Sony's mash-up Xperia, the SP, is taking its transparent element light show to the UK today, giving budget-minded Brits one stylish and feature-packed mobile alternative. The 4.6-inch 720p handset, which is basically a Best of... edition of the Xperia S and P with an aluminum unibody, is shipping now at T-Mobile UK for £250 outright (about $387 USD), whereas Orange and EE are offering up the device for free with qualifying plans. If you want LTE, however, you only have one carrier option and that's EE -- a choice that'll have you shackled for a two-year period. As for O2 and Three, those carriers still have the SP listed as "coming soon," but it's safe to say you won't find a better bargain than *free.

*Nothing in life is free.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Sony

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Via: Xperia Blog

Source: T-Mobile Uk, Orange, EE

Much of ZTE's MWC 2013 focus was its desire to go from white label to global brand name. And from the looks of these leaked shots, the Chinese OEM's taking that goal seriously, purportedly prepping a new handset for Sprint. Going by the rumored name "Quantum," the handset falls below flagship status, allegedly running Android Jelly Bean and bearing a Snapdragon S4 processor, 5-inch 720p display, 1GB RAM and a 13-megapixel rear camera housed in an outsized circular module. There's no visible carrier branding anywhere on the device to confirm its possible Sprint LTE destiny -- only a logo in the notification pane and an anonymous tip, as reported to Android Police, pegs it for that. If this leak does indeed pan out, then that's good news for Sprint subs looking for more hardware choice, giant screens and 4G. And if not, well, no one will know the difference. Check out the source for additional shots.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Sprint

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Source: Android Police

Sure, Pantech's 4.8-inch Discover HD for AT&T had its official announcement around CES, and now it appears Verizon will get its own variant of the Android smartphone. The ever-resourceful evleaks has scooped up details about said device, dubbed as the Pantech Perception, along with the leaked press image above. As the report goes, it's apparently packing a similar 720p (1176 x 720) HD display, a 1.5Ghz Snapdragon S4 SoC, LTE connectivity and, naturally, Verizon markings. Details are slim aside from that, although, evleaks is implying it'll cost near to the $50 on-contract pricing of the Discover HD. As always, we'll keep you posted when more info arises -- there are more happenings from CES to catch up on in the meantime.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Verizon

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Via: SlashGear, Android Community

Source: Unwired View, @evleaks (Twitter)

While HDX video has been a trademark for the Vudu service for years, when it launched streaming and Vudu-to-go downloads for PCs last year, they were limited to standard definition. That's been corrected recently, as the service is now offering 1080p or 720p HDX video via the web. What you still won't get on the PC unfortunately is higher quality sound as it's still limited to stereo audio for now, and in our tests we weren't able to access the Flash streams on a phone or tablet. Just log into the website and you should be able to try it out for yourself, however you will need adequate internet speed and an HDCP-compliant display -- check out the details at the link below.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

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Source: Vudu Support

The Samsung Galaxy Note II is coming to America, and unlike its predecessor, it's not being as quiet about the move. In a completely unprecedented feat, the mammoth smartphone not only won over the hearts of four national American carriers and one regional network, it did so without having to make sacrifices in its design, specs or even its name. This is a considerable amount of progress when taking into account the fact that only two mobile operators adopted the original Galaxy Note -- the inaugural phablet, if you will -- and they did so months after its global launch. Heck, T-Mobile released its variant of the Note just three months ago, which likely will be a sour point to early adopters for a long time to come.

As you may have seen in our review of the global Note II, there's a reason for all of the buzz circulating around this new flagship device; it's good. It's very good. Once you get used to the idea of a 5.5-inch smartphone with an included stylus S Pen, you'll take heed of the incredibly fast quad-core processor, the latest version of Android, the high-end camera and the litany of other top-notch features that have helped the device become worthy of our praise.

This review, as you see it today, discusses our impressions of T-Mobile's version of the Note II and how it sizes up against the global model (the N7100), but we're changing things up this time around. Since there will be very few differences across the five different versions offered on US carriers, we're simply going to add our reviews of each carrier-specific unit to this space as we go along. The idea is that this review will encompass every Galaxy Note II sold stateside. Enjoy the galleries below, and continue past the break as we dig into Samsung's latest flagship... again.

