• Qualcomm MSM7227T 800MHz processor                             • Light sensor
• 512MB RAM                                                      • Proximity sensor
• UMTS 900/2100 MHz                                              • Loud speaker
• 2G: GSM 900/1800/1900 MHz                                      • Voice recorder
• 3G: HSDPA 1900/2100 MHz                                        • Mobile Mail
• 4.9 megapixel camera 2592x1944 pix. with autofocus, LED Flash  • Chat messaging
• 4.3 inches Sony S-LSD display: 480x800 pixels, 16M colours     • Photo messaging
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi hotspot                                 • Predictive text
• FM radio with RDS                                              • Video Messaging
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR                                            • 67.8 x 125.9 x 10.4
• GPRS, GPS, EDGE, Java, SatNav, Signal Boost (UMA)              • 120g
• Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate                        • 5 hours talk
• Digital compass                                                • 12 days standby

       • Additionally these are 3G sim cards, meaning if you wish to use 3G data with them, you can do so straight away;
       • You can register this SIM to any name and transfer credit to any Orange account.
        (sim card with credit £20 for price of £5 available upon request)

2) 750 Android Applications (Apps/ utilities/ games: approx. £250 value):

    • Points: + Best seller, Cigarette lighter socket, Convenient Charging, High performance, Simple and compact.
      • CE and ROHS Certified for safety.    - Input:12V   - Output:5V.1A
      • Will also charge any micro USB devices: iPods, mobile phones, Microsoft Zune, MP3/MP4 Players etc.

New User Features

UI refinements for simplicity and speed

The user interface is refined in many ways across the system, making it easier to learn, faster to use, and more power-efficient. A simplified visual theme of colors against black brings vividness and contrast to the notification bar, menus, and other parts of the UI. Changes in menus and settings make it easier for the user to navigate and control the features of the system and device.

Faster, more intuitive text input

The Android soft keyboard is redesigned and optimized for faster text input and editing. The keys themselves are reshaped and repositioned for improved targeting, making them easier to see and press accurately, even at high speeds. The keyboard also displays the current character and dictionary suggestions in a larger, more vivid style that is easier to read.

The keyboard adds the capability to correct entered words from suggestions in the dictionary. As the user selects a word already entered, the keyboard displays suggestions that the user can choose from, to replace the selection. The user can also switch to voice input mode to replace the selection. Smart suggestions let the user accept a suggestion and then return to correct it later, if needed, from the original set of suggestions.

New multitouch key-chording lets the user quickly enter numbers and symbols by pressing Shift+<letter> and ?123+<symbol>, without needing to manually switch input modes. From certain keys, users can also access a popup menu of accented characters, numbers, and symbols by holding the key and sliding to select a character.

One-touch word selection and copy/paste

When entering text or viewing a web page, the user can quickly select a word by press-hold, then copy to the clipboard and paste. Pressing on a word enters a free-selection mode — the user can adjust the selection area as needed by dragging a set of bounding arrows to new positions, then copy the bounded area by pressing anywhere in the selection area. For text entry, the user can slide-press to enter a cursor mode, then reposition the cursor easily and accurately by dragging the cursor arrow. With both the selection and cursor modes, no use of a trackball is needed.

Improved power management

The Android system takes a more active role in managing apps that are keeping the device awake for too long or that are consuming CPU while running in the background. By managing such apps — closing them if appropriate — the system helps ensure best possible performance and maximum battery life.

The system also gives the user more visibility over the power being consumed by system components and running apps. The Application settings provides an accurate overview of how the battery is being used, with details of the usage and relative power consumed by each component or application.

Control over applications

A short-cut to the Manage Applications control now appears in the Options Menu in the Home screen and Launcher, making it much easier to check and manage application activity. Once the user enters Manage Applications, a new Running tab displays a list of active applications and the storage and memory being used by each. The user can read further details about each application and if necessary stop an application or report feedback to its developer.

New ways of communicating, organizing

An updated set of standard applications lets the user take new approaches to managing information and relationships.

Internet calling

The user can make voice calls over the internet to other users who have SIP accounts. The user can add an internet calling number (a SIP address) to any Contact and can initiate a call from Quick Contact or Dialer. To use internet calling, the user must create an account at the SIP provider of their choice — SIP accounts are not provided as part of the internet calling feature. Additionally, support for the platform's SIP and internet calling features on specific devices is determined by their manufacturers and associated carriers.

Near-field communications

An NFC Reader application lets the user read and interact with near-field communication (NFC) tags. For example, the user can “touch” or “swipe” an NFC tag that might be embedded in a poster, sticker, or advertisement, then act on the data read from the tag. A typical use would be to read a tag at a restaurant, store, or event and then rate or register by jumping to a web site whose URL is included in the tag data. NFC communication relies on wireless technology in the device hardware, so support for the platform's NFC features on specific devices is determined by their manufacturers.

Downloads management

The Downloads application gives the user easy access to any file downloaded from the browser, email, or another application. Downloads is built on an completely new download manager facility in the system that any other applications can use, to more easily manage and store their downloads.

