Maybe you’re not a fan of signing lengthy contracts, but you also don’t want to spend $500 or more on an unsubsidized smartphone. This deal on the Motorola Pro Plus MB632 could be just the ticket.

Yes, it’s true that this Android smartphone isn’t quite as sexy as the HTC One X or the Samsung Galaxy S III, but you are paying a fraction of the unsubsidized price. The Motorola MB632 has a 1GHz single core processor to go along with its 3.1-inch touchscreen display. You’ll also notice that, unlike so many other smartphones these days, this one actually has a full physical QWERTY keyboard.

Going through the rest of the specs and features, we find Android 2.3 Gingerbread, a 5MP camera with LED flash, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1, 4GB internal memory, microSD expansion (up to 32GB) and the usual array of Google services like Gmail, Search and Google Maps with Navigation.

Find the Motorola MB632 on Amazon for $199.99 outright, a $100 savings off the regular price of $300.

The post Daily Deal: Motorola Pro+ MB632 Unlocked Android Smartphone for $200 appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

The Sony Xperia NXT family of smartphones is making its way to the United States market and it’s coming in no fewer than three different flavors: the Xperia S, Xperia P and Xperia U. Variations of these phones have already been made available to international markets, so it’s not like they’re bringing a lot of high powered novelty to the mobile table.

The most expensive of the bunch at $559.99 outright, is the Sony Xperia S powered by a dual-core Snapdragon 1.5GHz processor, 1B of RAM, and the Sony Mobile Bravia Engine. Android 2.3 is overlaid with Sony’s Timescape UI. Rounding out the specs are the 12MP camera, 4.3-inch 720p display, and standard 1750mAh battery. Look for it in black or white.

Next, the Sony Xperia P ($479.99) will ship in silver, red and black. It gets a dual core 1GHz processor, 4.0-inch 540×960 pixel display, Android 2.3 with Timescape, 8MP camera, and Sony WhiteMagic technlogy.

Sony Xperia U at $299.99 unlocked, is by far the cheapest of the bunch. It’s also the smallest with its 3.5-inch display, but you still get a 1GHz dual core processor and Android 2.3. An upgrade to Android 4.0 ICS is being planned, as is also the case with the P.

[Source]

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The MyTouch series from T-Mobile is back with two new devices, a slate phone and a slideout QWERTY phone. These new phones are going to be manufactured by Huawei and will make their way into the hands of consumers starting on the 8^th of August for just $50, with a mail-in rebate of $50 as well. The new myTouch will come in black and dark red, while the new myTouch Q will have a black or white color choice.

Both devices are essentially the same, other than the design and looks. Both phones run Android 2.3 on custom UI. In a world of ICS, and now JellyBean, this might not be the best news for T-Mobile users that might be interested in a MyTouch. The screen size is 4-inch with WVGA, and other specs inlcud a 1500mAh battery, 4GB of storage, microSD expansion, 5MP rear camera with 720p video, a .3MP front camera, HPSA+ connectivity and a 1.4GHz CPU, though we don’t know what kind, outside of rumors that it might be a single-core MSM8255T. Other unique features to the myTouch series includes its “Genius Botton”, a capacitive key underneath the display. Basically this is just a T-Mobile branded version of voice dictation, letting it make calls, texts, and search the web via voice.

The bottom-line is that there are certainly much more impressive phones out there, but if you want a cheap yet quality phone with minimal features and don’t mind Android 2.3, then this might be a perfect match for you.

[ source ]

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After seeing the massive market share and opportunity that it’s missing in the mobile market, Intel is finally ready to enter the arena of smartphones and tablets. One of the first smartphones to be powered by an Intel processor is the Lenovo Racer-A, a device that you may have once known as the Lenovo K800. And now it’s up for presale.

Naturally, the biggest story here is the 1.6GHz Intel processor under the hood of this Android 2.3 Gingerbread smartphone. Aside from that, you get a 4.5-inch 720p display and 8MP camera with dual LED flash. It’s possible that Lenovo will load it up with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich before shipping, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.

And yes, you can start putting in your pre-orders for this phone today. That’s the good news. The bad news is that pre-orders appear to be for the Chinese market, so there’s no explicit word as to whether the June launch there will also extend to other markets. In either case, they’re asking about $520 for it.

