We’ve just finished a sit-down session with Verizon, Motorola and Google to discuss the first Android 2.0 smartphone of the year, the Verizon DROID by Motorola, and this is certainly one very impressive smartphone. It’s far too early for our full review, but check out some live photos and first impressions after the cut.
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Sony Ericsson's Aino smartphone arrived in the UK earlier this month, but would-be buyers looking on enviously from the US are now able to sate their touchscreen desires. The 8.1-megapixel handset has gone on sale online and at Sony Style stores in the US today, priced at $599.99 unlocked, offering a 3-inch 432 x 240 touchscreen, WiFi, 3G (UMTS 850/1900/2100) and Bluetooth.
Motorola and Verizon Wireless have officially announced the Verizon DROID by Motorola, the first Android smartphone for the carrier and what’s promising to be one of the most interesting. The Verizon DROID has a 3.7-inch 854 x 480 capacitive touchscreen, slide-out QWERTY keyboard and EVDO Rev.A, and will arrive on shelves on November 6th priced at $199.99 with a new, two-year agreement and following a $100 mail-in rebate.
Update: Video overview of Verizon DROID by Motorola after the cut
If you thought HP and Dell’s Windows 7 compatible multitouch monitors were desk-dominating at 21.5-inches, go away and fetch a cold-compress. Albatron have been working on their latest optical touch display, and it’s a full 42-inch whopper promising 1080p resolution, multitouch and gesture support. mobile+notebook grabbed some hands-on (literally) time with the behemoth.
Video demo after the cut
Given how long it’s taking eviGroup to push out their Wallet MID, we’re quite surprised with how quickly they’re working on getting their new 10.7-inch UMPC out of the door. The eviGroup Pad has already had its first hands-on, courtesy of French site NowhereElse, who reckon the 1024 x 600 resistive touchscreen – even with a stylus – is responsive while Windows 7 runs reasonably on the 1.6GHz Atom processor.
Update: The Elite 3G version of the eviGroup Pad is on sale now for €599 plus €30 shipping ($932); they’ll also sell you an OS-free version for €539 ($799).
Video demo after the cut
The last we heard of MTube they were pushing a tiny, 2.8-inch MID with integrated WiMAX, but their latest touchscreen device jumps firmly onto the Android bandwagon. The MTube Android MID has a 7.6-inch capacitive touchscreen and uses an ARM processor, but rather than trying to hitch a ride in your bag, it’s intended for living room duties. Not only does the tablet offer internet access, but you can stream video, photos and music from the MTube to your big-screen TV.
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Little more than a tiny image and a handful of specs right now, but NEC are believed to be working on a mobile PC that, to our squinting at least, looks to be Android based. The touchscreen slate has a 7- to 8-inch LCD display, and NEC apparently have high hopes for its sales performance: they're predicting that they'll eventually ship over 1m of the UMPCs each year.
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The Apple Tablet rumors this week have already been tenuous and, well, more tenuous, so let's throw another vaguely unbelievable tidbit into the ring. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Apple have been shopping around their tablet to Australian media companies, "in an effort to sound out whether they would be interested in delivering their content to the tablet." The paper suggests that Apple have been sending around details of the tablet's specifications; however none of the media companies themselves would talk on the record.
Navigation firm Mio is planning to use Android for certain models in their next-gen PND line-up. The Mio MiBuddy range will offer both Android models – complete with GPS navigation, media playback and internet access – and versions using the existing Windows CE-based OS of Mio’s current PND range. While specific hardware details and model numbers are yet to be confirmed, Mio has revealed that the Android models will have WiFi and Bluetooth; future versions may add WiMAX.
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Attention for French firm eviGroup's upcoming Pad UMPC is growing, the company has released full specifications for the 10.6-inch touchscreen slate. The Pad has a 1.6GHz Atom CPU, 1GB of RAM (which, unlike many netbooks, is removable) and a 160GB 2.5-inch hard-drive, together with WiFi a/b/g and 3G (WCDMA/TD-SCDMA/CDMA).
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