Camera

The application now lets the user access multiple cameras on the device, including a front-facing camera, if available. 

New Developer Features

Android 2.3 delivers a variety of features and APIs that let developers bring new types of applications to the Android platform.

    * Enhancements for gamin
    * New forms of communication
    * Rich multimedia

Performance

Android 2.3 includes a variety of improvements across the system that make common operations faster and more efficient for all applications. Of particular interest to game developers are:

• Concurrent garbage collector — The Dalivik VM introduces a new, concurrent garbage collector that minimizes application pauses, helping to ensure smoother animation and increased responsiveness in games and similar applications.
• Faster event distribution — The plaform now handles touch and keyboard events faster and more efficiently, minimizing CPU utilization during event distribution. The changes improve responsiveness for all applications, but especially benefit games that use touch events in combination with 3D graphics or other CPU-intensive operations.
• Updated video drivers — The platform uses updated third-party video drivers that improve the efficiency of OpenGL ES operations, for faster overall 3D graphics performance.

Native input and sensor events

Applications that use native code can now receive and process input and sensor events directly in their native code, which dramatically improves efficiency and responsiveness.

Native libraries exposed by the platform let applications handle the same types of input events as those available through the framework. Applications can receive events from all supported sensor types and can enable/disable specific sensors and manage event delivery rate and queueing.

Gyroscope and other new sensors, for improved 3D motion processing

Android 2.3 adds API support for several new sensor types, including gyroscope, rotation vector, linear acceleration, gravity, and barometer sensors. Applications can use the new sensors in combination with any other sensors available on the device, to track three-dimensional device motion and orientation change with high precision and accuracy. For example, a game application could use readings from a gyroscope and accelerometer on the device to recognize complex user gestures and motions, such as tilt, spin, thrust, and slice.

Open API for native audio

The platform provides a software implementation of Khronos OpenSL ES, a standard API that gives applications access to powerful audio controls and effects from native code. Applications can use the API to manage audio devices and control audio input, output, and processing directly from native code.

Native graphics management

The platform provides an interface to its Khronos EGL library, which lets applications manage graphics contexts and create and manage OpenGL ES textures and surfaces from native code.

Native access to Activity lifecycle, window management

Native applications can declare a new type of Activity class, NativeActivity whose lifecycle callbacks are implemented directly in native code. The NativeActivity and its underlying native code run in the system just as do other Activities — they run in the application's system process and execute on the application's main UI thread, and they receive the same lifecycle callbacks as do other Activities.

The platform also exposes native APIs for managing windows, including the ability to lock/unlock the pixel buffer to draw directly into it. Through the API, applications can obtain a native window object associated with a framework Surface object and interact with it directly in native code.

Native access to assets, storage

Applications can now access a native Asset Manager API to retrieve application assets directly from native code without needing to go through JNI. If the assets are compressed, the platform does streaming decompression as the application reads the asset data. There is no longer a limit on the size of compressed .apk assets that can be read.

Additionally, applications can access a native Storage Manager API to work directly with OBB files downloaded and managed by the system. Note that although platform support for OBB is available in Android 2.3, development tools for creating and managing OBB files will not be available until early 2011.

Robust native development environment

The Android NDK (r5 or higher) provides a complete set of tools, toolchains, and libraries for developing applications that use the rich native environment offered by the Android 2.3 platform.

New forms of communication

Internet telephony

Developers can now add SIP-based internet telephony features to their applications. Android 2.3 includes a full SIP protocol stack and integrated call management services that let applications easily set up outgoing and incoming voice calls, without having to manage sessions, transport-level communication, or audio record or playback directly.

Support for the platform's SIP and internet calling features on specific devices is determined by their manufacturers and associated carriers.

Near Field Communications (NFC)

The platform's support for Near Field Communications (NFC) lets developers get started creating a whole new class of applications for Android. Developers can create new applications that offer proximity-based information and services to users, organizations, merchants, and advertisers.

Using the NFC API, applications can read and respond to NFC tags “discovered” as the user “touches” an NFC-enabled device to elements embedded in stickers, smart posters, and even other devices. When a tag of interest is collected, applications can respond to the tag, read messages from it, and then store the messages, prompting the user as needed.

Starting from Android 2.3.3, applications can also write to tags and set up peer-to-peer connections with other NFC devices.

NFC communication relies on wireless technology in the device hardware, so support for the platform's NFC features on specific devices is determined by their manufacturers.

Rich multimedia

Mixable audio effects

A new audio effects API lets developers easily create rich audio environments by adding equalization, bass boost, headphone virtualization (widened soundstage), and reverb to audio tracks and sounds. Developers can mix multiple audio effects in a local track or apply effects globally, across multiple tracks.

Support for new media formats

The platform now offers built-in support for the VP8 open video compression format and the WebM open container format. The platform also adds support for AAC encoding and AMR wideband encoding (in software), so that applications can capture higher quality audio than narrowband.

Access to multiple cameras

The Camera API now lets developers access any cameras that are available on a device, including a front-facing camera. Applications can query the platform for the number of cameras on the device and their types and characteristics, then open the camera needed. For example, a video chat application might want to access a front-facing camera that offers lower-resolution, while a photo application might prefer a back-facing camera that offers higher-resolution.

