10/23, 4:45pm
UN approves UCS universal cellphone charger
A new Universal Charging Solution (UCS) has been approved by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a division in the United Nations, according to a Thursday report. The energy efficient charger will be compatible with all cellphones regardless of make and model, with certain unnamed manufacturers already incorporating the standard into their products, the ITU says. Other than the energy savings, the new charger will also help eliminate waste as the charger can be retained as new phones are upgraded and older ones are thrown out.
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10/20, 11:50am
Storm2 teased on Verizon website
The BlackBerry Storm2 9550 is nearing release in North America, and Verizon Wireless in particular, as it has been spotted on the website, albeit only as a 360-degree view. An earlier rumor had a release date for Verizon pegged at mid- to late November. The Storm2 will bring a 480x360 touchscreen and a new piezoelectric system that replicates physical feedback but still allows two-finger input.
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10/19, 11:20am
O2 says Pre strong, gives no iPhone look
O2's British division today said that the UK launch of the Palm Pre was successful. A spokesperson declined to say how many had been sold but told TechRadar that the carrier sold more Pres on Friday than it normally does all other phones. Many of these were also often buying one or sometimes two of Palm's Touchstone inductive charging dock.
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10/15, 5:10pm
Vodafone 360 Samsung H1 now available
UK wireless carrier Vodafone is now offering the Vodafone 360 Samsung H1 smartphone on sale through its website. The device is the first to ship with the carrier's 360 social media platform preloaded. The H1 was especially developed for Vodafone, and sports a 3.5-inch OLED touchscreen.
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10/15, 8:00am
Storm2 brings Wi-Fi, new touchscreen
RIM today at last released the BlackBerry Storm2, its second touchscreen phone. The new model has a sleeker design that centers on a much-improved 480x360 touchscreen; rather than slow down users by actually moving the screen inwards, it uses a piezoelectric system that replicates physical feedback but still allows two-finger input. It's also the first Storm to have Wi-Fi and is much faster through carrying twice as much memory as the original.
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10/12, 3:10pm
Storm 2 at Vodafone first, then Verizon
The BlackBerry Storm 2 should finally appear this week and represent RIM's best hope for challenging the iPhone, leaks claim today. British newspaper The Guardian states as a matter of fact that the touchscreen BlackBerry is due to launch this week first through Vodafone as the 9520 and that it will be priced with a plan inexpensive enough to lure iPhone users, as it will only need a £30 ($47) monthly plan to use versus £34 ($54) for Apple's handsets.
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10/12, 11:25am
Four touchscreen phones hit Vodafone UK
Vodafone UK today added three touchscreen smartphones to its roster that in most cases represent world premieres. The Sony Ericsson Satio is now finally shipping after having been detailed in May and is the handset designer's first Symbian S60 smartphone; besides full third-party app support, it's considered a high-end media phone with a 12-megapixel camera, a 3.5-inch touchscreen, GPS and Wi-Fi. For Sony Ericsson, the phone is a symbolic first as one of its first major devices to use microSDHC cards instead of Memory Stick Micro for storage.
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09/29, 10:20am
Both regions gaining multiple iPhone carriers
International carrier Vodafone has announced plans to sell the iPhone in both Ireland and the United Kingdom. As sales will only begin in early 2010, few details are available, though via the web interested buyers can sign up for more information as it becomes available. Specific release dates, phone prices and subscription costs should be released in the near future.
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09/28, 7:40am
Orange UK to carry iPhones in 2009
Orange UK this morning said it has struck a deal with Apple to carry both the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS "later this year." The carrier doesn't yet have information regarding phone prices or service plans but does say it will sell the handsets both online, at retail, and at "selected high street partners." No mention is made of Carphone Warehouse, which handles third-party sales for the iPhone today.
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09/24, 10:40am
Vodafone intros 360 platform, new handsets
UK provider Vodafone on Thursday announced it has launched Vodafone 360, a series of Internet services for cell phones and computers that brings together all contacts, favorite multimedia and photo files as well as social networks. This will allow messages or chats sent through IM programs or social networks such as Facebook, Windows Live Messenger and Google Talk, to be synced between computer and phone, via both wired and wireless methods.
