US Cellular HTC Merge Customers Receive Gingerbread

Gingerbread is all over the place lately, it seems. US Cellular has delivered the upgrade to owners of the oft-forgotten HTC Merge Unfortunately it does appear you may need a Windows PC to apply this yourself as it requires HTC Sync, but be sure to call your local US Cellular location to see if they can do it for you in-store. If you are able to do it yourself, head over to their site to get started with the instructions and download. [via AP]

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Google and Intel: Who Needs Whom More?

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) and Google (NASDAQ:GOOG)  forged a deal to tune Google's Android operating system to run well on Intel's processors Sept 13.
Intel CEO Paul Otellini and Google's lead Android creator Andy Rubin stood onstage together at the Intel Developer Forum to unveil the pact. The two showed off a prototype smartphone using Intel's "Medfield" Atom mobile processor to power Google's  Android "Honeycomb" operating system, originally tailored for tablets.
Both companies positioned the deal as mutually beneficial; Google gets another major processor OEM building chips for its platform, while Intel has a nice on-ramp to providing chips for the broadest smartphone platform in the world.
Otellini said Intel's Medfield chips will appear first in Android phones in the first half of 2012 to challenge the popular mobile processors made by ARM Holdings.
Yet most analysts agree Intel, which was late to the mobile processor market after pumping out countless chips for power-chomping PCs and servers, has the most to gain from the relationship.
After all, Intel is now positioned to get its chips into the lush, verdant markets for Android  smartphones and tablet computers, which rely on low power chips that don't burn out as fast. IDC recently predicted smartphones and tablets will grow to eclipse wireline machines such as desktop PCs by 2015.
"Intel needs Google more than the other way around, but Google certainly wants the broadest distribution possible, which is why the company is investing – and has invested in the past – to ensure that Android runs on both ARM and Intel," Current Analysis analyst Avi Greengart told eWEEK.
Industry analyst Roger Kay added that Intel needs Google as much as Microsoft needs ARM.
"Google has lots of distribution without Intel," Kay told eWEEK. "But Google gets silicon optimization for its OS.  Eventually, Atom may be a better platform than ARM.  Google has to hedge its bets."
Industry analyst Jack Gold sees the situation a bit differently. Despite Android's momentum, the relationship is crucial to both companies' strategies.
"Android itself has not always been that good a performer, and some of the software choices Google has made are troublesome," Gold explained. For example, the Honeycomb OS has been labeled buggy and blamed for lackluster Android tablet sales.

Meanwhile, Gold noted that for all of its prowess of a chipmaker, Intel has a unique ability to make software and particularly OSes that run extremely well.
"While they won't necessarily help Android on ARM, they can certainly make Android run great on the Intel architecture, and it's clear Google wants to be a leading OS provider, including on the x86 platforms (PCs)," Gold told eWEEK. "Any help Intel provides Google for use on x86 will also help Android running on ARM since the technology will be repurposed. So, my bottom line is both companies actually have a great deal of benefit from a tight relationship."
Regardless, Google is doing a lot of hedging around Android it probably never expected to have to do. The company ponied up $12.5 billion to buy Motorola Mobility (NYSE:MMI), a move the search engine provider positioned as a play to grab massive patent portfolio totaling 17,000-plus patents and counting (7,500 pending.)
However, some industry watchers believe, based on Motorola's proxy filing with the SEC, that the phone maker forced Google to purchase it to protect it from gross litigation in the Android ecosystem, where Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) have sued Motorola for patent infringement over its Android handsets.

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HTC Sensation XE vs Samsung Galaxy Note

We see if HTC's Sensation XE has what it takes to bring down Samsung's behemoth Galaxy Note

We compare the newly announced HTC Sensation XE to Samsung's biggest handset yet – the Galaxy Note.

