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The Sony Ericsson Nozomi smartphone that's expected to be made official at CES has been benchmarked and the results shared by ITProPortal. The test confirmed some specs of the device, including its 720x1280 touchscreen and dual-core, 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset. A 12-megapixel camera is also confirmed, as is 1GB of RAM and 8GB of integrated storage space.
Verizon has pushed an 11MB update out to all users of the Motorola Droid X. The new build of Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) addresses a range of issues that users were experiencing after updating their device from Android 2.2 (Froyo) to Android 2.3 customized with Motorola's Blur UI. After the bugs faced by Droid X users, it was rumored that Verizon has frozen all Motorola's Android 2.3 updates for other devices until the bugs were sorted.
The first photos of what appear to be the upcoming Droid Bionic smartphone have been put up by MobileGearz. The phone has been delayed by Motorola and the leaks, if real, confirm the presence of a front-facing camera and an eight-megapixel rear shooter. Also visible are two rear-firing speakers and a docking capability to work with a netbook-like dock, a la the Atrix 4G.
The Motorola Droid X will get an official update to Android 2.3 on Friday, May 27, according to Droid-Life, though Verizon has officially confirmed this. The support page for the handset has been updated and reflects the changes the software will bring with it. The 112MB update will have fixes for ActiveSync and a new fixed dock, as well as the new blue Blur user interface from the Droid X2.
Verizon will soon begin updating its Droid X phones to Android 2.3 as it approved Motorola's build of the OS on Friday, tipsters said. For users that are running the unofficial Android 2.3 software, they can get their phones ready to accept the official update by updating to software 4.5.595. The official build will be dubbed 4.5.596, the Droid-Life source explained.
Some users of Motorola’s Droid X have been able to manually download and install the Android 2.3 update for the Droid X that includes Motorola’s Moto Blur UI. Initially, a user on the Droid Life blog reported receiving the update OTA for his device, although it appears that this was a random update as other users have yet to get the update officially OTA. Subsequently, a version of the OTA update that had landed on the lucky user’s phone became available as manual download, but the link to the zip file has since been pulled.
Alltel has announced that it is now shipping four Android handsets: LG's Axis, Samsung's Gem, HTC's Merge and Motorola's Milestone X. Both the Merge and Milestone X, which is better known as the Droid X on Verizon, represent the high-end smartphones equipped with Android 2.2. The Gem and Axis arrive as midrange devices, which have been available since the beginning of the year.
Unofficial Android 2.3 builds have surfaced for Motorola's Droid 2 and Droid X handsets. Users who want to preview the latest version of Google's smartphone OS on either device will need to have root access, as Verizon and Motorola have yet to release official updates. The downloads, which are posted on My Droid World, reportedly include an adaptation of Motorola's Motoblur overlay, though it remains unclear if the UI will match the official release.
According to rumors, the Droid X may be getting an update to Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) and an improved version of the Motoblur interface. The change had been discussed internally at Verizon since late last year, and a handset with a version of the OS was seen last month. Sources say the official build is now complete and that the rollout will likely begin with business customers on March 27.
A series of screenshots found over on the MyDroidWorld forum have shown off an unofficial build of Android 2.3 running on the Motorola Droid X. The device also comes with the prerequisite Motoblur interface overlaid atop the OS. How or where these images came from isn't being revealed, so the build isn't necessarily sanctioned.
Motorola is reportedly readying a successor to the Droid X, which is said to be under development with the code-name 'Daytona.' The device allegedly bumps up the screen resolution to 540x960, nearly matching the iPhone 4 but with a larger 4.3-inch spread, sources have told HotHardware. Internally, the smartphone is said to integrate a dual-core Tegra processor running at 1GHz.
Motorola has issued an apology of sorts on Facebook regarding a comment one of its employees made on YouTube, in response to a user saying he'd like the company to stop putting locked bootloaders onto their handsets. The comment to "buy elsewhere" for custom ROMs was considered hostile, but Motorola is quick to point out it didn't reflect the views of the company.
Motorola has reconfigured its Droid X handset for customers in China, boosting the handset's CPU speed up to 1.2GHz. The upgrade appears to be a software modification to the clock speed, however, as the Chinese variant is built using the same Texas Instruments OMAP 3630 processor as the standard model sold in the US and other countries.
Through a leaked internal memo (embedded below), it's known Verizon is in the process of working with Google on integrating Android 2.3 into certain handsets, Droid-Life reported this week. It is not known exactly which handsets will get the upgrade first, however. It's likely and expected that the flagship Droid X from Motorola will be one of the first handsets to receive 2.3.
Amazon Wireless is currently offering a special promotion for Motorola's current lineup of Droid handsets and HTC's Droid Incredible. The promotion, which is limited to Verizon, brings each of the devices down to just $0.01 when purchased with a new two-year contract. The list of Motorola offerings includes the Droid X, Droid II, and Droid Pro.
Wireless charger maker Powermat made official its latest products for the iPhone 4 and HTC Evo 4G, as leaked earlier. At the same time, battery adapters for the Droid X, Bold 9700 series, Curve 8500/9300, HTC HD2 and Nokia N97.
In a press conference for the Tawainese media, NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang argued that there is room for so-called large screen superphones like the Tegra 2 powered Motorola Droid X that will sit between the 3.5-inch displays on the iPhone and 7-inch tablets. In Huang’s view, a superphone is defined as offering basic internet connectivity, multimedia functionality and runs Android. Huang’s definition may need to be refined if recent suggestions of a larger screen iPhone made by Wall Street analyst Shaw Wu materialize.
