Droid users, rejoice! Android 2.1 update is just around the corner, and it will be the full fledged update, with live wallpapers, 3D gallery and other features unlike previously rumored. The update version will be AP: ESE53/BP: C_01.3E.03P. The update is expected to be rolled out this week. The update roll out begins tomorrow.

BoyGeniusReport have gotten their hands on the change log, check it out after the jump:

Enhancements

• Pinch-to-zoom is now available when using the browser, Gallery, and Google Maps.
• New Weather and News application plus widget.
  • The Weather and News app pulls the information you want from the
    Web and brings it to your fingertips. You get weekly and hourly
    weather forecasts based on your location, and news headlines.
• New support for voice-to-text entry.
  • Whenever a text-entry box appears, simply tap the microphone icon on the virtual keyboard and speak.
• New Gallery application with 3D layout. View and share photos taken with your phone and images from your online Picasa Web albums.
• Live Wallpapers offer richer animated, interactive backgrounds on the
  home screen. Access them with a long press anywhere on the home screen. Tap Wallpapers, then Live Wallpapers.

Improvements

• Free Yahoo!® Mail is now supported—simply sign in with your Yahoo! email address and password.
• Google Maps update
  • Personalized suggestions and synchronized starring with
    desktop maps.google.com.
    • Starred items are stored and synced automatically between Google
      Maps on your device and maps.google.com on your computer, making it easy to search for places you’ve searched for before.
  • New night mode in Google Maps Navigation automatically changes the screen at night for easier viewing.
• Improved pattern-lock functionality.
• Improved handset audio when disconnecting a wired headset.
• Email accounts no longer need to be re-entered after an over-the-air update.

The iPad isn’t even out yet, and a jailbreak is already in the works for its OS version 3.2 by Joshua Hill, member of the Chronic Dev team. According to BlogsDNA, Joshua has tweeted some images of the GreenPois0n (running on Linux) and asked for donations from those who are interested in the iPad jailbreak.

The iPhone Dev team and George Hotz have been quiet about any found exploits ( such as the one found by Sherif Hashim), as they want to wait for the next iPhone OS update, which will probably be version 4.0 for iPhone and iPod Touch ( and maybe even iPad ).  The exploits aren’t being used for iPhone OS 3.1.3 yet, as Apple would become aware of them and patch them in the next OS update.

We’re not sure about the authenticity of GreenPois0n since they had been working on a jailbreak for iDevices since last year, but never actually released it. So if you’re going to donate money to them for the iPad jailbreak, do it on your own risk. We already warned you. [via Redmond Pie]

Apple has delayed shipment of iPad keyboard dock, and now it will be ship in May. It will be available in the Apple Store for just $69. The iPad keyboard dock is a must have for iPad users who just can’t get on board with an on-screen keyboard.

This keyboard dock has a full-size slim compact aluminum keyboard that slides in the iPad in portrait mode. The keyboard looks just like a normal Apple keyboard, and actually makes the iPad stand upright, so it’s like a mini iMac set-up. It consists of special keys, that stimulate iPad features.

You can also use keyboard dock with other iPad accessories. The dock has a rear 30-pin connector, which you can connect to an electrical outlet using the USB Power Adapter, sync to your computer and use accessories like the iPad camera connection Kit. An audio jack lets you connect to stereo powered speakers.

The keyboard dock will surely attract a lot of new people to the iPad since this combo makes it a true netbook replacement.

[via TUAW]

Well, that didn’t take long. Just a day after the Windows Phone 7 Series emulator was made available, the guys over at XDA managed to extract the ROM. HD2 owners, don’t get too excited as there are no signs yet of whether this will be ported to older devices or not. The ROM only has the settings panel and Internet Explorer, but according to Long Zheng:

Also keep in mind, we had been told ages ago by Ballmer that Windows Phone 7 Series runs on HD2 with minimal lag. They could have been using it as a test device during development but changed their minds later onwards due to technical reasons. But whatever it may be, there is a slight ray of hope that users might be able to run the new OS on their HD2 someday. Maybe. *fingers crossed*

hat tip @lonzheng

Multitasking is probably the most wanted feature from the future iterations of iPhone OS. 9to5mac has been digging around in the iPhone OS 3.2 SDK and have found comments that show mention of a multitasking dialog box. Seems like Apple will be implementing a task switcher in iPhone OS 3.2, but lets not be too sure of that until we see it.

