Folks are waiting for the first Android tablet to hit retail (not the oversized / undersized Dell Streak, mind you, but an iPad-sized one). It won't be an HTC tablet, we now know.

On Friday, Eric Lin, Global PR and online community manager for HTC, said this about HTC and tablets:

"We are always looking at it, but, right now, the whole idea is that in order to be successful with a tablet, you need to have something compelling. And not just a compelling form factor. [...]

You’ve seen how, at Computex, there were 80 different Android tablets. So if we just release an Android tablet, then we’re one of 81 [...] Whereas, if we have a compelling feature, a really compelling use, anything like that, then it’ll help us to stand out."

Apple seems to have already defined the tablet PC market, but in order to pull (drag?) folks away from the iPad, you do need a compelling product.

That appears to be happening in terms of Android vs. the iPhone, and HTC is key among the OEMs developing great Android phones. Based on this announcement, we can assume HTC will have something great up its sleeve in terms of a tablet, as well.

Folks have been concerned that the upcoming (Thursday!) Motorola Droid X would be in the same situation as the earlier Motorola Milestone, in terms of having a similarly locked bootloader. In fact, it appears that the answer is an unfortunate yes.

There have been reports that people who have pre-release devices and needed ROM updates were stymied by Motorola. Rather than installing the updates themselves, they had to return the devices to Motorola for flashing. While unclear why, it seemed to point to this "feature."

According to Droid developer Stephen Bird, the X indeed has a signed + encrypted bootloader. While he's not sure yet, he's pretty sure it will be the same as on the Milestone.

He did say that the Droid X will be rooted, so that those apps which require root access will still be usable. However, custom ROMs will be out of the picture. Folks have been trying to crack the Milestone's bootloader to enable custom ROMs for months, unsuccessfully.

Of course, most people will just open the box and use the device. For those who really want custom ROMs, however, this is a disappointment. Readers, the device is still a beast. Will this change your mind about buying it?

Fring has just released a device-agnostic version of its iPhone application which allows Android -> iPhone video calls (PCs, too). Unfortunately, its become so popular that they had to block Skype access.

Fring said it themselves on their forums.

Hello everyone.

This is absolutely amazing. Since the release of our latest iPhone version yesterday we have seen a huge jump in fring video calling.

So, to free up some room for more fring-to-fring video calling, we are temporarily reducing support to Skype. Be patient, we'll have some more updates soon.

Interesting that the traffic would be so huge since those iPhone 4 users would have their own app; FaceTime. Of course, that's only good on wi-fi; Fring supports 3G.

Watch a video call between an iPhone and Android below:

We reported earlier that AT&T confirmed a July 18th date for the Captivate, its Samsung Galaxy S variant. It was rumored that T-Mobile was moving up the launch of its own Galaxy S variant, the Vibrant from July 21 to July 15, and that has now been confirmed, also.

While unclear if the reason for the Vibrant's bump by six days is the Captivate, it is wouldn't surprise us if that were the case. Both Sprint (Epic 4G, with slide-out keyboard) and Verizon (Fascinate) will also carry Galaxy S variants, but obviously since the Galaxy S is a GSM device the U.S. GSM carriers were going to get it first.

All of these Galaxy S variants will have a 4-inch Super AMOLED, a 1GHz Samsung Hummingbird CPU, Bluetooth 3.0, and Android 2.1. The Vibrant and Captivate will both go for $199 (with a 2-year contract), and the Fascinate and EPIC 4G will likely be close in price, though the 4G's slide-out keyboard might raise the price some.

However, neither the Vibrant nor Captivate will have LED flash, and the Captivate will not (as seems to be the case with all AT&T Android devices) allow sideloading (non-Android Market apps). On the plus side, both of those will have 16GB of internal storage, while the Fascinate will only have 2GB and the Epic 4G 1GB.

Looking for an open parking spot? There's an Android app for that. No, there's no iPhone app, only an Android one; sorry, for once Android has a leg up on the iPhone.

Indeed, it's called Open Spot, and it could prove really useful to folks in parking spot limited locales. It's a Google Labs app, which means it's experimental, so keep that in mind.

Users of the app let folks know when they are leaving a spot. Google marks the open spots on the map with red pins for newly opened spots, orange pin for spots that have been open for more than five minutes and yellow pins after ten minutes. After 20 minutes, the spot is removed from the map. Those living in San Francisco might think 20 minutes is a little generous, and Google acknowledges it on their Open Spot FAQ page.

For those who are competitive, or just like a pat on the back for their good deed, you can earn “karma points” for broadcasting your open spots. Your karma points are displayed in the app (as shown above).

