What is this mysterious Motorola Android device?
by Greg Kumparak on January 27, 2010

Hello, gorgeous. Big ups to whoever convinced Mr. Blurrycam to take a leave of absence so the gadget loving world could get a decent spy shot of this unannounced Motorola Android device.

The guys at mobile.cz somehow managed to scrounge up this shot, and they’re calling it the Motorola “Zeppelin”. I’ll make a hat out of thumbtacks and eat it if that ends up being the name Motorola sells it under, but at least we’ve got something to call it in the mean time.

According to the original source, its packing a 5 megapixel camera, a 3.2″ HVGA display, GPS, and Android behind Motorola’s BLUR user interface. It also looks to have touch sensitive keys, and what is either a D-pad or a touch sensitive trackpad right below the screen.

It’s a bit lower end than the Droid, but a bit higher end than the CLIQ; Motorola could call it the Motorola Mediocre, and it’d still be less damning than the current codename.

Website : http://www.mobilecrunch.com/

Apple announces unlocked iPads with AT&T 3G support
by Greg Kumparak on January 27, 2010

Folks were a bit disappointed early on in the iPad announcement when it started to sound like it’d be WiFi only – but there was a twist!

Late in the show, Steve Jobs announced that there will be 3G-enabled models. While Apple specifically named AT&T as the carrier who will offer up the 3G, he also stated that all iPads will be sold unlocked. It relies on GSM microSIMs – so while you’ll be able to take it around the world, don’t expect to take it over to Verizon or any other CDMA carrier.

The pricing of 3G through AT&T is a bit strange; you can pick up 250 Megabytes of data for the stupidly expensive price of $14.99, or unlimited data for the surprisingly cheap price of $30. There is no contract whatsoever.

Alas, 3G support doesn’t come built into every model. Nothing in life is free, right? Gettin’ a 3G chip thrown in will set you back an additional $130 bucks – on the most expensive model, the 64GB edition, that brings the price up to $829. The 16 and 32 gigabyte models with 3G support will cost $629 and $729 respectively.

Alas, the 3G-enabled versions will take a bit longer to hit the shelves than their WiFi-only brethren; whereas the WiFi-only versions will be in stores within 60 days, Apple expects the 3G-friendly iPads to reach retail in 90.

Website : http://www.mobilecrunch.com/

Sharp to bring solar-powered cell phone to China (and possibly elsewhere, too)
by Serkan Toto on January 27, 2010

Sharp, the biggest (in terms of market share) of all eight major Japanese cell phone makers, has been talking about internationalizing its phone business for quite some time now. It makes sense, as the domestic market is shrinking and as Sharp only sold 20% of all their cell phones outside Japan (1.6 million units) last fiscal.

The company is specifically planning [press release in English] to export one of their cell phones powered by solar energy to China. The so-called SOLAR HYBRID SH6230C features a solar cell module, a 2.9-inch LCD screen and a 5MP auto-focus camera.

It’s the first solar-powered cell phone Sharp markets outside Japan. And while Chinese customers can lay their hands on the handset (available in blue or white, price: $500) as early as this February, Sharp says their solar phones may find their way into other global markets as well some day.

Website : http://www.mobilecrunch.com/

Smackdaddy Lets You Heckle Your Buddies and Bet on Sports on your iPhone
by Gagan Biyani on January 26, 2010

Like bad beer, cracker jacks, and drunken fans getting hammered in the parking lot, smack-talking and sports-betting are staples of American sports. And that’s why Bema Studios created Smackdaddy, a free iPhone app [iTunes link] that allows you to both bet on games (currently just NFL, NHL and NBA) and tell your friends they smell. I got a chance to play with Smackdaddy this Sunday and loved it – it is easy to use, intuitive, and addictive. Of course, you pretty much have to be a sports fan to like it, so I’ll assume you know something about sports (as you should, lest you burn in hell) going forward.

You can’t bet real money, and Bema Studios assures me that will always be the case (too bad). But you do bet “Smackers” – a fake in-game currency. You start with 10,000 and all of the best include the spread. That is one of Smackdaddy’s downfalls, which is that it is fairly limited at this point in terms of feature sets. Aside from only having one style of betting, it also only has 3 sports (that I can tell). Both of those will be improved upon in future releases, of course.

Aside from being a fake Vegas-in-your-pocket, Smackdaddy also has a wall-posting or micro-messaging feature that allows you to “Smack talk” your Facebook friends. This is a great use of Facebook Connect, because you can immediately see all your friends that are also using Smackdaddy with just your Facebook ID and password. The downside (at least for Bema Studios) is you can’t easily invite your friends into the app, which would be nice since I have tons of friends I know who would love this. The other knock on the smack talking feature is that it is not in real-time but rather asynchronous, and it is limited to 140 characters. I understand the penchant to be just like Twitter, but I don’t think its necessary in this context. If I’m just talking with my friends, longer messages seem like no problem. Plus, its hard to make the Niners look good in just 140 characters.

