Rogers Rolls Out LTE For Major Canadian Cities, Leaks Pricing For Device Line Up

After just over a year of envious grumbling, the Canadians have finally gotten their first taste of LTE. Rogers Wireless announced today that true 4G speeds are available to customers in specific coverage areas in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Vancouver.
While this is surely a cause for excitement for my fellow Canucks, the devices that are currently on this new network aren't. At the time of launch, the only LTE device available to consumers is the Sierra Wireless AirCard 313U, a mobile "LTE Rocket stick" for laptops. On October 18, the HTC Jetstream will hit the market, with an LTE version of the Galaxy S II and the Sierra AirCard 754S mobile hotspot to follow in the weeks after.
Rogers has announced the pricing for the Jetstream, Galaxy S II, and the AirCard 754S on a 3-year contract or off contract, but MobileSyrup managed to get a hold of the full pricing details for the line up. Here's a look at what Rogers will be asking for their LTE devices:
HTC Jetstream: Launching October 18th:
3-year contract: $499.99
2-year contract: $549.99
1-year contract: $599.99
No-Term: $799.99
LTE Samsung Galaxy S II:
3-year contract: $199.99
2-year contract: $549.99
1-year contract: $599.99
No-Term: $649.99
LTE Sierra Wireless 754S Mobile Hotspot:
3-year contract: $129.99
2-year contract: $149.99
1-year contract: $169.99
No-Term: $199.99
The coverage may not be vast and the devices may not be many, but it's a start. Hopefully, Canadians will soon be able to stream hockey games and get directions to the nearest Timmie's even faster.
Source: Rogers, MobileSyrup

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Samsung Shows Off New 1.5GHz Exynos 4212 Dual-core Processor

Samsung introduced the latest fruits of their labor in the form of a new Exynos System-on-chip (SOC) mobile processor built using a new 32nm process that is 30% more power efficient. The Exynos 4212 is a similar dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 just like their older model but this time clocked to a screaming 1.5GHz. However, where the Exynos 4212 really shines is in its GPU which is now capable of delivering 50% faster 3D graphics rendering, as well as the usual 1080p HD video recording/playback and HDMI 1.4 support.
Samsung will be supplying their new 4212 SOC to OEM’s in Q4 of this year and can be found in their own Galaxy S II LTE as well as the Galaxy S II HD. Word on the street is this could very well be the processor powering the upcoming Samsung Nexus Prime which will be unveiled this year at CTIA in October.
[Via SammyHub]

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HTC Rhyme Now Officially Available From Verizon Wireless

The HTC Rhyme is now officially available from Verizon Wireless for $200 on a 2-year agreement. The device is built with the working girl in mind and comes with a complete set of accessories featuring charm indicator for notifications, tangle-free headphones and a multifunctional docking station that acts as an alarm clock, digital picture frame and even comes with built in speakers.
And as a reminder, we posted earlier today that Target would be the first national retailer to sell the HTC Rhyme and while that may be true of brick and mortar stores, there’s nothing stopping online retailers like Wirefly from selling the device as well. Wirefly will offer the HTC Rhyme up for sale starting tonight at 3AM ET/12AM PT on their website.
Any of our female (or male) readers going to be picking one of these up? Not sure what it says about my masculinity that I actually find the Rhyme to be very appealing — maybe it has something to do with my man-purse.
[Via VerizonWireless]

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Samsung Mobile Unpacked 2011 Google Episode announced

Before you go any further, you’ve got to check out two sources for a complete rundown of what we know about the very possible Samsung Nexus Prime device we’ll likely be seeing at this Unpacked event. Those two should have you fully educated on what’ll likely be the vehicle in which we see Android’s next big operating system version Ice Cream Sandwich roll in on. Sound like the situation to you?
Perhaps we’re totally off the wall in thinking Ice Cream Sandwich would come in on a Samsung device – you never know, right? The other things we could be seeing, though these are less likely because they’re already out internationally, are the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7, the Samsung Galaxy S II LTE and HD, the oddly familiar Samsung Galaxy S II X, the unnamed “shv-e120l”, or of course the Samsung Galaxy Note. Will it be something we’ve already seen?
One way or another, you’ll know quicker than anyone else as you’ll have both your YouTube tuned to Android and your Android tuned to Android Community – we’ll be there covering the event live while we all watch together via the internet. Welcome to the future!

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Ice Cream Sandwich leaks on video

Whoa, look what we have here folks. Thanks to an anonymous tipster that was lucky enough to snag a Google Nexus S on eBay we have our first look at Android Ice Cream Sandwich on video — awesome. Yes this is a real look at Android 2.4 (or 4.0) Ice Cream Sandwich. Some users are already reporting the video to not be showing up so I’ve nicely snagged a few screenshots thanks to Engadget. Check out Android Ice Cream Sandwich

Apparently a lucky man ordered a Nexus S on ebay and when it arrived this little tasty cold Ice Cream treat was what he found. The firmware appears to be operating on the same basebands as previous leaks, but it’s running on an updated build (IRK48) and kernel (3.0.1). We see the lock screen, the lock screen animation, widgets, menu’s and basically everything else you’d love to see. Hopefully the video remains up, but for now here are some pictures just in case.

