Posted: 15 Feb 2012 01:59 PM PST Verizon Wireless currently holds one of the best positions among the 4 major carriers in the US. Arguably, it has one of the best services and devices in the American market, but it seems like their retail store designs need a bit more work. Verizon plans to fix this issue, and is currently trying a new clean and simple design concept. Verizon trying new retail store design; much to the likes of Apple Stores originally appeared on AndroidGuys. While many of us have moved to online purchasing, there is nothing like walking into a store to check out the latest devices. This is a method that is still used by the majority of the population. And while tech savvy consumers may find it a breeze, Verizon stores can be very confusing (currently). Current Verizon Stores  The stores are usually filled many posters, and if you have seen "Droid" advertising, such posters are not very clear (robot eyes and machines). There are usually many devices (many times non-working) in the walls, accompanied with a sign that states the name and main features. It is a visual revolution. Verizon's new concept attempts to make the sledge & hammer experience much more enjoyable. Similar to Apple Stores (which has a very successful design), the new design is substantially cleaner and less confusing. This is a technique that carriers are starting to catch up on. T-Mobile has already done something similar (albeit Magenta's design looks a bit more like a club). The idea is that there is more walking space (3,100 square feet), providing a much more flowing environment. The tables are simple and clean, the walls are not bombarded by advertising, and there is good lighting and space to check out the (working) gadgets. The first Verizon concept store (Evlution 2.0) is located in Toms River, New Jersey. The store will also be fully-staffed, with 21 full-time employees. This will get rid of all the waiting one usually has to do. Sounds like a great store, right? This concept store was opened last Sunday, so if you are around the area, be sure to look for it. And we certainly hope that Verizon can soon incorporate these tactics to the rest of the country. Check out the images and let us know what you think. Do you believe this concept is better? Why? Have any of you been to this new store? New Verizon Store Concept       [Via Pocket Now] Follow AndroidGuys on Facebook and Twitter and download the free AndroidGuys app for your device! Save a bunch on your next Android. Check out Amazon's best sellers! UPDATED HOURLY  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Posted: 15 Feb 2012 01:25 PM PST  Recently, we showed you the leaked shot of a white Galaxy Nexus in the wild. The device will be hitting the UK soon, but if you're wondering when it will hit the States, then we might have some good news for you. Droid-Life is reporting that Verizon will launch the white Galaxy Nexus soon, but with only 16GB of internal storage. That might seem like a lot for most users, but as the GN is missing a microSD card slot, it means you will be limited to 16GB. On the bright side, it will be cheaper than the current Galaxy Nexus, which is available for $299.99 with a 2-yr contract. You can expect the white variant to cost around $199.99 with a contract. Word on the street also indicated that Verizon will introduce a 16GB variant of the original Galaxy Nexus, which makes sense. Of course, this is all speculation until we get official word from Big Red or Samsung. So if Verizon launches the white Galaxy Nexus, will you buy one? Do you think white phones are overrated? Tell us in the comments below! Follow AndroidGuys on Facebook and Twitter and download the free AndroidGuys app for your device! Save a bunch on your next Android. Check out Amazon's best sellers! UPDATED HOURLY | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Posted: 15 Feb 2012 12:07 PM PST  The details are simple, and it is a great chance to win a smartphone. If you happen to be one of the many that will not win, at least you will be able to have a picture of you looking like Darth Maul. In order to participate, users must download an app called Darth Maul Me, which pretty much takes a picture of you and turns you into Darth Maul. The application itself is pretty straight-forward, which also makes it seem not very well designed. But the purpose is fulfilled, and it is fun. The app needs Adobe AIR to run, so you might want to download that, as well. But let's go through the steps to enter and win your LG Spectrum.
