Awesome. It uses Samsung’s new Exynos Orion ARM Cortex-A9 processor, Multimedia High-definition Link technology, the new 4.3 Samsung Super AMOLED Plus screen with better anti-reflection, better colors, better clarity and more, all of this in a thinner and lighter form factor. To be available around April or so. But Samsung is probably not going to make this cheaper.
Category: Smartphones
Samsung Galaxy Ace
Posted by – February 14, 2011
The form factor on this Android phone is about the same as an iPhone. It has a 3.5″ HVGA capacitive touch screen and a Qualcomm MSM7227 ARM11 processor. But this one is designed to be sold around $200 unlocked or on pre-paid plans. This Android Smartphone is cheap.
Live from the Samsung MWC event!
Posted by – February 14, 2011
Well this is not exactly live, but you get the point. Samsung organized a gigantic event in something that looks like a stadium, huge show, funky music, awesome devices.
Samsung Galaxy Mini
Posted by – February 14, 2011
The cheapest new Samsung Galaxy phone. It uses the Qualcomm MSM7227 ARM11 processor.
Netflix on OMAP4
Posted by – February 14, 2011
Texas Instruments implements some security features in the new OMAP4 processor which allows for access to DRM sites like Netflix on Android.
Samsung Galaxy S2, Tab2, new images
Posted by – February 13, 2011
Look for my videos on these as early as later today. My wild guess is Samsung may need their new Super AMOLED factory that may not be ready before June, before they mass release the new Galaxy S2 with the new Samsung Orion processor that starts mass manufacturing next month. Samsung has a press conference on these at 6PM Barcelona time, check back for a lot more.
Source: samsunghub.com
Related articles
- Samsung Galaxy S2 and Tab2 may use Samsung Orion ARM Cortex-A9 (armdevices.net)
- Confirmed: Galaxy S2 and Galaxy Tab 2 Shown Off Tomorrow (phandroid.com)
- Samsung Galaxy S II and Galaxy Tab 10.1″ officially pictured (slashgear.com)
$99 Android phones by ZTE
Posted by – February 12, 2011
Chinese manufacturers ZTE and Huawei are bringing cheap Android phones to the market. Those cheap Android phones can for example be bought for below £100 in the UK on Orange’s pre-paid plan today. US carriers such as Virgin-Mobile, Cricket, MetroPCS are also bringing these types of cheap Android phones to the US market on pre-paid plans, no contracts needed. This video features the upcoming cheap Android phones ZTE Racer+, ZTE Blade, ZTE P735E (with sliding keyboard), ZTE V852 Dreamer and ZTE V881.
This is exactly how Android has now become the number 1 fastest selling smartphone platform in the world. You thought Android’s 888% market share progress in 2010 was impressive? You haven’t seen nothing yet, as these types of sub-$100 Android phones are bringing Android smartphones to everyone else in the world who hasn’t got one yet. 1 Billion people in China, 1 Billion people in India, all those people are going to have access to the best of Android at more and more affordable prices.
Consumers in Europe and the USA are also going to buy these cheap phones in greater numbers even than the established $500 phones (unsubsidized), as consumers in Europe and the USA choose pre-paid plans for smartphones more and more.
Motorola Atrix 4G to cost $3220 on AT&T ?
Posted by – February 10, 2011
So the first reviews of this awesome “Best of CES 2011” device are reaching some blogs today including slashgear, bgr, crunchgear, engadget.
The talk on the blogosphere and on blogs.forbes.com is that the Motorola Atrix 4G will be $199 alone on 2-year contract, or $499 with the Laptop Dock on 2-year contract. I’m not sure what the Multimedia/Desktop Dock will cost, my guess is $199? (if someone knows the price of the multimedia/desktop dock, please post in the comments).
Notice, as most phones sold in the USA, consumers have to signup for a 2-year contract. I always think all blogs should make it a rule that all prices should include minimum and maximum pricing both unlocked, terminated (with early termination fees) and with those 2-year contracts.
AT&T 2-year contracts seem to cost approximately like this:
– $85 per month for 400 minutes of voice,
– $95 per month for 900 minutes of voice,
– $105 per month for Unlimited minutes of voice
with 2GB data and WiFi hotspot support. That’s between $2040 and $2520 for 2 years.
Total price of Motorola Atrix 4G (with both Laptop and Multimedia Docks) on AT&T for 2-years: between $2740 and $3220
This is not really new. Telco carriers are in the business of making tons of cash and money. This is business as usual.
