Google announces press gathering on January 5th – Hello, Nexus One.

There have been whispers around the rumor mill for roughly a week now that Google was planning on throwing a press shindig right before CES - and sure enough, the invites just went out.

T-Mobile photo is rather small, we've BGR has broken down the text for you:

Google, with support from T-Mobile, is scheduled to launch a new Android device in early January. The Google Android phone will be sold directly by Google via the Web.
Support for the device including troubleshooting and exchanges will be managed by Google and HTC. T-Mobile will offer service support including billing, coverage, features, and rate plans. Additional details Streamline content regarding the launch of Google's Android phone will be coming in early January.

So… Google is simply selling the phone directly for now, as rumored, and T-Mobile will "officially" support it, even though they practically do the same for any unlocked handset on their network. Google and HTC will be fielding support calls from users.

[CrunchGear, BGR]

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HTC’s Legend Likely to be Hero Successor [Hero]

If we were to base opinions solely off of first impressions, the recently leaked HTC Legend appears to be the likely followup to the ever-popular Hero. The chaps at ai.rs blog just tipped us off to a much clearer image of the Legend and based on what we can see, it’s gotten Hero written all over it. So what’s the difference? Well, you gotta read on for that!
Overall, the The Legend will be slightly thinner, a touch faster, and a little more modern is terms of OS and hardware. Both the metallic frame finish and optical sensor give it an updated look over the Hero. We’ve put together a really fast chart below to compare and contrast the two handsets. It’s widely expected that the Legend will make its official debut at 3GSM/Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next February.

	HTC Hero	HTC Legend
Dimensions	112 x 56.2 x 14.35 mm	112 x 56.3 x 11.5 mm
OS	Android 1.5	Android 2.0
Display	3.2-inch TFT-LCD	3.2-inch WVGA AMOLED
Memory	512MB | 288MB	512MB | 256MB
Camera	5.0mp with auto focus	5.0mp with auto focus,LED flash
Processor	Qualcomm 528 MHz	Qualcomm 600MHz
Battery	1350 mAh	1300 mAh

[Androidguys via ai.rs]

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HTC’s 1H 2010 portfolio leaked, pictured and speced

If you live and die by HTC, you might be very excited to know that the company’s portfolio for the first half of 2010 has been leaked online. HTC’s portfolio was presented in Vienna back in October in a global meeting, and now it’s available for us to see. The phones are broken down by category: Design, Performance, Social and Productivity (can’t a phone be two or more?). Lined up are a number of Windows Mobile 6.5 devices and Android devices, so we hope you’re sitting down for this one. Hit the break to see how the phones are broken down by category and to see some images of the devices themselves!

Under Design and Lifestyle, we have the Legend and Salsa and they’re both Android devices. The Legend is set to be available in March 2010 and the Salsa is slated for June 2010.









Under the Social category, HTC has the Tide and the Buzz. Both are Android devices and scheduled for April and May 2010, respectively.









For Performance, HTC has the Bravo and it definitely looks like it’s packing a lot of high-powered hardware. It has a Snapdragon QSD 8250 1GHz CPU, is capable of 720p HD video recording, 3.7″ WVGA AMOLED screen, a 16GB MicroSD card in-box and a 1400 mAh battery. It’s slated for April 2010 and yes, it will also be packing Android as its choice OS.





For the Productivity category, HTC has the Photon, Trophy and Tera and these will all be WinMo 6.5 devices. The Photon and Trophy are coming in April and May 2010, respectively, but we’re not quite sure on the date for the Tera yet. If we had to guess, it would be in June 2010 following the first two.













