Froyo hits Motorola Defy, leaves a lasting impression

Until now, the best way to get Froyo on your Defy was to drop the thing while eating at a TCBY -- thankfully, the water and drop-resistant Motorola handset could take the abuse. Things are a bit easier now, however; the company announced today that the rugged handset is finally getting an Android 2.2 update, hot on the heels of Verizon's Samsung Fascinate -- half a year after the operating system first hit the market and a bit later than originally rumored.

Desire HD and HD2 try on Sensation's Sense 3.0 suit, needs some tailoring for it to fit

So you got all excited after seeing HTC's latest UI on the Sensation, but were dismayed to discover your hoary handset wouldn't be getting the same Sense 3.0 love? As usual, the folks at xda-developers have just the tonic for what ails you... as long as you own a Desire HD. Yup, a clever fellow by the name of capychimp took the Sensation's ROM and ported it to yesteryear's HTC European flagship phone. The port isn't perfect -- those who dive in will lose camera support and the images need some resizing to properly fit on the HD's 800 x 480 display -- but brave souls who hit the source link for the download still get all those mellifluous movements that Sense 3.0 provides. See all the smooth scrolling in action after the break. XDA-developers have also given the HTC HD2 a quick Sense 3.0 hug, along with Android 2.3.3 in a similarly incomplete custom ROM. 

Nokia X7 with Symbian 'Anna' now official on Three UK

So, it's official. The Nokia X7, unfit for a US launch, has finally found a home with Three in the UK. Theheavily leaked stainless steel handset runs an updated Symbian^3 "Anna" (aka, PR2) OS that finally introduces a vastly improved browser and portrait QWERTY with split-view data entry among its 50 new enhancements. Rounding out the specs are an 8 megapixel cam with dual-LED flash, 4-inch OLEDClearBlack display, HD video recording, and 256MB RAM / 1GB ROM with an 8GB memory card tossed in the box. You'll find the press release, video, and more pic after the break. Nokia tells us that the X7 features 720p video recording, and a 680MHz CPU -- presumably the same old (and we mean old) ARM 11 proc and found in the N8 and E7. Oh, and it's the same Broadcom BCM2727 GPU and 8 megapixel EDoF camera we reviewed in the E7. The X7 will be available in Q2 with a price set at €380 before taxes and subsidies.

Android & iOS Grab More Gaming Revenue

Android and iOS are increasingly gobbling up marketshare from the traditional portable gaming options according to new figures from Flurry and NPD. Back in 2009 iOS held a 19% share of portable gaming revenues, but a year later that figure had jumped to 34% whilst Android also entered the frey with a 9% share. That's bad news for Nintendo, which saw its DS's share of revenue drop from a very commanding 70% share in 2009 to 57% last year. Now to be fair the figures shown here are only for the current portable options and don't factor in newer options like the NGP and 3DS. Even so it does suggest an upward trend for smartphone gaming.

To put this into greater context though let's look at the overall games market in the U.S. Here we see a different story with the overall portable gaming revenue share (both smartphones and dedicated portable options) actually decreasing from 2009 to 2010; from 29% to 24%. That comes about as consoles increased their share of revenue from 71% in 2009 to 76% in 2010. So even if the likes of Android and iOS are grabbing more revenue from the portable market the overall games amrket is still very much dominated by consoles and if anything portable is losing out. Hit read more for another chart.

HTC Leakage: HTC Mazaa

It's a day for HTC rumours it seems with pictures of another purported handset appearing over at XDA Devs, this time the HTC Mazaa (yes it is a daft codename and you are right to mock it).  Sadly specs are for this handset are not in abundance, but current thinking is that the screen is 3.7 inches and will no doubt be a capacitive effort. There are three capacitive buttons at the bottom of the screen, the usual Windows Phone malarky e.g. back, home and search.

