A bundle of screenshots just hit the net showing off the latest Direct3D-based mobile games running on a WinPho7 device, adn they look pretty hot. We knew that the Tegra chipset in the Zune HD and likely in several upcoming WinPho handsets (Tegra 2, to be precise) is capable of some nice 3D, but these are better than anything I’ve seen yet. The game shown is The Harvest, a dungeon crawler which, if indicative of the general quality of WinPho7 games, portends good times to be had.

In slightly less-enthralling news, it seems that the Zune HD will be sticking with XNA 3.1. Hmm. So basically the Zune HD is being abandoned as far as game development — bad news for Zune owners, since it means less value for their device and suggests an upcoming Zune HD 2 or Super HD or HDX or whatever name they come up with. Zune HD 7 Series?

[via Engadget]

One of our T-Mobile connects just blessed us with some HTC HD2 unboxing shots. With a looming release date, it should help cut down on some of your healthcare costs. You know, for those of you that have been hyperventilating since the official announcement. Hit the jump for the shots!

Do you love Android? Like, really love Android? So much so that those Android action figures just don’t seem like enough? Well, now there’s a way for you to show the world how much you really care about your favorite OS: by bringing it to bed with you.

Now, now, get your mind out of the gutter (There are no intentional innuendos anywhere in this post. Honest!). Etsy seller Craftsquatch has just started churning out the Android-themed throw pillows you see above for $19.99 a pop. If you want one of these, you may want to act fast for two reasons: A) it’s Etsy, so its handmade, thus inherently being limited edition and B) we’re guessing that, unlike the aforementioned Android toys, this use of the Android logo isn’t exactly licensed.

Samsung’s pretty proud of their Super AMOLED technology – and why shouldn’t they be? With next to no fanfare, they managed to knock out the readability issues that plagued AMOLED handsets any time they were within view of the sun. And if vastly improved readability wasn’t enough, they went and slimmed the whole thing down into a package considerably tighter than the competition’s not-so-sun friendly offerings.

Samsung’s compiled a nifty little video showing off all the reason why their Super AMOLED displays deserve their name.

Interestingly, they left out any sort of audio track. Come on, Samsung – this is 2010. We’ve been nursed by booming bass, and embraced by endless loops. If it doesn’t have a crazy techno soundtrack, how do you expect to keep our attention? Don’t worry, dear reader; I’ve got your back. Press play on the provided track below, then start the video.

[via Engadget]

Samsung’s pretty proud of their Super AMOLED technology – and why shouldn’t they be? With next to no fanfare, they managed to knock out the readability issues that plagued AMOLED handsets any time they were within view of the sun. And if vastly improved readability wasn’t enough, they went and slimmed the whole thing down into a package considerably tighter than the competition’s not-so-sun friendly offerings.

Samsung’s compiled a nifty little video showing off all the reason why their Super AMOLED displays deserve their name.

Interestingly, they left out any sort of audio track. Come on, Samsung – this is 2010. We’ve been nursed by booming bass, and embraced by endless loops. If it doesn’t have a crazy techno soundtrack, how do you expect to keep our attention? Don’t worry, dear reader; I’ve got your back. Press play on the provided track below, then start the video.

[via Engadget]

As was widely expected, Rogers today announced the immediate availability of the Samsung Galaxy Spica. The carrier’s fourth Android smartphone, the Galaxy Spica offers a 3.2″ AMOLED HVGA capacitive display, 3.2 megapixel camera, GPS, Wi-Fi, 3.6Mbps HSDPA/UMTS, 800MHz processor and up to 7 hours of talk time and 10 days of standby for $79.99 on a standard 3-year deal. Anyone that was hoping it would come pre-loaded with anything past Android 1.5 aka “Cupcake” will be sorely disappointed, although we’ve received official word from Rogers that an update to Android 2.1 is in the works, there are “no details on timing to share at the moment.” C’est la vie.

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Given that the HTC Touch Pro 2 saw upgrades to Windows Mobile 6.5 on just about every other carrier months ago, Sprint Touch Pro 2 owners might be feeling a wee bit rebuffed right now. On the brightside, chances are good that the upgrade is coming eventually, right?

