One of our biggest issues with the HTC Tattoo, HTC's next Android phone, is the resistive touchscreen. We believe that capacitive touchscreens have worked so incredibly well with the Android OS that to take a step back to include resistive screens is a misstep. However, after watching the video above, our concerns regarding the resistive touchscreen have been alleviated a little bit.

The guys at phonedog have spent some time with the HTC Tattoo and from the looks of it, the resistive touchscreen seems to respond fairly well. Even HTC Sense feels very snappy considering that the Tattoo is supposed to be a low-end Android device. What's most unique is that the customizable 'tattoo' moniker really rings true here, the HTC Tattoo can be completely stripped and customized to one's liking--the entire exterior frame of the Tattoo can be replaced.

Take a look at the video and tell us what you think! From this view, the HTC Tattoo looks a lot more impressive than we originally expected.

Because we've yet to receive official word on the release date of the Motoroal CLIQ, we're left with rumors, speculation, and leaked pamphlets. Tmonews has received an image of a purported Motorola CLIQ pamphlet detailing that pre-orders for the CLIQ will start on October 19th. Though we've previously reported that the CLIQ might release in October, this new leaked pamphlet is the most convincing evidence yet.

BGR independently reports that the CLIQ will launch on November 11th. This report would fall in line with the leaked pre-order date of October 19th because it would give T-Mobile a little over 3 weeks to fulfill the pre-orders. The timeframe makes sense because T-Mobile typically gives a little over 3 weeks for pre-orders (like for the myTouch 3G).

If the CLIQ does launch in November, that'll give Orange UK nearly a month's head start on releasing the latest Android phone. And though that isn't much of a surprise given that the UK has previously received Android phones early, it makes us even more envious of UK Android Users. To have the CLIQ (or DEXT) for free and early? Yeah, we pretty much hate you guys right now.

Motorola has just released a promotional video detailing the unique functions and features of the Motorola CLIQ. Though we don't really learn anything new (we've already known the CLIQ was going to be social network heavy), it's nice to see the entire feature set fall into place.

Though the heavy social networking emphasis may not apply to all Android users, we at Android Central love that Motorola has taken Android in a completely new direction. This is where the uniqueness of Android shines best--Android can be taken in whichever direction deemed necessary, thus fulfilling whatever need a user feels fits best.

What do you guys think?

Orange UK has announced that they'll release the Motorola DEXT (what we know as the Motorola CLIQ) in early October for the low, no price of free. Though us Android users in the US have no official time frame for launch and any idea of price, Orange UK customers will be glad to know that if you sign up for a new 2-year contract with applicable plan (£34.26/month, ~$56/month), you'll receive the DEXT for free.

Aside from the fact that we have no idea why Motorola chose two different names for the same phone, if T-Mobile can maintain the same launch frame (early October) and pricing (free) for the CLIQ, we guarantee a winner of a device. Our fingers are permanently crossed.

In the mean time, can anyone explain why UK folks always get their phones for free?

[orange]

T-Mobile just dropped the price of the T-Mobile G1, a device that's still near and dear to our hearts, to $129.99. If you've been following the riveting tale of price drops on the G1, it launched at $179.99 then lowered to $149.99 and is now at $129.99. T-Mobile is probably trying to move as many G1s as they can (with the CLIQ coming out) and though we appreciate the price drop, seriously, still $129.99?

For comparisons sake, Rogers offers both the T-Mobile G1 (Dream) and myTouch 3G (Magic) for $79.99. Even in the US, Amazon sells the T-Mobile G1 for $97.77. There's no reason T-Mobile should keep a premium on the T-Mobile G1 nearly a year after launch. We say if you still want the T-Mobile G1, buy it through Amazon and if you can wait, wait for the CLIQ.

What do you guys think?

[via phandroid]

If you're interested in the ARCHOS 5 Android Tablet, we've caught word that Amazon.com has started taking pre-orders for the much anticipated (or was it much expected?) Android tablet device. Though ARCHOS had originally promised that the unit would begin shipping on the 16th, Amazon currently doesn't list a ship date.

Prices for the ARCHOS 5 Android Tablet varies depending on hard drive size. From what we've seen, it's going to be $379.99 for 32GB flash memory, $329.99 for 160GB HDD, and $429.99 for 500GB HDD.

[tabletage]

thanks tablet boy for the tip!

Google just announced that the Android 1.6 'Donut' SDK is available for download. Android 1.6 introduces a number of new features that'll surely help Android grow bigger, faster, and stronger--specifically Android has now added support for CDMA networks (Sprint, Verizon) and additional screen sizes and resolutions (QVGA, WVGA).

Android 1.6 'Donut' also brings Quick Search Box for Android which is basically universal search that searches locally on your phone and through the internet at the same time, new text-to-speech APIs, and the beautiful new Android Market we leaked a few weeks ago. There's also updates to the camera's interface, improvement to the camera's loading time (39% faster), and a neat battery usage indicator that details which applications are using the most power.

Google expects Android 1.6 'Donut' to hit Android users 'as early as October' so this is definitely an exciting time for all Android users. New hardware and new software, it just keeps getting better.

[google]

hit the jump to see pictures of Android 1.6 'Donut'!

The ARCHOS 5 Android Tablet has finally launched. We at Android Central have been expecting the ARCHOS 5 to release for months now and true to their word, September 15th was their date. The ARCHOS 5 Android Tablet specs are the same as we've previously reported and to quickly refresh your memory, that's a 800x480 4.8-inch screen, 800MHz OMAP3440 processor, 720p video and output over HDMI, capacity up to 500GB, 802.11n WiFi, etc. internet tablet for your liking.

Early reports on the ARCHOS 5 Android Tablet have been pretty positive, it's definitely a better offering than your run-of-the-mill media tablet. Who's interested in getting one of these for themselves?

[archos] 

Google introduced Google Fast Flip today, a web service that fights the pain of slow loading news feeds. Because media-heavy sites often take up a lot of time to load, Google has sought to solve the problem by creating a virtual page flip for popular news feeds. With Google Fast Flip, Google is attempting to re-create the feel of flipping pages in a magazine in the web space. In their own words:

Fast Flip is a new reading experience that combines the best elements of print and online articles. Like a print magazine, Fast Flip lets you browse sequentially through bundles of recent news, headlines and popular topics, as well as feeds from individual top publishers. As the name suggests, flipping through content is very fast, so you can quickly look through a lot of pages until you find something interesting.

Google Fast Flip currently offers over 3 dozen feeds from top publishers in both web and print and it's very likely that we'll see more in the future if Fast Flip proves to be successful. We think Google has a pretty interesting take on improving quick news reading on the web and suggest you give Fast Flip a spin for yourself. Google Fast Flip is available through your Android browser at fastflip.googlelabs.com