Shocker: Baidu replaces Google as default Android search engine in the land of the Great Firewall.

After watching the events surrounding Google and China displayed across the world’s various media sources unfold, word of Google not being the default Android search engine shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. While Google is for all intents and purposes “done” with China, those who already had or want any more Android lovin’ and find themselves between a firewall rock and a hard place were left wondering what would happen without the core Google products on board.

For search anyway, Baidu is here to save the day, pushing out Google and furthering it’s progress to 100% market share. What is still unknown however is what will happen to the two delayed Moto Android handsets that were destined for China Unicom. And so we wait….

MobileBurn

Kamikaze 64: GoldEye and Super Mario 64 on the Go. ‘Nough said.

Oh geeze, sit down because the Kamikaze 64 will knock your socks off. While not the smallest portable N64 mod, it is no doubt just as impressive to hold in your hands thinking of how a few short years ago, such power in the palm of your hand was means for a joke. God how I love the future.

There isn’t much to learn in the way of pricing. But word is that it was a custom one-off job so don’t expect to drop cash for your own anytime soon. If you really want one that bad, looks like you’ll have to go all scientist/engineer and design/build your own.

Is anyone finding this as cool as I am? I mean, mobile GoldenEye sessions sound all too amazing. “What’s that aunti? I can’t hear you because I just got decimated by a block faced Russian dude…”

Video

Engadget > BenCheck Forums

Motorola to try their hand at split-qwerty design with the MOTOSPLIT

Someone please tell Motorola their caps key is locked…

If you’re old enough or been in the tech scene for a few years, you’ve no doubt seen your fair share of attempts at the split keyboard design. Is it a mobile version of some ergonomic keyboard? That’s at least what I compare it too. Either way, such designs have never been too popular with consumers as clunky design and use of said keyboards makes the whole experience more pain than pleasure. But that isn’t stopping Motorola.

Riding on the DROID popularity wave and new found sense of quality products (Moto Backflip excluded), Motorola is going to take another stab at what so many others have failed to do — design a worth split-keyboard phone that is actually attractive, usable, and durable. Which I’d say is no small feat.

By now you’ve probably skimmed over most of this and instead just looked at the picture above. (Hey, it’s ok. I don’t hate you.) As you can see, the keyboard is very split into two distinct pieces. It almost looks comfortable enough to use everyday. Though durability is questionable if it’s as thin as it’s rumored to be. I can only imagine the anguish and pain in a user’s face when one of those flappy keyboard wings snaps off — the start to a bad, bad day no less.

Physical attributes past us, early reports have this phone powered by a Snapdragon processor pegged at the now almost common 1GHz as well as release of sometime in Q3 2010.

So what do you think. Is the MOTOSPLIT better than all previous attempts or is it another failure in the making?

Slashgear > AndroidCommunity

So thin is in….? Meet the LG Serie 1: 4:3 cathrode-ray tube goodness.

CES 2010: Samsung unveils gorgeous looking LED LCD TV’s no thicker than a pencil and a slew of TV manufacturers make the move to 3D. LG: we introduce to you the Serie 1, a 4:3 “retro-TV” complete with big boxy design and cathrode-ray tube picture that is also very “3D”. Uh-oh. Has LG lost their minds? No, not really. Joking aside, this little retro-gem from LG is actually pretty sweet looking (physically) even if the picture won’t be worth much. And to all of those bragging of their new age TV’s, remind them that your retro-TV is the real 3D…proportionally.

In the world of LED, Plasma, lasers, holograms, and 3D TV’s, I’m pretty sure this Serie 1 won’t gain a very large or loyal following. At only $214 it isn’t exactly cheap either, as you can get 25 flat panel inchers for around that price. Even still, if a little bit of nostalgia is more to your liking, well, this TV will do you no wrong. There’s only one other minor sticking point: It’s only available in Korea. Road trip?

Dvice > Technabob > Early Shop

Open Office & WMA support coming to BIS 3.0? Better Gmail support in 3.1?

BlackBerry users: Wishing you had some real mobile productivity on the cheap compliments of RIM? Do you have a library full of WMA music that you can’t get rid of for any rhyme or reason? Good news…maybe. A new rumor has cropped up that pegs BIS 3.0 as providing Open Office and WMA file support among other things. For the mobile road warrior in a suit, having Open Office on your Berry is a blessing of epic proportions. Likewise, not having to transcode (by the way…don’t ever, ever transcode music unless it’s from a lossless file to begin with) WMA files into other formats is a big time saver and stress reliever.

Hopefully this rumor holds out to be true as I know a few Berry users myself who would admire such revelations. Now if only the Berry toting population could get real, native, *full* Gmail support. 3.1 anyone?

