Android Mobiles

The GenTouch 78 by Augen garnered an amazing amount of interest from the Android community when K-Mart revealed it in one of their circulars for a few days ago. The tablet debuted at $150 and had a good amount of you scrambling about to see if you could find one in your local K-Mart stores. Even with it not being the most capable tablet we’ve seen, the community’s excited about it and it clearly shows that demand for Android tablets is real and the market for them could explode any day now.

Cyanogen and his team that never sleeps have shown an immense amount of interest, as well, as they’re bringing CM6 to the tablet (the first tablet to receive such an honor). Specifically, popular developer TheDude has been the one tinkering with the device for the past few days and has gotten the FroYo-laden CM6 running on it and is working on tweaking it for that nice 7-inch screen. Cyanogen’s humorous “tips” widget is shown between the search and music widgets, with the bottom-most row holding 8 icons horizontally (from the looks of things, the launcher is an 8 wide x 6 tall grid).

Be sure to follow TheDude on Twitter if his developments interest you and if you’re thinking of picking one of these up for yourself.

[via AndroidSpin]

Well this is quite the unsettling story. Two “security experts” (I prefer to call them hackers) have drafted up a tool that would allow the user of it to probe an Android device to intercept emails and SMS messages. The program is a “root” utility that disguises itself as a program to help easily root your phone, but will do some other extracurricular activity before it’s done (that’s if it even goes through the process of rooting at all). Know that the hackers aren’t doing this with any malintent: they want Google to get off their butts and fix the security holes before a serious incident goes down.

The tool was released to thousands of hackers at the DefCon 18 security and hacking conference going on this weekend. At first, you may not think releasing the scary tool is in yours or anyone’s best interests, but it forces Google’s hand in making sure things are set straight before too long.

This isn’t unlike the story we heard about exactly one year ago where a known SMS flaw plagued millions of handsets (housing many types of operating systems) and would allow the sender of an SMS to send something similar to a denial-of-service attack which would keep you from being able to make and receive calls, send and receive text messages, and use your phone’s data. Following the revelation of that bug at a similar conference, Google, Apple, and other software vendors found themselves pushing out updates within days to fix it. If this is anything like that, then I’m sure Google’s already hard at work to take care of that.

[via Reuters]

The Motorola FlipOut is nearing unlocked availability in the UK courtesy of retailers Play.com and and Clove. Play’s offering the device August 11th for 249 British pounds while Clove – who hasn’t announced a date for their release yet – will have it for 258 pounds.

The device is not yet available subsidized through UK carriers so you’ll need to be OK with spending a large chunk of money for the device upfront if you truly want it. The Motorola FlipOut ships with Android 2.1 and the latest version of MOTOBLUR and includes a “flip-out” QWERTY keypad – perfect for trendy teens that need to text and wants to have a device that does something “cool”.

[via EuroDroid]

Two HTC phones we’ve been hearing more and more about lately – the HTC Ace and the HTC Vision – might be getting a revelation pretty soon as the two devices have shown up in Vodafone Germany’s inventory system as the HTC Desire HD and the HTC Desire Z, respectively. The Desire HD would look a lot like the HTC Legend with its aluminum unibody design and – according to the BestBoyZ’s (translated) wording – will include features of the HD2 and Desire (we’re assuming they mean HTC Sense [software] and a Snapdragon processor at the least [hardware], for now).

T-Mobile’s rumored to get the HTC Vision – otherwise known as the QWERTY-equipped high-end T-Mobile G1 Blaze – as their first HSPA+ handset later this summer. As far as this new “Desire Z”? We’ll just have to wait and see if it ever leaves Germany and makes its way to other regions whenever details begin to flow out.

[BestBoyz (translated)] [Thanks, Patrick!]

Who remembers DroidMod? They were one of the first dev teams to work on the Droid. They became quite reputable for creating the first custom recovery for the Droid (SPRecovery) and creating an app for the Droid to give you one-click root access. That app is actually the way that I rooted my phone for the first time. Unfortunately, the DroidMod team quickly disappeared, still working on a ground breaking from-source ROM while Cyanogen and many other ROMs came into the scene.