[Boy Genius Report via XDA Developers]

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HTC Kicks off Ad Campaign Centered Around ‘You’

For years, HTC has been the biggest handset maker that nobody had ever heard of. Content to stand back in the shadows and defer the spotlight, the Taiwanese manufacturer has remained relatively unknown. If someone were to ask you who made your Windows Mobile smart phone, chances were good that you either said ‘T-Mobile’ or ‘I don’t know’. That’s because the devices were marketed as carrier branded handset (think T-Mobile Dash, T-Mobile Wing). Until now, they’ve been one of those companies who didn’t get the credit they deserve. That’s all changing.
HTC has started a major push for brand awareness here in the United States and deservedly so. As of today, they are responsible for nearly every Android handset released in the US, with more to come. Some of the best cutting-edge phones in the world are their products and the public should know that. Enter the “Quietly Brilliant” campaign.
We’ve come to have a very emotional relationship with our phones. Many of our key experiences in any given day come through this one device and yet most of the advertising in the category is still about utility. HTC’s whole design philosophy is very personal. They make phones where your experience is completely unique, so we think there is a connection between how people feel about their phones and how HTC makes them. – Eric Hirshberg, co-CEO and chief creative officer, Deutsch LA.
We’ve embedded the first two advertisements from the campaign. As Androinica points out, Android is bound to grab some extra attention as a result of this push;The handset featured in the commercial is a Hero from Sprint. Further, HTC is heavily vested in Android and will continue to develop a majority of their handsets using the platform.



[AndroidGuys]

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Are These the HTC Dragon/Zoom 2 Specs and Pics?

One handset that we admittedly haven’t done too much coverage on so far is the rumored HTC Dragon. Also known as the HTC Zoom 2, the phone is being reported that it will have a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, which could put it in the 768MHz-1GHz stratosphere.

Here’s a quick rundown of some specs that were tipped our way earlier today. (Thanks Barry!)

• Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8250 (1GHz)
• Android 2.0
• 512MB ROM
• 256MB RAM
• 480 x 800 resolution touch screen w/ multi-touch
• GSM 850, 900, 1800, 1900, UMTS 900, 1900, 2100
• 3.5mm headphone jack
• 5.0 MP camera
• Bluetooth 2.1, WiFi, GPS
• FM Radio, Accelerometer

So what does a beast like this look like? According to DroidDog, these pictures may be the first to surface showing the hardware design. On the outside, its nothing too fancy – a little bit Hero, a little bit Desire.



While we’re on the subject of the Dragon, we should point you to a few screen grabs that DroidDog was able to get a hold of a few weeks back with the accompanying email.

So, what I’ve got here is a little build we’re referring to as the “Pet Dragon”. It’s highly experimental at the moment…HTC Dragon. (dubbed “Zoom 2″) —> the screen resolution is 800×480…This device is in fact operating on the “2.0″ firmware along with the HTC Sense user interface applied for style. So, it’s like an “Eclair Hero”.


But again, bare with me…it’s still very “bare bones” and needs a lot of work…but this device is going to be a GAME CHANGER! Perhaps more so than the HTC Leo!

[AndroidGuys]

I wonder what's the screen size of the beast.

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HTC's Only Actually Interesting Windows Mobile 6.5 Phone Isn't Coming to the US [Smartphones]

HTC's most awesome Windows Mobile 6.5 phone isn't coming here: The HD2 has a giganto 480x800 screen and a 1GHz Snapdragon processor inside of a 11mm-thinner-than-the-iPhone body. And, it's the first WM phone running Sense, of Hero fame.

[Gizmodo via HTC and Electricpig]

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HTC TouchFLO 3D Exposed on Video, Looks Damn Hot [Htc]

Set to debut on the HTC Leo/HD2/whatever, we've seen screenshots of HTC's updated TouchFLO 3D but now we've got some video. PocketNow managed to install it onto a Touch Pro2, and despite that handset's lesser specs it looks nicely smooth.

The Touch Pro2 only has a last-gen Qualcomm chipset and TouchFLO 3D is still running buttery smooth, so we can only imagine how well it'll run with the Leo's 1GHz Snapdragon. The early build of the WinMo skin is available on XDA-Devs, if you want to give it a try. [Gizmodo via PocketNow via MobileTechWorld via Engadget]

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HTC HD3 Leak: Windows Phone 7 Mega-Phone With 4.5" AMOLED and 1.5GHz Snapdragon [Leaks]

If Microsoft's swift Kin killing had you down on their mobile prospects, the leaked specs for the HTC HD3 might make you reconsider. Among them: a gigantic 4.5" AMOLED screen with 1280×800 resolution and 1.5 GHz Snapdragon processor.



