That high-end Android smartphone from LG seemingly destined for release early next year has made another appearance — and this time, the UI’s in full view and showing us a few tricks. Looks like the so-called Star will be running a variant of LG’s usual Android skin, for better or worse, and the particular device shown off in Phandroid‘s forums here is loaded with Froyo — a strange choice for a 4-inch beast launching in 2011 with Gingerbread around the corner, perhaps, but we certainly wouldn’t put it past ‘em. The owner (who actually claims to have two in his possession) was kind enough to run it through Quadrant, producing a score of 1759 — fantastic for a stock device, and a score that’ll undoubtedly go through the roof once hackers get their hands on these things and start trimming the fat. Between this, the LU3000, and that unnamed LTE device for Verizon, these guys could be a serious Android force in ’11, couldn’t they?

LG Star shows up again, flexes its Tegra 2 muscle for the camera originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Nov 2010 02:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you weren’t so keen on that LTE-enabled LG handset for Verizon that we saw recently, feat your eyes on this puppy. What we’re looking at here is allegedly the HTC Mecha — which may be known at retail as the Droid Incredible HD — and from the looks of it, it’ll be the first true EVO 4G equivalent from HTC for Big Red. And yes, when we say “EVO 4G equivalent,” we mean 4G network support, too: you’ll notice a little “4G” symbol up there toward the right side of the status bar, suggesting this will likely be among the company’s inaugural LTE phones early next year. Android Central‘s source says that the phone is getting 9Mbps down and 5Mbps up in testing right now… so let’s just hope those speeds hold up when the network actually launches.

HTC Mecha / Incredible HD pictured for Verizon with a fancy ’4G’ symbol originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Nov 2010 18:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Okay, now that we’ve got a bigger shot of this thing, we can definitely say that it’s neither a Pre nor a Pre Plus… so assuming it’s not some sophisticated fake, you’re feasting your eyes on Palm’s next-gen model here. Given how close it is to the model it’ll presumably be replacing, we can’t help but feel like the Pre 2 should’ve actually been the phone we call the Pre Plus today — and it should’ve launched six (or more) months ago — but in the event webOS 2.0 doesn’t come to older devices, we suppose that alone will be the impetus some current owners need to upgrade. ‘Course, the 1GHz processor should be nice, too. Hit up the source link for a few more shots of it slinking around the wild; meanwhile, we await Palm’s move on an official announce.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Palm Pre 2 in the wild? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Oct 2010 15:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Unless our eyes deceive us most cruelly, the Samsung phone we see above looks identical to the i917 Windows Phone 7 handset we’ve been seeing all over the place. Curious then that it bears the title of SGH-i916. We can only surmise that there’s some minuscule difference between the two phones, with this i916 seemingly set to ride Rogers airwaves up in Canada — purportedly with none of Samsung’s own branding anywhere on its shell. Another common feature it seems to share with the i917 is an AMOLED screen, judging by the deeper than deep black color it’s capable of pushing out. See a much larger picture of the i916 after the break, and if you want an even better idea of how a 4-inch Samsung handset compares to the iPhone 4, visit our screen comparison test starring the Galaxy S.

Continue reading Samsung SGH-i916 spotted cuddling up to an iPhone 4 in the wilds of Canada

Samsung SGH-i916 spotted cuddling up to an iPhone 4 in the wilds of Canada originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Sep 2010 04:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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RIM, come on, guys, you’re killing us here! We don’t know exactly what the story is yet, but there’s a BlackBerry in the wild now with model number 9570 — and it looks exactly like the existing Storm2, which lines up nicely with BGR’s insistence earlier this week that the Storm3 is very much a warmed-over Storm2 with BlackBerry 6 and some minor spec bumps. In terms of strategy, we guess this would line up with the Bold 9780 we’ve been seeing around the block, which looks almost exactly like a Bold 9700 — but in terms of customers understanding that this is a new product, it looks like a recipe for disaster. Of course, this might not be known as the Storm3 when (and if) it’s released — they might stick with the Storm2 or call it something like Storm2 Plus or Storm2.5 — which might make more sense since we still don’t know what that other spy shot of a completely different device is. Sure, we have no doubt that a few people would be interested in a refreshed Storm2, but would it be enough to justify the R&D and marketing costs?

