Carrying a Sprint Evo phone used to make you feel special, in a geeky way.

It was the first true 4G wireless phones when it debuted in 2010, showcasing the Clearwire-powered WiMax network.

With a huge screen, sleek black case and powerful processor, the Evo was the baddest phone on the block. As long as the battery held out.

Now Sprint's releasing a more powerful version that I've been testing, the HTC Evo 4G LTE.

You feel special carrying this Evo, too, but for different reasons.

For one thing, it's contraband.

Imports of the new Evo were blocked this month by U.S. Customs, delaying its May 18 launch. The phones are being reviewed to see if they comply with a court ruling in a patent spat between Apple and HTC.

The Evo -- and an HTC One phone for AT&T that's also held up -- are casualties of Steve Jobs' going "thermonuclear" on Google's Android software.

I think the late Mr. Jobs is doing Sprint customers a favor by delaying the Evo's release.

The Evo's biggest selling point is that it uses fast, new 4G LTE network technology. LTE is becoming the new standard for smartphones in the U.S. and soon every major network will offer it.

Sprint plans to have LTE across its network in 2013.

The problem is, Sprint doesn't yet offer LTE coverage anywhere. It's promising coverage by "midyear" in six cities -- Dallas, Atlanta, Baltimore, Houston, San Antonio, Kansas City -- but won't say where it's coming next.

Yet it began selling LTE phones in April.

These phones also work on Sprint's 3G network, which is being upgraded, but there's no comparison to LTE speeds. Current LTE phones also won't work with the LTE capacity-boosting service Clearwire is providing Sprint next year.

This is like selling color TVs limited to black and white content. It's infuriating if you're already used to the newer technology.

I began testing the Evo the day President Obama was in town. Downloads were so slow I wondered if the Secret Service had jammed the network.

I tried watching a high-def YouTube trailer for "The Expendables 2." It was maddeningly slow, so I tried it on the free Wi-Fi at a McDonald's. It still froze and buffered more than a dozen times.

I tried the same video on the bus ride home, over Sprint's 3G network. The sound of gunshots roared out of the Evo's "Beats" audio system so I pressed the volume button, and the phone completely froze.

After a reboot, the video "loading" icon spun for another mile. Finally it began playing as I stepped off the bus, then paused to buffer 25 seconds later.

Network aside, I found the Evo to be a nice phone with an 8 megapixel camera, good call quality and far better battery life than the 2010 Evo.

Despite a massive 4.7-inch display, the $200 Evo feels light and easy to hold.

From the front, the case is plain but handsome. The back has an odd combination of shiny and matte plastic, divided by a red aluminum kickstand. It's not as striking as the original Evo or as svelte as the HTC One series (T-Mobile's One at left).

The first Evo's battery barely made it past lunchtime. I could use the new one lightly for well over a day without recharging. Sprint claims 7.5 hours of talk time, but the battery is "embedded" and can't be replaced by users.

There are many layers of capability in the Evo, which runs the latest "Ice Cream Sandwich" version of Android.

Especially prominent is an assortment of preloaded media apps. This profusion of digital storefronts is a little confusing.

Google's "Play" store and service get a home-screen icon and appear in the corner when you scroll through multiple screens filled with apps. "Play Movies" and "Play Music" also link to Google services. "Music" opens a folder with other music apps and "Watch" launches HTC's video store.

Another app, called "Media Share," is designed to connect the phone to a Wi-Fi network and share media files. I thought it would be cool to rent a movie from HTC and play it back through my home network, but I couldn't connect the phone. This was probably a user error, but it should be easier.

The Evo also has the ballyhooed Google Wallet and NFC capability. Wallet lets you load credit-card info, which is permanently linked to your Google account. Wallet also stores retail-loyalty cards, and Google will use it to send you coupons and offers.

With near-field communications hardware, you can wave the phone near special credit-card readers at some stores to make a payment.

That may appeal to some, but to me the convenience isn't worth giving Google my credit information. It's like giving Cookie Monster keys to the Keebler factory. If Google wants that access, it should provide a free phone and wireless service in return.

Others may also be excited to have a truly next generation phone like the HTC Evo 4G LTE.

It's a fine phone, but users will be paying $80 per month to use it on a last-generation network for a significant part of their two-year contract.

Here are the phone's specs, via HTC:

Network: LTE (Band 25) and CDMA 1xRTT EVDO Rel. 0, EVDO Rev. A
Dimensions: 5.31" (L) x 2.72" (W) x 0.35" (T)
Keyboard/Form Factor: Virtual QWERTY
Weight: 4.73 ounces
Operating System: Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) with HTC Sense
Display: 4.7-inch 1280x720 HD with IPS technology (In Plane Switching); Capacitive touch screen
Battery: 2000 mAh
Camera: (Main): 8MP color CMOS with auto focus; (Front): 1.3MP color CMOS Front Camera; Back Side-Illuminated (BSI Sensor); HTC ImageChip
Memory: 1GB RAM, 16GB ROM, microSDHC compatible
GPS: GPS/AGPS
Connectivity: Bluetooth 3.0+, 3.5mm Stereo audio jack, Micro USB connector with MHL, NFC, WiFi: IEEE 802.11 A,B,G,N
Processor: 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon Qualcomm MSM8960

Here's a photo taken with the HTC Evo 4G LTE, of the site of Amazon.com's forthcoming office towers:

Get ready for even more tablet options this summer.

Google is working with Asian PC makers to produce a Google-branded Android tablet that will be priced at $199 to complete with Amazon's Kindle Fire, according to reports in Taiwan's DigiTimes and the Wall Street Journal.

The move could add to the downward pressure on the price of Android tablets made by other companies, which are competing with the $199 Fire at one end and the $399 entry-level iPad at the other.

They'll all be competing with new Windows 8-based tablets expected in fall. Windows 8 tablets are likely to be far more capable than the flood of cheap Android tablets -- and cost much more than $199. But perhaps consumers and business users will be willing to pay more for computers that aren't bound to the advertising, marketing and web-tracking systems of Google and Amazon.

Google's new device -- the Gpad? -- is expected to appear in time for the "dads and grads" sales season in early summer. DigiTimes said Asustek is working on a model with a 7-inch diagonal display.

The Journal's story followed up with a few new details, including word that Google will sell the Google-brand tablets directly from an online store, an approach that didn't work too well with its Nexus One phone.

DigiTimes is also reporting that Amazon is working on several new Kindle models to go on sale this summer, including an iPad-sized 10.1-inch model that will cost between $249 and $299.

The influential Consumer Reports ratings team finally gave Apple's latest iPhone its blessing, adding the iPhone 4S to a list of "recommended" smartphones.

Consumer Reports declined to recommend the previous model, the iPhone 4, because of an antenna glitch that causes signals to drop of the phone is held a certain way. In a blog post today, the organization said the glitch remains and was found in new iPhone 4 models it recently tested.

Consumer Reports said it found "no notable" battery life problems in its testing of the iPhone 4S, contrary to concerns among some buyers whose complaints prompted Apple to disclose last week that it's fixing software bugs that may affect battery life in the new phone.

But other smartphones are still ranked higher by Consumer Reports, it said in a blog post today.

Overall, the new iPhone 4S scores higher in the Ratings than the iPhone 4, thanks to such enhancements as an upgraded camera, a faster "dual-core" processor, and the addition of the intriguing Siri voice-activated feature, which accepts and responds to verbal commands in a conversational manner, using a synthetic-sounding female voice.

These pluses were not enough, however, to allow the iPhone 4S to outscore the best new Android-based phones in our Ratings.

Top scorers included the Samsung Galaxy S II, Motorola Droid Bionic and other models running on faster 4G networks, the organization said in a blog post today.

Also outscoring the iPhone 4S were the LG Thrill, which has a 3-D camera and display.

In the organization's December magazine, two Windows Phone 7 models were noted on the "top rated" list but held the bottom positions in each category. Consumer Reports noted that they are older models and it didn't have time to review models with the new "Mango" version 7.5.

The iPhone 4S is mentioned in the issue but not listed in its smartphone ratings, because it hadn't yet tested the model at press time, apparently.

Here are the highest rated phones in the issue, listed by carrier:

Verizon: HTC ThunderBolt

Sprint: Motorola Photon 4G

T-Mobile: Samsung Galaxy S 4G

AT&T: Samsung Infuse 4G

It looks like the privacy hullabaloo over Amazon.com's new Web tablet and exotic browser could end before the device goes on sale.

I hope consumers and watchdogs keep paying attention, though.

The Kindle Fire doesn't go on sale until Nov. 15 (though it can be pre-ordered now), but tech experts began questioning the privacy risks of its Silk browser shortly after the device was unveiled last month.

Silk runs partly on the device and partly on Amazon's EC2 computing network, where the company will analyze browsing activity so it can preload bits of Web pages you're likely to visit.

Amazon anticipated privacy questions and was ready to discuss them at the Kindle Fire launch event in New York last month, but the media coverage focused largely on the new hardware.

Still, the question smoldered, then ignited Oct. 14 when a congressman big on privacy issues fired up. U.S. Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., asked the company to answer a list of questions about the browsing information it would collect and how it would be used. He asked Amazon to respond by Nov. 4.

A leading privacy watchdog, the Electronic Freedom Foundation, also weighed in. But after a phone briefing from Amazon last week, the EFF said Silk may not be as much of a privacy nightmare as it feared.

An analysis posted online by the EFF last week assuaged a number of browser and privacy experts, but they all said more analysis is needed. They also said that while Amazon is saying the right things now, diligence is needed to be sure the company doesn't misuse the vast amount of browsing information it will collect.

There are benefits to the hybrid approach Amazon is taking with Silk. It's been around for years, and millions of people now use the Opera Mini browser that has similar technology for accelerating page-load times.

"If it's done properly, there is no privacy issue with doing that," said Elie Bursztein, a researcher at the Stanford Security Lab. "It's actually sort of a good idea as you try to make things faster for the user."

It helps that Silk runs fine by itself on the device, with the online booster turned off, said Steve Gribble, an associate professor of computer science at the University of Washington.

He built a similar browser for the Palm Pilot in grad school, but it didn't have access to the huge, advanced network that's helping power the Silk.

Gribble said the technology is exciting and has all sorts of potential for computer science research, but the privacy concerns are real.

He said Amazon is taking the high road by pledging to not store personally identifiable information, and encrypting communication between the device browser and the cloud.

"They've done a good job so far addressing and being frank about the potential privacy concerns," Gribble said. "In the long run, people need to make sure they continue to do that and they don't slip down a slope toward misusing information they have access to."

The EFF's concerns were addressed in a call from Silk director Jon Jenkins.

"There were some major areas of concern that were abated by our conversation, but I'd say it's ultimately kind of a trade-off," said Dan Auerbach, a former Google engineer who is now an EFF staff technologist. "It's a lot better than we feared in some ways, and the user does get some benefits, notably the fact that their traffic will be encrypted. ... But on the other hand, you are trusting Amazon with an incredible amount of information."

Silk will anticipate pages you're likely to view, based on browsing activity that it's seeing and by analyzing in its data centers. Then it will start downloading components of those pages -- such as logos on a newspaper site -- so the pages load faster on the device.

Amazon won't index the whole Web, as Google does, Jenkins told me at the launch event in New York. But Silk's acceleration system will encompass "the vast majority of what I'll call the popular Web."

Amazon isn't crawling the Web like a search engine, he continued, "We're just using the information flowing through on the (Silk) Web requests to do that."

Before I could ask, he brought up the privacy issue.

"Privacy is super important to us, so we don't store any personally identifiable information about users or what they're doing on the Web, all of it is completely anonymized," he said, adding that Amazon has "built a foundation of trust with its customers and we will not do anything to jeopardize that trust."

To me, the privacy debate around the Silk browser is a little funny.

If you're truly worried about that sort of thing, perhaps you shouldn't use a computing device that's powered by the world's biggest retailer and a company known for meticulously tracking and analyzing site visitors.

I also keep expecting consumers to rebel against the walled-garden design of Kindles, iPads and Android devices, which are tightly controlled and bound to the platform companies.

Yet consumers seem more than willing to accept the loss of control and privacy risks, because the devices are fun, compelling and useful for communication, productivity and media consumption.

"The truth is that there are risks all over the place," said Hank Levy, chairman of the UW Department of Computer Science and Engineering.

