Friday, April 22, 2011

MobileCrunch

MobileCrunch

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Verizon’s First Droid Charge Commercial Is… Uh… Mysterious?

Posted: 21 Apr 2011 04:21 PM PDT

Back when the original Droid came out, the marketing campaign had a two-part approach. Half of the commercials were “DROID DOES” commercials, which played up the Droid as the anti-iPhone and highlighted all of the things that Android did that iOS could not. The other half were over-the-top (though admittedly quite cool), super-ambiguous commercials that substituted any actual information about the phones with lasers and explosions.

Given that Verizon sells the iPhone now, the whole “LOL iPHONE SUX!!!” campaign is probably a no go these days. So now they’re going back to ambiguity, lasers, and explosions. Or, in the case of this DROID Charge teaser here: ambiguity, magnets, and Cloverfield-esque camera work.


Rumor: Select Developers Receiving “iPhone 4S” With A5 Chip

Posted: 21 Apr 2011 01:52 PM PDT

We all know the next iPhone is going to sport some new silicon, almost certainly a variant of the A5 found in the iPad 2. And it appears that some very special developers have been given iPhone 4 units with A5s inside, presumably in order to have some A5-powered games at launch. This from an anonymous report to 9 to 5 Mac, in which the units are also described as essentially stock iPhone 4s otherwise.

Interestingly, despite having the new hardware, the units are reportedly still running a version of iOS 4. I would have expected launch features to incorporate iOS 5 features, but hey.

HTC Sensation To Launch On June 8th?

Posted: 21 Apr 2011 01:43 PM PDT

When HTC officially announced that their shiny new dual-core 1.2 GHZ Android phone, the Sensation, was heading for T-Mobile, they left out two crucial details: the price, and the launch date.

While the price is still a mystery, the launch date might have just been revealed thanks to a lil’ advertising slip up.

You see, up until just a few minutes ago (at which point HTC presumably went “OH CRAP” and fixed their mistake), typing “HTC Sensation” into Google would show a page of results with the ad shown above on top. Note that bit right in the middle there: “On 6/8″.

Alas, this date is about as concrete as a house made of Jello, so don’t go lining up outside of a T-Mo store on June 7th. As Tmo News suggests, 6/8 may very well be the European launch date, or just a tentative date subject to change.

As for the guy who slipped up and let this ad run with the date: Don’t worry. This ad went up on 4/19. We were distracted playing Portal 2 too.

SkyFire For Android’s Flash Video Playback Goes Premium

Posted: 21 Apr 2011 12:47 PM PDT

Hey friends! You know what time it is? IT’S GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS TIME!

The Good News: SkyFire has just released an update for the Android port of their web browser, jam-packed with brand new social features (more of the social features that I previously said — and continue to say — are silly). If you’re one of the three million people who have already been using SkyFire for Android, you can continue to use all of its features for free. You can find it in the Android Market right here.

The Bad News: If you’re just hopping on the SkyFire train, the browser’s biggest feature (its ability to convert Flash video content into something playable on non-Flash-friendly devices) is going to cost you. The base browser itself will continue to be free — only the optional Flash feature is going premium. Fortunately, the burn on your wallet shouldn’t be too bad: it’s just a one time fee of $2.99.

AT&T Officially Files Their Intent To Take Over T-Mobile

Posted: 21 Apr 2011 12:22 PM PDT

If anyone out there was hoping that AT&T might have a last-minute change of heart about this whole T-Mobile acquisition thing: sorry, friend. There’s no turning back now.

Early this morning, AT&T officially filed their merger documents with the FCC. With that, the ball is officially rolling.. though they’ll have to roll uphill for quite some time. They’ve gotta wiggle their way through a Senate hearing set for May 11th, all while dodgin’ blows from the likes of Sprint CEO Dan Hesse and New York’s Attorney General.

Verizon To Launch The Samsung Droid Charge On April 28th for $300 (On contract!)

Posted: 21 Apr 2011 11:45 AM PDT

Back when it leaked out that the Samsung DROID Charge for Verizon was gettin’ stuck with a rather hefty price tag of $299 on contract, we were hoping that some last minute rebates might drive the cost down a bit.

No such luck.

Verizon has just announced that the Charge will launch on April 28th, and sure enough: it’ll go for $299 on a 2 year contract. So, do the specs warrant the price? Check’em out after the jump.

The Specs:

  • 4.3″ Super AMOLED Plus Display
  • Rear-facing 8 megapixel camera
  • Front facing 1.3 megapixel camera
  • 1 Ghz processor
  • 4G/LTE Support

The specs are indeed pretty killer — but outside of the Super AMOLED Plus display, it’s pretty much an item-for-item match with the HTC Thunderbolt which Verizon slings for $249. Would that display justify the extra $50 to you?

Verizon Sold 2.2 Million iPhones, 260,000 Thunderbolts

Posted: 21 Apr 2011 07:43 AM PDT

It’s earnings time and every call includes a bit about hardware sales. Por ejemplo, Verizon reported selling 2.2 million iPhones and 400,000 4G phones, most of them HTC Thunderbolts. They gained 906,000 postpaid subscribers with 1.01 churn.

AT&T reported plenty of iPhone sales as well, proving that that single device can make or break a quarter.

Verizon also noted that they’d have 175 4G LTE markets by 2012.

via ZDNet


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