Form:
HTC Sensation XE - 126.1x65.4x11.3mm, 151g
Samsung Galaxy Note - 146.9x83x9.7mm, 178g
The Sensation XE uses the same outer shell as its vanilla flavoured cousin. The XE is most assuredly some kind of red flavour with little crimson accents in places, most notably the B logo on the lower rear panel signifying the presence of Dr Dre’s Beats audio technology.
It's a thin, slinky design with very little unused space round the screen, and even the swirly monochrome panel setup on the rear of the handset looks nice. It’s all tastefully done and this can only be a good thing.
We can imagine some might find the Samsung Galaxy Note’s design bland and simplistic. We can see where this argument comes from with its raw, slab-like appearance and uncompromisingly sharp lines. It’s an unadulterated rectangle, essentially.
That’s not our view though, we think it’s looking pretty good. Given all the legal tomfoolery that’s been going on recently Samsung probably won’t thank us for saying this, but the Note really does look like a giant iPhone, and we mean that in a good way.
It has a nice clean visual style. It’s also considerably thinner than its rival at a mere 9.7mm to the Sensation’s 11.3mm.
We like both designs here, each has a premium feel and is pleasing to the eye, but they’re both very different.
Winner - Draw

Display:
The Sensation XE uses a 4.3-inch capacitive S-LCD touchscreen with a resolution of 540x960 pixels and an impressive pixel density of 256 pixels-per-inch (ppi).
The HTC Sense user interface (UI) has been overlaid on the Android operating system and the phone features gyro and accelerometer sensors for screen rotation. The Sensation XE’s display also supports multi-touch input.
Samsung’s Note uses the company’s own Super Amoled display technology combined with reinforced Gorilla Glass for its massive 5.3-inch capacitive touchscreen.
A screen that size deserves a tasty resolution, and the Note doesn’t disappoint at 800 x 1280 pixels. To top it off it’s also got a very high pixel density of 285ppi.
The HTC’s display is well up there and is worthy of some respect, but the Note’s is just something else entirely. It’s approaching the smaller end of tablet territory and with such impressive figures on resolution and pixel density, it’s sure to offer a crystal clear picture on its vast expanse of glass.
Winner – Samsung Galaxy Note

Storage:
Storage is one of the Sensation’s weaker areas, it actually has 4GB of internal storage but only 1GB is actually accessible by the user.
A microSD card slot allows an extra 32GB to be stored externally and processing power is backed up by 768MB of RAM.
The Note is much better equipped with options for either 16GB or 32GB of internal space and 1GB of RAM. Card support is the same as the Sensation.
The Samsung outperforms HTC’s handset on all fronts here making it the clear victor.
Winner – Samsung Galaxy Note


Processor:
Both devices are quite similarly specced in the processor department, each is dual core and the Note runs a 1.4GHz block while the Sensation XE packs in a fraction more at 1.5GHz.
In Samsung’s handset you’ve got an ARM Cortex-A9 on the Exynos chipset, featuring a Mali-400MP graphics processing unit (GPU) for some visual flair.
Meanwhile, the HTC sports a Qualcomm MSM 8260 Snapdragon processor with an Adreno 220 GPU.
You’d be hard pushed to find a quicker mobile device right now and we reckon it’d be equally difficult to discern a difference in performance between the two handsets here.
Both will deliver astonishingly fast, smooth and responsive performance consistently whether you’re browsing, multitasking between apps, viewing films or playing games.
Winner - Draw

Operating System:
These are both Android-powered handsets and each runs the most recent build of Google’s operating system, Gingerbread 2.3.
It’s a good system and certainly better than its predecessors but it’s starting to lag behind a little and Ice Cream Sandwich is just round the corner, which both these devices will be eligible for.
There’s nothing to compare the two here so we’ll call it a draw.
Winner - Draw

