction with the Department of Defense and NASA, in 1999. Present on the International Space Station since 2006, SPHERES are individual satellites self-contained with propulsion, power, navigation and computing. Each SPHERE was designed with an…

Gear Bits

Unboxing the Toshiba Thrive Android 3.1 Tablet

Yeah, I did it. I picked up the new Toshiba Thrive Android 3.1 Honeycomb Tablet. I’m just starting to check it out, but here is a quick unboxing video. More later…

Editorials

LG G2X Screen Bleeding Issues Continue; No More Returns Accepted at T-Mobile

(If you aren’t familiar with the ongoing issues Francis has had with his G2X, be sure to see his initial explanation here: Original G2X Screen Bleed Article) Last week I wrote up a quick post about sending in my G2X to T-Mobile due to excessive screen bleeding issues. After receiving a new phone, returning a phone, and two more chats with T-Mobile representatives I’m sitting here with the same phone I started out with. If you are unaware of the screen bleeding issues check out my post here, or pretty much any G2X forum anywhere on the web and you are…

Gear Bits

Toshiba Thrive Tablet Gets a “Special” Sneak Peek Unboxing via YouTube

Image courtesy of Gizmodo If you’ve seen one unboxing video, then you’ve seen well….Unboxing videos are a great first look at a device but Toshiba is stepping it up with their latest Sneak Peek. I saw this first on my twitter timeline and after a few dozen RT’s I figured it was worth a look. The video steps out of the normal boundaries of unboxing and adds some serious creativity. Even though The actual device is not even shown in the video, it’s definitely worth two minutes of your life. The Thrive is Toshiba’s first Android tablet, and it has a…

Reviews

T-Mobile HTC Sensation Android Phone Review

It is increasingly difficult to review phones running the Android operating system these days. After all, there seems to be a new Android handset every other day and, more and more, the difference between one and another of them can be rather small. This is an even bigger challenge when you look at the field of Android tablets, since their specs seem to be exactly the same with only the subtlest of differences from one to the next. There are, of course, factors that can weigh into which Android phone one chooses. Among them, of course: How large is the…

News & Features

ARCHOS Unveils Fastest Tablets with G9 Tablet Range

Archos pulled a bit of a stunner today with the announcement of new tablets that feature a huge amount of both raw speed and storage capacity. The speed comes from OMAP 4 processors with an ARM® Cortex™ dual-core A9 running at an impressive 1.5 GHz. The large storage comes from a Seagate Hard Disk Drive (HDD) with 250GB of capacity. According to the release: The 8” ARCHOS 80 G9 and 10” ARCHOS 101 G9 are powered by AndroidTM 3.1 “Honeycomb,’’* the latest Android version. ARCHOS G9 tablets come with Google’s full suite of mobile applications and Android MarketTM, giving users…

Editorials

My Heart Bleeds as Much as the Screen on My LG G2X; Warranty Phone #1 Is on the Way

LG recently brought all their IPS goodness to Android with the Introduction of the T-Mobile G2X. Before getting this phone I was happily running a HD2 that still holds a spot on my shelf as my number one backup phone. With more dual core superphones launching by the minute, LG really had not dropped a flagship into the Android Community. The specs on the phone are at the top of most lists with a 4″ IPS screen, Dual Core Nvidia Tegra, and TMO AWS bands topping 14.1 Mbps. The phone shipped with a *stock version of Android 2.2 with a…

Reviews

Android WiFi Tablet Review: The HTC Flyer and HTC Scribe Digital Pen

Judie: When I attended Mobile World Congress earlier this year, there was one device which stood out for me above all others — the HTC Flyer. The Flyer is an aluminum-bodied 7″ Android tablet; my introduction to it came while I was still carrying a Samsung Galaxy Tab daily, and I could not get over how much better the Flyer looked and how much more solidly built it felt. It was positively Apple-esque, and that is not a bad thing. Couple that with the matching aluminum digital pen which suddenly made note-taking and doodling seem like some long-lost table feature…

Events

First Look: Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

There is no question that it is thin and fast, but is the new Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 a contender? That’s the question Francis and I had at this evening’s Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 event in Manhattan. The event, sponsored by NetShelter in conjunction with Samsung, gave us the opportunity to check out the latest Honeycomb tablet. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 will be released in limited quantity next week. How limited? We learned tonight that it will be released in one Best Buy store in New York initially. That’s one way to try and ensure Apple-esque lines at a device…

Editorials

Tablets Galore: A Quick Look at The iPad 2, HTC Flyer and Asus EEE Pad Transformer

I’ve been checking out a number of different tablets and, for a brief period, had more than usual at home at one time. Here’s a brief, biased look at three current offerings: one awesome, one quite impressive and one that did not impress at all. (Spoiler Alert/Disclaimer: the EEE Pad Transformer had not been updated to the Honeycomb 3.1 update that will be available tomorrow. It MAY improve some of the performance issues. No update, however, can fix the cheap plastic feel, the single microphone’s bad speech recognition performance and the tinny speakers.)

Editorials

“The iPod touch Effect”, or Why RIM Could Have Been a Contender… but Isn’t

Yesterday a post on Cult of Mac related some bad news for the Canadian-based RIM. They noted, “Realizing its failure, the handset maker is ready to surrender to Apple in the consumer ring, and focus on its business roots… an arena which iPhone is also increasingly dominating.” Their comment was, in part, based on a report from Wunderlich Securities analyst Matthew Robison who reported, “We no longer anticipate Research in Motion recovering to participate in the mainstream of smartphone industry growth,” As a result Robison cut RIM’s target price from $76 to $46. I expect they are correct in their…

eBooks, Reviews

B&N NOOKcolor Software Update and App Store Review

When I reviewed the NOOKcolor back in December, I was very impressed with it, and the device has only improved with time. B&N’s latest update is a dramatic one, adding Android 2.2, flash, an app store, and several other small tweaks and goodies. Is this update enough to lure users with promises of a more tablet-like experience? Read on to find out! (If you’re not familiar with the NOOKcolor, head over to my review to get a decent overview of where it started, since this article focuses mainly on the new changes and additions.) Section One, Apps: This…

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