Android Phone Fans |
- Android Stealing RIM’s Market Share
- More Insight on XOOM Sales: 100,000 Since Feb. 24th?
- New Shots Emerge of AT&T’s Optimus One (LG Optimus A?)
- We’d Love For HTC to Adopt a Design Like This [Concepts]
- Internal Document Shows T-Mobile G2x Coming April 15th
- More Press Shots of Verizon’s HTC Merge Emerge
- Official 7-Inch WiFi-Only Samsung Galaxy Tab Coming to US for $350 on April 10th
- HTC EVO View 4G Not Launching With Honeycomb After All… We Think
- Mono for Android Could Bring More Windows Developers to Android
- DROID X2 Benchmark Results Confirm Tegra 2, qHD Display?
- Dell 10-Inch Android Tablet Might Arrive Early
- Samsung Galaxy S II Dual Core CPU Getting Bumped Up to 1.2GHz
- Samsung Media Hub Promo Signals Infuse 4G May Not Be Far Off
- Facebook-Heavy INQ Cloud Touch Now On Sale in the UK
- Carrier Pricing Revealed for Canadian Nexus S
| Android Stealing RIM’s Market Share Posted: 06 Apr 2011 05:17 PM PDT
In a very short 3 month period between November 2010 and February 2011, Android is proving to be a formidable force in the smartphone industry. ComScore is reporting that Android has gained 7% of the smartphone market, going from 26% to an impressive 33%. A good portion of that gain was stolen right from Research In Motion (makers of the popular Blackberry smartphone) which as it turns out, lost 4.6% of the US market and dropped to 28.9%. Microsoft and Palm are also reporting losses while Apple has remained stagnant. I think this is only the beginning as new Android handsets continue to flood the market. From the affordable budget handsets, to the top of the line premium devices like the jaw dropping Evo 3D, was there ever any doubt that Android will one day take over the globe?
|
| More Insight on XOOM Sales: 100,000 Since Feb. 24th? Posted: 06 Apr 2011 03:35 PM PDT
Deutsche Bank crunched some numbers and used some of Google’s figures to come up with a number of their own in regard to the Motorola XOOM’s sales performance. He figures that there are 50 million Android devices on the market. Using the latest platform version numbers chart provided by Google, they know that Android 3.0 is only on .2% of all authorized devices. And using what they know about the market, they know that the Motorola XOOM is the only commercially available tablet with Android 3.0. (Testing units from competing manufacturers may tie in here, but the difference would likely be negligible.) So how much is .2% of 50 million? 100,000 exactly. We’re sure there’s a give or take situation going on here, but it’s as close as we’re going to get until Motorola or a third-party firm with more scientific methods of research release some figures (which could happen soon as the Q1 2011 just wrapped up as of April 1st). The XOOM has only been out since February 24th – just a month and a half. And WiFi models and international sales have only just begun. So was that report from the other day about abysmal XOOM sales accurate? Probably, probably not. If we’re putting it up against the iPad then yea, it looks bad. But 100,000 is a respectable figure for the first tablet of its kind. [via BGR]
|
| New Shots Emerge of AT&T’s Optimus One (LG Optimus A?) Posted: 06 Apr 2011 03:15 PM PDT
AT&T is just about the last carrier to jump on the LG Optimus One bandwagon – every major and notable US carrier has one. That doesn’t mean they won’t be bringing one, though, and new press shots of the device suggest it could be making its way to the forefront before too long. It more closely resembles MetroPCS’s rendition of the device but with a thicker bezel and a more prominent shade of gray. Specs aren’t anything special compared to other versions, but here’s a quick rundown in case you’ve forgotten – it has a 3.2-inch display, a 600MHz processor, Android 2.2, a camera, and more. Don’t underestimate it because of its processor, either – we made the mistake of doing that when Sprint announced their Optimus S and were blown away by how speedy it was. We’ll look out for an announcement sometime this season. [PocketNow]
|
| We’d Love For HTC to Adopt a Design Like This [Concepts] Posted: 06 Apr 2011 02:55 PM PDT
Ah, concept phones. We want you so bad but we sit behind our monitors knowing you may never become reality. Still, I take comfort in knowing that at least one of an OEM’s many designers take notice and that some of these designs may one day make their way into an actual product. The latest is from XDA member Jason Wang who thinks this is how HTC should create their phones. The phone looks to be of a unibody aluminum design with a brushed finish on the front and back. (And if my eyes aren’t failing me, that looks to be a chrome finish on the side.) The top of the slate features an elegant-looking speaker grill and a front-facing camera. The redesigned capacitive buttons are simplistic in style. The back features a similar speaker grill and camera setup with the addition of an LED flash to top it off. The bottom has a black bad of sorts that could turn out to be some sort of grip material not unlike what some phone so the market already have. We won’t spend time detailing artificial specs, but the set Jason’s proposing is mouthwatering. (To keep it short, it features a 1.2GHz OMAP4 processor with 16GB of internal storage.) Please consider this one, HTC. Please? [via Android Community] [Note]: Click here for a tall image detailing specs and future designs that Jason will be working on.
