eK-gadgets info

The Internet is swimming in a sea of Google Phone leaks (started off by Google employees themselves) and it’s getting hard to sort out which are true and which are false. And we gotta be honest with you - some are quite controversial. Google as a company is pretty much silent on the matter except for the fact that they’ve admitted giving some employees an Android handset meant to be used only as a software testing lab. And that’s that.

As current conspiracy theory goes however, Google is indeed working on its own Google phone and they will be selling it themselves. As photos and first-hand reports of the mythic phone fly in it became clear that the phone seems an HTC Dragon (or HTC Passion) and it’s codenamed Google Nexus One.

The Nexus One looks a lot like HTC Dragon

The reported specs of the Nexus One also seem to match up with the HTC Dragon - Snapdragon CPU, 3.7″ AMOLED display, 5MP camera, touchscreen bar form factor. By the way, the HTC Bravo has a similar hardware too.

The Nexus One is built by HTC (no surprise here) with a lot of input from Google and it runs Android 2.1. The reported changes are a touch of 3D in the app tray, a bit of WebOS gadgetry with a preview of all homescreen pages (there are more of them, too) done card-style. Preloaded are Google Navigation (in the US) and the new Google Goggles, which identifies objects (e.g. the Golden Gate Bridge) by using the camera and brings up relevant information.

Android 2.1 runs on Nexus One, shows off some new features

The rumors go on - the device is not locked ad works on both AT&T and T-Mobile networks in the US. Engadget have unearthed a report from the FCC about the Nexus One passing their tests. The interesting bit here is that it has quad-band GSM support and 850/1700/1900MHz 3G support, which covers both AT&T and T-Mobile indeed.

And now for the controversial bit - the most popular rumor is that the Nexus One will be sold by Google either directly or through other retail channels (T-Mobile apparently). It will be unsubsidized and unlocked so it will work with every GSM network with proper frequencies.

Is Google moving into the phone selling business? As the guys at Engadget correctly point out both the Android Dev Phone (an unlocked T-Mobile G1 or HTC Dream if you will) and the Google Ion (HTC Magic) were handed out to Google employees and developers in the same fashion. They even sold the Dev Phone, but that’s hardly what the rumors imply - full-on mobile phone retail.

The infamous Eldar Murtazin from mobile-review.com claims that some rival company (Apple he says) is trying to stir the pot by using the whole confusion around this potential new business model.

Google has expanded their services since their initial search engine, but for now, they seem to prefer sticking with software and advertising as their primary business model. So, for now we’re leaning towards Google simply trying to get some quick feedback on the new Android OS. But we’re yet to see about that.

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With the X10 Sony Ericsson have gone from zero to hundred in a split second. While they may know their way around high-end devices, pulling off an undertaking such as the XPERIA X10 must have been a special challenge. And they have yet to get to the finish.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 official photos

The thing is that Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 is the first Android smartphone by Sony Ericsson. It’s also a Snapdragon first for the company, and they’ve even come up with a first of its kind proprietary Android UI. Making the X10 a reality seems like a long way full of potential pitfalls for a company that hasn’t still recovered from its financial woes.

But the XPERIA X10 or Rachael, or X3, or whatever it has been called in the long months of development, seems like a device that’s worth all the hard work.

Even more so, X10 will not be a solitary device but more of a high-flying start for a full-blown platform of Android devices with their own distinct interface and user experience. That kinda sounds familiar. A year and a half ago, we were again there listening to Sony Ericsson presenting the XPERIA X1 in much the similar words. Well, let’s hope they’ll have better luck with starting off and developing this new part of their portfolio this time.

We had the pleasure of attending a very limited press event held in London, at which Sony Ericsson presented their latest and greatest before they showcase it for the general public. Much like attending a press-only movie screener we had the opportunity to gather some first-hand impressions of what is probably going to be the Sony Ericsson flagship next year. But before making our first go at the XPERIA X10, let’s recap its features.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 at a glance:

• General: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS 900/1900/2100 MHz, HSDPA, HSUPA
• Form factor: Touchscreen bar phone
• Dimensions: 119 x 63 x 13 mm, 135 g
• Display: 4″ 65K-color TFT capacitive touchscreen, 854 x 480 pixels
• Platform: Qualcomm QSD8250 Snapdragon 1 GHz processor
• OS: Android 1.6 (Donut)
• Memory: 1GB storage, 256MB RAM, microSD card slot, 8GB card included in the retail box
• Camera: 8 megapixel auto-focus camera with LED flash and face detection
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP, standard microUSB port, GPS receiver with A-GPS, 3.5mm audio jack
• Misc: Sony Ericsson custom social networking and media UI, built-in accelerometer

There have been numerous leaks about the XPERIA X10 so chances are you already know most of those specs well enough. As to the few new ones, let us assure you that some of those came as a surprise to us as well.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 presentation for the press

Take the Android OS version, for instance. Despite all the hopes for getting the latest and greatest of the Android crop, Sony Ericsson are serving a cold meal to all the gadget lovers out there. They refused to comment any further on the matter but perhaps all is not lost. Our best guess is they’ll have some hard time adjusting their proprietary UI for Android 2.0 (Eclair) so they prefer to stick to 1.6 for the time being in an effort to get the XPERIA X10 out in the market as soon as possible.

And the current plans for the X10 availability say Q1 2010. Yup, missing the holiday season and shipping the handset during the tight-pocketed January and February is certainly the last thing they’d like to do, but proper product development obviously demands it.

Speaking of which, the Sony Ericsson X10 units presented at the event were devilishly fast in all Android tasks and applications, but the proprietary UI by Sony Ericsson clearly needed a lot more work.

But let’s not waste any more time and jump into the physical details of the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10.

 

Now that the craze over the iPhone 3GS has all but simmered down, onlookers are wondering what Apple has in store for 2010. And if rumors are true, we might just see a new iPhone next year in the iPhone 4G. All these speculations are coming after discovering a booked “Corporate Event” at the Moscone Center Calendar from June 28 to July 2.

Basing it on experience, people are anticipating the launch of the iPhone 4G at the WWDC 2010, the same time that the iPhone 3GS made its debut at the WWDC 2009. What do you think? The idea is not far off.

Official photos of the upcoming Asus Eee PC 1005P Pine Trail netbook have popped up. From the looks of it, the Asus 1005P will carry its familiar Seashell theme with much of the changes done on the inside.

The Asus 1005P will feature an Atom N540 1.66GHz processor, a 10.1” 1024×600 display, 1GB RAM GMA 3150 graphics card, a 160GB HDD. The Asus 1005P is currently listed about $395.