Hasta La Gadget!

So, you are in the market for a spanking new smartphone (preferably from the Android side of things), but have yet to made up your mind whether the Samsung Galaxy S3 is going to be your next big purchase? Well, I guess since you have yet to arrive at a particular decision, you might be interested to know that Verizon Wireless will be offering the HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE from July 5th onwards. Yes sir, this means you can take the entire July 4th off to think over the decision before making a new 2-year commitment with Big Red.

First announced earlier this year at the CTIA Wireless show, the HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE will be available in a couple of days’ time, be it via online channels or at a brick-and-mortar setup. Just what does the HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE pack? Without much further ado, let us dive into its system specifications right after the jump.

The HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE will run on the latest version of HTC Sense 4, which for newcomers would mean HTC’s branded user experience, which has been cleverly integrated with Google’s mobile operating system, running on top of Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich so that you can have a truly enhanced mobile experience while enjoying the latest Android features.

As the name suggests, this particular smartphone will allow you to roll along with the power of 4G LTE speeds, and the amazing 8-megapixel camera ought to leave you with nothing but smiles thanks to a quick activation process from the home screen, ensuring that no more randomly cute shots will miss your radar when you come across it. Not only that, HTC Video Pic lets you capture HD quality video and shoot pictures simultaneously without having to choose between the two.

All of the images and videos capture can be uploaded to social networking sites in a jiffy, thanks to 4G LTE speeds. Make sure your area has such network coverage before you make a commitment!

Your ears will also be treated to Authentic Sound, thanks to Beats Audio which is an enhanced auto tuning technology that enables you to hear music the way the artist intended his or her listeners to. Beats Audio will work well regardless of whether you are enjoying audio or video playback.

A 4-inch super LCD qHD display, an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera with autofocus, a front-facing camera, a 1.2 GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, Wi-Fi connectivity, and a microSD memory card slot rounds off the list of features. You can pick up the HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE for $149.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate with a new 2-year contract.

Press Release

[ HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE to arrive this July 5th on Verizon Wireless copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Just like they have been, products like the One X and EVO 4G LTE will continue to pour through US Customs, as the ITC has now denied Apple’s request for an emergency ban against the alleged infringing products. The news follows Apple’s request for an emergency ban itself, in which the Cupertino outfit accused HTC of making false statements in order to bypass the terms of an exclusion order issued last December. In the most recent ruling, the ITC found that, “Apple has not demonstrated the propriety of temporary emergency action,” and went on to state, “the commission will not direct Customs to detain all subject HTC products because the commission does not have the information necessary to determine whether the respondents are currently violating the commission’s limited exclusion order.” Just yesterday, the ITC began an investigation to determine whether HTC’s products continue to violate a patent held by Apple, which would be a violation of December’s exclusion order. Until the ITC issues a more definitive finding, however, it seems that HTC can breathe a sigh of relief.

ITC denies Apple’s request for emergency ban against HTC products originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Jul 2012 22:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ready for some hardcore smartphone market share numbers? ComScore’s got ’em for the three-month period ending in May 2012, and you probably won’t be terribly surprised by the outcome. First, let’s tackle smartphone platforms: Apple and Google posted minor increase month-over-month at 0.5 and 0.1 percent, respectively (1.7 and 0.8 over a three-month span). Microsoft (consisting of Windows Phone and Windows Mobile) didn’t budge between April and May, though it nudged up a tenth of a percentage point since February. RIM dropped 0.2 percent over one month, but it already experienced a much more painful sting — 2.0 percent — during the three-month period. Symbian also went through similar concerns, going down 0.2 percent month-over-month and 0.4 percent since February.

As for specific manufacturers, Apple once again comes out on top, adding 1.5 percent to its customer base over the last three months for a total of 15 percent share. Samsung, still leading the pack in total market share at 25.7 percent, only grew by 0.1. Given the OEM’s success in deploying the Galaxy S III to every major US carrier, we suspect that number will spurt up even higher over the next quarter. Among the companies losing share: LG, Motorola and HTC, losing 0.3, 0.8 and 0.2 percent, respectively.

Continue reading ComScore: iOS and Android market share continues to climb, RIM and Motorola continue to fall

ComScore: iOS and Android market share continues to climb, RIM and Motorola continue to fall originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Jul 2012 14:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC’s Droid Incredible 4G LTE hasn’t been a very well-kept secret (then again, what HTC phone is?), but Verizon has just confirmed what many of us suspected — their latest HTC handset will hit store shelves on July 5.

If you’ve been itching for an upgrade and just can’t wait for a Galaxy S III, expect to shell out $149 (after a mail-in rebate, sadly) for the new Sense-powered slab.

