Android ICS optimized for x86 AMD Fusion

With AMD ending its war on Intel, the company has made it clear that they will start focusing their efforts on the mobile and tablet markets. As an indication to that, AMD has been working on the x86 version of the latest Android operating system Ice Cream Sandwich which launched around two weeks ago for developers to tinker with. They have been providing the developers with Brazos (APU) based devices and helping them out with the engineering process.

Since ICS x86 is still in its early development stages, a lot of the hardware functions don't work, like camera support, Ethernet connectivity or sound. However, so far, the team has been able to get graphics hardware acceleration and Wi-Fi functioning properly.

This goes to show AMD's commitment to their new business strategy, there's still no word on a release date for ICS x86 or when we'll start seeing retail units shipping from hardware manufacturers like HP, Dell, Asus and others that currently sell ARM based Android tablets.

source Android-x86

Nokia unveils the Lumia 800 and 710 Windows Phones

They are finally here, Nokia have just unveiled their first Windows Phone devices that are the results of the Nokia-Microsoft partnership. 

At todays Nokia World 2011 conference the mobile giant unveiled the Lumia 800, which we've seen before as the Nokia SeaRay and even earlier as the Nokia N9. This device will serve as Nokia's current flagship phone, it sports a 1.4GHz single-core processor, 512MB of RAM, a 3.7" AMOLED ClearBlack curved display and an 8MP F/2.2 Carl Zeiss camera that shoots 720p video. It will ship in November in Black, Cyan and Magenta. 

The second device, the Nokia Lumia 710 features similar processor and RAM specifications as the Lumia 800, however the 710 has a 3.7" LCD TFT display and a 5MP F/2.4 720p Carl Zeiss camera. It will also ship in November in either Black or White with a range of colors on the exchangeable back covers. 

Both devices run Windows Phone 7.5, aka Mango and will be priced at €420 for the Lumia 800 and €270 for the 710. They will first be available in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK, and later spread to Hong Kong, India, Russia, Singapore and Taiwan before the end of the year. Expect them to reach more markets in early 2012.

Samsung and Google unveil the Galaxy Nexus, with Android 4.0 on board

Ice Cream Sandwich, aka Android 4.0 is basically an updated Honeycomb for smartphones. Dont get me wrong, its a highly anticipated, feature packed update and a lot of Android lovers will probably be very eager to get their hands on it. And what better way to launch a brand new Android OS? With a brand new Nexus of course. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus (Prime) has taken the 'superphone' throne. Packed with a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, up to 32GB of internal storage, a 5MP 1080p camera, NFC technology and a 1280x720 resolution Super AMOLED display, it surely deserves the title.

Learn more about the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and Android 4.0 by following the source link below.

source Google

Apple iOS 5 is now available

The wait is finally over, Apple have released the final version of its next mobile operating system for their iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad line of devices. With what Apple claims to have over 200 updates over the previous version, the largest features, and perhaps most exciting are the new Notification Center that adds an Android esque notification system. iMessage, which can be seen as a direct competitor to RIMs Blackberry Messenger service, deep Twitter integration, over-the-air delta updates and my personal favorite; what Apple calls a PC Free experience which completely eliminates the need of a computer to set your iDevices up.

Unfortunately, the new and impressive voice recognition service Siri remains unique to the iPhone 4S only, which is a shame since its inclusion on other devices does not seem to be related to hardware limitations, just Apple trying to make the 4S stand out. Nonetheless, you can now connect your iDevice to iTunes and get your firmware download started.

Apple unveils the iPhone 4S

Apple today unveiled their latest iPhone at their 4 Infinite Loop campus in Cupertino. As its name suggests, the iPhone 4S is an upgrade of the current, highly successful iPhone 4. Externally, both devices are completely identical, on the inside however, the 4S features an upgraded camera, 8 megapixels capable of recording 1080p video, a dual-core 1GHz A5 processor with up to a 7x graphics performance increase (according to Apple), support for both GSM and CDMA networks, 14MB/s download speeds, the same 3.5" Retina Display and 1GB of RAM.

Software wise, the new iPhone comes pre-loaded with iOS 5, which comes with a bunch of new features including Twitter integration, a new notification system and a BBM-like service called iMessage to name a few. However the software highlight of the event came courtesy of the natural voice recognition capabilities of the device, known as Siri (sounds familiar?)

