BHT is primarily an outlet for my tech-nerdness. It will mostly be tech news regarding cellphones, games, all that kind of stuff. It will also be where I post any and everything else that randomly catches my attention, music, news, fashion, etc. hopefully you'll like it too. Follow me on Twitter @Brownhandstech
Probably the most highly anticipated and rumored agreement in history has finally come to pass. Verizon will officially be offering the iPhone 4 as one of it's many smart phone options! The new CDMA iPhone will not, however be blessed with 4G LTE. Verizon's iPhone is pratically identical in every way to its GSM cousin on AT&T and will be available to the public February 10th, or what will come to be know as the day that AT&T died lol. Seriously though, This has to take one hell of a chunk out of AT&T's subscriber base. I expect many AT&T iPhone 4's to start popping up on Ebay and Craigslist as people make the jump and abandon the AT&T ship. Good thing they're finally getting some good Android handsets to offset the migration a bit.
Check out the pics below, there are a few differences like the changes in the CDMA antenna that have shifted the volume buttons down a bit, you know just enough so that you can't use many of the existing iPhone 4 cases and the addition of Wi-Fi Hotspot functionality but other than that its the same iPhone we all know and love. Is Verizon service and Wi-Fi hotspot functionality enough to make you switch/ choose VZW over AT&T?
Notice the slight shift in volume up/down button placement
Those of you smart phone veterans definitely remember not too long ago when Windows Mobile held a respectable share of the smart phone market and WinMo phones could be found on the high end of every carrier's shelf. But as time passed and innovation was completely ignored Windows Mobile became a stale, stagnant OS that was sustained primarily by its underground developing community.
Like many WinMo users I jumped ship and helped contribute to the swelling market shares of Apple's iPhone, Googles Android, RIM's BlackBerry and even Palm's (HP's) WebOS. Well now Windows is back to reclaim its position in the mobile phone arena. Beginning the end of October and early November Microsoft will unleash its new Windows Phone 7 devices. Capitalizing on the success of Windows 7, Microsoft has completely re-invented its OS for the mobile arena!
The most impressive part of Windows Phone 7 to me, is the integration of many of Microsoft's various services; most notably, MS Office, Xbox Live and Zune. Microsoft seems to have put a lot of thought into making a seamless experience across all of its premier products and services. Utilizing what they call "hubs" user will launch into various apps, or interfaces to utilize the devices different functionalities. At launch Dell, HTC, LG and Samsung will provide devices which will initially be limited to AT&T and T-Mobile with devices coming to Sprint and Verizon in 2011. Check out these devices below plus a little info on the new OS.
HTC 7 Surround -- The 3.8-inch T8788 with slideout speaker for AT&T and Telus
HTC HD7 -- Schubert comes of age as a 4.3-inch HD2 cousin for T-Mobile and beyond
HTC 7 Trophy -- the 3.8-inch Spark headed to international carriers
HTC 7 Mozart -- another heavily leaked int'l player with 3.7-inch display
Dell Venue Pro -- 4.1-inch portrait QWERTY slider for T-Mobile we broke as Lightning
Samsung Focus -- AT&T's 4-inch Super AMOLED slate we broke as Cetus
Samsung Omnia 7 -- the i8700 is a 4-inch Super AMOLED jobbie for Europe
LG Optimus 7/7Q -- the E900 is the official 3.8-inch global workhorse
LG Quantum -- AT&T's 3.5-inch landscape slider first seen as the C900
HTC 7 Pro -- a 3.6-inch QWERTY slider for Sprint (2011)
Video tour of devices below:
Though I wont be jumping back on the Windows bandwagon any time soon, I have to say I am impressed. It will be interesting to see MS attempts to get back into the hands and pockets of consumers. I really like the AT&T U-verse integration with the ability to control and watch DVR'd content (free for existing customers $10/month for non-U-verse customers), Netflix, and Xbox Live integration. I welcome Microsoft's return to the smart phone arena; more competitors means more competition, which is all win for us consumers! The big question is will it be enough to persuade smart phone users to come back from Android and Apple land?
Last night (while I was supposed to be studying lol) I couldn't help but keep checking my favorite tech sites; there where several big announcements so lets check them out!
First, the Droid 2 was officially launched today so VZW customers be sure to check that out my last Droid 2 post has been updated with video and I may have a personal review coming soon!
Images of the special edition Star Wars R2D2 version have begun to leak as well this unit is set to go on sale in September.
Next, Sprint customers another 4G phone is headed your way! The Samsung Epic 4G, Sprint's Samsung Galaxy S phone became official and will drop August 31st, for $250. This phone has a 1Ghz hummingbird processor (Samsung's 1Ghz processor option said to be very fast), a Super- AMLEOD screen for crisp deep color, front and rear camera and full physical keyboard. It is easily the best of all the Galaxy S variants in my opinion. Sprint Premiere customers should be receiving an email regarding pre-ordering the device!
Check Out Sprint's vid comparing the Epic and the Evo:
Not to be left out Dell's rumored device the Dell Thunder video footage has been leaked. The vid shows of the upcoming 8MP, 720p recording, 4.1" OLED toting Android phone. Hopefully it will be launching with at least Android 2.1 with speedy update to 2.2.
This is a more pocket friendly Android device to go along side the Dell Streak 5" tablet/phone soon to be released on AT&T for $300 on a 2yr contract.
Next is in my opinion the best news of all and that is the Google Android based Sony Ericson PSPhone!!!! This partnership between Google and Sony will introduce the long awaited PSPhone. It will launch with Google's next software Android 3.0 Gingerbread and will have a separate part of the Android Market for PSX/PSP quality games. The phone will be a slider but instead of a traditional qwerty keyboard it will have a full PSP supporting controller with standard Playstation buttons an special touchpad (joystick alternative) and shoulder buttons! This phone could be out as early as October! I can't wait! SNESoid, Genesoid and all the emulators will be effin amazing on here and not only will you have free access to all the classics but you will get access to Playstation and PSP classics as well as new content. This phone is a gamers dream phone and will likely be the only phone that will make me consider putting my Evo up for sale. Android's momentum is steadily building and they are not looking like they are going to let up. This will launch Android to the top of the list for mobile gaming and allow Sony to finally introduce a PSPhone that has been desperately requested. There is also a chance that some of the games will be available for non-PSPhone Android 3.0 high end devices.
And finally, not to leave Team iPhone out there may be good news coming your way too. You may finally be able to ditch AT&T as rumors are becoming more solid that a CDMA (VZW or Sprint) iPhone is being prepared for a January 2011 release. Now many automatically assume it is coming to VZW but with their heavy support of Android lately I think its possible it could be headed to Sprint. This would defintiely be interesting if Sprint surprised us all and nabbed the new iPhone. I doubt it (and hope I'm wrong don't want all the iUsers on my network), but who knows I'm sure we will know the truth soon enough..... Could the pressure form the growing Android Army have hurried the plans to get the iPhone away from AT&T?
