Hopefully Roamz good looks and decent feature set drum up a worthwhile following. We’ve seen plenty of great looking social apps (Path, Cheers, etc.) that are ultimately pushed out of the spotlight and relegated to
small niche simply because of the vast minefield that is socially aware apps. Can Roamz pull away from the pack?

Go ahead and fire up the Google Play app and get the new Roamz Android app (free) – Roamz on Google Play Store

Need more convincing? Check out the video below.

Video

“LTE is our anchor point for data share, so as you come through an upgrade cycle and you upgrade in the future, you will have to go onto the data share plan, moving away from the unlimited world.”

While the new plans will have a data cap, they should make multi-device families/customers’ lives much easier by allowing multiple devices to share a pool of data on their plan — something we’ve been dreaming of for years. Also, Verizon has been throwing “Double Data” deals in recent months giving customers double the data they’d normally get at any given price point. The downside, of course, is that as media-heavy online content increases daily, so do our usage meters for data consumption.

LTE and the next-gen of media and media consumption is making higher speed wireless technologies more and more crucial. Likewise, the devices we use to consume said media are increasing in number not only per household, but also per person. (We have ~5-6 devices at any given time.) So while the wonderful world of unlimited is pretty much extinct, the cellular world is about to enter a new, exciting era thanks to shared data plans catering to multiple devices.

In other VZW related news, Shammo also stated during the same financial conference that Verizon is planning to launch their Voice over LTE (VoLTE) service “by years end”, but will hold off on heavily pushing it until mid-2013 when their LTE network is larger. Speaking of which, Shammo stated that by the end of 2013, VZW’s LTE network should as big or bigger than their current 3G network — no small claim mind you.

More: Verizon

Via: FierceWireless

For Apple, tapping into China Mobile’s vast user base is a cash cow of epic proportions that could easily push their share price hundreds of dollars higher and result in tens of billions in additional sales/profit.

Currently, there are a small, diehard following of iPhone users already running on China Mobile but in EDGE-only mode. It is, in our eyes, a sub-par experience. But the reason for the delay is not your typical spat that sees two companies’ egos dueling back and forth. The lack of an iPhone on China Mobile is completely legitimate. You see, China Mobile uses an odd form of 3G/4G network technology, TD-SCDMA and TD-LTE. Thus far, most global handsets sold do not support the TD-SCDMA standard unless specifically made for the Chinese market. But a new Qualcomm chip could remedy this situation and allow the upcoming iPhone (rumored to be released later this year in October-ish) to run on China Mobile’s network.

For China Mobile users at least, the above news is a huge reason to get excited. For all of us, however, an even bigger reason to perk up comes from a new WSJ article this morning. Specifically, the news outfit states that the upcoming iPhone will feature “at least” a 4″ (diagonal) display, citing several suppliers ordering larger displays for alleged future Apple devices.

The issue of screensize comes up in talk between tech pundits continuously, with both camps (smaller/bigger screens) being pretty evenly divided. Regardless if Apple keeps the screensize the same or expands it a bit, someone will be upset and dissatisfied. But as the WSJ states in their article, the screensize on an iPhone isn’t a defining feature, really. Instead, it is but one small piece of the overall puzzle; the various hardware features and numerous software + vast media/content tie-ins create that highly sought after ecosystem that so many yearn to replicate but often fail to do.

It goes without saying, this fall’s new iPhone will once again set a new bar for Apple and for smartphones in general.

Via: 9to5 Mac, Bloomberg, WSJ

The patent in question, #5,946,647, belongs to Apple and essentially deals with the phone’s ability to take a piece of text and perform a number of actions when clicked on (like tapping a phone number within a sentence to initiate a call). Pretty minor, right?

Unfortunately, the super tight security and secrecy around such investigations means HTC won’t know anything (not even a timetable for the investigation’s completion) until the U.S. Customs decides they’re ready to share such information.

HTC maintains that they feel confident in both a quick and resolute conclusion in their favor, saying that they believe they are within full compliance of the law, and far away from infringing on Apple’s patent.

