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- LG Spectrum set for major update – no ICS yet
- Samsung Galaxy S III vs Galaxy Note hands-on
- Verizon crushes hopes: No HTC One phones any time soon
- Lava XOLO Intel Android smartphone hands-on
- Possible T-Mobile Galaxy S III model number revealed
- Verizon 4G LTE speeds reaching more of the East Coast next week
- HBO GO Android tablet app coming “early this summer”
- Samsung Galaxy S III accessories appear in press photos
- HTC EVO 4G LTE Review
| LG Spectrum set for major update – no ICS yet Posted: 11 May 2012 04:22 PM PDT Hey, Verizon, LG? When it comes to Android updates, there’s only one thing enthusiasts want: Ice Cream Sandwich. That little mini-rant out of the way, LG’s Verizon flagship Spectrum is getting an update to its Gingerbread software, rolling out as of now. If you’re rocking the Verizon-branded version of the LG Optimus LTE, check your settings menu for an over-the-air update. Those who don’t should get a pop-up notification sometime within the next week or so.
Even if it isn’t the frozen goodness that everyone wants, there’s enough here to make it worth your while for a lengthy 127 megabyte download. In addition to the usual speed and stability improvements, a critical flaw in the WiFi scanning which caused numerous force-closes has been fixed. Other persistent problems like incorrect calendar notifications, a faster browser APK and smoother search. Of course, the pack-in software gets an overhaul as well. Apps like VZ Navigator (seriously, why does any carrier include a navigation app on an Android device?) NFL Mobile and Verizon Video all get manual updates. Still, the list of bug fixes should rule out any problems with Verizon and LG’s bloatware. Have fun, Spectrum owners – and remember that LG should have an upgrade to ICS. Eventually. Device Info
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 [via Droid-Life]
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| Samsung Galaxy S III vs Galaxy Note hands-on Posted: 11 May 2012 03:59 PM PDT This week at CTIA 2012 we got a few additional looks of the Samsung Galaxy S III and today we have one more. While hanging out in New Orleans we caught up with Ryan Bidan, Director of Product Marketing for Samsung Mobile, who was happy to provide us with a hands-on comparison between the Samsung Galaxy S III and the current flagship 5.3-inch Galaxy Note.
Both of these phones are packed with technology from Samsung and below you’ll find a nice video full of compare and contrast talking points. Obviously we have different processors, different software, and the screen sizes are a bit different too. Below is two videos, the first of which will go over the hardware differences and show why the SGSIII is the new king, then followed up with another Galaxy S III hands-on. In this second video Bidan shows us more of the Galaxy S III in terms of hardware and software. Explaining a little more about what’s new regarding the software — Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich — as well as TouchWiz and the little tweaks they’ve made to make it even better on the new flagship smartphone. Then we’ve also snapped a few more photos of the all new Galaxy S III for you below. You’ll see some settings, the about screen, as well as that Nyan Droid screen we all seem to love on ICS. Let us know what phone you’d rather use and check out all the coverage on both phones from the links below.        Device Info
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| Verizon crushes hopes: No HTC One phones any time soon Posted: 11 May 2012 03:27 PM PDT The HTC DROID Incredible 4G LTE looks like a decent upgrade to the former Incredible phones, but after getting our hands on it at CTIA, we can say it’s just not up to par with the One X or One S. If you’re holding out for either to come to Verizon in the near future, you can stop waiting. A Verizon representative told PCMag that Verizon currently has no One series phones in the pipeline. You see this? This is my sad face.
HTC’s Verizon lineup seems a little stale at the moment – the Rezound is six months old and the DROID Incredible 4G LTE is a pale imitation of the One S, with a smaller screen, thicker, plastic body and a slower processor. Even worse, it lacks the Image Sense chip that makes the cameras on the other One series phones so impressive. With all three of the other major American carriers getting a piece of the One pie, we’ve got to wonder why Verizon seems to be settling for second place. While HTC phones will certainly come to Verizon again in the future – the representative made no bones about that – it looks like they’re skipping over the current generation of high-end hardware. Big Red is looking to the likes of Samsung (with the Galaxy S III) and its old pal Motorola (with the DROID RAZR HD) for the time being. Oh well – at least the Rezound has an unlocked bootloader, right? [via HTCSource]
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| Lava XOLO Intel Android smartphone hands-on Posted: 11 May 2012 03:22 PM PDT We had a great time at CTIA 2012 this year down in New Orleans and saw plenty of impressive phones like the EVO 4G LTE and DROID Incredible 4G LTE. One that went under the radar however was the new Lava XOLO Intel-powered smartphone that was announced in late April. We stopped by the Intel booth for some hands-on with their Android phone to see what the fuss was all about. Check out the video and pictures after the break.