Top 10 Reasons For Your Android Phone Been Rooted

   People say there are always two classes of technology users; those who take and use technology the way it is brought to them, no questions or complaints, while others who want to indulge deep into the very essence of what’s being offered, and want to empower themselves with everything to take the maximum out of that technology. This rule of thumb holds true for mobile phones as well. The power user crowd has always been different from the average.

   Back from the old Windows Mobile ROM cooking days, people have been questioning limitations of every device and finding workarounds. When iPhone was launched back in 2007, the power user (a.k.a hackers and geeks) side of the users quickly realized the true potential the device held, and the cruel software limitations that Apple had sealed it with. What became ‘Jailbreaking’ on iPhone was quickly translated to other platforms as well, and when the world saw the first Android back in 2008, the same concept got adapted there too.

   Android, despite being open source, still did not give a user complete control over the device. This laid basis for many potential abilities remaining dormant, and subsequently Android devices began to get ‘rooted’. Now this begets the question, why root? With so many Android-based handsets out there now, this question has become even more important. Rooting essentially means gaining root-level access to your device. Those who have used Linux OS will easily understand, but for users like me who have been loyal to Microsoft’s operating system all their lives, this means that by rooting your device you get complete control over what should remain in the device and what not. Rooting means you are the master and in control, not to mention the fun of it.

Performance Update

Hardware/Software Interaction

  Most Android devices come with hardware that is fairly heavily capable, yet the OS limits them and becomes the bottleneck. By rooting, you actually remove the bottleneck and hence can take full advantage of your beloved Android. For example, over-clocking a device’s CPU is fairly simple and rather safe thanks to many third-party apps, yet the OS does not allow it natively, and hence over-clocking can only be done with a rooted phone. Or suppose you want to use your mobile’s LED as flash-light (HTC Desire, anyone?) but cannot because HTC won’t allow it? Rooting will allow you to bypass this limitation!

APPS2Sd

  One of the most talked-about feature (or disadvantage) of any Android device is the limitation where you can install applications only in the phone’s internal memory and not the SD card. While Goggle may reason that SD cards are slower in general and cannot run apps as effectively as internal memory, fact of the matter is that most Android devices do not come with massive internal storage spaces, and hence greatly limit the number of applications that can be installed at a time. With rooted devices, you can use Apps2SD, which will copy ALL your applications to a ext2/3/4 formatted SD card an will also store future builds in card. Freedom to choose!

Unavailable Features

EXTRA APPLICATIONS

  Folks at XDA-Developers have created a wonderful application, SetCPU, which allows easy over-clocking of various Android CPUs. However, due to the permissions required for such level of operation, a superuser access is necessary, and that can come only from a root access. This is just one example. The internet is flooded with many such applications that remain useless unless you have rooted your phone.

Multitouch

  If you have ever typed on an iPhone, you would always remember the smooth, fast typing action that you achieve on that amazing keyboard. Or if you can recall that pinch-zoom actions. These are the products of a multitouch screen. While most Androids can deal with multitouch, various manufacturers have decided to omit it in their devices. This is not always because the hardware is incapable, but because the  does not let it software happen. This becomes even more irritating when you see that HTC Hero had multitouch input support back from the Android 1.6 days, but more modern more powerful 2.1 devices never got it (again, my Spica). Thanks to rooting, it has become possible to get multitouch input in various devices, most notably the G1.

WIFI AND Bluetooth Tethering

  After having rooted your device, you can also use WiFi or Bluetooth tether to share your cellular data connection with your laptop or PC. The application works with ad hoc connections and will get you up and running online on your laptop in no time. Similarly, tethering can also be achieved over a Bluetooth connection.

Better Keyboard

  I have expressed before and I will say again; I do not dislike the Android keyboard. However, it just isn’t enough. HTC, with their SenseUI, brought to their devices the revered HTC IME keyboard which had predictive text input, and made typing a breeze. Since it was an HTC only keyboard, people with phones from other manufacturers were left blindfolded. Again, the root-developer community ported the keyboard for all platforms, making possible for all rooted phones to take advantage of the better input method.

APPS From other builds

  Almost every build of Android OS differs from others when it comes to default apps. G1 hasn’t got the same stuff as myTouch 3G; Nexus One differs from HTC Desire. What’s more, these applications from one build cannot be ported to another. Hence you are stuck in more than one ways. However, with custom ROMs, the developers usually gather the best of the lot in one complete package, that would leave a user satisfied, not craving. And to get these custom ROMs running on your phone, you need root.

Because you can!

  I am serious, I consider this a reason. You have a powerful, capable device that you have paid for. You should have the right to modify or change it in any way you like. The device is your property, and you would naturally want to see it working at its maximum potential. Hence the point of rooting. With the latest Froyo announcement at Goggle 2010 I/O , most of these reasons may become useless. But Froyo will not be pushed for all devices, at least not immediately. While it will aim to reduce the fragmentation in Android division, until it happens, a rooted device is the only option you have.

The images is for illustration only.