Again Motorola DROID 4 Leaked – Demo Unit Pictured In The Wild

There’s pretty much nothing we don’t already know about Motorola’s worst kept secret, the Droid 4, other than an actual release date. With that being said, the “Razr with a keyboard” is actually looking more like the Bionic from the latest leaked pics taken by John and team at TechnoBuffalo who got some hands-on with a demo unit earlier today.

The device, while not exactly a working model (more of those shells you find on display at Best Buy) does give us a better look at it, with pictures showing off every angle. The Droid 4 will most likely make an appearance at CES 2012 next month of which the entire Phandroid staff we be on hand bringing you the very latest in Android tech.

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Android’s Chinese Manufacturers Form Alliance To Defend From Apple and Microsoft Patent Lawsuits

Digitimes is reporting that Chinese OEM’s could be quietly banding together to fight off the ever looming threat of patent lawsuits from Android arch nemeses like Apple, Microsoft and Nokia. The Chinese coalition would be formed by ZTE, Lenovo, TCL, Coolpad and Konka who, it’s assumed, would pool their patent resources and share information on how to work around alleged patent infringements and keep from paying the dreaded “licensing fee.”
As the Chinese smartphone market grows — currently the largest in the world — OEM’s are sure to draw attention from Apple and Microsoft who spend much of their time attacking Android manufacturers.
[Digitimes via Electronista]

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Verizon Wireless Backtracks – Says They Will NOT Charge $2 Fee To Pay Bills

Breaking news from the Wall Street Journal who is reporting that Verizon Wireless has offically reversed its plans to charge customers a $2 convenience to pay bills online. This news comes right after the FCC announced they would be investigating the matter. Verizon Wireless CEO Dan Mead said in an official statement,

"At Verizon, we take great care to listen to our customers. Based on their input, we believe the best path forward is to encourage customers to take advantage of the best and most efficient options, eliminating the need to institute the fee at this time."

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New Device To Be Introduced By LG and Intel At CES 2012

LG’s mobile department hasn’t exactly had the best year but rather than give up — they’re trying new things… or rather, revisiting old ideas. According to the Korea Times, LG is getting ready to debut an all new smartphone at CES 2012 powered by none other than Intel’s new Medfield mobile processor. We heard rumors a few weeks back that Samsung would be partnering with Intel for an upcoming smartphone to be debuted at CES in January but maybe it was the other Korean manufacturer this whole time.
The only question that remains if whether or not the device will ever hit market given LG and Intel’s past. At CES 2011 they they actually showed off a smartphone that of course, went belly up due apparently due to “lack of marketability.” The Times went on to source an exec who claims LG will be banking big with this device and could launch as early as March. Once again, the same was said about the two company’s first attempt at a device earlier this year.
Still, LG has a lot to lose but even more to gain this time around and the same could be said with Intel who has made zero impact in the mobile market where SoC’s from Qualcomm have dominated. I think Android 4.0′s compatibility with Intel processors is the moment they both have been waiting for and high-end device could do well for them. Just as long they avoid the quality control issues that plagued the G2X and drop that pseudo TouchWiz UI.
[Via TechCrunch]

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Verizon’s $2 online and telephone payment fee to Be Looked By FCC

Verizon confirmed yesterday that it will tack on a $2 convenience fee when customers make a single-time payment online or over the phone using a credit or debit card. The news spread like wildfire across the tech blogs and eventually caught the attention of the FCC. The regulatory agency released a statement on Friday that states, “On behalf of American consumers, we’re concerned about Verizon’s actions and are looking into the matter.”
I have to give the FCC credit for responding to Verizon’s upcoming billing change so quickly. Though the FCC isn’t launching an investigation, this response is a reminder to Verizon that the FCC is watching it closely. This close oversight may be enough to compel Verizon to rethink this change. We’ll let you if Verizon responds.
[NY Times]

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HTC Jetstream Gets Permaroot and CWM Recovery

It’s been a long time coming for the HTC Jetstream but the job has finally been done. XDA user DooMLoRD has made public a permanent root and recovery method for the HTC Jetstream meaning ROMs will be on their way. The development community was next to dead without these things and now that they’re here things should nice and fruitful before too long. Head over to XDA for the download links and full instructions and be careful not to blame others if something goes wrong with your phone. [Thanks Josh!]

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Sony Announces ICS Updates for Tablets, Tablet P SDK Now Available

Sony Ericsson has announced that the Sony Tablets – we assume both the S and the P – will be getting upgrades to Android 4.0 in due time. They didn’t have anything to announce regarding a timeframe but we’re glad they’ve committed to bringing it. In addition to that, they’ve made the SDK for the Sony Tablet P available online so developers can take advantage of its gaming roots. We’ll be right here with a post for you guys whenever those updates start rolling out (but I wouldn’t wait for one in the near future). [via Android Guys]

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Nielsen: Samsung, Motorola and HTC Top Five in Recent Smartphone Market Share

Nielsen’s ringing in with their end-of-the-year lists of top brands, companies and web destinations. One that caught our eye, of course, was the smartphone manufacturer chart.
They pulled data from the months of August 2011 through October 2011. This isn’t overall OEM market share but gives an idea of the trends that were developing leading into the holiday season.

At the top of the chart was Apple taking up 29% of the sales throughout this period, but HTC is not far behind with 21%. RIM, surprisingly, is sitting at 17%, ahead of Samsung and Motorola who both have 11% each.
It would be nice to get an idea of how these numbers stacked up through Christmas but those numbers will make their way to the forefront soon enough. To see more figures (such as top web brands and top destinations for watching online video) visit Nielsen’s site here.

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Gift Cards Worth $100 Offered by Amazon for Users Purchasing Select Hotspot Devices From Sprint and Verizon

Amazon Wireless is offering users who buy select 4G hotspot-capable devices a $100 gift card upon activating their phones with the hotspot feature enabled on their plans.

Some of the devices they’re offering up are the DROID Bionic and HTC Thunderbolt from Verizon plus the Motorola Photon 4G and Samsung Epic 4G Touch from Sprint. They have many more options so you’ll have to head on over to Amazon and check them out.
No AT&T or T-Mobile phones, unfortunately, but if you’re with one of these CDMA carriers and planning on buying any of these phones with hotspot anyway, this will be a good deal. That $100 could go toward some accessories or pretty much anything on Amazon’s site. [via PocketNow]

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