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Google’s Android Update Alliance not living up to expectations
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Smartphones, Google, Software,
At the Google I/O conference in May, many Android phone vendors and U.S. wireless carriers made a long-awaited promise: From then on, any new Android phone would receive timely OS updates for at least 18 months following launch, as part of the then newly christened Google Update Alliance.
The back story: If you own an Android phone, you may have watched with frustration as a new version of the OS hit the market. It's almost never clear if your phone will ever get that upgrade—unlike with iOS or Windows Phones, which always get all upgrades (providing they meet the right hardware requirements). With Android, it seems to depend on the phone vendor, the specific model, the wireless carrier, the Android version itself, and whether Google sent the carrier an inflatable plastic food product as a token of its appreciation that week. Worse—and much to our chagrin—sometimes vendors make promises to customers before the sale that they don't keep once you own the phone.
Many factors contribute to this. But custom versions of Android are the key culprit, either thanks to vendor-specific enhancements (like HTC Sense, Motorola MotoBlur, and Samsung's TouchWiz, though LG, Pantech, Casio, and other vendors do it too), or carrier-specific enhancements of a more dubious nature (such as unnecessary preloaded bloatware and changes to default apps). These changes require many programming hours not just to make in the first place, but to also support and upgrade down the road—resources the carrier would rather throw at making new phones to sell you.
So the Google Update Alliance was a breath of fresh air. It sounded like everyone would finally come together, streamline their OS update timelines, and stop jerking around their customers. The thing is, while the Google Update Alliance ended up being one of the biggest stories to come out of Google I/O, we've heard almost nothing about it since then. You can bet we weren't just going to forget about it and pretend it never happened—especially after the release of Google Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), which is a huge leap in UI design and overall performance.
Click to continue reading Google’s Android Update Alliance not living up to expectations
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2011 Holiday Gift Guide: Free 4G Android smartphones at Radio Shack
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Smartphones, Hot Deals, Family, Women, Men, Teens, Under $100, Under $25, Under $250, Under $50, Under $500,
Our 2011 Holiday Gift Guide tries to hit you with gift recommendations at all different price points, and this one may be the least expensive. Radio Shack is selling a bunch of 4G Android smartphones for free, with two-year contract, this holiday season. You can get devices like the Samsung Stratosphere for Verizon, Samsung Infuse 4G for AT&T, and the HTC EVO Design 4G for Sprint. All of these devices support faster data speeds, and at a price of free, they're a tremendous deal.
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Bleeding Edge TV 400: Apple iPhone 4S
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Full Episodes, Gizmatic, Apple, Cell Phones, Features, Handhelds, Podcasts, Product Reviews, Videocasts, Videos,
We give you a look at the white AT&T iPhone 4S, along with the black Verizon iPhone 4S in this episode. As you can see, if you're familiar with the iPhone 4, Apple made some subtle changes in the design of the iPhone 4S, most notably in the antenna, which now has a slick dual-action function. The Verizon model also picks up a SIM card slot, making it (and the others) a world phone device. We also show you the included accessories that Apple throws in as well. Be sure to check out our full iPhone 4S review, and iPhone 4S unboxing gallery as well.
Big thank you to GoToMeeting and JackThreads for sponsoring the show - be sure to check them out! As for JackThreads, we've got exclusive invite codes that give you $5 to use towards anything you'd like.
iPhone 4S unboxing gallery
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Features, Galleries, Handhelds,
After publishing our iPhone 4S review, we got a bunch of you asking what happened to our unboxing photo gallery. We wanted to make sure we had both the white and black models in-hand prior to the photo shoot. We've now published our iPhone 4S unboxing gallery (better late than never!), and we should have the video up shortly as well!
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Sprint releases update for HTC Android smartphones
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Smartphones, Corporate News, Handhelds, Software,
Sprint on Tuesday started rolling out an update for Android-based HTC devices that fixes a privacy-related bug.
Users with the EVO 4G, EVO 3D, EVO Shift 4G, EVO Design 4G, EVO View 4G, and HTC Wildfire S will receive an over-the-air update starting today; users can manually install the update right away.
"Sprint worked closely with HTC after reports emerged of a potential issue that could allow malicious third-party apps to compromise data on Android devices made by HTC," the carrier said in a statement. "We urge all users to install the update promptly."
Click to continue reading Sprint releases update for HTC Android smartphones
iPhone 4S review
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Features, Handhelds, Product Reviews,
After over a year, Apple has released the follow-up to the iPhone 4, and its called the iPhone 4S. What do you do with your phone? If you're like most Americans, you make some calls, take some photos, and send some texts. Maybe you kill time with some games, check Facebook or Twitter, and look things up on the Web. If that's you, then the iPhone 4S ($199-$399 with contract on Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T) is your phone: it's the best cameraphone in the US, the fastest Web-browsing phone, and one that has finally licked the iPhone's calling problems. It's so good, that it's our current Editors' Choice on Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T.
Click to continue reading iPhone 4S review
Check out Sprint’s full-page back cover ad on Rolling Stone
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple,
Classy.
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| Daring Fireball
Apple sells over 1 million iPhone 4S pre-orders in 24 hours
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Corporate News, Handhelds,
This morning Apple announced that it had sold over 1 million iPhone 4S smartphones within the first 24 hours that they were available for pre-order. No matter how you look at it, this is a monstrous number, and crushes last year's iPhone 4 figures, which were "only" 600,000 on the first day. These 1 million pre-orders obviously don't include all the folks who'll be lining up at Apple, AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint locations this Friday to buy the iPhone 4S directly. The device goes on sale at retail locations at 8:00 am on October 14th.
This is a shout-out to all the media who were calling the iPhone 4S underwhelming and disappointing--apparently over a million consumers disagree.
Another midnight iPhone pre-order fiasco
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Handhelds,
With the fifth iPhone launch looming, you'd think that five years would be enough time for major companies like Apple and AT&T to get this stuff working. You'd think. Unfortunately, when the iPhone 4S pre-orders were supposed to start at 12:01am PDT today, it took about 40 minutes before Apple's online store came back online, and things quickly went downhill from there. While Verizon customers seemed to be able to make purchases with ease, and even Sprint's site held up well despite some slowness, AT&T's systems continually crashed and burned until Apple threw in the towel and implemented a reservation system two hours later so that people could reserve a device and get to bed, coming back later to complete the transaction.
Here's looking to next year's improvements...we hope!
Confirmed: Sprint offering unlimited data on iPhone 4, iPhone 4S
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Smartphones, Corporate News, Handhelds, Hot Deals,
One of the big news items coming out of Apple's Let's Talk iPhone event yesterday was that Sprint is finally going to be carrying the iPhone. In fact, not only will the iPhone 4S be available on the nation's third-largest carrier, but the $99 iPhone 4 will also be sold as well. Today we get news that Sprint has confirmed that it'll be offering unlimited data plans.
“We will be offering the benefit of our unlimited plans that start at just $69.99,” said spokeswoman Michelle Leff Mermelstein. Sprint’s $69.99 plan includes unlimited data and 450 voice minutes as well as unlimited mobile-to-mobile calling. Unlimited calling and data costs $99 a month.
This makes Sprint the only US carrier to currently offer the iPhone alongside an unlimited data plan, as both Verizon and AT&T have caps in place for anyone who isn't grandfathered in on an unlimited plan. If you're wanted to pick up a new iPhone and want to make sure you've got unlimited data, Sprint's looking might fine right now.
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