Start making your pictures and tweet away, guys! With enough luck, you might get one of these 5 devices in your doorstep soon. Oh, and may the force be with you. Follow AndroidGuys on Facebook and Twitter and download the free AndroidGuys app for your device! Save a bunch on your next Android. Check out Amazon's best sellers! UPDATED HOURLY | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Posted: 15 Feb 2012 12:06 PM PST HTC is getting amped up for the Mobile World Congress and they are ready to rock the show. We recently showed you some test photos taken by the phones that would launch at MWC. Now, we know the codenames of the devices but we would love to know more about the final branding. Our friends over at PocketNow and SlashGear got some information about it. You may know that HTC has launched a few devices under the "Desire" series, and now they are planning to release a new series dubbed the "One". HTC One X and One S to debut at Mobile World Congress originally appeared on AndroidGuys.  PocketNow reports that HTC Edge/Endeavor will be finally launched as HTC One X (the X is in superscript), which makes it kind of sexy. On the other hand, SlashGear is reporting that HTC Ville will be launch as HTC One S(the S is in superscript as well). Only the names have changed, everything else is the same under the hood. As you may know, HTC One X will be a high end phone, featuring quad-core processor with other amazing combos. The HTC One S will feature a dual-core processor, but as we are living in a "quad core mobile" age, it will be considered as a mid-range phone. Anyway folks, MWC is just few weeks away now. Tell us what do you think about HTC's new scheme? Source: PocketNow, SlashGear Follow AndroidGuys on Facebook and Twitter and download the free AndroidGuys app for your device! Save a bunch on your next Android. Check out Amazon's best sellers! UPDATED HOURLY | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Posted: 15 Feb 2012 11:38 AM PST  HTC today announced that both owners of the Sensation and the Sensation XE can get a sneak preview of the upcoming Android 4.0 update. Called an "early access preview", it will be available to a few hundred European users prior to its full rollout. The goal here is to get some real-world usage out of the update before giving to everyone else later in March. If you have one of these two smartphones and want to get your hands on the "beta" release, you're advised to keep your eyes peeled. We'd start by following HTC on Facebook as that's where they like to make little announcements like this. "HTC is doing something new and pretty cool in the coming days: we'll be releasing an "early access preview" of our ICS upgrade for the Sensation and Sensation XE. This will be limited in scope (just a few hundred users and only in Europe) because we're still scaling up back-end resources for general availability worldwide, and our hope is people will play with it and enjoy getting used to the ICS experience with Sense. We'll be doing similar previews for other devices in the future, too." - HTCSource: Android Community Follow AndroidGuys on Facebook and Twitter and download the free AndroidGuys app for your device! Save a bunch on your next Android. Check out Amazon's best sellers! UPDATED HOURLY | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Posted: 15 Feb 2012 11:14 AM PST   Gartner Says Worldwide Smartphone Sales Soared in Fourth Quarter of 2011 Apple Became Top Smartphone Vendor in Fourth Quarter of 2011 and in 2011 as a WholeEgham, UK, February 15, 2012- Worldwide smartphone sales to end users soared to 149 million units in the fourth quarter of 2011, a 47.3 per cent increase from the fourth quarter of 2010, according to Gartner, Inc. Total smartphone sales in 2011 reached 472 million units and accounted for 31 percent of all mobile devices sales, up 58 percent from 2010. Smartphone volumes during the quarter rose due to record sales of Apple iPhones. As a result, Apple became the third-largest mobile phone vendor in the world, overtaking LG. Apple also became the world's top smartphone vendor, with a market share of 23.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011, and the top smartphone vendor for 2011 as a whole, with a 19 percent market share. "Western Europe and North America led most of the smartphone growth for Apple during the fourth quarter of 2011," said Roberta Cozza, principal research analyst at Gartner. "In Western Europe the spike in iPhone sales in the fourth quarter saved the overall smartphone market after two consecutive quarters of slow sales." The quarter saw Samsung and Apple cement their positions further at the top of the market as their brands and new products clearly stood out. LG, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and Research In Motion (RIM) again recorded disappointing results as they struggled to improve volumes and profits significantly. These vendors were also exposed to a much stronger threat from the midrange and low end of the smartphone market as ZTE and Huawei continued to gain share during the quarter. Worldwide mobile device sales to end users totaled 476.5 million units in the fourth quarter of 2011, a 5.4 percent increase from the same period in 2010 (see Table 1). In 2011 as a whole, end users bought 1.8 billion units, an 11.1 percent increase from 2010 (see Table 2). "Expectations for 2012 are for the overall market to grow by about 7 percent, while smartphone growth is expected to slow to around 39 percent," said Annette Zimmermann, principal research analyst at Gartner. In the fourth quarter of 2011, Nokia's mobile phone sales numbered 111.7 million units, an 8.7 percent decrease from last year. "Samsung closed the gap with Nokia in overall market share," said Ms. Cozza. "Samsung profited from strong smartphone sales of 34 million units in the fourth quarter of 2011. The troubled economic environment in Europe and Nokia's weakened brand status posed challenges that were hard to overcome in just one quarter. However, Nokia proved its ability