Android Tuesday: Onslaught of HTC News

Yep, today is Android Tuesday (not sure if it's going to be a thing) and we have a ton of news coming to you, particularly HTC involved. Recently Droid-Life leaked a dozen images of the HTC Thunderbolt (previously referred to as the Mecha and/or the Incredible HD), and what we can confirm is this is the first phone to launch on Verizon with LTE 4G support, it will have a kickstand, it will have a 4.3 inch screen, and it will be the first device on Verizon with a front-facing camera. This phone is practically a carbon copy of the Desire HD but with Verizon branding on it. The phone is not expected to have a dual-core processor (but HTC can easily correct us at CES next week) and will be behind the curve as many devices are expected to launch with dual core chips, such as LG and maybe Motorola. In other news, the HTC Desire HD has been cleared for the FCC for North American 3G, and it is probably coming to Telus in Canada. We all know that it would be a beast on one of the US carriers, but this only supports bands provided by AT&T, which would kind of ruin this phone's awesomeness. If you haven't heard, this beast is sporting a 1GHZ second-gen Snapdragon processor, a 4.3 inch screen, an 8MP camera capable of shooting 720p, and runs Android 2.2 with HTC Sense UI on top. This guy shoots around a 1900 on Quadrant with Sense UI on top. Now for the most surprising news of the day: the Android market has reportedly passed 200,000 apps. This news has been reported by AndroLib, which has been known to be wrong, but this does show how quickly that the Android market is growing. The thing is, if there were a million "hello purr" apps in the market, nothing would be helpful. If there were 5,000 good, high-quality apps in the market that all served different purposes, that would be what we needed. Be sure to comment, share, and subscribe, and happy new years!

Canon T2I First Impressions and Photos

Hey guys, long time no see! Today I will be giving you a first impressions of the Canon EOS Rebel T2I 550D. This camera features an 18 megapixel sensor capable of shooting 1080p HD videos at speeds of up to 30 frames-per-second. First off, let me tell you, this is the best camera I have ever seen. All the buttons are arranged in a way that makes a confusing amount of features seem simple. The photos are crystal clear, and this camera can compete with and beat the highest end dedicated video cameras out there today. The focus is lightning fast, and produces great pictures when focused, just sometimes the photos don't focus right and come out a little blurry. The camera has a nice high-quality feel that you would expect from a flagship device, and it feels great in the hand. If you don't believe how great this camera is, check out the photos down below.

First, this is a picture displaying the great focus abilities and clarity that the T2I has. It is just a simple picture of a subject being the star of the photo as the background is blurred.

Next, this is just a picture of my original (you can tell by the scratches) Droid . This picture is just showing off the extreme clarity of the picture. Click on the image to view full-size.

This picture here is a picture of my dog. The reason I put this in is because I honestly believe this is the best picture I have ever taken. 

So, how do you like the pictures? I love this camera, and with all the features you get, the price isn't really that bas for a DSLR, only about $900. If I was to give this camera a rating, it would be a 9.7/10 stars, the .3 stars being that there are so many features, sometimes they are hard to find! I have a bunch of reviews coming for you guys, so be sure to stay tuned to the site. Also, I hope you guys had a happy holidays, and I am looking forward to posting in the new year! See you later!

Motorola Has Big Plans for CES

Moto seems to be ready to unveil their new generation of devices during CES 2011 early next year. First, they unveiled the video showing that an Android Honeycomb tablet was coming, saying that the Galaxy Tab was running Android for a phone, and then the announcement made for today stating that "LTE smartphones are on the horizon" which Droid-Life guesses to be part of the Droid brand. We'll all find out soon at CES, as it is only a few weeks away. Also, these smartphones are expected to have NVIDIA Tegra 2 processors, as LG has already announced phones for other countries sporting it. Hopefully we will be wowed, and Apple will have a heart-attack (hahaha). Be sure to comment, share, & subscribe, and I will see you guys soon! Sorry about the short post, I was very busy today. Happy holidays!

