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.
You know what happens when you give EVO 4Gs to a room full of some of the brightest developers the world has to offer? Well, [expletive] is going to go down, that's what -- so it comes as little surprise that the phone's already been blessed with a seemingly functional Froyo port, even though neither the phone nor the operation system have even seen a public release yet. The largest distribution of the EVO so far has come at the hands of Google itself, which provided the Android 2.1- and Sense-equipped handsets to attendees of its recent IO conference; a timely upgrade to Android 2.2 has unquestionably been a big sticking point for would-be buyers, though, so it's good to see that early owners are already hard at work making this happen. Root is naturally required for the 2.2 port to work -- and there will undoubtedly be some hurdles to overcome to make this totally usable -- but we have full faith in these lovely wunderkinds. Follow the break for video evidence of a Froyo'd EVO in the wild.
Everyone's favorite WiMAX-powered Android device finally has a date and a price, and you don't have terribly long to wait: June 4 is the date that you'll want to be lining up outside your local Sprint store for an EVO 4G, $199 in hand (assuming you're signing up for a new contract, of course -- according to the fine print, the full cost is $450 before all discounts). Interestingly, Sprint has specifically called out that you'll be able to video chat (remember, the EVO 4G has a front-facing cam) over both 3G and 4G using Qik -- not a bad choice, considering the company's well-established expertise with streaming live video out of handsets.
Unfortunately, there's a downside to all this: customers will be paying a mandatory (as confirmed to us by Sprint reps) $10 per month "Premium Data add-on" on top of their plan -- ostensibly for the privilege of enjoying WiMAX when they're in a Sprint 4G market -- and the 8-device WiFi hotspot feature runs an extra $29.99 a month, which Sprint is quick to point out is half what you'd pay for a dedicated mobile broadband account. As we saw at CTIA, the phone is the first to offer on-phone YouTube high quality video, a feature that automatically kicks in when you're in the sweet confines of a WiMAX tower. Oh, and check this out: Sprint was hesitant to commit to offering simultaneous voice and data before, but HTC must've worked out the kinks, because it's all systems go -- you'll be able to yap and browse on 4G at the same time.
We're at the EVO 4G's announcement in New York as we type, and we can tell you that everything Sprint is demoing is crazy fast -- we'd expect no less from an WiMAX device with a 1GHz Snapdragon -- and we're particularly stoked to see them demo Need For Speed Shift on it, which will be launching on Android around the same time as the device. Follow the break for Sprint's full press release!
Update: According to Phone Scoop, that $10 premium add-on has the benefit of no data cap for either WiMAX or 3G connections. Since we're on the subject of updates, have you seen our bevy of new EVO 4G videos yet?
Update 2: Starting today, Best Buy is accepting pre-orders for the device, and per usual, they won't require you to wait for the mail-in rebate -- it's just $199.99 straight-up on contract.
There's hardly anything here that we didn't already know, but an unveiling date of "next week" sure catches our eye. A new report over at The Wall Street Journal confirms earlier details that were fed to us over Sprint's first-ever WiMAX smartphone, and now we're learning that the HTC Supersonic will be officially revealed to the world at CTIA next week. We've heard before that the carrier anticipates selling a 4G phone "this summer," but you can bet we'll be digging for a hard ship date and price tag when we hit the scene in Las Vegas in just five short days.