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	<title>BGR: The Three Biggest Letters In Tech &#187; trackball</title>
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		<title>Android survey results</title>
		<link>http://www.bgr.com/2010/01/14/android-survey-results/</link>
		<comments>http://www.bgr.com/2010/01/14/android-survey-results/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 14 Jan 2010 15:07:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jonathan S. Geller</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Android]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Favorites]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.bgr.com/?p=42550</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Last night we posted a friendly survey asking some easy questions about Android. It included the devices that it runs on and also what everyone loves and dislikes most about the platform. We had an awesome response to it in a pretty short time period (over 2,800 completed surveys since last night), so here are the results! Over 40% of you own Motorola DROIDs (not hard to imagine), and a whopping 11% own Google Nexus One devices. Obviously, this isn&#8217;t going to be the norm outside of BGR and the tech world, but still pretty interesting. It also looks as if none of you care about the Motorola CLIQ or Samsung Moment. We asked what everyone&#8217;s favorite part about Android]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<center><a href="http://www.bgr.com/2010/01/14/android-survey-results"><img class="size-full wp-image-42556 aligncenter" title="Android4" src="http://www-bgr-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Android4.jpg" alt="Android4" width="537" height="400" /></a></center>
<p>Last night <a href="http://www.bgr.com/2010/01/13/bgr-survey-android-time/">we posted</a> a friendly survey asking some easy questions about Android. It included the devices that it runs on and also what everyone loves and dislikes most about the platform. We had an awesome response to it in a pretty short time period (over 2,800 completed surveys since last night), so here are the results!<span id="more-42550"></span></p>
<center><img class="size-full wp-image-42551 aligncenter" title="Android1" src="http://www-bgr-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Android1.jpg" alt="Android1" width="645" height="541" /></center>
<center><img class="size-full wp-image-42552 aligncenter" title="Android2" src="http://www-bgr-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Android2.jpg" alt="Android2" width="645" height="310" /><br class="spacer_" /></center>
<center><img class="size-full wp-image-42553 aligncenter" title="Android3" src="http://www-bgr-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Android3.jpg" alt="Android3" width="645" height="312" /></center>
<p style="text-align: left;">Over 40% of you own Motorola DROIDs (not hard to imagine), and a whopping 11% own Google Nexus One devices. Obviously, this isn&#8217;t going to be the norm outside of BGR and the tech world, but still pretty interesting. It also looks as if none of you care about the Motorola CLIQ or Samsung Moment.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">We asked what everyone&#8217;s favorite part about Android itself was, and as you can see, people seem to be loving the awesome Google service integration on the platform. Customization, as would be predicted, is a pretty big thing as well as the ability to install any application you want, safe or unsafe.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Here&#8217;s where it gets really interesting even though this isn&#8217;t exactly ground breaking stuff&#8230; 33% of you said that the lack of high quality applications is what you hate most about Android, and 24% said the media sections were severely lacking (music player, video player, etc.) But, all hope isn&#8217;t lost as when we asked if you could travel back in time and either dump your Android phone for a different one, or even a non-Android handset, only 17% said they would.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Lastly, we asked what Android needs the most to continue competing in the smartphone market, and unsurprisingly, 32% of you said &#8220;better applications.&#8221; 22% of you said you&#8217;d like to see handsets start to get more streamlined and for Android to be a little less fragmented. The 13% that said they&#8217;d like Android to be faster or more responsive might have been coming from last-gen hardware like the Hero, myTouch, Eris, or G1 &#8212; but hey, Android is still a little slow for us on our Nexus One&#8230;</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Thanks so much for taking the time to take the survey!</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>103</slash:comments>
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		<title>BlackBerry 9700 Review: Part 1</title>
		<link>http://www.bgr.com/2009/09/21/blackberry-9700-review-part-1/</link>
		<comments>http://www.bgr.com/2009/09/21/blackberry-9700-review-part-1/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:53:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jonathan S. Geller</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[BG's Corner]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BlackBerry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BlackBerry OS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[EDGE]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Exclusives]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[GPRS]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[CLIQ]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.bgr.com/?p=34872</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Oh you thought we fell off. Nope &#8212; we&#8217;ve just been tearing apart BlackBerry&#8217;s latest flagship over the past week or so and our review is finally perfectly crafted. The BlackBerry 9700 replaces the Bold as RIM&#8217;s newest flagship device. Even though it&#8217;s not released yet &#8212; look for it anywhere from mid-October to mid-November depending on what part of the globe you reside in &#8212; it&#8217;s BlackBerry&#8217;s most advanced QWERTY device to date and combines all of their next generation features together in a smaller and lighter package. We&#8217;ve already detailed our thoughts on RIM and how they are doing on the software side of things and this review will be mostly hardware focused. We will also follow up]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<center><a href="http://www.bgr.com/2009/09/21/blackberry-9700-review-part-1/"><img title="blackberry-9700-9" src="http://www-bgr-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/blackberry-9700-9.jpg" alt="blackberry-9700-9" width="590" height="393" /></a></center>
