Android

Vizio's upcoming 8-inch Android Via tablet could soon find itself on the shelves at Wal-Mart selling for $349, according to an apparently leaked photo.

Displaying what appears to be a photo of the product's placard, tech enthusiast site This is My confirms some of the tablet's specs, including a high-resolution capacitive touch screen, a front-facing camera, and built-in GPS. Though no release date was revealed, the site asserts that the tablet should reach the market soon.

Vizio, which is primarily a maker of LCD TVs, demoed Via--its first tablet--at CES in January.

A hands-on look from CNET … Read more

Lenovo plans on hitting the tablet market this year with devices aimed at both Android and Windows.

In an interview with Dow Jones Newswires reported this week by The Wall Street Journal, (subscription required), Lenovo president and Chief Operating Officer Rory Read revealed that the company will launch two 10-inch Android tablets this summer followed by a 10-inch Windows tablet later in the year.

One Android tablet, named the IdeaPad, will be geared for the consumer market, while the other, with the ThinkPad name, will be marketed toward the business crowd. Both tablets will run Honeycomb and be priced anywhere from $450 to $900 depending on their configurations, according to the interview. Lenovo's current tablet, the Android-powered LePad, is only available in China.

Some tech sites, including TechConnect and Pocket-Lint, are pointing to the IdeaPad tablet as the IdeaPad K1, a device that's already received some buzz and was reportedly listed on a few retail sites, such as Buy.com, according to Engadget.

TechConnect describes the K1 as powered by a Tegra 2 processor with… Read more

Looks like there's been some lively debate going on inside HTC over the last 24 hours. It's been almost exactly one full rotation of the earth since the company announced--via its HTC UK page on Facebook-- that "we've been forced to accept there isn't enough memory to allow us both to bring Gingerbread and keep the HTC Sense experience on the HTC Desire."

Then, just a short while ago this morning came another very terse post:

"Contrary to what we said earlier, we are going to bring Gingerbread to HTC Desire."

No … Read more

Is malware really a problem on Android smartphones? It might just be, as evidenced by the rash of malicious apps that recently appeared in the Android Market.

As much as I dislike the idea of needing antivirus and antispyware software for my phone, better safe than sorry. And if I'm going to run such an app, it might as well kill multiple security birds with one stone.

ESET Mobile Security for Android offers malware protection, an antitheft system, call blocking, SMS blacklisting, and more. It's currently in beta, and currently free.

When you first install it, ESET Mobile Security identifies any immediate threats, which on my new Nexus S 4G included disabled SIM matching, an undefined "trusted" SIM, and an undefined password (for the app itself; it's there to prevent unauthorized attempts to uninstall it).

From there it's not immediately clear what you're supposed to do, if anything, but each of EMS' primary modules--Antivirus, Antispam, Anti-Theft, and Security Audit--comes with extensive built-in help.… Read more

This week: Scott and Dan are back from E3 with a detailed report on the best and worst from the big video game trade show. Meanwhile, Julie and Joe talk about how they came up with a plan to benchmark Samsung's new Chrome OS laptop, which is no small feat, as the OS is basically just Google's Chrome Web browser and nothing else.

Bonus: Download the show's jaunty theme song as a free MP3 here.

… Read more

Sprint will add to its tablet options on June 24 with the debut of not only the Evo View 4G, but also new data plans.

According to information first obtained by AndroidPolice, the carrier will begin offering a 10GB data plan for $90/month and unlimited access to WiMAX data for data plans of 3GB and above. These options, later confirmed by Sprint PR spokeswoman Kristin Wallace, won't differ much from their existing rates, rather they will supplement them.

Customers will benefit from the additional choices to match their usage needs. Currently, subscribers can choose between 1GB, 3GB, and … Read more

Swype 3.0, the latest beta of a keyboard replacement app found in many Android phones, features two new notable features. It introduces predictive text for tapping, not just swiping, and a horizontal word choice list (following the Android model) that replaces the app's previous pop-up window for narrowing down your word selections.

A special version of Swype 3.0 for Android 3.1 Honeycomb tablets (with WXGA resolution) includes a keyboard that you can move and resize.

Although Swype is preinstalled by the manufacturer on a variety of Android phones, you can download the beta for free if … Read more

American Airlines gave Android a sky-high boost earlier this month when it started offering the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 as an entertainment device for first-class passengers.

American will deploy 6,000 Galaxy Tabs on Boeing 767 flights between New York's JFK airport and Los Angeles, JFK and San Francisco, and Miami and Los Angeles. Passengers also will find the device on 767 aircraft serving South America and Boeing 757 aircraft flying between Boston and Los Angeles.

Besides replacing American's current entertainment system, the Wi-Fi-enabled tablets also will offer passengers Internet access during flights for an additional fee. … Read more

T-Mobile could add another Android handset to its lineup this week with the entry-level Samsung T449 Dart. Based on the early leaked information, the handset certainly won't get a second look from folks ready to replace their current Android devices; however, it should appeal to new smartphone buyers.

According to information obtained by TmoNews, the Dart will be a touch-only device with a 3-megapixel camera, 2GB microSD card, and support for T-Mobile's 3G network. Although the exact version of Android is not given, the mention of Adobe Flash tells us it is at least Froyo (Android 2.2) … Read more