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Samsung Exhibit 4G coming to T-Mobile

T-Mobile appears likely to offer the SGH-T759, better known as the Samsung Exhibit 4G. A source for Tmo News says to expect the phone to come to market with with 2.3.3 installed and a 1.4GHz ARM 11 processor under the hood.  The handset does features a front-facing camera and speculation is that it is a VGA shooter while the camera on back will be 5MP and capture video at 720p.

More speculation on the specs revolves around the AMOLED display which is rumored to weigh in at 3.7 inches with resolution of 480 x 800 pixels. Of course, the phone wouldn't be the Samsung Exhibit 4G without 4G connectivity which is accomplished through T-Mobile's HSPA+ network.

So far, there is no word on a launch date or price for the phone. If the specs come in as rumored,the Samsung Exhibit 4G might become a popular choice for those T-Mobile customers who want 4G connectivity but who would rather pay less for more mid-range specs.

source: TmoNews

The Samsung Exhibit 4G is rumored to have a 1.4GHz ARM 11 processor under the hood

Rovio releases a YouTube clip of Angry Birds Rio Beach Volleyball

For the guys at Rovio, life is more than just making huge bank deposits every afternoon. Ok, maybe not much more, but there still needs to be time to promote items like the first downloadable update for Angry Birds Rio called "Beach Volley". This upgrade will be out soon bringing more levels for Angry Birds fans to master.

Until the release of the upgrade, you can just sit back and watch this video and daydream about what you're gonna do to those pigs once the app is released.


source: YouTube via AndroidGuys

Samsung top U.S. handset manfacturer and Android top U.S. platform in latest comScore survey

Analytical firm comScore has just released the results of its latest survey, covering 30,000 U.S. mobile phone owners above the age of 13. The survey, covering the last three months ending in March, found Samsung to be the top U.S. cell phone manufacturer with a 24.5% market share. That was a slight .3% drop from the previous survey which ended in December. Runner-up is fellow Korean firm LG which finished with a 20.9% slice of the U.S. cell phone pie. That reading matched the market share that LG had achieved in the last survey. Motorola (15.8%), RIM (8.4%) and Apple (7.9%) round out the top 5. Apple had the biggest increase in the period, with a market share that rose 1.1% over the three months.

The smartphone platform with the biggest marketshare in the U.S. is Android. Google's open source OS has 34.7% of the market, up sharply from a 28.7% share in the quarter that ended in December. That gain in marketshare enabled Android to take the top spot from RIM. The latter dropped from a leading 31.6% piece of the pie to a 27.1% reading. Apple remained in third place with a marketshare of 25.5%, up from December's 25%. Microsoft and Palm were fourth and fifth with control of 7.5% and 2.8% respectively, of the U.S. smartphone market.

So what do Americans older than 13 do with their smartphone? A whopping 68.6% use their phone to send and receive text messages to another phone while a surprisingly low 38.6% use the browser. Downloading apps is something enjoyed by 37.3% of U.S. smartphone users. Accessing social networks was done by 27.3% of smartphone owners in the States. 25.7% played games and 15.7% listened to music. The percentages were very close to the readings seen in the last survey which ended last December.

source: comScore via WSJ

Samsung Infuse 4G Unboxing

Now that its launch date and on-contract pricing are known, we’re better able to grasp the sheer amount of anticipation surround the Samsung Infuse 4G. In any event, this handset is surely shaping up to me a monster device for AT&T’s lineup – even more with its sharp razor thin profile, magnificent Super AMOLED Plus display, and its HSPA+ connectivity.

Although its retail packaging might be all the ordinary, some of its well-known features are blatantly mentioned on its sides to let people know exactly what they’re getting themselves into. Specifically, it mentions items such as HSPA+ with enhanced backhaul, 4.5 inch Super AMOLED Plus display, Android 2.2 platform, and an 8-megapixel rear & 1.3-megapixel front facing cameras.

