We go hands-on with the Motorola Defy for T-Mobile. This is the first rough-and-tumble Android 2.1 phone for T-Mobile, and it’s made to stand up to just about anything you can throw at it in your daily life. With a 3.7-inch WVGA display, dual-microphone Crystal Talk Plus technology and a 5-megapixel camera, the Defy is nothing to scoff at.
It wasn’t too long ago that Android was just a project, a glimmer of hope for the future of the smartphone industry. But then, in September 2008, we were rewarded with the world’s first Android handset, the T-Mobile G1. In the 23 months since then we’ve seen a deluge of Android phones hit the market, and lately it seems like manufacturers have stepped up their games. Motorola just released a pair of high-end devices on Verizon, while HTC has the EVO and the Incredible, while Samsung has gotten into the game with the Galaxy. That left no room for older devices like the G1. Fret not, though. T-Mobile is coming back with an encore.
This is the teaser to end all teasers, since it contains no actual information. It doesn’t even say “coming soon.” The only thing we do know is that it will be T-Mobile’s first phone to run on its HSPA+ network, which has theoretical download speeds of up to 21Mbps. That in itself is an excellent feature, but will that make the G2 a worthy purchase?
(I’d say yes for the network alone, but that’s just me.)
At jkOnTheRun, Kevin Tofel talks about three features he expects from the G2. First is a 1 GHz Snapdragon CPU, but that could change if the device is actually slated for a later-year release and gets one of those newfangled, faster Qualcomm processors. Wouldn’t that be an enticing combination? New, faster processors and a 21Mbps network? Yes, please.
If Tofel is right on his other two guesses, then this could become a must-have Android device. First is a four-inch screen. This takes advantage of the HSPA+ network because it makes the video viewing experience that much richer. Watching video on a smaller screen isn’t bad, per se, but if you’re going to have unprecedented speeds you might as well have the video technology to go with it. The final guess, 720p video recording, would seem like a slam dunk, considering how many other devices now feature the capability.
Take all three of these and you’ll have one of the premier wireless devices, Android or not. Even if he’s right on two of three, this will still be a device worth having. Some, I’m sure, will want it just for tethering. I’ve had a great experience tethering my Nexus One, but it will only get better with a faster network. You might even experience speeds faster than your at-home connection. That would make the train ride infinitely more tolerable.
Still, everything is up in the air. We don’t have features, we don’t have specs, and we don’t have an approximate release date. What we do have is hype and anticipation. Those will go a long way in selling the G2.
Android will be the first to show off HSPA+ speeds
Post from: Google And Blog
Copenhagen (PRWEB) October 12, 2009
Excitor expects to release the DME client for Android-based phones in December 2009. Excitor will thus be the first vendor to deliver mobile device management for this latest emerging mobile platform in the enterprise market space. With the DME client on employee’s Android phones such as HTC Magic, HTC Hero and Samsung Galaxy, companies will be able to centrally manage Android phones, impose corporate security measures, and manage data and voice costs.
DME will enable IT departments to provision software to Android phones and keep full inventory of all phones, helpful when supporting users. Unwanted or unsupported applications can be blocked, and data be wiped remotely or automatically. DME’s file synchronization mechanism also allows back-up of company files should a phone be lost or break. For companies concerned about their phone bills for voice and data consumption, DME’s capabilities around cost control are extended to the Android platform. Therefore, the DME client will allow tracking of all data and voice traffic, helping companies predict and reduce their data connection charges and voice costs.
“The popularity of Android phones is rapidly increasing, and we have noticed a growing interest among our business customers. Since Android is expected to quickly take significant market share due to its sleek interface and reasonable pricing, we are investing in porting DME to the Android platform as the first in the enterprise market,” says Mads Skalbo, COO at Excitor (http://www.excitor.com/Default.aspx?ID=65&PID=639&NewsID=212).
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In this video, I give my first impressions of the T-Mobile G1 phone which includes the Google Android OS. Thanks to T-Mobile for providing a review unit so that I can share with you all the experience. Size wise, it’s a bit bigger than my iPhone mostly due to the built-in sliding QWERTY keyboard. The very first thing I noticed while using the G1 was that there was a bit of an learning curve in terms of when to use the touch screen and when to use the hardware keys. I also noticed that you have to flip open the keyboard to type since there is currently (prior to Cupcake) no software keyboard. Comfort wise, it’s a bit uncomfortable to type since the bulk of the phone on the right side is a bit weird. It’s a bit unbalanced in terms of weight when you begin to type There is no multi-touch on the G1, but it’s not a deal breaker. I noticed the lack of “acceleration” when “flicking” lists of objects. Again, this is coming from an iPhone’s perspective. One of the best things I loved about Android is the notification system. As you receive notifications from supported apps like Mail, calendar, twitter, etc, you get a nice pull-down menu which shows you a summary of all the notifications. This is killer! I absolutely love it and I foresee it being a standard for a lot of other phones. It’s unmatched. I wish I had it on my iPhone. So that’s all I have in terms of first impressions. When Android Cupcake arrives, I’ll do another review of the OS changes so you can see what has …
Video Rating: 4 / 5
San Francisco Android User Group held an event on June 29th, 2010 with Justin Mattson from Google who not only re-delivered his Google I/O talk titled “Casting a wide net: how to target all Android devices”, but also expanded it with the material that he had to cut for time at the I/O. Justin also answered a number of questions from the audience. This event was organized by Marakana, hosted by SUPINFO, and sponsored by Tech CU and Marakana. Video is by Max Walker and Photography is by Aleksandar Gargenta.