If you’ve had your eye on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 or Huawei’s new Springboard tablet, the sign-up pages for both devices have just popped up on T-Mobile’s site. On November 7, you’ll be able to pick up a new Springboard tab for no more than $200. We’re still unclear on exact pricing, but TmoNews seems to think it’ll go for $179.99 with a two-year contract. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, on the other hand, will be available on November 2 along with a number of other handsets.

As far as GalTab pricing goes, things are still a mystery. The Wifi-only editions are priced between $499 and $599, so a two-year agreement could bring that down to around $299 or $399. But we’ll have to wait for official word to be sure.

Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 sports a 10.1-inch 1280×800 WXGA LCD display, a 3-megapixel rear camera ready for 720p video capture and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera for video chat. The slate runs Android 3.2 Honeycomb over a 1GHz dual-core processor in 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB memory options.

The Springboard tablet from Huawei is a little 7-inch tab with Android 3.2 Honeycomb running the show. Under the hood, you’ll find a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, along with a 5-megapixel rear camera (720p video capture) on the back and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing shooter for video chat. Both slates support Adobe Flash.

If you’re looking for more information on either slate, head here for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and here for the T-Mobile Springboard.

Huawei has a history of partnering up with brands to build highly targeted phones, a good example being the Red Bull-branded RBM HD rugged phone (otherwise known as the Impulse for AT&T). This time, the company is taking the less caffeine-fueled route, opting for some added credibility with its next rugged handset: the Huawei-Discovery Expedition phone.

Built in conjunction with the Discovery Channel’s lifestyle brand, the Huawei-Discovery Expedition phone is built for the woodsman, indeed. It can stand up against water, dust, and electrical shock, and comes with all the goodies you need to navigate in the wild. A compass, torch, GPS, and a G-sensor are all included. Of course, just because you’re becoming one with mother nature doesn’t mean you don’t want to tweet about it, which is why Facebook and Twitter are also pre-loaded.

We were thinking we’d see a camera, even a low-end one, on this handset as its owners are meant to be surrounded by nature’s beauty. But perhaps the lack of camera will be reflected in a low price.

Huawei says the Discovery Expedition phone will be available during the fourth quarter of this year, though specific carriers, retailers and pricing was not included.

Today Huawei has announced its latest Android smartphone: The Huawei Honor. Unlike some recent mid-range offerings, this thing is quite the little powerhouse. The company has been focused on wallet-friendly Android devices for some time now, but the Honor certainly makes a transition into high-end turf.

As far as specs go, the Honor will run Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread on top of a 1.4GHz processor. It’s a bit thicker than some of its competitors, with a 10.9mm waste line, weighing in at .03 lbs. The Honor sports a 4-inch FWVGA display, along with an 8-megapixel rear camera and a 2-megapixel front-facing shooter, which should make for some high-quality video chat.

The phone packs 512MB of RAM and 4GB of ROM memory, with support for a 32GB SD memory card. WiFi and Bluetooth 2.1 are supported, and the Honor also packs an FM radio. The phone will first ship in black, with more color offerings to follow. The company also said that the Honor comes with an “exclusive Huawei user interface with a weather widget.” We’re not sure if that’s the same 3D UI we say on the Vision, but we wouldn’t be surprised if it was.

According to Huawei, the Honor is destined for China, Russia and the Middle East in the fourth quarter of 2011, but with specs like these we wouldn’t be surprised to see a U.S. variant pop up somewhere along the line.

First KDDI’s iida INFOBAR, then Sharp’s clamshell Android phone HYBRID oo7SH, and now the so-called Smart Bar [JP]: Japan is getting more and more specially designed Android handsets. As you can see on the pictures, the Smart Bar adopts the “traditional” candy bar form factor but is actually powered by Android Gingerbread.

The device is manufactured by Huawei and will be distributed in Japan by mobile carrier eMobile. Targeted mainly at female users, the phones comes with a 3-inch WVGA touch display (LCD), 512MB RAM and ROM, a 5MP camera, a microSDHC slot, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, IEEE802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi (tethering for up to 5 devices is possible), IrDA SIR infrared, GPS, and W-CDMA/GSM support. It’s just 51mm slim and weighs 114g.

eMobile plans to start rolling out the Smart Bar in Japan on September 22 (price: US$390).

