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Last fall, we were shocked to hear Samsung say that 2010 would see Android phones going for less than $100 on contract.  Flash forward a year and we’re getting close to seeing sub-$100 phones without contract!   Cricket has just announced their second Android handset, the Huawei Ascend with a very attractive $149 price point.  Due later this month, the Ascend might sound like your two-year old G1 with a touch of today’s Android OS.  

The hardware features include a 320X480 display, a 3.5-inch HVGA display, a 528 MHz Qualcomm MSM 7200A processor, and 3 megapixel camera. The Android 2.1 phone is described by PC Magazine as being “cheap” with a “now-out-of-fashion trackball” but that’s likely not going to upset Cricket or Huawei.  The whole point is to get more people on board with Android and Cricket’s $55 all you can eat plan.  So will you bite?

We’ve uncovered some more info about the Samsung Transform, which was leaked last week and rumored to be headed to Sprint. A leaked Sprint training document shows that the Transform will be packing a nice 4-row QWERTY keyboard that looks very similar to that of the Epic 4G.

What’s really surprising is that it looks like the Transform will run stock Android 2.2, instead of Samsung’s TouchWiz UI found on their Galaxy S devices. Other specs include WiFi, a micro-SD card slot, Bluetooth, and a 3-megapixel camera. We still aren’t sure if this device will join the Evo and Epic in the ranks of 4G speeds. No word on a release date or pricing, but count on AndroidGuys for the latest news on this device.

Who’s excited for this phone?

Source BoyGenius Report

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Taiwanese digital camera maker Altek, has announced the release of their 14-megapixel Leo handset.  According to Altek, and our exhaustive memory, this marks the first device to feature such a high resolution camera. Running Android 2.1 under the hood, the Leo boasts a 3.2-inch WVGA touch display, WiFi, Bluetooth, and HSUPA connectivity.  Altek expects to launch the Leo early next year (Q1 ’11) but is seeking channel partners in the European market.  Source and full press release courtesy of Android Authority.

It was reported earlier this week that Facebook may be secretly working on a phone with an Android backbone.  At the time, we were looking at a they-said/we-said argument with TechCrunch implying it’s already in the works while Facebook was throwing cold water on the subject.  Given all the details early in the week, most of you didn’t expect to see an actual Facebook phone come to light.  In fact, based on some of your comments, some of you could care less about the subject.  Read on to see if your opinion changes… A new report from Bloomberg alleges that not only are Facebook working on a phone, but they are developing two of them in conjunction with INQ Mobile with plans to launch them on AT&T.  The phones, which could sell for around $100 after subsidy, are rumored with a July/August 2011 release.  According to Bloomberg, the phones will debut in Europe a few months earlier where INQ already has an existing relationship with carriers and retailers.

This is not the first time INQ’s name has been thrown into the mix – We’ve covered them a time or two in the past and even mentioned how they were hoping to get a strong foothold in the United States.  CEO Frank Meehan was quoted as recently as June as being in love with Android, saying, “We are going all-Android and touch.”  The handset maker already has a device coined the Facebook phone, so it might be easy to tie them to the deal.  On the other hand, this marks the first time we’ve seen a potential price point and release date associated with the project.  Looking at some of Facebook’s recent moves such as Places (check-in)  we can get the sense that they would really benefit from a more mobile experience.

So let’s throw it back to you.  Do you think Facebook

As you heard by now, HTC has announced in London two new phones, the Desire HD and Desire Z (“z” or “zee”, you can say both apparently).  The sexy handsets will be available from most European carriers starting around mid-October. While we don’t have a word yet on the Desire HD, we do know that the Desire Z will be hitting T-Mobile USA as the G2.

HTCSense.com

Along with launching these new handsets, HTC also detailed the new and upcoming HTC Sense.  This HTC Sense update came with a web site (HTCsense.com) from where you can control your phone over the air. You’ll be able from the interface to save and read your SMS, create your own themes.  More interestingly you will be able to control your phone if it is forgotten, lost or stolen. This is a great set of tools, you can make your phone ring for example to find it or send a message to be displayed on the screen with your details if it is lost. SMS, contacts, HTC Sense themes, ringtones can be backed up on the web site as well. Sadly, the new HTC Sense back-up is missing a photo and video solution, so you will not be able to have one place to store everything. You will have to rely on different services (Picasa, Flicker, YouTube,…).

Targeted Customers

Overall, HTC didn’t make any big noise about the technical specs of both phones. Their respective specs are good but nothing outstanding compared to the competition. They made it clear that the intended customers for these are not us, geek or Android fanatics. No, their target are the people who haven’t made it yet to the world of smartphones and are still carrying “just” phones.  They are looking to convert.

