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May

[Updated] HTC Flyer Digital Pen Shows Up On The Web, And It Will Set You Back $80.00

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Flyer, News

Last Updated: July 4th, 2011

One of the more interesting features of the HTC Flyer is its use of a digital pen, but up until now there has been little talk of its availability. The Digital Pen allows you to write on basically anything you see on the Flyer, including web pages or input boxes, using HTC Scribe technology. I think that there was speculation that the Flyer would come with the digital pen, but that doesn't appear to be the case. The pen has popped up on BestBuyBusiness.com for the not-so-low price of $80, which, given the $500 price tag of the tablet itself, brings the entire package up to almost $600.

May

Sony Ericsson Refreshes The Mini Line - The New Xperia Mini And Mini Pro Are Official, Set To Launch In Q3 2011

Posted by Cameron Summerson in News, Sony Ericsson, Xperia Mini / Mini Pro (Smultron / Mango)

If tiny smartphones that pack a punch are your thing, then today is your lucky day. Sony Ericsson just officially announced the new Xperia Mini and Xperia Mini Pro, which are both essentially the same phone, except the latter has a full slide out QWERTY. The new line succeeds last year's X10 Mini and X10 Mini Pro, but drops the X10 monicker and heavily beefs up the specs. Here are the details:

3 Inch 320x480 display
1GHz Snapdragon processor
320MB internal storage (ouch), SD Card slot with 2GB card included
5MP rear camera with 720p video capture and face detection
Sony BRAVIA engine
Android 2.3

While the pair may not be the hottest thing to hit the streets lately, they definitely have the whole smallest-HD-smartphone thing going for them.

May

Sprint And Motorola Unveil Two New Blackberry Style Devices For Business Users: XPRT And Titanium

Posted by Cameron Summerson in News, Sprint, Titanium, XPRT

If you were a billion dollar company that had a smartphone design laying around that didn't do so well, what would you do with it? Motorola's going with "rebrand it and release it on a different network" with the "new" XPRT that's set to hit Sprint in June. The global-ready XPRT is basically a rebranded DROID Pro, as it has near identical specs:

3.1 Inch display
1GHz Processor
Global Ready
Mobile Hotspot with support for up to 5 devices
5MP Rear Camera
Android 2.2 with Motoblur

The XPRT is geared towards business users, and it's the first Android handset on the Now Network to sport enterprise-class security and data encryption.

May

Bring It On: PopCap Is Bringing Plants Vs. Zombies To Android Within The Next Two Months

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Games, News

I remember when I first saw Plants vs. Zombies. I believe it was before I had an Android phone (*gasp*) and, even though it originated on the desktop, a friend of mine showed it to me on his iPhone. Once I got my OG Droid, it was one of the first games that I searched for in the Market, but of course it was irritatingly absent. So I waited... and waited... and waited.

Finally all of that waiting has [almost] paid off, because Popcap has officially announced that Plants Vs Zombies would be coming to Android within the next two months!

Apr

Acer Iconia Smart Hits The FCC: 4.8 Inches Of Tabletphone Glory

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Acer, AT&T, News

The Acer Iconia Smart, which was originally unveiled in November of last year and slated for release in April of 2011, has officially hit the FCC. This revealed 850, 1900, and 2100MHz 3G frequencies, which basically means that this tablet-phone hybrid device is almost certainly going to land on AT&T.

If you haven't heard about the Iconia Smart, you're not alone - but this is definitely one device to keep your eye on. Check out the specs:

4.8 Inch 1024x480 display
1GHz Snapdragon processor
512MB RAM
8MP rear camera with 720p video capture, 2MP front camera
Android 2.3

Naturally, we're all going to question why Acer has decided to put a single core processor in such a beastly phone, but we're crossing our fingers in hopes that we'll see an update before the final release of this device.

Apr

DROID Charge Release Date Confirmed: Welcome The Newest Member Of The Family On April 28th... For $299

Posted by Cameron Summerson in 4G, Charge (i510), News, Verizon Wireless

We've been hearing rumors about the release date for the Samsung DROID Charge for a few weeks now, but VZW has just announced that the official launch date for Sammy's first 4G LTE smartphone will be April 28th. Considering that Samsung released the source code for the Charge last week, this comes as little surprise.

The Charge will hit the sales floor for the ridiculously high price of $299 with a new two year agreement. What do you get for all of that green, you ask?

4.3 Inch Super AMOLED Plus touchscreen
1GHz Hummingbird processor
8MP rear camera
1.2MP front camera
Android 2.2
Mobile Hotspot with support of up to 10 devices

To get a better idea of what you can expect out of this device, check out our hands-on at CES this year:

What do you think?

Apr

Intel Is Bringing Honeycomb To x86, Expect Tablets Out This Year

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, Tablets

There have been rumors for sometime now that chipset manufacturer Intel has been looking to get into the Android tablet market, and it turns out those rumors are indeed true. Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini stated that they have received the Honeycomb source code from Google and are actively working on porting it now, with hopes of making several Honeycomb-based tablets available this year.

The current lineup of top-notch Android tablets is fairly cookie-cutter in spec, so it's nice to see that a new platform is coming along to mix things up.

This doesn't just bring good news for tablets, either - Intel is planning to support phones as well.

Apr

[Updated] Is Motorola Prepping A Blur-Less Device For Virgin Mobile USA?

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Motorola, News, Rumors, Virgin Mobile

Update: It looks like the homescreen is just a generic placeholder, because it's the same one used here for the Optimus V at Best Buy. Thanks Nate!

This may not be of interest to the 7 people out there that actually like Motorola's Blur interface, but for the rest of us this is pretty good news. It looks like Motorola is prepping a new DROID-esque Android 2.2 device for Virgin Mobile USA, and it appears to be sans-Blur in the one leaked picture that Pocketnow has obtained.

With that said, it looks like the device may still be running some sort of a custom interface, judging by the three-column homescreen grid, which is not currently possible with stock Froyo's four-column launcher.

Apr

Toshiba Announces The "Regza" AT300 10.1" Dual-Core Tablet... In Japan

Posted by Cameron Summerson in News, Tablets, Thrive / Regza / Antares / AT100, Toshiba

As of late, there has been a lot of talk about Toshiba's upcoming-but-still-unannounced (in the US anyway) Android 3.0 tablet, but now things are starting to speed up. Toshiba has officially announced the "Regza" tablet - the Japanese version of the tablet that we're pretty sure will be called the Thrive. It sports the same specs that we've known about for a while now:

1Ghz dual-core Tegra 2 processor
1GB RAM
16GB Internal storage, SD Card slot
5MP rear camera, 2MP front camera
10.1 inch, 1280x800 display
HDMI, miniUSB, and USB ports

It also includes a feature called Regza App Connect, which links the tablet up to other Regza devices.

Apr

[Upcoming] Three New Games Designed For Tegra Devices - Riptide GP, Galaxy On Fire 2, And Pinball HD

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Games, News

Yesterday we told you about an upcoming Tegra-specific game from Playbox called Bang Bang Racing. Today, we have a real treat for you - a sneak peak at three more upcoming games for Tegra devices that are sure to blow your mind (no less!).

The three titles in question are Riptide GP, a port of the popular aquatic racing game Hydro Thunder Hurricane; Galaxy on Fire 2, a space-based action RPG; and Pinball HD, a high-definition twist on an arcade classic.