Verizon LTE is back up, Motorola DROID 4 is a no-show

Yesterday Verizon had an embarrassing hiccup in its nationwide 3G and 4G LTE service, with no prospective time for repair. Well, reports are coming in that service has been restored around the country, including the Midwest, where the outage was particularly severe. But there may have been at least one casualty: the Motorola DROID 4, which was set to release today in various internal documents.

There’s no official confirmation on the latest entry in the original DROID line, so it’s not as if the phone is delayed. And perhaps the company had already pushed the launch back, as it appears to have done with the Galaxy Nexus. Again. But a major outage of 4G service just before the LTE-equipped DROID 4 appears in stores may have dampened the company’s zeal for a big release – it’s certainly caused no end of frustration to to its customers. The outage came just a day after Consumer Reports ranked Verizon the most reliable wireless provider in the country.
If you’re craving LTE speeds with a full QWERTY keyboard and cutting edge specs, the DROID 4 is pretty much your only option on Verizon, unless you’d like to settle for the Samsung Stratosphere. The DROID 4 matches the DROID RAZR almost note for note, with the exceptions being its 4-inch LCD screen, removable battery and an understandably thicker profile. It’s quite likely that Verizon will make the official announcement soon, as they’ve already officially shown two new DROID XYBOARD (AKA XOOM 2) tablets and a white-clad DROID RAZR.

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Costco prices the Galaxy Nexus at $290, no, you still can’t buy one

More than a few of you probably have at least $299.99 in your wallet at the moment, saved against the day when the seven trumpets sound, the moon turns blood red and Verizon finally decides to release the Galaxy Nexus in the US. If you live near a Costco you can save a few bucks when it actually arrives; PhoneArena reports that the retail chain is preparing the phone for a debut at $289.99, exactly ten dollars less than the rumored Verizon price. Naturally you’ll still need to sign or renew a two-year contract.

Costco is also including a “Costco Member Bonus Accessory Pack”, but there’s no information on exactly what this entails. Some Samsung accessories would be nice, but a cheap-o case, car charger and perhaps a screen protector is more likely. Still, beggars can’t be choosers, and ten dollars off is ten dollars you wouldn’t have had before – the better to buy a $50 extended battery with. Costco’s internal system is showing a December 9th launch for the Galaxy Nexus, but multiple insiders are saying that it’s the latest in a long line of missed dates.
This is the part of the Galaxy Nexus article where I close. I typically describe how Americans have been waiting for the Galaxy Nexus for far too long, and how upset US Android fans are with Verizon for its horrible timing. I mention how the complete lack of communication with its customers is a major disservice, and how it’s probably going to lose potential converts from T-Mobile and AT&T, who may just wait for the Galaxy Nexus to arrive on their carriers instead of switching. But I’ve done that a lot already, so I won’t mention any of Verizon’s poor policies like booting out Google Wallet and saddling the phone with bloatware. Nope, not at all.

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Google Images gets a makeover on Android tablets

Google announced via its Mobile Blog that the standard image search on Android and iOS tablets is getting a significant update today, not unlike the previous standard search update. There’s some adjusted UI settings to take advantage of the larger form factor, most notably an infinite scroll feature that will continually load images as you flick the web page down. I gave it a try on my Galaxy Tab 8.9, with a subject that no one could object to.

The gallery view has also been updated, with a bug focus on the image itself and a strip of website information below it. Simply swipe left or right to navigate through the “carousel” one at a time. The updated interface looks like it takes full advantage of HTML5 – since it’s running on Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich and iOS, it probably doesn’t have any Android-specific properties. Unfortunately, that means you probably won’t be seeing it any time soon on a Gingerbread tablet, hacked or no.
You can see Google’s official video below.




