Amazon is reportedly preparing to bundlestreaming movie content with its Prime subscription service, in an attempt to better take on Netflix in the US. According to the FT‘s sources, the web retailer has been readying the streaming system for some time now; rather than pushing individual rentals, as the current Amazon Video On Demand system offers, it will follow a subscription-based pattern with unlimited access to movies and TV shows.
Amazon Prime currently offers unlimited fast shipping on purchases, for a flat fee of $79 per year. It is currently available in the US, UK, Germany, France and Japan; Amazon recently purchased European rental and streaming company LoveFilm in a $200m deal that will see the retailer gain an instant catalog of licensed titles to distribute.
Whether or not that acquisition heralds the start of an Amazon Prime streaming bundle in Europe as well remains to be seen.
If you’re game for Windows Phone 7 on Bell, you’ve got one lonely option right now, and you’d better like landscape QWERTY sliders: the LG Optimus Quantum, a phone you may know better simply as the Quantum on AT&T in the US. Looks like that might change in just a few days’ time, though, as MobileSyrup has scored some launch documentation for HTC’s HD7 — a phone that’s on T-Mobile in the States — that indicates it’s launching on the 10th of this month. Unfortunately, pricing is a little uncertain because the documents are showing CAD $599.95 (about $606) regardless of contract length, so realistically, that’s probably what you can expect to pay if you choose to forgo a contract altogether. At this point, we’d be curious what Microsoft and its hardware partners have in store for round two of Windows Phone 7′s retail push rather than buying a first-generation device — but then again, it’s always hard to resist a 4.3-inch display, isn’t it?
Pinch of salt time, but images purportedly showing Apple’s second-generation iPad display have emerged, hot off the Chinese production line. According to 9 to 5 Mac and iFixYouri, the iPad 2 panel is both lighter and thinner than the existing LCD used in the first-gen iPad; that would certainly fit in with previous rumors.
In addition to being more than a millimeter thinner, the iPad 2 display also has a smaller bezel. That should give Apple more flexibility in its overall casing design, since there’s less bulk to fit in. Considering the first-gen iPad was basically a sandwich predominantly comprised of display and batteries – with the electronics squeezed in – that could make a huge difference to the overall aesthetic.
Going by the product code, LP097X02-SLN1, and some online deduction – still unverified – one of the 9 to 5 Mac commenters has worked out that the display could well be an LG Philips panel running at 1024 x 768 XGA resolution and using H-IPS technology. Again, that would fit in with suggestions that Apple is saving an iPad Retina Display update for the third-generation model.
Now-pulled Picasa shots already told us that Nokia’s upcoming E6-00 would likely be sporting an 8 megapixel camera, but now we’ve got another scrap of evidence that points to a notable feature: an honest-to-goodness 640 x 480 display, which would be a small upgrade from the 640 x 360 “nHD” resolution Espoo’s used on some of its high-end models as of late. The information comes to us via an official user agent profile for the device that’s up on Nokia’s site, so it’s just about as official as it gets; there was also a Wi-Fi Alliance certification online at some point, though it’s since been pulled. Needless to say, it seems the odds are at least decent that we could see this launch at MWC in a few days — especially since the company has finally scheduled a press event there.
If you were to prepare a list of most under-served smartphone form factors, portrait QWERTY ranks high on the list; few manufacturers have dared to dabble in it so far, despite the fact that there would seem to be a treasure trove of potential users in the BlackBerry realm who live and die by the Bold / Curve layout. Motorola has given it the most high-publicity shot so far with entries like the Droid Pro, Charm, and Flipout, and it looks like Samsung might be prepping a head-on Droid Pro competitor for Sprint thanks to some shots that have emerged on PocketNow today. We have precisely zero details on the hardware specs, the possible launch time frame, or really anything else at this point, but we’ll keep an eye out.
