Xiaomi Phone to receive stock Android 2.3.5 soon, Ice Cream Sandwich in January

Xiaomi is the manufacturer behind the Xiaomi MI-One dubbed the MIUI Phone. They are the guys behind the 1.5 Ghz dual-core phone that will be shipping with the 3rd party custom MIUI Rom stock. The device looks great and I’m sure many were wondering if we’d see a stock version — today the answer is yes.

Today, CEO Lei Jun confirmed that October will be when the phone is updated to a completely stock, vanilla Android 2.3.5 ROM rather than just MIUI. Users will be able to decide what version they’d like, and if they prefer vanilla or a custom ROM. Even more exciting was he also mentioned that Xiaomi plans to update their offering to Android 2.4 (or 4.0) Ice Cream Sandwich as early as January. While that may be a few months later than we are expecting ICS, at least the update is already in said plans.

While we are sure many current phones will also receive updates to the much anticipated Android Ice Cream Sandwich, hearing it from a CEO’s mouth is always a good sign of things to come. Especially when you most likely will be snagging this phone off contract for the full retail price. In case you’ve forgot the Xiaomi Phone has some impressive specs that include a 4″ screen with a resolution of 480 x 854. The processor is a beefed up 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8260. The smartphone will pack in 4GB of ROM and 1GB of RAM not to mention having 32GB of internal storage. A nice well rounded phone if I don’t say so myself. That and ICS sounds amazing right?
[via Engadget]

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T-Mobile holding one day sale, All smartphones under $99

If you are one of the many that call themselves a bargain shopper this upcoming deal from T-Mobile is one you wont want to miss. Starting Saturday T-Mobile will be having what they are calling their Yes, Every Smartphone Is on Sale, Sale”. T-Mobile will be offering all of their popular smartphones and smart devices like the LG G-slate and more all for the low low price of under $99 dollars. Obviously with an amazing deal like so there are a few catches, more details below.

As with any awesome deal you can expect to have to jump through a few hoops or sign your life away, and here we must do both. In order to quality users must sign a “new” 2-year contract as well as deal with a pesky mail in rebate, but when all is said and done you’ll have an awesome phone or tablet at a steal of a price.

From Crackberries to the HTC Sensation, Exhibit 4G and everything in between all devices are on sale from $0-$99 dollars with Saturday’s one day sale. Unless you sign a new 2-year contract the deal isn’t much of a deal except for the mail in rebate part based on the device you plan to snag. Either way a deal is a deal and figured you’d love to hear about it and run down to your nearest T-Mobile come Saturday. More details are available at T-mobile.com
[via SlashGear]

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Verizon 4G LTE keeps getting stronger, 21 new markets coming in October

We’ve said AT&T has their work cut out for them regarding 4G LTE a few times and this is just one more confirmation that it’s true. Verizon is showing zero signs of slowing down their impressive roll-out of 4G LTE. They have been steadily adding 15-25 new markets every month or so since their LTE networks first launched and they seem to be continuing the extremely fast pace of integration.

Just last week they flipped the switch on 26 new markets as well as expanded the reach and capabilities in multiple cities that already had LTE. Now today they’ve announced they are getting ready to start another big push and will flip the same BIG RED switch enabling 4G LTE in another 21 network locations late October. At this rate I see them hitting and passing that 175 markets by the end of 2011 with ease.

Verizon wasn’t extremely clear on this next release but we should receive a full press release shortly with all the details. We can expect these 21 cities to have LTE come October 20th but there is a good possibility you’ll start seeing it a few days early so be sure to give it a try with any Verizon LTE enabled device. Along with those new markets they’ll also be expanding in many others like they’ve done in the recent past and we’ll update when we know more.
AT&T just launched their 4G LTE two days ago and sadly they only included a very unimpressive 5 markets in the launch. They did however mention plans to fire up 4G LTE in 10-15 additional markets before years end. If that is all they plan on pushing I have a feeling Verizon is sitting pretty and smiling behind closed doors right about now. With Verizon 4G LTE in around 140+ cities to date and more coming very soon things are looking quite bright for Big Red regarding this next-gen LTE stuff. We will update when the list of cities becomes available.
[via SlashGear]

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Hulu Plus Update Adds Bionic, Sensation, EVO 3D, Flyer tablet and more to supported list

Ever wonder when Hulu would get on the ball and add more Android phones to the officially supported list? I know I’ve been highly disappointed with the current offering but today that’s changed a bit. While Hulu still doesn’t offer support for a wide array of devices today however they’ve added 8 additional phones with the update that is available now in the Android Market.

