Basically you're cramming a Bluetooth module and a microcontroller into a toy Communicator and then pairing everything with your phone. As long as you've got voice dialing, you can leave your phone out of sight and be the snazziest Trekkie on the streets. Just don't come crying to me if someone stuffs you into a locker, trashcan, or wormhole. [Make]

It's All in the Google Cloud

Android phones don't sync with your computer. That's because they don't have to: Your contacts, calendar and mail are all kept up in the great Googleyplex. Unfortunately, Google's Contacts manager, while it's gotten better, is kinda crappy, and all of your Contacts are beamed down to your phone from there.

So even after you get the actual contacts you wanna talk to exported to Google Contacts, one problem is that all of your Google contacts, like everybody you email, show up on your phone. What you have to do is either sort your contacts into different groups and tell the phone's Contacts app to show only the groups you only wanna see, or to only show you people with phone numbers. If you wanna sync your contacts, so you have a master copy on your computer and can manage them from there, that problem takes a bit of legwork—at least on Windows.

If you're on a Mac, it's easy to keep your Contacts synced—just tell Address Book to sync with Google. On Windows, you'll need a third-party app, like GO contact. That way, you can manage your contacts on your desktop, and have a local copy that's always synced up with what Google's got.

Calendars are easier: Google's got an app for that.

Exchange support varies from version to version: Android 2.0 has it, previous vanilla versions of Android don't, but carriers like Sprint and hardware makers like HTC have been rolling their own Exchange solution into Android. Check the box, in other words.

The Gmail App Is Amazing

If your primary email account is Gmail, that's almost reason enough to go Android. Not only is Gmail pushed to your phone, the Gmail app is an absolutely perfect rendition of the Gmail experience for the small screen. Threaded conversations (hurray), full label support, starring, archiving and a true Gmail look-and-feel. It's even better in Android 2.0, which finally includes support for using multiple Google accounts with the Gmail app, and a few interface tweaks to make it easier to use.

For your non-Google accounts, there's a separate email app that's a pretty standard IMAP/POP mobile email app. Not amazing, not bad.

For That Matter, All of the Google Apps Are Amazing

You might be switching to Android for political reasons, or just to get away from AT&T, but what's gonna make switching actually work is that all of the Google services are fantastic, and often, more powerful than their iPhone counterparts.

Google Talk is the non-Gmail killer app for me, and highlights just how badly the iPhone needs a native messaging app—it's like BlackBerry Messenger, but for Google. (Or mobile AIM, but less shitty.) Keep in mind, anyone signed in to Gmail on a desktop browser can be reached through Google Talk if they've authorized it, so you've probably got more "buddies" than you might realize.

Latitude is actually built into the Maps app; Google Voice integrates seamlessly; and Google actually frequently releases updates them the Android Marketplace. Oh, and did I mention Google Navigation? Yeah.

What Google hasn't gotten around to yet is integrating Google Docs, but the web version with Android's HTML5-superpowered browser is pretty good.

Not Being on AT&T Is Just as Liberating As You'd Hoped

I've never had full bars on any Android phone—on T-Mobile, Sprint or Verizon—and not been able to do something online. End of story.

Multitasking Is All It's Cracked Up to Be, Mostly

"Hey look, someone @replied me on Twitter!" Pull down the window shade, check it out, go back to browsing this month's custard calendar. "Oh hey, an email." Down comes the window shade, I reply, and then instantly return to drooling more over pumpkin-pie custard, before flipping to Google Talk to tell my friend when we're going to slaughter zombies in Left 4 Dead 2 demo. All in 10 seconds, while listening to Pandora radio.

The drop down window shade is pure genius, and what makes the cacophony of background notifications from all the apps you've got running work. See, you don't actually close apps in Android like on the iPhone. You just switch between them, and the OS takes care of closing apps you haven't used in a while in the background. (Unless inside of an app, you explicitly tell it to shutdown, like Twidroid.) Anything a background app wants to tell you goes into the notification windowshade. Sure, there's a bit of lag switching back to the browser and then scrolling is choppy for a second on some phones, but it's a small price to pay. And bigger batteries in more recent hardware, like the Droid, are enough to make it through the day.

Android Takes More Work

Every version of Android gets a little smoother, a little more user-friendly, but stock versions are pretty barebones. Want to read a PDF attached to an email? You need an app. Visual voicemail? Gotta download it unless your carrier preinstalls one. Want a notepad? Find it on the Market. HTC takes care a lot of these little humps with their custom builds—which includes a PDF viewer out of the box, for example—and generally speaking, there's an app for the basic holes that need to be filled in, but get ready to do a little bit of legwork.

It's Not Quite as Secure

The lock screen is a series of swipes—not an actual passcode—and there's no remote wipe out of the box. Granted, with the iPhone you need a MobileMe plan to get remote wipe, but you don't have to look for an app to install, like SMobile Security Shield.

It's also less secure in the app department, at least on paper: Under Android, you can opt to install unverified programs through the settings menu. This may be a good thing to you—even your reason for switching—but it carries obvious extra risks.

The Android Marketplace Isn't as Nice as the App Store (Yet)

The only place to look for apps and install them is directly on your phone, through the Android Marketplace. With Android 1.6, the Marketplace did get a lot nicer to browse, with a new interface and actual app screenshots, but categories are still too broad, and you still can't do any of this on your desktop, where you have a much bigger screen. Updating apps? You've gotta do them one at a time, which is annoying.

The App Situation Is Getting Better, But Isn't There Yet

So here's the thing. The app ecosystem on Android has absolutely exploded, so it's much, much better place to be than it was six months ago, much less a year ago. In fact, for a lot of your everyday iPhone apps, there's now an Android counterpart or equivalent: Facebook, Pandora, Slacker, Remember the Milk, Foursquare, Shazam, Flixster, etc. The problem is, they're universally not as polished or full-featured. Facebook's missing messaging and events entirely; Twidroid, the best Twitter app, is hideous compared to any of the top 5 iPhone Twitter apps; Photoshop's lacks some of the effects it has on the iPhone.

Gaming is probably the single biggest thing you'll miss. There are games, yes. Some of them good. There aren't as many and they're not as fantastic. There's nothing Star Defense caliber. Or Sim City. (Oops.) Partly, this is simply a numbers issue: Android's not as big as the iPhone yet. But the other aspect is that there's a serious storage limitation for apps—just 256MB in some phones—which seriously cramps what some games can do, as well as how many apps you can install on you phone. Apps will get better, the app economy will get better, this is true. But for now, be ready for some limitations and possibly, disappointments.

