Motorola’s 7-inch XOOM caught in wild

An image of what appears to be Motorola’s 7-inch version of the XOOM has leaked, presumably the same compact tablet CEO Sanjay Jha promised was in the pipeline earlier this year. No specifications in the image sent to This is my next, but the slimline slate does appear to have the Motorola logo – or something like it – in the top corner, and be running Android Honeycomb’s camera app.

As for connectivity, while we’re guessing that WiFi, Bluetooth and 3G/4G are all likely additions, the only thing visible at the moment are two ports on the lower edge. They, it’s suggested, are microUSB and microHDMI.
If authentic, gone are the chunky stylings of the original XOOM, to be replaced by an angled aesthetic more in keeping with the Photon 4G. No word on when, exactly, this new Motorola might hit the market, nor indeed what the chunky device in the upper right-hand corner might be.
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LG Optimus Q2 revealed: Super-bright QWERTY slider

LG has unveiled its latest Android smartphone, the LG Optimus Q2, a QWERTY-toting slider with a 4-inch WVGA IPS display and a 5-megapixel camera. Running a 1.2GHz processor, the Optimus Q2′s real draw is the display, which LG says runs at an eye-searing 700 nits.

There’s also WiFi Direct support, Bluetooth and a front-facing video camera. The phone is 12.3mm thick and weighs 147g, and LG says its shrunk down the dimensions of the slide section by 2mm compared to previous smartphones from the company with the same form-factor.
It’s unclear which version of Android is loaded, but LG has done some fiddling with its own UI system. South Korea will be able to pick up the LG Optimus Q2 from next weekend, though there’s no sign of a price or a release date for international markets.
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HTC October 6 event could deliver Euro HTC Vigor

The HTC Vigor could make its official debut in early October, with the news that HTC UK is sending out invites for a “press conference and party” on October 6. While the company has told us it cannot confirm details about the event – and asked that we not mention where in London it will take place – the language indicates this will be another of the company’s high-profile public events.

Saved for the firm’s more significant launches, and usually announced at the HTC UK Facebook page, these parties give would-be buyers a chance to play with new smartphones well ahead of retail availability. Although the early October timeline could indicate Windows Phone 7 related news, the fact that HTC has already announced its new Mango-based line-up suggests it’s Android that’s on the cards.
Most likely candidate, then, is the HTC Vigor, which is expected to see the company debut a 4.3-inch 1280 x 720 HD-capable display. Running what’s believed to be the same 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm processor as in the new Sensation XE, in addition to an 8-megapixel main camera, the Vigor has been described to Android Community as the first HTC handset to include Beats Audio in its design “from the ground up.”
Update: To be clear, we’re talking about a European version of the Vigor, seeing as that specific handset is expected to be a Verizon CDMA model.
Update 2: Reader Carl suggests it could be the European HTC Bass that HTC is revealing, though that handset is expected to be unveiled in the US tomorrow.
[via SlashGear]

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LG grabs Street Fighter IV for HD phones in Q4

LG’s first HD Android smartphones are expected to arrive in Q4, bringing with them classic game Street Fighter IV thanks to a new deal with CAPCOM. The agreement will see LG have three months exclusivity to the title, which will be distributed via the handset manufacturer’s own site rather than, it seems, through the Android Market.

“As we prepare our first HD smartphone for launch, it was important for us to be able to offer HD content that would really demonstrate this phone’s benefits” LG Mobile president and CEO Dr. Jong-seok Park explains. ”The HD version of Street Fighter certainly fills this objective. We are also confident that LG’s soon-to-be-unveiled HD display technology will give Street Fighter fans a whole new reason to play the game again.”
Unfortunately there’s no further detail on the HD smartphones themselves, though leaks earlier in the year suggested that the LG Prada K2 would have a  4.3-inch HD NOVA Display, an 8-megapixel main camera and a front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera. LG recently showed off a 4.5-inch 1280 x 720 panel, with an iPhone 4-challenging 329ppi pixel density.
[via MobileBulgaria]

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Samsung reportedly preparing for patent litigation against iPhone 5

The patent war between Apple and Samsung shows no signs of slowing down and the Korean company is now planning to launch a counterattack on Apple when the iPhone 5 makes its debut, according to a report by The Korea Times.
Citing senior officials within the company, the publication states that Samsung is determined to use its basic mobile telecom patents against Apple, which it is confident that the Cupertino company has no way of sidestepping in its developing the iPhone 5.
Samsung has taken some major blows in its legal battles against Apple, having seen its Galaxy Tab tablet banned in Germany earlier this month and been forced to delay the tablet’s launch in Australia. It was also compelled to modify its Galaxy S II phone after an injunction against it was granted to Apple in Europe.
The Korea Times reports that there are currently at least 23 pending lawsuits between Apple and Samsung in France, Germany, Japan, Korea and the USA, and it expects more to be filed in other countries in the coming months.
Samsung is currently one of Apple’s largest suppliers of component parts for its products, though the latter has been trying to distance itself from its rival in past months, but it seems that the Korean company is willing to go on the offensive to defend its products against Apple’s legal onslaughts.

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HTC Inspire Receives Aggressive AT&T 4G Pricing, Red Model

HTC  Inspire 4G:  4G handsets, such as the HTC Inspire 4G, can basically be considered as having arrived in two different groups. There were those which were the first 4G smartphones to arrive in the mobile marketplace 5 to 10 months ago, and then there was this second tier of 4G phones with more powerful processors, usually better resolution displays, and other advanced features that have been rolling out the last couple of months. You can consider these first-generation and second-generation 4G handsets.

