Jerry Hildenbrand's blog

You should be able to gets your hands on the Samsung Galaxy Tab (see OUR hands on right here) through three of the big four carriers -- AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon -- according to a trio of source that spoke to the Wall Street Journal.  (Three carriers, three sources. Coincidence? We think not.) This meshes with rumors that the Boy Genius Report received about the Tab coming to Sprint and Verizon.  While no details of the final costs or release dates are mentioned, this shows that Samsung's push to get it's high end Android devices across the board continues with their tablet. 

Samsung is going to need the potential sales that having the Tab on multiple carriers will bring, as they expect to sell over 10 million tablets and carry a full third of the market through next year.  We would love to see it, but there's a little company in Cupertino that may have something to say about all that.  [WSJ online]

The HTC Desire from Cellular South (read our full review here) should be available sometime in the middle of next week, according to Cellular South's Facebook fan page.  This is great news for the many who have been waiting for the Desire to come stateside, and anyone who picks this one up is sure to be happy.  With the HTC Hero (also in sexy black), the Milestone, now the Desire, and soon the Galaxy S, Cell South is embracing Android and we're loving it.  Let's hear from you Cell South users -- represent! [Cellular South via Facebook] Thanks Adam!

If you weren't one of the lucky 30 winners of our Wave Secure giveaway, or even if you were and have a need for another license, now's your chance as Wave Secure (we went hands on in January) and McAfee celebrate their union.  With Wave Secure you can backup, lock, or wipe your phone from any computer, as well as track missing or stolen phones via Google maps.  Great way to have peace-of-mind, and saving five bucks is icing on the cake.

Head over to the Wave Secure website to see just what the app has to offer, and you can sign up and maybe save some pennies while you're at it.  [Wave Secure]

The Android 2.1 update for the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 (see our hands on with the AT&T version) should start rolling out soon, so it's high time that someone leaked a video of it in action.  This is great news for everyone using the X10, as the awesome and capable hardware, (we expect great hardware from SE) has been languishing away on Android 1.6 for what seems like forever.  Sure would like to see Froyo running on the X10, but we'll take what we can get at this point.

The video (after the break) shows a vanilla looking Eclair, but it stands to reason that Timescape and other UI tweaks will be around on the final version.  Some of the tweaks are pretty nice, so it's a fair trade.  As always, no word on when to expect the update, other than "soon" or "this month," so keep an eye out and let us know if you see it! [SE-nse blog]

Canadian carrier Rogers has announced that the HTC Magic + (that's the name they have given their refresh of the venerable HTC Magic) is now receiving the Android 2.1 update via OTA. Yes, it happens to be the same 2.1 update they have been talking about since February of 2010.  Good things happen to those who wait.

To jumpstart the OTA process on your Magic +, head to menu, settings, about phone, system software updates and select to check now.  This will fire off a ping to the server, and if you're lucky, you get a tasty eclair dessert in return.  [@RogersMary]

Andy Rubin, Google's Vice President of engineering -- Android development head honcho and the man behind both Android and Danger -- was quoted in the press release announcing the T-Mobile G2 that the Android Market now has over 80,000 applications -- up 10,000 from the last we heard on July 15.

“One of the advantages of an open platform is the opportunity for developers to create rich mobile experiences and seamlessly get those experiences into the hands of consumers,” said Andy Rubin, vice president, engineering, Google. “From new services, such as Voice Actions, to mobile applications, developer-led Android innovation is flourishing. On Android Market alone, the number of applications available to consumers has grown from just 50 applications two years ago to more than 80,000 applications today.”

Of course there is still no way of telling just how many are themes, keyboard skins, icon packs unauthorized soundboards or "Sexy Lady No. 357" apps.  Like all App Markets, you'll have spam.  But the growth rate is telling, and it pretty much mirrors everything else we hear about Android and it's ever increasing market share.  

Everyone knows that the best thing about Android is the fact that it's so darn customizable. As the adage goes, you can never have too much of a good thing -- provided you don't get overwhelmed by all the choice.  Today we're going to take a look at custom launchers.  Which one suits you the best?  Have a read (after the break) and be sure to vote in the froum poll!

The Zeen is the Android tablet from HP -- that gianormus company that bought Palm and still felt a need to bring us an Android device.  Turns out it really does ship with the Zeus printer bundle, and it brings a very different Android than we're used to. HP's calling it their TouchSmart UI, and it looks like it may be a simplified and functional desktop style arrangement instead of the standard homescreen and dynamic content system we're used to.  We've not actually handled the thing, so all this could be just a new skin and widget setup as well.  In either case, it looks like this won't be a 'with Google' device so the standard Google apps and Market are missing. 

In other words, instead of a new Android tablet, we are seeing a stand alone printer that operates on Android.  The fact that you can pop off the "control panel" and use it as a tablet happens just because HP was smart enough to think of it.  Even though it gives me a fuzzy open source feeling, I'm not going to run out and get it because it happens to be an Android device.  But next time I'm in the market for a printer you can bet I'll give it a good look. [Engadget]

The Motorola Droid 2 now has a custom ROM available.  Epic Unleashed 1.1 (don't be confused by the name, this ROM is only for the Droid 2) brings more to the table than many thought would be possible because of the locking down that Big Red and Moto attempted on the phone -- being deodexed, with some of the carrier extras removed, helpful shell scripts added, and a customized build.prop.  That's developer speak for faster with nice features, and we all can understand that.

You can check it out in the developers threads right here in our forums.  And if you're sporting a rooted Droid 2, you gotta check it out! [Android Central forums] Thanks, Matt!

Google CEO and Chairman of the Board Eric Schmidt took the stage today in Berlin at IFA 2010 to deliver the closing keynote speech for the world's largest consumer and electronics trade show.  Schmidt spoke about the new technology that Android offers, such as voice translation, voice search, and Google street view, noting that these types of technology used to be classed as 'science fiction'.  Schmidt also spoke about Google Chrome, and an excellent demo was shown.

Speaking of demos -- GoogleTV's official twitter account reminds us that there is a great demo of the upcoming GoogleTV product (due in the U.S. sometime this fall) that you can watch right here, as part of the full IFA 2010 keynote presentation (at about 32:00.

The full press release is after the break, where you can read how executive director of the IFA Jens Heithecker compares Schmidt to Einstein.  Yes, that Einstein.  [IFA,  @GoogleTV]