Levy noted that Internet service providers such as Comcast can see your interactions over the Internet, information is potentially visible to cloud service providers such as Gmail and Hotmail, and services such as Facebook can track your online behavior.

"There's all kinds of software running in your browser that can track your behavior and does track your behavior," he said. "At the end of the day a lot of the Internet is being paid for by advertising, and information has value when services are trying to find the best ads for people."

Gribble said these trade-offs are inevitable. Technology can address some of the concerns, but "in the end it's going to be law and contracts and responsible disclosure that will help these companies continue to behave well and not abuse the data that they're increasingly getting access to."

The big test with the Kindle Fire, at least, will come Nov. 15 when consumers get their first chance to buy Amazon's cool new tablet for $199 -- less than half the price of an iPad. It will be hard to resist a device that looks like a good deal, even for people nervous about how much they're disclosing nowadays to the big Internet companies.

"There's a risk that over time you'll give up too much of your privacy, but you're getting something in return for it," Gribble said. "You have to decide whether it's worth it."

It looks like the long-awaited tablet computers from Amazon.com will launch next Wednesday.

The company has scheduled a press conference in New York that day, the same place it unveiled its Kindle e-reader.

Amazon is expected to begin selling color, touchscreen tablets bases on Google's Android platform but with a new interface. The tablets would connect directly to Amazon services such as it's streaming music and video services.

Amazon hasn't said much of anything about the device but a TechCrunch blogger spent time with an early version, according to a Sept. 2 report. It said the first tablet will cost $250, have a 7-inch screen and come bundled with Amazon Prime service that provides free shipping on products and streaming video.

Apple will continue dominating the Web tablet market until 2014, according to a new report from research firm Gartner.

The firm poured cold water on the prime challengers, saying Android tablets are selling slower than expected because of their shortcomings and Windows 8 tablets are too late to win over consumers.

Global tablet sales are on fire. Gartner predicted 63.6 million tablets will be sold this year, up 261 percent from the 17.6 million sold last year.

Growth will be strong through 2015, when the firm expects sales to reach 326.3 million units. By then, the line between Web tablets and PCs will blur as Windows-based tablets will be on the market, but Gartner's forecast blends both platforms.

Apple's share of the Web tablet market will fall about 10 percent this year, to 73 percent, but it will continue to hold more than 50 percent of the market share until 2014, the firm said.

Google's Android platform will account for 17.3 percent of the market this year, up slightly from its 14.3 percent share last year, the firm said.

Android's growth is slower than expected and Gartner lowered its growth forecast by 28 percent. It would have lowered it further if it weren't for strong sales of low-end tablets in Asia and expectations that Amazon.com will release an Android tablet this year.

"So far, Android's appeal in the tablet market has been constrained by high prices, weak user interface and limited tablet applications," analyst Carolina Milanesi said in the release.

Gartner's cool to the prospects of tablets based on Microsoft's upcoming Windows 8 operating system. It said buzz generated at the company's Build conference last week "might be short-lived if Microsoft's push to use the new OS across devices comes at a compromise in usability. Moreover, the late arrival might limit its appeal, especially to consumers, as Apple and Android will be more entrenched by then."

The firm sees the biggest opportunity for Windows 8 tablets in large copmanies where IT departments will like the way it works with other Microsoft products.

Research In Motion's new QNX platform is "promising" but it will be a challenge for RIM to attract app developers while it's under pressure to maintain its smartphone business, Gartner said.

A chart included with the release:

I wonder if it cost Motorola $6 million to build the Droid Bionic, which raises the bar for smartphones when Verizon Wireless begins selling it Thursday.

The specs suggest that it really is better, stronger and faster than the Droid was before.

The Bionic is Verizon's first dual-core phone that runs on its LTE mobile broadband network. Verizon says users should see 5 to 12 Megabit per second download speeds and 2 to 5 Mbps uploads.

The Droid has a 4.3-inch Gorilla Glass screen, 8 megapixel camera with 1080p video capture, front-facing camera for video chat and HDMI out for playing 1080p videos on a larger display.

Inside there are dual-core 1 Gigahertz processors, 1 gigabyte of RAM and 32 gigs of memory, including a 16 gig memory card.

It runs the "Gingerbread" version of Google's Android software - version 2.3.4. While working with Motorola on this device, Google decided to buy Motorola outright for $12.5 billion.

The phone costs $300 with a two-year contract. Its mobile hotspot feature costs an extra $30 per month, and a "Lapdock" that converts the phone into a laptop-like device with an 11.6-inch screen and keyboard costs $300.

Engadget's first take:

"Early impressions are those of a very nice phone. The styling is a bit drab, to say the least, but it's a sophisticated looking thing, and seemingly quite solidly built, too. The Gorilla Glass up front has a bevel around the edge that does give a bit of flare, but also succeeds in being an exceedingly effective lint trap after just one trip into a pocket."

Mark Smith at the Detroit Free Press said it's a great phone with all-day battery life during regular use, but he was cool toward the industrial design:

"It's an undeniably great phone, powered by the fastest wireless network in the air today.

For those who have been waiting out the 4G smartphone race this summer, hoping for a hit with the Bionic, your wait has been rewarded. This one is worth buying."

It sounds like a Steve Austin special:

Here's a look at some of the ways pundits are dissecting Google's bodacious $12.5 billion bid for Motorola Mobility.

Regulators will be all over this deal, wrote Arik Hesseldahl at All Things D:

"Whatever happens, it's going to take Google some time to get this deal done, and if it does get approved, you can expect some significant regulatory concessions."

Motorola Mobility gives Google a deterrent for its nuclear patent war with Microsoft, Apple and others, wrote Tim Bradshaw at the Financial Times:

Patent battles are a little like nuclear war: for there to be peace, each side must have armaments equally assuring mutual destruction.

Motorola has more than 17,000 active patents, dating back to the earliest mobile-phone technology, and another 7,500 going through the mill.

Google may have just acquired an instant nuclear deterrent - and that's something that the companies who have come to rely on Android may welcome in spite of the new tension the deal creates.

Google's wasting $12 billion on weak patents, Andrew Orlowski at The Register wrote (headline: "Has Google wasted $12bn on a dud patent poker chip?):

"These radio and design patents of legacy manufacturers such as Motorola or Nokia really aren't worth quite as much as their owners think they are.

Google has paid $12.5bn for a negotiating chip that appears to be almost impossible to redeem. In this light, the acquisition looks like panic, rather than a calm and carefully deliberated strategy."

The deal's not about patents as much as Google's evolving business model - and other phone companies should be scared, wrote Florian Mueller at Foss Patents:

It would be a mistake to look at this as just (or primarily) a patent deal. We're looking at a deal that would fundamentally change Google's Android-related business model ... The likes of Samsung, HTC and LG obviously don't have any other choice than to say at this point that they welcome the deal. They will continue to say that for some time. They obviously weren't going to bash the deal in public. But there's no way that they can compete with a Google-owned Motorola Mobility on a level playing field.

Google TV will be a huge beneficiary, since the deal gives Google the leading set-top box maker, Ryan Lawler and Ryan Kim wrote at GigaOm's NewTeeVee blog:

Until now, most set-top boxes have run proprietary operating systems. As a result, offering up Google TV as the underlying OS could simplify and accelerate the rollout of new applications on cable systems, which could improve the overall user experience on the set-top box. And by pitching Google TV as the underlying OS for Motorola set-top boxes sold to TV operators, it could very quickly create a large install base for developers to build applications for. The one question is how open that set-top box will remain if Google shifts from a consumer- to a carrier-based model for Google TV.

Even Google's Larry Page weighed in on his company blog:

The combination of Google and Motorola will not only supercharge Android, but will also enhance competition and offer consumers accelerating innovation, greater choice, and wonderful user experiences. I am confident that these great experiences will create huge value for shareholders.

I look forward to welcoming Motorolans to our family of Googlers.

But the deal could be a debacle for Page, thrusting him into "a crappy, low-margin commodity business," wrote Henry Blodget at Business Insider:

Google deserves credit for a big, bold move. But let's be real: This deal could end up being a disaster. How? Well, for starters, the deal creates major channel conflict: Google is now competing with its partners. And hardware manufacturing is an entirely different kind of business than Google's core business. And hardware manufacturing is a crappy, low-margin commodity business. And Motorola is massive--Google has just increased the size of its company by 60%. And the deal appears to be purely a defensive move, not an offensive one. And so on.

Here's a cool graphic showing the history of Android and the distribution of its various flavors, created by developer services company [x]cubeLabs, which I found via Mashable.

All it needs is an overlay with the Android patent disputes ...

Infographic by Android Developers at [x]cubelabs

Bellevue-based T-Mobile USA today unveiled the myTouch 4G Slide, a new flagship Android phone for its HSPA+ network.

The phone will go on sale in July with a khaki or black case. UPDATE: T-Mobile disclosed the price - it's $200, after a $50 rebate and with a two-year contract and data plan.

It's positioned as a phone for photography enthusiasts, which may help it compete with new photo-friendly models offered by Sprint and coming soon to AT&T that take 3-D photos and videos but don't have as many 2-D photo capabilities as the Slide.

The myTouch 4G camera has an 8 megapixel sensor and a new "zero shutter lag technology." The latter that begins recording as soon as you push the shutter button and stores the content in a memory buffer, T-Mobile explains in the release.

"When you snap the camera button, rather than waiting for a mechanical shutter, it looks at the time stamp of when you pressed the button and pulls the photo from the cache," it said.

Other camera features include a backside illuminated sensor and wide aperture lens for improved low-light performance. It also has a "sweep shot" feature for taking panoramic shots with one click, and a burst mode for taking multiple shots simultaneously.

The phone also functions as a 1080p video recorder and can be used to edit video on the device. It also has a front-facing camera for video chats, full HTML browser, support for Adobe Flash and Swypte text input.

Inside the phone has the HTC Sense 3.0 interface on top of Android 2.3 -- the Gingerbread version. It has a a 1.2 gigahertz dual-core Snapdragon processor, a 3.7-inch diagonal WVGA touchscreen and a slide-out keypad.

Research giant IDC expects Microsoft's phone software to leap ahead by 2015, assuming its hookup with Nokia goes smoothly.

The firm is predicting that Windows Phone will overtake Apple's iPhone by then, claiming the second largest market share behind Google's Android.

It's part of the company's quarterly Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker report, which is forecasting 55 percent growth overall in the market this year, driven by people upgrading to more advanced phones.

IDC expects 472 million smartphones to ship this year, up from about 305 million last year. It expects nearly a billion phones -- 985 million -- to be sold in 2015.

"The smartphone floodgates are open wide," Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst, said in the release. "Mobile phone users around the world are turning in their 'talk-and-text' devices for smartphones as these devices allow users to perform daily tasks like shopping and banking from anywhere. The growth trend is particularly pronounced in emerging markets where adoption is still in its early days."

Android will grow to 40 percent of the market in the second half of this year, IDC predicts. Apple's iOS "will remain a force in the mobile phone market" through 2015 but its growth is "expected to grow at a more modest pace through the latter half of the forecast as the smartphone market matures and diversifies."

The BlackBerry OS will remain in the top four but see market share decline, despite the overall increase in smartphone sales.

Microsoft's Windows Phone platform "will benefit from Nokia's support, scope and breadth within markets where Nokia has historicaly had a strong presence," the firm said in its release. But until Nokia Windows phones appear in large volumes next year, the platform will capture only a small portion of the market.

Here's a brief video clip of Google Music running on a Motorola Xoom Android tablet.

It showed a strong 3G signal, but the Web service buffered and fritzed. The service is still being developed so it's early to pass judgment on Google's effort, but the glitches were still surprising.

Microsoft buying Skype is like Seattle buying Italian streetcars.

On the surface, it seems like an outrageously expensive indulgence.

But if you can ignore the insane amount of money being thrown around and focus only on how it will help a few businesses, it makes some sense.

Microsoft already has powerful and widely used software for making phone and video calls and communicating over the Internet. Its messaging systems are among its crown jewels and used by far more people than Skype.

Similarly, Seattle is served by a vast and reliable bus system and is building up a light rail network.

But it still decided to spend $60 million - not counting priceless right-of-way - on streetcars that duplicate several bus routes. Sound Transit's going to spend another $132 million more more streetcar service.

Some people think the streetcars are neat, and they add flair and freshness to the mix of infrastructure in Seattle. But they'll never carry as many passengers as Metro and they'll probably never pay for themselves.

