The new Droid Razr is the worlds thinnest smartphone and it packs a punch. Coming in at 7.1mm thick the Razr takes the place as the worlds thinnest smartphone, previously held by the Sony Ericsson Experia Arc.

Being the worlds thinnest phone doesn’t mean Motorola skimmed when it came to specs, the Razr features a 1.2Ghz dual core CPU, 1GB of RAM and 32GB or storage, a massive 4.3″ Super AMOLED screen, oh and did I mention it runs Android?

The slimness of the Motorola Razr was made possible by the use Kevlar, usually used to stop bullets, and the use of gorilla glass combined with the Kevlar makes the Razr also very strong and durable.

What do you think about the Droid Razr? Would you want to own one?

Android Ice Cream Sandwich or Android 4.0 is the latest version of the ever popular smartphone OS from Google, the new version will be compatible with both phones and tablets and features a whole new interface.

Google has also added new virtual buttons in the system bar, eliminating the need for hardware buttons altogether and making more space for valuable screen real estate. One of the strong aspects of Android has always been its multitasking capabilities, with Ice Cream Sandwich Google has made multitasking even more easier and visual. The recent Apps button enables users to jump easily between running Apps but popping up a visual list of current running Apps with thumbnails and allow users to simply switch by the tap of a thumbnail.

Android 4.0 now has new home screen folders, users can now simply drag apps or shortcuts onto one another to create to group their Apps logically, in addition to that uninstalling or getting more information about Apps also got allot easier. From the App Launcher users can drag an App to get more information from it or uninstall it.

A nice new feature added in Ice Cream Sandwich is the resizable widget functionality. Users can now resize widgets on home screens to enable them to show more content should they wish.

In addition to the above features, Android 4.0 also features a new voice engine, better control over network users, users can now actually see how many bytes each App uses, new screen lock actions like facial recognition, improved text input and spell-checking.

The camera has also seen some significant improvements, users now have continuous focus and zero shutter lag, meaning your shots will be taken instantly, something that got me quite irritated in Android 2.3. There is also new panoramic functionality that will stitch fotos for you and new face detection technology. You can also now edit photos after you took them and add live effects to videos.

Functionality that Android lacked for a few years now was the ability to take screenshots, you could get it done but then you had to root your phone or use a USB cable and Android SDK, but users can now take screenshot by pressing hardware buttons.

This is just a few of the new features that makes Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich so great, I for one can’t wait to give it test, it just looks good and its easy to see that this will be the best version of Android to date.

April came and gone without any apps released for the Android and Blackberry platforms as promised and now a few months later DStv has finally launched their much anticipated Android app for viewing DStv Mobile content through the Drifta decoder.

But don’t get too happy yet, there are some fallbacks to the new DStv Mobile Android app, like it is only compatible with certain device, yep not a certain version of Android but more specific only certain devices. The DStv Mobile Android app will only run on the Samsung Galaxy S (GT-I9000), Samsung Galaxy Tab (GT-P1000) and Samsung Galaxy S II (GT-I9100), and don’t even think that you’ll be able to run this on a rooted phone.

DStv is preventing people with rooted phones to make use of the app due to content right restrictions, which in my opinion is a bit of a fail specially since major Android handset manufacturers are now adopting a open bootloader policy which enables you to run just about any version of Android on your phone.

Personally for me the launch of the DStv Mobile Android app is a bit of a fail seeing as it has so much restrictions, and why it is only compatible with a hand full of Samsung device is beyond me. What do you think, should DStv rather have waited a little bit longer before releasing to offer more device compatibility? It’s clear that DStv pushed this app for the Rugby World Cup.

The Motorola XOOM is the first tablet to run Android 3 Honeycomb, boasts a dual core Tegra 2 1Ghz processor, 1GB DDR2 RAM and 32GB of internal storage. Motorola South Africa has also confirmed that an update for Android 3.1 is available for the XOOM in South Africa.

The Motorola Atrix is a 4G dual core CPU phone running Android 2.3 Gingerbread, however the device will not be branded as 4G in South Africa. What really makes the Atrix stand out from all the other dual core phones currently on the market is its Webtop application combined with the docking station. Plugging the Atrix into the docking station enables you to control the device with a normal keyboard and mouse.

The Motorola XOOM and Atrix will be available with Cell C, Vodacom, MTN and 8ta in August 2011. The recommended retail price for the Motorola XOOM is R6599 and R5799 for the Atrix, both devices will also be available on contract.