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09/23, 9:40am
More than 30 WM 6.5 phones due before 2010
More than 15 phone manufacturers will release over 30 new smartphones running on Microsoft's upcoming Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system before the end of 2009, the copmany's GCR Mobile Team Unit senior director Benjamin Tan said recently. Tan was speaking to a group of reports at the time, according to a Wednesday Digitimes report. Among the phone manufacturers slated to introduce models are HTC, Acer, Samsung, LG, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba and HP.
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09/10, 11:10pm
Linux Mobile device gets 8MP camera, OLED display
Images have surfaced of an unannounced Samsung handset running on the LiMo platform and headed for Vodafone. The images, posted on the Boy Genius Report, show a brushed steel housing and an OLED screen with haptic feedback. The device is said to get an 8-megapixel camera, although further hardware specs remain unknown.
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09/08, 8:30am
UK divisions of T-Mobile and Orange unite
T-Mobile UK and Orange UK today unveiled plans to merge into a single company. The deal will cost between £600 million and £800 million ($982.4 million to $1.3 billion) to implement but should create the single largest British carrier to date, giving the combined entity about 37 percent of the market and 28.4 million users versus O2's 27 percent. Both also claim improvements for end users as the two should improve coverage by unifying their networks.
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09/03, 10:10am
LG to out three WM 6.5 handsets soon
LG on Thursday announced it will ship three new Windows Mobile handsets over the course of the next few weeks. By the end of 2010, that number will grow to 13 Windows Mobile cellphones. One of the phones, the GM750 (pictured), will feature a touchscreen interface, another will be a touch slider with a QWERTY keyboard and the third, the GW550, will sport a QWERTY bar form factor. Each will be initially launched in limited markets, including Europe, the US and Asia, before making a global debut.
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08/10, 5:55pm
BBerry 9520 WiFi Shots
A handful of shots have surfaced of the BlackBerry 9520 that show the existence of Wi-Fi on the device. Better known as the sequel to the Storm for GSM carriers, the device clearly lists Wi-Fi as an option alongside 3G. It moreover shows it running BlackBerry OS 5.0, though as before the software has only minor improvements over 4.7.
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08/04, 4:30pm
Nokia N97 Mini specs
First rumored in June and more recently spotted, the Nokia N97 Mini has finally received some detailed information, including unofficial specs, thanks to a recent Mobile-Review report. A smaller version of Nokia's flagship device, the N97 Mini is expected to be formally introduced at the Nokia World 2009 expo on September 2 in Germany. As the suffix in the name implies, the device is smaller than its namesake, sporting a 2.9-inch touchscreen display with 640x360 resolution and automatic brightness control, which is very close to the Nokia 5530XM.
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07/29, 3:35pm
Nokia N97 Mini Photo
Rumors of an N97 Mini gained traction on Wednesday with images that may represent the device. The smartphone seen by Engadget almost exactly mirrors the larger Nokia phone but removes the directional pad and moves buttons to shrink the overall size, including the screen. The rear camera has also lost the protective cover present on the full N97 and many other Nokia smartphones.
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07/07, 11:00am
Vodafone on 4G at 15Mbps
Vodafone's research director Professor Michael Walker today told the Wireless 2.0 conference that 4G cellular data based on the Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard is not only better at keeping speeds in the real world but has the potential to replace wired Internet access. The official explained that the average download bandwidth in a recent field trial was about 15Mbps, or several times faster than good 3G access. While well short of the 100Mbps theoretical peak, he added that it was much improved over 3G behavior, where actual speeds have often been further away from the 3.6Mbps and higher often promised for those networks.
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07/03, 11:40am
T-Mo UK Swap Deal Rumor
Rather than allow a buyout of its assets, T-Mobile UK is hoping to strike a deal that would let it "swap" its British business for one in another country, sources have said on Friday. Company insiders have tipped off FT that T-Mobile may sell off its UK operations and that Vodafone Turkey would be the "ideal" candidate for the deal due to its second-place rank and relative subscriber base. No talks have been mentioned so far.
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07/01, 10:05am
Palm Pre UK Next Week
Palm today told the UK press that it will hold an event July 7th regarding the Pre. The company stops short of confirming it as a launch event, but it's commonly assumed by Pocket-lint and others that the gathering next week will provide details of Pre with GSM and HSPA-based 3G and will likely include a release window as well as details of which carriers will sell the smartphone. Pricing is also a possibility.