The trolley is largely an amenity, increasing the appeal of commercial property mostly owned by Paul Allen.

City leaders who took flak for this quasi subsidy may now feel vindicated by Allen's success redeveloping South Lake Union. The area along the trolley route has transformed into a vibrant, active neighorborhood anchored by Amazon.com's new headquarters.

You can't say the area blossomed because of the trolley but it helped.

With Skype, Microsoft now has a groovier, Web-native service that complements its established, industrial-strength communication systems.

Skype and particularly its video calling capabilities will be a focal point for the bundle of online services Microsoft will offer to consumers and businesses. Having one killer app in the bundle is enough to get people to enter Microsoft's online realm, or at least prevent them from logging into a competing suite of online services.

My guess is that Skype and video messaging will also be a cornerstone of Windows 8 or whatever the next version of Microsoft's flagship operating system is called. It's designed to work well on portable devices running the tiny processors used in smartphones, where video calling is coming to be expected as a standard feature.

Apple and Google have already developed video calling services for mobile devices and PCs but they don't yet have the critical mass of Skype. Microsoft has struggled to build a critical mass in search and now it has a head start as the next phase of online messaging is developed on fast, new 4G wireless networks.

Meanwhile Microsoft's going to use Skype to boost the appeal and reach of its Xbox, phone, Web mail and communication software products.

In its release, Microsoft noted that Skype has acquired the intellectual property powering its network. Perhaps that's a signal that Microsoft will assert its ownership of the patents, which could limit what competitors can do in the space or require them to send royalties to Redmond.

Skeptics expect Microsoft to fumble Skype somehow. To avoid this, Microsoft took the unusual step of creating an entirely new, autonomous group for Skype, giving the relatively small business organizational stature comparable to that of the massive Xbox, Office and Windows groups. Skype Chief Executive Tony Bates will be president of the Microsoft Skype Division, reporting to Steve Ballmer.

Microsoft actually has done pretty well with its messaging acquisitions. Key elements of Outlook were acquired, and it's now the most widely used email system in the world and an essential tool for most business PC users.

Microsoft also spent crazy money buying Hotmail in 1997 for around $400 million, when it was competing with AOL and Yahoo and was building out its suite of dotcom-era online services.

Microsoft's anxiety about falling behind Apple and Google no doubt led the company to overpay for Skype. But if the team in Redmond can avoid crashing their new trolley and it helps deliver a few big hits, the cost won't matter in the long run.

Spreadsheets and word processors persuaded people to buy early PCs. Messaging and mobile browsers did the same thing for smartphones.

If you haven't bought an iPad or tablet computing device yet, maybe it's because you're not yet hooked on "Angry Birds."

The addictive slingshot game is the killer app for these touch-screen gadgets filling the gap between smartphones and portable computers.

People buy tablets thinking they'll use them instead of computers, but most don't. They end up playing "Angry Birds."

Last week a Nielsen survey said most tablet owners are using their PCs as much or more than they did before buying their tablet. Earlier, the firm said games are the most downloaded mobile application, and the best-selling app, is "Angry Birds."

The game, made by a small Finnish company called Rovio, has been downloaded more than 140 million times, and at least 40 million people per month are playing. They're collectively spending more than 200 million minutes per day tapping and flinging birds across the screen, trying to knock down a series of structures built by obnoxious pigs.

"Angry Birds" was originally designed for the iPhone in 2009, but it's best on a tablet, where you can see more of it and have more room to control the aiming.

"It's certainly the most dominant game on tablets. There's nothing close to it, I believe," said Rich Wong at Accel Partners, a Silicon Valley venture firm that backed Facebook and invested in Rovio in March.

It makes you wonder if Microsoft hooked up with the right Finnish company to resuscitate its mobile business. Maybe it thought Nokia was behind the birds.

After handling more tablets than an Egyptian librarian, I've come up with a shopping guide, for those willing to spend $250 to $800 for the best "Angry Birds" experience.

Motorola Xoom, $599-$800

"Angry Birds" is prominently featured on the Xoom packaging, and the game works well on the device.

The Xoom's 10-inch screen is a good size for displaying both the launch area and target structure, even on upper levels with passages, outbuildings and stashed explosives on the far right side of the screen.

Although it's the first Android tablet with a dual-core processor, there wasn't a noticeable difference in loading. Nor did it reduce the wait time between levels.

On a bus, the Xoom's considerable heft steadies the device enough to play on bumpy roads.

The Xoom did cause one embarrassing birds incident.

During a discreet session Friday, before my deadline, the app abruptly froze. When I restarted it, it launched with the mute button off. There was no warning of this changed setting, and I was busted by the loud theme music.

Frantically tapping the screen and pressing the power button didn't stop the telltale flute. It took forever to power off, and paused to ask "are you sure?" before it stopped.

Otherwise, the Xoom scored well in the "quick exit" test. I could close the game and pretend to be working with a single click.

Barnes & Noble Nook Color, $249

After updating the Nook's operating system, you can download the original version of "Angry Birds."

The Nook market offers only the original "Angry Birds," for $2.99. Later versions and the free, ad-supported ones aren't available yet.

The Nook is the most economical option for tablet birding and doubles as a browser and electronic book with a 7-inch touch screen.

It also fits in a large pocket and weighs just less than a pound. However, this portability made it difficult to hold the device steady on the bus, where I experienced a number of misfires and errant shots.

Resolution on the Nook didn't seem as crisp as on higher-end tablets. I could see jagged edges on the blades of grass.

The Nook fared the worst in the "quick exit" test, requiring six clicks to exit in the middle of a game.

Apple iPad 2, $499-$829.

The iPad's big, bright screen is terrific for "Angry Birds" and provides plenty of room to aim.

Action is crisp and Rovio seems to put extra sparkle into the iPad version, highlighting edges of structures, for instance.

Both free and paid versions are available from iTunes, where the latest version of the game is the best-selling paid app. Two earlier versions are in the top 10.

There are a few niggles, though. The iPad version takes it upon itself to adjust the horizontal scroll mid-game, which gets annoying.

Also, every time you start a game, the iPad suggests creating or signing in to an account with Apple's "Game Center" service. There isn't an obvious way to disable this nagware, so you have to hit "cancel" every time. Then you get a message saying that "Game Center" is disabled, and you have to hit "OK" to start playing. This reminds me of Windows Vista.

It takes one click on the iPad to exit a game, return to the home screen and appear to be working.

BlackBerry PlayBook, $500 to $700

The PlayBook is a pocketable, 7-inch touch-screen device that's widely available. But "Angry Birds" is not yet available on the BlackBerry market. An emulator that will run Andoid apps is being developed.

T-Mobile G-Slate, $530.

The G-Slate has an unusual 9-inch widescreen display format that's particularly well suited for "Angry Birds."

However, the screen also partly cuts off the information displayed on the Android Market, including the "more" button listing additional version of "Angry Birds" available from the store.

Like the Xoom, the G-Slate is based on Google's new Android 3.0 software.

Currently, only free versions of "Angry Birds" are available for Android but paid versions are expected later this year.

Loading the game via T-Mobile's 4G network was significantly faster than it was on the Xoom over Verizon Wireless' 3G network, but the Xoom should be upgradeable to 4G before new "Birds" are released.

It takes a single click to exit a game and return to the home screen of the G-Slate.

Dell Streak 7, $200-$450.

The Streak has a 7-inch screen that's just a hair smaller than the Nook, but overall the device is smaller and fits easier in a pocket for portable play.

It's more like a computer than a Nook, and both its launch area and target can be displayed at a reasonable size. That makes the game more enjoyable than on a smartphone with a 3-inch or 4-inch screen.

However, the Streak resolution isn't as crisp as the larger tablets and the device would re-size the game between levels, requiring a tedious extra pinch to get the game properly aligned in the screen.

The re-sizing isn't a game-breaker, but these little design decisions lead to wasted time that adds up fast.

Seriously, how do they expect us to get any work done with these things?

Nielsen today released a report on how U.S. consumers are using their iPads and other tablet computing devices.

The research suggests that the risk to the PC industry from the iPad is there, but awfully overstated. It also makes me wonder how pleased buyers are with their expensive new tablets.

The majority of people told Nielsen that buying a tablet hasn't led to a reduction in how often they use PCs, netbooks, portable media players, game consoles, smartphones or connected TVs.

A tiny number of tablet buyers said they've stopped using their computers since their purchase - 2 percent said they're no longer using their laptop, 3 percent stopped using their desktop and 5 percent stopped using their netbook.

But a greater number of people said they've been using their computers more since they bought an iPad or other tablet. Nielsen found 22 percent are using their netbook more often, 13 percent are using their laptops more and 9 percent are using their desktops more since buying a tablet.

Can you imagine the conversation between spouses in those households? "Why did you have to spend $800 on that thing, honey? You're just spending more time on the plain old computer ..."

We'll have to see what the next few installments of the survey say about computing trends. So far it sounds like tablets are being used as computer accessories more than computer replacements.

It would be helpful if Nielsen provided information on whether tablets are meeting buyers' expectations. How many buyers thought they were getting a computer replacement?

The survey says 68 percent of people who bought tablets are using their laptop the same or more since the purchase, and 72 percent are using their netbooks the same or more.

Were they expecting the tablet to take the place of other gadgets in the home?

Of those that had another e-reader, like Amazon.com's Kindle, 72 percent said they're using their e-readers the same or more since buying a tablet, and 89 percent said they're using their Internet-connected TVs more since buying the device.

Then again, these are people who bought a tablet when they already had computers and perhaps a Kindle, Web-connected TV and game consoles. Maybe they just don't have much time for their latest toy.

About a third of tablet buyers said they're using their computers less or not at all. Nielsen provided a few reasons why, after asking tablet buyers why they're using the new device for things they used to do on a laptop or desktop.

Here are the reasons, which should be a roadmap for PC makers designing their Windows 8 machines:

Taiwanese tech publication DigiTimes has a nice scoop today, if true: It's reporting that Amazon.com has hired a company to start building tablet PCs that will arrive in the second half of 2011.

It said Taiwan-based Quanta Computer will build up to 800,000 units per month for Amazon. Quanta's also building tablets for RIM and Sony and hoping to build the next "LePad" device for Lenovo.

DigiTimes didn't name its sources and said Quanta declined to comment. It reported that "Amazon internally plans to reduce Kindle's market price to attract consumer demand from the education and consumer market, while (it) will push tablet PC using its advantage in software and content resources to challenge iPad2."

The device will have touchscreens made by E-Ink, DigiTimes reported. E-Ink began showing its new color displays in November.

I've asked Amazon to clarify and will update if I get a response, but I'll bet my lunch money it will be some form of "no comment."

Perhaps Amazon is preparing to release a tablet based on Google's "Honeycomb" version of Android, preloaded with Kindle software and linked to Amazon's new Android application market.

Or maybe the report's terminology is off and Quanta will merely be building the next vesion of Kindle, which may have a color touchscreen and be more PC-like but still a limited-purpose reader with a screen optimized for reading and not Web apps.

Today Amazon's Zappos store announced that it now has an Android app, joining its iPhone and iPad apps, but that's surely a coincidence.

Meanwhile Barnes & Noble's Nook reader has morphed into an Android tablet and it's been awhile since we've heard about new Kindle hardware, other than the ad-subsidized entry-level model announced a few weeks ago.

Building on its relationship with Google, Sony revealed two new Android-based tablets the company will begin selling this fall.

The "Sony Tablets" are based on Android 3.0 "Honeycomb" and will have 3G and 4G wireless capability. They have distinctive curved cases and what Sony calls an "off-center of gravity form factor" that "offers stability and a sense of lightness."

Two models will be released - a traditional 9.4-inch slate and a funky folding model with dual 5.5-inch displays.

Displays on the folding "S2" model can be used as a single large screen or to display content on one screen and use the other as a keyboard or for email. It looks like a replacement of the clutch-like Vaio P "lifestyle PC" that debuted in 2009 and is now being marked down by Sony.

What may make the devices stand out are the Sony online entertainment services that the devices are designed to access, including the PlayStation mobile gaming service (if the network is restored by then ...) and digital books distributed through Sony's Reader store.

Sony's also giving the devices infrared technology so they can work as universal remote controls for A/V devices including its Bravia TVs and video components. They're also DLNA compatible so they'll be able to select content on a home network and output to large screens and wireless speakers, Sony said in its release.

