Is this the Sony Ericsson’s Android phone? “Rachael”

A danish phone website has come up with the details of Sony Ericsson handset, which appears to be an Android phone. The rumored Android phone from SE is codenamed “Rachael”, which is powered by the mighty Qualcomm Snapdragon processor that runs at a mind-boggling clock speed of 1GHz. Other than that, it comes with a 8MP camera and HSPA.

It appears to be a very thin handset, but thankfully, Sony Ericsson has equipped it with a 3.5mm headphone jack, which should allow you to plug-in your favorite earphones/headphones.

se-android-phone

[via mobil]

MIPS to make Android platform available on MIPS architecture

MIPS technologies has reported that it is planning to make the Android platform available on its MIPS architecture. MIPS (or Microprocessor without Interlocked Pipeline Stages) is a RISC architecture developed by MIPS Technologies. MIPS implementations are currently primarily used in many embedded systems such as the Windows CE devices and video game consoles like the Nintendo 64 and Sony PlayStation.

MIPS technologies announced that it will make its source code available for the public in 60 days time, for the development of applications. The MIPS announcement stated, “With the MIPS ecosystem around Android, OEMs will be able to quickly optimize Android for their specific platforms.”

“By releasing Android to open source, Google created the opportunity for widespread proliferation of the Android platform, and now the work the OESF is doing will help drive the platform in new directions,” Art Swift, MIPS’s VP of marketing, said “We look forward to playing a key role in proliferating Android into digital consumer devices.”

Commentary: This move will prove to be a big boost for the Android platform. MIPS platform was used in the early Pocket-PC days and then it was replaced by the ARM infrastructure. It would be interesting to see what MIPS platform brings to the Android scene

mips-logo

[via informationweek]

Another Android phone in the making : the General Mobile DSTL1. Also includes a video

General Mobile is planning to sell its DSTL1, powered by Android 1.5 aka cupcake, in the US and Turkey by the end of June. The DSTL1 is a dual-sim phone which also sports a 624MHz processor, a 5MP camera with flash(made by Sony), FM Radio, bluetooth 2.0 and WiFi. It also comes with a 4GB inbuilt memory. And, an extra battery and  a desktop charger is also said to be included in the box.

There is no confirmed news about its price but it is expected to sell for about US$550 to $750.

If this report is to be believed, then the DSTl1 would be the first non-HTC Android device in the market.

Here’s a video showing the DSTL1, running Android.

[via androidauthority]

Sony Ericsson planning to embrace Android

Sony Ericsson die hard fans now have a chance to rejoice. The mobile phone giant is planning to launch an Android powered phone. It has plans to launch the device powered with Android 2.0 aka the Donut.

A few days back we had published a news about the next version of Android, Donut. But, nothing has yet been said or heard about its release date. So, nothing can be said about the release date of the phone.

But why is Sony Ericsson waiting for the next version of Android to be released ? May be because the Donut is expected to provide much better multimedia experience. And, Sony Ericsson always had the reputation of providing one of the best multimedia phones in the market, in the form of its Walkman range.

“It does require a lot of evaluation, as well as a lot of testing, a lot of acceptance from a consumer viewpoint, and there is still some time to go,” CEO Hideki Komiyama said about the Linux-based OS. “Looking ahead, I think that we see this as one of the important operating systems, there is no doubt.”

Android does offer multimedia experience in the form of youtube, etc. But its no where even near what Sony Ericsson provides in its Walkman range phone. And, the biggest complaint I personally had with Android, is its speaker volume and quality.

So, lets hope that a device with the great sound quality of Sony Ericsson devices, combined with the funcionalities of an open-source Operating System, is in the making.

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