It looks like Android update season is finally starting in earnest. We've already seen the update hitting new devices and carriers, and now Sony has detailed its Ice Cream Sandwich rollout plans for its Xperia lineup. Sony has been one of the best manufacturers around with its new policy of releasing Alpha and Beta versions of the ICS update to test changes before offering the full release, and it looks like that strategy has paid off because Sony is planning to update 11 devices by mid-june.
Saturday, 31 March 2012
Tuesday, 28 February 2012
Asus Transformer Pad Infinity 700 Hands-on Review
Coming to market later this year as the ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity 700 series, the tablet with HD display we first saw at CES last month now adds one more key option - a version with 1.5 GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 and 4G LTE connectivity.
Shazam to offer faster tagging, Android Beam integration
Shazam has branched out from their music tagging roots, and you have no doubt seen the little Shazam logo in the bottom corner of a commercial by now. The developers of the popular tagging app have now revamped it with a new algorithm that promises to dramatically reduce tagging time. This means that the next time you catch the tail end of that song you've been trying to figure out you'll still have enough time to identify it, rather than have the DJ come in while Shazam is still listening and ruin it for you.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 arriving exclusively on Verizon Wireless on March 1st
Verizon Wireless has just announced that the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 will land exclusively on the carrier on March 1st. The Galaxy Tab 7.7 features a 7.7-inch Super AMOLED Plus display and runs on Android 3.2 Honeycomb. What might set you back though is the price - the Tab 7.7 costs $499 on a two-year contract. This means that you’ll be tied to paying a minimum of $30 for 2 gigs of untethered Verizon LTE data.
Sprint looking to raise $2B to fund LTE network
After a successful campaign in the fall which raised $4 billion, Sprint is looking to sell another $2B in company bonds via a private sale. This money will be going towards network expansion and upgrade (LTE), as well as to possibly help fund Clearwire. This is all part of Sprint's Network Vision plan, which will ultimately see their iDEN network shut down and their CDMA offering on both the 800 and 1900MHz frequencies.
Sprint owns about half of Clearwire, which is having some financial difficulties as it looks to transition from WiMax to LTE. The company looks to have 5,000 TD-LTE cell sites functional by mid 2013. This type of LTE is different than what AT&T and Verizon employ, but Clearwire claims that it is more advanced and will be more adopted world-wide.
Source: Bloomberg via Fierce Wireless
Samsung Brightside is now official, coming on Verizon next month
Well, it looks like the rumors were not mistaken. The Samsung Brightside for Verizon was just announced officially and is set to launch on March 1. However, don't get too excited about the device as it is nothing but a feature phone.
Samsung ChatON arrives as a free web app
If you haven’t heard about Samsung ChatON, you’d better catch up - it’s Samsung’s free messaging system and it’s available on every platform you can think of (except for Windows Phone). Now, it’s become truly universal as it’s arrived in a web form accessible from a desktop, a tablet, any device that can open up a secure connection in a browser.
Verizon shared data plans to launch by mid-2012
That Verizon is planning on offering shared data plans in the future is something that we have known for quite a while. We also know that the carrier is tweaking its internal system and is adding support for them. However, those who are planning on taking advantage of the said data plans might have to wait for up to three more months.
Huawei backs Tizen plaftorm, joins Samsung and Intel
Tizen is one of the biggest emerging platforms outside the major three - iOS, Android and Windows Phone. The operating system uses MeeGo for its base and is backed up by big names like Samsung and Intel.
Android 5.0 to come no sooner than this fall
Not long ago, we came across this wild speculation suggesting that Android 5.0 will be unveiled this summer. We didn't really buy it, and even wrote a post explaining why seeing Android 5.0 so soon is highly unlikely. But today, all possibility of seeing a new major Android release prior to this coming fall has been put to rest.
ZTE Light Tab 300 Hands-on Review
The guys at ZTE have a whole plethora of smartphones and tablets on display at MWC 2012, and we don't really see anything wrong with that. After all, you know how that old saying goes: "The more, the merrier!" The ZTE Light Tab 300 tablet is among these devices and appears to be a pretty decent offering for those in search of a 7-inch tablet that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.
Only 5% of Verizon customers have switched to LTE
Verizon Wireless has been the first one in the US to launch a truly fast and comprehensive 4G LTE network across most major markets, but a year after the launch still only a fraction of customers have transitioned to it.
Panasonic Eluga Power Hands-on Review
This year marks the return of Panasonic on European soil, as far as mobile phones are concerned. One of the first devices to hit Europe is the Panasonic Eluga Power – a pretty big handset featuring a 5” display with HD resolution.
