Hasta La Gadget!

If you look quickly, you might not be able to tell that there’s any difference between this thing and the Droid 2 that you can go out and buy today, but this thing is all about subtlety — after all, the only obvious internal change is that it can be used globally. Droid Life claims that we’re looking at the Droid 2 World Edition (or Droid Pro, or whatever the heck it’s called), featuring a pearly white back and a lighter chrome bezel up front; current rumors suggest that this might replace the original Droid 2 altogether, but it’s anybody’s guess until we see some official information. The site is also reporting that the OMAP3630 core seems to be clocked up to 1.2GHz — the plain ol’ Droid 2 settles for a measly 1GHz. All told, this is shaping up to be one of the quickest product revisions in smartphone history, so let’s hope Verizon has the decency to put some sort of upgrade program in place for early adopters.

Is this the Droid 2 World Edition / Droid Pro? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Sep 2010 15:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MetroPCS was quite serious when it said it wanted to have commercial LTE up and running in 2010 — and indeed, it has made good on its word today with an official launch in Vegas. Of course, you need hardware to go along with a new network, and that’s not much of a surprise either: the long-discussed Samsung Craft becomes not just MetroPCS’ first 4G handset, but the first LTE phone to launch commercially anywhere in the world. It’s not a smartphone, but it’s got a 3.3-inch AMOLED display, 3.2 megapixel camera, and a full QWERTY slide. Interestingly, MetroPCS is not offering tethering (or any modems) at this time, which means the only way you’re going to be able to enjoy those blazing speeds is on the handset itself. The carrier is offering basic unlimited service for $55 for a month, while another $5 will net you unlimited on-demand video streaming from 14 networks. The Craft, meanwhile, runs $299 contract-free — and since it’s dual-mode, it’ll work just fine on MetroPCS’ CDMA network once you leave the blackjack tables. Follow the break for Samsung’s press release.

Continue reading MetroPCS launches LTE network in Las Vegas, Samsung Craft along for the ride

MetroPCS launches LTE network in Las Vegas, Samsung Craft along for the ride originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Sep 2010 10:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A day after becoming official, the Desire Z has received its first price: €549 if bought from Amazon.de. Alas, you still don’t have the option to actually purchase or pre-order the unlocked Froyo slider, but at least we’ve got a relative idea of where its pricing fits within HTC’s handset hierarchy. The answer is pretty highly, considering the original Desire, a flagship product in its time, debuted on the same web outlet at €519. And here we hoped the G2’s decent US pricing would translate to similar affordability for its sister device. Seems like the usual rule applies: you’d better be patient, rich, or both if you want to have the latest smartphone.

[Thanks, Peter]

Update: Amazon’s UK branch also has a teaser page for the Z, pricing it at £499 and suggesting an October 18 launch date. Thanks, David!

Update 2: UK e-tailer Play.com is now one-upping Amazon by suggesting an October 11 release date and taking pre-orders for the Desire Z at £430 and the Desire HD at £470. If this keeps going, they’ll be giving them away for free by the end of the day. Thanks, Greg!

HTC Desire Z priced at €549 by Amazon.de, £430 by Play.com originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Sep 2010 05:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC has just announced the Desire Z, an Android-friendly QWERTY slider. Like the T-Mobile G2, the Desire Z features a “pop-out” (don’t call it a slider) QWERTY keyboard with user assigned keys and system-wide shortcuts that let you quickly launch your favorite apps. Around back you’ve got a 5 megapixel camera with flash that’s HD video capable while an 800MHz Qualcomm MSM7230 processor pumps away efficiently inside with HSPA+ and 802.11n radios providing the data. Unlike the US G2, however, the Deisre Z comes loaded with HTC’s enhanced Sense UI and new HTCSense.com services. Look for it to land in major European and Asian markets in October before hitting North America sometime later in 2010.

Continue reading HTC Desire Z is the QWERTY slider your Android’s been waiting for

HTC Desire Z is the QWERTY slider your Android’s been waiting for originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Sep 2010 07:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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At last, T-Mobile just went official with its G2 QWERTY slider. As expected, this Android 2.2 device ships with Qualcomm’s MSM7230 Snapdragon silicon optimized for T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network with an 800MHz CPU and second generation application co-processor. Other specs include a 3.7-inch screen, 4GB of internal memory with pre-installed 8GB microSD card (supporting up to 32GB cards), Swype keyboard, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and 5 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash and 720p HD video capabilities. Oh, and web browsing is supported by Adobe’s Flash Player. Look for this successor of the T-Mobile G1 to go up for pre-orders sometime later this month.

Update: T-Mobile has exposed a bit more of its G2. So, in addition to learning about a 1300mAh capacity battery and 4.7 x 2.4 x 0.6 inches / 6.5 ounce footprint, we’re also seeing a footnote related to price:

“†On approved credit. $125 down payment, plus 3 monthly payments of $125, required. 0% APR. Taxes & fees additional. Available only at T-Mobile-owned retail stores.”

Thing is, no pricing was announced so the footnote is premature to say the least. Nevertheless, it adds up to $500 before discounts and rebates. That alligns nicely with the rumored prices pegged at $199 with contract / $499 without.

[Thanks, Ollie]

Continue reading T-Mobile G2 comes out from hiding, pre-orders begin later this month

T-Mobile G2 comes out from hiding, pre-orders begin later this month originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Sep 2010 00:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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