Gallery: Samsung Galaxy Note II (T-Mobile) overview

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Samsung, T-Mobile

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In February of this year, Huawei took to the stage at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona to highlight its most ambitious smartphone strategy to date. Its plan: to establish a new classification system by dividing the bulk of its handsets into four core groups starting with the high-end D-series at the top and working its way down to the bargain bin Y-series. Hogging Accepting the bulk of the spotlight, however, was the Ascend D Quad XL, a "superphone" containing a homegrown quad-core CPU. For a manufacturer that hadn't even put a dual-core phone on the market (the Ascend P1 wasn't on sale yet), a launch in the second quarter of this year felt incredibly aggressive. This was Huawei's first real chance to make a legitimate name for itself outside of Asia; pushing out an impressive device in a timely fashion was imperative.

Fast-forward eight months, and we've witnessed the 2012 equivalent of the Motorola Droid Bionic: the unfortunate device has been the subject of uncertainty and countless delays. Fear not, it's finally been released. However, it faces an incredibly competitive market coming into the holiday season, with quad-core heavyweights like the Samsung Galaxy Note II, LG Optimus G and HTC One X+ ready to duke it out. We had this question when it was originally announced, and it's become even more relevant now: can the Huawei D Quad XL (and its freshly made SoC) hold up respectably amongst its new peers? Delay no further and join us after the break to get the full scoop.

Gallery: Huawei Ascend D1 Quad XL review

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile

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You've heard it before: the more things change the more they stay the same. It wasn't that long ago that we reviewed LG's flagship Optimus 4X HD, the world's first quad-core HSPA+ handset. Despite representing the company's best engineering and design effort to date, it wasn't quite able to match the competition's global offerings -- Samsung's mighty Galaxy S III and HTC's lovely One X. Today, just a few months later, quad-core LTE superphones are the state of the art. Samsung's selling the global Galaxy Note II, HTC's just announced the One X+ and LG's betting everything on the Optimus G -- the first handset to feature Qualcomm's Snapdragon S4 Pro together with an LTE radio.

The Optimus G is a pivotal device for the Korean manufacturer, especially in the US, where rival Samsung is massively popular and LG's success has been hampered by a series of forgettable products (hello, Intuition) and a lackluster track record for software updates. It's so critical that LG even invited us to spend some quality time with the Optimus G at the launch event in Seoul last month. In the US, LG's partnering with Sprint and AT&T and there's strong evidence that Google's upcoming Nexus will be based on the Optimus G. So, does the company's latest powerhouse measure up to the competition? How different are the US versions from the Korean model? Does LG finally have a winning formula with the Optimus G? Find out in our review after the break.

Gallery: LG Optimus G review (Korean model)

Gallery: LG Optimus G review (Sprint model)

Gallery: LG Optimus G review (AT&T model)

Gallery: LG Optimus G review (comparisons)

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Sprint, AT&T, LG

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To the delight of live event crowds everywhere, the ASUS-made Nexus 7 sidestepped the primary camera route, only furnishing the slab with a 1.2-megapixel front-facer. While it didn't take long for app-makers to tweak their wares especially for Google's statement tablet, users over at XDA Developers have dug a little deeper to unlock the shooter's 720p recording potential, removing the previous 480p cap. There are several (relatively simple) ways to get it done -- visit the source for the full instructions.

Filed under: Tablets, Software

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Via: Pocketnow

Source: XDA Developers

Well, we weren't expecting it at today's Motorola event, but Motorola just outed a Maxx version of the Droid RAZR HD. Like its svelter sibling, the HD Maxx has a 4.7-inch Super AMOLED HD screen, 1.5GHz dual-core CPU, LTE, and an 8-megapixel shooter, but it upgrades the onboard storage to 32GB. And the main event with any RAZR Maxx is, of course, an upgraded 3,300mAh battery that promises up to 21 hours of talk time, 13 hours of video playback or eight hours of web browsing on LTE. Naturally, a price has to be paid for such longevous life, but at 67.9mm wide, 131.9 mm long and a mere 9.3mm thin -- less than 1mm thicker than the standard HD -- it's a relatively small one. Naturally, we don't know how much this beast will cost, but Motorola's telling us it'll be available for this holiday season. Folks looking to dig into the details even further can find them in the PR after the break and at the source below.

