We were wandering the floor at CES just before the end of the show when we stumbled upon this oddly familiar device. It’s the Aigo A8 — néeAltek Leo — an Android cameraphone (more like a phonecamera, really) destined for China Unicom that sports a 14 megapixel autofocus camera with a CCD sensor, xenon flash, 3x optical zoom, and support for 720p HD video recording. Of course, we wasted no time taking this rare beast for a spin, even going so far as to sample the camera. Take a look at the pictures below, followed by more information — and videos — after the break.
The farce that has been Sony Ericsson’s bungled, delayed, and deservedly maligned Android upgrade story for the Xperia X10 family is coming to a fittingly silly end. Questioned by Android Community on the possibility of a Froyo (Android 2.2) upgrade for its initial set of Android handsets, the SE team has just come out and admitted that there’ll be no future OS upgrades, at least in terms of Android iterations. The X10, X10 Mini and X10 Mini Pro are not being abandoned, not at all, but the only software enhancements you can look forward to will come directly from Sony Ericsson. The company hardly sees that as a bad thing, however, judging by a recent tweet announcing its belief that an SE-customized Eclair tastes better than Google’s untouched Froyo. We’d protest, but what’s the use?
We’re not totally sure that Android 2.1 users will be happy to be bundled in with 2.2 consumers — after all, there’s plenty in Froyo that’s not available on Eclair — but the fact remains that a cool 83 percent of actively used Android phones right now run one of the two latest iterations. A reminder is merited to say that by “active” we mean those that accessed the Android Market over the foregoing two weeks — which might have a slight bias toward over-representing the newer phones with folks either abandoning their Cupcake and Donut handsets or simply not searching for new apps for them. Either way, we reckon it’s good to see such nice big slices taken up by Android’s most advanced versions, it seems almost a shame that Gingerbread’s arrival will soon disrupt things all over again. For now, we’re off to our delicatessen, all this food talk’s given us the munchies.
Here’s an extra bonus for those of you who snapped up an unlocked Xperia X8 on a frosty Friday morn — Sony Ericsson is starting to push Android 2.1 to the handset right now. Thirty-two tasty batches of Eclair are already in the oven, and you can easily check to see if you’re a likely candidate for upgrade by scanning the back of your phone. If your eight-digit “SI-number” (e.g. 1242-4859) matches any of those on the list at our source link, your 720p video recording mode, enhanced social networking integration and five homescreens are on the way. Just don’t necessarily expect to see them anytime soon on AT&T.
We think this is a veiled way of passing the buck to AT&T — but whatever it is, Sony Ericsson USA has extended an old, crusty, TimeScape-enabled olive branch to Xperia X10 owners in the States by attempting to explain what’s going on with the Eclair update ’round these parts. Basically, the company says that getting an update out in the US is way harder than it is elsewhere because of “the technical requirements that must be met” over which Sony Ericsson has “no control.” The blame is levied on an “especially rigorous” testing cycle that can (and presumably, often does) take several months, which is why they’ve thus far refused to offer guidance on when the update will be released. Honestly, is there any way we can trade in our warranty card to get on the fast track with this stuff? And more importantly, would us bleeding-edge types be willing to take that risk on a wide scale?
Well, LG, well played: what Samsung managed to do with the Galaxy S series, you’ve now basically managed to do with your Optimus One. This time around, it’s MetroPCS taking the bait with the Android 2.2-powered Optimus M, a refreshingly differently-styled take on the formula with essentially the same specs underneath: 3.2-inch HVGA display, 3.2 megapixel camera, and so on. Notably, this becomes the very first Android phone to launch on MetroPCS — the first of many, we suspect — for $229 with a $50 service plan that includes unlimited talk, text, and web without a contract. Look for it to launch this Wednesday, November 24th.
Well, LG, well played: what Samsung managed to do with the Galaxy S series, you’ve now basically managed to do with your Optimus One. This time around, it’s MetroPCS taking the bait with the Android 2.2-powered Optimus M, a refreshingly differently-styled take on the formula with essentially the same specs underneath: 3.2-inch HVGA display, 3.2 megapixel camera, and so on. Notably, this becomes the very first Android phone to launch on MetroPCS — the first of many, we suspect — for $229 with a $50 service plan that includes unlimited talk, text, and web without a contract. Look for it to launch this Wednesday, November 24th.
Timeline (the condensed version): Google launches Android 2.1 on January 5th, Motorola promises to eventually offer 2.1 for all its Android handsets (including the heavily skinned CLIQ) on January 6th, Google’s Nexus One gets 2.1 on January 11th. We wait. Motorola CLIQ gets 2.1 today, a mere 11 months later. Sure, maybe we were young and naive, but who could’ve known then that this update would be so long coming? Nobody really knows the solution to this problem in a general sense, especially since vanilla Android seems to be off the table for the majority of phones. What could compel a handset manufacturer and a carrier to work up timely software updates on heftily-skinned handsets past their shelf life, potentially competing with their own newer handsets in the process? Maybe paying for updates? Real Genuine Tears of Desperation? You tell us. Anyway, congrats to the saintly CLIQ owners out there who have waited patiently for 2.1, and a grumble grumble thanks to Motorola for keeping its promise.
It’s been a long road, but users of AT&T’s rather bizarre Motorola Backflip will finally be seeing upgrades to Android 2.1 — upgrades that were originally promised in the first half of the year, then delayed to the third quarter, then delayed once again. Enough with the bellyaching, though, eh? A thousand customers who volunteered to get the update early via Motorola’s support forums should’ve started getting access to it today, while “all markets” will receive it on November 9th — and interestingly, it’ll only be available as an offline update (in other words, no over-the-air option here). The update process will take up to a whopping 40 minutes, so be sure to make yourself a quick bite to eat before you sit down to undertake this operation.
It’s been a long road, but users of AT&T’s rather bizarre Motorola Backflip will finally be seeing upgrades to Android 2.1 — upgrades that were originally promised in the first half of the year, then delayed to the third quarter, then delayed once again. Enough with the bellyaching, though, eh? A thousand customers who volunteered to get the update early via Motorola’s support forums should’ve started getting access to it today, while “all markets” will receive it on November 9th — and interestingly, it’ll only be available as an offline update (in other words, no over-the-air option here). The update process will take up to a whopping 40 minutes, so be sure to make yourself a quick bite to eat before you sit down to undertake this operation.
