Sprint HTC EVO 4G helps carrier add 111K customers in Q2

Thanks in large part to the success of the Android-powered HTC EVO 4G superphone, Sprint was able to add 111,000 net customers for the second quarter of 2010.

This could be considered a tipping point for the third-largest carrier because this is the first net addition of subscribers in three years!

Sprint has been bleeding subscribers over the last few years for a few reasons. First and foremost is the Apple iPhone on AT&T, as many customers fled Sprint to use Apple’s smartphone.

The carrier tried to rely on devices like the Palm Pre to hold on to customers but that was a clear failure. The Sprint HTC EVO 4G helped change all that.

The HTC EVO 4G may help turn the tide, as the Android superphone could credibly be called the best, or one of the best smartphones on the market.

The EVO 4G has been delighting users for a few months now and it can still be difficult to find in stores. The big-screened smartphone might not have been responsible for single-handedly giving Sprint net subscriber growth for Q2, but it certainly did its part.

Still, It’s not all roses for Sprint, as the company reported a loss of $760 million for the quarter and its net subscriber addition this quarter came from a growth in the prepaid market from Sprint subsidiaries like Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile.

The company lost 228,000 contract customers in the second quarter and this now gives Sprint 48.2 million total subscribers. There’s no doubt the EVO helped keep those contract subscriber losses to a minimum.

Read More @ intomobile.com

HTC EVO 4G: A good business on financial plan for Sprint

The new HTC EVO 4G is a good business for Sprint. Seems like the sales for HTC EVO 4G are what company has expected.

Sprint can say thank you to the smartphone HTC EVO 4G that boosts its quarterly results and allows him to record a gain of new customers for the first time in three years.

By starting a network from 2008 WiMAX, the U.S. operator Sprint wanted to take over competitors with the HTC EVO 4G and attempt to stem the decline in the number of its customers.

The bet is more risky than most large operators rely on other technology proto-4G, LTE (Long Term Evolution), but only now is its first non-commercial.

Having made heavy investments (which will last for several years and also HTC EVO 4G) to establish a network of national stature, they lacked the advantage that of encouraging more capable customers to come back to him.

And this joker could be the smartphone HTC EVO 4G was launched in early June with very good initial results and now experiencing shortages.

Read More @ topbuzznews.net

Froyo for Samsung Galaxy S leaked

Samsung’s Galaxy S isn’t due for an upgrade to Froyo until September, but the pre-release builds have already begun to leak onto the ‘net.

Now, this isn’t the final build, so don’t expect this to be bug-free, but if you like to live dangerously, then you can get it here.Usual disclaimer applies: it aint my fault if you brick your device.Not much else to say, really.

Wait! There is! Don’t, whatever you do, try and install this on a non-standard (eg any of the US variants) Galaxy S phone. The universe may explode. No joke reality.

via Samsung Hub

LG profits down thanks to its lame smartphones

LG Electronics saw its profits tumble for the second quarter thanks to poor performances by its TV and handset divisions. It looks like smartphones like the LG Ally just aren’t going to cut it in a market filled with Android superphones the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S, Motorola Droid X, HTC EVO 4G and the Apple iPhone 4.

It was by no means an awful quarter, as the company reported a net profit of about $106.6 million but that was a drop of about 33% from the same period last year. For today, though, we’ll focus just on LG’s mobile division as we’re not IntoTVs or IntoLCDs.

The company is still the third-largest phone maker in the world behind Nokia and Samsung, as it shipped 30.6 million million phones for the quarter. But it’s increasingly becoming a smartphone world and LG is nowhere to be found in the high-end category dominated by Apple, HTC and Samsung. Do you really think the LG Ally belongs in our Superphone Shootout? Yeah, me neither.

Read More @ intomobile.com

OLED Shortage Forces HTC to Switch Displays

Smartphone maker HTC is switching back to older LCD technology for some of its smartphones because of a shortage of active-matrix OLED displays.

The new crop of HTC phones coming this summer will include a technology called SLCD, or Super LCD, instead of the newer organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays used in several current-model smartphones, including the HTC Desire and the Google-designed, HTC-built Nexus One.

HTC says SLCD will give consumers a visual experience comparable to HTC’s current 3.7-inch OLED displays. SLCDs will also offer better battery performance, contrast and more-natural balanced color than AMOLED (Active-Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode) displays, says the company.

“HTC is experiencing high demand for many of our phones, specifically our phones with 3.7-inch displays,” Peter Chou, CEO of HTC said in a press release. “The new SLCD display technology enables us to ramp up our production capabilities quickly to meet the high demand.”

