That being said, the details are official (as opposed to rumor) however there has not been any specific dates offered up in terms of when. Instead, what we have is some more general, but equally nice news. According to the Readability Twitter account, the Android version is “looking very sweet” and coming “very” soon.

As for the iOS version, that was noted as being “equally sweet” and “in Apple’s hands.” In other words, it sounds like Readability for iOS has been submitted and is simply waiting on the final approval. Either way, we expect both to be available in their respective app stores soon.

Otherwise, in terms of the iOS app, it looks like one will be arriving for the iPad and iPhone (iPod touch). Or at least that is how it seems based on a question that was posed on Twitter. The question was simple and asked the latest status in regards to the iOS app. The response; “they’re” in Apple’s hands. Of course, that could just mean a universal.

Either way, Readability is a great ‘read later’ type of service which (for those who may not be familiar), is described as follows;

“Readability is a free web and mobile app with a simple purpose: to deliver a great reading experience. It turns virtually any web page into a clean, comfortable reading view. You can also sync articles for reading later as you surf around the web.”

And lastly, no mention of what (if anything) the apps would cost however given the service is currently free to use, we suspect that the apps could also be free. Then again, making the comparison to a similar service — Instapaper is free to use however the iOS app is priced at $4.99.

Granted, we suspect the latter will be a much smaller group. But regardless of group size, if you are in Canada and have been waiting for the Galaxy Note to come available for purchase — today is your day. We had been expecting the handset to land with three carriers including Bell, Telus and Rogers. And well, the good news is that you can now make a purchase.

In terms of pricing and the other details. The Galaxy Note is priced at $199.99 on a three-year agreement. And that price goes for all three carriers — Rogers, Bell and Telus. Otherwise, those looking to shed some of that three-year agreement in exchange for more money up front — expect to pay quite a bit more.

Just to given an example of the other pricing, Telus has the one-year price at $679.99, the two-year price at $729.99 and the no term price at $779.99. And while not much cheaper, Bell has the no term price set at $729.99. Bottom line, anything aside from a three-year agreement is rather pricey.

Needless to say, regardless which carrier you choose you can expect the same features. The Galaxy Note is running Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread with Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface along with hardware features to include a 5.3 inch Super AMOLED display, dual-core 1.5GHz processor, 512MB RAM, 16GB of internal storage, GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0, a 3.5mm headphone jack, DLNA, HDMI, 2500 mAh battery, 2 megapixel front facing camera and an 8 megapixel rear facing camera with LED flash and 1080p HD video recording.

And lastly, for better or worse the Galaxy Note also features the “S pen” which comes along with some specially designed apps that will take advantage.

The change was effective on February 12^th, and was revealed to the public via a leaked AT&T memo that circulated around the internet. This is just the second recent price hike by AT&T. The company raised the price of their data plans for smartphones last month.  As you can imagine, the increased upgrade fee is unpopular with customers. AT&T had this to say to tech blog Engadget about the price hike:

Wireless devices today are more sophisticated than ever before. And because of that, the costs associated with upgrading to a new device have increased and is reflected in our new upgrade fee. This fee isn’t unique to AT&T and this is the first time we’re changing it in nearly 10 years.

Sprint also increased their upgrade fee last September, causing a similar controversy among Sprint customers. Sprint charges $36 for a phone upgrade, while T-Mobile charges $18 and Verizon charges nothing for trading up to a new phone. It’s worth saying here that these are administrative fees for changing your device, not the actual cost of the phone you’re upgrading to.

What do you think? Are these little fees a rip-off, or is AT&T right in increasing them? Tell us your take in the comments section.

And with that out of the way, lets get into the good stuff — the details of the offer. As mentioned, this one involves Wirefly and T-Mobile and means those who purchase and activate a phone or smartphone will get a $50 gift card. The offer seems to be simple enough and according to the details provided by the folks at Wirefly;

“Buy a new T-Mobile phone or smartphone online today with a new 2-year service agreement, and get a $50 gift card by mail. This incredible offer is only available online and is for one day only — so buy before midnight tonight.”

Otherwise, the fine print details breakdown as follows;

• $50 gift card fulfilled by mail 30 days after purchase.
• Offer valid on new accounts, lines one and two only.
• 2-year service agreement required.
• Lines ordered today must be current and paid in full on March 15, 2012.
• Limited time only; while supplies last.

With that, the $50 gift card will arrive in the form of a prepaid debit card and just to offer a few examples — Wirefly has nearly 40 T-Mobile capable phones for sale. Some of the handsets include the Windows Phone running Nokia Lumia 710 (which is free) along with some BlackBerry handsets and quite a few Android smartphones.

Bottom line here, this looks like a decent way to not only get a T-Mobile phone for a fair price, but also get a nice bonus along with. And lastly, just to clarify, this offer IS valid on phones and smartphones that are free.

That being said, those with a Windows Phone in hand can fire up the Marketplace on their device and check for the updated release. And just to clarify, at the time of this posting the Marketplace listing is still showing Facebook version 2.2 while this most recent release is version 2.3.

Needless to say, the basics will remain in the app is both free to download and free to use. That aside though, it looks like Facebook for Windows Phone version 2.3 will bring some nice changes. According to the posting on Facebook;

“We have been listening to your feedback. I am pleased to announce that we will be releasing a new version of Facebook for Windows Phone to marketplace today.

Test out your groups. Visit your pages. Look at who likes your posts. Change the banner image. Check out the improved news feed performance. Use the new filters. Explore the improved navigation.”

Otherwise, the full changelog for version 2.3 reads as follows;

• News feed performance improvements.
• New panorama design.
• New profile design.
• Banner Images.
• Improved navigation.
• Pages.
• Groups.
• View “likes”.
• Feed filters.
• Posting privacy.
• Bug fixing.

Bottom line here, the update looks to be pretty good in writing, now lets hope it comes available without any nasty bugs. And as an interesting side note, the Facebook comments following the announcement are rather interesting to read — granted, we realize that the most vocal are often those who are unhappy but it seems that there are lots of Windows Phone user that are quite frustrated with the current state of Facebook on Windows Phone.

According to DigiTimes, the Chinese-language Economic Daily News is reporting that HTC has been shopping the device to cell carriers around the globe and already 20 of them have signed on to carry the device. They didn’t exactly list them all out, but big European carriers Orange and Vodafone were listed as being among the 20 that will be offering the 4.7-inch LTE Tegra 3 HTC Endeavor.

That’s not just all, as the EDN also reported that HTC plans to officially announce the Endeavor in Barcelona on February 26, just one day before the Mobile World Congress trade show opens in that city. It is public knowledge that HTC CEO Peter Chou will be delivering the keynote address at MWC this year, so perhaps Mr. Chou plans to announce the HTC Endeavor during the keynote address to the show goers?

HTC recently reported some disappointing earnings for the Q4 2011 period. If you take the EDN at its word, then HTC is generating quite some carrier interest in the HTC Endeavor and it could be enough to put the popular Android manufacturer back in the good graces of the business community.

According to the WSJ, the smaller iPad would be cheaper and has the goal of helping Apple keep its dominant market share in the tablet market. There are a number of 7- and 8-inch Android tablets out there, not to mention the 7-inch BlackBerry tablet. While some Apple fans who are used to the 9.7-inch screen of the original iPad may think that these smaller tablets lack screen real estate, the smaller size and increased portability of these little tablets is pretty nice.

