HTC EVO 4G for Sprint

You probably already know that Sprint's first 4G phone is equipped with a 1GHz Snapdragon processor and sports an 8-megapixel camera capable of 720p HD video. You've also heard about the EVO 4G's 4.3-inch capacitive touch screen, Android 2.2 browsing experience, and video chat courtesy of the 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera. The HTC EVO 4G (Full Review^[1]) is being hoisted as one of the premiere models on the market. The closest contender out of all the smartphones we've reviewed this year appeared to be the Motorola Droid X, though the iPhone 4 put up a veritable fight as well. Check out how the HTC EVO 4G stacks up against the competition in our video below!

Motorola Droid X for Verizon Wireless

Call it an iPhone killer—a device that makes the HTC EVO 4G shake in its boots. The Motorola Droid X (Full review^[2]) is one of the most powerful Android phones we've tested to date, and our consensus is that it can't really get a whole lot better than this within the wide world of smartphones at the present moment. The Motorola Droid X for Verizon Wireless^[3] takes everything we loved about the original Droid and Droid 2, sheds the QWERTY keyboard, and pulls a Stretch Armstrong with the capacitive touch screen, giving gamers, movie junkies, and Internet addicts an expansive plain to swipe, tap, and pinch away on. Motorola also bulked up the camera, offering an 8-megapixel sensor with dual LED flash and 720p video.

Apple iPhone 4 for AT&T

It's good to be the king. Or at least it was. Until the rest of the land began forming their own castles and employing their own hierarchical structures and empowering their own citizens. Yes, the iPhone 4 (Full Review^[4]) is a dazzling new device that sits in a faded throne. Rather than feel an ever-present sense of complacence, the iPhone 4 has to stand guard day and night. Have no fear, for the iPhone 4 offers some essential and shiny upgrades like its Retina display, 5-megapixel camera with 720p, FaceTime Web chat, and bolstered processing guts. But with so many other advanced smartphone kingdoms forming over the neighboring hills, the iPhone 4's upgrades can only solidify its place as one of the premiere entertainment smartphones rather than a business powerhouse as well. Let's let down the drawbridge and head inside the castle.

Samsung Epic 4G for Sprint

The Samsung Galaxy S constellation is a driving force this year in the smartphone universe, but the Samsung Epic 4G (Full Review^[5]) is the brightest star in the lot. The phone receives some fairly impressive features that the other three phones—Captivate^[6] for AT&T, Vibrant^[7] for T-Mobile, and Fascinate^[8] for Verizon Wireless—do not get. The Samsung Epic 4G is the only Galaxy S phone to feature a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and front-facing camera. Like the Fascinate, the Epic 4G also features a flash/video light. Let's also not forget about the fact that the Epic 4G is, well, a 4G phone.

Motorola Droid 2 for Verizon Wireless

It may not be easy to discern the new Motorola Droid 2 (Full review^[9]) from its first-generation sibling, the original Droid, but be assured that the latest Android device for Verizon Wireless has enough firepower lurking behind the scenes than one would surmise. First off, there's more horsepower under the hood regarding processing and RAM. But the Motorola Droid 2 bursts out of the starting gates running Android 2.2 Froyo, meaning all aspects of interface performance have been improved. Along with the integration of Android's latest interface, the Droid 2 boasts an improved battery life, which we tested, and improved internal storage memory. While we weren't crazy about the Droid 2's camera, this phone offered enough upgrades to take our original Droid experience to the next level.

References

1. ^{^} Full Review (www.infosyncworld.com)
2. ^{^} Full review (www.infosyncworld.com)
3. ^{^} Verizon Wireless (www.verizonwireless.com)
4. ^{^} Full Review (www.infosyncworld.com)
5. ^{^} Full Review (www.infosyncworld.com)
6. ^{^} Captivate (www.infosyncworld.com)
7. ^{^} Vibrant (www.infosyncworld.com)
8. ^{^} Fascinate (www.infosyncworld.com)
9. ^{^} Full review (www.infosyncworld.com)

China Mobile is building up a stronger offering of smartphones as more handset manufacturers angle to sell devices to the provider's 564 million customer base.

Next week, Samsung plans on releasing the Galaxy SPhone I9008^[1] for China Mobile. The device uses the Android-based OPhone 2.0 operating system developed by China Mobile. No official price has been given, but a company spokeswoman said the cost could be similar to the Galaxy SPhone for China Telecom, which goes for 5680 yuan (US$852).

Motorola also released a new handset last month that was custom-built for China Mobile. The MT716^[2] is similar to a Droid phone in that it features a QWERTY slide-out keyboard, but the device runs the OPhone 2.0 operating system. Motorola has priced the device at 5980 yuan ($897). The company has no plans to sell it outside of China.

