Want to compare specs on the EVO 4G vs. the Epic 4G? Any number of Android models can be lined up for your perusal thanks to the new Google Phone Gallery. You can sort out models by manufacturer or carrier and even buy the Android handset of your liking directly online. All of the phones listed in the gallery offer Google mobile services like the Android Market, Google Search,  Gmail, Maps, and YouTube. Currently, the service lists the Android phones available from 35 carriers.

You can visit the service at www.google.com/phone
source: GoogleMobileBlog

When it comes down to iDEN based Android handsets, there are very few available to choose from, but the Motorola i1 seems to be the sole offering for now – but as always, it would only be a matter of time before we begin to see more.

The case is looking pretty good as the FCC recently approved the iDEN based Motorola i886 which is one interesting Android powered device from a quick visual inspection. Not only does it stand out for being just an iDEN Android phone, but its choice of employing a traditional keypad and landscape sliding QWERTY are also eye catching. It’s definitely a form factor that we haven’t seen with any iDEN device running Android, but the Motorola i886 is packing some entry-level specs under its hood. It features a 2-megapixel camera, GPS, accelerometer, PTT, Bluetooth, and a microSD card slot.

Although it has been approved by the FCC, it’s not yet clear as to who will be offering this handset – but there’s a good possibility it’ll make its way to either Sprint or Boost Mobile.
source: FCC via Unwired View

Wall Street powerhouse Morgan Stanley is bullish on smartphones. With the momentum behind Android and the iPhone 4 plus next month’s launch of the Windows Phone 7 operating system, the brokerage firm has raised its estimate of smartphone growth by a stunning 11%. While Morgan Stanley was originally expecting year over year sales to increase 42% in 2010, their analysts now predict a 53% gain in smartphone purchases in 2010.

Of the smartphone operating systems available, Android has the most momentum amongst them. According to Morgan Stanley analyst Ehud Gelblum, Android will have 24% of the entire pie, more than double the 10% that Google’s open source OS earned by the end of last year. With the difficulty in analyzing a new operating system and the required hardware, Gelblum has gone out on a limb with his call that Windows Phone 7 will control 7% of the market by year’s end.

The analyst expects a minor decline in the iPhone’s share to 15.3% at the end of the year versus 16% at the end of 2009. The biggest decline, according to Morgan Stanley, will come from Nokia. The Finnish firm’s share of the smartphone market is expected to drop to 32.8% from 38% a year ago. Also in the loser’s column is Research in Motion. The Canadian based manufacturer of BlackBerry devices should see its share fall to 15.7% at year’s end, against a reading of 18.5% as 2009 ended.
source: TheStreet

Swiftkey is another virtual QWERTY keyboard option for Android users, as we have reported. To refresh your memory, the keyboard is supposed to increase your typing speed and accuracy by 50%. The developer behind the product, London based TouchType, came up with the FluencyMobile software that predicts 33% of words without a letter being pressed, and correctly offers up 85% of words with just two letters typed. Spelling errors are corrected on the fly while you are typing fast.

Now, version 1.0.8 is available in the Android Market. The new version has two major changes-it has fixed an issue with contractions and apostrophes in auto-correction, and has fixed a prediction and voice dictation bug in areas of the software that have drop down suggestion text fields. For those using Android 2.0 or better, dictation is now supported for English, Spanish, French, German and Italian.

Another correction, pricing the app in U.S. dollars instead of Sterling, prevents some banks from rejecting the charge in Google checkout. Speaking of pricing, Swiftkey will be available in the Android Market for 99 cents until Friday when the price soars to $3.99. If you are interested in improving your typing speed and accuracy for a buck and still get change back, you have until Thursday at midnight to make the purchase.
source: Swiftkey

The joy of open source is that you can tweak and tailor it to your own needs and desires. That is exactly what one of the largest DSC ODM companies in digital photography, Altek, has done with the Leo – a 14MP cameraphone running Android 2.1.

We haven’t heard from Altek Corporation since the summer, but now it seems that the product is been readied for launch in Europe in Q1 of 2011. We needn’t tell you that one of the biggest drawbacks of the smartphone as a convergence device is the crappy, smallish camera sensors with digital zoom, that ruin the photographic experience, and are usually only good for casual snaps.

Altek went the other way around. It leveraged all its R&D potential to build a camera with all bells and whistles of the modern digital photography, but slapped Android onto it, and included 7.2mbps HSDPA connectivity. That’s the beauty of Android – it can go into any device, and turn it into a phone.

According to the press release, the Altek Leo will feature a 14MP camera sensor with 3x optical zoom lens, xenon flash and built-in autofocus assist light. Besides still pictures, the camera also shoots 720p HD video at 30fps, and both are going through the latest Sunny 9 digital image processor. Having full-blown optical zoom on a phone is groundbreaking, but how will the the Leo function as a smartphone?

The gadget comes with a 3.2″ capacitive touchscreen with 480×800 pixels of resolution, accelerometer, digital compass and… handwriting recognition. Android 2.1 has been enhanced with applications for pictures and video editing on-the-fly, making it easier to edit photos before uploading them somewhere over USB, 3G, Bluetooth or Wi-Fi.

