Android 2.2 Froyo has been in the wild for months now, but there are still plenty of people out there waiting (im)patiently for their device to be updated. ComputerWorld decided to figure out the best and worse US carriers and manufacturers in 2010 based on their Froyo upgrades, and somewhat unsurprisingly it’s HTC and Verizon at the top of the pile.
At the bottom sit AT&T and Sony Ericsson, neither of which updated a single device in their range to Froyo. The ranking coincides with word that AT&T’s Dell Streak 2.2 update has again been delayed, while Sony Ericsson has admitted that it’s abandoned hopes to bring Froyo to the XPERIA X10, X10 mini and X10 mini pro.
The Dell Venue Pro is one of the Windows Phone 7 handsets that, while it hasn’t seen a huge adoption rate due to the fact that it hasn’t seen an actual “smooth” release since its announcement, is still one of the more popular handsets. It’s got the features that people want, and a portrait slider that hides a physical keyboard. But, it looks like the device, as far as those heading to the United Kingdom are concerned anyway, won’t be making a timely arrival, either.
Clove UK has announced that the Dell Venue Pro will be delayed until about the middle of February, as the carrier is having trouble with the software that handles MMS. Clove is pointing the finger entirely at Microsoft, saying that it is their software having the issues. Clove was expecting to stock the device at the beginning of January. There’s not an exact date yet, but if you’re looking forward to the device, then stay tuned. Perhaps a certain upgrade can help with the situation.
Traditionally, CES isn’t a huge mobile event — the biggest phone news has historically been saved for MWC in February and CTIA in March — but that changed in a huge way this week. Looks like 2011 is shaping up to be the year of 4G, and both carriers and manufacturers alike wasted no time jumping on the hype bandwagon with a variety of announcements that promise to make the next few months exciting… and really, really fast. AT&T kicked things off early in the show, but it was just the beginning of a relentless torrent of mobile news that lasted for days and ultimately left us with a pile of devices and network upgrades that should take us at least through the middle of the year. Read on for the recap!
Every CES has its unofficial theme – we’ve seen netbooks and ereaders flood the booths in previous years – and 2011 was the turn of tablets. As predicted before the show, the rise of the iPad, the imminent release of Android 3.0 Honeycomb and the promise of a new, lucrative segment has worked like catnip to manufacturers large and small. Check out the SlashGear CES 2011 tablet roundup after the cut.
We’ve been tracking Notion Ink since late 2009, and this year had the chance to see what’s so exciting about the company’s Adam tablet. The one Android-based slate on show that didn’t have to apologize for running something earlier than Honeycomb, Adam’s key strength is its awesome Eden UI and multitasking system. Our hands-on videos show it best, but considering this tiny start-up has managed to do what has pretty much escaped Microsoft for the past decade, it’s very promising.
Motorola’s XOOM is another slate with great promise, and its debut on Verizon this quarter – along with a 4G model in Q2 – is already getting people excited. Like Adam, the XOOM runs NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 chipset – you can find more about what that means in our Super Phone hub – and while it will be one of the first tablets to give us an official glimpse of Honeycomb, it also packs a few copy-worthy features. For instance, Motorola has designed the XOOM’s modem as modular, so that the 3G version it will launch with can be easily upgraded to a 3G/4G version later on; that will hopefully make international 3G/4G launches more straightforward as well.
T-Mobile has a 4G tablet of its own, in the shape of the HSPA+ capable G-Slate by LG. The most mysterious of the carrier-provided options, there’s not much known about the G-Slate beyond its Android 3.0 OS and 10-inch display. T-Mobile preferred to spend its time talking about the new Dell Streak 7, the long-rumored 7-inch sibling to the original Streak. Unfortunately it won’t be able to take advantage of the full speeds on offer as T-Mobile doubles its HSPA+ network to support up to 42Mbps, being limited to 21Mbps instead, but with Dell’s heft behind it we wouldn’t count it out.
