Android Phone Fans |
- Rumor: Froyo Update for Epic 4G Still On for February 21st; Sanyo Zio, Too
- Verizon Purchase Order Shows Thunderbolt Arriving 23rd, Selling 24th
- HTC Thunderbolt Delayed Again?
- HTC Desire S Release Date is April 18th, Price is £419.99, Says Amazon
- Vodafone and China Mobile Sign Strategic Co-operation Framework Agreement
- PlayOn for Android is Now Available
- Confirmed: Motorola Atrix Will Launch February 22nd
- The Hangover’s Alan Gets Androidified
- Sony Ericsson Liveview Promo Video
- Samsung Fascinate Receives Ugly CyanogenMod 7 Port
- Sprint Receives Customer Service Champion Award from J.D. Power
- T-Mobile Announces Fourth Straight Highest Ranking in JD Power & Associates’ Customer Satisfaction Study
- TomTom Powers Route 66 Maps + Navigation Android App
- Motorola XOOM User Manual Posted Online
- Motorola Atrix Coming to Europe, Orange Will Have it Q2
| Rumor: Froyo Update for Epic 4G Still On for February 21st; Sanyo Zio, Too Posted: 17 Feb 2011 02:59 PM PST
The Froyo rumors just keep on rolling, don’t they? BGR’s saying that the Samsung Epic 4G’s Android 2.2 upgrade is still on for the 21st. We’ve heard that one before, but that was build EA17 – EB13 is the latest and all signs point to it being final. They’re also saying the Sanyo Zio should get its 2.2 upgrade on that same day, and that it’ll roll out over a 5-day period. Sweet! Let us know if all this ends up being true.
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| Verizon Purchase Order Shows Thunderbolt Arriving 23rd, Selling 24th Posted: 17 Feb 2011 02:33 PM PST Over on our forums we’ve got a Verizon purchase order that shows 18 units of the HTC Thunderbolt arriving on February 23rd with the Verizon rep for that store claiming they’ll start selling them on the 24th. The $569 price is apparently what Verizon pays for the device so don’t worry too much about that figure.
Lots of rumors are claiming the Thunderbolt is delayed past the 24th, but based on this image I’d say February 24th is still looking pretty accurate. We’ll let you know if things change, but for now I’d continue to keep your fingers crossed and wait for further evidence before jumping to conclusions. [Thanks gallandoff, jayishere]
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| HTC Thunderbolt Delayed Again? Posted: 17 Feb 2011 02:10 PM PST
Bad news, folks: the HTC Thunderbolt may not be coming out on February 24th as we once thought it would. Rumors from sources of Android Guys‘ say that it may be getting a 4-day delay – that’d make the new date February 28th. Doesn’t sound too bad, but considering how long most of you have been waiting for this and how many delays you’ve had to endure, I can’t imagine any amount of time would make you happy. It’s starting to feel just like the DROID Incredible debacle, isn’t it?
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| HTC Desire S Release Date is April 18th, Price is £419.99, Says Amazon Posted: 17 Feb 2011 10:29 AM PST
Amazon comes through in the clutch again! This time, they’ve thrown the HTC Desire S – a followup to the original Desire that adds a front-facing camera and a new chipset – onto their website. You can pre-order it with them now and have it in your hands on April 18th, according to them. We’d already heard that a good amount of their devices would be coming within a month’s time, but it’s good to get some cold, hard facts. [Amazon UK, Thanks Ally!]
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| Vodafone and China Mobile Sign Strategic Co-operation Framework Agreement Posted: 17 Feb 2011 10:26 AM PST Since 2000, Vodafone and China Mobile have had a strategic alliance that allows them to leverage strengths and knowledge of the partnership to improve their own business. The areas of interest are actually pretty extensive, including:
Being in Barcelona, it became painfully obvious how poor roaming services are in terms of affordability. For example, I’m rocking the Optimus 2X on T-Mobile USA which is roaming on Vodafone Espana and it costs $1.29/minute for voice and $10/MB for data. That’s outrageous but carriers get away with it. T-Mobile is a global company and has operations in basically every country across Europe, they should offer 1 month unlimited voice/data plans for international travelers and all they’d need was a strategic partnership with themselves to figure it out. Go figure. Hopefully more strategic partnerships like this Vodafone and China Mobile deal surface in coming years as travel gets even easier and faster. Plus, I plan on doing more travel myself and I’m greedy. Most of the announcement sounds like PR fluff, but hopefully tangible results come out of the agreement. [MBB via IntoMobile]
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| PlayOn for Android is Now Available Posted: 17 Feb 2011 10:02 AM PST
We’ve just learned that PlayOn is now available for Android. PlayOn is an established service that allows users to stream TV shows to supported devices. I’ve used it to stream episodes of Spongebob to my Xbox 360, but now I can do the same on any Android device.
