The T-Mobile myTouch 4G Slide has officially gone from rumored to confirmed, thanks to a late night press announcement. If there’s one thing that this $199.99 handset ($50 mail-in-rebate) has, it’s a top of the line camera. Or at least that is how T-Mobile will be positioning the device. The press release is laden with details and features of the 8-megapixel shooter, even going so far as to call it a “true camera and camcorder replacement.”
T-Mobile Announces $199 myTouch 4G Slide for July
Samsung Galaxy Prevail Review
Overview- If you are in the market for an inexpensive Android device, you might want to check out the Samsung Galaxy Prevail. The Samsung Galaxy Prevail is only $180 on Boost Mobile.
LG Thrill Now Set to Arrive at AT&T “This Summer”
We had hoped that LG and AT&T were going to give us a solid launch date or price for their new joint effort yesterday, but alas we are somewhat disappointed. According a new press release, the dual-core, 3D super phone that is the LG Thrill is now expected to hit AT&T stores and online “this summer”. Because that time frame must sound less vague to AT&T than the “coming soon” we had been previously hearing. Either way, we’re now officially two days into summer so be on high alert. For all we know this thing could be here tomorrow.
As a refresher, the Android 2.2-powered LG Thrill features some pretty high end hardware with a 1 GHz dual-core processor, a 4.3-inch, 3D display, pair of five-megapixel stereoscopic cameras (3D yo!), and support for the AT&T 4G network.
Sony-Ericsson launches XPERIA Branded Ray and Active
Pictured to the left are the two newly announced Sony-Ericsson Android devices named the Ray and the Active respectively. The Ray being the newest “luxury” model of the XPERIA line, and the Active being a rugged dust-proof and water resistant handset. Both are running Gingerbread, which is good news, but have some different specs as they are targeted at different market segments. Check the specs and full press release out after the break, along with two videos of each handset.
Panasonic Unveils Rugged 10.1-inch Toughbook Tablet
Panasonic announced an enterprise-grade Android tablet today, expecting it to land in the market later this year. Called the Toughbook tablet”, it will be rugged and durable and offer consumers a 10.1-inch screen and integrated active stylus support. Perfect for business users who work in the field (health care, cable installers, maintenance), the tablet will enable user to capture signatures directly on the device.
Software-wise, the Toughbook tablet will have security embedded at the hardware level and come with optional 3G/4G connectivity. Considering the work that will likely be done to secure the tablet, we can expect Android 2.x and not Honeycomb. At least, not yet. No pricing or exact availability to share at this point, but we’ll be keep an eye out for it.
On a side note, we wonder if Motorola is still working on a rugged tablet too?
Sprint & Motorola Announce Photon 4G, Get Cozier With Each Other
The luncheon is over and Motorola and Sprint have just announced a “reinvigorated” business relationship. As a demonstration of this, Sprint, along with their prepaid brands of Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile USA, will release more than 10 new Motorola devices in 2011. The first of these being the Photon 4G for Sprint and the Triumph over on Virgin Mobile USA.
T-Mobile USA, Samsung Mobile Announce Pair of Wallet-Friendly Android Handsets
T-Mobile and Samsung Mobile have announced a pair of new Android smart phones today, with the introduction of the low-cost Gravity SMART and Exhibit 4G. Each runs well under a $100 ($50 mail-in rebate) with qualifying rate plans and will no doubt do well on the low end of the spectrum. Both are expected in June, but no hard dates have been given.
The Gravity SMART joins an already popular handset series, but is the first to run Android (2.2) under the hood. Details include a 3.2-inch touch screen, 3-megapixel camera with LED flash, and a 4-row sliding QWERTY keyboard. Available in Berry Red and Sapphire Blue – the Graivty SMART will cost $69.99 after the aforementioned rebate and rate plans. A third color, Lunar Gray, will only run customers $29.99 when all is said and done.
AT&T Announces $70 Pantech Crossover for June 5th
AT&T announced their next Android handset this morning, the ultra-affordable Pantech Crossover. Running Android 2.2 and powered by a 600MHz processor, AT&T bills the phone as “perfect for first-time smartphone users”. Considering the 3.1-inch touch screen, sliding QWERTY keyboard, and 2GB, we’re going to agree with the carrier. It’s certainly not the type of handset you’d consider for replacing a previous Android phone; The specs are reminiscent of early 2010 smart phones.
If you know someone ready to graduate from feature phones, let them know the Crossover goes on sale on June 5th for $69.99 with a two-year contract and minimum monthly data plan.