“The US availability of the HTC One X and HTC EVO 4G LTE has been delayed due to a standard U.S. Customs review of shipments that is required after an ITC exclusion order. We believe we are in compliance with the ruling and HTC is working closely with Customs to secure approval. The HTC One X and HTC Evo 4G LTE have been received enthusiastically by customers and we appreciate their patience as we work to get these products into their hands as soon as possible.”

Yes. People/companies need to protect their IP. Yes. Violators of said laws should be punished. But this…this is just stupid.

The Verge

Anton’s rebound is based off of a similar concept (but this one for Android) also by another Dribbble user, IMG0007. Regardless of where your allegiances lie, you’ve got to admit that a fold-to-unlock style design such as what you see above could be a nice addition to any platform.

• iOS Fold to unlock

• Android Fold to unlock

Would you use/appreciate a redesigned lockscreen that opened like either example shown here?

Beginning this week, roughly 900 more T-Mobile employees will be pink slipped, which is for sure, sad. But let me tell you what’s more sad — a country with only one, single GSM carrier.

T-Mobile and AT&T have used the failed merger several times as a scape goat to gingerly ease into financial meetings and conferences. They’d like you to believe that because they couldn’t form an illegal monopoly that we are all better off. Hell, AT&T executives have even resorted to off-hand threats to customers, saying that “because of you” (referencing the citizens of the U.S. and major public outcry regarding the merger) your bills will become higher. Clearly, customers’ interests were not their #1 priority.

Had T-Mobile and AT&T been allowed to wed in unholy matrimony, competition for major GSM cell service would be pretty much non-existant. While the new super carrier would perhaps be better able to allocate company resources and drive new programs more effectively, the negative effect is absolutely no system of checks and balances. You see, competing carriers act as such a system. If carrier A has a cheaper, more generous plan, carrier B can’t simply raise prices $5 more per month without risking customer numbers. Customers would no doubt begin exiting to carrier A, citing the unfair rise in monthly cellular bills. A world without T-Mobile would have been a sad, overpriced and anti-consumer world.

At the end of the day, despite 900 more job losses added to the country’s total, the outcome is far better than what could have been.

Image Source: BetaNews

Besides the downright sexy outward appearance, the 918 Spyder will also hold its own against global super cars thanks to a 4.6-liter V8 engine and two independent electric motors. One of the electric motors helps the gas fueled V8 turn the rear wheels while the second electron burner routes power to the front wheels. In total, Porsche claims the 918 Spyder will rocket forward with upwards of 770 horsepower. Porsche is hoping to have 0-60 times under 3.0 seconds.

So there’s a ton of power on board. But what about earth-friendly cred? Porsche claims the beauty above will be able to get up to 78 miles per gallon when driven in a more reserved manner. As for all-electric operation — keep dreaming. Porsche cites a laughable 15 mile radius from the nearest outlet once the gas tank runs dry. That said, all-electric operation isn’t the main point of this work of modern art, now is it?

Those of you with enough money to even consider purchasing a 918 Spyder should begin seeing deliveries appearing in your mile-long
driveway sometime before the end of 2013.

More: Porsche

Via: Inhabitat

In an updates support document, PCMag stumbled onto new verbiage that states:

“HTC Sensation 4G will be required to add Wi-Fi Mobile Hotspot feature
in order to use the service after completing this update.”

The cost of the official tethering package is $14.99/month.

Thus far, tethering has technically required a tethering package but T-Mobile hasn’t been nearly as proactive in hunting down rampant, “illicit” tethering like competitor AT&T has. T-Mobile has maintained that doing so on pre-ICS builds of Android, monitoring and enforcing tethering plans was not possible due to “technical limitations”.

It’s worth noting that T-Mobile is the last major carrier to come down on tethering without paying for it. That said, T-Mobile still appears to be a tad more restrained on their crackdown. Customers who fire up a WiFi hotspot for a few minutes here and there will probably steer clear of T-Mobile’s radar. Those using it for heavier data sessions, such as downloading the new CS6 from Adobe, might find T-Mobile’s
response a bit more heavy handed, though.

