Jaroslav Stekl

Jaroslav Stekl is a tech enthusiast whose favorite gadgets almost always happen to be the latest Android devices. When he's not writing for Android Police, he's probably hiking, camping, or canoeing. He is also an aspiring coffee aficionado and an avid moviegoer.

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Nov

Ready For Black Friday? Verizon Discounting Plans, US Cellular Offering Cheap Phones Galore

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in News, US Cellular, Verizon Wireless

Now that everyone and their cousin's friend are preparing for Thanksgiving and the national shopping day that follows (Black Friday), we're starting to see some great deals popping up, especially from carriers looking to sway over new customers.

One such carrier, US Cellular, announced today that it will be offering "door-busting" bargains on all four of its Android phones in celebration of Black Friday, beginning November 22 and ending on the 29th. Their deals aren't really mind-blowing in comparison with some of Wirefly's recent deals, but they're quite a bit cheaper than US Cellular's regular prices:

Samsung Mesmerize - $99.99 after an $80 mail-in-rebate
HTC Desire (see our review here) - $49.99 after an $80 mail-in-rebate
LG Apex - $0.00 after an $80 mail-in-rebate
Samsung Acclaim - $0.00 after an $80 mail-in-rebate

In related news, Verizon Wireless will be rewarding customers who add a new 3G smartphone to their existing plans by subtracting $9.99 from their monthly bill, the same cost as adding a line.

Nov

Sony Ericsson X12 "Anzu" Previewed, Found To Be A "Suicide Committed By Blowing Yourself Up With A Stick Of Dynamite"

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in News, Sony Ericsson, Xperia Arc (Anzu, X12)

Last Updated: January 11th, 2011

Just about a week after Sony Ericsson's latest plaything was first leaked, Mobile-Review's Martin Elm has gotten his greedy hands on the device, and frankly, his initial impressions make the phone seem seriously underwhelming.

Rather than making a truly competitive high-end device, SE appears to have taken the original X10, which never sold well to begin with, and tweaked it here and there without making any major changes.

On the hardware front, Sony Ericsson's bumped the camera's megapixel count from eight to twelve, although Mobile-Review found that the prototype they handled was limited to taking stills at 3MP, with the maximum resolution for video being 325x288.

Nov

Lookout Launches Lookout Premium for $30/Year - We Have 5 Free Licenses To Give Away

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Applications, News

Last Updated: November 24th, 2010

Lookout Premium

Lookout Mobile Security, a free Android app that secures your device from viruses in addition to backing it up and allowing you to remotely locate it, yesterday launched a premium service that we've been expecting for a while. The Premium version is offered as an optional upgrade to a fully functional free base version for an annual fee of $29.99 or a monthly fee of $3. That's a pretty hefty price to charge, especially since regular, free accounts already have access to so many features, so let's take a look at the extras that you get:

Privacy Advisor protects your privacy.

Nov

US Cellular Announces LG Apex - An Optimus One With A Keyboard

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Apex, LG, News, Optimus U, US Cellular

LG's Optimus One series (which includes such phones as the Optimus T for T-Mobile, the Optimus S for Sprint, and the recently announced Vortex for Verizon), has been a great hit with customers, so it should come as no surprise that the company's expanding it quickly. Today's Optimus One news comes from US Cellular, who has just announced that the Apex, which is essentially an Optimus One with a keyboard tacked on, will be launching on November 19th for $79.99 after a $80 mail-in rebate. Its specs are essentially the same as the rest of the Optimus One series, but as a reminder:

3.2-inch glass touchscreen
3 MP camera with flash and video recording
WiFi
Android 2.1

Don't want a physical keyboard?

Nov

Motorola Droid Pro Unboxing And Hands-On

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Droid Pro, Motorola, Phone Reviews, Reviews, Verizon Wireless

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

So... what can I say? It's the Droid Pro, Android's answer to the Blackberry, the Blackberry running Android - in short, the phone that's supposed to kill off RIM once and for all. But is it? Our review unit just arrived in the mail today, and while I'm not ready to do a full review just yet, I am ready to give you my initial impressions as well as an overview of what's in the box. Ready? Read on!