to execute and deliver on time with its new Lumia 710 and 800 handsets. Nokia will have to continue to offer aggressive prices to encourage communications service providers (CSPs) to add its products to portfolios currently dominated by Android-based devices." Apple had an exceptional fourth quarter, selling 35.5 million smartphones to end users, a 121.4 percent increase year on year. Apple's continued attention to channel management helped it take full advantage of the strong quarter to further close the gap with Samsung, which saw some inventory build up for its smartphone range. Apple's strong performance will continue into the first quarter of 2012 as availability of the iPhone 4S widens. However, since Apple will not benefit from delayed purchases as it did in the fourth quarter of 2011, Gartner analysts expect its sales to decline quarter-on-quarter. After Apple, ZTE and Huawei were the fastest-growing vendors in the fourth quarter of 2011. "These vendors expanded their market reach and kept on improving the user experience of their Android devices," said Ms. Cozza. In the fourth quarter of 2011, ZTE moved into fourth place in the global handset market. ZTE posted a strong smartphone sales increase of 71 percent sequentially. The company was able to extend its portfolio to three CSPs in its home market and benefited from consumers' interest in low-cost smartphones. Huawei moved ahead of LG in the Android marketplace to become a top-four Android manufacturer, thanks to strong smartphone growth in the quarter. Huawei has made significant progress in moving to its own-branded devices, and it has continued to expand its portfolio into higher tiers as its tries to build more iconic products. RIM dropped to the No. 7 spot in the fourth quarter of 2011, with a 10.7 percent decline. RIM's delay with its BlackBerry 10 platform will further impair its ability to retain users. However, RIM's biggest challenge is still to expand the developer base around its ecosystem and convince developers to work and innovate with BlackBerry 10. In the smartphone OS market (see Table 3), competition between Google and Apple intensified. Android's share declined slightly sequentially. This was due to strong iPhone sales, driven in particular by the iPhone 4S in mature markets and the weakness of key Android vendors as they struggled to create unique and differentiated devices. Samsung remained the main contributor to Android share gains in the second half of 2011. iOS's market share grew 8 percentage points year-on-year, but Gartner analysts expect Apple's share to drop in the next couple of quarters as the upgrade cycle to the iPhone 4S slows. Nokia's first Windows Phone smartphones, the Lumia 710 and 800, made their debut, but, as expected, sales were not enough to prevent a fall in Microsoft's smartphone market share. 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Posted: 15 Feb 2012 11:02 AM PST ZTE is a very famous Chinese brand and their devices are well known in USA. We saw the cheap Android tablet launched by Sprint known as ZTE Optik, only for $99 with contract. Now ZTE has launched a new Android powered tablet in UK which is known as ZTE Light Tab 2. It's a 7 inch tablet and available for purchase for only £235; however the only bad thing about this tablet is that it's running on Android 2.3, which is kind of history now. Nowadays, even the cheapest tablet is running on Android 3.0 Honeycomb, so hopefully ZTE will launch Honeycomb or ICS update for it sooner or later. ZTE launches ZTE Light Tab 2 in UK, with Gingerbread originally appeared on AndroidGuys.  It features a 1.4GHz single-core processor, dual cameras, WiFi and 3G connectivity. It comes with 4GB internal storage with microSD slot. Check out what's ZTE saying about it: "ZTE V9A is ZTE's first own-branded tablet made available in the UK and we are very excited about its entry into the market. We plan to continue our progress in the UK, introducing ZTE branded consumer devices with key capabilities at reasonable prices," said Wu Sa, Director, Mobile Device Operations, ZTE. "Our UK strategy is very much focused on providing quality devices - a factor which is apparent through our growth and development in the handset arena"Anyone planning to pick the ZTE Light Tab 2 this month? Tell us about it in the comment box below. Source: Engadget Follow AndroidGuys on Facebook and Twitter and download the free AndroidGuys app for your device! Save a bunch on your next Android. Check out Amazon's best sellers! UPDATED HOURLY | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Posted: 15 Feb 2012 11:00 AM PST  Maxa Technologies just released a new version of their skeye.dart PDA for mobile computing. The previous model uses Windows Mobile v6 of all things, so its easy to understand the move to Android. This new unit is also boasting some better specifications than the previous one. Increasing the CPU speed by ~33%, it's safe to assume this latest model is a single core 1ghz processor. The device also has twice as much RAM as its predecessor along with faster 3G connectivity. I personally had no idea that PDA's were still being manufactured. The most interesting aspect of this story is the fact that the Dutch Navy deploys the skeye.dart as a part of its wireless communications system using both voice and data transmission via the single handheld device. The device is running Android v2.3 Gingerbread, but with the specs listed above I cannot foresee any updates coming in the future. It's likely the device will live and die with the Gingerbread OS. Mike Ashcroft, Director of Technical Services at Maxatec, said: "Android has developed into a leading Smartphone operating system, and as such there is an extremely high level of acceptance with not only consumers, but also enterprise. The open-source system reduces the dependency on some of the key market players, allows software developers various programming options and the operating system provides a high degree of security which is paramount in the growing mobile market