Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Wednesday, December 07, 2011

drag2share: AT&T 4G LTE to officially launch in New York City this December

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/07/atandt-4g-lte-to-officially-launch-in-new-york-city-this-december/

Looks like AT&T is on track to hit that year-end 15 market LTE goal, after all. John Stephens, the operator's CFO / SVP, just went public with plans to officially launch that 700MHz service in New York City sometime this month, according to a statement made at the UBS 39th Annual Global Media and Communications Conference. The network's currently undergoing testing in the Big Apple, as we reported in our Nitro HD hands-on and review, but the time seems nigh for eager subs to partake of the blazing radio waves. There's certainly no lack of handset options either, with the HTC Vivid, Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket and the aforementioned LG phone all poised to lead you into "true" 4G territory. Now, if only the carrier would give us a solid date. We'll keep you updated as further details roll in, but in the meantime, check out the official presser after the break.

Continue reading AT&T 4G LTE to officially launch in New York City this December

AT&T 4G LTE to officially launch in New York City this December originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Dec 2011 10:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Phone Scoop | | Email this | Comments

---
drag2share - drag and drop RSS news items on your email contacts to share (click SEE DEMO)

drag2share: Verizon CEO says shared data plans coming in 2012

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/07/verizon-ceo-says-shared-data-plans-coming-in-2012/

Verizon is gearing up to offer shared data plans sometime in 2012. That's straight from CEO Lowell McAdam, who told the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference this morning, "I think in 2012 we will see it... Getting to one bill and getting to account-level pricing is our goal." Sharing data the way they do family plan minutes is something many consumers have been clamoring for and AT&T's CEO Ralph de la Vega indicated earlier this year that his carrier was planning to offer such an option. Soon enough you might be able to buy a chunk of minutes and data then pile on the lines for a flat rate.

Verizon CEO says shared data plans coming in 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Dec 2011 10:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Fierce Wireless, PhoneScoop | source

UBS | Email this | Comments

---
drag2share - drag and drop RSS news items on your email contacts to share (click SEE DEMO)

drag2share: Kindle Fire gets unofficial Ice Cream Sandwich port, mixes temperature metaphors

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/07/kindle-fire-gets-unofficial-ice-cream-sandwich-port-mixes-tempe/

Kindle Fire owners are becoming increasingly spoilt for choice when it comes to developmental OS releases. Sidling up alongside CyanogenMod 7, Android's latest and greatest version has made an appearance: the Ice Cream Sandwich is on Fire. XDA-Developers forum member g1011999 has been kind enough to offer up the shot you see above, with the promise of a kernel release in the near future. As is often the case with these works in progress, it's not perfect just yet. While hardware acceleration and touch input are ticking along, both audio and WiFi are proving trickier to pin down, so we'd recommend interested non-tinkerers hold out a little longer. You can, however, whet your appetite with a brief video rundown after the break.

Continue reading Kindle Fire gets unofficial Ice Cream Sandwich port, mixes temperature metaphors

Kindle Fire gets unofficial Ice Cream Sandwich port, mixes temperature metaphors originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Dec 2011 11:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Liliputing | Steven's Android Apps, XDA-Developers | Email this | Comments

---
drag2share - drag and drop RSS news items on your email contacts to share (click SEE DEMO)

drag2share: NVIDIA rebadges GeForce 500M chips in preparation for Ivy Bridge release in 2012

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/07/nvidia-rebadges-geforce-500m-chips-in-preparation-for-ivy-bridge/

NVIDIA has released a new range of mobile graphics chips that bring the features of last year's 500M series down to a lower price point. Keen-eyed observers might notice the GT635M is remarkably similar to the GT555M, albeit with slightly faster memory bandwidth. The GT630M is a dead ringer for the GT540M/GT550M and the 48 CUDA core GT610M could be the GT520M if you squint at it in bad light. It's all rather detailed and low-key, but NVIDIA reminded us that it'll launch "something more exciting" around the time Ivy Bridge makes its debut in 2012 -- very possibly those 28nm Kepler chips we've been drooling over for a while?

[Thanks, Omar]

NVIDIA rebadges GeForce 500M chips in preparation for Ivy Bridge release in 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Dec 2011 12:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Notebook Check | source

NVIDIA (635M), NVIDIA (630M), NVIDIA (610M) | Email this | Comments

---
drag2share - drag and drop RSS news items on your email contacts to share (click SEE DEMO)

drag2share: Sharp AQUOS SH-01D's optical image stabilizer hands-on (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/07/sharp-aquos-sh-01ds-optical-image-stabilizer-hands-on-video/

If you need further proof of how the Japanese keep the best to themselves, then here's yet another fine example to fuel your jealousy. Sharp's recently launched AQUOS SH-01D is one of the few -- if not the first -- Android phones that feature optical image stabilization, and this is all thanks to the company's new 12.1 megapixel, 1/3.2-inch CMOS camera module. The demo videos are plenty impressive, but naturally, we had to see for ourselves to really believe it, so playstyle.hk kindly lent us an SH-01D for a quick and dirty hands-on.

As per typical NTT DoCoMo Android phones, our SH-01D suffered from minor lags due to the heavy OS customization; but leaving that aside we dug its 4.5-inch 1,280 x 720 ASV display and its overall build quality. We then quickly moved on to the camera: while image stabilization is available for both photo and video modes, don't expect it to fully compensate your shakiness -- you'll see below that we ended up with a few slightly blurry stills at night, which isn't surprising; but regardless, we got plenty of vibrant colors in most cases.

The stabilization is more noticeable in video mode, and it's definitely more effective than the Droid RAZR's implementation -- we got some sample clips after the break for your viewing pleasure. There's no telling when other phones will get this technology, but if you want a taste of the future then you can grab an SH-01D from playstyle.hk for HK$5,500 or about US$708.

Gallery: Sharp AQUOS SH-01D hands-on