Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) now hitting all Galaxy Nexus HSPA+ devices

Android 41 Jelly Bean now hitting all Galaxy Nexus HSPA devices

The Galaxy Nexus we reviewed back at Google I/O was gifted with Android 4.1 from the start, but alas, Google wouldn’t say when exactly it’d be rolling out to the masses. How’s about… now? Just days after the Samsung-built superphone went back on sale at the Play Store, Google has officially announced that Jelly Bean’s rollout to Galaxy Nexus HSPA+ handsets has begun. Those hoping to snag it should keep an eye out for an over-the-air prompt to update, while Nexus S and Motorola Xoom owners are still being placed in a holding pattern.

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Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) now hitting all Galaxy Nexus HSPA+ devices originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Jul 2012 19:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola Atrix HD revealed with 4.5-inch Colorboost HD display, ICS and Droid RAZR looks

Motorola Atrix HD revealed with 45inch Colorboost HD display, ICS and Droid RAZR looks

The next Motorola Atrix phone has been revealed on the company’s website as the Atrix HD, with an MB886 model number matching the “Dinara” we saw pass through the FCC. According to the listed specs, it features a 4.5-inch HD Colorboost (720 x 1,280) display, 1.5GHz dual-core CPU, and will ship with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and (predictably) looks very much like the Droid RAZR. There’s no carrier mentioned (other than the blatant logo at the bottom), but judging by the radio bands mentioned in the specs, it comes off very much as a Droid RAZR for AT&T with quad-band EDGE, quad-band HSPA+ and dual-band LTE. It has a 1780 mAh battery, 8MP rear camera, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage (up to 32GB external) and measures 8.4mm thick. The construction is as you’d expect, with Gorilla Glass and Kevlar fused to make the “business ready” handset, while the Atrix 2’s Lapdock 100 is listed as an accessory. There’s no word on when the third Atrix will be launched, but you can find out all about it and sign up for updates right now at the source link.

Motorola Atrix HD revealed with 4.5-inch Colorboost HD display, ICS and Droid RAZR looks originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Jul 2012 23:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple lands preliminary ban against Samsung Galaxy Nexus in the US (update: search patent the key)

Galaxy Nexus HSPA

It hasn’t been Samsung’s best week. Just days after Judge Lucy Koh granted a preliminary ban on sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1, she’s following it up with a similar granted request on the Galaxy Nexus. Judge Koh had already signaled that she thought Apple’s lawsuit over four patents might have merit, but it’s only now that she’s deciding the potential damage is worth halting sales of the phone until there’s a final trial verdict. Samsung will no doubt try to appeal the dispute, which centers on Android 4.0’s slide-to-unlock mechanism (among other elements), but there’s a lot more urgency here than with the outgoing Tab 10.1: the Galaxy Nexus is still a current-generation device, and just became Google’s Android 4.1 phone flagship. Samsung’s odds aren’t great given that Apple has already used one of the patents to give HTC grief with its imports.

Update: As patent lawsuit guru Florian Mueller found, the clincher for the ban was the patent on unified search that’s linked to Siri. Although Judge Koh is inclined to believe Apple’s view regarding all four patents, that search patent is the one whose violation would reportedly merit more than a slap on the wrist. She’s similarly convinced that Apple’s patents are legitimate and likely won’t be dismissed anytime soon.

Apple lands preliminary ban against Samsung Galaxy Nexus in the US (update: search patent the key) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Jun 2012 18:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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RIM announces Q1 earnings: $518 million net loss, 5,000 job cuts, BB10 not due until Q1 2013

The last quarter has been about as rough as they come for RIM, and it’s now detailed just how things stacked up in terms of hard numbers. For the first quarter of its 2013 fiscal year, the company brought in $2.8 billion in revenue, down a full 33 percent from the prior quarter, while it reported a net loss of $518 million — much worse than analysts were expecting. What’s more, it’s also announced that it’s cutting an additional 5,000 jobs as part of its ongoing restructuring efforts, and that the first BlackBerry 10 smartphones now won’t launch until sometime in the first quarter of the 2013 calendar year (that includes a QWERTY model launched in “close proximity” to the touchscreen-only device). As for why, RIM only went as far as to say that the integration of some key BlackBerry 10 features and the “associated large volume of code” has “proven to be more time consuming than anticipated.” For his part, though, CEO Thorsten Heins says he remains “confident that the first BlackBerry 10 smartphones will provide a ground-breaking next generation smartphone user experience,” and that he’s “encouraged by the traction that the BlackBerry 10 platform is gaining with application developers and content partners.” He further notes that the response to BB10 from key carrier partners has “been very positive.”