sector."Source: MaxaTech Follow AndroidGuys on Facebook and Twitter and download the free AndroidGuys app for your device! Save a bunch on your next Android. Check out Amazon's best sellers! UPDATED HOURLY | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Posted: 15 Feb 2012 10:17 AM PST   As much as I love Google Voice and the ability to use one account across multiple smartphones, I can't help but imagine a better scenario. Since I spend most of my day connected to a Wi-Fi network, I imagine that there has to be a "better way". If I can text and read messages over Wi-Fi and VOiP works well on a desktop, someone needs to marry these things together. Sure, Skype works well and I'm aware of Groove IP, but I'm ready for a reputable company to step up. Enter Vonage. Obviously Vonage isn't breaking ground here with their recent mobile offerings, but I like where they are headed with their high-definition audio. In case you hadn't heard yet, their new Android app lets users call and text each other at no cost, integrates with the phone's address book, and even calls other Vonage clients free of charge. With low-cost international calling rates and easy dialing options, it's a shot across the bow of its competition. Did I mention that it works over Wi-Fi, 3G, and 4G connections? Yeah, Google Voice has a little catching up to do here.  Speaking of those international calls, Vonage's rates are, on average, 70 percent less than what your wireless provider is charging. When compared to Skype, Vonage comes in about 30 percent lower. Even better, it uses your same phone number so you don't have to worry about giving friends and family a secondary line. Want to add some call time to your account? It's a breeze, thanks to in-app billing from the Android Market! I've been growing quite fond of Vonage Mobile in the few days since it arrived on Android and plan to install it across multiple devices. If there were one piece of advice that I could give to the developers, it would be to create something tablet-friendly. Yes, it would be unwieldy to call with a 10-inch tablet, but it's still convenient in a pinch. Click here to view the embedded video. Features of Vonage Mobile
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Posted: 15 Feb 2012 10:12 AM PST We all love our Android devices, whether it's a brand new Galaxy Nexus or the outdated Moto Droid we simply LOVE them. Our natural instinct is to protect the things we love, and BodyGuardz knows this. I first came across this Carbon Fiber armor at CTIA 2011 where the display model was a Motorola Xoom. Review: BodyGuardz Carbon Fiber Armor on ASUS Transformer Prime originally appeared on AndroidGuys. The Xoom was still a relatively new device at the time and I'd yet to see one personally. My first sight of it being encased in the black carbon fiber pattern was astonishing. The people working the BodyGuardz booth at CTIA were extremely helpful and even offered to print, cut and install these kits for a few of us. At that time, this was an unreleased product so we were stoked. It only took a few minutes for them to install it and I was sold. The protective kit made my 6 month old EVO 4G (at the time) look brand new and super sleek. To this day, my EVO is retired but still sporting the black carbon fiber kit that was installed a year ago. I'm a sucker for a good carbon fiber print, and these guys nailed it. Recently, i had purchased a Transformer Prime on behalf of a superior at the office. One of the first things I ordered was the BodyGuardz armor kit. I chose the black version and it came in a few days later. It kind of sucked, since I wouldn't get to keep the Prime, but I wanted to show my boss a great experience and the look of the CF design really stood out. A few pictures after installation, which i think turned out GREAT!  Notice the cutouts for the speaker. The BodyGuardz people sure don't miss any details. The camera cutout is the perfect shape & size. The kit doesn't just cover the back of the device, it protects the sides along with the top and bottom. They provide pre-cut little strips for each aspect of the device to prevent the casual nicks and dings. While on the dock, it really stands out from the ordinary tablet. At the same time offers some much needed protection. If you decide to peel it off after a while, there isn't any sticky residue left over.BodyGuardz also includes one of their ScreenGuardz Screen Protectors in the armor kit. So you spend the $20 on the armor and get a free screen protector too. Most places charge more for just the screen protection.. For more information on pricing and ordering visit the BodyGuardz website http://www.bodyguardz.com/armorinfo. They are quick to answer questions on Twitter too. You can find them at @BodyGuardz. Follow AndroidGuys on Facebook and Twitter and download the free AndroidGuys app for your device! Save a bunch on your next Android. Check out Amazon's best sellers! UPDATED HOURLY | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Posted: 15 Feb 2012 10:04 AM PST Updates, updates, updates... A hot topic for many Android users. Most of us are, at this point, used to getting the shaft when it comes to timely updates from OEM's and carriers. Motorola knows this is an important issue, as they've released some news regarding updates to Android v4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Q3 What?! Motorola Mobility updates Android 4.0 details for devices originally appeared on AndroidGuys. The upgrade development cycle looks like this, which is understandable. There are methods to the madness involved in pushing updates to thousands of devices. Keep in mind this is coming from an OEM, and depending on the mobile carrier involved there could be contractual requirements that make some devices more difficult to update than others.  Aside from the Wifi-Only XOOM, no other Motorola devices have received an update to ICS, and it looks like it may be a while... That right there proves that if a carrier is involved the updates will be much slower. Most notably, Verizon.