Huawei has taken a note from the big boys like Samsung and HTC and decided to build a UI of its own. Unlike TouchWiz or Sense, Huawei’s UI has something different to bring to the table: 3D. Now don’t get too excited, or too peeved either (if you’re an anti-3D kinda fella), because this isn’t “3D” in the annoying, in-your-face, makes-you-kinda-nauseous sense. It’s just a 3D interface running on a 2D screen.

Does a flashy 3D interface really bring more to than its traditional counterpart? I can’t imagine it’ll be all that revolutionary. Hopefully, it only enhances the user experience with a little beauty and doesn’t clutter or jumble things unnecessarily.

On the other hand, the specs and the design of the Vision tell me that Huawei’s got high hopes for this one. Its 1GHz Snapdragon processor is bundled nicely in a unibody contoured design. The phone measures in at .39 inches at its thinnest point and weighs a little over a quarter of a pound (.27 lb), with a 5-megapixel camera (capable of 720p video) strapped to the back.

The phone also sports a microUSB 2.0 port, 512MB of RAM, and 2GB of ROM with support for up to a 32GB memory card. The Vision will launch in three color flavors: silver, rose gold, and charcoal. In terms of bloatware, you’re actually getting some pretty good apps with the Vision — Angry Birds, Asphalt 6: Adrenaline, Order & Chaos Online, and Guerrilla Bob HD. Huawei wasn’t super forthcoming about pricing and availability, but we do know the phone will hit shelves sometime in September.

The device has no pricing and it doesn’t look like there will be a Wi-Fi-only model forthcoming, so we shall see how exciting this thing is when it rolls into grey-market electronics kiosks in Southeast Asia come Q3 2011.

It supports 1080P full HD video playback and features a 1.3 megapixel front facing camera and 5 megapixel auto focus rear facing HD camera, with HD video recording capabilities.
With HSPA+ 14.4Mbps and high-speed WiFi 11n Internet connectivity, the MediaPad doesn’t just entertain – it keeps you connected.
The MediaPad supports HSPA+ data services, Flash 10.3 videos and comes preinstalled with applications such as Facebook, Twitter, Let’s Golf and Documents to Go.

via Eng

They’re planning a webcast on the 20th with more details; we’ll let you know then, if not before.

As of April 30 2011, the company says that responsibility for supporting customers of Motorola Solutions’ GSM, CDMA, WCDMA, WiMAX and LTE products and services transfers to Nokia Siemens Networks. Part of the approval is due to the fact that Motorola reached an agreement with Chinese manufacturer Huawei over a pending patent lawsuit relating to the assets being acquired. In January, Huawei filed a lawsuit to prevent Motorola from giving Nokia Siemens Huawei’s IP information.

The litigation was recently settled for an undisclosed financial amount.

It’s been nearly a year since Nokia announced the acquisition of Motorola’s wireless assets. Back then, Nokia was planning to pay $1.2 billion for the network and the deal was predicted to close by year end.

Nokia says that based on revenue, the acquisition of Motorola Solutions’ Networks assets makes Nokia Siemens Networks the third largest wireless infrastructure vendor in the United States and the leading non-Japanese wireless vendor in Japan. And as part of the deal, Nokia Siemens Networks is acquiring a number of research and development facilities including sites in the United States, China, Russia, India and the UK.

Nokia Siemens Networks completes acquisition of certain wireless network infrastructure assets of Motorola Solutions
Pays US $975 million in cash
Approximately 6900 employees will transfer to Nokia Siemens Networks
Takes on responsibility for 50 operator customers in 52 countries
Nokia Siemens Networks and Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: MSI) today jointly announced that Nokia Siemens Networks has completed its acquisition of Motorola Solutions’ Networks assets paying US $975 million in cash. As of April 30 2011, responsibility for supporting customers of Motorola Solutions’ GSM, CDMA, WCDMA, WiMAX and LTE products and services transfers to Nokia Siemens Networks.

“The people, customers and technology we’ve acquired greatly complement our existing business by taking us into new markets and broadening our market share,” said Rajeev Suri, chief executive officer, Nokia Siemens Networks. “Our combined knowledge and experience will provide our newly expanded customer base with the means to grow by providing greater value to their subscribers.”

