T-Mobile Comet sends $9.99 shot across the bow of dumbphones

The argument used to be that carriers’ higher pricing for smartphone data plans were what kept them out of the low end, regardless of the upfront on-contract cost — but now that T-Mobile has rolled out a 200MB / $10 package, phones like the Comet — a T-Mobile branded version of the Huawei Ideos announced at IFA — might actually pose a serious threat to the livelihoods of dumbphones everywhere. Why’s that? Well, the carrier will be charging a ridiculously low $9.99 on contract after $50 rebate for it, featuring 7.2Mbps HSPA, FM radio, integrated Swype, microSD expansion up to 32GB, and 802.11b / g / n atop Froyo; in fact, the only immediately-obvious downside to it is that it’s got just a 2.8-inch QVGA display. As you might recall, Huawei worked closely with Google to design the Ideos as an Android device for the masses, and we came away with a pretty positive impression with it when we checked it out at IFA — so we’re bullish that this thing is going to make some waves in its Comet guise. It launches on November 3 — and you’ll be able to get it in prepaid guise through some third-party retailers for “less than $200.”

T-Mobile Comet sends $9.99 shot across the bow of dumbphones originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Nov 2010 12:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ZTE’s AD8000 Android MID gets sized up at the FCC, with full specs in tow

ZTE's AD8000 Android MID gets sized up at the FCC, with full specs in tow

What first we thought was the Light is actually something wholly different — and rather less exciting. What we have here is called simply the AD8000 MID, a 7-inch device from ZTE with an 800 x 480 resistive touchscreen. Power comes courtesy a 600MHz processor, smarts courtesy Android 2.2, and there’s up to 16GB of storage internally and SDHC expansion for when that’s tapped out. 802.11b/g are your wireless options, while 10 hours is rated as maximum battery life while listening to music, though that drops to six if you’re cruising the web and/or watching videos. The FCC has kindly posted the thing’s full operating manual including all specs if you’d like to know more, but since Archos already has this segment rather well covered we’ll go back to waiting for the Light to light up our lives.

ZTE’s AD8000 Android MID gets sized up at the FCC, with full specs in tow originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Nov 2010 09:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Canalys: iPhone becomes most popular smartphone in the US, Android continues as most popular OS

Canalys: iPhone becomes most popular smartphone in the US, Android continues as most popular OS

The Canalys numbers are out, and with Android coming off an 886 percent jump reported at the end of the second quarter we were expecting something big. So, here it is: Android is up 1,309 percent worldwide from this time last year, taking over 43.6 percent of the US smartphone market in the third quarter. In terms of mobile operating systems that makes it the dominant player in America, but with Apple capturing 26.2 percent it now jumps into the lead when it comes to hardware, beating out RIM’s 24.2 percent. That’s a swap from last quarter, where BlackBerries beat iPhones 32 to 21.7 percent, and worldwide things are looking the same: Apple at 17 percent compared to RIM’s 15. However around the globe it’s Nokia and the Symbian Foundation still dominating the stage as the leading smart phone OS vendor, owning 33 percent of the market compared to 38 last quarter, while Microsoft sits at a lowly 3 percent. With WP7 ready to rock the world, and Ballmer ready to release the advertising hounds, that’s a figure we’ll be keeping a close eye on for the next few quarters.

Update:
NPD has posted its third quarter smartphone market share and Mobile Phone Track reports; they basically back up Canalys’ report, though NPD gives both Apple and RIM slightly less market share. Interestingly, RIM’s BlackBerry Curve 8500 series is identified as the second-best selling phone in the US in the quarter, while the lowly LG Cosmos for Verizon takes third. Weird, huh?

Canalys: iPhone becomes most popular smartphone in the US, Android continues as most popular OS originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Nov 2010 08:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ViewSonic ViewPad 7 and 10 officially comin’ to America

ViewSonic’s heavy foray into the tablet market has been no secret, but we’ve been a bit uncertain as to where on the map its products would land. Until now that is. According to ViewSonic’s American team, the company will be kicking off its US tablet invasion with the ViewPad 7 in November. Just as we’d heard, the 7-inch device packs an Snapdragon processor, Android 2.2, two cameras (a 3 megapixel cam on its rear and a VGA front facing one), 512MB of memory and 3G capabilities. Sure, it sounds a heck of a lot like the rest of the other Android tablets we’ve been seeing, but according to ViewSonic this one will most definitely have access to the Google Market and come preloaded with Google’s apps. Well, that’s a horse of a different color, though its $479 MSRP seems a bit high to us. What about the ViewSonic fans out there that have been eyeing the Android 1.6 / Win 7 dual-booting ViewPad 10, you ask? Well, they’ll have to wait until the first quarter of 2011 to get their hands on that one, though at least that gives ’em time to save up the $629 that it’s expected to retail for. We should note here, that the ViewPad 10 is identical in design to the Tega v2 we recently reviewed and similar in specs — it has a 1.66GHz Atom processor, 16GB SSD, 1GB of RAM and Windows 7 Home Premium. We’re still unsure where the 10-inch, Android 2.2 G-Tablet that was recently spotted in a Sears circular fits in, but we’re definitely getting the hint that Viewsonic’s in it to win it with tablets.

