Hasta La Gadget!

Samsung’s Droid Charge is the latest 4G phone slated for release on Verizon’s network. Photo courtesy of Verizon

First came Motorola’s Droid. HTC’s Droid Eris followed shortly thereafter. Finally, Samsung will add one of its devices to Verizon’s popular “Droid” brand with the Droid Charge, Samsung’s latest Android OS-powered smartphone.

In a release issued on Wednesday, Verizon and Samsung announced that the Droid Charge will be available in the U.S. on April 28 in Verizon retail stores.

The price? A hefty 300 bucks, and that’s after being subsidized with a two-year contract.

From what we can see on the details released thus far, the Charge’s hardware makes the phone no slouch. It’s got a huge 4.3-inch super AMOLED screen, 1-GHz processor and both back and front facing cameras (8 megapixels and 1.3 megapixels, respectively). It’s not running the most recent version of Android, though — the phone comes with 2.2 (Froyo) instead of 2.3 (Gingerbread).

It’s the second 4G LTE-enabled smartphone release for Verizon in 2011, with the HTC Thunderbolt being Verizon’s flagship 4G device. Until the Charge’s release, Verizon lags behind in the number of 4G device choices that its competitors AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile are offering.

Motorola’s 4G Droid Bionic was supposed to launch in the spring as the second 4G device on Verizon’s network, but Motorola has delayed the phone’s release until late summer, as the company wants to rework the phone with “expanded features, functionality and an improved form factor,” according to a statement.

The Thunderbolt has done well for Verizon, with phone sales topping 260,000 in the two-week period between March 17 and the end of the company’s financial first quarter. Though the 4G Thunderbolts sales were dwarfed by those of the 3G iPhone released on Verizon’s network in February: the company boasted 2.2 million iPhone 4 activations in the first quarter.

Of course, there’s a laundry list of other Droid-branded phones from Motorola and HTC we haven’t mentioned (Droid 2, the Incredible, etc.), but it’s Samsung’s first. The Droid branding and initiative revitalized the once-ailing Motorola, and made popular the relatively young HTC corporation.

We’ll have to wait and see what — if anything — Droid does for Samsung.

Sprint service the only thing standing between you and a Motorola Xoom? Good news — a tipster passed along an internal calendar showing an April 25th employee training date for the Honeycomb tablet, and while we’re still taking it with a grain of salt, it seems like the real deal. If past products are any indication, it should hit Sprint stores a fortnight later, in early May, lining up nicely with those Xoom cases that were spotted a week back. The Nexus S 4G also looks to be slotted for employee training the same day, foreshadowing busy times ahead for the Now Network cashiers.

[Thanks, Anonymous]

Motorola Xoom, Nexus S 4G hitting Sprint in early May? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Apr 2011 12:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple is suing Samsung for “copying” the iPod, and the iPad. However, Android users are saying that Apple copied the Android devices first. The fans claim that Apple stole the design from a Samsung Android-based phone called F700. The touch screen phone was a boxier looking model that some say started this whole craze.

Lets look at the facts, the Samsung F700 debuted back in 2006, then came out in February 2007. The Apple iPhone was first shown in January 2007 and then came out that following June. The product by Samsung was older than the famous iPhone, which makes Apple appear to have copied the design concept.

Thus far, neither Apple or Samsung have released a public statement about the lawsuit. Nor has Samsung filed one back at Apple.

 Via Apple Insider

You really should pay attention when Engadget’s founder, Peter Rojas speaks about the tech industry. Especially when he leads into a story like this:

It’s something of an open secret that Amazon is working on an Android tablet and I am 99 percent certain they are having Samsung build one for them.

The GDGT piece goes on to present a very reasoned argument that paints Amazon, not Samsung or the rest of the traditional consumer electronics industry, as Apple’s chief competition in the near-term tablet space. An idea that’ll be tough to argue against if Amazon — with its combined music (downloadable and streaming), video, book, and app ecosystem — can actually launch a dirt-cheap, highly-customized, 7-inch Android tablet this summer as Pete predicts. Oh, and the fact that Amazon already has our credit card details will certainly make for easy adoption. Hit the source below for the full read or, better yet, stay tuned for the next Engadget Show where we’ll be nerding-out with the son of the father of the father of Engadget.

Amazon to take on Apple this summer with Samsung-built tablet? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Apr 2011 06:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We recently deemed the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer the “best Honeycomb tablet yet.” Admittedly that was before we got our hands on the T-Mobile G-Slate, but it’s still an awfully nice hunk of glass, and now we know just how much you’re going to have to pay to get one — and exactly when you can plunk down that credit card. The 10.1-inch Transformer with its 1280 x 800 IPS panel and 16GB of storage will cost you $399, while the 32GB version will set you back $499. That docking station, which kinda sorta turns it into a laptop? That costs $150. Units are expected to hit retail on Tuesday, April 26th, meaning you have just five days to scrounge together four or five Benjamins — plus tax, of course.

ASUS Eee Pad Transformer hits US on April 26th for $399 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Apr 2011 04:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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