Hasta La Gadget!

Remember that midrange, Android-equipped MB520 Kobe from Moto we told you about a few days back? Well, it’s stepping out for the first time this evening with a little help of our dear brother from another mother, Mr. Blurrycam. As we’d heard before it’s definitely destined for AT&T bearing Android 2.1 with Blur (complete with Blur logo on back), though our tipster tells us we can expect an update to 2.2 over the air. Along with “Kobe,” the codename “Diablo” is apparently being tossed around internally, though decisions have been made on what to call it when it hits shelves. A Droid X competitor it’s not — but coming off the Backflip debacle, it’s baby steps for Moto’s Android relationship with AT&T, right? Hit the break for more shots.

[Thanks, Napoleon]

Exclusive: Motorola MB520 Kobe / Diablo for AT&T in the wild originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Aug 2010 20:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you wade through LG’s alphabet soup of upcoming WinPho 7 goodies, you might recall that several of them seem to be headed directly for AT&T later this year. Evidence for one of them in particular — the C900 landscape slider — just got a little stronger this evening on news that a phone by the very same model code has just been hooked up with FCC approval in the past few hours. Indeed, a quick look at the SAR report shows that we’ve got WCDMA bands II and V here, which means it’ll work like a champ on AT&T; unfortunately LG is (and always has been) particularly awesome at making its ID label documents useless for identifying phones, so there isn’t much other evidence to go on from this. Needless to say, though, we’re convinced it’s going to be a very interesting fourth quarter of the year for the Microsoft camp.

LG’s C900 Windows Phone 7 handset for AT&T gets FCC approval originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Aug 2010 23:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’d actually kind of assumed this thing had been deep-sixed as faster, better phones have passed it by all summer long, but nay: Dell’s Aero is finally in the land of the living. You can score the 3.5-inch 640 x 360 Android phone today with two-year AT&T contract for $99.99, though only through Dell’s interwebs — it’s still “coming soon” to AT&T’s site. Features include 2GB of onboard storage with microSD expansion, triband 3.6Mbps HSDPA and quadband EDGE, a 5 megapixel cam, and a 3.67-ounce claimed weight that makes it “one of the lightest” Android devices money can buy. Follow the break for the full press release.

Update: After checking with Dell, we’ve learned that the Aero is indeed still running Android 1.5, though the company is quick to note that it’s actually a “superset” with a “tremendous amount of customization” with features like handwriting recognition and Facebook baked into the platform. We’d argue Dell still has a bit to learn from HTC on how to iterate its customizations as quickly as Google can pump out Android versions — but maybe they’ll figure it out by the time the Thunder comes out.

Continue reading Dell Aero available today for $100 with AT&T contract

Dell Aero available today for $100 with AT&T contract originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Aug 2010 11:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

Before the mass adoption of smartphones in the U.S., many fretted that the heavy subsidization model was feeding a free handset model that would keep Americans hopelessly addicted to basic voice plans and phones optimized for them. The price consumers paid in relation to the value of the handset, it was argued, was hopelessly out of whack. This year, a string of successful smartphones have shown that an increasing percentage of U.S. consumers are willing to pay $200 for a flagship device. On the other hand, there’s still ample evidence that price and value can remain disconnected. And the carriers aren’t making it much easier.

The smartphone surge has been driven in part by a desire to acquire the best and by a response to carrier advertising. However, a recent run-up in advanced smartphones have made it difficult to define a clear top of the line at many carriers, and carriers simply cannot promote them all with the same attention lavished on the iPhone or original Droid. Take the turn of events at Verizon, for example, which in the space of a few months has rolled out the Droid Incredible, Droid X and Droid 2, with the Samsung Fascinate in the wings. At least the first three have been all priced at $199, with strong precedent for the Fascinate coming in at that level. And while AT&T has been a bit more diverse in the operating systems of its recent spate of high-end contenders — the iPhone 4, BlackBerry Torch and Samsung Captivate — they too have all been priced at $199.

Continue reading Switched On: Gluts and glory

Switched On: Gluts and glory originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 21 Aug 2010 19:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Does the almost Pre-esque shape of this beast look vaguely familiar? It should, because it matches up nicely with the outline of the Samsung Cetus we saw in the FCC a little while back. Indeed, we’re told this is the Cetus i917 destined for AT&T, featuring Windows Phone 7 in a glossy, black, curved shell that should fit nicely in those new skinny pants you just overpaid for. We don’t know when this is hitting exactly, but we suspect everyone involved — Microsoft, AT&T, and Samsung — wants to have this on shelves in time for the holiday season. Hit up the gallery below for a couple more shots.

Exclusive: Samsung Cetus i917 bows for AT&T, shows off its Windows Phone 7 ways originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Aug 2010 11:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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