AT&T is dying for you to try out its newly branded 4G network, and you’ll finally be able to with a new phone.
AT&T announced its HTC Inspire 4G on Tuesday, the first smartphone able to access the company’s HSPA+ 4G network. The phone will be available beginning Feb. 13, retailing for $100 with a two-year contract. Read More…
Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on February 2, 2011
HTC’s Evo 4G phone will beat Motorola Droid to become the first device after Google’s Nexus One to get an upgrade to Android 2.2 Froyo, the latest version of the Android operating system.
Sprint will begin pushing out the upgrade to Evo users starting Tuesday, August 3. All Evo users will have Android 2.2 by the middle of the month, says the wireless carrier.
The upgrade will offer features such as voice dialing over Bluetooth, the ability to store apps on the external memory card and browser improvements including a faster JavaScript engine and Flash support.
Sprint launched the Evo in June with version 2.1 of the Android OS. The phone has become a best seller for Sprint and HTC.
Sprint’s move is also likely to put pressure on Motorola and Verizon to get the Droid to Android 2.2 as soon as possible. Earlier reports have suggested that the Droid’s 2.2 upgrade is expected “late summer.”
For Evo users, the upgrade will be pushed over-the-air to the device and automatically installed. Those who cant’ wait, will have the option to manually download it. Customers can access the update through their phone under the Settings Menu > System Updates > HTC Software Update.
Sprint says the change to the firmware will not wipe personal data such as contacts, apps, settings and photos but users should back up their device.
Photo: (Mike Saechang/Flickr)
Source:wired.com
Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on July 30, 2010
Android-based smartphones are falling victim to something that has plagued PC users for years: bloatware.
Android phones are being pre-loaded with trial software and apps that can’t be deleted off the device by the user. These apps touting mobile TV, football games, location-based search and games are the new face of bloatware, also known as crapware or craplets in the PC world. The term is shorthand for non-essential software or media files bundled with a device in a bid to boost revenue and ostensibly give consumers a chance to try new services.
Samsung’s Vibrant phone that launched last week on T-Mobile is a good example. The device includes apps such as Mobi TV, GoGo Flight internet and Electronic Arts’ The Sims 3 game. Both Mobi TV and GoGo are applications that require users to pay a fee beyond the trial period. Motorola’s Backflip phone, introduced on AT&T a few months ago, includes Where, a location-based service app, and YPMobile, a Yellow Pages app. Even the HTC Evo is packed with programs such as Sprint’s Nascar app, Sprint Football and Sprint TV, among others.
“It’s different from phone to phone and operator to operator,” says Keith Nowak, spokesman for HTC. “But in general, the apps are put there to meet the operator’s business and revenue needs.”
Nowak’s comment is a surprising admission in an industry that otherwise prefers to call the idea of pre-loading trial apps and other non-essential software as a deal designed to help the consumer.
Handset makers have always added skins and custom widgets to Android phones, some of which can affect performance and battery life. But these widgets are usually basic apps such as calendar, e-mail or integrated social-networking feeds. Now phone makers are going a step further to load apps from other companies in a way that prevents users from deleting it completely off their phone without rooting the device — the Android version of jailbreaking a phone in order to gain complete control over it.
The preloaded apps “highlight the key features and performance” of the Vibrant, says a Samsung representative.They are there are to showcase the phone’s processor and display, a T-Mobile spokesperson told Wired.com.
But not all Android users are buying it. Some have taken to online forums to vent or find out ways to remove the pre-loaded apps from their phones. In May, The Consumerist published an e-mail from a Verizon subscriber complaining about non-essential software loaded on his device.
“It’s a throwback to the days of the feature phones,” says Charles Golvin, an analyst with Forrester Research. “Handset makers and carriers would bundle messaging and music clients with feature phones hoping to provide some differentiation. They are now trying that with smartphones.”
As far the inability to delete these pre-loaded apps, Golvin says, “I suspect that a lot of operators think consumers won’t notice or get to a point where they would want to get rid of them.”
Computer makers started the trend of pre-loading software apps, such as anti-virus software, search toolbars, games and internet-access services from companies like AOL. It seemed innocent enough at first: Consumers would get to try new software when they bought their machines, software makers would get a chance to reach new users and PC makers would make some money on the side through deals inked with the software companies to promote their products on the devices.
But soon, many consumers found that these pre-loaded applications made their PCs run slower by increasing startup and shutdown times for their machines and hogging memory. Many of the pre-loaded programs turned out to be trial versions and required users to pay a monthly fee to keep them going. That resulted in a backlash from consumers. Even the Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg railed against bloatware in a 2007 column. PC manufacturers have now significantly reduced the practice of adding bloatware on the devices.
