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HTC unveiled its latest Android flagship, the Droid DNA, at a media event on Tuesday in New York City, where Electronista had a chance to try out the new device ahead of its formal launch. The company appears to be refining its One series under Verizon's Droid brand, adding a five-inch LCD 3 display with 1920x1080 resolution, though the device is marketed as a thoroughbred smartphone rather than a "phablet."
HTC has introduced a new member in its Droid family, the DNA, which will join Verizon's existing lineup. The flagship Android smartphone integrates a five-inch LCD 3 display, only slightly smaller than the displays on Samsung's Galaxy Notes, though HTC argues that its device does not fall within the "phablet" categorization that has been tied to the competing devices.
An advertisement for a Motorola smartphone showing Google Maps as better than Apple's Maps app came under criticism itself today. The ad, promoting the Droid Razr M compared both versions of the Maps app, with the Razr M appearing to have found a fictitious location correctly while the iPhone 5 seemed to complete the same task with the wrong result -- with the only problem being that the address doesn't actually exist.
Motorola today unveiled the latest additions to its Droid Razr family, including the Razr HD, Razr HD Maxx, and Razr M. The HD editions both jump from their predecessors' 4.3-inch 540x960 Super AMOLED Advanced panel to a larger 4.7-inch display with 1280x720 HD resolution, though a shrinking bezel enables the larger screen to fit in a housing of similar volume. Keeping to the family heritage, all models are built with woven Kevlar and water-resistant nano-coatings.
Microsoft landed another blow against Google-owned smartphone maker Motorola, reports Foss Patents. Judge Andreas Voss of the Mannheim Regional court has issued a ruling on a Microsoft FAT (file allocation table) patent and found that Motorola's Android-powered devices infringe on the patent. Moto's Droid and Atrix smartphones on sale in Germany have now been banned as a consequence pending a 10 million euro bond being posted by Microsoft .
The iPhone is no longer Verizon's bestselling smartphone, according to a note from William Blair analyst Anil Doradla. The claim is based on channel checks for the June quarter, and marks the first time the iPhone has slipped out of the lead since the carrier started carrying the product in February last year. Although sales could potentially be suffering in the wait for a next-generation iPhone, Doradla suggests that the root cause is Verizon putting the brunt of its marketing into 4G-capable smartphones, namely the Motorola Droid RAZR MAXX.
A telling leak has uncovered at least tentative dates for Verizon's long-in-waiting Android 4.0 updates. The HTC Rezound would go first, according to an anonymous Reddit user, with a test theoretically active now and wrapping up May 7. Customers would start getting the update over the air two days later, on May 9.
The German version of Motorola's RAZR MAXX could be one of the company's first phones to carry Android 4.0. A mention of Android 4.0 in the fact sheet shows the OS by name. No mention is made of any changes to Motorola's own interface layer along with the 4.0 upgrade.
The iPhone 4S was far and away the most-activated device during the March quarter by Good Technology enterprise customers, a new study by the firm says. The phone represented 37 percent of activations, roughly four times the amount of any other device. The iPad 2 took home second place at 17.7 percent; the third-gen iPad came in fourth at 4.3 percent, but was only available for less than one month in the quarter, and nevertheless accounted for 12.1 percent of all of the March activations Good tracked.
Rumors of an updated Motorola RAZR received a bit more support today, with the emergence of several photos purporting to show the Droid RAZR HD running Android 4.0. The photos show the RAZR HD and its 720p screen in addition to a previously unannounced Motorla handset.
Verizon itself inadvertently confirmed the new Droid Incredible through a product page (since pulled) on its own Droid Does website. Now known to be called the Droid Incredible 4G LTE, the phone is now known to be a heavily modified take on the One S. While the shrink to a four-inch LCD and an underclocked 1.2GHz Snapdragon were known, it should have the dedicated ImageSense processing chip of the One series to get the burst shooting and faster response times.
Newly leaked photos and corresponding EXIF data indicate from Japanese site Ameblo indicate that the leaked Droid Fighter smartphone from Motorola will be called the Droid RAZR HD upon launch. The EXIF data of the captured photo contains both the Droid RAZR HD name and the earlier Vanquish codename for the handset, then known only as the Fighter. The phone may retain the Fighter name for some markets, though if whether that's true isn't known.
