Brian goes on to talk about the odds of seeing a Windows Phone in Europe is much better.

Recent signs suggest that Nokia’s Lumia handsets with the Windows Phone 7 software are doing reasonably well there. In Austria, the European carrier Orange lists the Nokia Lumia 800 as a best seller. And in London, sales of Nokia’s Lumia 800 drove Windows Phone 7’s market share up to 2.2 percent, from 0.4 percent a year ago, according to estimates by Kantar WorldPanel, a research firm. The largest number of Lumia shipments — about 200,000 units — went to Germany in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to the research firm Canalys.

According to the same report, in the UK, Symbian dropped from 15.5% in January 2011 to 2.8% in 2012 and in that same time, Windows Phone went from 0.4% to 2.2%. That’s a huge drop for Symbian and a respectful gain for Windows Phone.

Just today, I had some conversations about Nokia and how their marketing has to be helping Windows Phone out greatly. The consensus was they were without a shadow of a doubt with one person pointing out how well Nokia’s Windows Phone models were selling in Europe. We have very little to go on as far as sales in the US since Microsoft isn’t sharing sales figures and the Nokia Lumia 710 on T-Mobile being the only model ready for public consumption. We’ll have to wait for AT&T to release some Lumia love to the masses. I also think that Verizon and Sprint definitely need to be on board for Windows Phone and Nokia to do well in the US.

Nokia has had some real nice smart phones over the years, but in the US, Nokia is known for their feature phones. Sure, geeks have gone out and bought unlocked Nokia smart phones at full retail, but the masses are buying subsidized phones from carriers. AT&T sold the Nokia E71 with some success, so I believe that the Lumia lineup can do well here. The trusted name in feature phones might equate to trust in the smart phone game. I don’t know how many consumers are still buying feature phones, but I am seeing more low-end Android phones out there than cheap dumb phones.

Bottom line, Nokia is doing well in Europe and the jury is out on the US. I would love to see the same over here personally.

Source: New York Times and The Guardian

Nokia is Off to a Good Start in Europe is a post by Chris Leckness from Gotta Be Mobile.

Well, the companies are taking the show on the road to New York City where they will be hosting a similar event at the Villain Studio located at 50 North 3rd in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY.

And while the event in San Francisco took place over two days, the one in New York will span over the course of three full days starting tomorrow and ending on Saturday.

You can check out the vibe from the San Francisco event in the video below.

Here is how the three days will play out:

• Thursday, 2/23 from 10am – 5pm – Stop by to be a part of the set creation, artist styling and The Suzan photo shoot.
• Friday, 2/24 from 10am – 5pm – Join us we film the music video for “Home”
• Saturday, 2/25 from 6pm - 9pm (RSVP event) – Celebrate the past 72 hours of magic with the music video premier and a live performance from The Suzan.

While the first two days will be open house, those hoping to attend the closing party will have to RSVP.

You can do that by heading to Dell’s Facebook page.

Post sponsored by Dell and Intel.

Create.Work.Inspire: Dell and Intel Take the XPS 13 Ultrabook to NY is a post by Adam Mills from Gotta Be Mobile.

In addition, the company has also said that it expects phones rocking Tegra 3 processors to start shipping out at some point during the quarter.

Translation: We will see quad-core smartphones roll out in just a few days as the MWC is set to kick off in Barcelona on February 26th. And while we haven’t seen any announcements yet, we have a pretty good bead on what products we might end up seeing announced.

Right now, it appears that there will, at the very least, be four quad-core smartphones announced at the conference. One from Fujitsu, which actually showed off a prototype at this year’s CES 2012 in Las Vegas. One from Chinese manufacturer Huawei. Another from HTC. And one from LG.

At the moment, those are the four that we have pegged for MWC.

However, as is the case with any conference of this magnitude, there is always a chance that we might see something else announced.

Here are the four quad-core smartphones that are expected to arrive next week in Barcelona.

Fujitsu Smartphone

Fujitsu actually unveiled a prototype of a smartphone using a quad-core processor at CES. Sadly, the phone was locked beyond glass which meant that we were unable to get our hands on it. No matter, it was a prototype.

Well, it appears that the company is preparing to show off the real deal, sans glass case, at MWC.

Engadget is reporting that the device, that still doesn’t have a name, will make an official appearance and it will have a Tegra 3 processor on board when it does.

Assuming this device has the same specs as the prototype, it should be rocking a 4.6-inch HD display – resolution unknown, a Tegra 3 processor from NVIDIA, an LTE modem, a 13.1MP rear camera, and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

Not bad right?

Let’s just hope that Fujitsu has plans for a launch outside of Japan.

Huawei Ascend D1 Q

Huawei appears ready to try and make a splash in the world of smartphones during 2012. At CES, the company announced a phone called the Huawei Ascend P1 S, a Android 4.0 device packing an extremely thin design. And now, it appears that it will be adding a quad-core smartphone to its future lineup as the company is rumored to be announcing a phone called the Ascend D1 Q.