Feature Highlights of Android Gingerbread

So, Gingerbread has been out for a while, and I wanted to go over the new features that are included in it and how you could get them on your Froyo device. First is the support for NFC (near-field-communication) chips. This allows users to receive "tags" that provide links to information such as places, websites, or apps. After that is the new keyboard, which I have tested out myself, check out Droid-Life for the download. The new keyboard  seems to have fatter keys and a better layout altogether, but isn't anything ahead of the Motorola multi-touch keyboard. In addition to that is the new copy and paste method which is a big improvement from 2.2, but not as good (in my opinion) as the IPhone cut/copy/paste. Also, Android icons have gotten a sleek revision having the notification bar and menu buttons black, and Android green going everywhere. If you want the 2.3 Gingerbread launcher, just search for it in the market. Besides added polish such as brown streaks when hitting a stop in scrolling, there really aren't that many more features added in Gingerbread except one more: voIP/SIP support. You now can make internet calls on your Android device. Hope you liked this overview of Gingerbread, and stay tuned for reviews when the OTA comes out to Droid devices (Droid 2 and hopefully the guy that started it all, Droid). Please save/share/bookmark/follow/comment, and I'll see you guys soon! Happy holidays! Oh and by the way guys, the official Android 2.3 video is below! Check it out!

Droid 2 Global: is it Really that Fast?

Recently the Droid 2 Global was released with a ton of hype because of the fact that not only did it support calling in almost every country, but it was sporting a 1.2 GHZ OMAP processor. Is the Droid 2 Global really way faster than the original Droid 2, or is it just like a mildly overclocked device? In the quadrant benchmark, the Droid 2 Global does score considerably higher than the Droid 2, scoring around 1700 to the original Droid 2's 1500. Although this processor is 1.2GHZ, the HTC Desire HD running Sense scores 1800 and beyond with a 1GHZ processor, of course this is the second-gen Snapdragon. In what other areas does the global stand out from the Droid 2? The keyboard is actually redesigned from the Droid 2, which was a redesign of the Droid 1, it is a bit thinner, and of course, it supports networks in almost every country of the world. All in all, the Droid 2 Global is what you want if you are on Verizon and looking for a fast phone, but it isn't much of a better buy than the Droid 2. The phone is available for 199.99 on a two year contract. Be sure to share this post and subscribe! Happy holidays!

What Ever Happened To the RIM Playbook?

Does anyone remember earlier in the year that astounding tablet that was announced by RIM, the Playbook? Still not released, the Playbook buzz has seemed to have died down a bit from the original announcement. Aside from a great website and a few speed demos, there haven't really been many showcases of the features of the device. This thing certainly woops the IPad and the Galaxy Tab, with a dual core 1GHZ processor, 1GB of RAM, Flash support, 5 megapixel back camera that shoots 1080p video, frontfacing 3 megapixel camera capable of shooting 720p, a high-res 7 inch screen, and an OS that makes IOS look like it was from the last century. Make sure you check out the website itself, it sure is beautiful, and so is the tablet. Click here to check it out. I still cannot wait for this device, and so can't a lot of people. Make sure you check out the Youtube video below showcasing the speed of the Playbook and how much it whips the IPad. Be sure to subscribe, share and comment, and I will see you guys tomorrow. Happy holidays!

G2 Selling For Dirt Cheap, IE 9 Means Business

T-Mobile is selling their G2 for $50. Of course, this deal is online only, and if I were you I'd nab this now. This newly released smartphone is one of the fastest on the market, with a 2nd generation Snapdragon processor,  stock android 2.2, a great physical keyboard, and all of this is wrapped up in a heavy metal package running on T-Mobile's superfast HSPA+ network. Grab this thing now, because I'm sure this deal won't last for long. Also, I just tested out the new platform preview of Internet Explorer 9, and this is wicked fast. It scores a roaring 326 on the sunspider javascript benchmark, which beats Chrome 9 by a landslide. Google has to do something to keep the speed crown, because Microsoft has done something great with their new browser. The only thing this needs is a market, because the Chrome web store is brilliant, in my opinion. The only thing about IE9 that I don;t like is that it interprets code really badly, as everything looks out of place. Also, it crashes a lot, as this is the third time I had to write this post. Give it a try, and comment down below telling me your experiences! Don't forget to subscribe, share and follow! Happy holidays!