Continue reading ViewSonic ViewPad 7 and 10 officially comin’ to America

ViewSonic ViewPad 7 and 10 officially comin’ to America originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Nov 2010 08:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung Galaxy Tab on sale now in UK

While Steve Jobs doesn’t like the form factor and Google thinks that Froyo is less than ideal for tablets, we were pretty impressed by the 7-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab’s ability to run Android 2.2. Today it’s officially on sale in UK shops as previously announced. It’s supposed to be coming to all the major UK carriers in addition to Carphone Warehouse, Dixons, and T-Mobile shops. At the moment, we’re seeing it in stock at the Carphone Warehouse under a variety of plans ranging from a £499.99 with a £10 pay monthly plan on Talk Mobile that includes 1GB of data. On the other extreme is a £99.99 deal that requires a £40 per month two year contract that includes 5GB of data on Three. It’s also offered for a standalone price of £529.99. And please, whatever you do don’t call it a UMPC, that was so 5 years ago.

Update: We’ve just heard that Orange is also launching the Tab at similar price points, starting from £499. Similarly, Vodafone’s offering the same tablet for £499 across all of its monthly contracts. On the other hand, O2’s slapped a staggering £599 tag onto the device for all of its plans — a very odd move, we’d say (link only works within the UK).

Samsung Galaxy Tab on sale now in UK originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Nov 2010 04:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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T-Mobile’s Galaxy Tab available for preorder at Amazon, costs $699 unsubidized

We played devil’s advocate with Verizon’s $599 Galaxy Tab, but it looks like the T-Mobile version of Samsung’s Android 2.2 tablet is going to cost a Benjamin more — it’s ringing up at $699.99 right now at Amazon unsubsidized. If we were you, we’d wait and see what kind of deals can be had in-store come November 10th, but if you simply must have one immediately you’ll be able to use it with one of Magenta’s standard mobile broadband plans. $25 a month gets you 200MB with 10-cent-per-megabyte overage fees, whereas $40 buys you unlimited use with a 5GB speed cap, and you can purchase blocks of prepaid data an 100MB, 300MB and 1GB increments at the usual rates. It’s a bit of a shame we’re paying the price of a decent laptop for a seven-inch smartphone sans cellular calls… but you didn’t really need that rent money, right?

T-Mobile’s Galaxy Tab available for preorder at Amazon, costs $699 unsubidized originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 31 Oct 2010 16:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Entourage Pocket Edge reveals itself on the Home Shopping Network

We’re still trying to understand why Entourage has chosen the Home Shopping Network of all places to reveal its new Pocket Edge, but at least we now know that the previously spied dualscreen tablet / e-reader lives! Although the 1.35-pound device has been shrunken down with smaller displays — a 6-inch “Wacom Penabled” e-ink panel and 7-inch LCD — it actually doesn’t appear like much else has been changed from the original. Unfortunately, that means our biggest complaints about the device are very much present — it’s got a resistive touchscreen and appears to run an older version of Android. If it’s any consolation, the trackball on the right edge has been replaced with an optical touchpad and there are now red and black color options. Spec-wise, it still boasts 4GB of storage, a 2 megapixel camera (hopefully there’s software now that takes advantage of it), 802.11 b/g, a USB port, and micro-SD slot. It is, however, more affordable — though it’s originally priced at $499, HSN has a sale running that puts it at $399. Of course, no word on if a 3G version will be arriving at Verizon as we’ve previously heard, but we’re sure this thing will get its official unveil sometime soon. Until then feel free to keep yourself preoccupied with the gallery below and at the source link — just don’t get lost in the cookware section.

Entourage Pocket Edge reveals itself on the Home Shopping Network originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Oct 2010 18:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC Desire HD vs. EVO 4G… fight!

