Day: October 27, 2008

“Sprint is a prominent member of the group behind the Android operating system, but Sprint subscribers shouldn’t hold their breathe for a smartphone running this new operating system.CEO Dan Hesse said Friday that Android is not yet ”good enough to put the Sprint brand on it.” He did not give specific reasons for this.However, he isn’t closing the door on releasing an Android-based device at some point in the future, according to Reuters.Besides T-Mobile, Sprint is the only other U.S. mobile phone company in the Open Handset Alliance, the Google-led group of companies responsible for Android. As Sprint is has now said it won’t be releasing a device running this operating system any time soon, T-Mobile USA will apparently have an exclusive in this country for quite some time.AT&T’s CEO has said his company is at least open to the idea of phone running this OS, but it’s the exclusive carrier of the iPhone in the U.S., so it’s unlikely to offer what’s seen as the iPhone’s top rival. And Verizon has joined the rival LiMo Foundation. Of course, this counts only the U.S. There are carriers in the OHA from Asia, Europe, and S. America. via brighthand.com

“Google has just announced on their blog that they have released Google Earth for Apple iPhone and iPod touch. The application is now available on iTunes App Store, you can use the application to navigate through the Earth in 3D modeling like the Google Earth on Desktop. Local Search is also available in Google Earth, giving you a convenient access to local business directory in your city. To get Google Earth on your iPhone, visit the App Store in iTunes or your iPhone, and search for “Google Earth.”The Google Earth for iPhone has also got some nice multi-touch integration from Google. According to the release, you canJust swipe your finger across the screen and you fly to the other side of the globe; tilt your phone and your view tilts as well. You can pinch to zoom in or out, or just double tap with one finger to zoom in and two fingers to zoom out. We also integrated the My Location feature, so with a touch of a button, you can fly to where you are in the real world on your phone.
In addition, we have over eight million Panoramio photos, which are geo-located photos of places, and you can view any and all of them from your iPhone. Besides being beautiful, high-quality pictures, they’re specifically of places, so you don’t have to see some guy’s family on vacation in Thailand–you can see the beaches, the temples, all the things that give you a real sense of the place. Here is a nice shot of the Grand Palace that I found on my virtual tour of Bangkok. via slashphone.com

“Orange today announced that the HTC Touch HD handset will be available in the UK from early November, exclusively on the Orange network. The handset will also be available from Orange in France and Romania in the forthcoming months.The HTC Touch HD is exclusive on the Orange UK network until 2009 from 79.99 Pounds on an 18 month, 40 Pound per month contact Package includes inclusive option of anytime mobile internet browsing (subject to 250Mb per month).
Key Touch HD product specifications:

• Size: 115 x 62.8 x 12 mm
• Weight: 146.4 grams/5.164 oz with battery
• Connectivity: Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
• WCDMA / HSPA: 900/2100MHz. HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
• Software/Operating system: HTC TouchFLO 3D with Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
• Display: 3.8 inch Wide Screen VGA screen (480 x 800 WVGA)
• Camera: 5.0 megapixel with auto focus – Second Camera: VGA
• Internal memory: 512 MB flash; 288 MB RAM
• Memory card: microSD memory card (SDHC capable)
• WLAN: 802.11b/g
• Bluetooth: 2.0 with EDR
• GPS: GPS/AGPS
• Interface: HTC ExtUSB (mini-USB and audio jack in one; USB 2.0 High-Speed)
• Battery: 1350 mAh
• Talk time: WCDMA: Up to 390 minutes / GSM: Up to 310 minutes
• Standby time: WCDMA: Up to 450 hours / GSM: Up to 390 hours
• Chipset: Qualcomm MSM7201a 528 MHz” via slashphone.com