TechDIN

HTC Thunderbolt – Could March 10 Be the Day?

admin — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 16:54:42 +0000

We’ve heard about HTC Thunderbolt’s release date from too many sources too many times to really want to believe any new rumors. But since, we can’t really help ourselves, the latest tidbit that comes from an image leaked to Android Central Forums and a number of other places has got us curious. According to the snippet, HTC Thunderbolt might release on March 10.

HTC Thunderbolt is one of the most awaited handsets from Verizon this year. It’s a powerhouse phone with a mighty 1 GHz Snapdragon processor. The hands on review of the device at CES 2011 left everyone impressed. The phone just doesn’t look awesome with its 4.3 inch screen but also delivers with speed and efficiency.

Coming back to the leaked image, it looks like something internal to Best Buy. It’s a handset line up list with HTC Thunderbolt in line with a launch date of March 10, 2011 and availability in all stores.

What do you think? Will this date be the real thing? In spite of repeated disappointments, we’re hopeful this time around.

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LG Optimus 3D’s OMAP 4 leave behind its competitors

admin — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 13:09:16 +0000

Today in the world of smart phones, there has been cut throat competition between the industry biggies in design and development of dual core mobile application processors. Among them are Samsung Exynos 4210, Texas instruments OMAP 4430 and NVIDIA’s Tegra 2. Looking to the period of their launch, it would be wrong to gauge their performance, but to derive to a primary result, Anand tech – a company into hardware analysis and news has measured them on predefined standards of graphics and browser compability. The LG OPTIMUS 3D having OMAP 4, has left behind all its competitors and scored highest on various parameters.

For Blackberry and Playbook users this is very good news. They can now boast on the outraging performance of their smart phones. The LG Optimus 3D is packed with OMAP 4430 which is built with ARM Cortex A9 cores with a shared 1 MB L2 cache memory. The ARM enables NEON support with dual channel memory controller and it also integrates Imagination Technologies’ Power VR SGX 540 running at ~300MHz. Altogether the inbuilt features improves performance and image quality.

Compared to the Blackberry and Playbook devices, the iPhone4 and Atrix 4G are lagging behind in the race because they support imaging at a higher screen resolution.

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Rogers Canada to Offer Sony Ericsson Xperia Play and Xperia Arc

admin — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 20:24:10 +0000

With the company officially announcing the coming of Sony Ericsson Xperia Play and Xperia Arc — time to start guessing and wondering when the phone will be released into the wild. You may have heard that the Xperia Play will be coming to Verizon in March, but what of those up north in the continent? Fear not our Canadian readers, according to reports Rogers are planning to carry both phones.

As posted on the their blog, Rogers confirmed that they will be bringing Sony Ericsson Xperia Play and Xperia Arc to Canada. They didn’t mention a specific date, instead hinting that spring will be when you can play with the phones.

They also didn’t provide any price information of the Xperia Play and Xperia Arc. But hey, we don’t think even Sony knows yet how much they want to sell the devices for.

The Xperia Play is the world’s first PlayStation Certified phone. It comes with a 4-inch display, Gingerbread, and dedicated game controls. As for the Xperia Arc, it comes with a 4.2-inch multitouch Reality Display with Mobile Bravia Engine, 8-megapixel camera with HD video capture, and Gingerbread.

[via Rogers]

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Motorola Droid X2 Specs and Pictures Emerge

admin — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 18:26:42 +0000

We do love a good comeback story. After seemingly close to being dead in the water, Motorola rose to the top once more as it released their Droid lines. What follows after is of course several sequels of its Droid phones. This one has been causing some buzz on the Internet for quite a while, but we finally have possible specs of the Motorola Droid X2 — along with some pictures of the upcoming phone.

Exterior-wise, you’ll find the Droid X2 resembles the look of its older brother. But to go all philosophical, it’s always the inside that counts. Apparently, the Droid X2 will come with the following specs.

The phone is to be powered by NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual core 1GHz processor. It may come with 1GB of RAM, qHD display with 540 x 960 resolution, FM Radio, New Moto Blur, 3G and an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera. No front cam is expected on the Droid X2. Likewise, you’ll not find a hardware camera button.

The Droid X2 is also slated to come with Android 2.2 Froyo, which makes it a disappointment since the phone isn’t scheduled until Q2. An update to Gingerbread will apparently be provided before launch.

[via The Mobi Zone]

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Samsung Galaxy S2 HSPA+ Compatible with AT&T, Several Canadian Carriers

admin — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 18:13:22 +0000

The Samsung Galaxy S2 has been making quite a buzz at the Mobile World Congress. As the successor to one of the best-selling Android smartphones, folks are getting itchy to get their hands on the device. Though the phone was just officially introduced, further details about the phone’s availability have started to pop up.

It seems those who live in the US and Canada don’t have to wait too long to get the Samsung Galaxy S2, as the international variant of the Galaxy S2 will work on their soils. The phone will be compatible with Canadian carriers, such as Rogers, Bell and Telus. While in the US, the international variant will work on AT&T. No love for T-Mobile just yet.

The Samsung Galaxy S2 is also HSPA+ capable, so you will be able to enjoy up to 21Mbps of download speed with the phone — provided your carrier has the infrastructure.

Here’s some recap of what the Samsung Galaxy S2 is packing under its hood. It boasts a 4.27-inch Super AMOLED Plus display with 480 x 800 resolution, dual core 1GHz processor, 16GB/32GB onboard storage, 8-megapixel rear camera, 2-megapixel front camera, Bluetooth 3.0, WiFi b/g/n, 3.5mm audio jack, and of course — Gingerbread.

