When it comes to LED and plasma televisions, Samsung is one of the biggest industry leaders. If you’re in the market for a new big-screen TV, there’s a great deal being offered where you’ll get a brand new Galaxy Tab 2 for free as part of the bundle.

The free Galaxy Tab 2 deal is being offered by Amazon and all you have to do to take advantage of the offer is to add both the TV and the tablet to your shopping cart. Go through the checkout as your normally would and the discount will be applied during that process. The free tablet being offered is the 7-inch Wi-Fi version of the Galaxy Tab 2, running on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, a 1GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 8GB internal storage and a microSD expansion slot for up to 32GB more. It’s a $199.99 value.

The smallest of the TVs that are eligible for this offer is the 46-inch Samsung UN46ES8000 Slim LED and that’s selling for $1,299.99. Other options include 55-inch, 60-inch, and even 64-inch TVs as both Slim LED or plasma. The largest of the bunch is the 64-inch UN64ES8000 and that’s listed at $2,894.70. These are all Smart TVs.

Head over to Amazon to have a look. The promotion ends at 11:59pm PST on March 2, so you’ll need to hurry.

The post Buy a Samsung HDTV, Get a Free Galaxy Tab 2 appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

In the past we have shown you a variety of different products to spend your lottery winnings on, from a $40k TVs to a $130 million yacht.  We have a new one to add to the list, a $10,500 smartphone.  The Vertu TI may even be the most expensive Android smartphone ever sold with a retail price of a mere €7900 , or roughly 10,500 USD.

So how impressive is this phone for the rich and famous, you may ask?  Under the outer shell, not that impressive.  It comes with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, you heard that right, not Jelly Bean for your 10 grand.  But do not fear, it also has a 3.7 inch WVGA display and the standard two cameras.  A rather disappointing 1.3 MP front facing camera for hours of grainy video chats and a respectable 8 MP rear facing camera with auto focus and dual LED flashes.  The Vertu TI also has 64GB of built in storage and a battery that supports 200 hours of standby and 72 hours of talk time.

Now we get into where I think most of your $10,500 is going, the case.  The Verti TI is made with brushed and polished, no not aluminum but titanium!  It also has black leather and polished black ceramic.  Built in services include Vertu Certainty, Vertu Life and Vertu Concierge classic.

I guess if you have the extra cash, why not.  But I don’t think this handset will be flying off the shelves as it is definitely catered to a very limited market. Even those who are extremely wealthy would likely rather opt for a more-capable iPhone or Galaxy S3 over this phone, I’d wager.

What do you think of the Vertu TI?  Would you drop the cash on it, if you had (have) it?

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There’s a reason why the Samsung Galaxy S3 is widely touted as being one of the best Android smartphones on the market today and now it seems that you can land yourself a stellar deal on the phone too. It’s on sale for just a penny.

The Samsung Galaxy S3 is being offered in white or black with 16GB of internal storage, coming with all those wonderful specs and features that make this phone so popular. There’s the 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED touchscreen, dual core 1.5GHz processor, 8MP camera, and full 1080p HD video recording. It ships with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, but a Jelly Bean update is surely on the way.

You can pick it up for $0.01 on a qualifying two-year service agreement with Sprint via Amazon Wireless. That’s pretty cheap, considering that it sells for $700 outright. If you want something even larger and more powerful, the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is on sale too, also through Sprint and Amazon Wireless. That’s being listed at $169.99 on a qualifying two-year contract.

The post Samsung Galaxy S3 for $0.01 with Sprint, Note 2 just $150 appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

These are just codenames at the moment, so it’s likely that HTC will change the names before an official unveiling and launch. They wouldn’t want to confuse that G2 with an LG Optimus G2, right? Starting with the mid-range HTC M4, it sounds like it’s going to have a 4.3-inch 720p display, backed with a 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon and 2GB of RAM. Other specs include the 13MP f/2.0 camera, 1.6MP front facing camera, 16GB storage, 1700mAh battery, Android Jelly Bean and HTC Sense. It’ll come loaded with LTE “where available.”

Approaching the much more entry level end of the market is the presumably affordable HTC G2. It’s quite a bit smaller with its 3.5-inch screen, leading us to believe that this is a replacement for something like the HTC Desire C. There’s a single core 1GHz processor, 512MB RAM, 4GB storage, microSD, 1500mAh battery and 5MP camera. Strangely, it’ll ship with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, rather than Jelly Bean.