Odd name, we know.

(Read: Huawei Goes High-End With Diamond Smartphones.)

We’ve seen images of the phone appear but they didn’t reveal much in terms of specifications. They did give us a pretty solid glimpse at the phone’s design which appears to be high-end in nature, employing design aesthetics from both HTC and Samsung.

Huawei is expected to take the wraps off of the device at MWC so we should know more in the days ahead.

HTC One X

The award for the most heavily rumored quad-core device goes to the HTC One X which was previously known as the HTC Edge and the HTC Endeavor. We have seen it show up in photos and we also have a good idea about what to expect from it spec wise.

HTC’s One X is supposedly going to feature a 4.7″ 720p HD display, a slim design, tons of storage space, an NFC chip, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and of course, a Tegra 3 quad-core processor.

(Read: 4 HTC Smartphones That Could Launch in February.)

It’s likely not going to be a 4G LTE enabled device however, as HTC has apparently opted to keep it running on HSPA+ 4G. That means that if it arrives in the United States, it will likely do so on either AT&T or T-Mobile USA.

This is a device that figures to be HTC’s newest flagship smartphone and it may just end up being the best device to come out of this year’s Mobile World Congress.

LG Optimus 4X HD

Last but certainly not least is a device that has previously been known as the LG X3. Today, we learned that the company will likely launch it under the Optimus umbrella of smartphones as the Optimus 4X HD.

If true, it means that we might end up seeing it launch on T-Mobile USA as the LG G4X as its predecessor, the Optimus 2X, launched in the U.S. as the LG G2X.

Specifications are rumored to include a 4.7″ HD  display with 720 x 1280 resolution, NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 quad core processor which will be clocked at 1.4GHz, a 2000mAh battery, 16GB internal memory, microSD card slot, a 8MP camera with ultra fast shutter, and a 1.3MP front facing camera.

It is also rumored to be running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

Keep in mind, these are all rumored. Nothing is official yet. And that means that there is always the possibility of a company pulling an announcement for whatever reason.

Fortunately, we only have a few days to go before we see what goods are coughed up.

A Look at the Quad-Core Smartphones Rumored for MWC is a post by Adam Mills from Gotta Be Mobile.

Babies don’t like 4G outages any more than adult Verizon customers. At least that’s my recent experience with my son, who does a pretty good job of expressing his feelings toward Verizon when 4G disappears for no apparent reason. People have every right to be upset when Verizon as its 4G LTE service has gone down nationwide four times in less than a year and  sporadically disappears from some neighborhoods.

Verizon’s speedy wireless services is absolutely fantastic when it’s working. But outages like the one we saw today are simply too common. Customers who’ve come to rely on the speedy network for both work and play are left in a lurch when they’re not able to use the service they pay for.

Take for example my latest negative experience with Verizon 4G LTE. The other night my son and I were waiting for my wife in a Whole Foods parking lot in Noe Valley, a San Francisco neighborhood that’s blanketed in wireless coverage from all carriers and home to many workers from all the big name Silicon Valley companies, including Google. It was nighttime and my son wanted to watch Goodnight Moon on YouTube. He’s only 10 months old, so he didn’t explicitly ask to watch the video, but I was able to figure it out based on his routine and and the fact he grabbed my Galaxy Nexus and started tapping at the screen. I hit play on the video and waited for quite a while for it to start playing. When it finally did start to play it stuttered. This is when I noticed that we didn’t have 4G service and were relying on Verizon’s 3G service, which wasn’t fast enough to stream YouTube videos at the time.

As you can see in the above video, my son doesn’t like buffering, especially when it’s getting in the way of Goodnight Moon. I pay $60 per month for unlimited 4G LTE service. I don’t expect perfection, but we shouldn’t have to wonder if a YouTube video will stream or won’t stream while we’re using a flagship Android device on what’s supposed to be America’s fastest and most reliable network. Yes, my son survived the ordeal just fine since and I was able to show him the video since I carry an iPhone 4S that runs on AT&T’s 3G network.

There are many, many other Verizon customers who are surely running into far more serious consequences when Verizon’s 4G LTE network goes down. Businessmen miss out on deals, doctors aren’t able to communicate with patients and pharmacies, and families miss out on video calls from relatives.

Verizon has already invested billions of dollars in its 4G LTE network, but it’s the company needs to do much more. A minority of Verizon customers use 4G LTE, which is only available in the latest smarphones and tablets. We expect to see 4G LTE baked into the iPhone 5 and iPad 3. At this point, it’s clear that Verizon isn’t prepared to bring millions of iPhone and iPad users onto its 4G network. I can’t imagine the flack Apple would get if the iPhone 5 or iPad 3 wasn’t able to stream YouTube videos in highly populated cities.

