Motorola’s Droid X2 lands on Verizon Wireless next week for $199 after contract, but you’d be hard-pressed to see the difference between it and last year’s model. Two hardware upgrades make for an uninspiring new handset at a time when Motorola’s peers are pushing the envelope. Read more »
After recently writing about smart watches and wearable displays, I broke down and bought the Sony Ericsson Live View. The device acts as a secondary display for an Android device and shows texts, emails, incoming calls and more; assuming it holds the Bluetooth connection, that is. Read more »
Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Play hits Verizon Wireless May 26, with pre-orders starting a week earlier. As the first PlayStation-certified handset, Sony Ericcson hopes to boost flagging smartphone sales with the unique device. And unlike prior SE handsets, the Play launches with Android 2.3. Read more »
Slingbox founder, Blake Kirkorian has a knack for turning hobbies into products. His latest, called R2, is an Android application that interfaces with Crestron home automation systems, turning a handset or tablet into a remote control that can tap the system from anywhere in the world. Read more »
At $449, Acer’s Iconia Tab A500 is among the least expensive Honeycomb tablets available today. Dropping the 3G radio and limiting internal storage help keep the price down, but at 1.69 pounds, the tablet’s weight is on the upside. How is this device for the price? Read more »
Samsung is will bring Android 2.3, or Gingerbread, to it’s Galaxy S handset line as well as its 7-inch Galaxy tablet. That’s good news, as many Galaxy S owners waited months for the last update. My first look at Gingerbread on the Tab shows many improvements. Read more »
Nokia is rebranding its Ovi services, or at least what’s left of them, starting this July. Ovi Mail went to Yahoo!, the Ovi Store will wither with Symbian and Ovi Maps will integrate into Windows Phone 7. Might Microsoft buy Nokia’s handset division at this point? Read more »
At the annual Google I/O developer event, plans to improve Honeycomb were outlined, as was the strategy to unify Android for tablets and smartphones. Netflix for Android is finally here for some, while two hot 4G handsets look great: the Samsung Infuse and the HTC Sensation. Read more »
HTC has created a second promotional video for its upcoming handset, the Sensation 4G, and the phone appears aptly named. Although the smartphone has stellar specifications, there are hints of Apple’s marketing influence throughout: the focus is on what you can do with this powerful smartphone. Read more »
A recent TED video brings hope to the sightless: Sumit Dagar’s Braille concept phone could be just as functional for the visually impaired as a standard smartphone is for many. All we need is a tactile display and intelligent smartphone apps can do the rest. Read more »
Amazon Unbox videos reportedly are compatible with and play back on the HTC Thunderbolt, with no major effort on the user’s part. Downloading a video and setting the USB-connected phone to Sync mode does the trick. Could video be the final piece to Amazon’s Android puzzle? Read more »
How does Verizon’s MiFi 4510L stack up on the carrier’s LTE network? Quite well, after my hands on testing that covered every connected activity I could think of. Aside from the faster network speeds, this MiFi has some nice upgrades over the prior 3G models too. Read more »
I’m either an early adopter or niche gadget lover with my 7-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab: People still tell me daily there’s no market for such a device. News from three different manufacturers says otherwise as new devices are planned; some with Google Android Honeycomb 3.0. Read more »
While the big news from Google I/O was today’s official launch of Chromebooks, other Google partners are thinking about new mobility paradigms. Take iRobot, the folks behind the Roomba. Their new Ava robot uses an Android tablet for sight, sound, speech and, of course, apps. Read more »
If netbook sales are declining, why would Google announce, not one but two new Chromebook devices with Chrome OS? Google’s web expertise has turned data synchronization into a core feature instead of a useful, but tricky add-on that traditional netbooks don’t deliver out of the box. Read more »
We made five Android predictions the day before the Google I/O keynote, so it’s time to check our score. Here’s how we fared, along with additional thoughts on what Google did, and didn’t, announce for Android smartphones, tablets and other connected devices in the home. Read more »
Making wireless payments using near field communications just became a little easier for customers of Carta Worldwide, a global payment solutions provider that is the first company to integrate with MasterCard’s Mobile Over-the-Air Provisioning Service. Could NFC payments arrive sooner rather than later as a result? Read more »
Google outlined Honeycomb 3.1 features today, which rolls out now to Motorola Xoom tablets on Verizon’s network, with other devices to follow. There are noticeable improvements in the operating system, including support for USB add-ons, but consumers need more tablet-optimized third-party apps from developers. Read more »
Google today confirmed that the next smartphone version of Android is called Ice Cream Sandwich and is targeted for launch in the final quarter of 2011. Although most phones won’t likely see the version until 2012, Google is working with partners to improve the update process. Read more »