Camera:
Again plenty of similarities here, each phone boasts an 8-megapixel primary camera at 3264x2448 pixels and capable of 1080p video capture.
Both feature autofocus, touch focus, face detection and image stabilisation and they support video calling.
The HTC has a dual LED flash and instant capture. It also has stereo sound recording for video and a VGA secondary camera.
Samsung has given the Note an LED flash (though not dual), smile detection, panoramic capture, multi-shot, scene editing tools and a 2-megapixel secondary.
As with the processors, there are distinctive differences here but overall the effect of having a well-equipped 8-megapixel primary is the same.
Both are going to give a highly satisfactory camera experience and are capable of producing some excellent quality images and videos.
At a pinch we’d say the extra features on the Note are a better package but it really is swings and roundabouts here and we doubt many would be unhappy with the Sensation’s arrangement.
Winner – Samsung Galaxy Note (but only just)

Final Thoughts:
These are both astonishing phones, but just when it seemed like someone had stepped up to the plate of challenging the Samsung Galaxy S2, Samsung only went and moved the goalposts with the Note.
Okay, in some areas the Note isn’t quite as good as the S2 but it’s not at all far off and we’d say at least they’re in the same league.
Generally we’d say the HTC Sensation XE is also on this level, though we do find the storage somewhat disappointing and it’s the main thing which pulls it back.
With the Note, not only do you get something very close to the S2 in performance but you get that epic expanse of high-quality screen space which is virtually unparalleled in the smartphone world.

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Verizon 4G LTE reaching another 26 markets tomorrow

Verizon has been on a roll lately with their 4G LTE network roll-out and it appears they aren’t slowing down any time soon. Back in August we mentioned they would be updating additional network markets in September starting on the 15th (tomorrow), but we only reported around 15 or so.

Verizon isn’t taking any chances at anyone catching up because now they’re telling us they plan to add 26 more markets to 4G LTE tomorrow instead of the original 15. They’ve also expanded the reach in many current markets too. With plenty of devices on the way to take full advantage of 4G LTE Verizon has a clear lead over the rest of the pack and it’s only getting stronger.
Over the past few months we’ve seen upgrades about twice a month from Big Red, leading me to believe soon enough they’ll have everyone covered with their blazing fast 4G LTE speeds nationwide. With Verizon also getting ready to release a slew of mid-range and competitively priced phones with 4G LTE like the Samsung Stratosphere and the Pantech Breakout it’s safe to say AT&T has some catching up to do.

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Motorola DROID Bionic gets ClockworkMod Recovery

The Motorola DROID Bionic hasn’t been out but a few short days and the developer community is already hard at work. Right away they achieved root access and now we are already seeing a custom recovery for the DROID Bionic.


Happily shown in the above image is yours truly, the Droid Bionic, running with clockworkmod recovery. Now all we need is some custom rom’s and we will all be happy right? The picture is provided by MyDroidWorld and while we don’t have any instructions for this yet, they are coming soon we were assured.
We don’t have details or instructions but they will be posted soon enough for everyone that wishes to move past the stage of rooting their Bionic. Most likely this is a bootstrap application similar to that used on the Droid X and Droid 3 but until it is released we don’t know for sure. Be sure to stay tuned for more information as things are moving along plenty quick in the world of DROID.

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HTC Flyer bootloader unlocking gets official from HTC

Just like a few other HTC devices in the recent past the HTC Flyer tablet has been added to the list of supported devices from HTC that is allowed freedom. We all know the HTC bootloader situation plenty well so I wont go into that, but it’s now appearing over at HTCdev.com/bootloader in pretty much every version.

It’s nice to see HTC continuing to add devices to the list of their unlock program but I’m sure there are more than a few users wishing they’d move along a bit faster. Currently we only have the EVO 3D, Sensation, and now the Flyer as supported for unlocking. HTC did say they’d start with new releases and make their way backwards from there so hopefully phones like the Thunderbolt, Droid Incredible 2 and more start seeing the same freedom soon.
If unlocking is your thing, use the tools at HTCdev and try out the new Honeycomb ROM and be sure to let us know how it goes.