<p>Oh you thought we fell off. Nope &#8212; we&#8217;ve just been tearing apart BlackBerry&#8217;s latest flagship over the past week or so and our review is finally perfectly crafted. The BlackBerry 9700 replaces the Bold as RIM&#8217;s newest flagship device. Even though it&#8217;s not released yet &#8212; look for it anywhere from mid-October to mid-November depending on what part of the globe you reside in &#8212; it&#8217;s BlackBerry&#8217;s most advanced QWERTY device to date and combines all of their next generation features together in a smaller and lighter package. We&#8217;ve already detailed <a href="http://www.bgr.com/2009/06/30/what-happened-to-research-in-motion-and-where-are-they-going/">our thoughts on RIM</a> and how they are doing on the software side of things and this review will be mostly hardware focused. We will also follow up with a Part 2 review as we did with the <a href="http://www.bgr.com/2009/07/07/blackberry-tour-review-part-2/">BlackBerry Tour</a> since this model is not a production unit.</p>
<p><span id="more-34872"></span><strong></strong></p>
<center><img title="blackberry-9700-12" src="http://www-bgr-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/blackberry-9700-12.jpg" alt="blackberry-9700-12" width="590" height="393" /></center>
<p><strong>Hardware / Design:</strong></p>
<p>Gorgeous. How do you like that description? From the beveled edges to the powder-coated keyboard, this is one good looking BlackBerry. The much loved (and hated) fake leather textured battery cover makes a reappearance here as does a trackpad to handle the navigational duties.</p>
<p>The 9700 makes the Tour look like a bloated 8-month pregnant single mother. Shave about 24% of the surface area off the Tour, bevel the edges, round the corners, and you&#8217;ll have something close to the BlackBerry 9700. It&#8217;s the most gorgeous BlackBerry on the planet. And no, that&#8217;s not up for debate or discussion. Early units had the straight RIM color theme on the keyboards (white letters with red accents/symbols) but the unit we have which is most likely what AT&amp;T will receive is all white. This looks great meshed with the titanium chrome finish on the bezel and the high gloss black finish on the front of the device.</p>
<center><img title="blackberry-9700-13" src="http://www-bgr-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/blackberry-9700-13.jpg" alt="blackberry-9700-13" width="590" height="393" /></center>
<p>This theme is always brought up in our reviews of BlackBerry devices &#8212; RIM really keeps innovating in hardware design and manufacturing. It seems as if each device they make has a brand new manufacturing process and technique, and while you might view this as a negative, we view it as a positive. Unlike a car maker, RIM can&#8217;t make a chassis, so to speak, that they use for all their models in a series. Since each device is unique, it&#8217;s great to see RIM experiment with different planning and assembly options to deliver the best product possible. Eliminating the number one failure point on a BlackBerry (the trackball) and replacing it with something that&#8217;s not just going to save money in the long run, but is actually a better solution is great. Making desktop chargers that use battery contact points to save wear and tear on the mini/microUSB port is smart. Speaking about the trackpad, we&#8217;re not sure what&#8217;s up because there&#8217;s a nice and day difference between this one and and the one on the BlackBerry 8520. It might be the exact same hardware revision, but something about it feels better to use and after a day of not using the traditional trackball, we can&#8217;t imagine not using the trackpad. It&#8217;s a worthy successor to the trackball.</p>
<center><img title="blackberry-9700-15" src="http://www-bgr-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/blackberry-9700-15.jpg" alt="blackberry-9700-15" width="590" height="393" /></center>
<p>What about something that&#8217;s often overlooked? Vibrate. We&#8217;d like to be the first ones to report that the vibrate function on the 9700 is straight up violent. It&#8217;s possibly the most downright disrespectfully loud and obnoxious vibrate mechanism we&#8217;ve heard in recent memory. And we love it. Switching gears to the physical buttons on the 9700, it will make a BlackBerry user feel right at home. Two-stage camera shutter /convenience key on the lower right side of the phone with volume up / down buttons towards the top of the right side. Left convenience key on the opposite side with lock and mute buttons on the top of the handset. There&#8217;s the now-default 3.5mm headset jack and microUSB port sitting above the left convenience key. Below those are a lanyard hole. Thrilling, we know.</p>
<center><img title="blackberry-9700-14" src="http://www-bgr-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/blackberry-9700-14.jpg" alt="blackberry-9700-14" width="590" height="393" /></center>
<p>The 9700 is very much like the 9520/9550 in terms of industrial design and gives us a glimpse at where RIM&#8217;s styling is headed for the next round of handsets. Things like soft-touch rubberized finish on the middle of the handsets with matching rubberized buttons (instead of chrome), darker chrome finishes, high gloss black &#8212; all these lead to more pronounced and edgier designs for a historically conservative corporation.</p>
<center><img title="blackberry-9700-7" src="http://www-bgr-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/blackberry-9700-7.jpg" alt="blackberry-9700-7" width="590" height="393" /></center>
<p><strong>Screen:</strong></p>
<p>RIM really moved in a brand new direction with the Bold&#8217;s display and ever since, they&#8217;ve been continuing the tradition of awesomeness. We&#8217;re really happy to report that the BlackBerry 9700 has the best screen to date of any BlackBerry handset. It&#8217;s that good. The resolution, which is the new RIM gold standard, is 480&#215;360 and while you wouldn&#8217;t expect it to be any better than the Tour&#8217;s or Curve 8900&#8242;s screens, it is. Pictures appear as if they&#8217;re floating on top of the display, blacks are black and colors are crisp and vibrant. There&#8217;s a pretty decently-sized black border that goes around the entire display much like how the BlackBerry Tour&#8217;s screen looks, and while people have moaned about this ad nauseum, it doesn&#8217;t really phase us.</p>
<center><img title="blackberry-9700-18" src="http://www-bgr-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/blackberry-9700-18.jpg" alt="blackberry-9700-18" width="590" height="393" /></center>
<p><strong>OS:</strong></p>
<p>The latest versions of OS 5.0 (which have leaked for existing handsets like the 9530, 9630, Bold, 8900, etc.) show a slight UI refresh with more blues, more gradients, updated icons and buttons and even &#8212; *gasp* &#8212; kinetic scrolling on some devices. Here&#8217;s where it gets a little tricky, though. AT&amp;T&#8217;s BlackBerry 9700 evaluation units shipped with OS 5.0.0.169. The unit we have originally came with that OS and worked magically. It, however, didn&#8217;t have the updated UI that later OS 5.0 builds contain. After upgrading our unit to OS 5.0.0.215 (internal builds for the 9700 are up beyond .249, we&#8217;re told) it&#8217;s now rocking out with the updates features and sexified UI elements. Why we&#8217;re going into this so deeply is because there&#8217;s a good chance that if AT&amp;T&#8217;s 9700 passes technical acceptance without issue (we don&#8217;t anticipate the same issues that plagued the Bold&#8217;s release), the version that will ship with the 9700 will be 5.0.0.169 or something close to it. That means that you&#8217;ll be running an &#8220;old&#8221; 5.0 build and it&#8217;s interesting to see this play out. You&#8217;ll obviously be able to install different OS versions for yourself that have been released by other carriers, but we just wanted to give you guys a heads up that the release unit&#8217;s OS might be a little different.</p>
