That's right. According to Motorola's Facebook page, the DROID smartphone will be getting the Android 2.1 update this week. Motorola will be sending the upgrade over-the-air, similar to the 2.0.1 update.
So DROID users will be getting pinch-to-zoom in the browser and gallery, and pre-installed Google Goggles, among other features that have not been made official yet.
We're happy to relay the 2.1 upgrade to DROID will start to roll out this week, and we will have more information to share on other device upgrades later this week as well.
Google has lowered the early termination fee price by $200, meaning it now cost less to cancel a contrant on the Nexus One.
Up until now, users were paying $350 in order to have their contracts canceled or downgraded within 120 days. The fee is in addition to the $200 termination fee that comes from T-Mobile. So yes, terminating a contract cost more than the phone itself.
The quiet change came after an FCC inquiry investigating several mobile operators over their pricey termination fees.
Verizon Wireless and Motorola announced the availability of Motorola DEVOUR Androi smartphone, the first Verizon device to feature MOTOBLUR, Motorola's Android-powered content delivery system. MOTOBLUR takes contacts, emails, messages, photos, information from Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and it delivers them to the home screen.
Features of the Motorola DEVOUR include a 3.1-inch capacitive touch screen, touch-sensitive navigation pad, slide-out full QWERTY keyboard, 8 GB microSD card and pre-loaded Google apps.
Verizon's Nationwide Talk plans start at $39.99 per month, while the Nationwide Talk & Text plans at $59.99 per month. A Data Package for smartphones is $29.99 for unlimited monthly access. The DEVOUR will be available in March for an undisclosed price.
Yesterday in London, Sony Ericsson introduced the Aspen, an environmentally friendly business phone. Isn't that ironic? The device is running Windows Mobile 6.5.3, the latest version of Microsoft's OS.
The Sony Ericsson Aspen allows multi-tasking combining the touch keyboard with the physical QWERTY keyboard. It lets users organise and adapt panels and use Slide View for quick access common features.
Features include a 2.4-inch (240 x 320 pixel) 65k color QVGA touchscreen display, a 3.2 megapixel camera with 4x digital zoom, and a microSD card slot, which supports up to 16GB of storage. The phone includes a 4GB card.
Other features include a media player, 3.5mm audio jack, A-GPS, FM radio with RDS. To slack off properly at work, Sony Ericsson also included social features to their business phone, such as access to Windows Live Messenger, Facebook and Twitter.
The Sony Ericsson Aspen will be available in selected markets in the second quarter of 2010 in Iconic Black and White Silver. Price was not revealed.
Apple has released a new software update for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Patch version 3.1.3 is the first update since September 2009 and it fixes several security flaws, provides a few bug fixes and some minor enhancements.
One of the flaws was found in the iPhone's recovery mode, which allowed someone with physical access to a locked iPhone or iPod Touch to bypass the passcode and access its data. The patch correts the glitch in the handling of the USB control message.
Another fix prevents malicious audio and image files from injecting unwanted code in the iPhone when it's being run or viewed.
According to Apple, the iPhone 3.1.3 update also improves the accuracy of reported battery level on the 3GS, fixed an issue that prevented third-party apps from being launched and a bug that caused an app to crash when using Japanese Kana keyboard.
Plug your device in to download the patch.
Almost a year after announcing Bluetooth 3.0, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group has approved the first consumer handset with the Bluetooth 3.0 specification on board.
We're talking about the Samsung GT-S8500, featuring a 3.1 inch OLED anti-reflective screen and TouchWiz user interface. It's a slim and compact quad-band device and it will be available in several colors.
The phone still has to be approved by the FCC before it begins selling in the US.
Oh, the irony. A tablet PC maker located in a southern Chinese city known for producing knock-off phones, including iPhones, may sue Apple over the design of the iPad.
Shenzhen Great Loong Brother Industrial started selling the P88 tablet last year and is not ruling out a lawsuit against Apple, a company representative said.
Seems that the form factor is the only similar thing between the two devices. The P88 weighs more than the iPad and has about an hour of battery life, compared to iPad's 10 hour battery life.
Apple is already in trouble for using the name "iPad", which is owned by Japanese electronics company Fujitsu. Apple has not commented on the situation yet.
Mozilla has just launched the mobile version of the popular Firefox browser for Nokia N900 smartphone owners. The application will run on Nokia's Maemo operating system.
Firefox Mobile will also have an add-on for watching Youtube videos, as Adobe Flash support was removed by at the last minute because of performance issues.
Some of the features included in Firefox for mobile: Awesome Bar, Weave Sync, Add-ons, Location-Aware Browsing, Tabbed browsing and Safe Browsing.
Mozilla is also working to bring out versions for devices running Windows Mobile and Android. The company has announced they have no plans to build an iPhone compatible version of the browser due to constraints with the OS environment and distribution.
Earlier this week, a blogger found some interesting information that was hinting to a possible Zune Phone, but according to a Microsoft spokesperson, the company has "no plans to create a Zune phone".
Regarding the other rumor, a possible Zune integration into Windows Mobile 7, the spokesperson stated that "one day Zune could be part of the phone experience".
Zune.DeviceDesc = ZuneMTPZUSB, USB MS_COMP_MTPZ
Zune.DeviceDesc = ZuneMTPZUSB, USB VID_045E&PID_0710
Phone.DeviceDesc = ZuneMTPZUSB, USB VID_045E&PID_0640
Phone.DeviceDesc = ZuneMTPZUSB, USB VID_045E&PID_0641
Their statement doesn't mean much, really. If you remember back before the Zune was introduced, Microsoft kept denying the existence of their MP3 device, so once again, we have to wait it out until the Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona next month.
Via Neowin
Apple is now allowing iPhone users to make Internet-based phone calls over cellular networks. VoIP calling has been available on the iPhone for some time now, but only worked over Wi-Fi connections, limiting the range where you can make such calls.
By using VoIP apps, iPhone users could have an alternative in case they use up their monthly minutes, or even allow them to go for cheaper plans, even though calls made over the Internet are not as reliable.
In October, AT&T said that it had taken the necessary steps to allow iPhone users to make VoIP calls over their network, but Apple did not approve those apps until this week.
