NVIDIA is one of the main driving hardware forces in the Android tablet world and slow sales of tablets with Google’s operating systems seem to have touched NVIDIA’s CEO Jen-Hsun Huang on the raw. Huang uttered not one, but a couple of arguments detailing the reasons behind the slow start of Android tablet sales in an interview for CNET: “It’s a point of sales problem. It’s an expertise at retail problem. It’s a marketing problem to consumers. It is a price point problem,” he mentioned.

NVIDIA's CEO Jen-Hsun Huang

While the first three arguments seem to touch on all Honeycomb tablets, most of which run on the dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 chip, the price point issue instantly spurs thoughts about the Motorola XOOM. “The baseline configuration included 3G when it shouldn’t have,” Huang underlined. “Tablets should have a Wi-Fi configuration and be more affordable. And those are the ones that were selling more rapidly than the 3G and fully configured ones,” he further explained his point. The Motorola XOOM hit retail shelves with a hard-to-swallow $799 price tag for a 3G version and lacking a Wi-Fi only model initially. In comparison, the iPad 2 carries a much more affordable $499 price tag for the base model with no 3G.

Echoing what rival Apple has been pointing out for a couple of months now, NVIDIA’s main man added: “And it’s a software richness of content problem.” The scarce number of tablet-specific apps seems to become the chant for tablet makers as Motorola’s own Sanjay Jha also mentioned the problem.

But all of those negatives have been “largely addressed by a new wave” of tablets as per Huang’s words. We can only hope for the upcoming Galaxy Tab 10.1 and 8.9 to live up to the expectations this time and give us, the users, more arguments to opt for an Android slate. But what’s your opinion about the slow start of Android slates and the underlying reasons? Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments below.

source: CNET

The HTC Sensation 4G has picked up a large following among cell phone fanatics with many wanting the handset to be their next smartphone. We recently showed you a video made by HTC that details all of the features on the device.

First of all, HTC Sense 3.0 is on board with Android 2.3 underneath. The new version of Sense allows you to receive information from your lock screen, reducing to zero the number of clicks required to see information important to you. Speed is of the essence with the HTC Sensation  and the dual-core Qualcomm 1.2GHz processor points that out. Transitions present 3D style animation, similar to what HTC put on its Flyer tablet. The Super LCD display is 4.3 inches with qHD resolution and contoured glass to prevent scratches. The 16:9 aspect ratio lets yopu watch movies as they were “intended to be seen”. A .3MP VGA camera on front allows for video chats and self-portraits.

One of the most talked about features on the HTC Sensation 4G is the 8MP camera on the back of the unit. The camera takes a picture the instant the shutter is snapped with no lags. There is a dual-LED flash and video is captured in full HD at 1080p at a 30fps rate.

A leaked internal T-Mobile memo from a dealer shows that the HTC Sensation 4G is expected to launch June 8th by the carrier. No pricing details were revealed. Yesterday we reported that Target will be offering the model for $199.99 with a 2 year contract and could be gearing up for a June 12th launch for the phone.

source: TmoNews

This internal T-Mobile document shows a June 8th launch date for the HTC Sensation 4G

We all know that both the HP Veer 4G and Samsung Fuse 4G are both finally available for purchase, but with the latter, it’s getting that customary new handset discount courtesy of Amazon.

If you just simply want to save some money off the handset, as opposed to paying the usual $200 on-contract pricing through AT&T, you can head on over to Amazon where you can pick it up at $149.99 with a 2-year contract. Fortunately, the price is valid for new and existing customers with qualified upgrades! That’s great news for all those AT&T customers who have been waiting patiently for this one – and even more when free two-day shipping is included.

Therefore, if you really want to save $50 off the phone, your best bet right now is to pick it up through Amazon.

source: Amazon via Unwired View

The Motorola DROID 3 has been found on benchmarking website Nenamark. The site claims that the 3rd generation of the phone that kicked off Androidmania will have a PowerVR SGX540 GPU under the hood. That GPU is featured in Texas Instrument’s new hardware which makes it likely that like the original DROID and the DROID 2, a TI CPU will be found inside the device. According to Nenamark, a TI dual-core OMAP4 clocked at 1GHz will be running the show. Other specs pointed out by the benchmarking web site include the qHD resolution of the 4 inch display and the great news that Android 2.3.3 will apparently be pre-loaded on the model.

It is expected that the landscape sliding QWERTY keyboard-a trademark of the DROID series- will be back, this time with a 5-row layout and speculation is that both a front and rear-facing camera will be on board. What is unknown is intriguing. Will the Motorola DROID 3 be an LTE enabled device like the DROID Bionic is expected to be, or will it be 3G only like the DROID X2?

source: Nenamark via Droid-Life

Thanks to the Nenamark benchmark web site, we know that the Motorola DROID 3 will launch with a dual-core TI OMAP 4 CPU

The Motorola DROID 3 will offer a landscape sliding QWERTY keyboard with 5 rows of keys

Who knows what’s the exact reasoning behind it all, but it appears as though that T-Mobile will only continue selling the “all black” version of the rugged style Motorola DEFY. Could it be that the version with ivory accents just got too dirty easily, thus tainting its pristine looks? Or is it because of some sort of shortage? Or maybe, could it be possibly due to trouble getting a hold of components for it?

