Yes, the upcoming Google Nexus 4 is a pretty amazing deal starting at just $299, but what if you want something even cheaper while still retaining that whole “unlocked out of the box” smartphone experience? Amazon has a pretty great deal on the Dell Venue Android smartphone, slashing the price in half and giving you an unlocked smartphone for less than $200.

The Dell Venue is powered by Android 2.2 Froyo and comes with a 4.1-inch WVGA AMOLED touchscreen display. Other features include the 1GHz processor, 8MP camera, Full Adobe Flash 10.1, Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, and HQ Corning Gorilla Glass. There’s a 16GB microSD card that comes pre-installed for storage and let’s not forget that this phone is factory unlocked, so you can use it with GSM carriers like AT&T, T-Mobile, and Rogers Wireless.

No, it’s not the newest thing in the world and Dell isn’t exactly in the smartphone game anymore, but consider that the Dell Venue can be yours for just $174.99 (regular list price of $349.00) and you can see how this is a pretty good value. You’ll be pretty unique among your friends too, because I doubt any of them will have a Dell smartphone. And that includes free super saver shipping too.

The post Daily Deal: Unlocked Dell Venue GSM Phone on sale, now 50% off appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Dell and Good Technologies have been working with the US Department of Defense for over a year to create a secure Android platform. The Streak that has been approved and they’ve included additional features to make the device even more secure. The additional security features of the DISA-approved Streak 5 include the ability to have data wiped from it remotely if one is ever lost or stolen and enhanced password protection. Every Streak 5 being issued also comes with additional “mobile security” with which we are not privy to.

This seems to be only the beginning for the DOD and similar mobile devices. As new Android devices come available, they should be able to be easily integrated for military and other Defense Department use now that the Streak 5 and its special OS has paved the way.

If you want to play spy and get your hands on your own Dell Streak 5, you better get over to eBay. Dell removed this pocket tablet from its US product line back in August of this year, and it is “unavailable” on Dell’s Canadian site too.

The post Dell Streak Gets Pentagon Approval appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Aside from swapping out the name, NEC doesn’t appear to have changed very much with this since we saw it in January. There are two seven-inch 800×600 displays, but they are sadly both of the resistive touchscreen variety. I guess you need the precision of a stylus to write certain Japanese characters, but capacitive really should be expected in this day and age.

The other big downer? There’s absolutely no mention of any Honeycomb action for this poor tablet, getting stuck with a stretched out version of Android 2.2 Froyo. It also doesn’t help that there’s only 384MB of RAM and a mere five hours of battery life. A Cortex A8 processor runs the show, but they’re not talking about clock speeds.

I don’t mind the idea of a tablet with two touchscreens, since it’s almost like a netbook without a physical keyboard, but the NEC LifeTouch W isn’t really the way to go about doing it. Look at the size of those bezels too! In any case, it’s set to ship to Japanese retailers next month.

The post NEC Android Tablet gets Dual Display appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Bigger, better, faster than ever, the Motorola Droid X2 is set for a May 26 launch on Verizon Wireless. Pre-orders begin today, so if you were in the market for the Droid successor, wanted a 4.3-inch scratch-resistant, anti-reflective qHD Display packing an 8 MP camera with autofocus, HD Video recording, HDMI, all powered by a dual-core 1 GHZ CPU, this may be for you. The only setback is the outdated Android 2.2 OS, however you’ll be able to upgrade that to 2.3 shortly.

Additional Features:

• Powered by Android 2.2, to be updated to Android 2.3
• Mirror Mode allows you to view and share your photos, videos and downloaded movies on a larger TV via HDMI output
• Enterprise-ready with security and IT-grade policies, allowing you to use your DROID X2 for work and play
• Support for Google™ Mobile Services, including Gmail™, YouTube™, Google Talk™, Google Search™ and Google Maps™, as well as access to more than 200,000 apps available to download from Android Market™
• Mobile Hotspot capability, allowing you to share your 3G connection with up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices
• Virtual QWERTY keyboard featuring SWYPE technology for quick and easy typing of messages and emails

For $199 on a two-year contract you can get the Droid X2, it’s also good to know it supports Mobile Hotspots for up to five Wi-Fi devices. This is a good choice for one, but you also can look at the Motorola ATRIX 4G for AT&T, LG G2x for T-Mobile or check out a list of similar smartphones here if Verizon isn’t your cup of tea.

The post Droid X2 Pre-Orders Begin at Verizon Wireless appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Apple has the iPhone and the iPod touch. Samsung tried that with the Galaxy Player and now it’s updating the line with a couple new phone-less multimedia devices. The Samsung Galaxy S WiFi 4.0 and Galaxy S WiFi 5.0 are exactly what you think they are.