A rendering and press photos of what may turn out to be Verizon's second smartphone shipped with Android 4.0 has surfaced. An image of the HTC Incredible 4G has been posted by Pocketnow, while photos have emerged at Android Police. Rumors of the phone, known also as the HTC Droid Incredible 4G and HTC Fireball, first appeared in February.
The Droid RAZR from Verizon may very soon get its expected software update to Android 4.0, if some newly discovered YouTube videos (below) are any indication. They are tutorial videos that are apparently bundled in the phone, though it likely came from a leaked Android 4.0 build that's not yet official. If they do indeed represent the final product, then it appears Motorola won't implement as strong a custom interface on its Android 4.0 update as in the past.
HTC's One S got clues it was much closer to release after leaks of internal staff training. Material passed on to TmoNews have it selling the phone on April 25, which is likely "Final" barring a delay. The copies mostly recap features, but also position the One S as one of if not the most important phone T-Mobile will have for the spring.
Last week, rumors, partially fed by an internal Best Buy website posting, indicated that the Motorola Droid RAZR and Droid RAZR MAXX would be getting their Android 4.0 updates today. This was given additional credibility when a test build of the update was leaked on Sunday. The update still has not been distributed and other than Tweeting "We'll share more details soon," Motorola continues with its silence.
The Motorola RAZR MAXX is due to arrive in Europe and the Middle East this May, the electronics company revealed on Tuesday. The phone is thus far offered exclusively by Verizon as the Droid RAZR MAXX. Naturally, Motorola is boasting the handset's long battery life as its biggest selling point, claiming a 17.6-hour talk time from the 3,300mAh battery.
Samsung should retake the edge in the smartphone space as of the first quarter, Canaccord Genuity said in early estimates. Analyst T. Michael Walkley saw Samsung going back to 28.2 percent share on the back of 41 million smartphones. Apple would have its strongest winter ever, but at 32.6 million iPhones would have a more modest 22.4 percent.
Motorola may be on the verge of releasing its Android 4.0 upgrade, at least in test form, for at least the Droid RAZR and Droid RAZR MAXX. Just days after notice of a soak test of an unknown update for willing early adopters, a leaked build has emerged of Android 4.0.3 for the extra-thin Verizon smartphones. The firmware seen at DroidRzr was clearly unfinished and risky, but was also apparently official as it had an updated cellular radio baseband and a new version of the Webtop pseudo-desktop interface.
A new round of smartphones may be getting Android 4.0 shortly. Phone Arena reports from a source that Best Buy has supposedly said on one of its an internal employee websites that the Motorola Droid RAZR and Droid RAZR MAXX, as well as the HTC Rezound, will be getting updates over the air (OTA) next week. Motorola's official position still has no official timing for the updating these Verizon phones in the US.
Verizon's HTC Droid Incredible 4G may be closer to hiting the market. Android Central has posted an internal advisory letting its employees know that pricing for the phone, also called the ADR 6410, will be updated on its MAP (minimum advertised price) system prior to the launch date. Specifics of the actual pricing and availability weren't posted.
HTC's Droid Incredible 4G may have had its features locked down through a benchmark run on NenaMark. The test of a Verizon phone identifying as the ADR6410LVW showed a device with an unusual processor choice: it would have the Adreno 225 graphics of Qualcomm's Snapdragon S4, but it would be clocked at 1.2GHz, matching up with earlier leaks but not at all like the usual 1.5GHz the S4 uses.
Motorola's rumored Droid Fighter has been spotted for the first time with a sign of an at once familiar and new strategy for Motorola. Chinese forum MFunz's lone photo shows a smartphone very similar to the Droid RAZR, but with a 4.6-inch "HD" (likely 720p) screen that's pushed more to the edges. No physical touch buttons are in sight, suggesting it will use Android 4.0's onscreen keys like the Galaxy Nexus.
Motorola has delivered some bad news to owners of its Droid X2 smartphone. In response to a Better Business Bureau complaint over firmware updates and locked bootloaders, the company said it has no plans to upgrade the phone to Android 4.0. It also confirmed that it would not be unlocking the bootloader for the device.
