Huawei unveils Ascend D quad, Ascend D quad XL and Ascend D1 Android phones.
Asus announces Padfone tablet/smartphone hybrid
Asus on Monday unveiled the Padfone from Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. The hybrid device was first announced in May last year, however a bit has changed since the Padfone's initial announcement at Computex 2011. .
Samsung announces Galaxy Note 10.1 with Android 4.0
Samsung on Monday took the wraps off another new addition to its Android tablet lineup, the Galaxy Note 10.1. Like the supersized "phablet" it joins in the Galaxy Note family, the Note 10.1 includes Samsung's S Pen stylus for drawing, note-taking, highlighting and much more..
Samsung Galaxy S III full specs
We reported some exclusive details surrounding Samsung's upcoming flagship Galaxy S III smartphone this past weekend, and now we have received some more information that helps us paint a more complete picture. And as that picture becomes more clear, this sure looks like the baddest Android smartphone the world hasn't yet seen. We reported that the new Samsung flagship would launch in a simultaneous fashion across the globe, but we now have some more detailed specifications to report. Ladies and gentlemen, here is the Samsung Galaxy S III.
As promised, T-Mobile has brought the Garminfone to retail today for $199 after $50 rebate on a new two-year contract, calling into question the viability of selling a nav-centric Android device with an HVGA display, 3 megapixel camera, and no 3.5mm headphone jack for $250 out of pocket in the store. We suppose the awesome car dock will attract some, but the myTouch 3G Slide certainly seems like the better option for less money -- maybe this would work at $99 or $149, we suppose. Not that we're impatient or anything, but where's our Froyo update, Garmin?
TmoNews has it on good authority that the entire line of myTouch 3G devices -- the original, the 3.5mm jack update, and the Slide -- will get upgraded with Android 2.2, as evidenced by a fascinating shot of a pamphlet the site has posted. Users of the older devices will also get the same Genius Button functionality that was just rolled out on the Slide, along with the updated Faves app and full Microsoft Exchange support, breathing new life into a phone that first saw life as the Magic well over a year ago. We don't have a timeframe for the updates other than that they're "coming soon," so we'll keep an eye out.
Say what you will about Nokia's software, there's no faulting the E70-series of QWERTY candybars, which marry delectable keyboards with thin, classy, and surprisingly rugged design -- and of course top it off with an almost-just-too-small screen. The latest of these is the new Nokia E73 Mode for T-Mobile US (that's right, a Nokia phone on a US carrier!), which will start shipping on June 16th. The S60 handset has a 5 megapixel camera with flash and autofocus, WiFi, free turn by turn Ovi Maps, and not much more to speak of to set it apart from its predecessors, which is a good or bad thing depending upon what you want out of a phone. The best news, however, is that it's retailing for $69.99 on a two year contract.
So T-Mobile's myTouch 3G Slide -- the QWERTY-enabled version of the venerable myTouch 3G -- has been priced and dated, and we're happy to see that "expected to be available in June" has turned out to mean the very beginning of the month; June 2, to be exact, in your choice of red, white, or black. What makes us less happy, though, is the notion of paying $179.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate for an Android device that now has the unenviable job of lying in the massive shadow created by the brilliant EVO 4G. Granted, the two phones are for very different carriers, but that doesn't really excuse T-Mobile from offering up a phone with a lower-class processor, 40 percent of the screen resolution, and three megapixels lopped off the camera for just $30 less upfront, does it? Time for some serious price correction across the smartphone landscape, wethinks.
This is totally out of the blue, but we were just hit up with a screen shot suggesting that T-Mobile USA will be launching a portrait QWERTY handset from Nokia on June 16 known as the E73 'Mode.' As is evidenced with the Nuron, T-Mobile has a tendency to assign trademarkable names to Nokias in its lineup that are known elsewhere in the world by their model number only, so we imagine that this phone will end up launching globally simply as the E73 as it takes over the E72's throne as Espoo's top productivity beast. More on this as we get it, but in the meantime, check out a bigger shot of the phone after the break.
If this rumor came true, it'd be just about the least shocking phone-related event in recent memory; both RIM and T-Mobile have reputations for releasing devices in multiple colors, and the Curve 8500 series is no exception. Anyhow, the story goes that T-Mobile's BlackBerry Curve 8520 will be graced with a third color -- fuchsia, which doesn't look nearly as shocking as it sounds -- on May 19, joining the black and white versions already available in the lineup. We'd probably still take a Bold 9700 over this, but you know what the 8520 has that the 9700 doesn't? A fuchsia version, that's what.