As much as I like Verizon 4G LTE (when it’s working) there are clearly tradeoffs. The service is generally available on Verizon’s high-end devices, which means they’re paying an up-front premium. Verizon 4G LTE customers are also paying everyday for the privilege of using the service in the form of decreased battery life.

Some Verizon customers think the company shouldn’t charge for 4G when there are outages. What do you think? You can take our poll by clicking here. 

Baby Reviews Verizon 4G LTE, Doesn’t Like 4G Outages is a post by Xavier Lanier from Gotta Be Mobile.

The LG Optimus 3D Max is the company’s follow-up to its original 3D smartphone, the Optimus 3D which launched last year.

And while the Optimus 3D Max is certainly a refresh, there are some things on board that might tempt those of you who want to pair the third dimension with Google’s Android operating system.

(Read: LG’s First Quad-Core Smartphone Gets Named.)

Starting with the design itself, LG has slimmed down the original design and made it more lightweight. We don’t think anyone is going to complain about that. It will feature a design that is a mere 9.6mm thin with the weight checking in at 148 grams.

It will also feature a 4.3-inch WVGA 3D  IPS display, dual 5MP rear cameras for 3D purposes, a 1.2GHz TI OMAP 4430 processor, 8GB of internal storage, and it will feature support for HSPA+ 21.

Sorry, no 4G LTE speeds here.

In addition, the Optimus 3D Max will come with Android 2.3 as its on-board operating system. LG has confirmed that Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich will arrive shortly after launch.

It’s going to be arriving Korea first, in March, and it will be rolling out elsewhere afterwards. Unclear is whether or not it will be arriving in the United States although AT&T did carry the original Optimus 3D which launched as the LG Thrill 4G.

(Read: Best Smartphones Available for a Penny.)

So, it’s possible.

It’s unclear whether or not there will be a market for it though.

The first 3D smartphone that launched in the United States, the HTC EVO 3D, was met with solid reviews but the 3D on board was widely panned as a gimmick. That did not bode well for the LG Thrill 4G which quickly found itself in the bargain bin, available for a penny.

Don’t be surprised when the Optimus 3D Max ends up there as well.

LG Reaffirms Commitment to 3D with Optimus 3D Max is a post by Adam Mills from Gotta Be Mobile.

Nokia’s event is on February 27th.

And while we’ve already taken a look at what HTC might be announcing at the conference, it’s time to take a peek at what Nokia could be unveiling in just a couple of days.

(Read: What to Expect from Mobile World Congress 2012.)

Earlier today, Reuters revealed that Nokia is slated to unveil not one, but two smartphones at the conference. The first, a cheap Windows Phone called the Lumia 610 and the second, an international version of the Lumia 900 Windows Phone, a device that will be launching on AT&T’s 4G LTE network next month.

Those appear to be the front-runners.

However, they aren’t the only ones that have popped up on our radar in the build-up to this year’s MWC. There is also another device that could very well be announced, a Symbian-powered phone that may hold the biggest camera sensor ever found on a smartphone.

But first, let’s tackle the the most likely candidates:

Nokia Lumia 900/910

We already know that Nokia will be launching the Nokia Lumia 900 in the United States, on AT&T’s 4G LTE network, sometime next month. However, the company has also been rumored to be launching an international version of the device that may drop the 4G LTE capabilities but add a better camera.

Just yesterday, Nokia unveiled a teaser video, which you can see below, that clearly has to do with a device sporting a high-end camera. This new global version of the Lumia 900 might just be phone that ends up with said camera.

Now, assuming the specs are going to stay the same sans LTE and the upgraded camera, you can expect a device sporting a 4.3″ AMOLED ClearBlack display, a single core 1GHz processor, a large 1830 mAh battery, 8-megapixel camera with a wide aperture sensor and Carl Zeiss optics, and a 1.3MP front-facing camera with the same technology.

You can see the AT&T model in action below:

We expect Nokia to launch the device on a large swath of carriers throughout the world which means those of you across the pond who have been interested in the Lumia 900 should be able to get your hands on something similar soon.

Nokia Lumia 610

The other device that Nokia is widely expected to launch is a cheap Lumia Windows Phone called the Nokia Lumia 610.

At the moment, details about the Lumioa 610 are scarce. Other than its name and whispers about an aggressive price tag, there is virtually no information out there about the Lumia 610.

(Read: Nokia Speculated to Launch Inexpensive Lumia 610 Windows Phone at MWC.)

Because the focus is on the fact that the phone is cheap, we expect it to have specs that are lesser than those on the Lumia 710, a device that has already launched around the world and in the United States.

So that means it could have a smaller screen, an average camera and maybe even a cheaper feeling design.

No word yet on whether this one will reach the shores of the United States.

Nokia 803

Lastly, the wild card. The Nokia 803.

