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 13, 2013 11:38 AMSamsung's Galaxy S 4 Zoom has been coming at us like a snowball rolling down a hill lately, adding rumor after rumor to its story as it quickly turns from something wholly unknown to a device that's really feeling like it's nearly about to arrive. We've still got lots of questions about just what this hardware could be like, but as we wait for those answers we can finally check out one important ability of a model called the Zoom: its ability to take pictures. The above image was posted to Picasa by someone who appears to be a Samsung employee, identified as coming from the Samsung ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 13, 2013 10:10 AMFor the past few months, Motorola's X phone has been the thing of rumors and speculation, but right at the start of May we finally started tying some physical evidence to the talk, upon the discovery of some photos that just might reveal the X phone in the flesh. Today we get what could be a new look at the hardware thanks to the FCC, as well as get to look at some possible X phone benchmarks. The FCC just published the paperwork for Motorola's model XT1058. That line rendering of it up above sure does tend to match the imagery we've seen of the X phone, from the camera and flash ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 10, 2013 7:53 PMThere's a point which we're coming up on, if we haven't reached it already, where it makes more sense to think of the HTC HD2 in terms of what mobile platforms it DOESN'T run than those that it does. In just the past year we've seen it get Jelly Bean, Windows Phone 8, and even full-on Windows RT. With no signs of development slowing down for the three-and-a-half-year-old smartphone, the latest OS to join the ranks of HD2 compatibility is Mozilla's new Firefox OS. This early port is a bit of a kludge, and a number of important things are broken: SIM card recognition, sound output, mass ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 10, 2013 7:05 PMWhat are Verizon's intentions for the HTC One? There've been a lot of rumors, speculation, and conflicting official comments from both the carrier and manufacturer, leaving us guessing. Common sense would suggest that Verizon needs to adopt the handset at some point, but that it would want to do so without causing too much friction around the Droid DNA and its owners. Now a new theory tries to pinpoint just when Verizon might want to make its One plans official, and it makes more than a little sense. Today's Lumia 928 announcement came a little bit out of left field; we assumed it was ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 10, 2013 5:15 PMEarlier this week, rumors arrived of a new Samsung Android called the Galaxy S 4 Zoom. While the initial reporting on this device left us scratching our heads, unsure whether it would be a smartphone with a killer camera or a new full-on Galaxy Camera model, the model kept popping back up, appearing next on a leaked roadmap suggesting it would be announced this month and could ship first thing in July. Today some new evidence turns up, possibly revealing the Zoom's Bluetooth certification. We heard that the Zoom would identify as Samsung model SM-C1010, and now a Samsung model SM-C101 ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 10, 2013 4:24 PMFor many of us, the front-facing cameras on our smartphones are somewhat of an afterthought. Sure, we like that they're there for that rare occasion when someone wants to video chat or we need to snap a new profile picture, but other than making sure that smartphones we're shopping for include the feature, we rarely get too concerned about specs. After all, the megapixel count for your phone's main camera is going to make a larger impact on use than just how high-res the front-facer is. Nevertheless, today we're hearing about a bunch of Androids that may offer eight-megapixel front-facing ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 10, 2013 3:34 PMLast week an image of an unknown LG smartphone surfaced, apparently an Android model under development. There wasn't much to see other than a sleek design and thin bezel, leaving us wondering if it might just be the Optimus G II, if not a new Nexus model. Today, we get another glimpse at the handset as we continue to wonder about how it will arrive. With the screen turned off, it's harder to appreciate the thin bezel on this mystery LG Android this time around, but at least we get to check out the phone from a slightly different angel. The one big development that's occurred since we had ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 10, 2013 2:50 PMIn the time leading up to the launch of the Galaxy S 4, we sure heard plenty of rumors about just what sort of hardware we'd end up seeing. You might remember that a "Project J" was mentioned more than once. Supposedly, the GS4 itself was the main Project J model, but a number of others were mentioned. Specifically, we heard about both a J Mini and a J Active. A GS4 Mini sounded about right, but at the time we didn't quite know what to make of the Active; recently, evidence of a waterproof GS4 Active has finally turned up to answer our questions. Today, we add to the Project J story with a ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 10, 2013 1:01 PMMore often than we'd like to, it seems that we're talking about the lack of selection when it comes to Windows Phone apps. Everyone knows that Microsoft doesn't have anywhere near the number of apps that are available on iOS or Android, but just how bad is the situation? Today we get an update on the app population, and it's not very good news. When we told you about the Lumia 928 launch, we mentioned the bonus $25 app credit included. While the announcement we saw from Nokia didn't include this tidbit, Microsoft's own coverage of the launch notes that the $25 can be used towards any of ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 10, 2013 12:15 PMMobile payment systems are some of the biggest disasters in the smartphone world. The failure for any to catch on speaks to everything wrong with the industry: the tech is there, the infrastructure is in place, yet greed, egos, and back-room deals have managed to hold a pillow to the face of this otherwise promising technology. Last fall we saw evidence that Google, frustrated with an inability to get Wallet onto more Androids, was implementing its own card system, where users of incompatible phones could simply use this physical card to pay, instead. Now a new report claims that Google ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 10, 2013 11:26 AMOne theory that's arisen time and time again in anticipation of Google I/O is the idea that Google could use the venue to introduce a new Nexus 7 tablet. After all, we'd like to believe that some new hardware would show its face at the event, and a tablet is both a much "easier" product to bring to market than a new phone, as well as has a history of premiering at I/O in the first place. We've heard a number of stabs at just how this new Nexus 7 might differ from existing models, and that trend continues today, with a new set of specs suggested. Just to be clear, this isn't any sort of ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 10, 2013 10:41 AMAfter advertising material for the Nokia Lumia 928 surfaced a little early, Nokia dropped any pretense that the phone was still secret and has spent this week releasing additional 928 promotional content. Still, we've wondered when the wave would finally crest and we'd get a proper announcement and all. There's Nokia's London event next week, but a UK event for a Verizon launch never made much sense. Instead, Nokia and Verizon have decided to play this one low-key, forgoing any formal press event and simply announcing the 928's arrival this morning. The Lumia 928 launch will come to ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 9, 2013 7:56 PMIf you've been following our Microsoft Surface Pro coverage, you're already well aware of one of the otherwise impressive tablet's major shortcomings: despite having a pressure-sensitive stylus, the API Microsoft decided to support isn't compatible with software like Photoshop – exactly the sort of programs many users probably thought would be most useful on a device like this. Luckily, it looks like the needed drivers could be just about to arrive. We've been waiting for these for months – we heard back in early February that they could be here "soon," but clearly that didn't come to ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 9, 2013 7:22 PMA couple days back we saw Microsoft release a serious overhaul to the Windows Phone YouTube app, bringing a lot of new functionality to an app that was previously a bit of a disappointment. While early reaction from users has been positive, will these good times be short-lived? It's since come to light that Microsoft's new app violates a number of YouTube's terms of service, potentially setting the stage for Google taking steps to disable the app's access to its content. The most glaring violations are the ability of the app to let the user download content to their phones, and that the ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 9, 2013 5:09 PMRumors of an Amazon smartphone have been around forever, and after the Kindle Fire launched, speculation has only heated up that Amazon was planning to branch out into phones, as well. We've talked about the various rumors a number of times over the past few months, but they all seemed to tell the tale of a pretty pedestrian-sounding smartphone. The latest rumors to arrive suggest the company could have some much bolder plans in mind, trying to rekindle the 3D smartphone fad with the introduction of an Amazon 3D smartphone. According to the Wall Street Journal, Amazon has two smartphones ...