<center><img title="blackberry-9700-1" src="http://www-bgr-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/blackberry-9700-1.jpg" alt="blackberry-9700-1" width="590" height="393" /></center>
<p><strong>Keyboard:</strong></p>
<p>We don&#8217;t have to keep reinforcing it (well, we just did, we guess): we take those keyboards seriously. Throw the BlackBerry 8900 keyboard out of the window on this because it&#8217;s completely different. Imagine the BlackBerry 9700 keyboard as a mix of the Bold and the Tour keyboards. Tour-shaped (little better) with the bounce and feel of the Bold keyboard. It&#8217;s really fantastic. Definitely not as large as the original Bold&#8217;s mammoth boat-sized chiclet pad, but it&#8217;s great. We&#8217;d probably go as far as saying out of the current generation BlackBerry handsets, the BlackBerry 9700 is the best. You&#8217;ll see that theme appear time and time again in this review. Each little key has a nice carved design that allows for precision typing at its finest. Keys have a decent amount of space and even though the shift keys at the bottom look a little small (they are tiny), they&#8217;re completely usable and really don&#8217;t turn out to be a hindrance when it comes to getting your typing on.</p>
<p>After a couple hours of usage we have no doubts that you&#8217;ll absolutely fall in love with the keyboard. The feel of the keys coupled with the shape and proper layout that&#8217;s standard on all BlackBerrys offer a truly excellent typing experience on the BlackBerry 9700.</p>
<center><img title="blackberry-9700-5" src="http://www-bgr-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/blackberry-9700-5.jpg" alt="blackberry-9700-5" width="590" height="393" /></center>
<p><strong>Phone:</strong></p>
<p>The unit as a phone is fantastic. That will obviously depend on what network you sign your life away to, but even on AT&amp;T, when the network worked, the 9700 made for a great phone. The actual ear speaker seems less recessed than previous BlackBerrys and we could hear callers loud and clear using the ear speaker. Speakerphone also worked well (as it should) with minimal distortion at maximum volume. Quite refreshingly, the device didn&#8217;t get too hot during long voice sessions and we really had no problems using the phone as a phone.</p>
<center><img title="blackberry-9700-2" src="http://www-bgr-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/blackberry-9700-2.jpg" alt="blackberry-9700-2" width="590" height="393" /></center>
<p><strong>Browser:</strong></p>
<p>While the browser in OS 5.0 comes with some improved Javascript support, it&#8217;s still no where near any of the top dogs like Apple&#8217;s mobile Safari, Android&#8217;s webKit browser, or Palm&#8217;s webKit browser. Using the browser with the trackpad as the cursor is definitely a great input method (remember when the trackball made use of the cursor back in the day for the first time?) and feels natural to navigate websites. The browser seems like one of the things that changes most as OS builds move further and further along so we&#8217;ll reserve our hatred for the browser in our final Part 2 review.</p>
<center><img title="blackberry-9700-17" src="http://www-bgr-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/blackberry-9700-17.jpg" alt="blackberry-9700-17" width="590" height="393" /></center>
<p><strong>Speaker:</strong></p>
<p>While the Bold offered three different audible speaker ports (one on each side and one at the top) for pretty accurate sound reproduction, the BlackBerry 9700 uses a single opening towards the top part of the back of the device. This works fairly well and sound, uh, sounds good. We did notice a volume decrease compared to the Bold, but not by much. Maybe around 15% lower? Nothing is going to beat that Storm 2 speaker, though&#8230;</p>
<center><img title="blackberry-9700-19" src="http://www-bgr-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/blackberry-9700-19.jpg" alt="blackberry-9700-19" width="590" height="393" /></center>
<p><strong>Battery:</strong></p>
<p>We&#8217;re not sure how they did it, but the BlackBerry 9700 has the best battery life of any 3G BlackBerry in recent years. It could probably even rival the BlackBerry 8900 &#8212; truly unbelievable. The BlackBerry Tour was the king of battery life, and that was odd seeing as how CDMA devices usually are a bit worse than their GSM brothers and sisters, but the 9700 has one-upped the Tour. For some rough statistics, the BlackBerry Bold with normal usage patterns lasted me around 7 hours of usage until the battery was dead. How long do you think the 9700 lasts using the exact same BlackBerry Bold battery? Try around 15 hours. We&#8217;re talking more than double with a faster CPU and using the same battery. Really remarkable and will help those on-the-go warriors.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s funny to see RIM use such a wide range of batteries in their devices. Then again, for a company that has 15,000 different models, 4,000 different screen resolutions, and 2,000 different form factors it doesn&#8217;t surprise us. What you&#8217;ll be happy to hear is that your existing BlackBerry Bold battery will work perfectly in the 9700 and will yield you better battery life than you&#8217;ve ever imagined.</p>
<p>Note: Battery life was based on OS 5.0.0.169. It&#8217;s dramatically worse in OS 5.0.0.215 which the unit is now running.</p>
<center><img title="blackberry-9700-3" src="http://www-bgr-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/blackberry-9700-3.jpg" alt="blackberry-9700-3" width="590" height="393" /></center>
<p><strong>Conclusion:</strong></p>
<p>It&#8217;s pretty hard to make a general recommendation nowadays with any device, let alone a BlackBerry. With four form-factors in the BlackBerry family, it complicates things.</p>
<p>The BlackBerry 9700 is a much-needed refresh to the aging BlackBerry Bold. To date, RIM has released only a single 3G GSM device in the United States and with competition heating up, the BlackBerry 9700 looks to be their answer. We absolutely gushed over the BlackBerry Tour in our review and until the 9700 came along, that was our daily driver. Is the BlackBerry Tour still the best BlackBerry on the market? We think so. But as good as the Tour is, the 9700 is better. There seems to be a drastic difference between CDMA and GSM hardware on BlackBerry devices (we&#8217;re guessing it&#8217;s the Qualcomm processors opposed to the Marvells) and it&#8217;s actually exhilarating to be back on a GSM device. The BlackBerry 9700 combines the most-loved features that have been sprinkled about on BlackBerry phones over the last year (3G, 3.2 megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, GPS, trackpad, QWERTY keyboard, smaller size, faster CPU) and combines them into a single sexy and compact package.</p>
<center><img title="blackberry-9700-11" src="http://www-bgr-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/blackberry-9700-11.jpg" alt="blackberry-9700-11" width="590" height="393" /></center>