The Nokia 803 is a Symbian Belle smartphone and it may employ the largest camera sensor ever to be found in a smartphone. So it’s possible that that teaser video from yesterday has something to do with this phone and not the global Lumia 900.

(Read: Nokia 803 Rumored: 4-Inch Display, Huge Camera Sensor, Symbian.)

It’s also rumored to have  a 4-inch AMOLED display, Near-Field Communication (NFC) for use with services like Google Wallet, microSIM support, as well as an HDMI-out port.

The device has been rumored for a launch in May so a reveal at the MWC is not out of the question, considering the enormity of the event.

What to Expect from Nokia at Mobile World Congress is a post by Adam Mills from Gotta Be Mobile.

Starting today you can download ringtones of songs from The Beatles exclusively on iTunes. Right now you can download ringtone versions of all of The Beatles’ 27 UK and US #1 songs.

Essentially you can download shorter versions of every song on The Beatles’ “1.” Each ringtone will cost you $1.29, which only gets you 30 seconds of each song.

Thankfully, if you already have the songs (and why wouldn’t you? It’s The Beatles.) there is a way create your own ringtones. You don’t even need any sort of special software.

All you need is iTunes.

Using this handy guide you can take any song in your iTunes library and make it into a ringtone. With that you can choose your own section of Hey Jude to make into a ringtone, or you can make your favorite non-#1 hit Beatles song into a ringtone.

Of course you can still buy the ringtones if you really want to spend the money instead of taking the time to make your own. You’ll just have to make your selection among the 27 hit songs, assuming you like the sections used in each ringtone.

Don’t be surprised if you feel a bit ripped off, when you realize that you’re paying as much for that ringtone as you would for the full version of the song.

Via: The Beatles

The Beatles Ringtones Hit iTunes, But Don’t Waste Your Money On Them is a post by Shawn Ingram from Gotta Be Mobile.

The new Google Docs for Android brings some of the web features of Google Docs to smartphones and tablets.

The update brings rich text editing and collaboration to Google Docs for Android. Now you’ll be able to change the color of text, make it bold, italicized, or underline it from the app. You’ll also get some layout tools like bulleted lists, numbered lists, and just indented text.

Plus all of your friends will be able to see what you write if you let them. The new app update finally brings realtime Google Docs collaboration to Android. With the new version you’ll be able to see what your friends or co-workers are doing to the document in real-time whether their using the mobile app or the desktop web app.

The new update also brings some usability tweaks. Now you’ll be able to pinch-to-zoom into specific paragraphs so you can read and edit them more easily. Then you just zoom out to view the whole document again. The update log also says that this version adds the ability to see the cursor and to highlight text. Seems like that’s something you’d want in Google Docs from the start, so it’s nice to see it available now.

For a long time the Google Docs app would simply bring up the Google Docs mobile web app. It’s great that Google has finally created a real app for the service.

Now if only Google would create an app with similar features for the iPhone and iPad. Although, given how long it took Google to make a real Gmail app for iOS, and how bad it was at first, it’s probably fine. After all, no app at all is better than an official app that’s mediocre at best.

Via: Official Google Blog

Google Docs for Android Update Brings Rich Text Editing and Collaboration is a post by Shawn Ingram from Gotta Be Mobile.

As Bob in our comments put it, “No 4G or 3G in Crestline, Mansfield, Ontario Ohio.  Still getting charged for it though!”

Bob’s not alone in his desire for compensation for downtime, but can consumers expect Verizon to offer a refund when the 4G LTE network goes down?

If the network went down once a year, perhaps consumers wouldn’t be as frustrated, but this is the fifth outage since Verizon launched 4G LTE almost a year ago, and after three outages in December, even the 10 times faster than 3G service has trouble satisfying unhappy customers.

While Verizon boasts “that 4GLTE connectivity has been available approximately 99 percent of the time this year,” the outages are still an inconvenience to consumers and worse for businesses who depend on 4G LTE to power remote workers, accept payments and run their businesses.

While Verizon doesn’t have to offer a refund or account credit for 4G LTE outages, if they are going to keep interrupting our days with 4G LTE outages they may want to follow the lead of Netflix, which offers users tha ability to claim a small account credit if the downtime was a pain.

The credit is usually small, in the range of 23 cents, and Netflix asks users to claim the credit instead of automatically applying it, which would further cut down on the cost to Verizon while satisfying the angriest customers. Here’s a sample of the email Netflix sends when Instant Streaming goes down;

Recently you may have had trouble instantly watching movies or TV episodes due to a technical issue on our end.

We are sorry for the inconvenience this may have caused. If you attempted and were unable to instantly watch TV episodes or movies yesterday, click on this account specific link in the next 7 days to apply a 3% credit to your next billing statement for your $7.99 a month Unlimited Streaming plan. Credit can only be applied once.