There's no word yet on when the Motorola Motoroi will make it to T-Mobile (in the industry we call that "the T-Motoroiola rumor") but there has definitely been a good deal of chatter concerning this handset. The latest has Pocket-lint confirming a UK release with Moto itself. Offering similarities to Taipei's HSPA-lovin' XT701, users in Ol' Blighty (and the rest of the UK) can look forward to an 8-megapixel camera (with a Xenon flash), support for 720p video, mini HDMI, and an unspecified processor boost. In addition, Android 2.1 is likely to be part of the deal. We have neither a timeline nor a price, and the veracity of this rumor is yet to be established (although it does seem like a no-brainer), but if this all goes down as Pocket-lint says it will you can color us Yanks mighty jealous.
Motorola, in case you haven't noticed, hasn't done much in the way of high-spec gear since the announcement of the original Droid way back in October of last year -- and, well, that's a problem for a company that's in the midst of trying to kick-start a recovery to get its corporate split off on the right foot. The so-called Sholes Tablet -- alternatively known as the XT720 or the MOTOROI -- had seemed destined to become Moto's next volley thanks to comments by SK Telecom and Motorola execs at the phone's Korean launch, even going so far as to call out a March launch window, but March has come and gone and the phone is nowhere to be found. Heck, we even found FCC evidence that the phone would be hitching up with T-Mobile, but that was way back in January and we're on the cusp of Summer now.
We understand that delays happen in this business -- in fact, delays always happen -- but these protracted, phased roll-outs around the globe are never good for a product's image since the last markets to get the product have been exposed to it (thanks in part to yours truly) for months. This would be a killer high-end device for T-Mobile USA, but it's got to launch immediately; the Nexus One's been out there since January, and we can pretty much guarantee that Google doesn't intend to back down with the superphone assault. We suppose it's possible that the Sholes Tablet will actually reemerge as the "Nexus Two" -- Sanjay Jha wants to offer a Nexus-branded phone, after all -- but however it comes out, it's got to happen right now. Trust us, Motorola -- you've got a golden opportunity to learn from Sony Ericsson's mistakes on this one.
The CLIQ's keyboardless cousin is getting a software update as we speak -- but unfortunately, it's probably not quite what you were hoping for. In fact, the T-Mobile Community board post officially announcing the CLIQ XT upgrade had to specifically call out the fact that this isn't Android 2.1, proof positive that there's a ton of interest in getting these things on something fresher than the 1.5 they launched on. Anyhow, the update still looks like a good one, promising to improve "overall phone performance" and tweak visual voicemail, Bluetooth, touchscreen accuracy, messaging, and camera issues. T-Mobile says you're welcome to wait for the on-screen notification, or you can manually check for the update in Settings and you should be able to pick it up. Good luck, folks.
In the wireless industry, $100 is a rather magical psychological barrier -- a price point below which consumers generally have a much easier time pulling the trigger on a sweet upgrade. So when you offer a phone for $200, a percentage of your target demographic is generally going to drop out of the race with cries of "too rich for my blood." No worries with this new HTC HD2 for T-Mobile, though, because it turns out that a number of resellers are already discounting the phone right down into that $99.99 sweet spot despite the fact that it was just launched this very week. Most notably, anyone agreeing to a two-year contract through Amazon can get the phone for less than a Benjamin, and that's upfront -- no mail-in rebate craziness to contend with. Certainly makes the phone -- arguably WinMo 6.5's last real hurrah -- a more appealing buy, doesn't it?
T-Mobile's selected CTIA 2010 this week as the venue to launch its customized version of Dell's Mini 10 netbook that's been infused with -- you guessed it -- T-Mobile-compatible 3G service. It's got a 10.1-inch WSVGA display, 1.3 megapixel webcam, three USB ports, VGA port, Windows 7 Starter Edition, and an Atom N450 core humming along at 1.66GHz with a claimed battery life of "up to" eight hours using a six-cell 56WHr pack. In terms of frequencies, you've got quadband EDGE alongside quadband (yes, quadband) 3G with support for Bands I, II, IV, and V, which means you'll be able to roam in 850 / 1900MHz markets and internationally. It's available starting tomorrow in "select T-Mobile retail locations" in Chicago, Dallas, Miami, and Los Angeles as well as through the carrier's site and sales hotline for $199.99 on a two-year deal.