Turning to the back of the device there's a LED flash, a camera and an external speaker. Not much to go on, but the camera is supplemented by a front facing camera so expect video calling support. The chap leaking the images did mention the possibility that the handset would come with DDR2 (double rate synchronous dynamic RAM). If true then performance should be nippy to say the least.

Researchers use GPS, accelerometers to boost smartphone data rates

Well, this might be a good reason for The Powers That Be to know your exact whereabouts. According to a team of MIT researchers, speeding up data rates on mobile devices could be as easy as tapping the various motion sensors found in run-of-the-mill smartphones. The scientists believe our wireless infrastructure is at the root of bottlenecks, with a handful of weak transmitters clumsily "handing off" data to one another as you move out of range. The solution: use GPS radios, accelerometers, and even gyroscopes to infer where you're headed, and then choose an access point near where you're likely to end up. The difference, they report, is dramatic: a 50 percent boost in throughput, along with improved success in choosing the best bit rate. To boot, if a base station is armed with location-based info, it can better predict when the devices connected to it are on the verge of losing contact. That's all good news, but sadly we doubt any amount of promising science is enough to make the pink lady go away.

Fujitsu and DoCoMo's new dual-boot handset: Windows 7 and Symbian together at last?

Ever wished you could have a Microsoft main course with a side of Symbian? We haven't either, but if the rumors are true, Fujitsu and DoCoMo are teaming up to unleash a dual-boot device this year that can go from Windows 7 (the desktop OS, not WP7) to Symbian at the flip of a switch. According to the always untrusworthy interwebs, the LOOX F-07C will come with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, a four-inch 1024 x 600 display, an Intel Atom CPU, and a 32GB SSD. We don't know if this latest handset with multiple personality disorder is real or not, but we do know its odd couple OS pairing has piqued our somewhat morbid curiosity.

Google Latitude, now with 100 percent more check-in deals

A couple of months back, Google brought check-ins to Latitude, its location-sharing service, throughGoogle Maps 5.1 for Android. Naturally, iPhone users only recently received the same functionality, but some would argue they should be grateful to be included at all. (Kidding. Sort of.) Now, Latitude's inching closer to direct competition with Foursquare and Groupon by offering check-in deals at retailers like RadioShack, American Eagle, Quiznos, and Finish Line. Google is currently namechecking over a dozen nationwide partners, and that list will surely grow as the bandwagon approaches Mach 5. Curious as to how this all works? Check in at RadioShack, for example, and you might receive ten percent off an in-store purchase. Offers are tied to check-in frequency, building on Latitude's three-tiered status system; higher status means better deals. If you'd rather peek nearby offers before you decide to leave the house, head to Google's official check in page in the source link below.

Nokia's Ovi Mail relocates to Yahoo, takes the scenic route to get there

Nokia's mantra for 2011 is change, and lots of it. A full-on shift to Windows Phone 7 ain't the only thing making waves in Espoo, though, as the overlooked Ovi Suite appears to be facing a plethora of alterations as well. Starting this month, Ovi Mail moved from its own platform and began migrating to Yahoo, the fruits of a "worldwide strategic alliance" between the two companies announced in May of last year in which Yahoo agreed to offer its Mail and Chat services to nine million registered Ovi users in exchange for access to Nokia's navigation and map services. Ovi Mail users have the option to either agree to the new terms of service with Yahoo within 90 days, or face the haunting reality of having the mail account nixed forever. For those who bite, the good news is that you'll now have access to Yahoo Chat as well as every other Yahoo service. The downside? Your contact list and emails may not all show up right away. 

According to Nokia's Ovi blog, the massive amount of information being moved to Yahoo has been causing delays, and many users are being left in the digital dark -- you know, completely without their contacts and emails. It could be anywhere between several days and a couple of weeks (!) before the missing data is accessible again, so we'd suggest using this golden opportunity to act on those vacation dreams you've been having. If we had to guess, we'd say you'll never be this hard to get in touch with ever again.

Video - White Nexus S with AT&T