Leaked HTC Roadmap Reveals 5 Android Handsets and 3 WinMo Stunners

Handset leaks are all part of the mobile marketing plan, we all get very excited, or disheartened when we catch a glimpse of an alleged handset. When a leak hits the big time, for those few days the device in question gets more attention than page 3 of the sun. Sometimes, revelations are taken a step further and we get actual dates, specs and images all at the same time. This leak is of epic proportion, because what we’ve got here is what looks like HTC’s entire Q1 -Q2 2010 roadmap.

First -The Android Generation.

 

As you can see they’ve been split into different sections to optimise market reach. Let’s take a look at the different categories and the handsets (albeit codenamed) that fall within them.

Design / Lifestyle:

• HTC Legend. Spec-wise it’s very similar to the HTC Hero, as is the design. The Legend’s an Android handset with a 3.2″ capacitive touchscreen. Key features include the 5mp camera, GPS, WiFi and 3G. It’ll run on a pretty snappy 600MHz Qualcomm CPU and carries 256MB of RAM. It’s expected to arrive sometime in March 2010. 
• HTC Salsa. The QWERTY option, it’s got a 2.6″ landscape QVGA touchscreen and there’s WiFi, 3G, and GPS onboard. The Salsa has a 3.2mp camera and will be available from June 2010.

Social:

• HTC Tide. This device is heavy on the social networking side of things with integrated Twitter, Facebook, and Microsoft Exchange email. The Tide comes with a 3.2mp snapper and has the usual connectivity options onboard. This will make an appearance around April 2010.
• HTC Buzz. Another handset with socialites in mind. It’s got creativity written all over it with customisable back covers, similar to the Tattoo. It has a 3.2″ screen, and again features all your usual connectivity suspects. We can expect to see this next May.

Performance:

• HTC Bravo. The single shining light in the performance category is the HTC Bravo. Sporting a 3.7″ AMOLED touchscreen, with HD 720p video recording capabilities as well as DivX support, this will be HTC’s multimedia giant. Running on a 1GHz Snapdragon CPU this will leap onto the market in April next year.

 Next - The WinMo Handsets.

 

All of the Windows Mobile Handsets run on V6.5 and all fall under the same title.

Productivity:

• HTC Photon. Sporting the largest screen of the bunch the Photon grabs a sufficient 3.2″. It has a 5mp camera and all the connectivity options we spoke of in the Android section. The Qualcomm MSM7227 comes in at 600MHz and it will be showing us exactly what it can do in April 2010.
• HTC Trophy. This is pretty much identical to the Photon, except it has a slightly smaller screen coming in at 3″. The 5mp camera’s onboard as well as all those connectivity options we are used to. But we’ll have to wait until May 2010 to spot the differences.
• HTC Tera. The odd-one-out so to speak. The only Full QWERTY Slider of the group. There’s a 3megapixel camera to flaunt and again a host of connectivity options. This is another April bloomer.

 

T-Mobile G1 Updated to RC30, No More Jailbreak, No Weird Bugs

Google sure does act pretty fast when it’s concerning their baby Android huh? Only a few days after we first reported that the T-Mobile G1 has been ‘jailbroken’ and allowed root access to the phone, Google has come good with an update (build RC30) that prevents this from happening.

Google speaks:

We’ve been notified of this issue (Jailbreaking of Android) and have developed a fix. We’re currently working with our partners to push the fix out and updating the open source code base to reflect these changes.

 

Over at the Android Central Headquarters, we’ve already received the fix OTA and have been rocking RC30 for over a day now. The RC30 update also fixes that very weird bug that would reboot the phone every time you type r-e-b-o-o-t. Tell us if you got it!

[Gizmodo]

Google Android T-Mobile G1 jailbroken and uses Debian?

Google may have pushed out recent firmware updates for the Google Android T-Mobile G1, but it seems they weren’t quite quick enough for one hacker. Apparently Jay Freeman who just happens to be the author of such Apple iPhone programs as Cydia, Winterboard and Cycorder, has managed to get Debian running on the jailbroken T-Mobile G1.

The word is Debian and Android played along just fine with each other giving you a completely unassuming G1 by day but by night giving you a nerd G1 without losing any functionality.

Installation isn’t that easy as you would expect, but if you have the knowledge of installing Linux applications on other devices it shouldn’t be too difficult.

Source – modmygphone

How to Turn your G1 into a tethered 3G modem

Though expressly against T-Mobile’s terms and conditions, some clever chap over at the TmoNews forums has put together a step-by-step guide to tethering the G1 to a computer so that it can be used as a 3G modem.