The app only went live Friday, and Google already has taken into account the fact that some folks might have a perverse sense of humor and mark spots open that are not. The Open Spot team has already named them: griefers.

We’re watching for behavior that looks like a griefer spoofing parking spots. We have a couple of mechanisms available to make sure someone can’t leave a bunch of fake parking spots. If we see this happening we will take steps to fix it.

As with anything like this, to be truly useful, it needs to have a lot of users. So grab the app and start pointing out your "open spot."

What's the bad thing about Apple's new iPhone 4 video chat feature, FaceTime? Well, aside from the fact that it can only be used via wi-fi, it also needs to be done iPhone 4 to iPhone 4. Both of those restrictions are not an issue with the new version of Fring for the iPhone.

The new version of Fring will allow device-agnostic video chats, which means now Fring users can video chat with any Skype or Fring user, regardless of device, and even to PCs. Additionally, it works over 3G, though certainly not as well (OK, with lags and jitters).

At any rate, given the new version of Fring, we can now have video chats between Android and iPhone users, arguing about which device platform is best.

Apple's FaceTime is an openn standard, Apple says, though it remains to be seen if any others will adopt it. It's also a fact that while the impression that many have gotten is that Apple invented video chats via cell phones, that's not the case.

It's a long and storied tradition: not just Apple products catching fire in one way or another, but of portable devices in general. Now we have the first iPhone 4 incident, with the new iDevice igniting while hooked up to a PC with a USB cable.

For one it doesn't seem to be a battery issue. From the image acquired by BGR (above) it's clear that the device isn't going to be repaired. It also appears the owner was using the official Apple USB cable that shipped with the device. The customer took the device into an AT&T store in hopes of replacement.

According to BGR's AT&T source, an Apple Store indicated that it appears there was a defective iPhone 4 USB port involved. The source added that the customer's hand was slightly burned.

Interestingly, a commenter at the BGR post said he plugged in his iPhone 4, and a few minutes later saw his first ever “excess temperature” warning, and the iPhone entered safe mode as well.

Later, when he plugged it in to charge overnight, he saw it heat up significantly. It's unclear if this is a pattern yet, but it's something to think about.

Steve Jobs famously said that "Folks who want porn can buy an Android phone." This Ann Arbor, Michigan woman didn't buy an Android phone for porn, but got it anyway, and preloaded to boot.

The reason that Rhonda Lee ended up with porn on her phone is that the HTC EVO 4G she bought wan't new. She bought it from a third-party (read: not corporate) Sprint store, and they said it was new, but that was obviously not the case.

There were five video clips on the phone, some as long as 12 minutes. Worse, Lee ended up discovering the clips when she was showing the device, which has been sold out for a great deal of its "lifespan," to co-workers.

Lee tried to return it to the third party store, but employees first denied that the phone had been used. Later, they 'fessed up and said it had been returned by another customer. Meanwhile, Lee is still looking for an apology from Sprint (realistically, it's unclear why as this is obviously not a corporate store), the Sprint corporate offices told her she could get a replacement phone at one of their stores.

This isn't the first such case we've heard of, about some electronic device being passed off as new, and coming loaded with some sort of dross from the prior owner (not necessarily porn, by the way). Not only is this a cautionary tale for buyers, it's one for people who might sell or donate their used electronics: make sure you wipe them of any data before you do so.

Of course, this isn't the type of porn Steve Jobs was referring to. The Apple CEO was speaking about complaints about the draconian App Store approval policies, which he said prevent porn and other such content from reaching the iPhone or other iDevice.

However, that totally ignores the fact that just as with the HTC EVO 4G, an enterprising person can easily load porn movies on it. Let's also not forget that the iPhone can readily surf to porn sites, if necessary. Heck, the porn industry will even support HTML5 soon, which is ideal for the iPad or iPhone since they don't support Adobe's flash, and never will.

comScore has released its latest report on smartphone market share for the three months of March through May. Unsurprisingly, the trend continues from previous months: Android is rapidly climbing among smartphone platforms.

It should be noted, however, that these numbers obviously don't include the iPhone 4, which did not launch until late June.

Android continued to climb, and while it still "only" has 13 percent of smartphone market share, what's more important is that rise is from 9 percent in the last report. That rise, therefore, comes to 44.4 percent over a three month period.

Meanwhile, during that time, all the other smartphone platforms took dives. RIM still has a 41.7 percent share of U.S. smartphone subscribers (a drop of 0.4 percent), while Apple had a 24.4 percent share (a drop of 1 percent). Microsoft saw a drop of 1.9 percent to 13.2, while Palm dropped rounded out the top five out with a 4.8 percent share, a drop of 0.6 percent.

