Hasta La Gadget!

We just got home from this little massive US mobile industry event you may have heard about called CTIA Wireless. It took place in Orlando this year (instead of Las Vegas as usual) and we can definitely say that Sprint was the star of the show with its HTC EVO 3D, HTC EVO View 4G, and Google Voice integration. Samsung also delivered some goodies with the Galaxy Tab 8.9, a redesigned Galaxy Tab 10.1, the Google Nexus S 4G for Sprint, and the Android-powered Sidekick 4G for T-Mobile. LG re-badged the Optimus 2x as the G2x on T-Mobile, and the Optimus 3D as the Thrill on AT&T. The HTC HD7 made a comeback as the Super LCD-equipped HD7S on AT&T, and Nokia gave us the Astound, nee C7, for T-Mobile. Of course, that’s just the tip of the iceberg — so if you missed the action this past week, we’ve got you covered with all the nitty gritty in the links below.

Major news / product releases:

• AT&T agrees to buy T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom for $39 billion
• Google Nexus S 4G with WiMAX announced for Sprint: coming this spring for $200
• Sprint, Google Voice getting tight integration, will let you use your number without porting it
• AT&T launches HTC HD7S with WP7 and LG’s 3D-enabled Thrill 4G Android phone
• Sprint’s BlackBerry 4G PlayBook portal goes live, still on track for a summer release
• LG’s T-Mobile G2x announced, available ‘later this spring’ (update: preloaded with Tegra Zone)
• T-Mobile’s LG G-Slate priced at $529.99 with a two-year contract
• HTC EVO 3D officially announced for Sprint
• Sprint makes EVO View 4G tablet official: 1.5GHz, WiMAX, 7-inch screen, and a stylus to boot
• LG gets official with WCP-700 Wireless Charging Pad, fails to provide pricing
• Samsung’s CTIA press conference posted online, skinny new Galaxy Tabs shown off (video)

Hands-on / previews:

• Nokia Astound for T-Mobile coming April 6th for $80 (hands-on with video)
• Sony Ericsson Xperia Play for Verizon hands-on (video)
• T-Mobile Sidekick 4G by Samsung priced at $99.99 with a two-year contract, we go hands-on
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 and new Galaxy Tab 10.1 hands-on: thinner than the iPad 2, dual-core power, TouchWiz 4.0
• T-Mobile G2x from LG hands-on (video)
• HTC EVO 3D vs. EVO 4G… fight!
• HTC EVO 3D first hands-on! (video)
• Sprint’s HTC EVO View 4G hands-on (video)
• HTC HD7S hands-on
• AT&T’s LG Thrill 4G hands-on (video)
• T-Mobile G-Slate bundled apps tour (video)
  
• Cricket teases CDMA-only Samsung Indulge, Huawei Ascend 2 at CTIA (hands-on)
  
• T-Mobile 4G Mobile Hotspot hands-on
• Wysips wants to turn your phone’s display into a solar cell (hands-on with video)
• ZTE’s Style S and LTE tablet coming to the US during the second half of the year
  
• Kyocera pictures a world of deeply understanding phones
• Google Nexus S 4G for Sprint hands-on (video)
• Google Voice for Sprint hands-on (video)
• Samsung’s original Galaxy Tab 10.1 renamed the Tab 10.1V, thicker Galaxy Tab 8.9 no more than a trade show dummy

Everything else:

