Hasta La Gadget!

It was in the middle of this week when we brought you word that BlackBerry CEO John Chen mentioned to Reuters that the handset division could actually be sold if it ends up as an unprofitable enterprise. That comment might sound defeatist but it is far from being unreasonable considering the position that BlackBerry as a company is in at the moment. This has led to some coverage on that statement, touting that BlackBerry’s handset division’s sale was imminent. It is nice to know that Mr. Chen has stepped forward to clarify any misunderstandings that might have arose, citing the fact that he was misquoted.

In fact, Mr. Chen shared, “I want to assure you that I have no intention of selling off or abandoning this business any time soon.‎ I know you still love your BlackBerry devices. I love them too and I know they created the foundation of this company. Our focus today is on finding a way to make this business profitable.”

There you go – from the proverbial horse’s mouth itself, that the handset business is not going to be abandoned or sold to someone else anytime soon. Now ain’t that a relief for long time fans of the smartphone manufacturer? [Press Release]

BlackBerry CEO Claims He Was Misquoted On Handset Division Sale , original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Cellphones, BlackBerry,

At the Mobile World Congress 2014, where the company showed off BlackBerry Z3, CEO John Chen said that they’re working on a high-end QWERTY model which will go back to the Bold’s roots. The company hasn’t shown it as yet, but Chen did tease a bit about it at MWC. Its going to have a Bold-like look, apart from a trackpad and the iconic function key belt. At the time this smartphone was referred to as the BlackBerry Q20. Chen has now confirmed that it has been renamed, and will be launched as “BlackBerry Classic.”

Talking to reporters, Chen said that BlackBerry plans to focus on making QWERTY keyboard touting smartphones, but it will also come up with a few touchscreen models as well. The company’s device strategy for 2014 isn’t entirely out in the open as yet. So far it has only unveiled the Z3 which will initially be destined for emerging markets, though a LTE variant will be sold in major markets like the U.S.

BlackBerry decided to lean on the past in order to retain and bring back loyalists, users who can’t imagine using a BlackBerry without a trackpad and the function key belt. Since the BB Classic isn’t expected until fiscal 2015, the company has even restarted production of the Bold 9900 to bring a subset of those users back in the fold once again.

It appears that Chen may have been able to convince everyone over at BlackBerry that straying from the naming scheme laid down last year might be beneficial in the long run. Will a clean slate help? Time will tell.

BlackBerry Q20 Renamed ‘BlackBerry Classic’ , original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Cellphones, BlackBerry, BlackBerry Classic, John Chen,

Earlier this year ahead of MWC 2014, LG announced a slew of new handsets and the LG L90 was one of them. Now just last week we learnt that the LG L90 could be making its way onto T-Mobile’s network and now thanks to a recent photo by the ever-reliable @evleaks, the press rendering of T-Mobile’s version of the LG L90 has since been leaked online.

To be fair there’s nothing about the handset that would indicate its arrival for T-Mobile, but @evleaks has been pretty reliable and spot on with his leaks in the past, so perhaps there might be some truth to his claims. There’s no word on when the LG L90 will be released although the rumors have it pegged for the 23rd of April.

For those who might have missed our MWC 2014 coverage, here’s a recap of the LG L90 for you guys. The handset will pack a 4.7-inch 540×960 display. It’s not the highest resolution you might expect but it will get the job done, not to mention it does help to cut down the cost of the device which in turn could result in an affordable handset.

The LG L90 will also be powered by a quad-core processor clocked at 1.2GHz with 1GB of RAM, 8GB of onboard storage, and a microSD card slot for those who might need additional storage. It will also come with an 8MP rear-facing camera, a 1.3MP front-facing camera, and a 2,540mAh battery and will also come with LG’s Knock Code security feature.

There are some parts of the world in which the LG L90 has already been launched where it has since been priced around $317 unlocked, so we can assume that when it does arrive on T-Mobile, it should be pretty cheap/affordable as well.

Press Render Of LG L90 For T-Mobile Leaked , original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Cellphones, LG, T-Mobile,

As it stands the latest version of Android KitKat is 4.4.2, although recently we have heard word that Google could be preparing for another update in the form of Android 4.4.3. Now according to the folks at Android Police, they have learnt that this is indeed the case and that Google is currently dogfooding the latest build.

For those unfamiliar with the term, basically it means that Google is testing the Android 4.4.3 build outside of the core Android team, meaning that it could be tested by others working at Google to get their feedback and to see if there might be some major bugs that have yet to be spotted and squashed.

No word on when exactly will Google push out the release to the public, but Android Police speculates that it could be in the next few weeks, which basically means you should not be holding your breath. There’s also no telling as to what exactly will Google include in the Android 4.4.3 update, but given that the Nexus 5’s camera issue has yet to be addressed, presumably that will be one of the fixes we can look forward to.

It is also likely that the update could include the new parking feature that we reported on yesterday. It was revealed in an APK teardown that Google Now could be getting some new cards which could help you remember where you parked your car. Considering we don’t have that feature now, perhaps it could be included in the next Android update. Either way we’ll keep our eyes peeled for more info, so do check back with us at a later date for the details.

Google Dogfooding Android 4.4.3 KitKat [Rumor] , original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Cellphones, Rumors, Android, Google,

T-Mobile has just launched its all new “Simple Starter Plan” that intends to deliver a zero-risk, no annual contract plan for those who are extremely careful about where every single hard earned penny of theirs go to. This will further extend T-Mobile’s Un-carrier consumer revolution across a slew of new fronts, where the all-new Simple Starter value plan was specially designed in order to have it deliver an alternative to the data overage-intensive entry-level plans that other US mobile carriers offer. This new plan would mean T-Mobile happens to be the sole major U.S. carrier that will offer a single line of 4G LTE data for a mere $40 monthly.

Kicking off in a few days’ time this April 12th, the Simple Starter plan at a mere $40 per month will be able to offer unlimited talk and text and up to 500MB 4G LTE data and tethering. The whole idea behind the Simple Starter plan is to target value-conscious wireless customers and small businesses who require the predictability of T-Mobile’s network without breaking the bank, and there will also be no data overages to worry about, too. It does seem as though the consumer is going to be the biggest winner in the long run with all of this competition going on among mobile carriers. [Press Release]

T-Mobile’s “Simple Starter Plan” Lowers Entry Cost , original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Cellphones, T-Mobile,