After running through the new layout myself, I can report that it’s admirably smooth and intuitive, even on my less than ideal Internet connection. It’s a definite improvement over the old hunt-and-peck layout. Remember that the website is looking at your browser profile, so if you’ve got Dolphin Browser HD or some other third-arty app set to Desktop Mode, you probably won’t see it. One more for the road:

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Toshiba Excite AT200 gets a February 2012 release in Canada

Many were somewhat underwhelmed with Toshiba’s Android tablet debut, the 10-inch Thrive, even with its fabulous marketing strategy of telling consumers how smart they were through Tony Bennet-style singing. The second revision, now renamed the Excite, is headed for a release up north in February of next year. Mobile Syrup quotes an anonymous source that contradicts its January date on the website. Canadians looking for a super-slim Honeycomb tablet, try to contain your excitement.

All joking aside, the Excite AT200 is a pretty impressive piece of hardware, cramming a 10.1-inch display into a 7.7mm thin body. That’s just barely thicker than the skinny part of the DROID RAZR, and beats out the upcoming Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime by .6 millimeters. It’s a considerable improvement on the Thrive, which got a lot of complaints for its 16mm profile. On the inside you get a 1.2Ghz dual-core processor and either 16GB or 32GB of storage, with 2 and 5 megapixel front and rear cameras. Despite the svelte frame, Toshiba still found room for a MicroSD card slot and a Micro HDMI jack.
The tablet will launch with Honeycomb, which is a shame, since at that point Ice Cream Sandwich will have been available for about four months. There’s no word on an upgrade. Technically there’s no confirmation of a United States release either, but it seems like a given considering the FCC filing. If Toshiba had only gotten this attractive hardware out before Christmas, and at a price lower than the Transformer Prime and Galaxy Tab 10.1, it might have made a splash this year instead of next.
Be sure to check out our hands-on video of a pre-release Toshiba Excite.

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10 Billion Apps promo, day 3: ADW, Tetris, and Homerun Battle for 10¢ [UPDATE]

Day three of Google’s app extravaganza is upon us, and there’s some premium apps with massive discounts that you’ll definitely want to pick up. As a celebratory promotion for the Android Market hitting the 10 billion download mark, Google is partnering with top developers to price ten apps at ten cents/pence each day for ten days. ADWLauncher EX leads the pack on Friday following an Ice Cream Sandwich-style update.

Also on offer are gaming titles Tetris, Toki Tori, Homerun Battle 3D, Reckless Getaway (a sort of Need For Speed version of Reckless Racing), Can Knockdown 2, and Space Physics. Other apps on offer are the Blue Skies Donation live wallpaper and Kids Learn to Read, following the kid-friendly Berenstain Bears app from yesterday. All are on sale right now, though the banner on the Market home page hasn’t been updated yet.
If you’re even mildly interested in any of these paid apps, be sure to pick them up now -they’ll only be at this special price until tomorrow morning in the US. At the time of writing you can still get yesterday’s discounted apps at the $.10 price, but that won’t last for long. In related news, Phandroid reports that bumped sales from the 10 Billion Apps promotion have made Beautiful Widgets the very first paid Android app to hit a million downloads. That’s less than .0001% of all the downloads made in the Market as of today.
Update: Here they are. Get after it, bargain hunters.

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Galaxy Nexus on sale in Canada, Americans still out of luck

Oh Verizon, why do you vex us so? Just as planned, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus is now on sale at Canadian wireless carriers Virgin Mobile and Bell, giving the Great White North a taste of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Subscribers can get the Galaxy Nexus for $159.99 from either carrier, though naturally you’ll have to sign up for a new two-year three-year contract or renew an existing one. Rogers is still planning a release for January.

The Canadian version is the same HSPA+ model that’s been on sale in the UK and circulated for press reviews – Verizon is still the only carrier confirmed to eventually receive an LTE version. On both Canadian carriers the phone is unbranded, like previous Nexus phones. Notably the Canadian Nexii are more than $140 cheaper than the leaked $299 Verizon price, and the unlocked model comes in at $649, while Verizon is probably pricing their model at $799. To be fair, both Canadian carriers are selling the 16GB version. Unless Virgin or Bell requires an activation with an unlocked model, northern US citizens should be able to make a run across the border and buy one full-price for use on AT&T or T-Mobile.
With just one day until the previously rumored launch of December 9th, it looks like Verizon has left its customers out in the cold yet again. The latest rumors indicate that indeed the December 9th date has been scrapped, with no indication of when the phone might actually go on sale. Verizon subscribers and prospective customers are growing increasingly angry at the company’s total lack of communication – aside from the signup page (which still has yet to send any sort of verification) and a short sentence in a PR message, there’s no official word from the company at all.

