Looks like Motorola is pouring some real resources into getting an Android mobile phone out into the market. They are in the process of expanding its current 50-man Android development team into a head count of about 350. The company is one of the original partners in the Open Handset Alliance. That is a huge commitment that shows how big a bet Motorola is making on Android. T-Mobile will start selling the first Android phone, the G1 made by HTC, on October 22. But the plan was never about just one Google phone, as Google CEO Eric Schmidt said in a statement last fall. “Our vision is that the powerful platform we’re unveiling will power thousands of different phone models.” Thus, the Open Handset Alliance–a group of big players in the wireless industry charged with helping form the development community for Android devices.
TechCrunch reported that the same source spotted Nokia and Verizon people at an Android developer conference not long ago, though neither company is listed as a member of the Open Handset Alliance. read more…
US handset major Motorola on Thursday said it is all set to roll out an affordable touch-phone in the Indian market priced Rs 8,000. The new device — Moto Yuva A810 — will be available here from next month, said Mr Lloyd Mathias, Motorola India’s senior director, head of sales (India and southwest Asia). Motorola has also customised the phone for the Indian market with features like SMS in Hinglish, a large phone book that stores 500 entries and ability to store 750 SMSes. Much is being made of the budget entry of the phone to the market – whereas the iPhone and Omnia came in at a premium (the Omnia cost a full Rs 39,000), the Yuva A810 will be coming in at less than a quarter of that.
Motoyuva A810 Available in two colours, the MOTOYUVA A810 is a chic touch screen phone that sports easy menu navigation, user editable shortcuts on the home screen, advanced handwriting recognition, copy-paste for messages and numbers, a large screen for easy browsing and email. You can also exhibit your artistic streak by sketching, drawing and doodling on the mobile phone. The phone include an inbuilt MP3 player, a 2.0 megapixel camera, an optional microSD card extendable up to 2GB, Bluetooth, GPRS with EDGE support, USB 2.0 and FM radio. read more…
More images of the upcoming Verizon BlackBerry Storm have leaked, this time press shots courtesy of the handset’s Equipment Guide. CrackBerry Forums member LordObento has posted more pictures of the, yet to be officially announced, touchscreen only, BlackBerry Storm. Already contentious is the battery panel, which appears to be a different shade; this could be because of the camera flash and the fact that it’s likely a metal panel next to a plastic body, or it could be a purposeful choice on RIM’s part.
Images of what’s purported to be the Vodafone branded version of the Storm leaked last week, complete with screen shots of some of the menus and keyboards. These new pictures don’t go into such detail, but do indicate the layout of the homescreen; it looks to be a more finger-friendly version of the latest RIM OS, with icons enlarged to make them easier to press. read more…
Japan is considered to have the world’s fastest broadband connection. Japanese internet users have been enjoying high speed connection at the cheapest price. Â KDDI will be launching a new fiber-optic service starting October 1st, which will provide customers with up to 1Gbps upload and download speeds each. The new service will target people living in single-family homes and low-rise apartment buildings. The traffic speeds will be the fastest in eastern Japan, up drastically from the current 100 megabits per second.
With the service, KDDI aims to catch up with Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp, which has a share of over 70% in the market for fiber-optic broadband services for single-family houses. KDDI will charge 5,985 yen in basic monthly fees for Internet and telephone services, down 1,155 yen from the current price, if a user subscribes for two consecutive years. read more…
The GreenHeart is a new phone concept from Sony Ericsson, which has a similar design with the Sony Ericsson W880 phone. The concept phone is meant to prove that a phone is environmentally sustainable through its life cycle.The GreenHeart features bio-plastic housings, recycled plastic keypads, a zero charger with 3.5mW standby power, digital manuals (instead of paper ones), and environmentally friendly packaging.
The GreenHeart does not come with a manual book because the user’s manual is entirely HTML-based to save paper. Sony Ericsson is actually coming in a little bit late to the party with its GreenHeart Concept, since at least two other handset makers (Nokia and Samsung) have announced their own versions of environment-friendly phones. read more…
