LG and Prada team up for London Event — LG Prada K2 coming soon?

What is better than some fashion in London? A new smartphone maybe? LG and Prada have teamed up again to release another stylish smartphone onto the world with what most likely will be the LG Prada K2 that we’ve seen leak more than a few times already. If you remember the original LG Prada then you’re in for a treat with this latest revision we think will be announced later this month.


We’ve been hearing rumors of a third Prada phone from the South Korean company since way back in 2009 and it appears they are finally ready to deliver. The LG Prada K2′s latest leaks show a pretty impressive phone in terms of both specs and looks. It’s thin and sexy and has some nice curves too. If you ask me it looks very similar to the recently released Nokia Lumia 800 but that is WP7 so we’ll stop right there.

The LG Prada K2 recently cleared the FCC only adding to the pile that makes us think that will be exactly what LG and Prada unveil come next Wednesday, December 14th. Leaks suggest a 4.3 or 4.5″ 1280 x 720p HD display — like the recently reviewed LG Nitro HD. As well as a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor and more. We will most likely see more in the next few days not to mention the world will all know after the event next week.
Who’s ready for some Devil Wears Prada?

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Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 launching soon, up for pre-order

Who remembers the awesome looking Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7? The first tablet to feature Samsung’s Super AMOLED HD display technology that was first spotted at IFA but quickly went missing. Apparently the Tab 7.7 should be launching soon and is up for pre-order unlocked with 3G and ready to go.

The Galaxy Tab 7.7 is the first slate to feature the impressive Samsung Super AMOLED display on a large screen size like 7.7″ and we’ve been patiently waiting for more details on this tab. Running with a 1280 x 800 resolution and rocking a powerful 1.4 GHz dual-core processor I’d love to get my hands on one of these. It’s under 8mm thin, has built-in 3G and should have some stunning colors on that vivid AMOLED panel.
Back in September the 7.7 hit the FCC but that was the last we’ve heard of it. Current legal battles with that fruit company could be to blame but at this point we aren’t fully sure where the delay is being caused. It could also be a shortage of those AMOLED panels too. According to our friends at oled-display.net Samsung is ready to go and the tab is all set for launch. It is even being offered up for pre-order by a few popular online retailers such as Negri Electronics (who recently gave Twitter followers a free Galaxy Nexus).
While we still don’t have anything official from Samsung regarding the Galaxy Tab 7.7 or when/if it will come to the states it’s nice to hear an update. According to Negri Electronics it is fully 3G GSM unlocked and will run you a pretty $670 USD outright. We should see lower prices on-contract if we ever get the pleasure of enjoying this slate in the US.

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Archos shows off official Ice Cream Sandwich on 101 G9 tablet

Well lookie here: Archos isn’t letting anyone beat it to the Ice Cream Sandwich party. The French hardware company showed off an early build of Android 4.0 running on its economical 101 G9 tablet. The latest build from earlier today is demonstrated on what looks like a retail unit. Archos is planning on releasing the update sometime in Q1 2012.

From the demonstration, it looks like Ice Cream Sandwich is running extremely well on the 10-inch tablet, with nary a stutter or hiccup in its performance. By now we’re pretty familiar with the ICS tablet interface (basically a cleaner, faster version of Honeycomb) but this is a nice confirmation of other sources, like Nvidia’s demonstration of the Transformer Prime. It still needs a little work to get to a lag free experience, but you can see that Archos is well on its way.For the most part, ICS seems to be clean and free of bloatware.
For Ice Cream and French accents, check out the video below:




If you’re tempted by new software on current hardware, the 10-inch G9 tablet is currently going for about $350 at most retail locations. Extensive codec support and low price makes Archos a favorite among Android enthusiasts, so you’re likely to see a lot of community-authored ICS builds both before and after the official release.
[via ARMdevices.net]

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Android Market hits 10 billion app downloads, celebrates with 10¢ app sale

There’s a lot of Android phones and tablets out there – pushing 200 million at last official count. That’s a lot of people downloading apps form the Android Market. Today that number may have surpassed 10 billion total app downloads, and to celebrate, Google’s offering a handful of premium apps for just 10¢ (£0.10 in the UK.)

The premium apps on offer are as follows: Soundhound, Asphalt 6: Adrenaline HD, Minecraft Pocket Edition, SwiftKey X, Ecomondo, Great Little War Game, SketchBook Mobile, Fieldrunners HD, Color & Draw for Kids, and Paper Camera. This is no small promotion; many of these apps have hundreds of thousands of paid downloads already, and the discounts start at 90% and go up. There’s no indication of when the sale will end, so if you want any of the apps listed here, download them now.

We haven’t heard anything official on the 10 billion app promotion. The total may not have even been passed yet – it could be that Google’s drumming up excitement to reach the milestone, with a little help from some high-profile Android developers. In any case it’s a sweet deal on some very in-demand apps, so go for it if you haven’t already.

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Motorola DROID RAZR gets a white version for December

Nothing says “Happy Holidays” like the world’s most neutral color. In addition to a rather subdued DROID XYBOARD announcement, Verizon let slip that an all-white version of the Motorola DROID RAZR would be available this month. Aside from a frosty casing, there’s no difference from the model that launched last month – you’ll still need to fork over $299.99 and sign up for a new two-year contract, or be eligible for a renewal. A specific date was not mentioned.