Man, the Android netbook hype is just getting silly as we draw nearer to Computex: the whispers today are that HTC and T-Mobile are working on a 3G-capable machine running Google's OS. That vague bit of info is all we have at the moment, but it's not totally insane -- HTC and T-Mobile are bosom buddies in the Android game, after all. We'll keep an ear to the ground.
When the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic was released a little more than a year ago, we thoroughly panned it in our review -- put simply, it felt undercooked and uncompetitive in a world where webOS, iPhone OS, and Android were all realities, regardless of Nokia's existing smartphone dominance through much of the world. More than a year later, we're now presented with the Nokia Nuron, a pretty close relative of that first S60 5th Edition device from back in the day; it's simply a carrier-branded version of the 5230, which itself is a lower-end variant of the 5800.
Despite its flaws, the 5800 has gone on to become a global success for Nokia -- but can the Nuron do the same in a market traditionally unfazed by Nokia's advances? More directly, has Nokia's first volley in the modern touchphone battle evolved enough to become a prime-time player in the States? Let's find out. Nokia Nuron for T-Mobile review
As you might be able to gather from its family tree, the Nuron is a dead ringer for the 5230 and for the 5800 before it -- it's the same physical layout (and made from the same materials) all the way around, and the white / silver color scheme that T-Mobile has chosen for its version might be our favorite of the lot. Along the right side you've got a one-position camera button (there's no autofocus to worry about), a volume rocker, and the lock / unlock slider familiar to those who've used the 5800, N900, or a number of other Nokia products. On the left you'll find two slots protected by flaps -- one for the microSD card, another for the SIM; getting the SIM in is a simple matter, while getting it out again requires just a little more effort since you've got to remove the battery and use a pen or similarly-shaped object to pop it back out through a slot in the circuit board, but it shouldn't be a big deal unless you do a ton of SIM swapping. Along the top you've got a power button that calls up the typical profile menu when pressed, a 3.5mm headphone jack, a micro-USB port protected by a flap, and -- get this -- an old-school 2mm power jack. Why's it there, you ask? Because the Nuron doesn't charge over micro-USB, which is positively unheard of by 2010 standards, even in Nokia's own product pipeline. The only possible explanation is that the Nuron's based on 18 month-old hardware, but that doesn't make it acceptable.
The volume rocker is deceiving, particularly for those not used to Nokia's quirky way of handling things. Basically, it does absolutely nothing most of the time, because it isn't used for adjusting ringer volume -- for that, you've got to muck around with your profile (to be fair, Nokia does a far better job supporting profiles than most manufacturers, but it still takes a little more effort than we'd like). Instead, the rocker only comes into play when you're in a call or listening to music, or intermittently as a zoom control for some applications -- though we couldn't figure out a rhyme or reason to how or where Nokia decided to implement it (it doesn't work in the browser, for example).
On the left side, you'll also find a small hole toward the bottom. This is the lanyard port, an accessory that plays a slightly more important role on the Nuron than on most phones because -- like the 5800 -- it's provided with a plectrum in the box. As a refresher, "plectrum" is the uncool dictionary term for a guitar pick, and "uncool" is exactly how we'd describe Nokia's expectation that anyone would want to carry this thing on a string hanging off the corner of their phone. How necessary is the plectrum, exactly? Fortunately, we found that the resistive display pared with the latest incarnation of S60 5th Edition here does a relatively good job of keeping our fat fingers happy, and for those very rare occasions where we need more precision, we can just turn our finger around and use our fingernail temporarily. Disaster averted, no plectrum necessary -- but seriously, if Nokia really thought you'd need a tool like this, they would've been well-served to find a way to slip a stylus into the case (something better than the 5800's afterthought of a stylus built into the battery cover, that is). We're sure there's room.
We know there'd be room for a stylus because something very, very important was left out of the Nuron: WiFi. To leave out WiFi from a smartphone these days and charge $70 for it on contract is almost insulting, and it's particularly egregious when you're launching the device on the carrier with the smallest 3G footprint of the Big Four. Of course, we've got to let T-Mobile take part of the blame on this one -- they (and their customers) would've been well-served to ask Nokia for a branded version of the WiFi-equipped 5800 rather than the 5230, which in turn would've made us a wee bit more comfortable with the sticker price. As it stands, though, this is an extremely difficult device to recommend if you're outside of T-Mobile's 3G coverage area.
