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- HTC Butterfly launching in China in mid-December for $760 contract-free
- Video: Samsung’s Galaxy S3 Premium Suite Upgrade is downright hilarious
- Google Play Movies and Books are now live in Brazil
- HTC Butterfly specs
- HTC Butterfly image gallery (international version of Droid DNA, aka DLX)
- The international HTC Butterfly/DNA/DLX is now official, but when is it coming out?
- Free Droid Razr Maxx from Best Buy between 9-22 December
- Germany gets indoor Maps, courtesy of Google
- Google ships the Nexus 4 bumper in the UK
- T-Mobile: Goodbye, free phones by 2013!
| HTC Butterfly launching in China in mid-December for $760 contract-free Posted: 07 Dec 2012 02:19 AM PST
Although many frowned upon the launch of a new HTC flagship phone so close after the One X and One X+ releases, the Droid DNA (aka J Butterfly) might have just brought the Taiwanese a much needed breath of fresh air financial-wise. With that in mind, HTC is doing everything possible to continue milking the 1080p cash cow that's only been available in Japan and the US so far, releasing it internationally hours ago as simply the "Butterfly". What HTC failed to announce at the time, but did so eventually is when people should expect the "beast". For now, we only know when Chinese folks should start looking for it in stores, but that's a start, isn't it? China Unicom is scheduled to make it available around "mid-December" (which is only a week away) for a pretty hefty price in black, white, but also brown (funky!). The Butterfly will go for 4,799 yuan off-contract, which translates into around $762 based on the current conversion rates. That's definitely not affordable, but it's not very bad either and it keeps the hope up of seeing the big guy go for $650 or around that mark in Europe. Aside from availability details and specs (which are identical to DNA's features, save for the adding of a microSD slot), HTC has also showed a nice new commercial. You can check it out below, but try to focus on the phone and not just the pretty girl(s). Related Posts |
| Video: Samsung’s Galaxy S3 Premium Suite Upgrade is downright hilarious Posted: 07 Dec 2012 02:05 AM PST
Samsung posted a video today that demos several of the new features that are going to come to the Galaxy S3 via a software update at some point in the future. It’s not very long, so I recommend you watch it. Go ahead, I’ll wait. Now that you’re done, do you feel as sick as I do right now? The first feature, Page Buddy, is a poor implementation of what Motorola calls “Smart Actions“. Basically you plug your headphones into your device and something happens. The page that pops up in this case, it brings up the generic MP3 player widget. Can you customize the page? No, you can’t. Context Menu, I’m not going to lie, is a genuinely good idea. Instead of listing applications based on the order you installed them or their alphabetical order, Samsung gives you an option to list them by the frequency that they’re used. It’s something that seems so obvious you wonder why it hasn’t always been this way. Contextual Tag is … let’s just say that it took about 50 taps to turn it on and I still have no idea what it’s for. Can you help me figure it out? Next up is Multi Window, something we first saw on the Galaxy Note. Put simply, you can have two applications opened side by side. Not all your apps will be able to support this mode, but a majority of the ones you use on a daily basis should work just fine. Auto Share Shot Pairing, like Contextual Tag, not only has a terrible name, but you need to go through about 15 submenus to enable the feature. Is it even useful? I can’t tell. Reader Mode is something Apple put in Safari in iOS over a year ago. Apple even called it “Reader”, so for Samsung to call it “Reader Mode” is a bit funny and somewhat awkward. And finally there’s Facebook Lock Ticker. Samsung has written something that lets you check your Facebook feed while your device is locked. Where have we seen this before? Oh right, on Windows Phone 8. Some of you might be wondering if I have something against Samsung. I honestly don’t, and I hope Santa gets me a Note II for Christmas. But some of the promotional videos that this company puts out just completely boggle my mind. Related Posts |
| Google Play Movies and Books are now live in Brazil Posted: 07 Dec 2012 01:59 AM PST
The importance of making the Google ecosystem accessible to all users isn't lost on the Mountain View company, but obviously it's going to take some time until we see a worldwide rollout of the many services offered on the Play Store. After bringing Google Play Movies to Australia and Canada – as well as making it available in UK, Germany, and France – Google has announced that it is opening the door to its bustling online movie store for Brazilian customers. Movies that are up for grabs include Hollywood blockbusters like The Amazing Spider-man. You can also find local titles like Diálogos ImpossÃveis. The rent price starts from R$3.90 ($2) and goes up to R$6.90 ($3) for newer titles, while the starting selling price is R$19.90 ($9.6). Aside from showing some Latin love with the expansion of its Movies service, those in Brazil can also get their daily dose of reading materials from Google Play Books. Related Posts |
| Posted: 07 Dec 2012 01:37 AM PST
The HTC Butterfly was just announced without fanfare. The full HD device is the international version of the Droid DNA and is coming to European and Asian markets at an undisclosed date. You can check out the image gallery here. Here are the HTC Butterfly specs:
Related Posts |
| HTC Butterfly image gallery (international version of Droid DNA, aka DLX) Posted: 07 Dec 2012 01:13 AM PST
The HTC Butterfly is out, sporting a full HD screen, a Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, and an 8MP camera. The phone is the international version of Verizon’s Droid DNA and the Japan-only HTC J Butterfly. Previous rumors have suggested that this phone will be called HTC DLX/Deluxe, but HTC decided for something less tacky. We have more details on the Butterfly in this post, but here’s the official HTC Butterfly image gallery.          Related Posts |
| The international HTC Butterfly/DNA/DLX is now official, but when is it coming out? Posted: 07 Dec 2012 01:04 AM PST
