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Refresh Roundup: week of August 1, 2011
Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging to get updated. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it's easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don't escape without notice, we've gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery from the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy! Official Android updates Verizon and Motorola have finally begun rolling out the Gingerbread update for the Motorola Droid X2. [via PCMag] Sticking with Verizon, the LG Revolution is in the process of receiving maintenance update VS910ZV6, which consists of a few new features and bug fixes. This is not a major refresh. [via AndroidCentral] The HTC Desire Z has been updated to Gingerbread in the UK. As of now, only those devices without carrier branding are seeing the OTA show up. [via PocketNow] Unofficial Android updates / custom ROMs / misc hackery Sony Ericsson's Xperia Play, Neo, and Arc should soon be added to the CyanogenMod repository. Once approved, we'll likely see nightlies appear in the near future. [via PocketNow] Did somebody say Xperia Play? Yes, we did. It looks like the phone's finally been rooted, and the bootloader's been cracked. [via Droid-Life] The Motorola Photon 4G came out last Sunday, but XDA was able to root it within a couple days. [via SprintFeed] XDA's also the provider of a Froyo update to the Samsung Continuum. [via XDA] Along with an official update for the Droid X2, an SBF is now available for download. [via Droid-Life] Other platforms The Dark Forces Team has released tools to enable custom ROMs to be used on your first-gen Windows Phone device. Currently, the supported phones are: the HTC Mozart, HTC Surround, HTC Trophy (excluding Verizon's version), and the HTC 7 Pro (excluding the HTC Arrive). [via Windows Phone Hacker] Shortly after this, the HTC HD7 also got its first custom ROM courtesy of XDA. The downloadable package consists of a ChevronWP7 unlock, a Mango Beta 2 update, and the ROM. Head over to XDA to grab it. [via Windows Phone Daily]
HTC 7 Pro continues its tour of smaller carriers, launches on Cellular South for $200
Four months after launching on Sprint under the moniker HTC Arrive, it looks like the HTC 7 Pro is making the rounds among smaller carriers: earlier this week it hit US Cellular, and starting today you can also pick one up through Cellular South for $199.99 with a two-year contract and a $50 mail-in rebate. To recap, the 7 Pro is a full tilt-up QWERTY slider with a 3.6-inch WVGA display, 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 5 megapixel camera, and 16GB of storage. So is it worth the $200? That all depends on how long you've been holding out for Microsoft's slick Metro UI -- the 7 Pro is, after all, the only WP7 device you can buy through Cellular South. Full press release after the break.
US Cellular yanks curtains away from HTC 7 Pro, available June 14th for $200
Well, that was quick, wasn't it? After US Cellular recently announced its upcoming smartphone lineup, its very first Windows Phone -- an HTC model -- was ready for a summer launch with or without an official name. We now know the mystery device is the CDMA version of the HTC 7 Pro, a phone that Sprint lovers know better as the Arrive. Available tomorrow for $200 with contract after $100 mail-in rebate, the full tilt-up QWERTY slider with 5 megapixel shooter and 16GB internal storage is a bit on the spendy side. Oh, and it requires a monthly data plan. Did you just hear that noise? That was the sound of your wallet trying to hide from you. Full press release after the break.
HTC Arrive now available for $200 from Sprint (update: $50 at Amazon)
It's March 20th and, right on schedule, Sprint has started taking orders for its first Windows Phone 7 handset. The HTC 7 Pro, renamed the Arrive on the Now Network, can now be had for $200 after rebate when bought with the customary two-year contract. Amazon's doing its usual thing of undercutting carriers' own pricing by offering it up for 50 greenbacks less at $150, and we suspect other online retailers will follow suit. So affordability shouldn't be a problem, but if you're still wondering if the investment will be worth it, we'll have our review of this handset early next week -- just before Sprint makes it irrelevant by blowing the doors off CTIA. [Thanks, Justin] Update: That was quick, Amazon's dropped its price to just $50.