The WSJ hypotheses that the 8-inch iPad would help Apple better compete with Samsung’s Galaxy Tab products and the Amazon Kindle Fire. Both of those products are smaller, cheaper alternatives to the iPad, and both Samsung and Amazon have gone after the high price of Apple products in new marketing campaigns. A new Amazon TV commercial highlights the fact that you can get a Kindle reader and two Kindle Fires for the same price of the base $500 iPad.

The late Steve Jobs was critical of the sub-10-inch Android tablets, saying that the screen was too small to have a great experience, but it wouldn’t be the first time that Apple went back on something that Jobs said. Jobs said in 2003 that tablets were a “third computer for rich people”, and that Apple had no interest in making them.

Apple certainly has had success selling low-cost variants of their popular products. The iPod Nano was introduced to compete with the lower priced MP3 players following the success of the original iPods, and it ended up being one of the most popular MP3 players in history. Certainly, an “iPad Nano” or whatever the 8-inch tablet could help solidify Apple’s success in the tablet market and fend off the competitive pricing from the Kindle Fire and other, cheaper Android tablets.

Google is going to see its latest dream come through, it will build its own Android hardware, both smartphones and tablets, not to mention getting its hands on a very important patent treasure chest to be used at its discretion against Apple, and anyone else that threatens Android. And Google is paying through the nose for Motorola Mobility, an impressive $12.5 billion, a lot more than we would have anticipated.

Motorola managed to came back from the dead when it chose to make Android devices only and to abandon its previous mobile device lines. It’s also the company that created the first genuine Apple rival, the original Motorola Droid, a turning point in Android’s history. But that doesn’t mean the company is profitable, or that it can face Apple, or any of the other Android device makers by itself. During the last quarter alone, Motorola shipped 18.7 million smartphones and a measly 200,000 tablets, losing $70 million in the process. This is what Google is paying $12.5 billion for.

Motorola did sign a deal with Intel to make Android devices based on Intel’s new mobile chips, and at the time I did say that this is in earnest a Google-Intel partnership considering that Google may soon own Motorola. A different rumor says that Google is going to launch its first Nexus-branded tablet this year, and considering all of the above, I wouldn’t be surprised if the device was an Intel-based Motorola-made Google flagship Android tablet. Which is what could happen with the fourth-gen Nexus smartphone too later this year. I’m sure all the other Android device makers will not mind having to fight against Google too now that the merger has been approved. Or will they?

One other important aspect of the whole Google-Motorola deal is the special mention of FRAND patents from the EU. These are very important right now as Apple is engaged in a fierce battle against Android on three fronts, against HTC, Samsung and Motorola. The latter could be soon investigated for antitrust practices when it comes to its offensive patent-based lawsuits against Apple, with Samsung facing a similar investigation in the region. Here’s what the official press release from the European Commission says about FRAND patents:

Access to standard essential patents is crucial for all market players. It is for this reason that standard setting organisations require the holders of standard essential patents to license these patents to any interested third parties on fair reasonable and non-discriminatory (“FRAND”) terms. The absence of such licences would hinder competitors or indeed the entire industry to the detriment of consumers and innovation. The Commission’s guidelines on horizontal cooperation agreements adopted last year (see IP/10/1702 and MEMO/10/676) make clear that commitments to license on FRAND terms are crucial to ensure access to standardised technology for all interested parties.

Moreover, Joaquin Almunia, the European Commission’s Vice Presidnet of Competition Enforcement had this to say about the matter:

“Today’s decision does not mean that the merger clearance blesses all actions by Motorola in the past or all future action by Google with regard to the use of these standard essential patents. Our decision today is without prejudice to the legality under EU antitrust law of Motorola’s past and Google’s future actions. However, the question whether Motorola’s or Google’s conduct is compliant with EU antitrust law cannot be dealt with in the context of the merger procedure.”

Will Google be able to turn Motorola in a profitable company and sell through it millions of new Android devices? Call me a pessimist but I hardly think that will be the case. Care to disagree?

An earlier story claiming Apple will properly unveil the iPad 3 during a special media event scheduled for sometime during the first week of March is now confirmed by a second source. And this time around we have a date for you, March 7.

Moreover, iMore also reveals various specs and features for the upcoming iPad 3, Apple’s future flagship tablet part of a brand that will surely continue to kick ass in the tablet business for the company this year, with no clear rival rising from the Android tablet pack – we’ll not even count the Galaxy Tab 2 as a serious contender.

According to the publication, the iPad 3 will feature a 2,048 x 1,536 Retina Display, a quad-core A6 system-on-a-chip and “possibly 4G LTE networking.” Other features could include better cameras, from 5- to 8-megapixels on the rear, to FaceTime HD on the front. In other words, there’s nothing new here, since we’ve seen these specs and features mentioned before.

The Retina Display seems to be almost a certainty, an iPad 3 feature that we’ve seen in various rumors for quite a few months now. But we’re certainly interested to see whether the A6 chip will offer quad-core or dual-core capabilities, since there are rumors that support both versions. As for 4G LTE, considering that we’ve recently seen leaked AT&T micro SIM cards for 4G LTE devices, mainly iPhones and iPads that will be sold by the carrier this year, we’d expect Apple to finally support LTE in its 2012 line of iOS devices.

What we don’t have at this time is an actual release date for the next-gen iPad. The iPad 2 was announced on March 2 and launched nine days later on March 11. A similar scenario could occur this year, starring the iPad 3, naturally. So if Tim Cook & Co. will indeed unveil the device on Wednesday, March 7, we could see it hit stores on March 16.

Are you lining up your cash to buy the device already?

And as many have likely guessed even without looking at the image — the LG CX2 has surfaced in white. That being said, we will offer the same warning we did a few weeks back — these details are still in the rumor category which means they can (and likely will) change before the official announcement arrives.

Anyway, as you can see from the above image, the LG CX2 (aka Optimus 3D 2) has surfaced in white and along with the image we have a bit more in terms of the specs. Just to begin with, the handset is now expected to arrive with a 4.5 inch HD-IPS LCD touchscreen with a resolution of 1280 x 720. Of course, those paying attention will likely remember that the previous leak placed the display at WVGA and 4.3 inches in size. But again, with rumors and leaks things tend to change over time.

Otherwise, the remaining (and still unconfirmed) specs include a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, 8GB of internal storage, front and rear facing cameras, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0, DLNA and support for 21Mbps HSPA. With that, the nice part about this latest leak — Mobile World Congress is only a few weeks away at this point which means we should begin seeing some additional details come available sooner rather than later.

Perhaps the more interesting question here, given we have heard little about the original Optimus 3D since the launch — is anyone sitting around waiting for the follow-up? Or any 3D-capable smartphone for that matter.

The first item of business is that the Aquos 104SH, one of Sharp’s top end models, is set to get the Android 4.0–otherwise known as Ice Cream Sandwich–update by the end of the month when it releases. The device will boast a dual-core processor running at 1.5 GHz, backed up by a 4.5 inch screen showing at 720p resolution, a 12.1 megapixel camera, one-seg TV, infrared data capabilities, and a level of waterproofing, though since no depths are listed, I wouldn’t go dropping it in any fairly deep bodies of water.