BlackBerry 9570 is definitely a refreshed Storm2, but is it called the Storm3? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Sep 2010 12:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Okay, this is getting ridiculous. Samsung’s Galaxy Tab has once again surfaced online via unofficial channels, and this time it’s carrying a sticker on one side that clearly states CDMA. The iAndroid forum goer who allegedly snapped these shots praised the device for its strong speakers, call quality (although not clear if that’s over 3G or WiFi), and ability to run Flash — but at the same time notes the GPS is just a bit slow (it does work, though). More pictures in the gallery below, right next to our ever-increasing impatience to try this little guy out ourselves.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Samsung Galaxy Tab, in the wild and now teasing CDMA originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 29 Aug 2010 09:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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These shots of a real, live G2 confirm what we’d already suspected from renders: this is basically an Americanized version of the upcoming HTC Vision. What does that mean? Well, it means you can expect a 3.7-inch display paired with Android and a sliding QWERTY keyboard — higher-end than the myTouch 3G Slide and a fitting successor to the trailblazing G1, if you ask us (though admittedly not quite as geeky as the model it replaces). Follow the break for another shot!

Continue reading Exclusive: T-Mobile G2 in the wild!

Exclusive: T-Mobile G2 in the wild! originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Aug 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Corporate-owned Sprint stores that we’ve called don’t seem to know what we’re talking about, but at least one reader has managed to get Sprint telesales to ship him one of its long-rumored upgraded Airaves from Airvana that supports EV-DO (the original model sported 1xRTT only for data). Our tipster tells us this bad boy will run up to six simultaneous calls — up from the old Samsung’s three — and although the femtocell supports a VoIP landline connection, Sprint is telling folks that it’s not available for use just yet. The jury’s still out on whether this looks better than the outgoing model — but hey, you can always shove it in a corner where no one will notice it; in the short term, the bigger concern will probably be finding a store willing and able to sell it to you.

[Thanks, Connor]

Sprint’s 3G-capable Airave from Airvana starts shipping originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Thu, 19 Aug 2010 21:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Better bring an umbrella if you’re going out, because the Windows Phone 7 hardware leaks are really starting to rain down. We’ve so far peeked pre-release handsets from ASUS, HTC (twice), and LG, and now Samsung is pitching in with what looks like a device fated to dance on retail shelves. Details are, as usual, scarce on the ground, but the angular aesthetics suggest it isn’t the AT&T-bound Cetus that recently graced the FCC. Taken together with the physical separation of the Windows-branded Start key, however, they do rather resemble what we’ve seen on ASUS’ hardware, which might suggest that there is some undercurrent of cohesive body design that Microsoft is pushing out to its hardware partners. Or maybe we’re just grasping at straws to kill the time until this OS finally launches. One more pic after the break.

Continue reading Windows Phone 7 leak mania continues with new Samsung prototype

Windows Phone 7 leak mania continues with new Samsung prototype originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Aug 2010 11:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Looks like the faucet’s starting to turn wide open on Thunder leaks, seeing how this would be the second we’ve seen in a single day — and we suppose you could even count this one twice since the source appears to have two units at his disposal. AndroidSPIN doesn’t have any new details to report with this round of shots, but needless to say, talk of a 4.1-inch AMOLED display looks as real as ever, and it looks like all of these test units are running stock Android 2.1. Sadly, considering how long the Mini 5 / Streak was in the leak pipeline prior to release, we can’t promise that we’re going to see a retail launch on this one any time soon — but it certainly gives you pause before pulling the trigger on an AT&T-locked version of the Streak now, doesn’t it?

Dell Thunder spied again, still looking awesome originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Aug 2010 17:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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