As a whole, the Eluga Power has a very rectangular form, reminding us of LG's new handsets like the L line and the 4X HD. However, the phone is also pretty thin, so it doesn't feel like a brick in your hand. As we said, the Panasonic Eluga Power sports a gigantic 5” display with HD resolution, and indeed, the pixel density is very good – so everything looks pretty clean on this screen.
As a whole, the Eluga Power has a very rectangular form, reminding us of LG's new handsets like the L line and the 4X HD. However, the phone is also pretty thin, so it doesn't feel like a brick in your hand. As we said, the Panasonic Eluga Power sports a gigantic 5” display with HD resolution, and indeed, the pixel density is very good – so everything looks pretty clean on this screen.
Panasonic ELUGA Hands-on Review
The ELUGA is one of the first phones, marking Panasonic's return to the European market. However, what we like about it is that it reminds more of a Japanase model, than a European one - it is slim, yet rugged. Yes, although it is only 7.8mm thick, it has IP57 certification, so it is dust proof and it can be submerged in water up to 3 feet/1 meter for up to 30 minutes. Great for those crazy parties....
2012 quad-core phones spec comparison
Two years ago we only had single-core handsets, shows like MWC 2011 brought us the first dual-core devices last year, and in 2012 the key word is quad-core. And when we start counting cores, three devices qualify as the best and we are seeing them on the showroom floor at MWC 2012: the Huawei Ascend D quad (and its XL version with bigger battery), the HTC One X, and the LG Optimus 4X HD.
LG demonstrates seamless voice-to-videocall switch and streaming over LTE, girlfriends rejoice
The LTE phones that LG will release later in the year will have one very desirable feature - the ability to seamlessly switch from voice to video calls without first hanging up.
Huawei Ascend G300 Hands-on Review
After spending some time with Huawei's latest and greatest in the form of the Huawei Ascend D quad, it is time to take a look at one of the company's latest mid-range offerings. The smartphone that we have on our hands is the Huawei Ascend G300 and is a part of the company's newly introduced Gold series of handsets.
U.S. Cellular offering $100 activation credit for purchase of any Android device for a limited time
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| U.S. Cellular's coverage area |
Look, if you are in their coverage area, U.S. Cellular wants to be your carrier. If you leave your current operator and sign up for one of their plans, you can get an additional $150 credit for trading in your old, qualifying smartphone. Of course, depending on what your ETF is, your best bet might be waiting for your current contract (if you have one) to expire.
source: USCellular
Sony Tablet P to hit AT&T on March 3?
If you fancy gadgets with unusual form factors, than this bit of news might interest you. The Sony Tablet P, which is a foldable dual-screen Android tablet, may launch on AT&T on March 3, if the pair of spy shots that we have here is to be believed. The device will be priced at $399 on-contract, and if you are not too fond of long term commitment, grabbing one for $549 contract-free is also an option.
Spec comparison: Asus Eee Pad tablets updated with high-res Infinity and affordable quad-core 300 series
Asus had one of the most successful Android tablets in 2011 - the Eee Pad Transformer, and after it launched its successor in late 2011, it brought two powerful new members to the Asus Eee Pad family at MWC 2012: the high-end Asus Transformer Pad Infinity and the affordable yet still capable Transformer Pad 300 Series.
Apple's iPhone sells poorly in indebted European countries, while Android flourishes
We know that Apple is extracting some major cash from carriers with the iPhone subsidies, as was painfully obvious in the AT&T, Sprint and Verizon Q4 financial results. That's the state of the industry here in the US, and UK follows suit with even heavier subsidies, so the iPhone holds a pretty significant market share in the Anglo-Saxon universe.
Lumigon T2 is a designer Android smartphone with Bang & Olufsen audio
While some smartphone manufacturing are trying to wow you with specs, others are attempting to accomplish the same with style. Danish company Lumigon falls into the latter category, and their latest creation, the Lumigon T2, is currently on display at MWC 2012.
ST-Ericsson introduces new NovaThor L8540 28nm SoC with built-in LTE
ST-Ericsson has seen its revenues squeeze significantly in the recent years, and the company is eager to bring back its positions. The newly announced ST-Ericsson NovaThor L8540 system-on-a-chip is a step in that direction. The NovaThor L8540 is made using 28nm manufacturing technology and it’s based on ARM’s Cortex A9. It also comes with integrated LTE which makes it more power efficient.