• LG’s T-Mobile G2x spied at CTIA
• Cobra Tag Bluetooth key tagging system to ship in July, iRadar and PhoneLynx coming to Android
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 specs and Honeycomb UI tweaks leak out before its official launch
• EVO 3D specs confirmed: 1080p 2D video, 720p 3D, dual cameras, 1.2GHz dual-core CPU
• HTC EVO 3D and EVO View 4G tablet spotted — on Sprint’s website, where else?
• Live from CTIA’s day one keynote with FCC chairman Julius Genachowski
• Live from Samsung’s CTIA event!
• Live from Sprint’s CTIA event!
• Verizon says 4G LTE network will cover ‘at least’ 147 US cities by the end of 2011
• HTC’s WiFi-only Flyer launching exclusively with Best Buy ‘this spring’
• Kyocera launches developer program for dual-screen Echo smartphone
• Best Buy signs up for LightSquared’s wholesale LTE service
• Femto Forum publishes API specification for femtocell apps, places focus on ‘awareness information’
• Blio e-reading software still alive, will come preloaded on T-Mobile Android devices
• Samsung’s original Galaxy Tab 10.1 renamed the Tab 10.1V, thicker Galaxy Tab 8.9 no more than a trade show dummy

And if that’s still not enough, be sure to listen to our CTIA 2011 podcast and take a look at our CTIA 2011 page right here.

CTIA 2011 wrap-up: EVO 3D, G2x, skinny new Galaxy Tabs, and more originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 27 Mar 2011 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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According to an analyst, Apple could be working on a connected HDTV

Gadget Lab Notes is an eclectic roundup of gadget news briefs and intriguing products that catch our eye.

Does Apple Have a Smart TV in the Works?
According to Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty they do. She expects Apple to out a “Smart TV” with DVR, gaming, and FaceTime capabilities sometime in 2012 or 2013. Asian component suppliers suggest that they’re in the process of building a prototype. An Apple HDTV set could be capable of snagging a big portion of the connected television market; even if Apple only captured 1% of the TV market by 2013, they’d make about $4 billion in profits.

Analysts See Apple Branded Television Set in 2012 [9to5 Mac]

Anonymous FCC Agent About T-Mo/AT&T Merger: No Way
An unnamed FCC official said there’s “no way” the FCC would approve AT&T’s proposed buyout of T-Mobile. The agency hasn’t begun formally evaluating the proposal, but they plan to look at whether the merger is a benefit to the public. Similar deals have gone through in the past despite such warnings from agency officials.

AT&T Deal May Face ‘Steep Climb’ at FCC [WSJ]

XGear Smart Cover Enhancer Protects the Back of Your iPad 2
For those that want a bit more protection for their new tablet, the XGear Smart Cover Enhancer could be the answer. It is a thin protective case that snaps onto the back of the iPad. It’s easy to install and remove, and ensures your tablet won’t get nicked as it slides across a table or gets transported in a backpack. It’s available in black or clear for $35.

Smart Cover Enhancer Snap Case [XGear via Slashgear]

A Trump-Worthy iPad of Diamonds, Gold, and… T-Rex Bones?
Why settle for a regular old iPad 2 when you can get an $8 million 24 ct gold model? The “iPad 2 Gold History Edition” includes 53 flawless diamonds, a 24 ct Apple logo and 24 ct gold back weighing 2,000 grams (so much for the new iPad’s weight-loss). But that’s not all: the main front frame is made of Ammolite, the oldest rock in the world, with shaved in portions of a 65 million year old T-rex thighbone. It’s finished off with more diamonds inlaid on the front.

iPad 2 Gold History Edition [Stuart Hughes via Oh Gizmo]

Mobiado Concept Aston Marton Phone Is See-Through
The Mobiado CPT002 Aston Martin concept Android phone would feature a capacitive touchscreen on top of solid sapphire crystal. Platinum sidebabars would house the battery, SIM card, and electronics. Fancy! And of course, it’d have integration with your Aston Martin car—it would hook up to the display, showing parking spots, points of interest, automatically update social media sites with photos and stats when you’re on road trips (should you choose), and help control the responsiveness of the airbag and other safety deployments should a crash occur.