The specs for this hulking slab of Windows Phone 7 come from the Chinese site PCOnline and they'd make even the Evo and Droid X blush:

4.5″ AMOLED screen with 1280×800 resolution

1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor

1080p HD video playback

720p HD video recording

8 megapixel camera with dual-LED flash

Multi-touch screen

Super-thin – just 10mm thick

WiFi, Bluetooth and 3G connectivity

4G connectivity for for blisteringly fast downloads that are over ten times as fast as today's HSDPA phones

1GB onboard RAM

1GB onboard ROM

32GB external memory

3.5″ headphone jack

HDMI output for connecting to your HDTV or monitor

1800mAh battery for super-long battery life

Bigger screen than the HD2, but a smaller overall physical size: 115mm x 65mm x 10mm

Like I said, if you had let your excitement for Windows Phone 7 simmer in the wake of the Kin's failure, the iPhone 4 launch, or the continued march of Android, well, this should bring it back to a boil (as long as you're of the opinion that bigger is indeed better).


[Gizmodo via MobilitySite]

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Rumor: 2GHz HTC “Sabor” to Arrive with Gingerbread Late 2010 [Gingerbread]

I love juicy rumors like these. According to Oxford-Zeiss Content & Research Guide (OZCARGuide), HTC is working on a 2GHz 'Sabor' device for Sprint, expected later this year or early next year. Not only that, but the handset maker is developing their own screen technology said to rival Samsung's AMOLED displays.

'The upcoming HTC smartphone destined for Sprint packs a 2GHz processor, over 1000 resolution display, Android OS 2.5 (gingerbread), 2 cameras with one being a 10-megapixel, 1080p video recording and built-in kickstand.'

The 'over 1000' display would match up to yesterday's rumor of 1280×760, said to a minimal requirement for Gingerbread. The 2.5 listed here conflicts with the 3.0 we've heard matched up to the codename, but we can always worry about that later. For now, let's just drool over 10 megapixel cameras and 1080p recording.

If you didn't check your calendar yet today, I'll break the good news to you. We just started the second half of the year. Things could definitely heat up quickly.

Source: DroidDog

NOTE: Rumor: 2GHz HTC “Sabor” to Arrive with Gingerbread Late 2010 originally appeared on AndroidGuys.

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iPhone 4 - Droid Incredible - Evo 4G - Nexus One Comparative Chart [Chart]

Here's a chart showing how the Apple iPhone 4 stands against Android latest and greatest models: The HTC Droid Incredible, the HTC Evo 4G, and the Google Nexus One.

[Gizmodo via TIPB]

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HTC Incredible Poised for CTIA [Sense UI]

The HTC Incredible has been seen in the wild, yet again, leading us to believe the handset has been prepped and readied for a CTIA announcement. Dressed in Verizon black and red, this super phone has an awful lot going on under the hood. If you look at the bottom right of the battery cover you will see the Verizon logo silk-screened in the corner. We'd be very surprised if CTIA comes and goes without a word from anyone.

We've scoured over 107 pages of the AndroidForums post where these images come from and have collected some specs. Since nothing is confirmed by HTC or Verizon, these details are subject to change.

With that out of the way, here's what we can expect out of the Incredible:.

• 1 GHz Snapdragon processor
• 3.7 inch AMOLED WVGA 800x480
• 512MB ROM | 1GB RAM
• 8 megapixel camera with dual LED flash and autofocus
• Android 2.1 | Sense UI
• Optical track pad
• 1300 mAh battery
• 8GB MicroSDHC card
• FM Tuner
• Dimensions: 117.5 mm (L) x 58.5 mm (w) x 11.9 mm (T)

So... who wants one?