In terms of manufacturer share, Samsung is now at the top, with 22.4 percent market share. LG is second at 21.5 percent, followed by Motorola at 21.2 percent. In the last report, the top three were Motorola (22.3 percent), LG (21.7 percent) and Samsung (21.4 percent). RIM and Nokia swapped places, with RIM now 4 and Nokia 5. Remember, this is U.S. smartphone market share, not overall global cell phone market share.

In total, 49.1 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the three months ending covered in the report. That is up 8.1 percent from the corresponding February report.

Martin Cooper, the inventor of the cell phone, ditched his iPhone for a Motorola Droid in March. Though he's still using that device, in an interview with CNN over the state of the cell phone industry, it was his last sentence of the interview that was the real bonus for Android lovers.

Cooper noted how he gave his iPhone to his grandson. As he said, "Kids are really caught up in that." The final sentence was the zinger (emphasis ours): "But I think that the Android phones are catching up now, and the latest version of the Android phones are every bit as good, if not better, than the iPhone."

The Droid was a huge success for Motorola, and for Android. It's still being sold, and is fact expected to get a Froyo update very soon, as early as July 13th, it is rumored.

Other tidbits from the interview:

• They knew the cell phone would become popular, but they never imagined it would happen so fast. "Well, we knew that someday everybody would have a (cell) phone, but it was hard to imagine that that would happen in my lifetime. And now we've got almost five billion phones in the world. Wow."

• Publicly demonstrated in April of 1973, the first commercial phone, the "DynaTac," didn't go on sale until 1983. It sold for $3,900.

• Cooper never imagined all the features that have been added into cell phones (GPS, camera, etc.) and he's not sure it's a good thing. "I must tell you as much as we were dreamers, we never imagined that all these things could be combined into one, and I'm really not so sure that it's a great thing. Phones have gotten so complicated, so hard to use, that you wonder if this is designed for real people or for engineers."

Cooper, now 81, is the founder of ArrayComm, a company which works to improve cellular networks, smart antenna and wireless communication. He and his wife also invented the Jitterbug, which is a simplified cell phone designed for seniors.

Want to get your hands on Verizon's (until the Fascinate, at least) most powerful Android device, and willing to work through a puzzle to do it? There's no app for that, but there is a Twitter feed and a scavenger hunt.

Twenty-one Droid X devices have been scattered throughout the U.S. by Verizon and Motorola. Typical of a scavenger hunt, the early clues are cryptic, and will eventually resolve to actual GPS locations.

Right now, it's clear there's one in Tennessee and near the Mall of America (Bloomington, MN). There are a bunch of other relatively value clues as well, including the fact that there's one in San Francisco close to (arguably) the "crookedest street in the world."

The contest runs through July 15th (day of launch) at 11:59:59 EDT. To be clear, if you read the rules, you're not searching for a phone, but a certificate for a free phone.

Also, the final clue is a set of GPS coordinates, as we said. If no one grabs the prize within 4 hours of the posting, that prize will be randomly awarded to someone in the vicinity. So you could win if you just happen to be standing around in the right location.

Here are the full rules:

OFFICIAL RULES. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A Purchase Will Not Increase Your Chances of Winning.

1. Sweepstakes Period: The Verizon Wireless Droid Scavener Hunt (the "Promotion") begins 12:00:01 Eastern Time ("ET") on July 7, 2010 and ends 11:59:59 ET on July 15, 2010 (the "Promotion Period").

2. Eligibility: Open to legal residents of the 48 Contiguous United States and the District of Columbia, 18 years of age and older as of July 7, 2010. Employees of Verizon Wireless (the "Sponsor"), McGarry Bowen, Marketing Werks, Don Jagoda Associates, Inc., their respective parents, subsidiaries, divisions, affiliates, suppliers, distributors and advertising, promotional and judging agencies (collectively "Sponsor and its Parties") and the immediate family members (spouses, parents, children, and siblings and their spouses) and household members of each, are not eligible to participate or win.

