Android Phone Fans

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• Meizu MX Shipping This September Ahead of Schedule
• Amazon Will Offer Movie Streaming Service For Free On Upcoming Android Tablets
• Nvidia Making Big Moves – Buys Wireless Modem Company, Icera
• Motorola Looking to Change Their Bootloader Policy and Image in the Process
• Apps of the Day: Doodle Grub, Location Alert, and More
• [DEAL ALERT] Acer Iconia Tab A500 Now $380 as eBay’s Daily Deal
• Swype 3.0 Coming in Beta form Today, Adds Honeycomb Support
• US Cellular to Get HTC Desire S, Wildfire S
• HTC Sensation 4G Review
• Sprint to Tweak Tablet Data Plans for HTC EVO View 4G Launch
• American Airlines Purchases 6,000 Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Tablets for Use as In-Flight Entertainment
• HTC Flyer Review
• Droid 2 Global Gingerbread Update Nearing Deployment, Soak Test this Week
• Motorola Droid 3 Gives Up its Secrets in In-Depth Hands-On Review
• Sprint Premier “Silver” Customers: Get Your Last One-Year Upgrade From Sprint

Meizu MX Shipping This September Ahead of Schedule Posted: 13 Jun 2011 07:13 PM PDT It’s the best phone you’ve most likely never heard of. China’s very own, Meizu MX What’s so special about it? Well, besides the companies large following in its homeland of China and the uber sexy custom UI, the phone features an unrivaled 4-inch 640×960 resolution display, dual-core ARM Cortex A9 processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of internal memory and an 8MP rear camera with back illuminated CMOS sensor (sounds fancy). The phone also offers full GSM/WCDMA support with HSPA+ connectivity. Strangely absent is a front facing cam but from what I’m told, no one ever uses that thing anyway. The device was originally supposed to drop late this year in China for $550, but it looks like things are coming along ahead of schedule and it will ship as early as September. CEO Jack Wong is also offering some kind of trade-in incentive for those looking to upgrade their previous generation, Meizu M9 Color me, impressed. [Via MeizuMe]

Amazon Will Offer Movie Streaming Service For Free On Upcoming Android Tablets Posted: 13 Jun 2011 06:36 PM PDT Tablets, tablets tablets. With so many Android tablets hitting the market these days and most of them being stock, vanilla Android 3.1 Honeycomb, its hard for these devices to really stand out from one another. Manufacturer’s are well aware of this and it’s one of the reasons why companies are trying so hard to offer things like specialty app stores and custom UI’s across their devices. Enter, Amazon. Following the success of their wildly popular Kindle e-reader, Amazon is set to unleash their dual-core “Coyote” and quad-core “Hollywood” Android tablets onto the masses any day now. But why would a consumer choose their tablet over all the others? According to Detwiler Fenton, a consumer research firm in Boston, Amazon will offer their streaming movie service for FREE exclusively to the first wave of early adopters who purchase their upcoming tablets. Couple that with other Amazon services like their AppStore (one free paid app everyday!) and their Cloud Locker music streaming service, and you have the makings of a true mainstream winner. Can’t wait to see if these new tablets really catch on. [Via Barron's]

Nvidia Making Big Moves – Buys Wireless Modem Company, Icera Posted: 13 Jun 2011 06:00 PM PDT Nvidia, not just happy with making mobile processors like their Tegra 2 chips for tablets and smartphones, has just bought a wireless modem company named Icera for $367 million dollars. There are a bunch of components that go into making our favorite devices. Besides mobile processors which seem to get most attention these days, there are other parts like the wireless modem used to connect your device to your carrier. Icera, currently makes a wireless modem component called the Espresso 450 which already uses Nvidia’s Tegra processors and includes a radio interface for Android. So it seemed like a natural fit for Nvidia to shell out the cash and acquire their services. We all know how much things are heating up these days between mobile chiptset makers and Nvidia is hoping that device manufacturers will favor their single all-in-one option for mobile computing and wireless radio instead of having to shop at 2 separate places (like Qualcomm) for a wireless modem. Looks like Nvidia is making some big moves — like a boss. [Via BeatNews]