But is it worth the price? The device’s name isn’t very inspired, but at least the Ice Cream Sandwich-powered DI4GLTE has a solid spec sheet to back things up. In case you’ve forgotten already, it sports a 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 chipset, 1GB of RAM, a 4-inch qHD Super LCD display, and Beats Audio support. Flipping the thing over reveals the same 8-megapixel rear shooter as seen in its distant cousins the One S and One X, though Verizon’s release makes no mention of HTC’s wonderful ImageSense functionality.

Sadly, instead of embracing the wonderful design language of the One series, Verizon and HTC have the device in their usual black and red trim. The end result is a device that doesn’t look terribly different from the handsets that came before it, though it’s certainly not a bad thing unless you’re a petulant design snob like me. Thankfully, the strangely high price ($299) Verizon quoted when the device appeared on a DROID teaser page was just a mistake, but any would-be upgraders would be smart to wait for a bit and weigh their options more thoroughly.

Sony’s acquisition of Gaikai today closes off one long-standing rumor of a cloud gaming investment, but opens up another: which rival can’t afford to leave OnLive on the shelf? Whispers that Sony was eyeing a cloud specialist culminated back in May with OnLive and Gaikai presumed the most likely candidates for powering the company’s long-standing “Four Screen” strategy, something Sony described as its retort to Apple’s iOS, iTunes and iCloud ecosystem. That leaves OnLive potentially up for grabs, and a number of potential suitors.

Sony has been talking about its “Four Screen” strategy since late 2011, with then-CEO Howard Stringer using the phrase to describe an holistic ecosystem of PC, tablet, smartphone and TV. Sony “spent the last five years building a platform so I can compete against Steve Jobs” Stringer said at the time, a platform that was just ready to launch the chief exec insisted.

The strategy was one picked up by Stringer’s replacement, Kaz Hirai, arguing that user experience and not hardware would turn Sony around. ”The foundations are now firmly in place for the new management team and me to fully leverage Sony’s diverse electronics product portfolio,” Hirai said when he took the new position, “in conjunction with our rich entertainment assets and growing array of networked services, to engage with our customers around the world in new and exciting ways.”

Sony isn’t the only firm chasing “new and exciting ways” to encourage people to stick loyally to its products and services. Possible candidates for an OnLive grab include HTC, which has already invested $40m into the company back in early 2011, though has so far failed to capitalize on that bar an abortive preload on the HTC Flyer. It’s also questionable whether it would go up against Sony on mobile gaming: last month, HTC became the first third-party company to sign up as a PlayStation Certified partner.

So, who else has a gap in its mobile gaming strategy? Microsoft’s Windows Phone has the promise of Xbox LIVE running between it, Xbox 360, Windows and the new Surface tablets, along with Xbox SmartGlass to sew up the multi-screen gap. That’s not to say a cloud gaming system like OnLive wouldn’t fit in there too, and the two companies have already been working together to some extent on OnLive Desktop. A hosted desktop in the cloud might be an interesting addition to Windows RT tablets, and bypass future need to develop ARM-specific Office releases.

Then again, perhaps Samsung is a better candidate. The South Korean company has already admitted that it is relatively lacking in software “competitiveness”; more recently, its new mobile CEO reiterated that “a particular focus must be given to serving new customer experience and value by strengthening soft capabilities in software, user experience, design, and solutions.” It has a cloud-based photo and video sync system, but no serious gaming option despite, like Sony, having a footprint in TV, phones, tablets and PCs.

“OnLive would turn the Nexus Q into an instant console”

Google and Apple are the two cash-rich heavyweights, and each might be a good fit for OnLive. There’d be no shortage of server-farm space with either, certainly, and both iOS and Android could certainly benefit from an injection of cloud gaming. For Google, it would also turn new devices like the Nexus Q and existing, struggling platforms like Google TV into instant consoles; the same could be said for the Apple TV, and Apple already has AirPlay Video for using an iPad, iPhone or iPod touch as a wireless controller.

Then there’s NVIDIA, though so far it’s shown more interesting in supplying CUDA processing to cloud gaming companies than actually owning one itself. Back in May, in fact, it announced a deal with Gaikai to use GRID processing to power streaming game content. Where that deal stands in the aftermath of the Sony acquisition is unclear right now.

What we do know is that gaming is going to be an increasingly vital element for any company hoping to take the reins of its future in the mobile space, and the cost of acquiring OnLive would likely be quickly outweighed by its value in that ecosystem. We can already hear the rustle of checkbooks.

Who do you think would make the best fit for OnLive? Or should the company continue to go it alone? Let us know in the comments!

So who’ll buy OnLive now? is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
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