The Verizon iPhone 4‘s inability to do simultaneous voice and 3G data is still one of the key differentiators between it and AT&T’s GSM version, but it seems not all Verizon smartphones are created equal. According to a purported leak from inside the carrier and passed to Phandroid, the upcoming HTC Thunderbolt will actually support simultaneous voice and 3G data; however, it’s not something we should expect to hear Verizon making much noise about.
According to the leak, Verizon “cannot promise the experience will be one that is consistent with [the] brand” and so are advising sales people to “not reference this functionality as a benefit during your conversations with customers.” As sales strategies go this seems somewhat bizarre, but we can understand Verizon not wanting to overshadow its other devices – including the new CDMA iPhone – with a single HTC handset.
It’s obviously the day for unannounced smartphones to get caught in the wild. After a duo of HTC devices were spotted, it’s the turn of Sony Ericsson’s well-leaked XPERIA Play – aka the PlayStation Phone – which is currently considered a lock-in for MWC 2011 next month. A SlashGear tipster sent in this shot of Sony Ericsson’s gaming handheld being thumbed on the Tube.
According to the tipster, the XPERIA Play was being publicly manhandled in London; they were too coy to interrupt and ask for some playtime of their own, but they did snap a sneaky photo of the sliding smartphone. The handset has a 4-inch 854 x 480 resolution touchscreen, 5-megapixel camera and runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread; we’ve also heard separately that it will launch on Orange UK, though we don’t know if it will be a carrier exclusive or not.
After today’s Sony NGP launch, meanwhile, we also know that the XPERIA Play – while seemingly not getting PlayStation branding – will get access to the PlayStation Suite, Sony’s new gaming platform and PS Store for titles that run on Android phones. That’s expected to be populated with PSOne classics initially, though Sony is also inviting Android game developers to have their titles certified and included in the on-device download store.
Facebook has denied reports that HTC is making a Facebook-branded smartphone, with a spokesperson suggesting “the rumors around there being something more to this HTC device are overblown.” According to Dan Rose, Facebook’s head of business development, the speculation is simply over-assumption based on “just another example of a manufacturer who has taken our public APIs and integrated them into their device in an interesting way.”
As for whether the HTC device – which is expected to be announced among a range of handsets at MWC 2011 next month – would be Facebook branded, Rose was even more blunt. “No” he told reporters at an event in London this week.
Although Facebook phone rumors have persisted for some time now, this latest batch suggested that HTC would produce two devices for the social network, offering support for Facebook Voice calls and putting the news page on the homescreen. The devices were expected to be Android-based, and SlashGear has heard separately that at least one would include a physical QWERTY keyboard.
Short of only making a single prototype and sewing it into Peter Chou’s trouser pocket, we’re not sure what HTC could do to stop its smartphones leaking and spoiling the surprise come launch day; still, if they didn’t we wouldn’t get premature glimpses of models like this Verizon slab from the mobile01 forums. Hot on the heels of the potential Desire replacement from earlier today, this Verizon-branded model is also expected to run Android.
On the back is a protruding camera and dual-LED flash, together with some angular molding that looks a lot like that of the Verizon DROID Incredible. Meanwhile the front reminds us of the HTC 7 Trophy.
Full details are likely to come through at MWC 2011 in Barcelona next month, assuming HTC doesn’t spring another leak before then. Reach for the needle & thread, Peter, we say.
One of the phones HTC is expected to unveil at Mobile World Congress next month has been spotted in the wild, with the prototype apparently snapped while its tester was flaunting it on the Taipei metro system. Engadget‘s tipster doesn’t have a name for the device, but it matches up with previously leaked renders believed to be HTC’s new range.
Exact specifications are in short supply, but there’s a front-facing camera next to the smartphone’s earpiece and a row of touch-sensitive buttons running underneath the display. Screen size is unclear, but it could well be a 3.7-inch replacement to the HTC Desire, announced at MWC 2010 and one of the devices we’re expecting to see replaced at this year’s show.
Hulu is reportedly facing a cull on its free content, with Fox and ABC both considering pulling some of their shows in an attempt to make more money through paid subscriptions. According to the WSJ‘s sources, Hulu’s management may reposition the service as an “online cable operator” which would use IPTV to deliver live TV and video-on-demand, similar to channel bundles currently offered by cable and other operators.