As for software, S60 5th hasn't evolved much from its humble roots -- you certainly won't find anything akin to Symbian^4 here. Many of our complaints from the 5800 carry over, like the mixed item-selection paradigm (one tap on the main menu, two taps in lists) and the weak text entry, but the addition of inertial scrolling makes a surprisingly big difference in everyday usability. The way we'd describe it is this: current dumbphone users, S60 5th Edition users, and most S60 3rd Edition users will feel right at home with the Nuron's user experience, but everyone else -- particularly anyone who's used a Pre, iPhone, or Android device -- will be a bit stymied by some of the platform's stranger principles.
The phone offers up essentially the same tried-and-true WebKit-based champion of a browser that Nokia has been using on its smartphone for years, which does a fabulous job of rendering most sites designed for desktops; finger scrolling and automatic orientation changes both work well, too, but we found that the phone tended to choke up on more complex sites (Engadget is an unfortunate example). In general, the phone felt a little underpowered for some of the tasks it was being asked to perform; the "bounce" effect at the ends of lists during inertial scrolls was a little jerky, for example, and even simple tasks like pausing music were met with momentary delays -- nothing more than a fraction of a second, but perceptible nonetheless.
The big deal about the Nuron -- the 800-pound gorilla on the spec sheet, if you will -- is the fact that it includes Ovi Maps with turn-by-turn capability for free out of the box, making it one of the cheapest phones to ship anywhere with usable in-car navigation at no additional charge. We've already shown that Ovi shakes out as a pretty good solution when you put it up against the competition, and the Nuron is no exception -- but the phone shares the same weakness that we've seen on countless Nokias (and BlackBerrys) of the past: it's pretty hard to get a location lock. Anyone with an Android device or an iPhone of any generation knows that they can hop into their mapping app and get a rough location fix almost immediately, but even with AGPS fully enabled on the Nuron, we waited for several minutes by a window with downtown Washington, DC showing on the display (we're in Chicago) before giving up.
The 5230 is a phone that sells internationally for €149 unsubsidized, unlocked, and unbranded. That's just $200! The Nuron, by contrast, is locked and branded, which immediately devalues the phone by a somewhat unquantifiable amount -- but regardless of the dollar figure you want to put on that, it's worth something less than $200. T-Mobile meanwhile charges you $70 to own this phone on top of a two-year contract with a $200 early-termination fee. Translated, that means that if you buy this phone, break your contract, and keep the phone, you're out $270.
Coincidentally, we kept thinking to ourselves "this might be a decent phone if it were free on contract" as we played with it. But it's not free, and it's certainly not worth a dime more than that. In other words, it's -- drum roll, please -- Unrecommendable at Any Price.
Here's another way of looking at it. In the context of T-Mobile's smartphone lineup, you've got the WinMo-based Dash 3G at $50, the G1 at $100, and the CLIQ XT at $130; realistically, we might expect to see the G1 fall in price one more time before it's discontinued. The Dash 3G's WinMo roots and lack of a touchscreen make it a tough call, but we wouldn't hesitate to recommend a G1 over the Nuron; like the G1, Nokia's latest entry certainly isn't going to win any beauty or thickness contests, and the G1 is arguably a significantly more capable device out of the box. Yes, free turn-by-turn is the Nuron's ace in the hole -- but when you've got this many negatives stacked up against you, it's just not enough, especially when you consider that Google Maps Navigation is on Android 1.6 anyhow.
If there's a positive we can take from this, it's that Nokia and T-Mobile are starting to work a lot more closely together than they have in the past; the Nuron is evidence of that, of course, and the N900's AWS support is a telling sign, too. With MeeGo in the pipe and Symbian chugging along, we're excited to see what these guys do together in the future, but for now, the Nuron -- which hits stores this Wednesday -- is unfortunately a strong avoid.