You’ll need to install a PlayOn server application on your PC, and Android 2.2 is required to get your shows on the go. The service does cost, but you’ll get a two week trial to check it out. Jump over to the Android market now and hit their website up for the media server if you want to give it a shot. [Thanks, PePe!] [Update]: And now with a press release. Read on for more details.
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| Confirmed: Motorola Atrix Will Launch February 22nd Posted: 17 Feb 2011 09:50 AM PST
The rumor that the Motorola Atrix 4G will launch on February 22nd is no longer that, as AT&T has confirmed that the device will indeed go on sale next week at the price of $199. Pre-sales, which began on the 13th, will be shipped on the 21st. But if you were savvy enough to have the phone shipped to an AT&T store for pick up, you can get yours a whole day earlier than everyone else when you waltz in on the 21st and claim your Atrix. [via BGR]
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| The Hangover’s Alan Gets Androidified Posted: 17 Feb 2011 09:47 AM PST
I’m not sure words will do this picture – made with Androidify – any justice. Instead of trying to explain something that needs to explanation, I’ll let you leave your epic lulz in the comments below. [Twitpic via LarvaLabs, Snambomb - Thanks Mike!]
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| Sony Ericsson Liveview Promo Video Posted: 17 Feb 2011 09:27 AM PST I’ve been waiting for something like the Sony Ericsson Liveview for quite some time and am extremely excited that it will soon be out in the United States. It will work with any Android Phone, has an SDK so devs can build interesting apps that work with it, and its already got a bunch of downloads available such as SportyPal to track your fitness endeavors. We told you about the Liveview a couple days ago but wanted to share the promo video Sony Ericsson just posted: I have a review unit from Sony Ericsson so I’m eager to start downloading apps for it and testing it out. I’ll have a full review once I get back from Barcelona and have had some time to fully develop an opinion. Wear it as a watch, take it on a bike ride, hold it while you’re running, keep it on your desk – it’s so small yet the screen is large enough to bring you important information and updates that you don’t need your full phone to view. The Motorola Atrix has really sparked an interest in Android accessories and the usefulness and affordability of the Liveview has me particularly interested. I think affordability is a key word when discussing accessories. While the Motorola Atrix docks and laptop are cool, I think of popular accessories as extras and paying as much for your accessories as your phone seems counter-intuitive. What affordable Android accessories would you like to see pop up on the mass market?
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| Samsung Fascinate Receives Ugly CyanogenMod 7 Port Posted: 17 Feb 2011 09:19 AM PST
Yes, folks are still trying to get stock Android running on the crop of Samsung Galaxy S phones currently on the market. The Samsung Vibrant showed the most promise, but that project has been lagging. And now the Samsung Fascinate is seeing unofficial CyanogenMod 7 love. It’s a port, and very unusable: most of the radios aren’t working, most of the external lights aren’t working, the cameras aren’t working, MMS isn’t working – you’d basically have a phone that could do almost nothing useful. Check XDA out for the full thing if you’re bored, but don’t come running to me if your phone explodes or anything. [via AC]
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| Sprint Receives Customer Service Champion Award from J.D. Power Posted: 17 Feb 2011 09:07 AM PST
Sprint has just announced that they’ve been recognized as J.D. Power’s 2011 Customer Service Champion in what seems to be a week of accolades for carriers. (T-Mobile was awarded the highest ranking in retail customer saatisfaction – yet again – today.) It’s a great turn-around for a company who was notorious for bad customer service earlier in the previous decade. It seems most things have taken a turn for the better, though, after Dan Hesse was appointed CEO. Under his direction, we saw the company transform into the serious competitor they are today. Hesse has stated from the beginning that his number one priority would be to turn that customer service ship around and put it back on its proper path, and with today’s award he can say that he accomplished his goal. Read on for full press details.
