Hasta La Gadget!

We wouldn’t say it was delivered with lightning speed, but Dell’s firmware update for the Venue Pro is at least on schedule. The outfit’s Lionel Menchaca tweeted that the refresh, which brings a fix for a WiFi lockup issue (among others), “starts rolling out today for T-Mobile customers in the US + all other customers outside the US.” Unfortunately for AT&T customers sporting this pro phone, it looks like you’ll be left in the firmware lurch a bit longer — there’s been no mention of a similar update for Ma Bell.

Update: It looks like someone spoke too soon. Lionel Menchaca’s taken to Twitter yet again to update us on the state of this update, and it appears T-Mo Venue Pro users are going to have to wait until next week for the refresh — it is, however, already available to unlocked devices. Considering how long we’ve waited, what’s another week? Right?

Dell Venue Pro firmware update silences WiFi woes (update: delayed) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Jul 2011 03:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’re still rockin’ a landline you probably take caller ID for granted at this point and, if you’re a mobile only kinda person, you might not even realize your cellphone lacks it. But, the truth is, until now true caller ID has never been available from America’s wireless carriers. There were a number of technical hurdles that stood in the way, but today those are officially crumbling as T-Mobile is launching Name ID in conjunction with Cequint, the company behind City ID. Instead of just checking an incoming call against your list of local contacts, the number is also fed through a larger database of publicly listed ones. Any match is displayed when you receive the call and, if the person isn’t already in your phonebook, you can easily add them with a tap. Of course, this sort of convenience doesn’t come free — T-Mo will be charging $3.99 a month for Name ID service. At first only Exhibit 4G owners will be able to sign up, but other handsets (including the myTouch 4G Slide) will be added to the list of compatible devices later. Check out the PR after the break.

Update: So looks like T-Mo was not first out the box with wireless caller ID here in the US: MetroPCS has offered it for some time and Sprint partnered with Privus Mobile back in March to offer similar features.

Continue reading T-Mobile Name ID finally brings true caller ID to your cellphone

T-Mobile Name ID finally brings true caller ID to your cellphone originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Jul 2011 22:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, what have we here? Another HTC EVO 3D, aka the PG86300, has landed on the FCC’s doorstep — only this time it’s packing radios similar to those seen in the phone’s European edition. This one works on the 1700MHz AWS band, so it appears could be destined for duty in the pockets of T-Mobile’s magenta-clad masses, though we can’t say for sure. However, now that the government’s decreed this EVO’s electronics won’t fry our brains, it shouldn’t be be long before we find out.

Update: This FCC filing is most likely for the European EVO 3G, which, like the European Sensation and Flyer, features a tri-band 3G (HSPA+) radio with 2100 / 1700 (AWS) and 900MHz as well as a quadband 2G radio. This means you’ll possibly be able to import the handset unlocked from Europe and use it with 3G on carriers like T-Mobile USA or Wind in Canada. Sorry, AT&T customers, no 3G soup for you!

EVO 3D at the FCC redux: now with AWS 3G (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 01 Jul 2011 11:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s powerful. It’s fast. It’s responsive. It has 4G-ish internet powers. It feels more solid than Google’s Nexus. The HTC Sensation 4G is probably T-Mobile’s best Android phone. But there’s one pesky thing preventing it from Android superiority: HTC Sense. More »

The introduction of Google Wallet felt a little too good to be true, didn’t it? It’s magical, like the tech equivalent of pulling a rabbit out of a hat. In reality, the tech behind mobile payments has been around since 2003 on a much smaller scale using near-field communications, more commonly known as NFC. The idea behind Wallet (amongst other services, like ISIS) is contactless pay — using your phone as a credit card — and is just one of the many ways NFC can be useful in our everyday lives. In fact, we’re only scraping the surface of what’s theoretically possible.

Google is definitely not the first company to dabble in NFC, but it appears to be poised and ready to push the tech’s adoption forward at a rapid pace with the advent of Wallet and Offers. Until now the coals have been hot; but if a fire’s going to start, someone monolithic has to throw a few newspapers in as kindling — and Google volunteered. But what good is NFC if it’s just an acronym that causes our eyes to glaze over? Is El Goog the only instigator? After the break we’ll focus on what NFC is capable of, and why we want it on our phones as soon as yesterday.

Continue reading Engadget Primed: What is NFC, and why do we care?

Engadget Primed: What is NFC, and why do we care? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Jun 2011 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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