Google on Wednesday released the latest numbers for the software versions that are powering Android smartphones and tablets. Ice Cream Sandwich appears on the list for the first time, with Android 4.0 through Android 4.0.3 now found on a combined 0.6% of devices. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus S is in the process of receiving Android 4.0.3, sort of, while the Galaxy Nexus already has 4.0.2. Google’s tablet-centric Honeycomb operating system is found on just 3.3% of Android devices and Gingerbread currently installed on 55.5% of devices — a clear majority. Froyo (Android 2.2) and Eclair (Android 2.1) have dropped to 30.4% and 8.5% respectively, with Donut (Android 1.6) and Cupcake (Android 1.5) hitting lows of 1.1% and 0.6%. Google collected its latest Android version data during the 14-day period that ended January 3rd.

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Countless Android fans complain about new phones still launching with Froyo while Gingerbread has long since been pulled out of the oven, but Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 owners on AT&T can only dream of frozen desserts. Sony Ericsson on Tuesday announced that the Android-powered Xperia that started it all will finally be updated from Android 1.6 — yes, that’s Donut — to Android 2.1, Eclair. Obvious annoyances aside, it’s quite clear that AT&T and Sony Ericsson had some major issues while getting this update ready for primetime, so we suppose X10 owners should be happy the companies didn’t just give up. New features introduced by the Android 2.1 update include 720p HD video capture support, continuous auto-focus and face detection in video capture, multitouch support and five home screens instead of three. Eclair is available for the Xperia X10 beginning Tuesday, May 31st, and it can be accessed by visiting sonyericsson.com/attupdate on a PC.

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It’s not exactly the PlayStation Phone we’ve been anxiously awaiting, but Sony has announced the imminent release of its first official PlayStation app for the iOS and Android platforms. Before you get ahead of yourself… no, this is not the mobile gaming platform Sony is reportedly cooking up — but at least its a start. Features of the PlayStation app include:

• Check out your PlayStation Network trophies and keep up to date with your friends’ games and online status.
• Discover all the latest games, news and hardware for your PlayStation 3, PSP and PlayStation 2.
• Read all the announcements on the European PlayStation.Blog.
• Share your favourite products or news with your friends on Facebook, Twitter or via e-mail.

Sony stated that its free PlayStation app will launch “very soon” for the iPhone, iPod touch and Android devices running version 1.6 or later. The app will initially be available in UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands, with additional markets to follow.

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Here’s a bit of good news for Android enthusiasts: as of December 1st, 83% of Android devices are now running OS version 2.1 or higher. The numbers, which come directly from Google’s developer analytics, show the progress the Big G is making in getting the wide-variety of handsets in market updated to newer code. As you can see from the above chart, the majority of handsets are now running Google’s latest mobile OS version, Android 2.2. While the nature of the mobile market will always be prohibitive to 100% of in-market devices on a single OS version, it is nice to see the lion’s share of handsets on a more recent, modern code — a favorite party-line of Android detractors is to call the platform “fragmented.” Hit the read link to check out the full article.

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Feeling the Xperia X3 too small and the Xperia X10 too large, yesterday Sony Ericsson announced what we like to think of as the Goldilocks handset in the Xperia X8. Better known as the Shakira, the X8 comes with a 3″ HVGA display, 3.2 megapixel camera, A-GPS, Wi-Fi, 128MB of internal memory, 600MHz processor, and Android 1.6 with UX UI. We can’t say for sure if the Xperia X8 will arrive on U.S. soil, but the fact that there is a quad-band version with the 850 and 1900MHz bands of UMTS/HSDPA means it’s a definite possibility.

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Good news for Motorola DEVOUR owners as Verizon is now pushing out an OTA update for the Android smartphone. First off, no, it doesn’t magically turn our Donut into a delicious Eclair. But what it (“it” being software update CALAND_X_o1.15.08P) does do is improve the overall performance and reliability of the device while stomping out a few nasty bugs. To us, that’s pretty hard to argue with. Full change log after the jump.

Enhancements:

Device performance

• Improved response time when Menu, Home, and Back keys are pressed.
• Adjustments to improve the accuracy of signal strength indicators on the display.
• Stability improvements made to browser, contacts, and V CAST Music with Rhapsody applications.
• Multiple enhancements to incoming call performance.
• Volume keys will now function within the Mobile IM application.
• Improvements made to ensure pictures are uploaded in the correct orientation.