The release quote from Kunisama Suzuki, senior vice president and deputy president of Sony's new consumer products and services group:

"Sony Tablet delivers an entertainment experience where users can enjoy cloud-based services on-the-go at any time. We're aiming to create a new lifestyle by integrating consumer hardware, including Sony Tablet with content and network."

I wonder if these devices will also work as consoles for the next generation of Google TVs made by Sony. What would really be cool, though, is if Sony started bundling one of these tablets with new TVs, similar to the way HP tried bundling a tablet with printers.

Android devices are now the most preferred choice among people shopping for a smartphone, according to a Nielsen survey released today.

Google's phone platform is the preference of 31 percent of U.S. consumers shopping for a smartphone. Or at least it was when the surveys were done between January and March.

Apple's iOS was the preference of 30 percent of those surveyed. Another 11 percent are interested in RIM BlackBerry devices and 20 percent are unsure of what to choose next.

That's changed from surveys last summer, when Apple was the clear choice, Nielsen said in a blog posting today. Surveys done from July to September found 33 percent of smartphone buyers wanted an iPhone and 26 percent and 13 percent wanted a BlackBerry.

Poor Microsoft. Just 6 percent of buyers are interested in Windows smartphones. Their interest has actually fallen since the Windows Phone 7 launch last October, before which 7 percent were intrigued by the platform.

A few charts from Nielsen's release:

Hooking up with Nokia will help Microsoft overtake Apple's iPhone and Research In Motion's BlackBerry within a few years, according to a new report from research firm IDC.

The combination should boost Windows phones to second place among smartphone platforms worldwide by 2015, IDC said in its latest Mobile Phone Tracker report.

For now, the big story is Google's Android software. IDC expects Android will become the most-used smartphone platform this year, after zooming up to second place in 2010.

"For the vendors who made Android the cornerstone of their smartphone strategies, 2010 was the coming-out party," Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst, said in the release. "This year will see a coronation party as these same vendors broaden and deepen their portfolios to reach more customers, particularly first-time smartphone users."

Overall sales of smartphones will continue growing but not at the same pace as 2010, it predicted. Smartphone sales are expected to grow 49.2 percent this year - to 450 million units - as consumers and business users continue upgrading their devices, it predicts.

Llamas said the Nokia deal will reverse Microsoft's phone slide.

"Up until the launch of Windows Phone 7 last year, Microsoft has steadily lost market share while other operating systems have brought forth new and appealing experiences," he said in the release. "The new alliance brings together Nokia's hardware capabilities and Windows Phone's differentiated platform. We expect the first devices to launch in 2012. By 2015, IDC expects Windows Phone to be number 2 operating system worldwide behind Android."

The chart from the release:

Every time you turn around nowadays there's another huge tech trade show, at which a bunch of new phones and tablets are announced.

Here's a sample of the cool new gadgets surfacing at the CTIA wireless conference this week in Orlando. Some of the devices were already announced, and some still don't have prices and specific ship dates yet.

Sprint was the first to offer a 4G phone in the U.S., and now it's offering a 4G phones with glasses-free 3D displays, available 2U this summer for a price to be announced later. It's an Android-based device built by HTC, with the "Sense" interface designed in Pioneer Square.

The HTC Evo 3D has a 4.3-inch, 960 by 540 pixel 3D display. Inside it has dual-core 1.2 gigahertz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 4 gigabytes of internal memory and 1 gig of RAM. It functions as a 3G/4G hotspot supporting up to eight devices at once over WiFi and outputs 720p video via HDMI. On the back it has dual 5 megapixel cameras for taking 3D images and videos.

Sprint's also going to sell a tablet-sized version of the device, called the HTC Evo View 4G. It has a 7-inch diagonal, 1024 by 600 pixel touchscreen (without 3D). The tablet runs on a 1.5 GHz Snapdragon dual-core processor with 32 gigs of internal memor and 1 gig of RAM. It also uses HTC's "Scribe" system for input with a digital pen and works as a hotspot.

Yesterday, Sprint announced that it's also going to sell Google's new flagship Android device, the Nexus S 4G. The Samsung phone has a 4-inch Super AMOLED screen, 1 GHz processor, a dedicated graphics processing unit and Android version 2.3 ("Gingerbread"). Sprint and Google also said they're connecting Google Voice, so Sprint customers can use their phone number with Google's calling service. The phone's coming this spring.

AT&T yesterday announced that it's also selling a glasses-free 3D phone, the LG Thrill 4G, with a 4.3-inch screen, dual-core 1 GHz processor and Android version 2.2. The Thrill comes with 16 gigs of memory - 8 onboard plus an 8 gig memory card - and records 3D video at 720p and 2D video at 1080p. It also plays back high-def video thorugh an HDMI port or streams it to DLNA devices.

AT&T's also going to sell a version of the Windows-based HTC HD7, which it's calling the HD7S. It's going to use the HSPA+ network and have the updated software with cut-and-paste when it's released in a few weeks.

T-Mobile also introduced several new phones, including the "G2x with Google by LG," or the G2x for short. It's based on a dual-core 1 GHz Tegra 2 processor and Android 2.2. There's also an 8 megapixel camera that takes 1080p video and front-facing 1.3 megapixel chatcam.

T-Mobile announced that it's boosting the maximum speed of its HSPA+ network in a handful of markets - Las Vegas, Orlando and New York - to 42 megabits per second. To get those speeds, you'll need a new device, though - namely the "Rocket" stick modems announced at the show:

The Bellevue-based company also introduced a "value" smartphone, the Nokia Astound, that will cost $80 (after a $50 rebate) when it goes on sale April 6. It has a 3.5-inch AMOLED touchscreen, free turn-by-turn navigation and an 8 megapixel camera that takes 720p video. The Astound is based on Nokia's Symbian operating system that's going to be displaced starting next year by Windows.

The iPhone has a tough new competitor on the shelves at Verizon Wireless stores.

Starting Thursday, Verizon will sell the first phone to use its new 4G LTE network -- old school 4G, from the days when 4G meant either WiMax or LTE.

Called the ThunderBolt, it's a 4.3-inch slab made by HTC, running Android 2.2 on a 1 gigahertz Snapdragon processor.

Verizon said customers should expect download speeds of 5 to 12 megabits per second and uploads of 2 to 5 Mbps where there's LTE coverage.

Verizon launched its LTE network in December, but so far it's been available only for use with modems, such as the LTE USB stick that gave me stunning 16 Mbps downloads in Seattle when the network was wide open.

The ThunderBolt also works as a mobile hotspot that shares its 4G connection with up to eight devices.

It has an 8 megapixel camera that takes 720p video, a front-facing 1.3 megapixel camera for video chats and 40 gigabytes of memory -- 8 GB of onboard memory, plus a 32 GB memory card.

Preloaded apps include EA's "Rock Band" and Gameloft's "Let's Golf! 2."

It's not cheap, though. Verizon is selling it for $249.99 with a new, two-year contract. Unlimited LTE data plans start at $29.99 a month.

Google's Android operating system topped the U.S. smartphone market in January for the first time, with 31.2 percent of the market, according to a new comScore report.

The firm said Android's market share grew 7.7 percent from October through January, while Research In Motion fell 5.4 percent and Apple was nearly flat at 0.1 percent growth. Microsoft's share fell 1.7 percent.

Among handset makers, Samsung led the U.S. market with 24.9 percent of the market in January. The market leadership didn't change much; Samsung was followed by LG, Motorola, RIM and Apple.

The report's based on a survey of more than 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers.

Here are the charts from the news release:

Remember those rumors about a Facebook phone?

It turns out HTC and Facebook spent several years developing two of them that are being announced today in Barcelona.

HTC worked with Facebook to integrate the social network into the phones, adding a dedicated Facebook key with the "F" logo that pulsates when you're doing something shareable on the phone.

When taking pictures, you can press F to upload them to Facebook, for instance, or when using Google Maps, you can press it to share your location.

"HTC has brought Facebook to these two new devices in an innovative way enabling people to connect and share easily whenever they want, wherever they are," Henri Moissinac, head of Facebook's mobile business, said in the release.

Jason Mackenzie, president of HTC North America in Bellevue, said Facebook's logo appears on the special key but "we will not brand this as the Facebook phone or anything."

Mackenzie said the "ChaCha" model with a 2.6-inch touchscreen and exposed keyboard will compete with the BlackBerry Curve.

The second model is a touchscreen-only phone called the Salsa, with a 3.4-inch screen.

They'll be available in the second quarter, at prices to be announced later.

UPDATE: AT&T is going to carry the phones, perhaps exclusively, according to Ina Fried.

Both are based on version 2.4 of Google's Android software and have Facebook integrated into the HTC Sense interface.

When calling or receiving a call from a Facebook friend, the software displays friends' latest status and photos and alerts you if their birthday is coming up.

HTC's also announcing a tablet computer, the "Flyer," that will go on sale in the second quarter. It's intended to be a high-end device, with an aluminum housing, a 7-inch diagonal touchscreen, a 1.5 gigahertz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 32 gigabytes of RAM and HSPA+ wireless capability.

It's launching with Android 2.4 but will be upgradeable to the upcoming "Honeycomb" version of Android that's optimized for tablets.

HTC designed a new version of its Sense interface for the larger screen of a tablet, with a carousel for navigating icons and widgets.

The Flyer also comes with a stylus for taking notes on the device. Mackenzie said this is needed in part because it's a more polite way to take notes than typing on a tablet or laptop during a meeting.

HTC is playing up the Flyer's media capabilities. It will feature HTC's new "Watch" video download service and come preloaded with the OnLive streaming game service, taking advantage of a $40 million investment HTC is making in the Palo Alto, Calif.-based startup.

The Flyer also has a 5 megapixel camera plus a 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera for videoconferencing.

The price of the Flyer and bundled services such as OnLive will be announced later, Mackenzie said.

Also being announced is a new version of HTC's Desire model, with an aluminum unibody design; the Incredible S with a 4-inch screen (up from 3.7-inches on the previous Incredible); and a lower-end Android phone called the Wildfire S that's intended to be a more affordable smartphone sold for $100 or less by wireless carriers.

The Desire S, the Incredible S and the Wildfire S in four flavors:

Sonos, the high-end streaming audio system, is releasing a new version of its controller software for Android phones.

It follows iPhone and iPod Touch versions of the software that were released in 2008, giving people an alternative to its $349 remote controls.

Sonos will release the free Android application in late March. It will run on smartphones running Android 2.1 or later with screen sizes of 320 by 480, 480 by 800 or 480 by 854.

A screenshot:

Google's apparently not going to be dancing with Nokia.

Nokia's preparing to make a big announcement Friday, presumably about whether it will partner with Microsoft or Google to help revamp the Finnish phone giant's smartphone business.

But over the last few days, a few prominent Google employees have posted snarky comments on Twitter that imply Google's Android platform is no longer in the running. That implies that Nokia's going to announce that it will use Microsoft's Windows Phone software instead.

Fortune blogger Seth Weintraub and others called out the first, a coded Feb. 8 pronouncement from Google Vice President Vic Gundotra. He tweeted "#feb 11 "Two turkeys do not make an Eagle."

February 11 is the date of Nokia's partnership announcement. Weintraub noted that the "two turkeys" comment also echoes a 2005 comment by a Nokia executive, dismissing a competitive challenge from Siemens and BenQ.

If that wasn't enough, today Google's Android developer advocate, Tim Bray, trashed the judgement of Nokia Chief Executive Stephen Elop, former president of Microsoft's business division until last September.

Weintraub also spotted Bray's snark:

"Poor Mr. Elop. Has to make the big tech call not ever having written a line of mobile code or done system bring-up work."

Elop has a degree in computer engineering and management and worked at Lotus, Juniper, Adobe and Macromedia before joining Microsoft in 2008.

Bray tried to downplay the comment with followup tweets, saying that "I have no inside info on Nokia. What I said is also true of every other handset-maker CEO. Core prob in technology management."

Poor Mr. Bray and Gundotra. Their tweets also reveal something about Google.

Nokia's deal with Microsoft may not last forever. How enthusiastic is Mr. Elop going to be about Android the next time around?

After launching a series of tablets based on Google's Android software, Dell today gave a sneak peek at a Windows 7 model coming out in a few months.

The device is aimed at business customers - but will be sold to consumers as well - and has a 10-inch diagonal screen, Intel's latest processors and an iPad-like design.