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Sprint Officially Announces the LG Marquee for October 2nd, Angles it as a Choice for the Style Conscious Citizen

That didn’t take long, did it? After the LG Optimus Black for Sprint was outed at a recent Radio Shack event as the LG Marquee Sprint’s gone ahead and made it official with a nice looking press release. While the Marquee will draw people in due to it’s extremely bright screen, Sprint’s going with the fashion angle, collaborating with design collective MADE to launch the device in style.

Aside from its good, sleek looks, you can expect decent internals that fits this one right into that mid-range crowd. We’ve got the oft-discussed 4 inch NOVA display which LG claims is the brightest mobile phone display on the market, a 1GHz processor, Android 2.3, a 5 megapixel rear camera with a 2 megapixel front camera and more.
Availability? You can begin preordering on September 20th through September 27th. Presale customers will begin receiving their devices on the 29th, but the “official” launch isn’t slated for three days later. All of this comes to you at just $100. Read on for full press details.

LG Marquee from Sprint Celebrates the Perfect Combination of Signature Style and Cutting-Edge Technology During New York Fashion Week

 As Sprint’s first device available for advance pre-sale, customers can buy 

LG Marquee beginning on Sept. 20 at www.sprint.com/marquee for $99.99

 

TLC’s Stacy London and up-and-coming designers team up to
invite consumers to make "The Bright Choice" with a MADE Fashion Week Campaign promoting the thin, light and bright LG Marquee

New York City - Sept. 14, 2011 - Sprint (NYSE: S) and LG Mobile today announced the upcoming arrival of an Android device that perfectly pairs fashion with technology - LG Marquee Android™, exclusively from Sprint. The device will be launched in partnership with non-profit design collective MADE, formally known as M·A·C & Milk, at this year’s MADE FASHION WEEK in New York City. Keeping with the smartphone’s innovative convergence of technology and fashion, LG enlisted Stacy London of TLC’s "What Not To Wear"to act as resident style mentor to five up-and-coming MADE designers as they craft chic carrying cases for LG Marquee.

LG Marquee arrives on the Sprint Network on Sunday, Oct. 2 for just $99.99 (excludes taxes) with eligible upgrade or new two-year contract and after a $50 mail-in rebate via reward card¹ (pricing excludes taxes). It will be the first Sprint device to be sold in advance online. Pre-sale orders begin on Tuesday, Sept. 20, and end on Tuesday, Sept. 27, at www.sprint.com/marquee. Customers who pre-order LG Marquee will begin receiving their devices on Thursday, Sept. 29 - three days before the device goes on sale.

"These days, a wireless phone is much more than just a communication device - it also echoes one’s personal style and taste," said David Owens, vice president - Product Development, Sprint. "Design has become a key factor in the purchase decision and the LG Marquee is sure to turn heads."

"LG believes fashion and technology go hand-in-hand among today’s growing contingent of style-conscious and tech-savvy consumers," said Tim O’Brien, vice president of marketing for LG Mobile. "By partnering with Sprint, MADE and Stacy London, LG effectively showcases three prominent phone features important to consumers: a sleek, thin profile, ultra light weight design and bright display."

LG Marquee is an ideal mobile device for anyone who wants superior performance without sacrificing personal style. The sleek, ultra-thin smartphone features a 4-inch NOVA display and a virtual QWERTY keyboard. Encouraging consumers to make "the bright choice," LG Marquee boasts a remarkably vivid and visible screen, even in direct sunlight.

LG Marquee ships with Android 2.3 and Mobile Hotspot capability supporting up to five Wi-Fi enabled devices simultaneously. It also offers a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera for maximum versatility in creating and sharing media and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera making your face-to-face video chatting experience even more memorable. Equipped with a 1GHz processor and Adobe Flash technology, LG Marquee makes downloading, posting, commenting, watching and playing faster and easier than ever.

