The Motorola Sholes is a hot topic here at Android Central HQ partly because of our excitement for a Moto Android device and mostly because of the disappointment that is the Sholes' teenage sister, the Morrison. We've been excited since we first saw the Sholes hardware and got even more excited after reports of the Blur UI surfaced. So is it possible to get even more excited about the Sholes? Quite simply, yes.

Why? Because if the rumors floating around are to believed--the Motorola Sholes will run Eclair and there'll be a GSM version offered (either for AT&T or T-Mobile) to go along with the reported Verizon CDMA version.

The Sholes running the Eclair Update to Android can be taken one of two ways--Eclair is closer than we think which means Donut is even closer than imagined or that the Sholes won't be available for a very long time. We're hoping/praying/crossing-our-fingers that it's the former and not the latter.

The GSM version of the Sholes is planned for 2010 and if picked up by AT&T, a very compelling Android device will be offered by both the number 1 (Verizon) and number 2 (AT&T) carriers in the US. And if the HTC Hero get's released on Sprint like expected, that'll mean every big US carrier will offer an Android device (T-Mobile already has two Android phones). Not too shabby.

Obviously, this report is merely a rumor but if all this falls into place--Motorola will be back and Android is going to get very popular, very soon.

[bgr]

Documents to Go is one of our favorite mobile applications ever and most certainly one of the top flight Android applications available. We've showcased how it works before and were extremely excited to announce its 1.0 launch back in April but now Docs to Go gets even better.

DataViz has launched Documents to Go 2.0 for Android and it'll include viewing, editing, and creating PowerPoint files along with viewing PDF files. Editing, creating, and viewing Microsoft Word and Excel files have been improved in this version as well. The full version of Docs to Go 2.0 will cost new users $29.99 and will be offered as a free upgrade to previous owners. There's a free version of Docs to Go which will offer viewing for Word and Excel files.

Any big users of Documents to Go?

The Dell Android smartphone has been expected for what feels like years now so hearing that Dell is going to make an Android Smartphone is hardly surprising--what is surprising is that it's supposed to launch within the week. What's even more surprising is that the US (and any Western country) will largely be ignored on launch. Say what?

Dell is planning to launch the Android-powered Ophone mini 3i on China Mobile and since China Mobile runs the China-specific TD-SCDMA 3G band, it pretty much won't work outside of China. Imagine that, a US company launching their forever-rumored smartphone in China and not the grand ol' U S of A.

No pictures, specifications, or any knowledge is really known about the Ophone mini3i yet but we'll be sure to keep you guys updated. Even though it's launching in China on China's standards, it's still a dellphone therefore there's still a chance of it hitting stateside. We hope.

[mobilecrunch]

Now this is what we like to see Canada!. After Rogers had dropped the price of the HTC Magic and HTC Dream down to $99.99, they're at it again! Rogers just recently dropped the price AGAIN to an even more affordable $79.99 (with 3 year contract). We're hoping the price drop is a sign that newer Android devices are coming (HTC Hero anyone?) and not indicative of poor sales. At $79.99 the HTC Magic and HTC Dream are wonderful deals--hopefully T-Mobile will toss us Americans a bone by offering a similar deal!

[via engadget]

The Motorola Morrison isn't the most popular device around Android Central, we were very disappointed in its look and felt it was targeted more towards texting teenagers than any other market. So though the Morrison will run Android (no word if it'll run Blur), Android may be simply an afterthought for most customers--they'll surely be more interested in its electric blue color rather than using an open source OS.

But maybe the leaked Morrison specs can change our mind:

• Qualcomm 528 MHz CPU
• 320x480 HVGA display
• 256 MB of RAM, 512 MB flash memory
• microSDHC support (32GB)
• accelerometer, magnetometer, proximity sensor & ambient light sensor
• 5 MP camera with autofocus
• GPS, 3G, and Wi-Fi

It definitely won't be pushing the envelope in terms of power but it looks to be a perfectly suitable smartphone. A rumored release date sets the Morrison launch on October 21st. We're hoping for it a little sooner.

What do you guys think about these reported specs of the Motorola Morrison? Better yet, what do you guys think about the Morrison?

[gizmodo]

There's not much to see here but some some internal information on the HTC Fiesta, a device reported to run Android, have leaked. The specs for this HTC 'Fiesta' are hardly worthy of a party:

• QVGA 240x320 display
• Numeric keyboard (presumably no physical QWERTY)

We don't expect as big a push for the HTC Fiesta as opposed to the HTC Hero or HTC Magic, those devices were obviously the higher end while the Fiesta seems to be the mid-to-low range. But still, it's much too early in the game to write any product--we're still excited to see what the HTC Fiesta manifests itself into.

[bgr]

Who says August is a slow news month?

The new trend for Android phones: custom built UI's. The HTC Hero has the Sense UI built on top of Android, the Sony XPERIA 'Rachael' has a drool-worthy interface, and now Motorola will have 'Blur'. According to BGR:

It will combine all personal contacts and social networking sites into a clean and easy to use interface...The skin/OS is named “Blur” by Motorola and will be heavily web-connected. All Android devices will be able to upgrade different sections of the OS and interface all over the air.

That blurb on 'Blur' doesn't do much in the specifics department but we can obviously expect heavy emphasis on social networking sites (facebook, twitter) and maybe even some webOS-like features. Either way, we're very, very excited to see what Motorola can cook up with Android--HTC Sense and the 'Rachael' UI are absolutely wonderful, hopefully Motorola's Blur can be the same.

We know that Samsung is dabbling with Android, what with the Samsung Galaxy already launched, but did you know that Samsung is planning to release a sub-$100 Android Phone? According to Casey Ryan, Samsung's Product Manager of another device, the Reclaim, "by next year, touch-screen phones, with full Web browsers running the Android operating system will be available for well under $100."

Having a sub-$100 Android Phone in any economy would be a game changer, let alone our current economic state. Details are predictably sparse but we're hoping that Samsung can deliver a compelling option at that price point. That'll certainly get a lot more people into the Android ecosystem!

[nyt]

Android and Facebook haven't always gotten along but we've heard reports that they've set aside their differences and that an official Facebook App for Android was on the way. Though the Android Facebook App was going to be considerably different than the very popular iPhone Facebook App, we were absolutely positive that the Android Facebook App was going to take advantage of Android's unique features and deliver a worthwhile experience.

And though we previously knew very little of the Facebook App, some screenshots has come to light.  The screenshots don't depict everything that the App will be capable of but we're sure Facebook fans will be satisfied, the App even seems to come with a widget! We're fairly certain that an official Facebook offering will be a more compelling option than the current 3rd party applications but honestly we'll have to wait and see. Let's hope that Facebook will deliver a great experience for the Android platform!

[mobilecrunch]