Three UK launches HTC Desire C, available on PAYG for £150

British network Three is the first mobile operator to launch HTC's latest budget handset, the Desire C. Announced just a couple of weeks ago, the Desire C is the successor to HTC's budget-busting Wildfire range. It's got a 600MHz CPU, a 3.5-inch HVGA display and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. And being an HTC Sense 4 phone, it also ships with Beats Audio software enhancements. There's also a 5MP rear camera, though no front-facer, so video calling is out of the question. So it's not going to set the world alight, but the Desire C looks like a decent little budget handset.

Three's offering the Desire C for free on contracts starting at just £13 per month, or if you want to buy it outright, the PAYG price is an equally reasonable £150, when purchased with an initial £15 top-up. The network's selling the Desire C in black and white, and the phone is available to order online and in-store from today.

Source: Three UK; More: HTC Desire C gallery

US Cellular launches new prepaid plans

Regional carrier US Cellular this morning announced some new prepaid plans that range from $35 a month to $65 a month and include a number of Android devices. 

The new plans are:

Nationwide unlimited voice, unlimited messaging, 2GB smartphone data - $65/monthNationwide unlimited voice, unlimited messaging, 1GB feature data - $50/monthNationwide 400 minutes voice, 400 text messages, 400 picture messages - $35/month

Devices compatible with the new plans include the Samsung Galaxy S II, Motorola Electrify, HTC Merge, Samsung Mezmerize, Huawei Ascend II, HTC Wildfire S and the Samsung Repp.

"Phil is a recovering print journalist, editor of Android Central, subtitles and street signs."

AT&T launches cryptic web series Daybreak to promote HTC One X and other devices

This afternoon a social media marketing agency offered to send me an AT&T HTC One X if I would check out a “multi-platform story experience about the power of technology and its ability to improve our lives”. I already reviewed the One X, but I was intrigued by this mysterious campaign and figured I could give away the device in another contest.

Enter Daybreak. It turns out AT&T has teamed up with producer Tim Kring (creator of Strange World, Crossing Jordan, Heroes, and Touch) to produce a new online series that debuts tonight at 9 PM ET. It will be directed by Jon Cassar (of 24 fame) and advertising partner BBDO is describing the concept as a “Bourne Identity-type adventure.”

The online show follows the story of  Ben Wilkens, an “Everyman” character, who finds himself at the center of a global conspiracy. When he discovers a dodecahedron, an ancient and powerful object, he quickly learns that he must restore the object to its rightful place so that humanity will be able to make its next evolutionary leap forward.

Daybreak will span five episodes, each around 10 minutes, and will be released each Thursday on the Daybreak site, YouTube, and Hulu. Viewers at home will be able to interact with the show using an Android app tied to a site JackBoxers that lets them dive deeper into the weekly missions and unsolved mysteries.

I have no idea if the show will suck, but AT&T has shared just enough details to keep me curious. Tonight I’ll be tuned into the Western Conference Finals as my Spurs look to extend their 20-game winning streak, but I’ll definitely check out Daybreak later on just to see what it’s like.

We have seen a ton of terrible advertisements for Android products, so it will be interesting to see how this branded content performs. Check out the video teaser below and grab the app if you want to play along at home.

Does Daybreak look like a winner?

Samsung Galaxy S III launches in Europe today, sorta

After what seems like an eternity of hype and pre-release buzz, today's the day you can actually (kinda) get your hands on a Samsung Galaxy S III in Europe. A triumphant Samsung media release announces that the phone launches in 28 countries today, though a few caveats apply.

Here in the UK, the phone will launch first at the Samsung brand store at the Westfield Stratford City shopping center this evening for pre-order customers only. A general launch is still expected for tomorrow, and according to the Twitters, English singer-songwriter Pixie Lott will be dropping by to pick up hers from noon on the 30th (hope she's not after one of those delayed pebble blues).

Wider availability is expected over the next few days -- the Carphone Warehouse will begin stocking the S III from May 31 (with a special pre-order event scheduled for the evening of the 30th at its leading London store). Meanwhile, independent retailers like Clove Technology are expecting to ship units starting June 1.

If you're picking up a Galaxy S III today, or if you've somehow already bagged one, be sure to hit the comments and let us know how you go on.

Source: Samsung Korea, Pixie Lott

NSA Launches SE Android for a Secured Mobile Connectivity Experience

It seems like US government agencies have been showing much favoritism over Google’s Android OS in this year alone. First, there’s NASA’s plan to bring Android out of this world and also the news on Pentagon approving Android over Apple.  The latest update today is that the National Security Agency (NSA) has just launched the SE Android, which is actually a security-enhanced version of the OS. The big difference about this OS from a normal Android device is that this provides and enforces a stricter access-control policy.

The new and secured platform was patterned after the agency’s previous research into mandatory access controls that led to the development of the Security-Enhanced Linux project in 2000. The project, SE Linux, led to an array of Linux kernel security modules and other tools capable of giving a flexible mechanism for limiting the resources that users and applications are able to access. A few years later and several of the low-level SE Linux modifications have already been merged along with the official Linux kernel, which were also ported to FreeBSD and Solaris.

Originally, plans of porting the SE Linux to Android was revealed by the NSA in last year’s Linux Security Summit. It was only last January 6 when they finally released the first version called SE Android. The ultimate goal of the SE Android is to improve the application security model of Android, which is also based on a default Linux discretionary access control. With this, an application simply needs to be operated by a user in order to access the files and resources available to him.

The launch of the SE Android will also start enforcing better sandboxing compared to what is currently available in the latest Android versions.

‘Security Enhanced (SE) Android is a project to identify and address critical gaps in the security of Android,’said NSA.

When used, SE Android will isolate individual apps from one another. As a result, it will mitigate problems which have been launched by malicious applications, as well as prevent these apps from gaining access to system resources, perform security checks, and ensure proper permission levels. Each device’s files and folders can now be individually locked and encrypted. Moreover, mobile and WiFi network security features have been improved.

As designed, SE Android would isolate applications from each other, mitigate problems introduced by flawed or malicious applications, prevent applications from accessing system resources, ensure proper permission levels and perform security checks. Every file and folder on the device can be individually locked and encryprted, and WiFi and mobile network security features have been enhanced.

Sadly, it is not as simple and straightforward to install SE Android on devices. This is because SE Android project has not provided pre-compiled builds yet. Instead, users need to download and build the official Android Open Source Project source code before syncing their AOSP clone with the SE Android.