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The HTC Explorer is finally available for sale in Malaysia with a RRP of RM759 which we found it at SuperBuy website (subsidiary and new online retail arm of Lelong.my). If you order online, they are offering it with discount at RM729 which also can be paid with 6 or 12 month installments by credit card.

In term of specification, the HTC Explorer runs on a 600MHz processor, 512MB of RAM with Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread OS installed. It has a 3.2? HVGA display with 480×320 resolution and comes with 512MB of storage which is expandable via microSD, and 3MP camera at the back.

The HTC Explorer is HTC’s cheapest Android phone to date and it fits right between the Samsung Galaxy W and Galaxy Y in terms of pricing. Which is a better phone depends on usability experience and built quality. If you’re looking for an Android phone with QWERTY keyboard, the HTC ChaCha is now selling at RM799.

Check out full details in our earlier HTC Explorer post.

HTC has just announced the HTC Explorer, its latest entry-level Android smartphone. The HTC claims that the Explorer is its most affordable smartphone.

The Explorer packs a 3.2-inch HVGA display with 320 x 480 resolution, a modest 600MHz processor, 512MB of RAM and a 3MP camera. The device runs Android 2.3.5 with the latest HTC Sense 3.5 UI skin on top.

Judging by the specs, the HTC Explorer fits below the current HTC entry-level Android phone, the HTC Wildfire S which features identical specifications save for the camera. The Wildfire S has a 5MP camera while the Explorer carries a 3MP unit.

The Explorer comes in three colours — Metallic Black, Active Black and Metallic Navy — and if you want to customise the device further, there will be optional back covers in Metallic Blue, Metallic Orange, Metallic White and Metallic Purple shades as well.

The Explorer is expected to be available in Asia starting Q4 2011 and no pricing has been announced at this moment.

Google have just bolted on some extra functionality to their rather clever Google Translate app for Android, with their experimental Conversation Mode feature now supporting more languages.

To start yacking away to a Johnny Foreigner, it’s simply a case of speaking into your phone’s microphone and waiting for the Translate app to translate your words of wisdom and read out the translation in the language of your choice.

The person you’re chatting to can then reply into the phone in their own language, and Conversation Mode will translate what they said and read it back to you. Google adds:

We’ve also added some other features to make it easier to speak and read as you translate. For example, if you wanted to say “Where is the train?” but Google Translate recognizes your speech as “Where is the rain?”, you can now correct the text before you translate it. You can also add unrecognized words to your personal dictionary.

When viewing written translation results, you can tap the magnifying glass icon to view the translated text in full screen mode so you can easily show it to someone nearby, or just pinch to zoom in for a close-up view.

Multi language support

With English, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Polish, Russian and Turkish now supported, this app could be a real boon for globe-trotting travellers.

However, Google points out that the technology is still in alpha, so factors like background noise and regional accents may affect accuracy, but the more people use it the more accurate it becomes – hence the alpha release.

Google adds that while it is striving to expand full Conversation Mode to even more languages, the Google Translate for Android still supports text translation among 63 languages, voice input in 17 of those languages, and text-to-speech in 24 of them.

You can download the Google Translate app in Android Market — it’s available for tablets and mobile phones running Android 2.2 and up

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Google and Samsung have officially high-fived each other and unviled the result of their collaboration: the Samsung Galaxy Nexus handset which is the first Android Ice Cream Sandwich powered phone on the planet.

It’s a slim creation with a super slender form factor, sporting a hefty 4.65-inch HD Super AMOLED, 1280 x 720 (720p) display backed by a 1.2GHz dual-core processor and a generous 1GB RAM onboard.

Measuring 8.94mm thick and weighing 135g, the Nexus has a 5-megapixel rear camera with an LED flash (capable of shooting 1080p video), with a front-facing 1.3 megapixel snapper.

Samsung says that there is no shutter lag on their new creation, and there’s also a new single motion panorama mode onboard.

Other specs include NFC tech, Bluetooth 3.0, 802.11n Wi-Fi and HSPA+, a proximity sensor and, rather curiously, a barometer.

Best of all, the Nexus comes with the next generation of the Android OS, which regales under the daft name of ‘Ice Cream Sandwich’ – or Android 4.0 if you prefer.

The Galaxy Nexus will be available in 16GB and 32GB flavours, with a November UK launch scheduled.

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We’re received an update from Brightstar confirming that the sleek looking Motorola RAZR will be coming to Malaysia, and that’s all we know for now as Brightstar did not say when the device will be launch and how much it will cost.

Looking at how things are panning out, a November launch date is very possible and looking at the trend of smartphone pricing currently, the RAZR shouldn’t cost more than RM2,200 or thereabouts.

So, are you waiting for this?

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