Motorola XT531 (Fire/Spice XT) Hits FCC With North American 3G

After first hearing about Motorola's XT531 as the Domino+, the company announced plans to bring the Android to Europe and Latin America, calling it the Fire XT and Spice XT, respectively. This week, the XT531 hit the FCC, with published documents revealing that even if there are no formal plans to bring it here, the smartphone should be adequately equipped for service on a US carrier.

The XT531 will be capable of UMTS connections on bands II and V, corresponding to the 1900MHz and 850MHz bands used for 3G/4G service by AT&T. It's doubtful this is the Fire XT, even if the FCC didn't evaluate the 2100MHz band, because we've heard the phone will only have dual-band HSDPA. It's possible we could be looking at the Spice XT, ready for a carrier like Mexico's Telcel, which operates on the appropriate bands. Another possibility is that this is an entirely new XT531 variant, one that's specifically planned for release in the US or Canada. We haven't heard anything from Motorola that might support that theory, but this phone's definitely one that's working on establishing a global footprint.

Source: FCC 

Another Gingerbread build leaks for the HTC Thunderbolt

Another day, another Gingerbread leak for the HTC Thunderbolt.  This time around everyone's favorite Russian mystery man Football provides us with the 2.10.605.1 build in RUU form.  If you're feeling brave, you can download the file from the source link and install it yourself, or you can play it safe and wait for more feedback.  Of course if you're riding the root train, you'll want to wait for your favorite developer to get his hands on the files and cook up something wonderful.  That won't take too long, it never does.

Source: XDA-Developers

Android 2.3 Gingerbread are now available for the Telus Samsung

If you have a Samsung Fascinate 3G+ on Telus and have been waiting for, what seemingly is forever for them to update it to Android 2.3 Gingerbread, then today is a good day for you. Android 2.3.3 has been released via the Telus website and anyone looking to update can now do so. The update is done through Kies so, be sure to grab a copy of that before you get started. You can find the full details over at the Telus website.

Source: Telus; via: Android Central Forums

HTC T-Mobile Getting Android 2.3.4 Update

As one of the top-tier smartphones around, it's no surprise that HTC debuted the Sensation 4G with Android Gingerbread when it was released earlier this summer. Though that's a strong place to start, there's always room for more Android updates, and it looks like the latest to come to the Sensation 4G is doing so presently.

Sensation 4G owners on T-Mobile should start receiving notifications that system software 1.45.531.1 is available for installation, bringing the smartphone up slightly to Android 2.3.4.

What will the update bring to the platform? For starters, there's the usual claim of better system stability, along with a somewhat increased battery life. There are also a handful of graphics-related changes, including improvements to the appearance of icons and a more responsive screen (it's not clear if we're talking just about the display, or about more responsive touchscreen input). There's a curious mention of "improvements to screen/photo resolution"; again, we're not sure what's meant here, since software can't do squat to change the screen's hardware resolution, but if it makes things look nicer, so much the better.

The Swype-like Trace keyboard gets smarter with a new dictionary, WiFi should be more stable, and some minor bugfixes to video playback and power cycling help round out the update. T-Mobile says that, although distribution has already begun, it could still be several weeks until all users see it arrive. The carrier expects to complete distribution by the end of September.

Source: T-Mobile

AT&T VP Confirms iPhone 5 Launch In Early October?

The latest claims for when Apple will release its next iPhone have been oscillating between September and early October. A recent Wall Street Journal report has been among the many voices championing the idea of the October launch. Now those theories are seeing some reinforcement in the form of a new rumor, purportedly out of AT&T's upper echelons. According to the source, the carrier is currently preparing employees for an early October iPhone 5 release.

BGR claims this source is a high-level AT&T employee, and has revealed that execs are privately discussing an October launch within their own ranks. More publicly, the source says that AT&T is preparing lower-level employees for the release by warning them that things are about to get a little hectic for the carrier, and to ready themselves accordingly. The date range for when they should expect this onslaught to commence extends into the first week of October.

Even if sales of the new iPhone aren't slated to begin until October, it's likely Apple could announce the smartphone a few weeks in advance, sometime in September. After hearing so many theories about the hardware, we can't wait to get official confirmation of just what Apple's got cooked up.

Via: Electronista

Motorola Flipside receives Android 2.2 update

It's been ages since we last talked about the Motorola Flipside, a QWERTY slider that looks like a little brother to the Droid lineup with the unusual inclusion of an optical trackpad. When the smartphone launched late last fall, it shipped with Android 2.1 Eclair. That was annoying enough at the time, but Flipside users have been stuck with Eclair ever since. We'd have thought that Motorola had forgotten about the phone, when all of a sudden the company has revealed an official update to Froyo.

We haven't heard anything about this update going out OTA, but you can easily download and install it yourself. Doing so will require you have an SD card in the Flipside with at least 100MB of free space, in addition to at least 40MB free on the smartphone's internal flash. There's nothing to install on your PC – just copy the appropriate files to the phone's SD card and you can install directly on the device.