We see a lot of Gingerbread here, and bits of Honeycomb. With the notification pulldown bar looking very simple and clean we have the same icon for “settings” as found on Honeycomb tablets. We’ll break all this down shortly but for now here are the photos for you to drool over.
[via Engadget]

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Motorola Xoom finally will see 4G LTE upgrades starting tomorrow

Well folks, in case you’d lost hope or given up on old Motorola they’ve finally came through today — just a bit late. Along with Verizon, Motorola will finally start offering the 4G LTE upgrades for the original Motorola Xoom starting tomorrow. The 3 month window has obviously long since passed, but better late than never right? Now we can start calling it the Xoom 4G — More details after the break.

We’ve seen the photo above more than a few times, and at least they’ve sort of hit that new date for September because we are now officially hearing updates will start tomorrow. For those that still happen to own a Motorola Xoom now is the time to start jumping for joy. The update should go live tomorrow so I’d be sure and check this site throughout the night and hopefully be one of the first in line.
Verizon will also start selling pre-installed Motorola Xoom 4G LTE models starting October 13th for just $499. Basically like over $200 more than most payed for the 3G Xoom back when it launched (assuming you bought if off contract like I did). While that is some bad news for early adopters, things don’t always go as planned for the early takers but at least we will finally see the upgrades start. It’s just a shame it took so long. We first saw this way back in June, then select users started receiving the upgrade in August too.
This is good news indeed, just a shame it took so long to finally come end users. Just like DL says, maybe Verizon should give us early adopters that waited so long 3 months of free 4G LTE service for being patient. I doubt that will ever happen but it was worth mentioning.

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Official Flickr App for Android available now

Flickr is no doubt one of the best photography options available on the web. For a long time now Android users have been waiting for something official instead of relying on third party applications. It appears that Flickr has finally answered all their users calls and have now announced the official Flickr app for Android.

This offers the best way to share your life in photos – now available fully on Android. Being able to do almost anything you need right from your android device. From signing in, sign up, tagging and editing photos and even sharing with friends. Here is some of the outlined features below.
Features:
• Share photos only with the people you want to with easy privacy settings.
• Full screen browsing and slideshows for your photos, your contacts photos or any of the public photos from the global Flickr community.
• Share the story behind your photo with titles, descriptions, comments and tags.
• Keep your track of where you took your photo by keeping your location data automatically through geotagging.
The Android Flickr app features a built-in camera application where users can shoot, share, edit, tag, and even send to Facebook and more all those perfectly caught moments. It features flash, auto focus, and 10 powerful filters for customizing your photos. Right inside the application you have all those tools to edit and do anything you’d like, upload right to your Flickr account, and then share with friends should you choose. You can even read all the comments right inside the app too.
For all the details and to install the brand new Flickr for Android head down to the market by clicking here and start sharing those photos.
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Amazon Free App of the Day: Cut The Rope

Cut The Rope is one of the best games for Android. When the popular and much talked about iOS game finally landed it caused a lot of stir in the world of Android too. Being first available on GetJar but with in-game ads many were hoping for something better. Then in June Cut The Rope hit the Android market ad-free and users everywhere rejoiced.

Today we have even better news — Cut the Rope is FREE today thanks to the one and only Amazon Free App of the Day. Cut the Rope is very similar to Angry Birds in the sense you must complete a set amount of tasks with the limited options and time allotted. Users gain 1-3 starts and its based on a very similar rating system. Available now at Amazon.com or on your mobile right in the Amazon AppStore.

Angry Birds isn’t the only game getting plenty of attention from users and kids worldwide. Cut The Rope has been at the top of both the Android and iOS charts for a long time and continues to sell extremely well. Cut the Rope start “Om Nom” also has his own set of comics and stuffed animal plush toys — move over you Angry Birds and pigs.
If you’ve been waiting for a good deal, or for this to be free today is your lucky day. Hit the source link today only and go snag it while it’s still freeeeee.
[via Amazon]

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U.S. Cellular announces the HTC Wildfire S, Hero S, and Flyer Tablet coming soon

Today U.S. Cellular has just announced three new exciting Android products to their existing lineup. We have the HTC Wildfire S entry level smartphone, the HERO S, and the HTC Flyer Android 2.3 Gingerbread tablet. All devices will come running with Android 2.3 Gingerbread and will be available starting next month.

The one we probably know the least about is the HERO S. Previously codenamed the Kingdom and also leaked as the EVO Design 4G. This is a nice mid-range smartphone bridging the gap between the Motorola Electrify dual-core smartphone, and other lower end devices for US Cellular. The HERO S is a 4.0″ qHD 960 x 540 resolution packing smartphone with a 1.2 GHz single-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 768MB of RAM and a 5 megapixel camera on the rear with LED flash. It also features a VGA front for video chat, Android 2.3 Gingerbread and HTC Sense UI. It comes with a 1520 mAH battery and will start at $199.
 The Wildfire S comes in rocking a 3.2″ HVGA display, Sense UI, a 600 MHz processor, 512MB of RAM and again a 5 MP camera on the rear with LED flash. This is as entry level as it gets and is an awesome low priced Android smartphone — Launching for just $79 after a $100 MIR.
The HTC Flyer will be available for $199.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate with a two-year contract and a $54.99 eligible data plan.
The benefit of US Cellular is customers on belief plans who are eligible for a phone upgrade can get the Wildfire S and Hero S at the same promotional price without having to sign a new contract. These are some great additions to the US Cellular lineup and should be available early next month. More details on all of these smartphones can be found over on uscellular.com
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