Now, in an ideal world, we’d run our own step-by-step guide to this process but, as we still haven’t been loaned a G1 review sample, we can’t – sorry. However, TmoNews poster bdogg64’s instructions seem pretty clear, if a tad convoluted (though he can hardly be blamed for detailing the process). More after the cut.

Essentially, bdogg64 explains how to connect a G1 - which went on sale just last week - to a Windows/Linux/Mac computer via USB before enabling a proxy server on the G1. A bit of a faff, sure, but we’re some will consider it worth it for the tethering ability. It’s also reminiscent of the method employed by NetShare on the iPhone, before that program was pulled from the App Store by Apple.

However, be warned again that doing this does violate T-Mobile’s terms and conditions. Note that we didn’t say 'might', as others are reporting: tether in this manner and you will break T-Mobile’s rules (and therefore face, er... well, we’re not sure – a call from a slighly-cross T-Mobile customer-services assistant, perhaps?). Here’s the pertinent bit of T-Mobile’s legals: "Remember that you can only use web'n'walk in the UK and you can't use your phone as a modem or use web'n'walk for peer to peer file sharing.". That’s about as clear as legalese ever gets, so T-Mobile can at least be applauded for that. 

source:mobilecomputermag.co.uk

Ways to get to root of your android G1

Many people were surprised that root was disabled on the production T-mobile G1's, and everyone knew that we would eventually get root access, but who knew it'd be this easy?!? Some users at XDA-Developers and android-dls.com have discovered a simple hack to enable root access.

Here are the steps you can take:

1. Download and install a terminal emulator on your phone. (Click here for Term.apk)
2. Make sure your phone is not connected to your PC and open up the Terminal Emulator and run 'telnetd'
3. Now telnet into your phone from your PC (run 'netstat' in the terminal emulator to get the phone's IP)
4. In the telnet terminal you are now root!

5. (optional) To permanently enable root access you can create an "su" command in /system/bin (Warning: creating su on your system could make you vulnerable to malicious software. You could name it something besides su, but you could still be vulnerable):

mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
cd /system/bin
cat sh > su
chmod 4755 su

Now you can fire up the Terminal Emulator and run "su" to be root.

It's likely that the next system update will fix this hole, but until then enjoy having full access to everything on your phone!

Source:helloandroid.com

A jailbreak for Google's Android

Hackers have found a way to circumvent controls in the Google Android operating system used on T-Mobile's G1 mobile phone, allowing them to get around restrictions created by the phone's designers.

The hack gives G1 users a way to read data on parts of the phone that are normally walled off and could be used to install new programs, or even a new operating system, on the mobile phone. Currently, programs for the open-source Android operating system must be written in Java, rather than other popular programming languages such as C or C++.

Details on how to gain superuser "root" access to the phone were posted Tuesday to an Android development forum. Step-by-step instructions have also been published online.

Source: hackinthebox.org

mocoNews.net - HTC Releases Its G1 Sales Forecasts, But Are They To Be Believed?

HTC is finally going public with the number of G1 phones it expects to sell by the end of the year?600,000 is the figure it is offering up. But is the company intentionally lowballing its forecast?

Sales projections are a tricky game for device manufacturers. It's an opportunity for companies like Apple ( NSDQ: AAPL) and HTC to boast about how well they plan their products to perform, but it's also a chance to appear surprised later when they outperform their own forecasts. Apple recently surpassed its long-stated goal of selling 10 million iPhones by the end of 2008. By year's end, the number could be closer than 15 million, in which case financial analysts would likely heap praise on the company.

Is HTC setting itself up for a similar power punch? Leading up to CEO Peter Chou's interview with the Mercury News where he first mentioned the 600,000 number, pre-sales estimates were all over the map from 70,000 to 1.5 million (although the latter was rightfully slammed for using tortured math). We called HTC for more elaboration on the 600,000 figure and will update this post when we hear back from them.

After spending more than $10 million and almost three years in development, HTC launched the first Google-branded phone with T-Mobile earlier this week. Leading up to its launch, HTC had a team of employees camped out at Google ( NSDQ: GOOG) headquarters for almost a year, Chou said. "Of course we are not de-prioritizing Windows Mobile by any means. However, with Android we can do more." He wouldn't dive into 2009 predictions, but said HTC is confident it can carve out its niche in a market that includes the likes of Apple and BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion. Apple has driven a lot of hype around the potential of smartphones, and HTC benefits from that as well, he said. But how can it steal potential iPhone buyers? "HTC products are very pragmatic and productive. We have spent a tremendous effort to make our product better? It may not be as sexy as others. But it's very nice, very mature and a very good experience." HTC also believes it can drive interest around the G1 because of its keyboard. Chou: "Americans are very keyboard-oriented." 