3. How to Participate in the Promotion and Claim a Prize: During the Promotion Period, there will be a Scavenger Hunt, where 21 Certificates for a free Droid Phone will be hidden across the country. Clues as to where the 21 Droid Certificates ("Certificates") will be hidden will be tweeted on a regular basis from @DroidLanding. To view the tweets, visit http://www.twitter.com/droidlanding. Dates and times of Certificate placement will vary, but the final clue of each GPS location for each Certificate will be tweeted at the time it is hidden. Participants will have 4 hours from the time of the posting of the final clue to find the Certificate and once it is found, follow the instructions on the Certificate to claim their prizes, subject to verification. In the event two (2) or more participants find a Certificate at the exact same time, Sponsor representative will conduct a random drawing from among all those that found the Certificate to determine the winner. Prizes unclaimed within 4 hours from the time of the posting of the final clue will be randomly awarded (in Sponsor representative’s sole discretion) to an eligible person in the vicinity of the hidden Certificate. By participating, you understand, and will agree in writing, that if you find a Certificate or are randomly awarded an unclaimed prize, Sponsor’s representatives will be on site to videotape and/or photograph and record the event, in their sole discretion. Therefore, if you find a Certificate, you hereby grant the Sponsor, its affiliates, subsidiaries, assigns, licensees, and legal representatives the irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide right to use, reproduce, edit, market, store, distribute, have distributed, reproduce, re-arrange, change (including blurring any trademarked items on clothing), add to or delete from, translate, adapt, or otherwise revise and/or alter the video footage, photographs, or material developed ("Footage"), publicly and privately display, communicate, publicly and privately perform, transmit, have transmitted, create derivative works based upon, and promote the Footage, for editorial, commercial or promotional purposes, in their sole discretion.

Sponsor and its Parties reserve the right at their sole discretion to disqualify any individual that acts in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner, or with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any other person. Any attempt by any person to deliberately undermine the legitimate operation of the Promotion may be a violation of criminal and civil law, and, should such an attempt be made, Sponsor reserves the right to seek damages from any such person to the fullest extent permitted by law.

Sponsor and its Parties and their respective officers, directors, shareholders, employees and agents, and any and all Internet servers and access provider(s) (collectively, the "Releasees") are not responsible for: any incorrect or inaccurate information; human error; technical malfunctions; failures, omission, interruption, deletion, or defect of any telephone network, computer online or e-mail systems, computer equipment, servers, providers, or software, including any injury or damage to participant's or any other person's computer relating to or resulting from participation or inability to participate in this Promotion; inability to retrieve any clues from Twitter; theft, tampering, destruction, or unauthorized access to, or alteration of clues; data processing that is processed late or incorrectly or is incomplete or lost due to telephone, computer or electronic malfunction or traffic congestion on telephone lines or the Internet or any website; or for any other errors or problems of any kind relating to or in connection with the Promotion, whether computer, network, technical, printing, typographical, human or otherwise or any combination thereof, including, without limitation, any errors or problems which may occur in connection with the administration of the Promotion, the Scavenger Hunt clues or in any Promotion-related materials. Material(s) provided by Sponsor on Twitter are only to be used solely for the purposes of this Promotion and cannot be used for any other purpose or use. By entering the Promotion, entrants affirm that they have read and accepted these Official Rules.

4. Prizes and Approximate Retail Value ("ARV"): Prizes (21): A Verizon Wireless Droid Phone ARV $569.99 each. Service not included with phone. The total ARV of all prizes to be awarded in the Promotion is $11,969.79. Limit one (1) prize per person/household.

5. General Rules: No substitution or transfer of prize permitted except at the sole discretion of the Sponsor who reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater value in the event the prize is unavailable. All applicable federal, state and local taxes are the sole responsibility of winner. Prize is awarded "as is" with no warranty or guarantee, either express or implied by Sponsor. By participating in the Promotion, participants agree to be bound by these Official Rules and the decisions of the Sponsor. The Sponsor reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to cancel, modify or suspend the Promotion if it is not capable of running as planned, including, but not limited to, infection by computer virus, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures (where clues could not be posted) or any other problems beyond the control of the Sponsor (including cancellation of Scavenger Hunt) and award the applicable prizes that were claimed/awarded prior to cancellation and the remainder of prizes will go un-awarded. Prize winners and all entrants, as a condition of participation in the Promotion, agree to release and hold harmless Sponsor and its Parties and each of their respective affiliates, officers, directors, agents, and employees will have no liability or responsibility for any claim arising in connection with participation in the Promotion or any prize awarded. Prize winners assume all liability for any injury or damage caused, or claimed to be caused, by participation in the Promotion, the receipt, ownership or use of prize awarded or any typographical or other error in these Official Rules or the announcement of offering of the prizes. Void where prohibited and subject to all federal, state and local laws. Acceptance of prize constitutes permission to use the winner’s name and likeness for promotional purposes without further compensation except where prohibited by law. Sponsor is not responsible for any typographical or other error in the tweeting of the Promotion materials or the offering or announcement of the prizes. As a condition of participating in the Promotion, participant agrees that: 1) under no circumstance will participant be permitted to obtain awards for, and hereby waives all rights to, punitive, incidental, consequential or any other damages, other than for out-of-pocket expenses; 2) all causes of action arising out of or connected with the Promotion or the prize awarded, shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action; and 3) any and all claims, judgments, and award shall be limited to actual out-of-pocket costs incurred, but in no event attorneys’ fees. You hereby represent and warrant that you have read these Official Rules and are fully familiar with its contents.

