#mwc HTC Desire S Receives Minor Update: More Speed + Sleek Aluminum Body.

The HTC Desire S which was announced today at MWC, brings a nice increase in performance to a largely unchanged package. A new all aluminum body, second-gen 1GHz Snapdragon processor (8255), front-facing VGA camera and rear-facing 5-megapixel camera, 3.7″ WVGA display and 1.1GB of user accessible storage. The final cherry on top: Android 2.4 (Gingerbread pt. 2) will ship at launch. Look for the Desire S to launch in Europe and Asia in Q2 of 2011.

Teaser video after the jump…

WiMAX To Cover 1 Billion People By End Of 2011.

As we sit here and watch HSPA+ speeds and coverage continually grow along with LTE’s own advancements in recent months, looking at WiMAX draws about a very different story. At over 2+ years now, the WiMAX rollout in the U.S. is disappointingly slow. But something must be going alright as according to WiMAX Forum President and Chairman, Ron Resnick, “WiMAX networks continued to grow at a steady pace, despite a slow global economic recovery and competitive technologies starting to enter the market.” It’s worth noting that a good deal of the WiMAX expansion that occurred in 2010 did so in Europe and abroad. However, we have noticed here in the U.S. that the last ~6 months has seen quicker than average WiMAX developments too. Though we would say progress merely went from near dead to limping along with one good leg.

Things are looking up for WiMAX, however. India is set to rebound from economic and network issues that prevented worthwhile WiMAX penetration in the country adding a large potential user base.

Now if only we could get more and faster WiMAX here in the U.S…

Verizon Offering $200 iPhone Rebate And $5-$20 Discount To FiOS Customers.

It isn’t all too often that we see worthwhile discounts on Apple products, much less iPhones. But Verizon has quite the sweetheart deal currently running that bundles their super fast FiOS internet service and Apple’s Jesus Phone. Specifically, Verizon is giving FiOS customers a $200 rebate on their Verizon iPhone. Depending on which iPhone you get, you’ll either pay $0 (16GB) or $100 (32GB) after said rebate. Sounds like a deal to us! But even better is that Verizon is extending the discount love to the FiOS side as well, and giving said subscribers a $5-$20 monthly discount on FiOS services.

If you can look past the fact that AT&T’s network is generally a good deal faster than Verizon’s (or you simply care about connecting a phone call…), Verizon’s iPhone looks to be a growing bargain, especially if you subscribe to the carriers FiOS service.

HTC Flyer Breaks Cover! 7″ Android Tablet Packs 1.5GHz Snapdragon Processor.

While the HTC Incredible S is a nice smartphone, some people want a little more in the form of a tablet. This quickly exploding market is growing more saturated by the day, with countless manufacturers spinning out their own idea of what a tablet should be. With that said, HTC’s latest attempts center around the Flyer — a 7″ tablet powered by Android 2.4 (upgrade to Honeycomb coming at a later date) and a powerful 1.5GHz Snapdragon processor. Other notable hardware features include 32GB of storage for media, a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera, an additional 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, and HSPA+ support.

Oddly enough, even though stylus input has pretty much been relegated to corporate/rugged tablet use and abolished from the consumer market, HTC has felt the need to optimize the Flyer’s version of Android and Sense UI for stylus input. As such, the company has included a stylus in the box. Again, odd considering fingers are the way to go, especially on these 5″+ tablets. We’re also curious as to why HTC chose to hold off on releasing a new flagship tablet with a non-tablet version of Android.

Either way, the HTC Flyer looks like a very capable tablet, and one that should go quite a ways in giving the iPad a run for its money. Consumers can expect the Flyer to hit store shelves in the second quarter of this year.

HTC Incredible S Announced. Coming Q2 2011 With Second Generation Snapdragon And GSM Support. #mwc

Following in the wake of many other smartphone manufacturers, HTC took the wraps off of their latest Android devices, with one of them being the new, revamped Incredible S. A second-gen Snapdragon (8255) processor clocked at 1GHz, 768MB of RAM, 4″ WVGA Super LCD display, 8-megapixel rear/1.3-megapixel front facing cameras w/ LED flash and 720p HD video capability round out a rather stout phone. The Incredible S is going to ship with Android 2.2 (Froyo) initially, but HTC has stressed that they will quickly update to Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) in the very near future.

But above all the hardware specs listed above, one rings out as most important to us — GSM support. That’s right! Where the original Incredible was a CDMA device exclusive on Verizon, the new Incredible S makes the move to the SIM card-toting crowd with HSPA support. From what we’ve been hearing so far, the Incredible S has T-Mobile bands from the get go. Excited yet, T-Mo fans?

Look for the Incredible S to drop sometime in Q2 of 2011.

HTC Announces Salsa And ChaCha Facebook Phones. #mwc

Those leaked images reportedly showcasing upcoming Facebook phones were…true. Todays events at MWC had HTC unveiling two new Facebook phones — the Salsa and the ChaCha. Both phones are actually rather mid to low-range affair. But hardware specs aren’t the big draw here. Facebook integration is — and it runs deep.

The most physical change to these “Facebook Phones” is the context aware Facebook button which pulses with light when something is able to be shared. Status updates, photo uploads, phone book integration, and more are all synced to and fro betwen Facebook and each phone. Speaking of which, the HTC Salsa runs Android 2.3.3 and features a 3.4″ 320 x 480 display, 512MB of RAM 600MHz processor, 5-megapixel rear-facing camera/0.2-megapixel front-facing camera, WiFi/GPS/Bluetooth, and HTC’s Sense UI. The ChaCha also runs Android 2.3.3, though features a smaller 2.6″ display in order to make room for the full qwerty keyboard underneath. Cameras weigh in as the same 5-megapixel front/0.2-megapixel rear shooters as seen on the Salsa. Ditto for wireless support too.

The Salsa and ChaCha are slated for release in Q2. Though unfortunately, no plans for a U.S. released were mentioned at the time of writing. However, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg did stress that we would be seeing “many more” Facebook-enabled devices. It appears that the Salsa and ChaCha are just the beginning.

Anyone out there interested in this idea of special “Facebook Phones”, or is your typical smartphone with Facebook app/web browser enough? Hop inside for a quick video showing the HTC Salsa Facebook phone in more detail…

HTC Facebook Phone Images Leak! #mwc

And so it appears true — rumors that Facebook was developing a new special smartphone. New information from Pocket Now sheds light on two, new Facebook phones. The first device goes by the name “Snap” and features a slide-out qwerty keyboard while the keyboard-less Icon is all touchscreen and glass.

If we’re to see a Facebook phone of any type from HTC, it’ll be tomorrow during their official keynote. Check back in 8-12 hours for kore information.

Hop inside for image of HTC Snap!