Music and Video? Just Buy a Zune HD

Kidding. Sort of. Getting music and video onto your Android phone is a purely drag and drop operation—there's no official Google sync application to organize and get your 10 gigs of music onto your phone. There is an Amazon MP3 store, and it's okay. There are third-party solutions, like DoubleTwist or Windows Media Player. But once you get the music on there, the music player itself kinda blows. It's ugly and just not very nice to use. On the upside, it plays Ogg Vorbis, open source fans.

Movie watchers are in even worse shape with Android. Your best bet is to avoid the native player that's sort of hidden and to actually use a third party app, Meridian. Or just get a Zune HD for your music and video, and you'll be much happier.

I think that covers the basics guys. Yeah, Android's not as polished or smooth, but you know what? It's actually quite livable over here. If there's something else you wanna know—or want to share—about switching, drop it into the comments.

It's a simple text link that leads to Google's mobile partners page which then has a link to the actual Verizon Wireless site. But despite that extra click, it's still incredibly rare to see any sort of ad on the otherwise clean homepage. Especially when it kinda conflicts with Google's attempts to make the things even more minimalist lately. [TechCrunch]

If for whatever reason this piece of junk appeals to you, you can order it straight from China Grabber's vaguely shady-looking website, but I would suggest that you use the money to get your head examined instead. [ChinaGrabber via PMP via Uber Gizmo via Device]

It's not the first time we've seen this; Swiss developerMogo got busted gathering numbers and then calling people to harass them to buy more apps, which is certainly a more brazen move. Storm8 claims that this was a bug, but they're getting sued anyways. It doesn't pay to be shady, devs! [Boing Boing via Kotaku]

In a way, software written in Ares is the purest kind of web app: It's designed in a browser, written in web languages and rendered like a webpage. In another, it's not, because the tools packages these things like native apps. As weirdly hybrid as the results are, Palm reasoning is straightforward: They want to "help Web developers make the leap to becoming mobile developers." You know, by making web development into app development, even moreso that webOS and the Mojo SDK already do. Ok!

The tool will be available by the end of the year, Palm says, but it's not clear what effect it'll actually have. The hope is that it'll spur development for a platform that runs the risk of scaring would-be developers away with its limited user base. The fear is that by encouraging the development of nicely-wrapped web apps before they have a steady stream of regular apps, Palm is dooming the Pre and Pixi to wallow in a sea of $1 farts and spam. I'm taking bets, in the comments. [PC World]

The 80 year old inventor, who has also criticized the iPhone as being overly complicated and hard to use, told a privacy conference in Madrid this week:

"Whenever you create a universal device that does all things for all people, it does not do any things well. Our future I think is a number of specialist devices that focus on one thing that will improve our lives."

I hear the basic point: jacks of all trades tend to be masters of none. And that's a valid observation. But a bunch of smartphones and mobile OSes now do a decent job of handling music, and their cameras are getting better, too. Not to forget all the goodness from Web-based services. So with the utmost of respect good sir, this isn't the 1980s, and using an iPhone (or any smartphone for that matter) is no longer like trying to program your VCR. [The Telegraph]

So Wait, What Is Android, Exactly?

In Google's words, it's "the first truly open and comprehensive platform for mobile devices." That doesn't mean much, so here's a breakdown: It's a Linux-based, open-source mobile OS, complete with a custom window manager, modified Linux 2.6 kernel, WebKit-based browser and built-in camera, calendar, messaging, dialer, calculator, media player and album apps. If that sounds a little sparse, that's because it is: Android on its own doesn't amount to a whole lot; in fact, a phone with plain vanilla Android wouldn't feel like a smartphone at all. Thankfully, these phones don't exist.

Android is Linux insofar as its core components are open-source and free, and Google must publish their source code with every release. But the real heart of the Android phone experience—the Google apps like Maps, GChat, Gmail, Android Market, Google Voice, Places and YouTube are closed-source, meaning Google owns them outright. Every Google phone comes with these apps in one form or another so to the user this distinction isn't that important. That said, it occasionally rears its head, like when Android modder Cyanogen had to strip the apps out of his custom Android builds to avoid getting sued by Google:

The issue that's raised is the redistribution of Google's proprietary applications like Maps, GTalk, Market, and YouTube. They are Google's intellectual property and I intend to respect that. I will no longer be distributing these applications as part of CyanogenMod.

This can lead to more mainstream (and confusing) issues, like with the, erm, touchy (sorry!) multitouch issue: Android OS supports multitouch, in that it can recognize multiple simultaneous input points on its screen. But Google's Android apps don't. So when a company like HTC comes along and decides to properly add multitiouch to the OS, they can only add it to the open-source parts, like the browser (or their own closed-source apps), not Google's proprietary apps. That's why the Hero has pinch-zoom in its browser and photo albums but not in Google Maps, where it's just as at home.

The issue gets even less trivial as the apps grow more central to the Android experience. You know how Google Maps Navigation was, like, the banner feature for Android 2.0? Well, it was, but technically speaking, it's not a part of Android. It's just part of an app made by Google for Android, and that'll ship with most Android handsets. Except for in countries where Google doesn't have their mapping data quite together enough, where it won't. That's what's happening with the Euro Droid, which, by the way, does have multitouch in its browser, like the Hero. That's why the distinction matters.

So, why take so much care to set up and protect this open source component, when surely Google could just slap together a closed-source mobile operating system and give it away for free, right? It would deprive handset manufacturers of their ability to freely modify certain core components of the OS, sure, but the real reasoning, oddly enough, has less to do with phones and more to do with, well, everything else.

How We Got Here

Flash back to November 7th, 2007, when the Open Handset Alliance, a massive coalition of mobile industry companies, held hands to announce to the world their new child. His name was Android, and we were told very little about him. What we were told, though, was delivered almost entirely in frustratingly vague platitudes:

Handset manufacturers and wireless operators will be free to customize Android in order to bring to market innovative new products faster and at a much lower cost. Developers will have complete access to handset capabilities and tools that will enable them to build more compelling and user-friendly services, bringing the Internet developer model to the mobile space.