Source: washingtonpost.com

T-Mobile employees clueless about the G1

It appears that many T-Mobile stores tell customers that they do not sell the G1 because they are out of the 3G coverage area. Although all of the stores may have the large posters of the G1 and even a demo model many are saying they don’t sell them, when in reality you can purchase one wherever you are located within the US.

Whether or not the employees are well informed or not, the store may not have them in stock, but they can order one for you. Many people have been turned away which in some cases persuade the customer not to even bother trying to get the phone when it is as simple as ordering it. Neil Gaiman was a victim of the ignorance of others, writing about it on his blog. It strikes us as odd to read that the employees did not seem to know what it was they were talking about.

“I opened the Google window and found myself looking at an advert for a G1 phone. A couple of clicks later I was on the T-mobile website, checking prices and thinking, “Well, I do need a new phone…”

But randomly buying a phone I haven’t even held seemed like, well, something that I couldn’t imagine myself doing. I wanted to hold it. I wanted to know the specs and such, so I put dog in the back of the car and drove to the local T-Mobile shop.

I knew I was in the right place because there were huge posters everywhere, some bigger than I was, all advertising the new t-Mobile G1.

“Hello,” I said, like a man entering a cheeseshop. “I’d like to play with a G1, please.”

There was a man and a woman behind the counter. They said they were sorry but they didn’t have a G1 for me to play with.

“When will you get them in?”

“We won’t get them in.”

“No?”

“No.”

“Look, are we talking about the same thing? G1 phone. The one on that poster. And that poster. And that one…” The posters were staring at me from the counter. They were all around me.

“No. We won’t sell it. We’re out of the range and the Google and things that the phone comes with, they won’t work on it.”

I pulled out my phone, a Nokia N 73, with a T-Mobile SIM card, that happily spends much too much time on the internet doing, er, Google and things. “But this works here…”

“The G1 won’t work. It won’t do the Google here. So we aren’t allowed to sell it.”

“But….” I tried to think with this. then I said, “But you have posters.” I gestured at them. All pictures of the phone in question, extolling its virtues and explaining that you could only get it here.

“We’re a T-Mobile franchise. They send them to us. That’s what we have to put up. The posters they send.”

“Well, can we talk about the G1 specs?”

“We don’t know them.” The man and the woman behind the counter seemed very sad about this. The man added, wistfully,”We don’t even know the price.”

I knew the price, from the website earlier, and I felt guilty about this.

“They have them in the Twin Cities,” said the woman. “You could buy one there.”

“But if I buy it there, it still won’t work here?”

“No,” she said, with sadness and with, I suspect envy in her voice. “but they sell it.”

There was a bit of a pause. I think I may have said, “Sorry about the posters,” as I went out, or I may have just thought it very loudly. They all had pretty pictures of the G1 on them, a phone I don’t think I’m going to bother getting.”

[Via Neil Gaiman's Journal]

T-Mobile and Google roll out the G1 handset in the U.S.

TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) -- T-Mobile USA Inc. and Google rolled out in the U.S. the G1 mobile-phone handset, the first phone powered by the Mountain View, Calif., search-engine giant's (GOOG:

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GOOG 354.00, -8.75, -2.4%) Android operating system. The T-Mobile G1 has a touch screen and a Qwerty keyboard and comes loaded with applications like Google Maps Street View, Gmail, YouTube, and more, Google and the Deutsche Telekom unit said. And it offers access to Android Market, which provides "unique applications and mashups of existing and new services from developers" worldwide, they said. Consumers can buy the G1, targeted as a rival to Apple's (AAPL:

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Source: marketwatch.com

BreadCrumbz G1 Android app plots Point A to Point B

BreadCrumbz (beta) is another one of the new Android apps I like. I got a run-through of the free multimedia directions app a few months ago with the developer, and I gave it a spin on my own here in San Francisco. BreadCrumbz uses GPS, Google maps, and the G1's camera phone to help you track a route, like directions from the train station to your house.

You essentially start a new route, take photos along the way to mark the path, and label everything with helpful hints. You can tag an image and annotate it with an arrow or other signs to show your viewers what they're looking at; for instance, the hidden staircase leading to that exclusive restaurant. Voice recording will come in time, but right now the button goes nowhere.

BreadCrumbz also clocks the distance and walking or driving time between points, to give whoever plays the route a gauge. The context menu pulls up more options to plot yourself on a map and get an animated compass. Mapped directions is another feature that's still to come.