With AT&T expanding 4G LTE service to even more metro areas this year, perhaps Verizon would do well to offer a small account credit, perhaps $1 for a day of 4G LTE downtime.

What do you think?

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Should Verizon Offer Credit for 4G LTE Outages? is a post by Josh Smith from Gotta Be Mobile.

Pica also claimed that calls, texts and the company’s 3G network were unaffected by the outage. That denial comes after several users reported 3G service as being down in their area.

We weren’t able to access Verizon’s 3G network in Ohio during the outage and it’s unclear how many others using 3G devices were affected by the outage, if at all. Here in the Bay Area, 4G LTE service seemed to be unaffected.

We can confirm that 4G LTE service has been restored in Ohio and 3G seems to be functioning as well.

The outage comes just a shade under two months since the carrier’s 4G LTE network last went down. That outage, which took place on December 28th, came after two other outages that took place during the month of December.

The first took place just before the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and the second took place on December 21st, just a few days after Verizon rolled out the Nexus device to consumers.

Verizon’s 4G LTE network had gone down twice before, once in September and once back in April when the carrier launched one of its first 4G LTE smartphones, the Samsung Droid Charge.

In most cases, the carrier was able to get its network back online in a timely manner. However, the December 21st outage saw the network down for about 16 hours.

(Read: Verizon Needs to Get Its 4G LTE Act Together.)

Are your 4G LTE devices back online?

Or are you still having trouble accessing data?

Via: Bloomberg

Verizon: 4G LTE Service Has Been Restored is a post by Adam Mills from Gotta Be Mobile.

That impressive stat comes from an infographic put together for The Official Lookout Blog.

The infographic also shows how the smartphone market has changed over the past five years. Going from 2006 when RIM and Microsoft controlled about 75 percent of the market between them, to 2011 when Google and Apple control a combined 80 percent of the market.

Those changes brought about the popularity of apps, the market for which has only grown. According to ABI Research the annual download numbers for Android could reach 58 billion apps in 2016, while the iPhone is projected to see 27 billion downloads in the same year.

To put that into perspective, after a few years Apple is just now reaching its 25 billionth new app download. Of course, this number also doesn’t say how many of those apps are paid as opposed to free apps. More downloads doesn’t mean developers will make more on the Android platform.

The infographic also touches on what countries are downloading the most apps. As you’d expect, the U.S. downloads the most apps, though China has the highest adoption rate of apps. The stats aren’t all that surprising, though it is nice to have some real numbers assigned to them.

Hopefully by 2016 Android users won’t have to wait forever for apps like Instagram.

Android Could See 58 Billion Downloads in 2016 [Infographic] is a post by Shawn Ingram from Gotta Be Mobile.

(Read: LG’s Massive Optimus Smartphone Stars in Demo Video.)

Prior to today, the device was known under its code-name, the LG X3. But, according to PocketNow, LG will use familiar branding with its first quad-core smartphone.

It’s familiar because last year, LG released a device known internationally as the Optimus 2X. In the United States, it launched on T-Mobile USA under the moniker LG G2x.

So, it appears that this device will indeed be a clear successor to last year’s high-end Optimus smartphone, something that shouldn’t surprise anyone considering the specifications that are rumored to be on board.

The LG Optimus 4X HD will apparently come loaded with a 4.7″ HD  display with 720 x 1280 resolution, NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 Quad core processor which will be clocked at 1.4GHz, a massive 2000mAh battery, 16GB internal memory, microSD card slot, a 8MP camera with ultra fast shutter, a 1.3MP front facing camera, and finally, Android 4.0.3. Ice Cream Sandwich.

Its version of Android is said to be close to being vanilla which would mean that a LG user interface might either be scaled back or completely absent. If true, it would mean that it would be running a version fairly similar to the version of Android on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

(Read: LG X3 Benchmark Shows Off Quad-Core Power.)

Unclear is whether or not it will be a 4G LTE smartphone but seeing as though it’s a follow-up to a device on T-Mobile, the carrier only employs an HSPA+ 4G network, it will more than likely be HSPA-only.

We should know more when LG takes the stage at MWC later this month.

LG’s First Quad-Core Smartphone Gets a Name is a post by Adam Mills from Gotta Be Mobile.

Today however, LG has come clean with more details regarding T-Mobile’s new Galaxy S device. And, being the courteous folks that we are, we wanted to run down everything that we know about the device.

Let’s get one thing straight before we dive in. The Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G isn’t going to blow your mind, especially with quad-core smartphones on the horizon. However, it does bring quite a few things to the table that will make it an attractive option for those looking for a solid smartphone running on a high-speed network.

And with that, let’s delve into the Galaxy S Blaze 4G, T-Mobile’s latest HSPA+ smartphone.

Hardware

Like we said, the Galaxy S Blaze 4G doesn’t feature this year’s specifications. We’re talking quad-core processor, full HD display, things of that nature. However, it does offer some very likable hardware features.