We were a little disappointed that the GPhone wasn't strictly a phone, but like most people, this sounded exciting to us. Vague, but exciting.

And so we waited, patiently. And waited. Then, nearly a year later, we got our hands on the first hardware to actually use Android. It was called the T-Mobile G1, and It Was Good. Then, six months later, we got another phone—the Magic, or MyTouch, which was more or less exactly like the first one, minus a keyboard. It wasn't until two full years since Android's first appearance—when not just HTC but Motorola, Samsung and Sony started showing off fresh wares—that Android began to feel like more than an experiment. And more important than getting fresh hardware, Android's OS had changed too. A lot.

The T-Mobile G1 shipped with Android 1.0, which wasn't exactly missing much, but still felt a bit barebones. We had to wait until February of 2009 for paid apps to show up in the Android Market, after which April saw the first major update, Android 1.5 "Cupcake." (Updates each have alphabetical, pastry-themed codenames.) This was followed by 1.6 "Donut," which most new handsets are shipping with now, then 2.0 (yes, "Eclair"), which throws in social networking integration, an interface lift, support for new device resolutions, a fresh developer SDK and support for the optional Google Maps Navigation. This version is currently only found on the Motorola Droid, but should start showing up elsewhere with a few months. And so here we are. And that's just half of it.

Android Isn't Just a Phone OS

That announcement I showed you earlier? That was from the Open Handset alliance, a consortium of phone folks—handsets manufacturers, mobile chip makers and the like. But let's look back at another announcement, from the Android project leads, back in early 2008:

Android is not a single piece of hardware; it's a complete, end-to-end software platform that can be adapted to work on any number of hardware configurations. Everything is there, from the bootloader all the way up to the applications...Even if you're not planning to ship a mobile device any time soon, Android has a lot to offer. Interested in working on a speech-recognition library? Looking to do some research on virtual machines? Need an out-of-the-box embedded Linux solution? All of these pieces are available, right now, as part of the Android Open Source Project, along with graphics libraries, media codecs, and some of the best development tools I've ever worked with.

Almost all the talk about Android over the last two years has been about Android the phone OS, not Android the lightweight Linux distribution. While Google was busy pumping out high-profile phone-centric updates, Android was starting to creep into other industries, like a disease. A good disease, that everyone likes! Yes, one of those. This is where things get weird.

Remember all those not-quite-there Android netbooks? Part of the plan. The Android-powered Barnes & Noble Nook? Shouldn't have been a surprise. Android navigators? Why not? PMPs? Creative's got one. Photo frames and set-top boxes? Already in the works.

Most of these devices won't look like Android hardware to us, because our strongest Android associations with the OS are all visual and phone-specific, like the homescreen, app drawer and dialer. Nonetheless, this is as much a part of the Android vision as phones are—it just won't be as obvious.

Your Android-powered DVR won't have an app drawer, but it will share the kernel, and an unusually good widget system. Your Android-powered PMP may run a custom interface, but it'll have access to thousands of apps, like an open-source iPod Touch. Your Android-powered photo frame might look just like any other photo frame, but when it drops your wireless connection, it'll have a decent, full-featured settings screen to help you pick it back up. And over-the-air updates. And it might actually cost a few dollars less that it would have otherwise, because remember, Android is free. This is our Android future, and it sounds awesome.

What Happens Next

But the first step in the Android takeover is necessarily the phones. Android 2.0 means the handsets aren't just interesting anymore; they're truly buyable. As Matt said this week:

In time, Android very well could be the internet phone, hands down, in terms of raw capabilities.... Android 2.0's potential finally feels as enormous as the iPhone's, and I get kinda tingly thinking about it.

What problems the phones still have—among them, poor media playback and the lack of a bundled desktop client to manage media—are not with Android but with Google, which is really just a major supporter of Android. Either Google will solve them hands-on, or the dream of the open source and app developer communities rising up to fill in all the gaps will become a reality. What's certain is that Google—or someone—needs to address them if future legions of Google-branded phones are to succeed to their full potential.

Speaking of potential, it's massive. In addition to everything else Android has going on, timing is on its side. Windows Mobile is limping along with two broken legs, and its hardware partners took (or maybe gave) notice: Motorola, lately a pariah in its own right, doesn't want anything more to do with Microsoft; HTC is stating continued support while quietly phasing out the WinMo ranks; Sony Ericsson, which hasn't seen a true hit come from one of their Microsoft-branded phones in years, is dabbling in Androidery. And as far as most consumers are concerned, anything Windows Mobile can do, Android can do better.

It doesn't stop with Microsoft, either. Symbian, whose boss called Android "just another Linux platform," is losing ground, and losing some of Sony Ericsson's business doesn't help. The Palm Pre, polished and beautiful as it is, can't keep up with Android's exploding app inventory, multiplying hardware partners and rock-star ability to draw talent. RIM's BlackBerry isn't generally seen as a direct Android competitor, but Android 2.0, along with Palm's WebOS and Apple's iPhone OS, are the main reasons the BlackBerry OS feels so clunky and old. That matters. From here, the outlook is clear: Android and the iPhone are the next consumer smartphone superpowers.

And even if it takes Google 10 years to iron out Android's faults and push this kind of adoption, you can expect Android, or its unofficial pseudonym "Google Phone," to become a household name. Besides, Android will start creeping into our lives in places we might not expect it. It'll power our settop boxes, ebook readers, PMPs and who knows what else. It's not just going to be the next great smartphone OS, it'll be the quiet, invisible software layer that sits between all our portable gadgets and our fingers.

Source photo courtesy of NASA

Still something you wanna know? Still mixing up your Androids and your hemorrhoids? Send questions, tips, addenda or complaints here, with "Giz Explains" in the subject line.

The LG Chocolate Touch is the latest iteration of the Chocolate line, and brings with it some new music features: FM radio, dedicated key for favorites, Dolby Mobile sound enhancements, and an unexpected and downright weird "Join the Band" feature. Join the Band features a virtual drum kit and scrolling 88-key keyboard so you can tap along with your music. Of course, it also offers Twitter, Facebook and MySpace integration, a 3.2MP camera and one-touch uploading. It's not a super exciting phone like the BL40, but at least it's odd enough to be sort of interesting. It's available today and costs $80 after a $50 mail-in rebate.

