If tipsters to BGR are to be trusted, Sprint’s Samsung Epic 4G will begin getting Android 2.2 ‘Froyo’ updates on Monday. 

According to the report posted late yesterday afternoon, the QWERTY-equipped Galaxy S will receive over the air updates from Android 2.1 to 2.2 beginning February 21st, though it may take until Feb. 25th for every handset to receive the update. 

In addition to the Epic 4G, BGR tells us that the lesser known Sanyo Zio will also be getting the Android version bump.

Epic 4G changes are said to include “improved Bluetooth device support, Bluetooth voice dialing, Flash Player 10.1, GPS enhancements, improved OS performance and ability to install applications to external storage” while the Zio will get Swype and improved battery life in addition to the standard Froyo goodness.

Samsung has taken heat for the long delay in updating its U.S. Galaxy S Android phones to version 2.2 of Google’s mobile OS.  Of the currently available models on the four major U.S. wireless carriers, only T-Mobile’s Vibrant has been updated to Froyo.

While speaking at this year’s Mobile World Congress, Motorola executive Sanjay Jha seemed to confirm that Google may soon begin selling music via a service designed to compete with Apple’s iTunes. 

Speaking about Google’s services vis-à-vis Honeycomb, Jha said: “"If you look at Google Mobile services today, there’s a video service, there’s a music service … that is, there will be a music service."

Google has long been expected to get into digital music sales, and with the impending launch of Android 3.0 tablets and the continued growth of Android-powered smartphones, this would seem like a good a time as any.  But how such a service would materialize remains unclear. 

An Android app for on-device browsing, purchase and download seems obvious, powered – like the Android Market – by Google Checkout, but would Google also release a stand-alone application or Windows and Mac, or rely entirely on the Cloud?  What music labels are onboard?  What would the pricing be?  Will there be monthly fee, all-you-can-eat music like Microsoft’s Zune service, just just track and album purchases?  How low can Google go in pricing to take on Apple?

All of these questions may be answered shortly, as Honeycomb powered tablets like the Motorola XOOM and LG G-Slate are just around the corner.

As it was with desktops and laptops, so it will be with tablets and smartphones. 

After years of single-core processors powering our mobile devices, we’re just now in the process of making the jump to dual-core mobile CPUs.  The Motorola XOOM and LG G-Slate Android tablets are each powered by a dual-core Tegra 2 from nVidia, more than a few 2011 smartphones will include dual core CPUs, and many expect Apple’s 2nd Gen iPad and iPhone 5 to have two app cores as well.

But the next transition from dual to quad-core mobile devices may be  a short one. nVidia has just announced Project Kal-El, Tegra 2’s quad-core successor slated to power the next generation of smartphones and tablets – and possibly as early this year.

The ‘Kal-El’ SoC boasts a four-core CPU to handle number crunching, and twelve GPU cores to boost graphics performance. According to nVidia, Kal-El can deliver up to five times the general performance of the current Tegra 2, for blazing game speed and video decoding.  The quad-core CPU roughly doubles the current Tegra’s processing might, while the dozen GPUs (four more than the Tegra 2) triple graphics power.  And nVidia says these benefits come without a substantial increase in battery usage, claiming up to 12 hours of HD video playback under the right conditions.

When the Kal-El ships, it will likely be renamed Tegra 3.  nVidia expects the first tablets powered by the new System On a Chip to be available around August, with Tegra 3 smartphones in time for the holidays.

That would be amazing to be sure, but don’t be too disappointed if it’s 2012 before Kal-El crash-lands in a field near you.

via Neowin

Windows Phone 7 was announced one year ago today at MWC.  By the time the OS was released nine months later, it had only been under primary development for about a year, which was impressive – but this also meant the product was being released in a somewhat incomplete state.

But we were told not to worry – updates to the OS would be swift. Copy-and-paste, for example, was promised within “weeks.”  Multiple updates, some large, some small, would follow.  Add to that wild speculation about massive updates to Windows Phone 7 and users were expecting fast and furious improvements that would make the OS, over a relatively short period, more stable, functional and feature rich, putting it on more equal footing with its rivals.

None of this happened.

It’s been more than three months Windows Phone 7 shipped, and not a single update (minor or otherwise) or bug fix has been released.  The first OS update – which was expected no later than the first days of 2011 – has been pushed back twice, and is now expected to ship in mid-March.  And it’s not exactly a barn burner.  Included in the first update will be limited copy-and-paste, CDMA support (Verizon, Sprint), some Marketplace tweaks, and general under-the-hood improvements.

And Microsoft’s major follow-up update to the OS, code-named Mango, with 3rd party multitasking, IE 9 Mobile, HTML 5, Twitter, SkyDrive, etc., is scheduled for release in “late 2011.”  Yeah.  As in the end of the year.

