So Dell has announced that they are ready to start pre-selling the Dell Streak tomorrow from Dell.com/Streak. While this is great new for AT&T users, for which the Streak will have full support for their 3G network, but they also announced that “At this point, we do not have plans for supporting T-Mobile’s 3G network; Dell Streak will not be certified for T-Mobile operation overall.” So T-Mobile users are kind of out of the picture for this device (unless you only use Wifi and/or are happy with just EDGE internet, then in that case…).

This comes as kind of a shock since Dell’s FCC filings for T-Mobile’s AWS 3G frequencies were found a while back.

No one can confirm if this means there will not be a T-Mobile version at all and they just filed for the FCC patent while they deciding on what frequencies to put in “just in case”, or if there might be a T-Mobile version later on. Judging by the comment from Dell though, I’d say a T-Mobile version is looking more and more like it just won’t happen.

Any AT&T users picking one up?

Source

Engadget has put together a little test showing the speed differences between the iPhone 4 and the Nexus One’s browsers. The first test was done with Flash enabled on the Nexus One and the second test was done with it disabled (to make it fair since, as we all know, the iPhone doesn’t support Flash). Take a look at the videos for the results.

So it seems that BBC News, gdgt, and The Onion all came out as pretty much a tie in that test, with the iPhone 4 loading Engadget a second or two quicker than the Nexus and the Nexus loading the New York Times a second or two faster.

Now that was with Flash enabled, the next video is with it disabled:

With Flash off, the Nexus One seems to load all the pages faster than the iPhone, except BBC News that seems to be a tie. So I think it is safe to say that Google did a good job with the Android 2.2 browser, no?

Well, according to the FCC and Dell’s CEO, that’s the case. Dell CEO announced in May that “this [phone] will be available starting next month, first with our partner 02 Telefonica [sic] in Europe, then later this summer with our pretty good partner here in the United States, AT&T”. So that’s about as plain as you can get with a confirmation that the Dell Streak is headed to AT&T and most likely available on contract for a subsidized price.

Regardless, T-Mobile users heard word that the Dell Streak would also be available unlocked via Dell’s website around the same time. The question was though, did that mean unlocked with AT&T’s 3G frequencies built in? Or a different version from the AT&T bound one with T-Mobile’s 3G frequencies built in?

Well, according to the FCC, there will be a T-Mobile 3G version headed for the US.

AWS means T-Mobile’s 3G bands by the way. So that pretty much confirms that anyone on a GSM carrier here in North America will be able to get a version of the phone.

Combine this with the fact that we already have root access on the Dell Streak (and with it the ability to load custom ROMs), and the Dell Streak with a Custom Android 2.2 ROM on it and your GSM company’s 3G frequencies built in and this device sounds pretty good, no?

Source and Source

Samsung is pushing their latest Android powerhouse, the Samsung Galaxy S. It first was announced for T-Mobile as the Samsung Vibrant, then on AT&T as the Samsung Captivate, Verizon’s version will be the Samsung Fascinate, US Cellular is getting one (although we aren’t sure of the name yet), and Sprint is getting the until now, rumored, Samsung Galaxy S Pro (a Galaxy S with a slide out qwerty keyboard) and calling it the Samsung Epic 4G. Here is the rumored spec breakdown and comparison of each:

So as you can see not a lot of differences (minus the QWERTY keyboard and 4G for Sprint’s version). And it’s obvious with the HTC Evo 4G doing so well on Sprint why they didn’t want another keyboard-less device too similar (at least with the keyboard they figure they are targeting a different demographic who need a keyboard that wouldn’t have bought the Evo). Got to say this is also a nice win for Samsung, great for branding and recognition when you are on every major carrier.; customers can then choose your phone instead of the carrier.
Anyone getting one of these? Feature set seems pretty close to a certain device that just launched on AT&T… maybe this gives some people a choice they didn’t have last year…

So apparently an Apple employee calling himself Alpha, decided to share with the world some of the things that Apple is doing with the new iPhone 4. We’re not talking about new features for the user, but new roadblocks for jailbreakers and unlockers.