6. Winners List: For a list of winners, available from July 20, 2010 to August 20, 2010, and for the official rules visit www.droiddoes.com.

7. Sponsor: Verizon Wireless, One Verizon Way, Basking Ridge, NJ 07960.

We've been touting the T-Mobile Vibrant as the first Samsung Galaxy S device to hit a U.S. carrier, given its July 21st launch date. On Thursday, AT&T announced that it will be launching their Captivate on July 18th, which would beat the Vibrant by a few days. Ah, but maybe T-Mobile heard about this: there are rumors, but no official confirmation, that the Vibrant will launch July 15th.


The new Vibrant (above) date is unconfirmed, as the last date given on Samsung's Twitter feed still says July 21. it does, however, sound likely given the AT&T date.

Both the Vibrant and Captivate will ship with 16GB of internal storage. That is unlike Verizon's Fascinate and the Sprint Epic 4G, which will have 2GB and 1GB respectively. However, the latter devices will have LED flash, and the T-Mobile and AT&T versions will not.

These four devices will all have the Samsung Hummingbird CPU and Super AMOLED screens. While people should stop using the term "iPhone killer," they are obviously very competitive in terms of hardware.

Additionally, the Spring Epic 4G will support WiMax, and have a forward-facing camera that the others are missing. All will receive Froyo in the future.

Finally, the Captivate will not allow side-loading, as AT&T has said before is basically a way to make developers "be accountable for the apps they submit." Side-loading is the installation of non-Market builds on an Android device. You need to change a default setting on the phone, but AT&T feels that is not enough protection.

Sounds a little App Store-ish, doesn't it?

Let's also not forget that the Captivate will be saddled with AT&T's overburdened network. Sagging under the weight of the iPhone, it will be interesting to see how it handles the Samsung Captivate.

The $200 Spyder III Pro Arctic is the world's most powerful portable laser. It's so powerful, in fact, that it can cause blindness, damage skin, even set things on fire. It can also damage a trademark, as a cease-and-desist order from Lucasfilm attests.

Lucasfilm has sent a C-and-D letter to Wicked Lasers, creator the of Spyder III Pro Arctic. While Wicked Lasers has never referred to the device as a "lightsaber," it's pretty obvious from the promotional images on their site that it looks a heck of a lot like the Star Wars Jedi Knight weapon of choice.

CNN has some of the text from the LucasFilm letter to Wicked Lasers. In it, the company notes that blogs and other media have referred to the device as a "real-life lightsaber," so despite what Wicked Lasers may say, the perception is still there:

"It is apparent from the design of the Pro Arctic Laser that it was intended to resemble the hilts of our lightsaber swords, which are protected by copyright [...]

"These references (by media) make it clear that the public is being led to believe that the Pro Arctic Laser is an official lightsaber device and/or copied from our design."

Wicked Lasers' response:

"Most people feel it's kind of ridiculous ... We would never use any comparison like that to 'Star Wars' or a lightsaber or anything like that.

Lucasfilm shouldn't be saying something like that. They're a big company that needs to protect their trademarks. Maybe they're having to look like they're protecting their trademark in case they need to [protect it again] later."

Orders of the device increased after all the initial media coverage, so Wicked Lasers added safety features, such as a safety lock to prevent accidentally turning on the laser, and an extra lens which reduces its power by 80 percent until it is removed. Also, every laser is shipped with safety goggles. The letter was actually sent a couple of weeks ago, but the company has not stopped shipping the devices.

Even a standard laser pointer is not a toy. For example, although some feel it's fun to point them at passing aircraft and cars, its clear from this FAQ that it's definitely not fun for those affected.

A few days ago we reported that the creator of the hilarious iPhone 4 vs. EVO 4G video (as well as its rebuttal) was about to lose his job at Best Buy. Well, they've relented, but he hasn't: he's outta there.

The original video showed a zombified iPhone 4 buyer refusing to listen to a Phone Mart employee when he tells him of the benefits of the EVO 4G. It was hilarious, as was the rebuttal video.

The Best Buy employee was 25-year-old Brian Maupin. He had been suspended while Best Buy HR reviewed the case. While the two videos below are the ones that have gone viral, they didn't mention Best Buy at all. Instead, Best Buy says it was some other videos that mentioned the company that they cared about, and those have been taken down. So, all is forgiven, right?

However, Maupin said that originally Best Buy did take offense at his NSFW humor, as they felt it disparaged their customers. Of course, neither video mentioned Best Buy, and perhaps, with the glare of public opinion on them, they have decided it was best to back away.

