Seven states oppose AT&T-T-Mobile merger

Bad news for AT&T and those in favor of the carrier’s attempted acquisition of T-Mobile. It looks like the Department of Justice has garnered more troops in support of opposing the merger. It has been reported that seven states will be backing the Department of Justice’s lawsuit against AT&T. The seven states against the merger are: New York, Washington, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Ohio and Pennsylvania. With over a third of the American population, living in these states combined, it looks like AT&T doesn’t really have a lot of support from the public. There’s still no telling if the deal will go through or not, but for now, the chances are definitely looking slim.

Here is a statement from Craig Aaron, president of Free Press:

“We applaud the attorneys general who joined the Justice Department’s suit today to block AT&T’s takeover of T-Mobile. They deserve praise for standing up to AT&T and standing with their citizens. They understand that families can’t afford to shoulder the burden of higher bills that would result from the merger, and that states struggling with unemployment can’t afford to stand aside while corporations kill competition and put people out of work. This lawsuit is yet another blow to AT&T and a victory for the public.
“AT&T’s propaganda and political posturing aren’t working in the face of such overwhelming opposition and evidence against this deal. Both the attorneys general and the Justice Department examined the facts of the case, and the facts are clear: This merger will raise prices, kill competition and put thousands of Americans out of work at a time of skyrocketing unemployment.”

Read more »

Samsung Wave 3 to be released in October

Samsung’s next generation bada phone, the Samsung Wave 3, wasn’t given a release date when it was announced together with the Wave M and Wave Y phones last month. But today at the bada developer day in India, a Samsung executive confirmed a release date for the Wave 3. The Samsung Wave 3 will be released in Europe sometime next month. No word on a US release date, but seeing how the previous Wave phones never made it to our shores, it’s highly unlikely we’ll see the Wave 3 – but there’s always a first for everything.
The Samsung Wave 3 packs some decent specs – no dual-core processor, but it will have a 1.4GHz Samsung Exynos SoC, a 4″ Super AMOLED display, a 5-megapixel camera (capable of 720p HD video recording), WiFi, WiFi Direct, Bluetooth, GPS, 3GB of built in memory, a microSD card slot (supports up to 32GB) and a 1500mAh battery. And of course, the phone will be running the latest version of bada – bada 2.0. Anyone planning to pick up this phone when it goes on sale?

Read more »

ITC to review Apple win in patent battle with HTC

The United States International Trade Commission will re-investigate claims that HTC is infringing on Apple’s patents. In July, a judge ruled HTC was guilty of infringing on two of Apple’s patents that covered “a system and method for performing an action on a structure in computer-generated data,” and “a real-time signal processing system for serially transmitted data.” HTC quickly said it would appeal the decision, noting it has a strong case against Apple. HTC fired back and sued the iPhone maker for patent infringement in August when it accused Apple of infringing on three of its patents. HTC said it was disappointed in “Apple’s constant attempts at litigation instead of competing fairly in the market,” and even said it was willing to bury the hatchet in the ongoing patent battles. Apple and HTC must send in written submissions and “proposed remedial orders” related to the case by October 6th. The U.S. ITC will complete its investigation by December 6th, Bloomberg said.
[Via Bloomberg]

Read more »

Amazon offers $50 gift card with all Verizon phones

Amazon’s wireless division announced on Friday that it will provide a $50 gift card with the purchase of any Verizon Wireless device between Friday and Monday, September 26th. The card can be used anywhere on Amazon.com or can be used for wireless accessories on the AmazonWireless website. The HTC ThunderBolt 4G is currently priced at just $0.01, which means you’re basically getting paid $49.99 to pick one up. AmazonWireless is also selling new devices such as the Motorola DROID BIONIC, one of Verizon Wireless’ newest LTE phones, and other 4G devices such as the Samsung SCH-LC11 4G Mobile Hotspot and Novatel MiFi 2200 Mobile Wi-Fi Hotspot.
Read

Read more »

HTC Vigor named the HTC DROID Incredible HD

When we first heard the name HTC Vigor we all knew it was a codename and we’d eventually hear Verizon and HTC’s plan on a name. While we’ve seen plenty of leaks it appears the new name has finally been decided. The HTC Vigor will be the first HD phone to market as the HTC DROID Incredible HD and feature a 1280x720p HD display.