At launch Hulu Plus only supported 6 or so Android phones and mid July was updated with a few more. Today they’ve pushed another update to the Android market and the list has grown by about 8. All phones are recently released powerhouse smartphones and now will have full Hulu Plus support out of the gate. They’ve also added the HTC Flyer too in case some were wondering about tablet support.

The list of new phones includes the DROID Bionic, DROID 3, Sensation, HTC EVO 3D, and a few others just to name a few not to mention the HTC Flyer tablet has now received the same treatment. For full support information as well as all the update details head over to the Android market and give Hulu Plus a try. The only bug fix listed is “improved playback performance” so let us know if you notice any enhancements to streaming video.
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Motorola Xoom Android 3.2.1 update rolling out

We just received news that the Motorola Xoom is getting an over the air update pushed out to Wi-Fi models as we speak. This is Android 3.2.1 Honeycomb. Being completely random and out of the blue with no sort of news, update, or change-log for now but users can expect the update to hit their own Xoom here very shortly.

We’ve yet to see any reports of the 3G Xoom getting this update so for now most likely this is for Wi-Fi users only. The update will bring the Xoom to Android 3.2.1 Honeycomb as well as build HTK55D. We don’t know what to expect with the update or what has been changed but most likely this is bug fixes and some minor improvements.

Late last month we noticed a 4G Motorola Xoom getting an update to Android 3.2.2 but we’ve yet to see or hear anything else regarding that, we were also wondering where 3.2.1 went but now it appears that is for Wi-Fi and 3.2.2 might be for the 4G version but details are still a bit scant.
When more details on this OTA update become available we will be sure to follow with an update. Feel free to let us know in the comment section below if you receive the update, as well as any changes you notice.

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Samsung Epic 4G Touch gets the iFixit teardown treatment

iFixit is back with another teardown of an extremely popular smartphone, that being the Samsung Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch (aka SGSIIE4GT). They tear out that beautiful 4.52″ AMOLED display and get down to the goods under the beautiful design of the Galaxy S II. From Wi-Fi radios and internal flash storage and more here is where you get to see if the inside is as beautiful as the outside. Check out all the photos after the break.

With the usual iFixit fashion they not only tear down every aspect of the smartphone, but they also show you how it’s done and how you can repair your own should that sad fateful day comes where you somehow injure your superphone friend.

Just a few weeks ago we showed you the teardown of the DROID Bionic and its 4G LTE radios and today we have the Epic 4G Touch. It seems they don’t waste any time getting down in the nuts and bolts of these smartphones as soon as they hit the market.
To check out all the pictures and see the full iFixit guide hit the source link after the gallery shown below. Who dares to give this a try on their own E4GT? I sure don’t.

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Case pics leaked: iPhone 5 has aluminium backs

 

The Buzz around iPhone 5 has been sky high for a long time now. The rumors regarding iPhone 6 are spreading around like wildfire, even before the fifth version is officially released. According to the recently released photos by Case Mate the iPhone 5 have aluminum back. This came as a pleasant surprise for the fans of iPhone series; who were till now used to the glass back. The released pictures also reveal that the latest iPhone is thinner, wider and has a teardrop shape. Let’s looks at some of the other theories and speculations floating in the market regarding IPhone 5.

 1. Design

The biggest achievement of Steve jobs as the chairman of Apple INC was not just the mind boggling devices he rolled out year after year. It was also the groundbreaking and never done before combination of art, science and technology that he brought to the world stage. With each of its smartphones, Apple has updated its design. It is almost a certainty that the iPhone5 will sport an aluminum back panel. The rest of the details about the design are still unknown, but you can surely expect a cracker from Apple.

