While news that the Motorola DROID BIONIC and other upcoming high-end devices from the manufacturer will get the same Webtop treatment as the newly released Atrix 4G might have been the juiciest bit of information to emerge from Sanjay Jha’s talk with investors at Stanley Morgan, a few smaller noteworthy points emerged.
The first concerns the path to Gingerbread upgrades for current Motorola handsets. While exact timeframes and specific devices were not discussed, Jha said that last year was an important in helping Moto hone their efforts in getting Android updates out in a timely fashion. He noted that Motorola was among the first to release Froyo upgrades, and plans to be among the first to release Gingerbread. We haven’t seen much news on this front recently, aside from a few pics of the Droid X with Gingerbread on board.
The other point of interest concerns Motorola’s attempts to win over an enterprise audience. While talking to investors about the measures Moto is taking to aid in device security, Jha mentioned some of the larger companies that have bought into Motorola hardware for business use. One of their biggest customers for the Motorola XOOM, he said, was Google. That may or may not mean many Google employees get a free XOOM to go along with their paychecks. Jealous.
[via DroidLife, PCWorld]
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If you have been looking into getting a NOOKcolor after all this talk of how easy it is to turn the e-reader into a full-fledged tablet with a bit of software tweaking, then your decision just got $50 easier. Through Barnes & Nobles eBay store, the NOOKcolor is being sold in conjunction with a coupon code that brings the e-reader’s price down from $249.99 to $199.99. Not bad, eh?
All you need to do is quickly make your way over to the eBay listing (before supplies run out or before 8AM PT on March 3rd, whichever comes first) and enter coupon code ‘CBARNESDD’ at checkout to save some strain on your wallet. Shipping is free. Jump on this one immediately.
[via eBay | Thanks, timmyjoe42]
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Just last week we heard a rather flimsy rumor that Samsung might have yet another size variant of the Galaxy Tab lined up for launch at this year’s CTIA show in Orlando. A new posting on Sammy’s Facebook page seems to infer just that, with the question “What’s your Tab life?” and a mysterious chain of numbers underneath.
That chain of numbers, 78910, seems a bit less mysterious in context. The two flanking numerals, 7 and 10, could very well refer to the 7-inch Galaxy Tab and the upcoming 10-inch Galaxy Tab 10.1. This leaves 8 and 9, which could refer to two new 8 and 9-inch versions of the tab, or more likely to the rumored 8.9-inch Galaxy Tab. We will have to wait until March 22nd and Samsung’s next “Unpacked” event to find out, but the odds seem pretty good.
[via TabletGuys | Thanks, Mike!]
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One of the features that really sets the Motorola Atrix apart is its ability to dock into Webtop mode, opening capabilities that bridge the gap between smartphone and desktop computing. When this functionality was first unveiled alongside the similarly specced Motorola DROID BIONIC we immediately wondered why it wasn’t available on the handset. When questioning one of the product development leads at Moto’s CES event, the typical PR answer “We are only talking about the Atrix today, we can’t comment on other devices” smelled suspiciously of the functionality making its way to other devices. Sure enough, Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha has confirmed today (via a Morgan Stanley investors report) that Webtop will feature in all of Moto’s high-end handsets from the second half of the year forward.
The function wasn’t initially announced for the Bionic due to timing, and may still not make it to the handset at launch. We assume future updates would bring the capabilities if that is the case, while other smartphones that remain unannounced should get Webtop out of the box. That has to be encouraging for many who see Webtop as a key reason they have considered getting the Motorola Atrix. We’ll have to wait and see if these other devices will match the power of the new AT&T handset, however.
[via Engadget]
Popularity: 1% [?]
Just last week we heard a rather flimsy rumor that Samsung might have yet another size variant of the Galaxy Tab lined up for launch at this year’s CTIA show in Orlando. A new posting on Sammy’s Facebook page seems to infer just that, with the question “What’s your Tab life?” and a mysterious chain of numbers underneath.
That chain of numbers, 78910, seems a bit less mysterious in context. The two flanking numerals, 7 and 10, could very well refer to the 7-inch Galaxy Tab and the upcoming 10-inch Galaxy Tab 10.1. This leaves 8 and 9, which could refer to two new 8 and 9-inch versions of the tab, or more likely to the rumored 8.9-inch Galaxy Tab. We will have to wait until March 22nd and Samsung’s next “Unpacked” event to find out, but the odds seem pretty good.
[via TabletGuys | Thanks, Mike!]