The Lava XOLO is Intel’s first production Android smartphone that is available on the actual mobile market. Being released on April 23rd across India. The phone has pretty decent specs but now that blazing fast dual-core and quad-core phones are out Intel might be slightly behind the curve again. The XOLO features a 4.03-inch 1024 x 600 resolution display, and of course the Intel Medfield 1.6 GHz dual-core Atom Z2460 processor with 1GB of RAM along with a pretty decent 8 megapixel camera. Sadly it runs on Gingerbread and not Ice Cream Sandwich and here’s a quick look: Along with micro-SD, micro HDMI, 16GB of internal storage and a 1.3 front shooter for those self portraits the phone is pretty well equipped. Intel’s processor doesn’t quite reach levels that Qualcomm’s new S4 does in the HTC One S, but it speeds the Gingerbread OS along quite fine as you saw above. They phone had a very candy bar and square design — safe to say the least. Get Ice Cream Sandwich on this, which we here is coming soon and this phone will be plenty decent for a mid-ranged price. Sadly it will never be released stateside for those wanting to get in the Intel-powered action. Expect more things from Intel soon though as we’ve seen reports of a Motorola phone with ICS on the way. Additionally check out the Intel powered phone running on Quadrant on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich in this quick video        
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| Possible T-Mobile Galaxy S III model number revealed Posted: 11 May 2012 02:54 PM PDT We know the Galaxy S III is coming to the US later this summer, and on more than one carrier at that. Given Samsung’s generous nature with the last two Galaxy S models, a release on all four major carriers (and regional carriers to boot) is not out of the equation. TmoNews thinks they’ve spotted the Galaxy S III’s magenta model number in an online video: SGH-T999.
For reference, the original T-Mobile Galaxy S Vibrant was the SGH-T959, and the Galaxy S II was the SGH-T989. (If T-Mobile ever releases a T1000, we’re all in serious trouble.) Given that T-Mobile and Samsung are at least as close as any other US carrier, we’d be downright surprised if they didn’t get a version of the phone eventually. And if anyone in the US is going to get the quad-core Exynos version of the phone, it ‘ll be T-Mobile, since their LTE network won’t begin rolling out until next year at the earliest. The only carrier that we can say with any certainty will get the Galaxy S III is Verizon, thanks to a similar leak in a user agent profile. And AT&T’s cancellation of the Galaxy S II Skyrocket HD certainly implies that they’re looking forward to something bigger and better. In any case, it’ll be at least a few weeks before we hear anything – the Galaxy S III won’t land overseas until May 29th. If you can’t wait any longer than that, you could always give an absurd amount of money to Expansys to import one. Device Info
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| Verizon 4G LTE speeds reaching more of the East Coast next week Posted: 11 May 2012 02:18 PM PDT Who lives on the East Coast and wants some Verizon 4G LTE speeds? Today we have some potentially great news because Verizon is at it yet again announcing a whole new slew of markets set to get their enhanced and ultra fast 4G LTE network speeds. Below is a quite large list of multiple cities and beach communities throughout the East Coast that are all set to receive the green light.
According to Verizon they’ll be lighting up tons of additional 4G LTE markets come May 17th. Many of these will be expansions but most will be completely new to the greatness that is 4G LTE on mobile. Once again, Verizon is showing no signs of slowing down and are expanding faster than any other carrier at the moment. Here’s the list of updates: – 30 "communities" in Vermont Would you look at that? It looks like Jersey Shore will also be getting the much needed upgrade to Verizon’s 4G LTE network. Now all those Pauly D fans can Google the nearest tanning salon with lightning fast results — Go Verizon! On a more serious note this is good news for everyone on the East Coast. Now you’ll have faster network and data speeds just in time for summer. [via Droid-Life]
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| HBO GO Android tablet app coming “early this summer” Posted: 11 May 2012 01:35 PM PDT So last week HBO updated their popular HBO GO and MAX GO Android applications with support for Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich devices. While this was a much awaited and needed update it sadly didn’t fix many users problem — and that is no Android tablet support. After we reached out to HBO we received a quick statement confirming a tablet version will be coming very shortly.
