Android

I just got back from Google's Android Honeycomb demo event, and after 15 minutes of quality time with the tablet OS, I have to say: I'm a fan.

I'm angry at Google, though. What took it so long to create a killer tablet OS? Why did the company have to put me through a year of Android 1.6-2.2 tablet duds before pulling back the curtain on Honeycomb? Did it not hear my screams?

With forgiveness in my heart and a Motorola Xoom tablet in my hand, I started to let go of the anger a little today. Honeycomb, it turns out, is pretty sweet--and the Xoom is a worthy tablet to receive it.

We're already fairly versed in the features of Honeycomb on the Xoom, thanks to the flurry of CES 2011 excitement and the exhaustive detail given to developers. What we haven't had (until today) is actual hands-on time with Honeycomb running on the Xoom. … Read more

A trio of images have surfaced online that show Samsung is working on a portrait-style QWERTY handset running Android.

Borrowing a bit from the form factor of the long-forgotten Samsung Blackjack, the device seems to feature a screen in the vicinity of 3.1 inches. At this size, we're looking at HGVA resolution (320x480), which isn't exactly great for heavy gamers or multimedia enthusiasts.

However, that isn't the target demographic for a phone like this. Much like the Motorola Droid Pro, this design should appeal to business users and folks looking for convenient text messaging and e-mail. … Read more

Every year the citizens of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania gather around a small hut in Gobbler's Knob (pause) to witness a 100-year old marmot predict the future, and this year it looks like Spring is on its way. Old Phil may be losing his eyesight, because we also happen to be in the middle of the largest storm in the last few decades, according to a less-credible operation called NASA.

Maybe we should shift our focus to a closer weather-predicting rodent at the Staten Island Zoo, Mr. Charles G. Hogg aka Staten Island Chuck, who has accurately predicted winter weather 23 out of the last 30 years.

Still don't trust him? What if we told you that Staten Island Chuck has a Facebook page AND lives in a wireless log cabin adorned with solar-powered weather station panels that allows him to make daily weather predictions using renewable energy from the sun? It's not a joke, this guy is legit.

We can make fun of Groundhog's Day for the next 364 days, but let's move onto our next story about an unfortunate photographer in Zurich who lost over 4,000 puppy photos thanks to a Flickr fumble that accidentally mixed up his account with another scheduled for deletion.

To make up for it, the Yahoo-owned photo uploading service generously offered four years of a Pro account for free, worth about a hundred bucks- sounds fair. Think about this story the next time you can't find the time to back up your data to a physical storage drive.

We also suggest backing up your back ups to a disaster-proof drive, but the truly paranoid should also load their precious data on hidden thumb drives around the office for extra security.

Finally, the big tech story of the day is News Corp. and Apple's latest publication generated specifically for the iPad called The Daily. It's a modern news brand that Apple and News Corp. call the first "all media product" and includes highly interactive and curated text articles, photos, and videos, not to mention text-to-speech audio clips of selected stories.

Unlike most of the news sites on the web , however, The Daily won't be available for free. The publication introduces a new pricing model that costs $0.99 a week or $39.99 for the year. The subscription also includes access to the Web version and users can share articles for free on Facebook and Twitter.

The 404 is truly the Paris Hilton of the Web, so we happen to know the Technology Editor at The Daily. We're hoping Peter Ha can join us on Friday's show to tell us more about the publication, so check our Twitter for the latest updates!

When T-Mobile and Samsung confirmed the existence of the Samsung Vibrant 4G a couple of weeks ago, the companies went a little light on the details of the device, but now, T-Mobile is spilling the beans.

Starting afresh with a new name, the Android 2.2-based Samsung Galaxy S 4G is expected to be available in February and will be the carrier's first smartphone capable of theoretical download speeds of up to 21Mbps. To put the 4G speeds to good use, the carrier is shipping the device with its T-Mobile TV app, which allows you to watch live and … Read more

Last month, we briefly covered the T-Mobile/LG G-Slate at CES. While information was trickling in then, it seems the flood gates of information will soon be opened for all to willingly dive into.