[AndroidGuys]

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HTC Bravo to be Branded as ‘Desire’, Announced Tomorrow [Sense UI]

Gorgeous, isn't it? We've been saying for a while now that the HTC Bravo appears to be the nearly identical twin to the Nexus One, save for Sense UI and some minor adjustments. On paper, the two handsets nearly mirror each other. If the rumors are true, we'll be hearing officially from HTC on this device tomorrow at Mobile World Congress. In the time we've been waiting for the news to come down from high, the on-board memory received a boost. We're talking 576 RAM and 512MB ROM!

The guys over at Madaco were able to get their hands on the full list of specs, but we've taken the liberty of pasting those we thinking most people care about.

• 1 GHz Processor
• Android 2.1 with HTC Sense
• Memory - ROM: 512 MB, RAM: 576 MB
• Display - 3.7-inch 480X800 WVGA AMOLED Screen
• HSPA/WCDMA:
• Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
• Optical Trackball
• GPS, Proximity sensor, Ambient light sensor, G-Sensor, Digital compass
• Bluetooth 2.1, Wi-Fi, 3.5 mm stereo audio jack
• 5 megapixel color camera with auto focus and flashlight
• Battery - 1400 mAh

These are exactly the kinds of phones we expect from handset makers if they want to play in the upper echelon. What do you guys think? All the makings of a Nexus One, plus Sense!
[AndroidGuys]

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The HTC Scorpion may pack 1.5Ghz processor, Android v2.2, and WiMax – if it exists

HTC cranks out Android handsets like candy corn – and we love that. The only downside to this, however, is that each new leak has us drooling before the last leak even has time to become a real product.
Our salivary glands were just warming up for the HTC Incredible and the HTC Legend, but now we’ve got the HTC Scorpion (possibly codenamed “Olympian”) to dream about. According to the very-latest of leaks, this thing might pack a scorchingly fast 1.5 Ghz processor and the as-of-yet unreleased Android v2.2.


[MobileCrunch]

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HTC Incredible leaks, is as red as Mr. Incredible’s suit

This is the so-called HTC Incredible running on Verizon. It has a Snapdragon CPU with 256RAM and a bold and beautiful screen a la the Nexus One. Interestingly, it has two rear LED flashes and appears to be clad in a red backplate which reminds me of butterscotch pudding although a video, now unavailable, shows it is really red.

Click through for a UI shot. Also, can I just say that I am more in love with Android every time I see it? It just seems fresh.

[CrunchGear]

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HTC Bravo Snapped in the Wild

On paper, the HTC Bravo appears to be everything the Nexus One offers. Although the two practically mimic each other in terms of specs, there are some subtle differences. For instance, there is an optical joystick in place of the trackball. Also, there are four physical buttons across the bottom as opposed to touch sensitive buttons found on the Nexus One. The other two changes are the inclusion of Sense UI and multi-touch support. Other than that, one might consider them the same phone.
Thanks to someone over at Omio, the first 'in the wild' shot has arrived for the Bravo. For now, it appears that Bravo will be headed to T-Mobile UK. It's not known whether or not this phone will arrive in the US, but we get the feeling that many of our readers would welcome it. Couple the hardware of the Nexus One with the great interface that HTC has put together and you have a winning combination.
[AndroidGuys]

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Google Tablet: Google and HTC To Launch Apple iSlate Rival [RUMOR]

Google is working on a tablet computer with HTC, the company that built the hardware for the Nexus One “Google Phone“, according to a report.


The report claims that HTC has “been working closely with Google for the past 18 months” on “several working models of a touch tablet”.


Are Google and HTC about to challenge both the iPhone and the Apple tablet, rumored to be called iSlate?


Australian news site SmartHouse, which first published the story, pits the Google/HTC offering as a direct rival to Apple’s tablet ambitions. But the device might equally prove a threat to Microsoft: getting Google Chrome OS into consumer’s hands is key to the operating system’s success.


Skeptics might argue that Google will never promote a tablet computer of its own: that would endanger its relationships with other hardware makers. And yet the Nexus One proves that Google very much will tread on toes if the move makes strategic sense.


What do you think: could a Google Tablet rival the iSlate? Or will this rumored device never see the light of day?

[Mashable, image via Gizmodo]

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