That's based on various reports from an event in San Francisco today where Dell announced 39 new PCs for 2011. Most are updated laptops and desktops.

This must be new PC week. Hewlett-Packard on Monday announced its new touchscreen desktops and today announced its new laptops. On Wednesday HP's also showing off its WebOS operating system, presumably with new consumer tablets.

There are also several rumors floating around about Apple unveiling the next iPad this week.

Dell's going to start selling its Windows tablet in May, according to PC Pro's report, but I wonder if the mockup was rushed out to get ahead of the HP news.

The device shown today was a non-functioning demo unit, with a decal instead of a working display, according to Cnet's blog from the event, which has a good picture of the tablet here.

Dell's also going to develop a 10-inch Android tablet, joining the 5-inch and 7-inch "Streak" models now carried by AT&T and T-Mobile.

During Dell's presentation, an executive said big companies want a Windows tablet that fits into their IT plans. Android can also fit, he said, but more want a Windows version, according to Cnet's report.

Get ready for a bunch of tablet announcements as PC makers start building devices based on Intel's "Oak Trail" system and launch them in time for the graduation and Father's Day sales season.

It may be overshadowed by the scintillating announcement of Verizon's latest mobile billing options, but T-Mobile today is announcing a new tablet computing device based on Google's new Android "Honeycomb" software.

The G-Slate is supposed to be released this spring at a price T-Mobile isn't disclosing just yet. Built by LG, the device has an 8.9-inch diagonal, 3-D capable touchscreen.

It also has a rear-facing stereoscopic video recorder that captures 3-D, 1080p video - the kind that requires special glasses for the 3-D effect. The 5 megapixel camera also takes regular video and stills, and there's a front-facing camera for video chats over T-Mobile's network.

Inside there's a dual-core Nvidia Tegra processor with full Adobe Flash support, plus 32 gigabytes of internal memory, a gyroscope, accelerometer and adaptive lighting.

It's one of the first tablets using Honeycomb, which Google's going to talk up at a press event today at its Mountain View headquarters.

T-Mobile was the first carrier to release an Android phone, and the G-Slate is among a handful of Android devices its announcing this week.

It's also jabbing Verizon, mocking it for offering the iPhone only on its slower network.

The company's position, according to a statement relayed by a spokeswoman's message, is "why upgrade your smartphone and downgrade your network? It's no fun having a great device running on slow network."

T-Mobile today also began selling the Dell Streak, a small tablet with a 7-inch diagonal touchscreen, 16 gigabytes of internal memory and cameras on the front and back, capable of video chat and 1080p video recording.

The Streak costs $200 with a two-year service plan or $450 by itself. Monthly plans range from $25 per month for 200 megabytes per month (for current customers; $30 per month for others) to $40 per month for 5 gigs a month ($50 for new customers).

T-Mobile today also announced that it's going to offer the Galaxy S 4G this month, a version of Samsung's popular Galaxy smartphone with radios capable of downloading at speeds up to 21 megabits per second on T-Mobile's HSPA+ network.

It's coming preloaded with the movie "Inception" to showcase its video capabilities.

The company's being coy about the Galaxy price as well, perhaps hoping for another round of stories when that crucial detail is disclosed. But it will be a non-starter if it costs much more than $200 Sprint is charging for its Galaxy - dubbed the Epic - that runs on its 4G WiMax network.

Here are a batch of screenshots that Google posted of "Honeycomb," the new version of its Android operating system designed for tablet computing devices.

It looks like Android 3.0 is a big step toward a PC operating system, if your next PC will be a tablet.

The first Honeycomb tablet to go on sale will be the Motorola Xoom, which was unveiled at CES and will be available in late February. It has a 10.1-inch diagonal touchscreen, dual-core Nvidia Tegra processor and a camera that takes 5 megapixel stills and 720p video.

By summer there should be all sorts of Honeycomb tablets fighting for shelf space at wireless stores with the new iPad, Windows 7 tablets and Hewlett Packard's Topaz WebOS device.

Google's Honeycomb screenshots show new features of the system, but device makers may customize things so the final product may look different. The screenshots were released with a developer preview and tools released Wednesday.

Here is the new user interface designed especially for tablets:

The new tabbed browser, with improved zooming and a log-in feature to automatically sign into Google sites and sync bookmarks with Google's Chrome browser:

New camera controls; there's also a "gallery" application for viewing albums:

Developers can build better home screen widgets, with tools for flipping through 3D stacks of content, and touch gestures to scroll and flip through content:

Google redesigned the Android keyboard for the larger screens of tablets (versus phones, which Android initially targeted). The system also lets users select words by pressing the screen, then dragging little handles ("bounding arrows") to highlight a text block:

Here's the Xoom image Motorola released a few weeks ago. Word on the street is that this will cost $800, without a phone plan attached:

Lastly, here's the Google Honeycomb preview video released earlier:

(Today's column from CES, on Microsoft's Windows and tablet news ...)

LAS VEGAS -- Here at the Consumer Electronics Show, you can see every TV set, iPhone accessory and cellphone ever imagined.

There are thousands of products in more than a million square feet of exhibition space, packed with more than 140,000 people.

But what's really hard to find are people who understand what Microsoft is up to with its mysterious pronouncements at the show about the next version of Windows. It took me four days to come up with a few guesses.

I'm talking about the centerpiece of Chief Executive Steve Ballmer's keynote -- the show's grand opening event, where thousands come to hear what's next from a company straddling the computer, phone and entertainment industries.

Ballmer used the spotlight to present hardware test beds running the next version of Windows on the tiny processors used in phones and Web tablets.

Ballmer also touted the Xbox and Windows Phone 7 with flashy demonstrations.

But his Big Deal was a demonstration of this new software and hardware running Office, Quicken and a high-definition video clip in Windows Media Player.

This probably would win the blue ribbon and scholarship offers at a university computer-science fair. It also sent various messages to Microsoft's industry partners and competitors. But it seemed strangely out of place as the opening spectacle at CES, where most people couldn't understand the semaphore and Microsoft refused to explain the flags.

Microsoft was so reserved and calculated with the presentation, you were left feeling that the company was keeping the cool new stuff under wraps, and using CES to check off a milestone in its secret release schedule.

In years past, Microsoft set the show's tone. Bill Gates used to open the event with bold predictions about software and PC technology spreading into TVs, refrigerators and Web tablets. His keynote usually had a funny video or two, perhaps a celebrity appearance and a few exciting prototypes.

This year Ballmer showed Microsoft is making an important move. It's extending Windows to the minuscule hardware used to produce phenomenally thin and light mobile Web devices. The hardware is primarily based on the ARM architecture that's dominant in smartphones and Web tablets.

A lot of people think Microsoft missed this boat and will never get past the iPad's wake. The bigger competition, though, may be Google and its Android operating system, which was powering nearly all of the new tablets and smartphones debuting at the show.

Either way, Microsoft's big investment into ARM is "a huge, but necessary, step for the company as it works to re-engage with the booming mobile device space," IDC analyst Al Gillen said in a research note.

What's a little strange is that Microsoft already has versions of Windows that run on ARM. The Windows phone software runs on ARM; its mobile Windows CE software has run on ARM since 1996.

But Ballmer made it clear at CES that Microsoft intends to put the full version of Windows on mobile devices coming in 2012 and beyond. He said customers expect "the full range of capabilities from any device" and Windows "will be everywhere on every kind of device without compromise."

Once again, Microsoft is insisting that the full version of Windows be used on what it considers to be primary computing devices.

That gives the devices the benefit of Windows' support for all sorts of programs and hardware. But it can also put a heavy load on the system, affecting performance and battery life.

By pushing "big Windows" onto tablets, Microsoft is saying it considers these devices to be full-powered computing systems, with the capabilities of a laptop. Not just a tablet for browsing and running Web applications.

This pronouncement comes as the definition of Web tablets, and portable computers, is in flux.

Consumers and the industry are still trying to figure out the mix of computing devices we'll use to work, play and communicate.

Microsoft is taking a different path than Apple, which opted to produce a slimmed-down version of its operating system for the iPhone and the iPad. Its mobile operating system has fewer capabilities, but works well for the hardware.

The bigger competition appears to be the Android, which Google gives away free. Android is already overtaking the iPhone and is now aimed at the iPad with a refined version for tablets coming out later this year. Google demonstrated the upgrade at CES, and it looks like it could also become a competitor to Windows 7 and Apple's OS X.

Microsoft has to make some bold moves, because its execution hasn't kept up with its vision for mobile computing.

Early on, the company saw the potential for tablets and smartphones. The first Windows tablets launched in 2002, nearly a decade before the iPad, and its ultra-mobile, handheld PCs launched a year before the iPhone.

Yet ultra-mobile PCs were held back in part because Microsoft opted to use the full version of Windows. Hardware at the time wasn't powerful enough and was too expensive.

Sales were poor and PC makers turned to netbooks.

There were hints Microsoft figured this out. After the iPhone cleaned its clock, the phone group rebuilt its unwieldy operating system, sharpened its focus and unveiled Windows Phone 7.

Windows 7 was also supposed to be better for tablets, with the ability to remove more components and lighten the system, and improvements to touch controls.

But, for tablets, Microsoft's biggest partners are turning from Windows. Dell's new Streak tablet runs Android on ARM, and Hewlett-Packard's next tablets run its own operating system.

It seems Microsoft, with the strategy Ballmer discussed the other night, is moving to reverse that.

But even if it makes full Windows work well with devices, huge obstacles stand in its way -- if my tour of the international section of CES is an indication

A walk through the crowded stalls where Chinese and Taiwanese companies hawk every gadget imaginable, from flashlights to holographic video players, suggested Asian factories are gearing up to produce millions of Android tablets this year.

Last year, this zone was full of netbooks; before that it was iPhone and iPod knockoffs. This year every other company seemed to offering Android tablets, most with ARM processors.

But after talking to one of the manufacturers, I'm not counting on a flood of Windows ARM (WARM?) tablets at the 2012 CES.

The issue isn't hardware support or the software's capability as much as price, according to William Hsaio, deputy general manager of Hopeland Digital in Shenzhen China.

Hsaio hadn't heard of Microsoft's plan for the next version of Windows to run on ARM. But he said it won't matter when he can get Android free.

"Windows? Too expensive for our market," he said. "One license costs $30, $40. That's huge money."

(UPDATE: After this was filed, I heard from a veteran Microsoft engineer who shared a few thoughts. He said it could turn out to be more like Apple's approach after all - taking a legacy operating system to new processor architecture, with more constrained computational abilities, and leaving legacy applications behind.

Deep changes in Windows to make it run well on mobile hardware could result in new efficiencies and responsiveness that would also improve things on Intel x86 architecture.

Maybe we'll learn more about what's meant by "full power" Windows on mobile hardware at Microsoft's Mix conference in April or a developer conference later in the year.)

Here is Ballmer's keynote:

Say bonjour -- or ni hao -- to the LePad, a Windows-Android hybrid tablet launched today by the giant Chinese PC company Lenovo.

The hybrid, first unveiled at last year's CES but which didn't go on sale, is basically a laptop with a detachable display that functions as a standalone "slate" running Google's Android operating system.

When the display is docked with the rest of the laptop, it runs Windows 7 on an Intel processor.

Lenovo said it will begin selling the system in China in the first quarter for about $1,300. The tablet is also going to be sold by itself for around $520.

The detachable tablet reminds me of the one on the $350 HP printer I reviewed last month, but the LePad display is bigger and more powerful. It's a 10.1-inch diagonal screen with a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor inside. It weighs under 2 pounds, is a half-inch thick and runs eight hours on a battery charge.

"Our IdeaPad U1 and LePad truly fit today's mobile lifestyle," Liu Jun, senior vice president of Lenovo's Idea Product Group, said in a release. "Use the lightweight slate when you're mobile, and then simply slide it into the U1 base when you need to create and edit content. Consumers shouldn't have to adapt their lifestyle to technology, and this product definitely delivers twice the functionality and fun in one device."

A spokeswoman said the design was fine-tuned over the last year and Lenovo developed an Android application store for the Chinese market with apps customized for the LePad. Similar slate products and the U1 will come to the U.S. "sometime later this year."

First impressions of the Google CR-48 laptop running Google's Chrome operating system will be posted here shortly.

