Sony Ericsson announces the Aspen

Sony Ericsson today announced the Aspen, the latest handset in its GreenHeart line of eco-friendly devices. A no-nonsense Windows Phone geared towards business users, the Aspen’s features include a full-QWERTY keypad, 2.4″ QVGA dispaly, 3.2 megapixel camera, 3.5mm headphone jack, microSD, Wi-Fi, A-GPS, support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and SPB Mobile Shell floating on top of Windows Mobile 6.5.3. Pricing has yet to be announced, but the Sony Ericsson Aspen is scheduled to drop in Q2. And yes, this puppy is available with some US 3G love, albeit only on the 850 MHz band. Oh well. 1900 is teh suck anyway.
[BGR]

Swype vs QWERTY: FIGHT!!!!! [Touch Screen]

QWERTY is pretty much the king of smartphone text input. But there's a new challenger on the horizon. It's called Swype, it works with one-hand input and, yeah, it is pretty fast.
Yes, the first thing you may notice is that Swype technically uses a QWERTY layout. But instead of pushing each key individually, you drag your finger from letter to letter.
It's tough to tell if the speed gains are legitimate, given this video has been created by the Swype camp. I will say, however, given that this demo is one hand vs. two, the technology certainly holds its own. What do you think? Would you be willing to part with traditional QWERTY to spell words through nonsensical doodles?
Swype will debut in Verizon's Samsung Omnia II arriving early next month before making its way to an unnamed Android phone next year.
[Gizmodo via Swype via TechCrunch via OhGizmo]

Samsung takes a moment to announce the Android-powered Moment

Hot off the presses! Samsung has announced a new Android-powered phone: the Moment. The new Android-powered Samsung Moment is the first Sprint phone to use Samsung's new 3.2' AMOLED touchscreen display and will feature a landscape sliding QWERTY keyboard. And it's not priced all that bad either.

It's got a 3.5-mm headphone jack and SDHC expansion (compared to an awkward mini-USB combo and a microSDHC), but it's also significantly thinner and loses the G1's chin. It's got a 3.2MP camera on the back.

Unlike the Motorola Cliq or HTC Hero, Samsung hasn't messed with the stock Android interface very much at all, merely sprinkling in some carrier-specific widgets like Nascar, Sprint Navigation and Sprint TV, which actually works quite well.

Specs:

* 3.2-megapixel camera with flash and camcorder with auto-focus
* Stereo Bluetooth® 2.0 wireless technology
* Expandable memory up to 32GB
* Sprint TV® with live and on-demand programming
* NFL Mobile Live and NASCAR Sprint Cup MobileSM
* Easy access to social networking sites, including Facebook®, Flickr® and TwitterTM
* Media player with 3.5-millimeter headphone jack
* Visual voice mail for quick and easy access to specific voice mail messages
* Access to personal and corporate email through Active Sync

[Via Gizmodo, CrunchGear]

Motorola Tao Gets Release Date, Full Specs Coming Together

A super secret document made its way into the hands of Taylor and company over at AndroidAndMe which outlines the plans for Motorola’s Tao handset. We’re being treated to some insider information that sheds light on what to expect from both Motorola and Verizon. This phone definitely plans to deliver the goods.
Rumored to drop December 1st, the Tao is being billed as the world’s thinnest slide QWERTY phone at 13.7mm thick. Other details include a 3.7″ touch screen with 16:9 ratio, 16GB on board storage, Flash and a little something called Android 2.0, whatever that is.

There’s mention of a dock that transforms the phone into a beside clock, digital picture frame, or bedside clock. From the sounds of it, the Tao will come with it in the box. There are tons of little goodies in the document – Too many to list out here. If you’re into things that get Android fans excited, then might we suggest reading it for yourself?
If you’re looking for the full-on spec list, we have that for ya. Here’s what we have so far. You’ll note that some of it is a little conflicting.
Specs:

• OMAP3430 – 600 MHz ARM Cortex A8 + PowerVR SGX 530 GPU + 430MHz C64x+ DSP + ISP (Image Signal Processor)
• Dimensions 60.00 x 115.80 x 13.70 mm
• Weight 169 g
• Battery Li-ion 1400 mAh.
• Standby 450 hours, talk time 420 minutes
• 3.7-inch touch-sensitive display with a resolution of 854×480 pixels, 16 million color depth. Physical screen size is 45.72 mm by 81.34 mm.
• 512MB/256MB ROM/RAM
• microSD / microSDHC expansion slot
• Camera: 5.0 megapixel with autofocus and video recorder
• Connectivity: USB2.0, 3.5mm audio jack, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR, Wi-Fi
• Operating System: Android 2.0 (with Eclair, no Motoblur)
• Package Contents: Phone Motorola Sholes, battery, charger, USB cable, 8GB MicroSD memory card and other literature

The list we were passed does not indicate the dock, nor does it match up in terms of on board storage. Also noteworthy is that this is not going to have MOTOBLUR, the new interface developed by Motorola. This matches up with the pictures we’ve seen so far.

Hang on folks, this is about to get really fun!
[AndroidGuys]

And Here’s the Motorola Cliq!

So long “Morrison” and hello Cliq! The next exlcusive handset headed to T-Mobile will be the Motorola Cliq. All the rumors and speculation proved to be pretty accurate.

Here’s the low down on the hardware for those of you who might be into that sort of thing.

• 3.1″ HVGA Touch Screen, 320×480 pixels
• 114mm x 58mm x 15.6mm
• MOTOBLUR / Android 1.5 (Cupcake)
  
  
  
  • MySpace, Photobucket, Picasa, Facebook for photos
  • Facebook, MySpace and Twitter Direct Messaging
  • Caller’s name, number, status and profile pic as Caller ID
    
• Side Sliding QWERTY
• 5 megapixel camera with autofocus
• 1420 mAh lithium polymer (6hr talk time)
• POP3/IMAP embedded, Support for MS Exchange
• Bluetooth 2.9
• WiFi, MicroUSB, GPS
• 3.5mm headphone jack
• Preloaded apps include TeleNav GPS, Amazon Music Store, imeem, Shazam, LastFM, Accuweather, Quickoffice

No word on pricing or release date but it’s slated for a ‘fall’ release. We’ll be among the first sites to report on it when it becomes available! For now, you can join in the conversation in the official T-Mobile Forums