Best Buy said Maupin can return as of this coming Friday, but he's not so keen on the idea. He said:

“I’m not planning on returning to work — immediately, anyway. Honestly, I don’t know how I could return considering some of the things that were said to me and not have a lot of awkwardness on the job. I’m looking at possible jobs in graphic art — nothing definite yet, but I’m searching,” he tells us.

Here both parties' official statements, with Best Buy's first:

Best Buy:

We have completed our investigation into the videos created and posted by Brian Maupin, the aspiring film-maker and Best Buy employee. This is an important situation for us because it involved balancing our social media guidelines with a commitment to creating a supportive environment for our employees. It’s important to note that our investigation involved three videos that were posted in late June because they were openly disparaging of our employees, our customers and our vendor partners. Our investigation is over, and these videos are no longer on the web. Contrary to rumors, Brian has not been fired, and is scheduled to return to his job at Best Buy this Friday.

Maupin:

Right now I’m planning on taking a leave of absence so I may survey my current career plans and the future. I’m not sure if it would be comfortable returning to Best Buy considering the circumstances, but I will definitely consider all options.

Originally, Maupin said a firing might be a good career move, as he could focus on graphic design and animation. He's certainly talented enough, based on his work.

Here's the original and the rebuttal. Remember, NSFW.

Particularly on iOS, where they have seen themselves frozen out of the App Store at times (Google Voice comes to mind), Google has pushed the idea of web apps. They can be modified without an app store or market, and the results made public with a flick of a switch. On Wednesday, a switch was flicked with regards to the mobile YouTube site (http://m.youtube.com/) and a new mobile YouTube site hit the Internet.

As you can expect, the new site is HTML5, and thus can be viewed on an iOS device, as well as on browsers on newer platforms such as Android. YouTube product manager Andrey Doronichev during a briefing Wednesday morning at YouTube's headquarters, emphasized that the idea was to bring the desktop experience, as much as possible, to mobile browsers.

Additionally, the video quality of the new mobile site, as demonstrated, was far better than the iPhone app. As Doronichev explained that the native iOS app is built by Apple, with YouTube not having anything to do with its code. He also explained that the iPhone app still uses a video streaming format that was developed for EDGE, not 3G, which also affects quality.

In fact, Doronichev pulled out two iPhones to do an Apples to Apples (pun intended) demo. he showed the native YouTube application against the new YouTube mobile site, and the quality difference was readily apparent.

As Google always says about its web apps, they can be updated much faster. Our issue with web apps such as Google Voice on the iPhone is that there are limitations with regards to such apps: they can't access native contacts, for one, so the Google Voice web app on the iPhone is more cumbersome to use.

Something like a YouTube video web app, one can see, has the much better chance of being fully formed with regards to full functionality with a desktop.

Watch a video on the new functionality. Interestingly, the video starts by using an iPhone, and then switches to a Nexus One.

AppBrain, which we've written about before, is a great place to search online for Android apps, and then select them to install to your device. In the past, however, you'd have to install the AppBrain App Market application, then "sync" your device with it. You would then see a list of apps to install manually. With the release of their Fast Web Installer, however, the apps are now pushed to your device.

This is something that's expected to come later from Google. It was shown at Google I/O; it's the ability to select an app from the Android Market and have it sent to your device OTA. However, we now don't have to wait for the feature to come in the next Android release (or whenever).


This only works with free apps, but it is really cool, once you download the app and enable its functionality. How do you get it set up?

• First, of course, you'll need an AppBrain account.
• Next, install the "AppBrain App Market" app on your phone. Once that's done, open the app, go to "Manage my apps" and click the "Sync with AppBrain" button.
• Download and install the "Fast Web Installer." Run it so you can enable its ability to install apps on your device.
• Go to AppBrain, pick a free app, and click on the Install button. You'll see an app start downloading to your device, as shown in the notification bar.

Unfortunately, uninstalling an app is not automatic. There you still need to do the sync with AppBrain and manual uninstall process.

As you might imagine, this app needs to run in the background.  Therefore, if you have a task killer that auto kills, you need to make sure the Fast Web Installer is excluded.

Need more help? Here's a demo video:

It's official: the T-Mobile Charm has been confirmed by Motorola in a press release. The device first leaked about a week and a half ago, but we also knew it would be free in an upcoming back-to-school promotion.

The Charm, which is squarish with a QWERTY keyboard (non-slide-out!), reminds folks of a BlackBerry (somewhat). Not much in the way of hardware specs has been revealed, but it seems to be a low-to-mid-range device, with Android 2.1, MotoBlur, a 2.8" screen, and a 3 megapixel camera. It definitely falls into what some might call the "cute" range, as well.

