Archives for "February, 2010"
Mozilla shows rapid progress on Firefox Mobile for Android
Young Fennec appears on the Motorola Droid and Nexus One.
Haleron iLet Mini HAL Is a Modest Tablet With a Modest Price [Tablets]
If the iPad seems extravagant and the JooJoo’s sordid past turns you off, the 7″ Mini HAL might be up your alley. It’s no powerhouse, but at least you’ll be able to say you own a tablet. Updated. Scam alert!
The 600MHz VIA CPU isn’t blazing fast and the 7″ touch screen isn’t luxuriously wide. The 2GB of flash memory isn’t great. The Android 1.6 OS isn’t ideal.
But if you just want a tablet without all the bells and whistles for doing some surfing from the couch or reading some documents in bed, the HAL seems like a fine option, especially considering the $199 price tag.
And anyway, the storage is expandable via SD card and the OS is upgradable. It has Wi-Fi, 128MB of RAM, a USB port, and claims a 16 hour battery life. Best of all, Haleron says it’s shipping the HAL on March 1st. So, if only for a few weeks, you can be the first of your friends to be officially on the tablet bandwagon. [Haleron via Ubergizmo]
Update: Hold the phone! A commenter going by “Brad” over at Pocketables has done some sleuthing and it seems like things aren’t quite adding up with Haleron. Here’s what he had to say:
In an attempt to verify Haleron a month or two ago, I tracked the iLet design back to a french company which has an active forum. They in fact do sell the design to be remanufactured abroad. I inquired if they had licensed to Haleron, and received a solid NO.
If you look at the whois on the haleron domain, it is registered to a shipping district office in Miami Fl. Google the CEO’s name and you get several other failed companies, and a business bankruptcy filing in Colorado.
Based on my research, I believe the company is a scam.
Fishy indeed. Here’s Brad again, in a second comment:
the french company is eviGroup and their devices have several real reviews… and sorry, the whois is connected to an apartment building in Savannah GA.
It was another website that directs to haleron that was registered to a miami ship hole. Offices in Columbia and Ecuador? Pu-lease.
After some checking up, I’m inclined to agree with Brad; I can’t find anything that makes me think that Haleron is a legitimate organization. If anyone has any further info either way send it along in an e-mail or post it in the comments.
T-Mobile rolling out minor update to G1
The update (build number DMD64) focuses on improving call performance.
All U.S. Android Phones Reportedly Getting the Bump to 2.1 [Rumor]
We recently heard that Android 2.1 was on its way to the Droid, but now sources tell AndroidandMe that all U.S. Android phones will be receiving Android 2.1 firmware in coming months, though some will require a wipe to upgrade.
As we’ve heard is the case with the Droid, some niceties like animated wallpapers probably won’t make the jump, but if the updates come to fruition, increased text-to-speech support and enhanced widgets will likely come along with them. The price of getting up to date, Androidandme explains, might be wiping your phone clean. A bummer, but that’s life.
Google has shown its awareness that fragmentation is a serious issue for Android, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see them try to make things a little more even across the board. The G1 and MyTouch are supposedly candidates for the first wave of updates, so keep an eye out for confirmation in coming weeks. [AndroidandMe]
All U.S. Android phones to receive Android 2.1, but some will require a wipe
Considering over 80% of our readers with Android phones are running an outdated version of the operating system, I think most of you will find this interesting.
Cricket ready to leap on Android phones
Leap Wireless planning to offer smartphone phones with Google’s Android platform.
Myxer: Android overtakes iPhone in “AT&T-less” states
New report shows Android controls eight Midwest states.
Canada could finally gain access to paid Android apps next week
It has been nearly nine months since Google-based phones came to Canada.
CDMA Nexus One clears FCC, headed to Verizon soon
Verizon customers could see the Nexus One as early as next month.
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