Hasta La Gadget!

Verizon has confirmed availability and pricing for the long-teased DROID Incredible 4G LTE launched at CTIA, which will hit the carrier’s 4G waves come July 5. The new HTC smartphone includes Beats Audio, an 8-megapixel camera, and a 1.2 GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor inside, and while in many ways it’s similar to the HTC One S, you do also get a microSD card slot.

Up front is a 4-inch super LCD qHD display, the same as the One S, and inside there’s Sense 4.0 running on top of Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich. In fact, this is really just a rubbery One S, though that’s no bad thing; there’s plenty to like about that phone.

Verizon will be charging $149.99 (after a $50 mail-in rebate) with a new two-year customer agreement. You’ll obviously need a voice and data plan, and the Incredible 4G LTE’s mobile hotspot feature supports up to ten tethered clients.

There’s more on the Verizon DROID Incredible 4G LTE – including some benchmarking – in our full hands-on.

Verizon DROID Incredible 4G LTE drops July 5 is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Here’s a conundrum for you: how can a phone with a 5-inch display be smaller than one with 4.8-inches? By cutting down on as much bezel as possible, which is exactly what Pantech has done with the Vega S5. IntoMobile has crunched the numbers, and thanks to a “Zero Bezel” technique Pantech has crammed a 5-inch 720p IPS screen into a chassis that occupies less space than Samsung’s Galaxy S III. The other specs are nothing to sneeze at either.

The phone will come with a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor, LTE connectivity, and a 13-megapixel camera. A 2,100mAh battery is also onboard that’s rated for up to 11 hours of talk time. Going back to the screen, the company says that 5-inches is the optimal size for Korean hands, with thumbs able to touch any part of the screen thanks to the lack of bezel. Pantech says other devices around the 5-inch mark lack portability, a problem which the company thinks it’s solved.

Other features for the phone include zero shutter lag for the camera, continuous autofocus while recording video, and a Mini Window feature that sound similar to Samsung’s Pop Up Play, allowing the user to watch video in a small window while using other functions on the phone. Pantech has also included Smart Voice, its own voice recognition feature.

While it might sound like a nice device, the Vega S5 will only be available in South Korea starting from this month. The company hasn’t announced any plans to take the handset worldwide either, so you’ll have to gaze on it lovingly from afar, or save up some pennies for a grey import that probably won’t be able to get online.

Pantech Vega S5 boasts 5″ 720p display, 13MP camera is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

LG and Verizon have something special in the works, and judging from the information we were able to glean from some mysterious documents submitted to the FCC (and subsequently approved today), it appears to be Big Red’s version of the Optimus Vu. While the docs don’t come out and specifically mention the Vu name or the phone’s iconic 5-inch display, the diagram (seen above) of the LG VS950 shows the exact same speaker grille setup on the lower left as well as the SIM flap on the upper right. But if that weren’t enough to clue us in, you can clearly see something that looks curiously like an antenna on the top left — in the very same place as the Korean Optimus Vu. The VS950 sports NFC and offers LTE band 13 and GSM 850 / 1900. The phone’s already received Bluetooth Certification, so we’re hoping this means it’s in the final stages of testing. Let’s just hope it comes with a newer version of firmware than its Korean counterpart.

LG VS950 hits the FCC with Verizon LTE, looks suspiciously like the Optimus Vu originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Jun 2012 10:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While Vic Gundotra wasn’t willing to talk Glass in our run-in here at Google I/O, a few others were. In speaking with folks from Google, we learned a few new details about the project, while confirming some whispers that we’d heard floated in the past. Here’s a quick rundown:

• Engineers are currently ‘experimenting’ with connectivity options. Existing prototypes — including those worn in the skydiving stunt this morning — do not have any sort of built-in WWAN connectivity.
• While it’s possible that a 3G / 4G module could end up in production devices, the general idea is that latching onto nearby WiFi hotspots or relying on a wireless tether with your smartphone will be the primary way that Glass gets its data to the web.
• Controlling Glass will eventually rely on a mixture of inputs: it’ll recognize voice commands, while also taking cues from the right sidebar. There’s a touch-sensitive pad on there that’ll understand gestures.
• It’s entirely probable that Glass will also be able to be controlled via one’s smartphone, but physical inputs will be the preferred ones.
• Glass has an accelerometer and a gyroscope, enabling wearers to tell Glass what to do by nodding, shaking one’s head, etc. (For what it’s worth, we’ve seen similar demoed by NTT DoCoMo.)
• The internal battery sits just behind the ear on the right side; the capacity and longevity weren’t confirmed, though.
• Glass will be able to record locally, but the idea is to have ‘most everything’ streamed live to the web; it’s the “live, right now!” nature of Glass that Google intends to push as one of its differentiating factors.
• In an area where wireless data isn’t available (like a remote National Park or a hospital room that forbids phone usage), storing video locally would be possible for uploading later.

We also confirmed that the team is playing around with various colors, with orange, white, black and blue editions being sported here at I/O. Whether or not all of those hues make it to market remains to be seen, of course, but we’re adequately jazzed about the possibilities.

More Google Glass details: experimenting with connectivity options, control possible via voice originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jun 2012 16:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The bad news: if you’ve been hoping to grab a Droid Incredible 4G LTE so you can show it off to your friends at your local July 4th extravaganza, you’re out of luck. The good news: you might be able to cheer up from your post-holiday depression the very next day. According to internal employee docs captured by Droid-Life, we should expect Verizon’s first Sense 4 device to arrive at stores on July 5th for $200 with a two-year contract. As always, pricing and availability are never set in stone; after all, internal employee docs gave us false hope that the Motorola Droid 4 would show up several weeks before it actually launched, but that was likely a result of Verizon pulling the launch at the last minute. Provided Big Red doesn’t change its mind (or other snafus throw a wrench into the process), we won’t be disappointed this time around.

HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE may hit Verizon on July 5th originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Jun 2012 11:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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