Gallery: Motorola Droid RAZR Maxx HD

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Source: Motorola

It's been a little while since the two major players in the helmet cam industry, Contour and GoPro, refreshed their wares. Contour launched its Contour+ and Roam models last summer, while GoPro delivered the HD Hero2 late last year. As our extensive testing can attest, both companies put out great cameras, but with Sony about to get in the game with its $199 Action Cam, the pair need to raise their games -- and that's exactly what Contour is doing with the Contour+2.

This logically named follow-up to the Contour+ is a big step forward on many levels, still delivering 1080p recording while offering many design and software improvements, including the ability to use your smartphone not just as a viewfinder, but to start and stop recording, too. Plus, at $400, it's $100 cheaper than last year's offering -- and that's despite coming with a fully waterproof case. Join us as we put it through its paces.

Gallery: Contour+2 review

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Just over a year later, Contour has released the Contour+2 camera as the follow up to its Contour+ model. Like its predecessor, the +2 shoots video at up to 1080p and 120fps, though that max frame rate's only available at 480p resolution. It also sports the same rail mounting design, a sliding power/record switch on top and a 270-degree rotating lens. Naturally, the camera comes with a waterproof case, for filming in hostile environments, and a couple of adhesive mounts, so you can get those super gnarly POV shots. The +2 stores clips on an included 4GB microSD card, but it can also stream live video using the mini-HDMI port round the back. GPS is onboard to track the location and elevation of any epic runs, and you can add a map of your route with speed and distance data and edit your videos using the free Storyteller app for PC and Mac. Once you've tweaked things, the app also does simple sharing of the results directly to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Vimeo. The best part? Contour's latest will set you back $400, which is $100 less than the original Contour+. Hit the break for a video walkthrough of Contour's latest action cam courtesy of company CEO Marc Barros, and head on over to our review to see how this thing operates in the field.

Gallery: Contour+2 action camera and accessories

Filed under: Portable Audio/Video

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Remember Samsung's Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch for Sprint? Think that name was a mouthful? Well here's a press shot of -- wait for it -- Samsung's SGH-T699 aka. Galaxy S Blaze Q, a QWERTY slider for T-Mobile that's been leaked before. Beyond the terrible name, the August 15th mention on the screen appears to confirm the previous launch date rumors. Spec-wise, the phone is expected to pack a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 with 1GB of RAM and 16GB of built-in storage. There's also mention of 1080p video capture and a 720p display -- the latter being unlikely in light of the large amount of bezel surrounding the screen (Samsung's smallest HD Super AMOLED display is 4.65-inches across). Our guess is that T-Mobile's just complementing Samsung's existing Galaxy S Blaze 4G with a mid-range QWERTY slider, but we'll find out soon enough.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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The Xperia GX passed muster at the FCC labs a few weeks back and is filling shelves of NTT DoCoMo stores starting today. If you like your smartphone screens big and high-resolution, you'll probably be very happy with the Xperia GX's 720p 4.6-inch display, wrapped in a curved frame similar to last year's Xperia Arc. There's no word on whether the phone will remain a Japan-only exclusive, but Sony is likely to have something new to show off at European trade show, IFA, in only a few weeks. Arguably more of a looker than the Xperia S, perhaps we'll see a global model -- there's a pentaband 3G radio in this iteration -- sidling up next to an Xperia tablet in Germany very soon.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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If Cisco's ill-fated Umi video conferencing system had been more like this, would it have survived? Logitech is about to find out, one way or the other, once its TV Cam HD -- recently spotted at the FCC -- arrives in the US this month. The $199.99 device hooks up to your TV and contains all the processing power needed to run Skype and transmit wide-angle, 720p footage of your couch over WiFi or Ethernet. Unlike the previous TV Cam, there's no need for a Viera Connect HDTV -- anything with HDMI-in will do. The company is banking on the notion that families will forgo the use of their existing mobile devices and laptops in favour of an always-on dedicated system with incoming call alerts, four noise-cancelling mics and a Carl Zeiss lens that "gets the whole family in the video call, so everyone from grandparents to grandchildren can move around naturally." If you're tempted, the publicity video after the break gives a decent overview of the product in action.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Peripherals, Networking

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When it comes to storied products, the Motorola Atrix has already mushroomed into one prolific line of devices, even in its short, 18-month life. It began as the Atrix 4G, entering the market with a splashy press conference at CES 2011, earning our respect as a game-changer, with its fingerprint sensor and innovative Webtop system. Less than a year later we were treated to the sequel, which offered some incremental improvements in specs and design, but failed to dazzle techies the way the original did.

