Hasta La Gadget!

Motorola has just outed its delicious Honeycomb tablet alongside another device, the LTE-equipped Bionic, on its official site. The company’s CES press conference is ongoing right now, where the Xoom will presumably get its proper announcement. All we know so far is that this slate is headed to Verizon, the press release is still somewhere in the hidden parts of the internet. More soon!

Update: The PR and full spec sheet are now embedded after the break. A 1GHz dual-core Tegra 2 will power this 10.1-incher, while 4G connectivity will be made available as an update in Q2 following a Q1 launch. Other specs include a 1280 x 800 resolution, 5 megapixel camera, 720p video recording and 1080p video playback, 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, and finally, a healthy 32GB of onboard storage. The battery is rated to be capable of supporting 10 hours of video. Be still, our beating hearts!

[Thanks, Pratik]

Continue reading Motorola Xoom becomes official, headed to Verizon in Q1, upgradeable to 4G in Q2

Motorola Xoom becomes official, headed to Verizon in Q1, upgradeable to 4G in Q2 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Jan 2011 19:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Here we are a mere day away from the ThunderBolt’s probable announce at Verizon’s CES press conference, which, by our rough count, gives us at least one more opportunity to see the LTE-capable monster leaked in the wild. That opportunity comes courtesy of AndroidSPIN, who claims that we can expect a 1GHz single-core processor, 8GB of internal storage with microSD expansion, 8 megapixel rear and 1.3 megapixel front cams, Android 2.2.1 with Sense, HTC-customized mapping and nav (probably HTC Locations with offline caching), and DLNA compatibility — but no built-in HDMI. Every one of those specs was either already expected or believable enough, though the lack of HDMI — if true — would still give the EVO 4G some bragging rights more than six months after its release. Score one for longevity, eh?

[Thanks, Taylor S.]

HTC ThunderBolt in the wild one more time: 8GB internal, no HDMI? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Jan 2011 09:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fan of the early upgrade? Hope you’re not on Big Red, then. Android Central’s obtained what’s purported to be a slide from Verizon‘s training material, one that says customers on a two-year contract “will no longer be able to upgrade in months 13 – 20 of their 24 month contract as a standard policy” after January 16th. As for the the New Every Two deal, pared down once already in February 2009, new customers won’t be enrolled if they activate or upgrade a line, also after the 16th. In other words, the program would be effectively dead in the water, but we don’t know if this slide is gospel or a cruel forgery, and we may not know for about another two weeks… you know, after the deluge of exciting phones that’ll be revealed at CES this week. Them’s the breaks.

[Thanks, Mike]

Verizon Wireless nixing early upgrades and New Every Two program? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Jan 2011 16:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New year means a new price for the Verizon-branded Galaxy Tab. Droid-Life has received word from a couple of VZW store employees that the big red network intends to chop a nice $100 chunk off its price for the 7-inch Android tablet. Though this move hasn’t yet been made official, the Galaxy Tab should soon be available to buy for $500, without any contractual obligations and plus a $60 movie rental voucher that can be redeemed in Samsung’s Media Hub or the preloaded Blockbuster Mobile app. You shouldn’t freak out if you’ve just bought a Tab either, as Verizon’s also said to be offering a benevolent refund for the difference in price to buyers of the Samsung slate who happen to have receipts dating from the last 14 days.

Verizon cutting Galaxy Tab price to $500, will refund any purchases from last two weeks originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 01 Jan 2011 21:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As commonplace as smartphones have become, it’s about time that carriers and manufacturers start getting serious about mobile security (and no, we don’t mean iPhone tethers). According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, Verizon is currently working with Lookout, a San Francisco-based company known for remote backup and geolocation apps for BlackBerry, Android, and Windows Mobile devices, while RIM has recently announced a little something called BlackBerry Protect, which promises to lock or even wipe a misplaced phone, pinpoint the thing on a map, and make regularly-scheduled wireless backups. By far the most ambitious plans in the article, however, belong to AT&T, which — aside from recent deals with MobileIron and McAfee — is currently opening a new mobile security lab in New York City. From here, the company will research malware, worms, viruses, and other threats as they develop in the mobile sphere. “Everyone is realizing that this is an uncontrolled environment,” said AT&T chief security officer Edward G. Amoroso. “We don’t want to have the same problems that we had with PCs.”

AT&T, Verizon, RIM get serious about security for mobile devices originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Dec 2010 13:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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