Perhaps our biggest surprise of the show was how strong an option RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook is shaping up to be. A step away from the Android crowds, the PlayBook’s QNX-based OS and dual-core TI OMAP4430 chipset single it out as a very capable contender, with a UI that bridges the larger screen size and the traditional BlackBerry interface well, and lashings of processing grunt on tap. It too will have a 4G option, courtesy of a launch on Sprint’s WiMAX network. Perhaps it was RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis’ enthusiasm rubbing off as he personally demo’d the slate to us, but the PlayBook looks like it could end up part of the iPad’s strongest competition.
RIM BlackBerry PlayBook demo:
While the slate form-factor has been the most common, ASUS and Samsung took a risk and opted for sliders in their tablet ranges. The ASUS Eee Pad Slider and Samsung Sliding PC 7 don’t show much imagination in their names but have enough to differentiate themselves in their hardware, each packing a full QWERTY keyboard for those who want the finger-friendliness of a touchscreen but also want to do some serious text entry. Beyond that similarity, though, the prospects are very different. Samsung opted for an Intel Oak Trail processor and Windows 7, promising full desktop functionality for those who care about it, but running the risk of underwhelming mobile battery life and having to reskin the OS with its own Touch Launcher UI. ASUS, meanwhile, opted for Android 3.0 Honeycomb running on Tegra 2, a far more mobility-friendly decision but potentially lacking the “grown up” software flexibility of the Samsung.
Though hardware has been brimming over with Tegra 2 and other dual-core chipsets, the software side of things has suffered. We asked for intelligent ecosystems, tablets that fit into a more comprehensive system of media, hardware and connectivity, and few delivered. Vizio’s VIA Tablet and Phone look to have come the closest, coupling integration with the company’s smart TVs and cross-device access to things like streaming media and OnLive gaming, but it’s something the big names have failed to deliver on. That’s going to make positioning their devices in the market all the more difficult; Apple gets a lot of criticism for its relatively closed-garden approach, but it also does a very good job at putting the iPad into context with the rest of the iTunes ecosystem. Rivals are going to have to learn to do more than produce lengthy spec sheets if they want mainstream buyers to slot another mobile device into their lives.
There have been a few notable absences at this year’s show, too. HTC continues to get name-checked in the Honeycomb tablet rumors, but failed to show anything more than smartphones at CES 2011. Worse still, the company was overshadowed by Motorola’s ATRIX 4G, with its clever laptop-style docking station. We’ll be looking to MWC 2011 in February to see if HTC can redeem itself there.
Motorola ATRIX 4G demo:
HP and the promised webOS slate was also conspicuous by its absence, and the surprise reveal we’d half-hoped for in the run up to CES failed to materialize. We’re yet to see an attention-grabber like Palm’s Pre debut a few years back, and interest in the company’s smartphone line-up continues to wane. Hopefully something suitably groundbreaking will show up at the HP webOS event on February 9. Microsoft, too, was tipped to be putting greater software emphasis on touch computing, but instead gave the Windows-faithful – both among users and manufacturers – little to smile about. The rumoured Windows 8 preview never transpired, and Windows-on-ARM got more keynote attention by CEO Steve Ballmer. That might have seemed the ideal opportunity to talk UI, but Microsoft didn’t cash in.
The absent spectre looming over all the tablets at CES 2011 was the second-gen iPad. Rivals have had a year to ready their alternatives, but Apple hasn’t been standing still in the meantime; the iPad 2 is rumored to be unveiled as early as this month, and while it may not have the all-singing, all-dancing tech specs of some hardware we’ve seen in the past week, it will have a solid user-base, well-stocked App Store and gobfuls of brand appeal to build upon. Factor in that many of the big-name slates are waiting on Honeycomb, against Apple’s ability to announce a new device and then ship very soon after, and the iPad 2 could well be repeating its predecessor’s sales success imminently. 2011 is most definitely the year of the tablet, but that’s the only certainty in what’s turning out to be a volatile segment.