In any event, the leaked internal memo specially states that the “all black” version of the handset will be sold from now, which apparently went into effect starting on May 4th. Regardless, both versions of the smartphone are still selling on T-Mobile’s web site, but we’d assume that they’re simply going through their remaining stock until it’s completely depleted.

So if you’ve been eying that Motorola DEFY with ivory accents, you’d better scoop one up now before it’s too late!

source: TmoNews

Until now, if you wanted to update the software on your 7-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab to a newer Android version, the only way this could be done was by installing an unofficial Gingerbread build. Well, things have changed – an official update to  Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread is already live in Italy, and if you own an original Samsung Galaxy Tab, the update should be also coming to your tablet pretty soon.

The news comes from numerous Italian Samsung Galaxy Tab users, who reported receiving the update via Kies when hooking their tablets to their computers. Unfortunately, nobody outside of Italy has confirmed getting treated to Gingerbread yet, but it shouldn’t take long before the update goes live in other countries as well. However, if you are not patient enough to wait, there is a way to install the update manually – just follow the link below where a detailed description of the procedure is available. We only urge you to be careful if you attempt installing Gingerbread by yourself. You don’t want ending up with a bricked device now, do you?

To read how you can install the update manually, click here.

source: SamFirmware, The Galaxy Tab via Engadget

Although it’s not yet available with Three UK, consumers who are eagerly waiting for the HTC Flyer to land in the UK will find the juicy set of tidbits found in Three UK’s catalog to be especially intriguing.

Specifically, its seems that the highly anticipated Android 2.3 Gingerbread HTC Flyer is going to be priced at £169 ($275) with a 2-year agreement, and it’s required to be on a £25 per month data plan at the very least, which provides a healthy 15GB data allotment. Honestly, some will undoubtedly find the pricing to be more than considerate, especially when you take into account all the wonderful set of hardware packed inside of it. And even though no specific date has been tied to its release just yet, we’re hopeful that it’ll land some time this month.

Finally, if you’re on the fence on picking this up because it’s flaunting Gingerbread as opposed to Honeycomb, fear not seeing that it should receive its dose of Honeycomb shortly after its release; hopefully.

source: Cool Smartphone via Unwired View

Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jason Weinstein, speaking at a hearing to discuss recent questions raised recently about Apple and Google’s location tracking practices, said that the government would like to see carriers keep location data information for 2 years. “When this information is not stored, it may be impossible for law enforcement to collect essential evidence,” said Weinstein. Last month, at a separate hearing, the Deputy Assistant Attorney General said, “In many cases, these records are the only available evidence that allows us to investigate who committed crimes on the Internet. They may be the only way to learn, for example, that a certain Internet address was used by a particular human being to engage in or facilitate a criminal offense.”

As we reported, Apple and Google have been criticized for allegedly storing location data and other personal information on the Apple iPhone or Android handsets. For its part, Apple’s recent iOS 4.3.3 update made personal data files smaller, reduced the length of time that the data would be kept on the phone and prevented the data from being collected if the user turns off location tracking on his iPhone. A representative from the FCC said at the hearing that personal data should be collected only if necessary to provide a service or to close a transaction.

Senator Al Franken (D-Minn.) called the hearing so that mobile phone owners could discover “who has their information and what they’re doing with it.” Franken, who tripped up AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson on Wednesday, opened the hearing by directing a question to Apple’s VP of software technology, Bud Tribble. The Senator asked Mr. Tribble how Apple could respond to the location tracking problem by discussing all of the cool things that location tracking does while at the same time, Apple CEO Steve Jobs says that location tracking does not exist.

source: PCWorld via Phonescoop

With the second generation of the Samsung Galaxy S, Samsung Galaxy S II, the company introduced the next version of its screen technology, too. The 4.3″ Super AMOLED Plus display is supposedly brighter, 18% more energy-efficient and comes in a thinner package than its predecessor.

What’s more, Samsung gave up on the PenTile matrix arrangement that made some observers note that the Super AMOLED display in use with the original Galaxy S, rings in 392×653 pixels of actual versus the 480×800 pixels of claimed perceived resolution.

From Samsung Mobile Display were quick to note that this move brought a 50% increase in subpixel count, making the images, and especially text on Super AMOLED Plus screens much more distinct. In fact, they just replaced the PenTile matrix with a normal RGB stripe one, and called it Real Stripe.

Let’s see if the Super AMOLED Plus Real Stripe technology made a difference for the screen on the Samsung Galaxy S II, and also, if the overbearing blue OLEDs still bring that annoying cold hue to the image in the newest generation of the AMOLED technology…

Read the whole article at PhoneArena.com!

The Samsung Galaxy S II has caught quite a buzz thanks to a super high Quadrant benchmark test score and an amazingly fast browser that has beaten all comers so far. Even in the States, where Samsung has yet to announce any sort of launch schedule, the handset has already been selected as the next smartphone by many who have been praying that the device ends up with their current carrier.

Meanwhile, overseas a Samsung Galaxy S II owner decided that the 1.2GHz dual core Exynos processor was just not fast enough, so he overclocked the phone to 1.5GHz. A Quadrant benchmark test performed at that speed resulted in a score of over 4,000.

If you own the device and would like to attempt to duplicate the feat, click on the sourcelink. Just make sure that you can handle that speed.

source: Xda-DevelopersForum via Engadget