Well it seems like DroidMod has been hard at work, although not what we expected. Instead of a from-source ROM, they have updated their app, DMUpdater. DMUpdater version 12 now has ability to root not only the Droid 1 but also the Droid X and the Evo, all within the app. Not only that, DMUpdater is the first tool available to root the Droid 1 running stock 2.1. Before the app was updated, you would need to mess with USB Drivers, ADB, and downgrading the phones OS before rooting.

The app is not available in the Android Market at the moment, so you will need to download the apk from here. All you need to do is download the apk, install it on your phone, and follow the instructions. It is still in beta, so there may still be some issues. Also, Droid X and Evo users cannot flash SPRecovery! SPRecovery is not made for the Evo and custom recoveries are not able to be flashed on the Droid X yet. Droid 1 users who have rooted there phones and are using a 2.2 ROM should not use this as well.

There is a thread on Droid Forums for any known bugs (link located in the source below), and if you find any other problems post it below.

For more information on Android and the current Android mobile phones, check out our Android Guides

DMUpdater Gets Update – Root For Droid 1, Evo, And Droid X

A new FCC filing was uncovered late yesterday showing a new device – the Motorola Sage – could be running Android and could be headed to AT&T. The assumption that this thing will run Android comes from the fact that the device is equipped with the array of radios you’d only find in a smartphone. Putting two and two together, we know that Motorola only uses Android in their smartphones these days. The device is stocked with HSDPA and HSUPA on the same frequency bands used by AT&T.

We’d love to speculate that this is an entirely new device, but it’s possible that this could be a device we’ve already seen as American Androids are named differently from their overseas counterparts more often than not. We’ll just have to wait until the leak train gets going (or until AT&T and Motorola announces anything) before we learn anything more.

[via Engadget]

We’re not sure what Motorola would call these devices if they did end up getting European counterparts, but new rumors suggest that the Motorola Droid X and the yet-to-be-announced Motorola Droid 2 could be headed to Europe. French Android blog FrAndroid reports that the Droid X will be launched near the end of the year, with the Droid 2 soon to follow.

We can’t confirm their source (nor do the pictures give us any indication that this rumor has any legs – the devices pictured are Verizon-branded, though FrAndroid claims it’s because they’re prototypes and their designs have yet to be finalized) but I’m sure Motorola’s not going to ignore the European market for their latest flagship phones.

Samsung’s holding a shindig on the morning of August 11th in New York to celebrate “a new dimension of Wonder” as they’ll be showing off new products and making some announcements. While nothing points to their Android line of products specifically, I can’t imagine we’re too far off from an announcement of their Android-based tablet (the Samsung Galaxy Tab). There could also be an announcement regarding their personal media player that’s derived from the Samsung Galaxy S called the YP-MB2.

We’ll just have to wait until August 11th to see if Android – in any form – will be on hand. [via Crunch Gear]

With all of this FroYo flying around (food fight?) to several handsets very soon, Motorola Droid X users are wondering when they’ll be able to wake up to some good news. Today, Motorola’s given a general window for when you can expect to see Android 2.2 on Verizon’s latest Droid by updating their update chart. You guys can look forward to sweet frozen yogurt “in late summer”. Probably not the most desirable answer you were looking for, but at least you know you won’t have to wait until the leaves start falling to get your taste.

AT&T has been late to the Android game, probably because they want their customers to think the iPhone is the best option. AT&T only has 3 Android smartphones, one of which is stuck at Android 2.0 (Motorola Backflip). They have stepped up recently with the release of the Samsung Captivate, but every carrier is getting some version of the Galaxy S.

Engadget recently came across  an FCC filing that could add another option to AT&T’s Android lineup. Filed under the codename “Sage”, this Motorola handset has some specific details that could make it a new Android smartphone for AT&T, including: 7.2Mbps HSDPA and 2Mbps HSUPA on the 850 and 1900MHz bands, quadband EDGE, WiFi, Bluetooth, AGPS, and a digital compass. No other details have been given, or what carrier this will actually be for, but those specs make AT&T a good candidate.

Hopefully new details emerge soon, like if AT&T is actually the carrier, but for now we can only speculate. I just hope Motorola will give some love to the other carriers, since Verizon has been the only one with smartphones not lagged down by Motorola’s full MotoBLUR (Droid X is using a simplified version of MotoBLUR). Also, wouldn’t you AT&T customers like another option to choose from instead of getting the iPhone?

For more information on Android and the current Android mobile phones, check out our Android Guides

Motorola Sage – Upcoming Android Phone for AT&T?