HTC to lose #1 Android market share as Motorola sweeps in to take 2010?

Wow, what a difference a year makes. It wasn’t that long ago that we were sounding the death tone for Motorola. A company that had risen so high with their popular Razr cellphone several years back and fallen into a black hole of a slump, churning out crappy and unoriginal handsets left and right. And then came Android with it’s open architecture and high level of customization that helped Motorola find their groove again when they released the Motorola DROID back in November of 2009.

To date, it is easily one of the best selling Android devices on the market. While sales aren’t increasing like they were at launch, consumer attention on the phone itself is still high — just take a look at DroidForums or Alldroid. The Moto DROID is far from the end of it’s life.

As many of you know however, the DROID isn’t Motorola’s only Android device. Here in the states they’ve also got the Cliq and Backflip with many more in the wings. It is this momentum and laser focused attention on Android and Android only that is paving the way for Motorola to take over the title of #1 Android manufacturer from HTC.

Again, a year in the digital world, especially the mobile world is an eternity. Granted, it isn’t necessarily any fault of HTC’s for losing the title but more because of their “sharing of wealth” with other platforms such as BREW and Windows Mobile as well.

As long as Motorola doesn’t get to stuck in the mindset of “quantity > quality”, 2010 and beyond looks to be on the up and up. The side benefit of this is of course the lighting of the proverbial fire under HTC. As always, when companies compete, consumers win.

DigiTimes

[Moto Droid Image Source]

GTA “The Lost And Dammed” and “The Ballad of Gay Tony” coming for PS3 and PC March 30th.

Mark your calendars GTA junkies for March 30th is your day to rejoice. It is on this day that Microsoft loses their exclusivity and GTA’s wildly popular expansion packs — “The Lost And Dammed” and “The Ballad of Gay Tony” — can finally be released to other systems. It is on that day that the PS3 and PC gaming world will finally be able to wrap their heads around the vast expanses the two extra packs add to the overall amazingness that is GTA.

Similar to the Xbox 360 versions, if you’ve already purchased GTA: IV, you can forgo buying new discs again and simply download the expansion packs from either the PlayStation Network or Games for Windows Live.

Price isn’t quite set in store yet. But honestly, if you’re as much of a GTA junkie as I am, the price won’t even matter. Anyone out there in non-Xbox 360 land going to pick up one or both?

ElectricPig

Crunch numbers like only a fake Game Boy with a calculator stuffed inside could: The Calculator Boy

Mash up gadgets are always a sight to see. When someone takes two objects/gadgets that are on polar opposites of their respective spectrum’s and then smashes them together in beautiful, artistic geekery, the resulting creation is often more than the sum of 1 + 1.

In this case (no pun intended), we have the Calculator Boy. Created by modder Alexis Sepulveda, crunching numbers, whether for work or for play, will never be boring again. Ok, at least it won’t look like you’re bored. The only knock against the Calculator Boy is the price — you can’t buy them. Ya, it’s a bummer. Hopefully either Alexis or someone with deep pockets and connections sets up shop and starts crankin’ these things out.

Would you buy one?

Geeky-Gadgets

Samsung Galaxy 2 details and picture ousted?

The Samsung Galaxy seemed like it would have been the best Android device on the market when it was released a couple months back. In reality, outdated software, a “so-so” UI tacked on by Samsung, and a few other small inconsistencies have left the current Galaxy pretty unpopular in the states. Redemption is hopefully on the way however in the form of the Galaxy 2. The rendering above isn’t a physical prototype yet, but given the large number of similarities between this and rendering and the current Galaxy, speculating that it’s a 2nd gen version isn’t too hard to believe is it?

The current specs set to drop with the Galaxy 2 include a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, larger 3.7″ AMOLED screen, 5mp camera, 32GB of internal memory, and Android 2.1. Color me intrigued…again. The only thing left to see is if there’s a slide out qwerty hiding behind that beautiful face and if Snapdragon actually makes it on board seeing as how Samsung does make their own chips. Mighty interesting…

AndroidCentral Engadget > Androphones

Have a lot of peripherals? 80-port USB board begging for your attention.

You may have an external hard drive or two, a flash drive, a couple input devices, and a USB NERF Dart launcher, but when you really look at it all, it isn’t that over the top — is it? The manufacturers (Thanko) of the 80-port USB board — yes 80-port — seem to think there is plenty more in life we could cram into a USB port.

Before you get too excited, it’s worth highlighting one major flaw — you can’t transfer data between any two of the 80-ports. They’re sole use is for charging USB powered gadgets. Bummer doesn’t begin to describe how disappointed I am. Before I read that little spoiler, I was dreaming up images of dual 80-port USB hubs mounted to the wall and stuffed to the gills with flash drives, turning the boards into a new, ultra modern, extra small server farm of sorts.

Now that I see it’s lacking any real usefulness, the $208.68 price seems a lot less like a steal and more of a robbery. Looks like I’m going to have to keep on searching…

Geek4U > Thanko

The Floppy faced Obama…

There’s a geek. And then there’s a geek. What would you happen to call the talented person who put together this mosaic picture of Obama man can himself? Putting together an artistic masterpiece that will last the generations is a difficult chore I’m sure. Th talent and skill of being a great artist can be learned to some degree, but at the end of the day, it’s good ‘ol fashioned practice.

Speaking solely of artistic talent, the individual reponsible for turning a box full of floppies into “First Disc” — artist Nick Gentry — is funny yet cool to see. Taking your normal non-abrasive paint and gingerly re-painting over the discs is what garners the custom color wheel on Obama’s head.

Regardless if you like him or not, you have to admit this fine piece of creativity is one small reason to keep around all of those old gadgets we’ve been throwing away. But don’t take my word for it. Contact Nick Gentry and let him know your thoughts.

Microsoft CFO confirms Windows Mobile 7 at MWC

Windows Mobile diehards, all 13 of you gather ’round. Microsoft’s CFO Peter Klein has given us all a grand display of his loose lips by sharing that Mobile World Congress in Barcelona will in fact be the home of the world’s first WinMo 7 unveiling. Can anyone say saweet?!

For a quick refresher, WinMo 7 will bring with it legitimate support for capacitive screens, a heavily *fingers crossed* reworked Windows Mobile UI, and speed/navigation improvements across the board. All-in-all, for someone such as myself who has never liked Windows Mobile, this one actually has me pretty excited.

Anyone else out there experiencing a quickening heart rate?

[CyberNetNews

IntoMobile