The developer team over at alldroid.org has  managed to gain root access to the version of the Motorola Milestone which was recently released by Telus Mobility in Canada.  At first glance this doesn't seem like news; both the Droid and Milestone were rooted months ago.  The difference is the Telus version was released with the root exploit patched.

A few days after the Droid/Milestone exploit was discovered, a developer submitted the patch for it to the Android Open Source Project.  The patch was accepted and merged into the source code.  Interestingly, this developer was Steve Kondik aka Cyanogen who is best known for his custom ROMs which he has developed for rooted HTC phones.  You can review the patch here.

The way to root a Telus Milestone is covered in detail here.  Basically it consists of completely wiping the memory of the phone and then flashing the memory with the Brazilian Milestone's operating system.  This version of the Milestone software doesn't have the exploit patched.  Once this is flashed, you simply continue as normal by downloading and running a modified 'update.zip' file which piggybacks the root access inside an over the air update file.

Although this does give the user root access, none of the Milestone branded devices will run a boot image unless digitally signed by Motorola.  This means no overclocking, custom roms, or custom recovery menu; but there are already tutorials for running interactive wallpapers, blocking unwanted advertisements, removing unwanted apps, and installing customized themes available over at alldroid.

I wonder how long until these guys figure out how to digitally sign custom ROMs?  At this pace we should see them by Friday.

Sources:  alldroid.org; telusmobility.ca

Last week we got a hold of some images of the upcoming Verizon Wireless Android phone, the HTC Incredible. Now we have some more, in full Verizon color scheme, along with some possible specs. Rumors are that it will have 512mb of RAM (with about 320mb available to the user), an 8MP camera, and an underclocked Snapdragon processor at 768MHz (like the Acer Liquid). It will also have Android 2.1 with SenseUI. Measurements are 117.5 x 58.5 x 11.9mm. Its expected to head to Verizon in Q2 2010.

Source: AndroidForums

"The interesting thing is that when she plugged the phone to her PC via USB her Panda Cloud Antivirus went off, detecting both an autorun.inf and autorun.exe as malicious. A quick look into the phone quickly revealed it was infected and spreading the infection to any and all PCs that the phone would be plugged into.
A quick analysis of the malware reveals that it is in fact a Mariposa bot client. This one, unlike the one announced last week which was run by spanish hacker group “DDP Team”, is run by some guy named “tnls” as the botnet-control mechanism shows…"

You must take this article with a grain of salt though, because the source of the article was a Panda Security employee and it was first posted on a Panda Security Research Blog.

Vodaphone released the following statement:

"Vodafone takes the security and privacy of its customers extremely seriously and launched an immediate investigation into this incident
Following extensive Quality Assurance testing on HTC Magic handsets in several of our operating companies, early indications are that this was an isolated local incident
Vodafone keeps its security processes under constant review as new threats arise, and we will take all appropriate actions to safeguard our customers’ privacy."

Source: Phandroid (Thanks for the tip Mordy)

Source: AndroidCentral

PS: Try scanning the code above, you'll be surprised where it takes you

Source: Neowin

Update: The other big news here is that the ROM for the Droid Eris also includes HTC's SenseUI, which is the first time we've seen SenseUI on an Andriod 2.0+ ROM. This paves the way for the other HTC Android devices and confirms that SenseUI will run on 2.1.

As we all know, the HD2 has a 4.3" WVGA screen, 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 5MP camera, but may or may not be upgradeable to Windows Phone 7.

The CLIQ XT, also known as the Quench, sports Android 1.5 with MOTOBLUR, a 5MP camera, and a 3.1″ 320 x 480 OLED touch display.

Source: IntoMobile

Google has sent out an email to some devs that states the following:

Due to your contribution to the success of Android Market, we would like to present you with a brand new Android device as part of our developer device seeding program. You are receiving this message because you’re one of the top developers in Android Market with one or more of your applications having a 3.5 star or higher rating and more than 5,000 unique downloads.

In order to receive this device, you must click through to this site read the terms and conditions of the offer and fill out the registration form to give us your current mailing address so that we can ship your device.

You will receive either a Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Droid by Motorola (NYSE: MOT) or a Nexus One. Developers with mailing addresses in the US will receive either a Droid or Nexus one, based on random distribution. Developers from Canada, EU, and the EEA states (Norway, Lichtenstein), Switzerland, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore will receive a Nexus One. Developers with mailing addresses in countries not listed above will not receive a phone since these phones are not certified to be used in other countries.

We hope that you will enjoy your new device and continue to build more insanely popular apps for Android!

I believe this is the first OS developer to offer something like this, but it could make things interesting!

Source: IntoMobile

The Hero2 is actually the HTC Legend we've heard about, except modified to Sprint's liking, similar to how the original Hero was. There's no reported arrival time for this one though, so we'll have to sit tight and wait.

As everyone could guess, Apple was the top dog for the total number of apps in their store, with over 150,000 available. Android was second with just under 20,000 and the next closest, Nokia, weighing in at a mere 6,118. Apple again leads the pack at almost 14,000 new apps per month, with Android again coming in at second place with just over 3,000 new apps per month.

