We’ve debated HTC’s headphone solution in the past, and while some don’t mind the mini-USB adapter often found on these handsets, it’s all about to change. MobileCrunch recently got this comment from an HTC representative:

“The vast majority of devices we launch after Hero will have a 3.5mm jack. Devices that we have already announced but that still come out after Hero will not necessarily be a part of this change.”

That news is music to many ears. I’d expect that the HTC mini-USB port won’t be going away on new devices, as it’s used for charging and moving data to a computer. But the inclusion of a standard headset jack means you won’t need that little mini-USB adapter to plug in your headphones. It’s not that the adapters are expensive, since we’ve seen them for as little as $5 in the past. HTC sometimes includes them as well. But adapters are just one more thing to carry or lose. And the current solution forces your headphones to be plugged into the bottom of the device. For some, that doesn’t matter, but I personally prefer a 3.5mm jack at the top of my device.

Google may have dimmed the excitement of a PC running Android with the announcement of the Chrome OS, but there are still those who want to do it. For them, there is the LiveAndroid project, whose developers are constantly working on getting Android 1.5 running on a PC. Version 0.2 of LiveAndroid was released this week and it runs as a LiveCD operating system. This means you burn it to CD and boot your PC into Android without worrying about your existing OS installation.

Android is not fully functional in LiveAndroid yet, but it shows the potential of a Google OS designed for communications. The previous version of LiveAndroid was available in a USB compatible format and one is expected for this new version 0.2 soon. That would let you install it on a USB stick that could then be booted just like a CD. This is the format most compatible with netbooks that lack an optical drive.

Hello, my name is Kevin, and I’m a Peggle addict. I play it on my PC, my iPhone and my Xbox 360. Soon I might be able to play it on my Palm Pre, and so will you. PreCentral caught wind of an audio interview in which Garth Chouteau, the senior PR director of PopCap Games, said:

“We have plans to support the Pre, as well as Android. There are games in the works for those devices.”

Now I wouldn’t call these definitive plans by any means, but “in the works” sounds pretty promising to me. Of course, if you don’t like Peggle, Chouteau could be referring to Bejeweled, Zuma, Chuzzle or any one of the many games PopCap offers. As far as the timing for any games, Chouteau did say that the installed user base plays a part in planning development strategies. That’s to be expected of course, and doesn’t bode well for Palm Pre owners. There are far more Google Android handsets out there that Palm Pre devices, not to mention a new Android device outed just today. While I wait, I’ll just recite my mantra:  I will be a Peggle Master on the Pre… I will be a Peggle Master on the Pre…

T-Mobile had their myTouch 3G press event this morning, at which it confirmed the launch of the next-generation Android phone in the U.S. The myTouch 3G is also known as the HTC Magic and is the successor to the original Android phone, the T-Mobile G1. T-Mobile is making the myTouch available for pre-order already for existing customers only with a guaranteed delivery date of August 5. The phone will cost $199 with signing of a 2-year contract.

HTC is producing some cool accessories for the myTouch, including a battery extender that plugs onto the bottom of the phone. There will also be a dock available for easy charging of the myTouch.

Image courtesy Gizmodo

The main surprise coming out of the press event was the T-Mobile statement that the very exciting HTC Hero Android phone with the HTC Sense interface will not be coming to the carrier. This phone is the first with HTC’s innovative new interface but it is not a “Google-branded” phone, which leads me to wonder if that’s why T-Mobile is not going to bring it to the U.S.

There must be some tech news today that doesn’t involve the Google Chrome OS announcement, but if there is, I can’t find it. The big news from Google and the upcoming new OS for netbooks is generating a lot of tongue wagging, but more importantly it is provoking a lot of thought. There are many ramifications about a Google Chrome OS that will continue to pop up over time and one of them has hit me right between the eyes: smartbooks. Those are the net-centric notebooks running ARM processors that were a hot item at the recent COMPUTEX trade show. Many of the prototype smartbooks being shown at COMPUTEX were running Android but now I’m thinking that likely won’t happen.

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The netbook world has been peeping all around, waiting for Google Android to get dropped onto a netbook. Android was designed from the ground up to be a full-fledged OS to power everything from smartphones to netbooks. It has one failing in the netbook arena, though: It won’t run natively on x86 processors. Google isn’t concerned about that failing, and the Android netbook buzz has been merely the misdirection before Google slipped the ball under a different cup. Google has announced the Chrome OS, an open-source operating system designed for netbooks and desktops from the ground up. It has gotten very quiet in Redmond since the announcement.

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A Facebook app using the genuine Facebook API has been released for the Android platform. Babbler is a full app offering Facebook function to Android and comes in two versions: a free, ad-supported version and a paid app without ads. The paid version of Babbler is $1.49 in the Android Market. So what can you do with Babbler? From the Babbler web site:

• see your newsfeed and your friends’ walls
• comment & like wall posts
• change your status
• write on walls
• view friends’ profiles
• view events
• browse friends’ photo albums and tagged photos
• background notifications
• background photo/video uploads
• share link from Browser or Youtube
• share photo/video from Gallery
• new UI with tabs

Since Babbler is a native Android app using the Facebook API, you never have to enter your User ID or password into the Babbler app, it gets that from Facebook.

The Guardian reported that Nokia was going to release a smartphone running the Android operating system later this year. The report garnered a lot of interest, as the Finnish handset maker has long been using the Symbian platform for its  phones and the move to Android would be a total departure from business as usual.

It turns out that the report was indeed too incredulous; Nokia has stated emphatically that it will not be producing a phone with Android onboard. “Absolutely no truth to this whatsoever,” a Nokia spokesman was quoted by Reuters as saying. “Everyone knows that Symbian is our preferred platform for advanced mobile devices.” The same sentiment was reiterated on Twitter early this morning from Joseph Gallo, a Nokia PR contact:

“re: Nokia’s rumored Android phone and you can quote me on this: We (Nokia) are NOT making an Android smartphone. Symbian is our platform…”

The Symbian world can rest at ease once more. Android is gaining steam in the smartphone area, with many companies planning on producing phones based on the OS, but Nokia is not one of those.

(via GigaOM)

Put those rumors to rest because T-Mobile is indeed launching the myTouch 3G with Google handset on July 8. This morning I received an invite to the media event in New York City, although I’m on the fence about attending. It’s a solid 2.5-hour drive for what’s likely a one-hour event, followed by the long return trip home. I’m leaning towards going, though, because the myTouch looks spectacular so far, and I’d like to see it in person.

You can tell from the pic on the invite that the myTouch is thinner and has less of a chin than the original G1 handset running Android. Dropping that slide-out keyboard will do that every time. Remember that the myTouch has the “with Google” branding, so I don’t believe it will natively support Microsoft Exchange, although PC World’s early look says it will. I’m fairly certain, however, that it won’t  have the sensible HTC Sense UI that’s making the rounds.

The official T-Mobile myTouch 3G site offers a countdown clock for T-Mo customer pre-orders, which just happens to correspond with the day of the media event. Om received the handset earlier and says the phone is worth the wait. Luckily, you don’t have to wait much longer to see more of it, although even pre-orders won’t be arriving until August 3.

We recently told you about the online community that brings new capabilities to a lot of smartphones. We even mentioned that the HTC Sense interface, a brand new UI on the forthcoming HTC Hero, has been put on other phones. Sure enough, here’s a video of that interface running on the original Android phone, the G1 (Dream):

It’s pretty slow, but that’s to be expected due to the older G1 hardware. Plus, it’s a hacked OS. I’ve seen somewhere that the new Flash browser plug-in has been spotted on some hacked versions of this software.

(HD Blog via Gizmodo)