Bags have been packed, poker chips have been cashed, and planes have been boarded – and with that, the mobile-focused CTIA 2010 convention in Las Vegas has come to a close. Each time an event like this blows through town, tech heads do their best to distract themselves from their hangovers by writing monstrous posts on which platform or technology “won” the show. When it comes to CTIA 2010, the winner is clear cut and undisputed: Android. They could have called this year’s show “Android Week” and no one would have questioned it. → Read More
The news out of CTIA just won’t stop. AT&T has just announced their roll out plans for their cell-tower-in-a-box, signal-boostin’ 3G MicroCell service, which they’ve had in testing since September. Not sure what the MicroCell is? Don’t sweat it – it’s a bit of a weird concept. If you’re in an area where signal is spotty, you can pick up one of these boxes, connect it to your home broadband, and it’ll act as a miniature, low power cell tower. Your signal goes up, and the stress on AT&T’s towers goes down. Here’s what we know so far: They’ll be moving from their limited testing phase to a national roll out beginning in April, with the service lighting up in unnamed cities around the US “in the coming months” The MicroCell unit will come at a one time cost of $149.99 The unit can be self installed; AT&T is offering tech support, but they’re not insisting that their guys plug it in for you There’s no monthly fee if you don’t mind that connecting through the MicroCell still uses your AT&T minutes. If you do mind, you can tack on an unlimited MicroCell calling plan for 20 bucks a month. On the upside, it looks like selecting that plan at purchase will score you a $100 mail-in rebate, dropping the long-term price of the unit to $50. MicroCell owners can support up to 10 different lines, with 4 of those lines talking simultaneously. So what do you think, dear readers? Are these prices fair? Are you ready to put a little tiny cell tower in your house? → Read More
We just got back from the Sprint EVO 4G announcement, where ol’ Yeller just happened to have a few devices on hand. I spent a few minutes getting to know the device (far less than I wanted to, trust me) — read on for my first impressions and a quick demo video. → Read More
Just like we thought, Sprint has just announced what we were previously calling the HTC Supersonic. The official name however is EVO 4G, and it’s both supersonic and evolutionary. Really: This boy is stacked. Underneath the 480 x 800 4.3-inch TFT LCD is a QSD8650 1GHz Snapdragon CPU, 1GB of storage, and 512MB of RAM. The rest is your standard superphone specs with an affair of 802.11b/g, HDMI-out, Sprint’s new Mi-Fi-like hotspot app and an 8GB microSD card along with the goods to run on Sprint’s 4G network. CDMA still handles the voice while a combo of EV-DO and WiMAX handles the data. The EVO 4G should hit Sprint this summer and here’s hoping it’s priced reasonably well. This might just be the phone to beat in 2010. Then again, CTIA just started. → Read More
We’re live from Sprint’s press announcement at CTIA in Las Vegas, which is scheduled to begin in just a few minutes. What ever might they be announcing? All signs are pointing at the HTC Supersonic, a brand new touchscreen smartphone packing a massive display and support for Sprint’s 4G WiMax network. Follow along with our live notes below, won’t you? → Read More
We literally just had our hands on with the just announced Samsung Galaxy S — and boy, was it a beauty. Read on for our first impressions. → Read More
Good news, everyone in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Miami, Pittsburgh, Salt Lake City and St. Louis! You’re getting Sprint’s 4G network by the end of 2010! With Sprint expected to debut their first 4G handset at CTIA this week, this news probably couldn’t be timed much better. This brings the total number of cities getting WiMax in 2010 up to 15, with Boston, Denver, Kansas City, Houston, Minneapolis, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C being announced as roll-out cities earlier this year. → Read More
Look at you, Kyocera! After essentially shuttering your smartphone division for years, you’ve jumped back in with a bit of a splash. Today at CTIA, the low-to-mid-range handset manufacturer announced the Zio, an Android-powered touchscreen phone. What makes the Zio special isn’t its specs — it’s the price it brings the specs in at. For somewhere between $169 and $220 (and that’s before contract!) Kyocera has managed to stuff a 3.2 megapixel camera, WiFi, Bluetooth, and 512 megs of on-board app storage space behind an oh-so-pixel-packed 800×480 screen. This, folks, is why we love Android. [Via PCMag] → Read More
Oh, Samsung. For as long as I can remember, your banners have flown on the outer walls of the Las Vegas Convention Center during CTIA. And for as long as I can remember, your banners have given away mammoth chunks of what you were announcing at the show, days before said announcement actually happened. Not this year. → Read More
Remember last week, when we mentioned that Bluetooth headset manufacturer BlueAnt would be launching their first Android app at CTIA? The one that would read your incoming text messages aloud over your Bluetooth headset? Well, we just touched down in Vegas for CTIA 2010, and sure enough: they’ve just launched the application. → Read More
The stars are all starting to align around the launch of the HTC Supersonic happening at CTIA. If yesterday’s report from the Wall Street Journal wasn’t enough for you, check out this line pulled directly from CTIA press materials: → Read More
Oh, HTC Incredible, you just can’t stay off the Internet, can you? We’ve seen you in not one, but two series of spy shots, we’ve seen you leak out in alternative color schemes — hell, we’ve even spotted you roaming around Verizon’s inventory system. We sure are seeing a lot of you — and you know what? We don’t mind one bit. According to the latest leak, we should be seeing a lot more of the HTC Incredible — as in, in the hands of the general public — within two weeks. → Read More
There isn’t much to say about the HTC Supersonic that hasn’t been said already. It’s big (in a 4.3-inch-display sort of way). It’s beautiful. It’s Android-powered, and runs on Sprint’s 4G WiMax network. It’s just not.. you know, official in any way. According to the Wall Street Journal, that’s about to change. → Read More
Bluetooth headsets are great for keeping your eyes on the road while you’re driving — until you get a text message. “I wonder who that’s from? I’ll just take a peek!” you think, reaching for your phone… and BAM! Your car’s front end is now playing twister with another car’s rear end. Bluetooth headset manufacturer BlueAnt is looking to cut down on the number of surprise trunk attacks with the introduction of their first Android App, which they’ll be announcing next week at CTIA. → Read More
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