Hasta La Gadget!

The Motorola Droid 3 hasn’t exactly been doing the best job of staying under wraps, and it (or the international Milestone 3 variant, to be specific) has now landed in the hands of Chinese website xda.cn, which has provided what’s surely the most extensive look at the phone to date. That includes some additional confirmation of specs like a 4-inch qHD screen (of the PenTile variety, it seems), an 8 megapixel camera, HDMI out and a 1500 mAh battery, as well as what appear to be the first benchmarks of the phone and its dual-core OMAP 4430 processor, which is apparently slightly hampered by a mere 512MB of RAM. In other Droid 3 news, Droid Life notes that the device has turned up in Gameloft’s compatibility listings for its Android games, and says that its hearing that Verizon is now targeting a July 7th launch. That’s obviously still far from confirmed, but it seems safe to bet that a release can’t be too much farther off now. Hit the source link below for xda.cn‘s complete preview.

Motorola Droid / Milestone 3 gets previewed, Verizon release finally nearing? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Jun 2011 15:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Several 9to5Mac readers noticed a rather peculiar phenomenon this last week — their freshly-ordered Verizon iPad 2 units shipped all the way from China just fine, only to boomerang back to sender right before delivery time. Now, Reuters has the official word: Apple’s recalling an “extremely small number” of Verizon iPad 2s which were flashed with a duplicate MEID code. Should they have been delivered, users would probably have found themselves unable to connect to 3G, or booted off before long, as Verizon reportedly can only have one device with that unique identifier on the network at once. We’re not sure whether to applaud, but it’s good to see manufacturers taking responsibility for their hardware before it hits shelves.

Update: We spoke with Apple about this, who wouldn’t give us much beyond the official quote — which is, for the record: “Duplicate MEID codes were flashed onto an extremely small number of iPad units for the Verizon 3G network.” That said, we were able to confirm that a few of these 3G iPad 2s sneaked through and got into the hands of customers. Apple is, of course, replacing those free of charge, so if you’re in possession of a brand new iPad that was never able to get on 3G… you know who to call.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Apple returns a few Verizon iPad 2s to sender (updated: some got through) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 11 Jun 2011 18:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Absence makes the heart grow fonder, so when it comes to the Samsung Galaxy S II, our tiny American hearts are getting rather sick of all the love we’ve been experiencing lately. Computerworld’s latest rumor may be just what we need to stay sane for another month, though; it cites an unnamed Verizon spokesperson who mentioned this Fascinate follow-up, which will likely be known as the Function, will be coming in for a soft landing sometime in July, though no specifics were offered. The Galaxy S II is already being sold in Europe and Asia and blends a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus display, Gingerbread, dual-core 1.2GHz CPU, and many more top-of-the-line specs into one sleek and gorgeous package. If the July window is accurate, it means Verizon could be one of the first US carriers out of the gate with the phone. This is great news for the carrier that was, of the four national powers, dead last in getting its model of the Galaxy S to market. We’re anxiously awaiting word from a Verizon spokesperson for additional comment and will keep you posted — if our heart hasn’t popped out of our chest by then.

Update: We just received word from a Verizon spokesperson that the reference to a July release was just a miscommunication and was actually in reference to the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. Yeah, we’re bummed out, too.

Samsung Galaxy S II said to be Verizon-bound in July (update: just a miscommunication) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Jun 2011 15:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A very strange thing popped up on mobile graphic benchmarking site NenaMark the other day — an entry for the Droid Bionic. Now, it would be very easy to fake this test, and you’d be right to be skeptical given the incomplete score and the fact that it’s reporting PowerVR’s SGX 540 GPU, instead of the Tegra 2 we saw at CES. But, let’s not be too hasty — we heard back in April that NVIDIA’s mobile chip wasn’t playing nice with Verizon’s LTE. Perhaps when Motorola said it was delaying the Bionic to incorporate “several enhancements” it really meant “rebuilding the phone with a more LTE friendly CPU.” Both Samsung and Texas Instruments use the SGX 540, and Moto has previously turned to TI’s OMAP for the Droid, Droid 2, and Droid X. Then again, a single, suspiciously low benchmark score isn’t the most convincing basis for a rumor.

Droid Bionic benchmark reports PowerVR GPU, new SOC inside? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 29 May 2011 05:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Verizon is seriously diversifying its portfolio today with the official in-store launch of four new smartphones. Three of them roll up in Android gear, though they all have major selling points beyond Google’s software. LG’s Revolution is the sole LTE-capable handset of the bunch, bringing with it a 4.3-inch screen and pre-installed Netflix for $250. The Droid X2 undercuts it on price, at $200, but doubles the core count with its Tegra 2 processor and ramps up resolution to qHD (960 x 540). Gaming aficionados can spend the same amount on the Xperia Play from Sony Ericsson, which offers a slideout gamepad and unique PlayStation Certified status. Bringing up the rear is HTC’s well-traveled Trophy, a 3.8-inch Windows Phone that accepts it’s a little late to the party and therefore slices $50 off its asking price, with a $150 levy before the obligatory two-year contract. What say you — buy, try, or keep waiting?

Verizon bonanza: Droid X2, Revolution, Trophy, and Xperia Play hit Big Red today originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 May 2011 02:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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