HTC's new flagship device is now almost certain to officially land on British shores ahead of its Sense-less elder brother, the Nexus One. T-Mobile's official online store is ready to take your order for the Desire right this minute, though it does come with the proviso that delivery may take up to seven days. That meshes almost perfectly with Amazon's April 1 delivery date, though the most exciting news might relate to pricing. At the high end, you can have the phone for free on £35 ($53) per month over two years -- nothing new there -- but at the £15 ($22) a month price point, you can have 300 minutes, 300 texts, unlimited (with an asterisk) internet and the Desire for £129 ($194). With Orange and Vodafone also confirmed as carriers, it's looking like a good time for Android lovers in the UK. In the meantime, a black prototype Desire has been spotted online, following swiftly in the footsteps of the silver Desire we saw setting Dutch hearts aflutter last week. It's not yet clear if or when it'll be making its way into retail, but the video awaits after the break in any case.
Well, we'd already had a pretty clear indication that the HTC HD2 would be launching on T-Mobile on March 24th (or possibly the 23rd), and Laptop Magazine is now reporting that a "very close T-Mobile source" has confirmed that the 24th is indeed the date, and that the phone will run $199 on a two-year contract (or $449 off-contract). The March 23rd date that recently cropped up is apparently just the day the MobiTV software will go live. Just as notably, Laptop also says that it has confirmed that the phone won't be upgradeable to Windows Phone 7 Series -- although, at this point, we'll have to hear that first-hand to truly put an end to the speculation. Thankfully, that should happen in just a few days.
At long last, the protracted wait for Sony Ericsson's first Android phone is coming to an end. T-Mobile's web store has this morning added the Xperia X10 to its stable of mobile devices, though it requests 10 days' worth of patience before getting the handsets out to their impatient new owners. Pricing is surprisingly higher than that associated with the HTC Desire -- the £15 per month two-year contract that nets you the Nexus One clone for £129 ($194) requires a steeper £191 ($287) for the X10. Mind you, with that delivery delay dragging you into April, you might want to hold out a tiny bit longer to see what propositions Vodafone may have in store for prospective purchasers of the X10.
As much gentle ribbing as the Fender rebranding of T-Mobile's myTouch 3G has gotten, someone's obviously buying the blasted things because the carrier's been wiped clean of them -- all 17,250 units, according to TmoNews. Sure enough, a quick check of T-Mobile's site confirms that the device is listed as "temporarily out of stock," but the problem is that "temporarily" might be a hell of a wait -- it's being claimed that we won't see a fresh batch of these until April. Why the huge gap? It seems T-Mobile had to go back to HTC and place a second order for the phone, possibly a sign that even the carrier is shocked at the success of a year-old, warmed-over device with some fake wood and a corporate tie-in. Amazing what a little rock 'n roll can do, isn't it?
The CLIQ isn't having all the Android over-the-air update fun today -- and unlike Motorola's little debacle, this upgrade looks like it's here to stay. The myTouch 3G has started receiving what appears to be the tiniest of cute little updates -- so tiny, in fact, that it fixes just one bug: a dodgy missed call indicator that wasn't showing up consistently. The bottom line is that you can't expect Android 2.0 or 2.1 here -- you'll still be at 1.6, and if you're intentionally not answering your phone, you may have actually preferred the bug anyhow. Let us know how your updates go, folks.
A few extremely lucky (or unlucky, depending on how you look at it) CLIQ owners were blessed with a new firmware update today, it seems, before the goods were unceremoniously yanked just minutes later. Phone Scoop reports that software version 1.3.8 -- which still runs Android 1.5, by the bye -- was available for just 15 minutes before Motorola took it offline. No one's coughed up a changelog yet, but users that have received the update have reported that it claims to improve GPS tracking and features a new option for assigning functionality to a double-press of the home button. For its part, Motorola's saying that "a test version of the update was mistakenly enabled" but isn't giving guidance on when we might see an official release -- so let's just make sure it has Android 2.1 next time it goes live, yeah?
T-Mobile's not officially selling its world-beating HD2 until Wednesday, but if you've a Walmart nearby and hankering to get HTC's latest and greatest a few days early, it might be worth a trip out. JDMiPhoner managed to score one from his local Wally World a full four days early, and he's been kind enough to unbox it, boot it up and give us a few first impressions on video. Is it really worth a couple of Benjamins with Windows Phone 7 Series just a few months away? Head on past the break if you'd care to be reminded of just how painful it is to know that this WinMo 6.5-packin' gem won't ever be upgradable (natively, anyway) to WP7S.
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