Samsung Galaxy Nexus available in the U.S.

It took a while but it’s finally here. The highly anticipated Samsung Galaxy Nexus will be available in the U.S. starting TODAY (Thursday).

The smartphone — the first device to run Android’s Ice Cream Sandwich, the latest version of Google’s mobile operating system — will be sold at Verizon for $299.99 with a new two-year customer agreement. It will run on Verizon’s 4G LTE network.

Here are some of the phone’s highlights:

– Redesigned user interface: Software navigation buttons, a first for Android smartphones, and a dedicated recent apps button to make multitasking easy.

– Face unlock: Use state-of-the-art facial recognition to unlock the Galaxy Nexus.

– Android Beam: Share Web pages, apps, contacts and YouTube videos with friends by tapping two compatible phones together.

– Redesigned camera: Introduces panorama mode, 1080p video capture, zero-shutter lag for instant photo capturing and effects such as silly faces and background replacement.

– People application: Browse friends, family and co-workers, see their photos in high-resolution and check their latest status updates from Google+ and other social networks.

– Cloud services: Keep email, contacts, photos, music, browser bookmarks and other data synced to the cloud, available across multiple devices so customers never lose important data.

– Google Music: Upload up to 20,000 songs to the cloud and stream it instantly on Galaxy Nexus and from the Web for free.

If you want the phone you will have to get Verizon Wireless’ Nationwide Talk plans beginning at $39.99 monthly and a smartphone data package starting at $30 monthly for 2 GB of data.

You want it?

LG Nitro HD Review

 

To start, I want to say that this isn’t an awful phone and I want to applaud the fact that I think LG is moving in the right direction in terms of design. However, the LG Nitro HD simply isn’t the fastest, nor is it the most visually appealing phone on the market. LG made about as many good design choices as it did poor ones, in my opinion, and the software just doesn’t do anything to help it out.

The real shining star here is AT&T’s 4G LTE network, and unfortunately I’ve only been able to access that for a few minutes. That said, it seems to be rock solid showing download speeds between 17 and 20 megabits per second. Then again, there are only so many people playing on that network right now so it’s hard to make judgements.

Hardware:

The Nitro HD hardware shines in a few select spaces: the screen, the shape, and the textured back panel. Obviously the 4.5-inch 720p display can be considered the left cheek of this phone’s moneymaker (LTE being the right), and it does a good job at living up to the hype. We’re seeing great real-life color reproduction, and little to no differentiation between pixels.

The shape of the phone feels great in the hand, and this coming from someone who prefers boxier builds like the Droid RAZR. It has rounded corners and a flat face and back, which makes such a large phone a tad easier to grip. The top edge the phone has squared edges, and then curves off around the sides and on the bottom. It’s 10.4mm thick, which is the exact midway point between the HTC Rezound and the Droid RAZR. Not thick, but not anorexic by any means.

Then there’s the back panel. LG seems insistent on building plastic phones, which tend to feel a bit cheaper and less sturdy than phones made of metal. That said, the textured finish along the backside of the Nitro HD definitely makes the phone feel more solid and high-end than it actually is. Unfortunately, the majority of the phone, including that back panel, doesn’t take prints well at all.

But for all the good, there’s plenty of bad. The micro-USB port along the top has a plastic covering which will no doubt break off at some point. Plus, I’m not all that fond of placing a micro-USB port square in the middle of the top or bottom of a phone, as it makes it hard to do anything in landscape when the phone’s plugged in.

I’m also not all that thrilled with this strip of grey plastic connecting the black bezel to the rest of the phone. It simply works against all the work that textured back panel did to make this phone feel more high-end. In terms of sturdiness, I’m not all that convinced that the Nitro HD has the most solid build quality either.

It creaks quite a bit when stressed, and if you put any pressure on the back panel you can feel it move around a bit, like it’s not securely latched on.

Software:

When speaking on software I must first do some back-peddling when it comes to earlier statements. I do, in fact, have some complaints when it comes to software performance on the Nitro HD. I didn’t notice when doing preliminary tasks just how much Android lags and stutters when switching between home screens and scrolling. Web surfing wasn’t any better, with the entire screen freezing up and then jumping into position during any form of pinch-to-zoom.