Good news for those interested in picking up something new from the high-end Sharp lineup, but for those with older model but still high-end devices, you’re probably wondering when yours will finally get the nod to step up to the newest Android version. Well, Sharp does have plans to get those updates in play, though they’re not exactly very fleshed out plans as yet. Reportedly, Sharp has plans to get the update to their high-end line, though they’re not telling just when those plans will roll out, nor are they telling just what phones are sufficiently “high-end” to be included in Sharp’s upgrade plans.

Also unclear is whether or not the Aquos 104SH will be landing a wider release. The top rank of Japanese Sharp smartphones hasn’t got the best record of going into wide release, though Sharp often does send its lower-tier models to the United States and other markets, usually via AT&T.

Either way, Android had better step up its plans for release, especially with new Apple hardware on its way to the market over the course of the next several months (though even that is something of a speculation as Apple hasn’t yet made official announcements) that will likely give their primary competitor, Android, plenty to be concerned about.

But what do you guys think here? Anyone interested in picking up a Sharp Aquos 104SH if it goes into wider release? Or is your current phone doing the job just fine? No matter what you think, head on down to the comments section and tell us what’s on your mind!

That being said, while all of this sounds good from the little we have said up until this point — we should point out that this does come with a cost. More specifically, Verizon Wireless will charge users $4.99 per month (per line) for the Usage Controls set of control tools. Anyway, while some will most likely run away after learning the price, we think that more than a few users will be willing to pay for the convenience. With that, here is what the Usage Controls offers;

• Usage Allowances – Families or individuals can control wireless budgets with monthly usage allowances on each controlled line for voice minutes, messaging, data and content purchases such as ringtones, games and downloads. They’ll receive free text message alerts when limits are nearing and when they are reached. Once the allowance is reached, there is also an option to restrict usage.
• Time Restrictions – Parents can set times of the day or days of the week – such as school hours or late at night – to prevent family members from calling, messaging or accessing data. Trusted contacts can always communicate.
• Blocked Contacts – Customers can block communications with unwanted contacts.
• Trusted Contacts – Customers can always allow communications with trusted contacts, even with Usage Controls restrictions. Calls to 9-1-1 are always trusted.
• 911 Notification – Account owners receive an automatic text message when a line on their account assigned to Usage Controls makes an emergency 9-1-1 call.

Otherwise, those interested will be able to find (and setup) the Usage Controls in their My Verizon. Additionally, Verizon Wireless also offers the option to manage items such as age-appropriate Content Filters and Service Blocks for free. And just to make note, those items can be found by surfing to www.verizonwireless.com/usagecontrols.

Speaking at a recent earnings call, Hesse said that the death of the AT&T-T-Mobile deal had created “many more options for Sprint than we would have had if the merger had gone through”. According to a Forbes article, Hesse wouldn’t speculate on what those options are, other than talking about T-Mobile’s lucrative AWS spectrum. AT&T primarily wanted T-Mobile’s spectrum in order to help build out their 4G network.

Remember that Deutsche Telekom was looking to sell T-Mobile US to AT&T primarily because T-Mobile US has been a money sink for the German telecom giant, and they’re facing a potentially expensive upgrade to an LTE network sometime this year or next. By selling T-Mobile US to AT&T, DT would of washed their hands of the struggling cell carrier.

T-Mobile may be open to a merger with Sprint. According to Forbes, T-Mobile US CEO Philipp Humm said that the company was looking for smaller deals in scope. Remember that the AT&T-T-Mobile deal fell through after it looked like it would get blocked by the US FCC and Department of Justice. A smaller deal would be more likely to get approved by the government.

Would a combined Sprint/T-Mobile mean that T-Mobile customers would finally be able to get their hands on the iPhone? Any Sprint or T-Mobile customers have an opinion on the possibility of a Sprint/T-Mobile merger? Tell us about it in our comments section.

According to Reuters, more than 25,000 demonstrators marched the streets in various Eastern European cities. but not only, including Warsaw, Prague, Bucharest, Vilnius, Paris, Brussels and Dublin.

But what is ACTA and what does it do? ACTA is a trade agreement whose purpose is to stop counterfeit goods, generic medicines and copyright infringement, which are all noble intentions if you’re not looking at the fine print. We’re mostly interested in copyright infringement, which is what spawned laws like SOPA and PIPA in the first place, and which could ruin the Internet as we have it today. We, TFTS, have not, do not and will not encourage copyright infringement, but at the same time we can’t support such laws/agreements that would significantly affect our online freedoms.

ACTA indirectly encourages online censorship and surveillance, as Internet Service Providers will have to keep track of one’s actions online, all in the name of stopping any copyright infringements. Building on that, we’d have a scenario similar to SOPA and PIPA, in which the user would be at risk of facing various consequences for the most unexpected events, which is something we wouldn’t want to go through. The video below best explains how an innocent activity like recording a video at a party where a song is playing could get you in trouble after sharing it with your friends online since, after all, you’re not allowed to use the song in any form of content under ACTA. But of course, the consequences of ACTA can be far worse:

In other words, ACTA, at least the way it’s formulated right now, would simply trash some of our most basic freedoms; freedoms which our forefathers, or even our fathers in certain instances, have actively pursued. The same civil rights and liberties should be enforced online and treaties like ACTA should be only signed after the people have been heard. In many instances that’s not the case, and many governments around the world have signed the document without hosting a public debate first. Countries like Germany and the Czech republic have postponed ratifying the ACTA treaty, and hopefully other governments will reconsider their stance on ACTA at least until a better copyright infringement law is devised.

What is your opinion on ACTA?

Many people were surprised to see the iPod come to life, but Apple soon proved it was right to create such a device coupled with an accessible and affordable digital music store for the masses. Driven by Jobs’ passion for music, the iTunes music store now offers over 20 million tracks, including all the albums from The Beatles, one of the most important additions to the store, and one of Jobs’ last completed music projects.

Therefore, we were not surprised back in December to hear that The Recording Academy will honor Steve Jobs with a Special Merit Grammy Award, The Trustees Award, which was accepted yesterday by Apple’s Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue. Here’s the speech he gave when accepting the award on behalf of Jobs:

On behalf of Steve’s wife, Laurene, his children, and everyone at Apple, I’d like to thank you for honoring Steve with the Trustees Grammy Award. Steve was a visionary, a mentor, and a very close friend. I had the incredible honor of working with him for the last fifteen years.

Accepting this award means so much to me because music meant so much to him. He told us that music shaped his life…it made him who he was. Everyone that knows Steve knows the profound impact that artists like Bob Dylan and The Beatles had on him.

Steve was focused on bringing music to everyone in innovative ways. We talked about it every single day. When he introduced the iPod in 2001, people asked “Why is Apple making a music player?” His answer was simple: “We love music, and it’s always good to do something you love.”

His family and I know that this Grammy would have been very special to him, so I thank you for honoring him today.

