Big Red’s lineup is about to get even more red and green seeing that a CDMA HTC-made smartphone with the model name PB99300 was passed by the FCC. This undoubtedly is the CDMA version of the Nexus One that Google officially announced during the handset’s unveiling back in January because the GSM/HSPA version is the PB99100. Now this may throw some customers in a deep pickle seeing that they’ll have to really sit down and think about their potential future purchase when they take into consideration the vast mix of top Android handsets that the carrier supports. The Nexus One for Verizon will follow suit with the others before it as the smartphone will probably sold directly through Google’s online store and offered at the same price; hopefully. Additionally, there are other rumored HTC Android powered handsets that’s expected to launch soon like the other Android 2.1 smartphone; the HTC Incredible. Considering that the Motorola DROID is still in the competition, customers again will need to weigh down all their options before making a finalized decision – from the looks of it, HTC definitely has a niche on Verizon’s lineup.
source: FCC via Unwired View

The Motorola DEVOUR is now available at Best Buy. With a 2 year Verizon contract, the aluminum clad Android phone is $99.99.  Off contract, you’ll be reaching deep for the $499.99 that the big box retailer is asking. For Big Red, this is the first MOTOBLUR device that they have offered, and it is expected to be available from the carrier starting on March 15th. But if you have got to have the handset today and become the envy of all of your friends, well, Best Buy would be happy to oblige. The DEVOUR’s display is packed with 3.1 inches of updates from your social networking sites, is powered by Android 1.6 and has a Qualcomm 600MHz MSM7627 processor-the same one featured in the Palm Pixi. So far, the reaction from those who have had hands-on experience with the phone say that it is quite zippy. And no, the DEVOUR is not waterproof so if you are planning on copying Meagan Fox, better keep the water off until you’re done with the phone.
source: BestBuy

There isn’t much difference in the number of men vs. women using the iPhone, or the iPod Touch or even webOS devices. But when it comes to Android, things change dramatically. According to analytical company Admob, a whopping 73% of Android users are of the male persuasion. Some of this might have to do with the images seen on TV ads. The DROID, as you might recall, had ads featuring stealth bombers and robots, machines and rockets. The webOS powered Palm Pre Plus, advertised by the same carrier as the DROID, was originally considered a great phone for Mom in its initial ads. The design of the latter device is all square corners, sharp and built sturdy. The former device is rounded and, as one analyst said, looks like a Fishere-Price toy. We’ve seen women with the DROID and men with the Pre so we wouldn’t take these figures so personally. The average age of an Android user is 35, close to the 37 year old average iPhone owner and the 36 year old webOS user. Not surprising, the average iPod Touch user is all of 23 years old.

Another Admob report shows that Android is about to overtake the iPhone for most smartphone traffic in the U.S. As of January, Android users made up 39% of smartphone requests vs. 47% for the iPhone. Android has been really picking up steam vs. Apple’s touchscreen handset and could pass the device by the next quarter. Some other notes from the survey show that Android and iPhone users both download a similar number of apps each month and spend the same amount of time using them. But something must be different when it comes to app buying because 21% of Android owners buy at least 1 app per month vs. 24% for webOS users, 35% for iPod Touch owners and a whopping 50% of those with the iPhone. As far as recommending their current device to pals, 91% of iPhone users would tell a friend to buy one. That figure is 88% for the iPod Touch, 84% for Android amd only 69% for webOS.
source: Admob via AndroidCommunity, AndroidandMe

HTC has two Android models on the way, each with some spectacular specs and both with a legion of fans already, despite not yet having been launched. The Verizon bound Incredible is expected to be released fairly shortly while the Supersonic is the subject of 4G rumors for Sprint’s WiMAX service and is supposed to be launched this summer. The red earphone grille suggests that this is the Incredible as does the navigation pad at the bottom of the phone. That is a feature that the Supersonic does not have. Whichever model it is, the video should continue to raise the fever for these two handsets.
source: YouTube via Engadget

While recent Android models like the Nexus One and the Motorola DROID/MILESTONE are expected to get their Flash 10.1 upgrade before the middle of the year, what about older models? Does an Android phone like the G1 still suffer from performance issues when loaded up with Adobe’s software? The answer came in a statement on the official Adobe blog page from Antonio Flores. Flores said, “You can expect the final release for Android to be available mid-year. All Android devices that meet our minimum s/w and h/w requirements will be supported. Unfortunately, I cannot say a lot more publicly about our port to the Android system at this time. No, the HTC Hero will not be supported b/c it does not have the correct Android OS version and its chipset is not powerful enough. We require a device with an ARM v7 (Cortex) processor. Examples are the Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets and the TI OMAP3 series.” The Nexus One, of course, features the former processor while the Motorola DROID has the latter chip under its hood. As for the G1, forget it. The DROID and N-One are the only models that currently meet the requirements.