The form factor provides the first Android device with a built-in (non-slider) keyboard and a QVGA display (320 x 240 resolution). It will be interesting to see how Android apps, which have been focused on the tall, portrait displays of Android devices until now, run on this device. Click the above image to see a larger one.

Neither date nor pricing was announced, but it will be exclusive to T-Mobile, and will launch sometime this summer.

We already knew that Froyo (Android 2.2) offered some awesome performance improvements. How does it compare against the iPhone 4, Apple's lefty-hating smartphone? It blows it away.

Ars did a recent review of Froyo, and now has taken the time to compare the iPhone 4 with the Nexus One running Froyo in terms of two JavaScript benchmarks, SunSpider and V8.

As you can see above, in SunSpider (lower is better), Froyo scored 5,795.2 vs. 10,902.1, close to a 2 to 1 difference.. In V8 (higher is better), Froyo scored 287 vs. 67, a more than 4 to 1 advantage.

Granted, this tests are focused on JavaScript, and are synthetic tests to boot. What matters to most people is that both phones are capable devices (except, in the case of an iPhone 4, if you want to make a call using your left hand and no case). It also uses top of the line hardware on the Android side, the Nexus One (which is the only Android device to get Froyo so far, so there wasn't really a choice).

However, while the Nexus One running Froyo is pretty much still top of the line hardware, once the Samsung Galaxy S devices hit, with their Hummingbird CPU, might we see a still bigger difference between the two?

The phone wars will continue to be very interesting, especially with Android devices getting new hardware all the time, while the iPhone will wait a year for a refresh (except, perhaps, for a Verizon iPhone?).

A panel of crisis management experts surveyed by Cult of Mac seem to agree on one thing: an iPhone 4 recall is inevitable. That said, there's plenty of opinion on the other side of the fence.

The crisis management experts said the following:

Professor Matthew Seeger, an expert in crisis communication: “Apple will be forced to do a recall of this product. It’s critically important. The brand image is the most important thing Apple has. This is potentially devastating.”

Dr. Larry Barton, a leading expert in crisis management and author of Crisis Leadership Now: “Apple needs to put this fire out now. There has to be a military-like response to this issue. And we have not seen this kind of urgency.”

Crisis communications expert Chris Lehane who managed bad PR for the Clinton White House said that Apple rushed their response: “It’s the ‘half-loaf’ approach. Apple was under tremendous pressure to respond. They pushed out some information that wasn’t really baked." Additionally, he contrasted this iPhone 4 response to their response to complaints about the price drop of the original iPhone way back in 2007. “You acknowledge it; you address it; you deal with it. Apple must protect its brand image, its crown jewels, at all cost. Apple has enormous consumer loyalty but it depends on whether people believe it’s credible.”

On the other hand, analysts, who probably have a better "grip" (pun intended) on how consumer backlash might affect Apple's bottom line, were all in the other camp. Surveyed by Digital Daily, they said:

Citigroup analyst Richard Gardner: “We consider the probability of a recall to be very low given our view that the issue in question is not serious enough to warrant a recall. While bridging two portions of the antenna with one’s hand on the lower-left corner of the phone does cause signal degradation, it does not typically result in dropped calls unless the signal from the cell tower is already weak. Excluding this issue, overall signal reception on iPhone 4 seems at least as good, if not slightly better, than reception on the iPhone 3GS.”

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster: “We see [a recall] as a highly unlikely scenario given the issue is completely resolved with a case, which is a significantly less expensive solution for the company.” (Ah, yes, but that would involve, perhaps, giving away bumpers, which Apple has already told their CS to avoid)

Barclays Capital's Ben Reitzes: “As users, we have experienced some issues w/call drops; however, we have found drops go away after attaching a bumper accessory, which is quite useful anyway. To date, we have not seen any overwhelming evidence of iPhone 4 units being returned."

Of course, Apple stock did dip slightly on Tuesday, down around 2 percent by mid-Tuesday afternoon, ET. That is hardly a cause for alarm for Apple shareholders.

However, it's true that the incident has turned into a huge black eye for Apple, and an embarrassment for iPhone 4 users, who face the gibes of their Android-toting friends. We, personally, believe that free bumpers might silence the hordes.

Really, if Apple wanted to recall anything related to the iPhone 4, it should recall AT&T.

It is the OS that wouldn't die. It sounds like a horror movie, and for Microsoft, it probably seems like one. Microsoft announced on Monday that the "Windows XP Downgrade rights," which allows a purchaser of Windows 7 to choose to downgrade their OS to Windows XP, without paying for two copies of Windows, would continue until 2020.