Yet, as AT&T is making so many tons of money on the 2-year contract, I don’t exactly understand why AT&T doesn’t just give the Motorola Atrix 4G with both docking accessories at a more affordable price than something like this $700 upfront payment.
I mean, comon AT&T. Don’t you want to have some price competitive Android super phone options to destroy the iPhone now that your exclusive distribution deal with Apple is finished?
I’d hardly even consider the Motorola Atrix 4G for $499 with both Docks when the whole thing would be sold unlocked. I may be looking at a package for something like $1000 if I want it unlocked.
Anyways, it’s for sure Motorola still deserves “Best of CES 2011” award, no matter the pricing. Just because they are courageous enough to push the industry forward in terms of all-in-one ARM Powered device. It is understandable that Motorola wants to take ample profit margins on the accessories and not sell the laptop dock for $150 and TV dock for below $100 as they are supposed to. But for AT&T, well, it’s up to them. How fast do they want to sell these devices in the USA? If AT&T would sell the phone $199 on contract, and provide the accessories for $150 for laptop dock and $100 for tv/desktop dock, then they would have something really powerful to outsell the iPhone quickly and quickly get mass adoption. One can hope AT&T and the other carriers around the world who are looking into selling the Motorola Atrix 4G, that they all think hard about pricing, and that they bring the device with accessories to as many people as possible at some reasonable pricing.
Kyocera Echo dual-screen Android phone looks awesome
Posted by – February 8, 2011
Last month I filmed the awesome dual-7″-screen LT-W prototype from NEC, already then was it really fun to have an idea of how cool dual-screen web browsing can be and to imagine other apps such as email that can become more useful when used over 2 screens. I really like the idea of the pocketable dual-screen convertible Android touch screen device. Typing mode may not be as fast as with a hardware keyboard, but some really interesting dual-screen applications can be imagined. I’m definitely saying Thumbs up for the innovative design, perhaps their next one can have even less screen bezel in between the two screens to make it more seamless as one big foldable touch screen.
This video was published at: blog.laptopmag.com
Related articles
- Sprint Announces the Kyocera Echo Dual-Screen Smartphone – Examiner.com (news.google.com)
- Sprint Kyocera Echo Dual-Screen Smartphone Coming Soon for $199 on Contract (devicemag.com)
- Sprint to Debut Kyocera Echo, Dual-Screen Phone/Tablet Hybrid? (pocketnow.com)
- Hands on: Dual-screen Kyocera Echo (electronista.com)
- Sprint’s Kyocera Echo dual-screen Android phone announced, we go hands-on (engadget.com)
- Kyocera Echo Dual-Screen Android Hands On (Video) (pocketnow.com)
Alcatel One Touch and Archos partner up for low cost Android Tablet and Smartphone combined data plans
Posted by – February 8, 2011
Alcatel One Touch is one of the makers of cheap Android Smartphones such as the Alcatel OT-980 which is sold for only £99 on pre-paid plans in the UK. Alcatel One Touch is a brand of TCL Corporation, a $16.7 Billion valued Chinese consumer electronics company.
Alcatel One Touch’s partnership with Archos would enable an easy sharing of data from a low cost Android Smartphone using a ‘’One Touch Connect’’ button to share the 3G data automatically with the Archos tablet over a mobile WiFi hotspot. This may be a one-click process, and the carrier may be able to limit access of that WiFi hotspot only to the Archos tablet through Mac address filtering and not as a totally open or encrypted WiFi hotspot for use with other devices.
The idea is that one affordable subscription plan include the voice and data through the low cost Android smartphone as well as the low cost yet high-end Android tablet. This way, consumers don’t need to subscribe to more than one package. I think it can be expected that Alcatel One Touch will present a new range of cheap Android Smartphones at Mobile World Congress next week with this One Touch Connect mobile hotspot functionality built-in.
Here is expectation/guess/suggestion for a pricing model which I think would make this kind of offer a sure hit:
Pre-paid only, no contract: $299 for the basic 3.5″ capacitive Alcatel-OT Smartphone and the latest Archos 7″ capacitive tablet, both are on pre-paid and no contracts are needed, pricing for pre-paid should be below $30 per month for something like 300 minutes or unlimited use of voice and 3GB to 5GB of data per month to be used on the Tablet and the Smartphone. The 3GB monthly data hotspot may be open for other devices as well if the carrier wants to allow it. For example $10 to $20 extra per month it could open up the mobile hotspot to any other device and increase monthly limit to something like 10GB per month.