On the BlackBerry side of things, we have yet another 'Berry with the Curve moniker (if you're confused about the multitude of identically-named but different-numbered Curves, check out this handy chart). The Curve 8530 is the followup to Verizon's Curve 8330, and has features more in line with the GSM Curve 8520 than the Curve 8900. If you're still following me, great, because this is one of the best Curves out there: It's got Wi-Fi, 3G and GPS. It's the only Curve with 3G, and improves on its GSM brother by offering GPS. Other than that, it's the same 85xx Curve that Matt already reviewed. It'll cost $100 after a $100 mail-in rebate when it's released on November 20th.

And bringing up the rear, we've got the Samsung Convoy, a burly push-to-talk flip-phone that meets military specification, unlike me. It's got a 1300 mAh battery, which is bigger than some smartphones, and is built to withstand shock, dust, vibration, salt fog, humidity, and solar radiation. It'll probably survive until the end of the Iraq War. The Samsung Convoy will be available November 15th for $50 after a $50 mail-in rebate.

[Verizon]

For the record, the service used to cost $15/month. [AT&T]

Fighting has killed almost 20,000 Somalis since 2007, and though some semblance of order has been restored, the imposed Sharia law has banned even regular moderate muslims from dancing at weddings, or even playing and watching soccer. If you're having a bad day today, take a moment and remember just how good you actually do have it. [Reuters]

Our Jason Chen discussed this issue in the past and coined the term "com," but here's Pogue's take:

What should we call these iPhone-like, touch screen Wi-Fi phones with music and video, real Web browsers, e-mail, sensors (light, tilt, location, proximity), and, above all, app stores? These machines can download thousands of free or cheap add-on programs - "apps" - and become GPS units, musical instruments and medical equipment.

"Smartphone" is too limited. A smartphone is a cellphone with e-mail - an old BlackBerry, a Blackjack, maybe a Treo. This new category - somewhere between cellphones and laptops, or even beyond them - deserves a name of its own.

I invited suggestions on Twitter. The best came from @mentalworkout: "app phone." Bingo. Apps distinguish iPhonish phones from mere smartphones, so "app phones" it is.

I disagree with both Chen and Pogue and prefer to think of the gadgets as "Things I Can't Live Without," but what do you think they should be called? [NY Times]

Channels: COR, DMDR, LD, and NR Internal
Roles: Reps & Above
Markets: All
Contact: Your Manager

AT&T filed a lawsuit on November 4, 2009 against Verizon's "There's a Map for That" advertising campaign. Independent research shows that the maps in the advertisements mislead consumers into believing that we do not offer any wireless service in the vast majority of the country. In fact, AT&T's 2.5G EDGE network covers 1.75 million square miles of the United States, reaching some 296 million people, roughly the same number reached by Verizon's network. This network supports popular services like e-mail, surfing the Web, texting, and voice calling, including the activities shown in the Verizon TV advertisements. In addition, our 3G service, the nation's fastest, is available in more than 9,400 cities and towns.

We filed the lawsuit in Federal District Court in Atlanta and asked that Verizon be prohibited from misleading consumers regarding the scope of our wireless network.

How should I respond to customers who ask about the lawsuit?

While we cannot speculate on the complaint filed, it is a great opportunity to remind customers of AT&T's many advantages that over 81 million customers enjoy, including:

* Best Network
* The best coverage worldwide (More Bars in More PlacesTM).
* The nation's fastest 3G network and the only national 3G carrier providing simultaneous voice and data usage.
* The most devices that work in the most places including Japan and South Korea (3G 2100 MHz device required).
* The nation's largest wireless and wireline broadband provider.
* The nation's largest company-owned and operated WiFi network with more than 20,000 hotspots, including Starbucks, McDonald's and Barnes and Noble, as well as access to over 120,000 hotspots around the world.
* The leading provider of local and long distance voice services.

Greatest Value – The fairest value with Rollover® allowing customers to keep their unused minutes month to month.
Best Products - The most innovative exclusive devices such as the iPhoneTM 3GS.
Most Convenient Services
* The most customer friendly free self-service tools with *Services for checking usage, paying bills, and adding features.
* The most convenient and cost-effective way for customers to manage their accounts with Combined Billing for wireless and wireline products.
* Industry leading 30-day satisfaction guarantee.

As always, if you have an inquiry from the media, please refer them to your local media relations team member.

I guess that if you've made a mockery of the court system with a ridiculous lawsuit, then you might as well use the attention for a bit of spin. [Mobile Crunch]

Succinctly, it's the new BlackBerry to buy if you're on T-Mobile or AT&T. Doubly so on T-Mo, since it's their first 3G BlackBerry.

It's not very much like the original Bold at all, which was the Escalade of BlackBerrys: big, obnoxious, but seriously comfortable to drive because it gave you tons of room to spread your legs (err, thumbs). If you're used to that, at first the 9700—which is even smaller and lighter than the Tour on Sprint and Verizon—feels like you've been shoved inside of a clown car because the keyboard and screen, while retaining the same shape and resolution, respectively, have been shrink-rayed. (Update: Actually, the resolution's been bumped up 40 pixels, to 480x360, from 480x320.)

But, then you realize you're not typing any slower, or less precisely. The 9700's keyboard isn't as flat out comfortable as the original Bold—purely a matter of physics—but it's a minor marvel of ergonomics that RIM has recession-sized the keyboard this effectively. They're simply brilliant at building keyboards. The screen has the same resolution as the Bold's, but in a smaller size, meaning it has a higher pixel density. Despite that extra clarity, I felt a bit constrained by it, especially browsing the web.

It's the second BlackBerry to ditch all-too-easily-slain-by-lint trackball for an optical trackpad, and the first that's not built for Walmart. You'll miss the trackball for about 15 seconds. Like I said before, the trackpad's 90 percent as good as the ball. You might miss the physical feedback, and it sometimes doesn't totally accurately interpret a diagonal swipe that you know wouldn't be a problem with the ball but it's good enough, and by far the most accurate and responsive trackpad I've used on a phone.

It's running BlackBerry OS 5.0 which isn't tons different than the OS that shipped on the original Bold or Curve 8900, but it's definitely springier and it has a few brushstrokes of added polish here and there. One place you notice is the browser—while not as fast as the iPhone 3GS or Android, it has some extra zip to it, and it even sped past the Storm 2 loading pages, despite racing on T-Mobile's 3G network vs. Verizon's.

