The original Google phone got us all excited a couple of weeks back when an OTA update was presumed to be the oven-hot Gingerbread upgrade, only to disappoint us. Now we’ve got the most lucid statement from the Android chefs yet on when the real Gingerbread Nexus One will stand up, which is placed in the relatively ill-defined window of “the coming weeks.” Hey, better weeks than months, right?

Nexus One will get Gingerbread OTA update ‘in the coming weeks’ originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Dec 2010 05:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Update: While these cookies are half-baked, unconfirmed and potentially dangerous to those not well versed in the art of Android hackery, we’re hearing that the HTC EVO 4G, original Motorola Droid and HTC Desire are now sporting early Gingerbread ROMs too. It seems the source code is relatively easy to compile for other phones, so with any luck there’ll be a compatible build for your device soon.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

HTC HD2 and Nexus One get some Gingerbread crumbs (update: EVO, Droid and Desire, too) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 18 Dec 2010 22:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Outside of the Nexus One (and recently-launched Nexus S, of course), T-Mobile’s G2 is about as close as one can get to stock build of Android. ‘Course, it’s now a point release behind Gingerbread, but we’re hoping that’ll be remedied in short order. Outside of that, we’re curious to know how you’d change the slip-sliding Android phone if given the schematics and the ability to start over from scratch. By and large, we felt that HTC nailed the design, but of course, everyone’s capable of seeing things in a slightly different light. What would you tweak about the G2 if given the choice? Change up the keyboard? Offer it on AT&T or a CDMA carrier? Throw in a row of LEDs along the left edge, just for kicks? All (reasonable) ideas are welcome in comments below — you never know who’ll be tuning in.

How would you change the T-Mobile G2? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Dec 2010 22:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When is a YouTube video not a YouTube video? Every so often, a promotion pops up on the site that thinks outside the box, so to speak. In honor of the Nexus S (i.e. the best Android phone out there until the next best Android phone comes out), Google’s re-teamed with Patrick Boivin and his ragtag group of tiny ninjas — previously seen showing real unboxing power on a Nexus One package. We don’t want to spoil the fun, so just click through and enjoy… and after all is said and done, keep an eye out for the nunchuks. Trust us.

Unboxing Ninjas kick back the fourth wall for the Nexus S originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Dec 2010 12:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Looking (and sounding) a bit like a more-advanced version of the Bluetooth dock that accompanied the Nexus One, it seems that T-Mobile has started shipping a so-called Bluetooth Swivel Dock for its recently-launched myTouch 4G — and, well, you can get a pretty good idea of exactly what it is from the name. Indeed: not only does this bad boy charge your phone, it routes Bluetooth audio to a 3.5mm jack that you can leave connected to that bookshelf system of yours. Oh, and it swivels, which frees you of the arduous task of picking up the dock itself and moving it to a different position should you like a nearby individual to be able to see what’s on your screen. TmoNews says this is starting to filters into stores for $49.99, so you should be able to try your luck at your local corporate-owned shop right now if you’re interested.

T-Mobile ships Bluetooth Swivel Dock for myTouch 4G originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Sat, 11 Dec 2010 23:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You may not be able to get Android 2.3 loaded in any official capacity on your Nexus One yet — or any other phone, for that matter — but Google’s 2.3 SDK is now available, which means there’s an emulator attached, too. As with most development emulators, this one’s a stripped-down subset of the apps and settings you’d see on an actual retail device; basically, all that’s left is the bare minimum Google figures its developers are going to need to code apps. Be that as it may, we noticed a few things that stuck out:

• Overall, the UI changes are extremely subtle, and generally for the better. We prefer the new looks for the status bar, keyboard, and menus over their Froyo equivalents.
• We couldn’t get a sense of the performance improvements — the emulators is slow as molasses for us and really has zero bearing on how it’ll perform on devices.
• When you reach the end of a scrolled list, the side of the list that has reached the end glows orange briefly, presumably to make it even more obvious that you’re at the end. Even the browser does this — it’s an interesting effect that we kind of liked.
• The miserable default camera UI is exactly the same. Expect manufacturers to continue to replace this with wild abandon.
• The Gmail app isn’t included in the emulator, so fear not when you’re looking at the screen shot of the unthreaded messages — that’s the “standard” email app.
• The fingertip-sized markers for highlighting text work quite well, including in the browser. They seem to consistently disappear after a few seconds and automatically highlight and / or copy the text in between the markers; we’re not sold on whether we like that behavior.