HTC Arrive up for $50 pre-order at Wirefly, requires new Sprint account and two-year contract
HTC's first Windows Phone 7 QWERTY slider handset is a mere five days away from its launch on Sprint, but already there's an online retailer keen to undercut everyone else for your business. Wirefly is currently offering the HTC Arrive (aka the 7 Pro outside the US) for $49.99 in upfront costs when bought in conjunction with a new two-year service plan from Sprint on, importantly, a new account. Eligible upgraders will have to shell out $149.99 for the privilege, though that's still less than Sprint's own $199.99 pricing. If you find it any cheaper elsewhere, do make sure to let us know.
Sprint HTC Arrive with Windows Phone 7 copy and paste first hands-on! (video)
HTC also brought along a Sprint-branded Arrive to our San Francisco reader meetup, and while we're already familiar with this Windows Phone 7 slider from our time with the HTC 7 Pro it's still nice to see a CDMA WP7 device in the flesh. Oh, and the keyboard is pretty fantastic -- not only does it feel great, but the dedicated number row alone is reason for keyboard fans to give this thing a look. The best part? The demo unit was loaded up with the Windows Phone 7 copy and paste update, which is the first time we've seen it in the wild. The system worked well, but we noticed that you once you paste out of the clipboard your text is gone, so you can't multiple paste. It's a little odd -- we'll have a video up shortly. Update: The video is up -- check it below! Update 2: Okay, so you can multiple paste! The paste icon just disappears after the first paste, which is super confusing. You can just swipe to the right to bring it back, though. We'd suggest Microsoft re-think this implementation a little for an update, since it wasn't clear to anyone here at first glance. %Gallery-117640%
Sprint renames the HTC 7 Pro the Arrive, launching it tomorrow
Punch sprint.com/arrive into your address bar and the above is what you shall find. Not a generic error marker but a URL-specific "coming soon" message that would seem to confirm the existence and indeed near-future arrival of the HTC Arrive. Beyond that bit of web sleuthing, we also have ourselves a proven tipster informing us that this will be a carrier-branded version of HTC's 7 Pro and confirming that it will be launched tomorrow. A tweet from Sprint earlier this week, intimated heavily that it's about to introduce a Windows Phone 7 handset on the 24th, which we surmised to mean exactly the long-awaited 7 Pro QWERTY slider. Already available in Europe, this device will serve as the first CDMA representative from the WP7 stable, meaning that you'll soon be able to Glance and Go on the Now Network of alliterative advertising slogans.
HTC 7 Pro and Gratia get anglicized, heading to the UK in February
Oh, there's no need to act like you're surprised, fellow Brits. As promised, HTC's going to dish out its latest budget Froyo Android and flagship WP7 slider to the UK next month. Just a quick recap: the "pearl white" Gratia -- which is the international version of the Aria -- sports a humble 600MHz processor, along with a 3.2-inch 480 x 320 LCD and a 5 megapixel camera with VGA camcorder. As for the 7 Pro, it packs the bog standard WP7 specs (1GHz Snapdragon, 8GB storage, and 5 megapixel camera with 720p recording), as well as a slide-and-tilt 3.6-inch 800 x 480 display that reveals a landscape QWERTY keyboard underneath -- the tilting part still a first for WP7. Sadly, it doesn't look like any carriers have picked up either handset yet, nor has HTC shed light on their standalone costs, but hey, patience is priceless.
HTC 7 Pro now available on O2 Germany, €22 monthly or €599 up front
Not that we had any reason to doubt O2 Germany's Twitter account, but a formal press release does help ease our few concerns. The HTC 7 Pro is now official on the European carrier for the asking price of €29 down and 24 months of €22.50. If you want to rip the proverbial band-aid off faster, it's also available for a €599 flat fee -- both of those without SIM lock. The rest of the world? We imagine it's just a matter of time before HTC offers this through its other channels.