Both the HTC M4 and the HTC G2, along with more information about the HTC M7, should all be announced to the world at HTC’s event on February 19.

[Source]

The post Leaked: Mid-Range HTC M4 and Entry-Level HTC G2 Android Smartphones appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

While the LG Nexus 4 and LG Optimus G are very similar, they have one major difference: stock Jelly Bean versus LG-skinned ICS. Not everyone cares about having a the latest (stock) version of Jelly Bean, but if you do, this is certainly a pretty big difference.

Although LG’s Optimus G will always have LG skins, it might not have to deal with Ice Cream Sandwich much longer. South Korea is already seeing an update to Jelly Bean, and hopefully that means that Europe and the United States are too terribly far behind.

The update to South Korea is arriving right now both in OTA and over-the-wire methods for those with “LG-F180S” on SK Telecom. The update brings the phone up to Android 4.1. This isn’t as up-to-date as the Nexus 4′s 4.2 Jelly Bean, but it is certainly better than nothing.

For now, there is no word on when the US and Europe will see Jelly Bean arrive to the LG Optimus G, but don’t worry, it will make its way over sooner or later.

Do you own the Optimus G? Do you mind being stuck with ICS or are you desperately awaiting the upgrade to Jelly Bean?

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The post LG Optimus G Jelly Bean Update Rolls Out to South Korea, US and Europe Update Coming Soon? appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Despite experiencing constant shortages of the Nexus 4, it is being reported that LG is stopping production of the Nexus 4. Sales for the most recent Nexus smartphone were not reported to be through the roof, however, there was enough demand over the past few months to put LG and Google on the hot seat. If the Nexus 4 was doing so well, why would LG be halting production?

Current speculation says that LG is dumping its current line to work on future projects. More specifically, their next generation smart phones. International Business Times reports that LG may continue to work with Google and produce more Nexus devices.

With CES in the rear view mirror and Mobile World Congress fast approaching, Samsung is very likely to be working on their next big thing, the Galaxy S4.

On the other hand, the quad-core 4.7 inch Nexus 4 was an improvement over the Galaxy Nexus but perhaps not massively so. The biggest positive point for the phone was its aggressive pricing combined with reasonably impressive specs. Additionally, Google has not released a huge OS bump since Ice Cream Sandwich back in late 2011. This puts the Nexus series in a prime position for a release in the near future.

Still if demand is there, odds are that Google will continue to put the pressure on LG to continue to build LG Nexus 4 hardware. If LG continues to struggle to keep up, it is very likely that Google will not consider them for future Nexus products.

Would you buy an Android 5.0 (Key Lime Pie) device made by LG? Should Google start to worry about Samsung’s dominance in the market and step up their Nexus line? Let us know in the comments below.

[ Source ]

UPDATE: LG has since spoke up and says that they are continuing production of the LG Nexus 4 as planned, despite rumors to the contrary.

The post Nexus 4 Production Stopped, LG Preparing New Device? appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Dell appears to be making another run at the Android market, but this time not in the form of its mobile business. Instead, they are creating a dongle that has Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich Loaded on it named Project Ophelia.

Dell claims to give you fast access to personal content with Ophelia by simply attaching it to a TV or display.  While there are already dongles that provide an Android experience on a larger display, not all of them are back up by Dell’s Wyse Cloud Client.  The system is being marketed as both a device for work and entertainment.

Some noteable features listed in the press release are:

• Flexibly powered zero-battery device gets power from the attached display monitor via its MHL interface to the monitor’s MHL port, or separately via its own USB interface. No batteries to charge or change.
• Remembers settings for each individual to enhance usability.
• Enables instant and secure access to your personal cloud, entertainment, work content and applications wherever there is an available capable display (using a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse), including a wide variety of Dell flat-panel displays.
• Compatible with many existing Dell Wyse thin clients and software products.
• Integrated Wi-Fi and Bluetooth facilitates access and communication.
• Built on the Android 4 OS to support Web browsing, social networking, media playback and Android Apps with a possibility to extend to other services.
• Securely connects to Windows desktops and applications running on back-end systems from all leading infrastructure providers including Citrix, Microsoft and VMware.