First I've got to get it connected to a wireless network -- Wi-Fi or Verizon Wireless -- and finish the setup process. There's no Ethernet jack and it's not connecting to Verizon's wireless network from inside the building, but I haven't fully charged the battery so we'll see what happens.

It's a snazzy laptop that feels like a stripped-down, rubberized MacBook. But the hardware is just a test bed for Google's big foray into computer operating systems, which is just entering a public test phase and won't come to market until mid-2011.

Update: So it finally found Verizon service inside the building - two bars of 3G. It took a few tries to get it activated. At first I thought it was because I hadn't first logged in with a Google account - I was trying to just use the "guest" option that doesn't require signing in - but it eventually activated.

A signature feature of the product is its built-in Verizon 3G service - which provides up to 100 megabytes of data transmission per month for free, for the first 24 months. But you can't use the free service until you sign up for a Verizon account with a credit card. Verizon then assigns the laptop a phone number - it's treating the device as if it's another phone on the network, apparently. Options include $10 per day for unlimited data and $20 per month for 1 gigabyte.

The system is really minimal - there's no traditional desktop, only a browser window that fills up the screen. To open multiple windows you open additional tabs in the browser.

It takes about 15 seconds to power up, at which point you are presented with a sign-in window asking for your Google account info. Clicking on a smaller phrase at the bottom of the window gives you the option to "skip sign-in and browse as Guest."

Signing in with a Google account, you're first prompted to take a photo of yourself with the camera built into the top of the display frame.

When you're signed in, the initial tab in the browser displays a set of application icons, giving the system a phone-like appearance. The first icons shown are for a tutorial, YouTube, Google Maps, Scratchpad, Gmail, Google Talk and two games, "Entanglement" and "Poppit."

There's also an icon for the Chrome Web Store where you can find additional apps for the system. Apps isn't the right term, though, since they're really Web sites optimized for the system. When you click one of the icons, you're not firing up an app loaded on the system, you're pointing the browser at a Web page. The app icons are really just a visual system of Web page bookmarks.

Over Verizon 3G with three bars showing, it's taking forever to start Entanglement. Clicking the icon took me to a page at Gopherwoodstudios.com, which has taken more than a minute to load. I switched to my Windows machine to do some work while it loaded and the CR-48 went to sleep before the loading was complete.

I gave up and tried to run Outlook Web Access, which loaded fairly quickly.

Poking around the settings, I found that Google lets you change the default search provider. The other options listed in a drop-down menu were Yahoo and Bing. I didn't see a way to change the browser to Explorer, Firefox or Safari, though.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Today and Tuesday I'm covering the "Dive into Mobile" conference started by the All Things D group affiliated with the Wall Street Journal.

Today's speaker is Andy Rubin, vice president of mobile platforms at Google, who started discussing the Nexus One phone the company tried selling directly to consumers through a special online store in January.

The company today announced its successor, the Nexus S, which is being sold through Best Buy and pre-provisioned with T-Mobile service.

With Nexus One, "we bit off a little bit more than we could chew," Rubin said, explaining that the "European" approach of selling direct to consumers and requiring them to hook up with a carrier on their own didn't work in the U.S.

The Nexus One was available with T-Mobile service and the company was working to make it available with Verizon service, but the company decided to end the experiment and put its effort into the software. It closed the online store last summer.

Both Nexus phones were intended to showcase Google's Android software, which has been a hit since it was released two years ago. Rubin said it's on 172 different phones in about 50 countries.

He attributed Android's success to "A, pretty good software, and B, it's open."

Rubin, a former Apple engineer, was diplomatic when hosts Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher pressed him to discuss competing with the iPhone maker.

"Certainly they make great consumer products," he said.

Rubin said he sees Apple moving "in this other end of the spectrum," in services beyond devices.

Services were the big business Google was pursuing when it began developing Android.

"If that's the razor, the blades are these services -- these things you keep creating and innovating ... and selling over time," he said.

Mossberg asked if Apple has the DNA to do that, and noted its early challenges with the mobile services.

"My assumption is Apple is a company that learns from its mistakes," Rubin said.

Mossberg and Swisher got Rubin to say that Android is a profitable business for Google.

Rubin also disclosed that Google's been talking to Nokia about finally developing Android based phones. There's a new opportunity with Nokia getting new leadership, Rubin said, but he didn't mention that the new head of Nokia is a former Microsoft executive, Stephen Elop, who was president of Microsoft's Business division..

"They're evaluating what their options are," Rubin said of Google's success persuading Nokia to try Android.

Asked about Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 platform, Rubin said he thinks Microsoft's design team made a good bet with its unique interface but he gave it the classic mixed compliment.

"It's a good 1.0 product," he said.

Rubin said that if he was an advisor to Microsoft he would suggest they take Android's route more than Apple's, and let phone makers and carriers "differentiate so every Windows Phone 7 doesn't look the same."

Rubin saved the best for last. After demonstrating the Nexus S, he pulled out a prototype Motorola tablet running Android and a new version of Google Maps that will debut in a few days. In the picture above, Rubin at left is holding the Motorola tablet as Swisher looks on from the right.

The tablet -- which looks like it has about a 9-in.diagonal screen and a roughly quarter-inch thick case -- has a dual-core Nvidia 3-D graphics processor. Inside it has the Android "Honeycomb" version that's coming out next year.

Rubin showed a map of San Francisco and used pinch gestures to zoom in and tilt the map to bring up a 3-D version showing building elevations from a bird's-eye view.

Here's a picture of the big screen on which Rubin's demo was projected. Here he's showing the new version of Google Maps running on Honeycomb:

Here's a video of Rubin showing the Motorola tablet:

The freebie of the day, if you're an app developer, is coming from Google.

The company today announced that it's giving 10,000 GoogleTV devices to developers building software for the fledgling platform. It started by giving 3,000 away today at the Adobe Max conference.

Here's Google's announcement, with details on where professional Web developers can apply for one of the devices, which start at $299.

Hopefully they'll send one to Hulu.com, which doesn't allow access from GoogleTV devices to its free TV shows and movies.

Apple and Verizon are pouring jet fuel onto the crackling rumors about an upcoming Verizon iPhone.

The companies today announced that Verizon will sell Apple's iPad in its network of retail stores starting Oct. 28.

But Verizon's not handling the 3G wireless capability built into upper-end iPads. That service is still provided by AT&T, which also has the apparently dwindling exclusive U.S. rights to carry the iPhone.

Verizon instead will sell the iPad in bundles with its MiFi wireless hotspot device. They'll be priced from $630 to $830. Verizon's also offering an iPad data plan for the MiFi that costs $20 per month for 1 gigabyte of data, $35 for 3 gigs and $50 for 5 gigs, plus $10 per gigabyte overage fees. Verizon will also sell WiFi-only iPads.

"We're thrilled to be working with Verizon Wireless to get iPad into the hands of even more customers this holiday season," Tim Cook, Apple's chief operating officer, said in the release. "iPad allows users to connect with their apps and content in a more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before, and together with Verizon Wireless we're offering an easy way to stay connected wherever you go."

Simultaneously, AT&T announced that it will begin carrying the iPad in its stores on Oct. 28 as well. Cook's apparently not quite as thrilled by that deal, though. His comment in the AT&T release:

"We look forward to expanding the reach of iPad allowing even more customers to experience the magic of iPad for themselves. As we approach the holiday season, we are very happy that customers will now be able to buy iPad Wi-Fi + 3G at AT&T stores."

Apple's been making lots of deals lately to extend the reach of its tablet device, which will face intense competition this holiday season and in 2011 from new tablets running Google's Android software and Windows devices. Apple recently made deals to sell the iPad in Target and Wal-Mart stores, although apparently it won't be discounted in them.

Verizon's not just another retail outlet because of the intense speculation and anonymously sourced stories coming out about Apple working to develop a Verizon version of the iPhone in early 2011, ending the exclusive deal AT&T had since the phone's debut in 2007.

Verizon and AT&T will also soon be selling an Android-based tablet made by Samsung.

The tablets may draw more customers into their stores this holiday season, although the iPad is on its way to becoming as prevalent on store shelves as the iPod.

At the very least, Verizon's probably thrilled to have a way to sell its MiFi units for $130 (that's about how much more the iPad costs when bundled with a MiFi unit).

Verizon gives the puck-sized MiFi units away to people who sign up for two-year data plans, and the device is facing lots of competition from similar mobile hotspots available on faster networks such as those operated by Sprint/Clearwire and T-Mobile.

At a press event in New York today, Sony is showing off its lineup of GoogleTV products, including a Blu-ray player and Wi-Fi TVs with the Google software built in.

I'm not there but am watching the live coverage and company releases. The Sony products look nice but they're expensive -- more than double the price of its standard Blu-ray players, which also connect to Internet video services.

Similar to the $299 Logitech Revue set-top box unveiled last week, the Sony products have a Google search tool used to search for shows and content coming through a cable connection, stored on devices in the home and on the Web. The Google software also supports applications, such as the ubiquitous Netflix, YouTube and Twitter apps.

Sony's Googley Blu-ray player costs $399 and has a striking white case that reminds me of the short-lived Vaio media centers and "hat box" home theater PCs the company sold about six years ago.

New LCD Sony TVs with Google software range from $600 to $1,400 -- $600 for a 24-inch screen, $800 for a 32-inch, $1,000 for a 40-inch and $1,400 for a 46-inch. They have a new look for Sony, with curved corners, as opposed to the squared off look of its recent Bravia sets. Its Googleized TVs look more like computer monitors.

The TVs are also roughly double what you might pay for a flat-panel TV without the built-in wireless and Google software.

Also in the box is a wild new remote control with a built-in keypad and a control scheme borrowed from Sony's PlayStation game console.

Inside the Blu-ray player and the TVs is an Intel Atom processor similar to those used in netbooks. It's on a chip that also handles video processing; in effect they're small PCs inside.

The Sony products will be in its "Style" stores this weekend and Best Buy the following weekend.

Sony said the player and TVs will be able to access the Android app store in early 2011, so buyers can add additional apps.

The lawsuit Microsoft filed against Motorola and its use of Google's Android phone software is awfully familiar.

Microsoft used the same tactic against Linux when the open-source software reached critical mass in the data center and threatened to derail the growth of Microsoft's server business seven years ago.

After name-calling failed to slow Linux, Microsoft started warning big companies that the free software wasn't really free. It also said companies should take into account the potential cost of patent and licensing litigation around open-source products.

Uncertainty increased in 2003, when SCO, a Utah company, alleged that Linux was using some of its technologies. SCO licensed its technology to Microsoft and sought royalties from hundreds of companies using Linux.

That helped Microsoft persuade customers that free software isn't really free. It even promised to indemnify customers that went with Microsoft products instead, offering a sort of insurance against patent issues.

In recent months Microsoft began dropping similar hints about the true cost of Android, leading up to today's lawsuit. It names Motorola, but an accompanying blog post suggests its looking broadly at Android patent issues:

"Our action today merely seeks to ensure respect for our intellectual property rights infringed by Android devices; and judging by the recent actions by Apple and Oracle, we are not alone in this respect," Horacio Gutierrez, deputy general counsel, wrote.

This probably won't have any effect on people using Android phones today or considering some of the new models coming out soon.

The message is for phone manufacturers. Microsoft is telling them that although Google made Android open-source software, it's not completely free, when you factor in the potential licensing costs that may have be paid to patent holders.

I wonder if Google will step up to defend Android, or resurrect the coalition of phone companies that initially backed the software to either fight Microsoft's lawsuit or sort out a licensing arrangement.

Meanwhile, Microsoft is happy to sell the phone companies its new phone operating system, which has presumably gone through a gauntlet of patent lawyers. Apparently Motorola hasn't signed up yet for Windows Phone 7.

Tech blogs are apoplectic today over word that Facebook's working with a Chinese company to develop new phones designed around the social network.

It turns out Facebook is working on a software layer that will run on top of Google's Android phone software on the phones, which are coming to Europe in the first half of 2011 and the U.S. later in the year, perhaps on AT&T.

Here's the statement Facebook provided to Bloomberg, which today nailed the story that TechCrunch floated Saturday:

"We've been working with INQ for a couple of years now to help them build a deeply integrated Facebook experience on their devices. While we can't speak for their future product development plans, we can say that our view is that almost all experiences would be better if they were social."

GigaOm provided a few more details. A sample:

Facebook ID's are used for contacts and the call list:

"A consumer's Facebook ID becomes more important than the phone number itself. Login with Facebook ID, and your social network auto-magically syncs up with the phone. (Android users have seen their Google phones do this since day one...)"

