Acer have officially announced their first Android smartphone, the Acer Liquid A1, and it’s also the first handset running the Android platform to use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processor. The Liquid has a WVGA touchscreen, HSPA connectivity and a 5-megapixel camera with autofocus, geo-tagging, ISO and a self-timer.
The speedy Qualcomm chipset also means the Liquid can support 3D graphics, and the phone will run Android 1.6.
Having seen its packaging making the rounds, it was only a matter of time until Qualcomm made their FLO TV Personal Television official. The palm-sized touchscreen mediaplayer has a 3.5-inch display and is 0.5-inches thick; FLO TV offers wireless live and time-shifted TV that up until now you’d have needed to have a compatible smartphone from Verizon or other carriers in order to view. Unfortunately, the monthly subscription fee those carriers levied is still in place: as well as the $249.99 of the FLO TV device itself, you’re looking at the equivalent of $8.99 or more for each month.
After weeks of rumor, HTC have confirmed the existence of their latest flagship Windows Phone, the HTC HD2 (aka the HTC Leo). As expected, the HD2 runs Windows Mobile 6.5 on a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, with a 4.3-inch WVGA capacitive touchscreen and 5-megapixel autofocus camera; it’s also the first Windows Phone to support both multitouch and HTC Sense. Perhaps best of all, HTC CEO Peter Chou has confirmed that HTC will be offering a US 3G version of the HD2 in Q1 2010. SlashGear sat down with Chou earlier on today to get a preview of the HD2 and find out more about HTC’s focus moving forward.
Video hands-on with the HTC HD2 after the cut
Details are scant right now, but according to the early leaks HTC are already working on their first Qualcomm Snapdragon Android smartphone, believed to be called the HTC Dragon. The Android counterpart to the HTC HD2, the HTC Dragon is said to have an 800 x 480 capacitive touchscreen along with the 1GHz processor.
Adobe have upgraded their Flash offensive, with the news this week that the next version – Flash 10.1 – will run across not only desktop but mobile and smartphone platforms. Taking advantage of the Open Screen Project (OSP), the new version will arrive as a Windows Mobile and webOS beta before the year is out, while early in 2010 we’ll get Android and Symbian versions. Finally, while there’s no release date for 10.1 yet given, RIM have signed up to the OSP meaning BlackBerry devices will also get Flash support.
After the cut, GPU acceleration for Flash 10.1
Yes, it’s just a box, and yes, we realise someone – some very dull, poorly-occupied person – could have knocked it up themselves and be laughing at us from behind their camera, but we’ll take the simple route and say this is the first sighting of Qualcomm’s FLO TV Personal TV packaging. The upcoming device is tipped to be Qualcomm’s attempt to drive adoption of their terrestrial digital TV service, a compact touchscreen slate with integrated speakers.
With Windows 7 fast approaching and Android development growing, we’ve seen more compact touchscreen MIDs and tablets arriving on the scene every week. Still, it’s pretty unusual to see Windows Mobile running on anything larger than 5-inches, so we’re mildly surprised to see C-motech’s Mangrove 7-inch tablet, running Windows Mobile 6.5 on a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU.
Windows Mobile 6.5 may not be provoking all that much interest compared to rival platforms, but one device which is certainly perking up attention is the HTC Leo, aka the HTC HD2. Tipped to arrive in October, the 4.3-inch flagship smartphone’s prize is its 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor; now one beta tester has released some benchmarking for the handset, and it’s looking to be a real stormer. The HD2 ousted HTC’s Touch HD in 3D graphics performance by around 300-percent.
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It's not the biggest photo, nor the clearest, but since it shows Qualcomm's FLO TV personal TV mediaplayer in the wild we'll make do. Initially tipped back in August, the FLO TV PTV handheld is Qualcomm's attempt to push their terrestrial digital TV service which is streamed over a separate chunk of the spectrum in the US.
As expected, IREX have just announced their latest ebook reader, the IREX DR800SG, an 8.1-inch e-ink device within integrated Qualcomm Gobi wireless. The DR800SG will use Verizon’s network in the US (and switch to GSM 3G when roaming) to allow access to Barnes & Noble’s eBookstore, Newspaper Direct and LibreDigital. Priced at $399.99, the IREX DR800SG will arrive at “select” Best Buy stores come October, followed by a European launch in the first half of 2010.
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