Cell Phones
Sprint and Samsung Announce Sprint’s Second 4G Phone– Say Hello to the Epic 4G
Jun 28th
So you want Android, your on Sprint, and you want a 4G phone that is not only Android and 4G, but also has a slide out physical QWERTY keyboard instead of only a touchscreen one. Well, then you’re in luck– as Sprint and Samsung have just announced Sprint’s second 4G phone, the Epic 4G. So what is in the Epic 4G that, well, makes it want to offer the name Epic? Some really solid specs actually, including–
- 4 inch Super AMOLED multitouch screen–Like AT&T’s recently announced Samsung Captivate.
- Android 2.1 with Samsung’s customized TouchWiz 3.o interface– We expect this to hopefully get Android 2.2 soon, but Sprint hasn’t yet announced info on that just yet.
- 5 megapixel camera with flash, autofocus, and 720p HD video recording on back AND a VGA front camera for video calls– Similar to the iPhone 4, just here video calls can be made to other users (like Skype, Qik, or EVO 4G users for example), and can also be done on WiFi, 3G, or 4G.
- WiFi, GPS, 3G, and 4G– Including support for wireless N WiFi.
- 1 GHZ Samsung Hummingbird processor– For making sure everything runs fast and smooth.
- 3.5 mm headphone jack and 16 GB microSD card included in the box– So your good to go right from the start for using this as your all in one media device.
It also offers many of the other features the EVO offers (such as the ability to turn into a mobile hotspot, albeit here only offering 5 devices to connect at once, unlike the EVO’s eight). Yeah I know, pretty much the EVO 4G with a slightly smaller screen and camera but with a full slide out QWERTY keyboard. There is though something to be said for having that full QWERTY keyboard (particularly if, as is the case here, it doesn’t make the phone much thicker than the incredibly thin and sleek EVO), as even with the much improved touchscreen Android keyboards like Swype (which is also on the phone for when you want to type on the touchscreen), nothing quite beats a good ‘ol physical keyboard.
Oh, and if you are that person mentioned above, you may want to begin saving up money from that summer job; because while Sprint and Samsung have yet to announce a price or release date (let’s hope it’s soon!), I’m sure it will probably be in the EVO’s range of $200 with new 2 year contract and data plan (though it would be awesome here if I’m wrong).
So, anyone out there holding off on an EVO 4G to get this Epic 4G?
First Look: Apple iPhone 4
Jun 25th
It’s here! After a seemingly endless wait, we finally have gotten our hands on the new iPhone 4! To sum it up in one word– incredible (though I’m still not sold on it being worth waiting in line for hours for…). After using it for the past few hours, here are some of my initial thoughts, which I’ll follow up on early next week with a full review.
The iPhone 4 screen, on left, compared to the iPod touch 3rd gen– this new screen is THAT much better
- The screen is amazing– This has to be the greatest screen I’ve ever seen on a phone, and it really comes through when looking at apps like mobile Safari. Text and pictures render beautifully, with everything coming off crisp and insanely clear.
- The new design feels great in the hand– Coming off a 3G and 3GS the iPhone 4 initially feels, for lack of a better word, awkward. It’s not bad, but different from all iPhones before it. You get used to the new design however very quickly, and it actually is quite nice– it feels really sturdy in the hand, like your carrying something more than just a chunk of plastic.
- The cameras are really nice– Both cameras look to take very impressive pix. Now obviously this is very basic testing right now (just some quick shots), but the new cameras do overall look a lot nicer. Pix in low light are much better even without the new flash (which in my brief use I found to be only so-so. It’s nice to have, but not really spectacular in terms of quality), and the 5 megapixel camera on the back takes some really surprisingly, and refreshingly, nice shots.
- It’s fast!– While it’s nowhere near the speed jump as the 3GS was to the 3G and first iPhone, but multitasking on the iPhone 4 does seem to run much faster and smoother on here than on the 3GS (particularly in apps like the camera where shots are taken almost instantly).
- The new antennas make AT&T a LOT faster– While I can’t yet talk about phone quality, I can say this much about AT&T and the new iPhone 4 antennas that now surround the phone– the 3G network speed is now crazy fast. I’m consistently seeing 2 megabits or more download and over 1.5 megabits upload. In simple terms– the 3G internet on the iPhone has gotten much, much faster (of course, this may also be an AT&T improvement as well, but when I ran the same test on my old 3GS it showed the same impressive download speeds, but much slower upload speeds– and I mean much slower like only .25 megabits). Browsing the web on my iPhone has never been easier or faster.
- Speakers are much louder– This is something I really am happy to see, as one of the big low points of the iPhone 3G and 3GS to me was the very inconsistent speaker quality. On those iPhones it was pretty much hit or miss to see if it works well, but on the iPhone 4– whether on calls or watching YouTube, the speaker is really loud, really clear and finally really good.