This little box will help with TV without DNLA

Smart move from HTC, as there is a huge number of potential customers. They have planned on a very large (40% larger than the previous one) marketing campaign to promote the phones and show what HTC Sense and HTCSense.com can bring to the user’s  everyday life. They might, but won’t have to, mention Android or Google but really they just need to show people what can they do with a smartphone (like Apple’s Facetime ad). One example, you can send photos or video directly to your DNLA comaptible TV, no need for a cable and if your TV is not compatible, they’ll have an accessoirie (Media Link) to help, a little box connected to your TV.

HTC Location

Google Maps is installed on the phone but HTC have also included their own mapping application called HTC Location. They tried to solve one of the issue of Google Maps and the navigation, if you are not on your provider network (out of range or roaming), you can’t use Google services. HTC worked with Route66 on this app in which you can download complete maps (for free) in the device. You can also purchase Navigation for a period (30 days, 1 year or for life) by countries. It is usefull, if for example you go on holiday, you can get the map of the country for free and, if you think you’ll need it, buy by credit card directly from the app the navigation option for the period you’ll be away. On paper, it is a good idea to buy just what you need but there are already free offers from the competition, Google but also Nokia’s Ovi Map in the segment HTC is targeting. I would suggest then to throw some freebies to potential buyers. See photos in the gallery below for an example of prices, I can’t confirm if these will be the same once the phones will be released.

Reader

On the Desire HD, HTC has included a very well done ebook reader called Reader. The HD’s large screen is a great asset when it comes to reading text. This reader has been developped in partnership with Adobe and will give access to books from Kobo. There are already plenty of other options on the Market for ebook reading (Amazon, Barnes and Noble) but the features in HTC version would help. For example, they make is easy to select text, to anotate, search definition or translate a piece of text.

Are these 2 phones any good?

Yes, they are great phones. The Desire HD is well designed, the aluminium construction makes a solid phone. HTC Sense and all the apps I’ve tried are snappy, it has Android 2.2. If I could have one bad thing to say, it would be to mentioned the lack of front facing camera but then, there are not really that many apps to use it. By the way, there is an auto-portrait mode in the camera app but I am not sure how it works. The Desire Z is as per the G2 a great update of the old G1. The Z hinges, as HTC called them, are very snappy, you might be worried to get a finger cut when closing it (it could not happend!). The keyboard is pleasant to use, even with large fingers like mine. Again, the only bad thing I would say about the Z it would be about the small trackpad, it would take someone time to get used to it.

To conclude, two nice phones and improvments for Sense to give HTC the tools to grab pieces of market own mostly by Nokia. No wonder, the competition tried to crash HTC’s party. They should be afraid, because these two phones, to be released right in time before the Holiday Season, are going to be a success, maybe a little one for Android, but a big one for HTC.

Today in New York, Samsung announced the launch of the Samsung Media Hub.  The service, which features Next-Day TV Shows, Movies, and sharing (for up to 5 media hub enabled  devices), will be available for Samsung Galaxy Tab and Galaxy S devices.   At this point, Samsung has MTV, NBC, Paramount, Universal Studios, and Warner as partners, with more content providers to be announced. At this point, no word on pricing, but hopefully we will get that soon.

Stay tuned folks.

Source: Engadget

Here’s a handy resource for you current and prospective Android developers.  We’ve done our best to compile a list of wireframes, templates, GUI PSD’s, stencils and more to help you put together the best looking Android apps around.  Of course, we understand this is not a comprehensive or definitive list.  We rely on you for help and your links and tips are what make us great.  If you see something out there that needs to be added, email us at AndroidGuys (AT) gmail.com where one of our team will review it!  Behold The Big List of Android Developer Resources.

• Official Android Icon Design Guidelines 2.0
• Official Android Widget Design Guidelines
• Official Android Activity and Task Design Guidelines
• Official Android Menu Design Guidelines
• Android Developer Common Icon Set
• Android Developer Common Icon Set #2
• Android Application Icons Set
• Android Application Icons Set #2
• iDroid Icons for Android
• Android Breathe Icons Set
• Android Icon Templates
• 30 Free Android Icons
• Android Wireframe Templates (PDF)
• Fireworks Template for Android
• Stencil set for Google Prototyping
• Google Android GUI PSD
• Android 1.6 Wireframe stencil for OmniGraffle
• Android Sketch Stencil Version 1.0 for OmniGraffle
• Android GUI PSD (1.5)
• DroidDraw: GUI Editor
• AnDroidDraw: Preview GUIs on emulator/device
• Android GUI PSD Starer Kit (Vectors)
• Android Prototyping Stencil for Visio