We've already seen it turn up in a few blurry shots, and seen it pictured a bit more clearly inside a case, but we now finally have our first good, unobstructed look at T-Mobile's still unannounced myTouch 4G Slide. What's more, the tipster that provided the shots to TmoNews also offered up a few quick impressions, saying that the keyboard was "amazing" and roughly comparable to the T-Mobile G2, and that the phone itself is "surprisingly fast" but a bit heavier than the G2. Hit up the source link below for a closer look.
Stephen Elop said that Nokia would unveil its first MeeGo device this year, and he just made good on his word with the N9 (also known as Lankku). Just as we spotted earlier, the N9 is a solid slab of 3.9-inch AMOLED screen (854 x 480) sans a keyboard or physical switches of any kind (well, aside from that oh-so-necessary volume rocker and camera button). The phone comes with 16GB or 64GB of onboard memory and 1GB of RAM wrapped in a polycarbonate shell that's colored all the way through, so dings and scratches won't show -- unless the wounds run deep, of course. An OMAP3630 1 Ghz processor does the computing while a PowerVR SGX530 GPU is around for graphical grunt work. Connectivity comes courtesy of quad-band GSM and penta-band WCDMA radios, plus Bluetooth 2.1, NFC, and GPS. There is also a dedicated camera button for the 8 megapixel wide-angle shooter, which is capable of aperture F2.2 for low light picture taking and true 16:9 720p video recording. Oh, and it's an AF shooter, not EDoF.
The entire thing measures 116.45- x 61.2- x 7.6-12.1mm and weighs 135 grams, with a battery capable of lasting up to 50 hours (music), 4.5 hours (720p video), or between seven and 11 hours (GSM yappin'). You'll also get gratis turn-by-turn drive and walk navigation with voice guidance in Maps, a dedicated Drive app, proximity sensor and a choice of hue: black, cyan, and magenta. Other hardware specs include 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi, an ambient light sensor, compass, orientation sensor, a micro SIM slot, tethering support and a 3.5mm "AV connector." It'll be humming along on MeeGo 1.2 Harmattan, with apps being compliant with Qt 4.7 and HTML5 support bundled in.
As for software? Aside from Angry Birds Magic, Galaxy on Fire 2, Real Golf 2011 and OpenGL ES 2.0, those who take the plunge will be greeted with a Webkit2-based browser, pinch-to-zoom support, unified notifications for Facebook, Twitter and RSS feeds in the Events view as well as social networking profiles and status updates merged into phone contacts. MeeGo touts a user interface simplified to three home views -- events, applications and open apps -- with a swipe gesture able to take you back to the home view. For those looking to expand upon what's loaded from the factory, Ovi Store access is included, but we've no idea what kind of pricing will be affixed. We'll be getting a fair bit of hands-on time with this guy in just a few hours, so keep it locked here for our first impressions!
We've heard rumblings that Samsung's Exhibit 4G would be making its way to T-Mob on June 8, but now the carrier has confirmed that the Gingerbread smartphone will be available sometime in June. The Exhibit will join Samsung's Gravity Smart, both featuring grounded sub-$100 price tags (after $50 rebate) when they hit stores. T-Mob is displaying the Exhibit with violet and black finishes, and says you'll see "theoretical" peak download speeds of 21Mbps on the HSPA + handset. As for the Smart, the carrier's first Android-powered Gravity smartphone will launch with 2.2 Froyo, and includes a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, so you'll be sending Group Texts to 50 of your closest friends with four rows of hardware keys. Both phones include 3 megapixel rear-facing cameras with flashes, while the Exhibit adds a front-facing cam as well, so that myTouch 4G girl may be hawking a new smartphone on your TV later this month.
The Droid X2 is Motorola’s most powerful phone and boasts a dual-core 1Ghz Processor along with Android 2.2 which will be updated the new Android 2.3 Gingerbread. It also sports a large 4.3-Inch scratch resistant qHD display, 8 Megapixel camera, Mobile Hotspot which allows you to share your 3G connection over WiFi to 5 other devices, HDMI output and and support for Google Services including Gmail, YouTube, Google Talk, Google Maps and many more.
Looking for a handset that harkens back to simpler, pre-smartphone era, without losing the Googley luster of Android? We've got the perfect phone for you, and all you've got to do is move to Japan and get a Softbank Mobile account. Sharp, one of the largest smartphone manufacturers in its native country, rolled out the retro-future Gingerbread-packing Aquos Phone Hybrid 007SH, an Android 2.3 flip phone with a 180-degree swiveling touchscreen above the hinge and a numeric dial pad below that all the cool kids in Shibuya crave. It's also got some pretty solid specs, so far are clamshell phones go, including a 16MP camera and a 3D-capable display. The handset will hit Softbank in mid-June followed shortly by Sharp's rotary Honeycomb tablet.
