Hasta La Gadget!

Traditionally, CES isn’t a huge mobile event — the biggest phone news has historically been saved for MWC in February and CTIA in March — but that changed in a huge way this week. Looks like 2011 is shaping up to be the year of 4G, and both carriers and manufacturers alike wasted no time jumping on the hype bandwagon with a variety of announcements that promise to make the next few months exciting… and really, really fast. AT&T kicked things off early in the show, but it was just the beginning of a relentless torrent of mobile news that lasted for days and ultimately left us with a pile of devices and network upgrades that should take us at least through the middle of the year. Read on for the recap!

Continue reading 4G at CES 2011: AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile make big moves

4G at CES 2011: AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile make big moves originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Jan 2011 15:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We knew the HTC EVO 4G was a pretty super phone, but we didn’t know it was an actual superhero. A nightclub valet in Atlanta was recently the victim of two disgruntled patrons’ wrath, falling in the middle of a five-shot bullet volley, but luckily for him, he had his EVO in his chest pocket. While the phone’s glass shattered on impact, its battery did not and absorbed much of the impact of the one bullet intent on ridding him from this mortal coil. The fortunate chap is still with us, uninjured but stupefied by the event, and he promises he’ll never buy another brand’s phone again. See the video report after the break.

Continue reading HTC Evo’s battery deflects a bullet, earns ‘Life Saver’ badge (video)

HTC Evo’s battery deflects a bullet, earns ‘Life Saver’ badge (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 15:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Would you look at that. Verizon’s ongoing press conference has been accompanied by the appearance of two 4.3-inch LTE handsets coming to the network. Both HTC’s Thunderbolt and LG’s Revolution were pretty well known in advance, but hey, now we have big luscious high-res pictures to gawk at. The Revolution will come with Android 2.2 preloaded while the Thunderbolt has Skype video calling integrated right into HTC Sense. The latter device also boasts a Super LCD display, 8 megapixel camera with HD video recording, DLNA, Dolby Surround Sound, and the honor of being a Verizon exclusive in the US. Now that the devices have been made official, we also know that the Revolution can stream, play and record HD video, perform video chat with a front-facing camera, and share its 4G connection with up to eight devices through its built-in hotspot functionality. Jump past the break for the full announcement.

Update: Hop on past the break for the Thunderbolt specs, courtesy of our friend Peyton (and HTC).

Continue reading HTC Thunderbolt and LG Revolution official on Verizon (update)

HTC Thunderbolt and LG Revolution official on Verizon (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Jan 2011 16:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Like its relative the Inspire 4G, the HTC Freestyle on hand at the outfit’s table here at CES this evening unfortunately isn’t much more than a paperweight. Still, despite its inability to power on — no real word on exactly why — we were able to get a feel for this low-end phone. For starters, it’s got a 3.2-inch HVGA capacitive touchscreen and runs HTC’s home-brewed Brew MP platform. There’s also a FM tuner built-in, and a specialized FriendStream social networking interface — no doubt an attempt to appeal to the younger set. For now, all we’ve got to quell your obviously whetted appetite are the hands-on shots in our gallery below.

Filed under: Cellphones

HTC Freestyle for AT&T hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Jan 2011 23:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Here we are a mere day away from the ThunderBolt’s probable announce at Verizon’s CES press conference, which, by our rough count, gives us at least one more opportunity to see the LTE-capable monster leaked in the wild. That opportunity comes courtesy of AndroidSPIN, who claims that we can expect a 1GHz single-core processor, 8GB of internal storage with microSD expansion, 8 megapixel rear and 1.3 megapixel front cams, Android 2.2.1 with Sense, HTC-customized mapping and nav (probably HTC Locations with offline caching), and DLNA compatibility — but no built-in HDMI. Every one of those specs was either already expected or believable enough, though the lack of HDMI — if true — would still give the EVO 4G some bragging rights more than six months after its release. Score one for longevity, eh?

[Thanks, Taylor S.]

HTC ThunderBolt in the wild one more time: 8GB internal, no HDMI? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Jan 2011 09:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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