Viewsonic ViewPad 7 Android smartphone tablet officially announced

Viewsonic ViewPad 7

ViewSonic officially announced its new 7-inch Android tablet, the ViewPad 7, which also doubles as a smartphone.  The new device sports a massive 7-inch capacitive touchscreen for onscreen navigation and input as well as offering speedy 3G connectivity for voice and data.  The ViewPad 7 is backed by Android 2.2 Froyo and features a front facing VGA camera for internet calling and a 3mp shooter around back.  Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS, a USB port, and a microSD expansion card slot are also on-board.

The ViewPad 7 from Viewsonic is expected retail for no more than £350 ($539) when it goes on sale in October.

Samsung Epic 4G WiMAX smartphone now available from Sprint

Samsung’s Galaxy S for Sprint, the Epic 4G, is now on sale.  The WiMAX-enabled smartphone is now available online and in Sprint stores, which open at 8AM today. The Epic 4G features a 1GHz Samsung Hummingbird processor, a slide-out full QWERTY keyboard, and a massive 4-inch Super AMOLED display. The Samsung Epic 4G costs $249.99 after a $100 mail-in-rebate, when purchased with a two-year Sprint service agreement.

Sony Ericsson launches A8i OPhone for China Mobile

Sony Ericsson A8i

Today Sony Ericsson announced the new A8i, the company’s first TD-SCDMA 3G device for China, and also its first OPhone 2.0 branded device for Chinese carrier China Mobile. The phone runs on China Mobile’s OMS 2.0 platform, which is based upon Android, and features a 3.5 inch touchscreen display with 854×480 pixel resolution.

The phone works on China Mobile’s TD-SCDMA 3G network, but also features quad-band GSM/EDGE support for world roaming capability. It measures 117.0 x 59.0 x 14.0mm in size, weighs 136g, and features a microSD memory card slot. Its battery is rated for up to 7.5 hours of 3G talk time or up to 10.8 days of standby time. Sony Ericsson says that the phone can also be used for up to 2 hours and 40 minutes of video calling.

The phone supports CMMB mobile TV, WLAN network connectivity, TrackID music identification, and a curved form factor that falls in line with Sony Ericsson’s other recent devices, like the Xperia X10.  It also features a built-in 5 megapixel AF camera with LED flash, an FM radio, Bluetooth stereo support, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.  As is common for Chinese smartphones, the A8i also supports handwriting recognition.

It will be available in white and black versions, which you can see in the gallery that is available after the jump.

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Motorola intros Android-powered Ming flip-styled smartphones

Motorola

Motorola A1680 Ming

Today Motorola debuted three new Ming branded smartphones for China.  The three devices, the MT810, XT806, and A1680, are backed by the Android operating system and offer a flip-style form factor that gives its users dual touchscreens for input.  A transparent flip serves as a second touchscreen when the smartphones are in the closed position.

The MT810 will run on China Mobile’s TD-SCDMA network, the XT806 will run on China Telecom’s CDMA-2000 network, and the the A1680 will run on China Unicom’s WCDMA network.

More photos after the jump.

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Google drops out of JavaOne due to Oracle suit

Today Google announced that it was not going to present at the annual JavaOne developer conference, as originally planned, due to the recent patent infringement suit filed against it by Java developer Oracle.

[via MobileBurn]

Motorola Charm for T-Mobile USA video tour

Here’s the video portion of the review I’m doing of the Motorola Charm for MobileBurn.com.  The Charm is a cool little Android 2.1 smartphone running MOTOBLUR in a compact, full QWERTY bar form factor.

Both parts of the 2 part video are available in the YouTube playlist found below.

Mozilla Fennec alpha Firefox browser for Android now available

Mozilla Fennec

Mozilla Fennec

Mozilla is now offering a new alpha release of its Firefox Mobile browser, code named Fennec.  Fennec for Android users requires devices to be running Android 2.0 or newer and have at least 30MB of internal storage. For interested parties, download Mozilla’s Fennec alpha mobile browser at Firefox.com/m/alpha on your Android device.

Users beware, as this is an alpha build, expect bugs to present.

Verizon rolling out Android 2.2 Froyo to HTC DROID Incredible

Verizon has confirmed that the HTC DROID Incredible is to receive its Froyo update starting today. The new update will include Flash Player 10.1, 3G Mobile HotSpot support, and 720p video recording. For more information and the complete list of benefits go to www.verizonwireless.com/droidincrediblesupport.

Motorola CHARM for T-Mobile USA arrives

Motorola CHARM

The Motorola Charm for T-Mobile USA arrived this morning, and Michael has already started putting together a video tour of the device that should be published in the next day or two.

A full review is coming, as well.

The Charm features a QVGA res touchscreen display and a full QWERTY keyboard in a bar shaped form factor. It sports a 3.0 megapixel camera and ships with both standard and extended batteries, with matching rear covers, in the box. Pretty sweet.

Samsung Fascinate for Verizon pre-orders at Best Buy today

Samsung Fascinate for Verizon

Samsung Fascinate for Verizon

This summer’s hot smartphone, the Galaxy S, is finally coming to Verizon Wireless as the Fascinate.  Best Buy has posted some promo material that has the Fascinate as being up for reserve for Best Buy Reward Zone members starting August 27, and on August 29 for the rest of the world.

[via IntoMobile]