Mobiado CPT002 Aston Martin Concept Promises Transparent Touchscreen [Android Community]

Concept Pacifier Would Discretely Deliver Medicine To Your Baby
The Dr. Shuuuuuut pacifier seems like a pretty clever way to effectively deliver medicine to your sick wee one (and nope, my U key did not get stuck). There’s a special chamber within the pacifier that can hold a capsule of medicine. Place a capsule in and twist the cap to release the medicine. As junior sucks, very small amounts are slowly swallowed—theoretically, such small amounts they won’t even notice or taste it.

Dr. Shuuuuuut [Yanko Design]

This is out of left field, but bear with us — it all makes sense, in a creepy, business-y sort of way. First, the facts: a Samsung SGH-T959P just got FCC approval with 3G support on the 850 and 1900MHz bands (it might also support 2100MHz, but we can’t tell from the documents we’ve skimmed in the filing — and since it’s not a US band, the FCC doesn’t really care anyway). T-Mobile’s original Samsung Vibrant was the SGH-T959, and the Galaxy S 4G was the SGH-T959V — so you can imagine that this is another device in the same vein. Samsung SGH product codes that start with “T” and end with “9” are T-Mobile devices… but if this is for T-Mobile, where’s the AWS 3G support?

So here’s our wild theory: T-Mobile and AT&T may have fast-tracked a T-Mobile-branded device — in this case, an offshoot of the Galaxy S 4G — with HSPA+ for AT&T’s bands. AT&T has mentioned this week that one of the first fruits of its planned acquisition of T-Mobile USA will be a roaming agreement that allows T-Mobile customers to use AT&T’s network, and naturally, that would require devices that support AT&T’s spectrum; interestingly, this roaming agreement is going into effect whether the acquisition completes or not, so these guys have to deal with it. We’d doubt that either of these carriers would be keen on releasing yet another variant of the original Galaxy S as we move toward mid-2011 here, but it’s entirely possible that T-Mobile and AT&T employees could be getting these to test the network integration over the course of the year. Crazy, yes… but just crazy enough to be plausible.

Update: Here’s another thought. This could be an HSPA+ device (a la Galaxy S 4G) for a Canadian network, since several of those guys have also deployed Samsung devices that start with “T” and end with “9” — the model number exclusivity to T-Mobile is strictly within American borders. We’ll find out soon enough!

Samsung Vibrant passes FCC again with AT&T 3G bands: a pre-acquisition tester? (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 Mar 2011 19:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Angry Birds developer Rovio announced on its Facebook account a few hours ago that “AT&T is also working on enabling purchases from the Amazon Appstore soon,” which would mark a pretty big move on AT&T’s part since they’ve been firm in their resolve to keep apps from outside the Android Market ecosystem off their branded Android devices — a frustrating (and arguably illogical) stance, to say the least. Well, first the good news — AT&T has confirmed to us that they are, in fact, setting up access to Amazon’s store:

“We’re working to give our Android customers access to third party application stores. This requires updates to our systems and finalizing arrangements with Amazon. We will share more info with our customers in the near future.”

The bad news is that AT&T’s having any discussions with Amazon about this at all, which would seem to indicate that they’re planning on making an exception to their Android Market policy for the Amazon Appstore rather than simply enabling sideloading on devices altogether and calling it a day. We suppose this could involve a round of firmware updates that drops the Appstore in ROM, but that seems like an awful lot of work considering how much red tape is involved in pushing even a single update for one handset on a major carrier. More on this as we get it; hopefully, AT&T subscribers will have their Angry Birds Rio fix soon enough.

[Thanks, Thomas]

AT&T planning access to Amazon Appstore, sideloading still an open question originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 Mar 2011 11:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AT&T has clearly known from the start that its plans to gobble up T-Mobile aren’t going to be a walk in the park. In fact, when the company first made its announcement, it peppered in a number of statements aimed at preemptively curbing the inevitable antitrust concerns. 

The U.S. wireless industry is one of the most fiercely competitive markets in the world and will remain so after this deal. The U.S. is one of the few countries in the world where a large majority of consumers can choose from five or more wireless providers in their local market.