The move is (sadly) expected. T-Mobile users, what do you think about the change?

Source: PC Mag
| Via: AndroidCommunity
Image Source: Phandroid

In addition to the immediate rollouts, Verizon claims that from today until the end of the year, a total of 140 new markets will join the LTE fun, bringing the overall total number of LTE markets live by the end of 2012 to 400. AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile certainly have their work cut out for them.

New markets

• Louisiana: Houma/Thibodaux and Lake Charles

• Massachusetts: Hyannis/Mid-Cape

• Michigan: Benton Harbor/St. Joseph

• Mississippi: Biloxi/Gulfport/Pascagoula and
  Oxford

• New Jersey: Atlantic City/Toms River

• North Dakota: Dickinson and Williston

• Ohio: Ashtabula, Bucyrus and Defiance

• Oregon: Eugene/Springfield

• Pennsylvania: Lancaster, New Castle, Northern
  Cambria County, Oil City/Franklin, Somerset and York

• South Carolina: Myrtle Beach

• South Dakota: Mitchell

• Texas: Paris

• Vermont: Burlington/Northern

• Virginia: Fredericksburg, Harrisonburg,
  Martinsville and Staunton/Waynesboro

• Wyoming: Sheridan

Expanded Markets

• Colorado: Denver

• Delaware: Dover

• Florida: Fort Myers and Lakeland

• Minnesota: Hagerstown

• Ohio: Canton, Lima, Mansfield, Toledo and
  Youngstown/Warren

• Pennsylvania: Erie

If O2 isn’t your kind of thing, another UK carrier, Three UK, told cnet that they too would be rolling out their 42 Mbps DC-HSPA+ network over the summer.

While the two carriers above are just not getting their DC-HSPA action on, Vodafone would like to remind you that they’ve been rolling out DC-HSPA service for over a year now. However, their DC-HSPA network tops out at 28.8 Mbps, and the carrier does not currently have plans to upgrade DC-HSPA network speeds any higher.

While LTE will be the legitimate go-to choice for next-gen cellular, having a nice fall back that is just barely slower (and in some instances faster than newer tech like LTE) is something few would argue with we’d assume.

If you’re an O2 or Three UK customer, give us a shout below as to your results on the DC-HSPA 42 Mbps networks as they begin rolling out!

Source: CNET UK | Via: The Verge
Image Source: esi.info

Our obsession with battery cases exists for many reasons. But the reason that takes the cake is the ability to truly remove the fear of running out of battery life while on the go. With the new Incipio offGRID Pro by Incipio, the ability to ignore the battery meter for days on end is now easier than ever, because instead of just a simple battery case with a big, built-in battery, Incipio has made the offGRID Pro a true professional device and included a second, removable battery and spare charger. The additional hardware/battery life doesn’t come cheap, however. While the original offGRID retailed in the neighborhood of $70, the offGRID Pro hits the wallet a bit harder at $99.

Is it all worth it? Continue on…

Design

We’ll be honest with you. The Incipio offGRID Pro is perhaps the best looking and most comfortable design hands down. But since one sentence alone doesn’t do it justice…

The Incipio offGRID Pro utilizes a different design than most battery cases. Instead of having a top and bottom piece that slides together, Incipio designed the offGRID Pro with a back piece that has a bumper-style piece that slides on top of and around the back piece. We actually like this design quite a lot and give Incipio props for thinking outside of the box.

Because of how the offGRID Pro is designed, gaps might come to mind as one concern. But we’re happy to report Incipio did an awesome job engineering this case. Gaps are nowhere to be found, and the offGRID Pro is very tight and well put together.