2. Sales

The iPhone series is undoubtedly the biggest selling smartphone series till date. No other device has captured the public imagination the way iPhone has, with the only exception of BlackBerry. According to certain unconfirmed reports in various newspapers, Apple has contracted a manufacturing company to build 15 million units of iPhone5. Apple predictions have always been pretty close to market realities, so, if this rumor turns out to be true, the smartphones market will be practically eclipsed by Apple.

3. Marketing strategy

Marketing for iPhone 5 is already in high drive. Apple is not leaving any stone unturned this time. They are aware that brand name is not the only requirement to stir the sales. A good example of this is Google Nexus One. The smartphone had a lot of buzz going for it before its release in 2010. Although the phone performed well on performance front and was hailed by critics, the sales never matched expectations because of the lack of a singular marketing strategy on part of Google.

4. Operating system

iPhone 5 will work on Apple’s iOS 5.0. The announcement for the same was made on June 6 of this year. The new operating system is equipped with iCloud service and the Notification Center. The operating system also offers more than 200 amazing features.

5. App store

To this date, Apple has produced more than 500,000 applications. Out of which a staggering 37 percent are free and the rest are available at the average price of $3.64. As of July 2011, more than 200 million users have downloaded over 15 billion applications. As iPhone 5 is the latest offering by Apple, it is going to benefit a lot from these new improved features. It is important to note that App Store have become hubs of major market activity, which in turn creates massive market buzz whenever any Apple device is going to be released.

It won’t be an exaggeration to say that iPhones have truly captured the popular imagination. Apple had its first great push with the release of iPods. From then on the legacy has been taken forward by iPhones. With iPhone 5, Apple is looking to sell more than 15 million pieces in one go. The figure is a record in itself, but when it comes to Apple, sky is truly the limit. According to official sources, Apple is planning on releasing iPhone 5 in the last quarter of this year.

 

About the author: Kate is a blogger by profession. She loves writing on technology and gadgets. Beside this she loves cooking and travelling. She is very fond of mobile phones.

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Transform your HTC Sensation into the Sensation XE

We reported last week that HTC had plans to introduce the HTC Sensation XE, an Android device that’s basically an upgrade to the HTC Sensation, and at the same time would be sporting Beats Audio technology integrated into it. If you only just got your hands on the HTC Sensation and you’re feeling a little cheated by the announcement, not to worry as there is a ROM now available that will turn your Sensation into the Sensation XE.

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Google+ Opens to the public, Hangouts and mobile app get huge updates

Time to start hitting that +1 button and throwing people into your circles over on Google+. Today Google just announced a HUGE update that their new social network Google+ is finally available to all and open to the public. No longer will users need an invite to join in on the fun I’ve been experiencing for months. Facebook should be worried right about now because I don’t think I’ve signed in for about 2 months thanks to Google+.

Along with finally being open to the public so I can convince all my friends to join in on the circles, Google has also added a few highly requested features to the mobile app. The biggest one being the Hangouts. Being able to do a live video chat with a webcam and as many people as you can imagine is now possible right on your Android smartphone. The +mention feature when writing a post or commenting on something has also been updates once again to allow users to mention anyone in any circle, not just people saved in the mobile app like before. The mention feature was lacking on mobile and I was constantly needing my PC to add everyone I wanted to a comment but those times are gone with the latest updates.
Hangouts on Air

Also starting today not only will you be able to do a Hangout and video chat with all your friends or family but we now have something called “Hangouts on Air” for dekstop. This will allow the starter to broadcast the entire hangout session with people from their circles. This means you can join in on the hangout and turn on your camera, or just be a spectator to the event and watch in instead. There is a limit of 10 people to the hangout, but anyone and everyone can watch as you do tricks in your living room or whatever else you feel like sharing on camera.

Google’s changed the name of “Huddles” to “Messenger” and added image sharing within the actual chat system, something we’ve been waiting for here at Android Community since the launch of Huddles. The app for Android has also added more notification options, and the choice to move the G+ app to your SD card for older phones. I’m hoping this latest update will finally improve the push notifications because they still seem hit or miss for me.
Google has also added screensharing (like GoToMeeting), sketchpad support, and Google Docs integration all into the world of Google+. For full details and all the information you’ll need head on down to the source link below. Oh and don’t forget to update the Android app in the market by clicking here.
[via Google Mobile Blog]

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