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.

 

Android Developers Disgruntled with Market

Android is a relative newcomer to the mobile operating system arena, but it is quickly emerging as the dark horse and the most likely contender to challenge the popular Apple iPhone. Google's Android Market has only a fraction of volume of apps in Apple's App Store, but Android Market is still the second place app store.

The growth and success of the app store depends on satisfied developers continuing to create apps for the Android platform, though. Here are some of the key findings from the survey of Android developers:

? 57 percent of developers said they are not satisfied with their profits on Android.

? 90 percent of developers reported individual app downloads of 10,000 or under on Android.

? 52 percent of Android developers' apps were downloaded fewer than 5,000 times.

? 43 percent feel that they would sell more apps if Android used a carrier billing or another simpler billing system.

? 68 percent of those surveyed are somewhat or not likely to put further work into their apps, compared to when they first released their app.

It is never a good sign if the majority of your developers are unhappy, or when nearly 70 percent state that they are more or less giving up on their apps and don't intend to maintain or update them. That doesn't bode well for Android Market.

According to the survey report "82 percent of those surveyed feel that the design of the Android Marketplace makes it difficult for apps to be noticed. Often, apps will be released and quickly buried by other apps, and difficult to find again."

The survey also found that developers are concerned with the fact that there are multiple versions of the Android platform and a wide variety of Android-based devices. "Looking forward to a marketplace with multiple Android devices from several device makers running on multiple carriers, developers are concerned with the challenge of their apps performing consistently. 46 percent of developers surveyed were certain that different versions of Android would make development difficult."

I have two concerns with the survey though. First, Skyhook Wireless only surveyed 30 developers. I don't know how many total developers there are working on Android apps, but I don't think 30 is a large enough sample for the survey results to be accepted as scientific.

My second issue is that I am not sure that these stats are all that concerning. The Apple App Store has more than 100,000 apps available. Apple receives the equivalent of the Android Market in new app submissions each week.

Apple has more than 125,000 developers registered in the Apple iPhone Developer Program. I am fairly sure that you could choose a random sampling of 30 of them, or even 300, or possibly 3,000, and find that many of them are also dissatisfied with the rate at which their apps are being downloaded or the profits they are generating.

Based on revenue the Android Market does have some catching up to do, though. Relative to the ratio of apps available from each app store, Google should be generating about a tenth of the revenue that Apple's App Store pulls in. At approximately $60 million a year though, Google's Android Market is only pulling in about a quarter of that compared with Apple's $2.4 billion.

My take is that Android Market is young. Google has significant room for improvement and it should take some notes from this survey and consider updates to the Android Market--particularly in how apps are categorized and searched, and how app billing is handled.

That said, though, when there are thousands and thousands of apps available, many of them will quickly fall off the radar and only a relative few will achieve significant profit. The survey sampling is too small to give much weight to the results.

HTC Passion runs Android on 3.5-inch OLED and Snapdragon in Verizon’s early 2010?

Ever since the WinMo-powered HTC HD2 started to drip, drip onto our pages in the form of leaked images and details, we’ve been asking ourselves one question: where’s the Android version? And while we’ve heard whispers of a supposed Snapdragon-based Dragon device running Android ever since early October, we’re left to rely on Motorola’s Droid / Milestone to fulfill our Android 2.0 dreams this holiday season. And if DigiTimes is correct, that picture likely won’t change until early 2010. Taiwanese DigiTimes‘ sources have its Taiwan-based neighbor launching its Passion handset running Android 2.0 (or even 2.1 by then) on a 1GHz Snapdragon chipset with 3.5-inch multitouch OLED display sometime in early 2010 (not 2009 as previously tipped) as HTC continues to tweak the device’s software. And if previous rumors are true then this CDMA variant of Dragon will be making its debut on Verizon at that time. DigiTimes‘ sources also claim that HTC will announce a QWERTY-toting Android device, possibly named Espresso, at the huge Mobile World Congress event in February. Of course, all this is rumor for now so hold tight as HTC’s roadmap unfolds.

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

T-Mobile Launches the Highly Anticipated T-Mobile G1

       T-Mobile USA, Inc. today announced the national availability of the highly anticipated T-Mobile G1 with Google, the first Android™-powered mobile phone. The T-Mobile G1 combines full touch-screen functionality and a QWERTY keyboard with a rich mobile Web experience, dozens of Android Market applications, and popular Google products that millions have enjoyed on the desktop, including Google Maps Street View™, Gmail™, YouTube™ and others.

Beginning today, consumers can purchase the phone in select retail stores across the country and online at http://www.T-MobileG1.com.

“During the past month, we’ve seen unbridled excitement for the T-Mobile G1 and the positive impact it will have on the mobile lives of our customers,” said Denny Marie Post, chief marketing officer, T-Mobile USA. “In fact, among those T-Mobile customers who have pre-ordered the phone, roughly half have traded up from a basic handset, illustrating the leap many consumers are taking to a rich, accessible mobile Web experience. Its design, functionality and value make the first-of-its-kind T-Mobile G1 a truly approachable device for the masses.”