On the bottom of the case are two cut outs — one for the speaker and one for the mic — as well as the micro-USB charging port. The silent/sound switch is exposed in a simple cutout. So far it’s going pretty great. Unfortunately, Incipio slipped up with part of the offGRID Pro’s design. If there is one thing we must fault this case for, it is the buttons/button tabs. Where everything else about the case and presentation looks and feels very high quality, the button covers on top of the volume buttons and power/lock button look/feel incredibly cheap and junky. It’s actually quite frustrating. He we have this almost — So close! — perfect battery case and it’s overall beauty is marred by some buttons that look like it came off of a $5 Chinese knock-off case.

Looking past the buttons, we really like what Incipio has done with the offGRID Pro in terms of design/construction. However, if we would alter one thing it would be how to open the offGRID Pro. The way it’s designed as of writing requires a very thin, sharp tool to actually get the case apart. And even then it is a bit difficult. People with longer nails might not have any problem. For a large number of nail biters, though, a separate tool is going to be needed/required to take your iPhone out of the offGRID Pro. Perhaps a small problem that really isn’t if you’re the type that’s going to leave the iPhone inside of the offGRID Pro at all times. Considering a lot of iPhone users have dock-connecting accessories means such always-on scenarios aren’t as cut and dry as it might initially seem.

Performance

The double 1,600 mAh batteries is, as we’ve said before, an awesome perk to the offGRID Pro that easily makes it one of the longest running iPhone battery cases (provided you keep both batteries charged and with you). As far as single-battery performance goes, we’d say it’s slightly under our expectations. Taking our phone all the way down to a a 1% charge, activating the offGRID Pro quickly tossed a solid ~60% battery charge back onto our phone. Repeated tests saw re-charge percentages as low as 45% and as high as 71%. Sadly, we never saw the highly sought after 90+ percent re-charge we were looking for. That said, let us remind you that battery charging is a tricky, (very) inefficient process. Not to mention, mobile devices like smartphones are constantly pulling in data from all kinds of internet sources, silently eating data (and battery power) under the radar.

We’re beginning to wonder if the iPhone 4S is to blame for poorer-than-average battery case results. The Phonesuit Elite we also have in-house features a 2,100 mAh battery, and even factoring in battery charging inefficiencies and electrical losses should easily be able to charge our iPhone at least one time through. But it doesn’t> (Look for that review in a couple days.) In the case of the Incipio offGRID Pro, we’re finding the 1,600 mAh battery unable to completely charge our iPhone either.

While we’re trying to leave our phone alone as much as possible as to not place too much strain on the processor and in turn the battery, it’s becoming clear that something is just odd. We’re really not sure what’s going on. The consistently mediocre results across different brands and battery cases, however, signal that it isn’t necessarily a problem/fault with any one case; perhaps our iPhone is faulty.

We’ll note that thus far we’ve only talked about battery life pertaining to full-on charging. That is, we let the phone drain to single-digit battery percentages and then activate the battery and let it run until it’s dead. Another method one can use is to simply leave the case always on and simply top up the iPhone’s battery as needed. In our experience with various battery cases, this “top off” method is less efficient still. With that said, it’s not our preferred method. Still, even the hardest core, “heavy” users can easily expect a solid 18-24 hours of run time.

Switching gears, charging the offGRID Pro by way of the bottom-mounted micro-USB port is a relatively quick experience in and of itself. Typically, plugged into our laptop requires roughly ~2-1/2 to 3 hours to get a full charge put back into the case.

Should You Buy It

At $100 the offGRID Pro is definitely one of the most expensive battery cases to ever be released for Apple’s iPhone. But this time, we actually understand (and partially agree) with said pricing. For starters, the offGRID Pro is easily one of, if not the best looking iPhone battery case. It’s also (still) incredibly thin and well contoured making it’s added girth almost disappear, seemingly becoming a “natural” feeling in your hand. Also, the addition of a second 1600 mAh battery and stand-alone USB battery charger is a huge perk that no one else is currently offering. Two batteries + another battery charger simply cannot be beat for true power users and mobile warriors.

