The first images and preliminary details for Sony Ericsson's presumed Xperia X10 successor have made their way online. And according to the source that passed on the tips to the Unofficial Xperia X10 blog, the device is "very, very slim."
Codenamed Anzu, or X12, the handset should feature a 4.3-inch screen and HDMI output, two increasingly common smartphone characteristics. Given the "HD" markings on the back of the phone, the video camera should record in 1080p resolution. The X10 has an 8.1-megapixel camera, so I would assume this phone has at least that … Read more
It wouldn't be a mobile platform if it didn't have a dedicated Google search app, and this week the Big G ratified Windows Phone 7's competitive existence with a search app of its own--Google Search for Windows Phone 7.
Like others, Google Search uses the phone's GPS to localize searches (on the Samsung Focus, in this case). It hands out search suggestions as you type, but only if you type slowly, we found. It also keeps track of your previous searches, a boon for anyone hoping to bypass typing and repeat a search. Results appear … Read more
Verizon Wireless has just announced the pricing and availability of the Motorola Citrus, which is billed as one of a few eco-friendly Android smartphones. The Citrus will go on sale starting November 11, for $49.99 after a $100 rebate and a new two-year service agreement.
As a reminder, the Motorola Citrus is purportedly made out of 25 percent post-consumer plastic and is made without PVC and BFR. It's an entry-level handset that ships with Android 2.1 and only EV-DO Rev. 0. It also has a 3-inch QVGA display, a 3-megapixel camera, GPS, Wi-Fi, and stereo Bluetooth.
Just last week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg stood before a crowd of journalists (including us) and announced an update of Facebook Places for the iPhone, and the arrival of Facebook Places for Android. Facebook Places, the social network's business listing service, has also just come to BlackBerry.
Facebook 1.9 for BlackBerry has placed Facebook Places as a selection in its navigation strip. Select it, and you're able to check in to a location--like a coffee shop or a concert hall--tag friends, and add an uncharted Place to the listings. There's the full range of management options … Read more
Music subscription service Rdio first gained attention back in June when Kazaa founders originally announced it as their latest foray into the digital music space. The service got official a couple months later with a Web service and apps for Android and iOS devices. Today, Rdio added one mobile OS to the mix: Windows Phone 7.
Much like Slacker for Windows Phone 7, Rdio is designed in deference to the operating system. As such, it, too, has a very Zune-like interface--I'm beginning to sense a theme here. As far as music apps are concerned, Rdio competes much more directly … Read more
An entry-level HTC handset with AT&T markings has been spotted in recent certification documents for the Federal Communications Comission. The device, known as the HTC Paradise, features a four-row sliding QWERTY keyboard, a 3.2-megapixel camera, an optical joystick, and the usual support for an FM radio, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS. According to the FCC papers, the phone is equipped to handle AT&T's 3G bands. Though it should offer HTC Sense, the actual version of Android remains to be seen.
In the pictures associated with the filing, you can see traces of HTC's later … Read more
Slacker Radio, the intuitive online music player that lets you stream a variety of preprogrammed and custom-made radio stations, has been churning out apps for mobile devices for a while now, with the first one coming to Blackberry devices in early 2009. Of course, in the quickly evolving cell phone space, staying relevant means making sure you've got new apps for the latest and greatest mobile operating systems, and right now, the latest is Windows Phone 7.
We got a preview of Slacker for Windows Phone 7 back in October, but the app was officially launched for the OS … Read more
We see plenty of phones with unique designs, but this week Samsung is bringing Verizon customers a shape we haven't seen in awhile. The Samsung Zeal is a dual-hinge messaging phone. Flip it in portrait mode like you would a clamshell phone to see a numeric keypad. Flip it in landscape mode to see an QWERTY keypad.
What's more, the Samsung Zeal's keypads use e-ink, a technology we've seen before in another dual-hinge e-ink phone, the Samsung Alias 2, also for Verizon. As with the Alias 2, the characters on the Zeal's QWERTY keyboard morph … Read more
After weeks of speculation, the Motorola Droid 2 Global is available today to Verizon Wireless customers.
As expected, the Droid 2 Global features a 1.2GHz processor and runs Android 2.2 (Froyo). It has a 3.7-inch display, slide-out QWERTY keyboard, and comes in either white or black. It features 8GB of internal memory and an 8GB preinstalled microSD card. But it's the device's ability to work around the world that will attract customers. According to Verizon, it boasts "Quad Band GSM capabilities to make and receive calls, check e-mail, and more from over 200 countries.&… Read more
Opera Software just unveiled Opera Mobile 10.1 beta for Android tonight, but we've had a chance to play around with a prerelease version for several days. Opera has already had a presence on Android phones in the form of Opera Mini, a Java-based proxy browser that delivers Web pages fed through Opera's servers. Opera Mobile, by contrast, is a standalone HTML browser that can request, render, and display Web content independently of Opera's servers.
On the front end, the two apps look identical, down to the log-in screen and license agreement you'll have to accept before you can begin browsing. Opera Mini 5 and Opera Mobile 10.1 beta both have tabbed browsing, and a signature nine-entry "speed dial" for storing favorite sites. There's also a password keeper, long-press context menus, and support for Opera Link, Opera's service for syncing bookmarks, favorites, notes, and browser history across Opera browsers.
Mobile versus Mini Despite the similarities, there are a couple of significant differences between the two Android browsers. Opera Mini is usually the faster of the two browsers, a move that hearkens back to Opera's days making browsers move quickly on feature phones with slow processors and slow data connections. As a result, Opera's servers compress Web page data; this assures that pages load in a timely manner, but it also reduces text and image resolution quality. Besides that, there's no Flash support.
Opera Mobile, on the other hand, renders images (using its Presto rendering engine) with more clarity. If the browser seems too sluggish for your tastes, you can engage Opera Turbo, Opera's compression engine, to essentially make Opera Mobile adopt Opera Mini's levels of compression and speed. Opera Mobile beta doesn't currently support Flash, although an Opera representative assured CNET that the release version will.
Naturally, we tried out Opera Mobile 10.1 beta and Opera Mini 5 side by side on Android phones. In addition to rendering more clearly, Opera Mobile displays the desktop version of CNET.com, whereas Opera Mini opts for the faster-loading mobile-optimized site, which is also lighter in content and imagery. … Read more
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