They include a 3.97-inch Super AMOLED display, a dual-core 1.5 GHz Snapdragon processor, a 5-megapixel camera that’s capable of 720p HD video recording, and a a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for video chat.

Let’s break that down a bit, shall we?

Starting with the screen, its sub-4 inch display will be tempting to those who want a device with a screen a little bigger than say, the one on the iPhone. My screen sweet spot has always been 4-inches, check out a phone like the Droid Incredible 2 for reference, and the Galaxy S Blaze 4G meets that.

It’s big enough where watching movies doesn’t feel ridiculous and it’s small enough where the phone doesn’t feel like a small tablet. Something that has bothered me about the Galaxy Nexus.

(Read: 5 Things I’d Change About the Galaxy Nexus.)

Oh, and let’s not forget that it’s Super AMOLED in nature which means you’ll get brilliant colors and great viewing angles. It should also work very well out in the bright sunlight.

The Galaxy S Blaze 4G’s dual-core processor will easily handle your multitasking needs and the cameras, while not high in the mega-pixel department, should suit those of you that aren’t photography nuts perfectly.

If you’re looking to shoot 1080p video though, you won’t find it here.

Again, not mind-blowing by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s capable and will suit the needs of average smartphone users.

Software

The Galaxy S Blaze 4G will be running Google’s Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system. And while Samsung hasn’t said anything, we assume that it will have the company’s TouchWiz user interface over the top of it.

What this means is that you won’t have the benefits of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich right out of the box. A tough pill to swallow considering the amount of Android 4.0 devices that will be out  in the wild soon, but we imagine Samsung will probably get this phone updated in the future.

(Read: Guide To Google Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.)

Right, Samsung?

In addition to running Android, the Galaxy S 4G Blaze will come loaded with a bunch of applications including DropBox, Evernote, Square, TripIt, Camscanner, and LinkedIn for business customers as well as a variety of entertainment apps for the casual user.

Connectivity

One of the most intriguing features about the Galaxy S 4G Blaze has to be the fact that it will be running on T-Mobile’s HSPA+ 42 network. While it’s not as fast as the 4G LTE networks found on AT&T and Verizon, it will definitely be fast enough for most.

The 42 in the name refers to the maximum about of bytes per second that devices on the network can pull down.

Now, like 4G LTE, T-Mobile’s HSPA+ 42 network isn’t available everywhere in the United States. In fact, it’s only available in 175 or so markets around the country so you’ll want to make sure that it’s live in your area before you snag a Galaxy S Blaze 4G.

Otherwise, you might find yourself running on T-Mobile’s slower HSPA+ 21 network or, worse yet, regular old 3G.

Pricing

Before today, we had no idea how much the Galaxy S Blaze 4G would cost when it arrived. Samsung and T-Mobile have cleared that up though and have announced that the device will be arriving for a cool $150 with a new two-year contract.

Not bad.

Of course, it will require you to send in a $50 mail-in rebate and sign up for a qualifying data plan so keep that in mind before you waltz in expecting to spend $150 and only $150.

Release Date

Lastly, the Galaxy S Blaze 4G release date has been revealed as being late March. Unfortunately, no specific date was given. Now, that might seem terrible to those of you that want to get your hands on one.

Not true.

In fact, it’s a blessing in disguise.

Mobile World Congress is set to take place on February 26th and T-Mobile is rumored to be getting at least one device, the compelling HTC Ville aka HTC One S. It may end up getting another device as well.

So, this way, you’ll have some options to take a look at and options in the smartphone world are always a good thing.

Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G: Features, Pricing, Release Date is a post by Adam Mills from Gotta Be Mobile.

Someone’s gone through a lot of trouble to make Dell look like it’s using video of a heavyset man farting powder into the air to promote the company’s personal computers. Dell’s currently running a marketing campaign called Take Your Own Path that features business leaders of both small and well-known companies. The Visual Innovators video dovetails almost perfectly into Dell’s campaign until you watch the second half of it, which is when a nude model walks into the frame and proceeds to fart powder into the air as artist  Clayton Sotos photographs the whole affair.

Clayton Sotos, a supposed Russian-American photographer who loves Dell products tells the story of his life and how he views the world. The video shows him wandering around New York, examining his surroundings for inspiration. About 90 seconds into the video Sotos talks about how “only Dell Inspiron is all I need to create a successful venue to communicate and share my passion.” He proceeds to set up his studio and bring a nude man into the frame.

If you’re in the mood to see some awkward art photography you can watch it on your own below.

Whoever put this video together put a lot of time and effort into it. The videography and production quality easily passes as something Dell or another large tech company could have produced. The video closes by directing visitors to Dell.com/takeyourownpath, where Mr. Sotos is nowhere to be found. Clayton Sotos’ site is suspiciously thin for a photographer that’s been in the industry his whole life. There’s an accompanying site for Visual Innovators that has the same registration info as Sotos’ site rather than Dell’s information.