If you're looking to get your hands on the new device, it will be available for pre-order on the 7th of October in both black and white versions, and priced at $199 (16GB), $299 (32GB) and $399 for the 64GB model on 2-year carrier contracts.

Windows Phone Mango is officially rolling out! Here's how to get it now

After almost a month of delays, Windows Phone 7.5 is officially rolling out on almost all carriers and devices worldwide, its by far the smoothest WP update release yet. However, to maintain quality, Microsoft will only be releasing the update to 10% of Windows Phones this week, increasing it to 25% next week and full on 100% in the weeks after that. So it might take a few weeks for your phone to get that update notification. Not to worry though, the old disconnect force update trick still works. Follow the instructions after the break to force the Zune client to get the update for you.

Breaking: Google and Motorola announce acquisition plans worth $12.5B

Well, this certainly wasn't expected. Google has announced its agreement to acquire Motorola (Motorola Mobility specifically) for $12.5B. Google has an advantage now that they can optimize their software to work seamlessly with their own hardware. Apples doing it, Microsoft is kinda doing it with Nokia and now Google.

According to Google, the deal should close as soon as the end of 2011 or early 2012. Follow the source link for the official press release.

source: Google

iPad 2 Review

Apple’s iPad tablet is the most popular, not to mention most successful tablet in the world. With the iPad 2, Apple took a shot at improving the tablet and squeezing some more profit out of something that’s already at the top of the charts. See how well they did and how much effort they put into it by heading over after the break for the full review!

ITC says HTC violating two of Apple's patents Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-20079905-94/itc-says-htc-violating-two-of-apples-patents/#ixzz1SHf0PQ1l

Apple scored a legal victory today when the U.S. International Trade Commission made an initial ruling that HTC had violated two of its patents.

The ITC administrative law judge's initial determination was that HTC infringed on two of the 10 patents Apple had filed a complaint over in March 2010, according to an HTC statement. The ITC still needs to make a final ruling on the complaint. A loss carries the threat that HTC's products would be banned from coming into the U.S., and Apple only needs to get a favorable decision on one of the patents.

HTC said it would appeal the decision.

"HTC will vigorously fight these two remaining patents through an appeal before the ITC commissioners who make the final decision," said Grace Lei, general counsel for HTC. "This is only one step of many in these legal proceedings."

Microsoft unveils new 2011 Windows Phones

At the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference on Tuesday Microsoft unveiled new Windows Phones from Samsung, Fujitsu, ZTE and Acer, the phones were all running the Mango update and will likely hit retail this year, sometime after or during the official Mango release. No details were given unfortunately so as usual, we'll have to wait a little longer to find out more.

via Winrumors

Unreleased iPhone with 3 cameras pictured

It seems like an image of a 3D iPhone has been circulating, originating from a site named 175wan which we're never heard of up till now. The picture (above) is of a device that heavily resembles the current iPhone 4 but with a clear view of dual cameras and flash, and a second image (after the break) revealing a slightly thinner bezel around the supposed 4" display. There have been earlier rumors of a 3D iPhone floating around, nothing confirmed yet obviously as Apple never talk about unreleased products. 

source 175wan.com

Dell Peju Windows 7 tablet leaked

Dell Peju Insider landed themselves an entire package of well, Dell Peju leaks. The upcoming tablet from Dell, possibly called the Latitude ST as the video above suggests, will feature all the features you'll expect to find from a high-end tablet released in 2011, the main difference? This one is x86 based. Other features include a Gorilla Glass front panel, a rubberized soft touch back, front and rear facing cameras, so its seems to be a solidly built tablet. Its docking station will offer USB, HDMI, Ethernet and audio ports so theres no lack of connectivity.

Watch the video above or read more on the tablet over at Dell Peju Insider.

iPad HD comes in Q3 2011 with Retina Display?