Phone alone on pre-paid no contract should be $149. Tablet alone no contract needed would be $249.
6-month contract, then pre-pay: $249 for the Smartphone+Tablet package, $30/month for unlimited voice/data to use on both devices or more. $50 early termination fee, lowered $5 each month.
12-month contract, then pre-pay: $199 for the Smartphone+Tablet package, $30/month for unlimited voice/data to use on both devices or more. $100 early termination fee, lowered $5 each month.
18-month contract, then pre-pay: $149 for the Smartphone+Tablet package, $30/month for unlimited voice/data to use on both devices or more, $150 early termination fee, lowered $5 each month.
24-month contract, then pre-pay: $99 for the Smartphone+Tablet package, $30/month for unlimited voice/data to use on both devices or more. $200 early termination fee, lowered $5 each month.
What do you think of the idea to use a cheap Smartphone mostly for voice and basic apps and tether it with a larger screen Tablet, use all on one same low cost voice+data plan, and even have this work for pre-paid plans?
Mobino, a new mobile payments system demonstrated at Lift11 Geneva
Posted by – February 8, 2011
Mobino is a new way to pay for things through the mobile phone, through any cheap voice-only mobile phone as well, using voice prompts when dialing the payment system, and using a pin code to authorize the payment.
Android sells 2x faster than the iPhone worldwide , even more than Symbian in Q4 2010
Posted by – January 31, 2011
Category: Smartphones, Android
Market research firm Canalys released this global smart phone market data analysis for Q4 2010, October-December 2010, revealing that over 100 million smart phones have been sold worldwide in those 3 months in which Android is the new leader in worldwide smart phone sales, even in front of Symbian sales and selling more than double as many as the iPhone.
I don’t think the Verizon iPhone is going to change anything, on the contrary, now AT&T will focus selling more Android phones than Verizon is to sell iPhones. AT&T plans to launch at least 12 Android phones this year and Google is looking forward to enable the release of cheaper Android phones, as Eric Schmidt recently said:
we want to increase the availability of inexpensive smartphones in the poorest parts of the world. We envision literally a billion people getting inexpensive, browser-based touchscreen phones over the next few years. Can you imagine how this will change their awareness of local and global information and their notion of education? And that will be just the start.
Related articles
- Android Becomes Best-selling Smartphone OS, Says Canalys – PC World (news.google.com)
- Android Is Now the Top Smartphone Platform: Report (fastcompany.com)
- Android Wrests Top Smartphone OS Title From Symbian (gigaom.com)
- Canalys: Android handsets outsold Symbian handsets during Q4 2010 [The sky is falling] (intomobile.com)
- Canalys stats show Android became world’s leading smartphone platform in Q4 2010 (slashgear.com)
- Android phones currently sell more than 2x faster than the iPhone in the US (armdevices.net)
- Canalys: Android overtakes Symbian as world’s best-selling smartphone platform in Q4 2010 (engadget.com)
Sharp’s big move into Android phones and tablets
Posted by – January 24, 2011
At CES 2011, Sharp showed their 3.8″ parallax barrier 3D screen in their Android powered 3D phone on the Softbank network. Sharp is making the 3D screen that is in the upcoming Nintendo 3DS, it allows for amazing 3D screen without the need for 3D glasses. Thus as Sharp is ramping up mass production of that “parallax barrier” 3.8″ WVGA 3D screen, they are able to put it in Smart phones as well, which is how they are now shipping in Japan the Sharp 003SH and 005SH (with slide-out keyboard). Sharp is also entering the Tablet market with their new Tablet optimized screens at 5.5″ and 10.8″ super sharp high resolution LCD screens in the Galapagos Tablets now released in the Japanese market.
Related articles
- Japan only: Sharp Galapagos 003SH and 005SH rock Android, glasses-free 3D screens! (intomobile.com)
- CES 2011: Hands-On With Sharp’s Galapagos 003SH Glasses-Free 3D Android Phone. Surprisingly, It Works! [Video] (androidpolice.com)
- CES 2011: In pictures: Sharp Galapagos tablet (techradar.com)
- 3D Sharp Galapagos 003SH First Disney Mobile Smartphone (pocketnow.com)
LG Optimus V Android phone at $150 on Virgin Mobile USA pre-paid (no contract)
Posted by – January 24, 2011
Here’s a 3.2″ 480×320 resolution capacitive touch screen. Has an ARM11 600Mhz Qualcomm MSM7627 processor with Adreno 200 graphics acceleration (also called AMD z430) it has smooth Android 2.2 support. The really cool thing is you will be able to buy this in ever super market, CVS Pharmacy, Wallgreeens, for $150 with no contracts required, it uses the pre-paid Virgin Mobile network. And the same phone is also available as “LG Optimus M” on MetroPCS (seems to be $229 on there no contract required) and it’s also on Sprint and T-Mobile, but I don’t know if those networks offer pre-paid plans with no contracts required.
