Sony to announce PSP2 at January 27th Tokyo meeting?

Sony has a January 27th meeting in Tokyo to discuss “business [overview] and strategy.” That much is true (and confirmed by Joystiq to Sony). What we don’t know is whether MCV and VG247’s sources are worth their weight in Lucida Grande. Both sites claim to have heard this meeting will be the launch platform for the PSP2. (VG247, for its part, has previously published pictures of an apparent PSP2 dev kit.) No major trade show debut, just a Tokyo meeting of unknown spectacle… then again, 3DS’ unveil was a random press release, so stranger things have happened. We’d wager on another PlayStation Phone non-confirmation at the very least, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Sony to announce PSP2 at January 27th Tokyo meeting? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Jan 2011 16:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone Personal Hotspot feature headed to all iPhones in iOS 4.3?

So, by now you’ve had a chance to digest the fact that Verizon‘s getting the iPhone, right? A standout from yesterday’s news is of course the iPhone Personal Hotspot feature that those lucky red devils are being treated to. Hopefully the rest of us won’t have to remain envious for to long, though — BGR says its sources have confirmed that that feature is headed to all iPhones once iOS 4.3 lands. The word is the OS version with this shiny treat will be 8F5148B with a baseband version of 04.08.00. Of course, your carrier is likely going to have to be on board, a-la tethering support, but once that dust settles not only will you be able to tether your device, but your friends will be able to join in — and rack up your data usage, too. So sit back, relax, and all will be revealed if and when this bridges the gap between rumor and reality.

iPhone Personal Hotspot feature headed to all iPhones in iOS 4.3? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Jan 2011 09:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung Vibrant 4G appears in leaked docs, touts 21Mbps HSPA+, front-facing camera

Samsung did say it’s ready to supply all US carriers with 4G phones, not just Verizon, and we may already be looking at one of those devices before us. Billed as a T-Mobile exclusive, the Vibrant 4G looks to be a gentle refresh of the current Vibrant handset, with the notable upgrades being the inclusion of 21Mbps-capable HSPA+ connectivity — to speed your mobile broadband up into T-Mobile’s definition of 4G speeds — and a front-facing camera paired to Qik video chat software. The onboard version of Android is 2.2 and internal specs seem to generally match the earlier-released namesake. Speaking of the original Vibrant, these leaked docs also show it’s sold over one million units in its time in the US and is the nation’s best-selling Galaxy S variant. Great, now can someone please leak it to Samsung that Android 2.3 is already out?

[Thanks, Brian]

Samsung Vibrant 4G appears in leaked docs, touts 21Mbps HSPA+, front-facing camera originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Jan 2011 04:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MetroPCS finally prepping Android smartphone with LTE from Samsung?

LTE’s great… but only if it’s got phones and modems that can take advantage of it. Though MetroPCS beat Verizon to become the first American carrier to launch the technology, it’s been scraping by so far with nothing other than the Samsung Craft, a middling dumbphone without the chops to attract the powerusers that would normally want to be involved with a 4G network anyway. Looks like that’s finally about to change, though, because BGR‘s scored a shot of a so-called SCH-R910 — also from Samsung — that’s running Android 2.2. It’ll allegedly have backward compatibility with MetroPCS’ CDMA network (naturally) along with a 1GHz Hummingbird core and 5 megapixel camera — not a blockbuster by any stretch, but still on a whole new plane than the Craft. Rumor has it we’ll see this before the end of March for somewhere between $330 and $400 contract-free; question is, will it beat Big Red’s first LTE phones to market?

MetroPCS finally prepping Android smartphone with LTE from Samsung? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Jan 2011 22:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rumor: Android ‘Ice Cream’ to Debut Summer 2011

Open source software enthusiasts might see another version of Android as soon as this summer.

A new Android OS version, codenamed Ice Cream, is scheduled for a release some time in June or July says Pocket-lint, citing “multiple sources familiar with the matter.” Pocket-lint’s sources say Google will announce Ice Cream at its I/O developer conference this May in San Francisco.

News of Ice Cream’s speculated launch date comes shortly after posts from the same site yesterday, which claimed that one of SonyEricsson’s Xperia Arc smartphones shown at CES appeared to be running a new version of Android. That tip was based on a picture taken of one of the phone’s sub-menus that displayed the Android version number as 2.4. The latest official Android OS release is Gingerbread, version 2.3.

“We are launching with Gingerbread for the Xperia Arc,” SonyEricsson Head of Marketing Peter Farmer told Wired.com in an e-mail. “Nothing has been announced to date on anything beyond that.” SonyEricsson employee Rikard Skogberg expounds on this in the company’s product blog, citing the number error as a “misconfiguration in some samples” and “nothing to get too excited about.”

Pocket-lint’s sources and rumors are yet to be substantiated. The timing of the supposed release date, however, seems to fall in line with Google’s staggered, two-to-three Android product launches per year.