They’re basically the Galaxy S smartphone, but without the phone part of the equation. They both run on Android 2.2 Froyo and come powered by a 1GHz processor. As their names imply, the WiFi 4.0 has a 4-inch WVGA Super Clear LCD, while the WiFi 5.0 has a 5-inch WVGA TFT LCD. Sorry, no AMOLED action here.

The rest of the specs include a 3.2MP camera, VGA front cam, stereo FM radio, GPS, microSD expansion, accelerometer, digital compass. The Galaxy S WiFi 4.0 has a smaller 1200mAh battery, while the 5.0 goes much bigger with its 2500mAh battery.

There isn’t too much that’s terribly exciting here, but they could make for useful Android handhelds if you’re not so inclined to get the phone and 3G part of the equation. Expect the 4.0 to hit Russia and 5.0 to hit Switzerland first, with the rest of the world slowly following in the coming months.

The post Forget the Phone with Samsung Galaxy S WiFi 4.0 and 5.0 appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

That’s right. It’s all official and kosher now. The newest update pushes a real build of Android 2.2 Froyo to the device, effectively rendering it into a real tablet. There are some limitations — like only getting apps that B&N gives the thumbs up — but you are getting apps.

B&N will approve apps that are “suitable” for the Nook Color’s “reading-centric existence” and its 7-inch screen. Games like Angry Birds and Yoo Ninja probably work, as do “reading” related apps like Pulse News and Epicurious. For now, there are about 125 apps ready to go on the Nook Color.

Along with the official introduction of apps, the update also brings a better web browser (with Flash support), email and calendar programs, page-turning animations, and so on.

No, the Nook Color won’t exactly hold its own against something like a Motorola Xoom, but it costs less than half as much and can easily handle more than half the workload. At $250 with all kinds of official support, that’s tough to beat.

[B&N]

The post Nook Color Gets Official Android 2.2 Update appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

As expected, Sprint is now offering the dual-screen Kyocera Echo to the Sprint customers in the US. The dual 3.5-inch WVGA touchscreens are obviously going to use alot of power, but when you’ve got two screens and your best bud has only one, who’s worried about battery life? Right? Although the specs say you should get seven hours of talk-time, that’s not going to be a whole lot of media and gaming action combined with that 1GHz QSD8650 Snapdragon processor.

Kyocera’s “Simul-Task Mode” is a feature that allows a seperate app to be displayed on each of the screens. Obviously since it’s still in its infancy, there’s not going to be a whole lot of support out there yet. But it’s nice to know the SDK is out in the wild and allowing developers to create dual-screen support for the apps. What kind of adoption this will get is a guess, and your guess is as good as mine. It may just be a novelty item, but Kyocera is definitely taking a shot at standing out in the crowded smartphone world.

You can grab an 8GB Echo with 5-megapixel camera, 720p video support for $199 on a two-year plan from Sprint.

[Sprint]

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When the iPhone arrived on the scene it quickly rose to dominate the smartphone world. Then, Android came along and it has steadily increased its market share until it was king of the hill. In much the same way, the iPad is currently dominating the tablet world, but Android tablets are rising to the forefront too. The Samsung Galaxy Tab is a prime example of that.

The Samsung Galaxy S line of smartphones (along with its successors) has reached quite the audience and Samsung wants to do the same with its tablet. Is the Galaxy Tab up to the task? Let’s have a look.

Features and Specs

The Galaxy Tab being featured in this review is the 3G model, very similar to the upcoming WiFi-only version, except of course this model uses the “Rocket Internet” from Rogers for up to 7.2Mbps 3.5G connectivity.

Running through the rest of the spec sheet we find Android 2.2 Froyo, a 7-inch 1024×600 WSVGA TFT touchscreen, integrated WiFi and GPS, 3.0MP rear camera, 1.3MP front camera, 16GB internal memory, microSD expansion, and your choice of either a black or white back.

The picture quality is about what you’d expect from a device like this, falling just short of par when compared to some of the more modern smartphones with their 5MP or even 8MP cameras. Resolution isn’t everything, of course, and the camera was able to reduce some noise under lower light conditions by smoothing the image; this results in a loss of detail, but a smoother photo overall.

First Impressions and Build Quality

Just like the first generation iPad, the Samsung Galaxy Tab is a little thicker and heavier than you might expect. It measures 190.1 x 120.4 x 11.98mm and tips the scales at 375 grams. The thickness isn’t a big deal (thinner isn’t always better), but I would have liked it if the Galaxy Tab joined up with Jenny Craig for a little while.

Build quality is very solid, despite having “just” a plastic back. You never get the sense that this product is particularly fragile and I personally find the seven-inch size to be perfectly suitable for a tablet. In fact, I had no trouble fitting it into the side pocket in my cargo pants. It would have been nice if the bezel wasn’t quite so thick though; much like the Captivate.

