HTC Thunderbolt update coming soon?

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Earlier this month we reported that the HTC ThunderBolt was dropping the 4G connection to the Verizon network frequently. Verizon had said that an update was coming soon to fix the issue, and then we heard nothing more for a week or more. Apparently, that update is coming soon if a leaked ROM that turned up last week is any indication. The change log for the ROM shows a number of changes that are being made to the smartphone.

Among the changes are enhanced data connectivity to the 3G network. I would hope that enhanced connectivity also means that the dropping of 4G LTE signals is fixed too. However, nothing about 4G is mentioned in the change log. Other changes include SMS and MMS messages are now stored properly in the Messaging area, and tweaks were made to email.
The update also improves the timing for the device activation, and the Backup Assistant is displayed correctly in the Application menu now. Stability improvements to applications like Facebook, Kayak, Yahoo mail and more were made. The weather widget was also fixed to add an accurate location and GPS update loading was tweaked.
[via Android Central]
 

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Motorola says more Atrix-style laptop docks will be offered in future

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The Motorola Atrix smartphone is a very cool device and one of the better Android smartphones on the market today. One of the things that makes the Atrix so cool is that the smartphone has that awesome laptop dock accessory that turns the smartphone into a fully fledged netbook that you can use for all sorts of work or play. If you want to know more about the Motorola Atrix, you can check out our full review of the smartphone and its accessories here.

That cool laptop dock for the Atrix is one of the compelling reasons for some people to buy the smartphone. That said we had mixed feelings about the dock and its functionality in some areas. Motorola has announced that it will be offering more of the laptop docks like the one for the Atrix in the future. We hope that it can make things work a bit better when the future docks finally come to market.
Often when companies like Motorola talk about “the future” they are looking far down the road. In this case, Motorola will be launching additional laptop docks in the second half of 2011 according to CEO Sanjay Jha. Jha also noted that the docks would cover an expanded range of devices and price points. Reading between the lines, I would expect a dock that works for just about all the high-end smartphones that is cheaper than the Atrix dock.
[via Engadget]
 

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Samsung's Galaxy S WiFi 4.0 and 5.0 now rolling out to countries far away from you

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While Samsung has yet to announce an actual date for its new Galaxy Players in the US, their international counterparts are already heading towards other parts of the world for a head start. The Galaxy S WiFi 4.0 is said to be debuting in Russia followed by other countries, whereas its 5.0 sibling will be launched in Switzerland. In terms of specs, not much has changed since we last saw these 1GHz, DivX-friendly Android PMPs, and yes, they'll still be shipped with Froyo "with a possibility to upgrade to 2.3 Gingerbread." As always, we'll let you folks know when we eventually find out about the US launch (if ever), though to be frank, we'd rather just go for the beefier Galaxy S II instead.

 

 

Samsung Launches GALAXY S WiFi 4.0 and 5.0:Smart Mobile Entertainment
- Two different sizes combine greater entertainment opportunities with smartphone-like innovation and app experiences

SEOUL--(Korea Newswire) May 2, 2011 -- Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., a leading provider of Smart Mobile Devices, today launched GALAXY S WiFi 4.0 and a fresh addition to its smart player portfolio, the GALAXY S WiFi 5.0.

Each featuring 4" and 5" screen-sizes and delivering the powerful application experiences as the original GALAXY S, the two versions give users an unrivalled entertainment experience through a clear display, a swift 1GHz processor and the Android™ 2.2 "Froyo" platform. The GALAXY S WiFi 4.0 will be first available in Russia and will be gradually rolled out in other countries. The GALAXY S WiFi 5.0 will be first available in Switzerland.

"With the GALAXY S WiFi 4.0 and 5.0 we're delivering a rich, immersive experience for multimedia enthusiasts." said JK Shin, President and Head of Samsung's Mobile Communications Business. "A large, high-quality screen, a world of fun and useful applications and great communications services make this a powerhouse device at an affordable price.

The GALAXY S WiFi 4.0 and 5.0 will deliver all the rich smartphone experiences of the GALAXY S smartphone. With video communications via VoIP services and rich video and music entertainment with multi-codec support, the Samsung GALAXY S WiFi 4.0 and 5.0 will keep you constantly entertained.

Stunning Performance, Powerful Features

Key Features of the GALAXY S WiFi 4.0 and 5.0 include:

- Display: The clear display makes web surfing and multimedia viewing a joy. Keep your lifestyle mobile - enjoy movies, your favourite TV shows, photos and web-browsing anywhere. Samsung's latest mDNIe image engine technology ensures that video and images look stunning.