Motorola has expanded its Android 4.0 upgrade timetable, suggesting Droid RAZR owners in the US market will have to wait until after Q2 for the update. The company has confirmed that its Droid RAZR handsets released in any other international market are expected to receive the update sometime in the second quarter, however.
Verizon has just revealed which of its devices will be getting an upgrade to Android 4.0. While no dates were revealed, the carrier only promised that the updates will arrive sometime this year. Only 4G LTE-compatible hardware appeared to be enjoying the update, however.
Release dates for a number of handsets meant for Verizon have been leaked, thanks to Droid-Life. A pared back version of the Galaxy Nexus with 16GB of built-in storage should begin shipping on April 5, according to a leaked memo. Halving the memory would drop the cost to $200 on contract.
The HTC Fireball may have been given a more definite name after new tips on Friday. Befitting its looks, the Android 4.0 phone should be called the Incredible 4G, Droid-Life said. The hardware would get the according LTE as well as a dual-core 1.2GHz processor.
New sleuthing by Mobil.se around the Mobile World Congress venue has supported notions that Samsung's real highlight for the show will be a Galaxy Note 10.1. A photo of the tablet includes text below it refers to "It's 10.1" as well as the familiar "It's Galaxy Note" line attached to the current Galaxy Note. The screen on the tablet shows what looks to be handwritten scrapbook contents.
Verizon may be ready to release two new smartphones within the next two months, including the LG Cayman and the Droid Fighter. A leaked screenshot posted on Droid-Life suggests the carrier is holding internal workshops related to both mystery devices.
Keeping up its tradition of giving out a smartphone connected to the Oscars, Motorola on Wednesday showed a special Red Carpet edition of the Droid RAZR MAXX. The new version comes in its namesake red, a color previously only available to a handful of Verizon staff. Their version is identical to the dual-core, large battery Android 2.3 device on the inside, but comes with an Elite Silver Bluetooth headset.
HTC has expanded on its Android 4.0 upgrade plans to include more of its North American lineup, most of all Verizon's hardware. It had already included the Rezound in its plans, but it now intended as of Friday to include the Droid Incredible 2, Rhyme, and Thunderbolt among the upgrades. The exact timetable wasn't outlined.
Verizon has seized on the strategy behind its Droid RAZR price cut and applied it to the Droid Bionic on Wednesday. Motorola's older 4G Android phone has had its price cut by at least $50 to $100 on a contract by sacrificing storage. While it still has 16GB built-in, the 16GB microSDHC card has been dropped both to lower the immediate price and let only those who need it pay for a card themselves.
Motorola gave out a detailed timetable of its promised Android 4.0 upgrades that stalled them for most users. In spite of promising most updates early in the year, the original Atrix, the Atrix 2, the Photon 4G, and all international variants on the Xoom 2/Xyboard tablet wouldn't start seeing updates until the summer. The initial batch doesn't start until the spring, when the international RAZR, the international and Family Edition Xoom Wi-Fi models, and the China-only MT917 and XT928 should get their upgrades.
The Motorola Droid 4 is the latest subject of iFixit's teardowns. The team managed to remove the non user-removable battery fairly easily, though the hardware QWERTY keyboard is oddly integrated into the motherboard and difficult to repair. This was the main reason iFixit gave the Droid 4 its lowest repairability score to date, at 4 out of 10.
A telling scoop Friday has shown that Verizon plans at least one more HTC Droid Incredible phone. The hardware seen by Phone Arena, known at least temporarily as the Droid Incredible 3, would be a major leap in speed over the Droid Incredible 2 with both LTE-based 4G and a dual-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon. The hardware is conspicuously using the same Android 4.0 plus Sense 4.0 interface as the Ville and could be the first US phone to get the updated layer.
Verizon delivered one of its first smartphones of the new year Friday in the Droid 4. The Motorola headliner we tried at CES is up for $200 on a contract, making it one of the more affordable LTE phones. Buyers can also pick it up for $550 contract-free.