Motorola Looking to Change Their Bootloader Policy and Image in the Process Posted: 13 Jun 2011 05:00 PM PDT Yes, you just heard right folks. According to a Twitterer by the name of @IBProud, Motorola may in fact be doing the implausible. Mr. Proud, who started a petition 5 months ago called “Unlock teh Bootloader,” was able to receive around 10,000 signatures and prompted a response from Motorola basically saying, “We’ll look into it.” Well, not much has been heard from Motorola since then and I’m sure you’ve heard all of the negative feedback from users on the subject. Not to mention Moto just continued pumping out device after device with encrypted bootloaders which lead many to believe the petition had simply been ignored. Bootloaders has been a hot topic these days with Sony Ericsson being one of the first OEM’s to offer their phone’s unencrypted with HTC quickly following suit after a similar public outcry type situation on their Facebook page causing their CEO to finally cave in and announce that they too, will no longer be encrypting their bootloaders. Fast forward to today where, after a phone call with Christy Wyatt, Vice President of Mobile Software for Motorola Mobility, Irwin Proud received some shocking news about Motorola and their plans for the future of their bootloaders. According to Christy, Motorola has taken this bootloader policy very seriously and have in fact been listening to the developer community. Moto has been hard at work on preparing an update for their devices that will allow for an unlockable/relockable bootloader. They hope to push out the update sometime in Q3 or Q4 of this year. So what’s been holding them back? Has Motorola locked up their bootloaders so tight that even they have had a hard time trying to crack them? Well not exactly. Once again, it’s those darn carriers. According to Motorola, carriers have to fully put these updates through their paces to ensure not only compatibility, but to make sure everything is up to their security standards as well. Bet you didn’t know so much was going on behind the scenes, right? All of this simply to allow a user to flash a custom ROM or develop on a device. Motorola also pointed out that the unlocking/relocking update on the Xoom was well received by carriers and they’re optimistic that each of their future devices that receive an update in the future, will be getting their bootloader unlocked in the process. Wow. So that’s pretty much the gist of it. Straight from the guy who single-handedly got this bootloader ball rolling and straight from the horse’s mouth. I’ve always been one to skim through the comments on our site and to say to say the popular opinion on Motorola has been negative, would be an understatement. So with this breaking news, does this change your opinion on the company and can you perhaps see a Motorola device in your future? Can’t wait to read your feedback. [Via AusDroid]

Apps of the Day: Doodle Grub, Location Alert, and More Posted: 13 Jun 2011 03:59 PM PDT What does a hungry grub, Le Mans, LinkedIn, and your location have in common? They all make an appearance in today’s Apps of the Day. Apps of the Day is our daily feature where we go through what’s hot and new in the Android Market to help you find the apps worth downloading to your Android phone. Today features a few utilities that might just make you more productive and one game that might just do the opposite. Check it out below. Doodle Grub – We’ve seen plenty of Snake clones in the age of smartphones, and even if Doodle Grub doesn’t reinvent the wheel it does breathe some life into the concept. The standout here is Doodle Grub’s controls, which uses your phones accelerometer to move your grub by tilting and shifting your handset. Cutesy graphics and power-ups add to the experience. [Market] Instant Relation – Instant Relation is a LinkedIn utility designed to make it easy to connect with new contacts by scanning a barcode to add them to your network. While the idea of instantly connecting with those you meet is appealing, the major downside of the application is that both users are required to have the app installed on their handset. Given enough people use Instant Relation, it could become a handy utility. Otherwise, its use is rather limited. [Market] Audi UK’s Guide to Le Mans - Audi has teamed up with Le Mans to offer the official app for the 24 hour racing event. Included are overviews of the various cars and racing teams, the latest news update, a birds-eye view of the racing circuit, and up to the minute race updates. Any fan of the endurance race would be doing themselves a disservice by not downloading. [Market] Location Alert – Location Alert is a unique take on the scheduling/remind app that sends you alerts based on where you are rather than what time it is. The concept is quite handy, too. Need to pick up a DVD your friend borrowed but keep forgetting when you are over their pad? Set a location reminder to notify you whenever you are nearby. More in depth features make this one definitely worth checking out. [Market]

[DEAL ALERT] Acer Iconia Tab A500 Now $380 as eBay’s Daily Deal Posted: 13 Jun 2011 02:35 PM PDT Mystery Deal Monday is in full swing over at eBay, and one of the not-so-mysterious specials sees the Acer Iconia Tab A500 knocked down in price to $379.99. The Honeycomb tablet already provided a cheap alternative for those looking to pick up an Android tablet, and with this deal it might be hard to pass up. [via eBay | Thanks, NIsme!]

