Cell Bytes

Providing an in-depth review of Sprint-ID is somewhat of an ironic oxymoron- the feature exists to provide Android beginner’s with a simple, non-obtrusive, out-of-the-box way of getting the content and apps they want on their phone. By all accounts, readers of Phandroid are (mostly) on the knowledgeable end of the Android scale and don’t have to do all the digging and researching- you already know what you want and you follow Phandroid to see what you’ll want next.

But what about the 65-year old retired guy who is about to embark on post-career golf frenzy? How about the 45-year old mother who just became an empty nester? Or what about the 15-year old text messager who has never had a smartphone and isn’t exactly Android obsessed? Where do they start?

You COULD tell them to start with Phandroid.com, and we’re developing some interesting features for people like this in the near future, but Sprint is being proactive in welcoming a new breed of smartphone user to the Android world and I’m all for it. The Sprint ID service is launching on three new phones the carrier is offering: LG Optimus S, Sanyo Zio, and Samsung Transform.

My favorite of the three is the LG Optimus Z, but check out my thoughts on Sprint ID while I overview each of the three phones:

Sprint-ID is a starting point. It’s a way for Android beginner’s to get started on a new world they want to explore and discover. So let’s dive in and show you how Sprint-ID will help these new users navigate the smartphone seas with a little more ease.

At the launch event, various partners showcased their implementations of Sprint-ID which we’ve captured on video and shared below. Perhaps the most powerful feature of Sprint ID is that it will be available for developers to create their own implementations, extending Android into an infinite simplicity. When users are ready to graduate to less of a hand-holding experience… they can to it at their own pace.

Sprint ID for Education with Loyola University in Chicago
The folks at BlackBoard teamed up with Loyola and I was very impressed with the Sprint ID pack in this instance. With a few swipes and presses, your phone is all set up to get grades, read class notes, grab your schedule, see assignments, read notifications from your professor and more. Really like how this could help keep you organized with almost no effort.

Sprint ID with Yahoo
Maybe you prefer Yahoo to Google on your… Google Android Phone. To be honest, I actually really enjoy Yahoo’s Home Page, especially their featured news section. My infatuation mostly ends there, but if you want Yahoo Finance, OMG, and all the other Yahooness on your Android – look no further.

Sprint ID and the Bi-Lingual Community
First of all I have to say I’m jealous of folks who can speak multiple language and it makes me feel rather foolish (read: like an obnoxious American) when a native-XYZ speaker effortlessly uses English to communicate with me while I’m in a foreign country. But while in America, how can these people use their mobile device to stay connected with their background and culture? Here is one way:

Sprint ID for Small Business Users
Handmark put together a Small Business pack – think about a company putting together their own Small Business Sprint ID Pack, suggesting users get Android Phones, and having the ability to load a Sprint ID that’s business ready right out of the box.

Sprint ID Pack from Where
Sarah from Where shows off their version of Sprint ID that totally Where-ifies your phone. For folks who want a location aware things-to-do-and-see-and-eat phone might find this impressive.

Again, that’s a rather in-depth look at Sprint ID – later on I’ll be performing a more simplistic review using the Samsung Transform to give you a direct look of the ins-and-outs, explaining what I like and don’t like on a micro level.

But in terms of concept? I think Sprint ID is a great idea, and if you take your own desires OUT of the equation and look at the service as an opportunity for beginning Android users to get the most out of their phone (out of the box), then I think you would have a hard time disagreeing.

Motorola accidentally posted the specs of the Droid 2 Global online, thus confirming the rumors concerning the device’s CPU. It’ll be a 1.2GHz processor after all and in case you’re wondering, the features have already been pulled from the site, but luckily the folks of Android Guys have the screenshot below.

Aside from global roaming, the new Verizon handset also packs the following specifications:

OS: Android 2.2
CPU: 1.2GHz processor
Connectivity: quad band GSM, 3G
Memory: 40GB maximum storage, 8GB internal plus 32GB expandable
Camera: 5MP, autofocus, dual LED flash

Android Guys also uncovered that this is supposed to be a business and enterprise phone. We’re looking forward for some official confirmation, maybe an image or two, but we suppose the handset looks the same as the original Droid 2.

We just got back from demoing an onslaught of Android-based handsets from Motorola and there was one in particular I really wanted to get my hands on. The Motorola FlipOut might not be the most exciting device for people like you and myself who appreciate a good combination of braun and beauty, but Motorola’s not here to please just one crowd.

The FlipOut isn’t the performance beast you’d want to handle all of the heavy lifting of intense mobile computing, but the device also isn’t for the person that needs to do a lot of heavy lifting to begin with. And there are a lot of people that fit right into that category. For the sake of comparison, the Symbian operating system powers many low-powered, cost-efficient handsets around the world. Their platform isn’t number one because of how many smartphones Symbian is on, it’s because of how many feature phones it’s on. Most people who own a phone with Symbian aren’t even aware that it’s Symbian. This is the type of market penetration Motorola’s getting at with the FlipOut.

