Hasta La Gadget!

Looks like the HTC Radar 4G is the real deal, after all. T-Mobile outed the Windows Phone Mango-sporting handset today, talking up the device’s 3.8-inch screen, 1GHz Snapdragon processor, five-megapixel camera (with a devoted camera button) and, of course, the titular 4G speed. No precise date on the thing yet, but the magenta carrier says it should be out in the States before the holidays.

Continue reading HTC Radar 4G headed to T-Mobile in time for the holidays, chock-full of Mango

HTC Radar 4G headed to T-Mobile in time for the holidays, chock-full of Mango originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Sep 2011 13:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While other carriers gear up for the upcoming iPhone 5, T-Mobile today introduced a trifecta of 4G products poised to take advantage of the carrier’s 20 Mbps-plus network speeds.

Two smartphones, the Android Gingerbread-running HTC Amaze 4G and the Samsung Galaxy S II, along with a hotspot, the Sonic 4G Mobile HotSpot, were introduced at the Mobilize 2011 conference.

The HTC Amaze 4G is all about the camera. It has 8 megapixels, 1080p HD video recording capabilities, a backside illuminated sensor and a dual LED flash. Touting zero shutter lag, it also comes with some proprietary digital camera features like SmartShot, which takes five photos and creates a composite for the “best” shot and PerfectPics, which creates a separate album of best photos based on qualities such as general picture sharpness and the presence of faces.

And we know all about the Samsung Galaxy S II, but the T-Mobile flavor is slightly different than Sprint’s Epic 4G Touch version. T-Mobile’s Galaxy S II will be NFC enabled, with a 1.5 GHz dual core Snapdragon processor. The 4.52-inch display, HDMI out and most other features remain largely unchanged.

T-Mobile’s Sonic 4G Mobile HotSpot, built by Huawei, can support up to five Wi-Fi devices and is small, weighing in at only 3.88 ounces. It has an SD card slot so you can share photo and video content with anyone who is also connected to the hotspot. An OLED screen on the device displays stats like network strength and battery level.

T-Mobile could soon be the only carrier not to offer Apple’s iPhone, so the company has instead decided to boost its 4G and Android offerings. It’s a smart move, as Android is iOS’s biggest competitor for now. In March, AT&T announced intentions to buy T-Mobile and merge their networks into one conglomerate. The move was recently blocked by the Justice Department, much to the joy of competing carriers (and many T-Mobile subscribers).

As the “anti-iPhone” carrier, it could also be smart of T-Mobile to embrace Windows Phone 7 and its upcoming Mango update. With Nokia’s hardware and software teams firmly behind Microsoft and a slew of new devices in the works, the critically acclaimed fledgling OS could take off come 2012. But so far it seems that AT&T has embraced that role a bit more, offering three Mango-specific smartphones that will debut this fall.

The HTC Amaze 4G will be available starting Oct. 10 and will cost $260 with a two-year contract. The Galaxy S II will run you $230 when it lands Oct. 12. The Sonic 4G Mobile HotSpot hasn’t been officially priced yet, but it will also be available in October.

Image: T-Mobile

It feels like just yesterday that we saw T-Mobile’s original 4G Mobile HotSpot at CTIA (our review is here), and already the purgatory-presiding US carrier is ushering out a successor. Alongside the Galaxy S II and Amaze 4G, the Sonic 4G Mobile HotSpot is being revealed at Mobilize, and it’s hailed as the carrier’s fastest ever in the category. Predictably, it’ll enable five WiFi devices to hop onto T-Mob’s HSPA+ 42 network, and there’s a microSD card slot for handling file transfers. The wow factor comes courtesy of the embedded OLED indicator display, which shows signal strength, number of devices connected, number of unread text messages, connectivity to the internet, battery level and network connection type. Lips are zipped on pricing, but it’ll be available at your nearest Magenta retailer next month.

Keep up with our Mobilize 2011 coverage here!

T-Mobile Sonic 4G Mobile HotSpot bringing OLED display, HSPA+ connectivity this October originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Sep 2011 14:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Europe may be enjoying the Sensation XE, but today at Mobilize, T-Mobile’s announced that it’s getting the exclusive on HTC’s Amaze 4G ($259.99 on a two-year contract), while also confirming the hardware whispers we’ve heard. With its 4.3-inch qHD screen and 1.5GHz dual-core CPU, it’s one of the first smartphones able to connect to T-Mobile’s upgraded 4G (HSPA+ 42Mbps) network and is the first HTC phone featuring an NFC chip — something we didn’t gather from those early spy-shots, but the manufacturer promised a while ago.

Pushing its photography credentials, the Amaze 4G’s eight megapixel shooter can record 1080p video, with a dedicated camera button (and even a direct-to-camcorder button) to make the most of the handset’s promised “zero shutter lag.” Its also got that backlit sensor found in its sibling, the myTouch 4G Slide, so we’re expecting admirable low-light performance, too. On the software side, it’s running Android 2.3.4, coated in the inevitable Sense veneer and supporting the likes of HTC Watch and T-Mobile TV. Will it be enough to steal the network’s king of Android crown away from the Galaxy S II when it ships October 12th? You tell us, as you check the PR after the break.

Keep up with our Mobilize 2011 coverage here!

Continue reading T-Mobile reveals HTC Amaze 4G, flaunts better camera and faster HSPA+

T-Mobile reveals HTC Amaze 4G, flaunts better camera and faster HSPA+ originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Sep 2011 14:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This week was packed with 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 September 19, 2011:

• Opera Software, builder of the popular mobile browser, announced it was acquiring Handster, an app store platform that supports Android, WP7, BlackBerry, and Symbian. [TechCrunch]
• Samsung unveiled three new HSDPA feature phones destined for India: the Champ 3.5G (S3770), Primo (S5610) and Chat 527 (S5270). [UnwiredView and SammyHub]
• A leaked image indicates the HTC Hero S will be coming to US Cellular in the near future. The device appears to be the Kingdom, and is expected to feature a 1.2GHz single-core Qualcomm CPU, 768MB of RAM, a 4-inch qHD display and Gingerbread. [PocketNow]
• Speaking of US Cellular, the Motorola Electrify officially became available for purchase online this week (expected in stores on September 26th), and can be yours for $200 after a $100 mail-in rebate. [AndroidCentral]
• Wirefly accidentally outed press renders of the Samsung Stratosphere — on the retailer’s Pantech Breakout page. The images have since been removed. [OwenJohnston]
• A white version of the Samsung Galaxy S II is making the rounds in the UK, but we learned this week that Bell Canada will be launching it well before the holidays. Interestingly, the device in the image (seen above) has retained the international version’s three-button layout. [MobileSyrup]
• Among the barrage of new phones Sprint’s releasing on October 2nd is the BlackBerry Curve 9350, according to another leaked employee memo. The price will likely be $80 after a $50 mail-in rebate. [CrackBerry]
• T-Mobile MVNO Simple Mobile announced a new unlimited prepaid plan for BlackBerry devices for $60 / month, which includes access to T-Mo’s HSPA+ network. [N4BB]
• Huawei appears to have outed press images of the Honor, which is said to have a 4-inch FWVGA LCD, Gingerbread, 1.4GHz CPU (no specifics known yet), and an 8MP rear camera accompanied by a front-facing cam (again, no details on the resolution here). [EuroDroid]
• A member of the iPhone Dev Team has released a new version of Redsn0w, its popular iOS jailbreaking software, known as 0.9.9b1. Check the link to get the full list of new features. [Technobolt]

Mobile Miscellany: week of September 19, 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 24 Sep 2011 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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