Swype 3.0 Coming in Beta form Today, Adds Honeycomb Support Posted: 13 Jun 2011 02:29 PM PDT The folks at Swype aren’t ready to bring their new take on the software keyboard out of beta, but they are about to update it to version 3.0. Members of the beta program can expect the new version to become available today and, along with it, quite a few updated features. In the latest update, Swype gains tap correction support, providing predictive text for those occasions where you’d prefer to tap in a word letter by letter rather than using the namesake swiping method. Predicted words are now displayed in a horizontal word choice bar above the keyboard rather than as a popup selection. Swype 3.0 supports HVGA, WVGA, FWVGA,WQVGA, WSVGA, and qHD displays. A special WXGA version for Honeycomb features a moveable and resizable keyboard. If you are part of the beta program check for the update now, it should be available momentarily. [via MobileCrunch]

US Cellular to Get HTC Desire S, Wildfire S Posted: 13 Jun 2011 01:28 PM PDT According to a screen grab a tipster just hit us with, US Cellular looks to be updating their Android family with the addition of the HTC Desire S (here called the Desire II) and Wildfire S. The sequel to the original Desire makes sense here, as US Cellular was one of the few US outlets to carry the handset. The Wildfire S is also no surprise as a mid-ranged Android offering to bolster a lineup that includes such devices as the newly released LG Genesis No word on when we might see the handsets reach shelves, but an inventory listing is a good sign that it could be happening very soon. [Thanks, Plazzma!]

HTC Sensation 4G Review Posted: 13 Jun 2011 01:18 PM PDT The HTC Sensation 4G is T-Mobile’s version of the phone known internationally as simply the HTC Sensation. 4G marketing aside, the handset brings the same powerful hardware and fluid software that make it the manufacturer’s latest flagship device. The Sensation 4G has been dubbed a superphone, and earns the title easily with its combination of devilishly good looks and killer user experience. We could cut to the chase and tell you the HTC Sensation is hands-down among the top of the Android crop, but what would the fun in that be? Read on for our full take on this dual-core beauty. Hardware Review The top-notch hardware offered  by the HTC Sensation 4G makes using the phone effortless. HTC has hit the right note on almost every factor, from the dual-core chipset to the crisp and clear qHD display. All of this is bundled in a sleek unibody design that feels about as solid as a handset can. A huge part of what makes the Sensation such a treat to use is the dual-core Snapdragon CPU clocked at 1.2GHz. The processor provides plenty of pep there is hardly a task (or multi-task) the chip isn’t up for. It helps that the CPU is backed by 768MB of RAM to insure no bottlenecking of resources. Moving through the HTC Sense user interface is smooth and responsive and nary a snag is to be found. Gaming is fluid and rendered easily. It’s also rendered beautifully on the 4.3-inch qHD display. This the same qHD display tech that seems to be making its way into every high-end Android smartphone, so we won’t spend too much time praising it, but it looks just as good as ever. In a world where you’d be hard-pressed to find a device with less than a 4-inch screen, the 4.3-inch size feels comfortable and provides plenty of screen real estate. An 8MP camera is coupled with a dual-LED flash and is capable of recording 1080p video. A front-facing camera is present for video calling and plenty of opportunities for glamor shots without the use of a mirror. Battery life was a bit surprising in a good way. Heavy use is sure to drain your juice quickly, but keeping to tasks such as calling and texting provides oodles of standby time. Software Review The HTC Sensation 4G features Android 2.3.3 with HTC Sense 3.0 on top. Sense has always ranked as one of our favorite custom Android UIs, and here it is implemented to perfection. The latest version of Sense features key enhancements while maintaining much of what made Sense good to begin with. You will notice as soon as you boot up the phone the new active lock screen. By dragging application icons into the unlock ring the phone will launch directly into services such as the phone dialer, email, and camera. It takes a few steps out of the process, and comes in real handy when you want to quickly snap off a picture without navigating through the UI to jump to the camera. HTC has implemented a “3D” homescreen system which provides a rotatable carousel of content. Flicking from screen to screen is accompanied by a pretty animation and you won’t hit a dead end — screens cycle back around, a small change that is much appreciated. The notification dropdown now features two tabs. The first is exactly what you’d expect, all of your notifications in one area, but the second provides quick access to toggling services such as WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS. Being able to access these toggles from any screen gives you quick and seamless control over power-hungry services, a necessary feature for aiding in lower battery consumption. Gaming, Media, and Web Browing The great thing about the Sensation 4G is that its powerful hardware and customizable software allow the phone to be a jack of all trades. Power users will be right at home with this handset, and gamers will be equally as pleased. The same goes for those who use their handsets as media machines. It all works pretty flawlessly. The Sensation makes short work of 3D rendering for games and doesn’t skip a beat in the process. The same goes for pulling down webpages and streaming videos from the internet. And watching those videos on the Sensation’s qHD display doesn’t disappoint. The real key to the whole experience is HSPA+ support over T-Mobile’s network. We haven’t always been the biggest fans of the 4G name being thrown on this 3.5G technology, but we simply can’t deny the speeds it provides. Downloads and uploads are quick and painless. Uploads to YouTube took mere minutes (though the phone won’t push large files to the web unless you are on a WiFi connection), and browsing even the bulkiest of webpages comes with hardly a hiccup. Camera The Sensation 4G doesn’t let us down with its 8MP camera capable of 1080p video capture. Images retain great color and the camera fares well in low-light situations. Of course, a dual-led flash means you won’t have to worry too much about that. At its full 8MP resolution, images look gorgeous to say the least. The Sensation may offer one of the best cameras we have seen in an Android phone, but we’ll let the results speak for themselves. We would have liked a bit more out of the actual video recording, but for a smartphone we get what we’d expect and a bit more. Quality is good, though the result is a bit washed out. Video also plays a bit jittery beyond the unsteady hands of this reviewer. Again, we will let the final product do the talking here. In Conclusion The HTC Sensation 4G is the complete package: powerful hardware, stylish design, and a solid user experience. The phone doesn’t feel like too much for the average user but its ability to serve the power user is endless. We could even go so far as to say the Sensation might just be the best handset in T-Mobile’s entire Android lineup. HTC really has knocked one out of the park with this one, you will want to check it out for yourself.