Affordability attracts a ludicrously large amount of people, and when Motorola shows those people what they can do with a phone that won’t break their bank, they’re hoping people are going to want to flock to that product. This is what the FlipOut is all about, and this is what Motorola’s overall strategy with Android is all about.

I digress, though, because these are supposed to be my impressions of the device. I sat down with the FlipOut for a decent amount of time today and while I wasn’t completely blown away, I was able to play out the age-old scenario of a teen or a light smartphone user who would pick this up to do their cliche bidding of texting, emailing, and web browsing.

The first thing I’m drawn to is the keyboard, of course. The phone flips out to reveal a full 5-row QWERTY keyboard for those who aren’t really keen on typing on a screen that small. (And the screen is small, indeed, clocking in at 2.8-inches with a QVGA resolution.) The keys had great track and feel, but were just a little too scrunched together for my taste (though this could be because I have hands the size of coconuts.) I had no problems with “clickability,” if you will, but it still wasn’t as fast as when I took it to the virtual keyboard (which I didn’t have many problems with considering how little room I had to work with.)

Backing Android 2.1 with MOTOBLUR (yes, Motorola’s still using MOTOBLUR despite their plans to eventually move away from it) is a very respectable TI OMAP processor (still not sure which one) clocked at 720 MHz and working in conjunction with a PowerVR SGX 530 GPU. This won’t “cut through the web like a circular saw through a banana,” but it’ll make for some pretty speedy activity when switching between apps, browsing the web, and typing to your heart’s content.

One thing I was pretty disappointed with was the phone’s camera. I didn’t expect it to keep up with the likes of the Motorola Droid 2 or the Droid Pro, but I didn’t think the muddy quality it eventually ended up producing would bother me as much as it did. (Mind you, it’s only a 3-megapixel sensor but I’ve gotten better quality out of other devices with similar specs.) I wish I could say for sure what the problem is, though, because I couldn’t tell whether or not this was because of the low-resolution screen or the quality of the camera’s sensor. The only way for me to be sure would’ve been to export the images and take a look on my computer, but I didn’t have much time to do that. Even with giving the FlipOut the benefit of the doubt in this area, I didn’t walk away too satisfied.

Other than that, though, everything was business as usual. When you take away Android, MOTOBLUR, and all of the features you expect to make up any minimal Android handset these days, the FlipOut is a unique and fun communication tool that’ll catch on by virtue of its form-factor and “flipout” mechanism alone. And if that means getting more Android devices into more hands, then I’m all for the large pool of different and unique devices we’ve been so fortunate to enjoy these days.

Sony Ericsson has finally gotten around to shipping yet another pedestrian Android offering, this time the Xperia X8. Much in the same vein as the X10 Mini, this handset features Android 1.6 and a custom SE interface. There is, naturally, a promised update to Android 2.1 by the end of the year, but seeing as SE has yet to deliver on promises for their other Android handsets, we’d suggest you not hold your breath.

The phone features a 600MHz processor, 3-inch capacitive HVGA display, and a 3.2MP camera. 128MB of on-board storage provide a basic amount of space for apps and other goodies.

We are still waiting for Sony Ericsson to deliver a truly top-of-the-line smartphone experience with Android, but more and more it seems like their development just isn’t moving at the same pace as the rest of the mobile world. If they do manage to release an Android-based PSP phone, forgiveness will be granted swiftly.

[via Android and Me]

Verizon’s COO Lowell McAdam took the stage during this week’s CTIA 2010 in San Francisco, speaking about the carrier’s upcoming rollout of the 4G LTE network. Apparently, it’ll debut before the year end and provide LTE coverage for 1/3 of the US population before the year is out.

The freshly appointed COO (a week on the job) claimed that Verizon will offer 4G connectivity in 38 markets this year and they’ll bundle half a dozen smartphones and tablets with this service. They’re made by “top OEMs” and they’ll reach speeds of 8 to 12 megabits per second. We suppose that there’s also a Motorola Stingray tablet among them and at least a HTC smartphone.

Here’s a map of the initial rollout, if you’re curious.

Samsung just unveiled a brand new Wave model, the Wave 575 handset (GT-S5750), that’s pictured in the image below. We already know about the Wave 525 and Wave 533 models, also detailed today and we have to mention that the newcomer is the sixth Bada OS handset from Samsung. This is a mid-range phone we’re talking about.

Samsung Wave 525 and Wave 575 have similar specs, except for the fact that Wave 575 supports 3G HSDPA, while the other model goes with EDGE. This phone is pretty thin, at 11.9mm and we learn that it comes with a 3.2 inch WQVGA TFT LCD display, WiFi 802.11n, Bluetooth and Samsung Apps support. Also on board there’s 100MB of internal memory and a microSD slot for more storage.