The device features Sprint ID, allowing users to customize up to five screens on the device with a couple simple clicks. Sprint ID allows users to cut through the clutter of Android Market’s more than 250,000 apps by simply selecting from a variety of mobile ID packs featuring apps, ringers, wallpapers, widgets and more. Available Sprint ID packs include: Fashion and Beauty, E!, MTV Music, Green, and NASCAR Sprint Cup.

LG Marquee requires activation on a Sprint Everything Data plan for smartphones². Sprint’s Everything Data plan with Any Mobile, Anytime^SM includes unlimited web, texting and calling to and from any mobile in America while on the Sprint Network, starting at just $69.99 per month plus required $10 Premium Data add-on charge. The Mobile Hotspot option is available for an additional $29.99 per month supporting up to five Wi-Fi enabled devices simultaneously³ (pricing excludes taxes and surcharges).

Celebrating Technology and Fashion

The LG Fashion Week campaign pairs Stacy London’s impeccable style with the innovative, futuristic eye of MADE. London brings years of fashion-industry experience to her LG style mentor role and will provide each of the MADE designers with creative consulting sessions as they design fashion-forward carrying cases to showcase the clean, modern, minimalist styling of LG Marquee. Participating MADE designers include Kevork Kiledjian, Katie Gallagher, The Lake and Stars, Erickson Beamon and Christian Cota.

"Being able to give our designers yet another platform for growth and exposure is part of the DNA of MADE; and allowing our designers to interact with major brands like LG is a great learning tool for future partnerships," said Jenne Lombardo, Co-Director of MADE.

Celebrating a partnership of Sprint and LG’s rich style heritage, the campaign highlights the increasing influence of technology on today’s design community and includes a Fashion Week panel discussion and product launch reception hosted by London at Milk Studios on Thursday, Sept. 15. The MADE panel discussion, entitled "How Fashion Communicates," will be moderated by Simon Collins, dean of fashion at Parsons The New School for Design, and will take an in-depth look at five key areas where technology has altered fashion design. As part of the esteemed panel, London will provide industry insights to discussion categories including designer communication, the rise of the blogger, public access to real-time happenings, retail and the shift from print to digital media.

The chic and functional LG Marquee carrying cases created by the participating designers will debut on Sept. 15 during LG’s launch event at MADE FASHION WEEK. The event will feature individual designer stations that will display the inspiration behind each case. In addition, at the end of the evening, London will announce her top designer pick for the overall campaign.

 

 

 

 

About Sprint Nextel

Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel served more than 52 million customers at the end of 2Q 2011 and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; offering industry-leading mobile data services, leading prepaid brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. Newsweek ranked Sprint No. 6 in its 2010 Green Rankings, listing it as one of the nation’s greenest companies, the highest of any telecommunications company. You can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.

About LG Electronics, Inc.

LG Electronics, Inc. (KSE: 066570.KS) is a global leader and technology innovator in consumer electronics, mobile communications and home appliances, employing more than 93,000 people working in over 120 operations around the world. With 2010 global sales of 55.8 trillion Korean won (USD 48.2 billion), LG comprises four business units - Home Entertainment, Mobile Communications, Home Appliance, and Air Conditioning & Energy Solutions. LG is one of the world’s leading producers of flat panel TVs, mobile devices, air conditioners, washing machines, and refrigerators. LG has signed a long-term agreement to become both a Global Partner and a Technology Partner of Formula 1™. As part of this top-level association, LG acquires exclusive designations and marketing rights as the official consumer electronics, mobile phone and data processor of this global sporting event. For more information, please visit www.lg.com.

About LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company

The LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company is a leading global mobile communications and information company. With its cutting-edge technology and innovative design capabilities, LG creates handsets that provide an optimized mobile experience to customers around the world. LG is pursuing convergence technology and mobile computing products, while continuing its leadership role in mobile communication with stylish designs and smart technology. For more information, please visit http://www.lgmobilephones.com.