Inside, we’re presented with all the usual set of documentation that we’re traditionally given, like the Quick Start Guide, but it comes with an activation code that gives you a free $25 Samsung Media Hub credit. Moreover, we find the usual suspect of accessories along for the ride as well – like its wall charger, 3.5mm headphones, additional ear buds, microUSB cable, and a microSD card adapter. Interestingly enough, we're thrilled to find that Samsung decided to throw in an HDMI-out adapter that will allow you to output video to a high definition television set. Obviously, we’ll take it nonetheless, but it surely means that you’ll need to lug it around if you want to easily share content on the big screen.

Without a doubt, it’s amazing to see how thin looking the handset really is when compared to other devices pushing the 4.3” and up mark with screen sizes. Granted that it’s completely constructed out of plastic, we’re agreeable with its construction, which in turn, makes the handset feel super lightweight. Turning it on and getting situated with the TouchWiz interface layered on top of Android 2.2 Froyo, some will appreciate its uniqueness, while others might be distracted by it. Either way, it’s running at a reasonable rate thus far. We’ll be putting it through the paces over the next few days, but check back soon as we’ll have our in-depth review up shortly!

U.S. Cellular to blanket a quarter of its network with LTE by year's end

Regional carrier U.S. Cellular said today that it would cover a quarter of its network with LTE capabilities by the end of this year. The areas being covered with 4G will be Milwaukee, Madison and Racine, Wisc.; Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, and Davenport, Iowa; Portland and Bangor, Maine; and Greenville, N.C. Although the carrier does not currently offer an LTE enabled handset, it will introduce such a model at the same time that it launches the LTE service.

Mary N. Dillon, Chairman and CEO of the carrier, said, "With 4G LTE, our customers will have faster connections to the people, information and entertainment that enhance their lives and help them stay organized. In addition to our line-up of cutting-edge devices, customers who switch to U.S. Cellular get unique benefits like faster phone upgrades without continuously signing contracts, and join the happiest customers in wireless."

The carrier added that it will continue to build its 4G network during 2012 and will make an announcement of the roll out at a later date.

source: U.S.Cellular via Phonescoop

Best Buy Canada's Free Phone Friday premieres with the BlackBerry Torch 9800

Canadians and those American crossing the border can take advantage of the debut of Best Buy Canada's Free Phone Friday. The lucky phone that can be brought home at no cost with a 3-year contract is the BlackBerry Torch 9800. Originally launched in September, the handset was designed to compete with the Apple iPhone and the best Android devices. With BlackBerry 6 OS and a new WebKit browser, RIM might have been listening to what their loyal customers wanted from a Berry, but the execution came up a bit short (although RIM has said that it got things right with the new BlackBerry 7 OS which has what RIM calls an "industry leading browser").

Best Buy Canada offers the BlackBerry Torch 9800 for TELUS, Virgin, Rogers, Bell and SaskTel versions. After today, the Canadian big box retailer will have 3 more Free Phone Friday's before the promotion ends. Anyone want to reveal which phone they hope will be free next week?

source: BestBuyCanada via MobileSyrup

Today only, the BlackBerry Torch 9800 is free with a signed 3 yeaqr pact

San Francisco's cell phone radiation ordinance put on hold

San Francisco's cell phone radiation law was going to require sellers of mobile devices like cell phones, to display a warning right next to each device for sale, that shows the amount of radiation that eminates from that particular handset. The CTIA sued the city and took away its trade show from San Francisco as punishment, saying that all phones have to pass requirements set by the FCC and are safe.

The law passed by a 10-1 vote by the Board of Supervisors and was supposed to take effect in February. The launch of the law was delayed until May 1st and then June 15th. Currently, there is no start date for the ordinance.

The problem is not the CTIA lawsuit but is the accuracy of the proposed warning label which could lead buyers to end up purchasing a phone that emits more radiation than other models. As a result, Supervisor John Avalos has said that he wants to make some changes to the law. These changes appear to dilute the original warning. "There will still be some information that's going to be shared (with cell phone buyers), but it's going to be somewhat less." Instead of a strong warning which would have measured how much radiation was absorbed into the body and brain from a specific cell phone, the city could end up requiring mobile device sellers to pass out a tip sheet to buyers that gives information on how to avoid radiation exposure, such as using a hands-free device and keeping the phone away from your body.

