android 2.3

First demoed at CES in January, Vizio's new 8-inch VIA tablet finally has a price and a ship date.

Slated to ship on July 18, the new Android tablet is now available for preorder. Vizio is selling the tablet directly for the full retail price of $399. However, consumers can grab a better deal by ordering it at Costco for $329 or Wal-Mart for $348.

A report from mid-June had already pegged Wal-Mart selling the tablet for $349.

Equipped with Android 2.3 Gingerbread but customized with Vizio's own user interface, the tablet offers an 8-inch, 1,024x768 … Read more

HTC announced today that testing has already begun on the HTC Desire's Gingerbread update. The news comes less than two weeks after HTC promised a stripped-down version of Android 2.3 would indeed arrive.

Readers may recall the recent dust-up when HTC claimed that due to size constraints it would be unable to deliver both Gingerbread and the HTC Sense user interface. The company quickly reversed its statement after a consumer outcry. It's not known for certain how this update will look nor what had to be shelved in order to get it to fit properly.

According to … Read more

According to unconfirmed reports, Verizon is unhappy with recent Gingerbread updates coming out of the Motorola camp. A source close to Droid Life has advised that the carrier is rejecting all current Android 2.3 updates from the handset maker over a growing list of bugs stemming from the recent Droid X update.

Users are reporting problems with random rebooting, Wi-Fi connectivity issues, and a general loss of functionality. Indeed, a quick glance in the Motorola support forums confirms that these are not isolated incidents, and that many of them happened prior to the 2.3 update.

Perhaps it's not a coincidence then that a Gingerbread update for the Droid 2 Global that was expected a few weeks back has yet to come. What's more, a very small number of Droid Pro users were found to have received a Gingerbread update back in late May. Though this is generally a precursor to a large-scale rollout, virtually nothing has happened in the month since.

As of today, neither Verizon nor Motorola has made any statements on the matter. While I wouldn't look for Verizon to say anything public on the subject, Moto may take to its forums to address the problems. The company has a decent track record for acknowledging and forecasting software updates, even as it pertains to shortcomings. In the meantime, a new team of developers is said to be working on Android 2.3 for the Droid X and other Verizon devices. … Read more

We've been waiting a long time for that Huawei phone that puts the lesser-known manufacturer (at least in U.S. circles) on America's smartphone map. It's possible the Huawei Glory (Huawei M886) is the handset to do it.

Our friends at PC Magazine went hands-on with the device, a souped-up Android 2.3 Gingerbread smartphone with a 1.4-GHz Qualcomm MSM8655T processor (Huawei claims it's dual-core, but there's still some debate); a 4-inch TFT LCD screen with 854x480 resolution; and an 8-megapixel camera with LED flash.

The 3G-capable Glory will also come equipped with a 1900 mAH battery, which will hopefully translate into longer battery life, 2GB of onboard memory, and an expansion slot. There are apparently no TV or HDMI-out slots, but Huawei did tell PC Magazine that it has a "surprising" media solution up its sleeves. … Read more

Looks like there's been some lively debate going on inside HTC over the last 24 hours. It's been almost exactly one full rotation of the earth since the company announced--via its HTC UK page on Facebook-- that "we've been forced to accept there isn't enough memory to allow us both to bring Gingerbread and keep the HTC Sense experience on the HTC Desire."

Then, just a short while ago this morning came another very terse post:

"Contrary to what we said earlier, we are going to bring Gingerbread to HTC Desire."

No … Read more

Motorola and Verizon Wireless are expected to deploy Android 2.3 to the Droid X on Friday, May 27. The Gingerbread update is rather sizable at 112MB, but it comes with a host of new features and enhancements including a new download manager app, application grouping, and an updated user interface (see our Samsung Nexus S review for the full Gingerbread features). Additionally, it should be easier to enter numbers and symbols, copy and paste text, and manage contacts.

In addition to the typical stability and general performance tweaks, Verizon has also improved upon the calendar, camera, and e-mail functions. … Read more

Smartphone buyers who've been waiting for the 4G version of the Nexus S can now pick up the new model.

Making its actual debut yesterday, the Samsung Nexus S 4G is available directly from Sprint for $199 with a two-year contract or for $549 without a contract. But Best Buy is offering an even better buy, selling the phone for $150 with the two-year committment.

The new Android phone builds upon the same specs found in the Nexus S offered by T-Mobile but with the faster speed kicked in by Sprint's WiMax network. However, that 4G and other cool new features will take a bite out of your wallet.

Buyers will have to sign up for Sprint's Everything Data plan, which starts at $69 per month. It's an extra $10 a month for the Premium Data Plan add-on. And if you want the mobile hot-spot feature that lets you connect up to six wireless devices, you'll have to throw in another $29 per month.… Read more

What do you get when you merge Android 2.3 Gingerbread with a 1GHz dual-core processor, a 4.3-inch high-end screen, a 2-megapixel front-facing camera, an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera, and 4G capability? Simply Samsung's best smartphone to date.

The Samsung Galaxy S II (first announced at Mobile World Congress) impresses with a long list of top-shelf features that overall deliver. Not every design element is perfect and we weren't always able to maintain 4G-like speeds, a hurdle that's hardly surprising given this model is an unlocked handset that's unoptimized for US networks.

However, the FCC's recent clearance … Read more

Given that four months have passed since Google and Samsung ushered in the Gingerbread era with the release of the Samsung Nexus S, I thought this would be a good time for an update on when version 2.3 might land on your phone.

HTC Of all the manufacturers building Android handsets, HTC is arguably the most vocal in its plans. Take for instance the Desire, Desire HD, and Desire Z, which HTC released in various iterations over the course of 2010. HTC has confirmed that these devices, and the more recent Incredible S, would see Gingerbread in the second … Read more