Low-end HTC Golf press shot leaks, verifies HTC maintains entry-level interest (photo)

E. Betters

An HTC Golf press image surfaced this afternoon and reaffirms the smartphone-maker has yet to finish dabbling in the low-end spectrum. 

HTC has been struggling since the second-half of last year and disappointing Q4 2011 earnings (PDF) even inspired a new handset strategy. The manufacturer previously announced it would no longer clutter the smartphone market with a sea of generic Android devices and would instead focus on the One line of high-end Android smartphones.

PocketNow dug up today’s press leak, however, which seems to contradict HTC’s claims. The website also spilled the goods as to what the upcoming Ice Cream Sandwich-powered device is packing, but keep in mind that it is currently codenamed and might end up as the “Wildfire C.”

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‘Instagram’ for Android gets 10M users in 10 days, launching service to 40M users total

E. Betters

The trendy photo-sharing app “Instagram” for Android debuted in the Google Play Store nearly two weeks ago and has since increased the service’s user base by 25 percent.

It took Instagram 19 months to reach 30 million iOS users, but it quickly garnered 10 million Android users in less than 10 days.

Gramfeed, a third-party user tracking website, dug into Instagram’s API to determine Mr. Valentino Elbuti (valentinoelbuti) as the 40 millionth user. He recently signed-up and already has four filtered-images posted to his account.

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Google Drive leak verifies name, reveals third-party integration (photo)

E. Betters

Google’s rumored alternative to Dropbox just got a name confirmation while suggesting third-party integration.

The Verge reported that online computing graphic tool Lucidchart implemented a link for integrating Google Drive to its control panel for automatic synchronizing to the cloud. The link quickly disappeared, but the leaked screen capture above seems to verify Google Drive’s name and a taste of what it can do.

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Larry Page: Android tablets seeing a lot of success on the low-end

Jake Smith

During Google’s conference call with investors that took place this afternoon, Chief Executive Officer Larry Page asked about the success of Android tablets during a Q&A session.

Page, perhaps hinting at a 7-inch tablet branded by Google, said: “I think there’s also, obviously, there’s been a lot of success on some lower-priced tablets that run Android — maybe not the full Google version of Android. But we definitely believe that there’s going to be a lot of success at the lower end of the market, as well, with lower-priced products that will be very significant. It’s definitely an area we think is quite important and that we’re quite focused on.”

The most popular 7-inch tablets to date are Amazon’s Kindle Fire, which looks to be the hottest selling Android tablet, and the Barnes and Noble’s Nook. Both tablets are priced very competitively around $200.

Google is rumored to launch its own branded tablet, manufactured by Korea-based ASUS, this June. The tablet is reportedly priced at roughly $200 and features Android 4.0. Both the Fire and Nook feature a custom version of Android—almost to where you cannot even tell it is Android. NVIDIA also talked about its plans to launch a similar tablet. While there is not a lot of Android tablets out there, it is interesting that most of them are lower priced.

Source: Android Central

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Sprint confuses Galaxy Nexus for Nexus S 4G on website’s front page

E. Betters

Sprint goofed big-time today on the front of its main website.

The carrier placed a large front-page ad for a device that debuted over a year ago with an image of a different highly anticipated smartphone. Of course, the Nexus S 4G does not look like the Galaxy Nexus pictured above, which is edging on its April 22 launch and has everyone waiting for more details.

It appears marketing and web designers at Sprint do not have a very clear line of communication, or this mixup is just a clever—albiet confusing—promotion attempt. Go to Sprint.com now, and then select “Not a current customer” to see the blunder while it is still live.

Update: Now Sprint uploaded a video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pjF6FBVpEws

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