The Altek Leo is surely a looker with its aluminum-clad body, but we are wondering about the thickness, weight, and price, when it hits the stores through Altek’s channel partners in Europe. From the video preview of it below, the handset looks pretty thick, like a point-and-shoot camera running Android. Well, one has to make sacrifices for optical zoom, so we’d bet that Nokia is not too worried how the N8 will fare when the Altek Leo gets introduced. The Leo’s camera has a 1/2.3″ CCD image sensor, while the Nokia N8 has 1/1.83″, which is smaller, but still the largest in a slim smartphone. It will be interesting to make a shootout between the Leo and the N8, when they hit the markets.
source: Altek via AndroidAuthority

You didn’t think Michael Dell will stay away from the next computing craze, did you? After the intriguing 5″ Dell Streak, which had some identity problems if it is a tablet, or a big smartphone, Dell confirms it has much more in the works.

Dell’s China CEO Amit Midha has outed some info on the upcoming 7″ Android tablet, which, he hinted, is mere weeks from being announced. A 10-incher is coming next in a 6-12 months timeframe, and some more sizes will appear in Dell’s tablet ecosystem in the meantime. A 3″ device will be announced closely after the 7″ tablet, and a 4″ is also expected.

Except Android, Dell is also toying around with Chrome OS, but one of the upcoming “inchers” will be a Windows device. We’d wager to say he is talking about that elusive Windows Phone 7 device long rumored from them. Bring it on, Dell, the more, the merrier.

source: WSJ

One of the first tests of Nokia’s new ClearBlack screen technology comes courtesy of a Russian mobile blog. The folks over there got their hands on the new Nokia E7, with a ClearBlack screen, and just so happened that there was a Galaxy S sitting nearby, so they decided to play some pictures on both screens for our viewing pleasure. A Nokia N8 with its 3.5″ AMOLED display was also thrown in the mix for a good measure.

In a nutshell, Super AMOLED is still king of the vibrant, oversaturated colors, and deep blacks. The picture’s details also looked more distinct on the Galaxy S, but that is due to the higher resolution of the handset at the same 4″ size.

Nokia’s ClearBlack screen, as found on the E7, is having its own advantages in brightness over the Super AMOLED, but that can also be said for most modern LCD screens – brightness was pumped to the max on both handsets. We hope to see more tests in direct sunlight – the ClearBlack will probably outshine the Super AMOLED in that situation.

source: Mobiset.ru via DailyMobile

The first commercially available phone with a built-in pico projector – the Samsung Galaxy Beam – is going the way of the Dodo bird. It has been on sale in Singapore since the summer, but no orders can be placed right now on the mobile carrier StarHub’s website, as the units have probably sold out, and no new orders have been placed. Does Samsung plan to offer this thing outside of Singapore at all? We don’t know.

That’s too bad, we were really hoping to get a chance with the Beam. Even if you can’t find use for the projector, it still has a 3.7″ Super AMOLED screen, 720MHz CPU, Android 2.1 and 8MP camera with LED flash and HD video recording. Nothing to sneeze at, plus it has a 1800mAh battery because of the projector, and if you don’t use it for that, it will serve you for long, happy hours.

With all the lights and action on the Galaxy S, Samsung has probably put any update and development plans for the Beam on the backburner. Samsung Singapore has confirmed that the handset is not on the schedule for an upgrade from Android 2.1 to Froyo, since it has a limited customer base, and that doesn’t justify allocating resources to it. Yes, Samsung, we know your track record, just release the source code already, so Xda-devs can start working on it, ok? Have a look at the video below for the Galaxy Beam in projecting action.
source: SamsungHub

Fans of the Ajax Amsterdam can really show off their love for the team by purchasing either two special editions handset that pay homage to the popular football team in Europe.

Samsung is issuing two special versions of their Android powered smartphones in the Netherlands – the Samsung Galaxy S and Galaxy Apollo. Aside from being able to experience all of the wonders that these Android powered devices have to offer, they also include special pre-loaded content that relate to Ajax Amsterdam – such as wallpapers, ringtones, and videos.

In addition, you can easily see how the packaging tastefully shows off the love for the popular team, however, the handsets themselves don’t offer anything special in terms of specs – in fact, they’re pretty much the same except for the new pre-loaded content. If this happens to be something you’re serious about buying, you’ll need to know that it can only be purchased in the Netherlands.

Both handsets actually are bundled together with mobile subscriptions that are being referred to as Mobile Ajax, which starts at €19.95 per month and offers voice, data, and access to Ajax-related content.
via Unwired View

Former Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein still makes headlines in his current capacity as head of Hewlett Packard’s mobility group. And what the executive said today was that HP has decided to stop working on an Android tablet and an Android smartphone and will focus on webOS. Talking with the Financial Times, Rubinstein said that after acquiring Palm and its’ webOS platform for $1.2 billion, three operating systems were one too many and it was Google’s open source OS that got the pink slip.

HP is expected to roll out a webOS flavored tablet early next year, as we reported. Work on the Slate, a Windows Phone 7 powered tablet, was said to have been stopped but Rubinstein told the paper that a Windows based pad will be launched before the webOS tablet is released. Microsoft said that HP’s decision to concentrate on producing smartphones using webOS was not a big deal for the company as HP was not a big player in the smartphone industry.

Rubinstein was the CEO of Palm when the company launched the Palm Pre, the first phone with webOS under the hood. When introduced in January 2009, the OS received critical praise and the Pre was instantly considered a worthy challenger to the Apple iPhone. But soon after the phone launched, a series of events took place-from poorly focused television commercials to the beginning of Androidmania last November-and the handset never came close to becoming competition for Apple.
source: FT.com