Email and Calendar

• Improved functionality to allow users to more easily delete POP3 email accounts.
• Changed display when setting up new email accounts, prompting users to use a back slash instead of a forward slash.
• Enhanced Exchange ActiveSync Calendar agenda view to display meeting titles.
• Verizon.net email accounts will now auto-configure.

Audio

• Overall improvements to ringer, voice dialing application, and multimedia audio when using a headset.
• DEVOUR 1.15.83 includes updated versions of Google applications.

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It’s not available in stores, through the phone, or online just yet, but Rogers has officially launched the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10. In an email memo sent out minutes ago, Rogers announced to its employees that the Android smartphone is now shipping from their warehouses and should arrive within the next three days. Want one? That’ll be $149.99 on contract or $549.99 without. Just keep in mind this phone lacks multitouch as you stand at the till, okay? We wouldn’t want you getting a case of buyer’s remorse.

Alright, Canada, the time has come. You can now pre-order the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 from Rogers Wireless. To be available in both Sensuous Black and Luster White, the XPERIA X10 will set you back $149.99 on a 3-year contract. Definitely not bad for a phone with a 4″ WVGA display, 8.1 megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, GPS, HSDPA and sexy UX UI overlay, but we can certainly see the lack of multitouch and the fact it currently runs Android 1.6 being a deal breaker for many. Rogers won’t give in and tell us the release date, but the whole “Hurry! Offer expires April 14th” leads us to believe we’ll see this sucker drop the day after that. Bonus: All pre-orders will net you a free Bluetooth headset and a chance to win a trip to the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Shouts to South Africa.

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Although interest in it seems to have declined, thanks to this week’s official confirmation that multitouch will never be a feature of the device due to a hardware limitation, that’s hardly going to stop Rogers from aggressively pushing the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10. According to MobileSyrup, a site that has a pretty squeaky clean track record, Rogers has narrowed down the release window for the Android smartphone to the week of April 7th to 14th and assigned tentative pricing — which could be as low as $149.99 on contract. Rogers had previously stated it would offer pre-orders, something which has yet to happen, but with a release that is potentially within six days we’d think they better get a move on it before peoeple’s eyes start to wander elsewhere.

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While we’d have greatly preferred it if Verizon sent out a press release about its Nexus One now being on sale, we guess this morning’s announcement about the immediate availability of the Motorola DEVOUR will do for now. If you think the DROID was too masculine and the DROID ERIS was a little on the lower end, then all that stands between you and the sexy aluminum slider is $149.99 after a $100 MIR on a two year agreement.

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One of our connects came through for us and provided launch documents for the Motorola Devour. As rumored, the Devour will launch in the indirect channel via authorized distributors on February 25th with a full launch in all channels to follow on March 15th. Unfortunately, Verizon has gotten wise to these anonymous leaks and has removed the pricing details from the launch documents but multiple sources have told us that Big Red is aiming for that sweet $99 price point. An exhaustive list of specifications and a few pertinent slides are after the jump. Enjoy!