The phone's content also syncs automatically with a user's personal Web page, in this case Facebook, GigaOm noted:

"For instance, Facebook photos will communicate directly with the camera and become the repository for photos, with almost no difference in the cloud and the local photo storage. Take a picture and save it to Facebook."

In other words, Facebook is resurrecting the Kin, the Facebook-centric phones that Microsoft sold for about a month before killing the line in June because almost nobody bought them.

Kin phones were notable for a few things. They were designed with a "social" interface, in which Facebook profiles were more important than the phone number itself. You'd call or message people by tapping on their profile picture, which was displayed in the Kin's contact list.

Facebook profile pictures covered the Kin home screen, which displayed friends' Facebook updates.

Best of all, the Kin came with a companion personal Web page that communicated directly with the phone and its camera, and became the repository for photos, with almost no difference in the cloud and the local phone storage. Take a picture on a Kin phone and it's saved to your Kin page.

Maybe Facebook will have better luck than Microsoft with this one, unless people decide that they don't want their phone dominated by a company that makes its money selling targeted advertising.

But instead of haggling with Chinese manufacturers over new hardware, Facebook could probably get a great deal on a warehouse full of unsold phones somewhere in Redmond.

(UPDATE: Facebook's having a major outage today, just after confirming its phone plans. Hmmm ...)

Are Web tablets and e-books becoming commoditized already?

Hewlett-Packard's throwing one into the box with a new $399 all-in-one inkjet printer it's calling the Photosmart eStation.
The printer includes a Web browsing tablet with WiFi and a 7-inch diagonal screen. It's pre-loaded with applications including Facebook, a music player, Barnes & Noble's eBookstore and Yahoo mail, search, weather and messenger.

When it's not being used around the house, the tablet sits in a dock on the printer and works as a control panel and digital photo frame.

The Android-powered tablet apparently doesn't let you load applications. It sounds like a new version of HP's Dreamscreen lightweight tablet/photo frame that appeared in 2008, more than the full-fledged slate computers that HP's expected to release later this year. But this one comes in a printer bundle for under $400, and it may be good enough for some people.

Here's a video from Laptop magazine, trying out the eStation:

The TV platform that Google is developing with Sony, Intel and Logitech will debut in the U.S. this autumn, Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt told reporters at a Berlin trade fair.

Schmidt also said Google will be announcing deals with computers makers to use the company's Chrome operating system on tablet computers, according to a Reuters report.

A number of tablets have already appeared with Google's Android operating system, which was designed primarily for phones, but the Chrome OS has been mostly vaporware so far.

It's a little confusing because Chrome is also the name of Google's browser.

Samsung is mulling whether to add Google software in its TVs, according to a Bloomberg report from Seoul. Samsung is already selling TV sets with similar capabilities, including an application platform for developers.

Google is having a press event Wednesday in San Francisco but it sounds like an update to Google search technology and not the Chrome tablet announcement Schmidt previewed.

The Reuters report said Schmidt declined to comment on the music service Google's expected to announce soon. He did say he was "angry" that Google Street View camera vehicles collected private data from WiFi networks, prompting action by German regulators.

"I was very angry about that," Reuters quoted Schmidt as saying.

Here's a video of the mobile demonstration of Google Goggles for Android phones, with Google's Jason Freidenfelds showing the product at Pike Place Market.

It was hard to resist Google's blatant pitch for publicity.

The search giant was asking if I wanted to roam around downtown Seattle, starting at Pike Place Market, for a mobile demonstration of the Goggles application for Google's Android platform. (Here's a video of the demo)

Goggles, which has steadily added new capabilities since it debuted last December, conducts searches based on images taken by a phone's camera.

Point it at a building or a sign, and Goggles will call up information about what you're seeing. It worked well when aimed at the sign for Pike Place Fish but that was a relatively easy one. Google has lots of images of that place for reference, and the location is marked on Google Maps, which Google checks against the phone's location.

Goggles takes advantage of the powerful processors in today's smartphones and faster cell networks to offload the processing to its datacenters.

The app appears to be slowly scanning things, with a wavy blue line moving across the screen like a copy machine, but that's just a visual cue that something's happening somewhere on Google's network.

"It's not realy an app on the phone so much as this is a conduit into a massive, mobile supercomputer," said Jason Freidenfelds, manager of global communications and public affairs.

If you're in a foreign country, you can use Goggles to translate signs or menus. Point the camera at a block of text and in a few seconds Google returns a translation.

It worked well on German and French foreign magazines at the First and Pike News stand, but stumbled over a Danish magazine with the crown princess (a former Microsoft employee) on the cover.

Over at Left Bank Books, Goggles scanned the cover of a book and offered to display a scanned preview of the book, in case we didn't want to put down the phone and leaf through it in person. It also listed other places we could buy the book for a lower price.

Before we could fool around much more, an employee asked us to leave, even though Goggles runs on the open-source Android platform.

Goggles is still an experimental application -- released as a Google Labs project. When it works, it's really cool, but it can give wildly incorrect results.

Freidenfelds several times said Goggles makes your phone like a device from "Star Trek." But I wouldn't trust Goggles for mission critical searches, at least until the system has been refined.

Maybe the inaccuracy of the fledgling technology is why Microsoft hasn't released any applicaitons as ambitious as Goggles, even though it began working on the same sort of technology before Google.

In 2007 Microsoft researchers revealed a project called Lincoln, which conducted searches based on images by comparing the image to a database. Two years ago Craig Mundie, the company's research boss, demonstrated a prototype handheld device that could scan around an area and provide details about businesses in the vicinity.

The Lincoln project contributed to a Bing search app released for the iPhone in December and Android phones last week. Apparently there won't be anything similar to Goggles available when the Windows Phone 7 platform launches this holiday season.

Image recognition has become more useful now that so many people are taking and sharing digital photos, explained Larry Zitnick, a research in Microsoft Research's Interactive Visual Media Group who worked on Lincoln.

"The end result that eveybody's trying to do is link up the real world to the Internet through imagery," he said.

Goggles is part of Google's broader effort to build a universal image index, a massive collection of imagery that it can use for reference when people conduct visual searches in the future.

The bigger the index, the better the results will be. A challenge right now is figuring out how to scale up the index. Google's largest index has 50 million objects and now needs to grow to 100 million or 200 million.

To build a truly universal index, it will need to recognize perhaps a billion objects, according to Hartwig Adam, who is developing the system at Google's Santa Monica, Calif., office.

Adam was previously employed by Neven Vision, a company that grew out of military-funded research at the University of Southern California into facial recognition technology. Google bought Neven in 2006 to improve its Picasa photo service.

Now the group is working on a much broader application.

Within three years, the technology could become a tool that people use regularly in their daily lives, pointing phones at a real-estate sign to call the agent, for instance.

"Basically I hope that we can in a few years give you answers about anything that's in front of you that you would like to know more about," Adam said.

It may take longer for Goggles to work with faces. Not because of technical challenges, but because of privacy issues. Adam is especially sensitive to the topic, having come from Germany.

"There seems to be an interest, but it has to be done in a way that people can feel comfortable, that their privacy can be preserved," he said.

"If there's a way to make it happen, then we would look into it," he said. "At the moment we treat it with the utmost care."

Here are a few screenshots of Goggles - first taking an image, then returning a search based on what it saw:

If you're interested in the different flavors of Samsung's hit Galaxy S phones -- including the new Epic 4G that Sprint is releasing Tuesday -- here's an infographic from BillShrink.com comparing features and costs.

It's hard to focus when the sun's finally shining in Seattle, but we have to pay attention to the Mark Hurd story.

Hurd's the guy who grabbed a Perrier and leapt from Hewlett-Packard's cockpit, riding a golden parachute into history.

(The top of today's column on HP and the Mark Hurd debacle.)

The second phone to take advantage of Clearwire's 4G network will be the Samsung Epic 4G, a special version of the Samsung Galaxy S going on sale Aug. 31 for $250.

It follows the Evo 4G that debuted in June. Both use 4G where available and 3G everywhere else, and work as mobile hotspots for an additional fee.

Sprint's release billed its new Android slider phone as "A Movie Theater in Your Hand." Samsung's preparing a "media hub" service with a video store to buy or rent movies and TV shows via the device, which has a 4-inch Super AMOLED display.

The phone's also going to work with Samsung's "AllShare" service that wirelessly shares music, photos and HD video with TVs, cameras, printers and other devices with DLNA certification.

Inside it's running Android 2.1 on Samsung's 1 GHz processor; Apple uses related processors from Samsung in the iPad and iPhone 4. The Epic 4G has a 5 megapixel camera that takes 720p HD video and a front-facing camera for video chat.

The price is after a $100 rebate and with a two-year commitment to plans starting at $70 per month. Pre-orders begin Friday.

Sprint's announcement coincides with a new report from Gartner saying that Android has overtaken Apple's iOS to become the world's third-most popular mobile operating system, behind Symbian and RIM, during the second quarter. In the U.S., Android's now ahead of RIM, the report said.

Samsung, meanwhile, is the world's second-largest phone maker behind Nokia and ahead of LG.

A few people have asked me about Dell's Streak, the minitablet/maxiphone that surfaced in Seattle in May.

You could say it's the latest version of the Origami ultramobile PC that Microsoft and Intel began developing about five years ago, but it runs Android software on Qualcomm hardware.

The company Tuesday finally announced that the Streak will be available to the general public on Friday for $549, or $300 with a two-year AT&T contract. It's a few weeks late and $50 more than Dell said in June.

Like most big phones today, it's based on a 1 GHz Snapdragon processor from Qualcomm with 3G, Wi-Fi (b, g and n) and Bluetooth radios. It works with HSDPA networks (such as T-Mobile's) that provide up to 7.2 Mbps downloads. It has a 5 megapixel still and video camera with a dual LED flash, plus a front facing VGA camera.

Here's a Dell video showing it in action:

Today's jaw-dropper is the amazing growth of Android-based phones - up 886 percent in the second quarter, according to research firm Canalys.

The surge also made Android the largest smartphone platform in the U.S., where it took 34 percent of the market in Q2.

Crazy growth in the overall market for smartphones continues as mobile phone buyers, especially in the U.S., upgrade to the more capable devices. Canalys reports that smartphone sales grew 64 percent in the quarter.

Worldwide Nokia still leds with 38 percent of the smartphone market in Q2, with its shipments growing 41 percent year-over-year to 23.8 million in the quarter, Canalys reported.

RIM's BlackBerry grew 41 percent, holding second place with 18 percent of the global market, while Apple's iPhone sales grew 61 percent after the iPhone 4 launch and it now has 13 percent of the smartphone market, according to Canalys.

"Expect to see smart phones accounting for a growing proportion of the wider mobile phone market as they become increasingly affordable to more customers," Canalys Senior Analyst Pete Cunningham said in the release. "By 2013, smart phones will grow to represent over 27% of shipments worldwide, with the proportion in some developed markets in Western Europe surpassing 60% and 48% in North America."

The chart - with U.S. and China stats only - included in the Canalys release:

HTC's big bets on software, branding and Android are paying off. The company today announced sales during June were up a record 67 percent. Sales for the entire second quarter were up 58 percent to $1.9 billion.

HTC's smartphone business began on the Windows platform, but it's now the largest manufacturer of phones based on Google's Android software.

The company is based in Taiwan -- where its stock hit a 52-month high today -- and has its U.S. headquarters in Bellevue and software development center in Seattle.

Maybe now's a good time for HTC go ahead with its plans to list its stock in the U.S.

Amazon.com today announced an Android version of its popular app that continues to extend its Kindle reading and book-shopping software beyond its Kindle e-reader device.

The Android Kindle app comes as Amazon and Google, backer of the open-source device platform, are increasingly competing in digital media and cloud computing services, wooing the same consumers, publishers and developers.

After you've registered with Amazon, you can use the Kindle Android app to search and browse around 620,000 books available in Kindle editions, sample the first chapter of books free, access your Kindle library online and synchronize the last page read between Kindles and other devices running the Kindle app.

The Android app uses touchscreen controls to turn pages with taps on the side of the screen or flicks.

Still to come, though, is the ability to purchase Kindle books from within the Android app and full text search.

Also not there yet apparently are multimedia features that Amazon.com on Sunday added to its iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch applications.