What gives?

What is keeping Microsoft from moving more quickly on making Windows Phone 7 – which in so many respects is an impressive, fresh take on mobile computing – better?  Is it internal squabbling?  Company bloat?  Carrier kowtowing?  General cluelessness? 

If Microsoft has any hope of catching up to Apple or Google (or even competing with them), there needs to be a total, myopic focus on improving the OS constantly.  Windows Phone 7 can be updated over-the-air (if the updates are small enough), so why aren’t individual improvements being released every few weeks?  Why wait for update bundles?

Should the first substantial update to Windows Phone 7 not show until November or December, as seems to be the case, Microsoft can simply admit defeat.  By then, iOS 5 will likely have shipped, and Google will have released Ice Cream Sandwich, the convergence of Honeycomb for tablets and Android OS for smartphones. 

Microsoft is one of the largest companies in the world with billions of dollars to burn and talent to spare. Inability cannot explain what is happening (or, more aptly, not happening), so there’s obviously a lot going on behind the scenes. 

If Microsoft can’t understand that to survive in the mobile space they must improve rapidly and constantly, Windows Phone 7 will continue to be about as attractive to consumers as a nuclear hand grenade.

HTC’s first venture into the tablet market will be with the Flyer, a 7-inch slate running Android OS 2.4 set to ship sometime in April, June or July 2011.

The aluminum incased Flyer will have HTC’s Sense UI overlay and a new technology called HTC Scribe designed to make pen interaction with the tablet more natural for notes and drawing. 

A 1.5GHz single-core Qualcomm processor will power the HTC Flyer, along with 1GB of RAM.  Other specs include 32GB of internal flash storage, a 5MP primary camera, a 1.3 front-facing camera, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0, a mini HDMI port, and storage expansion via a microSDHC memory card slot. 

We’re more than a little disappointed that the Flyer won’t be running Android 3.0, which is designed specifically for tablet devices.  And while we’re not exactly crazy about 7-inch tablets, it’ll be interesting to see how the Flyer fares against larger, dual-core Honeycomb competitors like the LG G-Slate and Motorola XOOM.

Check out the full press release below.

HTC Unveils HTC Flyer, the First Tablet with HTC Sense

BARCELONA, SPAIN – Mobile World Congress – February 15, 2011 – HTC, a global leader in mobile innovation and design, today announced its first tablet, the HTC Flyer.  HTC Flyer blends HTC’s trademark design language with an all-new HTC Sense user experience that has been reimagined for the tablets. Using an intuitive and innovative approach to tablets, HTC Flyer combines natural touch and pen interaction. HTC also announced HTC Watch, a new connected video service that will debut on HTC Flyer tablet, and will collaborate with OnLive, Inc. to launch the first cloud-based mobile gaming service on a tablet. 

“Clearly, smartphones have transformed our lives but as we observed how people use smartphones, computers and other technologies, we saw an opportunity to create a tablet experience that is different, more personal and productive,” said Peter Chou, CEO of HTC Corporation. “We are progressing down a path as an industry when people will no longer be in a single device paradigm, but have multiple wireless devices for different needs; this is the direction we are moving.”

Encased in a sleek aluminum unibody, the HTC Flyer tablet exudes the iconic style and build quality HTC is known for. It is also ultra-light, weighing as little as a paperback book, and compact enough to fit in a jacket pocket only. With a seven-inch display, lightning fast 1.5Ghz processor and high-speed HSPA+ wireless capabilities, the HTC Flyer tablet is perfect for those who have been waiting for a tablet that is both compact and powerful.

HTC Sense for Tablet

HTC Sense revolutionized smartphones by placing the person at the center of the experience. HTC Flyer’s tablet-focused HTC Sense experience focuses on surprising and delighting people with its gorgeous 3D home screen. A unique carousel of widgets puts a user’s most important content and information at the visual center of the experience. The HTC Flyer tablet also offers uncompromised Web browsing with Flash 10 and HTML 5. 

HTC Scribe Technology                                                                    

Touch interaction lights up the HTC Flyer tablet experience, but it also offers a groundbreaking pen experience. With the new HTC Scribe Technology on the HTC Flyer tablet, people can rediscover the natural act of writing. HTC Scribe Technology introduces a wave of integrated digital ink innovations that make it easy and natural to take notes, sign contracts, draw pictures, or even write on a web page or photo.

