gingerbread

According to unconfirmed reports, Verizon is unhappy with recent Gingerbread updates coming out of the Motorola camp. A source close to Droid Life has advised that the carrier is rejecting all current Android 2.3 updates from the handset maker over a growing list of bugs stemming from the recent Droid X update.

Users are reporting problems with random rebooting, Wi-Fi connectivity issues, and a general loss of functionality. Indeed, a quick glance in the Motorola support forums confirms that these are not isolated incidents, and that many of them happened prior to the 2.3 update.

Perhaps it's not a coincidence then that a Gingerbread update for the Droid 2 Global that was expected a few weeks back has yet to come. What's more, a very small number of Droid Pro users were found to have received a Gingerbread update back in late May. Though this is generally a precursor to a large-scale rollout, virtually nothing has happened in the month since.

As of today, neither Verizon nor Motorola has made any statements on the matter. While I wouldn't look for Verizon to say anything public on the subject, Moto may take to its forums to address the problems. The company has a decent track record for acknowledging and forecasting software updates, even as it pertains to shortcomings. In the meantime, a new team of developers is said to be working on Android 2.3 for the Droid X and other Verizon devices. … Read more

The recent rumblings about the AT&T-bound HTC ChaCha were right, as the two companies made their friendship official today via Facebook.

Rebranded as the HTC Status, the Android 2.3 Gingerbread device has a dedicated Facebook share button that lets you instantly post things to the social networking site, such as status updates, photos, and videos.

You can use the button to check in to places, post news links, and even share what music you're listening to. There's also a chat widget that shows you when your friends are online, so you can instant-message with them. … Read more

The next collaboration out of Sprint and Motorola's renewed partnership looks to have already landed online.

A blurry photo passed to Pop Herald shows an Android handset with a portrait QWERTY slider that doesn't look all that different from the Motorola XPRT. According to the source, this phone will run Android 2.3 Gingerbread and may possibly support Sprint's 4G network when it makes its official debut.

Considering the XPRT was only just released, it's far too early to talk replacements. So you might be wondering why bother with an almost identical phone? Well, if you take a closer look at the picture, you might see a different phone altogether.

For example, notice how both the bottom of the device and the keyboard have a smilelike curve to them? Well, the bezel around the display also has that same shape to it, so it's entirely possible that what we could be looking at is a portrait slider, like the BlackBerry Torch. … Read more

Today, T-Mobile finally put the rumors to rest and officially unveiled the T-Mobile MyTouch 4G Slide. Expected in July for $199.99 with contract, it's the latest addition to the carrier's line of consumer-friendly Android smartphones, and it's more than just the next-gen version of the MyTouch 3G Slide; T-Mobile is touting the MyTouch 4G Slide as having the most advanced camera of any smartphone out there.

Designed in collaboration with HTC, the smartphone has an 8-megapixel camera with dual-LED flash and 1080p HD video capture, which isn't out of the ordinary. What is special, however, … Read more

We've been waiting a long time for that Huawei phone that puts the lesser-known manufacturer (at least in U.S. circles) on America's smartphone map. It's possible the Huawei Glory (Huawei M886) is the handset to do it.

Our friends at PC Magazine went hands-on with the device, a souped-up Android 2.3 Gingerbread smartphone with a 1.4-GHz Qualcomm MSM8655T processor (Huawei claims it's dual-core, but there's still some debate); a 4-inch TFT LCD screen with 854x480 resolution; and an 8-megapixel camera with LED flash.

The 3G-capable Glory will also come equipped with a 1900 mAH battery, which will hopefully translate into longer battery life, 2GB of onboard memory, and an expansion slot. There are apparently no TV or HDMI-out slots, but Huawei did tell PC Magazine that it has a "surprising" media solution up its sleeves. … Read more

The Sony Ericsson Xperia family grew by two today with the introduction of the Xperia Ray and Xperia Active.

The two Android 2.3 Gingerbread smartphones, which were announced at CommunicAsia 2011 in Singapore, are expected to ship in Q3 to select markets worldwide--specifics, such as pricing and U.S. availability, were not revealed at this time--and offer two different areas of focus.

If you couldn't tell by the name, the Sony Ericsson Xperia Active is a handset aimed at those with an active lifestyle. It features a dust-proof and water-resistant design with a 3-inch, 320x480-pixel Reality Display that … Read more

T-Mobile has really taken to its 4G phones, and in the Samsung Exhibit 4G we see not only speed, but also practicality. In the Exhibit, T-Mo offers a less ambitious handset than, say, the CNET Editors' Choice Award-winning HTC Sensation 4G. However, it's one that still packs in promise: Android 2.3 Gingerbread, a 1GHz processor, and both a front-facing and a rear-facing camera.

We also have to acknowledge Samsung's part in helping rehabilitate its hardware reputation with a phone that doesn't look and feel like a lump of melted black plastic. Instead, the Exhibit comes coated … Read more

HTC Desire owners had a slight scare this week when HTC stated via its U.K. Facebook page that the popular smartphone would not get an Android 2.3 Gingerbread update.

Considering the Desire is barely a year old, the news came as a surprise to users, and, as one would imagine, the comments in the Facebook thread were not overly pleasant. Even U.K. wireless carrier Three was caught off guard by the statement and apologized to its subscribers.

HTC retracted the statement later and said the Desire will get a Gingerbread update, but it will need to "… Read more

Sprint announced today that it will begin rolling out an over-the-air update on June 20 to deliver Android 2.3 Gingerbread to the HTC Evo Shift 4G. However, anxious owners can download the update now.

Instructions for manual download are posted on Sprint's Community site, but it basically requires that you go to the Settings menu on your phone, navigate to System updates, and then initiate the HTC software update. If you're fine to wait, you'll receive a notification on your phone when the over-the-air update is available and ready to download.

In addition to Gingerbread, the … Read more