Details of the upcoming Dell Alienware M18x gaming laptop have emerged, courtesy of one of the company’s engineers. According to the news, the M18x will have an 18.4-inch Full HD 1920 x 1080 display with LED backlighting, and use the latest Intel Sandy Bridge processors. It will also have a choice of AMD or NVIDIA dual graphics chips.
Buyers will get to choose between a pair of AMD Radeon HD 6970M GPUs in CrossFireX configuration, or a pair of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M GPUs in SLI configuration. The Dell engineer also suggests that there will be “another LCD option for the M18X” though he can’t yet reveal what it is.
The Alienware M18x will be available in black or red, with a standard 12-cell 97Whr battery. No word on pricing or release dates at this stage.
We knew the Dell Venue was coming stateside, but now we know it. Dell has announced the phone for our fine country at its CES 2011 press conference, although it failed to mention a price, a release date, or anything else very helpful. Right now Dell doesn’t have a carrier partner, so they’re planning on selling the handset unlocked from Dell.com. Apparently they’re flirting with the idea of a T-Mobile version, but the unlocked model won’t have the T-Mobile 3G bands — basically, it’s an unlocked AT&T phone that AT&T hasn’t blessed. Oh, and just in case you forgot the specs: WVGA 4.1-inch AMOLED screen, 8 megapixel camera, Android 2.2, and a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 8250 processor. Got it? Good, now we wait.
We just touched the Streak 7 for the first time, and if we had to sum it up, we’d say this thing is a giant Streak (the 5-inch version, that is) without an earpiece. That’s not necessarily a bad thing considering that the Streak was a little too big to be a great phone and a little too small to be a great tablet; the glossy, curved design elements have never been the problem, and they look just as good here. The screen seems a bit washed-out — it might not be the highest-quality thing in the world — nor did it seem unusually speedy, though we’re hoping Tegra 2 ends up kicking butt once the software’s optimized.
Update: Check out two hands-on videos. After the break, of course.
After wrapping up their announcement on 4G, Dell came up on stage with T-Mobile and officially showed off the brand new 7-inch Dell tablet, called the Dell Streak 7. The device is already official, thanks to a press release sent out a little before, but the two companies wanted to show off their first 4G device, which will be launching on T-Mobile.
The device is similar to the Dell Streak, which is a five-inch version that was released earlier in the year. The device, featuring a two-inch larger display, it’s T-Mobile’s first 4G HSPA+ tablet. Dell is aiming it as a media consumption device. “Collect, consume, and share it.” That is the mainstay bullet points for the device. It weighs in under one pound.
The NVIDIA dual core 1GHz processor provides faster Web browsing, better Flash usage in a web page, and better gaming on the go. It will focus on the widget-based User Interface that Dell created for the tablet devices, called Stage UI.
Dell has officially announced its second Android 2.2 smartphone of CES 2011, and it’s the candybar Dell Venue we saw unveiled in South Korea at the tail end of last year. Fronted by a 4.1-inch AMOLED display behind a sheet of curved Gorilla Glass, the Venue has an unspecified 1GHz processor and an 8-megapixel camera.
There’s also WiFi and Bluetooth, along with access to the Android Market. Dell preload the Venue with Swype, RadioTime, ActiveSync and QuickOffice, along with their own Stage media app. No word on pricing or availability at this point, but Dell says we’ll know them both “in the coming weeks.”
Venue: Your Personal Express Lane to, Well, Everything
The Venue with Android 2.2 is the perfect one-touch, unlocked GSM smartphone providing instant access to everything you love. With its pre-loaded Stage software and 8-megapixel camera, on-the-go students, mobile professionals and active social networkers can quickly capture and share life’s moments with just about anyone.
Elegantly designed, the Venue offers a vibrant, high-contrast 4.1-inch AM-OLED display with curved Corning Gorilla Glass that’s perfect for watching videos to performing business applications. The Venue’s elliptical, slender form factor feels great in your hand and also slips easily into your pocket.