By now you’ve probably read our Desire HD review and you’ve seen how HTC’s latest Android flagship stacks up against its Windows Phone 7 sibling, the HD7. But how does it fare against the original Android giant, Sprint’s EVO 4G? The devices share common displays (4.3-inch WVGA) and cameras (8 megapixel with dual LED flash) — but they use different radios (HSPA+ versus CDMA / WiMAX) and processors (first-generation Snapdragon in the EVO, second-gen in the Desire). In fact, the two phones actually have very different personalities when you consider the Desire HD’s aluminum unibody case and the EVO 4G’s HDMI output and kickstand. Take a look at these mighty beasts side-by-side in our gallery — along with a video after the break!

Note: In the video we mention that the Desire HD features a front facing camera. This is incorrect.

Continue reading HTC Desire HD vs. EVO 4G… fight!

HTC Desire HD vs. EVO 4G… fight! originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Oct 2010 16:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple sues Motorola right back over six patents

What, you didn’t think Apple was just going to sit around and take it after Motorola first sued for patent infringement and then asked to court to declare some 20 of Cupertino’s patents weren’t applicable to its products, did you? Apple’s fired back with two lawsuits claiming that Motorola’s Android phones, including but not limited to the Droid, Droid 2, Droid X, Cliq, Cliq XT, BackFlip, Devour A555, Devour i1, and Charm, infringe a total of six multitouch and OS patents. That would be pretty much par for the course — you sue me, I sue you — but there are a couple interesting strategic wrinkles to note:

  • We’ve only seen Apple litigate one of these patents before: #7,479,949, Touch Screen Device, Method, and Graphical User Interface for Determining Commands by Applying Heuristics. You should remember it well — it’s the patent covering scroll behavior on multitouch screens that was hyped as “the iPhone patent” and triggered a press frenzy over a possible Apple / Palm lawsuit. As we predicted at the time, that hasn’t yet materialized, but old ‘949’s gotten pretty popular: Apple’s asserting it against Nokia and HTC as well.
  • Apple might be suing over six patents in these two cases, but ultimately Apple will claiming Motorola’s devices infringe a total of 26 patents — part of Apple’s defense to Motorola’s 20-patent lawsuit will be to claim that Moto’s in fact infringing each of those patents. That’s a lot of patents across a lot of devices, and it’ll just take one finding of infringement to cause a lot of pain.
  • Apple’s filed its two cases in the Western District of Wisconsin, a patent “rocket docket” that tries cases quickly and are often perceived as being plaintiff-friendly. (Part of the Apple / Nokia lawsuit is happening in this same court.) Moto’s obvious next move will be to try and consolidate all these cases into a single proceeding at one court, a procedural tactic that will take likely take months. And that’s just the first step. Don’t expect these cases to be decided for at least a year — probably many years — unless Apple and Motorola decide to settle, which is always possible.
  • Apple’s now seriously engaged in litigation with the two largest Android handset makers (HTC and Motorola), largely over OS-level patents. At some point Google has to get involved, if only to indemnify its partners against further liability for using Android, and we can’t help but think Apple and Google are eventually bound to face off directly. Or perhaps not — by suing Android handset makers, Apple’s essentially putting a tax on Android without having to further muddy up its complex competitor / partner relationship with Google by adding in a major lawsuit.

We’ve added in a list of the patents after the break, if you’re interested — and we know you’re interested, right? It’s not like it’s a beautiful Saturday afternoon or anything.

Continue reading Apple sues Motorola right back over six patents

Apple sues Motorola right back over six patents originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Oct 2010 15:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The PlayStation Phone: new photos, more details!

We’ve gotten our hands on some more images of the PlayStation Phone, and gleaned a few more juicy details about the handset. Firstly, as you can see in the photos, the model in question does indeed seem to be codenamed “Zeus” (as we reported on the 27th). Furthermore, the handset pictured is running Android 2.2, though apparently there are multiple devices out there with different versions on board (including at least one packed with Android 3.0). Based on what we know, there’s little chance the phone will launch with Froyo — but it’s clear these have been worked on for some time with various versions of the OS.

The device appears to have an 8GB microSD card slotted, and at least 512MB of internal storage (though we’re hoping it’s the 1GB we’ve heard would be present). As you can see from the pictures in the gallery below, the device isn’t exactly thin — we surmise that the handset is around 17mm thick, or slightly thicker than HTC’s Touch Pro 2 (and funnily enough, about the same as the PSPgo). From a design standpoint, the device seems to have more in common with BlackBerry handsets than previous Sony Ericsson phones; that smoky chrome bezel which surrounds the device is definitely giving us Torch flashbacks. As always, we’re hard at work digging up more info on the phone (and potentially more images), but for now, just sit tight and enjoy the exclusive photos in the gallery below.


The PlayStation Phone: new photos, more details! originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Oct 2010 16:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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