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Schmidt: Android already beating iPhone, Google TV on most TVs in 2012

Google chairman Eric Schmidt was on-hand at the LeWeb conference in (where else?) Paris, giving a pseudo state of the company report for Google’s various properties. Highlights include the bold statement that Android is already beating iOS in most important metrics, and that Google TV would be on a majority of televisions by next summer. What?

Yes, that’s what he said: ““By the summer of 2012, the majority of the televisions you see in stores will have Google TV embedded in it.” A bold statement, especially considering that Google TV has mostly been seen as a failure. Logitech, one of only two manufacturers to support the Android-based system, abandoned its only Google TV device after a combined loss of $100 million. Sony seems committed enough, and LG may join them early next year, but there’s been no indication that Google TV is anywhere near mass adoption. Even after an upgrade to Honeycomb, there just doesn’t seem to be any measurable level of excitement for Google TV. Is Schmidt just being brash, as he’s been known to, or does he know something he’s not telling?
You can watch the entire video for yourself below. It’s a whopping 56 minutes long, so grab a bag of popcorn and get your corporate rhetoric on!




Speaking on Android versus iOS, Schmidt said, “Android is ahead of the iPhone now… [there's more] unit volume, price is lower, more vendors, it’s free.” That claim is at least quantifiable. Most metrics show Android smartphone market penetration at around 42-46%, with Apple trailing behind at around 22-28%. Some markets have even higher Android numbers, like the UK and China.
[via SlashGear]

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Orange & T-Mobile invest £1.5bn, UK customers to get better coverage in coming weeks

UK mobile operator Everything Everywhere, the joint-company created after the merger of T-Mobile and Orange, has announced that it plans to invest £1.5bn over the next three years in upgrading its mobile networks, reports Reuters.
Throughout 2012, Everything Everywhere will seek to further integrate the two companies under its stewardship, meaning that more Orange and T-Mobile customers will be able to use the 2G and 3G signals from each network, which we reported back in October.
Everything Everywhere say that the investment and upgrade will help kick-start its preparations for 4G, which will give mobile users faster access to Internet on their mobile devices. Olaf Swantee, Chief Executive at Everything Everywhere, said.

“With mobile data increasing 250 percent over the past two years, we are making these investments so we can deliver on our ambition to provide the UK’s most reliable, biggest and best mobile data network. We believe that the UK requires a 21st century infrastructure and are committed to rolling out 4G as soon as possible to support growing data use, connect parts of the country with little or no mobile broadband, and drive economic growth.”

In the early part of 2012, Everything Everywhere will make moves to improve the signal-sharing across the networks, by letting Orange and T-Mobile customers’ devices automatically tap-in to whichever network has the strongest signal where a user is.
Back in November, we reported that Everything Everywhere had been required by the EU to sell extra spectrum as a result of the merger between T-Mobile and Orange, to help increase competitiveness with its rivals. We speculated that this could well see investment in reinforcing its 3G and HSPA+ networks to increase coverage and signal strength throughout the UK. With a delay in the auction for 4G spectrum, the company wasn’t able to begin a full rollout of 4G services until it was clear what bands it would operate on within the UK.
UK communications regulator Ofcom has yet to publish the final terms for the auction, which is looking like won’t happen until into the new year now.
Everything Everywhere has said that customers of both its networks should see coverage improvements in the coming weeks.

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Huawei releases another version of Ideos X5 Gingerbread update

Remember we reported a few days back that Huawei has released the beta version of Ideos X5 Gingerbread update, which was later removed. Well, company has released yet another version of the same update today dubbed as Beta 2.
This update can be downloaded from Huawei’s official website right now and applied easily.
There is still no change-log available, but this update should include the generic Gingerbread functions like improved copy/paste, battery performance, new download manager app, and UI improvements.

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