“Motorola Solutions is pleased to complete this transaction to combine our Networks team with an industry leader,” said Greg Brown, president and chief executive officer, Motorola Solutions. “This is great news for our customers, our investors and our people and will allow Motorola Solutions to further sharpen our strategic focus on providing mission-critical solutions for our government and enterprise customers.”

The acquisition strengthens Nokia Siemens Networks’ position in key regions, particularly North America and Japan, as well as with some of the world’s major service providers. Based on revenue, the addition of Motorola Solutions’ Networks assets makes Nokia Siemens Networks the third largest wireless infrastructure vendor in the United States and the leading non-Japanese wireless vendor in Japan. In addition, the acquisition reinforces Nokia Siemens Networks’ position as the world’s second largest wireless infrastructure and services provider.

As part of the deal, responsibility for supporting 50 operators across 52 countries, as well as approximately 6900 employees, will transfer to Nokia Siemens Networks. In addition, Nokia Siemens Networks is acquiring a number of research and development facilities including sites in the United States, China, Russia, India and the UK.

Huawei has actually entered an agreement with Motorola Solutions and Nokia Siemens that allows Motorola Solutions to transfer its commercial agreements with Huawei for a fee, and allows Nokia to receive and use Huawei confidential information revealed to Motorola. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. And Motorola is also dismissing a prior complaint filed against Huawei, which alleged that the Chinese company was conspiring to steal trade secrets from former Motorola employees.

The backstory is that Huawei was claiming that because Motorola and the company has a previous licensing relationship (worth $880 million), Motorola’s wireless networking unit was provided with details on Huawei’s confidential intellectual property. Huawei was trying to ensure that Motorola does not transfer this confidential information to Nokia. Motorola, Huawei contended, did not provided any assurances that it will prevent disclosure of that IP information to Nokia and if this transfer of information did happen, Huawei would suffer from this.

It appears that Motorola ponied up the funds to pay off Huawei in this suit. In February, Huawei won a court order preventing Motorola from transferring the Chinese telecom-gear maker’s intellectual property to Nokia Siemens.

Greg Brown, President & CEO of Motorola said in a statement: “We regret that these disputes have occurred between our two companies. Motorola Solutions values the long-standing relationship we have had with Huawei. After reviewing the facts, we decided to resolve these matters and return to our traditional relationship of confidence and trust.”

The drama continues between Chinese company Huawei Technologies and Motorola. The company has filed a lawsuit to prevent Motorola from giving Nokia Siemens (which acquired Motorola’s wireless network for $1.2 billion last year) Huawei’s IP information.

Essentially, Huawei is saying that because Motorola and the company has a previous licensing relationship, Motorola’s wireless networking unit was provided with details on Huawei’s confidential intellectual property. Huawei says that since the Nokia acquisition, the company “has tried to ensure that Motorola does not transfer this confidential information to NSN”.

Motorola, Huawei contends, has not provided any assurances that it will prevent disclosure of that IP information to Nokia. As stated in the release, “If Huawei’s proprietary commercial property and information is transferred to a third party, Huawei will suffer irreparable commercial damage,” since Nokia is a major competitor of the Chinese company.

And it gets uglier. In the actual complaint, Huawei is seeking an interim order that a portion of Motorola’s business not be transferred to NSN until the issue is resolved.

This isn’t the first time that Huawei and Motorola have sparred. Motorola actually sued Huawei last June for conspiring to steal trade secrets from former Motorola employees.

Motorola is also embroiled in an ongoing patent lawsuit with Microsoft.

First up, the Ideos X5 comes with a 3.8″ capacitive screen, 5MP camera with LED flash, WiFI b/g/n, GPS/A-GPS, and HSPA/HSUPA.

Playing the roll of big brother, the Ideos X6 packs a beastly 4.1″ screen, 1GHz CPU, 5MP camera with flash and HD video support, WiFi b/g/n, GPS/AGPS, HSPA+ 14.4mbps compatibility, and HDMI out.

Both will run stock Froyo out of the box, but will probably get an upgrade to Gingerbread sometime after release.

Unfortunately, there is as yet no word on release date or pricing, but Huawei have managed to keep their phones surprisingly low-cost, so you should expect to be pleasantly surprised when the pricing info does come out.