With HBO GO you can watch all those awesome TV series like Game of Thrones, True Blood, Entourage and more all from your Android powered device. Until now my Galaxy Nexus and all ICS devices weren’t supported and couldn’t be used but now they all can. When I saw ICS support I thought that would naturally include tablet since that is what Android 4.0 ICS is, a tablet and phone user interface. After reaching out to HBO here’s what they told us:
According to Laura from HBO we can expect the tablet-optimized application to be available sometime early this summer. Hopefully that means within the next 2 months as I’d love to stream Entourage on my Verizon Galaxy Tab 7.7 LTE while traveling this summer. For now you can get the new and improved smartphone version by hitting the link below.
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| Samsung Galaxy S III accessories appear in press photos Posted: 11 May 2012 01:00 PM PDT The Samsung Galaxy S III is quickly approaching and we all can’t wait for its arrival. While we wait today we’ve been greeted with a few official press photos of Samsung’s upcoming accessories for the flagship smartphone. We got some hands-on during the SGSIII unveiling, but these are the official real deal accessories we can expect to arrive soon.
From the WiFi Display Dub, the new Samsung Flip cover, and even the Galaxy S III specific S-Pen stylus, only they are calling it the C-Pen for the capacitive enabled end which is different than the Galaxy Note S-Pen. While we still don’t have official details on these accessories we can expect most of them to launch along with the Galaxy S III later this month across Europe.
The C-Pen is obviously much larger and wider than the popular S-Pen as it wont be fitting inside the device. This should also make it more ergonomic and easier to grip and write without causing hand fatigue. Then we have the WiFi display hub for streaming HD content to your TV and more. The Galaxy S III charging dock however is pretty unique, standing upright and eliminating any extra cords on your computer desk or nightstand. There’s also talk of the wireless charging kit that will be released with the phone, but we’re hearing that might be delayed. More details can be found over at SlashGear via the source link below.       Device Info
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[via SlashGear]
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| Posted: 11 May 2012 12:39 PM PDT As HTC continues its onslaught of new and impressive phones for the US today we are looking at the all new HTC EVO 4G
Simply put, this phone is great. Everything about it screams of excellence from the hardware, software, camera, speed, user interface and more. The one area that it lacks though, is an important one, and that is the carrier. The Now Network 4G LTE is currently non-existent, but once it arrives this phone will be epic. Sadly this great all around devices is severely hampered by the network at the moment, but for everything else this is basically as good as it gets.
Hardware The kickstand is a famous addition to the EVO line, and users will be happy to know that is it very sturdy here. You can lay the phone on both sides and it holds it up completely stable. The phone screams of perfection and I’m a fan of the hardware and design. I didn’t like the look at first, but have quickly grown to like it. For more on the hardware and software enjoy this video tour: One factor that I really like about the EVO 4G LTE over the X is the thinness of the phone. Everything is flat and smooth compared to the curved edges and large camera hump on the X. HTC did a great job making the EVO 4G LTE actually slightly thinner and a breeze to hold in your hand.
Software
Other than a few carrier specific apps we have HTC Hub, Google Wallet, and a few other apps like Facebook and Dropbox and that is all in regards to pre-installed apps. Everything is light and fast just the way we like it. Benchmarks
Camera
The camera is amazing and all the settings make use a breeze. The dedicated two-stage camera button is a nice addition for snapping a quick photo — or hold it down for as many burst mode shots as your heart desires. The flower photo from the gallery below is an HDR shot, and we also have a panoramic sample, as well as a 1080p video recording sample too. Speedtest and network
Per our Editor-in-Chief Vincent Nguyen, Sprint’s data speed is so slow, they ought to pay subscribers for being on their network instead of the other way around. Battery life and Call quality
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