Here’s the quote itself:

As far as Base Bands go it does not matter what baseband you TRY to get on the iPhone cause in the iOS4 there is a line of code we wrote that stands for OAU also known as “Over Air Updates”. How it works is every 7 to 14 days We (Apple) and AT&T send a message to your iPhone that gathers some data from your iPhone without you knowing and we see what is running, baseband and firmware. We then send a following message. “There are optional updates for your iPhone, Would you like to install them now?” two options “Yes” or “Later”. Those are what would would call “OPTIONAL UPDATES” Now there are things called “MANDATORY UPDATES”. They tend to work the same way, grab data from the iPhones sends it to AT&T and us then back to your iPhone with the message, “Your iPhone (name of iphone) must be updated to the current AT&T standards to run”, your only option is to “Accept” Now you can try to work your way around it until you get the second mandatory message again “You must plug iPhone into iTunes and update” If you don’t do this you will then receive no Signal from the network anymore and your iPhone will potentially lock up with no signs of use until you update your iPhone via iTunes. You all agreed to this terms and condition when you installed iTunes 9.2 and then again once you updated to iOS4.

With that being said go ahead try to unlock the iPhone it will only last 14 days max then you will have to break that update for that one week then again and again we currently have 6 months worth of updates for this iOS4. Apple and AT&T now have complete control over their iPhones and what their customers are putting on them without them knowing anything about it. Many of the people I work with don’t agree with this but even in our computers when people call in to Apple Care Support we can see if your iPhone is running a jailbreak and what baseband is currently on the iPhone. We have been instructed to not support any one with these things and possible void your warranty of the iPhone for Breaking a contract Rule.

So basically, he is saying that iOS 4 automatically pings Apple every 7 to 14 days with the baseband and firmware information and if it isn’t up to par it will essentially lock up the phone forcing you to update with iTunes (and lose your jailbreak). Now, I know for a fact that we have a perfectly good jailbreaking solution for the iPhone 3G running iOS 4 and it doesn’t relock so I’m wondering if this anti-jailbreaking solution is already circumvented, or if it just only applies to new iPhone 4′s?

Anyone know anything else about this? Does the Dev Team know about this?

UPDATE: Please don’t send us why you think this is wrong and then say how we made it up. Follow the source links and talk to them about it. We are simply reporting what we saw and just like you don’t know if there is any validity to this at all. I’ve never heard of a manufacturer sending out an OTA (as this employee claims Apple will do to lock your phone). Usually carriers can do that, not the manufacturer. So if it’s AT&T doing this (again if this is even real at ALL), than obviously it won’t matter (since if you unlock your phone, you won’t be on AT&T, right?).

I’m willing to bet this is what Apple tells their employees to spread the fear of why you shouldn’t jailbreak etc. (I’ve heard plenty of stories from Apple employees in the stores over the years about how jailbreaking the phone will cause it to instantly void the warranty, cause you to not be able to use the App Store, explode, cause nuclear winter etc.)

Source via SFGate

In case you didn’t see Steve Jobs’ presentation  of the new iPhone 4, here’s a quick recap of all the new features and anything else you’d need to know! Pictures after the recap and specs.

Specifications:

Pictures:

Specifications:

Head over to the source link below for a quick video, the story of how it was lost, and why Gizmodo thinks it is the real deal.

What do you guys think of it? No doubt it’ll sell, I mean it’s an iPhone and that’s pretty much all that is needed for iPhone fans to buy it. But as non-iPhone users, think it’s nice phone?

Source

So Apple finally is unveiling their 4.0 version of the iPhones operating system. There was big speculation and high hopes for a few features (like multitasking) that people really wanted included (and as with most big iPhone features like mms, copy and paste, etc., feel should have been included a long time ago).

Well thanks to Engadget’s coverage of the event, we have the new features summed up for you below:

1. Multitasking – probably the biggest requested feature (alongside Flash support). Apple says this took so long to implement because they were “working on the right way to do it to not slow down the foreground apps in the process”. How it works is if you are in an app you can double click the home button and a small dock comes up of up to four running apps. You can use this dock to quickly select between the four running apps. (Someone please comment if you know how many apps can run simultaneously, it looks like 4 from their demo).
Along with multitasking, comes local notifications (as opposed to push notifications). These allow apps to notify you when they finish a task, you receive a message, etc. without the need to access Apple’s push server.

2. Folders – These work just like Android’s folder system. Put a folder on your desktop and you can put multiple apps into it. When you click on it it brings up a selector for any of those apps (I.e. Make a folder called “Games” and stick all of your games in it. When you click on the folder Games it opens a window showing all of the games you put it in).

3. Backgrounds – Groundbreaking, I know. I have nothing really to say about this, they allow changing the background on your iPhone now.

4. Enhanced Email – Enhanced means the following:

1. Unified mailbox – you can have all of your mailboxes consolidated into one mailbox so you don’t have to switch between them to check different accounts (gmail, yahoo, exchange, etc.).
2. More than one exchange account is allowed now.
3. Organize email by thread. Just like how gmail works, shows all of the emails between you and the person you are emailing in a threaded format like an IM conversation. For those of you that hate that, don’t worry it’s an option you can turn off and on.
4. Open attachments directly from the email app.

