Official Pictures of the G2!

I believe we are the first to find these official shots actually residing on T-Mobile's servers. CellPhoneSignal.com got the pictures first, but thanks to a prompt from @tmonews on Twitter, I went hunting for them. Lo and behold, there they were. As far as I know, we are the first to have them officially grabbed from T-Mobile itself. Enjoy!

ViewSonic ViewPad 7 is now official

ViewSonic has just gone officially on the record with their previously rumored Android tablet. It's called the ViewTab 7, and it will be available in Europe later this year for a price said to be "less than £350" (which is around $540). It features Android 2.2, a 7-inch screen, 600MHz processor, 800x480 screen, 3G for voice and data, as well as front and rear facing cameras.

Motorola Flipout rumored for AT&T

The tiny Motorola Flipout has been available in Canada for several weeks now, and has been rumored to hit the US a few times before. But now, AndroidCentral.com has scored some pictures of the rumored AT&T version. The Flipout is a unique little device, similar to the Charm, but with a keyboard that swivels underneath and out of sight, leaving the device as a compact little square. Engadget has a ton of pictures of the Flipout, and you can watch a brief hands on video here.

Weekend Android Rumor Recap

Can you believe we're already into another weekend? And with it comes Issue #2 of the Weekend Android Rumor Recap. This is something we do every week here as a way of quickly summarizing the Android rumors of the past week. Rumors come and go so quickly that we don't really want to cover each one in detail, but they're still important, so they deserve some attention. Keep reading for all the juicy Android rumors from this week.

Verizon Incredible getting Froyo update today

 This is very good news for all you Incredible owners out there. Verizon has officially confirmed on Twitter that the Android 2.2, Froyo update for the Droid Incredible is going out today. Some of updates included in the 2.2 rollout include 720p HD video recording, Flash 10.1 preinstalled, and a built-in mobile hotspot app (though this will, of course, cost extra to use). The update will also include all the goodies that come with Froyo, like the updated Android Market, faster performance, and the ability to use the newest apps like Chrome to Phone, and Voice Actions.

Google Voice now built into Gmail

This story isn't directly related to Android, but it's exciting news for those of us that use Google Voice. After months of rumors, Google has just announced that free VoIP calling is now built right into Gmail. The service is built on Google Voice and promises free calling to the US and Canada at least until the end of 2010 (what happens after that is anybody's guess). International calling is as cheap as 2 cents per minute and call credits can be purchased through Google Checkout.

Motorola Charm now available from T-Mobile

The first non-slider, QWERTY-packing Android phone is now on sale from T-Mobile USA. The Motorola Charm may not be the most technically advanced phone on the market, but it does boast a full hardware keyboard beneath the screen, which should appeal to BlackBerry users, and those who don't want or like a slide-out screen.

It also has a 2.8" screen, as well as GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, and a 3 megapixel camera.. In an interesting move, Motorola also blessed the Charm with a touchpad on the back of the device, to allow for scrolling without covering the screen with your finger. The Charm is available now for $75 with a new 2-year contract, or $269 with no contract.

Samsung Galaxy Tab now official

And just like that, the previously rumored and photographed Samsung tablet is now very official. The company just launched a teaser website and video listing some brief details of the 7-inch Android 2.2 tablet, called the Galaxy Tab. It will be launched next week at IFA in Germany. The video shows very little actual details, and the promo website only has the video for now. The video teases features like augmented reality and video calling, meaning it probably has two cameras (vs. the iPad's zero cameras). It also has Google Maps Navigation, meaning GPS is also included. So there's definitely reason to be excited.

Samsung Galaxy tablet leaked

Samsung's upcoming Android tablet has been hinted at before, and was first revealed back in June. But now a Chinese news site called ifanr.com has scored some nice pictures of the device (translated here). From the pictures, it looks very much like a prototype, but the site claims it's running Android 2.2, Froyo, has a 7 inch screen running at 1024x600 resolution. They also say it has two cameras, one front facing, one rear facing.