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06/29, 8:15am
Vodafone May Buy T-Mo UK
An apparent leak late Sunday suggests that Vodafone may be interested in buying T-Mobile's British division. Reported sources for FT have the former either buying the smaller UK carrier or else establishing a joint venture. The deal would be possible thanks to T-Mobile's widely rumored dire financial state, which may have left the company with little choice but to look for a partner.
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06/19, 2:45pm
HTC 1m Magics by August
HTC chief Peter Chou told the Taiwan-area commercial paper Commercial Times today that his company expects to sell the millionth Magic by August. Having taken roughly six months to sell the millionth G1, Chou's firm now says it will only take the three months since the Magic's launch in May to reach a similar amount for the second Android phone. It's not clear how many Android phones HTC has sold in total.
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06/17, 11:40am
Vodafone N97 Mini Claim
Vodafone Ireland may have divulged some of its future plans today through a post on its forums discussing new smartphones. While denying that Vodafone will get the just-launched N97, a spokesperson does claim that the carrier will get a device known as the "N97 Mini" as well as the better-known BlackBerry Storm sequel. What the N97 Mini would involve isn't known other than "competitive pricing" when compared to the expensive full-size model.
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06/03, 2:20pm
BBerry Tour Bell Leak
RIM's BlackBerry Tour is now known to be headed to Canada and has had its specifications confirmed through a late leak. Now due for Bell, a brochure for the smartphone obtained by BGR has both CDMA and EVDO for the carrier's own network but also quad-band GSM and EDGE for basic use in the US; in a conscious decision to limit 3G roaming in the US, though, it would have just 2,100MHz HSPA and so would only support 3G on European networks like Vodafone's.
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05/29, 11:20am
Nokia 6730 at Vodafone
Nokia on Friday announced it will soon begin shipping its Nokia 6730 classic handset exclusively to Vodafone in all the markets it serves. Vodafone's services, including mobile Internet and e-mail, Vodafone Music Client, and navigation will be supported. Users will have access to yellow and white pages listings, making getting to places or people easier thanks to turn-by-turn driving and walking directions. Furthermore, the handset uses the Symbian S60 operating system, which means users can download smartphone-level apps.
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05/22, 9:25am
iPhone 3G at 'end of life'
An e-mail in circulation to Vodafone staff in Australia hints at the timing of the next iPhone, a source from the country contends. In particular the e-mail is said to be going out to retail workers, informing them that Vodafone's regional supplier -- Brightpoint -- has marked the 16GB iPhone as "end of life," along with the Nokia 6121. Both items have only a few weeks' worth of stock available, according to the memo.
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05/14, 4:40pm
Vodafone cuts roaming fees
Vodafone UK has announced a new promotion, Vodafone Passport, that will allow customers to make calls or send text and picture messages without paying roaming charges as they travel across 35 countries in Europe this summer. The carrier will also reduce prices for international calls. The changes apply to pay-as-you-go or monthly subscribers, beginning June 1st and running until the end of August.
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05/12, 11:30am
Vodafone App Store Coming
Vodafone today hoped to seize on the success of the iPhone's App Store by announcing its own central portal for third-party apps. The service will echo Apple's approach and provide 70 percent of revenue to developers but will have unique software advantages, the cellular provider says. Vodafone's store will be device-independent and will also be tailored specifically to the network, allowing for GPS-aware apps and other features through a special API (app programming interface).
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05/11, 9:25am
Android to Grow 900pc
The number of phones shipped using Google's Android platform is set to grow much faster than the iPhone this year, estimates from Strategy Analytics maintain today. Devices like the T-Mobile G1 have just a small fraction of shipments today but are expected to grow 900 percent in 2009 as multiple extra smartphones launch and more carriers come onboard. Apple's device will reportedly grow second-quickest but at a much smaller 79 percent growth rate to 23.8 million iPhones per year, potentially leading to a shift in favor of Android in the near future.
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05/05, 4:30pm
Palm Pre Aussie in August
Palm's next stop with the Pre after Sprint may be Australia. Pointing only to insiders in its rumor, the Pacific nation's Smarthouse asserts that Telstra has landed a three-month exclusive for the phone on its network that would start from August. The phone maker's national manager, Brett Murray, doesn't mention a date but partly corroborates the report by confirming a second-half 2009 launch window for the Pre in Australia. He also can't confirm exclusives, though Sprint itself is separately rumored to have a three-month deal of its own.
