The first we saw of the BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300 was a bit of a let-down. It looked pretty much identical to the BlackBerry Curve 8520 and 8530 which had made its first appearance nearly a year earlier; same screen, same camera, same housing, same keyboard. Wi-Fi 802.11n wasn’t a huge deal, and though the 8520 was hurting bad for missing 3G and GPS, the fact that the BlackBerry Curve 8530 came shortly afterwards to fill those gaps meant that besides the added flexibility of running on GSM networks, the 9300 wasn’t that huge of a leap.

That is, until RIM announced the Curve 3G as being compatible with with BlackBerry 6, the new operating system that had launched on the higher-end Torch just a few weeks prior. Though it eventually launched with the same ol’ OS 5 that we had been using for awhile, some forward compatibility gave what would otherwise be considered a low-end entry-level smartphone a doorway into a fresh and modern operating system. The BlackBerry Torch 9800 largely failed to impress as its moderate OS enhancements still couldn’t quite keep up with the upper end of the smartphone market, but for lower-end smartphones, universal search and a nicer user interface could set a new baseline standard for BlackBerry. The Curve 3G is now out across Canada, and available today on T-Mobile, but can it stand on its own well enough (and long enough) until OS 6 comes around?

source: intomobile

Three UK have just started selling the BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300. So far, we’ve only seen this phone launch in Canada, on Rogers, Bell and Virgin, and now it seems to have made its way across the pond. This is basically a Curve 8520 with 3G support.

This is not at the high end of the smartphone spectrum, and Three have priced it accordingly. It’s free for plans starting at £25 per month. A 24-month contract is required, of course.

The £25 plan gets you 500 anytime minutes to any network, 5000 texts and 1 GB of data each month. There’s a £33/month plan that ups the minutes to 900, and a £35/month plan that features 2000 minutes each month. All the other allowances are the same regardless of the package you choose.

Interesting pricing options as usual from Three. The BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300′s main features are:

•HSDPA, WiFi 802.11n, Bluetooth, GPS
•New ‘optical trackpad’ for one handed precision control
•2.0 MP camera with video recording
•2.44 inch display
•Up to 29 hours music playback
•256 MB internal memory, expandable via microSD card slot
•1150 mAh battery
•Dimensions: 109 x 60 x 13.8 mm
•Weight: 106 g
This is a decent choice if it’s your first dive into the BlackBerry world, or perhaps a second device. It’s also a solid recommendation for the less tech savvy of your relatives. It may not have all the glitz of the Torch, but it’s a classic BlackBerry. And now you can get it hassle-free if your operator of choice is Three UK.

source: unwired view

We loved the HTC Desire, oh yes we did. Loved it so much in fact that we hanker for more of it. Which is why we nearly keeled over with happiness today when HTC told us about the HTC Desire HD — a brand-new smart phone that quite literally delivers even more mobile.

The Desire HD should be out in October on contracts around £35 per month. We’ll have a full review and more details nearer the launch.

source: cnet

As saw as we saw the announcement of the HTC Evo roll out in the US, we knew we wanted our big Android handset on this side of the pond. The HTC Desire HD however owes more to the HD2 – the seminal Windows Phone from HTC – both in terms of looks and specification. Fortunately Pocket-lint was at the global launch of the HTC Desire HD in London to bring you first impressions of the new superphone.

You get the same, lush, premium unibody design that came along with the Desire and the Legend, although it isn’t seamless like those models, but this makes it look industrial. The build quality is excellent, as we’ve become accustomed to with HTC.

With a phone this big you’ll want to know the measurements. It sits pretty at 123 x 68 x 11.8mm which, despite the 4.3-inch screen, isn’t all that big, but noticeably wide. It will slip into your pocket fairly easily, but for some it might be a little large. It is larger all over that the Samsung Galaxy S, which we see as a natural rival, and the metal construction adds to a premium feel as well as the weight: the Desire HD weighs 164g, the Galaxy S just 118g, with its plastic body.

With a phone like the Desire HD, it is only fair to start with the display. It might strike some as odd that HTC hasn’t changed the screen resolution on the Desire HD – it is no more HD in that sense than the Desire, the Legend or the Desire Z. It is an 800 x 480 pixel resolution display and whilst it looks good, you know that the iPhone crowd will be waving their high-res devices in your face.

That might not matter in real terms, as the size of the HTC Desire HD makes it a great device for browsing the Internet or watching movies on your travels, but it isn’t as adept at rendering fine text as the iPhone is. We also examined the Desire HD with its Super LCD next to the Samsung Galaxy S and the Super AMOLED display: the Samsung device offers more punch, with deeper blacks and more vibrant colours. But this is just a first impression, and shouldn’t be taken as a final damning judgement – the Desire HD does look fantastic in its own right.

source: pocket-lint.com

The HTC Desire HD is official, folks, finally bringing a 4.3-inch LCD to European Android fans. The handset is made from a solid block of aluminum and comes packing a 1GHz 8255 Snapdragon processor, 8 megapixel camera with dual-LED flash and 720p video recording, Dolby Mobile, and HSPA+ data with 802.11n WiFi when it lands in Europe and Asia sometime in October. The HTC Desire HD is one of the first HTC devices to feature the enhanced HTC Sense experience with HTCsense.com services.

source: engadget

Well. The HTC Desire HD still isn’t official, but unless we’re imagining things, this looks like it could be it. This image has slipped stealthily onto Amazon for one lucky punter at least, and it looks like the real deal to us.

