If you’ve been following the mobile tech world for a while, you may have drooled over the HTC Universal way back when, just like I did. (Not that I could do much more than drool, being in high school at the time.) Naturally the Windows Mobile hardware isn’t ideal for running the modern version of Android – at 64 or 128 megabytes of RAM, compared to the 25gMB of the original G1 and a full gigabyte for the Galaxy Nexus. Like other Windows Mobile ports, this one has to be initiated from the MicroSD card.

After some tweaking by creator “notime2d8″, the image seems to work well enough, if slowly. Not surprising, since the entire system is running off of RAM and using a 528Mhz ARM processor. If you’re lucky enough to have an HTC Universal gathering dust, be sure to try out the port. Good on ya, Android mod developers – now how’s about that Atari version?

“Lesscro” is an established modder who’s put an impressive amount of work into an ICS Windows Mobile theme, including a lock screen, launcher, and a power control feature that mimics Android’s notification bar. Even the widgets and software control buttons are duplicated – even though Windows Mobile devices feature their own hardware buttons. The dedication and thoroughness of the mod is a testament to the tenacity that’s still going into Windows Mobile, more than a a year after Microsoft launched Windows Phone 7. As a former WinMo user myself, I can’t help but feel a little proud.

Check out the video below:

At a little less than three weeks old, the ICS theme is still pretty shaky. There’s some very noticeable slowdown, and it only works with one resolution so far. Lesspro says he’ll be updating the mod continuously. Still, for a hobby project it’s awfully impressive, and I’m sure it’ll warm cool the heart of many a Windows Mobile user. Now if only the Galaxy Nexus would launch, so Android modders can get their hands on that source code…

Check out our hands-on look at the real Ice Cream Sandwich below:

Ice Cream Sandwich Hands-on

[via XDA blog]

The clear winner in overall mobile OS loyalty is the iPhone with an impressive 59 percent of users continuing to use iOS when they switch devices. Android fell under both the iPhone and BlackBerry loyalty which was pegged at 35 percent. Windows Mobile and Symbian were behind Android with 24 and 21 percent respectively.

Now the reason for this could be because of the apps available on the devices. With iOS there are currently over 300,000 apps available. Compared to Android’s 100,000 and BlackBerry’s 10,000, there is definitely a higher chance that iPhone apps will fit someones needs over Android, BlackBerry, Symbian and Windows Mobile.

[Via Electronista]

If Froyo isn’t to your taste, there’s also an Android 2.1 build with the same HTC Sense UI as on the Desire available.  There are still issues with each, including audio issues during calls and – on the Froyo build – some 3G problems, so these may not be everyday ROMs for you, but the good news is that the 1GHz Snapdragon processor in the HD2 keeps them running as slickly as you’d find on a Nexus One or Desire.

Android 2.2 Froyo on HTC HD2:

Android 2.1 with Sense on HTC HD2:

[via HDBlog.it]

The usual clones often come as iPhone knockoff, looks like android devices are the new target. It does look like its built pretty good and may be a very solid handset. It appears to have a front facing camera which the real Droid doesn’t. Unfortunately, the keyboard looks worst then the Droid keyboard, if you’re going to imitate you should at least try and improve on the hardware design.

It’s actually not too far off as far as specs go. It has a 533 MHz Huawei processor instead of the 550MHZ in the Droid. It has the exact same RAM as the Droid, 256. If you love Windows Mobile 6.5 but want the look of what is probably the most popular Android device, this may be the handset for you.

[via crunchgear]

Even without specific drivers running, the hardware and the Linux kernel are capable of churning through 720p HD video playback as you can see in the footage below.  There’s still plenty of work left to do – not least come up with drivers for sound, graphics, Bluetooth, GPS, phone and more – but the promised land of dual-booting between Windows Mobile and Android does look to be a little further within reach.