Sprint was the first wireless service provider to become extremely aggressive with their first generation 4G smartphones, pricing many of those first generation handsets anywhere from one penny to $19.99 with a two-year activation. It didn’t take Verizon long to do the same thing with those first-generation 4G phones to enter their LTE mobile broadband network. AT&T is decidedly a much bigger player than all the other United States mobile broadband service providers other than those two, and recently followed suit.

The HTC Inspire 4G is the latest phone to benefit from AT&T’s aggressive first-generation 4G handset pricing structure. The HTC Inspire 4G Android smartphone was recently dropped in price to $19.99 with a two-year activation at certain AT&T authorized retailers, and a new red model was also released at the same retail price. As cell phone manufacturers strive to differentiate themselves from the competition, with so many phones offering basically the same feature set, HTC has added a unique red backing and side plate proprietary to their Inspire 4G handset. The HTC Evo 3-D 4G phone and HTC  Evo 4G recently debuted white phone options as well.

Aftermarket slip on covers and skins are available in many colors, however, ill fitting and sometimes damaging to the handset, by HTC providing a unique red color for the Inspire and white colors for the Evo 3-D and Evo 4G handsets, there is simply one more option for the Android smartphone shopper. The HTC Inspire 4G Android smartphone has a 4.3 inch S-LCD capacitive touch screen with 480 x 800 pixel resolution, and the 4G standard light and proximity sensors with multitouch gesture support.  Buy the HTC Inspire 4G starting at only $19.99.

The Inspire 4G also has a rear facing eight megapixel camera which records in 720P high definition, and provides dual LED flash, autofocus, and geo-tagging features. A single core 1.0 GHz Snapdragon processor and 768 MB of RAM memory are on board, and out of the box, the HTC Inspire 4G ships with Android’s 2.2 Froyo operating system, but a free over the air upgrade to Gingerbread 2.3 was recently released.

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Angry Birds has been downloaded over 350 million times

Talk about money in the bank. In an interview with Venture Beat, Andrew Stalbow, Rovio’s General Manager revealed that the popular bird-flying, productivity-wasting, and highly entertaining game Angry Birds had been downloaded over 350 million times.

In addition to being downloaded 350 million times, Stalbow also revealed that every day, over 300 million minutes are spent playing the game. Mobile isn’t the only place where Angry Birds is getting millions of numbers. Its Youtube videos have been viewed over 170 million times!

The goal of the company now is to expand Angry Birds from a game to a multimedia franchise. In the future, you will be seeing more Angry Birds-themed things, such as Movies, products, games, and more.
Stalbow, a former Fox Entertainment executive joined Rovio to fulfill the company’s plan to expand into a multimedia franchise. The company currently has 50 employees in Finland. In its last round funding, the company raised $42.
In their upcoming round of funding, the company could be valued at $1.2 billion.
Source: Venture Beat

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Google Wallet likely launching today

First there was the leak from Radioshack suggesting a September 1st launch. The 1st came and went and so we continued to wait patiently. This past weekend, Google aired an ad for Google Wallet featuring George Costanza. We knew then that an official launch couldn’t be far off. We didn’t however realize just how soon that could be until now. A document has been making the rounds to Google Wallet launch partners, stating that today is the day. Coinciding with the NFC World Congress, also kicking off today, certainly makes sense. While Google isn’t listed as part of the event, their main partner MasterCard is the official sponsor, so all signs point to an unveiling some time today at the NFC event in Sophia Antipolis.
Document screenshot after the break

[via TechCrunch]

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Android Ice Cream Sandwich Confirmed by NI for October

It’s difficult to take the folks at Notion Ink seriously after all we’ve heard from them, confirmations that turned out flat, a device whose insides certainly did not end up pretty, and stories of them leaving their customers in the dark the moment their device was shipped and the money was in the bank. Oh the other hand, they haven’t disappeared completely quite yet, and Rohan Shravan, their face, has a bit to say about Ice Cream Sandwich that may end up being dipped in truth sauce when it comes down to it. The key sentence: “Official (“update button”) Ice Cream Sandwich update in November after Google’s launch in late Oct”. Did Shravan just leak the launch date of the next Android treat?

Shravan may have done one of two things here. First, he could have some sort of insider knowledge of the future and he could be speaking with Google reps on the phone daily. This is a whole heck of a lot less likely than the second possibility: Shravan is able to use the internet and frequents sites like Android Community where he read the headline Ice Cream Sandwich coming October of November says Eric Schmidt. He’s also probably following news on the Nexus Prime like every other Android fan on the planet and happened across the story that noted in addition to its possible 1.5 Ghz dual-core processor, it’d have an October release alongside Ice Cream Sandwich.

Shravan does have a few more ideas though perhaps based in well-read near-reality. The first of these is that, as he says, “if you go by the industry signals, OMAP is the preferred platform for the next wave of devices.” He adds that OMAP will also “see ICS” before Tegra. This is certainly not the first time we’ve heard that Google would team with Texas Instruments for OMAP4, and since NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 dual-core processor was the hero for Google’s Honeycomb release (see: Motorola XOOM), we can assume that Google will be giving another group a chance at glory this time around. Fair is fair!

What do you think – should Notion Ink’s people be trusted? They DID give us the heads up on Gingerbread basically before anyone else in the world, after all. Perhaps we’re good to go for late October! Now the question is – or remains – will you wait for the Nexus Prime, or will you hit up either the DROID BIONIC or the Samsung Galaxy S II?
[via NotionInk]
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