[via AndroidCentral]

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More RIM BlackBerry PlayBook Variants Coming Your Way; LTE and HSPA+

admin — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 17:52:08 +0000

RIM is really betting big on the BlackBerry PlayBook, as the company prepares yet more variants of its soon-to-be-released tablet. We’re guessing they’re trying to cover as many niches as possible, as one sure fire way to compete in the tablet war.

As of now, RIM has four variants of the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet.

The first is BlackBerry PlayBook with WiFi. Then we have the BlackBerry 4G PlayBook with WiFi and WiMax. Another variant is the BlackBerry 4G PlayBook with WiFi and LTE. Let’s not forget the last on the list, the BlackBerry 4G PlayBook with WiFi and HSPA+. Phew.

While it’s good to know that customers will have all these options, they’d be interested to know the price on the tablet, as well as the launch date. Unfortunately, the price is something that the company hasn’t officially confirmed yet. Several leaks point that the WiFi-only BlackBerry PlayBook will retail for $500. If accurate, this would put it in the same price range as the lowest-priced iPad.

RIM said that the LTE and HSPA+ models of the BlackBerry PlayBook won’t come out until the second half of the year.

[via RIM]

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Amazon Gets Kindle Lending Club Change Its Name to BookLending

admin — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 14:44:02 +0000

Early in the year, Amazon launched a new feature that gives the ability for Kindle users to lend books to other user for two weeks. This was where KindleLendingClub come into play, as the website is built as a hub that connects those who are looking to borrow certain titles and those who are lending them out.

Fast forward to the present, it seems that the website has gotten too big that even Amazon starts getting uncomfortable. The online retailer has recently asked the website to rebrand; which they did. What was once known as KindleLendingClub, it is now known as the BookLending.com.

To say that the site was popular would be an understatement. Within a couple of days of its launch, the former KindleLendingClub attracted no less than 12,000 people — eager to borrow and lend titles. They can also request to borrow books, in the hope that the some members will oblige.

We’re guessing that the name change will not affect the popularity of the website. While it’s been forced to change the name, using the Kindle name in the first place was a rather smart move as it gave them the huge number of members it’s currently enjoying.

[via TechCrunch]

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Motorola Xoom Tablet Pre-order Page Pulled off Best Buy

admin — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 22:32:35 +0000

Yesterday, we reported that Best Buy had listed Motorola’s upcoming Honeycomb-powered Xoom tablet up for pre-order with a price tag of whopping $1200, which is $400 higher than the expected price. The listing stated that consumers will be able to pre-order the tablet at Best Buy stores starting this Thursday. However, the listing has apparently been pulled off.

Many folks and industry experts believed it to be a place holder so all the reluctant consumers who were hesitating over forking out $800 for a tablet would be more comfortable buying. And with the listing being pulled off, everything does seem to add up and it does indeed shed light on the $800 price tag. That said, the price for Motorola Xoom tablet is still not absolutely confirmed and it could change.

With all the confusion arising, the best thing to do would be to have patience — while hoping they put an inexpensive price-tag — and wait for an official announcement.

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3G and WiFi-only Motorola Xoom Tablet Heading to Europe in Q2

admin — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 19:55:09 +0000

Time is ticking for electronic makers to establish their tablet products in European. With the recently announced Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 hot on its heels, Motorola is scrambling to release the Xoom tablet in Europe soon. The company will offer two options of its Xoom tablet for the European folks, the 3G and the WiFi-only variants.

The news was confirmed by Motorola at the Mobile World Congress, saying that they will release the 3G/Wifi version as well as the WiFi-only version of the Xoom tablet in Europe beginning in Q2 2011.

The Motorola Xoom runs Android 3.0 Honeycomb. It will be the first of its kind in the US as it launches next month. The tablet features 10-inch widescreen HD display, 1GHz dual core processor, 2-megapixel front-facing camera for video chat, 5-megapixel rear-facing camera with 720p video capture, HDMI out, Bluetooth, GPS, and more.

A wide range of accessories will be available for the Xoom, which include the standard dock and the speaker HD dock to send HD content straight to your TV.

Let’s hope that our European friends will not be too shocked when they learn of the tablet’s rather exorbitant price.

[via Motorola]

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HTC Thunderbolt 4G Promo Materials and Accessories Show up, Yet no Actual Handsets

admin — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 19:26:14 +0000

This is the classic case of when carrier delays its offerings: accessories and promo materials are lining up in stores — while the HTC Thunderbolt itself is still nowhere to be seen or held. Folks over at AndroidCentral have gotten hold of promo material for the Thunderbolt and as you can see from the pictures; these are brochures, posters, and more that are apparently set to be distributed across Verizon stores.

(..click on the images to enlarge).

The HTC Thunderbolt has already been up for preorder sales for a week at Best Buy, but the actual launching date of the phone is still up in the air. Some believe though that the phone is confirmed for a February 24 launch, which is 10 days more than the original launch date.

You see, those who pre-ordered the phone at Best Buy was promised that they can pick up the HTC Thunderbolt on Valentine’s day — but those buyers have reported that Best Buy finally said that it won’t be the case.

The HTC Thunderbolt doesn’t come cheap, by the way. Verizon is selling the phone for $250 on a two-year contract. While the non-subsidy price of the HTC Thunderbolt is set at $750.

[via AndroidCentral]