LG’s Optimus overlay isn’t all that bad, to my surprise. The weather and social networking integration baked right into the UI are actually quite pleasant and seem to function quite well. The UI itself isn’t terribly obtrusive, but I fear that it may be contributing to the annoying lag I’m steadily growing impatient with.

You’ll find a handful of AT&T bloatware-style apps, along with Amazon Kindle, Qik Lite, MOG Music and Zynga Poker HD pre-loaded.

Camera:

I’m actually pretty enthusiastic about the Nitro’s 8-megapixel camera. While it is a test in patience getting from home screen to snapped picture, the end product is exactly what you hoped it’d be. We saw really clear color reproduction, though the pictures do stray into greenish/greyish territory when using flash in low-light situations.

The video capture capabilities performed well, too. It normally takes a second for a mobile camcorder to adjust from a sunny scene to indoors, but the Nitro HD’s camera did it quite quickly.

Performance/Battery Life:

To start I have to say that the speaker (lower-right portion of the back panel) on this phone is pretty underwhelming. Watching YouTube videos and talking on speakerphone was a struggle. Even with the volume all the way up, it makes you wonder what the point of a 4.5-inch HD screen is when you’re constantly holding the phone up to your ear.

When you can hear it, watching video on the screen is a joy, as is playing games. The same lag that plagues the OS in general — from multi-tasking to opening/closing apps — doesn’t seem to be present during gaming or video playback. A nice change of pace.

I’m also impressed with the battery life on the Nitro HD. I got a solid eight hours out of it (around five hours of setup, browsing, talking on the phone, gaming, taking pictures and watching video; the rest was standby). This may not sound like enough, but the truth is that most 4G LTE-capable phones suck wind in the battery department and eight hours is saying a lot. It’s also worth noting that I had the screen brightness turned all the way up.

Conclusion:

The Nitro HD is like a box of chocolates, you don’t know what you’re going to get. While watching video and playing games was a great experience, doing simple things like browsing the web or scrolling through the phone book was tedious. Some design choices (like that micro-USB mess) we could’ve done without, while others (like that back panel) are a great step in the right direction for LG.

At $249 on a two-year contract, I’d say a lot is riding on whether or not you live in one of AT&T’s LTE markets and just how well AT&T’s LTE network performs. So far, things are looking pretty good on that front so I’d suggest doing a little research on whether you’re covered and perhaps picking up a Nitro HD (or a Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket or HTC Vivid) and seeing how you feel about AT&T’s new network.

BookBook for iPhone

Twelve South BookBook for iPhone 4/4S

We’ve all been there – arriving at work with a spring in our step, only to discover we’ve completely forgotten to wear anything below the waist. Nightmare! Come to think of it, that was just a nightmare… but it’s all too easy to leave your house in a morning and forget your important stuff. Thankfully, at least when it comes to remembering your wallet and mobile phone, life just got a little bit easier.

The BookBook for iPhone is a genuine leather case that not only protects your iPhone, but serves as a wallet too. With sections for credit cards, a clear window for your photo ID, and space to hold notes it has everything you need when you’re out and about.

Your iPhone slots snugly into the specially-designed pouch, with the BookBook’s oversized hardback covers protecting it on both sides. Thanks to this classic design, all of your iPhone’s essential ports remain accessible. So you can use all of the iPhone’s functions and discreetly listen to your music with earphones.

True to its name; when closed, the discreet case looks like a leather pocketbook – easy for would-be thieves to overlook and harking back to the days when we’d carry something similar for telephone numbers, addresses, notes and birthday reminders. Ah, how times change! Or not, as the case may be.

With the classic looks of a well-thumbed tome and the functionality of a wallet and iPhone case combined; the BookBook is essential for those of us prone to leaving our lives in our other trousers. Now all you have to remember are your keys.

Nokia Lumia 710

The Nokia Lumia 800 might be the flagship Windows Phone handset for Nokia when it rolls out, but if you are on a tight budget and want to give Windows Phone a chance and yet do not know where to start, who do you turn to? Some say that you need not look elsewhere, as Nokia also has a more affordable model for those curious about Windows Phone, where Nokia World 2011 saw the announcement of the Nokia Lumia 710.