The release of the smartphones come as China Mobile competes^[3] to bring more users into its 3G network. Although China Mobile has the country's biggest subscriber base, the company uses a 3G standard called TD-SCDMA (Time-Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access), which was created in China as a way to reduce the nation's dependence on foreign technologies.

Yet for some big name handset manufacturers, this has led to a slowdown in releasing smartphones to China Mobile. Instead, many of the most popular smartphones have been first launched through its rival, China Unicom, which adopted the WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) 3G standard used in the rest of the world. One such example is Apple's iPhone. So far, Apple has only decided to use China Unicom as the official carrier for the phone in the country.

The lack of smartphones designed for the TD-SCDMA standard has forced China Mobile to reach out to these handset manufacturers, said Flora Wu, an analyst with Beijing-based consulting firm BDA. "I think they have been making efforts since the first day their TD network was launched," she said. "This year's efforts have gradually paid off."

While there has been no official word of an iPhone being one day sold through China Mobile, PC maker Lenovo is going to make its newest smartphone available through the carrier.

A model of the company's LePhone is being built for use with China Mobile's TD-SCDMA standard. The device will be released in the first half of 2011, said Lenovo Mobile Vice President Fei Hongxing in taped interviews with the Chinese media.

Lenovo already offers the LePhone through the country's two other mobile providers, China Unicom and China Telecom. The company has sold 200,000 devices in the first four months its been on the market, Fei said. Lenovo has said in the past it plans to possibly sell the device abroad if the smartphone is successful in China. The LePhone has been priced at 2899 yuan ($435).

Smartphones are growing in popularity, in China although they have yet to dominate the cell phone market. More than 13 million smartphone units were sold in the second quarter of 2010, accounting for 22 percent of all handset sales, according to data provided by Beijing-based research firm Analysys International. This is 7 percent higher than at the end of 2009.

Analysts have said price^[4]has been a stumbling block preventing average Chinese consumers from buying smartphones. But in the case of China Mobile, the company is using subsidies and discounts to entice consumers to buy their smartphones, Wu said. Customers who sign up for a contract, can sometimes receive a smartphone device for free or receive a major price cut, she said.

"They don't buy it for the TD handset. Rather they are attracted to the subsidy, the free device, or some free service," she said.

At the same time, China Mobile is working to offer a selection of smartphones with a wider price range, said Mark Natkin, managing director of Beijing-based Marbridge Consulting. One of China Mobile's challenges has been the company has largely only offered smartphones at the mid-range price of 2000 to 3000 yuan ($300 to 450), he said.

"They have been working with a number of their handset manufacturing partners to produce low-end 1,000 yuan ($150) or less phones," Natkin noted. "We should be seeing more and more of those hitting the market."

References

1. ^{^} SPhone I9008 (www.samsung.com)
2. ^{^} MT716 (developer.motorola.com)
3. ^{^} competes (www.pcworld.com)
4. ^{^} price (www.pcworld.com)

KOREAN PHONE MAKER Samsung has announced a Wave II smartphone running its Bada OS to be released in the UK this December.

Against a tide of Windows Phone 7 models, including Samsung's own Omnia 7, the Wave II, model GT-S8530, will be bundled with Samsung's homespun Bada 1.2 OS. The smartphone is being hawked as a multi-media model for the great unwashed so is laden with a bounty of social notworking features.

The Wave II has a 3.7-inch 480x800 LCD display that is bigger than its predecessor's, but it lacks an AMOLED screen. It has a 1GHz Cortex A8 chip and a 5MP embedded camera. Although it is not mentioned, we're assuming it has a capacitive multitouch screen. It is bundled with Samsung's own Touchwiz user interface that has graced most of the company's other touchscreen mobile devices.

It can handle HD 720p video playback and recording at 30fps with multiple format support and comes with Quicktype by T9 Trace text input. Rather than punching in individual numbers, you can trace a finger over letters on a word and the integrated dictionary guesses what you want. Sounds like hours of frustration spent being second guessed by predictive software.

Samsung is proud of the social hub features integrated into its Wave II smartphone. It will have an integrated one-page layout for social-notworking, phonebook information and Apps.

The Wave II Bada release could drown under the volume of Windows Phone 7 smartphones being released this week. However, the Wave sold like hotcakes so Samsung shouldn't worry too much.

The company is also focusing on developing Bada over the long term. Well, that was its excuse when it dropped Symbian at the start of October^[1]. µ

References

1. ^{^} October (www.theinquirer.net)

by Darren Allan

The Dell Venue Pro, a Windows Phone 7 handset unveiled at yesterday’s launch of the operating system, will be out in this country before the end of the year.

That’s the buzz as reported by TechRadar, which notes that this will be the sixth Windows Phone 7 handset preparing to be launched in the UK market. The others are the Samsung Omnia 7, LG Optimus 7, and then three smartphones from HTC; the Mozart, HD7 and Trophy.

