The much rumored hyper capable, heavily loaded Android smartphone from HTC, tied up with Sprint has finally been unveiled to the public and we must admit that the HTC EVO 4G is stunning by all standards.

From what we generally expect from HTC, this one matches the standard and rather goes much beyond that. From processor to internal storage space, from front/rear camera to HDMI support, HTC EVO outclasses every existent smartphone(or superphone for that matter) we’ve witnessed so far.

Anyone who has already bought an HTC HD2 should rather have waited for today as the equally capable(or better) hardware has eventually got loaded with the utmost desired mobile OS, Android 2.1 with Sense UI. Not to forget that it’s a 4G capable smartphone, the first ever 4G phone from Sprint in U.S.

We wish, they could brand this phone better and could come up with a better, impactful name atleast.

Take a look at EVO 4G’s tech specs now:

Mobile OS: Android 2.1 with Sense UI

Resolution: 480 x 800 4.3-inch TFT LCD

Network technology: EV-DO Rev-A/WiMax

Processor: 1GHz Snapdragon QSD8650

Touch-screen: Capacitive multi-touch enabled

Carrier: Sprint

RAM: 512MB

Internal storage: 1GB

Expandable storage: microSD

Rear Camera: 8MP with Flash

Front Camera: 1.3MP

Battery: 1500mAh

WiFi: 802.11 b/g

Additional: HDMI support, rear stand

The phone’s hardware capabilities and internet browsing speed are bound to be impressive as the voice calls will be made over sprint’s CDMA network and a combo of EV-DO and WiMAX technologies will power data usage, making both voice and data services more effective and ubiquitously available to end consumers.

Watch this Hands-on review of HTC EVO 4G, shot by folks at Engadget.

Pricing and availability is not yet known so we’re keeping a close eye on that. Our notion is that HTC EVO will not be dirt cheap but would rather be sold somewhere around $600-700 range without contract and $250-350 with contract but that’s just speculation at the moment. It might be made available somewhere during the summer.

And finally, will this phone do the magic for Sprint ?

HTC EVO 4G blends the best of hardware with the best of software(Android 2.1) and with tens of thousands of Android apps on board complemented with the blazing WiMAX/EV-DO data speeds, the phone has got the stuff to strike gold. A whole lot of things will now depend over its marketing and pricing.

Regarding HTC EVO 4G’s availability in India and other asian countries, there has been no announcement yet but the phone will certainly hit the asian markets soon. The price might not be too comfortable though.

This weekend was wholly dedicated to Nexus One (the Google Phone) whose pictures flooded like anything across the Twitterverse. You could literally see tech bloggers and journalists turning into paparazzi for getting a glimpse of the breathtaking Google Phone. And yes, a huge count of Twitteratti has now witnessed what was limited to Googlers until two days back.

Here are some of the technical specifications of Nexus One known so far and some more pics taken by Googlers while playing with it in Googleplex. Now that most of us know the surprising fact that Nexus One (Google Phone) will be sold online by Google directly, bypassing any conventional retail sale structure, an even shocking surprise is that Nexus One will be sold unlocked.

Nowadays, most of the well hyped smartphones come locked with a mobile carrier, mainly to subsidize the phone pricing and in the middle of all this, Google deciding to launch Nexus One unlocked, would make it a costly affair for end users.

But staying unlocked will have its own advantage for Google Phone as well. Here are some of them…

• There will never be an embaressing situation for Google, similar to what Apple is facing right now, because of network incapabilities of a particular mobile carrier (AT&T for iPhone)
• All existing users using unlocked mobile subscription services will just have to buy Nexus One and put their in-use SIM cards into Nexus One and that’s it ! Users will also be able to opt for cheap internet plans due to non-exclusivity.
• We aren’t sure about it but if Nexus One will stay unlocked and will be sold Online by Google, it might be a case that Google will start selling it globally starting January. It means that Google will start getting millions of orders across the globe, not just from U.S. but elsewhere as well.

Nexus One might not be damn cheap but in the longer run, it will save more money to the buyers.

Stay hooked for more on Nexus One…

It’s no news that Motorola Droid is making the waves all over and Droid is selling like hot cakes in US & will soon hit 1 million mark in direct sales, even before it gets available in europe and asian markets.  But it’s good to see that Motorola isn’t so overwhelmed with the successful take-off in Android space and already working on its next Android phone called “Motus“.

