After a few leaks and false starts, Verizon has finally made its plans to offer the Galaxy Nexus “later this year” official. That’s really the only detail revealed, as its price, release date and availability on other carriers are still unknown. Check out the press release after the break if you need any more confirmation.

Continue reading Verizon (finally) confirms it will have the Galaxy Nexus

Verizon (finally) confirms it will have the Galaxy Nexus originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Oct 2011 18:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung and Google still haven’t officially revealed which US carriers will be getting the Galaxy Nexus next month — even though Verizon has been leaked, is shown in the official trailer (included after the break, look at 0:22), and there was a quickly-retracted Facebook confirmation earlier today. Now, the official signup page for release info on Samsung’s site allows users to show their carrier preference between AT&T, Cellular South, Metro PCS, Sprint, T-Mobile, US Cellular, and Verizon. It’s hardly a confirmation this latest Android phone will ever be available on all of them, but even if you’re not on Big Red, we won’t kill your Ice Cream Sandwich dreams yet.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Galaxy Nexus signup page includes seven US carriers, endless speculation

Galaxy Nexus signup page includes seven US carriers, endless speculation originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Oct 2011 22:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Straight out of AsiaD, we’ve got our first look at Mango’s next three handsets: the HTC Titan, the Samsung Focus S (pictured above), and the Samsung Focus Flash. Well, not strictly first — the Focus S has slipped out into the wild before, and we’ve already clashed with the Titan and the Radar Lees is showing off, but we’re still happy to get a proper look at Sammy’s new stars. The Focus siblings both outpace their older brother with matching 1.4GHz processors, but split the difference in screen size, with the Focus S brandishing a larger 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus display, and the Flash stepping down to a 3.7-inch plus-free Super AMOLED. Cameras? They’ve got ‘em, an 8 megapixel peeper clings to the back of the Focus S, while the Flash retains its predecessor’s 5 megapixel cam — both slabs lay a happy claim to front-facing cameras. Further details are scarce — we know that the Focus S measures in 8.55 millimeters at its thinnest point and promises “4G” speeds when it lands later this year, but when that might actually be is still a mystery. We’ll let you know when we hear something. Check out the galleries below for a better look.

Microsoft’s Andy Lees shows off Titan, Focus S, and Focus Flash originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Oct 2011 23:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Remember how badly you wanted a PlayStation phone, only to find out that “experience” was headed to a multitude of devices across the Android spectrum? Well, it looks like Sony’s finally making good on that retro-gaming promise. Starting today, the company’s one stop shop for its classic games of yesteryear goes live in nine countries — although, you’ll have to be a Tablet S owner to partake of the PlayStation Certified nostalgia. Helping Sony usher its fanbase back into the quaintness of 32-bit graphics are ten titles familiar to PSOne fans: Cool Boarders, Destruction Derby, Hot Shots Golf 2, Jet Moto 1 & 2, Jumping Flash!, MediEvil, Motor Toon Grand Prix, Rally Cross and Wild Arms. So, if you happen to be packing the electronic giant’s non-foldable slate, get your thumbs primed for a capacitive walk down memory lane. No word on when those other certified devices will get to mine the company’s gaming archives, but there’s always the Vita for that.

PlayStation Store hits the Tablet S today, lets gamers relive the glory of the mid-’90s originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Oct 2011 12:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Remember the Droid RAZR? That’s so yesterday. Or, earlier today. Whatever. The point is, Samsung’s just busted out the planet’s first Ice Cream Sandwich-based smartphone here in Hong Kong, a few days late but hardly worse for the wear. The Galaxy Nexus (formerly referred to as the Nexus Prime) carries on the Nexus torch in spectacular fashion, and we’ve just spent a few quality moments with one here at the launch event. Design-wise, it’s clear that the Nexus S DNA is here, though the rear reminds us most of the Galaxy S II. Those who abhor physical buttons will also be delighted, and while we’d gotten used to the whole Power + Home for a screenshot on the GSII, Power + Volume Down works just fine on this fellow.

The 1.2GHz dual-core processor was startlingly fast. It actually felt a wee bit quicker than our Galaxy S II, and given that Ice Cream Sandwich and the Galaxy Nexus were apparently built for one another, we’re assuming there’s some deeply ingrained optimizations to thank. Swiping from pane to pane was faster than its ever been on Android, and the new Roboto font actually is super eye-pleasing. The touch response of the capacitive buttons — much like those on the original Nexus One — take a bit of getting used to, and we had to mash ‘em just a touch harder than we anticipated to elicit a response. Not necessarily a bad thing, just a thing worth noting. We’ve built our impressions after the break, replete with a video. Enjoy!