Smackdaddy joins a long list of sports-related iPhone apps. However, it is the first one I’ve seen that provides a viable social/viral component. I would love to see a large community of “Smackdaddies” playing next time I pop into the app – and will definitely keep this app on my iPhone. Of course, it could get lame fast: if you run out of Smackers (a real possibility for me; I went 1-4 this weekend), you have to pay for them via in-app purchase. Or you can win 1,000 via the “daily raffle.”

Website : http://www.mobilecrunch.com/

Leak Roundup: HTC Supersonic for Sprint, a WiMax-fueled Android beast
by Greg Kumparak on January 26, 2010

When it comes to leaks in the gadget world, when it rains, it pours. In just shy of 20 days, the HTC Supersonic — an absolute beast of a phone — went from non-existent to deeply detailed and fully photographed.

Whether you’ve missed a screenshot or two or just had no idea the Supersonic existed, don’t sweat it – we’ve got your back.

The world got its first hint of of the Supersonic on January 8th, when a listing for the HTC A9292 WIMAX BAR showed up in Sprint’s inventory. The listing confirmed the bar form factor and that it would run on Sprint’s WiMax network, but that was all we knew.

Shortly thereafter, a tipster spilled the beans to Engadget. The details they shared:

* 4.3″ display. It’s nice and big, but the bad news: It’s not AMOLED.
* It runs Android 2.1, made all the better with HTC’s Sense interface overhaul.
* Like the HTC Imagio, it has a kickstand on the back
* No date revealed
* Looks similar to the HD2, but in white

WiMax? 4.3″ display? Android 2.1 on an HTC device? We’ll take 3, as long as it looks good – but as no shots had leaked yet, the looks were still in question.
And then…

Bam! The above shots leaked by way of AndroidMobileOs.com. They’re not exactly the most flattering shots in the history of leaks – but hey, the pretty much confirmed the previously leaked details: it looks like an HTC HD2, and has what looks like an Imagio-esque kickstand on the back.

Not satisfied by noisy, blurry pictures? Lucky you! Just hours later, our Russian friends over at YouHTC.RU managed to dig up a considerably clearer shot of the front:
Last but not least, a clear-as-day render showed up over at Androphones. No one seems know if it’s HTC-made or just the work of a dedicated and rather talented individual, but it sure looks legit to us:

So what do you think – could you see yourself toting an HTC Supersonic? If not, what’s holding you back? Lack of keyboard? Sprint as the carrier? Let us know in the comments below.

Website : http://www.mobilecrunch.com/

HTC Bravo caught on camera (again), HTC Legend caught in words
by Greg Kumparak on January 26, 2010

Man, these HTC Bravos are floating around everywhere. A semi-decent shot of this oh-so-Nexus-One-esque Android handset leaked just yesterday, and today another (markedly better) shot has found its way to the interwebs.

Not only that, but it brought a friend!

According to the whisper train, HTC was showing off the Bravo at a gathering of some sort in Poland. Some time during the meeting, a second unannounced handset was pulled out; no shots of the second handset have made their way out yet, but a few details have.

Dubbed the HTC Legend, it’s purportedly a bit smaller than the Hero, comes encased in a full aluminum body, and packs an AMOLED screen and a 5 megapixel camera. It’s by no means official yet, but word from Poland indicates that the Legend is all set to replace the Hero in various regions when it launches in March.

Website : http://www.mobilecrunch.com/

Nokia announces a 16GB X6, “Comes With Music” not included
by Greg Kumparak on January 26, 2010

We knew Nokia was preppin’ something for launch today, thanks to some loose lipped execs – but what would it be? Announcing something just one day before a much hyped Apple announcement is always risky; either Nokia thought the product was a big enough deal to overshadow Apple’s goods, or it was small enough that they weren’t too worried about it.

Looks like it’s closer to the latter.

Nokia’s announcement for today? A 16 gigabyte version of the X6, previously only available in 32 gig form. Interestingly, Nokia has decided to strip their all-you-can-eat “Comes with Music” service from this model, but they make up for it with free turn-by-turn navigation.

No pricing is available yet, but we do know that it’ll hit the shelves sometime before the end of March in various finishes: all black, all white, white with pink highlights and white with yellow highlights.

Website : http://www.mobilecrunch.com/