August 2011 Archives

Aug

Eric Schmidt: Google TV Launching In Europe 'Early Next Year'

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Google TV, News

Google's Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt delivered the MacTaggart keynote lecture at the Edinburgh TV Festival last Friday - the first time a non-TV exec has been invited to do so. In his address, Schmidt indicated the UK as being "among the top priorities" in Google TV's European launch next year.

Google TV experienced a rough beginning, facing suspicion - and blocking - from some of the top broadcasting networks in the US. The platform initially faced criticism because some broadcasters felt that Google was "stealing their advertising revenues without contributing to the cost of making programs," Reuters reports.

Schmidt looked ...

Aug

Samsung Officially Announces The Tab 8.9 LTE And The Upgraded 1.5GHz 4.5" Galaxy S II LTE. Could The US S II Variants Have These Upgrades At Launch?

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in 4G, Galaxy S II, Galaxy Tab 8.9, News, Samsung, Tablets

Whoosh - looks like we can take the report of upgrades to the already impressive Galaxy S II and the upcoming Tab 8.9 from the rumor bucket and place it carefully on top of the confirmed stack. In fact, the rumor was not only spot-on regarding everything Samsung just officially announced, it even had more information that Samsung didn't cover, which means some details will keep the rumor tag until we find out more.

Galaxy S II LTE

First up, the Galaxy S II LTE (hilariously misspelled as LITE in the official blog post in one place - it's anything ...

Aug

United Airlines Releases Android App With Post-Merger Support For Both United And Continental

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

As a sign that the United and Continental Airlines merger is progressing well, United (which got to retain its name in the process) has launched an Android app that supports both United and Continental.

In fact, the app is so close to the existing Continental app that I'm pretty sure they simply ripped it apart and put back together after adding support for United into the mix, even leaving the logo the same. However, since the Continental app only supports Continental and the United one supports both, there's no reason to keep the former one installed anymore.

The United Airlines ...

Aug

[Rumor] Toshiba's Upcoming Galaxy Tab 10.1 Rival Is Gorgeous, Thin, Full Of Useful Slots And Ports

Posted by Liam Spradlin in News, Rumors, Toshiba

Following the release of the Thrive in July, Toshiba is now rumored to be working on a tablet that could compete with Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 by coupling a sleek, thin design with a large screen and Android Honeycomb while adding a handful of useful ports that the Tab 10.1 lacks.

Earlier today, an Italian tech blog Notebook Italia brought to light some renders of the alleged tablet killer (their words, not ours) that show a very attractive device featuring a profile as sleek as the Galaxy Tab, but with a microUSB port, microHDMI port, and a microSD slot, along ...

Aug

[Deal Alert] Buy A 32GB Lenovo IdeaPad K1 Tablet At Fry's For $450, Get A $100 Gift Card - Today Only (Aug 27)

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Deals, IdeaPad K1, Lenovo, News

The IdeaPad K1 Honeycomb 3.1 10.1" tablet from Lenovo, released in July (not to be confused with the more expensive ThinkPad tablet), has only been out for a bit over a month, but Fry's Electronics is already folding its cards and letting it go for a whole $100 off the $449.99 price sticker. Well, technically, you get a $100 Fry's gift card, but hey - free is free, right?

The only problem - the deal is only good for today, Saturday, August 27th in all Fry's retail locations. Unfortunately, the Frys.com IdeaPad K1 page has no mention of the ...

Aug

AT&T HTC Holiday Spotted - 4G LTE, Dual-Core Snapdragon, qHD Display Along For The Ride

Posted by Liam Spradlin in AT&T, Holiday / Raider, HTC, News

The HTC Holiday is another device we've been watching for months, ever since its ROM leaked back in May. Earlier today, Engadget revealed photos of this powerful device spotted in the wild, so we can finally put a face to a name.

As evidenced by the screenshots above, the Holiday is packing some impressive specs. Here they are again:

4.5 Inch qHD 960x540 display
1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor
1GB RAM
8MP rear camera, 1.3MP front camera
Bluetooth 3.0
802.11 b/g/n WiFi

We're looking for this device to land in AT&T's fall offerings and will keep you ...

Aug

[Weekend Poll] Is Steve Jobs' Resignation The Beginning Of The End For Apple?

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Off-Topic, Polls

Last Updated: September 3rd, 2011

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For the last, see What Type Of Custom ROM Are You Running?

Perhaps the biggest news in tech this week was the resignation of Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Highly respected for being the leading force behind bringing the company back from the brink through innovation, creativity, and attention to detail, some wonder how the company will fare going forward. The company has been left in the hands of Tim Cook, who has been with Apple for 13 years and has been known to take Mr. Jobs' place from time...

Aug

Photos Surface: Say Hello To The HTC Vigor

Posted by Liam Spradlin in News, Rumors, Vigor

Since an anonymous NenaMark revealed the HTC Vigor's alleged specs, the Android community has been waiting to hear more about the powerhouse supposedly heading for Verizon. Yesterday, some new info about the Vigor came in the form of blurrycam photos posted by the folks over at Droid-Life.