So those are just some quick thoughts on the new iPhone 4, keep it peeled here for our full review in the coming days.
And any other readers out there who’ve gotten their iPhones– what you think? You think it was worth the wait? Let us know in the comments.
Big thanks to my bro, Akiva, for helping take some pix.
Live from the iPhone 4 Launch
Jun 24th
Wow. Seriously wow. This is the line my local Apple store at around 9 am. Now don’t think I’m that crazy that I’ve been up since 4 AM camping out, I’ve actually only been here since about 8:30, but here’s a shot of people out since before 6:30 AM:
Yeah this is nuts. We’ll be updating this periodically, and of course we’ll have our thoughts later today once we’ve gotten some time with it.
UPDATE 10:02 AM: and we’ve made contact. Here it is, the iPhone 4!
UPDATE 11:51 AM: Alright we’re making progress but still got some wait left. There are people here since 3 AM not close so take that as a lesson– RESERVE IN ADVANCE (and pray that Apple and AT&T don’t die before you do). The line for none reserved was so bad that they even cut it off THREE hours ago and still have one stretching the large portion of this mall. Look at this:
UPDATE 2:08 PM: And done! We finally got the new iPhone 4 and for the first 30 seconds I’ve used it, it looks great. I’ll have more pix and thoughts later tonight but wow, it feels so great to LEAVE the Apple Store.
The Droid Gets Super Sized– Meet the All New Motorola Droid X
Jun 24th
We had a feeling this was on the way, and now Motorola, Google, and Verizon have confirmed the rumors of this beast of a phone with their official announcement of the Motorola Droid X. And when I say beast of a phone, I MEAN beast of a phone.
New Droids Coming This Week?
Jun 20th
If your on Verizon and looking for a new Android phone you may wanna hold off getting that Droid Incredible or Motorola Droid just yet, as Motorola and Verizon have some big news, and when I say big news I mean REALLY BIG news.
First High-End Android Phone Coming Soon to AT&T
Jun 18th
So much for AT&T not having a high-end Android. AT&T announced has finally announced that they are officially entering the high-end Android game (meaning that they are finally launching an Android phone on par with Sprint’s EVO and Verizon’s Droid Incredible) by getting the Samsung Captivate on their side. And wow is the Captivate high end. Running Android 2.1 with a custom Samsung interface (though one that is by far not as drastic as HTC Sense on the recently announced HTC Aria), the Captivate will also be the first AT&T Android phone to have a 1 GHZ processor (which Samsung calls “Hummingbird” and may be Samsung’s version of Apple’s A4 processor), which is a great particularly when you are running multiple apps. Among these AT&T firsts, the Captivate has a numerous amount of handy specs, such as:
- A 4-inch Super AMOLED multi-touch touchscreen– Remember those great AMOLED screens on phones like the Samsung Impression and Moment? You know, ones with insane clarity? Not only is this screen much bigger than those (it’s pretty much on par with the EVO’s minus .3 of an inch), this does all of that but in a much thinner design– which when you look at this phone you can tell it’s paid off, as well as fix one of the biggest problems facing AMOLED phones, the horrible quality they produce when in outdoor or bright light areas.
- 3G, WiFi and GPS– With the WiFi supporting the latest wireless N. Oh, and the Captivate also is loaded with Bluetooth 3.0, something we have yet to see a lot of (or pretty much at all) in phones (Bluetooth 3.0 should make for things like wireless transfer between say a computer and phone much quicker among other things, but we also have yet to see many devices take advantage of the new Bluetooth, so take that as you wish).
- 3D graphics with gyroscope for better gaming
- Support for Google Maps, YouTube, Android Market and other standard Android apps– Though we couldn’t tell if AT&T is allowing Google Maps Navigation to be put on the phone. Let’s hope they do.
- 5 Megapixel camera with autofocus and 720p HD video recording– On par with the iPhone 4
- 3.5mm headphone jack for listening to your favorite songs
- 16GB of built-in storage, with the ability to add another 16GB via a microSD
Wow is right. I personally am really excited for this over the upcoming HTC Aria because the captivate is AT&T’s first really good Android phone (just look at those specs!), and I plan to get it. Of course, we will have to wait until this phone comes out to see how the Hummingbird processor and Super AMOLED handles in real life and if this is more this just talk, but until then, my plans for the Aria have been shelved and I am waiting anxiously for this phone.
The Samsung Captivate will be coming out “in a couple of months, for an undisclosed price” according to AT&T. In the meantime, check out AT&T’s “Coming Soon” page for the Captivate here. So, anyone else planning on holding off on getting their AT&T Android fix Sunday with the Aria for this?