The Unboxing

The box is standard fare for a Droid device - black, gray, and red, except for the Droid Pro name, which is inscribed in white.

Nov

Samsung Developing Google-Powered TV Of Its Own, Planning On Unveiling The Product At CES 2011

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Google TV, News, Samsung

Given all the heat Google TV's been taking from the networks lately, the platform needs all the good news it can get - and Samsung might be giving it some come January 2011. Samsung Hub has just learned that the world's largest television manufacturer is indeed working on a Google TV-powered set, which Boo-Keun Yoon, Samsung's President of Visual Display Business, plans to unveil next year at CES.

What the blog didn't learn was what the actual TVs would look like; in fact, the only detail they provided was that the company's "open" to using Intel's processors as opposed to its own offerings.

Nov

US Cellular, AT&T Announce Their Versions Of The Samsung Galaxy Tab - Former $399 On Contract, Launching November 19; Latter $649 Starting November 21

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in AT&T, Galaxy Tab, Samsung, US Cellular

It all started as a despicable rumor, but now AT&T's charged ahead and made it official - its version of the Samsung Galaxy Tab will indeed cost $649, which is $50 more than the other carriers' versions and $30 more than the cheapest 3G-capable iPad. Disappointing as that may seem, a $50 virtual gift card for Samsung's Media Hub is included, as is a bunch of bloatware nobody wants (sigh). At least you get relatively cheap pay-as-you-go plans - $15 for 200MB of data and $25 for 2GB of it.

On the other hand, US Cellular will also be piping the seven-inch tablet, albeit for $399 on a new two-year contract and $499 off contract, the same as Sprint.

Nov

Verizon Launching $80 LG Vortex November 18

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in LG, Verizon Wireless, Vortex

We always knew Verizon and AT&T would be getting their hands on devices much like T-Mobile's Optimus T and Sprint's Optimus S; we just didn't know when they would start selling them. Well, you can now cross the former of the two off your list, for Big Red just announced that the LG Vortex will be coming to its stores come November 18th, along with:

Android 2.2 with full access to the Android Market
Bing Search and Bing Maps (ugh - why is this listed as a feature anyways?)
WiFi connectivity (no word on 802.11n compatibility just yet)
3G Mobile Hotspot capability, no doubt with a nice fat fee attached
Swype
Skype pre-installed
VZ Navigator as well as an array of pre-installed LG apps (hurray for bloatware!)
5 or 7 (who knows what that means) customizable home screens
microSD card slot with support for cards of capacities of up to 32 GB
a 3.2 MP autofocus camera
two colors - black and violet
a $79.99 price tag

Nothing too groundbreaking here, especially considering T-Mobile will sell you a nearly identical phone for just $29, but the folks over at XDA-developers may be able to hook the Vortex up with a few custom ROMs if nothing else.

Nov

Android 2.2 Froyo Coming To European Dell Streak Before The End Of The Month

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Dell, Froyo 2.2, News, Streak

Android 2.2 isn't new by any means, but if you're using Dell's five-inch Streak, it looks like you're only now going to receive the update:

Worse still, this only applies to Streaks in the UK - the rest of us will just have to keep holding out. Before you go off to silently pout in a corner, though, there is one more twist to this story - what's actually contained in the update:

To recap, it looks like Dell will soon be allowing customers to download the update directly from its website (much like Motorola has done with the Backflip and the Cliq for the update to Éclair), although actually installing the update will wipe all data from the device.

Nov

Movie Buffs Rejoice - Netflix Might (Or Might Not) Be Coming To Your Android Device Next Year

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Applications, News

Netflix for Android has been long in the making, and... well, it still isn't quite there yet. However, according to Netflix's Greg Peters, an app is coming early in 2011 - for "select devices," that is. Apparently, holes in the Android OS similar to those that often lead to piracy can also be used to bypass the common DRM system. Therefore, Netflix may have to work with individual manufacturers to add content protection to their devices. Great - even tighter restrictions are on the way.

Source: The Netflix Blog via Android Central