Acer Liquid Metal gets official in the UK with Android 2.2 and Breeze UI

After seeing quite a few leaks, Acer just made its Liquid Metal handset official. The 3.6-inch slate runs Android 2.2 Froyo atop an 800MHz Qualcomm MSM7230 processor. Inside all that molten metal you'll find 802.11n WiFi, support for 14.4Mbps HSDPA, DLNA/UPnP streaming support, Dolby Surround technology, and an image stabilized 5 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash capable of recording video at 720p (30fps). Acer's new handset also features a new Breeze UI and SocialJogger app that aggregates Twitter and Facebook feeds. Look for it to land in brown in the UK starting mid November for £299. A silver version should arrive in early December.

netTALK offers free VoIP app for Android, iPhone, and more

NetTALK unveiled its interesting netTALK DUO VoIP device for computer users back in July. The company has now announced a new smartphone application that is available for all major platforms. The app is offered free on the iPhone, Android, Blackberry, and Windows Mobile devices.

The app allows the smartphone users to make calls to people in the US and Canada using the phones 3G network or a WiFi connection. The app will also function on slower EDGE networks as well allowing calls without using minutes on your cellular plan. The app will let the user record conversation and contacts can be imported from the smartphone to the app.

Hands on the Nexus Two by Samsung

The Nexus Two is real. It's made by Samsung, and a friend of ours got to play with it. It's not going rock your face like the Nexus One did. But it will record it with a front-facing camera. "When I first saw it from 10 feet away, I thought it was the Galaxy S," says our source, who got to handle one. "I was a little surprised it was the Nexus Two," because it's so different from the Nexus One.
It's black and shiny, built with glossy plastic. Up close, though, it's "got this curve to it." While the screen, which our source thinks is the same 4-inch AMOLED affair from the Galaxy series, is flat, the front is "sort of concave" with hard edges. And the back is curved. The tapering makes it feel thinner than Galaxy S, though it might be about the same thickness. "It feels really similar to the Galaxy S in a lot ways." (Note: Our mockup is very approximate.)

Vulkano gets Android and Blackberry apps for video streaming

Back in July Monsoon Multimedia unveiled the cool Vulkano Pro set top box that can record TV shows and allow place and time shifting for your favorite programs. The company has announced a cool new mobile smartphone app that is available for Android and Blackberry smartphones.

When the app is used with the Vulkano Pro or Deluxe DVRs the content on the DVR can be streamed directly to the smartphone over 3G or WiFi. The user can also watch life TV and can pause/rewind and record programs directly from the phone.

The app has the ability to record programs using the electronic program guide and it allows the viewing or photos and streaming music from the home to the device as well. Video is streamed in H.264 and MPEG-4 formats. The app is free and available to download right now.

WiFi-only Galaxy Tab stops by the FCC for tea

$599 is a bit pricey for a seven-inch tablet, and while you can get $200 off that at some places by signing your life away to a data contract, that really isn't any fun either. Thankfully Samsung appears to have another option with what looks to be the $499, WiFi-only model that showed up in a Best Buy flier earlier this week. That version has now been cleared by the FCC, indeed with only tests for 802.11 and Bluetooth wireless. The absence of 3G looks like it will save you $100 and obviously make the device a little less flexible than its bar-bearing brethren, but whether that modified cost:inconvenience ratio works out in your favor depends largely on the value of your income:restlessness factor.

Equinux unveils mobile TV hotspot for iPhone and iPad

European users of the iPhone and iPad have a new method of getting TV programs on the iPhone or iPad using a new hotspot from equinox. The TV hotspot is the first in Europe and delivers digital TV in DVB-T/DTT/TNT formats directly to the Apple devices using WiFi.
The gadget is called the tizi and it is black with a very small and compact design. The tizi has a preconfigured wireless network and to get TV on the iPhone or iPad the user only needs to select that preconfigured network on their device. The tizi is good for up to three and a half hours per charge and charges via a USB port.

All 89,000 Microsoft staff getting Windows Phone 7 devices

Back in July, when we were still tentatively confident about Windows Phone 7 after our technical preview, rumors surfaced that Microsoft would be encouraging its employees to drink the smartphone kool-aid by giving everyone a free WP7 device.  Now the company has confirmed that’s the case, with Microsoft exec Guy Gilbert telling Network World that all 89,000 staff would indeed be getting an early Christmas present.