Google’s last Android-centric event, Google I/O in the middle of last year, treated us to a pair of delectable demos that may now finally be turning into mobile realities. One was a web client for the Android Market with OTA installations — you just browse to an app you want to install while on your desktop and choose to push it to your Android device — and the other was a cloud-based music backup and streaming service. The latter has since picked up the moniker of Google Music in subsequent rumors, and today both are receiving some speculative support for a launch at tomorrow’s Honeycomb event. Android and Me has an insider source claiming the web-based Android Market is finally ready to roll out, whereas BusinessWeek reports Andy Rubin is heading up Google’s digital music team and also has software ready for release, potentially at some point this month. Given the importance of both new additions, it’s highly logical for Google to at least announce and show them off once more tomorrow. Then we can get back to waiting for the next Android update.
Microsoft may be playing a Samsung game when it comes to Windows Phone 7 sales and shipments, but just having handsets in stores should make a big difference to market penetration. According to TmoNews, T-Mobile USA is about to announce availability of the HTC 7 Mozart, joining the HTC HD7 and doubling the options for magenta-loving would-be WP7 shoppers.
The Mozart won our approval by virtue of its excellent build quality and above-average camera, offering 8-megapixels, autofocus and a proper Xenon flash. That’s unique among Windows Phone 7 devices and relatively unique among smartphones in general. No word on exact availability or pricing, but rumor has it T-Mobile will be offering both 8GB and 16GB versions.
“iOS Cellular Protocol SW Engineer-SH/BJ” doesn’t have the sex appeal of “chief designer” or anything, but someone is being sought for that very position, to work under the Haus of Apple. And what does the job entail? Among other duties, “Implementation, Integration, customization, enhancement and maintenance of L1-3 Protocols for one or more of the following air interface: GSM/UMTS, CDMA (1x/EVDO), LTE etc.” You read that right, LTE. It’s not the first time we’ve seen such the technology listed (hello there, since-removed “Cellular Technology Software Manager” job posting), but at the same time, it’s not surprising that Apple’s looking to the future. Just don’t get your hopes up for an LTE iPhone or iPad in the near future.
We won’t lie: we’ve been pretty skeptical of the rumors so far that the HTC Thunderbolt would have support for simultaneous voice and data over EV-DO — SVDO, as it’s known — turned on. Perhaps more than any other US carrier, Verizon has a reputation for testing the living daylights out of devices and locking out hardware that doesn’t meet its reliability standards, and so we were a little leery of some supposedly leaked internal communication not long ago letting reps know that although it’ll be enabled, it shouldn’t be discussed because it doesn’t offer an “experience… consistent with [their] brand.” Well, we’ve just been fed a second document that features the same wording, so it looks like this might be real after all — and what’s more, it’s got updated verbiage stating that mobile hotspot capability will be available at launch, contrary to other leaks floating around today. This particular document is dated today, so we’re feeling good that the information is current — and if anything, it should get potential Thunderbolt buyers more excited than ever.
We’re already expecting the LG Optimus 3D to be made official at MWC 2011 next month – after all, it’s already been given one patchy pre-order listing and LG’s “new dimension” teasing invite isn’t hard to interpret – but now what’s believed to be the handset itself has seemingly leaked. Phandroid‘s tipster doesn’t confirm what exact LG this is, but the best guess is that we’re looking at the 3D Android phone.
Details are scant, with a display larger than 4-inches suggested (which we’d guess is most likely to be 4.3-inches) along with a nameless dual-core CPU paired with multi-channel memory. Given LG has jumped aboard the Tegra 2 train with the Optimus 2X, we wouldn’t be surprised to see NVIDIA’s chip at the heart of this device too. Finally there’s a front-facing camera to add to the list. SlashGear will be at LG’s press event at Mobile World Congress in just a couple of weeks time, when we’ll know exactly what the company has in store for us.
Amazon is reportedly preparing to bundlestreaming movie content with its Prime subscription service, in an attempt to better take on Netflix in the US. According to the FT‘s sources, the web retailer has been readying the streaming system for some time now; rather than pushing individual rentals, as the current Amazon Video On Demand system offers, it will follow a subscription-based pattern with unlimited access to movies and TV shows.