[via WMPowerUser]

More information on the project, from the artist himself:

I decided to create the same mobile app – a small piano/drum sequencer thing – on 3 mobile platforms: Android, Windows Mobile and iPhone OS. As a developer I didn’t quite succeed: audio latency is a b*tch and building the app from the same source proved to be possible but unusable, so I ended up writing it three times: in java for android, in C# for windows mobile and in Objective-C for iPhone… To play them all at once I just taped them on a piece of wood together with a battery powered speaker. Add lots of audio cables and TADAAA: a very playable guitar shaped instrument that makes a hell of a noise… I added Pocket Stompbox, a virtual amp with lots of great real time effects and of course the FANTASTIC iShred app from Frontierdesign.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilEdroh3uzM&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Ok, maybe it’s not that pretty to look at but it does get the job done. There is a bit of audio lag but overall it’s pretty good. It’s nice to see these 3 competitors playing nice together for awhile. Now that this is over let’s get back to the battle for the top OS (we all know its Android).

[via gizmodo]

Skyfire is nothing new, all you Windows mobile and Symbian users has being enjoying this browser for a long time now. Tired of waiting for Flash 10 to finally hit? You don’t have to now because this browser supports flash 10, all major Web 2.0 standards, including Ajax, JavaScript. So without prolonging your agony, click this link to download it now.

[via xda]

I just signed up to be an Alpha tester for their upcoming browser and you can too. To get started head to their site, input your name, device and country. There are a limited number of spots available so if you like beta testing and want to help make this better for Android, participate an enjoy. I’m sure the browser is pretty good.

So far, there’s a lot more working than still requiring attention.  In fact, only the camera and GPS are still causing headaches; the touchscreen, hardware buttons, wireless connectivity, radio and Android market all work, and there’s even Flash support though it doesn’t seem the Diamond2′s CPU is strong enough to get past jerky playback.

Still, if you’ve an old Windows Mobile device lying around then you could do far worse than to give it a shot of Android.  Full installation instructions and all the necessary downloads here.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXd5WC2y6lQ[/youtube]

[via CoolSmartphone]

This game can be played on any Android phone that has 1.6 and up. So those of you that are currently stuck on 1.5 or lower, this will not show up in the market for you. The guys over at Eurodroid received a copy of the press release which reads:

” GAMEVIL announces ZENONIA now available on the Android Market

LOS ANGELES, CA – March 26th, 2010 – GAMEVIL(R), a leading mobile games publisher and developer, today announced that its award winning classic action role-playing game ZENONIA(TM) is now available on Google’s Android Market. The game will support both HVGA and WVGA screen resolutions and will be available for Android 1.6 and above.

“The landscape of smartphones is changing everyday and we’ve been continuously adopting new platforms including Android.”, said Kyu Lee, Head of GAMEVIL USA. “More and more Android users have been continuously asking us to bring ZENONIA to their phones these days, and fulfilling these demands is what excites us the most.”

“ZENONIA is now available for $5.99 on the Android Market. For more details, please visit www.gamevil.com

About GAMEVIL
GAMEVIL is a premier mobile game publisher located in Seoul, Korea and Los Angeles, USA. Established in 2000, GAMEVIL has earned a reputation as one of the best companies in the mobile games sector by crafting award winners in a diverse portfolio of games. GAMEVIL is well known for revolutionizing the sector with its original and innovative mobile games, backed by unparalleled expertise in advanced mobile technology. As a world class leader in mobile games publishing, GAMEVIL continues to lead the sector with a commitment to establish mobile as the definitive mass market entertainment platform of the world. GAMEVIL is currently listed on the KOSDAQ Market (Ticker: 063080, Bloomberg: 063080:KS, Reuters: 063080.KQ)

GAMEVIL(R) and ZENONIA(TM) are trademarks or registered trademarks of GAMEVIL Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.
Follow the Facebook Page at http://facebook.com/gamevil and Twitter feeds at http://twitter.com/gamevil.”

This app is already available for Microsoft Windows Mobile and Apple iPhone OS. They are hoping to add millions of new customers with this move to Android. The app is in beta now and there was a display for it at this year’s CTIA. Currently, there’s no price tag on the Android version but, it cost iPhone users $29.99, expect similar pricing.