Meanwhile, ABC has reportedly been covertly building a Hulu-style content delivery service for which it could control any subscription element. While it’s unconfirmed whether the system will commercially launch, it’s expected to mirror the shows Hulu offers, potentially undermining Hulu’s position in the market.
Should Hulu go ahead with the virtual cable proposal, some element of free-to-view service is expected to remain, but it’s not clear whether it would be to the same extent as is currently offered. Hulu Plus, the subscription-based side of Hulu – which offers broader access to back-catalogs of shows – might be folded into the new proposal as well.
Earlier this month we reported that Samsung had begun to tout the Galaxy S2- sequel to the wildly successful Galaxy S. Now a leaked slide from Samsung’s 2011 MWC plan reveals both the Galaxy S 2 and the Tab 2.
Both new products are set to be unveiled on February 13, 2011 at the MWC during President JK Shin’s speech. The promo slides for this new tablet lead some to suspect it will be 10″ and pack the same dual-core 1 GHz Orion processor as the S2.
The S2 is also expected to be capable of full 1080p recording on its 8 MP camera. It will have a 4.3″ Super AMOLED Plus touchscreen, NFC reader and 1 GB of RAM. Oh, and it’ll be .9mm thinner than the Galaxy S. If 2011 follows the same pattern as 2010, Sprint’s model may end up with a sliding keyboard and a little bit of extra weight.
It looks like Samsung could have their next generation of Galaxy S smartphones out in stores right alongside the iPhone 5. I forsee a lot of line-watching this summer.
Earlier today we reported on the rumored Facebook phone being developed by HTC. The device is said to have Facebook’s color scheme and branding and be focused around the Facebook news feed.
Now BGR has been tipped by a man claiming to have been part of the focus group for a device that matched the description of the Facebook phone. Based on the questions he was asked, we can assume that a few things are at least being seriously looked at for inclusion in this new smartphone.
-Location-aware coupons that push to your phone when you are near where you can actually use them.
-An always-on GPS service that runs in the background and shares your info with friends / apps like the coupon thing. There are some disturbing privacy implications there, but I doubt most buyers will care.
-Very little, if any, local storage. Everything is in the cloud.
-There will be a camera, but it will upload straight to the cloud.
-The phone will include a news ticker notification system that pushes all of your different accounts into one mass inbox.
Sony Ericsson’s MWC 2011 announcements keep getting chipped away; first the Hallon got an in-depth preview, and now it’s the turn of the XPERIA Play to get the same. A PlayStation Phone prototype turned up at Engadget and they did the only sensible thing and put it through its paces, coming away reasonable impressed with what functionality is working so far.
The biggest question we have – how well the touch-sensitive joysticks work – still goes unanswered, since there aren’t any games available to test them with, and emulators seemingly wouldn’t map them. However, as you can see in the video below, general gaming did work, and the Android 2.3 Gingerbread smartphone seems reasonably swift with its 1GHz processor and Adreno 205 graphics.
The software appears to be unfinished – WiFi doesn’t work, for instance – but the separated Timescape and Mediascape apps we saw on the XPERIA Arc are present and Sony Ericsson’s media app plays 720p H.264 with no problems. There’s also a useful widget overview view, triggered with a pinch gesture.
So far so good, but the real differentiator from the ever-more-crowded Android marketplace will be Sony Ericsson’s line-up of games and how much the XPERIA Play costs; those factors we won’t know until MWC next month. SlashGear will be there to bring back all the official details, rest assured.
As odd rumors go, RIM engineering the BlackBerry PlayBook so that it can run Android apps sounds pretty far fetched, but that’s today’s mystery. According to “multiple trusted sources” speaking to BGR, RIM is considering using the Dalvik Java virtual machine, as used by Android, and potentially opening the door to the PlayBook and other QNX-based devices to run Android code.
RIM needs a Java VM so as to provide legacy support for QNX-based devices like the PlayBook, such as custom apps which corporations might have deployed and don’t want to – or can’t – recreate as a native version. Official access to Android apps would be another thing, however; that would require RIM working with Google to certify its platform in some way, so as to provide official support to the Android Market.
That sort of agreement would likely work in RIM’s favor, but whether it’s something Google would be amenable to remains to be seen. Still, as we saw in our own hands-on time with the PlayBook, there’s a lot to like about the BlackBerry slate, and Android support would be icing on the cake.
Facebook has denied reports that HTC is 