The Trustees Award, which honors contributions to the music industry in other areas than performance, was also awarded to Rudy Van Gelder and Dave Bartholomew, a jazz recording engineer and a band leader, respectively. On a different note, counting this special award, this is the second time Apple is honored by The Recording Academy after previously winning The Technical Grammy Award back in 2002.

Inevitably, new mobile devices unveiled at MWC will be immediately compared with available, and future, Apple mobile devices, especially the upcoming iPad 3 which will probably cast a long shadow over the event. While we wait for the third-generation tablet to be unveiled, alongside its main Android rivals which could be announced just a few days before the iPad 3 becomes official, we’re being hit with a plethora of new iPad rumors. One of them says that Apple is in “crunch mode” working on the apps that will be demoed on stage and on the new iPad 3 ads that will surely air during the show and thereafter. The Next Web reports:

Apple’s pre-event weeks are often spent soliciting demonstrations from many app developers and preparing demonstrations of those apps for the live event. Our sources tell us that this selection process is continuing at an increased rate as Apple looks to finalize the lineup for the iPad 3. There is also emphasis on graphics-oriented applications with high-definition assets, which appears to be in line with the new iPad featuring a ‘Retina’ display.

In addition, some apps that Apple is impressed with are being forwarded on to its long-time advertising partner TWBA/Chiat/Day for possible inclusion in the initial iPad 3 commercial spots. This process is entering its final phase as well, with the company on a tight deadline to deliver assets for playback during the presentation and later, television broadcast.

We’ll be thoroughly covering the iPad 3 event, but in the mean time keep us bookmarked for more next-gen iPad news, rumors and reports. As for the iPad 3 rivals, we’d certainly be surprised to see one emerge at MWC 2012, but one can always hope.

Anyone already planning to buy the iPad 3 next month?

Apple is obviously targeting Android itself with these patent wars, although the Cupertino-based company has not sued directly Google yet. The legal conflict with Samsung is of particular interest, as both companies are suing each other in 10 countries, with various courts having to decide in over 30 distinct lawsuits. Apple decided to hit Samsung with one more lawsuit in the USA, this time targeting the Galaxy Nexus, Google’s latest Android flagship device.

Apple wants a preliminary injunction against Galaxy Nexus sales in the USA invoking various patent infringements, and unlike in previous attacks in which it target the iPhone- and iPad-inspired design of various Samsung mobile devices, this time it’s all about features, Ice Cream Sandwich features to be more precise:

• US Patent No. 5,946,647 – this patent was filed in 1996 (issued 1999) and covers detecting data, such as a phone number, in an email or web page, creating a link to that data, and initiating an action like calling the phone number when the user selects the link. The data could also include addresses, dates, etc.
• US Patent No. 8,086,604 – this patent claims priority back to 2000 (issued Dec. 2011) and covers searching multiple sources of information (on device and elsewhere) through a single search interface, such as Siri. Apple specifically touts Siri in its injunction request, but also argues that a unified text search is covered by the patent as well.
• US Patent No. 8,046,721 – this patent claims priority back to 2005 (issued Oct. 2011) and covers Apple’s signature slide-to-unlock feature. While Apple already has patent coverage on an image unlock feature, this newest patent is obviously intended to be a bit broader — likely addressing potential workarounds implemented by Google and OEMs over the last couple of years.
• US Patent No. 8,074,172 – this patent was filed in 2007 (issued Dec. 2011) and covers providing word suggestions while the user types on a touchscreen keyboard, where the suggestions can be accepted or rejected by the user.

The first patent quoted above, #5,946,647, has already proven victorious for Apple, as the ITC has recently granted a sales ban against HTC devices based on that particular patent and it will be interesting to see whether the Galaxy Nexus will also be affected. At the same time, HTC did announce that it conceived a workaround to avoid using Apple’s technology and thus continue to sell its smartphones in the region.

From a different point of view, in the Apple vs Samsung and Samsung vs Apple conflicts, Apple has usually been the winner so far, although Samsung scored a few victories of its own, so we’re definitely going to follow closely this new lawsuit that targets such an important Android device.

A leaked ROM Updated Utility (RUU) for the HTC Endeavor, previously known as the Edge or the Supreme, at least according to some reports, reveals various specs and features for the Android handset, which should be confirmed later this month. Here’s what you can expect from this handset:

• 4.7-inch touchscreen display with 720p display
• 1.5GHz Quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor
• 1GB of RAM
• 8-megapixel camera
• 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera
• 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth 4.0
• Quad-band HSPA+ support
• Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with HTC Sense 4.0 on top.

The HTC Endeavor could turn out to be the first smartphone in the world to offer a quad-core processor, provided that no other handset maker announces a NVIDIA Tegra 3 smartphone before HTC does. Moreover, the Endeavor could be the first Ice Cream Sandwich smartphone to sport a custom user interface on top of Android 4.0 – so far only two devices run Ice Cream Sandwich, the Samsung Nexus S and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

The same RUU has also revealed the first Sense 4.0 screenshots, a user interface we’re likely to see on all the upcoming HTC Android 4.0 devices alongside the older smartphones that are going to be upgraded to ICS eventually. HTC’s Sense 4.0 will offer users a bunch of lock screen choices, a new dock look, Beats audio and NFC support and HTC’s regular widgets.

Since the Samsung Galaxy S III is not going to be announced at MWC, the HTC Endeavor, or whatever they end up calling it, could turn out to be the flagship device of the Spanish mobile show, although other Android handset makers are probably going to have a few high-end devices of their own to announce.

We’ve seen the first LTE smartphones and tablets debut last year, most of them, if not all of them, being Android devices. Apple has explained at the time that the then-current state of the LTE chips was not satisfactory for its needs, although the fact that LTE adoption among consumers was very limited when the statement was made is probably another reason that explains why the company seemed never interested to make the iPhone 4S its first LTE device ever.

But things will change this year, as Apple’s next-gen iPad and iPhone are reportedly going to be LTE-ready thanks to a new, slimmer Qualcomm chip that will be employed by both devices. The company has not confirmed such plans yet, but with the iPad 3 media event scheduled to take place in the first week of March, we’ll probably find out more details about Apple’s LTE plans very soon.

In the mean time, today we see the first 4G LTE micro SIM cards from AT&T getting leaked, a move that indirectly implies the upcoming iPad 3 and the sixth-generation iPhone 5/6 will indeed come with LTE support. Furthermore, Apple’s smartphone and tablet are the main devices that use a micro SIM card on AT&T’s network, if not the only ones, so we certainly expect the company to confirm LTE support starting with its 2012 generation of iOS devices in the weeks to come.

In addition to 4G LTE, the iPad 3 and iPhone 5/6 are likely to also offer support for AT&T’s HSPA+ network, also labeled as fake 4G. The iPhone 4S, while lacking an LTE chip, does come with such fake 4G powers, which make AT&T iPhone 4S units the fastest iPhones in the U.S. since neither Verizon nor Sprint offer HSPA+ support.

Anyone excited to buy an LTE-enabled iPhone or iPad?