The Nokia Lumia 710 takes on a more youthful appearance, where it has the ability to exchange back covers in different colors to suit your mood and fashion sense for that particular day – bringing back memories of those Xpress On covers in the past. Well, enough about history – the Nokia Lumia 710 is clearly future forward in terms of software, which we will cover in greater detail after the jump.

 

Too bad it comes only in black and white colors, but at least the back covers have a far wider range to choose from – black, white, cyan, fuchsia and yellow. In front lies a 3.7″ display at 800 x 480 pixel resolution with a ClearBlack TFT which is touted to deliver great looking colors as well as readability in bright sunlight. When you flip the Lumia 710 over like a burger patty, you will find a 5-megapixel auto-focus camera with an LED flash that also does HD video recording at 30 frames-per-second.

Since nearly everyone and their dog has a social network these days, you will find the Nokia Lumia 710 accommodating in this aspect, boasting full integration of Facebook, Twitter and Linked-In, letting you share your freshly snapped photos with but a couple of taps on the screen. Internet Explorer 9 will be the mobile browser of choice, where it will also play nice with a gamut of modern HTML5 web apps.

Opening up the Lumia 710′s chassis will reveal the same 1.4GHz processor, hardware acceleration and graphics processor that is found on the Nokia Lumia 800, accompanied by 8GB of internal memory and 512MB RAM. Connectivity options include quadband radio reception, 3G up to HSDPA, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Expect the Nokia Lumia 710 to hit Europe first for around $270, followed by other parts of the world later in the year and early 2012.

Press Release

Amazon’s Appstore for Android

Amazon has opened the Appstore for Android, providing another option for app shopping to U.S. users of smartphones with Google’s operating system.

Amazon is trying to lure users away from Google’s Market by offering users a free paid app every day. The first such application is Angry Birds Rio, which usually costs US$0.99, and is an exclusive for Android users via Amazon’s store. Users can also test applications with a feature called “Test Drive,” which runs applications on a simulated smartphone.

Amazon will also have an approval process for applications submitted to its store. The company will be testing apps to verify that they work as outlined in the product description and to make sure hat they don’t impair the functionality of the smartphone or put customer data at risk once installed.

In many ways Amazon’s Appstore for Android works in the same way as the rest of its store. Users can view app recommendations based on past purchases from Amazon and pay in the same way as if they were buying a book. Applications can be purchased from a computer, a smartphone or a tablet.

At about 1:30 p.m. Central European Time on Tuesday, the top five paid applications were Angry Birds, Angry Birds Seasons, Angry Birds Rio, Fruit Ninja and Shazam Encore. The top five free apps were ZombieBooth, Angry Birds Seasons Free, Angry Birds Free, Amazon Mobile and Paper Toss.

Amazon has been trying to attract developers for some time. In January, the company launched a portal where developers can submit applications.

The app store is available to users in the U.S., excluding AT&T subscribers. However, AT&T is working to change that, and users can sign up at a website to be notified when the operator has finalized its plan, it said.

Amazon’s use of the name Appstore hasn’t gone unnoticed by Apple. On Friday, it sued Amazon, claiming rights to the name App Store.

HTC Thunderbolt now available

We knew it was coming and yesterday we had word that “tomorrow,” was the day, which means today it is here. Verizon Wireless is now taking online orders for HTC’s 4.3-inch Thunderbolt. The price is $250 on a two-year contract.

The handset comes with Android 2.2 as the OS underlying HTC Sense 2.0 UI, an 8 megapixel camera with HD video recording, 768MB of RAM, and a 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8655 chip. If Verizon’s price seems high, the Thunderbolt has been seen as low as $180 at Amazon, although they have it on back order right now.

HP Pre 3 Announced

HP made a number of announcements last night. The next of those after the HP TouchPad is the HP Pre 3. The HP Pre 3 is a follow on from the Palm Pre 2 with the new HP branding.

The HP Pre 3 has a slide down QWERTY keyboard and uses the same form factor as previous versions when under the Palm brand. It has a 3.6 inch screen that is capable of showing 800 x 480 pixels. This is a step up in terms of resolution from the previous versions.

On the back, a 5 megapixel camera can be found. There’s a camera on the front as well allowing video calls to be made between other Pre users as well as TouchPad users.