For those who may have forgotten, here are the Vigor's rumored specs:

1280x720 display
Qualcomm Adreno GPU
1.5GHz processor
Android 2.3.4
4G LTE Capability

No doubt the Vigor is looking like a powerful and sleek device, one which we're eagerly waiting to learn more about.

Head over to Droid-Life for the full ...

Aug

Samsung Galaxy S II Event In NYC Postponed Due To Hurricane Irene

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Galaxy S II, News

We've practically been counting down the days until Samsung's Galaxy S II event, which was originally scheduled for Monday, August 29, but now it looks like we'll have to add at least one more day to the count. Thanks to Hurricane Irene, New York City has been declared in a state of emergency and over 250,000 people have been evacuated, thus forcing Sammy to postpone the event at least one day, to Tuesday, August 30th.

Of course, we've been waiting this long... I guess one more day isn't going to hurt anyone.

[via Phandroid]

...

Aug

[Mobile Security App Shootout, Part 9] Lookout Security & Antivirus Offers Robust Protection, Comforting Green Checkmarks.

Posted by Liam Spradlin in App Reviews, Mobile Security App Shootout

Lookout Mobile Security, developers of Lookout Security & Antivirus (more commonly known as Lookout) look to stand out in the lineup of Android Security apps, offering a great set of security features that not only find (and control) your phone once it is lost, but protect against apps and web pages that seek to harm your phone from the inside.

At a Glance:

At first blush Lookout already seems impressive. A quick look at its page in the Android market reveals that it is “the #1 Security & Antivirus App for Android,” and that it falls into the “10 million ...

Aug

[Deal Alert] Samsung Droid Charge For A Penny With A New Agreement From Amazon Wireless

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Deals, Droid Charge / i510, News

Yesterday we highlighted a deal with VZW's first LTE phone, the HTC ThunderBolt. If the TBolt isn't your cup of tea, then Amazon Wireless has come through with yet another amazing deal on an LTE phone: the Samsung Droid Charge.

The Charge is still the only Droid branded phone infused with 4G LTE, and now you can get it for basically nothing when you sign up for new service with Big Red.

Specs:

4.3-inch Super AMOLED display
1GHz Hummingbird processor
8MP rear shooter, 1.3MP front
2GB built-in storage
4G LTE
Android 2.2

So, if this is the Droid ...

Aug

Gameloft Announces New Subscription Service In The UK, Lets You Get One Game Per Week For £0.99 (66% Off Regular Price)

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Games, News

Here's a bit of good news for our friends across the pond: Gameloft just launched a new subscription service called the "Gameloft Club" that lets you score a new game title every week for just £0.99. All you have to do is head over to the Gameloft UK website, join the Gameloft Club, and register for the service using your "Android HD" device by hitting the "Club Buy 99p" link next to any applicable game. While GL specifies that an "HD" device is a requisite, it fails to provide definition as to exactly what that means. We're assuming ...

Aug

And The JLab JBuds J4M Earbuds Giveaway Winners Are...

Posted by David Ruddock in Contests / Giveaways, News

You may not remember the contest we had last month for the JLabs J4M ruggedized headphones, but I suggest you check the review out - they're a pretty good set of very tough earbuds. We gave away three pairs of J4Ms, courtesy of JLab, as part of the review. And the winners are:

Jason Taylor, from Texas, who entered via Twitter.
Bruce Cheek of Illinois, who entered via Google+.
Keith McCrory of Ireland, who entered via Google+.

Congrats to all of you - you'll be receiving your brand-new J4M headphones as soon as we can get them out to you!...

Aug

Dell Makes It Even Easier To Hand Over Your Hard Earned Cash With Its New Mobile App

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News

Have you ever been out-and-about and suddenly realized that you needed to order a computer from Dell? Well, you'll never have to deal with the panic that can ensue from such a situation ever again -- now you can just grab your Android phone, fire up the official Dell app, and order away!

You can basically order anything Dell related from the app; everything from TVs to laptops, cameras, printers, and monitors, all on the go. The app also allows you to compare up to three items side-by-side, read product reviews and ratings, track your order status, manage ...

Aug

Costco To Get DROID BIONIC With Dock, Battery, And Charger Bundle For Just $300?

Posted by David Ruddock in 4G, Droid Bionic, News, Rumors, Verizon Wireless

Wow, this just might be the best deal we've posted in a while. Unfortunately, we're not 100% certain on the price, because the images we were tipped to don't exactly specify one. Still, based on the $300 mark we've been hearing, and Droid-forums' claim that their source says that's the number, we're starting to feel pretty confident in that figure.

If you look on the left hand side of that image, in the red area, you can see the text "Accessories Bonus Pack / $159.97 Retail Value / Includes Standard Dock / Vehicle Navigator Dock / Battery Dock and / ...