AndroidZ.info Android Mobile from A to Z » Alternative Android

HTC hero ROM and information leaked

Max — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 23:44:06 +0000

HTC – the maker of the both G1 and G2 is preparing to launch HTC phone with customized Android operating system. A preview of some of the features can be seen in the following video demonstrating some of the awesome features that are soon coming to the Android users. Since Android is open source anyone can enhance and change the operating system and this is what HTC did so far. It is clear that the main functionality was not changed at all, but the phone is definitely much more compelling.

As for the hardware, it seems that the phone will finally have a 3.5 mm jack for audio. It is similar to G2 in a form factor but does not have the trackball which is probably right since it seems not so many people ever use it at all. This is definitely going to be an exciting year for Android. 18 (!!!) devices are expected to become available from major manufacturers by the end of the year. My guess is we will definitely see low budget devices from generic electronics companies running Android and ready to go with any carries (i.e. unlocked), especially in the Asian markets where most of the electronic production industry is now centralized.

Yet another Android powered tablet PC

Max — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 04:58:24 +0000

We have posted about a tablet PC running Android previously and there were also couple other prototypes we didn’t cover, but now it seems that there is finally a tablet PC running Android that will be mass produced.

Seem like almost from nowhere, the world’s first Google Android netbook has appeared from a Chinese manufacturer, Guangzhou Skytone Transmission Technologies, more renown for producing low cost netbooks targeted to kids.

On Skytone’s website, you can clearly see the notebook — Alpha 680 which is meant to be a refresh of the Linux-based Alpha 600. The Alpha 680 has a 7-inch screen with 800 x 480 resolution and is powered by an ARM 11 533MHz processor which is pretty much what you’d get on the G1. Given its price of $100, the rest of the specifications are very weak. The Alpha 680 notebook comes with only 128MB RAM and 1GB of flash storage in the standard edition.

It does look kinda cheap and is definitely not what most have expected out of the first Android powered notebook, but hey, who had expected that the first Android notebook will be produced by a little known Chinese company?

You can see the demo video of the notebook running the Android below:

A PC running Android debuted in Vegas

Max — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 14:17:46 +0000

First results of Android being open source start to surface. A new portable device from Touch Revolution, was shown at CES 2009

It is reported that the device comes in 4.3in, 7.5in and generous 10in screen sizes, and current prototypes can show off Android at larger screen sizes as well.

The device has three physical buttons at the bottom to navigate back and forth through the device, giving easy access to the Android home screen.

The device (or should we say appliance) is both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth enabled with SD card storage. The customization and skinning process is supposed to be super easy and reportedly should not take more than a day or two to the skilled person.

The screen is also multi-touch, and while Android currently doesn’t support this functionality, although there are multitouch hacks available

If you’re interested in getting one of these devices, the bad news is they’ll probably be limited to the US only… But you could pick one up if you travel to US in early Autumn.

Android running on Nokia N800 tablet now with touchscreen

Max — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 20:35:11 +0000

Nokia N800 is a cool talet, responsible for very high volume of mobile web traffic throughout the world. It is basically a very small tablet PC, running Linux. And the development is done mainly under the maemo umbrella.

The first attempt to port Android was made on the very early version and the results can be seen here (no touch support at a time)

The following video shows the port of the android – NITdroid in the current state with touch support.

It looks pretty good, some problems obviously still remain unsolved and the touchscreen is reported to be overly sensitive, but overall it looks pretty much complete port.

via androidauthority

Android phones get its first copycats

Max — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 13:11:07 +0000

If “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”, then it definitly means that Android already have it fans. First copycats start to surface that imitate Android look and feel, but do not actually run the Android operating system. Which immediately raises the question, why go into such trouble to poorly simulate Android when it is open source?

In this video we see a promotional (as I would guess) of the Android simulated phone.

While the iPhone copycats did not stick. It was just too lame to have a copycat. Making Android open source not just tries to prevent copying, and I would rather say reuse. It encourages it, basically giving the option to any mobile handset manufacturer a free OS, actively developed for by so many developers. And google worked hard to bring all those developers on board. So again we are pondering over the question of why simulate when you can have it all so much easier?

Android gone ~~wild~~ Open Source!