In the past, Microsoft has terminated such a program a few months after the "next, next" version of Windows was introduced (in this case, 7, which was released in Oct. 2009). The problem is that 74 percent of businesses have not transitioned off of Windows XP, and many businesses want to standardize on a single operating system to simplify IT support.

The new policy, Microsoft announced in a blog post, will allow customers to downgrade to either Windows XP or Vista throughout the life cycle of Windows 7. Windows 7 Professional won't retire until 2020, which means XP will have a life that spans nearly 20 years (it was introduced in 2001).

Downgrade rights are available only for OEM copies of Windows 7 (those that are pre-installed by manufacturers or system builders). Also, despite this extension, while currently some vendors have been pre-installing the downgrade copy of Windows, that factory-install feature will expire on Oct. 22, 2010. That means that Windows users who want to downgrade a Windows 7 system to XP will be forced to do it themselves beginning on Oct. 23 of this year.

At the same time, OEMs must stop installing Windows XP Home on netbooks as of Oct. 22, 2010; finally, those netbook vendors may sell PCs with Vista pre-installed only through Oct. 22, 2011.

Despite the fact its iOS SDK policies were change in such a manner as to exclude AdMob, the mobile advertising firm that Google acquired, Apple does not seem to be enforcing that rule. Omar Hamoui, founder and CEO of Google's AdMob division, made that comment at the MobileBeat 2010 conference on Tuesday.

Hamoui said, "They haven't been enforcing (the new regulations) yet. We're very appreciative of that."

While the new iOS SDK policies didn't specifically exclude AdMob, they prohibited ad networks owned by or affiliated with "a developer or distributor of mobile devices, mobile operating systems or development environments other than Apple" (such as Google) from collecting analytic data. Without analytic data, AdMob couldn't track who had clicked on their customer's ads, and advertisers won't buy ads if they can't determine how many people had clicked on it.

Until now, there had only been anecdotal developer evidence that Apple wasn't enforcing its new policies. It is unclear why Apple has not enforced the prohibition. It's possible the rumored FTC or ITC investigation into Apple's iAd program had something to do with it.

In terms of contingency plans, if Apple were to enforce the rule, Hamoui skirted the issue by mentioning other platforms (including, naturally, that Android OS we hear so much about, where AdMob already has a presence). Hopefully, it won't come to that.

Despite all this, Hamoui noted that he was happy to see the introduction of the iAd network. The more, the merrier, basically, he said. "The really rich pretty ads they're doing are making advertisers and agencies think about what mobile means. Anybody getting advertisers interested in mobile is a good thing. It's not at all a zero-sum game."

At the very least, though, AdMob has yet another reason to thank Apple. It's been said that the development of the iAd network after Apple acquire Quattro Wireless (an AdMob rival) was what the FTC needed in order to approve the AdMob acquisition by Google.

Crisis management experts seem to agree that an iPhone 4 recall for its "Death Grip" problem is inevitable. However, most analysts believe that the odds of an iPhone 4 recall are small. Still, one took the time to calculate just how much it would cost Apple to do so.

Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi, in a research note on Tuesday, estimated that such a recall would cost Apple $1.5 billion, or 3.5 percent of its total cash on hand. Sacconaghi did call a full product recall of the iPhone 4 "highly unlikely."

Instead, as proposed by many, a more likely solution, according to Sacconaghi, would be a free rubber bumper case in the packaging. While the darn thing costs $30 to buy, Sacconaghi estimated it would cost $1 for Apple to insert one in each box. Makes you feel good about buying a case, doesn't it?

That's great, but we'd probably all get black, wouldn't we?

At any rate, Sacconaghi took Apple to task over its recent behavior. It's a laundry list of items that have driven some (not many!) away from the iPhone.

"Perhaps the bigger, longer-term concern for Apple investors is the emerging pattern of hubris that the company has displayed (you think?), which has increasingly pitted competitors (and regulators) against the company, and risks alienating customers over time. Examples of its behavior have included its limited disclosure practices (Steve Jobs' health; plans for deploying its cash balance), its attack on Adobe's Flash, its investigation into its lost iPhone prototype (which culminated in a reporter's home being searched while he was away and computers being removed), its restrictions on app development, and its ostensibly dismissive characterizations of the iPhone's antenna issues (i.e., phone needs to be held a different way; a software issue that affects the number of bars displayed). The worry is that collectively, these issues may, over time, begin to impact consumers' perceptions of Apple (no, really?), undermining its enormous prevailing commercial success."

All will be better if Apple's change to the signal level display fixes everything. our guess is if it can be fixed in software (and really, it's not just about signal level displays), it will. If not, hang on tight.