AT&T demands that carriers introduce a uniform cross-platform video calling standard, we clap
What's that? The sky is falling? A carrier clamors for a uniform standard? We don't know if the spirit of Dalai Lama has blessed the AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega or he's had a life-changing encounter with the myriad of video-calling apps and standards, but now he raised a voice for uniting them all.
Acer Liquid Glow Hands-on Review
Acer's Android smartphone portfolio might be relatively modest at this time, but we have to give the company a tip of the hat for presenting two very likeable offerings at MWC 2012, the Acer Liquid Glow being one of them. What we have our hands on is a device cemented in the mid-range category due to its average hardware specs, yet still leaving us with a good impression after tinkering with it for a while.
Vimeo brings new iOS app with added iPad support
Mobile payment war heats up, Visa-certified phones will be your credit card
Visa used a huge event like the MWC expo to launch its mobile payment solution which will probably dwarf all other efforts in this field. Upon purchasing a "Visa-certified" NFC phone, the user can contact the payment processing behemoth to activate it and link it with their bank account.
Acer CloudMobile Hands-on Review
Acer is not a very strong player in the mobile space, but they seem to be willing to change that. Although the company didn't have a booth here at MWC 2012, we were invited to a private meeting where we got a chance to check out some of their upcoming products.
Fortunately, one of those products was their new flagship model for 2012, the Acer CloudMobile. As the name implies, the CloudMobile will have a lot to do with the cloud, and for the purpose, Acer has concocted a whole new service, called Acer Cloud. But let us first tell you about the hardware of the handset.
Fortunately, one of those products was their new flagship model for 2012, the Acer CloudMobile. As the name implies, the CloudMobile will have a lot to do with the cloud, and for the purpose, Acer has concocted a whole new service, called Acer Cloud. But let us first tell you about the hardware of the handset.
Mozilla shows Open Web Devices (OWD) UI in its new platform Boot to Gecko
Mozilla is trying hard to enter the mobile space with its own open mobile operating system, Boot to Gecko (B2G), and a neat UI demo surfaced recently.
You might be wondering whether we really need yet another mobile platform, and while the answer isn’t immediately obvious, B2G does justify its existence by being completely open. Everything developed on it will be available on all platforms - there’s no platform-dependent code, and this is really what makes it stand out.
HTC One V to launch on MetroPCS, Virgin Mobile, and U.S. Cellular
Among the trio of HTC One Android smartphones that was unveiled on Sunday, the HTC One V was the most modest in terms of specs, suggesting that a reasonable price tag would be among its main selling points. However, what was not exactly made clear was exactly which carrier or carriers would actually offer the device. Fortunately, we already have an update on the matter.
Samsung "not doing very well in tablets," says company executive
At a media roundtable at MWC 2012, Samsung product strategy executive Hankil Yoon said that Samsung's success in the smartphone world was not being replicated in the tablet market. "Honestly, we're not doing very well in the tablet market," said Yoon, who expects Samsung's fortunes in the sector to turn this year.
Report says Apple iPad 3 could cost more than Apple iPad 2
A leaked pricing sheet that appeared on the Chinese website Sina Weibo was looked into by MacRumors. The latter site discovered that the pricing sheet showed that the Apple iPad 3 will cost more than the current Apple iPad 2. The iPad 3 looks to be $80 more expensive than the equivalent Wi-Fi only model of the iPad 2. The difference with the equivalent 3G models is a $70 premium for the newer version of the tablet.
Conduit adds support for no-coding creation of Windows Phone apps
The more easy tools to create apps for a platform, the more apps get pushed into that platform's app market, and as we all know, the total number of apps available is a huge indicator of whether or not consumers will actually give that platform any respect. Windows Phone has been on a tear, recently passing the 71,000 app mark.
Temple Run for Android in beta testing
There have been persistent rumors for the last few weeks that the extremely popular iOS game Temple Run would be making its way to Android sometime this month, but there was never anything substantial enough that we felt the need to pass it on. Finally though, there has been some word from developer Imangi Studios regarding the work on the Android version of the game.
Google Music getting an unofficial API soon
There are a number of new products from Google that have yet to get official APIs, but that doesn't mean that enterprising developers can't take it upon themselves to do the work that Google has yet to get around to. One of those products is Google Music, which just launched back in November.
White Nokia Lumia 900 now available globally
Earlier this month, Nokia accidentally leaked a picture of a white version of the Nokia Lumia 900. The picture was mistakenly included with the Finnish manufacturer's official announcement introducing the white Nokia Lumia 800. But the front-facing camera on the handset was one of a few clues that pointed to a mistake by Nokia. And as we pointed out, the lack of the AT&T logo on the device indicated that the phone would be available in more places than just the States.
