LG’s second Android smartphone has been launched, the LG GW880, and Chinese Mobile buyers will be the first to get it. The keyboard-free GW880 is presumably the same device tipped earlier this month, and has a larger, 3.5-inch 800 x 480 touchscreen than the existing LG GW620. It also squeezes in Chinese-spec TD-SCDMA 3G connectivity, along with a 5-megapixel camera and GPS.
Motorola’s MILESTONE is yet to show up at any of the usual carrier subjects in the UK, but at least one UK supplier appears to be promising a launch date. The Euro-spec version of the Android 2.0 powered Motorola DROID (currently doing duty in CDMA form on Verizon in the US) will, according to SuperETrader, land on UK shores come December 7th.
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LG's first Android smartphone, the GW620, was initially spotted in some unearthed HTML lurking in the company's website; now some further user agent diving has turned up another Android smartphone, the LG GT540. Full specifications of the GT540 are unknown, but it's expected to have a 320 x 480 touchscreen together with GSM/EDGE/HSPA connectivity.
Google has obviously tired of waiting for handset manufacturers to push out Android 2.0 to existing handsets before users can play with the Google Maps Navigation beta, and as such has released the turn-by-turn software for Android 1.6 devices. Available now in the Android Market, Google Maps Navigation for Android 1.6 delivers the same topographical layers, voice guidance and automatic rerouting as we found so useful on the Motorola DROID.
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Back in July, Google's execs were grudgingly agreeing that Google Chrome OS and Android have "a great deal of commonality" and "may merge even closer." Now co-founder Sergey Brin has further stoked that speculation, telling reporters after last week's Chrome OS reveal that "Android and Chrome will likely converge over time". Brin pointed to the common Linux and Webkit browser code as existing points of convergence in the two open-source platforms.
Given how often we hear about manufacturers using Android for their mobile devices, it’s a surprise dedicated sat-nav units don’t feature more highly. Chinese firm ArcherMind Technology have been showing off what they’re saying is the world’s first embedded Android-based navigation system, complete with 7-inch touchscreen display and integrated 3G.
We made no attempt to disguise our confusion about what looked like a poorly orchestrated teaser campaign for the Camangi WebStation Android slate earlier this year, but neither did we deny that there’s still a space in our heart (and on our shelves) for the first affordable example of just such a device. Camangi’s site – now fully functional and accepting pre-launch reservations – is claiming that the 7-inch WebStation will drop “no later than early December this year”.
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Dell may have come clean regarding their Mini 3i Android-powered smartphone earlier this month, but hard specifications for the touchscreen handset were tougher to come by. Happily a China Mobile press release has filled in some of the technical blanks, confirming that the Dell Mini 3i headed to their shores later this month has a 3.5-inch 640 x 360 16:9 display and measures 58.35 x 122 x 11.7 mm.
There’s nary a sign of the Motorola MILESTONE (the Euro-spec version of the Motorola DROID we’ve been so enamoured of) in the UK or indeed across the majority of Europe, but German buyers now have a plurality of choice should they want an Android 2.0 handset. Joining O2 Germany is Vodafone Germany, who are now listing the MILESTONE priced from €99 ($148) with a new contract.
Perhaps we’re naive, but we’d have thought that the sort of people who get early access to unannounced mobile phones would also have a decent camera, but perhaps it’s the thrill of the unknown that causes heavy hand shake. No matter, you’re looking at a blurry image of the Motorola Motus, the company’s mid-rage Android smartphone expected to arrive in 2010, that showed up at the Motofan.ru forums.
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