Is Youtube Getting Bloated?

It seems as if Youtube has a case of Internet Explorer 8. The video uploading site has been experiencing upload and publishing problems all year, even in the case of partners. And recently, Youtube has cut the cap on video limits, stating that users who have a history of complying with copyright guidelines will start to see the limit taken away when clicking on the "upload" button. To me Youtube has become clunky, slow, and not smooth. Video takes forever to render on my PC and even worse on my IPad (although my Droid has smooth playback and only 1 second of buffering), and frankly, "1080p" videos are extremely choppy. Youtube has to set the rules straight for the loss of angering a few people. If I was the Youtube CEO, I would say the upload limit is 10 mins, and you can only upload a certain amount of videos per day, for the exception of partners. Youtube also needs to cool it with the banner ads on the homepage. I am sure no one will miss seeing some lady from Target go nuts with her shopping cart as the ad asks you to enable sound. Maybe something more subtle, as it will look more modern and use less (if not any) flash. Why do I think Youtube is getting like this? Because I played an HD video on Vimeo that had literally no buffering time and the playback was smooth as butter. I understand Youtube has much, much more pageviews, put come on Google, don't you have something up your sleeve? Please comment, share and follow me! Happy holidays guys!

Android News Plus Important Update

Going along with our Android theme lately, we have some big news for you today. If you haven't already heard, Google announced that they were getting over 300,000 Android phone activations per day. Boy, that is a lot. They also added that the constant release of Android phones (practically weekly) is actually helping the sales in addition to pissing people off who's 2 day old phone is obsolete. Google is now selling as many smartphones per day as the Symbian platform worldwide. This milestone seems so important to Google, Andy Rubin decided to actually tweet it, and he only tweets like once every 5 months (he has only 2 tweets in total). Android is growing at a pace faster than any platform on any type of device before, and we have a front row seat to see it. The only way Apple can slow down the momentum is releasing the IPhone on multiple carriers, such as Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint. Android accounted for about 50% of all smartphone sales in the 3rd quarter of 2010, and shows no signs of slowing. RIM, Apple, WebOS, and any other OS better step up their game. And Google is not stopping the innovation. Andy Rubin unveiled an "Unannounced Motorola Tablet" while talking to this guy with a goatee who couldn't stop relating the tablet to the IPad. The tablet contained a very early build of Android Honeycomb (presumably 3.0) and it looks pretty nice. Want to see the video? here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koIzhLaRJJo . And on to the important update. For awhile, I am not going to provide you as many posts (every other day) as I usually do. I do not want you to leave my website though, as the posts I make will be very detailed and informative. Please expect less posts, but have higher expectations for each post. By and happy holidays guys!

Nexus S Announced, Gingerbread Comes with it

Google has announced the Google Nexus S, their predecessor to the Nexus One. The phone is made by Samsung, and it's specs are as follows: 1GHZ Samsung Hummingbird processor (not 1.2), 4 inch 480*800 Super AMOLED display (much better in sunlight that Nexus One), a 5-megapixel camera that shoots 720p, a front-facing camera (VGA res), Android 2.3 and an unknown amount of RAM. Why is it unknown? I can't find it on the website. The Nexus S also features a curved glass display for good feel in the hand and on the ear. Now what we want to hear about, the software. Gingerbread is indeed Android 2.3, and it includes new features like a greatly improved keyboard, NFC (near-field-communication) chip, new HTC + IPhone-ish copy and paste features, and more. This phone is pretty good looking despite having a plastic feel. Of course, this device is running stock Android 2.3, and there are a bunch of videos for this thing including the promo video, which I put down below. The device will be launching on December 16th on T-Mobile (AT&T compatible), and is the usual $199 dollars on contract, and $529 dollars unlocked. Plenty of Gingerbread coverage will be coming from TechBlogwithJohn, so stay tuned. Also, do you guys think that the Droid will get 2.3? It is one of the few devices running stock, and it has pretty decent hardware. Tell me yes or no in the comments! Be sure to like our fanpage and follow me on Twitter by using the buttons to the right, and please share using the buttons down below! Happy holidays!