Now a similar interposer SIM has been devised for the iPhone 4S, the TPSIM Unlock which can apparently unlock iPhone 4S units that come with the following basebands: 1.0.11, 1.0.13 and 1.0.14. In addition to the iPhone 4S, the TPSIM Unlock also works with the iPhone 4S. Here’s a lost of features for the new interposer:

• No requirement for a jailbreak, insert and go!
• *No need to dial 112 (after the first time initialization)
• Supports 3G, EDGE, MMS, Facetime
• Supports iPhone 4S baseband 1.0.11, 1.0.13 and 1.0.14.
• Supports iPhone 4 baseband 1.59.00, 2.10.04, 3.10.01, 4.10.01 but NOT 4.11.08
• No hardware alteration or modification required – will not affect your warranty
• Robust and sturdy steel custom SIM tray
• Unlock works on all world networks.
• Uses high performance original F981 chip for ultra-low voltage operation

The video below shows us that the TPSIM Unlock works, and therefore we’re looking at the world’s first iPhone 4S unlock. Unlike software unlocks coming from the iPhone Dev Team, which are free of charge, the Gevey SIM and TPSIM have to be paid for. The later is not yet available for purchase but it can be pre-ordered for $84.95, quite a hefty price to pay for a device that may not work in the end – after all it’s a brand new unlock method, untested by the masses.

An other option would be purchasing an unlocked handset from Apple, which would let you use any SIM card with the device. Whatever you choose, we’ll remind you that we do not advise you to purchase such gadgets that would enable an unlock, and that we’re showing them only in an informational matter. In case anything goes wrong with such procedures, you’ll be the only person responsible for the whole thing.

The Acer CloudMobile (and if the first thing you thought when you saw that was “Care Bears”, congratulations, you too are a child of the eighties) is set to launch with Android 4.0, otherwise known as Ice Cream Sandwich, though that may not actually come to pass depending on the actual date of launch. It’s set to be the first to support the AcerCloud service (hence the name, CloudMobile), and is also likely to offer up a 4.3 inch HD display, as well as a Dolby speaker plate, textured backing and all in a package measuring just 9.9 mm thick.

Of course, many of the specs on this, like processor capability, connectivity (4G, 3G, wi-fi and so on) and others are as yet unknown, and thus, we’re left to look to the MWC 2012 exhibition to get a full look at this sucker and just what it can do, but word is that it’s already won the iF Product Design Award, which is no mean feat and should suggest some pretty potent characteristics when it finally does make its move on markets.

Acer isn’t exactly a big wheel as far as mobile devices goes, so it’s going to remain to be seen if the specs can back up the award-winning design sufficiently to get Acer into the hearts and minds of people already likely in on one heavily-entrenched product line or another. It’s likely to be released in the second half of 2012.

But what do you guys think here? Would anyone out there pick up a CloudMobile to replace their iPhone 4S? Perhaps your Samsung Galaxy S II? Under what circumstances would you make the switch to Acer? No matter what your stance on this one, we definitely want to hear from you, so hit the comments section below and let’s talk Acer phones!

Of course, while that sounds really nice just like that there is a catch. That catch — some additional cost. In short, this will allow users to upgrade their phone without having to sign a new multi-year commitment. Anyway, given we mentioned the extra cost lets kick off the details with that. According to what we have seen from the press release announcement;

“customers will only need to initially pay an average added monthly cost of £2.99 – £3.99, dependent on the original JUMP contract chosen.”

Otherwise, for those thinking this is new and crazy and something that is likely to not work or last — rest assured in knowing that Phones 4u have been trialing this for some time now. The trial phase of the JUMP program kicked off back in May 2011 at 100 stores. Needless to say, the trial must have went well because now it will be offered at all of the 586 plus Phones 4u locations. Additionally, those interested will be able to get in the JUMP program online and with telesales.

And lastly, for those who need a full break down to have this make a bit more sense — Phones 4u is offering this as an example;

A customer could take out a standard contract for a non-iPhone device on a £35 a month tariff. Alternatively they could purchase it on JUMP for £37.99 on a 24 month agreement

Today on JUMP £37.99

Split as
Airtime commitment with Orange £15.00
JUMP service agreement 24months £22.99

Move to iPhone 4s after 6 months

Balance outstanding on JUMP
= 18months @ £22.99 £413.82
Trade in value of handset* £175.00
(You can trade in up to 2 more additional handsets to increase your total trade-in value and reduce your remaining balance further)

Balance remaining £238.82

Split over new JUMP contract (per month) £9.95
(No need to pay upfront)

Monthly cost of iPhone 4s on JUMP service agreement £28.49
+ £9.95 over 24months

Total new JUMP cost £38.44

Plus airtime (dependent on airtime package chosen) £20.00

New monthly commitment £58.44

Move to iPhone 4s after 12 months

Balance outstanding on JUMP
= 12months @ £22.99 £275.88
Trade in value of handset* £150.00
(You can trade in up to 2 more additional handsets to increase your total trade-in value and reduce your remaining balance further)

Balance remaining £125.88

Split over new JUMP contract (per month) £5.25
(No need to pay upfront)

Monthly cost of iPhone 4s on JUMP service agreement £28.49
+ £5.25 over 24months

Total new JUMP cost £33.74

Plus airtime (dependent on airtime package chosen) £20.00

New monthly commitment £53.74

Word out of Samsung that preferred anonymity says that the Galaxy S II will net the update to Ice Cream Sandwich starting March 1st, and the Galaxy Note won’t be too far behind, though just how long that will be is as yet unclear. Interestingly, when they say “starting” here, they really mean it, as the rollout will not be available to everyone on the first day, but rather, will be a rolling rollout depending on your carrier and your personal location. In fact, in some locations and with some carriers, the upgrade for the Galaxy Note could reportedly take until sometime in May.

Moreover, current word suggests that the devices won’t get a pure Android 4.0, but rather a version that features Samsung’s TouchWiz systems in play, so that likely accounts for some of the delay.

Being as this is word from anonymous sources within Samsung rather than via Samsung’s proper channels, you’ll likely want to take it with the grain of salt you deem most appropriate, but still, Samsung doubtless doesn’t want to wait any longer than necessary. With the specter of a new iPhone lurking in the background, there’s no doubt that Samsung–along with every other Android phone maker out there–is going to want to get their A-game into play against such significant opposition, so getting Ice Cream Sandwich onto the big names is likely at the top of the list for many.

But what do you guys think here? Figure that the big names in Samsung’s lineup will get their new Android version loaded before Apple launches its new foray? Or do you figure that Apple will roll over some of the Android line before it can get its best to the table? No matter what you think, head on down to the comments section and fill us in!

That being said, these offers all seem simple enough in that they will all require two-year agreements. Otherwise, beginning with the double data offer, the one appears to be rather simple;

“For a limited time, get twice the data for the same low price when you buy a new 4G LTE Smartphone.”

The only fine print we can see in this aspect, the double your data offer only applies to plans that are 2GB or higher. In other words, you can get 4GB of data for $30 or 10GB of data for $50.

In terms of the other Valentine’s Day offer, lets just say that some of these deals seem better than others. For example, one of the nicer ones involves the 16GB Droid RAZR — in black, white or purple. This handset is priced at $199.99, however it comes as BOGO which means if you buy one you will get another for free.

Some of the other deals include discounts on certified pre-owned Galaxy Tab tablets including the 16GB and 32GB 10.1 inch models which are selling for $279.99 and $379.99 respectively. And if you are willing to pick up a (now older) 7-inch Galaxy Tab, that one is available for free as a certified pre-owned device.