The device is expected to debut in Sweden in mid-November, followed by the international market. Samsung Wave 575 will be available in black, white and pink.

When is the last time you purposefully dumped water on your phone? Probably never. You’re more likely protecting it from the lightest of rain drizzles and babying it every time you place it in your pocket. But we’re not you, so we’re going to pour water on a phone:

Of the 7 phones Motorola announced on Tuesday, the Motorola DEFY for T-Mobile is one of my three favorites (along with Droid Pro for its BlackBerryishness and Flipout for it’s awkward teen attraction). These might not be high end Android’s but they are a vital part of not only Motorola’s strategy, but also the Android ecosystem, and it represents what Android is and can be.

More and more users are flocking to Android, and Motorola is thinking about those that haven’t yet switched to Android, asking themselves why not, and then catering to these users with unique offerings that fit their needs. The Motorola DEFY is clearly geared to the youthful, everyday phone user who wants the benefits of a smartphone but not all the baggage of caring for a tender piece of love and technology.

The DEFY claims to be Life Proof, which when it comes down to non-marketing speak, means you can get it a little wet, drop it and rough it up a little bit on accident and you won’t break the darn thing. It’s durable, and it comes with one of my favorite pieces of smartphone technology that I hope to see in all phones at some point – Gorilla glass.

The Motorola Droid, a phone I picked up the day it came out, was the first phone to popularize Gorilla Glass. Put it in your pocket along with keys, coins, and other goodies that would normally scratch your screen and the Gorilla Glass (for the most part) keeps your screen looking brand new. Now the body of your phone might get a little banged up, but it’s the precious screen that we care most about since it’s the keeper (and relayer) of the content that makes a phone what it is.

Talking specs, the Motorola DEFY rocks a capable but not overwhelming list:

• 3.7-inch screen
• 5MP camera
• 3.5mm headset jack
• FM Radio
• Android 2.1
• MOTOBLUR
• 800MHz processor

That’s MORE than enough multimedia power to make moving from a feature phone to a smartphone well worth the money, even if you happen to splash some water on it or drop it down a flight of stairs or five. Because let’s face it, after watching the video above, at some point or another we all wish we had a phone that could defy the elements. Or our own clumsiness.

You might be familiar with Universal Androot; it used to be the biggest one-click rooting solution out there and could get the job done on just about any device. Now it has popped up in the Android Market, with one big stipulation: it won’t work on phone’s carrying the FRG22D version of Froyo and a handful of other handsets. Still, the list of devices it won’t work for is only a fraction of those it will. Check out the following list:

• Google Nexus One (2.2)
• Google G1 (1.6)
• HTC Hero (2.1)
• HTC Magic (1.5) (Select Do not install Superuser)
• HTC Tattoo (1.6)
• Dell Streak (2.1)
• Motorola Milestone (2.1)
• Motorola XT701
• Motorola XT800 (2.1)
• Motorola ME511
• Motorola Droid (2.01/2.1/2.2 with FRG01B)
• Sony Ericsson X10 (1.6)
• Sony Ericsson X10 Mini (1.6)
• Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Pro (1.6)
• Acer Liquid (2.1)
• Acer beTouch E400 (2.1)
• Samsung Galaxy Beam
• Vibo A688 (1.6)
• Lenovo Lephone (1.6)
• LG GT540 (1.6)
• Gigabyte GSmart G1305

And here is the list phones you won’t want to bother downloading this for:

• Samsung i9000 / i6500U / i7500 / i5700
• Motorola ME600 / ME501 / MB300 / CLIQ XT
• Motorola 2.2 FRG22D
• Archos 5
• HuaWei U8220
• HTC Desire / Legend / Wildfire (/system 無法寫入, 不過可以靠 Soft Root)
• HTC EVO 4G / Aria
• SonyEricsson X10i R2BA020
• myTouch Slide

So this should remain a viable option for those who want to take in easy path to the often treacherous world of root. Grab it in the Market now.

[via DroidLife]

Out of everything we can take away from yesterday’s unveiling of the Logitech Revue, perhaps the most surprising is the handling of video chat for the device. Maybe that shouldn’t be surprising, as Logitech has sold millions upon millions of webcams and accessories to date. But they have taken it a step further with video chat on Google TV. They have built up a device with hardware compression allowing for a gorgeous, widescreen, 720p HD video stream with an upstream rate of less than 1Mbps. Pretty impressive. I must say the ability to relax on your couch, get the whole family in the picture, and see the beautiful HD images streaming from the other side is a nice touch that could be a cornerstone of the Revue, even if it hasn’t been the most talked up feature of Google TV. Imagine what this could do for Chat Roulette!

The following video probably won’t do the actual video quality of the service justice, and that’s a real shame, but hopefully my excitement will be enough to sway you into believing just how awesome this feature is. (Also apologies for the abrupt stop and start halfway through the video due to memory card switch-over.)