In terms of its existing devices, RIM reports that BlackBerry smartphone shipments (not sales) for the quarter totaled 7.8 million, while there were about 260,000 PlayBooks shipped — on the company’s earnings call, Heins noted that the total BlackBerry subscriber base now stands at 78 million. Not surprisingly, the company is warning of more bad news to come. It says it expects the “next several quarters to continue to be very challenging,” with everything from the “increasing competitive environment,” lower handset volumes, impact from the BlackBerry 10 delay, and the company’s plans to “continue to aggressively drive sales of BlackBerry 7 handheld devices” expected to cut into its bottom line. In another bit of news, the company also announced that it has appointed Steve Zipperstein, Verizon’s former General Counsel, as its new Chief Legal Officer. You can find the full earnings report at the source link below.

RIM announces Q1 earnings: $518 million net loss, 5,000 job cuts, BB10 not due until Q1 2013 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Jun 2012 16:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jelly Bean, Android 4.1 revealed by Google, rolling out in mid-July

It’s seems like only yesterday we were all crowded around our laptops, watching a live stream and getting amped for Ice Cream Sandwich. Truth is, that was six months ago now and, while most of the Android running public still hasn’t been blessed with 4.0, it’s already time to make the leap to 4.1. Today Google officially took the wraps off Jelly Bean, the next evolution of its mobile platform and while it’s not quite the revolutionary shift that was Gingerbread to ICS, it still marks an important improvement for the ecosystem. One of the biggest features is Project Butter, a deep-diving effort to improve performance and response time. The whole system hums along at 60fps now, and while the difference of a few milliseconds might sound like small potatoes, it becomes glaringly apparent the moment you run Jelly Bean next to an ICS device. Animations are smoother and quicker. The CPU immediately ramps up the moment a touch is detected to ensure speedy response.

The home screen has also been tweaked, adding some nice features like dynamically resizing widgets, so you no longer have to place it, resize it then move it to where you want if there isn’t enough room. If there is room, but your app icons are merely in the way, the widget will automatically push them to the side. And, in a nice, slick touch, apps and widgets can be removed by flicking them off the screen. Another extremely welcome touch is the addition of offline voice input. Now you can tap the microphone and dictate a message even with the phone in airplane mode.

The camera app, which was already a highlight of ICS, has gotten even better in 4.1. Now, the gallery is slickly integrated, allowing you to quickly pull up the photo you just took with a swipe to the left. You can keep swiping through your images or even pinch to zoom out and view all your images in a filmstrip view. Deleting images is as simple as swiping a pic off the screen and, if you’ve manage to accidentally remove one, a quick tap of the undo button restores it. And, speaking of images, you can now share them and video using Google Beam, and Android now supports pairing with Bluetooth devices with the assistance of NFC.

Check out our full coverage of Google I/O 2012’s opening keynote at our event hub!

Continue reading Jelly Bean, Android 4.1 revealed by Google, rolling out in mid-July

Jelly Bean, Android 4.1 revealed by Google, rolling out in mid-July originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jun 2012 12:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google cuts the price of the Galaxy Nexus HSPA+ to $349, adds Jelly Bean

Google cuts the price of the HSPA Galaxy Nexus to $349, adds Jelly Bean

Jeez Louise, Google’s 2012 I/O opening keynote has barely begun and much of the news has already leaked out on the company’s own Play Store. Add this to the list: Google is dropping the price of the HSPA+ Galaxy Nexus to $349 from $399, and is updating its flagship phone with the next, soon-to-be-unveiled version of Android, Jelly Bean. That screenshot up there should answer some of your most likely questions, but here’s the short version: it’ll be compatible with AT&T and T-Mobile in the US, and roughly 200 other GSM carriers everywhere else in the world (no surprise here). As for the software, well, we have enough early intel about Jelly Bean to know that’s Android 4.1 running on a seven-month-old handset. As for what that jump from 4.0 to 4.1 entails, you can expect quite a few stories from us, but this official announcement should be as good a place as any to start.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Google cuts the price of the Galaxy Nexus HSPA+ to $349, adds Jelly Bean originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jun 2012 12:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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T-Mobile US CEO Philipp Humm resigns, Jim Alling takes over as interim CEO

TMobile US CEO Philipp Humm resigns

Philipp Humm, the CEO of T-Mobile US, has resigned, according to a report from All Things D. While no official reason has been given, an official statement given to the publication tells us that Humm is heading back to Europe to be with his family and will look for a career outside of Deutsche Telekom. We’re still waiting to receive the full statement from T-Mobile, and will update this post as we get more information.