That all being said, those interested in picking something up from Verizon this Valentine’s Day can hit the source link at the bottom of this post to check out the complete list of deals.

That being said, the images are crisp and clear and appear to not have come from Mr. Blurrycam. And on that note, we have been treated to front, back and many other views of the handset. We have included a front and back side picture here in this post, but have to give credit to the folks over at phoneArena who got the scoop and have more than a handful of images in total.

Anyway, it appears as if the handset is going to be heading towards Verizon Wireless as a 4G LTE compatible device. And sure, while the handset does not have any branding on itself, there is a look at the 4G LTE logo that is found during the boot process on Verizon devices. Hence the headed towards Verizon comment.

Images aside though, some of the other details include that the handset is running Ice Cream Sandwich. More specifically, it is running Android 4.0.1 with version 4.0 of HTC’s Sense user interface. Some of the other specs include a dual-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and 1GB of RAM along with a VGA quality front facing camera and an 8 megapixel rear facing camera.

The handset was also noted as having an AMOLED display. As opposed to an S-LCD. With that, the only little bit left comes as nothing more than pure speculation — based on the look of the handset some have suggested that it could end up coming available as the HTC Incredible 3. Either way though, one thing we can say for sure is that this handset was not included on the list of devices that HTC is planning to upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich this year.

But that being said, there appears to be another voice control app that has come available for iOS devices. More specifically for iOS devices aside from the iPhone 4S. The app is called SpeakToIt Assistant and for lack of a better description, it brings Siri-like functionality to the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.

SpeakToIt Assistant is available by way of the iOS App Store and is priced at $1.99. The app requires iOS 4.0 (or higher) for use and is currently sitting at version 0.2. Just one note on the iPad compatibility, while it is supported and will run — it is not a universal app and therefor is a doubled up iPhone version.

According to the iOS App Store listing, here is what you can expect from SpeakToIt Assistant;

“Speaktoit Assistant is a virtual buddy for your iPhone or iPod that uses natural language technology to answer questions, find information, and connect you with various web services, such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Evernote, and many others.”

Otherwise, it was also noted that you will be able to speak in an “everyday language” and perhaps a bit more important — the Assistant will “constantly improve” so that it becomes “smarter every day.”

Those who download the app will be able to set the Assistant as a man or woman (see the screenshots included in this post) and will be able to get information such as maps, news searches, image searches, weather reports, currency conversion and “much” more. And last and perhaps what we feel would be the most useful, the Assistant is able to compose emails and text messages as well as update your status on social sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

Of course, those join the previously available Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 4G. And just to continue on the 4G LTE compatible device list, these three will soon be joined by the Samsung Galaxy Note. But before we get ahead of ourselves, lets get back to the new devices.

Up first is the LG Optimus LTE smartphone which comes priced as was rumored. The handset arrives with a three-year price of $99.99. And for those looking to knock that commitment time down a little bit, you can expect to shell out $529.99, $579.99 or $629.99 for a two-year, one-year or no term agreement respectively.

In terms of the features, the LG Optimus LTE brings Android 2.3 Gingerbread along with a 4.5 inch (1280 x 720) True HD IPS display, dual-core 1.5GHz processor, 2GB of internal storage, a microSD card slot with an 8GB card included and an 8 megapixel rear facing camera with auto-focus, LED flash and 1080p HD video recording.

Next up, the Ovation MC 679 USB modem which comes by way of Novatel Wireless. This modem features a hinged USB connector along with the MobiLink Connection Manager software. The MC 679 measures in at 88 x 35 x 12 mm and weighs in at just 35 grams with support for Windows (7, Vista or XP), Mac OS X (10.4 or higher) and Linux. The Ovation MC 679 is available for free on a three-year agreement, $49.99 on a two-year agreement, $99.99 on a one-year agreement and $169.99 no term.

And lastly, just to recap the 4G LTE network launch, those in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area, Kitchener, Waterloo, Hamilton, Guelph, Belleville, Ottawa, Montreal, Québec City, Halifax and Yellowknife are the lucky ones.

Okay, so you really don’t see through your phone, but the app does take whatever your phone’s camera is seeing and transpose it on your screen, somewhat faded out. The result is a bit stunning, as it does kind of end up looking like you’re looking through glass. Not bad, eh? You can even use other apps while using Transparent Screen, so you could check your email or text messages while walking.

The only problem that reviewers have noted with the app is that the level of “transparency” is already set and there’s no way to change it. For certain apps, you may want to see a bit more of the screen than what’s on the other side of the phone, and plus each user may have their own preference. Hey, sounds like something that could be added in an update or possibly in a paid version of the app.

Realistically, this app may end up being just a toy or something to use to showoff to friends. But, it’s still a pretty neat idea and probably will have to hold us over until we all are using transparent LCD phones.

Check out Transparent Screen at the Android Market here.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is a pretty important government agency that monitors, researches and studies the weather and Earth’s oceans. They operate the National Weather Service and should be known by everybody as “the hurricane people” for they work they do in monitoring hurricanes. The news that they’re changing to Apple products comes via a leaked memo written by Joseph Klimavicz, NOAA’s CIO.

The company will be furnishing their workers with new iPhones and iPads, although they’ll continue to support BlackBerry devices until May 12, 2012. There’s no word on when NOAA’s people can expect to get their iPads, but the leaked memo was dated February 3, 2012. The news was broken by LoopInsight.com.

Government agencies have usually continued to favor BlackBerries because of their reliability and rock-solid security when it comes to email. I suspect that NOAA won’t be the last government agency to switch to the iPhone and iPad for its mobile phone needs.

What do you think? Is it cool that the government is giving iPhones to its meteorology, or should it be spending our tax dollars on other things? Tell us what you think in our comments section.

Google’s free cloud-storage service will be called Google Drive according to the report, and seems likely that it will be attached to Google Docs or affiliated with Google Docs, Google’s cloud-based office productivity suite. According to the WSJ, Google Drive will allow people to store files, photos and videos on the internet.

There’s no word on how much storage Google Drive will offer, but with all the bandwidth and server farms that Google has, you have to imagine that it’ll probably be a fair bit. Google will be directly taking on Dropbox, in addition to Apple’s iCloud service and Microsoft’s SkyDrive service. Although the report doesn’t mention it, you have to expect Google Drive will have integration with Android and Chrome OS – allowing people using Android phones, tablets or Chrome netbooks to easily access their files stored on their Google Drive account. This would bring parity on with Apple does with the iPhone and iCloud.

No word on how this will affect Dropbox. The company has been growing by leaps and bounds and was called “one of Silicon Valley’s hottest start-ups” by the WSJ. The company allegedly turned down an acquisition offer from Apple in 2009.

What do you think? Are you excited for Google Drive? Do you think it’ll be better than Dropbox, or are planning to stick with the ‘box? Tell us about it in the comments setion.

The Lumia 900 never officially received a release date, although rumors had pinned the phone as coming out on March 18^th. Usually, you can expect to see a phone up for pre-order a month or so before its scheduled release date, and Microsoft Stores accepting pre-orders somewhat unexpectedly only adds to these rumors. Those who wanted to pre-order the phone had to put down $25 on the phone.