Sprint to Tweak Tablet Data Plans for HTC EVO View 4G Launch Posted: 13 Jun 2011 12:52 PM PDT The HTC EVO View 4G is nearing launch, and it looks like Sprint wants to update their tablet data plans to welcome the 7-inch slate to the family. Pricing for plans includes 1GB at $20 per month, 3GB for $45, and 5GB for $60. A 10GB plan is $90 per month. Interesting enough, the pricing covers 3G data only. Below 3GB of data won’t net you any 4G action, but with a plan priced at $45 per month or more unlimited 4G data is included. Sprint is also selling the plans at discounted “bundled” prices for existing Sprint customers with current smartphone data plans. Not quite shared data, but at least they’re cutting multi-device users a break. The plans should kick in around the launch of the View 4G, though an exact date isn’t known. [via AndroidPolice]

American Airlines Purchases 6,000 Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Tablets for Use as In-Flight Entertainment Posted: 13 Jun 2011 12:31 PM PDT If you are flying American Airlines, soon you will be able to enjoy the Samsun Galaxy Tab 10.1 as part of premium class in-flight entertainment. The airline has struck a deal with Samsung to deploy 6,000 Tab 10.1 units to their fleet of aircraft servicing several domestic and international routes. The Tab 10.1 will replace the current in-flight entertainment device on flights traveling between JFK and Los Angeles, JFK and San Francisco, Miami and Los Angeles. International flights to Europe and South America will also take off the the Galaxy Tab on board. Even if you aren’t a huge fan of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 (though you have no reason not to be), you have to admit that’s one heck of an upgrade over traditional in-flight entertainment. [via BusinessWire]

