Samsung Vibrant Launching on 15th July

 

A couple of weeks ago, Samsung announced its latest Android phone, the Samsung Galaxy S. It is going to be released on all the major carriers in the US, and to make it just a bit more complicated, the Samsung Galaxy S has different names on each carrier. But the T-Mobile version, the Samsung Vibrant is going to be released on July 15th, the same day as the Droid X launch. Yesterday, AT&T also announced their version that the Samsung Galaxy S, the Samsung Captivate and this is launching on the 18th three days after T-Mobile's Vibrant launch on the 15th.

The features of the Samsung Vibrant are a 4" Super AMOLED capacitive touchscree display, 1GHz Hummingbird Processor, 2GB included SD card and a 5MP camera. It is running Android 2.1 with Samsung's custom skin.

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Source Phonedog

iPhone Coming to Verizon in 2011?

 

Well haven't we heard this before. The iPhone coming to Verizon. But now Bloomberg are certain that it is going to happen this time because of "two people familiar with the plans." Even though the iPhone will eventually come to Verizon, we never thought this century.

Bloomberg's newest rumour is very similar to what the Wall Street Journal said in March claiming that "a CDMA iPhone would begin production in September," and if this were true, it would give Apple, giving Apple plenty of time to make the iPhone's for the millions wanting to convert to Verizon.

Apple just told Engadget that they "don't comment on rumors and speculation" when they asked them for a comment. I guess we can only hope.

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Source Bloomberg

Droid X Pre-Orders at Best Buy

 

So your iPhone 4 order was cancelled and you want to switch to Android? Well the latest Android phone to hit the market is now available for pre-order, the Droid X.  Best Buy is now taking pre-orders for the best Android smartphone to date. The main features of the Droid X are a 4.3" screen at 854x480, Android 2.1 with NinjaBlur (a less intrusive version of MotoBlur) with Froyo coming later this summer and 720p video recording. 

By ordering the Droid X from Best Buy you don't have to fuss around with the mail-in rebate, you just pay $199.99 in store with 2-year contract on Verizon.

Here is the press release

Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile have truly become the leading destination this summer for all your mobile smartphone needs – from HTC EVO 4G from Sprint to the iPhone 4 on AT&T to the upcoming DROID X on Verizon. Enthusiasts of the Android platform can be the first to reserve a copy of the new Verizon DROID X by Motorola today at Best Buy. The pre-sale begins June 25 and the smartphone will land in stores on July 15.

"With the buzz we've seen around the Android platform, Best Buy is confident that consumers will be thrilled about the Verizon DROID X by Motorola pre-sale," said Scott Anderson, senior director of merchandising at Best Buy Mobile. "It has been a great summer for smartphones with the HTC EVO and iPhone 4 launches, and the addition of the DROID X adds another strong option for our customers to consider."

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Source BestBuy

T-Mobile Next iPhone Carrier?

Ever since the original iPhone, users have complained about the iPhone being on AT&T's network in the US. Many people where expecting that the "one more thing" on Monday's WWDC keynote was going to be the iPhone on a different carriers, hopefully Verizon. However the "one more thing" was video calling which made a lot Verizon customers who whated the iPhone very disappointed. 

The iPhone 4 only has a GSM 3G radio which rules out Sprint and Verizon as they us CDMA, but what about T-Mobile? Well, the Kaufman Brothers investment analyst Shaw Wu, thinks that the next iPhone carrier in the US will be T-Mobile. Steve Jobs announced on Monday that the iPhone 4 will be capable of Quad-Band HSDPA/HSUPA 7.2Mbs down and 5.8Mbs up 3G speeds. The same as what T-Mobile uses, which could mean the next carrier could be T-Mobile. If you look at the sales data, Android always beats the iPhone when it is not available. But if the iPhone was available on multiple carriers that would dramatically change.

However, most analysts are saying that it would be in Apple's best interest to release the iPhone on the 2 biggest carriers in the US, Verizon and AT&T, rather than the 4th largest T-Mobile and At&T. But T-Mobile does operate around the world and it is a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom in Germany and Apple could work out a deal to allow T-Mobile to sell the iPhone worldwide.

So will we ever see a Verizon iPhone? Probably in 2011 when the networks go along the upgrade path to 4G networks, specifically LTE which runs on GSM. In fact Verizon says that later this year it will have a LTE network up and running. Also T-Mobile is going along the LTE road while Sprint is already releasing Wimax 4G.

So what do you think? Will Verizon ever get the iPhone and will T-Mobile be the next US iPhone Carrier?

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Source: Computerworld

No Tethering From iPhone to iPad

AT&T is sure making enemies this week. Firstly with it changing their smartphone data plans, but now they are saying that you cannot tether the iPhone to the iPad. Even though that iPhone OS 4.0 will allow iPhone to laptop tethering, AT&T are saying no to iPhone to iPad tethering. An AT&T spokesperson said that this is because "it won’t be possible to tether the iPhone to the iPad to share Internet access because the iPad's Bluetooth profile for tethering is not enabled." 

So if you want mobile internet on your iPad, you will have to splash the cash for the iPad 3G. Lets just hope that these insane new ideas from AT&T are because of new carriers coming to the iPhone.

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AT&T Makes Dramatic Changes to Data Plans

Today, AT&T announced that they were going to change their data plans for their smartphones on June 7th (WWDC date, yes I know) on it's network. Even though this change will benefit most of it's users, it will hurt the others. So here is the breakdown of what has happened.

The current $30 a month for unlimited data is going to be replaced by 2 data plans which are called DataPlus and DataPro. The DataPlus plan is $15 a month for 200Mb of Data and the DataPro plan is $25 for 2Gb of data. Now before you go screaming and shouting saying that you need unlimited data to AT&T, go look at your data usage on the AT&T website, as they are saying that 98% of it's users use less than 2Gb which is a plus for all those customers as they pay $5 a month less. Also you can keep your unlimited plan if you want to but you can change without extending the contract.

Now, these new data plans could arguably be a game changer as well as being very simple. You pay for the $15 plan and $15 for each additional 200Mb. However, if you are on the $25 plan you pay $10 for each Gb you go over.

Tethering has been also announced in these new data plan update. Tethering will be only available on the DataPro and for another $20 a month, which makes the total bill $45 a month. However, you do not get any additional data for tethering so you have to share the data between your phone and the tethering. This is really good if you are a light user but not so good if you use a lot of data. Unfortunately, you do need to move away from the unlimited data plan for it to work. And yes the iPhone will get tethering whenever iPhone OS 4.0 gets released later this summer.

The iPad data is also going to change to these new data plans. The dubbed "truly unlimited" $30 data plan is going to be replaced by the DataPro plan with 2Gb of data.

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