Back at CES, Nokia announced the Lumia 900 as an AT&T exclusive. It’s got some nice hardware, including a 4.3-inch OLED display, 1.4GHz processor, 512MB of RAM and 16GB of memory. Recently, a leak from Nokia also showed a white Lumia 900 for international markets, so if you’re outside the United States, you can expect to get your hands on one of these phones too.

No word officially on when we can expect AT&T and Nokia to open up Lumia 900 pre-orders to everybody.

Technology Business Research Ezra Gottheil has it on good authority that the upcoming 9.7-inch iPad 3 will offer the following set of specs and features:

• Retina Display resolution – 2,048 x 1,536 or double the resolution of the iPad 2
• Faster dual-core system-on-a-chip rather than a quad-core processor – a faster A6 chip
• Siri support

These are expected features for the iPad 3, which have been revealed in various other reports, so far so we’re not surprised to hear one more analyst mention them, especially since analysts don’t always get things right.

Gottheil also expects Apple to keep selling the iPad 2 alongside the new iPad 3 model, with pricing expected to drop to $400 “for an iPad 2 with Wi-Fi only and 16GB of flash-based storage space.” That’s also something we have heard more than once in the recent past, and we wouldn’t be surprised to hear Apple is interested in keeping around a top-selling device after seeing the same thing happen with older iPhones a few months ago.

A cheaper iPad 2 will be a great competitor to entry- to mid-level Android devices, including the Kindle Fire that has been selling very well during the past quarter, but would Apple also need to make a smaller iPad 3 to better compete against smaller tablets? I don’t think that’s the case, but here’s what Gottheil said:

Gottheil went out on a smaller limb for another pair of predictions, saying that he expects Apple to roll out a smaller 7-in. iPad — though not at the upcoming event — and perhaps tout a specially-designed wireless keyboard-case accessory for its tablet.

“I believe that’s always been in the plan” said Gottheil of a small iPad, contradicting past comments by Jobs, who had rejected seven inches as too small for a tablet. “Actually that’s a good form factor for some users, and although they will also charge a premium above other similar-sized tablets, they want to protect that price flank.”

During last year’s iPad 2 announcement event, Apple quickly dismissed existing rumors that a new device will launch at some point in the fall by saying that 2011 was the year of the iPad 2, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the company hinted that 2012 will be the year of the iPad 3, the regular size. Would you buy a 7-inch iPad 3?

While there aren’t that many smartphones sporting NFC support, those that do have it, including the Nexus S and the Galaxy Nexus may have a serious problem. Once rooted, the devices can be hacked by people with the right knowledge, to reveal the PIN of Google Wallet, which would give those people access to the stored credit cards.

Since the Nexus S and the Galaxy Nexus are among the preferred devices used by Android developers, it’s likely that those units usually get rooted. Naturally there’s no security risk when Google Wallet is not used on the device. There’s no risk when Google Wallet is enabled either as long as the device is not stolen by a third-party specifically interested in getting access to the user’s Google Wallet account.

Google is aware of the issue and it’s trying to fix it, and there is a way to resolve the matter, moving the PIN verification, which Google Wallet requires to grant access to the stored credit cards, to the secure element of the NFC chip in the device. Once that’s done, a simple “brute force attack” would not work anymore. That however is easier said than done as Google will have to relinquish any responsibility for the Google Wallet PIN to the banks:

The next issue was much more significant. Basically, by moving the PIN verification into the SE itself, this might constitute a “change of agency” responsible for keeping the PIN secure. The fear is that Google might no longer be responsible for the security of the PIN, but rather the banks themselves. If this is in fact the case, then the banks may need to follow their own policies and regulations regarding ATM PIN security which obviously, and rightly, receive a great deal of scrutiny.[…]

At present, the decision is in the banks’ hands. They may actually choose to accept the risk imposed by this vulnerability rather than incur the financial and administrative overhead of allowing Google to release a proper fix (and thereby potentially put the banks on the hook for the PIN security).

In the mean time, here’s what Google Wallet users can do to prevent hackers from getting access to their credit cards once the rooted phone would be stolen:

1. Do Not “Root” the Cell Phone – Doing so will be one less step for a thief.
2. Enable Lock Screens – “Face Unlock,” “Pattern,” “PIN” and “Password” all increase physical security to the device. “Slide,” however, does not.
3. Disable USB Debugging – When enabled, the data on mobile devices can be accessed without first passing a lock screen challenge unless Full Disk Encryption is also enabled.
4. Enable Full Disk Encryption – This will prevent even USB Debugging from bypassing the lock screen.
5. Maintain Device Up-To-Date – Ensure the device is current with the latest official software. Unfortunately, users are largely at the behest of their carrier and cell phone manufacturer for this. Using only official software and keeping devices up-to-date is the best way to minimize vulnerabilities and increase security overall.

Has anyone suffered such a Google Wallet attack?

In its latest iPhone 4S ads Apple is still focusing on Siri, the virtual assistant that’s available officially only on the iPhone 4S – although there are various unofficial Siri ports for other iOS devices at this time. After teaching Santa to navigate the globe and deliver his presents using the Siri assistant, Apple stars regular iPhone 4S users in the new ads and shows off its virtual assistant in two brand new commercials entitled “Road Trip” and “Rock God.”

The scripts of the new ads, both embedded below, feature various scenes that could occur in everyday life, with iPhone 4S users – that are still being filmed in most cases from the nose down – asking Siri a variety of questions. Apple shows us the versatility of Siri and its ability to respond to various queries and help users in various instances, whether it’s providing directions, answering questions, finding certain nearby shops, sending messages, setting up reminders, or customizing the user’s experience.

In “Road Trip” Siri assists travelers while in “Rock God” it deals mostly with the main character’s music passion. The main point Apple tries to get across is that Siri is a feature that iPhone 4S users simply have to use to make their mobile life easier. And we certainly shouldn’t be surprised to see Apple promote its Siri virtual assistant, after all we’re certainly going to see it in this year’s iOS devices including the new iPad 3, the iPhone 5/6, the iPod touch 5G and the iTV – although the last two devices are yet to be confirmed.

What about you, iPhone 4S users, are you using Siri on a regular basis?

In fact, according to AllThingsD, the iPad 3 special media event will take place in the first week of March, although a clear date is not available at this time. Once it becomes official, the iPad 3 should hit stores in the following days or weeks, just like it happened with the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S which were launched right after their official announcements:

Sources say the company has chosen the first week in March to debut the successor to the iPad 2, and will do so at one of its trademark special events. The event will be held in San Francisco, presumably at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Apple’s preferred location for big announcements like these.

No word yet on a street date for the iPad 3 (assuming that’s what it’s called), though my guess is retail availability will follow roughly the same schedule as that of the iPad 2: Available for purchase a week or so after the event.

The publication also notes that Apple will not schedule any “unusual” press event in February, as it was previously rumored. What’s also interesting to note is that Samsung will not hold any press event during MWC 2012, which is quite surprising and significant since it means the South Korean carrier will not announce any new major mobile device, whether smartphone or tablet. With Samsung not ready to announce any new device at MWC, the eyes of the mobile ecosystem will surely be focused on Apple’s upcoming event.