Specifications

• 3.1” Touchscreen with Slide-Out QWERTY Keyboard
• Bluetooth v2.0+EDR v2.0+EDR. Bluetooth Profiles supported: Headset, Handsfree, Stereo, Phonebook Access, and Audio/Visual Remote Control
• 3.0 Megapixel camera, Video Capture w/1-touch playback and easy uploading to YouTube, Dedicated Camera /Video Key
• V CAST Music with Rhapsody®
• Android 1.6 (Donut) OS with MOTOBLUR
• Integrated Google, Exchange, Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter
• Push Email Support: Gmail & Exchange. IMAP and POP, MSN Hotmail, Yahoo Mail and AOL Mail also supported
• Google Calendar & Corporate Calendar  (supports Exchange 2003 and 2007protocol)
• 8GB microSD card pre-installed on-device. Up to 16GB microSD optional removable memory
• WiFi Capable (802.11 b/g)
• Bilingual Interface: English/Espanol
• aGPS capable for E911 emergency location/sGPS
• Speakerphone
• Advanced Speech Recognition
• Polyphonic and MP3 Ringtones. Embedded ring tones, vibrating alerts and silent
• Phonebook Contact capacity dependent upon optional removable memory
• TTY compatible
• Device Insurance Available : Advanced Device – Early Termination Fee of up to $350 applies
• Hearing Aid Compatibility = M4 T4
• Text, Picture & Video Messaging with threaded messaging feature
• Full Suite of Google Apps incl.: Google Maps with Street View, transit and Wikipedia information; GTalk with Presence; Gmail; YouTube™, Latitude, Google Calendar
• 1000’s of apps & 100’s of widgets avail. on Android Market
• HTML Web Browsing
• Photosharing: Facebook, Picasa, Photobucket and MySpace
• Visual Voice Mail Capable
• VZ Navigator capable
• Motorola Over the Air Software Updates
• All-Digital, 800/1900, CDMA EVDO rev A
• 3.1” HVGA, 320 x 480, 65K colors
• Memory (Flash/RAM): 512MB/256MB
• 3.5mm Headset Jack
• Dimensions: 2.4(w) x 4.55(h) x .61(d) inches
• Weight: 6.35oz
• Qualcomm MSM7627 processor with dedicated HW Acceleration
• SAR: Head: 0.45W/kg;Body: 0.72W/kg
• Usage Time -Up to approx. 340 min OR
• ƒStandby Time -Up to approx. 440 hours

HTC Magic and Dream owners in Canada take note as Rogers has reconsidered its “No Donut or Eclair policy” for at least one of its two Android handsets. Rogers has confirmed that, in the next few weeks, it will issue a minor update for the Android 1.5 OS on both the Dream and the Magic, bringing the HTC Sense UI to the Magic while keeping the platform steady at Android 1.5. By mid-2010, the HTC Magic will be updated to Android 2.1 complete with HTC’s updated Sense UI. While Magic owners are jumping for joy, Dream owners may want to get out a handkerchief to dry their eyes as Rogers confirmed that the HTC Dream will not be  updated past Android 1.5 due to “certain limitations on the HTC Dream.” Any Rogers Dream owners out there can vent voice their opinion in the comments below.

If you have either a HTC Dream or Magic (or perhaps both) from Rogers Wireless, you might want to brush up on your rooting and porting skills because it appears that both devices will not receive an official OS update past Android 1.5. Said HTC’s website (and confirmed by Rogers):

HTC is not currently planning any Android 1.6 upgrades for Rogers Dream or Magic. Android 1.6 was only made available for “Google”-branded devices such as the G1. It is not available for HTC-branded products such as the Dream or Magic, which use Android 1.5. We believe that Android 1.5 is a stable and reliable software platform that delivers a terrific user experience.

We’re not even going to bother getting into how upset some owners are, but we think it needs to be said how sad it is that a company would release a pair of devices, call it an open-sourced “Revolution” and then completely screw its customers over. it’s not like other carriers offering non-”with Google” Dreams and Magics weren’t able to dish out some new software upgrades. You’re better than this, aren’t you Rogers?

Thanks, Andrew!

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Etie

There’s absolutely no guarantee it will find a home with AT&T (or even Bell, Rogers or TELUS, for that matter), but Acer’s Liquid aka A1 has been spotted in an FCC filing complete with 850MHz and 1900MHz bands of HSDPA. Much has been made in the past about the device thanks in part to its Snapdragon processor — unfortunately underclocked to 768MHz — and in recent months rumors that would see it carried by AT&T have been on the uptick. Not speaking directly to the matter, one Acer exec went so far as to say that AT&T and T-Mobile would be foolish to not pursue a strong relationship with the Taiwanese company. As for whether or not such a thing would ever materialize is up for debate, but perhaps this is the first of many regulatory precursors needed for a full-scale smartphone invasion.

[Via UnwiredView

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If you’re currently using every other Android device besides the Motorola DROID, you might have thought that Google was holding out on that navigation love. Luckily, and just in time for your holiday travels, Google Maps Navigation has just been made available for Android 1.6. Now your myTouch 3G, Motorola CLIQ  and T-Mobile G1 can better help you in getting around your in-laws’ town for turkey day with GPS voice navigation, automatic re-routing and Google’s new Layers feature for navigation. Unfortunately for Hero and Eris users, you’re left out in the dark until HTC and your respective carriers crank out that 1.6 Donut update for your phones. We’re crossing our fingers for you that it hits before Christmas.

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