4. iBooks for iPhone – Simply a port from the iPad for the iPhone and iPod. Allows you to purchase books from Apple and read them on your phone/iPod.

5. Enterprise – Apps that can be distributed wirelessly, multiple exchange accounts for syncing calendars, mail, and contacts. Better data protection, and support for Exchange Server 2010.

6. GameCenter – It is basically a gaming social network. This is kind of a big deal as far as it directly competes with Microsofts recently announced XBox Live for Windows Phone 7. Be interesting to see what they do with this (or more importantly what the game developers do with this…)

7. iAd – apples answer to AdMob. You can embed these apps into your iPhone/iPad/iPod app and Apple gives the developer 60% of the revenue. These apps are a little different to adMob etc as they are almost apps themselves. When you click on the Toy Story ad at the bottom of you app your using, it opens a separate interactive app. The new app has movie posters, downloads, a game, and character info that the user can play with (all the while engrossed in Toy Story branding). Then when you close it you are back in the original app. An interesting approach to say the least. This would require advertisers to create (or pay Apple to create Id assume) these kinds of interactive ads. This is another step for the ad to get to the end user, well see if advertisers see the added value in the long run.

So there you have it, the main new features of the iPhone 4.0 OS. The os is set to release in Summer and the same for the iPad but in Fall (ouch).

Source

There seems to be a rumor going around that AT&T will never allow non-Market Android apps to be installed on their Android devices. My question is why? How does this possibly help AT&T? What harm is it to load an app from outside the market? This is just bad publicity for AT&T is all.

The only thing that does kind of make this easier for AT&T Android users to bare is the fact that Google doesn’t really restrict the Android market too much. So most of the apps you would want will be in there anyway. The exception is Wifi Tethering apps, though. And now that I think of it, I’m sure this is why AT&T is banning this (in an effort to stop massive usage of their already struggling data network). The dumb part about it is that in order to use Wifi tethering apps, one must root/jailbreak their device first anyway, and in doing so I promise they can lift this app restriction anyway so this is not going to change much anyway it seems.

Again, this seems to have done nothing but to push AT&T’s evil overlord image created by the whole iPhone lockdown, into the Android playing field as well.

I’m still hoping one day a carrier will give root access out of the box with Android like Nokia did with the N900… I can dream, right?

Source

Today, Dell officially announced their first US smartphone; the Dell Aero. While very few specs were released, what we do know is:

This would be AT&T’s second Android phone. It would seem even though AT&T has been holding out on Android, they had to give in to offering Android at some point…

Anyone thinking about getting it yet, even before more specs are released?
Any AT&T employees that feel the need to accidentally email us some more specs, feel free to accidentally do so using the Contact Us section of our site

Here is the AT&T promotional page if you want to take a look.

Google announced today on their blog that the Nexus One with AT&T and Rogers 3G frequencies is now available for purchase on their site (Google.com/phone in case you forgot).

Now, AT&T didn’t want to play ball apparently and give them a contract deal so if you want the phone with AT&T’s 3G you are going to have to pay the full $529 to get it. But still at least you have the option now…

What I still don’t get is why they just don’t put BOTH US frequencies into one phone instead of making two separate models (and beyond that, why not a CDMA/GSM Model that will work on all 3G frequencies and CDMA?)?!

Anyone on AT&T ready to grab one?

So according to a connect for BGR, the new HTC Desire is reportedly going to make it’s way to the States by way of AT&T. Also, the HTC Desire will keep it’s name AND Sense UI which is kinda a big deal.

The connect says it should be landing on AT&T sometime in May or June.

Another interesting note is that the connect also says that the Nexus One will have an AT&T 3G version coming out around the same time as well. This is interesting because of how similar the two devices are (minus a few details, the biggest being Sense UI). So if you had a choice between the exact same phone with Sense or without, which would you choose?
But then again, with Sense UI already working well on the Nexus One, guess there is even less difference between the two devices.

The connect also let slip that the HTC Legend will be coming to Sprint as the HTC Hero2. No idea on timeframe on this one.

Good Android phones cometh, people.

Source

Strange, right? But not a bad concept I guess, it’s a struggle to be different in form factor nowadays so kudos to them for trying, at least.