Verizon has just released a slew of software upgrades for its Android-powered gear, including the Droid Xyboard tablets which are getting the 1.6.0M_279 update. It promises to enhance third-party pen and native touch performance, better browsing, maintaining a data connection while swapping from Wi-Fi to broadband, and in a twist now has global roaming for data. The update is nearly 84MB.
HTC had to backtrack on upgrade promises Thursday with a follow-up posting delaying most. Only the Sensation, Sensation 4G, and Sensation XE will get the new OS by the end of March. The Sensation XL would come soon afterwards, but the Amaze 4G, Desire HD, Desire S, Evo 3D, Evo Design 4G, Incredible S, Rezound, and Vivid would only get updates "later this year."
Two sources have hinted that the Droid 4 may have an imminent launch and a moderate price point. The Droid-Life contacts had it shipping on February 9 for $199 on a contract, or as much as the pared-back 16GB Droid RAZR. It was originally rumored to come a week earlier but was moved back for unknown reasons.
Motorola Mobility posted fall results Thursday underscoring the gap between its ambitions in tablets and its actual performance. The company shipped 200,000 Xoom and Xyboard tablets in the last three months of 2011, which while better than its low point in summer was still lower than what it managed in the first two quarters of 2011. It shipped just one million of its Android tablets all year, which Apple's iPad at its current pace can eclipse in less than a week.
Good Technology broke down its latest enterprise stats Wednesday to show that the iPhone 4S had a tangible impact on share at work. The new Apple phone made smartphone activations through the enterprise platform "skyrocket," making up for any pent-up demand from the summer with a record in the fall. iOS as a whole made up 70 percent of the newly switched-on activations, keeping its summer share even in the face of theoretically tougher competition.
Following unintentional slips, Verizon on Tuesday confirmed that the Droid RAZR MAXX will be on shelves this Thursday, January 26. The extra-long lived 4G smartphone will be the new high-end version of the RAZR and carry the 32GB that was cut in half to lower the price for the original design. A RAZR MAXX wil cost $300 on a contract like the original 32GB version.
Verizon on Tuesday posted a rare loss for its fall quarter despite an otherwise upbeat result defined by the iPhone. It lost 71 cents per share through pension compensation but had its best subscriber additions in three years, adding a net 1.5 million new customers. Having shipped 4.2 million iPhones, the credit could go primarily to Apple for the record performance.
Samsung product innovation VP Kevin Packingham in an interview from CES claimed his company had a goal of true all-day battery life on smartphones this year. Along with getting higher battery capacities, Samsung would optimize the wireless activity on cellular and Wi-Fi, as well as tune other components, he told CNET. He admitted that phones like the Droid Charge weren't ideal, in part because of the use of new technologies like LTE that still had young chipssets.
On Wednesday, Motorola unveiled its latest high-end 4G LTE smartphones, the Droid RAZR MAXX and Droid 4. The company didn't provide a release date but has inadvertently ">posted on its own product page that the new Android hardware should ship January 26. The mentions aren't consistent but show that the date may have already been locked before CES.
Earlier this week at CES, LG and Motorola unveiled two new phones destined for Verizon's 4G LTE network. Phone Scoop has learned that the two phones, the Motorola Droid 4 and LG Spectrum, will be able to roam globally using GSM as well as CDMA, Verizon's core wireless technology. This capability should be available sometime during the first half of this year.
Motorola launched several Android phones at CES this week, including two high-end Verizon 4G models, the Droid 4 and the Droid RAZR MAXX. We tried all of them at the floor. Continue on after the break for an early look at what you can expect as they launch.
Motorola has introduced the latest device in its Android lineup, the Droid 4. The handset keeps to the tradition that began with the original Droid, advancing the QWERTY slider into the 4G LTE era. The fourth-generation model measures 0.5-inches thick, similar to the earlier models, however the company claims it is the "thinnest and most powerful" QWERTY LTE smartphone.
The iPhone 4S held off the Galaxy Nexus for the top spot in smartphones on Verizon, Canaccord Genuity analyst T. Michael Walkley found through channel checks. Apple's newest phone still had the top sales spot on every major US carrier that sells it in December, keeping the first Android 4.0 phone at second place. As before, the only carrier where Apple didn't lead was T-Mobile, where it doesn't participate.
