Hasta La Gadget!

The US Army is calling upon Android app developers to help make military life a little less stressful — and, perhaps, a lot safer. Under a new Army framework known as the Mobile/Handheld Computing Environment (CE), third-party developers will be able to create and submit tactical Android apps, using the military’s CE Product Developer’s Kit. The framework, originally prototyped by the folks over at MITRE, represents the latest phase in the Army’s ongoing campaign to incorporate smartphone technology on the battlefield. Any app operating under the CE system will be interoperable across all command systems, and, as you’d expect, will be tightly secured. The kit won’t be released to developers until July, but the Army has already begun tinkering with its baseline suite of Mission Command apps, which includes tools designed to facilitate mapping, blue force tracking, and Tactical Ground Reporting. On the hardware side of the equation, the Army is planning to deploy a new handheld known as the Joint Battle Command-Platform, or JBC-P. The two-pound JBC-P is essentially a military-friendly smartphone designed to run on a variety of existing radio networks, while supporting the full suite of forthcoming apps. The JBC-P will be tested this October, and will likely be issued on a wider basis in 2013.

US Army developing Android-based smartphone framework and apps originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Apr 2011 11:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If the Droid Charge has you thinking that Verizon LTE phones have to cost an arm, a leg, and an extra $100, you’ll want to take a look at this. Amazon Wireless is chopping the Thunderbolt, Verizon’s original 4G bad boy, down to the extremely palatable price of $130 on contract, valid for new Verizon subscribers who buy the phone between now and midnight Pacific Time on Monday. The 4.3-inch, Android 2.2 smartphone from HTC impressed us greatly with the 4G speeds it was able to pull down in our review, and while those might not remain quite so spectacular once that network starts loading up more customers, a price like the present one makes it an excellent proposition in the short term. The source link is where you’ll find it.

HTC Thunderbolt drops to $130 for new Verizon customers at Amazon over the weekend originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Apr 2011 01:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone: in the latest chapter of the Apple-Samsung dispute over their smartphones’ resemblance, the latter company has just retaliated by filing lawsuits against Apple in three countries. Sammy’s load of ammo includes five patent infringements in South Korea, two in Japan, and three in Germany, though we’ve yet to hear more details about these claims. Now we just sit back and enjoy the show — popcorn, anyone?

[Thanks, Jake L.]

Update: Reuters has shed some light on the actual patents Samsung is alleging are being infringed. The news organization reports they relate to “power reduction during data transmission, 3G technology for reducing errors during data transmission, and wireless data communication technology.”

Samsung strikes back at Apple with ten patent infringement claims originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Apr 2011 23:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Qualcomm’s back again with yet another set of impressive numbers. For the second quarter of this fiscal year, the chip giant saw record earnings of $3.88 billion, up 46 percent from the same quarter in the previous year, and collected $999 million of sweet profit which is a 29 percent jump from last year. This is no doubt to do with the 70 percent increase in the MSM7000- and MSM8000-series Snapdragon shipments in this half of the fiscal year (compared to 2H 2010), and it should be noted that this quarter also saw the 100th Snapdragon-powered device announced by a Qualcomm client. Additionally, EVP Steve Mollenkopf reassured us that the recent events in Japan won’t have any significant impact on upcoming shipments, so the 30 Snapdragon tablets in the pipeline should arrive as scheduled. Excerpts from the financial report can be found after the break.

Continue reading Qualcomm reports record quarterly revenues, boasts 100th Snapdragon device

Qualcomm reports record quarterly revenues, boasts 100th Snapdragon device originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Apr 2011 04:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We already knew the dual-core Sensation 4G will be showing up in the states “beginning this summer,” though HTC and T-Mobile have been mum on an actual date — or so we thought. If you look up said phone on Google, you should see a cheeky Adwords ad mentioning a “6/8” date in the link. But wait, there’s more: TmoNews also spotted the same date stamped on the Sensation 4G product shot from last week, which we’ve embedded after the break for your convenience. Of course, anything could change between now and June, but this preliminary date is certainly a good sign for all HTC Gingerbread anticipators — or, you know, you could just get the leaked ROM right now.

Continue reading HTC Sensation 4G launching on June 8th, because Google AdWords says so

HTC Sensation 4G launching on June 8th, because Google AdWords says so originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Apr 2011 23:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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