Hasta La Gadget!

AT&T has been adding a little dash (and asterisk) of 4G to all its phones as of late, but not all of those handsets are created equal — the Motorola Atrix 4G, HTC Inspire 4G and HP Veer 4G are technically capable of only HSDPA Category 10, which equates to maximum download speeds of 14.4Mbps. Not so for the new Samsung Infuse 4G, as it’s been boosted to HSDPA Category 14, which bumps its particular flavor of 4G up to 21Mbps. That has AT&T playing in the same arena as T-Mobile, assuming that your local cell towers have the fiber backhaul in place… and assuming that T-Mobile doesn’t make good on promises to deliver some 42Mbps (HSPA+ Category 20) handsets before AT&T catches up. And yes, the uploads should be fine, too — AT&T says the Infuse 4G supports HSUPA Category 6, which should give us maximum rates of 5.76Mbps when firing files into the clouds.

Samsung Infuse 4G is AT&T’s first 21Mbps smartphone originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 May 2011 16:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Sprint may be delaying the release of the PlayBook on its network, according to a recently leaked internal memo. Photo courtesy of Sprint

Yet another bit of bad news for BlackBerry PlayBook enthusiasts: The launch of the device on Sprint’s network may be delayed indefinitely.

A leaked internal Sprint memo sent out to the company’s many retail stores announces the delay of the PlayBook, with the official release date “to be communicated as soon as it is available.” First reported by BriefMobile, the memo gives no reason for the delay.

It may not be the first time the PlayBook has been delayed on the network. According to another leaked internal memo, the product was slated to roll out on Sprint’s network in April, but was pushed back until May 8th.

Sprint declined to comment on the veracity of the memo, instead issuing the following statement: “We have said we would offer BlackBerry 4G PlayBook this summer, but have not announced a specific date as of yet.”

The news comes in the wake of uncertainty from at least one other carrier. Although RIM had announced that it planned to release the PlayBook on the big three U.S. carriers (Verizon, AT&T and Sprint), a Verizon company spokesperson recently said the company has yet to decide whether or not it will carry the tablet. AT&T did not immediately return a Thursday morning request for comment, but as of April 21 had confirmed to Wired.com that the PlayBook will be released on its HSPA+ network.

Early critical reception of the PlayBook has been lukewarm at best, as reviewers were disappointed with its lack of certain features like native e-mail and contacts applications. But at its BlackBerry World conference in Orlando this week, manufacturer Research in Motion is demoing a number of the missing apps users have asked for, with promises to launch the features this summer.

With the prospect of these software updates coming to the PlayBook sooner rather than later, we’ll see if the carriers begin to change their tune.

As always, the FCC continues to tease our gadget lust with another upcoming smartphone. This time we have the HTC Sensation 4G, aka PG58100, which is believed to be launching in early June and will ride on T-Mobile’s very own AWS waves. Frankly, the label above is the only interesting eye candy you’ll find here as the lab photos remain hidden under HTC’s confidentiality request, but it’s not like we haven’t seen the 1.2Ghz dual-core in its full glory before. What remains uncertain is whether T-Mobile’s offering will come with Sense 3.0 — the carrier has a habit of delivering vanilla Android devices these days, like the G2 and G2x (though the latter’s from LG). Place your bets now, our operators are standing by.

HTC Sensation 4G hits the FCC, shows off T-Mobile-friendly AWS radio originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 May 2011 03:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Android Central  |  FCC  | Email this | Comments

This photograph was taken at the SFMTA Customer Service Center, the 7th level of bureaucratic hell. I was working there, but I don’t work there, feel me? I was using Clear’s Mobile USB WiMax Adapter. Mobile connection dongles aren’t particularly new; hell, 4G mobile adapters aren’t even new. But six months ago the technology was straight-up nascent, hardly worth investing in unless you lived in one of the few markets where 4G coverage existed. Well, I’ve been on Clear for more than half a year now, and things have changed dramatically. More »

Motorola’s Atrix 4G may have some serious competition from a performance standpoint, but it’s still got one thing going for it over all of the other Android superphones hitting the streets these days: an optional laptop dock. ‘Course, it’s debatable whether or not said accessory is truly worth paying for, but the phone itself has certainly done its fair share of impressing. You’ve read our take on Motorola’s latest Android whizkid, and now it’s your turn to vent. If you had the power necessary to overhaul the Atrix 4G, how would you go about doing so? Would you nix Motoblur altogether? Toss the latest build of Android onboard? Make it available on more carriers? Handle the laptop dock differently? All (sane) opinions are welcome, and comments are open below.

How would you change Motorola’s Atrix 4G? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Apr 2011 22:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments