June 30 - 4:05pm EDT   A home-brewed version of the operating system for the Android-powered and recently announced HTC Hero has been released on the web, according to according to info from Italian website Androidiani. Downloading the approximately 85MB file will allows users of the HTC Magic, Dream, Ion and T-Mobile G1 to unofficially upgrade their phones with Flash support and the updated nicknamed Rosie Sense user interface of the upcoming Hero on their Android handsets. [full story]

June 30 - 12:30pm EDT   Bsquare today said it has developed a port of Adobe's Flash plugin for most Android phones. While officially coming first to the HTC Hero early next month, any Android device running Android 1.5 or later on an ARM-based processor should support the extra features. The addition should let those phones with enough performance play Flash videos in the browser rather than in a separate container like Google's YouTube app. It should also render websites much in the same way as desktop versions. [full story]

June 26 - 4:05pm EDT   The most recent unofficial report regarding a rumored Nokia netbook has it being released in 2010 and using the open-source Android operating system from Google. According to Lazard Capital Markets analyst Daniel Amir, Nokia will sell the devices via wireless carriers, like it currently does with its cellular phones. In a research note issued on Friday morning, Amir said conversations with device manufacturers have confirmed this information, though he expects Nokia will face stiff competition from the established PC makers in the class. [full story]

June 25 - 4:15pm EDT   Mobile YouTube uploads have shot up dramatically with the release of the iPhone 3G S, Google claims. Whereas uploads have grown approximately 1,700 percent in past the six months, Google notes that figures rose 400 percent daily on June 19th, when the 3G S was launched in eight countries. The 3G S is the only iPhone capable of video recording, and is able to upload directly to YouTube. Apple and Google maintain a close corporate partnership. [full story]

June 25 - 1:05pm EDT   NVIDIA confirmed its plans to release its own netbook PC with its own Tegra chip before the end of 2009. The Tegra chip is so far only used in the Zune HD portable multimedia player and uses hardware acceleration of 720p resolution HD video while using up a minimum of just 150mW. While final specs are not known, NVIDIA is showing a prototype model built by Mobinnova which sports an 8.9-inch screen, Wi-Fi, a 3G data radio and a webcam. It currently runs on Microsoft's Windows CE operating system, but NVIDIA says the final product could run on Google's Android. [full story]

June 25 - 8:05am EDT   Sony Ericsson in a quiet launch has revealed the T715. The slider is aimed at the upper mid-range with 3G over HSPA, a 3.2-megapixel camera and a partly aluminum shell. Although it doesn't have fully independent GPS, the phone ships preloaded with Google Maps for basic navigation and will geotag photos. AccuWeather and YouTube apps are also onboard. [full story]

June 24 - 4:25pm EDT   The web browsing on the just-launched iPhone 3GS is fast enough that it not only beats immediate competitors but even Apple's own claimed testing, mobile ad provider Medialets finds. Using the same SunSpider JavaScript benchmark Apple has used to demonstrate the added speed, the firm says the faster iPhone took about 16.5 seconds to complete the benchmark, or just a third the time of an iPhone 3G with the same iPhone OS 3.0 release. The speed is well above Apple's general claim of having "2X faster" performance across its newer device. [full story]

June 24 - 3:30pm EDT   Google has begun a public beta test of AdSense advertising embedded into mobile applications. The program currently supports contextual ads within Android and iPhone software, which can target users according to application, location, category or keyword. Apps must be free, however, and generate a minimum of 100,000 daily pageviews. [full story]

June 24 - 8:25am EDT   HTC at a press event this morning launched its third-generation Android phone in less than a year. The Hero is designed as a web- and music-focused phone with a touchscreen-dependent design like the Magic but is even more compact. Its key, however, is a new interface known as Sense: like TouchFLO, it offers quicker access to calendars, contacts, the time and the weather as well as a quick launcher for the phone dialer. These are all accessible as Android-standard widgets. [full story]

June 22 - 4:50pm EDT   HTC's first Android phone, the Dream (or T-Mobile G1), was ostensibly pitched as an "iPhone killer" but was really an alternative to a legion of lookalike Windows Mobile phones. The Magic -- called the myTouch 3G in the US -- encroaches much more directly on Apple's territory. It's thinner, sleeker and the first Android device to depend on a touchscreen keyboard. But do the form factor and a host of much-needed software features like video recording manage to unseat Apple from the hearts and minds of at least some prospective customers, or is it arriving too late? We find out in our complete review. [full story]

June 22 - 3:45pm EDT   Rumors circulating about Motorola's first Android phones received support today through a leak of plans for their launches later in this year. The Wall Street Journal cites its usual sources "familiar with the matter" as saying that T-Mobile USA will get one of the first devices and that it will be a touchscreen device with a slide-out keyboard and an emphasis on Facebook and Twitter. Most other sources already know this as the Morrison (pictured) and expect it towards the end of the year. [full story]

June 22 - 7:35am EDT   T-Mobile this morning showed its hand in the smartphone competition this summer by officially launching the myTouch 3G as its second Android phone. A near-identical version of the HTC Magic, the device drops the G1's hardware keyboard for a much slimmer design that depends almost exclusively on the 3.2-inch touchscreen and competes more closely with the iPhone both in shape and control. HTC's smartphone expands on this with haptic feedback for its keyboard and a trackball for one-handed use. [full story]

June 19 - 4:40pm EDT   China's SciPhone has recently announced the future release of its N12 handset which, most notably, will ship with Google's open-source Android operating system, according to a report. One of the first Android phones from a small manufacturer, its processing power comes courtesy of a relatively powerful 624MHz Marvell Monahands CPU sitting in a Qualcomm MSM6246 chipset. The quad-band GSM device has 3G WCDMA data network support and built-in Wi-Fi, GPS and CMMB TV support. [full story]

June 19 - 2:45pm EDT   HTC chief Peter Chou told the Taiwan-area commercial paper Commercial Times today that his company expects to sell the millionth Magic by August. Having taken roughly six months to sell the millionth G1, Chou's firm now says it will only take the three months since the Magic's launch in May to reach a similar amount for the second Android phone. It's not clear how many Android phones HTC has sold in total. [full story]

June 19 - 11:45am EDT   Chinese handset manufacturer Meizu recently announced its M8 cellphone will soon get a firmware upgrade to its true 1.0 status and there are rumblings on various forums that the handset may eventually rely on a Google Android operating system. Meizu's CEO Jack Wong has himself apparently confirmed there is a dedicated team investigating the Android platform. [full story]