Well, it looks like “eventually” might be sooner than later.

PPCGeeks forumgoer Platin465 scanned in the above table from a Sprint Small Business Catalog which indicates that the Windows Mobile 6.5 upgrade will be coming down the pipes some time in March.

Also worth noting: whoever made that table sucks terribly at making tables. Why the heck would you list “Windows Mobile 6.5″, “Android Market”, and “BlackBerry App World” as separate comparison items? No phone is ever going to have more than one. Just list what operating system they have and call it a day.

[via WMpoweruser]

If you’ve been messing with the App World on your favorite BlackBerry device lately only to be plagued by some nasty glitch, you might want to check out the brand-spankin’-new App World update that just went live — it might have fixed it.

I say “might” here because, well, we’re not really sure whats changed. RIM didn’t release a changelog, and the only thing people have noticed so far is that it runs “smoother”, which may very well be a subconscious side effect of having just updated something.

We’ll update you if we get any positive confirmation about any changes – in the mean while, feel free to go dig through the new build and let us know if you find anything. It’s like an Easter egg hunt!

[Via CrackBerry]

HTC Supersonic is one of the most awaited Android smartphones of the year and we’ve just found a video showing its beautiful 4.3 inch display in action. You can check out the vid below and know taht this Android 2.1 will support WiMAX, as a bonus cool feat:

Odds are this device will make it to Sprint’s portofolio, since a HTC mystery device recently showed up in their inventory. What do we know so far regarding the HTC Supersonic? It’s a 4.3 inch smartphone, that doesn’t use an AMOLED display, runs Android 2.1, uses the HTC Sense UI and sports a kickstand.

We’ll reveal more info, once we have it…

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Tags: Android WiMAX phone, HTC Android 2.1 phone, HTC Supersonic, HTC Supersonic video demo

Good news, everyone! We’ve got another acronym for you to remember! Back at CES 2010, Palm announced that they’d be launching a “PDK” at some point in the future – and, well, it’s here, and it’s time to pay some attention to it.

You see, “PDK” stands for “Plug-in Development Kit” (as opposed to “SDK”, or Software Development Kit). Being that webOS is built on various web technologies, its been tough for them to get any boastable number of games into their app store — it’s tough to design a killer 3D game in HTML and Javascript, you know? That’s where the PDK comes in.

The PDK allows programmers to execute native C and C++ code in webOS apps. Ran through the geek translator, that means that game developers can make radically more intensive games in a programming language they’re long accustomed to working with. Even better, it helps folks who have already designed games on other platforms (coughiPhonecough) port their games over to webOS with considerably less effort, as they can use code they’ve already written. It’s still not a matter of pressing a button and flipping a switch, but it’s less mind-blowingly-difficult now.

Be sure to check out Palm’s FAQ on the topic here. It seems like Palm actually fielded questions from developers , like this gem:

Q: Does the webOS PDK amount to an admission that your original SDK was not robust enough to produce compelling applications?

Not at all! Palm remains fully committed to the web as a mobile development platform, and the App Catalog today features thousands of compelling applications built using the current webOS SDK. The webOS PDK complements the webOS SDK by allowing developers to use C and C++ code in their webOS apps when it makes sense for business reasons (like leveraging existing code) or technical reasons (like implementing functionality not currently achievable using web technology alone). 3D games are one category where the PDK is a great fit for both business and technical reasons.

