Virgin Mobile US has started offering the Motorola Triumph, a mid-range model that is perfect for those who don’t like to get tied up with a two-year contract. Of course, that is the reason for using a pre-paid carrier in the first place, and for $299.99 off contract, you can pick up the Triumph. With an oddly sized 4.1 inch display, the handset is powered by Android 2.2 which might not be the latest Android build, but at least it will support Adobe Flash. And the single core 1GHz processor, while so 2010, will allow you to get things done quickly. A 5MP camera is on the rear and will capture video at 720p.

Virgin Mobile US is offering you unlimited texts and data with 300 minutes of talk for $35 a month. Raise the talk time to 1200 minutes and it will cost you $45 monthly. For $55 per month, the carrier will allow you to have unlimited text, data and talk.

Remember when the pre-paid carriers offered the phones that nobody wanted, with very few features? Now we are seeing a trend toward low to mid-range Android handsets that might not have the hottest specs, but are powerful enough to allow you to browse the web, download all the apps you can fit and take decent pictures.

source: VirginMobile via AndroidMobile

Virgin Mobile US is now offering the Motorola Triumph

The monstrous Samsung Infuse 4G is coming to the Rogers network next week and anyone interested in this Android-powered beast can pick it up for $149.99 with a three-year contract.

Major retail chain Future Shop has already listed the smartphone at this price point. It is believed that if you want to pick one up but don’t want to sign your life away for three-years this phone can be had commitment-free for $549.99.

The Samsung Infuse 4G is an impressive device that packs a gorgeous 4.5-inch Super AMOLED Plus display. Behind the scenes is a single-core 1.2GHz processor trying to hold its own in a dual-core world. Around the back of the super-thin smartphone is an 8 megapixel camera with HD video recording capabilities while a front-facing 1.3 megapixel shooter is present for all of your video chatting and self-portrait needs.

If you are interested in the Samsung Infuse 4G and are up for renewal on Rogers, then go pick one up for yourself when it launches next week. Tell us what you think in the comments below.

source: Future Shop via Mobile Syrup

While Netflix recently made headlines by jacking up its monthly price, the video service has also increased the number of Android devices that it supports to 24. Among the lucky two dozen is a phone that has obtained mythical status simply by being redesigned after appearing at CES. Of course, we are talking about the Motorola DROID Bionic. Its inclusion on the list is a good sign that we are not too far away from a launch of the device.

Some of the newer names on the list include the Motorola DROID 3 and the LG Revolution. The Casio G’zOne Commando C771 with Android 2.2 also supports Netflix while only one tablet, the Lenovo K1 Ideapad, is on the list.

With the now widespread use of its mobile streaming service, Netflix has raised rates by splitting up their DVD by mail and streaming services, both of which now cost $7.99 a month. Taking out 2 DVD’s at a time will cost you $11.99 per month and if you use your cell phone to receive streaming video, you would have to add another $7.99. While Netflix used to offer a combination rate of $9.99 per month for both DVD and streaming video, that will now cost you $15.98 monthly, assuming you are receiving just 1 DVD by mail at a time. 2 DVD’s by mail and streaming video will ring up as $19.98 for a month.

To see if your Android device is among the 24 that supports Netflix, visit the sourcelink. Or, you can just take your chances and head to the Android Market to search for ‘Netflix’.

source: AndroidMarket via AndroidCentral

Placing your advertisements in smartphone apps can be a great way to spread awareness about your business or product, but if you had to pick just one platform to launch your campaign on, which one would it be? Well, hopefully this infographic made by the guys over at inneractive will make the choice easier by putting Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android side by side and comparing the effectiveness of the ads displayed on either one of the platforms.

According to the data provided in the infographic, advertisements displayed on Android devices have a higher global fill rate (or in other words, they have a higher chance to get displayed) in comparison to those that pop up on iPhones and iPads. However, iOS users are more than twice as likely to click on an advertisement, which is among the reasons why developers for Apple’s mobile platform are able to rake in higher revenues per every thousand impressions displayed in their apps.

It is also worth noting that Android apps have a higher life span on average than the ones made for iOS. However, iOS applications reach their prime time almost twice as fast, meaning that your advertisements are likely to reach a significant amount of the targeted audience in a much more timely manner.

More details are included on the infographic itself, so if you are curious to learn more, feel free to check it out.

source: inneractive

After a couple of months of beta testing, Viber for Android has been officially made available for download from the Android Market, which means that iOS users are not the only ones granted with the privilege to use the popular mobile VoIP app anymore. Starting today, owners of Android-powered smartphones will also be able to make free calls to other Viber users over Wi-Fi or 3G without spending their precious monthly minute allowance.

In case you have not tried Viber before, we have to tell you that you have been missing quite a lot. The app requires no registration whatsoever and is absolutely free of charge. Besides that, it has a built-in texting feature that lets you send messages to other Viber users, and the sound quality that it provides is superior to what you would get from a call placed over a cellular line. Add to all that its ability to integrate seamlessly with your device’s contacts list and you have one neat little app that you will probably find yourself using more and more frequently every day.

So, if you have not done so already, grab Viber from the Android Market and see what over 12 million Viber users have been enjoying. As for all the BlackBerry owners out there, there is no need to get jealous as an official BlackBerry version of the app is also coming down the road.

Viber [Android Market link]

source: Viber

Land of the free and home of the brave, America is, but sadly that doesn’t include Samsung’s latest brave flagship, the Galaxy S II. We’ve been waiting for the dual-core 4.3-inch Android Gingerbread powerhouse for months, but now the end of the waiting is near as the phone should be available stateside “sometime in August,” Samsung’s head of mobile business, Shin Jong-kyun, confirmed at the launch of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in South Korea.