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05/01, 12:45pm
Apple in Brandz Top 100
Apple and its US carrier AT&T are some of the most important technology companies in terms of brand worth, the latest Brandz Top 100 ranking (PDF) from MillwardBrown indicates. Gauging them not just on their actual income but also their social impact, the firm estimates that Apple has the sixth-largest brand value in the world and has seen the rough value of its brand climb 14 percent to about $63.1 billion. AT&T ranked 28th but was also one of the fastest-rising companies, jumping 67 percent to just over $20 billion.
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05/01, 12:10pm
Google sued over Android
A software developer is seeking about $94 million in damages from Google and 46 other technology companies for their use of the term Android, which Google used to name its open-source operating system. According to a Thursday report, Erich Specht, who runs Android Data Corp. in Illinois, claims Google infringed on his trademark and is seeking an injunction on Android-branded products.
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05/01, 10:20am
T-Mobile UK May Merge
T-Mobile's UK division may merge with a rival or even sell off its assets if it can't recover from major losses, its CFO Timotheus Hoettges said at the cellphone carrier's annual shareholder's meeting. The British group may have to write down the equivalent of $2.4 billion in costs for just the first quarter of 2009 and is considering any steps it can take to cut these expenses. Which is more likely isn't known, though the executive sees a merger as one of the most practical ways to address the problem.
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04/30, 2:00pm
T-Mobile Android roll-out
T-Mobile UK has announced on Wednesday that it is beginning to send out the Android 1.5 operating system that contains the so-called Cupcake updates to current T-Mobile G1 handset users. The update will give the G1 a long-awaited virtual keyboard for texting capabilities when the handset is closed, along with better support for accelerometers to adjust the display when the phone is tilted on its side.
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04/27, 3:40pm
Vodafone iPhone portal
The UK division of Vodafone has launched a beta version of an iPhone web portal, regional reports observe. The site is customizable, and offers access to news content from the likes of Sky and the BBC, as well as games, weather and traffic info, plus access to services such as Flickr and Twitter. Notably, the Vodafone Homepage is described as "available to all iPhone users including non-Vodafone customers."
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04/27, 10:35am
HTC Magic at Voda Spain
Vodafone Spain today got the edge on its other European counterparts by saying it would launch the HTC Magic early. The carrier's countdown has the phone shipping at midnight Tuesday and will make it the first country to get the handset, which is the second-ever Android phone and the first sold outside of T-Mobile. Unlike the G1, the Magic uses Android 1.5's on-screen keyboard alone for input and uses this to significantly slim down the design.
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04/27, 9:15am
Samsung i7500 Android
Samsung today became the second company ever to formally launch a smartphone based on Google's Android platform. The i7500 is one of the thinnest full touchscreen phones at 0.47 inches deep and is also billed as one of the most advanced: it centers on a 3.2-inch, 320x480 AMOLED screen that not only provides much better color accuracy and brightness but also helps extend battery life. A 5-megapixel camera with autofocusing and flash gives it the most advanced photography of any Android phone, while it's also the first with the OS to have 8GB of built-in memory on top of a microSDHC card slot.
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04/20, 12:40pm
HTC Magic for Vodafone
HTC's Magic smartphone, only the second device to be based on Google's Android platform, is now available for pre-order through Vodafone UK. The phone should ship on May 5th, and can be had for free when signing up for a subscription worth £30 per month. A £5 monthly discount applies to online purchases. Other Vodafone divisions are also expected to carry the phone soon, such as Vodafone Italy.
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04/13, 10:00am
HTC Magic Euro Pricing
Vodafone's Italian branch today broke silence on pricing for the HTC Magic by updating its product page with official details. The Android smartphone will potentially be free for new subscribers but should cost about 149 Euros ($198) for existing users signing a new contract along with a 9 Euro monthly fee. It should also be available contract-free for 449 Euros ($596).
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04/08, 4:05pm
UK Pushing for 900MHz 3G
British cellular carriers O2 and Vodafone are being asked by the government to share their 3G spectrum as part of an effort to supply rural broadband. Although the two providers are currently the exclusive holders of the 900MHz band for faster wireless data, officials at the independent regulator Ofcom are asking the two to allow at least one other carrier to share the space and build out coverage in those areas that aren't already served.
