T-Mobile Joins Verizon In Opposing Apple’s Lawsuits Against Samsung, Galaxy S Hardware Ban.

Apple is quickly gaining a list of frenemies with their hard charging ways in courts around the world. Verizon was the first major U.S. carrier to vocalize their displeasure with Apple’s ongoing lawsuits against Samsung, citing the potential problems it could cause “customers” (read: they’re bottom line). Today T-Mobile jumped into the ring by filing their own amicus brief opposing any type of Galaxy S phone or tablet ban.

T-Mobile:

“While T-Mobile respects intellectual property rights and believes that owners of intellectual property deserve the right to present their arguments and evidence of infringement in court, a preliminary injunction is a drastic and extraordinary measure, and the courts should pay particular attention to its public consequences.”

Verizon makes a killing on Android device sales. Though they have also done rather well with the iPhone 4 since it launched earlier this year. T-Mobile on the other hand has had the most success with several pieces of Samsung-made Android hardware and still 2011 don’t have an official iPhone of their own. Their stance isn’t surprising.

So, who’s next?

HTC Files U.S. Patents For Honors And Top Honors Reward Programs.

HTC is looking to make the world a better place one technological achievement at a time. Four recent U.S. trademark filings hint at new “Honors” and “Top Honors” programs that will ultimately reward the brightest and most unique ideas/persons the U.S. has to offer.

The patents in question were filed just a few days ago on September 23rd. While not much is given up in the patent filings, the small amount that is described has us intrigued. What will HTC reward people with: Jobs, scholarships, money?

Hop past the break for the full rundown on the patents in question…

Motorola XOOM LTE Upgrade Officially Begins Tomorrow (September 29th)!

The day we all thought would never come — the day in which early XOOM adopters could mail in their homely 3G unit for a 1-2 hardware swap to more brisk LTE gear. Yes, it’s finally here. All you have to do is to navigate to www.verizonwireless.com/Xoom4GLTEupgrade. After the pre-paid shipping materials arrive at your door, simply drop your XOOM inside and find something to do during the week-long ordeal.

If you haven’t snagged a XOOM yet you may be better off. Beginning on October 13th Verizon will sell Motorola XOOMs with the LTE hardware already installed for $499.

Who’s ready?

Lucky Ebay Buyer Wins Nexus S With Pre-release Build Of Ice Cream Sandwich.

What would you do if you picked up a Nexus S on eBay only to find upon turning it on for the first time that it packed something, um… special. That’s what the buyer above discovered — a Nexus S running a pre-release build of Ice Cream Sandwich. Yeah. Hot damn!

From what you can see in the video (after the break), there’s a lot of Gingerbread/Honeycomb cross pollination going on. Overall, though, we like it quite a lot, especially the multi-tasking layout. The real travesty would of course be if this video were fake. But enough talking. (You’ve probably already clicked through.) Hop inside for the hands-on demo…

Flickr For Android Aims To Beat Instagram At Their Own Game, Whenever They Show Up.

Android users looking for a little Instagram love will still have to continue waiting for the “official” app from Instagram. Yeah, we’re getting just as antsy as you are. But remember, Instagram still has six employees that now have to deal with an alleged 10+ million strong userbase — no easy feat. In the meantime, there’s this new app from Flickr for Android that promises just as much photo fun and interaction as Instagram (and then some). Looks like Yahoo is ready to put up a fight for the mobile photo editing/sharing crown.

Give Flickr for Android a shot and let us know what you think.

In other news: The Flickr iOS app will gain similar filter/share options in an update planned for sometime in the future, though head of product Markus Spiering wouldn’t divulge to reporters exactly when that date would be.

Damn: Samsung’s Non-”+” Displays Regress To PenTile Technology.

We’ll reserve final judgement until we have some actual hardware in-hand to test, but a “feature” of upcoming “HD” Samsung devices highlighted by theGadgetLife points out one very disappointing fact — Samsung’s higher resolution non-plus displays (read: Super AMOLED HD+ –> Super AMOLED HD) will make use of PenTile technology instead of the much more accurate (and better looking) RGB “Stripe” method.

While people will sit on both sides of the fence and hurl insults to and fro as to how important this difference is and how often normal users with average eyes are going to notice said difference, the fact that the newer PenTile HD displays will actually be showing 1/8th the resolution of their striped counterparts isn’t something worth getting excited over.

Like we said, we’ll reserve final judgement until we give the devices a thorough flogging. But judging by these comparison photos between the old Galaxy S AMOLED HD PenTile screen and the iPhone 4′s Retina Display, we’re not about to begin holding our breath…

HTC Wildfire S, Hero S, and Flyer Coming To U.S. Cellular Next Month.

U.S. Cellular recently scored a big win with the Motorola Electrify. And starting next month the Android festivities continue with three new Android devices: the HTC Wildfire S and Hero S smartphones as well as the and Flyer tablet.

Starting things off is the Wildfire S with a smallish 3.2-inch 480 x 320 display, Qualcomm MSM8227 processor @ 600 MHz, 512 MB RAM/512 MB ROM, 5mp camera w/ LED flash, and Android 2.3 Gingerbread with HTC Sense. Pricing will be set at $79 when paired with a new 2-year contract or for customers on one of the carrier’s “Belief Plans”.

The Hero S ups the ante with a single-core 1.2 Ghz Qualcomm Snapragon processor, 4-inch Super LCD qHD (540 x 960) display, 768 MB of RAM, 5mp rear-facing camera with LED flash and f2.2 lens + VGA front-facing camera, and Android 2.3.5 (Gingerbread). Pricing is set at $199.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate with a new 2-year contract and to customers subscribed to a Belief Plan.

Finally, the 7-inch HTC Flyer will swoop in @ $399 packing a peppy 1.5 GHz Snapdragon processor and ample 32 GB of internal storage. HTC has also bundled the “Scribe” stylus with the Flyer meaning on-screen doodling (and whatever else you do with a stylus these days) can be had right out of the box. The $399 price tag is after a $100 MIR and 2-year contract (with $54.99/month data plan) renewal/sign-up.

For now release dates for all three devices is listed simply as “next month”.