Android Atlas

The HTC Evo 4G is rumored to be receiving a minor software update next week. A source close to Boy Genius Report said that three particular items will be addressed in the update.

Key among the improvements will be an Exchange ActiveSync fix for setting up a new account, PIN policy usage, and more. Also look for a tweak to the Social Networking Sync with Facebook, which should improve battery performance. Rounding out the update will be improvement to the Wi-Fi connection and performance.

Though there's been no official confirmation from Sprint, the source said the target date for … Read more

According to a leaked Verizon memo, the Droid appears poised to see Android 2.2 sometime next month. This would be Motorola's first handset to see the update, even ahead of the just-announced Droid X.

The image, obtained by DroidForums also goes on to pinpoint a timeframe for the Droid X. If true, look for the update to drop four to six weeks after the July 15 debut of the device. As you might recall, during the Droid X event on Wednesday, Motorola said the update would be released during the "last part of summer" so this … Read more

The Motorola Droid X, which debuted this week to mostly a chorus of accolades, gets its zip from silicon provided by Texas Instruments.

Inside the rival to the Apple iPhone 4 is a new TI OMAP 3630 chip, a big upgrade from the 3430 silicon used in the current Motorola Droid. TI got almost a two-fold speed spike from the new OMAP 3630 chip via design modifications and by moving to an advanced 45-nanometer manufacturing process, according to Brian Carlson, OMAP product line manager at Texas Instruments.

"We increased both the graphics and processor performance by over 80 percent," Carlson said in a phone interview, adding that the new process along with chip design tweaks allowed TI to also lower power consumption between 30 percent and 50 percent, depending on what the user is doing.

"The first thing you'll notice is that the Droid X is much snappier, much faster. Web browsing is one of the key areas. Running a (graphics intensive) Web page, comparing the Droid to the Droid X, it goes from about eight seconds down to below five seconds," he said.

Carlson also explained that other factors come into play beyond reaching the 1GHz milestone. "It's not just about the gigahertz. It's about your memory subsystem. Our memory bandwidth and how we feed these (processing) engines make an incredible… Read more

The Android momentum has kicked into even higher gear during the last month, thanks to phones like the Droid Incredible and HTC Evo 4G.

Speaking on Wednesday at the Droid X event,, Google Vice President Andy Rubin stated that there are more than 160,000 Android devices sold and activated every day. That's almost two phones every second. Even more impressive is that Android has grown 60 percent since about one month ago.

At last month's Google I/O conference, Vic Gundotra, Google's vice president of engineering, was first to officially put the figure at 100,000 … Read more

Application developers see Apple's iOS as the top mobile platform for now but have high expectations for Google's Android, according to a survey released Wednesday.

The "Q2 Mobile Developer Survey" (PDF) was conducted by Appcelerator, which makes the Titantium platform for developing mobile and desktop apps. The survey gauged the opinions of mobile app developers on the six major platforms: Apple's iOS, Google's Android, Palm's (now Hewlett-Packard's) WebOS, Microsoft's Phone 7, Nokia's Symbian/Meego, and RIM's BlackBerry.

Among the 2,733 developers surveyed in mid-June, Apple and Android were … Read more

The newly announced Motorola Droid X will feature a familiar virtual keyboard. But the smartphone will also come with Swype, a technology that lets people drag their finger from letter to letter to type out a message.

According to Swype, it makes for a "very accurate" text-input system that offers "very rapid text entry."

But with the Droid X firmly in the Swype camp, the company is looking beyond Motorola to license its technology. And it has its sights set on Apple's iPhone.

In an interview with Reuters, Swype CEO Mike McSherry said one of … Read more

With a revamped design, sparkling new display, speedy processor, and additional features, Apple's iPhone 4 is the biggest upgrade to Apple's smartphone since the iPhone 3G. It's also the showcase handset for Apple's newest operating system, iOS 4, which adds a selection of long-overdue features, plus a selection of smaller tweaks that we weren't expecting.

If they existed independently, iPhone 4 and iOS 4 wouldn't be much more than blips on the smartphone radar screen. When combined into one handset, however, the result is a sleek, satisfying, and compelling device that keeps Apple strongly … Read more

NEW YORK--Google CEO Eric Schmidt made a guest appearance at a press conference here Wednesday where Google, Motorola, and Verizon Wireless unveiled the new version of the popular Android Droid smartphone.

Schmidt took the stage first and touted the importance of the smartphone category.

"This is not a toy or app engine," he said. "It is a powerful kind of operating system. What is happening now is that people are thinking mobile first instead of desktop first."

He cited the importance of a robust wireless network, as well as hardware with fast processors and big screens. … Read more

Here's one way to settle a design debate: call a vote.

At least that's WorldMate's plan when it comes to their app's splash screen. WorldMate, is a longtime maker of a mobile travel app--for multiple platforms--that includes tools like a trip planner, flight status alerts, currency converter, and world clocks.

Starting Wednesday, WorldMate is hoping to drum up excitement for its future Android app, and possibly decide an internal difference of opinion, by asking folks to vote for one of four designs you'd see as the app loads. Just be forewarned that voting is the … Read more