Update: We just received the official press release, which you can peruse below. Jim Alling, COO of T-Mobile US, will be the new interim CEO while a search for Humm’s replacement is underway.

Continue reading T-Mobile US CEO Philipp Humm resigns, Jim Alling takes over as interim CEO

T-Mobile US CEO Philipp Humm resigns, Jim Alling takes over as interim CEO originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jun 2012 12:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceAll Things D, T-Mobile  | Email this | Comments

Microsoft replaces Andy Lees as Windows Phone head

Andy Lees

AllThingsD is reporting that Microsoft is replacing Andy Lees as head of its Windows Phone division… sort of. It looks like Terry Myerson, who has headed up engineering efforts for the group, will take over many of Lees’ responsibilities, though, he won’t be inheriting his title. At least not just yet. In a memo seen by AllThingsD, Ballmer announced that Lees would be taking on a new position with the company, though it’s not entirely clear what that might be — describing it only as “time-critical” and “focused on driving maximum impact in 2012 with Windows Phone and Windows 8.” (So, it’s safe to assume he’s not becoming a janitor.) The shakeup isn’t terribly surprising, especially considering the CEO’s own admission that Windows Phone 7 was not performing as well as expected in the market.

The division’s interim leader, Myerson, has been with Microsoft since 1997 and previously headed up the team in charge of Exchange. For now he will continue to report to Lees, who will remain the president of the Windows Phone group, even if that is in name only.

Microsoft replaces Andy Lees as Windows Phone head originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Dec 2011 17:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AT&T to expand 4G coverage and launch first LTE smartphones November 6th: HTC Vivid, Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket

Well hello gorgeous — both of you! AT&T’s starting to catch the LTE fever, as the carrier’s announced that its first two devices with the true 4G will be ready to grab as of this upcoming Sunday. First we have the Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket: the long-rumored device can be yours for $250 with a two-year commitment and will offer a 4.5-inch Super AMOLED Plus display, Android 2.3.5, 1.5GHz dual-core CPU, 8MP rear camera with a 2MP front-facing cam and 16GB of internal storage space. Next up is the HTC Vivid (Holiday), which will be offered in both black and white for $200 and appears to match the specs leaked to us a couple months ago: it uses a 4.5-inch qHD (960 x 540) display, 1.2GHz CPU, 8MP rear camera with f/2.2 28mm wide angle lens and 1080p HD video recording. What about the “4G” branding? Contrary to the carrier’s HSPA+ devices, neither device will have LTE or 4G as part of their official name. Both phones will be reverse compatible with AT&T’s HSPA+ network, in case you’re not using the phone in an LTE-capable area; speaking of which, AT&T also announced that the November 6th launch will also bring four additional markets live, including Boston, Washington DC, Baltimore and Athens GA. Data plans for AT&T’s LTE smartphones will remain the same, with $15 getting you 200MB per month, 2GB going for $25 and 4GB with mobile hotspot connectivity for $45. Check below for a press gallery and the full press release.

Continue reading AT&T to expand 4G coverage and launch first LTE smartphones November 6th: HTC Vivid, Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket

AT&T to expand 4G coverage and launch first LTE smartphones November 6th: HTC Vivid, Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 Oct 2011 10:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung Galaxy Note review

Remember the display on your first mobile phone? If you’ve been chatting on the go for as long as we have, it was probably barely big enough to fit a complete telephone number — let alone a contact name or text message. And your first smartphone? Even displaying scaled-down, WAP versions of web pages was asking a lot. Now, those mobile devices we couldn’t live without have screens that are much, much larger. Sometimes, though, we secretly wish they were even bigger still.

Samsung’s new GT-N7000 Galaxy Note is the handset those dreams are made of — if you happen to share that dream about obnoxiously large smartphones, that is. It’s as thin as a Galaxy S II, lightning fast and its 5.3-inch HD Super AMOLED display is as gorgeous as it is enormous; the 1280 x 800 pixels you once could only get with a full-size laptop (or in the Galaxy Tab 10.1) can now slide comfortably into your front pocket. Its jumbo display makes it the perfect candidate for a notepad replacement and, with the included S Pen stylus, you’ll have no problem jotting notes on the fly, marking up screenshots or signing documents electronically. But, is that massive display too much of a good thing? You’ll need to jump past the break to find out.

Continue reading Samsung Galaxy Note review

Samsung Galaxy Note review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Oct 2011 07:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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