Our tipster who originally noticed the HTC Desire HD was listed on Amazon.co.uk last month has dropped us this tantalising image: a thumbnail of the HTC Desire HD next to his order in his Amazon account that appeared today (he says he was able to pre-order before the listing was pulled from the public site).

This could of course be a placeholder and subject to change, as could the HTC Desire HD delivery date of 18/19 October. We’re more than inclined to believe it however, as it tallies with previous leaks of the HTC Desire HD, and the grey grille and touch sensitive buttons mean this isn’t a HTC Desire or Evo 4G we’re looking at.

Unfortunately, despite a rummage in the page source, we weren’t able to procure a high resolution image of the HTC Desire HD – however this looks like more evidence that retailers could be gearing up to sell the rumoured 4.3-inch Android super phone in the wake of HTC’s press conference next week.

source: Electricpig

The Eee Pad (yes that’s the tablet PC one, not the eReader), more specifically the EP101TC was originally planned by ASUS to run Windows Embedded Compact 7, however it has emerged today that the Taiwanese manufacturer is dropping the Microsoft OS in favour of the latest build of Google’s Android 2.2 platform, ‘Froyo’.

Now, whether or not that Android is a favourable OS for a tablet PC is an extremely hot topic at the moment, but suffice it to say, ASUS is sitting in favour of Google on this one and intend to show off the Android powered Eee Pad tablet at CES 2011, with it retailing shortly after.

The interesting point here is, Android 2.2 (Froyo) is only being dubbed as a prototype OS, and ASUS have refused to rule out the possibility that Android ‘Gingerbread’ may appear on the beautiful, and much anticipated tablet device.

This is one of those announcements that just makes you want to wish your life away in order to test it out, so stay tuned over the coming months for any more developments not only on Asus Eee Pad as an Android tablet.

I’m sure it’s going to be an interesting ride as we see the competitors to the Apple iPad tablet released in the next year.

What do you think to the potential of Android tablet devices being released? Are you waiting to buy a device like this or have you already bought an iPad and are happy with that?

Do you think a lot more people will want to buy Android tablets such as the Asus Eee Pad that can run Flash and most likely have a cheaper price than Apple’s tablet? – in much the same way that the iPhone lead the way, only for the various Android devices to take the mojority of the market?

source: zath.co.uk

Last week Samsung took the wraps of their first Android tablet, the Samsung Galaxy Tab, and now it seems that UK mobile phone operator Vodafone will be selling the Samsung Galaxy Tab.

There are no details as yet on how much Vodafone will be selling the Galaxy Tab for, it will probably be sold for a subsidized price, when users sign up to a contract for 3G data with Vodafone.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab features a 7 inch touchscreen WSVGA display and it comes with Android 2.2, it is also a fully functioning phone which will let you make and receive voice and video calls plus SMS, MMS and email

There are two cameras on the Samsung Galaxy Tab, a 3 megapixel camera on the back for taking photos, and a VGA video camera on the front for making video calls.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab will feature a number of built in Google services, which includes Google Navigation, Google Goggles and Google Places, it also feature built in GPS, and it will come in two sizes 16GB and 32GB.

There are no details as yet on how much the Samsung Galaxy Tab will retail for on Vodafone, you can head on over to the Vodafone website and register for updates.

source: geeky gadgets

Huawei SmaKit S7 is one of the many Android tablets that will challenge the Archos products and the iPad to a duel this year. This 3G Android device comes with a 7 inch widescreen display, with a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels. It also supports 720p high definition content and we learn that the tablet can be connected via the home network to a TV, or other Android gear.

Stunning everyone at MWC 2010, this device is part of the Internet Tablet segment and its specs list includes a HDMI out interface, two USB 2.0 interface (tablet dock), a microSDHC card slot (32GB supported) and a built-in webcam. The product weighs 500 grams and its battery life is around 4 hours, in the case of 720p HD video playback.

S7 is expected to debut this summer and last we saw it, during MWC 2010, the device ran Android 1.6, but Android 2.1 could replace it soon.

source: tablet news

The lesser of ASUS’ two Eee Pad tablets announced at Computex this year, the EP101TC, is getting itself a software rejig ahead of its planned early 2011 launch. Originally slated to run on Microsoft’s Windows Embedded Compact 7 — a wordy OS, if nothing else — the Pad will now entrust its operational infrastructure to Google’s Android. ASUS is currently working on prototypes with Froyo on board, but Gingerbread (or Android 3.0) has not been ruled out as a possible final OS choice. We’re told to expect the first public demos at CES 2011, with retail units likely following on from there at a relatively brisk pace.

source: engadget