|
| Internal Document Shows T-Mobile G2x Coming April 15th Posted: 06 Apr 2011 02:23 PM PDT
Some new evidence has surfaced saying that the T-Mobile G2X – their version of the Tegra 2-enabled Optimus 2X – will be launched April 15th. Earlier rumors pegged it for an April 20th launch date, but the only T-Mobile device confirmed to be launching that day is the T-Mobile Sidekick 4G We also heard murmurs of LG’s tablet – the T-Mobile G-Slate – being released that very same date, but that is still very much up in the air. The 15th is just over a week away so we’ll see soon enough if this document isn’t telling any fibs. [via Android Central]
|
| More Press Shots of Verizon’s HTC Merge Emerge Posted: 06 Apr 2011 02:17 PM PDT
I totally did not mean to do that with the title. Anywho, PocketNow has gotten their paws on new official press shots of Verizon’s HTC Merge It’s not as if we haven’t seen this phone a billion times before, but these seem like crisp and clear shots – earlier press shots weren’t as clear and didn’t show off the brushed aluminum backing as well as they did here. Verizon’s expected to launch this one sometime soon as their version has already hit the FCC and Alltel, who is now owned by Verizon, has already announced their plans to carry it.
|
| Official 7-Inch WiFi-Only Samsung Galaxy Tab Coming to US for $350 on April 10th Posted: 06 Apr 2011 11:44 AM PDT
Samsung’s just alerted us to the long-awaited launch of their WiFi-only 7-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab here in the United States. You can pick the device up for $350 at several online retail outlets on April 10th. (That’s only 4 days from now.) That list includes Circuit City/CompUSA/Tiger Direct (all the same company, really) and Fry’s, but Samsung promises more will be stocking it soon after. It’s no surprise considering they have new 8.9-inch and 10.1-inch versions coming out. (And you had to expect the price would be a bit lower after seeing major carriers Sprint and Verizon heavily discount theirs to $200 on-contract.) Unfortunately, this is still running Android 2.2 Froyo and there’s no guarantee that it’ll ever get Honeycomb. Get your wallets ready if you’re interested. Full press details are straight ahead.
|
| HTC EVO View 4G Not Launching With Honeycomb After All… We Think Posted: 06 Apr 2011 11:08 AM PDT
Yesterday it was discovered on Sprint’s “This Just In” page that the HTC EVO View 4G would be launching with Android 3.0 Honeycomb. We were a bit skeptical as Sprint had been mentioning 2.3 with the tablet being “upgradeable to Honeycomb” for quite some time. It looks like there was just some internal communication error as that line has since been updated with “Latest version of Android” in regards to which operating system it’d launch with. Unfortunately, that still doesn’t give us a clear answer. We’re still banking on Gingerbread to start out with as HTC has put a lot of time and resources into customizing it, but anything can happen at this point. [via Android & Me]
|
| Mono for Android Could Bring More Windows Developers to Android Posted: 06 Apr 2011 11:00 AM PDT
Novell has announced that Mono for Android is now available for C# and .NET developers to enjoy. If you don’t know, these languages are widely-used by Windows developers on the desktop and is the primary programming language for developing apps on Microsoft’s mobile devices. With Mono, developers who swear up and down by C# and .NET can now bypass java and develop apps for Android in the language they love. It’s similar to what kept Mozilla from developing Firefox for Android – the Android SDK only had support for applications written in Java while Mozilla does everything in C++. The release of the NDK opened that opportunity and now Firefox is one of the most popular browsers on the market. We’re not sure who exactly would want to or will be bringing these Windows-bred applications to Android so it’ll be interesting to see how well Mono takes off. It’s a pricey technology to pick up, though – you’ll have to pay $400 for the professional edition of the license and $999 if you’re developing for enterprise. Those who already paid for MonoTouch – which is Mono for iOS – can get 50% off of the Android version. [via ReadWriteWeb]
|
| DROID X2 Benchmark Results Confirm Tegra 2, qHD Display? Posted: 06 Apr 2011 10:39 AM PDT