HTC announced a 1080p smartphone in mid-October called the J Butterfly. We wondered when it would land in other countries, and sure enough it launched in the United States about a month later as the Droid DNA on Verizon. But what about Europe and other Asian countries? We heard it was going to be called the DLX, but it turns out those rumors were incorrect. HTC has finally made this thing official, and it’s simply called “Butterfly”. It looks exactly like the device we first saw almost two months ago, it obviously has the exact same specs, but sadly we still don’t know two key pieces of information: When is it going to come out and how much is it going to cost? Another thing that bugs us is just how many flagship devices HTC has announced in the span of 12 months. The One X was unveiled in February, then it started shipping two months later. Then the upgraded One X+ was announced in October, and it shipped during the same month. Now we have the Butterfly. Whatever happened to the One series and HTC’s attempt to stop diluting their brand? And with Mobile World Congress just two months away, how long will the Butterfly be the cock of the walk? We hate when companies do this, and regrettably HTC isn’t the only one. Remember the Optimus 4X HD and how it was supposed to be the world’s first quad core smartphone? It hit the market during the summer. Then in September LG announced the Optimus G. Seriously, what are the people working at these companies thinking? So should you buy the Butterfly? If it’s on store shelves in your country by the end of this month, and you need a smartphone, then sure, why not? But if you have patience then we say wait. Update: We skipped over something important. The Butterfly has a microSD card slot, whereas the Droid DNA does not. We know this is important to some of you. Related Posts |
| Free Droid Razr Maxx from Best Buy between 9-22 December Posted: 07 Dec 2012 12:41 AM PST
You can now own the Droid Razr Maxx, which is usually worth $149.99 on the Verizon network, for free. Best Buy has decided to bring back this Sunday its most popular Black Friday deal, which offers the Droid Razr Maxx for free to new Verizon customers. It could be an ideal gift to friends and family this holiday season for people who would want to be stay touch with their loved ones. However, you need to act quickly as this is a two week promotional offer lasting through December 9-22. We think that it is a pretty cool deal! The 4G LTE phone comes packed with a dual-core 1.2 GHz processor, 4.3-inch Super AMOLED touch-screen display, slim design, and a battery that churns a whopping 21.5 hours of talk time. The phone is powered by Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). This heavy duty phone can be grabbed from a Best Buy brick-and-mortar stores, but you can also order it from the Best Buy online store with a guaranteed delivery before Christmas. Related Posts |
| Germany gets indoor Maps, courtesy of Google Posted: 07 Dec 2012 12:26 AM PST
Many would argue that Google does not show favoritism towards the US and launches products all over the globe as soon as possible. However, this has not been the case with Indoor Maps, and understandably so. The service requires immense amounts of data collection and collation, and I can understand why the rollout of this particular service might be staggered. After bringing Indoor Maps to the US and UK, Germany is now the next European country that has received the service. Users will now be able to find their way around a number of German shopping malls, airports, museums, and other public places of interest. Germany is the latest in a list of European countries that has access to the service, with France, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden and Belgium already enjoying these features. Hit the source below for the full details (in German). Related Posts |
| Google ships the Nexus 4 bumper in the UK Posted: 07 Dec 2012 12:21 AM PST
Finally putting the weary minds of many Nexus 4 owners at ease, we're now hearing reports that the black bumper for the latest Nexus phone is on its way to some lucky UK customers. Those who managed to snag the Nexus 4 bumper from Google Play Store in the UK have reportedly received shipping confirmation from Google. Interestingly, some folks who ordered during the second wave of availability have gotten their confirmation ahead of those who ordered at launch day. We'll put it down to yet another one of Google’s snafu. The bumper case shortage has given way to the jacking up of its price tag on eBay. In the UK, the price has ballooned up to £40 – £60, quite a markup from its original £15.99 pricing. Now, let's hear it from our readers. Did you order a bumper case alongside the Nexus 4? Was it because you're worried about the back glass? Have you heard anything back from Google regarding the shipment? Related Posts |
| T-Mobile: Goodbye, free phones by 2013! Posted: 06 Dec 2012 11:27 PM PST T-Mobile is changing its mobile phone subscription model by 2013. In gist, the carrier will only offer Value Plans, and it wants you to buy smartphones at full-price rather than go for a subsidized phone. The pricing model for mobile service in the U.S. has traditionally been subsidy-based. Phones are free or cheap because the carrier pays for the phone upfront. As such, you can get a $650 smartphone cheap or for free, but the carrier will recoup this investment by adding on to the monthly charge. This cost is imputed into the plan, though, and is considered a hidden charge. T-Mobile wants to change this by 2013, as they start offering the iPhone for the first time. T-Mobile is finally offering the iPhone, but unlike other carriers, the telco will offer it to customers at cost. Tmo will start pushing only its Value Plan offerings, and will no longer offer Classic Plans. Value Plans are about $20 cheaper per month for the same service than its classic ones. But why the move away from subsidy? T-Mobile offers the following benefits.
T-Mobile will not just let users bear the full cost of devices outright, though. The mobile provider will continue offering Equipment Installment Plans (EIP), which lets users pay for the device cost in monthly installments for 20 months, which will depend on how much the phone will cost (usually a downpayment plus $5 to $20 monthly). In an investor call, T-Mobile CEO John Legere says this move is expected to appeal to customers who feel limited by carrier restrictions on upgrades because of their subsidies. It also means that customers get to save in the long run. “We think there is huge room for a challenger to change some of that, in a way that the larger players will not be able to or will choose not to respond to,” Legere said, expounding on the current subsidy-based business model that most carriers are following. $20 multiplied by 24 months is $480, after all — an added cost that you’re probably better off using toward the purchase of a new phone or for your device installments. Is this a good move on T-Mobile’s part? Are American consumers ready for a radical change in mobile phone pricing? Related Posts |
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