Droid Bionic Coming Out Tomorrow

Verizon Wireless has just announced that one of their most powerful smartphones, the Droid Bionic, will be going on sale this Thursday (September 7th) for $299.99.

In case you are unfamiliar with the Droid Bionic, it is the first Verizon phone to run on a dual-core  1GHz processor to run on Verizon’s fast 4G LTE network. And besides selling the phone, Verizon will also be selling accessories for the phone such as an 11.6 inch lapdock for roughly $300.

This lapdock was first brought up at the CES this past January showing the ability of the phone to connect and run the laptop through its powerful processor.  This would give users a full keyboard and large screen to do whatever they like such as edit documents, watch movies, or just browse the web on Firefox.

Although the price of the new smartphone may be high, it is in fact the only smartphone on Verizon that runs on the 4G LTE network with a dual core processor.  Besides this, the phone is also now the slimmest phone on the Verizon market being only 0.43 inches thick and weighing in at only 5.6 ounces.

The Bionic will run on the latest version of Android (Android 2.3.4), and will support up to 32GB of storage.  The phone also has a front and rear facing camera with the rear one being 8 megapixels putting the phone in major competition with newer smartphones.

Although the price is high, it seems the Droid Bionic packs quite the punch and with the external lapdock, it could even be used as a new cheap laptop!

What do you think? Leave a comment below!

Nokia Announcing Symbian Belle Update

Due to a recent leak on Nokia’s Facebook page, it has been just about confirmed that Nokia will be releasing their new update for Symbian known as Belle.

Although it hasn’t officially been confirmed,  there was a countdown timer (picture above) on Nokia’s Facebook page and the file that set it up was named “belle_fb_TeaserMain” so it’s pretty safe to say that this was a countdown to the release of the new update.

Belle is the upgrade of Symbian Anna and with all of the leaked videos, screenshots, and beta version of the update, there isn’t really too much more to tell. That said, it would still be nice to see some new features that haven’t been leaked yet.

One Third of Adults Pretend to Talk on the Phone

According to a recent survey from Pew Internet & American Life Project,  30% of young adults (ages 18-29) have at one time pretended to talk on their cell phones in order to avoid interaction with another person.

However, this does not mean that people are “addicted” to their phones.  In fact, another statistic shows us that about one third of adults from time to time need to turn off their phones just to get a break from all of the texting and calling.

The complete study shows the difference between smartphone users and regular cell phone users in how the users interact with their phones as well as how different demographics use their phones.

Conclusions in the study show that the most common activities for both kinds of phones are sending/receiving texts, and taking/sending photos. Other common tasks include sending/receiving e-mail, accessing the internet, playing games, and downloading apps.

Check out the full report here.

BlackBerry Bold 9930 Announced

Earlier today, Verizon announced the launch of their newest BlackBerry smartphone, the BlackBerry Bold 9930.  The phone will cost you around $249.99 with a new two-year contract as well as a $30 monthly data plan.

The BlackBerry Bold is the thinnest BlackBerry smartphone yet measuring in at 10.5mm.  The Bold is also the first BlackBerry to integrate touch screen with a BlackBerry keyboard.  It will have a 2.8 inch touch screen display and will be running on BlackBerry 7.

Some other key features of the device include full QWERTY keyboard with trackpad navigation,  a 1.2GHz processor,  5 megapixel camera able to take 720p HD video,  and memory can be expanded up to 32GB through a microSD slot.

Besides this, the phone is also “global ready” meaning that customers can enjoy the high speeds in over 200 different countries.

HTC Holiday Revealed

A series of photos have just been posted on XDA Developers forums showing some of the features on HTC’s upcoming phone, the HTC Holiday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As seen in the picture above, the HTC Holiday seems to be rather thin.  The device is running off of a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, and has a 4.5 inch display.  Because of a leak earlier this year, we also know that the Holiday will also have 1GB of RAM, an 8 megapixel rear facing camera, and a 1.2 megapixel front facing camera.

The phone also appears to have a conductive charge port which means that you will be able to plug the charger in your wall and the device can be placed on the charger. (wireless charging).

The HTC Holiday looks like it will be impressive.  Perhaps a big competition to the latest iPhone 5?

Check out the full report here.