The phone’s specs are as follows:

528mhz Processor
256Mbs of RAM
5.0MP Camera with Flash
Wifi, Bluetooth, GPS
3.1″ capacitive touchscreen
QWERTY Keyboard
Android 1.6 (upgradeable to 2.1 according to Motorola’s site)

So not the most feature rich device, but a nice first Android phone for AT&T’s portfolio.

But that’s not the only announcement regarding Android AT&T made, they also said that they will be getting 4 more Android devices in the first half of 2010. These devices will be coming from 3 manufacturers; Dell (pretty sure you can bet it’ll be the Dell Mini 5/Streak), HTC, and Motorola. They didn’t report on how many from each, but I’d guess 1 Dell, 2 HTC’s and 1 Motorola judging by the companies’ recent output of Android devices. But rejoice AT&T users, Android cometh.

So according to BGR (and an AT&T source there), the Sony Xperia X10 will definitely be hitting AT&T. The phone will be available with a 2 year contract as soon as April-May and the price is expected to be $199 or less. AT&T users excited much for a feature Android phone? Or more excited about the Dell Mini 5?

And also, does this mean no X10 on T-Mobile? Or will they release it on AT&T and then the unlocked version will have T-Mobile 3G? That would be smart of them…

Source

Ok so Apple made their big announcement today about the Apple iPad (lame name I know, but eh what can you do).

Here’s the low down so far:

Specifications:

Weighs 1.5 lbs
9.7 inch Capacitive LCD Screen
1Ghz Processor
Speaker
Microphone
Wifi (N Wireless)
Bluetooth
Compass
Accelerometer
Keyboard Dock
USB Connector
SD Card Reader
1024×768 VGA OUT
480p Composite OUT

Pricing:

$499 for the 16GB Wifi Only Model
$599 for the 32GB Wifi Only Model
$699 for the 64GB Wifi Only Model

Adding 3G to any of the models adds $130.

Availability:

The Wifi Models will be available in about 60 days.
3G Models will be available in about 90 days.

3G Plans:

AT&T is offering a special 3G plans for the iPad:

250MBs for $14.99/month
Unlimited Data for $29.99/month

The real interesting thing about it is the fact that these 3G plans carrier no contractual obligations. Sign up on the iPad over Wifi and cancel on the iPad over Wifi at any time.

Points of Interest:

No Contract and No Contract Data plans from AT&T
iPhone OS
Can run all current iPhone apps (either in a Window or with stretched double pixel viewing)
There will be Wifi and 3G versions of all sizes (for a price increase)
The 3G units are completely unlocked, use them on any GSM carrier you wish (but they use a new MicroSIM that noone yet carriers…)
No word on making a CDMA version yet, sorry Verizon. (Let me know if you hear otherwise)

What do you guys think? Anyone like it? Anyone who doesn’t have an iPhone want one of these instead? Anyone with an iPhone see a point in getting what is essentially a bigger iPhone?

Curious about the 3G frequencies myself, any 1700mhz in it by chance? This way T-Mobile users can use it as well and it’s not just an AT&T only device by technical specs as opposed to actual exclusivity deal?

So the Sony Xperia X10 (the next snapdragon Android device) is arriving in the UK next month on February 19th. And in Sony fashion, it’s ridiculously priced; the Euro version goes for 885 USD. I’d assume the US version will be a little bit less (my guess is closer to $700-$800), but still no release date for the States.

So between the Nexus One and the X10, which would you rather go for? And then knowing that someone will, in all likelihood, rip the Timescape UI off the Sony and put it on other phones once it is released…. hmmm

Google unveiled the Nexus One today and called it the “Next Evolution of Android”. Here’s a quick recap of what they went over.

1. Nexus One is a close collaboration between Google and HTC
2. It is the most advanced hardware HTC has put in a device yet (Peter Chou’s words): with it’s 3.7 AMOLED touchscreen, 1GHz processor, etc.
3. Google Earth for Android has just been unveiled.

It’s not all about hardware, Nexus One has new software too:
1. All of the Droid’s apps are there
2. Android 2.1
3. 5 homescreens instead of 3
4. News and Location based Weather Widgets
5. Live/Animated Wallpapers that respond to touch
6. New launcher menu, no pulling up to open anymore
7. New Photo Album, photos float on a surface
8. Search by Voice and Voice Navigation are built in
9. Voice enabled ALL texts fields on the device, so you can talk instead of type

Purchasing the Device:
1. Simple Google Web Store for you to purchase the phone without a contract or with one from a partner.
2. You can buy the phone with T-Mobile USA today.
3. They plan to add more devices to their web store (Motorola was mentioned).
4. Adding more countries to the webstore as well.
5. The Store has a live demo of the phone that you can play with.
6. You need a Google account and a Google checkout account.