HTC Flyer Review Posted: 13 Jun 2011 11:57 AM PDT HTC ventured into unknown territories when they introduced their first tablet, and more than the tablet space was foreign to them, so were some of the things they’ve done here (particularly with the Scribe pen). Is there doubt that HTC can produce a premium Android tablet or have they hit a homerun with a great blend of unique functionality and a model that doesn’t stray too far from the norm? Find out in our official review below. Hardware Review The HTC Flyer doesn’t take many risks when it comes to the device’s chassis, but I’m still a bit intrigued by what HTC has done. I appreciate the little things, like two sets of capacitive buttons which activate and deactivate depending on which orientation you’re holding the device in. Unfortunately, that also means you’re limited as far as which direction you can hold it. If you’re one of those people who like to hold the tablet upside down for whatever reason, you aren’t facilitated here. The HTC Flyer is built like a portrait device as most 7 inch tablets are. The 5 megapixel HD camera on the back is positioned near the “head” of the device and all of the logos are presented upright when in portrait mode. That doesn’t mean this can’t pass as a good landscape device, of course. HTC’s included white “grips” on the back, and the camera isn’t centered so you can hold it comfortably while trying to snap a landscape photo. The rest of the back plate is a silver matte finish with a recessed HTC logo. The material feels nice and has, thus far, done well to repel dust and dirt. Also on the back are two speakers which are very generous when it comes to delivering crisp, clear and loud sound. HTC’s Flyer has an LED light beneath its translucent silver power button, an interesting design if I do say so myself. It can be somewhat difficult to see the light depending on the angle you’re looking at the tablet from, but it’s nice to have that option when so many other devices of this size and larger have done away with it. The 7 inch display is great, albeit a  tad bit muddy when trying to read text in certain applications. It’s vibrant when it comes to colors, though, which is important. The backlight is very bright when set on high and should be sufficient for folks who use this in direct sunlight. There are no huge light bleeding issues when looking at the device head-on, but it’s certainly no Super AMOLED contender as light still tends to shine through a bit. As with most tablets, there is no user replaceable battery. We have a feeling you won’t be worried about that, though, because the battery life on this thing absolutely rocks. I can get more than a few days of moderate use out of the HTC Flyer, and if for some reason you forget to shut it off before a long period of inactivity, this thing will last you at 19 hours on standby after a full charge. Inside is 16GB of internal storage, but HTC gives us the option to expand that storage with a microSD card slot beneath a detachable plate on the back. And after dealing with the Samsung Galaxy Tab, I’m glad to have that option. (Though transferring files back and forth via USB was no issue at all.) While we’re on the subject of USB, the charging and data sync connector may look proprietary at first glance, but it’s really just a modified design of a standard microUSB port. I used various microUSB cables and wall chargers from other products and they worked just fine. Another tidbit about charging the device is that you can actually charge it using your computer’s USB port. This isn’t a feature on most tablets and we’re glad HTC’s given us the option here on the flyer. GPS works well, but you can’t use Google Maps unless you are tethering to a mobile hotspot. Folks who buy WiFi-only tablets go into the experience knowing that, though. You may want to opt for a third-party solution that doesn’t require an internet connection to get going. The 1.5GHz Qualcomm processor inside is only single core and has an old GPU by today’s standards. While system performance wasn’t terrible, it definitely wasn’t as smooth as I thought it’d be. There were no major freezes and hiccups, but switching between apps, scroll, and web browsing were all noticeably more laggy compared to some phones with similar hardware. We imagine it could be because of the Flyer’s 1024×600 resolution trying to draw juice from an old GPU, but we can’t say for sure. If you want to play some of the latest and greatest high-quality 3D games on this thing, you’ll be disappointed. Software Review As you know, the HTC Flyer isn’t a Honeycomb tablet, and although HTC says it’ll be upgradeable to Android 3.0 in the future, we can’t help but pressure them to hurry up. (Though, considering how hard it works to run this version of Android, we can’t imagine the Honeycomb experience will be much better.) On top of Gingerbread is a modified version of HTC Sense 2.1. Despite HTC officially calling it that, this thing is closer to the version of Sense found on the HTC EVO 3D and the HTC Sensation You get those neat, customizable lockscreens, the spinning homescreen carousel, the power controls built into the notification bar and a lot of the same new widgets and applications. The bottom dock is a bit different, though, as it has three trays that can be customized to launch three different applications. To the left and right of those are the personalize and app tray buttons. Some of the applications HTC’s included here have been tweaked to take advantage of the newfound screen real estate, but they are your average Sense applications and widgets at the end of the day. More customization comes with the Scribe