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| Posted: 17 Feb 2011 08:58 AM PST
You can say whatever you want about T-Mobile’s selection of phones and the network they rely on, good or bad, but you have to be pretty impressed with the announcement that for the fourth straight time, T-Mobile ranked highest in J.D. Powers and Assoicates’ Wireless Retails Sales Satisfaction Study. They also had the distinct honor of being 1 of 40 companies to be named a “Service Champion.” Were T-Mobile to win the award once or twice over the past years that is an accomplishment enough, but four times straight means somebody at this company is doing something right. To earn the highest overall rank, T-Mobile also was tops in the four areas measures: sales staff, price/promotion, store facility, and store display. Good on you, T-Mobile. Good on you. Full press release below.
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| TomTom Powers Route 66 Maps + Navigation Android App Posted: 17 Feb 2011 08:57 AM PST When I watched the below videos about a new Android App called Route 66, I immediately wondered what mapping software was used to create them. The second video looks almost identical to the new version of Google Maps and I figured it simply leveraged the Maps API, but as it turns out they’re powered by TomTom. Have a look: I suppose it’s possible the first video featuring the navigation shows TomTom powered maps while the simpler location maps are Google Maps based – we’ll have to get clarification on that. But let’s talk a little bit about the software in general. TomTom has a pretty loyal following and this partnership between Route 66 and TomTom should make a lot of TomTom lovers happy. The app looks incredibly polished overall, and along with Mapquest should instantly become a pretty solid Google Maps & Nav competitor. They’ve both got an uphill battle with Google, but this looks like a valiant effort.
I’m not too excited about this “Follow Me” feature though, which I thought was a good idea but is in reality almost pointless. What was the missing link? I thought that “Follow Me” meant you would “share” live location data between the two phones so that while navigating to your address you could track where the other person is, or even get constantly updated navigation directions to the other person’s current whereabouts, essentially allowing you to follow them even if you can’t see them. That’s not what it is at all. “Follow Me” just puts a fake animation of a car on the screen in navigate mode so it gives you the impression you’re following another car instead of looking at an open road. It also uses your phone’s camera to show a live view of the street instead of a fake map view. To me this falls flat for two main reasons:
To be perfectly honest, I don’t see myself switching from Google Maps/Nav but Route 66 and Mapquest have some intriguing options that are making me think I’d at least like to test them out. I’m pulling for a Google Maps competitor to gain popularity because, as I always argue, competition is good for business and consumers alike.
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| Motorola XOOM User Manual Posted Online Posted: 17 Feb 2011 08:45 AM PST
If you’re into this sort of stuff, listen up: the Motorola XOOM’s user guide has been snagged from the clutches of Motorola and posted online for all to see. It’s a 5.4 MB download, has 64 pages, and – you guessed it – is in .PDF format. It won’t tell you much more than you already know, but if you’re the type who reads user manuals for everything you buy, you’ll want to get a head start with the Motorola XOOM’s. [Droid-Life]
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| Motorola Atrix Coming to Europe, Orange Will Have it Q2 Posted: 17 Feb 2011 08:32 AM PST
Like the Motorola XOOM and Motorola Pro announced earlier this week, another high-end device from Moto will be landing on European shores later this year. The Motorola Atrix 4G was heavily displayed at Mobile World Congress in Bacelona, an event that skewed towards devices landing in all places but the United States (though many devices shown off will indeed find their way to America). When we first saw the Atrix at CES we loved it, and MWC has confirmed that its no joke. Reviews around the web have been pretty positive for this phone landing soon in the US. Soon enough Europe will get the love too. Orange will be among the first carriers to get the Atrix in Q2 of this year. [via WSJ]
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The partnership initially focused on roaming and development, so despite Vodafone selling their 3.2% stake in China Mobile last year, the partnership has apparently been very successful as indicated by the growing list of partnership purposes. In case you were wondering, that 3.2% stake was worth 6.6 Billion dollars – that’s a lot of dough.
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