The rumor mill has spilled out technical specs of Motorola Motus and it seems that it will not more superior and feature-rich than Droid. Here are the specs…

• Quad-band GSM/EDGE/GPRS (same as every smartphone of today)
• 7.2Mbps HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100MHz) (no surprises here as well !)
• QWERTY Physical keyboard (probably similar to Droid)
• 5 MP camera with Autofocus(similar to Droid) and LED flash (high-quality photography lovers would love this!)
• 256MB of RAM (Should have been more than this)
• GPS, Wi-Fi (obvious)
• 3.1″ capacitive 480×320 display (Large capacitive touchscreen is addictive and this one is lot bigger than usual)
• Bluetooth 2.0 support , MicroSD slot (obvious)
• Weight: 133 gms (lightweight phone)
• 1400 mAh battery (heavy duty battery)
• Qualcomm MSM 7201A CPU (just OK, nothing special about it)
• MOTOBLUR (nice ‘motorola only’ UI enhancer, lovable)

There is no info on the pricing but expect it to be dirt cheap with a data plan contract. The chances are that this phone will go in favor of AT&T network as AT&T is probably the only mobile carrier that’s not having an android phone in its kitty. Rumor mill is favoring this as well.

We will follow up with more specs.

Indians can finally grab some cool android mobile devices coming their way at an affordable price. After HTC Magic, HTC is coming up with another android phone, which is undoubtedly a better option to opt for. HTC Tattoo , a feature packed phone from HTC is scheduled to get released in India very soon. HTC Tattoo was available to US and Europe so far and now, its India which would be getting this phone. As 3G services are virtually absent in India, expecting a bundled offering is unfeasible for HTC Tattoo.

In case you buy HTC Tattoo with Vodafone, you will get a 20MB of data usage for three months, free of charges. To be honest, 20MB is like a drop in the sea for an average internet user but still, something is better than nothing.

Still, the pricing of this phone has been kept quite affordable, around Rs.17,000($370) which makes it much lucrative option for niche but growing smartphone fanatics in India. Anyways, here are some of those features that are most probable to grab attention in nascent Indian smartphone industry. Take a look !

• 2.8 inches touchscreen with 240×320 QVGA resolution
• In-built GPS
• Bluetooth, Wi-Fi support
• 3.5 mm audio jack
• 3.2 MP camera
• Video format support : MPEG-4, H.263, H.264 and Windows Media® Video 9
• G-sensor
• Digital Compass

Android as a Mobile platform is starting to grow big but India has not seen most of Android phone launches yet. Its a positive sign that HTC is bringing yet another phone in India and this time, the pricing is quite cheaper. HTC was the one brand that took the things off for Android in US and it seems that India will also see first few android phones from HTC only.

Samsung has brought down another android phone in the smartphone arena, Galaxy Spica, an advanced variant of the earlier launched Samsung Galaxy which we’ve covered. This Samsung phone features a 3.2-inch (320x480px) capacitive touchscreen and a 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus feature, along with a speedy 800MHz processor (faster and powerful than the 528MHz processor).

Galaxy Spica boasts a slim 0.51-inch design, has a standard 3.5mm headphone jack and can go up to 32GB of data via the built-in microSD card slot. Galaxy Spica is certainly the first Android phone to support DivX format movies, which makes it a lovable phone for movie fanatics.

What Galaxy Spica misses out is the Android 2.0 OS version and Google navigation software. Both these features are the main alluring factors in the latest rage, Motorola Droid and this makes it an unhealthy offering by Samsung to Android fans.

The phone has got released in Europe only. There hasn’t been any announement about its release in U.S and its pricing as well but its most probable that this phone will not clinche high sales figures in U.S. as it’s a poor option compared to the already available Droid in U.S.

It seems that Android phones will soon forget competing with iPhone and symbian phones and the competition within the Android community will rather go fierce. Anyways, Android as an Open source Mobile OS community will keep evolving and advancing further.

The web is currently abuzzed with Droid,the real iPhone killer and we must say, Motorola, Verizon and Google are leaving no stone unturned in letting everyone feel excited about their new smartphone. The unified efforts of the three tech biggies can be seen in the Droid’s product quality and promotions, currently hitting U.S. audience in a massive way.