Weekend Android Rumor Recap

Welcome to the first edition of Weekend Rumor Recaps! There are always lots of unconfirmed news stories regarding Android, which are covered quite well by other websites. Rather than cover them all here as they happen (seeing as how they're rumors, and all), we'll just recap them for you every weekend. If you're not interested in rumors and leaks, this makes it very easy for you to simply skip this post. :-)

Here are the latest Android rumors, leaks, and general unconfirmed info that you may have missed this week:

Pictures of the T-Mobile G2 in the wild

Mere hours ago, Engadget got their hands on some exclusive pictures of the upcoming T-Mobile G2. Very little new information came along with the photos, except confirmation that it does indeed have a physical keyboard, and that it has a 3.7" screen.

These are the only real pictures of the device so far. Engadget has several more, so be sure to visit their two posts here and here to see them all. One of the pictures clearly shows how it has a very unique slider mechanism that appears to raise up and back down during opening. The original G1, of course, also had a unique, sideways hinging slider.

Chrome to Phone Review

Back when Android 2.2, Froyo was first announced earlier this year, Google demonstrated a feature called Chrome to Phone. It promised a way to immediately send links from your desktop browser to your phone. When it was demoed in front of a huge audience, it received a standing ovation because it did something that everyone wanted, and it did it well.

Unfortunately, Chrome to Phone is a 2.2 only feature. So those of you with devices running 1.6 or 2.1 are out of luck for now. Chrome to Phone takes advantage of a new push data system built into 2.2 that allows websites to push data directly to phones. This same system will eventually power the upcoming web-based Android Market, which was also demoed earlier this year.

T-Mobile G2 officially announced

As rumors go, this is one that has been around for a very, very long time. Since as early as March 2009, websites were claiming that a device called the G2 would launch on T-Mobile. As it turned out, that device turned out to be the MyTouch 3G, but even still the rumors of something named G2 persisted. The HTC Hero was released in some parts of Europe under the name G2 Touch, but nothing by that name ever showed up in the States. Until now.

Rumors of something big coming to T-Mobile have also persisted recently under secret project code names. Whether today's announcement has anything to do with those rumors remains to be seen. But at least one thing is no longer a rumor: T-Mobile's first HSPA+ device (first mentioned in late July) will be the G2. They spread the word on their Twitter account this morning:

Android Voice Actions Review

Last week, Google held a last-minute press conference where they announced updates to the Android voice recognition system. Android has had voice recognition for a while, of course, but the latest update gives it a bunch of new features and makes it all the more useful.

Previously, the voice recognition provided a way to enter text into any text field, as well as perform searches. You could compose text messages, or search the web, but you first had to navigate to the specific application to perform the task. Maps had a slightly more intuitive ability, letting you say, "Navigate to..." followed by an address to immediately launch Navigation.

What we want in our new phones

photo by djwudi

The Android world moves very quickly. New devices are being announced on a regular basis, each more impressive than the last. But it often seems like each new phone skimps on something; either it doesn't have a keyboard, or it lacks a camera flash, or it's running an older version of Android. Regardless of what feature is missing, there are always people on both sides of the argument. Some say going without that feature is a deal-killer, others say that feature was never important to begin with.

That's all part of the greatness of Android. There's a huge variety of choice when it comes to devices. From the tiny Aria, to the imposing Droid X, there are devices to fit (almost) everyone's needs.

Introduction

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to His And Hers Android! You are getting in on the ground floor, so to speak, by being here for our very first post. We hope you'll stick around, as there's lots more to come!

Rather than just another Android news blog, we aim to do something a little different here. Each story we discuss will be covered from two angles, His and Hers. We are a married couple that each carry an Android smartphone. He is a hard-core computer geek and Android aficionado who can rattle off specs for any device you name and knows where the /system folder is. She is a self-professed "non-geek" who is slowly becoming more knowledgeable the longer the marriage continues.