(credit: Gizmodo)

According to ThisIsMyNext, Apple is preparing a new addition to the iPad family alongside the launch of a new iPhone in September this year. The iPad HD will not be the iPad 3 (supposedly still scheduled for the usual iPad first quarter refresh in 2012), this one is rather an upgrade to the iPad 2, so it wont be a complete redesign, the screen resolution however will be doubled, hence the "HD" in the name, to 2048x1536 making it a Retina Display in Apples terms. The processor will no doubt be upgraded in order to support the new resolution, so expect an A6 (or A5S?) processor, possibly still dual-core but with a faster clock speed.

via ThisIsMyNext

Samsung to pay Microsoft $15 for every Android phone it builds

(credit: AndroidCentral)

Oh no they di'nt! According to Reuters, Microsoft holds enough patents to put Samsung (an possibly other Google Android manufacturers) in their debt. If this sounds familiar, it is, because last year, Microsoft managed to get HTC to pay them that same amount of $15 for every Android device, so its very likely that the software giant will get Samsung to comply too. 

via Reuters

Web-based jailbreak for iPad 2 released!

Its finally here, you can now release your iPad 2 from Apples clutches with Comex's highly anticipated web-based jailbreak. This PDF based jailbreak will work on any iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad running on iOS 4.3.3, its as simple as navigating to a website (source link) on iOS Safari and tapping a button.

Go ahead, set your iPad 2 free!

source JailbreakMe.com

AMD Fusion chips for the tablet market on the horizon

Donanimhaber has released slides showing AMD's roadmap for tablet chips. As you can see the chips available now are pushing a 4W power consumption. In terms of power, a typical desktop CPU today is pushing something like 125-140 watts, leading one to think that 4W would be more that adequate for todays mobile devices. On the contrary 4W is still too much in terms of both heat output, and battery life.

I would expect to see these 4W chips pushing more into the laptop market, with the 2W Hondo versions on the way out I fully expect to see those enter the tablet market instead of the 4W Desna. The Samara chips due in 2013 will probably have an ever lower TDP and as such, be even more widely used is mobile devices.

source DonanimHaber

iPhone 5 and iPad 3 components are being sent to the assembly/production line

Dual-core A6 processor, check. High-definition Retina displays, check. 8 megapixel 1080p back-lit cameras, check. NFC chips, check... DigiTimes has got news that Apple is assembling the list of iPhone 5 and iPad 3 components this month and sending them off to the production line. According to their source, the new iDevices should see the light of day in the September-October time frame, which breaks the fruit company's annual refresh cycle, notably the iPads, seeing the iPad 2 was only released a few months ago, so thats questionable. Nonetheless, will you be emptying your wallet on Apples shiny new toys?

source DigiTimes

The HTC Eternity, HTCs next Windows Phone superphone?

Is HTC preparing a successor to their HD line of Windows Phones? According to a recent leak they are. Dubbed the HTC Eternity, this phones boasts a 1.5GHz processor, a 4.7 inch WVGA SLCD display, an 8 megapixel camera that shoots 720p video, dual LED flash, 16GB of internal storage and surprise, surprise, a 1.3 megapixel front facing camera. The Eternity will likely be Mango powered out of the box since front facing cameras arnt part of the current Windows Phone Chassis specifications. No info on price or release dates yet for this possible flagship but we promise we'll keep an eye out.

source HTC Inside

A review of the HP TouchPad

It has been exactly 140 days since Hewlett-Packard first unveiled the TouchPad, and I think of it as the first device to emerge from a post-acquisition Palm team that has really been tested over the past few years. To be fair, it will actually be the third webOS device to launch since HP took over Palm, but the the Pre 2 was a leftover from before the deal went through and the Veer never should have been been released. But yes, the Palm team has been through a lot: from botched acquisition talks, to the brink of collapse, to resurrection through Elevation Partners’ investments, to a brilliant new web-based mobile operating system, to the announcement of the phone that would save the business from the brink of collapse, to BGR exclusively reviewing the phone that would save the business from the brink of collapse before any other site on the planet, to the launch of the phone that would save the business from the brink of collapse, to the failure of the phone that would save its business from the brink of collapse, and finally, to HP. Can a company that once lead the industry come back to regain mind share, market share and profit share following a roller coaster ride like that? Hit the break to find out if the TouchPad pushes the company’s mobile business in the right direction or if it is another dud from a company that could be dominating the market.