Intel lays the base for 14nm chips in 2014, "to light a fire under" Apple and Samsung
If you’re a total geek like us the symbolic promise of 14nm chips in 2014 should not only get you excited but jumping of joy. If a roadmap is a base, Intel has a solid one, and if we add the chip maker’s swagger in its ambitions to “light a fire under” Apple, Samsung and LG, things start to look more than interesting.
Huawei MediaPad 10.1 Hands-on Review
In addition to the lovely Huawei Ascend D Quad smartphone, the Chinese manufacturer brought another very cool product here at MWC 2012 – the Huawei MediaPad 10 tablet. There are actually quite a few reasons for us to be excited about this device. First of all, it's packed with powerful hardware, which we are absolutely sure will deliver an exceptional performance. Second, it looks quite appealing, and third – it's made by a manufacturer that is just starting to make a name for itself, as far as phones and tablets are concerned.
Google has built a "firewall" between Android team and Motorola
There has been a constant bit of concern from the Android community that Google would give an unfair advantage to Motorola after the acquisition went through. And, although there is almost no reason to believe that this will actually happen, or that if it were to happen that Google wouldn't do something really good with it, the fears over this concern have been continually played upon by Google's rivals.
AT&T's HTC One XL now available for pre-order at Best Buy; no online orders accepted for now
How fast things move in the quick-paced world of smartphones. Just introduced yesterday in Barcelona at a special event, the HTC One XL for AT&T can now be pre-ordered at Best Buy. First, we need to point out that the model that AT&T is offering will be called the HTC One XL as opposed to the international model called the HTC One X. That is because the latter will be powered by the quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 while the former has a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 under the hood.
NVIDIA adds games to Tegra 3 optimized list
The gaming outlook on Android is looking pretty solid in the near future, especially on Tegra devices. NVIDIA has always been proactive about getting the support of developers, which even led to the creation of the Tegra Zone app to make it easier for users to find games which have been optimized for Tegra multi-core processors.
The ZTE Orbit may be the first Windows Phone with NFC
We only just today heard about the ZTE Orbit, which was originally expected to be a lower-end Windows Phone device, and it is already starting to make waves in the WP ecosystem. A few more features have supposedly been confirmed for the device, and they are making it seem a bit more interesting.
Motorola video shows Google Voice Actions battling Siri
The first challenge compared how fast both Google Voice Actions and Siri took a spoken message, turned it into an email, and sent it. The second battle was to see which was faster in coming up with navigation to a specific direction. The next contest was to see which technology was able to be the fastest in sending a reminder for the phone's user. The last battle was for Siri and Google Voice Action to see which would be the first to go to Motorola.com. Siri went to Google first (how ironic is that!) while Google Voice Actions went straight to the mobile web site for the manufacturer.
The same tests were done with both Motorola models and each time, Google Voice Actions finished first. The videos are interesting because it shows that with all the handwringing done by Android users and manufacturers about Siri, and with all of those upstart apps being developed to challenge Siri, there is already an Android app that competes with Apple's voice activated personal assistant. Your Android phone must be running Android 2.1 or higher to use Google Voice Actions.
source: Motorola
Jelly Beans seen at Google's MWC booth. Hmmmm...
AT&T to allow app developers to pay for your data
If the Wall Street Journal is to be believed, and there are few more credible sources in the media, then AT&T will soon be unveiling a service that allows for app developers to pay for data used by their apps. In a smartphone market where apps are becoming more graphically complex while most carriers are cracking down on data usage, this would allow the user to use the app as often as they'd like without fear of their data cap. With Verizon offering a data-tracking widget on their Android handsets and Google building a data manager into Android 4.0, this is a very real concern for many users out there. This new model would give app developers an advertising advantage with customers who are worried.
Nokia 808 PureView 41-megapixel camera magic explained
The Nokia 808 PureView - for lack of a better word - is magical. Most if not all of users would be shocked when they hear about the 41-megapixel camera on the 808 PureView. But how is it even possible? Nokia explains that it worked nearly 5 years on this particular project and there are two main reasons behind the top notch performance of the PureView Pro imaging technology.
Huawei Ascend D quad Hands-on Review
Probably for the first time ever, we're not going to begin a Huawei hands-on with the words that we're surprised by the good execution of the phone in question. Nope. This time, we'll just say – as it was expected, Huawei made a bang with its new devices here at MWC 2012. Upon meeting the new handsets and tablets available here, all of our already few doubts were gone.
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