Acer may release Android smartphone

The Philippine Business Mirror newspaper are today reporting that Acer are planning to launch their first Android powered handset in September of this year.

According to an unknown source from the Taiwanese company, the handset will be known as the ‘A1′ and will be one of four Acer handsets that will make their debut in September.

The A1, equipped with a touch screen, is among four handset models that Acer plans to debut that month, the person said, asking not to be identified because he’s not authorized to comment on the matter. Henry Wang, a spokesman at Taipei-based Acer, declined to comment. Marsha Wang, a spokesman at Google in Beijing, declined to immediately comment.

via businessmirror.com.ph

I must add that this article just landed in my inbox a few minutes ago, and up until that point i’d never heard of the Philippine Business Mirror newspaper. Their about us page does make them seem fairly credible, but faced with news from unknown official sources, who knows?

Android goes Italy

Telecom Italia is introducing the Android-powered HTC Dream mobile phone in Italy. The phone will be available in 2,600 outlets in Telecom Italia’s commercial network, with different service packages. The Dream has been designed to enable web surfing and has a customisable interface, a touch screen, a full keyboard and instant access to internet services. The phone features access to some of Google’s popular services including Google Search, Google Maps, Gmail and YouTube. Another feature of the phone is Android Market, where users can download applications from categories such as entertainment, lifestyle and games. The new phone offers high-speed navigation using HSDPA 7.2 Mbps technology, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity, built-in GPS for localisation services and a 3.15 megapixel camera with autofocus. The new Dream terminal will be available to contract and prepay customers at an initial cost ranging from free to EUR 199 depending on the price plan selected. All price plans come with at least 1 GB of inclusive internet traffic per month. Prepay customers can purchase the phone for EUR 429 if they buy the Maxxi Dream10 websurfing service card, which offers access to 50 MB of data traffic per day for EUR 10 a month. Customers purchasing Maxxi Dream10 before 30 April can make use of a special offer and get the first month free.

from Telecompaper

HTC to launch ‘at least’ three Google phones this year

High Tech Computer (HTC) will ship “at least” three smartphones this year that use Google’s Android software, HTC’s CEO said Tuesday.

HTC, already the largest maker of smartphones that use the Windows Mobile OS, was first to the market with an Android-based smartphone last year, when it teamed up with Google and T-Mobile to launch the G1 in the U.S.

The Taiwanese handset maker last month announced its second Google phone, the HTC Magic, or G2 as some are calling it. The handset is being sold first in Europe by Vodafone.

HTC will sell at least two more Google phones this year.

At the sidelines of a Merrill Lynch technology conference in Taipei, HTC CEO Peter Chou was asked whether or not a report saying HTC will market five Android-based handsets this year was true.

HTC will launch “at least” three, he replied, declining further comment on the matter.

HTC gained a march on smartphone rivals in using Google’s Android software by working with the popular U.S. company for three years on the software and compatible smartphones before launching the G1 last September. The G1 is also marketed under the name HTC Dream.

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Google G2 is coming out?

It appears the successor to the T-Mobile G1, the first smartphone based on the open-source Google Android mobile operating system, is coming soon.

Photos of what is suspected to be the new T-Mobile G2 were posted this morning on gadget blog Gizmodo.

According to the blog, the HTC-made device could be ready in May. The G2, while having some similarities to its predecessor, is much thinner and sacrifices the physical slide-out keyboard, one of the key features of the T-Mobile G1. In place of the keyboard, the G2 is expected to have a virtual keypad only, similar to the Apple iPhone. Additionally, the new G2 is shown as having a 3.2-megapixel camera and a touch-screen interface that Gizmodo’s sources said will be “very similar” to the G1.

T-Mobile released the original G1 in October, marking the first — and still only — Android-based device on the market. The T-Mobile G1 was a shot across the bow of the Apple iPhone 3G, which dominated the touch-screen smartphone scene. Since the iPhone’s release, several other touch-screen titans hit stores, including the G1 and BlackBerry’s first-ever touch screen, the BlackBerry Storm. The T-Mobile G1 was vaulted to success, mainly because it was the first to feature Android, and quickly became one of the coolest smartphones of 2008.

New Android devices are expected soon, but have yet to become commercially available. So far, manufacturers like Garmin, Motorola, NTT DoCoMo, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and others have been said to be readying Android-based devices.

Android phones come to Europe?

Google’s official Android Developers and Mobile blogs haven’t been updated yet, but according to an e-mail from Eric Chu to mobile application builders first republished by Phandroid, Android Market will become available to users in Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Netherlands, and Poland in the coming weeks.

Hello,

I’m writing to let you know that Android Market will become available to users in Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Netherlands, and Poland in the coming weeks. You can now target these countries for your application(s) via the publisher website at market.android.com/publish. As we add support for additional countries, we will send out subsequent notifications to you. Note that your apps will not become available in these new countries unless you specifically select them in the publisher website.

Thanks for your support, and we look forward to continue working with you on Android Market.

Eric Chu, Android Market

This means that developers can now start building applications for Android-powered phones before most of the countries cited above actually have access to devices that run Google’s open-source mobile OS. We’ll take that as a hint that the company is ready to move fast in launching compatible phones across Europe.

On a sidenote: for now, the Android Market only allows for free apps to be added, but Google is expected to announce support for paid applications this quarter.

It’ll be interesting to see how the fight between Android Market, first opened in August 2008, and Apple’s App Store plays out in the years to come.