<p>&#8220;So you&#8217;re saying the BlackBerry 9700 is the best BlackBerry ever?&#8221;</p>
<p>Yes. It&#8217;s the finest BlackBerry ever crafted and if you&#8217;re asking why it&#8217;s so much better than the Tour, it goes back to that CDMA vs. GSM argument as well as the fact that the 9700 is simply a year newer. We nailed the Tour all the way back <a href="http://www.bgr.com/2008/05/06/blackberry-javelin-and-blackberry-niagara-explained/">almost two years ago</a>, and sadly the internals seem to be a little outdated. There&#8217;s no official CPU specifications on the Tour, but if we had to guess we&#8217;d guess it&#8217;s running at around 500MHz give or take. Rumblings have pegged the BlackBerry 9700&#8242;s Marvell Tavor CPU running at close to 800MHz! It&#8217;s a lot faster in normal usage than the Bold (both running OS 5.0) so in addition to the RAM being doubled, we&#8217;re pretty sure there is a faster CPU dropped in there as well.</p>
<center><img title="blackberry-9700-10" src="http://www-bgr-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/blackberry-9700-10.jpg" alt="blackberry-9700-10" width="590" height="393" /></center>
<p>Every single thing about the BlackBerry 9700 screams high-end to us, and for a device that&#8217;s a part of the Bold-series (the Bold won&#8217;t go anywhere, we&#8217;ve been told), it should. It&#8217;s the best of the best to come out of Research In Motion to date and we can&#8217;t wait until everyone&#8217;s able to use one.</p>
<p>Check back for Part 2 when we follow up with a review on an AT&amp;T release unit.</p>
<center><img title="blackberry-9700-4" src="http://www-bgr-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/blackberry-9700-4.jpg" alt="blackberry-9700-4" width="590" height="393" /></center>
<p style="text-align: left;">Image courtesy of <a href="http://www.thetweetgenius.com">TweetGenius</a>.</p>
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		<slash:comments>265</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>BlackBerry Onyx with optical trackpad is all smiles for Mr. Blurrycam</title>
		<link>http://www.bgr.com/2009/07/10/blackberry-onyx-with-trackpad-smiles-for-my-blurrycam/</link>
		<comments>http://www.bgr.com/2009/07/10/blackberry-onyx-with-trackpad-smiles-for-my-blurrycam/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:31:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Bettiol</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[BlackBerry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Handsets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RIM]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[9020]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[onyx]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[optical trackpad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trackball]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trackpad]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.bgr.com/?p=29837</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[We&#8217;ve been saying that this would be the case for as long as we can remember, but today a new photograph has emerged which lends irrefutable evidence to our long-standing claim. The BlackBerry 9020, for now known by its codename Onyx, will be shipping out retail-style with an optical trackpad in lieu of the trackball. Based on the photograph above it&#8217;s impossible to tell if what we&#8217;re looking at is a late prototype or an early production unit, but seeing as the Onyx has already begun its factory journey we certainly can&#8217;t rule the later out. Mmmm, optical goodness. Thanks, Nan! Read]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<center><a href="http://bbu.socialgo.com/magazine/read/exclusive-picture-gemini-onyx-side-by-side-with-trackpads_62.html"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-29893" title="onyx-optical" src="http://www-bgr-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/onyx-optical.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="374" /></a></center>
<p style="text-align: left;">We&#8217;ve been saying that this would be the case for <a href="http://www.bgr.com/2009/05/10/blackberry-driftwoodonyx-hitting-t-mobile-usa-in-september/">as long as we can remember</a>, but today a new photograph has emerged which lends irrefutable evidence to our long-standing claim. The BlackBerry 9020, for now known by its codename Onyx, will be shipping out retail-style with an optical trackpad in lieu of the trackball. Based on the photograph above it&#8217;s impossible to tell if what we&#8217;re looking at is a late prototype or an early production unit, but seeing as the Onyx has already begun its factory journey we certainly can&#8217;t rule the later out. Mmmm, optical goodness.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Thanks, Nan!</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://bbu.socialgo.com/magazine/read/exclusive-picture-gemini-onyx-side-by-side-with-trackpads_62.html">Read</a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>40</slash:comments>
	<media:thumbnail>http://www-bgr-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/bb-onyx-trackpad-80x80.jpg</media:thumbnail>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Rogers HTC Dream review</title>
		<link>http://www.bgr.com/2009/05/24/rogers-htc-dream-review/</link>
		<comments>http://www.bgr.com/2009/05/24/rogers-htc-dream-review/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 24 May 2009 16:37:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Bettiol</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Android]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[EDGE]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[GPRS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[GSM]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Handsets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[HSDPA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[HSUPA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[HTC]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Review]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[UMTS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[3.2 megapixel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Activesync]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[auto-focus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dream]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Exchange]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[GPS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hands on]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[HSPA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[microsoft]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[QWERTY]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[review]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rogers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[touchscreen]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trackball]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[WiFi]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.bgr.com/?p=25826</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[So by now you&#8217;ve probably seen that our Rogers HTC Dream demo unit recently arrived in a locked safe and are wondering why such a fuss has been made over a device that has been for sale in the US from T-Mobile since October of 2008. While the device is physically the same of course, there are quite a few differences compared to the stock Android OS and it really took us by surprise. Want to know more? Grab a coffee, slip on your spectacles and a hit the jump for the review. First things first. Yes, the Rogers Dream does come loaded with Android OS 1.5 aka Cupcake. But, and this is a huge but (think J Lo circa]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<center><img class="size-full wp-image-25839 aligncenter" style="margin: 4px;" title="rogers-htc-dream-11" src="http://www-bgr-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/rogers-htc-dream-11.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="375" /></center>