The Venue Pro is a more business oriented affair with a similar build to the BlackBerry Torch in terms of the fact that it’s a portrait slider with a full Qwerty keyboard. Dell’s mobile has a taller body, mind, with a bigger 4.1 inch WVGA AMOLED multi-touch display.

Surprisingly, Dell hasn’t revealed any other specs, aside from the fact that the phone uses “gorilla glass” for durability and its scratch resistant properties. However, we can expect it to have a 1GHz processor, a 5 megapixel camera, with at least 8GB of memory.

Which UK network will carry the phone isn’t yet known, with no pricing ballpark available yet either.

Story link: Dell Venue Pro WP7 smartphone out in UK before Christmas^[1]

References

1. ^{^} Dell Venue Pro WP7 smartphone out in UK before Christmas (www.techwatch.co.uk)

SEOUL (Dow Jones)--Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (005930.SE) said Monday it will start selling its flagship Galaxy smartphones in South Korea from this week through KT Corp. (KT), as part of its efforts to strengthen its competitive edge in the country's ...

by Darren Allan

Samsung has unveiled three new smartphones in its Wave range, the Wave 525 (GT-S5250), Wave 533 (GT-S5330) and Wave 575 (GT-S5750).

The triplet of phones share a core spec of a 3.2 inch WQVGA display, a matching 3.2 megapixel camera, 100MB of memory (expandable to 16GB via microSD), GPS and wi-fi. They all employ Samsung’s new Bada operating system.

So what’s the difference between them? The Wave 525 operates on 2.5G networks, while the 575 offers 3G support. The 533 model offers a Qwerty keypad.

Samsung said of the new models: “The Samsung Wave family has been designed for those who take socializing seriously. That’s why it features an integrated messaging solution – a one-stop hub for all your communications including SMS, Email, SNS, and Instant Messaging.”

“It also features great media solutions to keep you entertained on the go, including diverse applications through Samsung Apps. The Samsung Wave family is the perfect mix of features and fun and a great way to be smarter about how you socialize.”

The Wave 525 is available in Russia at the moment, with all three models expected to be rolled out to other European countries in due course, possibly before the year is out. Pricing is unknown as this stage.

Story link: Three new Samsung Wave smartphones announced^[1]

References

1. ^{^} Three new Samsung Wave smartphones announced (www.techwatch.co.uk)

This device, Samsung's Fascinate^[1], is the latest - and the worst - example of an ugly trend among smartphones running Google's Android operating system.

Instead of being content to sell an attractive, open alternative to Apple' s iPhone, wireless carriers have decided they'd rather treat the screens of Android phones as billboard space to be sold to the highest bidder.

Anyone who's spent an hour on a new laptop deleting desktop shortcuts, uninstalling trial applications and peeling off stickers should know this concept. But while some PC manufacturers have realized that customers hate getting a computer full of "crapware,"^[2]the carriers refuse to learn from their example - and on an Android phone, the effects are much worse.

The extra applications that a carrier installs not only clutter the screen, they also eat up precious system memory that would be better used on programs you actually want. And because carriers implant these add-ons in a protected area of the phone's storage, you can't uninstall them.

Carriers have abused their privileges to weld on such extras as $10/month navigation tools that duplicate what Google's own map software does for free; a movie player for a little-used online service from the newly bankruptBlockbuster's^[3]; NASCAR and football applications; demos of various games; and advertisements for their services that eat up space in the notification bar at the top of the screen.

AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless all offer the same excuse: They're trying to make the phone "experience" better. But they fail to explain why they don't let customers decline this help.

With the Fascinate, however, Verizon has outdone them all. Not only does this slim device arrive with a cartload of Verizon apps bolted on, but its search button comes locked to Bing, and it leaves out Google Maps in favor of Microsoft's inferior alternative.

Your only warning of these dramatic changes is the absence of Google's logo from the box and the back of the phone.

A Verizon spokeswoman wrote that "by adding this option to our Android portfolio, we are giving customers more choice."

Still more "choice" will come later this year when the company (having already coaxed Skype into offering its Android Internet calling application only for Verizon users^[4]) launches its own, separate Android app store^[5] - even though there's already a well-stocked, open and compatible Android Market.

This arrogant control-freakery is what I feared when Google announced Android^[6] in 2007: Carriers have exploited Android's openness to treat their customers like their servants.

References

1. ^{^} Fascinate (www.amazon.com)
2. ^{^} "crapware," (www.zdnet.com)
3. ^{^} Blockbuster's (voices.washingtonpost.com)
4. ^{^} only for Verizon users (tech.fortune.cnn.com)
5. ^{^} Android app store (www.pcmag.com)
6. ^{^} Android (www.washingtonpost.com)