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HTC's yet-unannounced Zara isn't exactly a stranger to the rumor circuit. We've heard all the important specs, but @evleaks has just given us a look at what appears to be a slightly censored press shot.
Did you think that just because it was winter and all the major phone announcements had died down that Samsung was done releasing things? NOPE. Today, the Korean manufacturer released info on the brand new Galaxy Grand. Where "brand new" means "looks so much like the Note II that Samsung is probably suing itself for trade dress infringement." The phone will carry a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, a 5" 800x480 display, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of on board storage (expandable with a microSD card slot), a 2,100 mAh battery, and it ships with Jelly Bean (4.1.2)
Today, ARCHOS released details on its newest small form factor tablet, the 80 Cobalt. Clearly aimed at the lower end of the slate market, this device packs a 1.6Ghz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of on-board storage and a rather meager 1024x768 display. Fortunately, the device also includes the controversial as of late micro SD card slot.
When we last heard about the Samsung Galaxy Stellar, a mid-range device coming to Verizon, Aaron was left wondering why this device was alleged to cost more than the Galaxy Nexus on contract. Well, now we have the answer: it doesn't! The 4" LTE device will be free with a 2-year contract, though that's after a $50 mail-in rebate.
Adding a tempting new device to the current pool of affordable 7" tablets, ZTE and Sprint introduced the 3G-connected Optik in February, bringing to market a great 7" display, Android 3.2 Honeycomb, and an ample 1.2GHz dual-core snapdragon processor, all for $99 on a new contract. In a nutshell, the Optik is a decent 7" tablet for those on a budget. While it isn't the best tablet around, it's powerful enough for most tasks, feels great in the hand, and isn't too bad to look at. Here's a more complete look at what the Optik has under the hood:
Budget smartphones are a lot like those miniature cans of Coca-Cola you'll find on supermarket shelves - cheaper by the half-dozen than their higher-volume counterparts, but with the obvious catch that you're getting less sweet, delicious corn-juice for your dollar. It doesn't take more than 30 seconds to stop, think about this, and realize that even if you won't finish the big 12oz can during your lunch (or don't want to drink that much soda), you're still basically paying more for choosing to buy less.
The Ice Cream Sandwich-packing Galaxy Tab 2 it may not be, but the Galaxy Tab 7.7 that Verizon unveiled at CES last month still isn’t to be dismissed out of the gate – the now-official tablet will be arriving in stores on March 1st, complete with:
Last night we got some hands-on time with HTC's new family of smartphones - the One series. While we didn't get a hands-on video with the One X (largely due to a dead battery), we did spend a fair amount of time with the One S, which shares most of its hardware with its larger sibling.
You probably guessed this was coming - our Mega-Holiday Giveaway series just wouldn't be complete without a Galaxy Nexus (check out our just-published review). Today, we're giving away one Verizon Galaxy Nexus, courtesy of our friends at Texas Instruments, along with a pair of Klipsch S4A headphones (read our review here). (For our international readers: this particular contest is open to the US only (it's a US-only phone), but you may want to check back tomorrow.)
Do you like connectivity? Well, today you're getting a chance to win what is probably the most connectable Android tablet around, the Toshiba Thrive. Our friends at Toshiba have graciously provided us with one, along with a Toshiba Wireless Keyboard for maximizing your tablet productivity.
Samsung, in partnership with China Telecom, has just announced the SCH-W999, successor to the W899. The W999 is a formidable (read: huge) flip phone, and comes with two of everything – two 3.5" S-AMOLED displays at 480x800, a 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm MSM8660 processor, and 2 SIM slots.
After your (possibly over-) enthusiastic response (I kid, I kid; we appreciate your high spirits) to our last giveaway, we decided it would only be appropriate to allow two more readers the chance to win an ASUS Eee Pad Slider. That's right: NVIDIA, in its seemingly infinite awesomeness, has once again been generous enough to sponsor a giveaway of not one, but two 16GB white ASUS Eee Pad Sliders, both powered by a 1GHz dual-core Tegra 2 processor and fueled by a wide variety of games from the Tegra Zone.
I've had the BIONIC just about 24 hours now, and that's enough time to draw a few, basic conclusions about the phone. It's not sufficient for a full review, obviously, but if you're itching to know more about how using the BIONIC is from an Android addict's perspective, you might want to check out my first impressions video.
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.
The wait has been long for those eager to find out more about Ice Cream Sandwich (i.e. everyone in the Android community), but it appears that the date is finally drawing near, as more and more details are starting to leak out. Last week we got our first look at the next version of Android, and today Electronic Times published some details on the first device that will run it - the Nexus Prime.
Motorola is apparently hard at work on another high-end handset known as the DROID HD - and boy, is it a good-looking piece of kit. Just take a look:
MIUI, one of Android's most popular custom ROM flavors, has been limited to purely software for existing devices... until today. Made by a Chinese company Xiaomi which has been in charge of MIUI's software development, the MIUI phone was just announced in China (where Xiaomi is based), and I must say - it's no hush puppy and leaves us highly impressed.
Still holding out for the mythical (pun intended) Samsung Hercules, leaked via a T-Mobile roadmap a couple months back? While we don't have any pricing or release info just yet (though that September 26 release date certainly seems possible), TmoNews has gotten a hold of a few pictures of the device that confirmed it as the 4.5" Galaxy S2 T-Mobile variant.
The Droid Bionic, Verizon's most anticipated and delayed phone of 2011 (alongside the SGS2), expected to show up around September 8th, just got a few details we were curious about confirmed in its FCC filing docs, along with a slew of photos. Hilariously, it looks like either FCC has been testing this phone in a warzone or they have a pack of wild puppies around the office, because the device looks like it's just been through battle and gotten a Purple Heart.