Very soon, most of the U.S. television shows will start airing latest Droid commercial, which is pure Killer stuff. If you were already waiting for Droid, this commercial will fire up your hunger to own this “iPhone Killer”. Anyways, the commercial is definitely a visual treat to cherish.

Play it right now ! (If you’re at office and can’t play with sound, go home and watch it in full sound one more time)

It seems that the ‘iPhone cult’ is about to halt anyway. Everyone is talking Droid nowadays. The latest phone from Motorola that’s about to hit the market within a week from now(Nov 6), also happens to be the first android phone on Verizon Wireless, the largest 3G wireless service provider. So, when three industry heavyweights, namely Motorola(Hardware), Verizon Wireless(3G Network) and Google(Mobile OS, Android 2.0) come together, the outcome has to be something spectacular. And it is…Droid is truly spectacular !

With amazing hardware capabilities and next generation Mobile operating system (Android 2.0), this  smartphone was already making the news almost everyday during last couple of weeks. It was yesterday when the official site Droiddoes.com revealed the curtains and announced the feature specifications, pricing details and date of official launch of Motorola Droid. It will cost a sum of $199 with a 2 yr contract with Verizon Wireless in US.

The odds are against Apple at the moment. The recent fuss over Google Voice iPhone app rejection and FCC’s involvement into the matter painted a patchy image of Apple in front of the world. AT&T 3G network has already failed to handle the network overload caused by millions of iPhones, leaving iPhone buyers in a miserable state and now utility Google apps (Google Voice and the latest one is Google Maps Navigation) is no more for iPhone as well. Every prospective smartphone buyer was looking for a superior alternative to iPhone. Coming January, the 2 year AT&T contract bundled with iPhone will start clearing up and the market perception is already going strong towards choosing an Android phone (Droid seems ideal) over iPhone.

Look at the coolest stuff that Droid brings along, if you’re still unaware about it.

The battalion of android phones is already making iPhone look pale and now Droid has not left even a single reason for iPhone fanbois to cheer for.

By the way, it is unclear if Motorola Droid will be launched in India or not We will track that too.

We will have you regularly updated with happenings with Droid…Keep checking !

]]> http://www.whatandroid.com/motorola-droid-in-india/feed 0 http://www.whatandroid.com/motorola-droid-price-india http://www.whatandroid.com/motorola-droid-price-india#comments Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:53:11 +0000 Prashant Sharma http://www.whatandroid.com/?p=198

It was almost certain that the much rumored iDon’t killer(iDon’t=iPhone) Motorola Droid will debue by October end but hardly any of the geek freaks knew that some Motorola guy would accidently(or intentionally) make the hidden stuff LIVE on public website of Motorola.

For what ? Is that so difficult to figure out ? Publicity stunt !

But honestly, Motorola Droid has got it all to be hyped to the level of becoming a threat to iPhone. It has got all the reasons to force any Apple fanboi to ditch his iPhone for Droid.

Take a look at the Eight most interesting facts about Droid first.

- First ever smartphone to sport Android 2.0 version of Android OS

- Droid to launch with Verizon Wireless, unarguably the best mobile carrier in U.S.

- Thinnest QWERTY slider keyboard smartphone till date (Slightly thicker than iPhone)

- TI OMAP3430 processor. Expect this to be lightening fast.

- The largest touchscreen ever(2.8 inch) in any smartphone till date

- 5.0 megapixels high resolution camera. Quite enviable, right ?

- 32 GB Memory space. What else can you ask for

- More than 10,000 android apps to choose from

- Arguably the Most Impressive Android Phone till date !

Needless to list the obvious smartphone features and support such as Wi-Fi, Capacitive touchscreen, high resolution…….

The above features are enough to excite deep sleeping souls as one could hardly expect such hardware capabilities to be packed in a smartphone. Those having netbooks might prefer replacing their netbooks with Droid. Wait for few more days(or another planned accidental leak ) and the pricing and other details will also be out as well.

Samsung’s second Android powered smartphone, the I5700 Galaxy Lite(the first being Samsung I7500) seems to be coming out of the shell. A Hands-on review has recently been done by ai.rs  folks and the phone certainly looks impressive.

For those who like sleek, light-weight smartphones, this smartphone can be a good deal. Compared to Samsung’s first Android offering, the I7500,  the two major differences are Camera resolution (I5700: 3.2 megapixel, I7500: 5.0 megapixel) and Phone memory(I5700:1GB, I7500:8GB). The newer one is sleeker and therefore delicate as well.