[via brighthand]

This hack has working calls, SMS and data. Click the links below if you want to try them out on your phone.

Android on HTC Windows Phones:

• Touch Pro2 (GSM)
• Touch Pro2 (CDMA – must take SIM card out) (thanks MrPippy)
• Touch Diamond2/Pure
• Touch HD
• Touch Pro/Fuze (GSM)
• Touch Pro (CDMA)
• Touch Diamond (GSM)
• Touch Diamond (CDMA)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa1Eu_hzX8Q&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

[via pocketnow]

Bluetooth is proving unstable, and the camera doesn’t currently work, but otherwise Android 2.1 plays nicely; WiFi, GPS, standby and – most importantly – the phone all work.  Of course, it also erases Windows Mobile in the process, so don’t attempt the install if you were hoping to flip between the open-source OS and Microsoft’s.

[via Hack a Day]

There’s also news of a 4.3-inch WVGA device, the Huashan, which seemingly started life as an Android smartphone but which is apparently being changed to Windows Mobile.  That will drop mid-way through Q3 2010, and be followed in Q4 2010 by the 2.8-inch QVGA Songshan – and Android phone with a keyboard – and the Tianshan, a 3.2-inch QVGA Android phone shortly after.

The end result is this, a heavily customized version of Android on the X1 that – unlike some hacks we’ve seen – doesn’t run at an entirely snail’s pace.  You’ll need to be pretty brave to try it yourself, but full instructions, together with the necessary ROMs, are here.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0M5cIgMzJ1g[/youtube]

[via LeakDroid]

The phones will probably arrive under the Garmin-ASUS cobrand, and the first Android handset will drop in Q2 2010.  Each device will be targeted at the mainstream range (rather than particularly high- or low-end buyers), though ASUS are still deciding whether to use Android 2.1 or a different build of the OS.

Anyway, Samsung is the latest manufacturer we hear from, that wants to slowly drop the Redmond OS in favor of the much hotter Android platform. Google’s open source OS; Android, is becoming a must have for many, and that’s something that cellphone makers see as an opportunity to get more revenue.

HMC Investment Securities analyst Greg Noh, said that Samsung will use Windows Mobile on just 50% of their handsets in 2010, that’s down from 80% this year. Not only that but, Greg estimates that only 20% of Samsung handsets will use the WinMo platform by 2012.

Well, so far, Samsung has not confirm or deny these claims. But we can be sure of one thing, the exodus away from Windows Mobile is a fact. Not just from Samsung and Palm, many believe others will follow, unless the Redmond giant begins to do better, much much better on the WinMo platform.

The Omnia is usually a Windows Mobile 6.1 phone, with a 3.2-inch WQVGA resistive touchscreen, 5-megapixel autofocus camera, 2100MHz 3G, Bluetooth and WiFi.  So far, the porting team have managed to transfer Android to the smartphone, boot it and load the kernel, and get basic touchscreen support.

There are still problems, though; most of the hardware lacks Android support, so no phone or camera access, and some of the hardware buttons don’t yet work.  The touchscreen occasionally freezes, and sometimes the whole screen turns black, shows streaky text or other glitches, which have to be fixed with a restart.  Still, it sounds like you can try it on your own Omnia without necessarily losing your Windows Mobile install; Android is loaded from a microSD card.

[via Patrick Soon]

Admob, was founded in 2006 when entrepreneur Omar Hamoui needed traffic information for his mobile website. Through the company he developed, their mission is “to provide the business models, services, tools, and data fundamental to the development and growth of the mobile internet.” The results of mobile operating system statistics – awesome.

Up 3% since January, Android now captures 5% of web traffic on smartphones in the U.S. What is also worth noting is the drop of Windows Mobile (-17%) and RIM (-11%). With no information available for Android from Aug 2008 when previous information is compared, the 5% increase over the last 6 odd months could see Android catapulting itself into the serious players of mobile operating systems very soon. Jolly good news really.

[via Droideo]