Don't expect to ever see an official Gingerbread update come to the Flipside, but we're sure that its owners are happy enough just getting Froyo after all this time.

Source: Motorola

Best Buy Planning Another One-Day Free iPhone 3GS Offer?

Spend more than a few minutes online, and you'll quickly come across scores of websites featuring links to every sketchy and scammy offer under the sun. Claims of free iPhones or iPads are especially popular, owing both to their popularity and relative expense. They're so prevalent, it's easy to let get your brain get hard-wired to see "free iPhone" as "here's a scam". Try and resist that urge for just a moment, because we've got a legit free iPhone deal to tell you about, coming for one day only to Best Buy.

A picture of a promo poster at Best Buy has been leaked online, revealing that the retailer is planning to give away the iPhone 3GS for free on-contract for users who sign up on Monday, August 22. This isn't the first time we've seen the retailer run a promotion like this, where it's also been a one-day event.

With Apple's next iPhone hardware expected to arrive sometime in the next couple months, it's hard to recommend the 3GS, even as solid a phone as it's been, to either smartphone enthusiasts or Apple fans. On the other hand, for someone new to smartphones, or one who just wants "an iPhone" without concern for hardware specifics, or if you're in a situation where your budget is doing the talking, this is a pretty nice-looking deal. Offers like this may become a lot more common once Apple's new hardware is out, but for now it's a deal you won't see every day.

Source: TechnoBuffalo

17 Aug 2011 Picks iOS App

In this episode of the iOS App Picks we demonstrate five applications in 30 seconds each. These apps will keep you entertained, allows you to find great deals on travel, and compute virtually any problem. To download these apps directly to your iPhone, just click on the title of the application and the iTunes software will automatically launch to the app in the App Store. If you have the free Google Search app installed on your iPhone just snap a picture of the QR-Code using Google Goggles or any other QR-Code scanner that will launch the App Store on your iPhone.


Masterchef Academy – $2.99 full version, no lite version available



If you enjoy cooking, or just want to learn how to cook? Masterchef Academy is a really easy to use app that will teach you the basics and advanced cooking techniques to impress your family or friends. Save time in the kitchen by learning what the professionals already know. Test your skills and knowledge to earn badges and unlock more advanced features. The recipes included range from novice to expert and anyone can cook them.



Eggrollin – Lite and $0.99 full version



Eggrollin is a fun and challenging game in which you must maneuver a little egg over platforms and objects to collect items to move onto the next level. The little egg is controlled using an onscreen touch and the accelerometer. Complete the level in a timely fashion to earn three stars.



Wallpapers HD / Wallpapers HD Gold – A lite and $0.99 full Gold version



Wallpapers HD is one of the best wallpaper apps for iOS. Just search for a keyword or view the most popular and random wallpapers. Download the wallpapers to your photos and set them as lock screen and/or background images. The Gold edition removes the advertisements.



Wolframalpha – A $1.99 full version, no lite available



Wolframalpha is the authority of all problem solutions. This app is easy to use and comes with an extra keyboard that includes all of the symbols needed to input virtually any equation. Wolframalpha will display the solution to the problem along with many other related articles that pertain to the solution.



Kayak – A lite and $0.99 full version



Kayak has gained immence popularity over the past couple of years as the easiest website for finding great deals on flights, hotels, cars, and many other travel expenses. The simple interface makes it quick to find the best prices available from many travel sites using just the Kayak app. Purchase the tickets or reservations directly from your iOS device.

Samsung Hercules shows up on TELUS one more time

Canadians, eh? They seem to be having quite a bit of luck these days with getting their hands on new devices. The Samsung Galaxy S II has been available in Canada for quite some time already in a number of variants but this one, the TELUS version matches that of the T-Mobile version we saw a number of times already. This also isn't the first Telus sighting either, nor is it likely to be the last. Still no pricing or date to go along with it but just when you thought the Samsung Galaxy S II couldn't get any better -- they drop this 42Mbps beast on us. Glad I've not yet picked up a SGS II.
Source: Mobile Syrup

Leaked Photos Show Wintek Employees Making iPhone 5 Screens?

Leaked images of a Wintek factory in charge of building iPhone screens in the past shows factory workers building screens that could only resemble that of an iPhone. Sadly it's hard to tell if these are typical iPhone 4 screens or if they do belong to the iPhone 5.

Our guess is that these are iPhone 5 screens because of the larger shape of the home button. We still don't know if the home button will be capacitive or a real hardware button as we currently have, but what we have heard is that it will be bigger. We're not sure if the factory worker in the picture is male or female to make out the probable size of his or her hands, but the screens do seem larger than what we currently see in the iPhone 4. Probably the only thing we can't seem to match with current rumors is an edge-to-edge glass screen, but hopefully more of these images will surface with the details.
Source: MIC Gadget