Note: In the gallery, the T-Mobile one is the Bold 9700, the AT&T phone is the original Bold.

Basically, barring any major bugs that pop up over the next couple of days, this is the BlackBerry you probably wanna bug your corporate overlords to handcuff to your pants if you're on AT&T or T-Mobile, since it'll slide into them easier than any BlackBerry yet. I just hope you enjoy the feel of faux leather. [BlackBerry]

Only LG, Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson make Symbian phones of note—Motorola axed its line. Samsung puts its TouchWiz UI on top of the dreadful S60 OS, and Sony Ericsson will likely do the same with its Rachael interface. Android is taking off, and even Nokia is looking to its Linux-based Maemo OS for its best stuff, like the N900. The Symbian OS still has a big slice of the phone market, but for how long?

And the cool UI in this video: The Symbian Foundation says that it's not part of the Symbian UI roadmap, but they hope some of its features and effects make it into their reference UI and/or delivered handsets. Will you still care? [All About Symbian via SlashGear]

The HD2 arrives on T-Mobile in Europe on November 9, and Asia is also getting it this week. So question: HTC HD2, Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 (1GHz Snapdragon, 4-inch display, and Rachael UI on top of Android), or the Motorola Droid (3.7-inch display and Android)…which gets your vote? Or has something else caught your eye? [HTC]

Now, the "There's a Map for That" ad focuses on 3G alone, and the discussion is about 3G services, including video. But the charge AT&T makes is that people who watch the ad are being deliberately led to thinking that in the white spaces, there's no AT&T phone service at all. Here's the accusation:

Consumers are interpreting the white or blank space on the maps to mean that AT&T customers who are not in an AT&T "3G" coverage area have no wireless coverage whatsoever, and therefore have no ability to use their wireless devices for any purposes in vast areas of the country. This interpretation is not surprising as Verizon, in its own coverage maps, uses white space to inform customers that no coverage of any kind exists.

The thing is, this is somewhat tricky to prove, but it sounds wrong. There are areas of Verizon voice coverage that are not marked as red in the map in the commercial, if my squint-eye human-instrument comparison test is accurate. Try it for yourself. Does the map up top better resemble the one in blue and yellow (but not green), which shows broadband, aka 3G? Or the one in red, which shows voice and messaging?

For reference, here's AT&T's map—note, only the very darkest shade of blue represents 3G coverage:

The ad may contain jargon that might confuse middle America—I will admit that—but to any trained ear, it's pretty clearly about 3G. As far as this maps claim, though, that seems dubious. The maps that Verizon chose do seem to represent the same thing—3G coverage only. Yes, AT&T lawyers, if I'm right about this, it means that had Verizon cheated, their map would have been even redder than the one in the ad. So what's say we spend more of that iPhone subscription money on fixing the network (near my house, please!) and less money on frivolous lawsuits.

[AT&T's Motion for the Restraining Order of Verizon WARNING: PDF]

Case-Mate, the people who used to make zipper booklets for CDs, built the $80 Enlighten case that lights up the Kindle at night by way of an LED-illuminated acrylic overlay. So basically they pulled a Sony: Taking what's right about e-ink, and screwing it up. You don't put anything on e-ink, for the same reason you don't read paper through a film of plastic. We typically don't write up cases, but despite its unique gimmick (okay, because of it) this one looks exceptionally pass-worthy. [CNet]

It's bad enough when pompous over-the-hill watchmakers think they can get into the cellphone business, like Tag Heuer did when it introduced the luxury-for-luxury's-sake $6000 Merediist. It's worse when they team up with an extreme car company to release a still more ridiculously irrelevant phone, like Tag Heuer did when it called up its friend Lamborghini and cooked up the, yep, special edition Merediist Automobili Lamborghini. For $8000, you get the same crappy phone as before, but with the signature angry cow shield on the keypad, and a plaque in place of the crocodile skin. Yes they'll sell a handful to bald Italian billionaires over 60, but how many of those can there be? [Tag Heuer via Gadgetell]

I love when the age-old bicycle gets a redesign, and points go to Joey Ruiter for thinking through the needs of the urban bicyclist, trading speed for agility, and stripping the bike to its simplest parts. But I never thought bike seats could look any more uncomfortable than the borderline rectal probes out there now, until lo, I spotted this rectangular sucka. Joey, you're clearly talented, but I gotta ask, how can that seat be copacetic to the culo? [Core77 via The Awesomer]

As much as I want alternative energy ASAP, I am worried about wind farms. First, they're killing off flocks of birds or at least scaring them the hell away, and now they're making air traffic control jumpy too. Because of their flailing metal blades, radar waves get super screwy around them, and sometimes cause airplanes to disappear from radar. (Cue gulp of fear.) For this problem, a firm called Qinetiq built a seemingly decent solution, layering blades with sheets of radar-slurping glass-reinforced epoxy and plastic foam. It's nice, especially because you can pretty much replace the blade and leave everything else as is. But it's just coming out of the trial phase, and will take some time before it's ready for turbines that are now in place or being built. While we wait, let's talk about them birds... [MIT Tech Review via PopSci]

The data shows a clear rise in ebook apps over the last few months, such that they account for a staggering number of the new apps showing up in the store. It's true! Look at the chart! But here's the thing: this is purely a measure of how many new apps there are, not how well they're doing. But still, why such a huge uptick? Let's do a little experiment.

Pick your favorite public domain book. No, scratch that, pick your least favorite public domain book—something you had to read back in freshman year of college, and that you immediately and angrily sold back to the campus bookstore. Now, search for it in the App Store. Here's our answer:

Treasure Island, a free, public domain book, is available for purchase as a standalone app from over a dozen different developers, in all kinds of containers, at all kinds of prices. And why not! the content is free, so once developer has designed an ebook app container, he can just paste any public domain etext in there and throw it into the App Store. I have no idea if these things sell, but to be honest, they wouldn't have to do very well to make money for their developers—the investment is minimal.

Even more to the point, if the iPhone really starts to pose a threat to tradition ereaders, it won't be evident in stats like this—it'll be through increased book downloads in all-in-one ereader apps, like Amazon's Kindle, B&N's Reader and unaffiliated apps like eReader and Stanza. That's a real possibility, but for now, we should call this rapid explosion of redundant, overpriced, exploitative apps like we see it. [GigaOm]

BlackBerry just put out a call for WebKit developers, for a very specific reason:

Utilizing their knowledge in C++ programming, the successful candidate will be working in a fast-paced, dynamic development environment to develop a WebKit-based browser for the BlackBerry Platform.