Press release is available here [PDF link]

[via GSM Arena]

Starting this Black Friday, T-mobile are including their entire line of Android devices (including the Galaxy Tab), as well as the WinPho7-powered behemoth that is the HD7, in a buy-one-get-one-free promotion.

Here’s what you need to know: if you purchase either a myTouch 4G, G2, Galaxy Tab, or HTC HD7, and sign onto a family plan for two years, then you’ll get your choice of a myTouch 4G, G2, HTC HD7, BlackBerry Bold 9780, Motorola DEFY, Motorola CHARM, LG Optimus T, or T-Mobile Comet for free (on another two-year contract, that is)!

The promotion is available on all T-Mobile family plans, including legacy and Even More, for new customers who activate two or more lines or existing customers who are on a T-Mobile family plan and upgrade at least one eligible line.

If you’re not the type who wants to venture outdoors on Black Friday, then you’ll be chuffed to hear that the promo will run until January 18th, 2011.

Here’s the official release from T-mobile:

Just in time for the kick-off to the busy holiday shopping season, T-Mobile USA, Inc. today announced the upcoming availability of a new in-store BOGO promotion for families. Starting on Black Friday, new and existing customers who sign up for a T-Mobile family plan with a two-year agreement and purchase a featured smartphone, such as the T-Mobile® myTouch® 4G, or the Samsung Galaxy Tab™ from T-Mobile can get a new featured smartphone or affordable Android™ handset for FREE!

Featured smartphones from T-Mobile include the T-Mobile® myTouch® 4G, T-Mobile® G2™ with Google™, HTC® HD7 and BlackBerry® Bold™ 9780. Affordable Android smartphones include the Motorola DEFY™ with MOTOBLUR™, Motorola CHARM™ with MOTOBLUR™, LG Optimus T™ with Google™ and T-Mobile® Comet™. The new in-store BOGO promotion will be available Nov. 26 through Jan.18, so families who would prefer to avoid the Black Friday crowds this week will still have an opportunity to take advantage of the offer.

The promotion is available on all T-Mobile family plans, including legacy and Even More, for new customers who activate two or more lines or existing customers who are on a T-Mobile family plan and upgrade at least one eligible line. Mail-in rebates are applicable on all devices and data plans will be required.

[via Android Police]
[image via T-mo News]

The Ideos does have a smaller screen at 2.8 inches, but it still features GPS and Wi-Fi. Currently the Ideos runs Android 2.2 with 3G mobile hot-spot functionality, making it a sure winner for T-Mobile if the talks are successful. Huawei is also in talks with Cricket to bring the Ideos to their network.

[via Electronista]

Looking at the image above, I know what you’re thinking, but look on the bright side: you’ll be much safer crossing the streets at night with that thing plastered to your ear. Huawei has just announced a number of colorful handsets that don’t look like your average Android handsets.

The U8300, pictured above, is geared toward the younger crowd and has a full QWERTY keyboard. It might be insanely yellow, but fret not — it comes in obnoxiously bright green and purple, too.

That pink/fuchsia handset is the Huawei U8100 and is considered to be an entry-level phone. What makes it entry-level over other candy-bar Android handsets, I don’t know. Perhaps it’s the small 2.8-inch QVGA touch screen, but this thing has a 0.3 megapixel front-facing camera and a 3.2 megapixel shooter in back. With Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support, there’s nothing that screams rookie with this phone.

There is also the Huawei U8110 which is a little more sleek and less gaudy than the U8100, but it features the same exact specs. Between the two, I’d go for the U8110, but that’s just me.

Here, I’ve saved the best for last — the U8800. It features Android 2.1 and is HSPA+ capable. Huawei isn’t skimping on this phone and also included a large 3.8-inch touch screen. Huawei CEO, Kevin Tao, says, “The customized Android smartphones reflect our long-term investment to develop high-end devices which enable operators to deliver enhanced and differentiated mobile services. Android being open to third party programs means that operators can add a number of various applications to the phone. The U8800 enables operators to provide tailor-made, stylish and affordable smartphones to their subscribers.”

The rate at which Android handsets is growing is exponential. If Acer, Huawei and others churning out handsets with Android is an indicator of where the operating system is heading, it will be everywhere and its app selection will be formidable before year’s end.

