Hasta La Gadget!

Like a sadistic Roman emperor, the boys at the FCC enjoy throwing unsuspecting smartphones to the lions and watching the result. This week, the unfortunate victim is Sony’s Xperia V, which has been roundly gutted for inspection. Eagle-eyed readers who browse our gallery might spot components from Qualcomm, Elpida and Samsung nestled amongst the circuits that make up its colorful insides. Given that government approval is the final hurdle on a device’s journey to retail, we’ll expect the Xperia V to arrive in time for the holidays — with Jelly bean promised to arrive a mere three months after.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Sony

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Source: FCC

Wireless carrier Verizon Wireless had previously argued that FCC regulations on data roaming imposed traditional landline telephone obligations on data services illegally. The FCC regulations stipulated that Verizon and its competitors had to offer data roaming to their competitors on a nondiscriminatory basis. Verizon Wireless took the FCC to a federal appeals court trying to have the regulations overturned.

That federal appeals court has now upheld the FCC’s data roaming regulations and denied Verizon’s claims. The opinion of the three-judge panel at the US Court of Appeals for the DC circuit was unanimous and upheld the FCC decision to extend “voice roaming” requirements to wireless firms did not violate the rights of the carriers. Verizon had argued that the FCC lacked the legal authority to make such a decision.

The appeals court judges noted that the FCC regulations bared some “marks of common carriage” but the appeals judges also noted that “we deferred to the commission’s determination the rule imposes no common carrier obligations on mobile Internet providers.” The court also noted that the FCC regulations were not unconstitutional, arbitrary, or capricious. The judges on the appeals court also found no validity in arguments made by Verizon that the FCC lacked the legal authority to impose these regulations.

Verizon wireless argued that the new FCC regulations on data roaming were prohibited by the Communications Act. All three Appeals Court judges disagreed with Verizon’s claims. What Verizon was fighting was FCC regulations forcing the nation’s largest carrier to open its network to smaller regional carriers to allow them to compete on a national marketplace.

[via Politico]

Federal court slaps Verizon: Upholds FCC data roaming regulations is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Folks over at the FCC have gone through and scrutinized the Netgear NeoTV Prime, which means said device is being lined to be released in a short while later. Also known by its model number as GTV100, GTV Hacker, who sifted through a pair of curious FCC testing documents, found out that the remote comes with a QWERTY keyboard, in addition to having a touchpad thrown into the mix in addition to the standard bunch of control buttons that have been augmented with several app shortcuts for Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, Vudu, HBO Go and Crackle.

Keep your fingers crossed that Amazon and HBO Go buttons will also be part of the mash up, which could eventually indicate that dedicated apps are well on their way, instead of relying on the current set of website shortcuts. The wireless module itself is not as revealing, where we do know that the name, 802.11n, Bluetooth 3.0 connectivity and a far than impressive set of ad-hoc wireless network support is available. It would be interesting to see how the Netgear NeoTV Prime fits into the rest of the set top box market.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Samsung Galaxy Pocket Plus Announcement Coming Soon?, Samsung Mobile Beam Projector Accessory,

It looks like ASUS is getting into the Google TV market with the ASUS Qube, which has popped up over at the FCC. The Qube with be a dongle that can be plugged into a device via USB to offer Google TV functionality. While details are sparse at the moment, some Google Play apps hint at how the Qube will work.

As notes Engadget, the O!Mobile Control Center and Remote mobile app listings on Google Play indicate a few things about the Qube. One, it may utilize Marvell Armada processors, which are used in current Google TV settops. And two, it may offer more extensive remote control via mobile devices than the remote app from Google.

Google TV has more than its share of critics, but it has been plugging along, and seems to be picking up momentum. Google recently rolled out an update for the service that added voice search, as well as the new section PrimeTime that is the movies and TV shows category. LG’s G2 TVs, which are Google TV-equipped, were the first to see the new update.

Google TV provides users with access to all sorts of video content, including Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, and, of course, the Google Play Store, where users can choose from thousands of TV shows and flicks. As for the ASUS Qube, we’ll have to wait for more details to pop up. When, where, and how the device will be made available is yet to be seen.

[via Engadget]

ASUS Qube arrives at the FCC, offers Google TV is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

At least a few Americans have been disappointed that the current version of the Samsung Galaxy Camera goes without LTE; when the data connection is intended almost exclusively for uploading massive photos, HSPA+ can only go so far. To our relief, Samsung knows our impatience well enough to have sent a version of its connected point-and-shoot with American 4G through the FCC’s approval gauntlet. This time, the camera goes under the EK-GC120 name (the HSPA+ model is the GC100) with LTE access on Verizon’s slice of the 700MHz spectrum — and that’s it for cellular access, without even a trace of foreign wireless bands. As such, there’s little doubt the GC120 is headed to Big Red and will have to resort to WiFi on any vacation outside of the US. Any uncertainty mostly rests around just when the Galaxy Camera arrives on Verizon’s network, and whether or not the extra wireless speed will demand a premium.

Filed under: Cameras, Wireless, Samsung, Verizon

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Source: FCC