Archive for: Mobile
If you’re totally into the Pre 3 but could do without the keyboard, perhaps the unnamed mystery phone above will suit your needs best. As of writing, hard specs, pricing, carriers, and release date are nothing more than pure speculation. But if we must — 1+GHz single-core processor, 480 x 800 display, 1GB RAM. See, not hard. Considering Palm/HP likes to play it safe regarding hardware specs, we’d say we’re pretty spot on. Of course, we’d love for HP to set the record straight with something a bit more official.
If you like to rock a smaller carrier such as Boost or Virgin Mobile, you’ve no doubt come to terms with the fact that the coolest phones rarely come to your carrier of choice. When they do, they’re well past the hump in their life and heading towards ancient. But it appears some decent offerings are coming to said customers.
A leaked 19-page document over at Engadget features the entire lineup of upcoming Boost and Virgin Mobile devices. Most of the leaked material is rather boring, though a few exciting ones stand out.
- Samsung Galaxy Prevail — Android-powered device with a 3.2″ display, 2-megapixel camera, and $180 price tag.
- Samsung Restore — QWERTY slider with an $80 sticker price.
- ZTE Peel 3200 — The infamous iPod Touch case that brings cellular features and WiFi hotspot capabilities. Pricing will be $100 at launch which is scheduled as sometime this April.
In our eyes, the Peel is actually more exciting than the Android device. Though we can certainly understand Boost users in particular who are chompin’ at the bit to get their hands on the carrier’s first Android device. Decisions decisions…
Even though Sony may have already claimed to have given up one their Xperia X10 after Eclair, a new post on the Sony Ericsson Product Blog says otherwise. In a surprising turn of events, SE has pulled a complete 180 from their previous stance and is now planning to roll out an Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) update to the Xperia X10 Q2/Q3 of this year. Unfortunately, the other Xperia devices from the same time frame — X10 Mini, X10 Mini Pro, and X8 — won’t be seeing the same love and are still forever stuck at Android 2.1. Nevertheless, X10 owners should no doubt feel a bit better about their X10 purchase after hearing the news.
European Windows Phone 7 users will begin enjoying a rare first over the coming days — updates before their U.S. counterparts. Microsoft announced today that Microsoft has not made a formal announcement regarding the reported ongoing rollout of the “NoDo” update for Windows Phone 7. However, various sources from within Microsoft have more or less stated the NoDo update is ramping up and will continue on through April. As a refresher, the “NoDo” Windows Phone 7 update to select European markets. Said update will bring Copy/Paste functionality, CDMA support, “Tombstoning”, improved marketplace searches, and the usual bug squashing. As of writing, Microsoft hasn’t released any specifics regarding a U.S. rollout for the much sought after update. Though as always, we’ll update you as soon as the information becomes available.
XPAL Power is riding the smartphone wave today in announcing the PowerSkin line of battery infused cases. The 1500mAh cases (iPhone 4 features 2000mAh battery) cover some of the most popular smartphones on the market — HTC Evo | HTC HD7 | HTC myTouch 4G | Motorola Droid X | Samsung Galaxy S 4G, Vibrant, i9000 and i9003 | iPhone 4 (AT&T and Verizon). The design looks sleek and unobtrusive and is aided by the soft touch silicone that wraps around the cases. Features include the ability to charge the case (and phone) while the phone is inserted as well as syncing to your computer. A set of indicator LEDs along the back side of the case (bottom of iPhone 4 case) gives users a visual representation of remaining battery life.
Availability is still listed s “coming soon” with price equally as mysterious. Such things should be cleared up in the coming days, however, so check back soon.
In the meantime, check out PowerSkin’s website for more info and images.
Fellow gadget gurus over at Slashgear have been putting their recently received HTC Thunderbolt through its paces. Thus far, they’ve come away fairly impressed, especially with the speed that LTE has provided. The battery life while using LTE on the other hand leaves much to be desired. After a 2-1/2 hour browsing session over WiFI (no video, no wifi, no phone calls) the phone was down to 8% remaining charge (starting at 100%). While I realize next-gen cellular technologies are fast and require more power to operate at their claimed speeds, 2-1/2 hours is abysmal and just goes to show that (1) HTC put a much too small battery in the Thunderbolt (1400mAh) and (2) that battery technology in general has a long, long way to go.
Thunderbolt users: How is your morning going?
- February 28, 2011 1:31 pm
If you’re impatiently waiting for any and all details surrounding the delayed HTC Thunderbolt, Verizon feels your pain and appreciates you ability to hold off on any current smartphone purchases. But they have nothing specific to share with us yet. Today on the company’s Facebook page, they stated the following
Hey fans, we appreciate all the excitement about the anticipated launch of the ThunderBolt by HTC. We’re excited too! Verizon 4G LTE is America’s fastest, most advanced 4G network & we want to ensure the advanced technology behind our first 4G LTE phone is flawless. We will announce its release date as soon as it is confirmed. Thanks for your support & patience while we work to bring you the ThunderBolt by HTC.
Yes, it’s more of a tease than anything, but a tease we will gladly play along with…
- February 15, 2011 8:58 am
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…
- February 15, 2011 6:34 am
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…
