The Motorola Sholes has been a hot topic this week and people keep coming back for more info. I’ve done some more digging and spoken to several sources with knowledge of the situation. We are trying to verify the information and gather more details, but our tipsters have been reliable so far. I think you will find the following details to your liking.
1. Sholes is the flagship device for Google’s release of Eclair (Android 2.0)
I have hinted at this possibility in other articles and now more sources are beginning to confirm it. The upcoming Eclair branch is likely to be labeled Android 2.0 and make its debut on Sholes when it launches for Verizon later this year. It appears the combination of Eclair and Sholes is a significant upgrade and Google is ready to use the Android 2.0 label.
I’m cautious using the name Android 2.0 after all the Android engineers told us repeatedly that Donut is not Android 2.0. However, we know two more Android updates are coming this year and a recent interview with Andy Rubin cited Eclair as Android 2.0. Multiple sources have continued to say that Sholes is built for Eclair so it appears the pressure is on Google to deliver.
We also told you the Sholes would be a mobile gaming powerhouse and this still appears to be the case. The Sholes is highly optimized for the new ARMv7 architecture of the OMAP3430. Sources tell us Sholes will make extensive use of the NEON instruction set found in the ARMv7 architecture. This will allow an increase to DSP and media processing throughput by up to 400 percent, and offers improved floating point support to address the needs of next generation 3D graphics and games physics.
“ARM NEON technology is an architecture option with the ARMv7A architecture and is designed to address the demands of next generation high-performance, media intense, low power mobile handheld devices. NEON technology is a 64/128-bit hybrid SIMD architecture, developed by ARM to accelerate the performance of multimedia and signal processing applications including video encode/decode, 3D graphics, speech processing, compressed audio decoding, image processing, telephony and sound synthesis.”
2. There is a W-CDMA(UMTS) version of Sholes in the works
Verizon will get first dibs on the Sholes phone, but it is set to come to multiple carriers. Our source tells us a UMTS/W-CDMA version is already in the works and almost to appear on AT&T. W-CDMA is the same technology that T-Mobile uses for their 3G network so they remain a possibility as well. These other versions of the Sholes are likely to come a bit later(2010). The UMTS version will also hit several carriers worldwide.
3. A touchscreen only version of Sholes is also a possibility
New information we received also suggest that a trimmed down version of Sholes is being developed. The physical keyboard will be removed in favor of a more streamlined device. Hardware tweaks will include several upgrades like an 8 megapixel camera. From what we know, it is scheduled for release in early 2010.
p.s. keep an eye on the site for new info on android 2.0 over the next few days
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Taylor Wimberly
Taylor is the founder of Android and Me. He loves playing with all kinds of gadgets, but most importantly cell phones. His other hobbies include cooking (BBQ hero!), politics, football, and watching every MMA event possible.
28 Comments
Lookslike i dont have to get the lame cliq after all! Hopefully the att version supports the tmobile 3g network.
I feel for the att user that have unlocked dreams, my gf wants one, but the whole no 3g thing is a no go for her
AT&T and T-Mobile operate on different 3G bands.
AT&T: WCDMA 850 / 1900
T-Mobile: WCDMA 1700 / 2100
I’ve Been waiting for a actual good phone to hit AT&T.
Unlike the click and lancaster, this is a nice phone.
iT will be a killer!
will the g1 support eclair? i dnt want a new phone until i can see what direction t-mobile will go in as far as handsets
I knew that, i’m hoping the hardware supports the tmobile carrier bands.
HW specs looks really great! With the TI OMAP3430 it will arrive in the class as the Palm Pre and the iPhone3GS that both uses the ARM Cortex-A8 architecture.
Is there any information about release date in Europe?
android is flooding the smartphone market and doing it in style, and in the end, we’ll never buy an android device as we keep thinking whether we want this one now or wait for the next one from whichever manufacturer be it se, samsung, htc, etc etc..
I want this to be on t-mobile! Guess I’ll have to settle for the Cliq.