With Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility, handsets bearing the company logo might one day be among the first to be updated to new versions of the Android OS, but not today.
Motorola has just announced that the relatively recent Droid X2 and Droid 3 Android smartphones will not be receiving updates to Android 4, aka Ice Cream Sandwich.
You can check out the full list of Motorola devices, along with their updated list of what’s getting’ Ice Creamed and what’s not, here.
Last week’s blocking of select HTC smartphone shipments into the country by U.S. Customs seems to be coming to an end. Over the weekend the handset manufacturer posted a statement indicating some models have “been released to our carriers.” There were no further details. The HTC One X, the HTC EVO 4G LTE, or both, may now be on their way into customers’ hands.
According to various reports, the HTC EVO 4G LTE, which was supposed to be released by Sprint on May 18th, should arrive by Thursday (a date confirmed by the Wall Street Journal), though there could be further delays given the number of pre-orders.
The HTC One X situation is a bit murkier, with some reporting that the One X was included in the weekend release of handsets, while other news sites are claiming the opposite.
If you’re an AT&T customer planning to upgrade to the HTC One X, or have been looking forward to purchasing Sprint’s upcoming HTC EVO 4G LTE, your wait will be longer than expected. According to several reports that surfaced yesterday (since confirmed by HTC), U.S. Customs is blocking shipments of both handsets into the country because of an International Trade Commission investigation concerning HTC’s violation of patented Apple technology.
“The US availability of the HTC One X and HTC EVO 4G LTE has been delayed due to a standard U.S. Customs review of shipments that is required after an ITC exclusion order,” an HTC spokesperson said in a statement. “We believe we are in compliance with the ruling and HTC is working closely with Customs to secure approval… [W]e appreciate [customers’] patience as we work to get these products into their hands as soon as possible.”
Straight Talk, the $45 unlimited prepaid service, already has a small selection of low-end Android phones in its lineup. But if Android is your thing and a $45 a month smartphone bill is attractive, the service’s latest addition is worth a look.
The new Samsung Galaxy Proclaim is perhaps the best option available for Straight Talk. A rebranded Samsung Illusion, the Galaxy Proclaim works on the Verizon voice and data network and has a 1GHz single-core CPU, a 3.5-inch touchscreen display, a 3MP primary camera, and a microSDHC memory card slot (2GB card included, 32GB max). Android 2.3 comes pre-installed, and will likely be the only OS version the phone ever sees.
Priced at $179, the Samsung Galaxy Proclaim is now available for purchase online, but doesn’t seem to have hit Walmart stores or Walmart.com as of yet (Walmart is Straight Talk’s exclusive distributor). As with other Android phones from Straight Talk, the handset requires the $45 unlimited monthly plan and will not work with the 1000 minute $30 plan.
The phone will also soon be offered by Net10.
There are few things that can render a smartphone more useless than stepping outside on a bright, sunny day; sunlight is not the friend of any modern display type, and is particularly disruptive to AMOLED screens.
Which is why it’s such a surprise that DisplayMate found in its tests that the Lumia 900 Windows Phone is the best sunlight performer; Nokia’s flagship Windows Phone has an AMOLED display.
But the Lumia 900’s AMOLED screen also uses a special technology Nokia calls ClearBlack, which employs filters that limit the amount of light reflected back to the user’s eyes.
Samsung’s Galaxy S (which one?) and Apple’s iPhone 4 tied for second in the DisplayMate tests. It should be noted that not all smartphones were included in the test, which limits its utility, but you can find all of the results here.