Sprint customers holding out for the HTC Evo 3D can now inch slightly closer to that glasses-free display -- without dropping by RadioShack. The carrier has confirmed that you can reserve the WiMAX handset by visiting a Sprint-owned retail store and plunking down $50 for a gift card. There's still no word on when you'll be able to get the device in-hand (and the 3D's exclusive carrier is mum on pricing), but, if you don't mind reserving a phone without any hint as to how much you'll eventually need to pay, then Sprint seems happy enough to swap your Grant for a spot on the list. It's also taking names for the Evo View 4G tablet and, like the 3D, that $50 deposit can be used to take a bite out of a 2D handset. You know, in case you decide that a third dimension is too hot to handle.
The HTC EVO 3D and LG Optimus 3D just got themselves a new buddy in the three-dee picture-taking arena in the shape of Sharp's Aquos Phone SH-12C. We know, that name just rolls off the tongue. What's remarkable about the 12C is that the dual cameras on its back go all the way up to 8 megapixels (to the EVO 3D's 5), which will be creating quite the tasty workload for the 1.4GHz Qualcomm MSM8255 chip contained within. A qHD (540 x 960) screen resolution also keeps up with HTC's latest, though the 4.2-inch, 3D-capable display on the Aquos offers more pixel density and less in absolute real estate. Android 2.3, replete with some evident customizations, will serve as the OS, and 720p video recording in 3D will also be available when Sharp launches the 12C in Japan on May 20th. Rest of the world? Well, we can dream about it right now.
It looks the same, it works the same, and though it's three-tenths of a millimeter thicker than the original, Sprint's Nexus S 4G has one major difference: it sports a WiMAX radio. Today, the freshest Gingerbread smartphone goes on sale, just as planned, bringing the same 4-inch curved Super AMOLED screen, 1GHz Hummingbird chip and NFC capabilities your T-Mobile counterparts have enjoyed for months plus the promise of Google Talk video chat. Find it for $200 on-contract directly at Sprint, or shave $50 off the sticker price if you're a brand-new customer by trying Best Buy instead.
This is exactly how we humans got out of the trees five million years ago. We spot a problem, like the iPhone 4's lack of 4G data, and we solve it. In fact, Korean Telecom's new Egg sleeve not only brings WiMAX to the iPhone 4 but also incorporates an extra battery to allow five hours of 4G surfing. It could make bipedalism slightly uncomfortable however, by bulking your pocket out with 2.4 ounces (68g) in added weight plus a third of an inch (8mm) in extra thickness. Primates outside of South Korea can't buy the ₩129,800 ($120) Egg right now, but problem-solving minds can always use 4G mobile hotspots instead -- like the Sprint Overdrive or Verizon's new LTE-based MiFi. That's why we're the jungle VIP.
Someone left a little gift for the folks at TmoNews -- spy shots featuring the Gingerbread-toting Samsung Exhibit 4G, which also just passed through the FCC as the SGH-T759. We can tell from the photos and fillings that the T759 packs both front- and rear-facing cameras (the latter with an LED flash), a microSD card slot, Android 2.3.3 with a TouchWiz veneer, and an HSPA+ radio. It's been suggested that the Exhibit could possibly have specs that line up with the rumored Galaxy S II Mini, including a 3.7-inch Super AMOLED screen and a 1.4GHz processor -- according to TmoNews, that CPU might be the older ARM11 variety, which could help explain the underwhelming Quadrant score in the images. Price and availability are up in the air, but we'd err on the side of cheap and soon. Check out the source for a few more pics.
We've known Samsung's Infuse 4G was coming to AT&T since the day we got our grubby mitts on one at CES, and now it's finally here. Samsung's svelte superphone with the dazzling 4.5-inch Super AMOLED Plus display is launching May 15th on AT&T for $200 on a two-year contract. Keep it locked right here, as more pics and a hands-on with Sammy's hot new handset are on the way.
Behind that sizable screen real estate, the Infuse 4G packs HSDPA Cat 14 and HSUPA Cat 6 radios, a 2GB microSD card, 1.2 GHz processor, and Android 2.2. Sammy also gave it an 8-megapixel camera in the back that does 720p video and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing shooter -- all in a handset that's 9.24mm thick in the bulge at the bottom and 8.9mm thin most everywhere else. Full details are in the PR after the break.