Ok! The only question now is, when? Normally the initial hiring of a core developer could be taken to mean that the project is embryonic, and the final product still months away, but keep in mind: In Torch Mobile's Iris, RIM bought an entire, complete browser. In other words, this may just be an optimization project, not a full-on browser development, so decent browsing on BlackBerry could be closer than we thought. [CareerBeacon via Engadget]

And half think it should have the same penalty as drunk driving. Steeeep.

What's fascinating is that while 80 percent think phones should be a no-no, they deem it kosher if you're going hands-free. Newsflash, morons, a bunch of studies show it's just as distracting if you're using a Bluetooth headset. It's the conversation that's distracting, not your hands being up near your head. Personally, I think we should also ban eating, drinking, using combs or makeup, overly talkative passengers, any kind of music, talk radio, GPS navigators, and small children from being in cars, period. Only then can we drive completely safely, since then we won't ever be distracted by anything ever again. [NYT]

Maybe it goes back to the whole multi-touch patent issue with Apple, I don't know. If it turns out the Milestone does indeed have multi-touch when it arrives on November 9, hopefully some sort of patch hack will make its way State-side. [Mobile-Review (translated) via SlashGear]

The new name is not as tech-heavy of geektastic as Droid, but we can see the point. From here on out, things are going to be different (hopes Verizon/Motorola).

The image comes from the O2 web site, where the Droid is masquerading about as the Milestone for a presumably contract-free price of about $595. Launch day is November 9, a mere three days after we Yanks get the coveted handset here in the States. No word on whether or not O2 scored an exclusive here or what, as there's no mention of the phone popping up on other carriers' web sites. [Slashgear]

You were born but a hyped, sidetalking Taco. Then, after we had our laughs for several years, papa Nokia ditched your dedicated hardware and opened it up to phones of all kinds—as long as they said N-O-K-I-A on them. It was a smart move. Because you sell lots of phones, and if your gaming platform was to live, it needed to be on as many of those as possible. It looked ok at this point, as a platform and service. And the hardware was nice at times. But that didn't change the fact that no one I know ever talked about you, n-Gage, much less played with you. The button layouts, games and online vs modes never really came together as well as you'd liked in terms of people buying and using it. Why? I don't know. I guess, at least in America, we couldn't get the handsets for less than the price of 5 Nintendo DSes. But beyond that, you never had any games that people cared about, despite having signed up companies like EA so easily because papa Nokia was still number one. And every year at E3, your booth was like a buzz-vacuum. So, I can't say we'll miss you. We hardly knew you were there. But let's just chalk this up to more high end consumer failure to excite at Nokia, which has been a trend of late.

I'm done. Honestly, this much word count on nGage is charity, even as a farewell. See ya. Hope we never have to see you again. But the word is, you'll probably just fold some games of yours into a general app store. The dead never stay dead for long in the gadget game.

The main phone screen (pictured below) has call-centric icons, plus shortcuts to regular Windows apps that can be categorized into icon-based tabs on the left.

The interface can also switch between landscape and portrait views, and there's a unified look to it all. I'd like to see some extra flair, though...like photos of contacts for incoming and outgoing calls. It's such an obvious thing, so hopefully that'll show up by the time the phone arrives. The xpPhone's maker—China's In Technology Group aka ITG—also says it will support direct access to the Outlook address book for contact management.

Their English pre-order page remains more like an expression of interest form, as it still doesn't list price. If you curious, you can choose a 3G module for your carrier's necessary frequency (AT&T, Vodafone, and Orange are listed).

Jokes about getting a blue screen of death mid-call aside, I'm getting more and more intrigued about the xpPhone. I mean, the thing weighs almost a pound, but just look at those specs below compared to say, the Nokia N900. I'll fill you in when I hear more on pricing/availability—or any plans for an actual U.S (non-import) release. [ITG]

Configuration
• CPU: AMD Super Mobile CPU
• Memory: 512M/1G
• SSD: 8G/16G/32G/64G
• HDD: 30G/60G/80G/120G
• LCD: 4.8' TFT Touch-screen LCD 800*480
• Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP
• Network: GSM/GPRS/EDGE/WCDMA (HSDPA/HSUPA)
• CDMA/CDMA2000 1X/CDMA1X EVDO,TD-SCDMA，TD-HSDPA
• Wireless: WiFi 802.11b/g,WiMax(optional),Buletooth,Stand-alone GPS
• Camera Specifications:CMOS, 300k/1.3 Million
• Ports: 1 x earphone jack, 1 x microphone jack,Docking Connector (includes VGA output signal ), 1 x USB 2.0, SIM Slot
• Battery: Removable Lithium-ion
• Talk time: about 5 hours,Stand by time: about 5 days
• Real life: about 7 hours(Standard), about 12 hours(Large)
• Talk time: Standby time，Operation time may vary depending different usage.
• Weight: 400g (include battery)

It's the same phone, essentially, just refined in nearly every way. It's not the Storm reinvented, it doesn't shoot lasers, and it's not going to kill anything. It's just better than before.

Sure, Press Me Anywhere

SurePress, RIM's "the whole screen's a button!" touchscreen technology, lives on. But now it's four buttons. Four piezo-electric buttons that live under the screen, to be precise. What that means for you is that wherever you press on the screen, it feels way more localized, like the screen's only being pushed in exactly where you click it. Before, it was like the whole screen was on a see-saw.

The re-balancing of the screen lets you go far more smoothly and efficiently from one letter to another while typing, rather than waiting for it to pop back up every time. A software change—which is available for the first Storm too—enables true multitouch typing (for two fingers, but that's enough). You can actually take advantage of the new screen and type much faster than you could on the original Storm. In other words, the mechanics of SurePress actually work now.

The entire build of the mechanism is less janky too—the giant chasms between the screen and the rest of the phone begging for turkey jerky bits to get sucked like a gaping maw have been closed, and the four main buttons are now a seamless part of pushscreen. Oh, and one clever touch is that the screen's dead stiff whenever the phone's off—if it doesn't press down, you can tell the phone's off (though it does mean one less thing to fiddle with).