We already know that Verizon, AT&T and Sprint are expected to get the phone under different monikers: the Samsung Function for Verizon, the Samsung Attain for AT&T and the Samsung Within for Sprint. Shin however did not give an exact date other than the vague August timeframe neither did he provide a price or any other details.

The Galaxy S II in its various reincarnations is expected to directly rival the next-gen iPhone and no wonder – it’s among the best Android handsets out there. Sales numbers are the first to confirm that as the phone has been available outside the States for months selling over 3 million in just 55 days. Our review of the Galaxy S II covers all the details of the dual-core phone, so feel free to check it out keeping your fingers crossed that the handset is indeed coming in August.

source: Associated Press

Continually seeing leaps in technology, the proliferation of web surfing on smartphones has been aided by network carriers aggressively expanding their data infrastructure across all four corners of the world. At first, 3G was undeniably accepted with open arms as it produced significantly faster speeds compared to the generation before it – and much like that, LTE and the myriad of 4G labeled networks are doing the same thing for our time. However, there are still other factors that come to play in profoundly earning a great web browsing experience on a smartphone. Knowing that, we decided to pick up a trio of top-notch devices and pit them against one another in a battle for web surfing supremacy.

Taking the Apple iPhone 4, HTC ThunderBolt, and Motorola DROID 3, we decided to run a few different web browsing tests to see how they stack up against each other. And to make things as fair as possible, especially when the 4G LTE enabled HTC ThunderBolt would smite the other two in raw data speed, we placed them all into airplane mode and connected them to the same Wi-Fi network. At this point, that takes out the network carriers out of the equation and mainly places the burden on the handset’s hardware and software to see which one is able to pull off the best results…

Read the whole article at PhoneArena.com!

Lenovo’s plans to release two Honeycomb tablets weren’t the best kept secret out there, but now Lenovo has officially unveiled the cover over them: both share a dual-core Tegra 2 chip, a similar 10.1-inch display, RAM and ports, but the ThinkPad Tablet has a down-to-business look, an optional stylus and keyboard dock, while the IdeaPad K1, previously known as the Lenovo LePad, comes with a rounded body and an affordable price tag.
Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet

The ThinkPad Tablet has a serious, rectangular design and seems squarely aimed at corporate folk. It almost looks vintage but it packs some serious hardware: Gorilla Glass 10.1-inch IPS display with a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels, a 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 chip, 1GB of RAM and optional 3G. It’s not even close to matching the thin profile of tablets like the iPad 2 with its .55-inches of girth (14mm) and 1.6 pounds (725 grams) of pure weight. But it does offer plenty of connectivity options as a trade-off: mini-HDMI, full-size USB 2.0 and microUSB ports, none of which you have on the iPad 2. The slate has a 5-megapixel rear camera and a 2-megapixel front facing one, perfect for video conferencing. Wi-Fi only version of the slate is expected to last as much as 8.7 hours…

Read the whole post at PhoneArena.com

A small number of users of the T-Mobile myTouch 4G will be getting an upgrade to Android 2.3.3 starting on Wednesday. Besides updating the OS, other changes include offering an update for Swype and bringing Exchange 2010 compatibility. Some bugs will be repaired including fixes for Bluetooth audio when answering a call, allowing messages to be saved in the inbox, a better domestic roaming signal, a display that is more responsive and stable during bootup and regular use, and a few unnamed stability and software fixes. Because the update will be downloading Android 2.3.3, not 2.3.4 onto the handset, gTalk video calling will not be enabled on the phone-at least for now.

If the small pilot test goes well, in a few weeks the update will resume and last the rest of the year which will allow all myTouch 4G owners to be rockin’ the Gingerbread update. If you are one of the lucky ones whose myTouch 4G was chosen to be part of the pilot program,, let us know the changes that you’ve spotted on your handset by sending us a comment in the box below.

source: T-Mobile via AndroidCentral

Starting Wednesday, a small number of T-Mobile myTouch 4G owners will receive an update to Android 2.3.3

While the Motorola DROID Bionic seems to be the smartphone that everyone on Verizon is waiting for, there is something in the wind that might be even better. Even though the DROID Bionic has yet to be introduced, its successor model has already been leaked by sources for Droid-Life. What they are saying is that the Motorola Dinara (code name) will be equipped with an HD screen larger than the 4.3 inches on the Bionic. There will be 1GB of RAM on board. And while similar in style to the DROID Bionic, the Motorola Dinara will be slimmer and lighter than that model. In fact, the two models will have the same casing with the difference in screen size accounted for by the Dinara’s display going from edge to edge without a border. On back will be a 13MP camera with a front facing camera aboard as well.

Other interesting features include a lock button on the side and Holy Cupertino Batman! The battery will not be removable.Will this be LTE enabled? Nothing has been said so far, but we would expect 4G connectivity on a device of this stature. There is also the chance that this will end up being offered on multiple carriers. The Motorola Dinara is allegedly under development and since Ice Cream Sandwich has not been disseminated, it is Gingerbread running the show for now. According to the sources for Droid-Life, they are looking for a winter release for the phone. Now we have something to look forward to once summer ends!

If this turns out to be true, those Verizon customers who have their update all cleaned and spiffed up, ready to be used when the Motorola DROID Bionic launches, will have to stop and consider whether a Bionic in the hand is worth a Dinara coming just a few months later.

source: DroidLife

**UPDATE**

Post #283 on Howard Forums has some updated info on this phone and it appears to be Motorola Model MB886 for AT&T. It will be loaded up with Android 2.3.4 with a dual-core processor,1 GB of RAM, a 13MP rear camera, and a front-facing one too. The power button is indeed on the side and there is a rubberized back. At least this makes life easier for Verizon customers with an update!

source: HowardForums