Mobile Phone News

Thought that one of the first major Android devices in the world would go away without a fight? Think again! T-Mobile and Rogers have taken two very different roads to extend the lives of their HTC Sapphire-based devices. Big Magenta, of course, has opted to make a hardware tweak, adding a much-needed 3.5mm headphone jack and spitting out a faux wood limited edition; Rogers, meanwhile, rather suddenly updated the firmware with Sense. Oh, but that’s not all — it turns out that Rogers views the Sense upgrade as such a big deal that it’s changing the name of the phone altogether, tacking a plus symbol on the end. Yep, that’s right: meet the Magic+. Apart from Sense on 1.5 with a promise of 2.1 down the road, though, there’s nothing materially new in this place, so don’t feel too bad if you’ve been stuck with one of the plus-less models. No, seriously.

For Rogers, HTC Magic + Sense = Magic+ originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 20:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Carrying HTC’s very first feature phone exclusively: a blessing or a curse? O2’s about to find out the answer to that question as it’s hooked up with HTC to be the one and only carrier to offer the Smart in Germany, Ireland, and the UK. Though it’s not running Android or WinMo, the Smart’s not your average crappy, free-on-contract kind of handset — it offers its own implementation of Sense, email access, and a browser, just like its bigger brothers, and it runs on Qualcomm’s newly-introduced BrewMP platform. Look for it to hit in April, while TIM will grab it in Italy, Netcom in Norway, and the rest of Europe through direct sales.

O2 scores exclusive on HTC Smart originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Sun, 21 Feb 2010 16:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Want Android 2.1 on your Hero? Of course you do — but don’t look for it from HTC… at least, not yet. It should be available eventually — and in the meantime, you’re obviously welcome to do some digging for a cooked ROM from the good people at xda-developers — but for at this time, High Tech Computer is kicking out another Cupcake-based firmware for Hero users on Orange in the UK. Don’t expect anything groundbreaking in this place, but CoolSmartPhone reports that there’s at least a new People widget with a 3 x 3 grid, which sounds particularly handy for anyone with nine or fewer friends. If you want it, it’s a quick download away — not as cool as an OTA, of course, but still better than accidentally submerging your phone in boiling water.