<p>So by now you&#8217;ve probably seen that our Rogers HTC Dream demo unit recently <a href="http://www.bgr.com/2009/05/23/the-rogers-handset-that-came-locked/">arrived in a locked safe</a> and are wondering why such a fuss has been made over a device that has been for sale <a href="http://www.bgr.com/2008/10/16/t-mobile-g1-review/">in the US from T-Mobile</a> since October of 2008. While the device is physically the same of course, there are quite a few differences compared to the stock Android OS and it really took us by surprise. Want to know more? Grab a coffee, slip on your spectacles and a hit the jump for the review.</p>
<p><span id="more-25826"></span></p>
<center><img class="size-full wp-image-25840 aligncenter" style="margin: 4px;" title="rogers-htc-dream-51" src="http://www-bgr-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/rogers-htc-dream-51.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="375" /></center>
<p>First things first. Yes, the Rogers Dream does come loaded with Android OS 1.5 aka Cupcake. But, and this is a huge but (think J Lo circa 1999 here), it does not come with all of the awesome features that T-Mobile G1 users are enjoying / will be enjoying with Cupcake. You see, the Dream has been loaded with custom firmware that more or less kills off a bunch of the cool new features of the update, the most notable being the lack of the soft keyboard. Why is this? Well, take a look at the back of the device:</p>
<center><img class="size-full wp-image-25850 aligncenter" style="margin: 4px;" title="rogers-htc-dream-4" src="http://www-bgr-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/rogers-htc-dream-4.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="375" /></center>
<p style="text-align: left;">There isn&#8217;t any physical branding of the Google trademark on the device. This means that Rogers likely said no thanks to Google and asked HTC to make custom modified firmware build that includes the typical, ugly and permanent links to a few of Rogers&#8217; mobile content shops and its website. On top of that, one of the most basic things we have come to expect in a smartphone &#8212; a note taking application &#8212; is nowhere to be found.</p>
<center><img class="size-full wp-image-25841 aligncenter" style="margin: 4px;" title="rogers-htc-dream-6" src="http://www-bgr-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/rogers-htc-dream-6.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="375" /></center>
<p>So what do you get in exchange? Well, you get Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync support. It might not be the most desirable trade-off if you don&#8217;t make use of an Exchange server, but it&#8217;s not as if the soft keypad on Cupcake G1s is something to write home about when compared to other capacitive touchscreen devices anyway. Besides, it&#8217;s not overly difficult to run and get some custom firmware up and running for those who absolutely hate the physical keypad and forgot the Magic is also about to drop.</p>
<p>Android OS 1.5 is rather nice and features some much needed cosmetic changes here and there in addition to some new features. At the same time, it&#8217;s still more or less the same as Android OS 1.0 which you can read about in more detail in our G1 review. Since this is our first review of an OS 1.5 device, we think it&#8217;s time we mention the things that haven&#8217;t yet made it to Android that we think should have been included from day one. For example, it couldn&#8217;t be more annoying to have to touch and hold on a message screen for two seconds to be prompted to reply, forward or delete it. Surely Google of all companies could whip up a simper way to get stuff done without always having to rely on the keypad or menu keys to get stuff done quickly. After all, isn&#8217;t simplicity and ease of use one of the main reasons touchscreen devices are now coming out left, right and center?</p>
<center><img class="size-full wp-image-25844 aligncenter" style="margin: 4px;" title="rogers-htc-dream-9" src="http://www-bgr-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/rogers-htc-dream-9.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="375" /></center>
<p>The guts of the Rogers Dream include a 528MHz processor, 192MB RAM/256MB ROM, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, GPS, quad-band EDGE and dual-band UMTS/HSPA (850/1900MHz) at 7.2Mbps down and 2Mbps up. This gives the Dream more than enough power to keep it running without much lag even when running apps that are extremely resource heavy. And heaven help us if the Dream is not one of the fastest devices that we&#8217;ve ever used. Even in a busy area we were easily able to get 2Mbps down while breaking 3.5Mbps and beyond here and there. GPS signals are insanely easy to lock on to and seems to work in buildings where other devices struggle to keep a lock on a signal. As for the Wi-Fi part, well, it&#8217;s Wi-Fi so it&#8217;s quite a bit faster than HSPA. But like we said, the Dream is a champ when it comes to cellular data speeds. The best part? We were able to get a full day out of the Dream before the battery died at around 2am. Just be careful with that Wi-Fi connection because it seems to have an insatiable thirst for juice.</p>
<center><img class="size-full wp-image-25846 aligncenter" style="margin: 4px;" title="rogers-htc-dream-10" src="http://www-bgr-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/rogers-htc-dream-10.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="375" /></center>
<p>We have to hand it to HTC because they really know how to make a touchscreen display and the Dreams is no exception. It&#8217;s respectable at 3.2&#8243; with a resolution of 320&#215;480; the display is crisp, bright and has a really nice feel to it despite the fact that it&#8217;s made out of some sort of hard plastic as opposed to the glass of most capacitive panels. Still, it&#8217;s extremely accurate and responds very well to the slightest touch. In terms of the overall picture quality, we would definitely rank it among the better displays currently on the market.</p>
<center><img class="size-full wp-image-25842 aligncenter" style="margin: 4px;" title="rogers-htc-dream-71" src="http://www-bgr-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/rogers-htc-dream-71.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="375" /></center>