 

Firefox 6.0 Debuts Ahead of Schedule

Just like Mozilla Firefox 5.0, Firefox 6.0 is being “unofficially” released earlier than expected.  That’s right, Firefox 6.0 is now available for you to download if you so choose although the official release of the update has not been announced.

N0w Firefox 6.0 will not be bringing many changes to desktop versions of the browser (besides some changes in the address bar), changes will mostly be occuring in Android devices.  It is said that the latest version will bring a “fresh visual style in Chrome Gingerbread”.  Other features included in the update are enhanced image scaling and more importantly, the app is now faster and doesn’t use nearly as much memory.

Jump on the release now and download Firefox 6.0

New Acer Tablet Hits U.S. Shelves

Acer’s Iconia tablet has just hit shelves for many US retailers with a price tag of $329.99 (8GB) and $349.99 (16GB).  The tablet will be running on Android 3.2 Honeycomb.  Although it hit US shelves, consumers in Canda will unfortunatly have to wait until next month.  Sorry guys.

The new tablet from Acer packs a punch with a 1GHz Nvidia dual-core processor, 1 GB RAM, and a 7 inch touch screen display (1024×600 resolution).  The Iconia also has a 2 megapixel front facing camera along with a 5 megapixel rear facing camera with an LED flash and support for video calls.  The cameras also support 720p HD video recording. Other features on the device include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, microHDMI, and even a port for a docking station.  Physical features include the standard 3.5mm headphone jack,  a microUSB 2.0 port, and an auto rotate sensor.

The device will be available in two different sizes (8GB and 16GB) but it will be expandable to 32GB with use of a microSD card.

Android Ice Cream Sandwich Images Leaked

Android users pay attention because the new Android version, Ice Cream Sandwich, looks to be near its launch date.

Earlier this morning, images from multiple websites appeared showing off what looked to be the new Android Ice Cream sandwich.

One of those sites, Rootzwiki.com, showed Ice Cream Sandwich running on Google’s Nexus S phone (image on right).  The images shown show a new updated notification bar with some updated icons along with a blue theme.  A new customization control panel is also shown.  Many people have said that it looks like the panel that you would see on Android Honeycomb powered tablets.

The other site, AndroidPolice.com, have also uploaded a couple images (image to left).  These images show that the phone is in fact running on Ice Cream Sandwich.  The other image shows what looks to be the notification bar pulled down and has a new black theme to it.

So it looks like Ice Cream Sandwich might come out sooner than expected.  It will most likely be available for Nexus S phones first and then for other phones as the year goes on.

Samsung Galaxy R Announced Today

Early this morning, Samsung announced that they were extending their technology partnership with Nvidia from tablets to smartphones with the creation of their newest smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy R.  The monbile business manager from Nvidia says that the Galaxy R will show off Tegra’s multimedia power.  The phone is now available but only in Sweden.  No word has been said when it will be available in North America or Europe.

The Galaxy R will have a 4.19 inch touch screen display (800×400 resolution), run on Android 2.3 Gingerbread, and will include the same processor that is in the Galaxy Tab 10.1, a dual-core Nvidia Tegra processor.  It will also come with 8GB of storage (expandable to 32GB), 1080p HD video playback, and 720p HD video capture.  The Galaxy R is only 131 grams and less than 1cm thick!

 

Spot Android Malware

As a follow up on a recent post, this post is to help all of you Android users to spot/notice if you have a trojan virus on your smartphone.  Android malware is on the rise and it is now two times as likely to receive a virus in a app you download since six months ago.  This is a quick list of ways to tell if your Android smartphone is infected.

1. Look up the developer - If there is no real logo, Google the developer’s name to see if they are a legitimate company.
2. Be wary of “knock off” games - Games are a typical “trap” that is used be malware creators.  If the game is a free version of something that you normally would havle to pay for, be wary.
3. Examine app permissions - Every app in the marketplace has a list of admissions that you need to grant in order for the app to work properly.  Read over this list and if you notice anything suspicious, don’t download it. (Ex: why would a game need to see your contact list).
4. Read reviews - This is an obvious way to see if the app is malware.  If the particular app has more negative than positive reviews, be wary and read further to see what the negative reviews were about.
5. Watch Info - If while reading the app description and you notice that the creator doesn’t use good grammer/english or some information is left blank, that is a good sign to not download the app.

Follow this short list of things to check before downloading an app and your chances of catching some mobile malware will decrease significantly.