[Video] Nexus One update, multi touch, speed, and 3G

February 3, 2010 by 1 Comment

So the update for the Nexus One has been pushed to many users and more will receive it by the end of the week. Thanks to Android Central, you can manually install the update yourself here. I just wanted to give you a quick walk through of the multi-touch Google has finally decided to gives its Android user base. I will go through the Gallery, Maps, and Browser applications to give you a brief on how surprisingly well multi-touch works on the Nexus One.

The update makes the OS feel a little bit smoother. I used to get force closes while moving icons around the desktop and that does not happen anymore. My 3G signal has significantly improved as well. I am sure there are a bunch of hidden features not listed in the change log. What we are all waiting on now is for this version of Android 2.1 to hit the Droid, MyTouch, Hero, and Moment.

Filed under android, Google, HTC, T-Mobile, Uncategorized Tagged with , , , , ,

Windows Mobile 6.5.3 change log

February 3, 2010 by 2 Comments

We touched on this a bit in the podcast as well as when CES was taking place. Here we have the official change log for the new Windows Mobile 6.5.3 update and like we said, it seems to be very touch focused. Though the jump from .5 to .5.3 doesn’t seem that significant, this update has some serious changes. Here is the change log:

Ease of Use features

* Capacitive touchscreen support
* Platform to enable multi-touch
* Touch controls throughout system (no need for stylus)
* Consistent Navigation
* Horizontal scroll bar replaces tabs (think settings>system>about
screen)
* Magnifier brings touch support to legacy applications
* Simplified out-of-box experience with fewer steps
* Drag and drop icons on Start Screen

IE Browser Performance

* Page load time decreased
* Memory management improved
* Pan & flick gestures smoothed
* Zoom & rotation speed increased

Quality and Customer Satisfaction features

* Updated runtime tools (.NET CF 3.5, SQL CE 3.1)
* Arabic read/write document support
* Watson (error reporting) improvements and bug fixes

They seem to have focused primarily on the touch interface and ease of use. They added capacitive and multi-touch support, bigger buttons that are easier to use, simplified user experience, and some changes to mobile IE.  Perhaps these are the changes needed to make the mobile browser on Windows Phone comparable to the likes of Android, WebOS, and iPhone OS. They also mention in parenthesis (No need for a stylus). That is a feat that cannot be ignored. Microsoft has been stumbling with their stylus interface for so long. To see them finally go for an all out touch experience is quite pleasing. Now we wait to get this update on the HD2 for T-Mobile so we can really see what Microsoft intended for Windows Phone 6.5. Of course that is until Windows Phone 7 comes out.

[Via ZDnet]

Filed under HTC, Microsoft, Uncategorized, WIND Mobile, Windows Mobile, WinMo 6.5 Tagged with , , , , , ,

Motorola Devour with Motoblur finally official

February 3, 2010 by 2 Comments

Verizon announced today, the arrival of the first Motoblur device on their CDMA network. The Motorola Devour. The phone has a really futuristic design similar to that of the Droid but in a smaller, lighter colored, and to some, a sleeker design. The Devour is set to launch sometime next month with no mentioned price. With the Eris being $99.99 and the Droid being $199.99, my guess would be somewhere between $79.99 and $149.99. The devour looks nice but doesn’t pack quite the same punch as the Motorola Droid. The Devour is rumored to come with the Qualcomm MSM 7627 processor. This is the same processor found in the Palm Pixi and Palm Pixi Plus. The Droid has the OMAP 3 which is also found in the Pre. We have seen a significant difference in performance between Pre and Pixi, so it won’t be surprising to see the same thing here. Here are the specs and features coming on the Motorola Devour:

OS: Android 1.6 with Motoblur (Yes this may mean that the Cliq will get 1.6 soon)

A 3.1″ capacitive touch screen at 320×480 resolution. (Identical to the Pre and iPhone resolutions) No mention of multi-touch yet

Qualcomm MSM 7627 processor clocked at 600Mhz, 256MB of RAM, and a MicroSD slot with an 8GB MicroSD card

3MP camera with digital zoom (most likely 2x)

Side sliding 4 row qwerty keyboard

Optical track pad on the front left corner for navigation

2 microphones, 1 for talk and the other for noise cancellation

So there you have it. If you are a fan of Motoblur and you are on Verizon than the device you’ve been looking for seems to have arrived. This phone looks very nice and we are eager to get our hands on it to check out performance. When we do, you will be the first to know.

[Via Verizon]

Filed under android, Google, Motorola, Uncategorized, Verizon Tagged with , , , , , ,

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