[Source]

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Samsung is expected to come out with a lot of exciting products at MWC 2012. But their newly unveiled Galaxy Beam handset might not impress you when it comes to the specs, although it has one trick up its sleeve. The device features a built-in pico projector.

The new device is an updated version of Samsung’s Galaxy Beam which was shown off at the Mobile World Congress in 2010. And in case you are pondering, Samsung is not the only company which has dived into the idea of a projector in a phone. Have you heard about the LG eXpo projector phone?

The original Galaxy Beam was only slated for Singapore and it came with Android v2.1, a 3.7-inch screen, and a 9 lumens projector. The updated version runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread and features a 4-inch 480×800 TFT display, a 1GHz dual-core processor, 8GB of internal memory (there’s a microSD slot for cards of up to 32GB), a 5MP rear shooter, a 1.3MP front camera and a 2000mAh battery.

That’s no HTC One X, but those who are buying this device will be looking forward to playing with its 15 lumens projector. Although that is not enough to blind anyone, it is more than enough for projecting pictures, videos, and other media onto flat surfaces. And, according to Samsung, it can display images up to 50-inches wide.

Unfortunately, we haven’t got any hints regarding the price tag and availability of the Beam. We will keep you updated. The Beam is expected to be launched in a number of countries.

And yeah, almost forgot. According to the device’s landing page, the handset has 6GB of RAM. That’s most probably a typo, but maybe not, since it could take some serious memory to power a projector.

The post MWC 2012: Samsung Galaxy Beam Projector Phone Has “6GB RAM” appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Bearing in mind that this is quite different from the LG Optimus 2X (confusing, I know), the Optimus 2 is an entry-level Android smartphone with entry-level features and specs. Presumably, it will also get an entry-level price tag like its LGOO predecessor.

The budget minded device has a 800MHz single-core processor to go along with its 3.2-inch 320×480 display, Android 2.3 Gingerbread, 179MB of internal storage (that’s it?!?), a 3.2-megapixel camera, and a bundled 2GB microSD card. If you want more storage, you can upgrade that microSD to 32GB… though I suspect the new memory card might cost more than your new phone!

I’d expect to see this phone go for close to free on contract with a range of carriers later this year, though LG hasn’t officially confirmed its release details just yet.

The post LG Optimus 2 Officially Follows In Optimus One Footsteps appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Sharp has been making quite a number of good Android phones for the Japanese mobile phone market, and this is shown by their 25% share in Japan. Just recently, Sharp launched another handsome-looking cell phone—the AQUOS Phone 102SH.

SoftBank, a local carrier in the country will be distributing the smartphone model throughout Japan this coming December as a part of its collection for the fall/winter seasons.

The phone comes with Android 2.3, a 12 megapixel CMOS camera along with full HD video recording capabilities. A 4.5 inch naked-eye 3D LCD screen with a resolution of 720 x 1280 and 329dpi pixel is also offered. It also has TI OMAP4430 dual-core CPU with 1GHz, a 1GB RAM, 2.2 GB ROM, Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi capability, DLNA support, infrared connection, e-wallet function, and a digital TV tuner. To top all of that, it has a waterproof body in White, Black and Purple all the while keeping traditional sizes for ease of carrying around.

You are probably drooling over this new handset right now,we’ve always wanted a slim waterproof Android handset like this int he US, but sadly we don’t see any news about Sharp rolling this one out outside of Japan.

The post Japan only Sharp Aquos Android 2.3 smartphone is waterproof appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

A mil-spec smartphone model from Motorola is set to be released into the market soon. Sprint has not yet given any information about the forthcoming Motorola Admiral phone but the company has uploaded the video of the device and then pulled it shortly after.

The Motorola Admiral smart phone uses the Android 2.3 operating system which is powered by a 1.2 GHz Qualcomm MSM8655 CPU and is single-core. It also has a QWERTY keyboard and a 3.1 inch display. A five megapixel camera is situated at the back of the gadget while camera and mute buttons can be found on the side of the phone’s body. And a 720 HD video recorder. The Direct Connect button is located on the side because this is Sprint’s newest addition to the Direct Connect line of devices.