The CTIA disputes that cell phone radiation is a dangerous health hazard. For example, while the FCC requires that phones sold in the United States produce a maximum SAR level of 1.6 watts per kilogram of body tissue, some phones emit as little as 0.2 watts per kilogram.

source: SFChronicle

Shortage of ASUS Eee Pad Transformer will not be eased until next month

With the word spreading that only 10,000 units of the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer were shipped in April, a heavy supply-demand inbalance in favor of the latter is creating a shortage of the tablet. Company spokesman David Chang said that  with 100,000 units expected to ship this month and 200,000 in June, the shortage would be "significantly alleviated" next month. Chang said that demand is "by far" outpacing sales estimates of the tablet. U.S. distributors are not sure about that claim because they have received such a small amount of the device that demand can not be accurately gauged.

The 300,000 Eee Pad Transformer units sold would give ASUS a victory over the heavily advertised Motorola XOOM. The latter sold only 250,000 tablets during the Winter as we reported, which means depending on how it did in the Spring, the ASUS tablet could be the best selling Honeycomb flavored device in the marketplace.

At $400, the 16GB ASUS Eee Pad Transformer is priced $200 less than the Motorola XOOM's 32GB Wi-Fi only version and $100 under the price of the 16GB Apple iPad2 which explains some of the reason why demand for the device has been outstripping supply.

source: electronista

AT&T gives in, will allow third party apps to be installed on Android phones

AT&T has finally caved and starting with the Samsung Infuse 4G, the carrier will allow third party apps to be installed on its Android phones. The Samsung Infuse 4G, as we reported yesterday, will launch May 15th. Non-Android Market apps were banned from the carrier's Android handsets because of the worry that "bad apps" would harm phones and the network.

Jeff Bradley, AT&T's Senior Vice President of Mobile Devices explained the initial reluctance to allow third-party apps when he said, "I think we’ll go more open. First and foremost we were genuinely concerned from a network bandwidth standpoint and a customer experience standpoint for not having any mechanism to take down a bad app. And the only way we could do it at the time was relying on Google to leverage what [security] they had in [the] Android Marketplace. We took a lot of negative publicity for doing it, but it was 100 percent driven by a desire to be able to have the ability to support our network and be able to help our customers. It really was."

We're not sure how many phone buyers opted for a handset elsewhere because of the third party app ban. But now that the ban has been lifted, it can only be good news for AT&T customers although many will have to wait for their next Android phone to take advantage of AT&T's change in thinking.

source: AndroidandMe

Coming to certain Sony Ericsson Xperia models: Facebook inside Xperia

Sony Ericsson has come together with Facebook to offer Facebook inside Xperia which the manufacturer says is like having the social networking site live inside your Sony Ericsson Xperia. Users just need to log in once to obtain the Facebook functions on their handset, and notification alerts will appear on the lock page.

Instead of having to use the browser on your phone or calling up a Facebook app to access pictures, contact numbers, and music, Facebook inside Xperia allows you to "like", share and comment on tunes and pictures right from the music player and gallery on the Sony Ericsson Xperia. Check the Facebook media recommendation app to see what music and videos your pals like. And you will be able to stay close to your network of friends by checking the Xperia phonebook for their likes, interests and news besides their phone numbers.

Because your Xperia will automatically sync its calendar with your Facebook schedule, you will never miss a friend's birthday or anniversary or even just a friendly lunch date. Notifications appear on your phone's lock screen, so there is no excuse for missing an important meeting.

The service will be pre-loaded on the just announced Sony Xperia Mini and Mini Pro and will be offered during the second quarter to the Xperia Arc and the Xperia Play.

Thanks, Philip!

source: SonyEricsson

SonyEricsson is adding Facebook functions to certain Xperia models