Continue reading the rest of the review at BGR

Dual-Screen Android Device Surfaces,

Remember the Kyocera Echo? Unfortunately, so do we. From the beginning, the concept of a dual-screen device seemed like a good idea, but only if the right company manufactured it.. Obviously, Kyocera was not the right company. But now the guys over at Engadget have gotten their hands on a prototype of a new dual-screen Android device. It's made by two companies, Imerj, and Frog (formerly Frog Design). Upon first glance, it looks remarkably like the Echo. But after closer inspection, we can tell that this prototype isn't what it seems.

Full article can be found at Androidguys

ARCHOS unveils the G9 series tablets, 1.5GHz dual-core, 250GB HDD, and affordable

ARCHOS is turning things up a notch. They have just announced two Android 3.1 Honeycomb tablets. The ARCHOS 80 G9 sports an 8-inch (1024 x 768) screen and the ARCHOS 101 G9 sports a 10.1-inch (1280 x 800) screen. That is the only difference between the two.

Full specs:

• 1.5GHz OMAP4 processor
• Seagate 250GB HDD
• HDMI out with 1080p support
• 3G stick compatible

The OMAP4 processor promises a better browsing experience with page load times reduced by up to 50% over tablets running a NVIDIA processor. The 250GB HDD is unheard of for a tablet and it will hold up to 50 hours of 1080p video. ARCHOS boosted apps for video and music replaces the standard multimedia apps. Film and TV series metadata are automatically downloaded and video files are organized by title, actor, director, year, season, and episode.

ARCHOS decided to not install 3G, but offer instead a PC 3G stick which has been specifically designed to fit perfectly in the back of the tablet. It will be priced at $49 and they will offer pay-as-you-go plans. ARCHOS says that installing 3G modules add $100 to the cost. The stick is cheaper and it gives the consumer a choice if they need it.

Now are you ready for the prices? The 80 G9 will be $279 and the 101 G9 will be $349. They are both going to be available in September. I don’t know about you, but this seems like a smoking hot deal.

Full article can be found here: TalkAndroid

Developers Beat Motorola to the Punch in Unlocking AT&T Atrix 4G Bootloader

We heard that the ATRIX 4G’s bootloader would be unlockable once the Gingerbread update from Motorola was headed our way, according to recent leaks. Motorola has committed to working with the development community to find middle ground in the war against devices being locked down, and while their efforts are only on a case-by-case basis, we were happy to see at least one phone about to get some official developer-friendly love from Motorola.

That’s not even the best part, though, folks. It seems the developers have actually beaten Motorola to the punch in unlocking the Atrix 4G’s bootloader. This means you won’t have to wait until the Gingerbread OTA update comes out to free your phone from its chains. This one’s only for AT&T, I should stress, so those of you outside the United States shouldn’t attempt this until a method for your phone has been achieved (which may not happen until Moto delivers the OTA update to your side of the globe).

Full article at Phandroid

Three UK to carry Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray

Three is the first UK network to announce that it'll be carrying Sony Ericsson's new Xperia Ray when it's released sometime during the third quarter. The Xperia Ray takes the tried-and-true internals of the Xperia Arc and Xperia Neo and shrinks things down even further, into a tiny 3.3-inch aluminum-framed chassis. Just like the Arc and the Neo, the Ray offers a 1GHz processor, 512MB of RAM, an 8-megapixel Exmor R camera and of course Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

Full article at Android central

Vizio teasin 8" tablet

Vizio today released more details on its upcoming tablet as the launch inches closer.

The Vizio Tablet will come with an 8-inch, 1,024x768 capacitive touch screen and allow people to connect to the Web via Wi-Fi, the company said. The platform will also support Bluetooth. Vizio's tablet will come with built-in GPS and feature 2GB of on-board storage. The device supports up to 32GB of storage through the use of a microSD card.

Last week, reports surfaced that claimed Vizio's tablet would be available at Wal-Mart for $349. However, the company has yet to reveal pricing or availability.

Vizio's tablet is based on Android and will allow people to access apps in the Android Market, but the company has stopped short of saying which version of the OS its tablet will run.

Full article CNET

Lenovo Ideapad launching at 500$ at office max

Lenovo's new IdeaPad K1 tablet could launch soon with a $500 price tag, according to a photo allegedly of an OfficeMax store placard leaked today to Engadget. With a launch date that Engadget says "looks to be fast approaching," the K1 is expected to be one of the two 10-inch Android tablets that Lenovo has promised will launch this summer. The alleged placard includes these specs: 10.1-inch multitouch screen, 1,280x800 resolution, cameras in front and back, built-in Wi-Fi, support for Adobe Flash, and up to 10 hours of battery life.