On Wednesday, T-Mobile and LG released new information on its G-Slate tablet. As previously revealed, the G-Slate will run on Google's "optimized for tablets" operating system, Honeycomb, aka Android 3.0. As exciting as Honeycomb is, it won't be exclusive to the G-Slate and the device will need more than a new user interface to get us excited.

Here's a list … Read more

Google has an Android-related event scheduled for tomorrow where the company promises "an in-depth look at Honeycomb, Android ecosystem news, and hands-on demos" of devices.

Though it's widely assumed that members of the press will get their first real-world impressions of Android 3.0 via the Motorola Xoom, things remain cloudy beyond that. To me, the intriguing part of the invitation is the mysterious and vague phrase of "Android ecosystem." What constitutes as an ecosystem in Google's eyes? My money is on the introduction of two new features: an enhanced Android Market and the … Read more

Welcome to the 411, my column answering all your questions about cell phones and cell phone accessories. I receive plenty of questions about these subjects via e-mail, so I figured many of you might have similar queries, too. At times, I might solicit answers from readers if I'm stumped. Send your questions and comments to me at nicole.lee@cnet.com. If you prefer to remain anonymous, let me know in the e-mail.

Question: Which prepaid GSM Android phone and carriers would you recommend? -- mr maund, via e-mail

Surprisingly, there really aren't that many GSM Android phones that are available prepaid. There are only two GSM carriers here in the U.S.--AT&T and T-Mobile--and the only Android phone that we could find on a prepaid plan was the T-Mobile Comet, a relatively basic Android handset. It's priced at $119.99 without a contract.

The other prepaid Android phones--the LG Optimus V, Optimus M, and Huawei Ascend, for example--are on CDMA networks like Virgin Mobile and MetroPCS. Verizon also offers several of its high-end Android phones under its prepaid plan. If you need to get a GSM Android phone, then your only option is the aforementioned T-Mobile Comet. If you're willing to switch to a CDMA carrier, you have many more options.

I am thinking about buying a Samsung Galaxy S to replace my Nokia N85. What is the best way to transfer my contacts from the Nokia to the Samsung? The Symbian OS allows a lot of contact data to be stored, but I have never found it easy to export all the stored data, even to Outlook or Google contacts--so I am quite anxious about how I should do it when I switch phones. -- chana, via e-mail

There are a few ways to transfer contacts from the Nokia N85 to an Android phone like the Samsung Galaxy S.… Read more

There's plenty of serious tech news going on in the world today, like the Intel Sandy Bridge chipset recall and two Web giants helping Egyptians communicate without the Internet, so be sure to check out the CNET home page for the latest.

As usual, we're covering the cultural aspects of tech news that interest us today, stories like Facebook offering free access on flights in Feb-roo-air-ie, Chinese immigrants finding love on the Internet a la JDate, a Chatroulette model for medical diagnoses, and a Stanford psychology study that links Facebook "one-upsmanship" to the worldwide depression epidemic.

We finish with surprising news about your favorite adult Web sites and a plea for user-submitted voice mails! We're running low, so call 1-866-404-CNET and tell us what's on your mind! Don't worry about messing up, we'll make you articulate using the magic of editing, so pick up the phone or record a video voice mail and e-mail us the YouTube/Vimeo link at the404(at)cnet(dot)com.

We get started this week just in time to follow Intel's major Sandy Bridge chipset crisis. How will this affect review systems we're testing in the Lab? Tune in to find out. Then we answer some popular reader questions about when to buy a laptop and when to wait, especially with rumors of a MacBook refresh in the air.

Finally, it's time to clean out the old game closet, and we try a new chat room contest, rewarding correct tech trivia answers with games.

Bonus: You can download the show's theme song as a free MP3 here for a limited time! Also, if you're a fan of Dan's previous jazz/funk/indie albums, check out some rough mixes from his new bossa-nova-inspired project.

… Read more