<p>One of the things that makes HTC&#8217;s Android devices stand out as touchscreen devices is their inclusion of a trackball &#8212; the very same as seen on a certain line of smartphones that hails from the Northern Lands. Bluntly put, we never really use it because 1) it&#8217;s been programmed with a very low level of sensitivity, and 2) the sensitivity level cannot be changed. Why this is we&#8217;re not sure, but we highly doubt we&#8217;d use it even it we were able to crank it up to a comfortable 80 or 90 like we do on our BlackBerrys.</p>
<center><img class="size-full wp-image-25843 aligncenter" style="margin: 4px;" title="rogers-htc-dream-8" src="http://www-bgr-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/rogers-htc-dream-8.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="375" /></center>
<p>We&#8217;ve already covered two methods of input so now we move on to the full-QWERTY keypad of course. Accessible by moving the screen away via a sliding mechanism (which is solid and should survive a couple of years with power users) that almost instantantly converts the screen from portrait to landscape mode, the keypad takes a bit of getting used to and might feel a bit foreign to type on as the keys that are raised 1mm above the body of the device. It only takes about five minutes to adjust to however, but after five minutes of typing on the Dream you&#8217;re likely to want to take a chisel to the hump that contains all of the navigation keys because, damn, does that thing ever make for some seriously sore and cramped hands. Basically what we&#8217;re trying to say is that if you have small hands or short fingers, stay away from this phone because it&#8217;s just not gonna work out for you unless you have access to Prof. Farnsworth&#8217;s Fing-Longer. If you have the hands for it though, it&#8217;s not all that bad and we&#8217;d go so far as to say that despite its shortcomings we&#8217;d gladly take the Dream&#8217;s keypad over 95% of whatever else you can think of. Oh, one thing that we&#8217;d kill for Android to get is some sort of spell check. Seriously, what smartphone doesn&#8217;t have this?</p>
<p>The Dream features a flashless 3.2 megapixel camera with auto-focus and a dedicated camera button. It takes decent pictures, but even if we were to take a photo with the light cast by an atomic bomb going off behind us, the end result would still end up being pretty grainy. C&#8217;mon, no flash? It&#8217;s 2009 and the phone is a massive 17.1mm thick &#8212; you&#8217;d think they&#8217;d cram a flash in there. Here&#8217;s a sample pic.</p>
<center><img class="size-full wp-image-25838 aligncenter" style="margin: 4px;" title="rogers-htc-dream-camera-sample" src="http://www-bgr-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/rogers-htc-dream-camera-sample.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="375" /></center>
<p>It&#8217;s pretty funny that one of the least talked about features of any phone these days is how it handles calls. Okay, it&#8217;s a sign of the times we live in, but we like to make a phone call now and again which is why we are so pleased that making a call couldn&#8217;t be more simple than it is on the Dream. You can either punch in a number or contact name on the QWERTY keypad, or dial the number straight up on the touchscreen. As for call quality, the Dream really delivers from both the earpiece and the speakerphone. That said, things did start to sound thin and tinny when the volume was cranked above 75%, but this can be attributed to the fact that the volume can be set so loud that you&#8217;ll be crying for earplugs. As for calling features, swapping, merging and adding additional people to a call could not be more simple. The only negative we can find with the voice aspect of this device hasn&#8217;t a thing to do with call quality or connectivity but rather a lack of a proximity sensor. Would it really be too much to ask that all high-end touchscreen phones come with proximity sensors? It seriously sucks to have to tap a key to wake up the display.</p>
<center><img class="size-full wp-image-25847 aligncenter" style="margin: 4px;" title="rogers-htc-dream-111" src="http://www-bgr-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/rogers-htc-dream-111.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="375" /></center>
<p>So overall, we like the phone &#8212; hardware and the software &#8212; yet there are a few things that we just can&#8217;t understand like the lack of a 3.5mm headphone jack and the proprietary charging / data cable port (which is quite ironic considering the Dream runs on an open source software platform). Still, these flaws aren&#8217;t exactly uncommon for HTC devices but we sincerely hope that this changes soon.</p>
<p>In closing, there are a lot of things we like about the Dream and there are some things that we dislike. Maybe we&#8217;re way too picky, but we still really like the HTC Dream; it&#8217;s just not the greatest. Bottom line: take it for a spin before you buy it. 50% of you will love it and 50% of you won&#8217;t, but there is no doubt you will at least enjoy the experience.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>79</slash:comments>
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		<title>HTC G2 with 3G and UMA gets the FCC rubber stamp of approval</title>
		<link>http://www.bgr.com/2009/03/27/htc-magic-with-3g-and-uma-gets-the-fcc-rubber-stamp-of-approval/</link>
		<comments>http://www.bgr.com/2009/03/27/htc-magic-with-3g-and-uma-gets-the-fcc-rubber-stamp-of-approval/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 27 Mar 2009 14:36:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Bettiol</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Android]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Handsets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[HSDPA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[HSUPA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[HTC]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[T-Mobile]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[1700 MHz]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[3G]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[5 megapixels]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FCC]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[G2]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hotspot@home]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[HSPA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Magic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[touchscreen]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trackball]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[UMA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[WiFi]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.bgr.com/?p=21126</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Well, well, look at what we have here. It seems that the FCC has been busy as of late giving the HTC Magic a thorough examination and the good old bureaucratic stamp of approval. So what makes the T-Mobile USA-branded version of the Magic, known as the G2, so special? Well, not only does it have T-Mobile&#8217;s special 1700 MHz band of HSPA tacked on top of the 2100 MHz band for Europe and Asia, it also sports Wi-Fi with UMA for Hotspot@Home. Oh, and did we mention the camera has apparently been bumped up from 3.2 megapixels to 5 megapixels (because Americans like everything supersized)? Other than that, it looks like everything else with the device is going to]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<center><a href="http://www.bgr.com/2009/03/27/htc-magic-with-3g-and-uma-gets-the-fcc-rubber-stamp-of-approval/"><img class="size-full wp-image-21136 aligncenter" style="margin: 4px;" title="htc-magic-tmobile" src="http://www-bgr-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/htc-magic-tmobile.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="295" /></a></center>