Full Article at CNET

Sony Ericcson announces two new members of the Xperia family

The Sony Ericsson Xperia family grew by two today with the introduction of the Xperia Ray and Xperia Active. Announced at CommunicAsia 2011 in Singapore, the two Android 2.3 Gingerbread smartphones are expected to ship in Q3 to select markets worldwide--specifics, such as pricing and U.S. availability, were not revealed at this time--and offer two different areas of focus. If you couldn't tell by the name, the Sony Ericsson Xperia Active is a handset aimed at those with an active lifestyle. It features a dust-proof and water-resistant design with a 3-inch, 320x480 Reality Display that works even if there's water on the screen or if your fingers are wet. The phone can even monitor your heart rate and pulse, thanks to its built-in ANT+ wireless technology, and comes with other extras like preloaded sports apps and accessories, such as an arm case.

Full article at Cnet

Amazon’s tablets could arrive as soon as August, with TI’s chip in tow

Rumors about an Amazon tablet have been floating around for almost a year now. But ever since we blew the lid off the whole thing back in May, it has been just one piece of new information after the other. Immediately following our report, another rumor came out saying that Amazon’s tablets were codenamed “Coyote’ and “Hollywood”, and would be powered by Tegra 2 and Tegra 3 processors respectively. But not so fast.

Full article at: Android and me

Nokia launches their MeeGo powered N9 smartphone

Today, Nokia announced at an event called CommunicAsia their all new Nokia N9 phone. The new candybar based phone is available in a range of colors, and comes running the open-source based "Meego" operating system that has not been released onto consumer devices until today.

The new device is packing a 8-megapixel camera and comes in 16 or 64GB flavors, packs a AMOLED display, with the entire front of the phone being a touch screen and having no capacitive buttons at all. On top of this, it has a compass, accelerometer, proximity sensor and light sensor built in, and weighs just 135g. According to WorldofNokia, which has a full specifications list available, it also has HTML5 support in the browser, turn by turn navigation and supports office documents out of the box.

The phone is made of a polycarbonate shell, measures 116.45- x 61.2- x 7.6-12.1mm, comes in cyan, magenta or black and requires a micro-SIM.

Continue reading the rest of the article over at Neowin

Jailbreaking Windows Phone is now Microsoft approved

Microsoft just earned itself a boatload of geek-cred and made Apple and Sony look pretty bad in the process. We knew the Windows Phone team was playing nice with the jailbreakers from ChevronWP7, but we didn't realize just how cozy the two were going to get. Today the devs announced that ChevronWP7 Labs would open up soon, with the approval of Redmond, allowing users to load homebrew apps on their handsets. Unlike tools from the iPhone Dev Team, this service won't be free. Instead, customers will have to cough up a small fee via PayPal -- but we're sure many of you are more than willing to pay a reasonable price to avoid the sort of cat and mouse game Apple has been playing with hackers since 2007.

via Engadget

source ChevronWP7

Benchmark your smartphones browser performance with the new Microsoft Mobile Test Drive website

By now, you’re probably familiar with the Internet Explorer Test Drive – a site where we publish various Web development samples that highlight features and capabilities of Internet Explorer.

Today, we’re launching our Mobile Test Drive. It’s the same idea, but with a mobile twist.

It’s organized essentially the same way as the original, except laid out to be easily read and used on the mobile form factor. We’ve ported over some of the more popular samples from the full version of the IE Test Drive and have developed a few of our own mobile-specific ones too, including the demos that Joe Belfiore showed at MIX 11 earlier this year. It’s important to note that even though we use the same core rendering engines on both the desktop and mobile versions of IE and adhere to the concept of “same markup” when we produce our samples, we felt that it was worth creating a mobile test drive site to illustrate how we approach some of the key issues that developers face when creating mobile-optimized content: screen sizes, device capabilities, etc.

Continue reading via The Windows Blog

EE, O2 and Vodafone hook up for mobile payments

Everything Everywhere, Telefonica UK and Vodafone plan to offer a one stop shop for companies wanting to get in on mobile commerce. Three giants of the mobile world have joined forces in a bid to accelerate adoption of mobile payments technology. Everything Everywhere, O2 owner Telefonica UK and Vodafone have announced plans for a mobile marketing and payments joint venture, which is expected to launch before the end of 2011.