Verizon and Vodafone will jump on board with the Nexus One in Spring 2010. So you can purchase it with a contract from either of those companies then.

So the only thing that truly impresses me is the business model for the phone; selling it from Google and you can choose your carrier…

So we thought it would be available on multiple carriers at first. Then they idea died because of the spec sheet only showing T-Mobile 3G, but now according to Google it will be available on T-Mobile, Verizon and Vodafone by Spring 2010. Interesting indeed. Now the question is, if you order the phone from Google and want Verizon do they send you a CDMA version or is it a dual GSM CDMA phone? Curiouser and curiouser…

Not bad all in all, what do you guys think?

Most of this we were already aware of but take a close look at the 3G frequencies… don’t see it?

Well it says UMTS bands 1/4/8 or in other words, Band I, Band IV, and Band VIII.
Well, Band I of UMTS is 2100mhz and Band VIII is 900mhz. These are pretty standard in any HTC device, but Band IV is the interesting one to have in there. Why? Well, Band IV is 1700mhz. And unlike the other two that have multiple carriers that use them, 1700mhz is ONLY used by one company in the world; T-Mobile USA. (Oh, and the new Wind Mobile in Canada that just launched…)

Now, who knows how this will end up but as it stands now, the Nexus One will have T-Mobile USA 3G built in and will NOT support AT&T 3G.
Wonder why? Anyone?

PS Another interesting feature I just noticed is N AND A Wireless support under WiFi on the spec sheet. They want to make sure you can access any WiFi hotspot around, eh?

Source

Apparently, over the weekend Sony got FCC approval for not only an AT&T 3G Xperia X10, but also a T-Mobile 3G Xperia X10.

So this means those of us in the States can choose between T-Mobile or AT&T when we buy the phone without a contract from Sony directly.

This is a first for us here in the US! This would be the first time any phone manufacturer made an AT&T AND a T-Mobile version of an unlocked device.

Still not sure why they don’t just put both into one phone though (save themselves from having to make two separate models)… anyone understand enough about manufacturing to elaborate?

Source and Source

HTC has announced the a “US Carrier” is picking up the Touch HD2 (Leo) in early 2010. In the meantime, you could always buy the European Version and just not have 3G.. as with any GSM phone.

Sadly I can already assume that by the time the HD2 “comes to the States” there will be a new, better HTC phone to drool over.

Why can’t they just put Pentaband 3G in all of their phones and let us by them directly??

So T-Mobile has had the Pro2 for a bit now, but finally AT&T has picked up the device and also the keyboard-less counterpart the Diamond2. They will be called the Tilt2 (Pro2) and the Pure (Diamond2) and while the Pro2 is still HTC’s best keyboarded Windows Mobile device out, the Diamond2 might be a little too late for people who don’t need the keyboard so much. The reason being that the HTC Touch HD2 was announced recently and is scheduled for release soon in Europe, and it packs a much larger screen, better TouchFlo, more RAM, and an almost twice as fast processor!

AT&T better hope they can sell a bunch of the Diamond2′s before some company in the States calls HTC and tells them they are picking up the HD2 for sale here in the US…

Anyone have AT&T and a WinMo fan?

Apple annouced today that their new incarnation of the iPhone will be the new iPhone 3GS (the S stands for speed and we’ll get to that later). The looks of the phone are almost identical to the iPhone 3G except for it being a bit heavier and will have a new ”fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating” on the back.

Here is a chart from Engadget showing the differences from the iPhone 3G to the iPhone 3GS - Here

As far as we can tell, the only added features are:

• Digital Compass
• Different backing (“fingerprint resistive”)
• 3.0MP camera (iPhone 3G had a 2.0MP)
• The ability to run on the higher end of AT&T’s 3G spectrum (Up to 7.2MBPS instead 3.6.MBPS) but we’ll have to get one in our hands and do a side by side to really see if it is a big deal (7.2 and 3.6 are theoretical and are definitely NOT averages for either device so there is a lot of wiggle room for actual data speeds).

*Other features were listed by Apple, but they will all also be available on ALL iPhones when the 3.0 Update comes out, so we don’t count them and neither should you.

Think this will make people who already have the 3G iPhone switch? And what about people that don’t own an iPhone yet, will this make them take the plunge?

We don’t think it’ll be as big of a deal as the first 2 iPhones, but we’ll just have to wait and see on June 19 when it releases…

…except for those people who will be buying up the phones with contracts so they can sell them overseas and pay the cancellation fees, they might be lining up to buy the phones.