Our only reservations:

• offGRID Pro is rather difficult to remove without a sharp tool of some sort (or long, strong fingernails)

• The entire design oozes high quality and sophistication – except the button covers. Incipio appears to have failed to complete the last quarter mile of the race and simply sourced some cheap plastic tabs to cover some of the most used pieces of the iPhone.

• The offGRID Pro is not the easiest case to remove. It will almost certainly require a sharp tool to pry apart.

• Price. As awesome as the included features and hardware are, $100 is a lot of money for a case. Period.

Incipio’s original offGRID featured a 1,450 mAh battery and nothing more. The increased price and inclusion of a second battery as well as a design that is 98% as good as the original are all impressive things to highlight in our book, and reason enough to buy the case. The only thing you’ll have to determine is if the $5 knockoff case buttons and high price of admission can be overlooked. In the end, we say you must. The performance and utility benefits are simply too much to ignore.

Gadgetsteria’s Rating: 8.5/10

Gallery

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple will unveil new photo sharing features within iCloud at WWDC in June. The service, as the WSJ describes it, will allow sharing to other users (services unknown) and also allow said users to comment on shared photos.

If Apple is looking to expand on iCloud/social sharing of pictures, it will be yet again another attempt by Apple to get hot and heavy into the social arena. If you look back just a couple years ago, Apple unveiled “Ping” in iTunes, a service that was supposed to make finding and sharing music with friends on iTunes a lot more social and fun. Labels/artists were also supposed to be heavily benefit from increased sales due to more exposure as well as creating a much closer relationship with fans. So far Ping has been a non-story. No one cares about it and even fewer use it.

In the mobile social/photo market, Instagram is as we said above, a huge player despite the company’s tiny size. If Apple can finally get their foot in the door, it will open up an entirely new avenue for Apple to tap into for both new products and revenue.

9to5Mac speculates that the WSJ’s story could possibly tie in with Apple’s Phil Schiller recently leaving Instagram. When questioned on his departure, Schiller simply stated he left Instagram because it had “jumped the shark”, an obvious hit at the company’s embracing of Android by releasing a new Android app. In actuality, it very well could simply be a matter of removing himself from the competition in preparation for his company’s own in-house solution.

It goes without saying that this years WWDC is looking like the biggest one yet.

Source: WSJ | Via: 9to5 Mac
Image Source: Pocket-Lint

]]> http://gadgetsteria.com/2012/05/14/rumor-apple-preparing-in-house-photo-sharing-service-for-wwdc-reveal/feed/ 0 http://gadgetsteria.com/2012/05/14/galaxy-s-iii-battery-benchmark-1020-3g-talk-time-1001-video-playback-517-web-browsing/ http://gadgetsteria.com/2012/05/14/galaxy-s-iii-battery-benchmark-1020-3g-talk-time-1001-video-playback-517-web-browsing/#comments Mon, 14 May 2012 16:39:05 +0000 Mike Norris http://gadgetsteria.com/?p=81459

Besides the HTC One X, the only other top-tier Android smartphone
currently empowering scores of Android fanboy wars is Samsung’s Galaxy
S III. While the III’s predecessor, the Galaxy S II, was seen as the
device to beat last year, this year things are a bit different. On
paper (and from what we’ve seen via social networking sites), the
latest Galaxy S device doesn’t seem to feature the same allure. Still,
it’s an awesome device in its own right. And while we already know
that the performance specs should wow us, the equally important
measure of battery life is also something to focus on.

GSM Arena did
just that in their Galaxy S III benchmark review, finding that
Samsung’s latest and greatest is average to above average in most
areas. One example, 3G Talk-time saw the GS III posting a rather
respectable 10 :20 compared to the iPhone 4S’ 7:40. Web browsing sees
the GS III lasting 5:17 with Apple’s iPhone 4S jumping ahead, going a
full 6:56 of uninterrupted page loading. Meanwhile, the Motorola RAZR
MAXX (unsurprisingly) earned the top spot with 7:23. Video playback is
apparently a strong focus for Samsung, as the GS III lost video
playback runtime to only the RAZR MAXX — a device that features a
3,300 mAh battery compared to the GS III’s 2,100 mAh variant. The
iPhone 4S, for comparison’s sake, looped video for 9:24 before its
screen went dark and it’s innards cold.

