Samsung LTE phone with front-facing camera headed to Verizon?
Let's be real: it should come as little surprise that Sammy -- a company with multiple Android phones on Verizon already -- would be joining LG , Motorola , and HTC in prepping a new model for its LTE network . Sure enough, Gizmodo has scored an alleged shot of said phone, showing Froyo (Android 2.2.1, to be specific) along with a front-facing camera and a model number of SCH-i520; it's said to feature TouchWiz (as most non- Nexus S Android phones from Samsung tend to do) and, fortunately, lacks the Bing integration that Verizon's been pushing on its low- and midrange smartphones lately.
Categories: Android, htc, Mobile Phone, Other Tags: come-as-little, galaxy, i520, lte, result, samsung, smartphones, verizon
Sharp Mobiflip channels Sidekick LX’s vibes for Mobilicity
Thought the launch of the Kin ONEm and TWOm was strange? Here's another oddity with a Microsoft tie-in: Canadian startup Mobilicity has just announced the "Mobiflip," a phone that the carrier's own press release calls out as being "similar to the Sidekick LX ." It's unclear whether what's left of Danger will be supporting the device -- the Sidekick line basically pioneered mobile cloud computing, after all -- but what we see of the interface certainly rings true to the Sidekicks of days gone by
Categories: Mobile Phone, Other Tags: certainly-rings, doppelganger, heck, interface, microsoft, press, release, result, sidekicklx
Pantech Vega Xpress comes with DDR2 memory, extravagant performance claims
Pantech 's bringing a new wrinkle to the mobile hardware space with its newly announced Vega Xpress handset. This 4-inch Android 2.2 beastie will come equipped with an unspecified amount of DDR2 RAM -- yes, the stuff that usually goes into x86 laptop and desktop computers -- which Pantech will have you believe is going to blow the competition out of the proverbial water. The company claims the new phone doubles 3D graphics performance relative to its previous best, while power efficiency is also said to be two to three times better
Categories: Android, Mobile Phone, Other Tags: 480-resolution, engadget, korea, mobile, msm8255, pantechvegaxpress, power, qualcomm, specs-include
Sony Ericsson LiveView getting much needed January update
Good news for those early adopters burdened by an underperforming Sony Ericsson's LiveView : help is on the way.
Categories: Android, Mobile Phone, Other Tags: control, entry, ericsson-live, finally-achieve, liveview, official, result, softwareupdate, sony, sony-ericsson, the-wrist-worn, update-service
Samsung launches improved network config tool for unlocked Windows Phone 7 handsets
Out of the box, many Windows Phone 7 devices aren't really equipped to deal with the reality that you might want to use a network other than the one the phone launched on. The oversight sort of makes sense since Microsoft's launches have been closely tied to carriers so far -- but it's still an oversight that needs to be fixed on the double. Indeed, they're working on a fix -- probably to be included in future firmware revisions, we'd guess -- but in the meantime, Samsung has followed HTC's and LG's suit by releasing an app that keeps your MMS functional when you insert a third-party SIM
Categories: htc, Mobile Phone, Other Tags: microsoft, network profile, networkconfiguration, networkconfigurationtool, networkprofile, result, revisions, Sim, unlocked, windowsphone7
Sprint inks another three years’ worth of iDEN infrastructure support with Motorola, ‘several’ new phones coming in Q1
Even as Sprint starts to dream up ways to sunset its aging (but still popular) iDEN network , reclaim the spectrum, and migrate its push-to-talk customer base to something CDMA-based, there's still a network to maintain in the short term -- and to that end, the company has re-upped its contract with Motorola to keep the system in tip-top shape for at least another three years. Amazingly, this will mean that the network is some twenty years old by the time the agreement is up in 2013, after which they'll either need to be ready with their CDMA replacement (bearing in mind that QChat already failed) -- or we imagine they'll need another contract renewal. Oh, and this won't just be a run-out-the-clock situation, either: there'll be at least some new hardware, with Sprint saying that "several" handsets are on tap for the first quarter of 2011 including the i886 ("stylish," rugged, and landscape QWERTY) and the i686, an update of the i680 with improved waterproofing
Categories: Mobile Phone, Other Tags: cdma, contract, customer, entry, i886, landscape, mobile, quarter, qwerty, result
FCC: We didn’t impose stricter net neutrality regulations on wireless because Android is open
Rest assured that we're working on a full analysis of the FCC's major net neutrality decision today, but the Commission hasn't actually released the full text of the order yet, and we just came across something in the press release we wanted to break out: one of the specific reasons the FCC gives for regulating wireless broadband more lightly than wireline is the release of Android. Seriously -- the release says that only "measured steps" to regulating wireless are necessary because "open operating systems like Android" have been released, and that it wants to see how Verizon and other 700MHz spectrum winners handle the hotly-contested openness requirement when building out 4G
Categories: Android, Mobile Phone, Other Tags: access, after-the-droid, block, fcc, net neutrality, openness, verizon, wireless
New HTC device starts leaking piecemeal — is it the Mecha / Incredible HD?
So we've got a crazy theory here: Slashgear just got a couple closeup shots of some heretofore-unknown HTC . So did we -- one in common with Slashgear , one different. Could it be that Taiwan's finest are "leaking" us these shots in an effort to drum up interest going into CES in a couple weeks
Categories: Android, htc, Mobile Phone, Other Tags: ces, couple, device-starts, htc, incredible hd, inthewild, leak, mecha, samsung, shots, slashgear, verizon, vzw
webOS 2.0 for the Sprint Palm Pre leaks out, added features in tow
Palm promised that webOS 2.0 would hit all of its devices in the "coming months," and it looks like work is trucking right along -- we were just sent these shots of the updated OS running in beta form on the original Sprint Palm Pre. Obviously there's not much here that we didn't pore over in our exhaustive webOS 2.0 review , but we're noting the addition of voice dialing and some preferences for the screensaver-like Exhibition View -- we're told just the time works right now, but photos, agenda view, and Facebook are all listed
Categories: Mobile Phone, Other Tags: addition, barley, code, Dialing, entry, interestingly, palm, photos, pore, result, screensaver, something-else, sprint, webos
Moine-Garde offers finely rendered watch apps for indiscriminate Android owners
Moine-Garde recently came to our attention, and we were quite frankly amused by its offer of "fine virtual timepieces" -- if only because, in this context, "fine" and "virtual" would seem to cancel each other out. But like the best websites and catalogs catering to the wealthy, social climbers, or the just plain gullible, this company is not just selling Android apps, it's selling a lifestyle. Some of our favorite item descriptions: EX-01 Homme ($15) Entering the boardroom at 8:30 AM - everyone awaits a decision.
Categories: Android, Mobile Phone, Other Tags: background, climbers, der, incoming, message, moine-garde, rohe, silly, social