Enter the third installment of the Atrix saga: the Atrix HD. True to its name, Motorola's latest device is the company's first US-bound smartphone to take advantage of a 720p display. It's also the outfit's first handset to ship with Ice Cream Sandwich already installed, and it sweetens the pot with other goodies such as LTE and an 8-megapixel rear camera. The spec sheet looks promising, and at $99 with a two-year agreement, so does the price. So is it worth your hard-earned Benjamin and two more years with AT&T? Let's find out.

Gallery: Motorola Atrix HD review

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile

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Well, lookie here. It didn't take long for Motorola's latest Atrix variant to go from unveiled to launched, as the Atrix HD is now on sale at AT&T for a wallet-pleasing $99.99 on contract. Sign the dotted line for two years, and you'll be getting a 4.5-inch Android superphone, complete with Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0), a true 720p display, Kevlar-infused backing, a "splash resistant" casing and an LTE radio. Those who indulge quickly are set to grab a gratis Vehicle Dock for "a limited time," and you'll also enjoy the first Moto handset to bring the outfit's Circle Widget to the homescreen -- which is engineered to take owners directly to their AT&T account info, displaying data usage, battery status and more. The phone's listed right now in AT&T's smartphone section in Titanium and Modern White, but the link to buy it seems deactivated for the moment. Still, it's all square to go on sale today, so keep a close eye on the source link if you're dead-set on an upgrade.

Psst... you can learn more about the Atrix lineage through our original Atrix 4G and Atrix 2 reviews.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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While we've already stared down the specifications, AT&T's announced that it will bring Motorola's big and skinny slab to the US later this month, while Bell will do the honors in Canada "this summer." Priced at $99, the Atrix HD will tie together LTE connectivity with a 4.5-inch 720p display, available in both Modern White and Titanium colors. Better still, it's all arriving later this week, on July 15. If you're thinking about becoming an early adopter then you'll want to move quickly, as a free Vehicle Dock will ship with each one for a "limited time", designed to work perfectly with the included Smart Actions. Finally, this is the first phone to feature Motorola's "circle widget" on the home screen, designed to take owners directly to their AT&T account info, displaying data usage, battery status and more. Check after the break for a quick video walkthrough from AT&T plus a press release with all of the specs and details.

Gallery: Motorola ATRIX HD

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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LG has an ongoing smartphone problem: despite a few valiant efforts (the G2x comes to mind) the company continues to live in the shadow of rival Samsung. Most of this malaise can be attributed to hit-and-miss hardware combined with lackluster software (we're looking at you, Spectrum). Last February, at Mobile World Congress, LG spiced things up with an attractive collection of devices including the Optimus L7, Optimus Vu and Optimus 4X HD -- the latter being one of the first quad-core handsets announced. Now, six months later, we live in a world where the global versions of HTC's One X and Samsung's Galaxy S III dominate the superphone market and share the quad-core crown. With me-too features like a Tegra 3 processor, 4.7-inch HD display, 8-megapixel camera and Ice Cream Sandwich on board, the Optimus 4X HD appears ready to play in the big leagues. Does it succeed or is it just a flash in the pan? Is it all style over substance or does it bring something unique and meaningful to the table? Hit the break for our full review.

Gallery: LG Optimus 4X HD review

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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The next Motorola Atrix phone has been revealed on the company's website as the Atrix HD, with an MB886 model number matching the "Dinara" we saw pass through the FCC. According to the listed specs, it features a 4.5-inch HD Colorboost (720 x 1,280) display, 1.5GHz dual-core CPU, and will ship with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and (predictably) looks very much like the Droid RAZR. There's no carrier mentioned (other than the blatant logo at the bottom), but judging by the radio bands mentioned in the specs, it comes off very much as a Droid RAZR for AT&T with quad-band EDGE, quad-band HSPA+ and dual-band LTE. It has a 1780 mAh battery, 8MP rear camera, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage (up to 32GB external) and measures 8.4mm thick. The construction is as you'd expect, with Gorilla Glass and Kevlar fused to make the "business ready" handset, while the Atrix 2's Lapdock 100 is listed as an accessory. There's no word on when the third Atrix will be launched, but you can find out all about it and sign up for updates right now at the source link.