There are a ton of devices still in "phase 1" with absolutely no word when they will receive an update. I'm not talking about the original Moto Droid.. I'm talking about the Droid RAZR, Droid RAZR Max, Droid 4, Droid Bionic and many other brand new or almost brand new handsets. Seriously? Motorola, you had no prior notion of getting ICS on these BRAND SPANKING NEW phones?It's disgusting really. All but one of them show a Q3 time frame for updates. That's another 6 months!!!! While we applaud the release of their road map for future updates, it may make you reconsider the purchase of another Motorola handset or tablet. How's this make you feel Droid RAZR owners? Let us know if you care one way or another. Source: MotoBlog MotoForums Follow AndroidGuys on Facebook and Twitter and download the free AndroidGuys app for your device! Save a bunch on your next Android. Check out Amazon's best sellers! UPDATED HOURLY | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Posted: 15 Feb 2012 08:59 AM PST  If you thought that HTC's partnership with Beats Audio stopped with software enhancements and fancy headphones then you'd be wrong. No, the two players are expected to take things further with a new streaming music service. According to GigaOm, HTC plans to soon announce a streaming music service that could also become the standard music player on its future smartphones and tablets. Word on the street is that Beats CEO Jimmy Iovine (also Chairman of Interscope Geffen A&M) is working to secure all the licensing agreements and contracts in order to get things going. We've already seen a similar strategy employed with HTC Watch, the streaming movie service available on select devices. What's more, HTC is also reportedly set to release their own Bluetooth boombox speaker system which will stream music from the yet-announced service. Of course all of this is strictly unofficial and is subject to change. We have very big ambitions for Beats beyond headphones," says Iovine. "Music has got to succeed on the phone or else the record industry will never thrive.What do you think of a Beats Music service powered by HTC? Would you be open to buying a Bluetooth speaker system that streams your favorite music? What would you think if it was priced $450 a pop? Follow AndroidGuys on Facebook and Twitter and download the free AndroidGuys app for your device! Save a bunch on your next Android. Check out Amazon's best sellers! UPDATED HOURLY | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Posted: 15 Feb 2012 07:50 AM PST  Is Samsung about to unveil a 10.1-inch version of their Galaxy Tab at Mobile World Congress? Depending on how you read through the verbiage on the invitation, the answer is a most certain yes. Hidden in plain sight among the details from this year's Developer Day exhibit is a mention of a Galaxy Note 10.1, right next to the Galaxy Note. While it could be an accidental oversight, it's most likely not supposed to be the Galaxy Tab 10.1 after all. Why? Because the pen employed in the initial 5.3-inch model is based on Wacom technology was originally used on those standalone drawing pads for PCs. Well, that's only part of it. The developer event is slated to center around the S-Pen SDK and it would be the perfect venue to debut a new device. Besides, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is soooo 2011 anyways.  Most likely not an accident... The idea of a tablet with a stylus is certainly not new as HTC already does it with both the Flyer and the Jetstream. It will definitely be weird to see how Samsung positions the Galaxy Note 10.1 as it certainly infringes on Galaxy Note and Tab 10.1 ground. I'd be surprised if Samsung doesn't ultimately roll out a whole series of Note sizes, including a 7-inch and 8.9-inch model.  Follow AndroidGuys on Facebook and Twitter and download the free AndroidGuys app for your device! Save a bunch on your next Android. Check out Amazon's best sellers! UPDATED HOURLY |
Friday, February 17, 2012
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