Pre-loaded applications and the Dell Stage user interface make Venue perfect for entertainment. Download the latest tunes and books, or stream radio stations from all over the world with RadioTime. Stage displays your music, your photos, and more, while the 1 GHz processor makes it fly. As with the Dell Streak 7, Venue offers access to thousands of Android Market widgets, games and applications.
In addition to a full array of entertainment features the Venue also comes fully equipped with today’s necessary business features including support for ActiveSync and QuickOffice. The combination of high speed access and Swype for fast text input makes viewing e-mail, editing documents, and surfing the web fast and easy.
The Streak 7 and the Venue smartphone are the latest in a series of distinctive Dell mobility solutions, including the Streak 5 ultimate pocket tablet, the Inspiron duo convertible tablet and the Venue Pro smartphone with its unique sliding vertical QWERTY keypad.
Dell has officially announced the Dell Streak 7 tablet, which will land on T-Mobile USA in “the coming weeks” and take advantage of the carrier’s 4G HSPA+ network. The Streak 7 has a 7-inch touchscreen covered in toughened Gorilla Glass, and runs NVIDIA’s dual-core 1GHz Tegra 2 processor.
There’s also WiFi and Bluetooth 2.1, along with a 1.3-megapixel front facing camera for video calls, and a rear camera for photography. Flash Player 10.1 is supported, and the Streak 7 is capable of up to 22MB/s on T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network.
No word on pricing at this stage, but T-Mobile says the Streak 7 will arrive on its network imminently. Nor do we know if Dell plans to update the Streak 7 to Android Honeycomb; it will apparently launch with 2.2 Froyo.
Press Release:
T-Mobile Doubles the Speed of America’s Largest 4G Network and Introduces Its First 4G Tablet: the Dell Streak 7
LAS VEGAS, Nev. and BELLEVUE, Wash. — Jan. 6, 2011 — Today at the 2011 International CES, T-Mobile USA CEO and President Philipp Humm highlighted the company’s network leadership, supported by Nielsen data confirming that T-Mobile delivered the fastest wireless data performance in the top 100 U.S. markets during the second half of 2010.1 In addition, Humm announced the nationwide availability of T-Mobile’s 4G network, now reaching approximately 200 million people in 100 major metropolitan areas.
“In 2010, we delivered on our ambitious goal to become America’s largest 4G network, and this year our customers will be able to experience speeds equivalent to home broadband while on the go,” said Humm. “We’ll continue to focus on fueling the adoption of mobile data, by offering innovative and affordable smartphones and tablets, as well as aggressive data plan pricing and rich and compelling data services.”
T-Mobile also unveiled plans to double the speed of its 4G network this year, which will be capable of delivering peak download speeds of up to 42 Mbps. Moreover, the company announced that in 2011 it will launch at least 25 new 4G devices, starting with its first 4G tablet — the Dell™ Streak 7, expected to be available at T-Mobile stores across the country in the coming weeks. The company vowed to aggressively expand and evolve its 4G smartphone portfolio, launching additional devices capable of delivering peak download speeds of up to 21 Mbps in the first half of 2011, and smartphones capable of delivering peak download speeds of up to 42 Mbps in the second half of the year.
The cutting-edge download speed was demonstrated today by company representatives using a T-Mobile laptop stick developed by ZTE, capable of delivering peak download speeds of up to 42 Mbps and slated to launch in the first half of 2011. By doubling the speed of its 4G network, T-Mobile will offer its customers an unprecedented wireless experience, fueled by improved performance in the use of rich media applications, including creating and sharing mobile content, streaming video, and participating in multi-player gaming and videoconferencing.
The company expects 140 million Americans in 25 metro areas to have access to these increased 4G speeds by mid-2011. T-Mobile’s enhanced speed capabilities will also benefit its customers using existing 3G devices for data services, as the backward-compatible network enables 3G devices to achieve their maximum speed performance.