The new organisation will essentially act as a single marketplace for any business wanting to cash in on the mobile commerce space.

The trio promised to deliver a single platform for advertisers, marketing partners, retailers and banks to make it simpler to create mobile commerce products.

Via itpro

T-Mobile 4G spreads to 41 new cities

Whatever you feel qualifies to be called “4G”, T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network is pretty darn fast. The carrier has just rolled out the fast service to 41 new areas, bringing almost 100 cities under its 4G umbrella. You’ll need a USB Rocket modem to fully tap the new service at 42 Mbps.

The new cities with 4G coverage being launched today:

Akron, Ohio; Albuquerque, N.M.; Brownsville, Texas; Cape Coral, Fla.; Canton, Ohio; Charleston-North Charleston, S.C.; Cleveland, Ohio; Colorado Springs, Colo.; Columbia, S.C.; Columbus, Ohio; Corpus Christi, Texas; Fayetteville, N.C.; Florence, S.C.; Fresno, Calif.; Hickory-Lenoir-Morgantown, N.C.; Killeen, Texas; Lakeland, Fla.; Las Cruces, N.M.; Madera, Calif.; McAllen, Texas; Merced, Calif.; Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, S.C.; Napa, Calif.; Palm Bay, Fla.; Palm Coast, Fla.; Panama City, Fla.; Pueblo, Colo.; Reading, Penn.; Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif.; Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville, Calif.; Salt Lake City, Utah; San Antonio, Texas; San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, Calif.; Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-Goleta, Calif.; Santa Fe, N.M.; Sarasota, Fla.; Sebastian, Fla.; Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, Va.; Wilmington, N.C.; Visalia-Porterville, Calif. and Waco, Texas.

Via Zdnet

Sony Ericsson Goes With NXP for NFC Technology

It’s not an exciting device announcement, folks, but we just got a quick glimpse into the future of Sony Ericsson’s products. NXP has announced that Sony Ericsson has selected them for embedded NFC technology in the future. If you don’t remember, NXP produces the same chip found inside the Nexus S It’s an intelligent chip with security features for applications of all types. It’ll be fully compatible with Google Wallet, Google’s mobile payment service set to come out soon.

continue reading the full article at: Phandroid

First android "Toughbook" Tablet is in the works says Panasonic

Panasonic recently announced what it is calling the first "Enterprise Ready" tablet geared towards commercial and government users looking to take their tablet with them into the field. This will be the first Android device offered by the company bearing the Toughbook name, a brand known for its durability and business focused features:

• A 10.1" 1024x786 matte-finish display that is "daylight viewable"
• An (included) "Active Stylus" for capturing signatures
• Security embedded at the "hardware level"
• "Full shift" battery life
• GPS capability
• Wifi with optional embedded 3G/4G connectivity
• Durable construction consistent with other Toughbook-brand device

Full article here: AndroidCentral

Samsung's galaxy tab 10.1 will be available june 17th

A lot of people have been waiting for the release of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. The wait is over because tomorrow it will be available nationwide. The Tab 10.1 comes with Android 3.1, has a 10.1-inch WXGA display, TouchWiz UX, and a 7,000 mAh battery for up to 9 hours of use.It is the world’s thinnest mobile tablet and priced in line to the IPad 2.

It is $499 for the 16GB model and $599 for the 32GB.Hit the break for the full press releaseSamsung Galaxy Tab™ 10.1, World’s Thinnest Mobile Tablet, Makes Official Landing in U.S.Premium Android Honeycomb Tablet with Ultra-slim, Lightweight Design and Brilliant10-inch Touchscreen Available Exclusively at Best Buy Union Square Store in New York City Starting June 8; Available Nationwide Starting June 17Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile), the No. 1 mobile phone provider in the U.S.[1], and Samsung Electronics America, a market leader and award-winning innovator in consumer electronics, today announced the upcoming retail availability of the Galaxy Tab™ 10.1, starting June 8. The WiFi-enabled tablet measures at just 8.6 millimeters slim, making it the thinnest mobile tablet currently available in the world. The 32GB version of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 WiFi edition will be available for $599, while the 16GB version of the device will be available for $499. full article here: TalkAndroid

