30
Jun
Samsung Galaxy S Launch Event Recap, Photos, And Q&A
Last Updated: July 23rd, 2010

Last night, Samsung officially announced their Galaxy S smartphone family at a swank New York City party after several weeks of blurrycam shots, spec sheets and rumors. Spanning all four major US carriers - Sprint, Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile - the Galaxy S flavors stand to be a surging juggernaut in the HTC dominated Android world.

Incidentally, I was at the event and had the pleasure of doing a live blogging session, followed by some hands-on time with all the phones.

Galaxy S Line

The Galaxy S line in the US consists of the following devices:

  • Verizon Fascinate
  • T-Mobile Vibrant
  • AT&T Captivate
  • Sprint Epic 4G

All four phones run Samsung’s skinned Android 2.1 OS variant (TouchWiz) and feature Samsung’s new Super AMOLED multi-touch screens.

30
Jun
Get The HTC EVO 4G From Sprint.com For $150 ($50 Off)

If you're in the market for a new phone or are looking to buy an EVO 4G specifically, the deal I just found on Fatwallet may be exactly what you needed.

The regular price of the phone at Sprint.com is $199 after a mail-in rebate, compared to places like Best Buy that will replace the mail-in rebate with an instant one. However, you can get an extra $50 off if you buy it from Sprint.

Positives And Negatives

  • Positive: $50 off
  • Negative:
    • You have to deal with a $100 mail-in rebate instead of an instant $100 discount at Best Buy.
29
Jun
HTC EVo

Though yesterday’s OTA update for the HTC EVO ended abruptly when it was reported that some EVOs were being bricked, it seems that it is now being rolled out once more. The update is a little larger than yesterday’s (30MB vs 23MB), but it seems nothing else has been changed (with the exception of phones not being bricked.)

Just like those who successfully received the update yesterday, users receiving the update today are reporting better battery lives, improved Exchange Active Sync, and, more noticeably, much improved Wi-Fi signal strength. Of course, it still does not fix the 30 fps on the phone, and it will break unrevoked root (for now).

29
Jun
verizon_logo

An unnamed source at Boy Genius Report today provided a tip that Verizon is planning to begin its 4G LTE network rollout in 25 markets on November 15th, 2010. Some interesting details emerged from the tip - most of them good. To summarize:

  • 4G LTE data plans will be tiered by data caps, but will not add a premium to your bill. Presumably this means the caps will be combined 3G/4G usage (you listening, Sprint/EVO/$10?).
  • The 25 markets scheduled for coverage will encompass over 100 million potential subscribers.
  • A “slew” of 4G phones will be released on Black Friday, November 26th.
29
Jun
intercept_02
Last Updated: July 2nd, 2010

Word over at Boy Genius Report is that the Samsung Moment II will be known as the Samsung Intercept. Technical details are a little scarce right now, but we do know:

  • Android 2.1 (Eclair)
  • 3.2” display (I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s AMOLED, ‘cause Samsung)
  • 4 row, slide-out keyboard
  • Wi-Fi (would guess 802.11n)
  • GPS
  • 2 Color Choices – Pink or Dark Gray

Given that Samsung doesn’t seem to be in much of a hurry to get their phones hotted-up via FroYo, I doubt they’ll update to Android 2.2 before launch. I wouldn’t be surprised to see it come shortly after launch (1-2 months), as Sprint seems to want to upgrade phones for the first few months after their release (i.e.

28
Jun
The Promised EVO 4G OTA v1.47.651.1 Is Here - Not Froyo

Update #1 11:11AM 6/28/10: Sprint published the official announcement, though only listing the original 3 update points from 4 days ago. Go to the thread and voice your concerns to them if you've bricked your EVO with this update.

Update #2: 6:00PM 6/28/10: Sprint pulled the update because of numerous reports of bricking legitimate unrooted phones. More info as soon as it's available.

If you guys remember, 4 days ago a BGR connection at Sprint leaked information regarding an OTA update for the EVO 4G scheduled to arrive on June 28th and fixing the following issues:

  • Improvements to Wi-Fi performance
  • Exchange Active Sync improvements which include a fix to issue including new account set up, PIN policy usage, and Exchange Server 2010 Calendar Sync
  • Addresses Social Networking Sync issue with Facebook application which can improve battery performance

It looks like he wasn't lying, as a 21.43MB v1.47.651.1 OTA did hit EVO 4G this morning:

The Promised EVO 4G OTA v1.47.651.1 Is Here - Not Froyo

It is currently not known what exactly was changed, although from what I could gather from the comments over at Engadget:

  • 802.11n was indeed enabled
  • the grounding issue that prevented the touchscreen from working when the phone is laid flat was fixed (my EVO definitely suffers from that - take a look at this video around 1:40)
  • the 30fps limit was NOT fixed
  • you can select the resolution for HDMI video out
  • the update reportedly breaks the unrevoked root Edit: confirmed

A whole slew of users is reporting that the update bricked their EVOs.

27
Jun
Samsung Galaxy S
Last Updated: July 1st, 2010

It was reported some time ago that the Samsung Galaxy S would hit every major carrier in the US – and it seems like the prediction was dead on. First announced for AT&T as the Samsung Captivate, the Galaxy S has already been confirmed for T-Mobile as the Samsung Vibrant, and was just announced as the Samsung Epic 4G for Sprint, the Samsung Fascinate for Verizon, and an unnamed version of the device for US Cellular.

Samsung Epic 4G - Sprint

The Epic 4G is Sprint’s version of the Galaxy S Pro (the only US carrier to get the Pro version, which includes a sliding keyboard), and is, as the name implies, compatible with Sprint’s 4G network.

25
Jun
SimpleRoot - Fully Root Your HTC EVO 4G In One Click, Including Unlocking NAND And Flashing Recovery
Last Updated: August 31st, 2010

This article mentions rooting and flashing of custom ROMs. If you’re unfamiliar with either term, hit up our primers here and here for additional information

This root does not work for Froyo. If you're reading this now, chances are very high that you already have Froyo or something higher, in which case stop and don't run steps from this method. For Froyo root, see this post instead.

Note: If your EVO software version starts with 1.47.651, we have an updated post with an updated SimpleRoot version right here.

EVO 4G owning ladies and gentlemen, if you've been waiting for a simpler full root that, unlike the first version of unrevoked, offers full write access to /system from within Android, you are in luck.

25
Jun
nofroyo_heromoment

Earlier today, an employee posted on Sprint’s blog saying that the EVO will be getting Android 2.2 soon. When asked if the update would go out to Hero and Moment users as well, his reply was:

No, it will not. 2.2 will not be available for HTC Hero or Samsung Moment

Shortly after, Sprint sent out an official tweet confirming:

sprint_nofroyo

Buzzkill. The majority of the remainder of the posts are people who are pissed off that Sprint is more or less abandoning them. However, Sprint is limited by the same constraints as the rest of the world - with the number of new phones coming out at a steady pace, and the limited resources available to create and push out the upgrades, and you have to realize that some phones are going to get left out in the dark.

25
Jun
FroYo

On their corporate blog, Sprint confirmed today that the Android 2.2 update for the EVO is being finalized. It’s pretty impressive that the FroYo source code was released just two days ago, and already Sprint is finalizing the code. Then again, as a corporate developer, Sprint had access to the source code earlier than the public, courtesy of the private code branch. It’s no surprise that they chose to update the EVO first, given that it’s their crown jewel.

As work on finalizing the software is under way, Sprint expects to launch the update in the near future – which is sure to make a lot of people happy, given the number of EVO’s sold.

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