Full specs:
Review: Samsung Droid Charge
After using the Droid Charge for some time, I am left with some mixed feelings. To start, the Droid Charge was not released with any mind-blowing specs; they were about the same as phones released in 2010. With the Charge, I experienced great earphone and speakerphone quality as well as great microphone quality for the people on the other end of the call. The Droid Charge is very similar to the Samsung Fascinate, which was released in 2010. Although, the Charge features Verizon’s new 4G LTE service which boasts home internet speeds.
Droid Charge Unboxing
Hardware
The Droid Charge features a beautiful 4.3” Super AMOLED plus display. Besides the gorgeous display, the Charge features an 8MP camera with 720p HD video recording, and a front facing 1.3MP camera. One great feature on the Charge would be the 4 standard Android buttons (home, menu, back, search), which are hardware keys instead of capacitive buttons. The Charge is very thin with a slight reverse chin and a pointed base. The Charge offers a 1 GHz Hummingbird processor, 512MB of ram, and comes with a pre-installed 32GB MicroSD card. The speed of this phone doesn’t disappoint, and neither does the battery. The Droid Charge offers a 1600 mAh battery, which lasts me a full 14 hours of light use and 8 hours of heavy use. Overall, I was very pleased with overall design and battery life of the Droid Charge.
Droid Charge Hardware Tour
Software
The Droid Charge runs Samsung’s TouchWiz 3.0. The whole view of TouchWiz is very reminiscent of Apple’s iOS, with square icons, a 4-icon dock bar, and a horizontal scrolling app drawer. Underneath TouchWiz, the Charge comes loaded with Android 2.2 a.k.a. Froyo, and will definitely be receiving a Gingerbread (2.3) update in the future. With TouchWiz, the whole phone is given a cartoon-style look. I personally love the look of TouchWiz, although the feel did not cut if for me. When I was using the launcher, I felt a slight lag between each screen and quickly decided to put ADW Launcher on for the time being. Another flaw I found with the Charge was the keyboard. Since the Droid Charge is a slate form factor, you rely on a software keyboard. The Charges comes with a proprietary Samsung keyboard, as well as Swype. The Samsung keyboard constantly misjudged my spelling with its auto-correct feature, and after many misspelled tweets and texts, I put Smart Keyboard Pro on the phone to finish out testing.
Data Speeds
While using the Charge, I took a quick trip up to NYC to test the 4G capabilities, and they blew me away! Once in NYC, I ran about 5 speed tests and averaged at about 21Mb/s up and 5Mb/s down. After doing so, I tested my computer and realized that the speeds of 4G LTE are faster than my home internet connection. Although these are just numbers, in real time use I noticed a major speed bump, web pages loaded instantly, and I could upload images via TwitPic as fast as a normal tweet. Take a look at all my results below.
Photo/ Video Quality
While using the Droid Charge, one of my favorite things to do was act like a photographer and take some stunning pictures. I will let you be the judge, so I posted a few pictures using the 8 mp camera on the Charge below. I took standard indoor/outdoor pictures and pictures in the dark using the built-in LED flash. Also, I have attached some pictures using the front facing 1.3 mp camera.
Not only was the photo quality outstanding, the 720p video capture was great too. Below I have posted a video of 720p HD footage taken and uploaded directly from the Charge. *Please Note* I did not post any footage samples of the front facing camera’s video quality; it was not horrible although nothing like the HD rear camera.
Droid Charge 720p Video Camera Test
Overall
So overall, the Charge is a great phone, although it needed some alterations, like the keyboard and the TouchWiz launcher. The size of the Charge was great however weird to get use to after using my 3.7” Droid Incredible. The 4G coverage on this phone is amazing and is a great improvement over 3G, and even WiFi. With a price of $299.99 (with a new 2yr contract), the Droid Charge is a great option if you are looking for a powerful phone that’s fast and has a great camera.
Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY Review
I’ve been playing with a Verizon-branded version of the Xperia PLAY for around two weeks now and wanted to share my opinions on the new gaming/phone hybrid. I attended a Google IO developer session where Sony Ericsson gave these to the people in attendance. I am also aware that there is an AT&T version on the horizon as attendees could choose which model they desired. So, while Verizon has an exclusive on the “PlayStation Phone” for now, I don’t anticipate it will be for long. I don’t know specifically of any differences between the two versions other than each has its own preloaded software (bloatware). It’s worth pointing out ahead of time that this was not a retail box experience and may not fully reflect the devices that go on sale May 26th.