I’m sure if Apple does implement multitasking in iPhone OS 3.2, it will be the best implementation of the feature in a mobile OS yet. Take a look at copy/paste feature in iPhone and you’ll realize why I have such high expectations. Till then let’s just dream this feature is oncoming for our iDevices.

The major question in everyone’s mind has been whether Windows Phone 7 Series will support multi-tasking or not. We know that it will have push notifications built into the OS just like the iPhone, but now Mary Jo Foley has confirmation that just like the iPhone, it also wouldn’t allow third party apps to run in the background. Only Microsoft’s own applications will have that capability.

Mary Jo Foley found this from Kindel:

Kindel said Microsoft’s own “experiences” which are part of the Windows Phone 7 will allow for multitasking (i.e., music playing in the background while you’re doing e-mail). But third party applications won’t have the same multitasking capabilities, Kindel said.Developers will be able to use things like notifications to create the illusion that applications are always live. In addition, the Live tiles that are part of the new UI will be constantly updated in real time (also through notifications). Over time, as things like battery life, network utilization and application predictability improve for the Windows Phone platform, Microsoft will make more multitasking support available for all applications, Kindel said.

I did a little searching of my own in the UI design and interaction guide for Windows Phone 7 Series and found that the back button will also be used for application switching.

Whether this will be like the Alt-Tab is functionality is not yet none, but my best guess would be no. This would probably work like how the back button works in Android phones. Hopefully Microsoft would allow applications to run simultaneously as in Android as soon as possible instead of following the iPhone way as obvious from Kindel.

The Windows Phone 7 Series Theme for ThrottleLauncher 1.0 has been released. This is the final version of the theme and does a somewhat good recreation of the experience that Windows Phone 7 Series OS offers. ThrottleLauncher is available for free on Windows Mobile phones and can be downloaded from here.

Check out the video of the theme in action:

The theme will be available for download soon. Find out more about the theme here.

One thing that has always been missing ( which I realized after using Android ), you can’t use the iPhone Springboard (homescreen) in landscape mode. Currently known as Springboard Rotator, this tweak will soon be available on Cydia for jailbroken iPhone and iPod Touch users. No word on the pricing yet, but the developer has provided a video to show how it will work.

Sadly, this tweak will be available for the iPhone 3G S initially, we’re not sure if the developer will make it available for other iDevices.

This add-on enables SpringBoard to rotate according to the device’s orientation! It does not rotate only the icons, it rotates the whole user interface!
Switches Landscape-portrait view , rotates SpringBoard in all 4 orientations according to where iPhone is tilted to, like many applications do.
It requires a 3GS for now.
It will soon be ready to be released.

We will let you know when Springboard Rotator is available on Cydia.

[via iPhoneHeat]

As usual, Engadget has posted information about a Microsoft event, before it has happened, thanks to early access to press releases. There is a huge list of dev partners that Microsoft has gathered for Windows Phone 7 Series to boot with. It includes big names like EA Mobile, Foursquare, Seesmic and the likes. Based on XNA and Siverlight, these early apps and games look pretty good. Check out the screenshots and complete partner list after the jump.

Partners

The apps look really good and seem to fit right within the Windows Phone 7 Series UI. If you’re a developer, you’ll also be able to jump on the bandwagon soon thanks to the Windows Phone 7 Series SDK.

Microsoft has announced the tools that will be used by developers to design and develop next generation applications for Windows Phone 7 Series today at MIX10. The development tools are exactly what was expected thanks to the leaked Windows Phone 7 Series development documents.

The SDK will include the following:

•Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone

•Windows Phone 7 Series add-in to use with Visual Studio 2010 RC

•XNA Game Studio 4.0

•Windows Phone 7 Series Emulator for application testing

•Expression Blend for Windows Phone Community Technology Preview (available as a separate download)

Using XNA framework and Silverlight, developers will be able to take leverage of the following features in Windows Phone 7 Series:

•Accelerometer, an intuitive control that responds to motion

•A Microsoft Location Service to provide developers with a single point of reference to acquire location information

•Microsoft Notification Service for pushing information to the phone, regardless of whether or not an application is running

•Hardware-accelerated video with digital rights management (DRM)

•Internet Information Services Smooth Streaming for the industry’s highest quality content viewing experience

•Multitouch

•Camera and microphone support

Microsoft Notification Service seems to be like Push Notifications available on the iPhone, while Microsoft Location Service will be like Google’s location services. Expect it to be available beyond just the mobile platform for developers. Expect the SDK to be available for download really soon.

Update: Download the SDK from here.