[Huawei via Phandroid]

Oh, Internet. You give it a little bit of information and a reason to dig, and some super sleuth will uncover all there is to know. Such is the case with the Huawei 8220 Android phone; once it was given a name and a carrier by the Wi-Fi Alliance’s filing for the “T-mobile Pulse”, the Android detectives were off.

The latest bit of information they’ve uncovered comes from a Dutch online retailer. While it could very well be conjecture on the retailer’s part, it certainly wouldn’t be the first (or the hundredth) time a European seller disclosed information before the handset was even announced.

According to BelSimpel.nl (as uncovered by the readers of tweakers.net), we can expect the Pulse to launch some time in early October. The pre-order price pins it at €257 ($368 USD) – and that appears to be before contract subsidies and rebates. For comparison, the G1 and myTouch cost 399 and 499 respectively before such discounts. We might be looking at a not-too-shabby price for the Pulse, considering some of the specs that have been uncovered.

Known Specs:

• FM Radio, Mp3 Player
• 3.2 megapixel camera
• 3.5″ HVGA (480×320) screen (That’s .3″ bigger than the G1 and myTouch screens, for example)
• 2 GB internal memory, microSD support

[Via EngadgetMobile]

As long as they slap a decent CPU and enough memory in this thing, T-Mobile won’t be able to keep us off of it.

Let’s just cut to the chase, folks. T-Mobile’s first USB dongle is a welcome addition to the big magenta, but it has its flaws. However, as a long time T-Mobile customer I’m just happy to have a broadband dongle at all.

My speed tests in the Bay Area (CA) were quite good both in San Francisco and around the Bay. I was averaging between 700 and 800kbps down and around 300kbps up throughout the area. During the Kojima keynote at GDC I suffered multiple disconnects, but I figured that was a result of being deep inside Moscone’s South hall — although my T-Mobile BlackBerry 8900 had a strong EDGE connection. That’s all well and good but I don’t live in the Bay Area anymore. Manhattan is home these days.

I’ve sampled two areas of Manhattan with two separate Windows machines with not so similar results. My first testing point for the webConnect stick was near Penn Station and the results were pretty horrific. Upload speeds averaged a paltry 60kbps, but download speeds were tolerable at around 700kbps. The next stop is the TC/CG office, which is located near Gramercy Park. Average download speeds hovered around 728kbps with upload speeds topping out at 324kbps.

The key difference between my tests from last night and this afternoon are the network types. Last night I was connected over UMTS with a signal strength of -67 dBm while this morning I’m getting a strong HSDPA connection with the same signal strength. It’s unclear where it switches between the two, but I’ve seen it go back and forth when signal strength hits -70 dBm.

For T-Mobile’s first foray, it’s a pretty decent offering but a few things need to change before T-Mobile can really compete with the big dogs. First, support Mac OS X. I don’t say this because I own a Mac, though. It’s 2009 and you’ve had the luxury of waiting and seeing what the other carriers have done with their 3G dongles. They all support Mac OS X. Maybe it’s Huawei, but either way we shouldn’t have to wait until summer to use it. Second, team up with another company or make Huawei produce a smaller dongle. I do like the form factor of the webConnect stick, as it doesn’t protrude several inches from my laptop like Novatel or Sierra Wireless dongles, but it’s still enormous by today’s standards. I don’t think I’m asking too much here, and it’s something you’ll probably hear from others going forward.

That is all.

The promise of more Android phones isn’t that far from reality as the companies first model (uphone?!?) seem production ready with a Q3 target launch. You have to imagine that Hauwei has more phones in the pipeline ready to be branded and sold under a providers name. Hopefully more details will seep out of Barcelona’s MWC09.

Huawei via Phonescoop

Huawei via Phonescoop

Wuh oh – Looks like China’s Huawei Technologies might have spoken too soon when they announced that they’d have an Android-powered phone ready in the first half of 2009.

According to CNET, a Huawei spokesman has confirmed “that their first Android smartphone is scheduled to launch in the third quarter of 2009.”

Now, I’m not exactly known for my mathematical wizardry, but I’m pretty dang sure that the third quarter isn’t a part of the first half of 2009. Huawei officially joined the Open Handset Alliance a little over a week ago – might chumming around with the likes of Samsung, Sony Ericsson, and HTC be giving them reason to spend a bit more time polishing up their first release?