pen, but we’ll be talking more about that below. As I mentioned above, the software tends to lag at times, even when doing something as lightweight as scrolling in the Android market or any other application. The tablet is clearly underpowered and this type of performance on Android 2.3 doesn’t look good for the future of Honeycomb on this thing. It’s not going to ruin your experience if all you’ve come for is the Scribe pen, though. Scribe Pen The Scribe Pen is certainly the highlight of this tablet. It’s a digitized capacitive stylus that the tablet automatically recognizes whenever you start writing. The pen takes one AAA battery that lasts quite a long time, ensuring you won’t have to switch batteries out often. It feels great in the hand and is very natural to hold as it shares properties similar to regular ink pens. The beauty about the pen is that it works in every application, whether HTC intended for that to be the case or not. In applications not designed specifically for use with the scribe, you can draw notes anywhere and the device will take a screenshot and save it for you when you’re done. This is especially useful in the web browser. Books and the default Notes application are different, though. In Books, there are no screenshots. Instead, your notes are saved within that book so you can see them whenever you open it. You can enable and disable the notes at any time. This method is effective as it does away with the need to store images of pages on your tablet, something that can get very confusing if you don’t organize them. A quick note about HTC Books: the application is powered by Kobo, which means you must buy books through Kobo in order to read them and take notes on them inside this application. I was especially disappointed to find out that open formats, even .PDF files, were not supported. Keep this in mind if you are primarily looking to use this thing as a book reader. Likewise, in the Notes application, writing notes on the digital paper aren’t stored as images. The Notes application is robust and works great for general note taking. You get a plethora of pen styles and color options to choose from, and these are accessible within any application on the device after tapping the capacitive pen button with your Scribe pen. Notes are synced to Evernote, one of the most popular services for two-way note-syncing and one we called the best note-taking application for Android. The Scribe pen is simple and fun to use and I enjoyed every bit I spent with it. Although I don’t see myself using it in every day situations, those who do will find the experience to be quite pleasing. The only downside here is cost ($70) but you can usually find these bundled for free with the tablet at third party retailers. Camera, Media, Odds, Ends The camera on the Flyer is just like it is on every HTC Sense phone. It gives you an abundance of options, filters, effects and settings to apply, but it still pales in comparison to competitors. I think I’ve said that about 5 times in 5 different HTC reviews, but I don’t expect things to change for a good while. The camera sensor itself also seems the same as the ones included on their latest phones. It works decent in natural daylight, OK in lowlight, and is absolutely horrid in darkness (specially considering there’s no LED flash to accompany the 5 megapixel shooter). And all of the same is true for the front-facing camera, unsurprisingly. Here are just a few stills and a video to give you an idea of what to expect: The two microphones on the device work great for video recording. The sound isn’t muddy at all and can actually capture sound from a fair distance. The only downside I can think of is that it dials the audio in just a bit too loud, almost to the point where I checked out HTC Watch, their movie and TV Show rental service, and it was smooth from purchase to playback. Being on a WiFi network while using it, I expected there to be little or no buffering or playback issues, and there weren’t. Video quality was quite good, too, so it’ll be a great service for those long flights where entertainment is at a premium. Unfortunately, I was unable to test out the music services (outside of music already on my device and music streamed from my computer) as the Flyer wouldn’t allow me to sign in to my HTCSense.com account. I’ve been trying to find a solution to this problem, but as of the time of this writing I’ve come up empty. One thing I’m glad to report is that Connected Media (DLNA) works on this device. I stress that because I was unable to use it on the HTC Droid Incredible 2 and to this day have yet to figure out why. I was pleasantly surprised when the HTC Flyer gave me no trouble whatsoever. The Verdict The HTC Flyer falls a little short up against competitors in a lot of areas. It’s a great piece of hardware at first glance, but an underpowered chipset, outdated software and more shortcomings ultimately make it no different from any of their phones. We’re hoping HTC sticks to their guns about Honeycomb and issues an update for it sometime down the line. For what it is, though, the Flyer is a solid Android tablet that won’t give you many problems and it has some cool functionality. The Scribe pen had me falling in love with physically writing all over again. (And anyone who knows me knows I hate to write anything without a set of keys.) If you can justify the $570 (or cheaper if you can find a good deal) that HTC is asking for the setup, then by all means, get it. It’s a great note-taking companion and one that will help save you a headache (mountains of paper that can get damaged over time) and will help save our environment.

