Over the past couple of years, Android has managed to not only grow, but thrive. Google’s phone OS is now the best selling smartphone OS in the US, and shows no signs of slowing down. With this growth, it’s not surprising that manufacturers of all stripes are trying to establish a name in the smartphone market, as the category shows nothing but growth for the foreseeable future. This is where Acer comes in.
Read MoreWhen Motorola announced the ATRIX at CES, I was very excited – even more so when they followed up that announcement with news that it was coming to Canada on Bell. Up to that point, as a long-time Milestone (Droid to our US readers) user, though, I had been a little disappointed in Motorola. They had seemed to have forgotten about Canada. Both the Droid X and Droid 2 were released in the US last year, but they never came up north. By year’s end, it was almost like Motorola…
Read MoreOn Wednesday, Google held a major event to showcase its new Android 3.0 OS aka Honeycomb. The new OS is aimed squarely at the growing tablet market. The new design offers a cleaner look for Android, as well as a number of new features including the web accesible market.android.com and a new push on gaming. inclduing reusable “application fragments”. If I were the conspiratorial type, I’d say that Google is deliberately attempting to redefine ‘fragment’ in the context of Android. More seriously, the OS was demonstrated running on the Motorola Xoom tablet, powered by Nvidia’s Tegra 2 dual core chipset.
Read MoreThe latest US numbers from Canalys show that Android has now surpassed Nokia as the best selling smartphone OS in the world. Though it started off slow, Android grew from 8.7% of the market in Q4 2009 to a massive 32.9% in Q4 2010. The big drop was for Nokia, which plummeted from 44.4% to 30.6% in the same timespan. All other smartphones saw a drop as well, with Apple’s iOS dropping less than a percent, while RIM dropped almost 6%. Since Windows Phone 7 launched in the middle of…
Read MoreThough not able to attend myself, Kobo held an event in Toronto last night to demonstrate it’s new iPad ereader software Reading Life. This in itself isn’t huge news, unless you’re an iPad user looking for a new reader software (although it does include “an industry first social eReading experience”). Kobo already makes ereader software for just about every major platform, whether it’s desktop OSes like Windows and OS X, or mobile devices. The timing is pretty interesting though, as Google has announced it’s jumping into the fray with Google…
Read MoreThe Dell Streak. What an interesting journey this odd device has had. Originally previewed by Dell as far back as CES in January, this 5” Android phone launched in Europe in June. Initial enthusiasm for this device was dulled by the fact that Dell inexplicably decided to launch it with Android 1.6, but the overall consensus was that the hardware was well made, and it would have potential with an OS upgrade. Then, after much confusion about whether Dell would sell it unlocked in the US, the Streak launched in…
Read MoreWith the Holidays just around the corner the release of new phones is almost a daily occurrence. Only two days after the big Windows Phone 7 launch Telus is adding another Android phone to their already impressive line-up of little green robots – the Samsung Galaxy S Fascinate 3G+. The Telus Fascinate (not to be confused with the US only Verizon Fascinate that is slightly different) is basically the same phone as the Bell Galaxy S Vibrant that we looked at a few months ago here, the only change being…
Read MoreBell is the exclusive Canadian carrier for the new HTC Desire Z, an 800Mhz Android phone running the 2.2 Froyo version of Google’s operating system, and promises to bring up to 14.4 Mbps in download speeds. One of the standout features of the phone is the landscape QWERTY keyboard. Besides the keyboard, which appears up to the high standards of HTC, the phone will have a unified email application for all those who have been waiting for a merged email inbox to make life easier. It will also support HTCSense.com…
Read MoreOver the past week there has been some interesting Android news from Telus, and we’ve collected it all in one place, just for you. HTC Desire Android 2.2 (Froyo) update available now Telus has announced that the 2.2 Froyo update for the HTC Desire is being pushed out today through an OTA (over the air) update. This is after a couple of false starts last week, when the update was released as a download online, then quickly pulled. Even without the update, the Desire is already in our opinion one…
Read MoreAlthough no official launch dates are announced, the Samsung Galaxy Tab is set to appear on both Rogers and Bell here in Canada, probably by the end of November. We had a chance to get our hands on one, and came away suitably impressed. The Android based tablet, seen as the second mainstream device in the tablet behind the iPad, sports a 7 inch 1024×600 display using Samsung’s Super LCD screen technology, making it about half the size of the iPad. Unlike the silver back of the European version, Samsung…
Read MoreThere’s no shortage of Android devices pouring out the Samsung factories these days, with the latest to land on Canadian shores being the Galaxy Apollo, courtesy of Telus. Unlike other Samsung Galaxy models, the Apollo is targeting those looking for something a little more compact in an Android phone. With a slightly smaller screen (and lower resolution of 400 x 240 as opposed to 800 x 480), this is definitely for people looking for something easier to slip into their front pocket.
Read MoreFido has added the Acer Liquid e to their smartphone line up. When we took a look at the phone on Rogers in the bygone era of earlier this summer, we were suitably impressed with the performance, for a relatively low cost. On Fido, the phone is even cheaper, at only $30 with a 3 year contract. For that price you’re getting a fairly clean Android 2.1 install on a 3.5 inch 800 x 400 resolution screen. When we reviewed it, we summed it up thusly: The Acer Liquid E…
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