<p>Well, well, look at what we have here. It seems that the FCC has been busy as of late giving the <a href="http://www.bgr.com/2009/02/17/abra-kadabra-vodafone-summons-the-htc-magic/">HTC Magic</a> a thorough examination and the good old bureaucratic stamp of approval. So what makes the T-Mobile USA-branded version of the Magic, known as the G2, so special? Well, not only does it have T-Mobile&#8217;s special 1700 MHz band of HSPA tacked on top of the 2100 MHz band for Europe and Asia, it also sports Wi-Fi with UMA for Hotspot@Home. Oh, and did we mention the camera has apparently been bumped up from 3.2 megapixels to 5 megapixels (because Americans like everything supersized)? Other than that, it looks like everything else with the device is going to be exactly as it is on the Vodafone version. Release timing and pricing are still a mystery for now but at least we have solid confirmation that the Magic is indeed coming to America, perhaps with a <a href="http://www.bgr.com/2009/03/11/t-mobile-g2-to-be-launched-at-ctia/">CTIA debut</a>. Hit the jump for another shot.</p>
<p><span id="more-21126"></span></p>
<center><img class="size-full wp-image-21138 aligncenter" style="margin: 4px;" title="htc-magic-tmobie-2" src="http://www-bgr-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/htc-magic-tmobie-2.jpg" alt="" width="494" height="368" /></center>
<p>[Via <a href="http://www.cellphonesignal.com/htc-magic-passes-fcc-heads-to-t-mobiles-shelves/">Cellphone Signal</a>]</p>
<p><a href="https://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/oetcf/eas/reports/ViewExhibitReport.cfm?mode=Exhibits&amp;RequestTimeout=500&amp;calledFromFrame=N&amp;application_id=943138&amp;fcc_id=%27NM8SPRM%27">Read</a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>24</slash:comments>
	<media:thumbnail>http://www-bgr-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/t-mobile-htc-magic-80x80.jpg</media:thumbnail>	</item>
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		<title>HTC Maple to launch at CTIA?</title>
		<link>http://www.bgr.com/2009/03/18/htc-maple-to-launch-at-ctia/</link>
		<comments>http://www.bgr.com/2009/03/18/htc-maple-to-launch-at-ctia/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:17:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Bettiol</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Handsets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[HTC]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rumors]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Windows Mobile]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[2 megapixel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[CTIA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[QVGA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[QWERTY]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trackball]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.bgr.com/?p=20318</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If you thought the device pictured above was a BlackBerry we won&#8217;t hold it against you because the HTC Maple was made with stealing away BlackBerry users in mind. The successor to the Excalibur (aka T-Mobile Dash), the Maple features a full-QWERTY keypad, trackball navigation and a mug that even a mother might struggle to love. However, it does have something going for it in that it is designed with the low-end smartphone market in mind which presently offers very little variety when it comes to full-QWERTY smartphones. Word on the street is that it will be announced during CTIA in Las Vegas this April and since it&#8217;s been a while since we covered this little guy, here&#8217;s a quick]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<center><a href="http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/news.phtml/22964/23988/htc-maple-blackberry-launching-april.phtml"><img class="size-full wp-image-20319 aligncenter" style="margin: 4px;" title="htc-maple-cnet" src="http://www-bgr-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/htc-maple-cnet.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="500" /></a></center>
<p style="text-align: left;">If you thought the device pictured above was a BlackBerry we won&#8217;t hold it against you because the HTC Maple was made with stealing away BlackBerry users in mind. The successor to the Excalibur (aka T-Mobile Dash), the Maple features a full-QWERTY keypad, trackball navigation and a mug that even a mother might struggle to love. However, it does have something going for it in that it is designed with the low-end smartphone market in mind which presently offers very little variety when it comes to full-QWERTY smartphones. Word on the street is that it will be announced during CTIA in Las Vegas this April and since it&#8217;s been a while since <a href="http://www.bgr.com/2009/03/04/htcs-2009-line-up-gets-specd/">we covered this little guy</a>, here&#8217;s a quick spec refresher:</p>
<ul>
<li>2.4″ QVGA display</li>
<li>Qualcomm 7228 at 528MHz</li>
<li>156MB RAM / 256MB ROM</li>
<li>2 megapixel camera</li>
<li>Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard</li>
</ul>
<p>A CTIA announcement could definitely line up well with the May availability originally reported. Anyone interested?</p>
<p><a href="http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/news.phtml/22964/23988/htc-maple-blackberry-launching-april.phtml">Read</a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>35</slash:comments>
	<media:thumbnail>http://www-bgr-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/htc-maple-cnet-80x80.jpg</media:thumbnail>	</item>
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		<title>Abra Kadabra: Vodafone summons the HTC Magic</title>
		<link>http://www.bgr.com/2009/02/17/abra-kadabra-vodafone-summons-the-htc-magic/</link>