Apple’s patent lawsuit against HTC may be much more far reaching than initially thought. According to a report at CNN’s Fortune website, Apple’s lawsuit has Android handset manufacturers shaking in their boots with many hiring legal teams, revising their OS strategies, sending hardware back to engineering, and changing development roadmaps behind closed doors. It all started in early 2009 when Apple COO Tim Cook launched the fist attack during an earning conference call by stating “we will not stand for having our IP ripped off and we’ll use whatever weapons we have at our disposal. I don’t know that I can be more clear than that.”  Apple reportedly remained passive during much of 2009, sitting idle while Palm launched the Pre and other manufacturers pushed out non-multi-touch smartphones that posed no threat to its iPhone market share. Enter the HTC DROID ERIS, the Nexus One, and the Motorola DROID which recently took the smartphone world by storm with their sleek good looks and potential multi-touch capability. Apple is now on the proverbial warpath with HTC as its first target and other manufacturers are fearful that they will be next. Apple reportedly held conversations with “Tier 1″ device manufacturers to inform them of Apple’s intentions. The winner in this fearful frenzy, ironically, may be Microsoft which is reportedly swooping in with its extensive patent library in hand, and promising Windows Phone 7 Series as a safe harbor to companies that are fearful of Apple’s wrath. It all sounds like a daytime soap opera conjured up for the geek world but it is unfortunately and incredibly true.

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Polarbit is the company behind popular Android games like Raging Thunder and Wave Blazer. In fact, they’ve got 5 Android Games (ToonWarz, Raging Thunder, Wave Blazer, Armageddon Squadron, Iron Sight) with 2 more on the way (Warzone, Global Race). A post on the company’s website indicates they’ve just surpassed 1 million downloads… THAT is an amazing statistic and in fact, the company has now surpassed 1 million downloads on 3 platforms (Android, iPhone, Symbian).

All of the company’s games are “paid” but they offer free “Lite” versions of each. If more than 1 million people have downloaded their games and you haven’t… numbers talk and peer pressure has begun. Of course each person could have downloaded the free and the paid application of every single game so it is potentially only 1,000,000 / (5*2) = 100,000 but let’s not worry about the math. One million is a lot of downloads no matter how you slice it.

Congratulations to Polarbit although I wish they would have announced it by saying we/us/our instead of they/their as if they weren’t involved in their own site. I appreciate the attempt at objectivity but come on – we know who you are so revel in the moment a bit!

[Thanks Richy!]

Only a week ago we told you that Rogers would be getting the Samsung Galaxy Spica in late March but it looks like the carrier is ramping up their Android game, adding another member to their robot fleet today. That’s right – the Galaxy Spica has come early – a pleasant surprise!

The Galaxy Spica has a 3.2-inch touchscreen, 3.2MP camera, 2GB of pre-installedxpandable memory, an800 Mhz processor and Android 1.5 (soon upgradeable to 2.1) all within a slim 13mm frame. As you can clearly see above it starts at $79.99 on 3-year voice/data plans.

If you’re on Rogers (or not) and you’ve been waiting you can head over there now and grab the Spica!

Yahoo is taking another approach at the mobile market, by disbanding its mobile segment and reorganizing the employees, for a new direction of the company. Mobile feats will be integrated in the rest of the company’s divisions and this new direction is a sign that CEO Carol Bartz wants to compete with the likes of Google.

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Tags: Carol Bartz, Yahoo mobile division, Yahoo mobile strategy, Yahoo reorganization

Ever been walking around your local city or town, dragged around by your significant other for some unexpected shopping spree, and all you can think about is the big game happening right now? It’s been the story for plenty of sitcoms out there, so we’re sure it’s had to have happened to some poor guy out there in real life at some point or another. And if that was you, we’re sorry, but at least we can give you a ray of hope: NFL Mobile is coming.

That is, if you’re a customer of the Big Red Checkmark, here in the States. Verizon Wireless has inked a partnership that will let them launch NFL Mobile next month, in correlation with the NFL Draft. Customers will be able to watch the event live, take in on-demand video analysis from the NFL Network, as well as some other extra content. And then once the season officially starts, you’ll be “upgraded” to RedZone, which basically means you’ll be getting live streams every Sunday and Thursday night of the games happening then, live home and away radio broadcasts, ringtones and graphics, on-demand highlights and analysis, and fantasy information for those who want to live the dream.

The only bad news, is that we don’t have much information about handsets or pricing, and that’s pretty much the most important part. The content sounds great, and we’re sure even the lightest of NFL fans will want to take this in, but if the pricing is too high, or it doesn’t work on enough devices, that will surely put a damper on the whole thing. As soon as more information falls our way, we’ll pass it on to you.