Source: androidcentral.com
As more and more Android phones reach sub-$150 pricing on pre-paid plans, this is becoming a big deal, especially when those get to approach or overtake the 3.5″ capacitive form factor, most consumers might think the experience with Android on those is just as good as any iPhone or other expensive Android phone on 2-year $2400 contracts, this is a big deal, look forward to more on cheap Android phones leading up to my Mobile World Congress coverage.
This video was published at mobiletechreview.com
Related articles
- LG teases Optimus Me budget Android phone (electronista.com)
- LG Optimus Me P350 Leaked (phandroid.com)
- LG Reveals No-Frills Optimus Me P350 on Android 2.2 (pocketnow.com)
Samsung Galaxy S2 and Tab2 may use Samsung Orion ARM Cortex-A9
Posted by – January 20, 2011
A rumor coming from nocutnews.co.kr is that Samsung may have its Dual-Core Samsung Orion ARM Cortex-A9 processor ready to put in their upcoming Galaxy S2 (and likely also Samsung Galaxy Tab2) to be presented February 13th at Mobile World Congress.
Found via: slashgear.com
Other possible specs:
– Android 2.3
– 4.3-inch 800 x 480 Super AMOLED Plus touchscreen
– 1GB RAM
– 9mm thin
– 1080p camcorder
– Mali-400 means 1080p 60fps support, or 1080p 3D playback through HDMI output
Watch my video of the Samsung Orion processor. When I spoke with the Samsung representatives before shooting this video, they hinted that it could be ready earlier than June, thus a February unveiling and demo with mass production a bit later is a possibility.
Related articles
- Samsung Hints at Next-gen Galaxy S Smartphone (pcworld.com)
Motorola Cliq 2
Posted by – January 18, 2011
New phone with a slide-out keyboard designed for fast thumb typing.
Related articles
- Motorola Cliq 2, first hands-on (engadget.com)
- Hands-on: T-Mobile Motorola Cliq 2 – Can this Motoblur device compete? (intomobile.com)
- First Impressions: Motorola Cliq 2 for T-Mobile (pcworld.com)
Cricket Muve Music
Posted by – January 18, 2011
For $55 per month, the phone is $199, no contract, unlimited talk, text, mobile web (on the phone only, no tethering) and unlimited access to online streaming of millions of songs. Cricket Communications developed their feature phone OS using the Brew platform.
Related articles
- Cricket Wireless announces Muve Music plan and Samsung Suede touchscreen phone (intomobile.com)
- Cricket Muve Music $55 plan to offer unlimited music & service (slashgear.com)
- CES: Cricket delays Muve Music, Samsung Suede (ces.cnet.com)
- Cricket Muve music service and Samsung Suede hands-on (engadget.com)
- Hands-on Cricket Muve Music unlimited download service (intomobile.com)
Motorola Atrix 4G wins “Best of CES 2011”
Posted by – January 15, 2011
The winner of ARMdevices.net Best of CES 2011 award goes to the Motorola Atrix 4G smart phone.
Congratulations! clap clap..
With the launch of this new Motorola Super Phone, we have witnessed a historic moment in the history of consumer electronics. Motorola unveils not only the most powerful smartphone yet based on Nvidia’s Tegra2 AP20H ARM Cortex-A9 processor, but has actually worked feverishly on making software layers on top of Android to provide for a Desktop/Laptop replacement experience, all powered by the phone! Motorola presents full HD resolution Firefox web browser running on top of Android, Citrix virtualization integration for running all other x86 apps that can be virtualized, they put Android in a Window so you can still run any Android apps in that Window when in Desktop mode! And this is the first generation of this type of product, so you are only witnessing the beginning of ARM Powered Pocketable Smart Mobile Devices to be able to power everything you would do on a Laptop powered by Intel/Microsoft. Expect even faster dual-core processors to run this type of product soon with unlimited amounts of tabs with lots of pictures/embedded videos and do it all fully smoothly.