The post Sprint pulls Mil-Spec Motorola Admiral Android smartphone video appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Not everyone needs the “phone” part of a smartphone and that’s why devices like the iPod touch exist. What if you’d prefer to align yourself with the Google side? Sony is doing just that by releasing the company’s first ever Android-powered Walkman media player. Here is the Sony NW-Z1000.

This new Walkman is pretty much the Android take on the iPod touch with some Sony Walkman aesthetics in tow. You get a 4.3-inch WVGA touchscreen, NVIDIA Tegra2 1GHz dual core processor, and 512MB of RAM. The flavor of the week is Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

For nearly all intents and purposes, this is a full-blown Android smartphone, just without the phone part. The kicker, which is a big one, is that it reportedly has full access to Android Market too, quite unlike some other off-brand Android devices that don’t do that. Rounding off the spec sheet are 802.11b/g/n WiFi, GPS, DLNA, Bluetooth 2.1, HDMI-out, digital compass, G-sensor, mono speaker, FM radio, and a battery that lasts through 20 hours of music. The audio side also include S-Master MX sound processor and a dedicated “W” button for quick access to the media player.

Alas, this sounds like it could be a Japan-only toy though. The 16GB ($365), 32GB ($430), and 64GB ($561) variants should ship on December 10. You might have to hit up a buddy in Akihabara to get one for you if you’re not out Tokyo Way yourself.

The post Gingerbread-powered Sony NW-Z1000 Walkman challenges iPod touch appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Samsung has announced four new Galaxy Android-based devices, and has also come up with a new naming system for all Galaxy smartphones to simplify things for consumers. Or to make them more complicated. It really depends on how you look at it.

The four new phones, the Galaxy W, Galaxy M Pro, Galaxy Y and Galaxy Y Pro, all run on Android 2.3 Gingerbread and fall under the new naming system, or the “SRWMY” scale. Basically, the S (Super Smart) devices are the cream of the crop Galaxy phones. The Samsung Galaxy S would fall into that category. Secondly, R (for Royal or Refined) will designate the premium models. Then, you’ve got W (for Wonder) for the mid-range phones. Following that are the M (for Magical) high-performance models that are more affordable, and finally Y (Young), which are the entry models and aimed at a younger audience.

Besides the letter classification for the five classes, there are additional indicators to latch onto the phone name. “Pro” indicates the device has a physical QWERTY keyboard. “Plus” means the phone is an upgrade from a previous model, and “LTE” indicates that the device is designed to utilize LTE (Long-Term Evolution) connectivity standards.

As we can tell from the name, the new GALAXY W is midrange. Specs include a 1.4 GHz processor, HSDPA 14.4 Mbps connectivity, 3.7-inch, 800 x 480 pixel touch display and includes Samsung’s Game, Social and Music Hubs. Other features include a 5-megapixel camera, Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and Kies Air, which allows users to track the phone if it is stolen or lost, as well as accessing the phone on a PC when connected via Wi-Fi.

Next, we can tell that the GALAXY M Pro has a QWERTY keypad. The other specs include a 1 GHz processor, features and enterprise support for Exchange Active Sync, Sybase Afaria, CISCO Mobile and CISCO WebEx. There’s also an optical touchpad, 5-megapixel rear camera, VGA front-facing camera, 7.2 Mbps HSDPA, Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, and the inclusion of Samsung’s Social Hub.

The GALAXY Y is obviously an entry-level and is intended for younger users, as it will come in a variety of colours. Specs include an 832 MHz processor, Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface, SWYPE and 3-inch 320 x 240 pixel TFT LCD touch screen.The GALAXY Y also includes Social Hub, along with a 2-megaixel camera, 7.2 Mbps HSDPA, Bluetooth 3.0, and Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n.

The fourth new phone is the GALAXY Y Pro, so we can tell it’s basically the GALAXY Y but with a physical QWERTY keypad. Specs include Social Hub Premium, which supports email, social network integration and instant messaging, and ThinkFree mobile office allows for the editing of Word, Powerpoint, Excel and PDF.

Samsung will be showcasing the new phones at IFA 2011. Pricing and release dates have not yet been announced.

So, this does work for you? Or does it just give you a headache?

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