Battle of the Social Browsers

If you haven't heard of them yet, social browsers are just another way to post to your Facebook & Twitter (maybe more) profiles. The two main guys are the veteran, Flock browser, and the newcomer who is still in beta, Rockmelt. Both of these browsers are very fast as they are built off of the Chromium project. The way social information is displayed, however, is very different. Flock has a sidebar, where all the data (can be filtered) is displayed in one continuous stream. Rockmelt, or the other hand consists of two "edges" on the left and right side of the screen. On the left is a bar that shows Facebook friends icons, and clicking on them allows you to chat or send them a message. On the right is a bar of all your favorite feeds, which I recommend using your Facebook and Twitter feeds first. In my opinion, the Rockmelt UI is much more feature packed and since it allows for facebook chat right in the browser, it is better. Flock to me seems to be stripped of features for the sake of a simple UI, and I do not see a way to chat on Facebook (tell me in the comments if you know how to). In terms of social networking, Flock wins hands down. Flock has support for Facebook, Twitter, Youtube Myspace (like anyone uses that anymore), and Flickr accounts, as where Rockmelt only supports Facebook & Twitter. Realize though that Rockmelt is still only in beta form. All in all, i think that is is just personal preference for what browser to use. Both are fast, feature packed, and are better than any Internet Explorer or Safari. I posted the videos down below for the promos. Please comment, share, & follow me (link in the sidebar)!

Flock from 1/29 Creative on Vimeo.

Chrome OS Coming Soon

Google has announced a "Chrome" event that will be going on December 7th. They are promising us some exciting news. Everyone is speculating that this will be the unveiling of Chrome OS, and I am with everyone. It isn't like they are announcing Chrome 9 (8 just came out today), and the chances of them calling an event to unveil the Chrome store is slim to none. If you aren't familiar with what Google Chrome OS is, I'll give you the quick rundown. Chrome OS is Google's idea of a netbook OS. Imaging taking Windows, installing Google Chrome, then removing Windows. You are left with Chrome OS, which is just a browser. Nothing is stored on a computer, everything is on the web. Just a quick little fact about this, Chrome OS can boot in under 5 seconds. You have to see it to believe it. Just Google it. We just have to wait this out and see what happens on the 7th, right? Thanks for listening to this post, and be sure to share!

PC World Surey: AT&T Sucks, Apple Doesn't

PC World recently took a survey asking people who owned a smartphone what they thought was the most reliable, simple, and what network got the best coverage. The answer was easily predicted: Apple got simplest & easiest to use and AT&T got worst network coverage. This really doesn't surprise me at all because as we all know, newborns know how to use an IPhone, and AT&T drops calls like there is no tomorrow. The IPhone OS  is so simple, in my opinion, it actually goes to the point of lacking features for the sake of simplicity. There is no widgets, pinch to overview, or any of that. I really think Apple could kill all of those critics by making a dashboard app that acts similarly to the one on the Mac, as it seems like a good replacement for widgets. On to AT&T. Of course, they got all of these prestigious awards: least satisfied with network speed, least satisfied with network coverage, and least satisfied with voice quality. Also, for those thinking that they are going to "come back" with 4G LTE, Sprint already has multiple phones running WIMAX, T-Mobile claims to have 4G in the "most markets" of any area, and Verizon is creating a ton of hype with their LTE press conference next week. So....AT&T is going to fall behind again. On to the desktop computer reliability survey, where Apple was on top of the world. They got better than average in every category, while Dell and HP took the "you stink" award. Why? Apple makes their own hardware, so everything just works. Trust me, I am not one of those Apple "fanboy". I own a Dell. Macs just have that good flow and smooth feel that a lot of PC makers can't say that their devices have. One other notable thing about this chart, on the other hand is that Alienware is near the top in reliability, which is a great improvement from previous years. So, have a comment? Tell me down below! Please follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/techbloggerjohn, and LIKE our Facebook page: http://goo.gl/sxjTF. Happy holiday guys!