Android

The Casio G-Shock Android Phone is the company's latest "G'Zone" ruggedized smartphone being released. This thing could take a bullet. It's reported that it can withstand 2000 lbs of weight on its body. That's like a small car running over it. Additionally, the G-Shock phone will run a version of Android, can survive a 10-foot drop and be submerged in up to 10-meters of water without skipping a beat.

Casio has yet to make their latest G-Shock phone official, but one thing is for sure; it sure will be difficult cramming this phone into any pants pocket.

Casio launched the G'z0ne on Verizon last year, a phone that ran Android and could withstand a few drops. Casio is looking to release their next tough phone, this time also sporting a more current Android version. Read more

The Polaroid SC1630 has a 16-Megapixal Zoom Point-and-Shoot Camera

At CES this week, Polaroid surprised everyone when they revealed a new camera powered by Android. The Polaroid SC1630 Smart Camera is a 3.2-inch device, and it features a huge 16-megapixel camera capable of 3x optical zoom on a 36-108mm lens. When connected to Wi-Fi, users can instantly upload their images to social networking sites and will also even have access to the Android Market.

The Polaroid SC1630 Smart Camera is a point-and-shoot camera, and runs on a an unspecified version of Android. It also contains a browser, apps (from Google's Android Market) and music-playing functions that you might expect in a pocket-sized device, but the rear is dedicated to a 16-megapixel camera with 3x optical zoom. Tapping into the company's instant photography legacy, it can link up via Bluetooth to the GL10 Instant Mobile Printer for quick snapshot printing.

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ARCHOS announced on Thursday the ARCHOS 35 home connect, a portable Android Wi-Fi web radio that streams over 50,000 Internet radio stations anywhere in your home. Simply click on the 3.5-inch touchscreen to access the pre-loaded TuneIn Radio Pro application, choose your station, and you're set! But more than a radio, it also features apps and widgets such as weather, real time traffic, sports, social networking, games (and more) that you can customize.

In addition, the ARCHOS 35 home connect is an alarm clock. You can choose to wake up to Nature sounds, an MP3 playlist, or a web radio station. The alarm clock is also customizable and you can set as many alarms as you need.

Additional features:

• High Definition Sound: Listen to your favorite internet radio station on the 2 built-in high definition speakers. A headphone jack is also included for private listening.
• Android Applications: Download your favorite Android applications and choose from over 45,000 apps available on Appslib
• WiFi (802.11 b/g/n) and Bluetooth connectivity
• 4GB Storage capacity with expandable micro SD card slot

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ASUS's Eee Pad Transformer tablet successor is launching December 12th. The Transformer Prime became available for pre-order last week, and industry reviews of the new gadget have been pretty stellar. This could be one of the most eagerly anticipated Android tablet launches to date.

The convertible Android tablet features a 1.3GHz quad-core Tegra 3 processor, Android 3.2 Honeycomb with an upgrade to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich due in the near future, a 10.1-inch display, 1GB of RAM, an 8-megapixel rear camera, a 1.2-megapixel front-facing camera, a microHDMI-out port and SD card support. A 32GB model is available for $499.99 and 64GB of storage will cost $599.99, and while December 12th marks the start of the tablet's availability online, it won't reach retailers' shelves until the 19th.Read more

The beta version of Skifta appeared back in February. It was a cool app for beaming media on your smartphone to any DLNA capable device, especially Internet-connected TVs. Now the full version is available, and it's added a sweet new feature, which allows you to stream media from your other gear to your Android device, over 3G.

The makers of Skifta, Qualcomm Atheros, also announced a new media server plug in for Linux, OS X and Windows that lets you pull music and movies from your home PC to your phone or tablet, even while you're on the road.

Skifta also has a Channel Library which allows you quickly queue up content from Facebook, TED, ShoutCast, Revision3 and more.Read more

Google's Android website, the official site of everything Android, has just posted a thorough whitepaper on the upcoming Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system. Actually the new OS just debuted on Monday with the release of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus launch.

While Gingerbread was designed for smartphones and Honeycomb for tablets, the new operating system has been designed for both the mobile handsets and tablets.

New features of Ice Cream Sandwich include multitasking, rich notifications as well as home screens that can be highly customized, rather than using just a standard grid layout.

Full details of the new operating system from Android.com are below....

Introducing Android 4.0

Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) is the latest version of the Android platform for phones, tablets, and more. It builds on the things people love most about Android — easy multitasking, rich notifications, customizable home screens, resizable widgets, and deep interactivity — and adds powerful new ways of communicating and sharing.Read more

AT&T has released its Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals and steals, offering some of this season's hottest devices with select Androids and Blackberry's for as little as a penny. The best part? No waiting in line at the store, AT&T is putting them all online, at att.com!

Beginning at 12:01 a.m. ET on Friday, November 25, the following promotions will be available for online shoppers while supplies last. Free shipping and waived activation is included:

• Friday, November 25, 12:01 a.m. ET: Touchscreen devices, including tablets, starting at unbelievably low prices
• Saturday, November 26, 12:01 a.m. ET: All Windows 7 and select Android devices, for just $.01
• Sunday, November 27, 12:01 a.m. ET: BlackBerry 9860 for only $.01, HTC Red Inspire for $29.99
• Monday, November 28, 12:01 a.m. ET: A lineup of some of AT&T's most popular smartphones—Motorola Atrix, Samsung Infuse, BlackBerry 9810, HTC Inspire and LG Thrill—all for only one cent!

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The tablet market, which was cited as the fastest growing sector in technology by every tech publication imaginable a couple of months ago, might be seeing an abrupt shift in this designation. While industry experts saw every manufacturing giant scrambling to come out with their own best-selling slate this year, the emerging consensus today cites a trend that might be leaning back towards PC manufacturing.

A number of recent tablets entering the market may make a quick exit because many PC vendors such as Acer, ASUS, HP and Dell may abandon the tablet market next year. These companies have gained very little traction in the tablet space according to reports, as they lack competitive advantages due to a few key players like Apple and Amazon, which seem to have cornered the market.

Industry experts also state that these same key players are looking to bring cheaper and more compelling tablets to market, making it increasingly difficult for companies like HP and Dell to compete. Additionally, you may have seen tablet hardware prices falling. There's a reason for this. Apple, Amazon and Barnes and Noble are seeing significantly higher margins and profit from their content platforms rather than hardware sales, so they are willing to sell devices at rock bottom prices that traditional PC vendors will be unable to match.Read more

Adobe just released six new Adobe Touch Apps for Android tablet owners. Based on Adobe's Creative Suite, the new apps give tablet owners the tools needed to design, edit, and present their work, all on their tablet. The new apps are optimized for a touchscreen interface and include Adobe Photoshop Touch for image editing, Adobe Collage for moodboards, Adobe Debut for presenting and reviewing creative work, Adobe Ideas for sketching, Adobe Kuler for exploring color themes and Adobe Proto for website and mobile app prototyping.

The new Adobe Touch Apps will be components of Adobe Creative Cloud, which will launch in the first half of 2012. Files created via Adobe Touch Apps will be able to be viewed across devices, shared or transferred through Adobe Creative Cloud for access from almost anywhere.

"Adobe Touch Apps will transform how people use tablets – from mere consumption devices to vehicles for expression and creativity," said David Wadhwani, senior vice president and general manager, Digital Media Business Unit, Adobe. "Our touch apps will be a key component in Adobe's full Creative Cloud offering, coming in 2012." Read more