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Jul

Motorola 'Dinara' Now A Reality – Moto Reveals The ICS-Powered ATRIX HD For AT&T

Posted by Liam Spradlin in ATRIX HD, News

Remember last month when we finally saw a press shot of the fabled Motorola Dinara? Well, it looks like the device has come to reality as the ATRIX HD. Discovered earlier this evening, an official Motorola landing page gives us all the juicy details on the device, many of which we saw coming from the first rumors.

Maintaining Moto's recent design language, the device sports a carbon-fiber backing and a slight chin up top where the camera lives. One of the most beautiful things about the device so far is the fact that it will evidently run a lightly seasoned version of Ice Cream Sandwich, sporting on-screen navigation buttons.

Jun

Google Device Play Store Gets A Subtle Design Tweak Ahead Of I/O, No Longer Wastes Space With Dreadful Reflections

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Apps/Games, News

Ever since the current major iteration of the Android Play Store design rolled out, one aspect of it made me want to claw my eyes out and curl up in a fetal position - reflections. And we're not talking about small, harmless reflections. We're talking giant, tall, ugly ones, for the most part filled with gray pixel mud. They waste a ton of valuable space that can be taken up by another app, and in some cases several ones. Here, take a look:

Every time a reflection appeared in the Play Store, a kitten died somewhere. Considering that the design of Google Play overall wasn't so bad, I was appalled to see that they kept appearing month after month after month.

Jun

AT&T Goes Live With Samsung Galaxy SIII Pre-Orders

Posted by Liam Spradlin in AT&T, Galaxy S III, News

As promised, AT&T has gone live with pre-orders for the hotly-anticipated Samsung Galaxy SIII, which was just confirmed for the carrier three days ago. Customers are now free to stake claim to the phone that may indeed change the way Android phones are sold in the US. AT&T is the second carrier to officially launch pre-orders, following Sprint. Verizon's pre-orders are also expected to begin today.

In case you've forgotten what makes the Galaxy SIII an awesome device, here's a quick look at its specs:

4.8" Super AMOLED 720p display
Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor at 1.5GHz
16GB onboard storage, expandable to 64GB via microSD
Ample 2100mAh battery
2GB RAM
Android Ice Cream Sandwich with TouchWiz overlay

To earmark your own unit (in either Pebble Blue or Marble White), just head over to AT&T's preorder page here.

May

Sony And Google Show Off New GoogleTV Box With A Remote That Resembles A Space Shuttle Control Panel

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Google TV, News

You guys remember Google TV, right? It's the project that every CEO and their mothers stood on a stage with to declare war on Apple's AppleTV hobby? Yeah, those guys have been pretty quiet since about that platform for a while now. Sony, however, got up the nerve to announce a new Google TV box at a special event in Palo Alto. Where "announce" means "say some words near, without actually talking about."

Details one the device are scarce. In photos we can see that it comes with standard fare in the port department. A couple of HDMI ports, optical audio out, ethernet, a couple USB slots, and even an (optional?) space for an IR blaster.

May

T-Mobile Is Set To Launch The Prism, A Budget Phone For A Budget Carrier, Expected To Land May 6th

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in News, T-Mobile

Not every smartphone is designed to blow us away. Every once in a while, we get a little reminder that the low-end handset line needs some love to. On that note, T-Mobile let us know today that it will be launching the T-Mobile Prism, a 3.5" device running Android 2.3. The phone will retail for $20 after a $50 mail-in rebate card with a 2-year contract, or a near-impulse-buy price of $150 with no contract. Dang.

The Huawei-manufactured device is expected to hit Best Buy shelves first, starting May 6th, following by Walmart on May 9th, finally hitting T-Mobile stores on May 23rd.

Apr

Republic Wireless Begins Sending Out Invites To Its Beta Program, Announces Plans For Future Device Availability

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in News, Republic Wireless

No, Republic Wireless hasn't merged with Google as per the Internet's dreams, but it has begun issuing invites to its upcoming beta service.

Indeed, those who signed up for the service a few months back should soon be assigned a "wave" of the beta. Following this assignment, the lucky few will be secured a spot on Republic's waiting list, and the waves will start opening up this summer.

But the real news here is the smartphone pricing that's been sent out to beta customers. Unfortunately, Republic Wireless didn't provide device names or any details of that sort; all that's been disclosed are three price points and some specs.

Apr

[Leak] The HTC One S Will Be Arriving At T-Mobile On April 25th, Says TmoNews

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Leaks, News

While we're all drooling over the One X (codenamed Evo 4G LTE on Sprint), HTC's new middle child is working its way into the US markets. TmoNews has acquired some leaked slides that declare rather confidently that the HTC One S will land on T-Mo on April 25th, keeping its surname. The date, TmoNews notes, is a Wednesday which T-Mobile is typically known for favoring as a launch day.

Little else is known (like a price) at this point, except that T-Mo is currently training employees on the talking points of the One S before it become available. Talking points like Beats audio, T-Mobile's "largest" "4G" network, and the rest of the crowd favorites.

Feb

[Review] iDapt i4 Universal Charger Combines Practical Functionality With Sleek Design, Charges All Your Devices With Ease

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Other Reviews

If you're anything like me, you're not so good with keeping track of charging cables or their corresponding adapters. Either that, or every cord ends up together, looking like a bowl of spaghetti with no discernable beginning or end. Looking to end our charging cable woes, the folks at iDapt have created the iDapt i4 universal charger.

The charging station is actually one in a family of devices. iDapt also offers the i2+ which can charge up to three devices at once, and the i1 Eco which sports a totally different design, can charge two devices, and heavily touts the fact that it is "ecological," being made of recyclable materials.

Feb

LG "Heavily In Discussions" With Google To Manufacture A Nexus Device

Posted by Liam Spradlin in LG, News

Bringing a taste of truth to age-old rumblings of an LG Nexus device, the head of LG's Smartphone division, Ramchan Woo, has stated (in an interview with Cnet) that the manufacturer is "heavily in discussions" over a possible Nexus device, adding "we're working on it." While this quote is compelling, Cnet rightly highlights a few sticking points in the deal.

On one hand, while there is no evidence that Google will give Motorola preferential treatment following its acquisition, concerns have manifested, and partnering with any manufacturer (why not LG?) would quash any rumblings.

On the other hand, LG is decidedly pro-customization when it comes to Android's interface.

Feb

Official CyanogenMod Support And Nightly Builds Come To T-Mobile's LG myTouch

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in LG, News

CyanogenMod has been growing lately. The AOSP-based custom ROM reached one million unique installs last month, and dozens of devices are currently supported, including a wide array of LG devices. It's time to welcome a new member of that family: the T-Mobile LG myTouch.

Definition: A "nightly" is a bleeding edge release that is built on a daily basis, usually at night after a full day's worth of new code has been committed.

It could oftentimes be unstable and not properly tested, lacking any changelogs, but eventually evolving into alphas, betas, release candidates, and finally stable releases.

Like a large number of LG devices, this one is being worked on by CM team member Giulio Cervera (aka Kali-).