According to Asymco analyst Horace Dediu, in the first quarter of 2011 Microsoft stunningly brought in five times the revenue with Android devices compared with the cash generated by Redmond’s own Windows Phone 7 OS. For the second quarter, the ratio has dropped but at 3:1 is still an ironic situation.

Asymco analyst Horace Dediu tweets that Microsoft earned 3 times the money from Andriod than from its own mobile OS in Q2

Dediu said in a tweet that for Q2, Microsoft received $21 million from royalties on 1.4 million Windows Phone 7 units sold from which Microsoft received a $15 license fee on each phone. At the same time, the company brought in $60 million from the sale of 12 million HTC Android phones from which it receives $5 in royalties for each unit sold. The analyst used Canalys’ Windows Phone 7 sales estimates and HTC’s own statement that it shipped 12.1 million handsets in Q2 (although it is not known how Dediu figured that they were all Android models).
While the amount of money involved isn’t that important for a multi-billion dollar company like Microsoft, just the idea that the company’s fortunes were improved more by a rival mobile OS than from the firm’s own home grown software shows just how inbred the whole mobile OS business has become thanks to patents, royalties, licenses and lawsuits.

source: Twitter via BGR

Did you know that the Pierre Cardin logo can be spotted on a tablet as well and not only on designer bags and fancy clothing? Yes, we fool you not – the designer house has come up with a slate of its own and has just released it to the market. However, would you really like to own one? Let us give you the details so you can judge for yourself.

The tech specs of the Pierre Cardin tablet are something that pretty much nobody would be impressed with nowadays, namely a 7-inch display with a resolution of 800 by 480 pixels and a single-core Samsung processor ticking at 1GHz. What you also get is the modest 4 gigs of storage, a basic 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, Wi-Fi connectivity, and a 4400 mAh battery to keep you going through the day. If the device’s hardware specification isn’t disappointing enough, add to it the fact that the tablet runs Android 2.2 Froyo and you get a device that even the original Samsung Galaxy Tab can outshine.

Well, at least the Pierre Cardin comes with a stylish leather case, which you can use to hide the device itself from the eyes of the people nearby. For some reason, the tablet does not live up to the brand name as its design is as bland as a piece of celery. Nevertheless, if a well known designer logo is all that matters to you, the Pierre Cardin tablet can be yours for $450. Just bear in mind that with a weight of 520 grams and thickness of 14 millimeters, this is definitely not a gadget that will fit in the inside pocket of your designer suit.

source: Pierre Cardin via Pocket-lint

Just yesterday, we reported that a software update was in the making for the LG Revolution that’s expected to provide a lot of bug fixes, but no Gingerbread just yet.

Well folks, it’s actually starting to roll out as we speak and brings the software version to VS910ZV6. Granted that people are still probably more concerned about a Gingerbread update, they should nonetheless take this one with open arms since it appears to pack quite a wallop with its offerings. For starters, it features a ton of new bug fixes that seriously irons out most of the handset’s loose ends. Furthermore, we see updates available with some of the handset’s preloaded apps.

Of course, the list of changes with the update are fairly extensive, but you can find all the juicy details on the LG Revolution’s support page. From the sound of it, the update should be immediate for most people, but if not, you can always check manually under the software update section in the Android settings menu.

source: Verizon via Android Central

At long last, the European market is finally seeing the long awaited Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, but not to ruin the monumental arriving, it seems that we might soon see its slightly smaller sibling arriving in the very near future.

Always a consideration for those who don’t want to be trotting around with a large gadget, Amazon UK currently has the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 up for pre-order on their site. Interestingly, its in-stock date is set for next week on August 12th, which means that it’s coming much sooner than what most people think.

However, it’s surely sporting one serious price tag out of the gate and seems intent on catching the gaze of only diehard early adopters. Priced at £605 (695 Euros/$990), it’s indeed one premium price that’s going to cost you big time right from the beginning.

Still, we’re hopeful about seeing it reduced slightly when the tablet is officially launched. Additionally, now that  TouchWiz UX is going to be available for Galaxy Tab 10.1 owners out there, it’s yet another unique aspect that we hope to see on board with the Tab 8.9 from the onset.
source: Amazon UK via Engadget & Unwired View

The HTC ThunderBolt was the first 4G-enabled smartphone on Verizon’s speedy LTE network, but since its launch not much has changed with its software – the handset continues to run on the quickly aging Android 2.2 Froyo, even though back in March HTC spilled the beans about an upcoming Gingerbread update. Well, four months later, it’s still coming, but this time we have a particular time period for it – the third quarter of the year.

HTC representatives have been spreading the word about the update which will add Gingerbread tweaks and features, and fix some problems along the way:

“We are working hard to address the issues you have mentioned with future updates for the device. We are excited to announce that the HTC Thunderbolt will receive the Gingerbread (Android 2.3) update in Q3 2011. Stay tuned for details as we get closer to the update availability,” HTC replied to Droid-life.