Evo shift 4g to get gingerbread

Sprint announced today that it will begin rolling out an over-the-air update on June 20 to deliver Android 2.3 Gingerbread to the HTC Evo Shift 4G. However, anxious owners can download the update now. Instructions for manual download are posted on Sprint's Community site, but it basically requires that you go to the Settings menu on your phone, navigate to System updates, and then initiate the HTC software update. If you're fine to wait, you'll receive a notification on your phone when the over-the-air update is available and ready to download. Full article here: Cnet

A review of the HTC EVO 3D

The first time we saw the rumored Supersonic we were blown away. HTC and Google had just wowed us with the Nexus One, and here we were looking at something even better -- a 4.3-inch phone with WiMAX wrapped in a white body. This prototype was buggy and had abysmal battery life, but it was real. Four months later it landed in our hands at Google I/O. We're of course talking about the EVO 4G which went on to become a runaway hit for HTC and Sprint as the first ever 4G smartphone in the US. And here we are a year later with the HTC EVO 3D, the legitimate heir to Sprint's mobile kingdom -- at least until theMotorola Photon 4G comes along. When we first played with the 3D-capable handset at CTIA we were suitably impressed, but we left with a lot of unanswered questions. How do the 1.2GHz dual core processor and qHD display affect battery life? Is 3D a compelling feature or just a gimmick? What is 2D camera performance like with the lower specced camera? Is the EVO 3D a worthy replacement for the EVO 4G?

Continue reading the full review via Engadget

Dolby sues RIM and tries to halt BlackBerry and PlayBook sales

Dolby announced on Wednesday that it has filed patent infringement lawsuits against Waterloo, Canada-based Research In Motion in the U.S. and in Germany. The suit seeks the recovery of financial damages resulting from RIM’s infringing products, and it also looks to halt sales of multiple BlackBerry devices. The patents in question cover “highly efficient digital audio compression technologies” that minimize storage space occupied by high quality audio files. Dolby claims that RIM uses these technologies in its BlackBerry smartphones and its PlayBook tablet, but it does not pay Dolby licensing fees as all other major manufacturers do. “Litigation was regrettably our last resort after RIM declined to pay for the use of Dolby’s technology,” Dolby EVP and general counsel Andy Sherman said in a statement. “We have a duty to protect our intellectual property.”

Continue reading via BGR

Google likes Microsofts Metro/Tiles a little too much?

A few days ago we reported on the KLM-Metro connection (yes, evidently we had it backwards, KLM has had that style for "years", forgive us, we don't fly Dutch). Regardless, it seems Google is liking this whole Tile/Metro approach to design as well (see the Windows 8 UI demo).

Last month, Google held their famous IO conference, where all-things-Google happens, including Android news. They have the "sessions" page up, where you can go watch all the keynotes and talks that went on during the meeting, which is similar to Microsoft's MIX.


Continue reading via WPCentral

2012 Asus Eee Pad Transformer will run Windows 8

ASUS has apparently confirmed that it intends to offer an updated, Windows 8 version of the Eee Pad Transformer. Set to go on sale in 2012 – alongside a new Android version, Notebook Italia reports – the Transformer sequel will use the same detachable-keyboard design as the existing model, with a secondary battery hidden inside the dock section. Meanwhile, new supplies of the first Transformer are expected to come through the pipeline very soon.

However, it will also be thinner, lighter and generally smaller than the model it replaces, little surprise given the direction tech generally goes in. Specifications are unconfirmed, so it’s not known whether ASUS will be using an x86 processor from Intel or AMD’s ranges for the Windows 8 tablet, or using Windows on ARM and picking something like a next-gen Tegra chip such as Kal-El.

Continue reading via SlashGear

Turn your iPad 3G into a phone, enable calling and texting via cellular network

Just last month, we reported on PhoneItiPad, an iPad tweak that lets 3G-capable iPads take full advantage of a connection to a cell network, allowing users to make and receive phone calls, as well as send and receive SMS. A few weeks later, the tweak is finally available to the general public, for $19.99.


Will this lead people to carry around iPads in their briefcases instead of iPhones in their pockets? Probably not, but it’s a proof of concept of how capable an 3G-capable iPad 2 is to interact with the outside world.


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