HTC Incredible HD –> Mecha –> Thunderbolt. #htc

We saw this veiled device a few days back with the names “Incredible HD” and “Mecha” attached to it. And now, an eagle-eyed reader of Android Central has given us another name to add to the list — “Thunderbolt”. Supposedly, an attached link — “http://www.htc.com/4G?extcid=Thunderbolt-4G-Disp” — spilled the beans on what HTC’s latest name sounds like. Of course, this could be yet another internal name with the actual name being completely different than the trifecta of mystery names we’ve already got.

For now, debate amongst yourselves what you think it is, for we’ll be live on the CES show floor come January 6th (the rumored announcement date) to see what exactly is underneath that veil and what it is going to be called.

Latest T-Mobile TV Ad Bashes AT&T Over WiFi-Only FaceTime/Video Calling. #facetime

AT&T just can’t catch a break. While it has been relatively quiet the last few weeks in regards to AT&T failures, even when the good times are getting better, the competition has to keep their finger on the button. Competing GSM carrier, T-Mobile, released a new commercial today highlighting a weakness of AT&T’s pokey network + abundance of iPhone’s as well as their own HSPA+ network.

In the commercial, FaceTime is shown on the iPhone 4 cutting out when moving from WiFI to 3G while the T-Mobile-born, HSPA+ example continues on after the switch just fine. While the commercial and T-Mobile themselves don’t officially come out and name AT&T as the reason for FaceTime’s 3G woes, it’s no secret what is being implied.

In AT&T’s defense, however, T-Mobile has no where near the number of data-hungry smartphones sucking down data in copious amounts. Though as more people jump the speedy HSPA+ T-Mobile offers and more device manufacturers take advantage of said technology, we should begin to see a clearer picture of just how resilient T-Mobile’s network really is.

Until then, check out the new commercial after the break…

Apple: 1 Million New Apple TVs Sold. #apple

The recent design refresh of the Apple TV is paying off — for Apple that is. The company announced today that they had officially crossed the 1 million sales mark a mere 3 months after going on sale. Not too shabby considering Apple sees the Apple TV as nothing more than a company “hobby”. Nevertheless, web TV and streaming media appears to be on the rise as competing technology from Roku recently had it’s CEO come forward and state that they too were seeing increased sales, even naming the Apple TV as one of the big reasons for the uptick in sales and revenue.

Have you jumped on board the web TV/streaming media train yet?

The Future Is Now: LVX Lighting Communication System Offers 3Mbps File Transfers Over Office Lighting.

In the world of corporate America and the endless seas of cubicle islands, flickering lights are nothing more than a nuisance/headache-causing annoyance that we have to deal with day in and day out. But six municipal buildings in St Cloud, Minnesota at the will be outfitted with LVX’s “Visible Light Communication System”.

The concept is simple: flickering lights (in this case, LEDs) transfer data to desktop modems that then feed the information to a computer. Similar LEDs in the modem can respond back to the lights overhead, thereby enabling a sort of futuristic exchange of information. And to those worried about endless flickering offices from hell — don’t. The lights flicker faster than the normal human eye can register.

The first generation of LVX’s lighting system will top out 3Mbps. But future iterations will I’m sure gain speed. Such a solution is highly needed in the ever growing world of wireless communication and crowded airwaves.

Unnamed Sony Ericsson Smartphone Snapped! #android #sonyericsson

Who doesn’t like a good photo leak of an unannounced, unnamed upcoming gadget — and a smartphone no less — in the morning? The image above is rumored to be the upcoming SE Hallon MT15i. Besides that sliver of information, the only other things we’ve got to go on are the screenshot that oddly enough, shows HTC’s Sense UI, and a sole USB port atop the device itself. Not very telling, is it?

Meanwhile, the phone that actually took the picture above is another unknown. Carrying the internal model number of “LT15i” itself, this phone is supposed to be carrying a 12MP camera. Though the quality of the image above leaves only two conclusions: The camera is either not shooting at full resolution or the rumor of a 12-megapixel camera is wrong.

Regardless, two new phones that we fully expect to hear more about next week at CES. Check back soon…

VLC for Android Coming “In a Few Weeks”. #android

While iOS users have had the pleasure of using VLC for a many weeks now, the most obvious of supported platforms (Android) has yet to see any official app. The main reason, according to the lead developer of the Android project Jean-Baptiste Kempf, is that up until a recent update to the Android NDK, developers couldn’t code in native code for Android. They had to use Java. But now that said shackles are removed, Kempf and his supporting team are moving full steam ahead, saying we’ll see the official Android client drop “in a few weeks”.

Until then, plenty of testing has to be done. On top of that, the first release will be a rough beta. Chalk up both of those facts to the fact that Android has many devices and firmware versions on the market at once. Developing an app for compatibility across devices and firmware is quite the challenge.

The best news, however, is that Kempf and friends are committed to the open source Android platform and vow to continually update the app as time progresses. Any Android users eager for VLC?

Get MotoBLUR 3.0 on Your Droid 2 Now! #android

As the saying goes: The greatest things in life aren’t easy, require hard work, and don’t come cheap. In the world of smartphone hacking, their really isn’t any price to be spoken of, save for the cost of the hardware itself. However, some hard work is often in order. On that note, the Android rooting scene is alive and full of talent, pushing the platform a head. Part of that talent makes sure that aging hardware receives its rightful share of new software updates that carriers or manufactures may decline to provide.

On the topic Motorola’s re-designed MotoBLUR 3.0, the newer Droid Pro and Droid Global are blessed with the much more refined, less tacky UI while the Droid 2 has not yet received the same attention. Physically, there’s no reason for the discrepency — the hardware is essentially the same.

Nevertheless, the Android developer scene has come to the rescue once again, with MyDroidWorld holding a Droid 2-compatible .zip file of MotoBLUR 3.0. All you have to do is own a rooted phone and know the basic of installing .zip files from the SD card whilst in recovery mode. Sounds easy enough (and it really is).

If you want to take matters into your own hands, head on over to MyDroidWorld for the full list of instructions and needed files.