Continue reading Samsung Galaxy Nexus with Ice Cream Sandwich hands-on (video)

Samsung Galaxy Nexus with Ice Cream Sandwich hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Oct 2011 23:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re still a few hours away from Samsung’s big Ice Cream Sandwich event, but it looks like the company just can’t keep the Galaxy Nexus under wraps. First it showed up on the company’s site, and now here it is getting man-handled by Mr. Blurrycam. The footage is a little dark and hard to see, but that certainly looks like an ice cream sandwich running on there — and crashing from time to time. The video popped up on YouTube and was promptly pulled — but don’t worry, we kept a copy. Enjoy that after the break, and swing on back by here in a few hours for the liveblog.

Continue reading Samsung Galaxy Nexus gets handled on video

Samsung Galaxy Nexus gets handled on video originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Oct 2011 19:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Guess what just showed up in searches on Samsung.com? That’s right, the Galaxy Nexus. The official product page isn’t live so there’s not much to see beyond front, back, and side shots of the device. Wondering what happened to that Nexus Prime branding? Several readers have let us know searching for that also pulls up the same result on Samsung’s suddenly leaky homepage. We’ve gotten familiar with the soft keys and rainbow background after many leaks, so check your local Verizon coverage map and come back here ’round 10PM ET for a big bite of Google’s Ice Cream Sandwich.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Samsung Galaxy Nexus leaks on official site, flashes Verizon affiliation originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Oct 2011 18:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Research in Motion announced the developer beta of BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 today at its annual DevCon event. The new beta will be released today, and has a few goodies that we’ve been waiting a long time for: namely, BlackBerry Runtime for Android Apps and the BlackBerry Plug-In for Android Development Tools, which will give developers the opportunity to bring their Android apps to the PlayBook. Also coming along for the ride is support for Adobe AIR 3, Flash Player 11 and WebGL, a new tech that enables hardware-accelerated 3D graphics to show in the browser without needing additional software. Needless to say, this changes the ballgame a bit for Waterloo. Sounds great, but is it enough to keep the company’s head above water? Remains to be seen, but check out the press release after the break to get the full scoop, and head over to the Runtime site to get started.

Continue reading RIM announces PlayBook 2.0 Developer Beta and Runtime, marries Android to BlackBerry

RIM announces PlayBook 2.0 Developer Beta and Runtime, marries Android to BlackBerry originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Oct 2011 12:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ready to play PC with your smartphone? If you aren’t picking up a Lapdock 100 from AT&T on the 17th, you won’t have to wait very long — Motorola’s faux-laptop phone dock has been outed for a October 21st launch date for Sprint via an employee rewards email. Passing the Lapdock 100 Sprint Rewards Me training quiz nets employees $10 in Sprint scratch and the opportunity to sell you a rig that lets a handful of devices play netbook. The laptop shell gives users a full Firefox browser, Quick Office, Google Docs, Adobe Flash, a PC-like File Manager and a luxurious 10.1-inch screen. Still no word yet on just how much this ultra-portable peripheral will set us back, but we’ll keep hoping that it’s cheaper than the Atrix 4G’s axed lapdock.

[Thanks, David]

Motorola Lapdock 100 hits Sprint October 21st, earns employees extra scratch originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 15 Oct 2011 09:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola just unleashed a countdown clock for its Daft Punk-esque tease: Faster. Thinner. Smarter. Stronger. We already knew the Spyder was on its way, but we noticed that the clock stops dangerously close to the Google / Samsung Ice Cream Sandwich event set for this Tuesday, missing the mark by only seven hours. We can’t say for sure that Motorola is trying get in on the Google magic, but if it wants to push its news during the same business day, it makes sense for them to reveal their goods ahead of the event’s 10pm showtime. The teaser’s epileptic flash of buzzword images doesn’t tell us much, but it ends with a speedy bullet smartly slicing through the event date. Hit the break to see for yourself, we’ll let you make your own connections between that date-slice happy bullet and the Droid HD’s alternate names.

[Thanks, Robert]

Continue reading Motorola teaser counts down to ICS event date, ends a few hours early (video)

Motorola teaser counts down to ICS event date, ends a few hours early (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 23:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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