If it’s bargains you’re after, and you happen to be in the market for both a new LTE smartphone and tablet, you may want to take advantage of Verizon’s upcoming promotion. Purchase a new DROID RAZR (presumably including the white model) and you can take $100 off any DROID XYBOARD, from the $429 8.2-inch 16GB version all the way up to the $729 64GB 10.1-inch version. You’ll also be eligable for $50 off “select Motorola accessories” – a perfect opportunity to stock up on cases, docks or what have you.
The DROID RAZR joins a host of white smartphones this Christmas, including the Samsung Galaxy S II, Galaxy S II Skyrocket, HTC Incredible II, HTC EVO 3D – suffice it to say, there’s a lot of white going around. Naturally, that other Verizon phone, you know, the one we’ve been waiting on for over a month, the one that seems to be available for everyone except Americans – hasn’t been announced. But we get a phone that’s in plentiful supply in white. Thanks a lot, Verizon.

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Verizon’s Motorola DROID XYBOARD gets official in 10.1 and 8.2 flavors

Yup, that’s the real name, folks, and there ain’t no going back now.Verizon announced the long-leaked Motorola DROID XYBOARD tablets in a press release today, with the expected 10.1 and 8.2 inch models ready to go sometime in December. The larger model starts at $529.99 for the 16GB version, then goes up to $629.99 and $729.99 for the 32GB and 64GB editions. The smaller XYBOARD 8.2 (no “Media Edition” branding here) will go for $429.99 and $529.99, in 16GB and 32GB versions. All prices are with a two-year contract.

As far as specs go, both tablets are solid, though not as eye-popping as the original XOOM when it was released earlier this year. The screens are “high-definition” (almost certainly 1280 x 800) IPS LCD panels, running on top of 1.2Ghz dual-core processors and 1GB of RAM each. Exact dimensions aren’t available, but Verizon assures us that the tablets are “lighter than a paperback book and thinner than a AAA battery.” A 5-megapixel camera adorns the back with a front-facing shooter thrown in for good measure. Both with have access to Verizon’s LTE network.
Both tablets will launch with Android 3.2 Honeycomb, though you can expect an Ice Cream Sandwich update sometime in the future. The standard Motorola and Verizon apps are included, and customers can add LTE WiFi hotspot functionality for an additional fee. THe exact release date is not available just yet, but a promotion will allow you to take $100 off a DROID XYBOARD when you purchase a DROID RAZR, plus $50 of free accessories.

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BlueStacks Android app player gets 550,000+ downloads

Just in case you were wondering, yes, ore excited about the prospect of running Android apps on their full-sized computer. BlueStacks, the startup software package that lets you easily run and sync Android apps to any Windows computer, has racked up more than half a million downloads since its October debut. 550,000 downloads is an impressive achievement for a program that was only released in alpha form seven weeks ago, and at the time lacked support for anything other than Windows 7.

Investors have started to sit up and take notice. Embattled chip maker AMD and virtualization/remote access company Citrix invested 6.4 million dollars into the small California startup to spur its development, and presumably highlight it for future products. With Microsoft on the verge of a big tablet push in late 2012/early 2013, having quick and easy access to hundreds of thousands of touch-enabled Android apps would be a boon for Windows 8.
The software itself is still in the early stages, with the basic version of the BlueStacks App Player in alpha and the Pro version, featuring unlimited paid app syncing, still unavailable. The software itself is Windows-only, and likely to remain that way for some time, considering the high hardware requirements. BlueStacks may have some exciting things to announce at CES in January – we’ll be on hand to see if this is the case.
[via TechCrunch]

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Free Motorola RAZR or Samsung Galaxy S II, T-Mobile, 300 minutes, 300 texts, 500MB data, £20.42PM 24M @ Tesco Phone Shop

Get this Motorola RARZ or Samsung Galaxy S II deal @ Tesco Phone Shop
Tesco’s quite often a good bet for mobile contracts, as evidenced by this deal for the Motorola RAZR and Samsung Galaxy S II. It’s £0 up front, and £20.42PM for 24 months, so that’s £490.08 over two years.

For your hard-earned, you get 300 minutes, 300 texts and 500MB of data on T-Mobile.
Free delivery.
(Thanks to spruceyb at HUKD)

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Google quietly pulls Gmail app for Symbian

Bad news Symbian owners, if you currently rely on the Gmail Java client for your phone, it seems that Google is quietly pulling the plug on the app and ceasing support for the app as far as Symbian devices are concerned. No official announcement from Google on this matter, but we guess since the app hasn’t been updated for the past two years, it was only a matter of time before the plug was pulled anyway.
When Symbian owners attempt to download the app via http://m.google.com, they are instead greeted with the screenshot above that directs the user to a barebones Gmail page. When we say barebones we mean barebones because apart from an image or two and some links, your emails will not load images or rich text information. The good news (?) is that for those who still have the app is that you can still use it, just don’t expect to be able to re-download it in the future.

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