The device runs the webOS 2.2 operating system (the new tablet runs webOS 3.0). The processor running the Pre 3 is a Qualcomm MSM 8×55 running at 1.4GHz. It has GPS built in. Wireless and Bluetooth are also built in. As for storage, it comes in two capacities of either 8GB or 16GB. Other sensors built in include an ambient light sensor, accelerometer, compass and proximity.

Overall, a decent step in the right direction for the Pre. The original sold well but the Pre 2 seemed to fall short in some ways. From looking at the specs and with the boost of the TouchPad, the Pre 3 could sell well.

Pricing is still unknown for the Pre 3 as is a release date. What we do know is that it’s available in the Summer, but unfortunately HP is not being any more specific than that.

HP Veer webOS Smartphone Announced

HP announced the HP Veer along side the HP Pre 3 and the HP TouchPad last night. The HP Veer is the smallest device announced and comes with a 2.6 inch screen that has a resolution of 320 x 500.

On the back is a 5 megapixel camera. Other features include Wireless and Bluetooth for connectivity. For storage, it has an 8GB capacity (6.5GB available space). The small smartphone is compatible with the HP Touchstone charger. It also has GPS built in.

The processor on this smartphone is a Qualcomm MSM7230 that is clocked at 800MHz.

As with the other devices announced last night, the HP Veer also has no specific pricing set and as for a release date, expect it this Spring.

Verizon HTC Thunderbolt 4G photos

When Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg take the stage January 6 for a CES keynote, it’s expected that he’ll show off a broad range of LTE products and services. Both the dual-core LG smarpthone and the Motorola Honeycomb tablet should make an appearance, and we also look for the 4G LTE-ready HTC Thunderbolt.

Previously known by other code names (Mecha and Droid Incredible HD), the Thunderbolt will be the third 4G “first” from the manufacturer, following the Evo 4G (Sprint’s first 4G phone) and the G2 (T-Mobile’s first 4G handset). The Thunderbolt moniker makes sense as it conjures up imagery of Verizon’s recent 4G LTE commercials, which show a guy harnessing a lightning bolt much like Zeus would. What’s more, it would fall right in line with the carrier’s new “Rule the Air” campaign.

After making its initial appearance all the way back in August, the Thunderbolt hasn’t remained the best kept secret. Normally a company might scramble to release the device or make an official announcement ahead of any leaks–too many leaks and rumors can lessen a device’s impact–but it’s possible that HTC has a different game plan for this smartphone.

HTC itself appears to have leaked images of the device to various outlets, including AndroidCentral, Engadget, PhoneDog, and SlashGear. Each received different close-up photos of the device, teasing an overall bigger picture.

Recently, Gizmodo was the first to post a picture of the phone running the Sense UI with a 4G LTE icon in the notification bar. The Thunderbolt is expected to feature a 4.3-inch touch screen, an 8-megapixel camera with dual-LED flash, and a front-facing camera. Other rumored details include a kickstand (think EVO 4G), microSD card, and a 1GHz processor similar to the Desire HD and T-Mobile MyTouch 4G.

Ideas for Using your Smartphone Efficiently

Nowadays cell phones have evolved in the method we complete things and one of the largest improvements have come with the advanced phones. These Smartphone’s it seems have become a bigger part of our everyday life and it does not seem to be slowing down anytime soon. In this article we will look at different ways that you can get the most out of your Smartphone’s.

These days cell phones have changed the way we do things and one of the biggest improvements have come with the Smartphone. These Smartphone’s it seems have become a bigger part of our everyday life and it does not seem to be slowing down anytime soon. In this article we will look at different ways that you can get the most out of your Smartphone’s.

The Smartphone gives us many advantages over the traditional cell phones that we are use too. Probably the biggest difference is Smartphone’s let us stay connected with family and friends no matter where we happen to be. These types of phones have internet connection ability which means you can still keep up with your social media websites and family and friends. Many people want more than a text message and Smartphone’s let you do that. No matter where you travel these days staying in touch is as easy as turning your cell phone on.

For most people Smartphone’s are much more than a way to connect with others it has become a mobile office as well. Some of these high-end cell phones give you the ability to read documents on them and update documents as well. Even composing new documents is also something you will be able to accomplish. Being able to do work while you are away from the office is just another big advantage of these Smartphone’s. Entertainment is also something more people are taking advantage of as well. From watching movies to music videos the Smartphone has you covered.

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