Berry Review

“ThickButtons” aims to give Swype, other text input applications a run for your attention.

After spending slightly over one year with an iPhone, I have become pretty well versed in the world of soft keyboards. Though with my Moto DROID I’m finding myself using the real keyboard more often than not. Part of the reason is that I just like the real keyboard better. Chalk up a second reason to the soft keyboard in Android being just “ok”. The great thing about Android however is that it’s open to be everything and anything you want it to be. With that said, if you don’t like the stock keyboard, just change it.

Those in the world of Windows Mobile or Android may already know of a great app called “Swype” that makes texting much easier by allowing you to drag your fingers from letter to letter instead of tap-lift-tap-repeat. Added gesture support for things such as capital letters and so on is an added treat. But Swype isn’t alone in this mobile soft keyboard war.

Introducing “ThickButtons“, a new soft keyboard text entry app that is a little more “old school”. While Swype uses a new and innovative method for onscreen text entry, ThickButtons attempts to breathe new life into an old method. Instead of dragging your finger from letter to letter or the old tap-lift-tap-repeat, ThickButtons uses text prediction algorithms to enlarge the keys you’re going to use next in order to make typing easier, faster, and with less errors. The increase in size is roughly 15-20% — just in case you were wondering.

The concept is pretty intriguing and something I’ll definitely want to check out in the months ahead. Look for ThickButtons to drop for Windows Mobile 6.x and Android devices this March. Stay on top of the news by following ThickButtons at @Thickbuttons.

Droid Forums

DROID finally gets visually stimulating ROM: “Smoked Glass”

I can’t tell you how much time I’ve spent the last month or so literally crawling through every nook and cranny of the internet looking for a truly themed ROM for my DROID. Now don’t get me wrong, the collection of ROM’s on Alldroid, specifically the Sholes.info and bugless beauty ROMs are awesome. But they lack that visual punch I so desperately yearn for. And let’s face it, Android 2.1 is cool, but it isn’t “wow, that’s sexy cool. Know what I mean?

Furthermore, getting HTC’s Sense (a highly sought after skin/theme) ported from any currently available Android device is a pain in the ass to say the least due to the huge difference in resolutions between old and new. So what is a fellow Android lover to due in the meantime? That’s where “Smoked Glass” comes in handy. It’s a heavily themed ROM witha bit of HTC Sense flair.

“AdamZ”, “Speeddymon”, and “crotalusfreak” over at Alldroid have created what is easily the nicest looking DROID ROM to date. It also doesn’t hurt that there’s a few under the hood tweaks as well to keep everything running nice and smooth — namely that 600MHz overclock-that’s-not-really-an-overclock mod. Saweetness. My DROID is booting back up after flashing the Smoked Glass ROM so we’ll see how it goes. While we wait, the spec sheet for the ROM….

- Android 2.0.1 (completely deodexed – courtesy of Speeddymon & crotalusfreak)
- Overclocked (600Mhz/125Mhz default)
- 2.1 Launcher (thanks to xeudoxus)
- 2.0.1 Launcher w/ 5 Screens (thanks to xeudoxus)
- 2.1 Music Player (thanks to jinx10000)
- 2.1 DeskClock (thanks to jinx10000)
- 2.1 News/Weather Widget (thanks to jinx10000)
- Milestone Multi-Touch Gallery (thanks to t3hSteve)
- Milestone Photo-Editor for Gallery (thanks to Pete)
- 2.1 Gallery (thanks to Berzerker)
- 2.1 Keyboard with Voice Search (thanks to Berzerker)
- All 2.1 Ringtones and Notifications have been added
- Removed: Amazon MP3 & Visual VoiceMail
- Over 500 Modified Images (ALL Images compressed and optimzed with PNGGauntlet and compiled with MotoDev Studio)
- Modded Boot Animation
- Wi-Fi Tethering is not installed – It works fine however… I will probably post another version with Wi-Fi Tethering included tomorrow.
- Coming Soon (1/23 or 1/24) – 2.1 Launcher themed with Smoked Glass Launcher Tab w/ Usable Shortcuts (Thanks to xeuduxos)

And as an added bonus, there are a reported 500+ images included to pretty much make your eyes puke. Ya, it’s pretty heavy. Whoops, got a little excited. Those 500+ images are tweaked UI images…NOT wallpapers. Hey, give me a break. It’s 3:30 in the morning here. Don’t forget, there’s a blue version and a normal yellow/orange version. I’ve already made fully configured nandroid backups of each. No bugs and pure speed with plenty of eye candy. Does it get any better?

Get at it and let us know how it goes for you. [Smoked Glass Moto DROID theme]

…HTC Sense what….?