Droid 2 Global Gingerbread Update Nearing Deployment, Soak Test this Week Posted: 13 Jun 2011 11:48 AM PDT Verizon is gearing up to send a Gingerbread update to the next member of the Droid family, with the OS upgrade to Android 2.3 prepped for delivery to the Motorola Droid 2 Global. This follows the Motorola Droid X which recently received a bump up in Android version itself. Following the model set up by that handset, a select group of D2G users will receive the update this week as part of a “soak” test to work out any final kinks in the software. The update should become available for all D2G users shortly after. Note that this update is not aimed at users of the original Droid 2, and we have no word on whether or not that handset will also receive Gingerbread along with its world-phone sibling. [via DroidLife]

Motorola Droid 3 Gives Up its Secrets in In-Depth Hands-On Review Posted: 13 Jun 2011 11:03 AM PDT OK, so the phone snagged by Chinese site xda.cn and given an in-depth hands-on review isn’t exactly the Motorola DROID 3 but it’s the next best thing. The Motorola Milestone 3 — as with the Milestone and Milestone 2 — is for all intents and purposes the same phone that will get the Droid name when it lands in the States. We’ve seen that handset leaked numerous times, but this new up close look is revealing a few more interesting tidbits. For starters, the phone’s 4-inch qHD display will feature the same PenTile display technology found in recent Motorola handsets. The technology provides certain benefits that are beneficial to a mobile handset, though many complaints have been registered against color reproduction and sharpness of images on PenTile screens. Whether you love or hate it, PenTile tech ultimately does a disservice to a qHD display. The Droid 3/Milestone 3 is also confirmed to carry a meager 512MB of RAM. A dual-core TI OMAP 4430 processor helps to make up for it a bit, but all that processing power won’t mean much if there isn’t enough RAM to handle it. Still, benchmarks report some pretty stellar performance. Throw in a lack of 4G LTE and the Droid 3 might be a hard sell for some. Of course, the 5-row QWERTY slider is sure to win over fans of physical keyboards, and an 8MP 1080p camera and front-facing camera will insure that the Droid 3 is a worthy addition to Verizon’s lineup. [via DroidLife]

Sprint Premier “Silver” Customers: Get Your Last One-Year Upgrade From Sprint Posted: 13 Jun 2011 09:44 AM PDT I’ve seen this one making the rounds for a few weeks now, but decided not to write it up until I was ready to reclaim my own upgrade. Folks are contacting Sprint employees on their website to get put into a queue to receive their last yearly fully-subsidized upgrade credit that was promised to them before they made the switch to a tiered system. Before, all customers who qualified were able to upgrade to new devices after just a year at the full-subsidized price. Now, you’ll have to pay a bit more to qualify for “gold status” and retain those benefits. When the switch first happened, Sprint noted that those who were on silver and didn’t want to step up to a plan that would eventually qualify them for gold would not be able to get another upgrade at the fully-subsidized price. Many felt this was wrong as it’s blatant false advertising. I was a victim of this, as well, having been told that I would be able to upgrade to a new phone at a subsidized price in just a year when I bought the HTC EVO 4G last year. Fortunately, Sprint’s willing to make things right at least for one more year. As I said above, you can contact a Sprint rep at their community, but that’ll get you tossed into a lengthy queue of folks who are looking for the same. You’ll likely get your final upgrade back, but there’s no telling how long it’ll take. Instead, why not call Sprint? I did just that a few minutes before writing this post and have had my problem taken care of in less than 15 minutes. The customer service rep you initially speak to will tell you that you’re only eligible for a $75 credit toward the MSRP after a two-year contract, but you need to tell them that this is wrong and that you should be able to get one last full upgrade. If they can’t seem to make that happen for you, simply ask them to forward you on to their supervisor who should get things taken care of for you. And if that doesn’t work, using the words “cancel my contract” may help as their customer retention department is hell bent on doing exactly what their name implies. While I hate using that tactic, it’s necessary to get things done when you can’t seem to get anywhere. Now, in about two hours, I’ll be able to buy whatever new phone I want at a subsidized cost and there was no queue to deal with other than the short wait time on the phone. I should note that this will only work for folks who would’ve been eligible for another upgrade by June 2011 or for those who didn’t take advantage of an existing upgrade before the change occurred. Also note that this is your last yearly upgrade until you’re forced to wait for 22 months. That’s unless you jump up to a more expensive and qualify for premier gold, of course.  Sprint’s customer service number is 888-211-4727. Head to the source link for more details about how to do it the forum way. [Android Police]

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