You'll need to sign up for a BreadCrumz account to share the image, which is something you can do from the phone interface. Regardless, you can save routes to the phone memory or expansion card for later retrieval.

BreadCrumbz requires some effort up front to plot and annotate the route, but you or whoever you send it to will be happy for the detail when the route takes the ambiguity out of directions from Point A to Point B.

Read more about the Google Android G1 phone on CNET.

First impression of Android G1 phone with video

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The $179 T-Mobile G1 phone, officially released Wednesday (Oct 22), is the second truly compelling mobile Internet device I have seen, following the Apple iPhone.

I got a review model late Tuesday and it didn't take long to see it provides a really useful Web experience that, like the iPhone, is a quantum leap ahead of today's mainstream handsets.

The open source code for Android is now available for all takers. By next year many more cellphone makers will have devices on the market using Android including giants such as Samsung on down to the many local competitors of Taiwan's HTC which designed this phone.

In fact, that is the single most important take-away from this device and the point of the "first look" video below.

I'll be taking some more time to explore the handset in coming days and will post other observations. My colleagues from Portelligent and Semiconductor Insights are already at work on teardowns of the handset. Watch this space.

Source: eetimes.com 

Google Android G1 is Open Source Cell Phone

As you might have heard, on the 22nd of October we will start to see the first deliveries of the T-Mobile G1, the first phone based on the Android mobile platform. This is an incredibly exciting time for us, the culmination of over three years of work done by hundreds of people at the companies that make up the Open Handset Alliance. All of us are waiting with bated breath to see how the phone is used and what its impact will be on the future of mobile phones and computing.

But that's tomorrow....

Today I'm very proud to announce that we are releasing the code that went into that same revolutionary device. Let me present Android: the first complete and highly functional, mass market, Open Source mobile platform. Built with and on top of a bunch of Open Source software, this is one of the largest releases in the history of FOSS. Our goal was to make millions of terrific phones possible, to raise the bar on what people can expect from any mobile phone and to release the code that makes it possible.

So check out the code, build a device, send in some patches and become a committer.

Read More: Google Open Source Blog

MobiHand Launching Android App Store, Colors Us Confused

Coinciding with the launch of the G1, mobile app seller MobiHand is putting up its own store dedicated specifically to Android apps, called OnlyAndroid.com. The company is touting it as the first store supporting both free and paid applications for the Android OS, which is a little funny considering that Google's widely rumored to be coming out with its own payment system AND at least one other third-party store's already been announced.

Both Mobihand and Handango are totally allowed to open their own third-party Android app stores, thanks to the “don't worry, you don't need to jailbreak anything,” position Google's taken. But you have to wonder if having a whole bunch of application outlets isn't a tad bit confusing. What does it mean to have so many parallel marketplaces? Will certain stores sell specific apps for cheaper? Can you bargain? With the minutes counting down to the G1 launch, it would be nice if we at least knew how buying things on the Android was going to work.

Read more: gizmodo.com

Samsung Epix i907 hot today T-Mobile G1 tomorrow

Today saw the launch of the Samsung Epix i907 and as such has been the hottest cell phone of the day, but all that will change tomorrow when we see the launch of the T-Mobile G1. It seems a shame that the Samsung Epix i907 will only have one day to itself.

The Samsung Epix i907has been launched by AT&T and has to be one of their thickest handsets. The cell phone comes with Windows Mobile 6.1 Pro as well as a QWERTY keyboard, and a touch-screen with haptic feedback.

All of that will be forgotten about tomorrow, all people will want to know about is the T-Mobile G1, the first handset to run on the Google Android software. You have to wonder why Samsung and AT&T decided to launch the Epix i907, just one day before the launch of one of the most anticipated handsets this year.

Source:product-reviews.net

Android G1 has data problem?

At least a few people who got their T-Mobile G1 in the mail today—one day before the official launch—are having issues activating the data plan with their SIM card. One person was told by customer service that they simply couldn't use it until tomorrow, although T-Mobile PR has assured us that's not the case, and that anyone having problems should try turning the phone off and back on. Failing that, hit up customer service, though it doesn't appear to have been too helpful in Andrea's case. Have any of guys been had data issues? 

Source:[Android Forums]

Too early to start talking about Google Android T-Mobile G2?