Popularity: 1% [?]
Rather unceremoniously, the statues paying tribute to Android and its various sweets-inspired code names have added to their ranks. Honeycomb has now been immortalized on the lawn in front of Building 44 on Google’s campus. The statue features the Android robot and a bee perched on a piece of honeycomb, making this statue particularly unique among the bunch. The displays for Froyo, Donut, Gingerbread and the rest of the gang up until now featured only the food item in question without any embellishments such as robots or insects. You have to hand it to Google’s playful sense of humor when it comes to these things.
[via AndroidCentral]
Popularity: unranked [?]
Our latest bit of Motorola XOOM news comes from the category “Things that Shouldn’t Surprise Us.” Answering a question posed in the Motorola Support Forums, one Moto rep has made clear that a rooted XOOM will be ineligible for the free hardware upgrade to a 4G LTE radio down the road. But before you start slandering Motorola for the decision, it should be known that another rep speaking in the same forum thread cleared the matter up a bit, stating as long as the XOOM is running the stock firmware that it shipped with, the upgrade process should go off without a hitch.
We take it this has a lot less to do with Motorola purposefully shunning the root crowd and more to do with the necessary firmware that will be flashed to the device alongside the hardware installation of the 4G radio. Otherwise it would be pretty difficult for Moto to get the proper hardware drivers running on your custom ROM. Still an interesting and important thing to note if you have been tinkering with your XOOM’s software and plan on taking part in the free 4G upgrade.
[via AndroidPolice]
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One of the features that really sets the Motorola Atrix apart is its ability to dock into Webtop mode, opening capabilities that bridge the gap between smartphone and desktop computing. When this functionality was first unveiled alongside the similarly specced Motorola DROID BIONIC we immediately wondered why it wasn’t available on the handset. When questioning one of the product development leads at Moto’s CES event, the typical PR answer “We are only talking about the Atrix today, we can’t comment on other devices” smelled suspiciously of the functionality making its way to other devices. Sure enough, Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha has confirmed today (via a Morgan Stanley investors report) that Webtop will feature in all of Moto’s high-end handsets from the second half of the year forward.
The function wasn’t initially announced for the Bionic due to timing, and may still not make it to the handset at launch. We assume future updates would bring the capabilities if that is the case, while other smartphones that remain unannounced should get Webtop out of the box. That has to be encouraging for many who see Webtop as a key reason they have considered getting the Motorola Atrix. We’ll have to wait and see if these other devices will match the power of the new AT&T handset, however.
[via Engadget]
Popularity: 1% [?]
For all the recent popularity Android has seen, the team behind its development has done surprisingly little to increase the security of the platform and make it more appealing to the enterprise market. On-device encryption has just shown up in Android 3.0 Honeycomb (and will most likely feature in future smartphone iterations of the OS), but businesses still don’t see the same level of security in Android that they already get with RIM and their BlackBerry lineup. Instead of waiting around for Google to make the changes themselves, Motorola is taking it upon themselves to dive headfirst into device security.
With the help of recent mobile security acquisition 3LM, Moto plans to develop a series of APIs for the Android platform that will enable the security features enterprise users desire. The APIs function at the OS level and allow for remote management using popular tools already in the market, with plans for Motorola’s own suite of corporate-level software to roll out this summer.
In an effort to make sure they succeed, Motorola will step aside and allow 3LM to operate as their own subsidiary. This means the APIs developed will be made available to other hardware manufacturers if they choose to use them. The hope is this will open the door for Android devices in the business place in the same way that Apple moved into that realm when they moved forward in securing their devices.
While we always prefer for such things to be implemented at the OS level for the sake of uniformity, any step toward a wider range of use for Android is a good one for the platform. Now companies just need to take notice.
[via InfoWorld]
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Rather unceremoniously, the statues paying tribute to Android and its various sweets-inspired code names have added to their ranks. Honeycomb has now been immortalized on the lawn in front of Building 44 on Google’s campus. The statue features the Android robot and a bee perched on a piece of honeycomb, making this statue particularly unique among the bunch. The displays for Froyo, Donut, Gingerbread and the rest of the gang up until now featured only the food item in question without any embellishments such as robots or insects. You have to hand it to Google’s playful sense of humor when it comes to these things.
[via AndroidCentral]
Popularity: unranked [?]
![Quicken WillMaker Plus 2012 [Download]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51qst1Xj9ZL._SL75_.jpg "Quicken WillMaker Plus 2012 [Download]")