“We are pleased to support T-Mobile as it continues to deploy and develop its 4G network, which today is delivering next-generation speeds and performance to hundreds of millions of customers,” said Angel Ruiz, president and CEO, Ericsson North America. “We are confident that HSPA+ will continue to offer a viable and cost-effective alternative to LTE and WiMAX, providing a comparable 4G experience to customers for the foreseeable future. And, with a strong and growing ecosystem of network equipment and handsets, we anticipate that HSPA+ can develop into one of the most advanced technology platforms in the industry.”
“Consumers are increasingly embracing the benefits of smartphones, with 80 percent of U.S. mobile customers wanting a smartphone, and as many as 100 million of them not yet having one,” said Cole Brodman, chief marketing officer, T-Mobile USA. “Our compelling offering of affordable broadband devices and consumer-friendly data plan pricing will enable customers to step up to mobile data and 4G, and our customers will not pay a toll to ride on our 4G superhighway.”
About the Dell™ Streak 7
T-Mobile’s first 4G tablet, the Dell Streak 7, is capable of peak speeds up to 21 Mbps to provide a super-fast 4G mobile broadband experience for watching movies and entertainment through preloaded content and thousands of widgets, games and applications available on Android Market™. Running the Android 2.2 operating system, the Dell Streak 7 features a brilliant 7-inch WVGA touch screen with Gorilla® Glass, dual core NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor and full Adobe® Flash® Player 10.1 support.
About T-Mobile USA, Inc.
Based in Bellevue, Wash., T-Mobile USA, Inc. is the U.S. wireless operation of Deutsche Telekom AG. By the end of the third quarter of 2010, approximately 130 million mobile customers were served by the mobile communication segments of the Deutsche Telekom group — 33.8 million by T-Mobile USA — all via a common technology platform based on GSM and UMTS, the world’s most widely-used digital wireless standards. Today, T-Mobile operates America’s largest 4G network, and is delivering a compelling 4G experience across a broad lineup of leading devices in more places than competing 4G services. T-Mobile USA’s innovative wireless products and services help empower people to connect to those who matter most. Multiple independent research studies continue to rank T-Mobile USA among the highest in numerous regions throughout the U.S. in wireless customer care and call quality. For more information, please visit http://www.T-Mobile.com. T-Mobile is a federally registered trademark of Deutsche Telekom AG. For further information on Deutsche Telekom, please visit www.telekom.de/investor-relations.
For more information about T-Mobile’s 4G products, please visit http://www.t-mobile.com.
1 Source: The Nielsen Company estimation based on an independent benchmark. Nielsen’s benchmark tests included the following networks: AT&T-HSPA, Verizon-EVDO-RevA, Sprint-EVDO-RevA, and T-Mobile-HSPA+. The tests were conducted between May 28, 2010, and Nov. 30, 2010. Results do not reflect all commercially available services in the market, including AT&T’s HSPA+, Clearwire’s WIMAX and Verizon’s LTE networks. Copyright (2010) The Nielsen Company.
Home broadband speeds vary widely, and speed boosts for 3G devices vary based on device capability. T-Mobile’s HSPA+ 4G network not available everywhere. For more information about T-Mobile’s 4G services, mobile broadband products, device features, or the offers and services mentioned, see http://www.t-mobile.com/coverage.
Press Release:
Today at 2011 International CES, Dell and T-Mobile USA, Inc. unveiled Dell’s new 7-inch Android™ tablet, the Streak™ 7, both companies’ first 4G* capable tablet specifically designed for the super-fast mobile broadband speeds of T-Mobile’s 4G network. The sleek compact form of the Streak 7 combined with T-Mobile’s super-fast 4G mobile broadband network make it the ultimate entertainment hub for families and consumers craving a rich multimedia and web experience both at home and on-the-go.