As you may have have been able to discern from the multitude of leaks that have surfaced over the past few months, RIM is apparently getting set to debut a new touchscreen-equipped BlackBerry Bold at BlackBerry World next week. While still not completely official, that's now been all but confirmed by RIM itself, which briefly featured the teaser pictured above on its website before pulling it for reasons unknown. As you can see, RIM apparently couldn't help itself and promised that it will be a "bold step ahead," and it appears that the phone is unsurprisingly running BlackBerry 7, which until recently was better known as OS 6.1. Of course, that's hardly the only news we're expecting to hear at BlackBerry World, and you can be sure we'll be there to brave the puns and bring it all to you.
The problem with Sirius Satellite Radio? You can listen to hundreds of stations, but only if you tune in live. As it stands, licensing restrictions make it impossible to record Howard Stern asking intrusive questions about people's sex lives. But that could change with version 2.0 of the platform, which is rumored to be on track for a fall release. According to a CNET report citing the good ole' "source close to the company," select programs will be available for on-demand listening for a limited period after their original airing. And, this source says, the new platform could take a cue from Pandora and Slacker with personalized stations that let you skip songs, flag your favorites, and ban the ones that drive you insane. If true, listeners would get a whole lot more value out of that $13 monthly subscription -- and SiriusXM might have a greater chance of beating Pandora in the battle for your in-car attention. Until then, you'll just have to keep listening to Tiger Blood Radio live.
The biggest problem facing mankind? No, not really. But when the alien robot sentinels do eventually descend upon our puny green planet, you'll be happy to know that your Galaxy S II smartphone will be able to get a GPS lock reliably and accurately. Samsung's brand new flagship phone has unsurprisingly fixed whatever ailed the original Galaxy S in the satellite communications department and we've got the evidence for you just after the break. So click your clicking device on the clickable bit to see it.
The Nexus S is due to receive an over-the-air update to Android 2.3.4 over the coming weeks, but Google earned a +1 from eager fans and devs hoping to get the extra Google Talk functionality sooner. Instead of hopelessly checking for updates until the time is right, the Powers That Be are now offering the upgrade as a manual download to anyone who is already running 2.3.3 on the i9020T (the AWS-equipped model). We urge you to proceed with caution here and double-check that your phone is compatible, since those are the two requirements for the download to install properly. We've happily bumped one of our devices up to 2.3.4 this way without any sweat or tears, so we hope it will be a smooth experience for others as well. If you choose to be adventurous and update your Nexus S, click the source link below to download the necessary ZIP file.
As much as we were hoping to get some definitive statements from AT&T and Verizon's Q1 2011 financials about the Verizon iPhone's impact on the smartphone market, none were really forthcoming. It's left to analyst outfits like the NPD, therefore, to try and parse the data for us and read between the official lines. The latest numbers from the NPD Group's Mobile Phone Tracker indicate that Apple's share of US smartphones sales jumped from 19 percent in Q4 2010 to 28 percent in the first quarter of this year, which helped stymie Android's prodigious expansion. The Google OS went from being on 53 percent of all smartphones sold to a flat 50 percent in the quarter. Also intriguing about the period is that, for the first time, smartphones accounted for more than half of all mobile phones sold in the US, at 54 percent. The top five best-selling cellphones also happened to be smartphones, with Apple and HTC providing two each; the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, Droid X, EVO 4G, and the Droid Incredible took home the NPD commendations
EVO and MyTouch 4G owners have been able to enjoy the virtues of video calling via Qik for some time, but Skype's latest acquisition is finally letting a few more phones in on the action. Qik Video Connect now works with some devices running Android 2.1 and up, iPhones, iPad 2s and any iPod Touch with a camera -- letting Apple fanboys and Android apologists speak face to face over 3G, 4G, and WiFi with the device of their choosing. It's not the first app to do cross-platform video calling, but it is the only one with Qik's video mail and video sharing services. The catch? It's only currently available on ten Android handsets, though dev teams are "busy getting Video Chat ready on additional phones." Let's hope they work quickly.
Nokia's already done quite a bit to cut ties with last year's big push for Symbian and Qt development, though this is perhaps the biggest step yet. The Finnish company has announced it's transferring responsibility for Symbian development to consulting and outsourcing firm Accenture, which sounds odd given the latter outfit's inexperience in delivering mobile OS updates, but the good news is that the 3,000 devs Nokia had working on Symbian will continue their jobs under the new employer. That basically means that Nokia will live up to its unhappy promise that there'll be "substantial reductions in employment" within its own ranks, while still keeping the men and women responsible for updating Symbian employed. Unfortunately, there will still be a further 4,000 job cuts in the company's global workforce, primarily in Finland, Denmark and the UK, which will "occur in phases" between the beginning and end of next year. Nokia's agreement with Accenture also involves continued collaboration on delivering mobility software and services on the Windows Phone platform. You can read more about that in the PR after the break
