Htc

2007 iPhone 2G is on iPhone 3.1, 2009 Android Dream/Magic Stuck on 1.5

By Rene Ritchie, Tuesday, Dec 22, 2009 a 10:01 am

So the oldest 2007 iPhone 2G can easily download and run (most of) iPhone OS 3.1 while the current 2009 crop of HTC Dream and Magic devices on Rogers will officially be stuck on Android 1.5? According to sibling site AndroidCentral.com:

So in 2007 if Apple Slapped a Logo on an HTC Excalibur, Would That Have Been "the iPhone"?

By Rene Ritchie, Sunday, Dec 13, 2009 a 9:00 am

Maybe it's me; maybe it's a fanboy thing; maybe it's my desire to impose more text on screen about this, but when I read people calling an HTC HD2/Dragon/Passion device absent HTC branding "THE Google Phone" (now officially caught on camera, see above), I can't help but think that if we go back to 2007 and Steve Jobs had taken the stage at Macworld and pulled out an HTC Excalibur with Apple branding on it, even if it had an Apple OS, it wouldn't have been "THE iPhone" and it certainly isn't what Apple did or what we as consumers got.

"This changes everything" say many blogs. Certainly, for Google's Android partners, competing against the Google brand, and bank, and engineering team changes a lot. And if they sell it unlocked (assuming they put a radio in it that can support all 4 US carriers, including both AT&T and T-Mobile 3G, and Verizon and Sprint EVDO) it will change things for the carriers, and for users who are accustomed to paying subsidized prices.

UPDATED: The Competition: Google Phone Commeth? (Not Really)

By Rene Ritchie, Saturday, Dec 12, 2009 a 9:57 am

Google has issued a statement on the supposed "Google Phone":

We recently came up with the concept of a mobile lab, which is a device that combines innovative hardware from a partner with software that runs on Android to experiment with new mobile features and capabilities, and we shared this device with Google employees across the globe. This means they get to test out a new technology and help improve it.

Unfortunately, because dogfooding is a process exclusively for Google employees, we cannot share specific product details. We hope to share more after our dogfood diet.

And TechCrunch is back again with a roundup of the details: think Google branded HTC HD2-style slab form factor, 1Ghz Snapdragon CPU, unlocked, virtual keyboard with voice-to-text dictation/transcription, likely T-Mo and maybe AT&T.

Finally, Daring Fireball has the supposed user agent string:

Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.1; en-us; Nexus One Build/ERD56C) AppleWebKit/530.17 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/530.17

Nexus One perhaps being a reference to the android-like replicants in Blade Runner aka Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. Nice.

Original commentary after the break...

The Competition: HTC HD2 Hands-on

By Rene Ritchie, Monday, Dec 7, 2009 a 3:36 pm

Our buddy Phil Nickinson over at sibling site WMExperts finally got his HTC HD2 on this weekend and has video'd up an amazing hands-on with what he swears is a 3-foot screen! Ahem. Anyway, I had a chance to try it out as well, but you'll have to wait on my thoughts for a bit still...

Meanwhile, check out Phil's video and let us know what you think!

The Competition: HTC Gets a Hero and Motorola Goes Android with CLIQ

By Rene Ritchie, Thursday, Oct 15, 2009 a 7:09 am

First up, the highly anticipated HTC Hero is in Android Central's house, and Casey gives us a look at the decidedly non-Google Android phone and SenseUI, something closer akin to HTC's previous Windows Mobile powered TouchFLO3D. And we think he likes it:

The Competition: HTC HD2 Does What Microsoft Couldn't?

By Rene Ritchie, Tuesday, Oct 13, 2009 a 7:26 am

While reaction to Microsoft's Windows Mobile 6.5 release ranged from "yawn" to "yeesh", one device, not even given the stage, certainly seems to have stolen the show -- HTC's HD2.

On Apple, Android, and 3.5mm Headset Jacks

By Rene Ritchie, Tuesday, Feb 10, 2009 a 9:28 pm

Someone told Daring Fireball that Apple not only asked Google to remove the multi-touch from the Android/HTC T-Mobile G1 smartphone, but also to remove the 3.5mm headphone jack.

Attack of the iClones: HTC Touch HD Edition

By Rene Ritchie, Wednesday, Sep 17, 2008 a 9:55 am

Confession: My secret, innermost desire for the iPhone 3G was a 420p display. I knew Apple wouldn't do it yet -- there was nothing in their simultaneously released SDK to support any other resolutions -- but still... I wants-ded it!

Imagine my fanboy chagrin, then, when HTC goes and not only makes a device in exactly the same dimensions as the iPhone 3G (obvious much?), but slaps a monstrous 800x480 display on the beast! (Not to mention a 5(!) megapixel camera)