Hasta La Gadget!

Welcome to Thursday evening folks – just one more day until the weekend is officially here. iOS 6 has been out for a little more than a day now, and while there are a lot of new features to get excited about, Apple’s new Maps app seems to be spoiling the party. Many are bummed that Apple Maps doesn’t feature public transportation routes like Google Maps, and a group of developers set out to solve that problem with a new hack. Meanwhile, Nokia took a few shots at Apple Maps today, and we found out that iOS 6 landed on 15% of all Apple devices within the first 24 hours of release.

Ever wonder how much Americans have spent on iPhone repairs? Wonder no longer, because SquareTrade says that we’ve $5.9 billion on repairs since 2007. Samsung once again reiterated its intentions of taking Apple to court over the iPhone 5, while HP announced a range of new ultra-light notebooks today. HP didn’t stop there though, as it also revealed a brand new ENVY desktop, which we have to say looks pretty sleek. Verizon talked about how good its Share Everything plans are during an investors conference today, and the ASUS Padfone 2 might be getting a reveal next month.

Prices for the freshly-revealed HTC 8X and 8S were announced today, and Chinese manufacturer Cube has a new tablet incoming that sports a display similar to Apple’s Retina display. Qualcomm was seen touting its Snapdragon S2 processor today for some reason, and SkullCandy revealed a trio of new gaming headsets. Speaking of gaming, we heard rumors that Half-Life 3 will have open world elements, and were amazed by a new multiplayer trailer for an upcoming game called Cube World. Amazon’s Kindle eReaders and tablets have been banished from the shelves of Walmart, and the all-new ZTE Anthem will soon be heading to MetroPCS complete with 4G LTE capabilities.

Android users were given The Bard’s Tale and Fort Courage today, while the US Senate claimed that Microsoft avoided paying $6.5 billion in taxes over the last three years. Facebook Messenger got an update on Android today, as did the regular Facebook app, and Sony told us why we didn’t see a price cut on existing PS3 models when the company revealed its brand new super-slim console. Microsoft can officially claim another victory over Motorola in Germany, and finally tonight, we have a hands-on with the excellent 10Terra Nexus 7 Bamboo case, which is looking to get funded on Kickstarter right this minute!

That does it for tonight’s Evening Wrap-Up. Enjoy the rest of your night, and join us back here tomorrow as we wrap-up Friday’s news and ring in the weekend!

SlashGear Evening Wrap-Up: September 20, 2012 is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

“La la la la. I can’t hear you.” Verizon’s CFO, Fran Shammo, might’ve just as well made those comments with his hands firmly cupped over his ears, as the firm’s chief number cruncher told attendees at today’s Goldman Sachs investor conference, “Unlimited is just a word, it doesn’t really mean anything.” While Sprint and T-Mobile would certainly take issue with that statement, Shammo then dug the hole deeper by saying, “That whole unlimited thing, I think, is going by the wayside.” These comments were made in the context of Shammo playing up the carrier’s shared data plans, wherein he explained his belief that consumers “think they consume a lot more data than they really do.” Shammo also revealed that Verizon has converted more subscribers and devices over to the new scheme than it’d initially anticipated.

Naturally, change within any industry takes time, but now that Sprint is in a position to offer unlimited data at a meaningful speed and T-Mobile has climbed aboard the bandwagon, Verizon may have to change its tune if a significant number of consumers decide that unlimited isn’t dead after all. You can view the entire transcript at the source link below, but consider this: would you take unlimited plans into consideration when shopping between carriers, or is Mr. Shammo right that consumers really don’t use that much data? Give us your thoughts in the comments below.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile

Verizon CFO buries his head in the sand, claims unlimited data is ‘going by the wayside’ originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Sep 2012 17:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We just had a chance to see and handle the colorful Windows Phone 8X by HTC, but where will we find it in the US? On stage, the company told us that the new device will be heading to three major carriers: AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile. All three operators should be pushing the device out sometime in November, though we’re still waiting to hear specifics on pricing — and we also haven’t been told details on the availability of the lower-end Windows Phone 8S.

Note: We’re hearing whispers that the 8X will be $199 on AT&T and T-Mobile, but both carriers have responded to our request for more information, stating that no pricing has been released yet. The press releases can be found below.

Check out our liveblog coverage of HTC’s Windows Phone 8 launch event!

Continue reading Windows Phone 8X coming to AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile in November

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile

Windows Phone 8X coming to AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile in November originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Sep 2012 11:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung has just announced some excellent news folks. We had a feeling this was coming but this morning Samsung’s confirmed their new and impressive Galaxy Note II smartphone phablet will be arriving on all major US carriers, starting in November. The Galaxy Note II will launch nationwide on all carriers just like the smaller Galaxy S III.

Possibly even bigger news is the fact that the Samsung’s own Exynos quad-core processor will be included. Samsung won’t be switching to the dual-core Qualcomm S4 like the Galaxy S III, and all Note II’s will launch in the US with the quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, and 4G LTE/HSPA+ speeds. We had a feeling Samsung would be taking this route, and now that they’ve confirmed it I’m sure there’s plenty of happy customers.

We’ve seen the Note II leak for Verizon, and some recent screenshots seemingly confirmed it was headed to T-Mobile too. Many that wanted the original Note couldn’t simply because it launched exclusively to AT&T here in the US, but this time around almost everyone will get a chance to own this massive 5.5-inch HD Super AMOLED packing phablet.

Samsung has confirmed the Galaxy Note II will be arriving for Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, The Now Network, and US Cellular all by mid November. They say the devices will launch by mid November, so that means we very well could see it arrive in October for some if the carriers get them ready to rock in time. Just like the original Galaxy Note II announced last month at IFA 2012, the US models will come with the exact same specs. Those include that vibrant 5.5-inch HD Super AMOLED display (1280x720p), Samsung’s 1.6 GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, 8 megapixel rear and 1.9 MP front cameras, 16GB storage, the awesome S-Pen stylus and a massive 3,100 mAh battery.

The Galaxy Note II will be Samsung’s first smartphone to ship with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean out of the gate, and they stated carriers will be announcing exact dates and pricing details soon, so stay tuned! Oh and since they’ll be the same hardware wise, take a peek at our international model hands-on video below.

Samsung Galaxy Note II announced for all major US carriers is written by Cory Gunther & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

What’s tipped to be one of HTC’s new Windows Phone 8 devices, the HTC Accord believed to launch as the “Windows Phone 8X,” has shown up in the wild. Expected to be officially revealed at a New York event tomorrow, the phone in the live photo sent by an anonymous phoneArena tipster also bears Verizon branding, and the source says it will also support the CDMA carrier’s LTE network.

Those earlier leaks also suggested some specifications we can expect, including a dualcore Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 4.3-inch display, and an 8-megapixel camera. Interestingly, the leaked specs also claimed that the 8X/Accord would be able to record 1080p Full HD video using both the front and rear cameras.

Other tidbits include Beats Audio, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, WiFi, GPS and NFC, while physical ports will consist of microUSB and a 3.5mm headphones socket. No microSD has been mentioned, however, which would mean the rumored 16GB of internal storage is all buyers are getting.

We’ll know more after HTC’s event tomorrow, when the company is expected to spill all the details on its new range. What we really want to know, however, is when the Windows Phone 8 smartphones will actually reach store shelves, but we may have to wait for Microsoft to officially launch the OS before manufacturers can step up with that news.

Windows Phone 8X aka HTC Accord spotted with Verizon LTE is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.