HTC Aria Landing in Stores June 20th
Jun 15th
Enough about video games, lets talk phones. AT&T announced yesterday the first not horrible Android phone for its’ customers. The HTC Aria is a 3.2 inch Android phone coming to stores June 20th. This phone will have a 3.2 inch multitouch screen and Android 2.1, unlike AT&T’s first Android phone the Motorola Backflip (which is still running 1.5). Like pretty much all new HTC phones such as the Droid Incredible and the EVO 4G, the Aria will come with HTC Sense which will allow you to keep in touch with your social life while on the go, with HTC’s FriendStream app making Twitter and Facebook just a swipe of the finger away– all while also offering a much nicer and cooler Android homescreen.
Personally, I am excited about this phone because it will stand out as a viable iPhone opponent. Sure it’s not crazy high spec’d and powerful like Verizon Droid Incredible or Sprint EVO 4G (phones designed as true iPhone competitors), but for those on AT&T not looking for an Apple phone, the Aria will be AT&T’s first good Android phone. The thin, sleek design and beautiful touchscreen will rival the iPhone, and when combined with HTC Sense and Android 2.1, offer a nice change and in my opinion a big step up from the Motorola Backflip. It really looks to me that the HTC Aria will blow the Backflip out of the water.
Other specs for the Aria include 3G, GPS (with Google Maps Navigation), and WiFi, a microSD card slot, and a 5 megapixel camera. The Aria will be available starting this Sunday (June 20th), for $129 after a $100 mail in rebate and new 2 year contract.
Thoughts on the iPhone 4
Jun 10th
If you’ve been anywhere on the internet the past couple of days you’ve probably by now heard the big news– Apple’s new iPhone 4 is officially upon us, and in a huge way.
When they say that it’s the biggest iPhone change since the original, they really aren’t kidding. What Apple has shown off in the new iPhone 4 is absolutely incredible– and I’ll be the first to tell you, last year’s major additions of speed, a slightly better camera, and a compass were really underwhelming (if it wasn’t for the fact my 3G broke and Apple Care offered to replace it with a 3GS– something they’ll do after multiple iPhone breaks– the $200+ and another 2 year contract was not worth the upgrade). But this…. this is amazing.
AT&T Bumping Up iPhone Upgrades To… Now?
Jun 7th
Well this was a very nice surprise…. apparently AT&T is bumping up iPhone users upgrade dates a few months, possibly in anticipation of a new iPhone announcement?
I can confirm first hand AT&T bumped up dates, because when I checked today I noticed my upgrade was bumped up for a new iPhone from October to now (as you can see in the screenshot above. You can check yourself by calling *639# from your phone, which will get a text sent to you with your upgrade status a min later).
Now why AT&T is doing this I’m not sure. It could be a preemptive move to avoid the same problems the last few times there were new iPhones and is even more proof we’ll see a new iPhone today (if you remember, the last two iPhone upgrades, first for the 3G and then for the 3GS, were met with a lot of angry people who were only one year into contract, forcing Apple and AT&T to allow those users to upgrade for the cheaper price). It could be a move to keep iPhone users from jumping to another carrier (if another carrier is in fact getting the iPhone), or it could be because AT&T is just feeling really generous to iPhone users this morning. Whatever it is, I’m sure we’ll know soon enough.
So anyone else noticing an earlier iPhone (or just general AT&T) upgrade date?
HTC EVO 4G Out Now
Jun 4th
Ready for the first 4G phone Sprint users? The time has come– today is June 4th, and you know what that means– the HTC EVO 4G is here!
For those who don’t know why this is a HUGE day, here are a couple of features of the phone that may peak your interest:
- 4.3 inch multitouch screen with a 480×800 resolution in a thin, sleek design
- 8 megapixel camera with flash and support to shoot 720p HD video with a 1.3 megapixel front facing camera– for you guessed it, mobile video chatting!
- Android 2.1 with the latest and greatest version of HTC Sense as well a 1 GHZ Snapdragon processor in here that should keep everything on the phone itself nice and fast.
- 3.5 mm headphone jack, HDMI port, and a kickstand for media playback
And of course this is the first US phone that offers built-in 4G. This gives you not only faster internet speeds, but the EVO also has the ability to turn this into a mobile hotspot (like the MiFi and Overdrive), and share the 4G (or 3G if 4G isn’t available yet where you live) with up to 8 (!) other users at once (though this will run you an extra $29.99 a month, its still cheaper than the $59.99 a month needed for the MiFi or Overdrive). The EVO 4G costs $199.99 on a new 2 year contract with a data plan and Sprint’s $10 a month “Premium Data” add-on.
So, who out there is heading over to your local Sprint, Best Buy or Radio Shack to pick one up? And if you already have, what you think of it? Let us know in the comments.
And for those of you with the patience to not be the first to have one, you can head on over to Sprint’s site and order one for yourself right now.