Now, the practice is making a comeback on smartphones.
But bloatware isn’t a feature in all smartphones. AT&T has resisted from piling extraneous software onto Apple’s iPhone. Motorola’s Droid phone ships with just the core applications. Google and T-Mobile resisted the bloatware impulse with the Nexus One.
So, why does bloatware suddenly seem to be multiplying on some Android devices? Android’s popularity means every few weeks a new device running the operating system hits the market. Wireless carriers and handset makers see the new devices as an opportunity to generate additional revenue.
“Ultimately revenue from data plans will reach the same level of saturation as voice services. So carriers see some of these services as an additional revenue stream,” says Golvin.
Nowak says HTC would prefer to have pre-loaded independent apps in one folder or just in the app store but it’s not a decision for the handset manufacturer alone to make. “We have to work with our operator partners,” says Nowak. “We would prefer to give consumers a choice or put the pre-loaded in a separate store as it is with some Verizon phones.”
If they’re lucky, consumers may not have to worry about this much. Golvin says he doubts pre-loaded apps on smartphones will ever reach a similar level of annoyance as they did on PCs.
“The real shortcoming and downfall of the bloatware on PCs was it consumed system resources,” says Golvin. “With phones, operators and handset makers understand how precious those resources are.”
For now, the bloatware on phone is more about taking up storage space than processing resources. Golvin says he doubts companies like AT&T and Verizon that are locked in a fierce battle for subscribers will go over the line with pre-loaded apps.
“We are in a saturated market,” he says. “You can’t be cavalier about losing your customers.”
Photo: Stefan Armijo/Wired.com
Source:wired.com
Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on July 22, 2010
Google’s open source Android operating system ranks fourth in terms of market share among smartphone platforms in the U.S. but is growing at a faster pace than its rivals.
About 13 percent of U.S. smartphone subscribers used an Android phone in the quarter that ended May, up 4 percent from the previous quarter, according to comScore’s Mobilens service.
Research In Motion’s BlackBerry remained the number one smartphone platform with 41.7 percent share among consumers.
Apple ranked number two with 24.4 percent share and Microsoft third with 13.2 percent, while Palm rounded out the top five with 4.8 percent.
Android’s growth should come as no surprise to mobile enthusiasts. More than 20 Android phones are available in the U.S. currently. Handset makers such as LG and Samsung that have been slower than rivals Motorola and HTC in adopting Android are now planning to launch new Android devices.
Earlier this week, LG said it will have two Android smartphones and an Android-based tablet available by the end of the year. Samsung has already announced that its first 4G Android phone on Sprint will be available this summer.
This focus on Android has taken its toll on other mobile operating systems. Almost all platforms, with the exception of Android, lost some market share in the quarter. BlackBerry market share was down 0.4 percent, while Apple lost about 1 percent. The data does not include the iPhone 4, which launched in June.
Android’s growth doesn’t mean other smartphone systems are losing ground, says comScore. The number of people who own a smartphone in the U.S. grew 8.1 percent last quarter to 9.1 million people, which indicates that the overall pie is growing.
Photo: (bump/Flickr)
Source:wired.com
Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on July 8, 2010
Motorola’s Droid X is not out in retail stores yet but one phone enthusiast had taken a screwdriver to the device already.
Max Lee tore down the Droid X to expose its innards and show what’s inside the smartphone. It took Lee about 10 hours to figure out how to take the back cover off but he says it was well-worth the effort.
“You can easily disassemble and assemble the Droid X once you figure it out,” he says. “This should be good for consumers to replace parts if they happen to drop the phone.”
And you can see in the video, overall it’s a pretty easy process for those who may be inclined to do it. Just one tip from Lee: “It’s good to grow your fingernails before you do this. Makes it easy to take the things out.”
It’s also fascinating to watch the camera module pop off and all the components come apart like they are just pieces in an elaborate electronic jigsaw puzzle.
The $200 Droid X (after a $100 rebate and with a two-year Verizon contract) will be available starting July 15 on Verizon Wireless network. The phone has a 1 GHz processor, a 4.3-inch touchscreen and a 8-megapixel camera.
Lee says once he took the phone apart, he found the bottom of the Droid X “has a lot of room to play.”
“Motorola could have made the phone a bit shorter but there would be something sticking out,” he says. “They probably did that for the overall design of the phone.”
Check out Lee’s teardown of the Droid X through step-by-step photos on his blog.
Photo: Droidx.net
Source:wired.com
Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by Journalist on June 25, 2010