Portable, passable and easily shared, the Streak 7’s brilliant seven-inch WVGA touch screen with Gorilla® Glass is ideal for Web browsing, streaming video, watching TV and movies, reading books and magazines or playing games virtually anytime, anywhere. The Streak 7 features Google’s™ Android 2.2 operating system, a dual core 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor and full support for Adobe® Flash® Player. Preloaded with a variety of compelling content and applications from
T-Mobile, the Android-powered tablet also has access to more than 100,000 applications, games and widgets from Android Market™.
In addition to a rich entertainment experience, the Streak 7 easily captures and shares life moments with the rear-facing 5 megapixel camera for high-definition stills and video recording. The front-facing 1.3 megapixel camera with the preloaded Qik™ Video Chat application provide video-calling over T-Mobile’s network as well as Wi-Fi to enable spontaneous connections with family and friends.
“Dell is continuing to create the very best in entertainment, mobile and gaming experiences,” said Steve Felice, president of Dell’s Consumer, Small and Medium Business unit. “With Streak 7 on the blazingly fast T-Mobile network, families, students and mobile professionals will gather, share, and find new ways to interact and keep in touch.”
“We’re proud to bring consumers our first 4G tablet, a milestone for T-Mobile, Dell and the industry,” said Cole Brodman, CMO, T-Mobile USA. “As tablets change the way we consume content, T-Mobile’s combination of 4G speeds, breadth of our 4G network, our affordable data plans and compelling new products like the Streak 7 place us in a position to offer the best experience and value for our customers.”
The new Streak 7 will feature Dell’s innovative Stage user interface, which provides a seamless and unified experience for accessing all your favorite content. Later this year, Dell will add syncing to Stage so people can keep their photos, contacts, calendars and other personal content synchronized across their Dell Stage-equipped devices, from tablets to PCs, connected through their home network.
T-MOBILE ENTERTAINMENT AND CONTENT:
The Dell Streak 7 also comes preloaded with unique content and applications to entertain the whole family, including:
T-Mobile TV: live and on-demand TV including live news, sports and full-length entertainment, plus on-demand full episodes of your favorite shows.
BrainPOP: animated educational content embraced by students and trusted by teachers and parents around the globe. BrainPOP brings learning to your fingertips.
Zinio: the largest online newsstand, enabling customers to shop for, search inside, read, share and save digital content in new ways with more than 75,000 digital magazines from 26 countries.
Qik Video Chat: connect with friends and family through T-Mobile’s network and Wi-Fi, unlike some other video-calling solutions that only work through Wi-Fi. With the Streak 7’s front-facing camera paired with Video Chat through Qik, customers can hold video conversations with those who have a Streak 7, or other compatible mobile device, and even broadcast their view through the rear-facing camera.
Additional entertainment applications including Blockbuster, Kindle for Android, Let’s Golf demo, Slacker Radio and Zoodles.
AVAILABILITY INFORMATION:
The new Dell Streak 7 Tablet is expected to be available in the U.S. in the coming weeks at T-Mobile retail stores, www.t-mobile.com, and direct from Dell.
FEATURES & SPECIFICATIONS:
Brilliant seven-inch WVGA (TFT) touch screen display with Gorilla Glass
Android 2.2 (Froyo) with Android Market
Qik video chat with built-in front-facing 1.3-megapixel webcam
Stage User Interface – easy access to the stuff you care about
Built-in support for T-Mobile’s 4G mobile broadband network and Wi-Fi
Dual core 1Ghz NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor
SMS/MMS, SWYPE® virtual keyboard and stereo Bluetooth 2.1 capable
Support for Adobe® Flash® Player
Support for Microsoft® Exchange e-mail, contacts and calendar
16 GB of internal memory and SD Card slot with support for expandable memory up to 32 GB
Dimensions: 7.87” x 4.72” x 0.49”
Streak 7 adds to Dell’s rapidly expanding mobility portfolio and represents the first 4G tablet for T-Mobile’s robust mobile broadband product lineup.
