Amy Eichelberg

Do you have tablets on the brain but can’t seem to commit to one yet? Lenovo looks to stand apart from the competition by offering tablets aimed at both the average consumer and business professionals alike. The company officially announced three new tablets with 10.1-inch displays to their device portfolio today, including the IdeaPad Tablet K1, the IdeaPad Tablet P1, and the ThinkPad Tablet. When a company decides to introduce multiple devices at the same time it can get confusing fast. To make it easier on our readers we broke down each tablet’s highlights below: Lenovo IdeaPad Tablet K1 Android 3.1 (Honeycomb) enabled NVIDIA Tegra […]

Are you shopping around for a new carrier but are nervous with all this tiered data plan talk? Well T-Mobile looks to stand apart from the major players by introducing their new Value plans to the consumer community. “T-Mobile is committed to making the always-on benefits of smartphones and tablets more accessible and worry-free for all Americans,” said John Clelland, senior vice president, marketing, T-Mobile USA. “Customers want to enjoy all that the mobile Web has to offer, but they don’t want to pay for more than they need or worry about bill shock. Our incredible value comes from the

Blackberry PlayBook owners were understandably excited to hear news of an available update today. The V1.0.7 update marks the fourth update to roll out for the device. As part of the update, users could look forward to being able to save attachments to a removable SD card or onto a Blackberry smartphone. Additionally, users would be able to Bridge and port from their Blackberry smartphone and extract zipfiles from their email. Other notable improvements include, portrait view for photos, pinch-to-zoom for video  viewing, and support for 15 new languages. Unfortunately, the update hype was short lived as PlayBook users who took advantage

Google has finally launched its Google+ app for iOS users and can now be snagged for free through Apple’s App Store. The app enables both sharing publicly through updates and within your Google + Circles. Also built-in is Huddle messaging and, unlike on Android, doesn’t require a separate app for the live chat feature. The iOS app does not provide much more than Android users get and actually leaves out the Hangout video chat feature reserved for the desktop web version. The app currently requires iOS version 3.1 or later. The app was submitted soon after Google+ rolled out to the public in beta mode but saw an oddly delayed launch that led most

Sprint has officially announced it will be adding the Motorola Titanium to its device portfolio starting July 24th. The 810G military spec Eclair smartphone will run consumers $150 after a $100 mail in rebate and with a 2 year contract. The Android 2.1 enabled device sports Nextel’s Direct Connect with push to talk feature in addition to a full QWERTY keyboard, and a 3.1-inch touchscreen display. The military-grade tough specifications are perfect to withstand dust, shock, vibration, low pressure, solar radiation, high temperature and low temperature situations. Additional specifications include: Support for Nextel Direct Connect Services  Android Market access Google mobile services Corporate email (Microsoft Exchange

In a note to Research In Motion (Blackberry) investors Monday afternoon, RBC Capital Markets Managing Director Mike Abramsky suggested the company will look to discontinue production on its Wi-Fi Blackberry PlayBook. The Wi-Fi model of the PlayBook tablet is the only version Research In Motion currently manufactures. “Weak PlayBook sales may not be the only reason — RIM appears to be focusing resources around 3G/4G PlayBook, QNX ‘superphones,’ and upcoming Blackberry launches,” Mr. Abramsky wrote in a note to clients on Monday. Abramsky cites lackluster Wi-Fi model sales as just part of the reasoning behind a shift in Blackberry’s focus towards a series

Apple is planning to launch a lower cost pre-paid iPhone this year, according to a source at BGR. The device is speculated to be the iPhone 3GS and would be priced at a low $350 without a contract. The iPhone sporting a lower price is thought to be have a release time frame of end of summer to August. In addition to offering the lower priced iPhone 3GS, Apple  is expected to continue to sell the current iPhone 4 as well, which would give Apple a full spectrum of priced devices in the low, mid, and higher price points. Source

We reported on the official Spotify launch here in the U.S. earlier in the week and yet many are still waiting around to receive their invitation. Hate being the last to get invited to the party? As announced on the Chevy Sonic Facebook page, Spotify and Chevy have joined forces to offer another opportunity to score an invite. Chevrolet is offering up Spotify invitations to the first 150,000 people who request info about the upcoming Chevy Sonic. Chevy suggests that the number of their automobiles in various rock and country songs qualify it for the partnership with the music streaming service. If you are interested in attempting to

For those of us who can’t make up our minds between a Windows or Android OS, then the ViewSonic ViewPad 10Pro tablet might be right up your alley. The device finally hit the FCC showing off dual OS capability which enables both Windows and Android 2.2. The 10 inch tablet sports Intel’s Oak Trail processor, enhanced battery life, HDMI output to big screen with an exclusive docking station, and a high-res capacitive multi-touch screen. We’re still in the dark with the exact pricing on the device but hopefully with the FCC stamp of approval we should see the tablet reaching retail

The new Android powered Toshiba Thrive tablet has barely been in consumer hands for a short couple of weeks and already a tremendous amount of bugs have been reported. According to the Toshiba Forum, users have  experienced extreme difficulty reviving the tablet out of sleep mode without resorting to a full solid re-boot. Additional issues include sporadic system freezes and the device powering on by itself. As the feedback continues to pour in, hopefully Toshiba can work towards correcting the bugs with a future firmware update. Source

Surprising that we hear of a mobile phone planning to possibly launch ahead of schedule. In this case Fujitsu is planning to release its first ever Windows Phone dubbed “Mango” as early as August. The device was originally slated to launch in the fall. Reportedly, Fujitsu looks to release the “Mango” device named the IS12T on the Japenese carrier KDDI “as early as late next month.” The phone will be priced approximately 30,000 – 40,000 yen  or $378 – $500. The device appears to sport a 3.7 inch LCD screen with a waterproof resistant case. The device has FCC and bluetooth clearance which

The Motorola Atrix 4G is finally nearing the home stretch toward receiving its official Android 2.3 upgrade. Approximately 1,000 users in its Feedback Network are receiving an invitation to a “soak opprotunity” to test the Android 2.3 update in its beta stage. It has been speculated that several bugs like lag time, crashing, and random re-booting in the Android 2.3 operating system is responsible for the delay in the upgrade. Providing the beta period receives positive feedback from the test group Motorola could roll out an official 2.3 update as early as late July. Source

A splash screen of a possible new social network project Microsoft has been quietly working on made a short appearance on Socl.com on Thursday before being removed. In an effort to remedy the mistake Microsoft offered this statement,  “Thanks for stopping by. Socl.com is an internal design project from a team in Microsoft Research which was mistakenly published to the web. We didn’t mean to, honest.” It is hard to tell from the splash screen image if ‘Tulalip’ really is just an internal design project or the start of something entirely bigger. Judging from the strong similarities between Tulalip’s ’tiles’ interface

Looking for a decent magazine app for your Android device? Zinio finally expanded its magazine app to the Android market today making mobile magazine fans happy everywhere. Users sporting an Android 2.2 or 2.3 device can now browse Zinio’s full array of publishers and read their favorite magazines in an optimized view designed for mobile devices. As an incentive to download, anyone who snags the Zinio app on or before August 15th will get rewarded with a mix of 12 issues of current magazine publications. Zinio is currently working on a Blackberry app and states it is near final production. Meanwhile, Zinio versions