Hasta La Gadget!

We’re seated for the official kickoff of this week’s CTIA Enterprise & Applications show, the opening keynote address. Today we’ll have the pleasure to hear from the Dan Hesse, Dan Mead and Ralph de la Vega, the CEOs of Sprint, Verizon Wireless and AT&T (respectively). The topic: “Return of the Titans — carrier insights.” We can’t be quite certain yet as to what this entails, but we expect many of these “insights” will actually be a plethora of witty jabs flying back and forth at each other. Regardless, we’re rather stoked to hear what these gentlemen have to say. Tune in after the break!

Continue reading Live from CTIA’s day one keynote with Dan Hesse, Dan Mead and Ralph de la Vega

Live from CTIA’s day one keynote with Dan Hesse, Dan Mead and Ralph de la Vega originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Oct 2011 12:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Being on Verizon’s 4G LTE network and having a smartphone with a QWERTY keyboard have been mutually exclusive features until now. Today, the carrier revealed the Samsung Stratosphere, a 4G smartphone with a slide-out keyboard.

The Stratosphere targets the business professional crowd, the folks who used to use (or still use) BlackBerries, but are looking to make the transition to Android or iOS.

The Stratosphere features a 4-inch Super AMOLED display with a 5-row QWERTY keyboard underneath. It runs Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) on a 1 GHz Hummingbird processor. For the biz folk, the smartphone supports some B2B services like Microsoft Exchange Active Sync as well as VPN, mobile device management and encryption.

Until now, if you wanted a phone with 4G and a hardware keyboard, you’d have to turn to another carrier like T-Mobile, which offers options like the Sidekick 4G or the MyTouch 4G Slide — not quite right if you’ve got enterprise on the mind. RIM will also be releasing five new smartphones this year, though, including the BlackBerry Torch 9810 series.

As far as Android goes, the operating system has had a stellar year so far. The OS dominates the smartphone market, and devices like the Samsung Galaxy S II are hitting record sales numbers.

The Stratosphere includes a 1.3-megapixel front facing camera, 5-megapixel rear facing camera and hot spotting for up to eight Wi-Fi enabled devices.

The Samsung Stratosphere will be available October 13th for $150 with a two-year contract.

Image: Verizon

Continue reading Samsung Stratosphere lands on Verizon October 13th: LTE and QWERTY for $150

Samsung Stratosphere lands on Verizon October 13th: LTE and QWERTY for $150 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Oct 2011 11:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Earlier this month, Microsoft announced a new slate of Xbox Live partnerships with Verizon, Comcast, and a host of other content providers. Now, the company has unveiled new details about the code upon which these new apps will run. Sources close to the situation tell GigaOM that the new framework, code-named “Lakeview,” will be based on Silverlight, but will also bring a few new features from Xbox Kinect, including voice recognition and gesture-based controls. More intriguing, perhaps, are insider claims that Microsoft’s new content partners stream video using Apple’s HTTP Live Streaming, rather than Redmond’s Smooth Streaming. GigaOM‘s sources went on to say that Microsoft has been introducing major changes to the platform over the past few weeks, in the hopes of having it ready for third-party developers once the Xbox Live update rolls out. Spokespersons for Xbox and Silverlight said they have “nothing to announce” about the new framework, though GigaOM reports that Redmond is aiming to release the update on Black Friday.

Microsoft reportedly preparing Silverlight-like app framework ahead of Xbox Live update originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Oct 2011 06:41:00 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 October 3, 2011:

• The Pantech Hotshot featurephone (above left) launched on Verizon this week. It’s a full 3.2-inch touchscreen with a 3.2 megapixel camera and video capture. It’s offered for $100 with a two-year contract. [PhoneScoop]
• AT&T launched the Pantech Link II (above right) this week, a follow-up to the popular Quick Messaging Device. It features BREW mobile 1.0.2 and is available for $10 with a two-year commitment.
• Cincinnati Bell launched the HTC Sensation 4G for $250 with a two-year contract and after a $50 mail-in rebate.
• The HTC Amaze 4G is heading north. Canadian carrier Telus has given the device its own piece of real estate on its site, having it listed as “coming soon.” [AndroidCentral]
• According to benchmark tests, the Sony Ericsson Nozumi actually has a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm CPU and uses Android 2.3.5. [LandofDroid]
• Open Range Communications, a WiMAX provider in the Denver area, is laying off more than a hundred employees, shutting down its WiMAX service to new customers and the CEO resigned. [PhoneScoop]
• Prefer the Washington Post over the New York Times? The former has its own Android app now available in the Market for free. [AndroidCentral]
• The Nokia N9 is now officially for sale in Australia, on Telstra. Vodafone and Optus haven’t put the device on sale yet, though both companies have announced intentions to do so at some point. [ComputerWorld]

Mobile Miscellany: week of October 3, 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Oct 2011 11:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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