The other day we reported on how Acer’s Aliyun OS smarpthone was cancelled last moment. According to Alibaba, the company behind the OS, Google threatened Acer with pulling support and partnerships if the company went ahead with the Aliyun OS smartphone release.

There was a lot of back and forth speculation about whether Alibaba was exaggerating the truth, or if Google really was using bullying tactics. It seems that Google has admitted that they did ask Acer to drop Alibaba’s OS because it would violate their OHA partnership.

For those that don’t know, Acer is part of the Open Handset Alliance. This alliance is committed to minimizing fragmentation and building one Android platform. The OHA also commits to not ship non-compatible Android devices. The agreement does all its members to use competing ecosystems like Windows Phone, though.

So why not Aliyun? As it turns out, Google claims that Aliyun isn’t just Linux-based- it’s forked from Android. Alibaba does have Android app compatibility but claimed that as a feature, not because it was directly based on Android. According to Google’s Andy Rubin, Aliyun uses the Android runtime packages, and therefore is considered a forked version of Android.

Google doesn’t go out of its way to stop Android forks, such as Kindle Fire OS, but it does require that its OTA partners keep away from such forks. As you probably have guessed, Amazon is not an OTA partner.

This doesn’t mean you can’t have a skinned and customized version of Android under the OTA, it simply means that under the hood, it has to be on the same page as an official version of Google Android.

At the end of the day, Acer decided staying an OTA partner was more important than pursuing its partnership with Alibaba. Do you agree with Google’s decision to put pressure on Acer to help minimize fragmentation? Or do you think that Acer should have been allowed to work with Alibaba without worrying about Google pulling them from OTA arrangements?

WebOS is dead, and HP has long been without a smartphone offering as a result. Could the time for a comeback to the smartphone market be at hand? HP’s CEO Meg Whitman has recently spoken up about the matter and says that HP is working on something for the future.

According to the somewhat-new CEO, they are in no hurry to get a smartphone out to the public, instead they want to create something solid and learn from their past mistakes. We talking about Android, Windows Phone 8 or the unlikely resurrection of Web OS?

While HP’s CEO didn’t give us that much information, it seems we can fill in the blanks for ourselves thanks to a new GLBenchmark discovery. It seems that a new HP device has shown up under the code-name Bender with HP branding as well. This device is a Qualcomm S4 dual-core Android smartphone.

We also know it is running a 1.5GHz on its cores, and that it features a 1366×720 pixel resolution and version 4.0.4 of Android.

Unfortunately a benchmark tells us nothing about what the phone will look like or when we can expect it. Is it possible that HP could be preparing a triumphant return still in 2012? Or perhaps we will see the “Bender” at Mobile World Congress in February of 2013? If they do wait until MWC, they could easily be overshadowed by the Galaxy S4′s rumored MWC announcement though, so perhaps they will do it earlier or slightly later- it’s really hard to say for sure.

Despite their less-than-successful past endeavors in the smartphone and tablet sector, would you consider an HP-branded Android smartphone?

Even though the Samsung Galaxy S3 hasn’t even been on the market for six months yet, it seems the first rumors regarding the Galaxy S4 are starting to already surface.

According to the Korea Times, Samsung officials and local parts suppliers have confirmed that Sammy is preparing to announce the Galaxy S4 in February at next year’s Mobile World Congress. The global launch for the S4 would supposedly take place no later than March.

It’s September, so why a leak about an announcement that is roughly five months away? It’s all about generating hype, enough hype to slow down iPhone 5 and keep Android users from considering Apple’s latest smartphone.

The Samsung Galaxy S3 is a rather powerful piece of hardware, so what could possibly be next for the Galaxy? It seems that Samsung will utilize a quad-core Exynos with LTE, a 5-inch OLED display, possibly flexible display technology and will feature a rectangle shape with extremely rounded corners- like other Galaxy S devices before it.

The rumors claims that Samsung will also offer modified designs for specific U.S. Carriers. In short, the S4 will be bigger, fast and stronger than the S3, though it will likely look somewhat similar in overall shape and design.

Could there be other ‘killer’ special features that have yet been leaked? Of course. Keep in mind that this is a rumor, so take the little information found we have heard about the S4 with a grain of salt.

What new features and technologies would you like to see in Samsung’s Galaxy S4?