The U.S. Army is giving out free iPhone and Android devices to several hundred new recruits, as part of a new test program aimed at improving the efficiency of basic training.

The Army will give away free iPhones and Evo devices to new recruits, in addition to paying their monthly plan.

The program will experiment with more effective basic training methods, such as automatic updates for field manuals, and allowing recruits to download and read manuals on their smartphones during downtime or at meals.

A contest known as “Apps for the Army” had recently challenged developers to take the lead in creating effective applications for military use. The winning apps included a physical training program, a tele-health mood tracker, a disaster relief application, a movement projection tool for mapping routes and a program that offers information to potential new recruits.

Among all 15 winners, ten were built using Android and the remaining five for the iPhone.

“The Army and some of the other services, including the Marine Corps, are considering hosting other contests and are in discussions to collaborate with commercial developers,” said Lt. Gen Jeffrey Sorenson, the Army’s chief information officer. “Additionally, the Army could deploy smartphones to soldiers in the field as soon as next year.”

The use of commercial devices can be risky from a military perspective. For example, there have been reported cases of hackers being able to potentially determine a device’s location, so some considerations still have yet to be made.

But the advancements in efficiency in technology offer a host of substantial benefits.

In July, defense contractor Raytheon was reportedly developing new software that combines maps with a buddy list to help soldiers in the battlefield find enemies using Android smartphones.

HTC’s Android phones were runaway hits. Nexus One and HTC legend got accolades from consumers and critics alike. So for any new phone from HTC Android’s stable the challenge is clear and visible. Andrioid market is getting crowded with many companies offering superb phones. So can the new HTC Desire measure up to the geeks’ expectations?

The answer is a resounding YES! HTC desire does all that and more. HTC desire has taken all the best points of its predecessors and is the next stage of evolution for Android phones by HTC. The Desire has a 3.7 inch screen that’s larger, clearer and sharper than the HTC Legend’s. Instead of Nexus One’s trackball, Desire has an optical trackpad. Desire also features a raised, click-sensitive navigation buttons. This is huge sigh of relief because the flat touch-sensitive buttons of Nexus One are not that popular.

HTC has taken note of what has worked and not worked in its earlier phones and has improved on them.

Now for mundane matters such as call quality. It is excellent. Reception is superb. Picture and video quality are also good. Desire’s 5 mp camera takes sharp images. The phone though needs proper lighting if you want to click great photos because some pictures may not be rich in color and will not  measure up to a  standalone digital camera under improper lighting. It does have a bright flash for night time photography. Conclusion, camera is not that great but good enough for most of the people.

HTC Desire’s screen provides great clarity thanks to 240 Dpi but under sun, viewing movies and playing games is impossible. The video formats supported by Desire are MP4, WMV though DivX support is lacking.

Desire performs well and loads apps quite quickly. The interface is friendly; processor is power packed and gives exceptional call quality which makes it the best Android phone till now.

The Dell Streak, a carbon black Android-based tablet with a 5-inch display, is designed to provide an excellent “on-the-go” entertainment, social connection, and navigation experience. The spacious 5-inch screen is ideal for experiencing thousands of Android Market widgets, games and applications, all without squinting or compromising portability. Built-in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth capability and available 3G connectivity brings easy access for downloading and listening to music, updating social networking status in real-time, and staying connected to friends and family through e-mail, text, IM, and voice calls.

On-the-go students, mobile professionals, and active families will find Streak’s web-browsing capabilities as natural as a laptop. The 5-inch screen is large enough to present Web pages in their natural form, create a comfortable viewing experience, and make turn-by-turn navigation simple. The Dell Streak is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon solution with integrated 1GHz processor to combine basic functionality and benefits of a laptop in a pocket friendly size.

The Dell Streak was designed with the future in mind to support future software, application and platform upgrades.

DELL STREAK FEATURES:

* Integrated Google Maps with turn-by-turn navigation, street and satellite views

* A full screen browsing experience with a 5-inch capacitive multi-touch WVGA display

* Easily integrated social media apps: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube

* High resolution 5 MP camera, VGA front facing camera, removable battery, built-in Wi-Fi, 3G and Bluetooth connectivity options

* 2GB* of internal storage provides plenty of space to access and download Google Android Market’s many options

* Packaged with cushions made from 100 percent sustainable, compostable bamboo

DELL STREAK SPECIFICATIONS:

* Android platform complete with Android Market and Dell user interface enhancements

* Powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon solution with integrated 1GHz processor

* 3G + Wi-Fi + Bluetooth

* UMTS / GPRS / EDGE class 12 GSM radio with link speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps*

* 5 MP Autofocus camera with dual LED flash. Easily point, shoot, and upload to YouTube, Flickr, Facebook and more

* User accessible Micro SD expandable memory available up to 32GB*. Store up to 42 movies* or 32,000 photos*, or 16,000 songs* with a 32GB* Micro SD upgrade

† 2-year voice and minimum data plan required. Other restrictions apply. For more details, see www.dell.com/mobile.

*Offers subject to change, not combinable with all other offers. Taxes, shipping, handling and other fees apply. Valid for new U.S. online purchases through the Dell Home Electronics and Accessories site and for phone orders of electronics and accessories purchased without a system only. Free shipping and handling offer available in Continental (except Alaska) U.S. only. Dell reserves the right to cancel orders arising from pricing or other errors.

*Link Speeds: For comparative purposes only. Actual speed varies and will be less

*Media Storage Capacity: Number of songs, images and hours that can be stored varies depending on file size, OS and loaded software applications

*Micro SD Card: MB means 1 million bytes and GB means 1 billion bytes; total accessible capacity varies depending on operating environment