HTC Scribe Technology on the HTC Flyer tablet transforms traditional note-taking into smart note-taking by integrating natural onscreen writing with thoughtful and integrated innovations. A feature called Timemark enables you to capture the audio of a meeting in line with your written notes, so tapping on a word in your notes instantly takes you to that exact place in time in the audio recording of the meeting. Notes are also integrated with the calendar so when there is an appointment reminder you are automatically prompted with an opportunity to begin a new note or in the case of recurring meetings, to continue where the last meeting left off.  In an industry first, the HTC Flyer tablet also features built-in synchronization with Evernote, the world-leading notes application and service.

Streaming Mobile Movies with HTC Watch

The HTC Flyer tablet premieres HTC Watch, HTC’s new video download service. The HTC Watch service enables low-cost on-demand progressive downloading of hundreds of High-Definition movies from major studios. The intuitive, natural design of the HTC Watch service makes it easy to find the latest movie and video content, while advanced technology on the back-end enables instant playback over the HTC Flyer tablet’s high-speed wireless connection. 

Mobile Cloud Gaming with OnLive

HTC takes mobile gaming to an entirely new level by being the first mobile device in the world to integrate OnLive Inc.’s revolutionary cloud-based gaming service. OnLive is leading in the home gaming market by letting people play top video games on their televisions and computers without the need to buy expensive gaming hardware or software. When integrated fully, the OnLive service will enable customers to pipe the OnLive service through the HTC Flyer tablet’s broadband wireless to their television sets, or let them play directly on the tablet. When integrated on the HTC Flyer tablet, people can play a variety of games, including hits like Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood™, NBA 2K11 and Lego Harry Potter™.

Availability

HTC Flyer will be available to customers globally during Q2 2011.

Sprint’s HTC EVO Shift 4G, the smaller, QWERTY keyboard packing sibling of the EVO 4G, is available today at LetsTalk for $79 with a new two-year service agreement.  No rebate required.  Shipping is free. 

If you want to grab the Android-powered EVO Shift 4G by renewing your Sprint contract, the LetsTalk price jumps to $119.

The Sprint direct price is $249 on contract with a $100 mail-in rebate for a final cost of $149. 

HP’s long-awaited answer to the iPad has been announced.  It’s called the TouchPad and it will run WebOS 3.0.

Physical features are remarkably similar to the current iPad – including a 9.7-inch multi-touch display and a 1.6-pound form factor.  The TouchPad will be powered by a dual-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU, which is likely similar to the brains inside the upcoming iPad 2. 

No pricing details have been released, but HP plans to release the tablet this summer.

Learn more about the HP TouchPad…

The Droid X has been a popular member of the Verizon family of Android-powered smartphones since its release in May of 2010.  So it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that Motorola’s production of a successor is now well underway.

The Droid X2, as it is being called (at least in development) is shaping up to be a mobile powerhouse – if the early information turns out to be correct.  First, there’s the Android phone’s processor, which is said to be the dual-core Cortex-A9 Tegra 2 from nVidia.  Add to that a reported 540×960 4.3-inch display, along with the current Droid X’s array of wireless radios, 8MP camera and HD video support, and the X2 could prove even more popular than the first.

The only real mystery surrounding the Droid X2 is its wireless data support.  Some say it’ll include LTE hardware, while others believe it will not.  But given the fact that Verizon’s first LTE Android phone, the HTC Thunderbolt, is just days from release, if the May 2011 X2 release rumor holds, LTE may very well be part of the package.

We’ll keep you posted.

You can get the T-Mobile HTC HD7 Windows Phone free when you set up a new T-Mobile account and agree to two years of service through WireFly.  This price is being offered at checkout without after-purchase rebates.  Shipping is also free.

However, if you want to upgrade to the HD7 on your existing T-Mobile account, WireFly will charge $89.  Amazon, on the other hand, will process the upgrade and ship you an HD7 for just $49 if you’re eligible for a T-Mobile phone upgrade.

T-Mobile’s direct price for the HTC HD7 with a two-year contract is $199 at checkout with a $100 mail-in rebate. Final price: $99.

Learn more about the T-Mobile HTC HD7 Windows Phone…

Verizon Wireless has been deploying its LTE, or Long Term Evolution, network for some time now, with over 100 locations expected to be supported by the end of the year. But so far there have been no smartphones available to take advantage of the new network, should you happen to live in one of the few locations where the technology has already arrived.

But that wait is nearly over.  The HTC Thunderbolt, the first LTE-ready Android smartphone from Verizon, is expected to begin shipping around Valentines Day.  The 4.3-inch phone will run Android 2.2.1, have integrated LTE 700MHz network support for speeds up to 12Mbps, and include the expected array of Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and GPS hardware.

No word yet on pricing, but if you live in one of the 38 cities where LTE is already alive and kicking, will it really matter?

Source: Engadget, Droid Life