Dell’s Project Ophelia is set to be released the first part of this year.  We have no idea on the price of the unit at this time, but based on redundant technology, I would hope the price is relatively low.

Would you pick up one of these?  What are some applications you can think of this would be perfect for?

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The post Dell Project Ophelia: Android on a Dongle Just Needs a Monitor appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

In a recent press release, Chinese telecommunications company Huawei announced that they would be releasing the Ascend P1 on Amazon for customers in America. The device is being sold unlocked and works on GSM networks such as AT&T, T-Mobile and Straight Talk.

Coming in at $450 the Ascend P1 is a bit on the high end with the Nexus 4 costing $300– still, the P1 is actually available while the Nexus 4 is much harder to obtain.

From a spec point of few, it might not be a quad-core but it is still a pretty solid device:

• Dual core TI OMAP 4460 1.5GHz processor
• Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich)
• 4.3″ Super AMOLED qHD 960×540 touchscreen
• 8MP rear camera
• 1.3MP front-facing camera
• 129mm X 64.8mm X 7.69mm
• 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound System
• PowerVR SGX graphics chip
• 1GB of RAM
• 4GB internal storage (Up to 32GB micro SD)
• 1670mAh Lithium-ion battery

Coming in at just 7.69mm thin, the Huawei Ascend P1 is one of the thinnest smartphones on the market. However, the iPhone 5 just beats out the P1 at 7.6mm in depth. Additionally, with the 1.5GHz dual-core processor, the Ascend P1 will be able to handle all of the latest 3D games from Google Play.

You can check out the Huawei Ascend P1 on Amazon.

Do you think that Huawei can contend against Apple and Samsung in America? Would you buy Huawei devices if they become more widely available in the states? Let us know in the comments below.

[ Source ]

The post Huawei Ascend P1 Unlocked Version Launches in the U.S. appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Who said that you had to spend an arm and a leg to get your very own tablet? Prices have come down substantially and you’ll be hard-pressed to find a tablet cheaper than the Zeepad 7.0 with Android 4.0.

No, you can’t possibly expect the Zeepad 7.0 tablet to compete with much more expensive counterparts like the newest iPad or the Asus Transformer Infinity, but you also have to realize that it sells for a fraction of the price. What you get here is a 7.0-inch multitouch tablet, powered by Ice Cream Sandwich.

The specs are actually not too shabby with a Boxchip Allwinner A13 Cortex A8 1.2GHz processor and 512MB of RAM to go along with the 4GB of internal storage. There’s a microSD slot there to give you more space for documents, pictures, music, videos and so on. You get support for such apps as Skype video calling, Netflix movie streaming and more. The customer reviews are quite positive, citing good build quality and decent performance. It’s said to handle Shadowgun and Dead Trigger without too much trouble.

Pick it up from Amazon.com for $79.90, which is 47% off the regular list price of $149.99. You get free super saver shipping too.

The post Zeepad 7.0 Android 4.0 ICS Tablet for Half Price appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Perhaps you are in love with the Apple iPhone form factor, but you’d prefer to have things running on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. If that’s the case, this budget unlocked smartphone could be just the ticket.

To be fair, the listed manufacturer for this Android 4.0 iPhone Knockoff is simply “China,” so it may not give you a lot of confidence in terms of user support. That said, the specs on paper are sounding pretty decent, especially for the price. It’s a quad-band GSM smartphone with a 3.5-inch HVGA capacitive touchscreen. It runs on ICS, has 4GB of storage, 512MB RAM, and a 1600mAh battery. There’s also WiFi, GPS, and dual cameras.

One of the most notable features, though, is that it has dual SIM card slots, allowing you to handle two separate phone numbers through the same smartphone. And yes, it bears a striking resemblance to the iPhone 4/4S, complete with that characteristic home button beneath the touchscreen. You’ll certainly fool more than a few casual passers-by.

The real kicker, though, is the price. It’s selling for just $141.89, including free super saver shipping from Amazon. That’s unlocked and unsubsidized. It even has an overall customer rating of 4/5 stars with 77 customer reviews on Amazon. That’s got to add some confidence, right?

The post Android 4.0 iPhone Knockoff with Dual SIMs for $140 appeared first on Mobile Magazine.