Benchmarks usually only reveal the existence of some devices, but one was run on the DROID X using NenaMark and it revealed a bit more than usual – that the device will have the Tegra 2 processor that was previously rumored and that its 4.3-inch display would have a qHD resolution. The benchmark itself shows unimpressive results, but the unit tested is obviously not ready for retail and it does take a lot more juice to feed images to that larger-than-normal qHD resolution. We can’t wait to hear more about this device. [NenaMark via PocketNow]
|
| Dell 10-Inch Android Tablet Might Arrive Early Posted: 06 Apr 2011 09:32 AM PDT
Yesterday we got a scare and thought the 10-inch Android tablet from Dell would be delayed. Today we are hearing a completely different story. According to Forbes, Dell’s 10-inch slate might actually launch ahead of schedule. We haven’t seen much of the tablet first teased earlier this year, though it could possibly end up in the Streak family, which currently includes 5 and 7-inch (seen above) models. The latest report says what might get tagged as the Streak 10 could launch as early as mid-June. Not much can be said for the specs of the thing, but we can be hopeful for Honeycomb and a dual-core processor, as those items seem to be the norm for Android tablets these days. [via CNET]
|
| Samsung Galaxy S II Dual Core CPU Getting Bumped Up to 1.2GHz Posted: 06 Apr 2011 08:46 AM PDT
According to their Estonian Facebook page, the Samsung Galaxy S II is getting a pre-release processor upgrade from a 1GHz dual-core chip to 1.2GHz. GSMArena claims to have further confirmed the change with an inside source. There is no telling if the bump up in processing speed is reason for the handset’s delay back to a May launch, but it stands to reason it may be a good part of it. It marks the second instance in so many months of Samsung returning to an announced product for pre-release changes. You might remember the company announced the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 at Mobile World Congress only to follow it up at last month’s CTIA with an overhauled version of the slate. [via Engadget]
|
| Samsung Media Hub Promo Signals Infuse 4G May Not Be Far Off Posted: 06 Apr 2011 08:13 AM PDT
The Samsung Infuse 4G for AT&T has been keeping relatively quiet other than a few appearances at the year’s trade shows, but the beefed up Galaxy S variant may be nearing a release if a Terms and Conditions page for a Media Hub promo is any indication. The page gives us the details on the redemption of a Media Hub Movie Credit to be bestowed upon new purchasers of the Samsung Infuse 4G. While an expiration date of 12/31/2011 is given, no indication of a release date can be gleaned from the terms alone. The Infuse 4G will be one of Samsung’s first devices to feature a Super AMOLED Plus screen, and a big one it is. Should be plenty good for watching movies, and this promo indicates the media capabilities of the phone will be highly advertised leading up to its launch. [via Samsung | Thanks, Evan!]
|
| Facebook-Heavy INQ Cloud Touch Now On Sale in the UK Posted: 06 Apr 2011 07:56 AM PDT
Should we say the era of the Facebook phone’s has arrived? Have we even seen a true Facebook phone yet? Either way, the INQ Cloud Touch has gone on sale in the UK. Off-contract the phone is going for £299.95, but with an £18 per month tariff the handset is free. Remember this one is an Android 2.2 handset with a 3.5-inch screen and 5MP camera with a Facebook-infused interface. The Cloud Touch is not to be confused with HTC’s ChaCha and Salsa and their Facebook buttons, which are said to be launching later in Q2. [via AndroidCommunity]
|
| Carrier Pricing Revealed for Canadian Nexus S Posted: 06 Apr 2011 07:29 AM PDT
The Nexus S will be launching in Canada very shortly, and like any proper device launch nothing can be kept a secret leading up to the handset’s release. Pricing has been leaked for two of the many carriers who will get the Nexus S, and is more pocket friendly than the other. Rogers will have the Nexus S without a contract for $499.99. On a three-year deal the phone will cost a meager $99.99. Compare that to Telus’ price schedule, which has the phone contract-free for $549.99. The three-year deal will run you $179.99. Though the pricing is a bit steeper, we at least get word that the Nexus S could launch at Telus as soon as tomorrow, April 7th. Any of our friends north of the border looking to pick this one up? [via MobileSyrup 1, 2]
|
| You are subscribed to email updates from Android Phone Fans To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
No comments:
Post a Comment