The real story is about the percentage of free vs. paid apps, in which Android took a huge lead, with an amazing 57% of all Android apps being free. Palm hit second at 32% with Apple and Blackberry in a tight struggle for third place at 25% and 24%, respectively. Android's overwhelming victory in this aspect of apps is contributed to the the OS being open source and Google's desire to allow even the most casual developer to submit apps to their Market.

As for the average cost of all paid apps, Android is right there with its competition at $3.27. Apple is at $3.62 and Palm came in at the lowest with an average of $2.53. Windows was on the high side with an average cost of all paid apps at $6.99; ironic since they also only had 693 apps in their Market when this study was completed.

A few other findings from the presentation worth noting include:

• 65% of the publishers in the Google Anroid Market are located in the United States
• Over 1,600 developers have apps in multiple stores
• Apple has a presence in 77 countries with their app store; Android is only in 11 countries

It looks like Android is going to start giving Apple a real run for their money, literally. With Android having the relative fastest growth month to month, will Apple be able to hold onto their lead and will the other manufacturers be able to keep up? Leave us your thoughts in the comments.

Source: AndroidandMe

From Best Buy's Facebook page: "We lowered our prices on the Droid Eris by HTC to Free, DROID by Motorola to $99.99, and on February 25th are introducing the MOTOROLA DEVOUR™ with MOTOBLUR™ at $99.99. Pricing requires 2 year activation. Activation and termination fees apply. Handsets may vary by store. See store for details."

Features:

• Touch-sensitive navigation pad
• 3.1” capacitive touch screen
• Pre-loaded applications such as Gmail, Google Talk™, YouTube™, Google Search™ and Google Maps™ with Google Maps Navigation.
• Android Market™ gives users access to more than 20,000 applications.
• Happenings Widget – MOTOBLUR automatically pushes status updates, wall posts and photo updates from popular social networking sites to the Happenings Widget on the home screen. Customers can flick through the latest updates and fire back responses using the slide-out full QWERTY keyboard.
• Universal Inbox – MOTOBLUR gathers texts, social network messages and e-mails into one home screen widget for quick response.
• Back-Up and Security – Contacts, log-in information, home screen customizations, e-mail and social network messages are backed up automatically on the secure MOTOBLUR portal. The portal also allows customers to use the phone’s fully integrated aGPS to help locate the phone if misplaced. Remote wipe easily clears information from a lost device.
• 8 GB microSD™ card pre-installed
• Bluetooth® profiles supported: A2DP, HID, HSP, HFP, AVRCP and GAP

Source: Engadget

So far, the common sentiment among users is that Shopper is extremely similar to Google Goggles in that it uses the phone's camera to read a barcode or recognize cover art on books, CDs, DVDs and games; however a closer inspection reveals that instead of running a standard search, it performs a 'Google Product Search' (same search as selecting 'Shopping' on the google home-screen).  Google Shopper also is capable of voice recognition which is handy when the product you are looking for isn't readily available.  Simply speak the name of the product you are looking for and Shopper will do the rest.  As an added treat, when you want to let someone know where the best deal is for that present on your wish-list, Shopper allows you to 'share' products with your friends through various social media and messaging services.

Hands on, this application is useful but no game changer.  Searching for software and books in every test works exactly as described: cd cover scanning through Shopper is quick and comes back with pricing and product info in a matter of seconds. Oddly enough, using Shopper to scan the barcode on my Motorola Droid Car Mount which was purchased from big V fails with an error saying that shopper did not find any products with this barcode. You can witness this behavior in this video.

Even in it's beta form, people are finding good uses for this app, one poster going by 'Adam' on the Google Mobile Blog thought it "will help when at used book stores looking for rare books and vinyl records to resell."  To download Google Shopper to your Android phone, search for "Shopper" on Android Market or scan the barcode below.

Sources: googlemobile.blogspot.com; google.com

Here's the goodies:
-Android 2.1 (Éclair)
-Quad-band GSM/EDGE plus tri-band HSPA (up to 7.2 Mbps on downlink)
-5-megapixel camera with auto-focus
-3.5-inch WVGA touchscreen
-Qualcomm (NSDQ: QCOM) 8250 (Snapdragon) 768 MHz CPU
-256 MB RAM / 512 MB ROM
-WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth, 3.5mm headset jack
-Accelerometer, light and proximity sensors
-Dataviz’s software pre-installed – RoadSync and Documents To Go
-microSD memory card slot
-1350 mAh battery (up to 5 hours of talk / 400 hours of standby time)
-Size: 115×64x12.7 mm / 135 grams

Source: IntoMobile ]]> http://www.ppcgeeks.com/2010/02/15/acer-liquid-e-comes-with-android-2-1/feed/ 5 http://www.ppcgeeks.com/2010/02/05/motorola-milestone-coming-to-telus-on-feb-18th/ http://www.ppcgeeks.com/2010/02/05/motorola-milestone-coming-to-telus-on-feb-18th/#comments Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:47:13 +0000 mindfrost82 http://www.ppcgeeks.com/?p=2973