- Android™ 2.2 "Froyo": The GALAXY S WiFi 4.0 and 5.0 feature the Froyo operating system, with a possibility to upgrade to 2.3 Gingerbread.

- Application Customization: With access to over 150,000 apps available on Android Market™, the Samsung GALAXY S WiFi 4.0 and 5.0 are fully customizable smart devices. Integrated GPS support further expands the capabilities of the device, letting you benefit from Google's map services and directory applications.

- Google Mobile Services: Enjoy premium Google™ services such as Gmail™, Google Talk™ and YouTube™. Utilize voice recognition technology to search with Google faster than ever on the Internet. Stay plugged into the world with premier Google applications.

- Samsung Social Hub: Your entire social life in your hand. Simultaneously post messages and pictures on Flickr, Facebook, and Twitter using Samsung's Social Hub. The integrated address book provides the ultimate command & control station for the most popular SNS services. Synchronize your personal calendar with friends, family, and the latest events.

- VoIP Voice & Video Calls: The GALAXY S WiFi 4.0 and 5.0 utilize cost-effective video and voice communications services. The Qik application allows video chat which can be shared over social network services.

- HD Video & Images: A camera lets you shoot and share your life, capturing high-quality video or still images. The Samsung GALAXY S WiFi 4.0 and 5.0 support DivX HD, allowing high-definition video playback; Support for various codec standards including MPEG4, H264, DivX, XviD, WMV codecs ensures you can enjoy huge catalogues of content from all over the web.

- Audio excellence: The Samsung GALAXY S WiFi 4.0 and 5.0 "Smart Player" put entertainment at its core, designed to deliver the best possible audio and video experience. Samsung SoundAlive™ technology provides unrivalled sound quality, with deeper bass and greater tone articulation.

- Enhanced Memory Capability: Packed with generous 8/16 GB memory, plus mircoSD slot and powered by a powerful 1GHz for an industry leading performance, the GALAXY S WiFi 4.0 and 5.0 are equipped to handle any user demand.

 

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Droid Bionic Gone From Motorola Website

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Let’s preface this story by saying this; unlike other rumored devices, the Motorola Droid Bionic is/was a very real device. The Motorola Droid Bionic was launched at CES by Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha. The Motorola Droid Bionic wasn’t even announced just once, there were two big announcements, one at a Verizon press conference and another at Motorola. We were at both.
There has been a lot of speculation about the Motorola Droid Bionic.  We can tell you, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the Droid Bionic was out for beta testing twice.
More after the break

We can also tell you that the Motorola Droid Bionic was supposed to be the second 4G/LTE phone out of the gate at Verizon Wireless, not the third. However with the recent pull back on  the Droid Charge even that’s up in the air.
We can also tell you that while the Motorola Droid Bionic was announced at CES by both Verizon Wireless and Motorola, Verizon Wireless has never confirmed a release date (similar to what happened with the HTC Thunderbolt). No, don’t write in, don’t gtalk, don’t tweet, there is no “missed date” because Verizon Wireless never issued a date. They did however say Spring 2011 and with that they have another month and 19 days.
The other day our very own Elijah Ketchum wrote a story on enhancements that were coming to the Motorola Droid Bionic, which he sourced from our friends at Droid Life.
The Targa Rumor
If you have been following the 6 part saga that is the Droid Bionic than by now you’ve also heard about the Motorola Targa. I dual core superphone. It’s unclear exactly what the Motorola Targa is. Some say it’s a multi-core superphone.  Some insist it’s the highly anticipated Droid 3. Others feel that the Motorola Targa is actually the new enhanced Droid Bionic and that Motorola will scrap the Targa name and re-issue the device as the Bionic.
On Motorola’s Q1 earnings call, Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha said this:

Motorola (Sanjay):  As we saw that that product (original Bionic) was pushing out a little bit, we worked with our partners at Verizon Wireless and re-featured the device and we believe that the result of it, we will have a much better device.  We had another device which was a potentially…which had different features than…and we brought in some of the features to deliver what we consider to be a higher feature device that will launch as we go forward into the summer.
source: Droid Life

Based on that quote from Jha it is apparent that Motorola is retooling the Bionic and is probably incorporating the feature sets of two different phones, the Bionic and another device (perhaps the Targa) to create one new device and call it the Bionic.  If all of this jives than the hypothesis Ketchum came up with is most likely the scenario.\
The Motorola Droid Bionic is also supposed to support the Motorola Lapdock accessory and possibly the Motorola Tabdock accessory.
Where are we at today?
At this point in time any mention of the Droid Bionic from the Motorola Mobility consumer website is gone.  This could be because the Motorola Droid Bionic is also gone and scrapped or more likely to put the focus on other devices in Motorola’s pipeline while the newly tooled Droid Bionic is ready and available.
Jha suggested on the Q1 earnings call that the Droid Bionic as well as the 4G upgrade to the Motorola Xoom, will be available over the summer.
In the “rumored” timeline we are expecting a Droid 3 and Droid X2 to be announced sometime during the summer as well.
 