By comparison, last year the iPad 2 was announced on March 2 and sold nine days later, on March 11. And Samsung unveiled one Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 version (10.1v) at MWC 2011 in February, before the iPad 2 announcement, and a second one at CTIA 2011 in March after the iPad 2 launch, with the second device a lot more similar to the second-generation tablet.

The patent, as first discovered by the folks out at AppleInsider,was titled “Three Dimensional User Interface Effects on a Display by Using Properties of Motion”, and details a system involving a variety of sensors as well as a front-facing camera to track eye movements and adjust the image accordingly.

It’s doubly handy, of course, that your standard iPhone already has that aforementioned variety of sensors, with everything from compasses to accelerometers and beyond already running some systems on the device. Since they’re already there, why not put them to another use? Sure, I say, as long as they don’t get overtaxed–it’s always smart to use what you’ve got, it’s never smart to use so fully that it bogs the system down.

Despite the fact that all the necessary sensors are currently in play, the issue, apparently, is that they don’t yet work together in the right way to make a 3D interface happen. That’s part of what this patent covers, as well as a variety of other potential purposes, including dynamic shadowing, and the ability to see the various sides of a 3D-rendered object. And, from the look of things, it would all be done without the need for 3D glasses, and could even be moved onto computer with the addition of front-facing cameras to the desktop or laptop involved.

It’s a fairly exciting idea, really, but the question of the day will be just how useful something like this might be. Oh, sure, it’d be a lot of fun to have a 3D iPhone interface, but could it work without bogging down the system? If it could, I could see some appeal in there, so it only really remains to be seen if they actually make this one happen.

What do you guys think here? Figure a 3D iPhone interface would be something to see? Or would it just be a recipe for eyestrain and slower performance? No matter what you think about this one, head on down to the comments section and tell us how much a 3D iPhone interface appeals to you!

Yup, HTC has taken to Facebook and offered a nice status update in terms of their Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update plans. The short answer is this, the upgrades will begin next month. Of course the catch with that is only a few handsets will be included in that first bunch. Anyway, according to the Facebook posting, HTC will be updating the HTC Sensation, HTC Sensation 4G and HTC Sensation XE. As to when, so far no specific date has been set however HTC did say that the “upgrades will roll out by the end of March” which means at worst you are looking at roughly a month and a half wait.

Moving past that bunch and we come to the HTC Sensation XL which was noted as coming “soon there after.” Maybe that could mean April? Otherwise, the remaining handsets that are going to be upgraded still have some time to wait. Further details from HTC state that the HTC Rezound, HTC Vivid, HTC Amaze 4G, HTC EVO 3D, HTC EVO Design 4G, HTC Incredible S, HTC Desire S and HTC Desire HD will be updated sometime “later this year.”

Ah, the dreaded later this year timeframe — certainly not an ideal timeframe. But on the flip side, you should probably be thankful that your device is on the list. And last but certainly not least, HTC has promised that more details would be released in the “coming weeks” which leads us to believe that will be when the first group of handsets will get Android 4.0.

Those details that came earlier today arrived along with the roll-out plans for the Telus 4G LTE network. And well, mixed in with the network roll-out plans, Telus confirmed that the LG Optimus LTE smartphone would officially come available tomorrow (February 10th).

That being said, we were left wondering what the pricing was going to be. And keep in mind, the biggest point of wonder was whether or not Telus was going to keep in line with Bell who is already offering the Optimus LTE for $24.95 on a three-year agreement.

Needless to say the answer to that point is a big NO. Anyway, without any further adieu, here are the pricing details for Telus.

• 3-year promotional – $99.99
• 3-year agreement – $299.99
• 2-year agreement – $529.99
• 1-year agreement – $579.99
• No term – $629.99

With that, keep in mind these pricing details have come by way of a leaked internal screenshot which means that they could still change before the official release. Well, they likely will not, but we can hope anyway. Bottom line, it looks like those interested will be paying at least $99.99 to get the Optimus LTE with Telus.

And lastly, just to offer a bit of a refresher in terms of the specs. The LG Optimus LTE will bring a 4.5 inch True HD IPS touchscreen along with 4G LTE connectivity and Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Those who make the purchase can also expect to find an 8GB microSD card included in the box along with a a dual-core 1.5GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, 2GB of internal storage, microSD card slot, front facing 1.3 megapixel camera and an 8 megapixel rear facing camera with digital zoom, flash and 1080p HD video recording.

And sure, those who are looking for a long list of new features may be disappointed here, however when it comes to enhancing the browser performance, touch response and data connectivity — we deem it worthy. That being said, the update for the 8.2 and 10.1 inch tablets are (almost) identical.

According to the details coming from Verizon, the update measures in at 83.8MB in size and should take about 20 to 30 minutes to download and then another 10 minutes to install. As we always find, those with a tablet in hand looking to update — you have two options. Sit back and wait for the update notification to arrive (the route we suggest) or the get it now approach. If you are looking for the latter, grab your XYBOARD and navigate to Menu -> Settings -> About tablet -> System updates to get the process started.

As for the changelog, here is what you can expect to see after the update has been applied;

Device Features

• Enhanced browser performance to improve scrolling.
• Improved Touch Response.
• Maintain data connection when switching between Wi-Fi and the Verizon 3G and 4G LTE networks.
• Successfully connect to 4G LTE network and see the 4G LTE indicator.
• The Daily application now comes preloaded.
• Device is now capable of Global Roaming.

Email & Messaging

• Successfully open links in email messages without device needing to reboot.

Accessories

• Keyboard function supported in docking station.

The update for the 8.2 model will bring the software up to version 1.6.0M_279-MZ609 and the update for the 10.1 model will bring the software up to version 1.6.0M_279-MZ617. And lastly, as for that one small difference. That point comes in with the second item listed on the changelog. The 8.2 inch reads as listed above and the 10.1 inch reads as follow;

“Improved Touch Response that includes Stylus enhancements.”

The images sent out do include smartphones, so it’s a pretty strong suggesting that their “quad-core firsts” will likely involve some kind of smartphone, and considering that earlier word has suggested that HTC and LG both have quad-core smartphones in the making (including 4.7 inch displays that show at 720p, which is no mean feat), it just adds a bit of credence to the earlier notions.

Of course, it’s not exactly a “first” that Nvidia will be showing off, especially since the first Android quad-core got shown off out at CES just a few weeks ago, but since it was kept under tight wraps (reportedly, only the tablet version was available to sample to the fullest), Nvidia’s “first” may be in reference to a full hands-on-time demonstration.

And following the recent news that the iPad 3 may well not boast the quad-core processor we’d heard about earlier, that’s going to put them at something of a disadvantage in regards to the rest of the market. If Apple’s tablet starts to compete on the strengths of its name, as opposed to the strengths of its hardware, it could be in for a serious fight. Of course, considering what else the iPad 3 will likely offer up, superior processors alone may not be enough to keep the newly-minded quad-core Android contingent–phone and tablet alike–ahead of the long-standing front-runner.

But what about you guys? Think that we’ll be getting a look at a lot more quad-core gadgetry in the days to come? Will the Android hardware market finally scrape an edge out over the crew out at Apple? No matter what you think, head on down to the comments section and tell us what you think!