HTC 7 Pro arriving on O2 Germany 'next week,' priced at €569
Last we heard of the HTC 7 Pro, it was taking a casual stroll through O2 Germany's website, throwing around boasts that it'll be on sale come January 2011. Well, guess what? That promise has just been reiterated by O2's German Twitter stream, which says that the 7 Pro will be on sale next week for an unsubsidized price of €569 ($735). That's available via O2's usual MyHandy payment plan, where you dish out €29 in advance and then pay off the phone in equal monthly payments over two years. We can't imagine HTC leaving the rest of the world sitting idly by, twiddling their QWERTY keyboard-loving thumbs, so look out for this WP7 handset to filter through to your local market some time soon. [Thanks, Mario]
HTC 7 Pro and 7 Surround strut their stuff in official sizzle videos
Want to see HTC's potential answer to your landscape physical QWERTY dreams slide itself open on video? How about the Windows Phone 7 handset with a hidden speaker bar? You won't have far to look -- both the HTC 7 Pro and 7 Surround star in their own CG clips on YouTube today, and you'll find both after the break. My, don't they look fun? The HTC 7 Pro's also got an official website now, though pricing and availability are still on the lam (save a mention of "early next year") and will likely elude us for months. %Gallery-105215%
HTC 7 Pro arriving in UK and rest of Europe 'early next year'
So what if Microsoft's nicest WP7 slate phones all went to Europe and the rest of the un-American world? At least we'll have the HTC 7 Pro, the true Windows Phone 7 workhorse, with its tilt-sliding QWERTY keyboard and compact 3.6-inch size. Well, as it turns out, that device will be available in Europe too! We've just confirmed with HTC that the 7 Pro is definitely headed to the UK and its Euro neighbors, with the current roadmap set for "early next year." It's still too soon to discuss potential carriers, but we're sure our British buddies will be chuffed just to know the handset's coming their way.
HTC 7 Pro first hands-on!
There aren't many CDMA Windows Phone 7 phones hanging around the WP7 launch event, but Sprint's 3.6-inch HTC 7 Pro ended up in our warm hands just moments ago. Sadly, HTC didn't have a working unit (no IMDb demos for you!), but we did get to check out the hardware and its extremely comfortable five-row QWERTY keyboard -- with clicky keys, a dedicated number row, and a properly staggered layout for once. As for the slider mechanism, it's quite sturdy, and we're definitely digging HTC's good old tilt capability, here in its finest iteration yet -- whereas previous devices typically floated the screen somewhere above the keyboard, here the front lip actually sinks into the phone's frame for extra stability and class. That's all we've really got for now as this bad boy won't be hitting Sprint until the first half of 2011, but in the meantime you can check out a quick video of it below. %Gallery-104803%
HTC 7 Mozart and 7 Trophy set out to conquer the WP7 world, 7 Pro coming to Sprint next year
HTC's kicking the Windows Phone 7 era off in style today with no less than three new phones scheduled to debut on October 21 in Europe: the HD7, the 7 Mozart, and the 7 Trophy. Both the Mozart and Trophy offer a WVGA LCD screen, a 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8250 chipset, 576MB of RAM, 8GB of built-in storage, and 720p video recording. Where the 7 Mozart sets itself apart is in having an aluminum unibody construction wrapped around its 3.7-inch display, together with a more advanced 8 megapixel imager and a Xenon flash. The 7 Trophy makes do with an LED flash illuminating 5 megapixels' worth photons, but it does also come with HTC's promise to be the most aggressively priced WP7 handset from the company. It'll be a Vodafone exclusive across the big red network's global footprint, while the Mozart will be exclusive to Orange in the UK, France, Spain, and Switzerland, exclusive to Deutsche Telekom in Germany, and available on a choice of carriers elsewhere. No peep of an American release for either handset, however. For the home crowd, Sprint is set to deliver a HTC 7 Pro with a QWERTY keyboard that slides out and tilts -- you can see it pictured in the gallery below -- at some point in the first half of 2011. It too goes with the same old 1GHz Snapdragon, 576MB of RAM, 5 megapixel cam plus 720p video, and WVGA display resolution (on a 3.6-inch screen), but it gets a bump in storage to 16GB. Full spec sheets for all three phones, along with HTC's big Windows Phone 7 announcement, await just past the break. %Gallery-104739%
