Amy Eichelberg

Just like its popular predecessor, the Motorola Droid 3, the upcoming Droid 4 smartphone will also sport its very own DLNA certification (as the Motorola XT894). For anyone who wasn’t sure if the Droid 4 would obtain its DLNA street cred, the Digital Living Network Alliance has officially given the Verizon slider its media blessing. As a DLNA certificate usually indicates a product release, this further affirms our speculation that the handset is prepping for an unveiling in the near future. It’s quite possible that this year’s CES event in Las Vegas holds the key to the highly anticipated handset. […]

While the official festivities have yet to kick off for CES 2012, Motorola has already started the party by unveiling two new handsets. The first handset, dubbed the Motorola MOTOLUXE, has already been floating around China under the moniker XT615, and has recently passed through the FCC. The MOTOLUXE sports a 4-inch display, 8 megapixel camera with flash, and an interesting lit lanyard slot on the front of the device for email, text, and voicemail notifications. The second handset to make its debut is the DEFY MINI which brags to be both dust proof and water resistant. Spec highlights include:

Who doesn’t love the music streaming joy that Spotify has brought millions of music fans here in the United States? However, like the age old adage implies, all good things must come to an end. In this case it’s the free unlimited Spotify account that everyone signed up for six months ago, and sadly the freebie time is drawing to a close. So, it’s time to either bust out the credit card number or learn new limited listening habits. When the trial period ends next week, anyone who signed up at launch will be limited to 10 hours a month

It appears as though Nokia has been quietly shopping mobile platforms as MeeGo and Symbian hasn’t held their attention long enough to stay committed. Surprisingly, Nokia recently acquired the new mobile OS called Smarterphone back in November. Essentially, Smarterphone creates ultra-smart mobile operating system software for featurephones, allowing users to get a smartphone-like experience on “affordable hardware.” Neither Nokia or Smarterphone has released any financial details surrounding the deal, but we’re sure to see those surface in the near future. As it’s too early in the acquisition to predict Nokia’s game plan with Smarterphone, we’re betting it will be a

In a surprising announcement prior to the CES 2012 kick off, Cobra Electronics has finally introduced their latest Bluetooth device dubbed the G5. The latest product to follow in the Tag line, this device pairs up to your smartphone and triggers custom alarms whenever the two devices become separated. What’s unique about the new G5 is that it takes full advantage of the Bluetooth 4.0 Low-Energy standard. Essentially, the G5 can offer up more than six months of use before needing another charge. Additional benefits include the G5 being compatible with the Bluetooth 4.0-capable iPhone 4S, and of course the

In an official statement released today, AT&T has confirmed that its LTE coverage has nearly doubled by adding on eleven new markets. The list of cities includes New York City metro, San Francisco / Oakland / San Jose, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Diego, Raleigh and Austin. Additionally, AT&T confirmed that its massive LTE expansion is expected to be completely deployed by the end of 2013. Continue reading below for the full press release for more coverage. AT&T ROLLS OUT 4G LTE TO CUSTOMERS IN 11 MORE MARKETSAT&T 4G LTE Now Available in 26 Markets Including NYC Metro, San Francisco, Los

Are you a MetroPCS user who just wishes you could bring your Univision and Telemundo with you on the run? Well, MetroPCS is sure hoping that you’re shaking your head yes, as they just dove head first into a new venture wth Mobile Content Venture (MCV) to accomplish just that. The contract free wireless giant has teamed up with MCV with the goal of bringing live local TV direct to your MetroPCS handset. While no specific launch date has been confiremd yet, the service is expected to be released later this year and will be provided through the Dyle Mobile

Google’s new native theme, dubbed ‘Holo’, for Ice Cream Sandwich is practical, intuitive, and is aesthetically pleasing to the eye. In an attempt to offer all of their users a consistent interface, Google is now making the theme mandatory for all Android 4.0 devices that come equipped with the Android Market. No need to panic just yet, as the manufacturer customizations aren’t being wiped out completely. This is potentially good news for developers as the changes that Google is now enforcing will simplify the lives of the independent developer community. Basically, developers will now have the ability to simply choose

If you’re like most iPhone 4S owners, then you’ve probably developed a love for Apple’s voice assistant Siri. It appears as though Spotify’s very own CEO, Daniel Ek feels the same way. Ek recently proclaimed his undying love for Siri in the form of a hack the company is currently working on. Ek demonstrated the hack by asking Siri to play some Coldplay, and presto- Siri delivered. As reported by Forbes, “Play me some Coldplay,” Ek tells the phone. Its small speakers ring out with the opening piano chords of the band’s hit “The Scientist.” “We hacked into it a

If you have been dying to get your hands on the Asus Transformer Prime tablet, then head over to Office Depot’s online store and claim yours now while stock is still available. The Prime will set you back $499.99 for the 32GB model, but that’s reasonable considering it’s the world’s first quad-core powered Android tablet. Spec highlights include the Android 3.1 (Honeycomb) operating system, a 10.1″ multi-touch Gorilla glass display, and the Nvidia Tegra 3 processor with full Adobe Flash support. The Prime is expected to receive an Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) upgrade later this year. So, if you

iOS users just may have facial recognition in the distant future. An Apple patent application for “Low Threshold Face Recognition” technology has just been disclosed to the public. The technology appears to utilize minimal computing power and can be accessed in either an outdoor or indoor setting. Essentially, the technology will take a picture of the user and compare it against the pictures associated with various user accounts on the device and decide if the two images are similar enough to grant the user access to the device. According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Apple applied

Gameloft recently reduced their games to $0.99 for iOS and Amazon Appstore users, so it seems only fair that they would spread the bargain love over to the Android Market. Just in time to ring in the new year, almost all of Gameloft’s paid titles will be up for grabs for less than a dollar. The promotion is expected to take place between December 29th, 2011 at 10:00am PST and should continue on until January 5th, 2012 10:00am PST. The one exception worth mentioning is Modern Combat 3: Fallen Nation, which is expected to only be discounted for one day

If you’re the proud owner of an Asus Eee Pad Transformer, then Asus just might brighten your day in the form of a new firmware update. While the latest build (version 8.6.5.21) doesn’t bring the sweet joy of Ice Cream Sandwich to the device, it does solve some minor bugs. Additionally, users can take advantage of various device tweaks to ensure their Transformer is running at the top of its game. After the update is installed your Transformers specs should look like this: Android Version: 3.2.1 GPS Version: V5.5.8 WiFi Version: V5.2.65 Bluetooth Version: V6.24 Kernel Version: 2.6.36.3-00001-g9a21fc1android@Mercury #1 Build

LG plans to ring in the new year with plenty of Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich/ICS) joy as they have finally revealed which devices will be getting the highly anticipated ICS upgrade. LG made the announcement official through their Facebook page by stating that several of their 2011 handsets will be on the ICS upgrade list starting in Q2 and Q3 of 2012. Additionally, LG plans to complete a global roll-out in 2012 which should cover all remaining LG manufactured handsets. So what can LG owners expect for 2012? Owners of the LG Optimus LTE, Prada 3.0, Optimus 2X, Optimus

Despite AT&T suffering a major setback with the recently failed T-Mobile acquisition, Ma Bell will still have reason to celebrate this holiday season after all. The FCC has officially approved AT&T’s purchase of Qualcomm’s 700MHz spectrum for a staggering $1.9 billion. The specific block of Qualcomm’s airwaves is currently being unused. After the deal is sealed, AT&T will be able to capitalize on the spectrum to increase download capacity for its rapidly increasing LTE network. The FCC did approve the deal with a few of their own conditions as AT&T is asked to meet interference requirements and provide redata roaming