SurePress, while vastly more usable and comfortable now, is still flawed as a touchscreen navigational concept: It's predicated on literally putting an obstacle in front of you that has to be smashed in every time you want to do something. It's not an optimal experience. And it ultimately fails in what it supposedly sets out to do by "separating navigation from confirmation," to use RIM's verbiage: To make you type more accurately. It just makes you type slower and wonder why you can't use the Storm's quite dandy touchscreen like any other touchscreen, since the keyboard and screen are otherwise great.

Speed Isn't Everything

The Storm 2 is quicker all around. The response of nearly every element is just so much springier than the first Storm—I'm talking versus the launch software to be clear, since frankly, that was the last time I used the Storm. Apps pop up instantly most of the time, hang-ups are a rare occasion, the accelerometer kicks in quickly to rotate the keyboard, and it moves with the kind of speed you expect it to. The phone feels way more like it should. This extends in some respects to the browser, too, which seems a little more capable—though by no means as stacked as a WebKit browser. I wish the camera was faster to start up though; it's still sluggish most of the time.

There are a few slight visual tweaks to the OS since last year as well that make it more look more polished (I'm very surprised I noticed). For instance there's a more matte, almost Apple-like gradient for highlighted items, like in Messages. Icons are a little more sober, which reflects the darker, slightly more understated look of the phone itself. My favorite software tweak is probably the true QWERTY keyboard in portrait mode, instead RIM's SureType system that previously foisted in front of your thumbs. It's better than Android's—and HTC's reskin of Android's on the Hero—though not quite as good as the iPhone's.

While it's got a speed boost and a bit of extra iconographic spitshine, it is still fundamentally the same experience—the Storm 2 touchscreen interface still feels like it was designed by people with physical keyboards soldered into their brains. From the grand scheme of the UI, the standard BlackBerry setup re-jiggered for touch rather than a ground-up design, to the BlackBerry apps that clearly aren't designed with Storm in mind, there's a definite sense of non-belonging with the Storm 2, like when all of the puzzle pieces don't quite fit together and you jam them together to make it work anyway. In other words, it tries real hard to be a touch phone and a BlackBerry, but it doesn't do either of them exceptionally well.

The Storm 2 is where the Storm should've started, but at the same time, it's coming into a different world than a year ago—even on its own carrier—where not breaking new ground is simply moving too slow. More than that, while the Storm is overall a good phone, unless you have a very specific set of criteria for your phone—that is, a touchscreen BlackBerry—you probably shouldn't settle for a phone that doesn't do the touch or BlackBerry aspects (read: typing) spectacularly. There are phones that do each of those things better. If you want a BlackBerry on Verizon, get a BlackBerry Tour, which has an awesome keyboard, if a few trackball problems. If you want a touchscreen smartphone on Verizon, you should get a Droid. At least, that's how it's looking so far—come back early next week for our full in-depth Droid review.

SurePress actually works now

Wi-Fi!

It's pretty quick, most of the time

SurePress is still a mediocre concept, at best

Still doesn't fit in as a BlackBerry

There are phones that do what it's good at much better

It's an improvement over the last six months—the biggest sequential improvement in five years—and less terrible than expected, but still not good. Sprint thinks it'll be better next quarter, but that $478 million loss gots to sting. [PC Mag]

He says they're working hard to "get excitement about Windows Mobile back." After WinMo 6.5, I guess someone needs to. HTC has said it's developing for the two platforms separately, so if there is to be no Android HD2, hopefully something better will come along.

If you're craving an Android/1GHz Snapdragon pairing, look out for the upcoming Sony Xperia X3 and Acer Liquid.

Chou also told Forbes that as a smaller company, HTC needs to be picky about what types of products it makes. The inference is that it's likely we won't see any HTC netbooks or eReaders any time soon. Good, because I'd rather see something as good as the HD2 with Android 2.0. And soon. Full interview at: [Forbes]

Right after taking the cursed reins of Motorola, then-incoming CEO Sanjay Jha had a short town hall meeting and was accosted by a Moto engineer working on Android, Rick Osterloh, as he came off the stage. "By the end of that week, Mr. Osterloh was sitting on the corporate jet, flying with Mr. Jha back to California" to talk up Android, according to the NY Times' account.

Jha lopped off Moto's entire Symbian division in weeks, and when Windows Mobile hit delays, punted it entirely. Most impressively, I think, when it came time to pick out the brains of their new phones, Jha rejected a chip that his division had made when he was at Qualcomm, prior to Motorola, in favor of the TI OMAP chip that's in the Droid.

Funny thing about the Droid, while its aesthetic is dominated by a strict functionalism, it was actually even harder-edged before—Verizon asked Motorola to make it rounder and add the softer touch back so it didn't appeal solely to dudes. (Um, good job with that?) I'm just happy for Motorola that they weren't crushed into oblivion by the weight of their own ineptitude and might actually mount a real comeback. There's more to the story over at the Times: [NYT]

Though it's been speculated that the Droid Eris will run Android 1.6 and sport a hard-to-get-excited-about 528MHz Qualcomm CPU, it would be the cheapest Android phone yet in the US. Verizon didn't mention it at all today, so we might be a touch skeptical of it making that rumored Nov. 6 launch date, but we'll see. [gdgt via Twitter]

First off, Verizon's just confirmed that Droid is a family of phones, and that while this phone is the cornerstone, we should expect more. (AHEM). This is the only one they're announcing now, so anyway: $200 is iPhone 3GS money, so it's good to hear that the specs are top-notch. It's got a 3.7inch screen at 480x854 pixels, a Cortex A8 processor, a 16GB SD card included, Bluetooth, GPS, a 5-megapixel camera and of course, the slide-out keyboard with d-pad. Right, we mostly knew this, so what's new? Well, there's a dock! Ok!

But the software's the real story here, and it's even better than we expected. With a new contacts app, multi-resolution support, a better camera app, and SMS searching , Android 2.0 is front and center, and the Droid will wear it proudly; this is a "Google Experience" device, so don't expect Motoblur here—which given the social networking integration in 2.0, and the refreshed interface, is probably for the best. Verizon wouldn't say whether or not the Android 2.0 would be a Droid exclusive, refusing to confirm that it is, but also refusing to confirm that it isn't. Given that the marketing push for this phone is apparently the biggest in Verizon history, and how weirdly opaque Google's 2.0 release has been so far, I wouldn't doubt that former, at least for a few months.

