Google's Android coming soon on HTC handset

Yet another report that Google's Android software is about to make its debut surfaced Friday.

The New York Times echoed a report earlier in the week from TmoNews in suggesting that the first phone to run the Android software will be announced by handset maker HTC on T-Mobile's network next month and could begin shipping in October. This is earlier than previously reported. It's long been expected that T-Mobile and HTC would be among the first Android partners to actually ship a product, but the timing had been unclear.

Silicon Alley Insider says they've talked to someone who has actually played with the HTC Android phone, and who deems it "technically powerful but not as elegant as Apple's iPhone and OS X". That's not all that unexpected, really; Google's stated mission has always been to offer carriers and phone makers a basic set of software for getting phones onto the Internet, not a high-end integrated smartphone like the iPhone.

In any event, it will still be nice to actually have an Android handset out in the market, almost a year after Google confirmed its mobile phone project. Google will be competing against other operating system licensers such as Symbian and Microsoft for design wins around the world, and evaluating its chances against those entrenched players will get easier after reviewers get a chance to handle the merchandise.

Via CNET News

Inedible corn-based phone is environmentally friendly

While the specifications of E200 Eco (pictured on the right) are nothing to shout about (tri-band GSM, 1.8-inch color display and a 1.3-megapixel camera), it does have one redeeming quality: Its contribution to the environmental cause. The "bio-plastic" casing of the E200 Eco candybar, according to Samsung, contains plant-based materials such as corn. The phone even comes with a matching eco-friendly recycled paper box and will debut in Europe early next month. It will not be available in Asia, though.

The E200 Eco is currently being showcased alongside two other eco phones--the W510 and F268--at the Olympics in Beijing. Like the E200 Eco, the W510 is also made from natural materials, while the F268 doesn't contain any organic compounds with bromine and PVC.

iPhone 3G available online (for important people)

There was no press release or official announcement, but AT&T is offering the iPhone 3G for online sale on its business and professional Web site. Though the iPhone has lived on AT&T's biz site since its July 11 release date, previously the site instructed customers to visit their local AT&T for purchase. Now, however, they log into their Premier account "to buy (the) iPhone 3G online today". The cost hasn't changed (US$199-US$299), but the convenience of buying online is priceless.

Via CNET Crave

HSBC could order 200,000 iPhones

Global banking giant HSBC is considering ditching the BlackBerry and adopting Apple's iPhone as its standard staff mobile device, a move that could result in an order for some 200,000 iPhones.

"We are actually reviewing iPhones from a HSBC Group perspective... and when I say that, I mean globally", Brenton Hush, HSBC's Australia and New Zealand chief information officer, told ZDNet.com.au this week.

HSBC has some 300,000 staff internationally. A decision to standardize on the iPhone on its corporate networks would likely lead to one of the world's largest iPhone orders.

"A decision on a piece of hardware like that would potentially be deployed, conservatively, to 200,000 people," Hush said. "You know, it's a big decision, especially when you have an existing fleet out there."

"But it's definitely something we are considering from a HSBC Group perspective," he said. "We always explore the potential application of new technologies, and this is no different."
Read more »

Report: Software fix in the works for iPhone 3G

The issues plaguing the iPhone 3G are indeed related to a chip inside the phone, according to a new report, but the solution could be easier than expected.

Business Week is reporting that, according to its sources, Infineon's chip inside the iPhone 3G is the root cause of the reception problems that numerous iPhone 3G owners have reported over the last month. Nomura Securities analyst Richard Windsor first suggested Infineon was to blame in a research note earlier this week.

The good news, however, is that apparently Apple believes it can fix the problems with a software upgrade, according to Business Week. A Swedish researcher who had discovered sensitivity issues in the iPhone 3G's chipset thought the problems would have to be solved through some sort of recall, but Apple and Infineon are said to be testing a software update that could be released perhaps as early as the end of this month.

Via CNET News

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