Hasta La Gadget!

Disappoined that Verizon wasn’t going to offer its variant of the Galaxy S 4 until May 30th? You’re in for an unexpected treat: Big Red has just moved up the launch by a full week, to May 23rd. The $200 contract price remains the same, but we won’t complain much when Samsung’s quad-core flagship should now arrive ahead of the long weekend. It looks like those supply issues weren’t quite so bad as some thought.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung, Verizon

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Source: Verizon

T-Mobile is kicking off its official sales of the iPhone 5 today, marking the first time the U.S.’ fourth largest carrier has offered an Apple smartphone. Thanks to T-Mo’s new Uncarrier plans, the iPhone 5 can be had starting at just $99, with two years of $20 monthly payments to cover the balance, or for free if you’re switching from another carrier and bring a device in for trade. So far, so good, according to reports of lines forming at retail stores for a phone that’s now over six months old.

BTIG analyst Walter Piecyk tweeted the photo above of a line at a location this morning, and reports on Twitter suggest that small lines are forming at various locations around the U.S. Our own intern Michael Seo said there was a small one outside the T-Mobile store near our New York offices when he came into work this morning.

The appetite for the T-Mobile iPhone is good news for both Apple and the small carrier. T-Mobile’s existing potential reach only represents around 26.1 million total additional subscribers for Apple (a smaller percentage of which are realistically potential iPhone 5 buyers). That’s not a huge number in global subscriber terms, but it does give Apple room to expand its smartphone dominance in the U.S., and could provide it a late-stage bump for the iPhone 5, which is going to face increasing pressure from new competing flagship devices like the Samsung Galaxy S4.

T-Mobile has consistently been left out of launch day hype surrounding the release of Apple’s iPhone, with the carrier relegated to watching from the sidelines as AT&T, Sprint and Verizon locations saw customers queue for the iPhone 5 back in September, so it’s probably very happy to see lines form with this launch. Combined, the iPhone 5 and the carrier’s new model could lure away quite a few switchers, but we’ll have to wait and see if that impacts the overall distribution of U.S. wireless customers in any significant way.

Panasonic’s micro four-thirds Lumix DMC-GF6 is finally official after a leaky start, and the news is good for social types with high photo standards. The mirrorless cam’s standout feature is without a doubt its connectivity, letting you pair it to a smartphone or tablet via NFC, then transfer photos and video automatically over WiFi with an included app — which can also remotely control the camera. The GF6 also sports an updated 1040k-dot screen that can tilt and flip 180 degrees for self-portraits, along with a new mode dial from it’s GF5 predecessor, a welcome change for more serious shooters. Other highlights include 1080/60i full-HD AVCHD video, a 25,600 ISO range, JPEG and RAW shooting, built-in flash, a new Venus Engine image processor, 3.7 fps burst shooting, low-light autofocus and a 0.5-second start-up time. You’ll be able to grab one in black, white, brown or red, and while Panasonic hasn’t officially announced a price or arrival date, it’s expected to hit shelves in the next month or so for around £449 with a 14-42mm kit lens ($680). Check the PR after the break for the full dope.

Filed under: Cameras

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Via: Engadget Spanish (translated)

Following the likes of Meizu and Xiaomi, another star is born in the Chinese smartphone market. In fact, some may already know the man behind this new Android-based Smartisan OS: Luo Yonghao, a self-taught ex-English teacher (and later becoming the principal of his own English school until last August), as well as the founder of influential blogging platform Bullog.cn (now Bullogger.com) and the chairman of Chinese font studio Redesign. Luo is also a relentless consumer advocate, with his most notable act being his fridge-smashing protest outside Siemens’ Beijing headquarters in November 2011, in order to highlight the company’s refusal to acknowledge their faulty fridge doors (all explained in the “More Coverage” link at the bottom).

Already a bit of a legend in China, the 40-year-old serial entrepreneur announced last April that he had formed Smartisan Co., Ltd. to work on a smartphone OS, and that it would shame all manufacturers with its revolutionary user experience. Having missed the December target that he promised, Luo eventually took the stage in Beijing last week to spend well over three — yes, three — hours going through the thought process behind his Smartisan OS, so bear with us here.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Via: Engadget Chinese

Source: Smartisan (in development)

There’s been an uncertainty hovering over just when the HTC One would make its formal debut, between delays in many areas and a trickle of availability in others. At least in theory, those doubts have been resolved: HTC now says that Germany, the UK and Taiwan will have an official One launch next week. Europe, North America and large swaths of Asia-Pacific will get their own units before the end of April. The company hasn’t been more specific about carrier deployments, but we’re sure that HTC is happy just to beat a key competitor to store shelves. Read the company’s full statement after the break.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC

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