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Android Market offers more freebies [study]

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According to a new study, the Android Market has passed Apple iTunes in offering more free applications for smartphones and tablets. Google’s Android Market offers 134,342 free applications while Apple has about 13,000 fewer. The study also predicts that within five months, the Android Market will be the largest applications store, period, followed by iTunes and the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace. What’s interesting is that Blackberry, which once dominated the smartphone category is now a distance 4th, only beating out Nokia’s Ovi Store.

And with the recent addition of the Amazon App Store for Android, Blackberry’s 4th place position is likely to slip even further. Amazon’s Android AppStore has fantastic features include one-click checkout, free app of the day, and a virtual Android interface to test drive apps. And Amazon is also sweetening the deal, as we mentioned last week, but offering $25 in AppStore credit with the purchase of select Android handsets.
There is one bright spot in the study for Blackberry though. Hitching a ride on the Android wave, well, sort of, Blackberry is predicted to join Google as mounting some serious competition in the tablet market. That makes Apple’s dominance in tablets short lived at about a year. And with 58% of the most popular publishers developing apps for non-Apple products, it’s easy to see why both companies have reason to smile.

 

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HTC Flyer Goes On Pre-Order At Best Buy

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Looks like the folks over at Best Buy are going to be the first to be graced with the presence of the highly anticipated Honeycomb Gingerbread tablet from our favorite Taiwanese manufacturer.  The HTC Flyer is now available for pre-order on Best Buy’s website for $499.99.  We ASSume for the most part that T-Mobile should be picking up the device as well due to the fact that the device supports HSPA/WCDMA AWS/2100 MHz and Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE at 1800/1900 MGz.   I’m thinking of trading my trusty Galaxy Tab 7″ for the Flyer, assuming it will be graced with Honeycomb shortly after release.

A couple of things that set this device apart from the rest of the tablet community, would be the fact that as far as we can tell, this is the first “skinned” (Sense UI) tablet running Gingerbread 2.3 and could possibly remain skinned after the Honeycomb update.  Furthermore, the Flyer is the first device to sport the new HTC Scribe technology which allows you to use a “stylus” like device to write, draw, take notes and highlight items.  The device should also come equipped with the new HTC Sense 3.0 at launch, and although we were told the skin would require at least a dual-core chip due to its CPU intensive nature and “hardware limitations“, the Flyer’s 1.5 GHz processor should still suffice.  So, gonna get one?  Let us know what you think in the comments below. 

HTC Flyer Specs:

• 7-inch, 1024×600 resolution screen (identical to the Galaxy Tab)
• Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8255 processor
• HDMI port
• DLNA-enabled for wireless streaming
• 5MP rear camera with both LED flash and facial recognition
• 1.3MP front-facing camera for video calling, Skype is preinstalled
• When the specs were received the device was running Gingerbread, but it just may be running Android 3.0 Honeycomb
• A remodeled version of HTC Sense that is more desktop-like
• HSPA connectivity (T-Mobile 4G?)

 

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Evidence Points to Droid Charge Launch on Tuesday

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The Droid Charge launch was postponed indefinitely when Verizon’s LTE network crashed, and we haven’t gotten an official launch date yet. Android Central has found a lot of evidence pointing toward a Tuesday release, however. In addition to the image above, they found several other internal images showing release dates of May 3rd or 5th, so we expect to see the device find a general release this week. Hit the source link to all the images. 

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T-Mobile pokes fun at Verizon for their LTE outage

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Who doesn’t love some friendly competition, a little “anything you can do, I can do better”? It looks like T-Mobile likes it just fine. As we all know, Verizon’s LTE network suffered some serious downtime recently. In a tweet released by T-Mo, the carrier stated:
“@VerizonWireless In the time your network was out, we downloaded 22 million photos, 17 million eBooks and 1 million apps on our 4G network.”
Sound a little snarky? Of course it does! What do you think of T-Mo’s attitude in this? Be sure to let us know in the comments.
 

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Target getting the Acer Iconia Tab?

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The folks over at androidcentral have stumbled upon some interesting news. A non retail, working display model of the tablet has been sent to Target. The picture shows that the supposed release date might be May 15. Knowing you can get them for $450 at Best Buy, does anyone else think a pricing war could be in the near future? A lot of vendors are already doing this with phones,  perhaps tablet will be next? Let us know what you think in the comments below. 

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