posted Nov 9th 2010 4:47PM 
We weren't completely in love with Google TV's YouTube Leanback experience when we gave the platform a run through, but that could change now that the YouTube Remote app has been released to the Android Market. Users pair the devices simply by signing into YouTube Leanback on the TV or PC and the app on the phone with the same account, then select a video on the phone and send it to the bigger screen with a press of a button. At least, that's how it should work. TechCrunch got a hands on with the new app and a new Topics sorting system for the site during a demo and found some potential, however trying it on one of our devices elicited a slew of crashes before we eventually got everything synced up and working. QR code's after the break so you can have a go of your own. Update: Once we got everything rolling, we were able to get a better impression of the app. While it was a bit slow to open on our Galaxy S phone, once it is up, it worked smoothly, scrolling side to side through various queues of types of content and our favorites list. While the task of pulling up Leanback in a browser window or even on a Google TV device makes it ill-suited for viewing just one video at a time, where it excels is building a up a queue of videos and sending them over all at once. It will work on multiple screens at the same time as well, but there's no Airplay-style syncing to be had, if one of them starts to slow down or buffer it will simply continue lagging behind, and without any volume controls or ability to reach other functions, you'll still need to keep other remotes handy. 
Timeline (the condensed version): Google launches Android 2.1 on January 5th, Motorola promises to eventually offer 2.1 for all its Android handsets (including the heavily skinned CLIQ) on January 6th, Google's Nexus One gets 2.1 on January 11th. We wait. Motorola CLIQ gets 2.1 today, a mere 11 months later. Sure, maybe we were young and naive, but who could've known then that this update would be so long coming? Nobody really knows the solution to this problem in a general sense, especially since vanilla Android seems to be off the table for the majority of phones. What could compel a handset manufacturer and a carrier to work up timely software updates on heftily-skinned handsets past their shelf life, potentially competing with their own newer handsets in the process? Maybe paying for updates? Real Genuine Tears of Desperation? You tell us. Anyway, congrats to the saintly CLIQ owners out there who have waited patiently for 2.1, and a grumble grumble thanks to Motorola for keeping its promise.
If Windows Phone 7 isn't your thing and the upcoming Venue doesn't interest you -- or hey, if you just live in India -- you might be interested to know that Dell has just introduced a pair of new India-specific (for the moment, anyway) Android phones designed specifically to be sold for a song without getting a carrier subsidy involved. First up, the XCD28 sports a 2.8-inch display (hence the name), a 3.2 megapixel cam, 200MB of internal storage expandable with up to 16GB worth of microSD, and FM radio; it sells for Rs. 10,990 (about $247) devoid of a contract. Moving upmarket a bit, the Rs. 16,990 ($382) XCD35 goes with a 3.5-inch capacitive display. Both devices feature 3G support for India's up-and-coming high-speed networks, WiFi, Bluetooth, and that overwhelming sense of freedom that comes with not signing a contract at the point of purchase. Look for the XCD28 to be available right now, while the 35 follows next month -- no word on when we might see them outside India, but it turns out they're little more than rebranded versions of ZTE's Racer and Blade, so you can just pick 'em up in ZTE livery if you're elsewhere. 
At a 30,000-foot level, the global mobile phone sales numbers for the third quarter of 2010 just released by Gartner match up with what IDC posted a few days ago, but you might say the devil's in the details. These guys have all of the top five players -- Nokia, Samsung, LG, Apple, and RIM -- at noticeably lower total market shares than IDC did, suggesting that second-tier players like Sony Ericsson, Motorola, and HTC (if you can really call them "second-tier") are grabbing more hearts and minds. And hey, considering Motorola's prominent role at Verizon and HTC's ever-growing global presence, we could totally believe it. Notably, Nokia is well below 30 percent in Gartner's report at 28.2, a whopping drop of 8.5 percent year-over-year -- way more than the 4.1 percent drop that IDC's got pegged. Of course, there's no way of knowing which of the two reports is more accurate -- and you know how margins of error work with these things. Hey, at least the rankings are the same, right? 
If you've got a Legend, fiddling with that gorgeous unibody aluminum shell in your hands is only going to keep you entertained for so long -- at some point, you're going to want Android 2.2. Well, it took a little while -- as skinned phones tend to -- but HTC has announced via its Facebook page in the past few days that the phone will start getting Froyo "in the coming weeks." First up will be unbranded devices, while carrier-stamped versions will have to wait a little longer because, as HTC explains, there's an additional approval process that has to happen for each of those. Blasted bureaucracy!