The Vigor originally leaked back in July and we’ve seen bits and pieces for months but lately it’s all coming nicely together. The Vigor recently cleared the FCC showing those 4G LTE speeds and more. Latest leaks are also suggesting the Incredible HD may land possible as soon as October 13th just as recent roadmaps have suggested.
With a dual-core 1.5 GHz processor, HD screen, 4G LTE and the latest Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread this should be a nice alternative to the Bionic. I figured it would be called the Incredible LTE but HD sounds a bit more exciting don’t you think?
More options are always welcome and I’m just glad to see Verizon is rolling out the 4G LTE phones in full.
[via Droid-Life]

Read more »

LG U6200 leaks with 1.5 Ghz dual-core, LTE and 720p HD screen

Well folks, it seems LG is finally ready to hit the dual-core realm. Most of their current offerings have been single core devices thus far, but things are about to change. Just hitting the wires is not only a dual-core phone, but it also packs 4G LTE, an HD display and a few other impressive specs.


A flash site showing the phone appeared and was quickly pulled. What we have is a 1.5 GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU with a 4.5″ 1280 x 720p HD display touting to be better than Samsung’s AMOLED technology — called H-IPS, then 4G LTE and more. First guesses might say this is the LG Revolution 2 for Verizon like we’ve seen in that leaked roadmap.
Some of the other rather impressive specs are a 8 MP camera on the rear, 1.3 MP front facing webcam, 1GB of RAM, 16GB internal storage and nicely rounded up with a sleek 10.5mm thin profile. Originally launching in Korea it should be announced late this month and be available shortly. With specs like that hopefully we see a global release or at least over in the US so we can get our hands on it and see if LG can rival the Bionic and Galaxy S II.
[via GSMArena]

Read more »

Samsung fires a lawsuit back at Apple in Australia

Samsung has filed a lawsuit in response to Apple's prior claims that Samsung devices violate Apple design patents in Australia. In the filing, Samsung claims that Apple is in violation of its technology patents.
If this sounds familiar to you, that is because it is virtually the same story as to what has transpired between the two companies in other parts of the world. Samsung's lawsuit claims that Apple has violated seven of its patents regarding wireless communication standards. It is also looking for a revocation of the patents granted to Apple that have been used against Samsung's line of Galaxy smartphones and tablets.

Apple's claims that Samsung has violated its design patents have prevented Samsung from selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia. Samsung has also been barred from selling Galaxy smartphones and tablets in Germany. Apple has not had to pull any of its products from shelves due to Samsung's lawsuits at this point in time. [via Business Week]

Read more »

HTC To Be The First With Intel Powered Android?

Earlier in the week some big news came out of the Intel Developer’s Forum in San Francisco, CA.  When Andy Rubin delivered his address to attendees he said that new Android phones would incorporate Intel chip sets and furthermore Intel powered Android handsets would be optimized for Intel throughout the entire device.  The new Intel Android devices would be utilizing the Medfield chip.
An unsourced news piece on a website called Bright Side of News is suggesting that the rumors at IDF were  that HTC would be the developer for the new Intel device.  Although the device shown by Rubin and Intel at the conference was a reference build with no manufacturer associated with it, a few folks we talked to who attended IDF said that the form factor and design looked like it was made by HTC.  Rumor has it that the Intel powered HTC Android device will be ready by CES.
More after the break
Despite losing their chief of innovation, Horace Luke, back in July HTC seems to be full speed ahead on a path of new innovations happily surrounded by Android.  Last month HTC announced their $300 million dollar partnership with Beats By Dre that won’t only give better sound to HTC devices but lend some street credibility for the Taiwanese manufacturer.  HTC also brought back the “stylus” in the case of the HTC Flyer and HTC JetStream it’s a digital pen but they made it cool again to control a tablet with a pen like device. A move that sparked Samsung into building the stylus into their new Galaxy Note.
Now, with this latest rumor about Intel, HTC proves again that they aren’t afraid to test the waters.

Read more »

Zynga Brings Hanging With Friends To The Android Market

The creative force behind the insanely popular Words with Friends has now released another one of their hits, Hanging with Friends, to the Android Market. The game is based of the classic “hangman” but thankfully with better visuals than that stick character you used to draw with pen and paper.

Like Word with Friends, you can play with up to 20 people simultaneously no matter if they’re rockin’ Android or iOS. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like the game is available in all markets (couldn’t get it on my Evo 3D) but keep checking back as I’m sure Zynga will fix this issue soon enough. Click the Market link below and let us know in the comments if it’s working for you.
Thanks, Gregory!
[Market Link]

Read more »