Filed under: Mobile

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The 4.5-inch Vega LTE is not eight months old and the 4.8-inch Vega Racer 2 is still properly wet behind the years. But, the flow of progress abides by no calendars, so welcome the Pantech Vega S5 to the world. It steps up to a full 5-inch IPS LCD with a 720p resolution in a phone that, thanks to a "zero bezel" design, actually has a smaller footprint than the Samsung Galaxy S III. There's a whopping 13 megapixel shooter in there with zero lag, a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, 16GB of internal storage and a 2,100 mAh battery that's said to deliver 11 hours of talk time. If that sounds like a good combination indeed it could be, but don't spend too much pining -- this handset is destined only for Korean shores.

Filed under: Mobile

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If you're a fan of old-school QWERTY, it seems T-Mobile will soon have a clicky Samsung slider friend for you. The leaked image from TMoNews could also clear up a mystery and put a face to the name SGH-T699 we saw last month in a leaked user agent profile. From that we gleaned a 720P display, and new info points to a 5MP rear camera, Qualcomm S3 or S4 chip and Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich to boot. We'll keep the skep-o-meter turned up high till we have confirmation for all that, but tactile keyboard phone lovers might want to start making plans.

Filed under: Mobile

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We reported the possibility of the ASUS building a 7-inch Nexus tablet earlier, but that rumor just jumped a notch with an unnamed rep confirming to Android Authority that it is indeed working with Google on a quad-core tab. Though the mole wasn't willing to divulge more specifics, previous speculation points to the Tegra-based MeMO 3270T with Jelly Bean, the next iteration of Android. The publicity-shy source also confirmed the device would be coming at the end of June -- putting it within reach of Google's upcoming big event.

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How could we forget the GAEMS personal gaming environment? Looking something like a cross between a laptop from the eighties, and a bomb disposal unit, the all-in-one Xbox system was always going to make an impression. Well, with E3 just around the corner, it looks like there might be another model on the way. All we know at the moment is that it's called "Sentry," and will have more of a personal entertainment leaning. This being based on the fact that on top of the Xbox gaming, GAMES only went as far to tease that services like Netflix, HULU and YouTube will be increasingly central to it. The firm is also revealing a new device with the working title "Project Vanguard," about which it's even more secretive. Either way, better make more room on that luggage rack.

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Never mind Huawei's 6.68mm-thick Ascend P1 S or Oppo's 6.65mm-thick Finder, because the record's about to be beaten yet again by another Chinese manufacturer. Codenamed "Athena," this mysterious ZTE phone's been getting a fair bit of attention on Sina Weibo with its 6.2mm slimness claim, all thanks to a keen terminal device strategy director from the company. While Mr. Lu hasn't delved into specifics, what we know so far is that Athena will feature a 720p display, Cortex-A15 chip (a source of ours said it will be multi-core) and up to 64GB of internal storage, as well as a "Miflavor UI" -- something that we've already previewed on the Era at MWC -- to go on top of Android 4.0. Lu also hinted that there will be several color options, but we're more than happy to nab that black kevlar edition in the above shot (and someone should tell Motorola to take a look at this). Two more pictures after the break to keep you busy for the time being.

Filed under: Mobile

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Alcatel is relatively a newcomer to the world of smartphone manufacturing, but the company's latest handset is certainly bound to turn some heads. Dubbed "OT986," this 4.5-inch device packs a hefty amount of all-around power (unlike that Venture), starting with its 1280 x 720 HD, IPS display, which is paired nicely alongside a dual-core 1.5GHz CPU (TI OMAP 4460), one gig of RAM and 8GB of internal storage -- and, there's also a lower-end model sporting a 1.2GHz processor and a mere 4GB of built-in storage. Furthermore, Alcatel's new Ice Cream Sandwich slab is said to hit the Chinese market under the TCL S900 moniker for 1,999 yuan (about $314), but deets are still cloudy on whether it'll be stuffed with the same juicy specs as the aforementioned OT986. While we wait to hear which other countries the device will make its way into, though, you can hit the source link below to gander at some extra eye candy.

Filed under: Mobile

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