Check out the hands-on review of I5700 Galaxy Lite embedded below :

This is definitely a buzzing stunt as nothing much has come out officially yet. Pricing is still to be announced but be assured that the cost will not exceed $200(max. $250). With remarkable reduction in physical capabilities of this Android phone, high handset cost wouldn’t even let it kick off well in this crowded smartphone business.

Keep checking in for more updates on Samsung I5700 (Subscribe to our blog updates)

The speculation over the next big handset manufacturer, ready to boom Android smartphone business should be over by now. It’s Motorola and the date (Sept 10) for the suspected launch of ‘Sholes’ and ‘Morrison’, is not so far either. Now, as the specs and snaps of Motorola’s flagship android phones are already creating huge buzz on web, it seems that the market has had enough of iPhone and now wants to say “hello” to Android mania.

Android platform’s future trends are bright and clear as HTC has already declared to opt for over 50% Android adoption and Dell is looking ready to take on asian consumer market with Dell 3i Smartphone as well. Now, as Motorola takes the front stage and starts selling Android smartphones with Verizon, the leading and most reliable mobile carrier in North America, things are going to be much better for Android than now.

Now, let’s talk a bit about ‘Sholes’ and ‘Morrison’. ‘Motorola Sholes’ is an Android phone that will be exclusively sold over Verizon network. Below are the rumored ‘Sholes’ specs (via AndroidandMe) but there’s no official statement yet on Sholes specs.

• OMAP3430 – 600 MHz ISP Processor
• Dim: 115 x 60 x 13 mm
• Wt: 169 gm
• Battery Li-Ion 1400 mAh
• Standby: ~450 hours, talk time: ~7 hrs
• 3.7-inches touch-sensitive display with a resolution of 854×480 pixels, 16 million color depth.
• 512MB ROM
• 256MB RAM
• microSD / microSDHC expansion slot
• Camera: 5.0 megapixel with autofocus and video recorder
• Connectivity: USB2.0, 3.5mm audio jack, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR, Wi-Fi
• Supported audio formats: AMR-NB/WB, MP3, PCM / WAV, AAC, AAC +, eAAC +, WMA
• Supported video formats: MPEG-4, H.263, H.264, WMV
• GPS navigation
• Comes along with 8GB MicroSD memory card

On the other side, ‘Motorola Morrison’ is expected to come over T-Mobile. But there’s another rumor floating across the web that ‘Morrison’ will be a CDMA based  smartphone. Take a look at the specs for ‘Motorola Morrison’.

• Processor : Qualcomm MSM7201A 528 MHz
• Memory: 256MB RAM
• ROM: 512 MB
• Memory Card Type: microSDHC, expandable to 32 GB
• Screen resolution : 320×480 (HVGA)
• Comes alongwith Magnetometer, Proximity Sensor and Ambient Light Sensor
• Voice Bands : GSM 850/900/1800/1900, W-CDMA 900/(1700 or 1900)/2100
• Wireless LAN:  802.11 b/g, WEP, WPA, 802.11i (WPA2)
• Bluetooth Version: 2.0 + EDR
• Bluetooth Profiles: A2DP, AVRCP, GAP, HFP 1.5, HSP, SDAP, SPP
• USB: USB 2.0 High Speed, Micro USB connector
• Headset Jack: 3.5mm
• Camera : 5 megapixels
• Camera Digital Zoom (max): 5.4x
• Video Recording Resolution: 320×240 (QVGA)
• Video Recording Frame Rate: 25 fps
• Location Services: Standalone GPS internal antenna, Assisted GPS, e-Compass
• Supported Email Protocols: POP3, IMAP4, Exchange ActiveSync

The pricing is undisclosed so far but you can safely assume that it won’t be (or shouldn’t be) more than $200-300. iPhone’s pricing has really put a lot of pressure on all other smartphone manufacturers and has forced them to find other ways out for monetizing their products (remember the $2.4 billion iPhone app economy).

The Mobile OS market is very dynamic and may swing swiftly. With growing interest from majority of handset OEMs in Android platform, we estimate that Android may gain upto 10% market share by the end of 2010.

Keep checking in for more updates on Sholes and Morrison.