Navigating the User Interface

I wouldn’t say that Android 2.2 Froyo is bad. I wouldn’t even say that Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface is bad either. They both do the job just fine on smartphones, complete with live wallpapers, home screen widgets, and multiple home screens. The trouble is that Froyo is for phones, not tablets.

When you scroll your way around this tablet you really feel like you just got the Hummer of smartphones. It doesn’t feel particularly like a “tablet” experience as much as it does like a “big phone” experience. This is a common observation and it is certainly something worth thinking about.

Samsung thinks so too. That’s why the next Galaxy Tab will get Android 3.0 Honeycomb instead. That will be optimized for tablet use, making better use of the bigger screen.

Daily Performance and Battery Life

The good thing about Android 2.2 and TouchWiz is that there is a built in task manager, this means no messing around with one of those third party “app killer” apps. And you need this task manager, because it seems like the Galaxy Tab can’t keep up under a heavier load.

Running one or two apps at a time (in true multitasking fashion) doesn’t seem to be too much trouble unless one of these requires a little more processing power. While playing Angry Birds Rio I experienced some significant lag and stuttering at times. I believe this might have been due to a couple of apps that were running in the background, and the issue is just exacerbated by Angry Birds stages that were a little more complex.

The touchscreen, while responsive, has two issues worth mentioning. First, it seems to be a really bad fingerprint magnet. An oleophobic coating would have been useful in this regard… or you can help it out by adding a screen protector. Second, there can be a fair bit of glare under certain lighting conditions, not only reducing your viewing angles but also making the display less than useful at times.

In general, day-to-day performance can hold up, so long as you are aware of these kinds of limitations. Outside of the more complex games, I rarely experienced much (noticeable) lag. Network speeds are respectable too. While I wasn’t able to achieve the theoretical maximum of 7.2Mbps, I was able to get 3.3Mbps down and 3.2Mbps up through the Rogers HSPA network in Vancouver.

Battery life is reasonably respectable for a tablet too. Depending on how you use it, you should be able to get a solid day or more on a single charge. Naturally, if you’re playing games for hours on end, that’ll cut your time short. They claim up to nine hours of battery for music playback, for instance.

Bottom Line

The good news is that you can get the current Samsung Galaxy Tab for $200 on contract through Rogers. In the US, you have your choice at any of the carriers with packages starting at $200.  The bad news is the outright price is a cool $624.99, which is only $25 cheaper than the equivalent iPad 2 (16GB Wi-Fi + 3G). Bear in mind that the latter appears to offer better performance, more apps, and more of a “newness” factor.

The current Galaxy Tab isn’t a bad device by any stretch, but it could do a lot better. If you’re in the market for something like this and you can wait it out, I’d rather save a few hundred dollars and get the WiFi-only Galaxy Tab; or wait until the Honeycomb-loaded version hits the shelves. The “stuttering” performance at times and the non-tablet optimized UI hurt this product’s chances against the Cupertino juggernaut.

That said, I have faith that Android tablets will eventually usurp the iPad. It’ll just take time and the current Galaxy Tab isn’t the one that’s going to do it.

The post Samsung Galaxy Tab Android 2.2 Tablet Review appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Early last month, we caught the official word about the Kyocera Echo. It’s kind of like a Nintendo DS, except both displays are touchscreens and it just so happens to be an Android smartphone to boot. Now, you can preorder the device.

Sprint is now accepting pre-orders on the double-screened wonder and you should expect to have it in your hands on or around April 17. They’re calling for a cool two hundred bucks on a two-year contract, after you deal with that pesky $100 mail-in rebate too.

Given the push toward slim and sleek devices, I’m not convinced that people will want a double-screener like the Kyocera Echo, but the bigger (combined) real estate (4.7-inches) could help bridge the gap between smartphone and tablet. Too bad there’s no 4G and no Gingerbread for this, but at least you get some Snapdragon action.

[Read]

The post Preorders Start for Dual-Screen Kyocera Echo Android Smartphone from Sprint appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

That’s for a good number of you, anyway. If you happen to be rocking something with Android 2.2 Froyo, Android 2.3 Gingerbread, or Android 3.0 Honeycomb, you can go on over to Android Market and download Adobe Flash 10.2. Dual core smatphones get increased performance and the tablets are supposed to get better battery life as a result. Some reviews are coming in stating that 10.2 will “play videos smoother.”

While having two cores in your processor probably helps (though not always, as evidenced by the stellar performance of the mere 800MHz unit on the T-Mobile G2), a single core Android device should handle Flash 10.2 too… it just might not fare as well. Engadget found a 480p YouTube clip to be “fairly jerky” on the Droid 2, but it was “perfectly smooth” on the Xoom.

With hardware acceleration around the corner, dual core pads should even support 720p video playback at a “really smooth, enjoyable level.” Given these advances, would you choose a Xoom over an iPad? They do cost the same after all.

[Android Market]

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