See that little chip there, outlined in yellow? That's the Audience A1026 Voice Processor. It's the voice chip that's inside the Nexus One and pretty much the reason why the Nexus One can make such amazing sounding cals. How does it work? Well, basically the Audience A1026 uses two mics to identify the primary voice in the conversation and to eliminate the surrounding noise. According to Audience, "it also automatically adjusts voice volume and equalization during calls to adapt to local noise interference."

Phone call quality has become relatively overlooked as smartphones get more powerful. We're doing so many different things on our phones that it's easy to forget that these devices make phone calls too. Luckily, the folks at Google and HTC upped the technology with the Nexus One and brought us back to our roots. If you don't have a Nexus One to test phone quality, head over to the Audience web site to check out the demo of the A1026 in action.

How's your phone quality on the Nexus One? Getting any compliments or complaints? Or are you just having a hard time getting reception?

[venturebeat, image via ifixit]

You already know that the HTC Hero comes in many different flavors: the European GSM version of the HTC Hero, the Sprint HTC Hero, and the Droid Eris but this latest one might be the best flavor yet--chocolate. Yep, this Chocolate HTC Hero looks exactly like the European GSM Version but it's made from chocolate, yes chocolate--completely edible and probably delicious.

A few folks in the Russian press had received this chocolate bar from HTC which probably signifies that the real HTC Hero--complete with touchscreen, circuit boards, big chin and so on--is probably going to be released very soon. It's a really wonderful phone that while not as tasty as the one you guys have now, works a heck of a lot better.

HTC, can you send a couple Chocolate Heroes our way?

More pictures after the jump!

[mobiletechaddicts]

There's been a little confusion over Swype, the finger-sliding keyboard that has proven to be quite popular on Android (in unreleased beta form) and on Windows Mobile. The software made its way onto blog posts and forums, gained popularity, and then was quickly pulled. (And, yes, we know some of you were sanctioned in the forums because of it and a little confusion on our part.) Today, Swype explained the reasoning in an AndroidCentral post. Here's an excerpt:

"One might ask why we don't just release it ourselves and save everyone the hassle? The reason is that we have spent seven years building Swype and we want to try to make a living selling our software. Our current business model is OEM licensing. We do plan to get to direct-to-consumer distribution but it is a different sort of business with unique challenges and thus it is hard to say when.

So far we have released Swype on the Samsung Omnia II on the Windows Mobile 6.5 platform and we have a number of Android device launches as well as some additional mobile OS launches coming up soon. Because our partners are highly sensitive about their product releases we really cannot say anything further."

We're reposting the entire statement after the break.

Android 2.1 has been officially available on the Google Nexus One for nearly a week now, but the SDK had not -- until now.

There are a number of new APIs on board, including for the animated wallpapers, network signal detail, UI tweaks, geolocation permissions, databases. No real tells at first glance. No major resolution changes or super-duper space-age improvements. And unless you're a coder, none of this is for you. But the bottom line is it means newer and better apps are on the way.

Full deets here. [Via Android Developers blog] 

We've seen Android running on other Windows Mobile devices before, and now it's working on the HTC Touch HD. Check out the video after the break. It's not native (and I had really crappy results when I did this with my Touch Pro 2 a few weeks ago), but it looks like things are moving along pretty well now, with WiFi working, apps running and a number of Windows Mobile users feeling envious. Want to try it yourself? Hit up XDA Developers. [via MobileOSNews] (Thanks, Wen!)

Here's an internal T-Mobile document showing more on the myTouch 3G Fender edition. Walk into a T-Mobile store and expect to be sold on the "Fender Stratocaster-inspired design for finish and case" as well as the 16GB storage card, 3.5mm headphone jack, multimedia syncing, "exclusing media content" and "complimentary Fender accessories."

The doc also notes that "this device truly is a Limited Edition" and that there is a "limited quantity of these devices available."

Not mentioned: When we can finally expect the myTouch 3G Fender edition to go on sale (Edit: TMoNews' sources say Jan. 20). [via TMoNews]

From the Forums is a great way for you, our readers, to see the hottest topics being discussed. But you must be a registered member and becoming a member is a simple process. So if you have not already already done so, head on over and register now!

• We were among the first to report about T-Mobile admitting to looking into the spotty 3G coverage of the Nexus One and now it's being discussed in our forums as well. If you are using a Nexus One on T-Mobile how is your 3G service?
• Remember how Verizon offered Moto Droid battery covers free for a day or two? Well, how many of you actually have received your orders? I know I haven't...
• There is no such thing as a perfect device so now that you have your Nexus One, what would you like to see improved on the device?
• It seems that many of you who do not have the Sense UI on your Android device want it. And why not, it adds some nice visual flair to any device. Well now the Sense UI is available for the Moto Droid - sort of ...

See you on the forums!

We spent a fair amount of time at CES strolling through the Motorola section, handling the international versions of the Droid, the new Backflip and some Chinese Android phones. And Rene Ritchie from The iPhone Blog and I hung out in the accessories section and found Moto's latest Bluetooth headset, the Endeavor HX1.

In addition to having dual-microphone noise cancellation, the Endeavor HX1 has a trick up its sleeve should the background noise be too great to overcome: It'll simply turn off the mics and use conduction -- the sound of your voice moving through your ear canal -- to clear things up. Moto calls this "Sealth Mode."

Rene got video of the Endeavor HX1 at CES. Peep it after the break. (Full disclosure: We also just got the Endeavor HX1 in the Android Central Store. It's available for $109.95.)

Behold, the Lenovo Lephone. We're trying to decide whether this keyboard is a work of art, or if it's just going to give us headaches. The pictures point to the latter, though it may well turn out to be more usable that it looks. Otherwise, we're still looking for the 3.7-inch, WVGA device in the first have of the year in China. Loads more pics after the break. [Flickr via Engadget] 

During CES it was announced by Motorola that it would be sending out an update to their Android devices to enable Flash with Flash Player 10.1.  As you can see from the video (embedded after the break), Flash has been optimized for the Droid chipset and runs pretty darn smooth.

You can see Flash on the Droid looks like it is ready to go. And the Nexus One owners thought they had a leg up on Droid owners ...

So what are you waiting for Motorola, give us the goods already along with Android 2.1!

[Via ardoreal from our forums]