Posts by Stephen Schenck
Stephen has been writing about electronics since 2008, which only serves to frustrate him that he waited so long to combine his love of gadgets and his degree in writing. In his spare time, he collects console and arcade game hardware, is a motorcycle enthusiast, and enjoys trapping blue crabs. Stephen's first mobile device was a 624 MHz Dell Axim X30, which he's convinced is still a viable platform. Stephen longs for a market where phones are sold independently of service, and bandwidth is cheap and plentiful; he's not holding his breath. In the meantime, he devours smartphone news and tries to sort out the juicy bits
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by Stephen Schenck | May 22, 2012 5:16 PMYesterday, we saw Verizon clear up a few things about upcoming updates for some of its Android lineup that would bring these CDMA phones the ability to roam globally on GSM-based networks. All told, the carrier committed to getting this feature out to the Droid 4, RAZR, RAZR Maxx, and Rezound sometime over the summer. Today we get a hint of just how this roaming might arrive, thanks to a recently-leaked ICS ROM for the Droid RAZR. While it's not clear exactly what software build we're looking at here, the takeaway seems to be that the update that will enable global roaming will likely be ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 22, 2012 4:18 PMWe all knew that lowering the bar on Windows Phone memory requirements would mean incompatibility with some apps, but so far the consequences haven't been overly jarring. Earlier this year, Skype finally came to Windows Phone, but did so along with caveat that the app wasn't compatible with 256MB handsets. Nokia didn't like the sound of how that would affect users of its Lumia 610, and announced that it would see what it could do about that, eventually making the app available for download. About a month later, and with the 610 now launched in China, Nokia's changing its tune, and deciding ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 22, 2012 3:28 PMHTC's been talking about which of its Androids would be seeing updates to Ice Cream Sandwich for some time now, so we've generally had a good idea for what to expect. We've already seen the company start delivering those updates to some of its lineup, leaving the question of just when it would get around to hitting the rest of them. To help with answers, the manufacturer has put together a convenient table, detailing just when it expects to make ICS available for those remaining devices. It looks like the majority of phones that haven't yet started getting ICS will do so next month. That ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 22, 2012 1:33 PMThere have been plenty of recent claims made about just how large the screen on Apple's next iPhone will measure, with a number of rumors looking at something very close to four inches. Though it measures-in just a hair under that mark, we looked at one-such rumor only a little while ago that says to expect a 3.95-inch display, and one with a more widescreen aspect ratio, at that. While that news had some nice details backing it up, like a specific claim as to the new screen's resolution, we're far from closing the book on this one. The latest attempt at nailing-down these specs comes from ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 22, 2012 12:35 PMSo it begins: while the big European launch for Samsung's Galaxy S III is still a week away, reports have started trickling-in of retailers in other markets already making the smartphone available for purchase, giving a few lucky customers the opportunity to take home some of the first GS3s to reach retail. Apparently the Galaxy S III is being openly sold at stores in Dubai, UAE. This looks to be more than just a matter of rogue employees letting the handsets slip out a few days early, as promotional materials are reportedly up and advertising the phone's current availability. The start of ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 22, 2012 11:08 AMGoogle first announced plans to acquire Motorola Mobility all the way back in August of last year, and the time spent since has seen the company seeking out approval after approval in order to finalize the deal. That's included everyone from Motorola stockholders, to the European Union, to the United States Department of Justice. Just over this past weekend, China's Ministry of Commerce gave its nod to the purchase, marking the last obstacle on the road to see this become a done deal. As such, Google and Motorola have now announced that Google's acquisition effort has closed, and the ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 21, 2012 8:10 PMSony will soon be launching the Xperia GX and Xperia SX in Japan. Both phones have some very solid specs, with dual-core Snapdragon S4 chips under their hoods, but the GX really stands out with, among other features, a 13-megapixel main camera. Of course, all those pixels are meaningless if they can't help the phone take a decent pic, so we've been understandably curious to see just ho well the phone's sensor would perform. A couple test shots made from the GX have recently emerged, giving us our first look at its imaging capabilities. Admittedly, these are indoor shots, so there's not ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 21, 2012 7:32 PMEver since some HTC phones got caught-up in US Customs last week, plenty of anxious users have been wondering when the EVO 4G LTE on Sprint might finally arrive. Best Buy reached out to customers who had pre-ordered the handset with word that the phone might end up shipping on May 23, but the retailer later had to send out corrections, explaining that it still didn't have any idea just when the Android handset could continue with its launch. Most recently, we heard from HTC itself that progress had been made towards resolving the Customs hold-ups, and some phones had passed-through and ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 21, 2012 5:56 PMLate last week, we started hearing some new rumblings about Verizon's plans for bringing global roaming to some of its Android lineup. We already knew that both the Motorola Droid 4 and LG's Spectrum would make the cut, and Verizon would activate their roaming abilities at some point in the future. The new leak that brought the issue back to the forefront last week concerned HTC's Rezound, with an in-store display advertising the pending arrival of global roaming as one of the handset's features. There were also rumors accompanying that find that Motorola's Droid RAZR (Maxx) would join ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 21, 2012 5:17 PMZTE broke into the Windows Phone game with the release of its Tania handset earlier this year. We've already seen the phone arrive in some European markets, featuring a 4.3-inch WVGA display, 4GB of internal flash storage, a five-megapixel camera, and a 1GHz processor. That all made for a perfectly respectable Windows Phone handset, not even considering that this was ZTE's first foray onto the platform. As the Tania gets ready to make its debut in China, it seems that ZTE is already moving on to bigger and better hardware, stepping-up from 1GHz to a 1.4GHz SoC. Currently running a ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 21, 2012 4:17 PMOwners of Samsung's Galaxy Nexus on Verizon have been quite patient in waiting for updates to arrive for their phones. Granted, they've had little choice but to be, as despite the impressions they might have had of the Galaxy Nexus being a phone that would receive quick and frequent updates as Google made them ready, Verizon hasn't been updating the handset since its release. Reprieve may be just around the corner, as a new rumor claims that Verizon may just start delivering Android 4.0.4 to the GNex tomorrow, May 22. Tales of the Verizon Galaxy Nexus and Android 4.0.4 go back several ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 21, 2012 3:13 PMIs Tizen going to be the next big smartphone operating system upstart? We first heard of the project last fall, with news that Samsung and Intel were getting together to work on developing the open-source platform, after Nokia closed up shop on MeeGo. Things have been pretty quiet since then, although we have gotten the opportunity to look at a Tizen developer's handset (above), and examined rumors that Samsung might use devices running the OS as an opportunity to test the waters for its Super AMOLED HD Plus display tech. If any new smartphone platform is going to have a meaningful impact, ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 21, 2012 1:15 PMIn just a couple months' time, the 2012 Summer Olympics will be kicking-off, allowing with the requisite media frenzy that goes right along with it. Companies will be looking to capitalize on the Games in a major way, and sponsors have shelled-out big bucks to get their names affiliated with the event. Samsung is one of those companies that intends to promote its products with plenty of Olympic tie-ins, and we've already learned that its Galaxy S III is to be the official smartphone of the Games, with a special Olympic edition being made available to athletes so that they can use the ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 21, 2012 11:52 AMFor about the past month or so, owners of HTC's Amaze 4G on T-Mobile have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the update that would bring their phones Ice Cream Sandwich. T-Mobile first tipped subscribers off to the news that updates for both the Amaze 4G and Sensation 4G would be here quite shortly; that seemed to imply that the previously-rumored June dates for the arrival of these updates might be off. Sure enough, we soon got word of a confirmed release date for the Sensation, but found ourselves waiting just a little longer for news on the Amaze. Last week, though, the carrier ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 18, 2012 8:08 PMAs if the recent news regarding Motorola's struggles with the enforcement of software patents wasn't upsetting enough, there's now some further info concerning HTC and its own problems with import bans, and it doesn't sound good. Earlier this week, we learned that the One X and EVO 4G LTE were having their State-side arrival held up by the enforcement of rulings concerning software features of the handsets. It only seemed like it was going to be an issue for these new models, but tonight there are some signs that the effects of this ban may be far more widespread. HTC's Amaze 4G landed at ...