Just in case it’s been a long day and the words are just not able to penetrate, here is a list of U.S. Android phones that will not be getting Flash 10.1. They are the Sprint Hero, Sprint Moment, T-Mobile G1, T-Mobile myTouch 3G, T-Mobile CLIQ, T-Mobile Behold II, Verizon DROID ERIS and Verizon DEVOUR. It should be noted that some handsets like the DROID ERIS and the DEVOUR are equipped with Flash Lite that was added by the manufacturer.
source: AdobeForums via Andronica

Remember that minor upgrade sent out to owners of the Motorola CLIQ just the other day? You know, the one we reported that placed version 1.3.18 on the CLIQ and fixed some minor bugs with the touchscreen and GPS and improved battery life. One thing that the update has done to some phones which was not included in the change log, was to brick the handset. Some are reporting on the Motorola and T-Mobile forums that after downloading the upgrade and rebooting the phone, it accidentally sets the time stamp to “0″ which in Linux is equal to December 31, 1969 at 7:00 P.M in the Gregorian cal­endar format. To make matters worse, the time cannot be changed which is making many functions of the handset not work. Some were told to do a Master Reset and that only made matters worse by not fixing the time and preventing users from signing into MOTOBLUR and even turning on the phone. Motorola and T-Mobile are aware of the problem and will be sending out a fix. In the meantime, do not update to 1.3.18 unless you need a new puck for your next ice hockey game.

A T-Mobile spokesperson named Meriah said, “Thanks everyone for informing us what the latest Motorla CLIQ OTA update has brought to light. We want everyone to know we have been reading your comments and we hear you. We have forwarded your concerns to the appropriate people and are working hard on them. As of now, we advise you not to Master Reset your phone if your OTA update did not download of if you are experiencing issues at this time.”
source: T-Mobileforums via AndroidandMe

Last month we showed you a video of the top 50 games avaliable through the Android Market for the Motorola DROID. Now the wait is finally over as QUAKE 2 and 3 have been ported over to the DROID, though it requires a few steps for installation. For QUAKE 2, follow the directions here, and the directions for QUAKE 3 can be found here. The site AndroidAndMe were the sponsors of this Android Bounty and gave both games a try and reported pretty good results, with frame rates up to 30-40FPS on QUAKE 2 and 20-30FPS on QUAKE 3, which also includes support for the touchscreen and network multiplayer mode. So if you’re feeling like a bit of old school gaming, give it a try on your DROID and let us know what you think.
source: AndroidAndMe via Engadget

Android users, would you like to improve your typing speed and accuracy by 50% on your phone’s virtual QWERTY keyboard? London based company TouchType has developed a new product called FluencyMobile which predicts a third of words without a button being pressed and 85% of words with just two characters pressed according to the company’s CEO, Jonathan Reynolds. The app will also correct spelling mistakes and decreases the number of errors made while typing fast on a handset’s QWERTY keyboard. Apostrophes are added automatically as are inserts for non-English characters. If you’re interested in testing it on your Android model, click on this link. Once SwiftKey is released, Android users should notice an improvement in their typung. Oops.
source: TouchType via CloveBlog

Much like what Dell started doing with the Motorola DROID, Amazon has appeared to start offering the handset at a mind boggling price of only $49.99 on contract. When you look at the bloated price of $199.99 that Verizon stores are asking out of you for this handset, Amazon’s deal is by far more appealing – the best part of it is that it’s available for both new and existing customers. Generally these insane deals are usually reserved for new customers that wireless providers eye as big money, but the notion that even existing customers can take up this offer makes it even sweeter. Additionally, Amazon is throwing in free shipping so that the only thing you’ll need to worry about at the time of purchase if paying for the handset and all applicable taxes associated with the transaction. Now the only stipulation that Amazon is asking is that if “you do not activate or extend a line of service in connection with this device, or if your service is canceled/disconnected before 181 consecutive days, AmazonWireless.com will charge you $250 per device, plus applicable taxes.” Despite that one obvious item, you won’t have to worry about it if you intend on keeping and using the handset for your needs. With some newer and more powerful Android handsets on the horizon, these extremely low prices will make it difficult for customers to choose which will be the best fit for them.
source: Amazon via TFTS

The other day we showed you a video of Facebook’s hugely popular FarmVille game being played on a Nexus One. The idea was to show you how Flash 10.1 would work on an Android 2.1 device. Since the N-One does not yet have Flash, the phone was using a leaked ROM from the HTC Desire as the Desire is expected to have Flash 10.1 support. When the video circulated, word spread about the somewhat less than stellar way Flash responded to the game on the phone. Adobe felt it needed to defend itself and rightly so. As it turns out, the leaked ROM used from the HTC Desire contained an alpha version of Flash Lite, not Flash 10.1. An OTA update in the first half of the year will give the Desire Flash 10.1 support, but for now, the video was showing Flash Lite and that explains everything.

At the same time as defending Flash, Adobe wanted to put to rest worries that Flash 10.1 would drain the batteries of Android phones and released the video below that shows that battery life will not be as impacted as much as feared by Adobe’s software. It shows that video can be played for more than 3 hours over Wi-Fi from video site YouTube in H.264. The result showed only 6% battery usage for the browser.
source: FlashBlog