Hasta La Gadget!

Motorola announced that the PHOTON Q 4G LTE would be coming sooner rather than later, and now the company has confirmed that the handset will be available to pre-order starting from today, with the phone expected to hit retail shelves this Sunday on August 19th. The phone commands the typical $200 price tag on a new two-year contract, and packs a five row horizontal QWERTY keyboard in conjunction with the latest internals.

The PHOTON Q comes with a dual-core processor clocked at 1.5Ghz, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of storage, a microSD card slot for an additional 32GB of storage, and an eight megapixel camera with 1080p video recording. All of it is packed into a 4.3-inch qHD display along with LTE and NFC connectivity.

The smartphone also has world roaming capabilities, allowing you to take advantage of HSPA networks across the globe. Careful, though, as your carrier will more than likely charge ridiculous fees for any data used while roaming. It might be wise to see if the SIM card slot is unlocked, in which case you can pick up a local SIM and save some cash in the process.

All the usual radios are onboard as well, such as Bluetooth 4.0 and WiFi b/g/n, with the battery carrying a capacity of 1,785mAh. As is increasingly the case with smartphones these days, it’s a sealed in battery. Software out of the box is Ice Cream Sandwich, but you’ll have to make do with the minor modifications that Motorola has added to the OS. The handset has been certified for environmentally rough situations too, so it should survive a few knocks and tumbles.

Motorola PHOTON Q 4G LTE: August 19th for $199.99 is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Not all mobile news is destined for the front page, but if you’re like us and really want to know what’s going on, then you’ve come to the right place. This past week, Sprint began testing its LTE network in Boston and we’ve come across a QWERTY slider from LG that’ll be hitting a convenience store near you. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore the “best of the rest” for this week of August 6th, 2012.

Continue reading Mobile Miscellany: week of August 6th, 2012

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

Mobile Miscellany: week of August 6th, 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 11 Aug 2012 22:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gone are the days when $50 got you a flip phone that could make calls, send texts and shoot super-low-quality thumbnails. T-Mobile’s myTouch offerings aim to provide all the functionality of a top-tier smartphone, coupled with the kind of hardware and software top-tier handsets were offering a year or two ago.

After letting HTC and LG have a go at the myTouch series, T-Mobile tapped Huawei to design its latest devices, the myTouch and myTouch Q, a garden-variety slab and a full QWERTY slider, respectively. This time around, the carrier chose phones with more expansive 4-inch, 800 x 480 displays, among other improvements to the design and internals. Unfortunately, software wasn’t considered in the upgrade: both of these run the aging Android 2.3 OS. Suffice to say, skinned Gingerbread is likely to turn off some shoppers, but it’s still worth asking if people on a budget might appreciate these devices when they go on sale Wednesday for $50, post-rebate. So are there any redeeming qualities to speak of, if not the software experience? Read on to find out.

Continue reading T-Mobile myTouch and myTouch Q review: two budget-friendly phones, one aging OS

Filed under: Cellphones

T-Mobile myTouch and myTouch Q review: two budget-friendly phones, one aging OS originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Aug 2012 15:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We just saw some evidence a few days ago a new QWERTY slider from Pantech would soon be hitting Verizon, and it turns out that was indeed the case. The carrier has now officially announced the Pantech Marauder, an LTE-equipped device that will set you back just $50 after a $50 mail-in rebate (on a two-year contract) when it becomes available on August 2nd. Not surprisingly, that won’t exactly buy you the highest-end phone around — you’ll get a 3.8-inch WVGA screen, a 5-megapixel camera, an unspecified 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, mobile hotspot functionality, and Android 4.0. Somewhat notably, the phone also offers you a choice of Standard and Starter modes, the former of which is apparently stock Android (or something close to it) while the latter provides a simplified UI aimed at new smartphone users. Assuming they aren’t scared off by a name like “Marauder,” that is.

Continue reading Pantech Marauder QWERTY slider gets official for Verizon, runs $50 after rebate

Filed under: Cellphones

Pantech Marauder QWERTY slider gets official for Verizon, runs $50 after rebate originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Jul 2012 10:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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During Sprint’s earnings call, CEO Dan Hesse revealed that Motorola’s Photon Q, the company’s latest LTE “world phone” is coming “very soon.” The Photon Q is believed to be the Android 4.0-running QWERTY-slider you can see in the image above, but now that the company’s head has let the cat out of the bag, we expect more details to roll around very shortly.

Update: Sprint’s PR engine has kicked into gear, offering the deep dish on the new handset. It’s a super-specced edition of last year’s Photon 4G and will indeed offer a QWERTY-sliding experience on Ice Cream Sandwich. Beneath the 4.3-inch ColorBoost display you’ll find a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, an 8-megapixel camera and NFC as well as Motorola’s Smartactions application to help users extend battery life and anticipate your daily routines. Pricing and availability will be announced within the “next few weeks,” but given how excited Dan Hesse sounded, we can’t imagine we’ll be waiting too long.

Continue reading Sprint’s Motorola Photon Q LTE is coming ‘very soon’ (update)

Filed under: Cellphones

Sprint’s Motorola Photon Q LTE is coming ‘very soon’ (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Jul 2012 08:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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