The recently leaked Motorola Droid 2 World Edition has just received some more leaked specs and performance numbers, again through a leak. From the photos of the system screen and judging by the Quadrant benchmark sent to Droid-Life, the handset will have an ARMV7 CPU running at 1.2GHz that helped it score 1709 points the second time around and 1566 on its initial run. In comparison, the previously leading Droid X scored 1431.
Verizon has updated its support page (PDF) for the Droid X, indicating that the much-anticipated and expected OS update will be sent out to handsets on Wednesday, September 22. The 67.6MB update is now known to include version 2.3.15 of the software. Users may be able to get it ahead of the officially scheduled release, as the Droid X's Blur interface lets users pull updates from the menu.
An unconfirmed source maintains that the Android 2.2 software update for the Motorola Droid X is coming within 24 hours. The MyDroidWorld forum member revealed a settings page screen capture on his Droid X that seemingly proves that this is the case. This is just a rumor at this point, and previously, Motorola hinted that it would delay the update until September.
T-Mobile's Project Emerald may be a different device than the HTC Vision but could still be the fastest phone ever, tests show. A new HTC device, the Glacier, was spotted in since-pulled online GLBenchmark results outperforming every existing smartphone in sheer CPU power. With a score of 1,432, the Glacier was over 67 percent faster than a Motorola Droid X and 41 percent faster than an iPhone 4; only the Samsung Vibrant came close.
The launch of the iPhone 4 triggered the single largest increase in the iPhone's web share since it launched, Net Applications said today. Use of iPhones jumped from 0.59 percent in June to 0.7 percent in July, or an 18.6 increase in the number of owners in just one month. The growth rate also debunked some beliefs about Android as Google's OS grew at just half the pace.
Verizon and Motorola have admitted the screen flickering issue of the newly released Droid X smartphone. In a statement, Verizon said it is aware of a "small number" of affected devices with a flickering or banding display. It goes on to say Motorola has fixed this problem and is continuing to ship the phones.
Motorola has responded to reports that the Droid X has a hardware security protocol that would reportedly brick it rather than let hackers install different types of software. The hardware maker says Droid X handsets will not be permanently rendered useless by unsuccessful hacking attempts, but instead be prevented from booting if unapproved software is detected on the device. It will go into recovery mode, and can be re-booted once properly approved software is re-installed.
Verizon appears to have already sold out of its online stock for the Droid X smartphone. Although early orders shipped on schedule, the company's website now lists the flagship device with a promised ship date of July 23.
With the Motorola Droid X arriving in stores, hackers have expressed concerns that it might be hardware-locked. An e-fuse chip is present in Motorola's phone that locks the bootloader and could theoretically "brick" the phone if modified. The limit could prevent custom firmware for speed, newer versions of Android or otherwise unofficial upgrades.
Verizon has quietly announced a promotion for 32GB microSDHC cards purchased alongside the Droid X smartphone. Customers will be able to buy the 32GB SanDisk card for $99, which represents a $50 savings of the standard price for the upgrade.
A Verizon spokesperson, Brenda Raney, has gone on record to say that the hotly anticipated Droid X from Motorola will not be in short supply when it launches on Thursday. The carrier took steps to ensure customers aren't disappointed, as was the case with an earlier Android phone, the HTC Droid Incredible. That was a special case, however, Raney explained, as supply of the AMOLED screens and its popularity combined to create this issue.
Sprint has sold about 300,000 Evo 4G phones since they went on sale in early June, analysts at Macquarie group estimated today [reg. required]. The demand is characterized as "strong" but has seen the supply shortages worsen over the past few weeks. Customers still can't shop for the phone at Sprint's online store despite weeks of availability at retail.
T-Mobile in a surprise for subscribers this afternoon moved up the launch of the Samsung Vibrant to July 15. Originally slated for July 21, the Android phone should ship both to T-Mobile's stores and third parties a week earlier. It didn't explain the reasoning for the early release.
T-Mobile contributed to concerns about ASUS and Garmin today by quietly dropping the price of the Garminfone from its original $200 to $130. The discount still needs a $50 rebate but appears to be permanent rather than a short-term sale. It follows just a month after the phone reached stores and is rare for any new device.
Less than a week after offering pre-orders for the Droid X, Best Buy has now reportedly canceled the program. Three Best Buy Mobile stores have said the number of pre-orders now matches the number of phones expected to reach stores on launch day. Whether or not it reaches demand levels for the Droid Incredible isn't known, as the earlier HTC-made phone has mostly been hindered by supply problems.
A new unofficial report from AndroidandMe has the Droid 2 launching at Verizon on August 23 instead of the previously believed July 19. This delay of sorts would be to have the first handset to ship with Android 2.2 preloaded, as the hardware looks to the finalized thanks to a hands-on review. The early phones were running on Android 2.1, but Motorola is believed to be working on getting Android 2.2 finalized.
In an unprecedented move, Verizon Wireless will close its stores at 4:00pm on Sunday, June 27, a tipster reports. The reason for this remains unknown, but is believed by BGR to be for a briefing on an upcoming Droid handset, likely the Droid X, Droid 2 or both.
Verizon gave away its plans today as the upcoming Droid X has already surfaced on the carrier's Droid page. The handset was expected to make an official debut next week and begin shipping on July 19. The page does confirm a 4.3-inch screen and claims that it has a 720p resolution, although that's a likely reference to video capture and not the actual display.