		<comments>http://www.bgr.com/2009/02/17/abra-kadabra-vodafone-summons-the-htc-magic/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 17 Feb 2009 14:48:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Bettiol</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Android]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[EDGE]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Press Release]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Vodafone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[3.2 megapixel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[3G]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[7.2mbps]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[autofocus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bluetooth 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[France]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[G2]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Germany]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[GPS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[HTC Magic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Italy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[microsd]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[no flash]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[touchscreen]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trackball]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[UK]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[WiFi]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Vodafone and HTC came together today to announce the HTC Magic, the latest Android handset we named and outed yesterday. As the world&#8217;s first touchscreen-only Android phone, the Magic isn&#8217;t that much of an improvement over the G1 though it does have a nicer look to it and some spec improvements behind it. Details as to when the Magic will launch are hazy at best but the Vodafone UK website states it will be &#8220;Arriving in April.&#8221; Being a Vodafone exclusive, customers in the UK, Spain, France and Germany will be the first in line to get the Magic while Italian mobile aficionados will be able to purchase the Magic as a non-exclusive. After that it&#8217;s anyone&#8217;s guess as to]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<center><a href="http://www.vodafone.com/start/media_relations/news/group_press_releases/2009/vodafone_and_htc_unveil.html"><img class="size-full wp-image-17661 aligncenter" style="margin: 4px;" title="vodafone-htc-magic" src="http://www-bgr-com.vimg.net/wp-content/uploads/vodafone-htc-magic.jpg" alt="" width="296" height="600" /></a></center>
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<p>Vodafone and HTC came together today to announce the HTC Magic, the latest Android handset we <a href="http://www.bgr.com/2009/02/16/meet-the-htc-magic-the-android-powered-vodafone-exclusive-formerly-known-as-the-g2/">named and outed</a> yesterday. As the world&#8217;s first touchscreen-only Android phone, the Magic isn&#8217;t that much of an improvement over the G1 though it does have a nicer look to it and some spec improvements behind it. Details as to when the Magic will launch are hazy at best but the Vodafone UK website states it will be &#8220;Arriving in April.&#8221; Being a Vodafone exclusive, customers in the UK, Spain, France and Germany will be the first in line to get the Magic while Italian mobile aficionados will be able to purchase the Magic as a non-exclusive. After that it&#8217;s anyone&#8217;s guess as to where else thing thing will show up, be it under the Vodafone name or otherwise. Here&#8217;s to hoping it makes its way to this side of the world as soon as possible. Now to the specs:</p>
<ul>
<li>Android OS</li>
<li>Quad-band EDGE / dual-band 7.2Mbps HSDPA (900/2100 MHz)</li>
<li>512MHz Qualcomm® MSM7201a</li>
<li>512MB ROM / 192MB RAM</li>
<li>3.2&#8243; HVGA touchscreen display (though the presser and Voda say QVGA, Android does not play nice with QVGA displays) </li>
<li>Virtual QWERTY keypad, trackball</li>
<li>3.2 megapixel camear w/ AF (no flash)</li>
<li>WiFi 802.11 b/g</li>
<li>GPS</li>
<li>Bluetooth 2.0</li>
<li>microSD</li>
<li>1340 mAh battery</li>
<li>Talktime: 400 min 3G / 450 min GSM</li>
<li>Standby: 660 hours 3G / 420 hours GSM</li>
<li>113mm x 55mm x 13.65mm, 118.5g</li>
<li>Available in black and/or white depending on market</li>
</ul>
<p>Not bad and not great, but we&#8217;re happy the Magic is a bit more refined compared to the banana-faced G1. Some of the basics however, such as a 3.5mm audio jack and an LED flash are unfortunately still MIA. Why HTC, why?</p>
<p>Jeté the jump for the full press release.</p>
<p><span id="more-17659"></span></p>
<p><strong>Vodafone and HTC unveil Android-powered HTC Magic</strong></p>
<p>BARCELONA — Feb 17, 2009 — Vodafone and HTC Corporation today announced the HTC Magic smartphone, Vodafone’s first Android-powered mobile, which will be available in the spring.</p>
<p>The stylish new handset is exclusive to Vodafone in the UK, Spain, Germany and France (SFR) and available on a non-exclusive basis in Italy. Customers can ensure that they are the first to receive information about the HTC Magic’s availability, pricing and pre-ordering by registering their interest via their local Vodafone website from today.</p>
<p>The introduction of the HTC Magic is the result of a successful relationship between Vodafone and HTC, and Vodafone’s joining, late last year, of the Open Handset Alliance.</p>
<p>A tablet-style device, with a sleek design and unprecedented compactness for a smartphone featuring the Android platform, the HTC Magic enables a superior mobile internet experience, providing broad flexibility for personalisation via the application-rich Android Market. Available in white in the UK, Spain and France, black in Germany and in both colours in Italy, the HTC Magic will be for sale in several other Vodafone markets over the next few months.</p>
<p>“Delivering an unbeatable mobile internet experience for our customers is a priority for Vodafone, so we are very excited to be introducing our first Android-powered smartphone in the spring,” says Patrick Chomet, Global Director of Terminals, Vodafone Group. “Following our joining of the Open Handset Alliance, we have worked very closely with HTC to bring this cool new phone to the market. Our customers want to access a wide range of the most attractive mobile devices to help them make the most of their time &#8211; the HTC Magic helps meet that need.”</p>
<p>“The HTC Magic embodies the compact style and sophistication for which HTC has come to be known, with the powerful and intuitive internet experience for which the Android platform was designed,” says Peter Chou, president and CEO, HTC Corporation. “We are proud of our partnership with Vodafone and excited about making the Android-powered HTC Magic available to Vodafone customers in Europe.”</p>
<p>&#8220;The announcement of the HTC Magic is an important step for Android and the Open Handset Alliance,&#8221; says Andy Rubin, Senior Director of Mobile Platforms at Google. &#8220;With it, Vodafone is opening up the mobile web for consumers across Europe and giving more third-party developers a platform on which they can build the next wave of killer applications.&#8221;</p>
<p>Available from free on various price plans, the HTC Magic has a 3.2” QVGA touch screen display and features a trackball and navigational buttons for quick, easy access. The HTC Magic includes a variety of email options such as Google Mail™, POP3 and IMAP as well as Google Talk™ for instant messaging.</p>
<p>The HTC Magic has a variety of powerful mobile internet capabilities beginning with an Android-optimised Webkit browser. It also features the popular Google™ applications, Google Maps™ and Google Search™ as well as favourites like YouTube™. In addition, Android Market allows for quick and easy downloading of games and applications utilising Vodafone’s fast and reliable network.</p>
<p>Full details of availability and pricing will be available in the future in local Vodafone markets.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.vodafone.com/start/media_relations/news/group_press_releases/2009/vodafone_and_htc_unveil.html">Read</a></p>
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