Return Of The Phandroid

Regular readers are probably asking themselves the question, “What the hell happened to Phandroid?” and its a fair question indeed. An untimely vacation, less than smooth server move and string of simultaneous and coincidental pains in the butt created a bit of kink in our usually timely coverage. For that, I apologize… but now we’re back.

Before we can get back to business as usual, lets review some stories we should have brought you but didn’t, so that we can get back on the same page. Sound good? Feel free to leave links to others in the comments.

Dell Could Announce Android Phone Within Days
The rumors, coming from a TechCrunch source with knowledge of the situation, say that Dell could be announcing a smartphone for China in the next couple days. And guess what the rumored Operating System is in my accounts? You guessed it… Android. Stay tuned and we’ll let you know if this story develops any further.

Samsung Galaxy Launches in Taiwan
Now Taiwan has the Samsung Galaxy… and we’re still wondering when the i7500 will be in our part of the world. [Via ComputerWorld]

Motorola Blur for Android
The current Android Manufacturing leader is HTC and they have unveiled their HTC Sense which is a custom built version of Android with lots of extra bells and whistles. Motorola plans on doing the same thing and their own custom version of Android will supposedly be called Motorola Blur. The company needs a moment of clarity with their Android devices and the Morrison and Sholes seem great on the surface, but lets hope Blur doesn’t turn out to be a bust, because despite awesome hardware, its the software that really matters. [Via AC]

Motorola Morrison Specs Leaked
A trusted tipster has supplied the specs to the Motorola Morrison, the highlights of which we gladly share with you below, by way of AndroidAndMe.

• CPU: Qualcomm MSM7201A 528 MHz
• Memory: 256MB RAM
• Flash Rom: 512 MB
• Memory Card Type: microSDHC 32 GB supported (max)
• Display: 320×480 (HVGA)
• Accelerometer, Magnetometer, Proximity Sensor, Ambient Light Sensor
• Voice Bands: GSM 850/900/1800/1900, W-CDMA 900/(1700 or 1900)/2100
• Wireless Lan:  802.11 b/g, WEP, WPA, 802.11i (WPA2)
• Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR supporting A2DP, AVRCP, GAP, HFP 1.5, HSP, SDAP, SPP
• USB 2.0
• 3.5mm headset jack
• 5 MP camera with Autofocus
• Video Recording: 320×240 (QVGA), 25 fps
• GPS w/ internal antenna, Assisted GPS, E-Compass
• Email Protocols: POP3, IMAP4, Exchange ActiveSync
• Email Attachment Support: QuickOffice v2 Viewer formats

Samsung Galaxy Reviewed By PhoneArena
Definitely worth a watch:

Suggest An Andriod App, Win £1000!
Got a great idea for an Android Application but unable to code it yourself to put it on Android Market? You could share your idea with Vodafone and if they select your idea not only will they MAKE the application but you’ll win £1000… and 10 runners up will win HTC Magic handsets! Not a bad deal, especially since we know you’re frothing from the mouth with dozens of app ideas. Head on over to the Vodafone Apps website and then submit your idea!

HTC Fiesta: Low Priced Droid Headed to AT&T

First it was Bluetooth details that leaked the HTC Fiesta’s existence to us Android lovers and now we see the UA Profile that reveals even more. We see a QVGA display and AT&T are both in the Fiesta’s future… so is the Fiesta in YOUR future?

HTC Hero is NOT coming to T-Mobile USA
First we got supposed proof that the HTC Hero would land on Sprint, followed up with identical rumors that it would also launch on T-Mobile USA. The latter of those has been proven to be a fake… although I wouldn’t completely count out the possibility.

Screenshots of Facebook Android App Leak
There is a Facebook app on pretty much every platform except for Android… but that is all set to change in the very near future. We heard Facebook for Android is coming, and now we are seeing it coming with screenshots that leaked. When this finally launches it will make a lot of phandroids very happy campers:

[Via Leakdroid]

Amazon Android Application

The fact that Amazon pretty much sells everything on God’s green earth is pretty cool in itself and the concept of buying it right on your phone is neat enough, but the Android Application the company just launched is on a different level. In addition to the barcode scanner which we’ve become so familiar with, the app also lets you take pictures of things like book and album covers which it will use to find products in their database. Really, really cools stuff. [Via Amazon.com]

iRiver K2 – Android Media Player
It might be the rumoriest of rumors around – and I know rumoriest isn’t a word – but this was too delicious sounding not to mention as a little kicker or jalapeno popper of something like that. iRiver could be working on a media player called the K2 based on Android that would compete with the likes of the iPod Touch. This is one rumor that I hope proves true. How about in time for the holidays please? [Current via Engadget]