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04/08, 11:15am
BBerry Storm 2 Type Rumor
RIM's BlackBerry Storm sequel may unveil a significantly different input scheme, a Dutch spokesman for the company has said in an interview today. Responding to criticisms of the Storm's current typing method, RIM's Alain Segond von Banchet says the next Storm will use a different method for input.
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04/07, 5:05pm
Huawei Android phone soon
Chinese cellphone maker Huawei will reportedly supply wireless provider T-Mobile with its third handset running on the Google-developed Android operating system in the second half of this year. The handset, thus far called the G3, is expected to be the lowest-priced Android phone from the carrier and come equipped with a five-megapixel camera, 3mm headphone jack and a Wi-Fi connection.
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04/03, 11:15am
Samsung Louvre handset
Limited information and an image of the Samsung B7610 Louvre handset has been revealed by a Dutch branch of Carphone Warehouse. The horizontal slider smartphone is due to replace the company's F700/Croix handset launched by Vodafone back in 2007, and will run on the Windows Mobile 6.1 operating system rather than a custom platform. Other than the full QWERTY keyboard hiding behind the display, the handset may also get UMTS/HSDPA data network support, as well as a 5-megapixel camera and possibly Wi-Fi functionality.
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04/02, 11:40pm
HTC Magic delayed to May
The launch of the HTC Magic, the successor to the original Android powered handset, the T-Mobile G1, has been pushed back to May from its earlier April release date due to a last minute hardware change. The Magic was due for an initial release via Vodafone UK before eventually making its way to T-Mobile in the US, most likely under the T-Mobile G2 name. The delay has not been acknowledged by Vodafone, at least on its website, which still lists the launch date as April, though the phone sales department confirmed it will arrive later than originally planned, now on May 1st.
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03/17, 9:40am
Four Android phones coming
Taiwan-based cell phone maker HTC on Friday said it would launch more than three new Android-powered phones this year, reports the Wall Street Journal. One of the new handsets and the first one to ship is the Magic, or a close cousin to the original G1, and as such the Magic may be known as the G2 in North America. The Magic will be released in the spring at UK's Vodafone.
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03/12, 2:45pm
Cupcake out in April in UK
T-Mobile in the UK said it will launch the Cupcake update for the Google-powered phone, the T-Mobile G1, in April, according to a Wednesday report. The Cupcake release may coincide with that of Vodafone's HTC Magic, the successor to the G1, though T-Mobile UK is keeping mum about this possibility. "We can't say whether this will be connected with the launch of the HTC Magic as we aren't aware of what alterations if any they are making to the operating system," a T-Mobile rep says.
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03/11, 1:30pm
Vodafone drops MP3 DRM
Vodafone has announced plans to switch the majority of its music catalog to a DRM-free MP3 format. The phone carrier says it has signed deals with Sony, EMI and Universal, which will allow tracks bought from the record labels to be copied freely between phones, computers and dedicated media players. Vodafone claims that it will also be the first provider in the world to do dual delivery, by which a track can be downloaded to both a phone and a computer at no extra charge, and with no device sync.
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03/04, 11:30am
Vodafone Magic in April
UK wireless provider Vodafone has recently posted that the Android-powered HTC Magic, a successor to the original T-Mobile G1, will be available at the carrier next month. Word of the Magic coming to Vodafone first appeared over two weeks ago but preceded the official launch and didn't include specifics.
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02/17, 12:30pm
Universal Phone Chargers
Most cellphones could use a single, interoperable standard for their power chargers within three years if a GSM Association initiative proves successful. The partnership includes phone makers like LG, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson as well as carriers like AT&T, KTF, Telefonica, T-Mobile and Vodafone; all have developed a format that would use micro USB as the standard and cut the typical power use by about half. The plan would cut back on the number of chargers thrown out after switching phones as well as reduce the amount of energy used to keep phones running.
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02/17, 7:30am
HTC Magic Official
HTC today after a brief run-up introduced the Magic, the second-ever Android device and the first to rely on an iPhone-like virtual keyboard thanks to Google's impending Cupcake update to the software. The upgrade slims the device down without shrinking the 3.2-inch touchscreen or sacrificing the remaining hardware controls, which still include a trackball for using the phone one-handed. Cupcake should also bring video capture and stereo Bluetooth support, though whether these reach the final device is unknown.
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