Hasta La Gadget!

The Incredible S is a beguiling little beast. Looking at its name, familiar rump, and mostly run of the Android mill specs, you’d think it little more than an incremental update. And yet, pick it up and play with it for even the briefest of instances and you’ll realize that it’s somehow a lot more than that. Seemingly slight changes to the screen, in moving from 3.7 to 4 inches and from an imperfect AMOLED panel to a crisp and clear Super LCD, have earned our eyes’ approbation, while an upgraded Snapdragon under the hood, equipped with Adreno 205 graphics, infuses it with a fresh breath of firepower for those demanding HD videos and increasingly sophisticated Android games. Notably, the chip combo inside the Incredible S is the same as that contained within Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Play, foretelling perhaps of a PlayStation Certified future for this handset. But that’s the future — right now, there’s a big juicy review for you to dig into, so skip past the break to get started.

Continue reading HTC Incredible S review

HTC Incredible S review originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Mar 2011 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rumors about this started swirling last week, but Sprint and Samsung have just made it official that the Epic 4G and Galaxy Tab will both be getting firmware updates this week that add Sprint ID, the carrier’s Android skin / theme platform first introduced on the Transform, Optimus S, and Zio last year. For the Epic, the update will also mark the return of Android 2.2 — Froyo had already made a brief official appearance for Epic owners several weeks back, but bug woes led to a quick pull and a temporary return to Eclair. Looks like the updates start rolling out today, with all current owners having access to the updates by this Thursday, the 24th. Follow the break for the full press release.

Continue reading Sprint Epic 4G, Galaxy Tab get Sprint ID this week, Epic’s Froyo update makes triumphant return

Sprint Epic 4G, Galaxy Tab get Sprint ID this week, Epic’s Froyo update makes triumphant return originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Mar 2011 09:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While we’ve yet to see other Honeycomb tablets materialize in the shops after the Xoom, news has it that ASUS is about to debut its Eee Pad Transformer back in its home country this Friday. There’s still no final pricing to be seen for this Tegra 2 device, but some of our watchful readers have already spotted the stricken-through $799 label — in US dollars, oddly enough — on ASUS’ Transformer countdown page on Facebook, and hopefully this price tag will cover the docking kit as well. Anyhow, anxious Android fans will be able to order this peculiar 10.1-inch slate — in 16GB or 32GB flavor — later this week, so that Taiwanese pen pal of yours will finally come in handy.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Update: We just heard from our ASUS rep here in the US and it looks like the Transformer will be hitting the US market in early April. No word on pricing yet, but we will keep you updated.

ASUS to debut Eee Pad Transformer in Taiwan this Friday, Honeycomb confirmed (updated: coming to US in early April) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Mar 2011 07:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Just about every other carrier has its own variant of LG’s fast-selling Optimus One smartphone, and you can now even count Cricket Wireless among that group. It recently launched the LG Optimus C, which offers yet another oh-so-slightly-different design along with all the same specs we’ve seen before — a capacitive 3.2-inch HVGA display, 3.2 megapixel camera, a 600MHz processor, and Android 2.2 with some minor LG customizations. That may not sound like much, but we’ve found the other versions of the phone to be surprisingly snappy and solid for such a budget-priced smartphone. That budget pricing of course continues on Cricket, which is offering the phone for just $130 after a $20 web discount and $50 mail-in rebated — and, yes, that’s without a longt-term contract, although you will apparently have to sign up for Cricket’s $55 a month unlimited Android plan to start with.

[Thanks, PHug]

Cricket Wireless launches LG Optimus C for $130 off-contract originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Mar 2011 02:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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No, not the Galaxy Mini, that low-end Android sprout — this looks like Samsung’s smaller alternative to the upcoming Galaxy S II superphone. We just got handed UK carrier Three’s entire spring-summer lineup, and the Android 2.3 handset certainly stands out, pretending to be miniature in spite of a 3.7-inch screen (think Droid), a 1.4GHz processor (think Pre 3) and 21Mbps HSPA+ connectivity. But that’s the tip of the iceberg compared to what’s in store for Three — it looks like the Nokia X7 is alive, well, and tracking for a June release (not to mention the LG Optimus 3D), and tablets will drop too, with May bringing the HTC Flyer and the WiFi-only BlackBerry PlayBook launching in June. See specs and slated launch windows in our gallery below, and join us in hoping these documents portend a rapid US release.

[Thanks, Anonymous]

Samsung Galaxy S II Mini leaks out for Three, plus Nokia X7, Flyer and PlayBook release dates in UK originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 20 Mar 2011 16:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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