And remember that Google turn-by-turn nav app rumor? It's totally true. The voice-activated navigation feature will be free, which means if its any good at all, it could conceivably vaporize the entire nav app industry in a matter of months. Google Maps will also have a few new layers on Droid, with Wikipedia, transit and traffic overlays. Google Maps With Navigation will replace the trenchant VZ Navigation, which won't get an Android port. Verizon Visual Voicemail and MyVerizon services will hit Android eventually, but they're gonna take a little time.

Preorders are open now at Verizon's website, but just so you know—Verizon's $200 price is after a mail-in rebate, and a particularly weird one:

Customers will receive the rebate in the form of a debit card; upon receipt, customers may use the card as cash anywhere debit cards are accepted.

Seriously, guys, stop.

Verizon Wireless DROID By Motorola: World's First Smartphone with Android™ 2.0

BASKING RIDGE, N.J., and LIBERTYVILLE, Ill. – High-speed Web browsing, voice-activated search, customizable large screen, access to thousands of Android applications and hundreds of widgets and the best 3G mobile network in the country: DROID by Motorola arrives on Nov. 6.

Verizon Wireless, the company with the nation's largest wireless 3G broadband network, and Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT), a pioneer in the mobile industry, today unveiled DROID by Motorola, the first smartphone powered by Android™ 2.0. DROID by Motorola features the brainpower and breakneck speed of a modern smartphone, designed to outperform where other smartphones fall short.

"We're proud to work with Verizon Wireless and Google™ on the first smartphone to feature Android 2.0," said Sanjay Jha, co-chief executive officer of Motorola and chief executive officer of Motorola Mobile Devices. "DROID by Motorola delivers a rich consumer experience with warp-speed Web browsing, a mammoth screen, and Motorola's expertise in design and voice quality. Combined with Android's open, flexible graphical user interface and the power of Verizon Wireless' 3G network, DROID is a smartphone that simply doesn't compromise."

"This is an exciting announcement for Verizon Wireless, as the DROID by Motorola is the first device that we are bringing to market under our ground-breaking strategic partnership with Google," said John Stratton, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Verizon Wireless. "DROID by Motorola gives customers a lifestyle device with access to more than 12,000 applications that will help them stay in touch, up to date and entertained, using the best 3G network in the country."

DROID by Motorola has a solid exterior, intelligent interior and is one of the thinnest full-QWERTY slider phones available. It is a no-fuss, high-tech, location-aware, voice-recognizing, over-the-air updating, multi-tasking machine – and it is available just in time for holiday wish lists.

With DROID by Motorola, you can:

· Zip through the Web: Access the Internet at 3G speeds via the nation's largest and most reliable 3G network or from any Wi-Fi hotspot. The multi-window HTML browser with a massive processor delivers the Web the way you expect.

· See it all in cinema-style: View the Web, e-mail, Google Maps™, videos and more in widescreen on a brilliant 3.7" high-resolution screen. Boasting a width of 854 pixels to reduce the need for side-to-side panning and more than 400,000 pixels total, DROID has more than twice that of the leading competitor.

· Run multiple applications at once: Customize your DROID with thousands of applications and hundreds of widgets available on Android Market™. Toggle back and forth between up to six applications at a time to juggle the universe and your apps.

· Perform Google Search™ at the speed of sound: Simply tell DROID what you're looking for using voice-activated search, and it will serve up Google search results based on your location. If you want more, simply type what you're looking for into the search bar on the home screen and DROID will also search content on your phone, such as apps and contacts, and the Web.

· Capture moments: Snap digital camera-quality photos with a 5 megapixel camera loaded with the works, such as a dual-LED flash, AutoFocus and image stabilization, or capture your friend's antics in 16 million colors with DVD-quality video capture and playback. Store it all on the included 16 GB memory card, so you always have it on hand.

· Multi-task like a master: Keep tabs on all your messages with integrated Gmail™ and Exchange e-mail pushed directly to you, but don't let them get in your way. With the handy Android notification panel, go straight to the message or simply ignore it, and get back to the task at hand. And, a smart dictionary learns as you type and automatically includes your contacts.

· Get where you need to go with Google Maps Navigation (Beta): DROID is the first device with Google Maps Navigation, providing turn-by-turn voice guidance as a free feature of Google Maps. It's powered by Google and connected to the Internet. Use voice shortcuts and simply say "Navigate to [your destination]," and you'll be on your way. See live traffic, use Street View or satellite imagery to view your route, and get access to the most recent maps and business information from Google Maps without ever needing to update your device.

Pre-loaded Applications and Enhancements to Google Mobile Services:

· Google Maps: With layers in Google Maps, view geographic information, such as My Maps, Wikipedia, and transit lines, right on the map.

· Gmail: Multiple accounts support and undo for common operations.

· YouTube™: One-touch recording and playback from homescreen widget or app, one-touch sharing with friends, and the ability to view your own uploaded videos and high-resolution videos.

· Google Talk™: Easily switch between chats, search your chat history, and preview pictures and videos sent by links.

· Android Market: Browse and download applications created by third-party developers.

· Calendar: Ability to see who has R.S.V.P.'d to your meeting invitations.

· Amazon MP3 Store: Download the latest tracks over the air.

· Verizon Wireless Visual Voice Mail: Delete, reply and forward voice mail messages without having to listen to prior messages or voice instructions.

Pricing and Availability:

· DROID by Motorola will be available in the United States exclusively at Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online on Friday, Nov. 6, for $199.99 with a new two-year customer agreement after a $100 mail-in rebate. Customers will receive the rebate in the form of a debit card; upon receipt, customers may use the card as cash anywhere debit cards are accepted.

To recap the only review we've ever written that didn't even have a "Good" section, the Nuvifone was a failure in about every way that the once-hot handset could've been: It's crashy, it's got a clunky resistive screen, the browser is really, really tough to use, and camera sometimes works, there's a $5/month charge for basic services like weather, traffic and local events, the battery life is horrendous, and the OS acts like a navigation unit firmware with tumorous telecommunications outgrowth. And oh god, that price: $300 with an AT&T contract, which is about how much it'd cost you to buy one iPhone 3G with TomTom and Navigon apps.

So yeah, a price drop was all but inevitable, but it's heartening to see it happen this soon, even if not by Garmin's hand. Next stop: 0. [Amazon via Engadget]