Last May, Symbian phones offered the highest ad click-through rates in the U.S. on Smaato’s mobile ad network, followed by Apple iOS devices and feature phones, with other platforms rounding out the remaining spots. This year is a totally different story with a new global leader. Read more »
Microsoft’s $8.5 billion purchase of Skype is official, giving the Redmond company an instant voice and video calling user-base of more than 170 million globally connected customers. With only an estimated 2.5 million Windows Phone 7 handsets sold, there’s ample opportunity here to boost smartphone sales. Read more »
Want to get a feel for the size of Samsung Infuse 4G? I compare it to several other phones, an iPod touch and even a 7-inch tablet. Although the Infuse 4G doesn’t use a dual-core processor, Android 2.2 runs fairly quickly on the 1.2 GHz chip. Read more »
All thoughts will be on Android at tomorrow’s Google I/O developer event, as Android smartphones are outselling all other platforms while tablets haven’t yet found their legs. Here’s what to expect from one of Google’s keynote sessions that will focus entirely on the Android platform. Read more »
I returned my Nook Color within the 14-day window and later saw this video of the device running Android 2.3, or Gingerbread. The custom software turns the $249 e-reader into a useful tablet provided you don’t mind using software to work around some hardware button issues. Read more »
Android smartphones and tablets can now stream music, videos and photos to AppleTV over Wi-Fi using the doubleTwist AirSync application. A quick test of the software shows that its simple to configure and can pipe digital media output to AppleTV with the tap of a button. Read more »
The Infuse 4G with its huge, vivid touchscreen and fast radio was introduced by AT&T this week, but some many opt for a faster, dual-core device. The immersive Google Earth app travels to Honeycomb tablets and Amazon looks to soon have a tablet of its own. Read more »
AT&T’s new Infuse 4G is the first carrier device that allows direct app installs. That led me to install the Amazon AppStore, which is a great alternative to the Android Market. Yet,folks I ask aren’t using Amazon’s AppStore, and I don’t understand why. Read more »
Join Matt and Kevin for this week’s live podcast, where you can participate in the chat room. This week: hands-on impressions of the G2x, Acer’s newest Honeycomb tablet, the Droid Incredible 2 and the Infuse 4G. Plus: what to expect from Google’s big event next week! Read more »
On May 15th, AT&T begins to sell a new smartphone that offers not one, but two firsts for the carrier. The Infuse 4G supports 21 Mbps downloads and uses a large, 4.5-inch display. Built by Samsung, I’m already very impressed with the Super AMOLED Plus screen. Read more »
After a few days of using the T-Mobile G2x, I’m generally impressed. It’s the first dual-core handset on T-Mobile and simply flies for most activities. Here’s a video overview of the hardware, along with demos of the browser, 1080p video playback and high-quality gaming. Read more »
Google today launched a tablet-optimized version of its Google Earth software for Honeycomb devices which truly showcases how solid Android software can run on a tablet. A 3-D graphics layer with textural buildings and contextual pop-ups make the application useful, informative and downright fun. Read more »
Research firm Canalys released global smartphone sales estimates from the first quarter of 2011, with conjecture that no more than 2.5 million handsets running on Microsoft’s platform were shipped to retailers. That’s just a small percentage compared to Android, iOS and even Samsung’s Bada platform. Read more »
Sprint today announced two new Google Android phones with QWERTY hardware keyboards aimed at businesses: the XPRT and Titanium, both built by Motorola. Each of the two handsets has (or lacks) features that an enterprise might want to keep its resources productive and secure. Read more »
Improved glasses-free 3-D screens could arrive on smartphones and other handheld devices based on HR3D, a dynamic new visual system developed by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The screens will also work at wide viewing angles and have the potential to save battery life. Read more »
Consumers may not be quite ready for wearable computers, but watch-maker Fossil, along with Texas Instruments, thinks the time is near. The Meta Watch arrives in July for $200 and acts as a wearable computer that pairs with your smartphone for email, alerts and more. Read more »
The HP Veer 4G, Hewlett Packard’s first handset since it acquired Palm, launches on May 15 in the U.S. as an AT&T exclusive for $99. The handset bucks the trend of large-screened smartphones, but could be a nice addition to HP’s upcoming tablet, the HP TouchPad. Read more »
When Acer announced a $449 price tag for the Iconia Tab A500 Honeycomb tablet, I knew I wanted to take a look at the device. A review unit just arrived, so here’s a quick first look at the device and size comparisons to Apple’s iPad 2. Read more »
The mobile landscape is entering a new, consolidation phase as late-comers are banding together to fight against Apple and Google. The latest loose alliance is between Microsoft and RIM as Bing will be integrated as the default search and map engine for future BlackBerry products. Read more »
Quanta has reportedly received orders to build up to 800,000 Amazon tablets per month. Only Quanta knows what Amazon’s new tablet will physically look like, but it’s easy to see how such a device might be used and how it can stand out from the crowd. Read more »