Here is my 25 minute long video featuring the part of the keynote unveiling of the product as well as 16 minute interview with Seang Chau, product manager on Motorola Atrix 4G, Vice President and Chief Software Engineer at Motorola Mobility Inc:
To tell you the truth, this award does not mean Motorola Atrix 4G is perfect yet. I noticed some lagging on scrolling when browsing through 3 or 4 tabs with websites loaded such as ARMdevices.net Engadget.com and Gizmodo.com and having Flash videos play in one of the tabs and maybe other Flash instances such as some advertisement running in some other tab. Maybe the slow downs can be removed if Flash can be managed to only use processing and memory bandwidth on-demand or seamlessly when in the front tab. This type of slow down may be caused by any number of factors. Maybe the Software isn’t fully ready yet and can still be optimized. Maybe the Chrome browser on ARM would be faster than Mozilla Firefox. Maybe the Nvidia Tegra2 AP20H processor doesn’t yet have enough fast access memory bandwidth, not fast enough I/O speeds to let the Firefox tabs load their contents instantly enough when switching tabs. Although, I haven’t tested it yet, I wonder if the Tegra2 AP20H is not yet fast enough for full 1080p@60fps high bitrate high profile video playback of all video formats. I tried to playback the 9mbitps .MP4 h264 that my Sanyo HD1000 camcorder makes as well as the 5-24mbitps .MTS h264 that a Panasonic SH900 camcorder makes, those files are not yet recognized or launchable by the file browser. Too bad I didn’t have some standard 720p and 1080p MKV movies on my mass storage device that I tested.
Anyways, multi-tab browsing and HD video isn’t smooth on a regular Intel Atom netbook either, 480p YouTube seems also to be the maximum that can smoothly be played back using even a recent dual-core Intel Atom N550 Acer D255E netbook, and over 100 million consumers seem to be more or less satisfied with that or even slower experience. The key here is to see if the ARM Cortex-A9 platforms in Laptop/Desktop situations can match performance of Intel Atom. At least Motorola is hereby showing that they are investing heavily into this convergence, they are now definitely officially focused on speeding up ARM Powered performances to a level where consumers and enterprise can be satisfied to replace their Wintel machines. This is the big type of high-end Android product that AT&T wants to promote now that their iPhone exclusivity is finished. Motorola may be trying to say that they are not entering the Laptop and Desktop market, when in fact they are and they are pulling the whole smartphone industry in there with them.
Related articles
- Motorola Atrix hitting March 1st, according to AT&T document leak? (engadget.com)
- AT&T’s Motorola Atrix: More Teasers (pcworld.com)
- AT&T Motorola ATRIX 4G due March 1? (slashgear.com)
- Exclusive: Motorola Atrix confirmed for May UK release (dialtosave.co.uk)
Pierre Cardin 9.7″ and 7″ Android Tablets
Posted by – January 15, 2011
Pierre Cardin Communication Electronics also called Shenzhen Vogues Industries are showing these new interesting Android tablets, one is 9.7″ same LG IPS capacitive panel as on iPad running on Rockchip RK29xx series with front and back cameras, another tablet is 7″ capacitive Samsung ARM Cortex-A8 Hummingbird tablet to be sold at $150 in bulk, and they also make a probably cheap 3.5″ Qualcomm MSM7227 mobile phone as well.
Qualcomm’s dual-core snapdragon was at CES 2011
Posted by – January 14, 2011
I didn’t have time to find it when I tried to find new stuff at Qualcomm’s CES booth, but they did show a reference platform for their upcoming dual-core Snapdragon MSM8660 to some bloggers at CES 2011 and they posted an official video here:
Source: youtube.com/QUALCOMMVlog
Found via: engadget.com
Expect to see more on Qualcomm’s Dual Core Snapdragon at Mobile World Congress next month.
Here’s an interview showing Qualcomm MSM8660 reference prototype at CES 2011 posted by IntoMobile.com:
Source: youtube.com/IntoMobile
Related articles
- Qualcomm unveils dual-core Snapdragon reference handset at CES 2011 (engadget.com)
- Qualcomm: Our dual core Snapdragon chips are coming this year [Just can’t say when exactly] (intomobile.com)
- The Dual-Core ARM Powered products are coming (armdevices.net)
- Qualcomm unveil new Snapdragon processor (dialtosave.co.uk)
- Qualcomm plots Snapdragon update, speed boost (zdnet.com)
