Ever wanted to soar majestically through the clouds? Good news, freedom from your earthly ties is a 5.3-inch display and S Pen away. All that and more in the Galaxy Note ad after the break — though as we can attest, the whole creating beautiful landscapes thing isn’t quite as easy as Samsung’s simulated images make it out to be. No one ever said freedom was simple.
Clutching at its chest and panting as it nears the finish line, T-Mobile has finallyannounced the release date for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 on its not-quite-4G network. You can write November 2nd in your diaries as you struggle to remember which century it was that you decided to wait for the as yet unpriced magenta version of the tablet. T-Mobile’s Springboard will be arriving five days later, on November 7th. The Huawei Mediapad-with-shiner-shoes packs a 1.2GHz dual-core CPU, 5 megapixels in the rear, 1.3 up front and has a crunchy Honeycomb center. Inexplicably, the company still won’t ‘fess up about pricing for this guy either, so we’ll just repeat what we’ve heard a hundred times before — it’ll be under $200 on contract.
What big, wireless brother wants, big, wireless brother gets. With its pay-as-you-go subsidiary already packing this particular piece of mobile kit, ’twas only a matter of time before Sprint got its hands on the Transform Ultra. Officially announced for the third place carrier today, Sammy’s Droid Charge with a QWERTY twist packs the usual array of mid-range specs. The 3.5-incher runs Android 2.3 atop a single-core 1GHz processor, with a VGA front facing / 3 megapixel rear camera, 512MB RAM, 2GB of storage and 1500mAh battery in tow. It’s no next gen, 4G beastie, but sometimes you just need a workhorse to get things done. Pricing and availability have yet to be released, although we’re sure that bit of crucial info’s right around the corner. Official presser awaits you after the break.
If you saw our side-by-side comparison of the Galaxy Nexus with the iPhone 4S, you might have wondered how that other big Android phone that was announced this week, the Droid Razr, stacks up. Perhaps we can compare the Razr to the iPhone later on, but for now, here is our specs comparison of the […]
It’s no secret that O2’s set to release its Galaxy Nexus variant come this November, but a recently live landing page on the UK telecom’s website is serving up some extras. As expected, its customers will be unwrapping the 21Mbps HSPA+ version of the device, but sadly, the question remains as to how much it’ll cost. While a leaked Verizon document evidently has this Android 4.0 flagship pegged at $300 on-contract, O2’s left nary a mention about pricing. With a handful of carriers now firmly under this 4.65-incher’s belt, it’s time for others to defrost their Ice Cream Sandwich release plans.
This week waspackedwith news on the mobile front, so it was easy to miss a few stories here and there. Here’s some of the other stuff that happened in the wide world of wireless for the week of October 17, 2011:
The HTC Rezound (codenamed the Vigor) started showing up in Cellebrite systems, just another indicator of its impending arrival — and likely name. [Droid-Life]
AT&T’s current lineup of Windows Phones, such as the Samsung Focus, LG Quantum and HTC Surround, are now showing up as EOL — End-of-life — likely in preparation for the trio of incoming devices we saw earlier this week. [WMPowerUser]
Cricket added another ZTE feature phone to its lineup this week, called the Memo (shown above). It’s got a full QWERTY keyboard and is available for $100. [Cnet]
Google Maps for Android was the beneficiary of yet another update. This time, version 5.11 makes one critical feature change: it offers different-sized maps for phones with different screen resolutions. Thus, if you have a 3.5-inch HVGA screen, you’re not forced to download a map designed for a 4.3-inch qHD display, saving space on your phone in the process. [MobileBurn]
Vodafone 360, launched in 2009 as a LiMo-based cloud synchronization and backup service, will be officially closed by the end of the year. The carrier stopped developing handsets that took advantage of the plan last year, so it really was a matter of time before this happened. [Wall Street Journal]
Toshiba Mobile Display announced this week that it’s working on a new type of mobile display optimized for wide-angle viewing. Dubbed the “Soludina,” it’ll be shown off at next week’s FPD International in Japan. [Nikkei]
Sprint announced a new plan called Wireless CapTel that’s designed for those who are hard of hearing. The service, which can be used on Android devices, allows the caller to view conversations in real time as word-for-word captions on their phone’s screen. [BusinessWire]
Three’s the magic number, and the third time is the charm so, this triple confirmation of release date gossip’s got us thinking an Android avalanche is on its Big Red way. We’ve seen November 10th bandied about as the day Google’s Ice Cream Sandwich flagship Galaxy Nexus and HTC’s awkwardly monikered Rezound would hit Verizon’s shelves. Now, this latest leak over on Android Central appears to set that date in stone and give us potential $299 on contract pricing for both handsets. Alas, eager beavers hoping to get their hands on Motorola’s just unveiled Droid RAZR are in luck, as this chart outs an earlier October 27th date for the device. These launch windows could easily slip and slide further into the end of year, so take all this talk with the usual dose of skep. At least we now have the consolation prize of knowing a vanilla Android experience is officially headed back to VZW’s chunk of radio waves.
On this week’s Gadget Lab podcast, the crew talks shop about Google’s recent Android updates, a new Nokia phone and, of course, the obligatory week in Apple news and rumors.
First up, staff writer Mike Isaac and product reviews editor Michael Calore kick off the show with tasty news about Ice Cream Sandwich, the latest version of the Android mobile platform. We recently played with the new Android OS running on Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus smartphone, and can tell you it’s the best Android version yet.
Next, the two Mikes discuss another smartphone, the obscure yet playfully adorned Nokia’s N9. While the N9 itself is easy on the eyes, its Meego operating system is just this close to obsolescence.
Finally, staff writer Christina Bonnington stops by to chat about Apple. The company has announced an unlikely fourth U.S. carrier for the iPhone, and it’s not T-Mobile, but rather C-Spire Wireless, which provides coverage to a number of Southern states. Perhaps Apple is trying to hone in on territories that aren’t covered well by AT&T, Verizon and Sprint. Or maybe Apple just likes the South.
Christina finishes the show off by debunking rumors of an imminent smaller, 7-inch iPad. A mini iPad is unlikely for a number of reasons, she says, including complete disinterest on the part of Steve Jobs himself.
After a few leaks and false starts, Verizon has finally made its plans to offer the Galaxy Nexus “later this year” official. That’s really the only detail revealed, as its price, release date and availability on other carriers are still unknown. Check out the press release after the break if you need any more confirmation.
Nearly a month after its initial announcement, Samsung’s ready to deliver the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus to the good ol’ US of A just in time for the winter gift-giving season. The WiFi-only device, which packs a 1.2GHz dual-core CPU with 1GB of RAM, Android 3.2, 3MP camera with 720p HD video capture and a 7-inch LCD with 1024 x 600 resolution, will be begging for your credit card as of November 13th at Best Buy, Amazon and other retailers. Are you an early adopter? No prob — you’ll have the opportunity to pre-order yours at “select retailers” this coming Sunday, though no specific outlets were called out by name. The 16GB is the only version arriving so far, but Sammy told us to expect the 32GB flavor later this year or early 2012 (likely for $499, if yesterday’s brief appearance on Amazon is any indicator). No word on partnerships with carriers yet, but we’ll keep you posted on any updates. View the press release in all its glory below.
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