Back in January, we reported on a rumor that At&t was getting the Milestone (GSM version of the Droid). It appears this version of the Milestone is headed for Telus. While Telus hasn't officially announced a release date for the Milestone, Best Buy Canada has put up a Pre-Order page that gives us a February 18th date. At&t users could be happy to hear this as well, since Telus supports the At&t 3G bands of 850/1900MHz. Of course you'll have to pay full price for it and unlock it, but given how popular the Droid has been on Verizon, it may be worth it if you want to experience full 3G with Android on At&t and don't want to wait for the Motorola Backflip or one of the 5 Android devices At&t promised is coming in the first half of 2010..

Source: Engadget (Thanks forum user Deimoss for the tip)

"To get the most from Motorola DEVOUR, customers will need to subscribe to a Nationwide Talk or Nationwide Talk & Text plan and a Data Package for smartphones. Nationwide Talk plans begin at $39.99 monthly access, and Nationwide Talk & Text plans begin at $59.99 monthly access. A Data Package for smartphones is $29.99 for unlimited monthly access."

Features:

• Touch-sensitive navigation pad
• 3.1” capacitive touch screen
• Pre-loaded applications such as Gmail, Google Talk™, YouTube™, Google Search™ and Google Maps™ with Google Maps Navigation.
• Android Market™ gives users access to more than 20,000 applications.
• Happenings Widget – MOTOBLUR automatically pushes status updates, wall posts and photo updates from popular social networking sites to the Happenings Widget on the home screen. Customers can flick through the latest updates and fire back responses using the slide-out full QWERTY keyboard.
• Universal Inbox – MOTOBLUR gathers texts, social network messages and e-mails into one home screen widget for quick response.
• Back-Up and Security – Contacts, log-in information, home screen customizations, e-mail and social network messages are backed up automatically on the secure MOTOBLUR portal. The portal also allows customers to use the phone’s fully integrated aGPS to help locate the phone if misplaced. Remote wipe easily clears information from a lost device.
• 8 GB microSD™ card pre-installed
• Bluetooth® profiles supported: A2DP, HID, HSP, HFP, AVRCP and GAP

Source: Motorola Media Center

Some of the updates and new features include:

Google Goggles: this mobile application will now be available directly on your device by launching it from your All Apps menu. Just use your Nexus One camera to start searching the web.

Google Maps: the Maps application with be updated to a new version, Google Maps 3.4, which will include:

• Starred items synchronized with maps.google.com – access your favorite places from your phone or computer
• Search suggestions from your personal maps.google.com history – makes it easy to search for places you’ve searched for before
• Night mode in Google Maps Navigation – automatically changes your screen at night for easier viewing and driving

Pinch-to-zoom functionality: devices will now include a new pinch-to-zoom mechanism in the phone’s Browser, Gallery and Maps applications

3G connectivity: we will provide a general fix to help improve 3G connectivity on some Nexus One phone

The 3G connectivity fix should help those that have had a difficult time connecting to T-Mobile's 3G network, even when they've had another phone connected sitting right next to it. The other important update is the muti-touch, "pinch-to-zoom". In the beginning, there was debate if multi-touch was a hardware limitation or if it was a software restriction. This answers that question.

Manual update instructions after the break (thanks NIKKG).

Source: BGR

Manual Update Instructions:

1. Download the update from here (Google official) or here (mirror).
2. Rename the file to update.zip. Note that if you're using Windows, just rename it to "update" (no quotes, of course) because it's already a zipped file.
3. Copy the update.zip file onto your microSD card.
4. With your Nexus One off, hold down the trackball and press the power button.
5. You'll be booted into a white screen with three Android robots on skateboards. Select "Bootloader."
6. On the next screen, select "Recovery."
7. Your phone will reboot, giving you a picture of the Android robot and an exclamation point inside a triangle.
8. Now press the power button and volume up button at the same time. It could take a couple of tries.
9. Now (using the trackball this time) choose "Apply sdcard:update.zip" and let things run their course.
10. You may have to soft reset a couple of times after this.

Source: AndroidCentral

“Thank you for contacting Sprint regarding the nexus one.

Unfortunately, this handset model is not on offer as of now.

Once it is launched, you will see promotional campaigns related to the launch date, cost and the features of the handset on our Web site and other promotional media.

Thank you for showing interest in our products & services. Please let us know if you would like us to assist you with anything else.”

Again, this isn't much to go on, but it sounds promising.

Source: IntoMobile

The FCC label on the right is from the current Nexus One for T-Mobile, with ID NM899100. The label on the left comes with ID NM899110, which appears to be an identical model with just one digit off. The RF reports show that it has 3G on WCDMA Bands I, II, and V, meaning that it'll work on AT&T (and Rogers, Bell, and Telus) along with most of Europe.

Source: Engadget

Source: TheStreet