We expect to see an improved Sense UI, but also Skype video and faster GPS lock after the update. Oh well, the third quarter of the year has already started so hopefully it’s sooner rather than later.

source: Droid-life

There was a time when the Sony Tablet S1 and Sony Tablet S2 were anything but shy to pose for the camera. These days are gone, however, as the devices have revealed themselves more than once in the forms of unofficial hands-ons and photo shootouts, not to mention the series of teaser videos that Sony has rolled out to promote them.

Shedding some more light on the Sony S1 and S2 tablets is this bunch of screenshots, that the guys at Carrypad managed to get their hands on. The images are said to be coming straight from Sony’s support website and reveal more than a few details about the devices.

First of all, we now have a clue hinting that the Sony Tablet S1 and S2 will be coming with Android 3.2 Honeycomb on board delivering the most up-to-date Android experience. Besides the goodies that the platform itself will pack, Sony will be adding a twist of its own – a “Wi-Fi Checker” app that seems to be meant to both assist users with connecting to Wi-Fi networks properly and troubleshooting connectivity issues…

Read the full story at PhoneArena!

Cut The Rope is one of the most addicting puzzlers on the App Store, and that’s one of the main reasons behind the anticipation surrounding Cut The Rope: Experiments, a sequel to Om Nom’s adventures available now on the App Store. It’s nothing ground-breakingly new, but rather more of the good old rope slashing experience. The biggest improvement seems to be in controlling the rope as you now have more additional mechanics. The first 25 levels basically walk you through the mechanics of the first game and the more experience rope cutters will feed Om Nom fast to get to the next set of levels. There’s two more sets, or a total of 75 levels, which you can expect to go through in less than two hours.

The new plot circles around Om Nom being taken for experiments by the Professor who’s carrying a number of tests to find out why the animal has such affinity to sweets. He adds comments to liven you up, but except for that doesn’t contribute much to the gameplay.

See the full story at PhoneArena.com

HTC’s decision to stop fighting the system and give in to the influx of custom ROMs for their devices officially was a shot of joy for many, when we first heard that it will start shipping its handsets with unlocked bootloaders.

The procedure is supposed to be two-step, with OTA updates flying out for select handsets to prepare them for the unlocking tool, which is to be released some time this month.

Now HTC released details about said unlocking tool on its Facebook page, and it turns our that you have to agree to voiding your warranty, if you are eager to drag your phone through the unlocking process. Here is the whole statement:

“Since our last update, many of you have asked how the bootloader unlocking process will actually work, and in particular why HTC’s most recently released devices still have a locked bootloader. Rest assured we’re making progress toward our goal to roll out the first software updates in August to support unlocking for the global HTC Sensation, followed soon by the HTC Sensation 4G on T-Mobile and the HTC EVO 3D on Sprint. Because unlocking the bootloader provides extensive control over the device and modifications may cause operation, security and experience issues, new devices will continue to ship locked but will support user-initiated unlocking using a new Web-based tool.

So how will this work? The Web tool, which will launch this month, requires that you register an account with a valid e-mail address and accept legal disclaimers that unlocking may void all or parts of your warranty. Then plug in your phone to a computer with the Android SDK loaded to retrieve a device identifier token, which you can then enter into the Web tool to receive a unique unlock key via e-mail. Finally, apply the key to your device and unlocking will be initiated on your phone.”

Not that we’ve expected anything else, but still it would’ve been a bit over the top to void your hardware warranty because of a software tinkering. That’s why the section where HTC says “or parts of your warranty” warms our hearts – hopefully if the touchscreen starts acting up, we’ll still be able to get it replaced within the warranty period, despite having unlocked bootloaders.

source: HTC

We recently learned that the Asus Eee Pad Slider, with its innovative sliding keyboard form factor will be launching next month in Europe for the hefty sum of 499 EUR ($718) in its 32GB 3G variant, and we were a bit startled by the price.

We’ve come to associate the Asus foray in the Android Honeycomb tablets industry with innovative, but affordable propositions, like the Eee Pad Transformer. Still, the price above is for the top-shelf Asus Eee Pad Slider version, and, if it ever hits the US shores, the keyboarded tablet would likely cost less than that anyway.

A fresh video and pictures emerged yesterday, which preview once again the cool 10″ Honeycomb tablet with the sliding physical keyboard. The video is unfortunately in Vietnamese, but the quality is very good, and gives a nice overview of the dimensions and the hinge mechanism on this dual-core Honeycomb slate…

See the rest of the story at PhoneArena.com

Despite Microsoft scoffing at Skype turning to Google’s open WebM codec for video calls, the chat software is pressing ahead with its roadmap for the year as planned.

A new version has appeared in Android Market that allows two-way video chat on more than the initial four Android phones. Basically almost every popular phone from the major Android manufacturers is now supported, but the Sony Ericsson Xperia arc, for some reason.

Oh, well, you can always download the hacked version and try to cram it in anyway, like everyone did when the two-way video calling feature was announced for only four handsets a little while ago. Hit the “What’s New” section of the Skype app listing in Android Market to check if your handset is supported.

source: AndroidMarket via Engadget