FNB was the first bank that embraced social media, and since then has seen great success with its twitter consultant account, RBJacobs (FNB Guy), that helps FNB customers with quick solutions to problems they are experiencing as well as providing them with advice when they need it.

The last couple of weeks allot of FNB customers started asking about dedicated smartphone apps for the internet banking service, even though FNB gives customers access to mobile banking through their fnb.mobi site and through a USSD service, the company seems to have listened to their customers’ request and yesterday on twitter started asking around at what mobile platforms users would like apps for.

Shortly after users responded, FNB changed their profile picture by adding Apple, Android and BlackBerry logos to it, making it even more obvious that they will be launching smartphone apps. The FNB twitter account also mentioned that they will be announcing something today and questions answered by the account hinted that it may relate to dedicated smartphone apps for internet banking. This morning RBJacobs confirmed that today today they will be talking about the FNB App launch, confirming all the rumours.

Would you make use of a dedicated FNB smartphone app to do you internet banking? If so what platform would you prefer?

Google yesterday announced in a blog post that they have been working hard at improving the Android Market and has now released a brand new version. The new Android Market not just gives you new ways to find great applications and games, but the company has now also introduced movie rentals and book purchases.

Movie rentals and book purchases will however only be available to U.S. users, but you can see Google has put allot of thought into this as when you rent a movie or purchase a book it gets linked to your Google account making it instantly available across all of your devices - computer, phone, or tablet.

The new Android Market layout overhaul makes it faster, easier, and more fun to discover great apps, movies, and books. Google has not just increased the space to feature some of the most interesting content of the week, but they have also introduced staff picks and editors’ choice sections in addition to new top chart sections that will showcase the most interesting apps of the week.

The new Android Market will only be available to Android handsets running Android 2.2 Froyo and up and will be rolled out to users around the world in the coming weeks.

Archos, a company that has released several Android and Windows powered tablets are yet to make it big in the tablet market with one of its devices, but the company is making news with the announcement of a new tablet.

The new Arnova 7 tablet comes in at a mere $99 or R700 and the company hopes that this will put them on the map. One can’t expect much from a R700 tablet, but in places like Africa where users can only afford feature phones, this R700 tablet from Archos could be a huge hit.

Spec wise the tablet is not much to brag about, featuring a 7″ 800×400 screen, 4GB of internal storage and capable of 720p video playback running on Android Froyo 2.2 and WiFi. There are also no word yet on the specs of the CPU or how much RAM the Arnova 7 tablet has, but one thing is for sure – it has no cameras, like one would expect for that price. Disappointedly the Arnova 7 also have no access to the Android Market, but rather a custom market place called the AppsLib app store.

How disappointed one may be with the specs of the device, you can not deny the price. The price tag of $99 for the Arnova 7 makes it really appealing to 3rd word countries, such as Kenya where a $99 Android smartphone was recently introduced and proven to be a huge hit. The new tablet from Archos could just be the device that 3rd world countries need to introduce tablets into their markets.

No word yet on when the Archos 7 will start shipping and what countries will get the device first, but I think Archos would be foolish not to introduce this tablet to the African markets.

HTC

The company confirmed in an announcement on the official HTC Facebook page that they are saying goodbye to their locked bootloader policy, and from now on will no longer lock the bootloaders on it’s phones.

‎”There has been overwhelmingly customer feedback that people want access to open bootloaders on HTC phones. I want you to know that we’ve listened. Today, I’m confirming we will no longer be locking the bootloaders on our devices. Thanks for your passion, support and patience,” Peter Chou, CEO of HTC

The move by HTC could see the smartphone brand rise to the top of the Android platform, with die hard techies already saying that they will be moving over to HTC because of this announcement.

Opensource communities will also welcome this announcement and I think we should see more of them supporting HTC and developing custom ROMS for the devices.

As of last night some South African users have reported to already have access to paid applications on the Android Market, I however checked and could only find one paid application namely QuickOffice Pro that is going for R68.73. I also tried buying apps through the online Android web store, but this did not work either.

In the mean time while we wait for the service to roll out fully to all South Africa users you can set up a Google Checkout Account, as that will be used to pay for your applications.

The HTC Flyer Android tablet will be available in South Africa on contract from MTN for under R300 per month.

The Flyer which is a 7″, 1.5GHz, HSPA+ tablet will be available for R299 pm on a MTN 100 Anytime contract with 150MB of data per month. This contract will also only be a 1 year contract as appose to the norm of a 2 year contract and will compete head on with the Samsung Galaxy Tab.

MTN customers can get their hands on the HTC Flyer from 9 May 2011.