With a fun and intuitive user interface and one-touch access to Google Search, the T-Mobile G1 is the first phone to offer access to Android Market, which hosts unique applications and mashups of existing and new services from developers around the world. Customers can find and download a wide range of innovative applications—from games to social networking and on-the-go shopping—to personalize their phone and enhance their mobile lifestyle. Even better, for a limited time, the dozens of applications available on Android Market are available free-of-charge for T-Mobile G1 users.

“With new, high-value applications constantly being added to Android Market for customers to discover, the T-Mobile G1 is the phone that grows with you,” said Post. “And as the Market continues to grow and evolve, the possibilities are virtually endless.”

Customers can purchase and carry away the T-Mobile G1 at T-Mobile retail stores and select third-party stores in major cities where T-Mobile’s 3G service is currently available. T-Mobile 3G service is currently available in 95 major cities across top population centers. For a list of cities where T-Mobile 3G service is available, please visit http://www.T-MobileG1.com/3G.aspx or see T-Mobile’s Personal Coverage Check tool, available online at http://www.T-Mobile.com/Coverage. All T-Mobile stores across the country will have demonstration devices on-hand and can assist customers with ordering the device for delivery at a later date.

Read more: sys-con.com     

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

T-Mobile Google G1 Android to be launched in 2 weeks

The T-mobile G1 Android-based from Google and HTC is launching in the market this 22nd. It is also reported the the claimed pre-orders for this device, have already hit 1.5 million and it is based on Google’s Android mobile operating system. The G1 is known to be a strong competitor of Apple’s iPhone and RIM’s recently announced BlackBerry Storm. T-Mobile has refused to confirm or deny the rumors about the first smart phone to be powered by Google’s Android operating system.

The prediction of T-Mobile’s is that it will sell more than 500,000 units by the end of 2008. HTC, which is manufacturing the G1, said it expects that T-Mobile will sell 600,000 to 700,000 units from late October to the end of the year also as many as 2 million by the end of 2009. Currently the pre-sale order to the T-Mobile consumers is limited and the order will place a day before the launch and be shipped in the first week of next months.T-Mobile is selling the G1 for $179 with a two-year voice and data service plan. The sales of the G1 will be compared tothe Apple iPhone, which sold 1 million first-generation iPhones in 74 days in 2007 and 1 million iPhone 3Gs in three days in July.

Source: thaindian.com

A Great number of Pre-sale orders for Android phone take off

U.S. service provider T-Mobile reportedly has been swamped with 1.5 million pre-sale orders for Google's G1 Android phone, industry observers say.

Neither Google nor T-Mobile would not confirm the figure, which was reported first on Motley Fool, ChannelWeb reported Monday. But ChannelWeb said the G1 pre-sale orders are three times the number of phones T-Mobile originally ordered from Taiwanese manufacturer HTC.

The official launch for the phone is Oct. 22. But preference has been established for current T-Mobile subscribers.

Because of overwhelming demand, we're setting aside even more T-Mobile G1 phones as a special thanks to you, our loyal T-Mobile customers, a statement on T-Mobile's Web said.

Supplies are limited, so this is your chance to order yours today before it hits the streets and guarantee you don't go without, the statement said.

T-Mobile said orders phones will be delivered around Nov. 10 for orders made before Oct. 21.

Google was involved in designing the Android operating system that powers the phone.

Source: timesoftheinternet.com

Google maps on T-mobile Android G1 looks awesome

Have a look @ the video and see how cool the Map features are on Android. You can pan around and zoom in and out easily using just your thumb on the touchscreen and while in street view you can just turn around with the phone in your hand and the street view aligns itself to face in that direction. One other thing I noticed was that in the normal view the maps had more detail on on the buildings as shown in the screengrab this is not there on Windows Mobile.

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T-Mobile G1 reservations exceeded 1,500,000

Deutsche Telekom T-Mobile in the United States last month released the first Google Android phone, T-Mobile G1. Although the G1 to 22 this month, will be officially listed, but the current situation of the book, it has set off a wave.

Shortly after the release in the U.S. around the G1 has reservations on the sale of all air, only this group of old T-Mobile users will be able to Oct. 22 to get cell phone the same day. T-Mobile to quickly HTC HTC increased orders for the book after the user is expected to be able to Nov. 10 received a cell phone or so. Now, this second batch of reservations has also been a raid empty.

It is reported that, T-Mobile's first batch of orders for 500,000 units, the first book to sell after the air to 150 million units. In addition, the retail market when they shop in Taiwan Distribution 2,000,000. If the figures are accurate, then, Google and T-Mobile on Touxiao waiting for you.

HTC Touch HD to be T-Mobile’s G2 Android Phone

It is learned that the phone could be called G2, and prior to the design of the HTC G1 Although use of large-size touch screen, but many did not go beyond the Apple iPhone in comparison, G2 in superior to a number of indicators on the iPhone.

Touch HD size 115 × 62.8 × 12 mm in size to 86 cubic centimeters, 3.8 inches on display with a resolution of up to 480 × 800. Built-in 5,000,000 pixels CMOS sensor, support and GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.