MADE, formerly known as M.A.C. and Milk, was born from the successful Fashion Week collaboration that started in 2008. Now in its fifth season, MADE FASHION WEEK continues to showcase outstanding design and harness the energy of New York’s creative communities. The compelling program of events - over 35 fashion shows and presentations each season, exhibitions, parties, concerts, panel discussions and an unrivaled online presence on milkmade.com - has translated to success at a retail level and in the press, as well as in the highly coveted digital arena. MADE has expanded as a year-round, dynamic platform for emerging design talent and other innovators and visionaries. MADE provides support to New York’s fashion community in a vibrant atmosphere that encourages creativity, fosters growth and challenges convention. These innovators and visionaries are now a powerful voice in the international fashion dialogue and have initiated a general shift in the industry.

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HTC Jetstream hands-on

When it comes to tablets, HTC has two. A 7-inch Gingerbread powered HTC Flyer, and the new 10-inch Honeycomb powered HTC Jetstream just announced in the US on AT&T.
Keen to see how Honeycomb works on the new 10-inch model and what it looks like in the flesh, Pocket-lint flew to Istanbul of all places, to have a play with the new tablet courtesy of Qualcomm.
In the flesh and the tablet is big, considerably bigger than the 7-inch Flyer and more akin to the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 rather than keep the same design ethos.

The front is dominated by the large screen, so much so, there are no buttons to distract with the Jetstream instead using Honeycomb's on screen button options to give you control over what you can do. That said there is still just about enough room to give you a forward facing camera, as well as the respective logos of HTC and AT&T.
The WXGA HD display is bright and crisp, although by no means stand out stunning.
The sides are void of detail too with a simple power button LED light and headphone socket on the top, and a micro USB charging port at the bottom.
The rear of the device thankfully offers up more detail. There is a speaker and an 8 megapixel camera for those moments you need to take a picture.

Inside and the Snapdragon 1.5 GHz dual core processor and LTE/HSPA connectivity. It will support 1080p playback and capture.
It runs the Android 3.1 (Honeycomb) operating system and represents the first iteration of the HTC Sense user experience on Honeycomb.
Like the company's 7-inch offering, the HTC Flyer, the Jetstream will work with the company's stylus - the HTC Scribe - an optional digital pen accessory although sadly Qualcomm didn't have one to had for us to try out.
In the flesh and it's business as usual with the Jetstream offering a very friendly Sense UI interface for those that love it with the added benefit of Honeycomb and what it offers to Android tablet users too.

Like the HTC Flyer - it uses the same innards - the Jetstream was quick and responsive to our commands and requests.
On the design front, it is a touch on the heavy side, and the brushed metal casing seems out of kilt with HTC's overall design ethos, something we suspect AT&T requested on perhaps seeing the Galaxy Tab back at US phone trade show CTIA in March.
The HTC Jetstream is available in the US now, and although nothing is confirmed, is expected to make it to the UK at some point in the future.?


                                           

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The new gesture technology that could kill the touchscreen

Qualcomm has demoed a new gesture system at its Innovation Qualcomm event in Istanbul. It allows the user to control an interface without even having to touch the phone or tablet’s screen, and could spell the end of the touchscreen as we know it.
In move that anyone who has complained about smudges on their phone or tablet would be proud of, the system, which was briefly demoed by CEO Paul Jacobs on stage at the event, uses ultrasound picked up by the device's microphone to work out where your hands are.
In the demo, the CEO waved his hand over the phone, flicking through a carousel of images.
Qualcomm has said that the new technology should be in phones and tablets by the end of next year.
The technology, which Qualcomm claims is the digital sixth sense, will be embedded into the company’s chips in the future.

The CEO also demoed a new Augmented Reality app that the company has been working on, which allows people in a video shop to watch a trailer of a movie just by pointing their phone at a DVD case.
Pocket-lint is at the event and will try and get more time and details on the new features shortly.

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