Those Kindle apps can now play digital books with embedded audio and video clips, such as "Bird Songs" and a special version of Rick Steves' "London by Rick Steves" that includes Steves narrating walking tours.

You've got to love the spat between Apple and Google. Especially if you're shopping for a new phone.

Today, the day before Apple launches its iPhone 4, Google, Verizon and Motorola announced their cutting edge smartphone -- the Droid X -- with a noisy press event in New York.

Apple's phone is more svelte, has a new high resolution display, dual cameras and more available apps. (The Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg loved his early review unit - "It has some downsides and limitations ... But, overall, Apple has delivered a big, well-designed update that, in my view, keeps it in the lead in the smartphone wars" - and the New York Times' David Pogue thinks his is "beautiful, and since there's no more plastic, it feels solid and Lexus-like.")

But the Droid X has a better camera, a bigger screen and supports Adobe's Flash platform.

Both of them add tethering -- so you can use the phones as wireless modems for your computer -- but it costs an extra $20 per month.

They both have 1 gigahertz processors, start at $199 and require data plans.

Most people won't be able to get either one for a month or so.

Apple doesn't have a lot of iPhone 4's ready to sell yet. It will have a limited supply at its stores starting Thursday, and AT&T stores will have some on June 29. Both companies are pointing customers to the Web where they can order iPhone 4s to be shipped by July 14

Verizon is going to start selling the Droid X on July 15.

Meanwhile, smartphone shoppers can decide whether they want a Chevy or a Ford, a Whopper or a Big Mac.

Or they may consider something more cutting edge, like the HTC Evo from Sprint, which is still the only phone available with 4G mobile broadband service.

If they spend enough time shopping, instead of leaping at the launch, more options will become available.

Rumors are circulating about a coming version of the iPhone for Verizon's network, Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 phones are coming this fall, and more 4G phones beyond the Evo are just around the corner.

Here are some specs of the Droid X:

Talk time: Up to 480 minutes
Standby time: Up to 220 hours
Band/Modes: CDMA 800/1900, EV-DO Rev. A
OS: Android 2.1, update to Android 2.2 late summer
Weight: 155 g / 5.47 oz
Dimensions: 2.6 x 5.0 x 0.4 (z) inches
Browser: Webkit HTML5 based browser; Adobe Flash 10.1 after update, pinch-to-zoom
E-mail Support: Gmail, Push E-mail, Corporate Sync, IMAP/ POP3
Connectivity: Stereo Bluetooth2 Class 1.5, Version 2.1+EDR, 3.5mm, USB 2.0 HS, OTA, HDMI, Over the Air Sync, PC Sync, DLNA
Display: 4.3" WVGA (854 x 480)
Display Resolution: WVGA display houses 400,000 pixels
Video: 720p HD Capture, HD Playback via HDMI or DLNA, H.263, H.264, MPEG4, WMA v10
Camera: 8.0 megapixel, Digital Zoom, Auto Focus, Dual LED Flash and image editing tools
Memory: 8 GB onboard, 16 GB microSD pre-installed, supports up to 32 GB micro SD - total memory expandable up to 40 GB
Location Services: aGPS (assisted), sGPS (stand alone), Google Maps, Google Maps Navigation, Google Maps with Google Latitude, Street View, and eCompass

A week after Michael Dell let slip that his company's new Streak mini tablet/smartphone devices will go on sale in June, I spotted a batch of them being tested in Belltown.

Network techs had a bank of the Android-powered gadgets aimed up Second Avenue and connected to a set of laptops during the lunch hour today. They were just around the corner from the now-defunct Brasa restaurant.

I asked if they were working on network upgrades, but the techs said they were testing the devices' performance with e-911 services for AT&T.

They told me a little too late that I couldn't take pictures of the Streaks, which were on clear display on a public sidewalk anyway.

Streaks have been glimpsed here and there, but I hadn't seen a red one before. The hardware design reminded me a bit of Dell's latest Studio XPS desktops.

AT&T hasn't yet announced the Streaks and a spokeswoman didn't have an update today.

Here's a Streak video demo that surfaced last fall:

There will be plenty of options for holiday shoppers looking for tablet computing devices from major computer companies.

In addition to the iPad and Hewlett-Packard's Slate, Toshiba will be selling similar devices based on Windows 7 and another line based on Google's Android software, according to a Reuters story quoting Jeff Barney, general manager of digital products for Toshiba America.

Toshiba is looking at a variety of form factors for its slate PCs, including a dual-screen model running Windows, and one with a roughly 10-inch screen, he said.

"We definitely see a place for the slate, we see there's a market there. It'll be expansive like netbooks, it won't be cannibalistic," he said.

Toshiba could really shake it up if they include the Intel WiDi technology that's on some of its laptops, enabling them to beam high-def video onto a nearby TV.

Watching his 3 year-old daughter nearly get run over by a texting driver inspired a Seattle landscape contractor to jump into the phone application business.

Erik Wood, 43, was walking home from Queen Anne's Coe Elementary with his daughter last fall when a woman in a black Volkswagen shot out of an alley while texting with both hands, passing within a few feet of the girl.

The driver drove on without ever seeing the pedestrians, but Wood was so shook up he started researching safety issues around texting drivers. Then he decided to create an application that could help.

"People live in this false reality that 'I can get away with texting and driving,' " he said. "The problem is they don't know what they're missing, they don't get the wake-up call until it's a T-bone, violent crash."

He and his wife tapped their children's college fund, withdrawing more than the cost of a new truck, and spent seven months working with software developers to produce an application called Otter that was released on the Android phone platform April 5.

"I think we realized that we had survived our first nearly fatal text-and-drive encounter but with two little girls growing up, the statistics proved this wouldn't be our last brush with this," he said. "That's what inspired us to do something about it.''

The Otter application interrupts text message notifications when the phone's GPS radio detects the device is moving at least 10 miles per hour. It doesn't block the messages outright, but sends an automatic reply to the sender, saying,"Otter says BTH (Break the Habit)."

Otter -- which stands for one touch text response -- also has parental controls so parents can activate it on their children's phones.

Wood is joining a growing number of companies producing applications and other systems to block or prevent texting while driving. He said Otter has a cost advantage because it doesn't carry recurring monthly fees like some competing applications. It's a one-time $3.99 download from the Android Market.

Versions for the Windows and BlackBerry phone platforms should be done in three to six months. Wood would like to do an iPhone version but its new software apparently won't provide access he needs to the phones' notifications or SMS services.

It's a moneymaking venture, but Wood said he had to give it a try no matter what.

"You know when you come to those forks in the road where you don't have any other choice?" he said. "This was definitely one of those."

Two weeks after being sued by Apple for patent infringement, Taiwanese phone maker HTC is responding with a formal statement defending itself against the allegations.

The company's statement is a prelude to a legal response, still being drafted, that challenges the patent suit Apple filed in federal court, as well as a complaint it made to the International Trade Commission.

An HTC executive at its U.S. headquarters in Bellevue said the company has the support of partners such as Google. That reinforces the notion that Apple's suit is part of a bigger feud under way between tech giants that are all building roughly similar touchscreen smartphones.

"HTC strongly disagrees with Apple's actions," said Jason Mackenzie, vice president of HTC America in Bellevue. "We plan to use all of the legal tools that are at our disposal to both defend ourselves and set the record straight to the general public."

Mackenzie noted that HTC introduced touchscreen smartphones long before Apple's iPhone appeared in 2007.

"We started working on the first touchcscreen smartphone way back in 1999," he said.

That work led to the Pocket PC phone launched in 2002 with Bellevue's VoiceStream Wireless, which is now T-Mobile USA.

Since then, HTC has released more than 50 smartphones and worked with all U.S. phone companies, "vs. one single product at one single carrier," Mackenzie said, in another dig at Apple's iPhone business.

"We would not have achieved what we've achieved today -- including the partnerships weve developed with people like Microsoft, Google, all the U.S. operators, Qualcomm -- if we were a company that did not respect intellectual property rights."

Apple accused HTC of making and selling products that "incorporate, without license, many technologies developed by Apple and protected by patents issued to and owned by Apple and its wholly owned subsidiaries, including NeXT."

It asked the trade commission to block the importation of a number of phones, including the Nexus One that HTC makes for Google, the myTouch 3G sold by T-Mobile, the Droid Eris sold by Verizon and the new HD2 based on Windows Mobile.

Apple's suit specifically calls out phones running the Android platform backed by Google. A Google spokesperson referred by HTC, Jill Hazelbaker, didn't say whether the company would participate in HTC's legal defense, but provided a statement praising HTC for helping to make Android a success.

"The Android platform has seen tremendous adoption all over the world, and we are proud of all our partners who have made it such a success," she said via e-mail. "In less than a year and a half since HTC shipped the first Android device, there are now 26 devices with 60 carriers in 49 countries and 19 languages powered by Android."

Mackenzie wouldn't comment specifically on the lawsuit but said Apple's responding to HTC's success.

"We are experiencing more success than we've ever had in the U.S. market today. We've got great products at all the major operators," he said. "We're obviously having this conversation because of that and because of those successes we've had."

So far the lawsuit hasn't had an effect on HTC's business or plans for upcoming phones.

"I haven't seen any impact to our business since this case,'' he said.

Zillow's hit mobile real estate search application is coming to the Android platform Thursday, the company announced.

The iPhone version of the application has been downloaded more than 1 million times since it debuted last April, Zillow chief operating officer, Spencer Rascoff, said in the release.

The Android version uses GPS to find and follow users' location and displays Google Street View images of houses, along with sales information and estimated values for 95 million homes in the U.S. It also takes advantage of Android's voice search capability, so users can say an address, neighborhood, Zip code or city to call up that map location.

Zillow is offering the Android app free through the Android Market.

London-based mobile app seller GetJar created a stir today by releasing a study saying the mobile apps business will grow to $17.5 billion by 2012.

With 4 billion-plus mobile phone users around the world, that suggests an average of $4 per user generated by mobile apps.

Downloads of mobile apps will grow from 7 billion in 2009 to nearly 50 billion in 2012. The value of apps sold would then be greater than sales of music CDs, the study said.

Also predicted is a continuing shift away from "on deck" apps distributed by phone companies toward downloads from app stores, such as GetJar. The study predicted that on-deck applications' share of sales will fall to 23 percent, from 60 percent in 2009.

By 2012, Europe will be a bigger market for apps than the U.S., spending $8.5 billion versus $6.7 billion.

Asia now accounts for the most downloads, but consumers there spend far less on them than North Americans -- they're spending an average of 10 cents per app, vs. the $1.09 spent in this region.

The study predicts the overall average selling price of apps will fall 29 percent, from its current level around $1.90, but ad revenue from apps is expected to stay flat.

GetJar also predicted a shakeout in the number of app stores, which grew from eight to 38 last year and will continue growing this year.

"This report signifies a battle for survival of the fittest among app stores worldwide -- with app revenue and growth opportunities growing significantly," Chief Executive Ilja Laurs said in the release. "There is no way that this many app stores will survive in the long term and while the value of the global app economy is set to be astoundingly high by 2012, we think only a few app stores will share this revenue."

The study was done for GetJar by Issaquah mobile consultant Chetan Sharma. GetJar has other local ties; its vice president of sales, Bill Scott, is a Seattle native who used to work at InfoSpace.

T-Mobile this morning said Eric Clapton's lending his name to the company's new myTouch 3G Fender Limited Edition - the one with a sunburst wood-grain, guitar like design.

Clapton's appearing in the company's ads and his songs "Layla," "My Father's Eyes," "Rock 'N' Roll Heart" and "Wonderful Tonight" will be preloaded on the HTC device. Also included are songs from Wyclef Jean, Avril Lavigne and Brad Paisley and the "Guitar: Solo" and "Musical Light" applications.

T-Mobile is also contributing Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival, which benefits a drug treatment center in Antigua. I wonder if they thought it would be held at the shopping center near T-Mobile USA's Bellevue headquarters?

The phone goes on sale for Jan. 20 for $180 with a two-year service plan.

It's the second Eastside company to lasso a celebrity spokesperson this week.

On Tuesday Nintendo - which has its U.S. headquarters in Redmond - said Beyonce will do more promotion of the DS and its "Style Savvy" fashion game.

Beyonce last year pitched "Rhythm Heaven" for the DS. For "Style Savvy," she's providing downloadable designs from the Dereon clothing line she and her mother, Tina Knowles, created.