Confused about Cupcake, Gingerbread and Ice Cream? The table below gives an idea of past Android releases.

  • Version
  • Release Date
  • Notable Features
  • Android 1.5 “Cupcake”
  • April 30, 2009
  • Video recording and playback, new keyboard with autocomplete,
    Bluetooth A2DP support, enhanced copy and paste
  • Android 1.6 “Donut”
  • September 15, 2009
  • Improved Android Market, updated Voice Search, enhanced search,
    speed improvements
  • Android 2.0 “Eclair”
  • October 26, 2009
  • Revamped user interface, turn-by-turn driving directions, HTML5
    support, Microsoft Exchange support, Bluetooth 2.1, Live Wallpapers,
    speed improvements
  • Android 2.2 “Froyo”
  • May 20, 2010
  • USB tethering and Wi-Fi hotspot capability, Adobe Flash 10.1 support, voice dialing
  • Android 2.3 “Gingerbread”
  • December 6, 2010
  • NFC support, updated UI, supports larger screen sizes and resolutions, download manager for longer downloads

Although no specific details have been given on any upcoming product debuts, Ice Cream predecessor Honeycomb is anticipated to appear sometime in the spring, accompanying the Motorola’s Xoom tablet launch. Honeycomb will run on that device.

Photo: sociotard/Flickr

[via Pocket-lint]


Verizon reportedly ready to offer unlimited data plans on iPhone


Still not believing that Verizon Wireless will introduce a CDMA’d iPhone for its network tomorrow? We can’t say we’re completely sold either, but it’s getting harder and harder to fight off the emotions pointing to “yes.” The Wall Street Journal has followed up on its earlier reports by suggesting that not only will VZW soon carry Apple’s iPhone 4, but that it will make no changes to its data plans once that happens. Of course, it’s not like anyone actually expected Big Red to do such a thing, but it’s definitely one more reason for heavy users to consider Verizon Wireless over AT&T. Grandfathered customers notwithstanding, AT&T users who buy a new iPhone 4 are hit with a few tiered data plan options, with the largest ($25 / month) being capped at 2GB. With Verizon, $29.99 per month nets you “unlimited” data, though you could run into issues if you routinely suck down more than 5GB — a rather typical ‘gotcha’ in the American cellular space. The real question, however, is this: will the Verizon iPhone be compatible with Verizon’s $14.99 / month (150MB) plan, and moreover, will it ever be upgradable to handle the LTE network we heard oh-so-much about just days ago? Bookmark our liveblog and tune in tomorrow to find out!

Verizon reportedly ready to offer unlimited data plans on iPhone originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Jan 2011 11:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink PC Mag  |  sourceThe Wall Street Journal  | Email this | Comments

Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Pro successor out for another casual stroll?

Starting to look pretty real, isn’t it? That rumored X10 Mini Pro replacement seems to be gallivanting about in China again; this time it’s not turned on, but the point is that it’s out there and certainly doesn’t seem knockoff-y to be a fake. For what it’s worth, the original X10 Mini series has been one of the few relatively bright points in Sony Ericsson’s Android lineup thus far, so we’re pretty stoked to see that they appear to be taking another shot at the diminutive form factor — let’s just hope those wild GPU results we saw last time hold up by the time it’s at retail.

Sony Ericsson X10 Mini Pro successor out for another casual stroll? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 09 Jan 2011 13:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Arc seeing an April release?

We’ve gotten up close and personal with Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Arc this week at CES, but one bit of information that the firm refused to hand over was an estimated release date. If the outfit’s Indonesian portal is to be believed, however, we’ve just three more months to wait before at least some portions of the world have access. The image shown above translates into “three more months,” which means that we’ll be both saddened and depressed if our pals in the Asia-Pacific region don’t have one by April. Don’t make us weep, SE.

[Thanks, Matthew]

Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Arc seeing an April release? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 19:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook using a 1GHz OMAP 4430 processor

We already confirmed that RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook was deadly fast in use, but up until now, we’ve still been left to wonder what kind of silicon was powering it. According to a RIM representative that spoke to us just now on the CES show floor, a dual-core OMAP chip from Texas Instruments is doing the honors — more specifically, it’s the blisteringly fast 1GHz OMAP 4430. And now, you know.

RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook using a 1GHz OMAP 4430 processor originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 18:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WSJ: Verizon iPhone due out near the end of January

Okay, so the general assumption at this point is that Tuesday’s big Verizon announcement will be the oft-rumored CDMA iPhone. But as for when it comes out, well… the Wall Street Journal is saying (by way of its long-standing sources) near the end of the month. Nothing else to go by at this point, but it’s definitely not out of the question. At least we won’t have to wait long to find out — say, have you bookmarked our liveblog yet?

WSJ: Verizon iPhone due out near the end of January originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 17:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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