Motorola CHARM QWETRY Android smartphone

You know, Motorola really ought to give up on this whole all-caps thing when it comes to their product names. I know it’s meant to be distinctive, but it’s almost like they’re trying too hard. Case in point is the new Motorola CHARM, the latest Android device to join the Telus Mobility family.

After being bombarded with names like RAZR, ROKR, and MILESTONE, we are now treated to the Motorola CHARM. The square messaging-friendly device is rocking Google Android 2.1 and it has a full QWERTY keyboard below its 2.8-inch touchscreen display.

Keeping up with the all-caps dance, this smartphone also features the MOTOBLUR user interface and the Motorola BACKTRACK controller. The latter is like the Motorola BACKFLIP with the trackpad on the rear, allowing you to navigate without obscuring the display.

Rounding out the specs are its 3G speeds, 3MP camera, Adobe Flash-friendly web browser, and 1170mAh battery good for up to 13.9 days of standby. Rock out with the CHARM through Telus for $29.99 on a three-year contract or $249.99 outright.

Motorola CHARM specifications

Motorola CHARM Android QWERTY smartphone announced for Telus Canada [Mobileburn]

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HTV Vision QWERTY Android smartphone caught in the wild

The mysterious HTC Vision smartphone we caught wind of late last month now has a face to it. A leaked photo caught in the wild shows a core design that is largely in line with other HTC touchscreen-equipped smartphones, but you’ll notice that it has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard as well. That’ll add to its thickness, but should aid in your efforts to type out longer email messages.

It seems that some of the early rumors about the HTC Vision were a little off, however. Instead of Android 3.0 Gingerbread and a dual-core processor, it seems to be preloaded with Android 2.1 and a 1GHz processor. You do get a large 3.7-inch touchscreen, as well as an optical trackpad and a SIM card. The rest of the details are pretty scarce at the moment, but this could be the first in a new long line of high-end Android smartphones from HTC. I’m just waiting to see Gingerbread in action.

[njuskalo.hr via Engadget]

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You won’t be able to get the upgrade over-the-air (OTA), but a free upgrade is a free upgrade. You can now get Android 2.1 loaded onto your Motorola Milestone. The process is reasonably straightforward.  First, go to the Motorola site and select the Telus Milestone. Accept the user agreement, download the software updater, and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation. Before you know it, you’ll be flying with Android 2.1 on your Telus Milestone.

So, what sort of upgrades come with the new OS? You get more home screens (up to nine), animated wallpapers, a free Facebook app and widget, Google Maps updates, a new Help Center app, better Bluetooth support, optimized battery management, and improvements to the manual removal of email accounts.

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Samsung Galaxy S launched today at CTIA

It looks like the news is coming out fast and furious from CTIA Wireless in Las Vegas. Contending to be one of the hottest new smartphones to hit the limelight – the Samsung Galaxy S is a “super” updated version of the Samsung Galaxy that has already been floating around the market.  Samsung is pretty proud of this little phone, especially since there isn’t much that is small about it. For starters, you get a large four-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen display, which will rock for web and video since the DivX certification its garnered for HD video playback at 720p resolution.

To back it up, you get plenty of horsepower from the 1GHz application processor (a Snapdragon perhaps?). Going through the rest of the spec sheet, we find the Google Android 2.1 machine loaded to the nines. Decked out with quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, tri-band HSDPA/HSUPA, a 5.0MP camera, a secondary VGA video telephony camera, 720p HD video playback and recording, a mobile augmented reality browser (now were talking), integrated messaging with Social Hub, aGPS, accelerometer, Bluetooth 3.0, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, 8GB or 16GB of internal memory, and an external memory card slot.

Getting beyond the vanilla Android experience, Samsung has also included a “daily briefing” feature that gives instant access to weather, news, stocks, and your schedule. There’s a home cradle, Swype virtual keyboard, and a “smart alarm” with natural sound.

The Galaxy S is expected to launch “soon” in Europe, North America, Latin America, Australia, and Asia. Where’s the social?

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Developers, or hackers, at the XDA Developers forum have released a beta ROM of Android 2.1 that will run on the HTC Kaiser (aka AT&T tilt), Vogue, Niki, and Polaris.  Apparently the setup is nearly complete, everything is operational except a couple insignificant things (yikes) like the camera and Bluetooth.  WiFi, GPS, Phone, Sleep and Battery indicator a bit sluggish, but all working.

The team is doing their best to get the camera and Bluetooth working, they also have a bug tracker for users to help them troubleshoot anything that may arise during your conversion to Android.  A tool called HaRET will allow you to run the hacked ROM on your phone alongside Windows Mobile, if your just interested in taking a peak without the plunge.

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The HTC Desire has speculatively surfaced on the Modaco community forum. What was thought to be the HTC Bravo, is said to be the HTC Desire which was also the code-named HTC Droid Eris, but formerly known as the Bravo. Is this beginning to sound like a soap opera yet? All that really matters is if it actually does surface at the Mobile World Congress which kicked off today in Barcelona, Spain and when will it reach North America?

The Desire will be similar in size to the HTC Hero, with the desired HTC Sense UI, an FM radio, 1GHz SnapDragon processor from Qualcomm, 512MB ROM and 576MB RAM, a beautiful 3.7″ AMOLED screen and what looks to be like a miniature optical trackball.

This would be a serious contended for Google’s Nexus One phone, and with such convincing renders, I’m even more excited about this release.

Note: The date on the rendering shows February 16th, does that mean HTC plans to launch it tomorrow?

HTC Desire (Bravo) Specifications

• CPU Speed – 1 GHz
• Platform – Android 2.1 (Éclair) with HTC SenseTM
• Memory – ROM: 512 MB, RAM: 576 MB
• Dimensions – (LxWxT) 119 x 60 x 11.9 mm (4.7 x 2.36 x 0.47 inches)
• Weight – 135 grams (4.76 ounces) with battery
• Display – 3.7-inch AMOLED touch-sensitive screen with 480 X 800 WVGA resolution
• Network – HSPA/WCDMA:
  • Europe/Asia: 900/2100 MHz
  • Upload speed of up to 2 Mbps and download speed of up to 7.2 Mbps
• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE:
  • 850/900/1800/1900 MHz (Band frequency, HSPA availability, and data speed are operator dependent.)
• Onscreen navigation – Optical Trackball
• GPS – Internal GPS antenna
• Sensors -
  • Proximity sensor
  • Ambient light sensor
  • G-Sensor
  • Digital compass
• Connectivity – Bluetooth® 2.1 with FTP/OPP for file transfer, A2DP for wireless stereo headsets,
  and PBAP for phonebook access from the car kit
• Wi-Fi® – IEEE 802.11 b/g
• 3.5 mm stereo audio jack
• Standard Micro-USB (5-pin micro-USB 2.0)
• Camera – 5 megapixel color camera with auto focus and flashlight
• Audio supported formats
  • Playback: .aac, .amr, .ogg, .m4a, .mid, .mp3, .wav, .wma,
  • Recording: .amr
• Video supported formats
  • Playback: .3gp, .3g2, .mp4, .wmv
  • · Recording: .3gp
• Battery – Rechargeable Lithium-ion battery
• Capacity – 1400 mAh
• Talk time:
  • Up to 390 minutes for WCDMA
  • Up to 400 minutes for GSM
• Standby time:
  • Up to 360 hours for WCDMA
  • Up to 340 hours for GSM
• Expansion Slot – microSD™ memory card (SD 2.0 compatible)
• AC Adapter Voltage range/frequency – 100 ~ 240 V AC, 50/60 Hz
• DC output – 5 V and 1 A
• Special Feature – Friend Stream

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