Clearly, the jury’s out until we’ve got a Nexus S firmly planted in our hands — but in the meanwhile, check out a bunch of shots of Gingerbread doing its thing in the gallery below.

Android 2.3 Gingerbread in pictures originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Dec 2010 23:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nexus One owners feeling a little Nexus S envy can breathe a little easier — we’re hearing that Android 2.3 Gingerbread is being pushed out to the N1 as we speak. We’d imagine that all the slick new features that don’t require new hardware (like NFC support) will be there, and we’re definitely interested in playing with this built-in WiFi calling stack. We’ll let you know what we find — won’t you do the same?

Update: Looks like our flood of tips came from people who were seeing their N1s get a different, less-interesting update — we’ll let you know when the actual 2.3 update roll out. Ah, the heady optimism of hope.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Android 2.3 update now rolling out to Nexus One owners (update: nope) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Dec 2010 11:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Remember that “Related” / “Similar” tab we spotted in Google’s own Gingerbread video? Looks as if you won’t have to wait for Android 2.3 to enjoy the spoils of having El Goog sort out what similar apps you may like after you download one. This morning, waves of Android loyalists are finding a new tab in their Market, with a Droid 2 and Nexus One both seeing the update here at Engadget HQ. Naturally, it works just like the App Store’s equivalent, but it remains to be seen just how accurate the advice is. When looking at ‘Related’ for the (also recently updated) Engadget app, we’re finding items we’d prefer to be listed first about a page or so down, but we’re sure the mix-and-match engineers in Mountain View are already fine tuning things as we speak. You know, during the brief moments they aren’t preparing for Tuesday’s big Chrome reveal.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Android Market update brings long-awaited ‘Related’ tab, similar app suggestions originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 04 Dec 2010 13:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sure, we’ve already gorged ourselves on plenty of Gingerbread by way of Mr. Blurrycam and even Eric Schmidt himself, but it’s only now that Google’s officially (or accidentally) given us a tour around the next Android release. In a recent voice search video tutorial from Google Hong Kong, eagle-eyed peeps have spotted many tell-tale signs of Gingerbread on what appears to be a Nexus One. As you can see above, said firmware sports the previously-seen black status tray with its new icons, along with a subtly tweaked launcher bar at the bottom of the home screen. A quick peek in Settings also reveals the restyled buttons, as well as a new tab called “Related” in Market’s app description page. Help yourself to some more spicy goodness before it’s too late — the video’s right after the break (from 0:47).

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Android Gingerbread officially teases you in Google’s voice search video tutorial

Android Gingerbread officially teases you in Google’s voice search video tutorial originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Dec 2010 12:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google CEO Eric Schmidt showed the world the Nexus S from a distance just a little while ago, but we knew you’d want more, and so we managed to convince the man to show us the device in person just a few minutes ago. What should you know about the heir apparent to the Nexus One? Well, it’s exceptionally thin — we weren’t able to compare, but we’d say it’s at least comparable with an iPhone 4 if not slimmer still — and it’s thinner in the middle than at either end, giving it a mildly concave profile. There’s a glossy plastic bezel up front housing an AMOLED screen, a pair of discrete volume buttons on the left side, and a black plastic back (textured similarly to the BlackBerry Bold, though patchier) which seemed too roughly manufactured to be anything but a prototype. We saw the handset for all of three seconds and weren’t able to snap a single picture nor touch it for ourselves, but as Schmidt walked away he left us with one last lingering look at Gingerbread — the screen shutting off. When he pressed the power button, the image winked out like an old CRT TV, an animation which you’ll see a carbon copy of right after the break.

Continue reading The Nexus S: a closer look

The Nexus S: a closer look originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Nov 2010 19:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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