But just what exactly is Super LCD technology? Two analysts Wired.com spoke with say it may just be a marketing jargon for a variant of the traditional thin-film transistor liquid-crystal display (TFT-LCD) that powers almost all mobile displays currently on the market.

“There’s Super AMOLED, Super IPS and now Super LCD,” says Raymond Soneira, president of research and consulting firm DisplayMate Technologies. “Its like eggs in a supermarket: You can’t buy a small egg anymore. They all start at medium.”

Read More @ wired.com

Panasonic HDC-SDX1 HD Budget Camcorder and Web Camera

Panasonic's HDC-SDX1 HD Camcorder packs full HD video capability with advanced features like image stabilization, but is light and compact enough to be used as a webcam.

Weighing just under 0.41 lbs, it features a new 35.8mm (35 mm equivalent) Wide-Angle Lens with 23x zoom, and optical and electrical hand-shake reduction.

It's flip out 2.7 inch LCD monitor features touch screen operation.

It has full-HD AVCHD recording capabilities with 1920 x 1080 image quality

Other features include Face Recognition, AF/AE Tracking, Intelligent Scene Selector, Face Detection and Intelligent Contrast Control.

Face Recognition finds the registered faces of subjects and automatically optimizes the focus and exposure, while continuously tracking them as they move around within the LCD frame.

The SDX1 features a 3.32 megapixels, 1/4.1" MOS sensor.

In addition to being a camcorder, the SDX1 also serves as a Web camera and microphone, allowing for users to connect with online video chat programs, such as Skype, and make video calls over the Internet.

The Panasonic HDC-SDX1 will be available in black in September 2010 with a suggested retail price of $499.95.

Buy @ sawfnews.com

Nokia Nokia N8 bookable online to 469 euros

Now you can book the new Nokia N8 online directly from Nokia Online Shop and at all Nokia Store, The sales price of new Nokia N8 is 469 euros with free delivery for those who buy online.

Nokia N8 is the first Nokia smartphones with Symbian the new version ^ 3, with exciting multimedia features including a 12 megapixel camera and Carl Zeiss optics, Xenon flash, HD-quality video and Web Tv

In addition to the multimedia functions are excellent features on the social profile and the Internet, with Facebook and Twitter Feed the manageable and Ovi Maps with free car and pedestrian navigation with maps of 70 countries.

Among other features include 16 GB of internal memory, 32 GB microSD support, USB and Blueooth.

Via : pianetacellulare.it

Trackpad Magic: multitouch for the desktop

Much has been made in the past to a new device that Apple would introduce on the market. Circa un mese fa, sono comparse in Rete anche delle immagini “rubate”. About a month ago, appeared on the Net even pictures "stolen".

Now comes the confirmation: the new gadeget called the Apple Trackpad Magic. This is a large version of the famous MacBook Pro touchpad on this.

Made of aluminum with the touch glass trackpad brings the Magic world desktop gesture possible on all laptops. So in addition to the classic click and double-click of a typical mouse also comes the two-finger scrolling, zooming and rotation with the thumb and forefinger.

To configure access to simply gesture trackpad Magic panel in System Preferences to enable or disable those gestures that do not need. The connection with the desktop (iMac or Mac Pro) is using wireless technology to work and obviously requires Mac OS X. The Magic trackpad on App Store you can buy at a price of 69 euros.

Via : onehardware.it

Apple's new iMac from 21.5 and 27 inches

Just the Apple Store went offline noises have been pointing the finger at the range iMac and confirmations are received within a few hours,

Apple announced new models from 21.5 and 27 inches with which the group has relaunched the product and which aims to consolidate market share gained in recent years.

Improved performance: the new iMacs are Intel-based Core i3, i5 Core or Core i7 with lots of features to further accelerate Turbo Boost ability when using software such as Aperture or Final Cut Pro 3:

"Now all models iMac mount superfast Intel Core series processors with advanced architecture that helps to set new standards for performance of all-in-one Apple.

Versions from 21.5 "and one of the models from 27" series include a dual-core Intel Core i3 from 3.06 GHz.

Also improved the graphics, with separate card and the CPU-based ATI Radeon HD 4670 with 256MB dedicated memory for the 21.5-inch and ATI Radeon HD 5670 with 512MB for 27 inches.

For this latest version is available also the ATI Radeon HD 5750 with 1GB of GDDR5 to get further performance increase.

Read More @ webnews.it