T-Mobile is thinking considerably ahead. Consumers haven't even had the chance to get hands on and to grips with the first Google Android smartphone, evaluating whether they've made great purchase or a horrible mistake, but there are already talks of a successor. It's thought T-Mobile will apply a bit of logic to the name by naming it the G2 (so as not to confuse the simpletons), but it's not definitely the G2 you're seeing in the picture. It could be, but as it's just a mock-up it's not a good idea to get attached to its gorgeous (and possibly fake) design.

Like most successors, the next generation Google Android smartphone is tipped to be a huge improvement on the original. It'll provide twice the screen resolution, tilting screen, interactive high speed widgets and much more space.

Your guess is as good as mine as to when we're going to hear about the G2 again. Perhaps when the G1 dust settles? What is for certain though, is T-mobile employees are going to be a bunch of busy bees over the next few months.

source:shinyshiny.tv

Google Gphone Android's Life.

Despite all of the very interesting speculation over the last few months, we're not announcing a Gphone. However, we think what we are announcing -- the Open Handset Alliance and Android -- is more significant and ambitious than a single phone. In fact, through the joint efforts of the members of the Open Handset Alliance, we hope Android will be the foundation for many new phones and will create an entirely new mobile experience for users, with new applications and new capabilities we can’t imagine today.

Android is the first truly open and comprehensive platform for mobile devices. It includes an operating system, user-interface and applications -- all of the software to run a mobile phone, but without the proprietary obstacles that have hindered mobile innovation. We have developed Android in cooperation with the Open Handset Alliance, which consists of more than 30 technology and mobile leaders including Motorola, Qualcomm, HTC and T-Mobile. Through deep partnerships with carriers, device manufacturers, developers, and others, we hope to enable an open ecosystem for the mobile world by creating a standard, open mobile software platform. We think the result will ultimately be a better and faster pace for innovation that will give mobile customers unforeseen applications and capabilities.

Read more here: Google G1 Blog

Android-Powered G1 to Premiere in San Francisco

On Tuesday evening, a San Francisco store will be the first to sell the hotly anticipated Google Android-powered phone -- getting an 11-hour head start on the rest of the country.

The T-Mobile store located at 699 Market St. will begin selling the HTC T-Mobile G1 on Tuesday at 6 p.m. PDT. A T-Mobile spokeswoman is advising interested buyers to line up early, as supply is limited. She did not specify how many units the store will be carrying.

All other T-Mobile locations will open doors early at 8 a.m. PDT Wednesday (yes, 5 a.m. on the east coast) to begin selling the phone.

The G1 will be the first handset running Google's Android operating system. Though some early reviews express concerns about the handset's bulky, "fugly" aesthetic, consumers and developers are generally more excited about the implications of Google Android's open-platform market, which, in theory, will allow programmers to code any applications for the OS without restrictions.

Source: wired.com 

Android?s SugarTrip Takes A New Approach To Dodging Street Traffic

 With the impending release of the first phone to feature Google's Android platfrom, we're beginning to see a few of the first apps that will be available through Google's Android Market. Among these is SugarTrip, an application that takes an innovative approach to measuring street traffic by taking advantage of the GPS units that will be integrated into most Android phones.

As users drive their cars, SugarTrip will measure how quickly they're traveling and report their speeds back to a central server. The company says that while the traffic updates available on sites like Google Maps do an acceptable job, they are only useful on interstate highways and rely on computer models based on only a few datapoints. Conversely SugarTrip will be able to provide data on far more streets with many more data points (assuming the application can establish a significant user base). 

Read more Here: washingtonpost.com

Moto Android phone to carry touch, keyboard?

Motorola's social networking Android phone will promise to more directly compete against the iPhone and T-Mobile's imminent G1, a leak to BusinessWeek suggests. Although it will share the G1's use of a slide-out keyboard, the handset should have a significantly larger screen closer to the size of the iPhone's 3.5-inch display and will have styling cues somewhat like those of the Krave, positioning it as a more luxuriant alternative to HTC's phone.

Pricing would also be closer to the slightly less expensive Krave than the G1, which would supply the future Android hardware at $150 with a two-year contract. Although the cellphone designer is reportedly showing images and features for the system to carriers, an American release isn't anticipated until spring of next year, or several months after the G1's launch this week.

In addition to the social networking component, which will likely to tap into sites such as Facebook or MySpace, Android will give access to several Google-developed advanced features such as Google Maps and a full HTML web browser, both of which have been rare on Motorola's current phones.

The design recalls descriptions and early leaks for the Alexander but is unlikely to share much similarity with the already-shown handset, which has a smaller screen and is built around Windows Mobile. Either smartphone, however, is considered an important device for the company, which has struggled to hold on to market share without original RAZR-like success for any of its modern products.

Source: electronista.com