When I first started watching this video I had high hopes that Dell was getting a bit more creative with marketing to creative professionals. I grew up in the art world, so it wouldn’t be the least bit shocking if Sotos was indeed a real person who made his living in this manner. But it appears to be an unrelated third-party poking fun at the PC manufacturer. Well played, whomever you are.

Dell Promoting PCs with Video of Man Farting Powder? (elaborate hoax video) is a post by Xavier Lanier from Gotta Be Mobile.

The iPad 2 and iPhone 4S have had this feature for some time, so it is great to see AirPlay arriving on the Macbook Air and MacBook Pro. I’ve been reviewing the new Mountain Lion version of OS X for the past few days and I wanted to share my first impressions of AirPlay for Mac.

(OS X Mountain Lion Features Announced)

Once OS X Mountain Lion ships this summer, I expect to see a spike in Apple TV sales as users stream Hulu and Network TV shows to their Apple TV and businesses add the ability to wirelessly use projectors.

AirPlay for Mac allows you to connect to an Apple TV, sending your current screen to an HDTV at the current resolution or matched to the Apple TV’s 720P resolution. You can see our hands on with AirPlay for Mac on OS X Mountain Lion in the video above. You get a look at webpages, videos on a webpage and full 720P HD video from Hulu Plus streamed from a MacBook Air to an Apple TV.

The process is very easy and it works as advertised. There were occasional disconnects during my time using AirPlay for Mac, but this is a developer preview so I expect that Apple will work out these bugs by the time OS X Mountain Lion is released.It is nice to be able to stream to the Apple TV in either resolution.

You can stream your audio along with video to the Apple TV, or if you want to just push the audio from your MacBook Air to your Apple TV and home theater system you can do that too. If you are using iTunes, there is a button in the lower right to choose your speakers with a few clicks, including using multiple AirPlay speakers.

Hands On With OS X Mountain Lion AirPlay to Apple TV (Video) is a post by Josh Smith from Gotta Be Mobile.

Sports Illustrated has put out an app that lets you see some of the models in the magazine on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. The free app will give you access to models like Kate Upton, Irina Shayk, Anne V, Chrissy Teigen, Julie Henderson, Jessica Gomes, and Alyssa Miller, among others.

Of course, SI wouldn’t give everything away for free. You still need to pay $6.99 for access to everything in the app. If you’re an SI subscriber you can sign in with your account and get everything in the app for free. Once you do that you’ll be able to see high-resolution versions of every photo in the magazine issue. You’ll also get 68 videos shot in “some of the most exotic locations in the world.”

The swimsuit app does a lot more than the paper magazine can do, like the aforementioned videos and the ability to rotate the models 360 degrees. It will even let you use AirPlay to put the photos and videos up on your HDTV if you have an Apple TV attached to it. It’s arguably better than the magazine itself, since you get the same photos plus all the extras.

If you also have the paper magazine you might also want to check out the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Viewer App 2012. Using that app you can watch videos of certain models in the issue by scanning the icon on the page. It’s a bit more gimmicky than the Swimsuit 2012 app, but at least it’s free.

Via: MacDailyNews

Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Models Arrive on iPhone and iPad for Free is a post by Shawn Ingram from Gotta Be Mobile.

What you can see in the video below is a device sporting a huge display, again it’s 5-inches compared to the 5.3-inch screen found on the Galaxy Note, that sports a 4:3 aspect ratio.

(Read: Samsung Galaxy Note Review: Editors’ Choice Award.)

In addition to showing off the devices somewhat thin and metal accented design, we also get a glimpse at its web browsing capabilities as well as the phone’s handwriting feature. There is no stylus used in the video so at this time, we’re unsure about all of the details regarding the device’s Rubberdium pen.

So as you can see, this is not your standard smartphone, far from it actually. While it will have the calling and texting capabilities of a smartphone, it also closely resembles a tablet device.

The first well-known phone with a 5-inch screen was the Dell Streak which never took off with consumers.

LG is hoping that the stylus, paired with the enormous real estate for web browsing and streaming media, will make the Optimus Vu a hit with the general public.

Besides the large screen, the Optimus Vu is going to employ an 8-megapixel camera and a 1.5 GHz dual-core Qualcomm processor. It will also have 4G LTE support, something you will notice within the video.

(Read: LG Confirms Three New Optimus Smartphones.)

And while it won’t be running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, LG promises that the update will be rolling out within the first three months of the device’s release.

We will surely see a lot more of the Optimus Vu at the Mobile World Congress so check back in with us when February 26th rolls around for more information.

LG’s Massive Optimus Smartphone Stars in Demo Video is a post by Adam Mills from Gotta Be Mobile.