All in all, the Galaxy S III appears to be a pretty decent offering
from Samsung as far as Android handsets (with battery life focus) are
concerned.

Via: GSM
Arena

]]> http://gadgetsteria.com/2012/05/14/galaxy-s-iii-battery-benchmark-1020-3g-talk-time-1001-video-playback-517-web-browsing/feed/ 0 http://gadgetsteria.com/2012/05/14/pod2gs-ongoing-untether-exploit-doesnt-work-on-3rd-gen-ipod-touch-iphone-3gs/ http://gadgetsteria.com/2012/05/14/pod2gs-ongoing-untether-exploit-doesnt-work-on-3rd-gen-ipod-touch-iphone-3gs/#comments Mon, 14 May 2012 12:58:40 +0000 Mike Norris http://gadgetsteria.com/?p=81452

Sad news. Just tested the untether on an iPod 3G. The kernel vulnerability don’t happen on this one. I think iPhone 3Gs is out too.

— pod2g (@pod2g) May 14, 2012

According to a tweet by infamous iOS hacker/jailbreaker, pod2g, the latest untether exploit he’s working on for an eventual (assumed) iOS 5.1(.x) jailbreak does not work on the 3rd-gen iPod Touch. He also speculates that the iPhone 3GS could be out too.

A post-iOS 5.1 untether jailbreak (more-so A5 devices like the iPhone 4S, iPad 2 and iPad 3) is being anxiously awaited upon by a vast number of iOS users who either accidentally or purposefully updated to the latest iOS 5.1/5.1.1 on their devices. Over the last week pod2g has tweeted several things pointing to a possible untether jailbreak release in the not too distant future (“a few weeks”).

pod2g’s latest tweet signals that users of now-legacy iOS hardware may find their once grand dreams of jailbreak freedom shattered. That said, there still may be hope. If a downgrade solution is found (such as with redsn0w) to allow someone to downgrade to an older, jailbreak-able version of iOS, things won’t be quite as bad.

On top of the 3rd-gen iPod Touch and iPhone 3GS woes, it was also previously revealed that the Apple TV3 was also immune to the latest jailbreak attempts.

More on pod2g’s current progress: pod2g-ios.blogspot

• Message Navigation: Navigate all messages via up/down swiping. A special indicator will display showing the difference between replies within a thread/conversation and entirely new emails.

• Landscape Composing: Self explanatory – landscape keyboard/compose window now enabled.

• Create/Edit Folders: Now Sparrow for iPhone users can create and edit their email services folders/filters from within the app. No more heading online to make those important changes.

• Language Support: Sparrow 1.2 now supports 9 languages including: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Dutch, Russian, and Chinese

The above features are certainly great, and make an already great app even better. But for many of you out there, the real hold-up to fully adopting Sparrow is the lack of Push Notifications. Previously, the team promised that they would bring Push Notifications to Sparrow for iPhone “with or without Apple” — referencing a petition that the Sparrow team started to ask Apple to allow exceptions to a VoIP API that would make push on Sparrow much easier and affordable. So what did Apple say? Unsurprisingly they denied Sparrow’s request/petition.

The state of push on Sparrow (per Sparrow team):

“You were more than 16 000 helping us on our Apple quest to get the VoIP privilege. We can’t thank you enough for your support. Unfortunately, Apple has confirmed that they are not willing to do any exception to the rule and that Sparrow will NOT be granted with the privilege.”

We still recommend Sparrow as one of the best Mail.app replacements despite it’s lack of Push Notifications. Still, we are eagerly awaiting for the highly anticipated feature addition as it’s still on the table for a future update.

Give Sparrow 1.2 a shot and let us know what you think!

• Download: Sparrow for iPhone (iTunes Link)

More: Sparrow Mail Blog