The latest missing app is Instagram for Android, but it’s hardly the only app that is Coming Soon™.

While there are great alternatives to Instagram for Android, many Android users want the full Instagram experience that their iPhone toting friends have.

Instagram is on the way to Android, at some point, but like so many others, it is arriving more than a year after an iPhone launch.Angry Birds is another example of a popular app that took a long time to arrive on Android. The list could go on and on.

Why is Android Always Second?

Why is Android always on the short end of the stick when it comes to app releases? You would think that with Android activating over 700,000 phones a day and holding more marketshare than the iPhone, developers would be working overtime to bring Instagram to Android.

There are a number of reasons that developers choose the iPhone over Android, but perhaps the biggest one is that iPhone users are more likely to pay for apps.

When it comes to free apps like Instagram, which says it will eventually make money with special filters or features, money is made through in app purchases or pro upgrades.

One example of this is Evernote, which has previously stated that iOS accounts for 28% of revenue compared to Android which brings in 10%.

Hope for the Future of Android Apps

The good news is that as the Android user-base grows, we stand a chance at getting apps faster and first.

While Android users are less reluctant to purchase apps, Distimo reported in December that Android users are big on in app purchases, which is how many games are choosing to make money.

65% of the revenue for  the top 200 Android games came from in app purchases for extra features, levels and the like.

Not All Smooth Sailing

Unfortunately, even though the top 200 Android apps received a higher percentage of in app purchase revenue, iPhone and iPad apps are clearly more profitable.

Apple's iPhone and iPad apps make more money for developers.

The Apple App Store delivers four times the revenue for an iPhone app, than the Android Market can deliver.

–

Until Android users start paying for more apps, we’ll continue to see apps come to Android after they arrive on the iPhone and iPad, even if we don’t have to deal with fragmentation.

Free sign via Joe King on Flickr

Instagram for Android: The Latest Missing App is a post by Josh Smith from Gotta Be Mobile.

As of right now, both phones remain an absolute mystery as the document reveals nothing besides the phones names, we assume that these are code names, and some dates that may or may not be release dates.

The LG Cayman is listed next to March 29th and the Droid Fighter is listed beside April 12th. It’s possible that both dates are indeed release dates for the devices as they both fall on Thursday, a day that Verizon has used for smartphone launches in the past.

We should also note that the Droid Fighter doesn’t have a manufacturer in front of it. So that means it could be a Droid from either HTC, Motorola or Samsung, all of which have released Droid-branded phones in the past.

The only guesses that we have right now are that it could be that mystery HTC phone that leaked out a couple of weeks ago, showing off a Droid Incredible style design and its Android 4.0 operating system.

(Read: Mystery HTC Android 4.0 Smartphone Leaks.)

It could also be a follow up to the Samsung Droid Charge which was released in May of 2011. Or some kind of tablet.

Both devices are listed along with some high-end phones so it’s possible that the Droid Fighter will be Verizon’s next big Droid release while the LG Cayman, well, might be the LG Cayman.

We’ll keep you posted.

New DROID Device Headed to Verizon is a post by Adam Mills from Gotta Be Mobile.

As you can see, the teaser employs the frame of a smartphone surrounding the number ’5.’ The company also says that consumers are going to be discovering “something fast” come Sunday.

Sunday, of course is February 26th which is the first day of the show and the date that HTC is holding its press event.

And while we have a pretty good bead on what HTC might announce at the show, this teaser has us puzzled. So, we’ve come up with some possible meanings behind this bizarre teaser.

Here they are:

• 5 HTC smartphones will debut at MWC
• HTC will announce the first Android 5.0 JellyBean device
• The company will deliver a phone that’s 5 times faster then any of its previous phones
• The HTC ThunderBolt Android 4.0 update will roll out in 5 years
• HTC only plans to sell 5 of whatever device they announce

We could of course go on forever but you wouldn’t want that.

(Read: HTC ThunderBolt Android 4.0 Update Confirmed.)

HTC is rumored to be announcing, at the very least, one smartphone and possibly as many as four smartphones. Odd, considering the company has said that it would tone down the number of smartphone releases in 2012.

Those phones include the quad-core powered HTC One X aka HTC Endeavor aka HTC Edge, the HTC One S aka HTC Ville that may be headed to T-Mobile, the HTC One V, and the HTC One XL.

(Read: 4 HTC Smartphones That Could Launch in February.)

And if we had to guess, there may end up being one more device announced based on the information contained in that teaser.

Any guesses as to what that teaser means?

Update: NVIDIA is going to be dubbing its Tegra 3 quad-core processor as “4-PLUS-1″ because the chip uses a fifth companion core. So, that’s likely what HTC is referring to here. Mystery solved.

HTC Releases Bizarre Teaser for Mobile World Congress is a post by Adam Mills from Gotta Be Mobile.