Nokia N9 romancing with Android spotted, and a MeeGo root access video

We know that Nokia CEO Stephen Elop briefly entertained the idea of going Android, and was even in talks with the Andy Rubin gang about it, but they didn't cave giving Nokia any preferences over the competition, so the Finns went the Windows Phone way. 

Google's Eric Schmidt even said after the Nokia Windows Phone announcement that the Android door is still open should Nokia change its mind.

An image of Nokia N9 running some test Android build emerged that might be a remnant of those happy green robot times when Nokia has been toying around with Android. 

It might as well be just a screenshot loaded on a Nokia N9, or a straight-out Photoshop job, but it seems rather rough around the edges, with botched-up resolutions as you would expect from a tryout. Plus, it is coming from the same source that leaked the Nokia N9 last month, before Stephen Elop's "confidential" leak yesterday, so it might have some street cred.

In the meantime a video emerged of a Nokia N9 with root access, which paves the way for developers and the modding community to play around with custom ROM installations.

Who knows, given the 1GHz Texas Instruments ARM-based chipset, the phone is certainly ripe for all sorts of Android shenanigans, even without Myriad's Alien Dalvik software. Here's to hoping we can see some fusion of both MeeGo and Android worlds on the Nokia N9 at a future point.

Motorola Atrix 4G to get Gingerbread treatment in July

Motorola Atrix 4G users may be excited to hear that they may be receiving the Android 2.3 Gingerbread update sometime next month. Test builds have been sent out, and users can expect the update to hit through an over the air update.

The Tegra 2-toting handset will be updated to version 2.3.3 of the Android OS, and will receive the latest version of the Motoblur UI, which attempts to smooth out some of the mess that it is. When you’re dealing with a heavily customized user interface like Motoblur, sometimes you may not even notice that you’re on the new version of the OS, as the skin itself hides it. Luckily, Motorola has implemented some of the nice touches found in Gingerbread, and you’ll find things like the overscroll glowing effect you’d find on stock Gingerbread. The updated version of Motoblur should bring a handful of enhancements as well, including a redone keyboard, tweaked applications and icons, enhanced camera software, and more.

While it’s still unknown, it may be a bit too soon to expect that the Gingerbread update will unlock the bootloader of the handset. Motorola has made promises that it will begin to unlock the bootloaders of its phones sometime in late 2011, and July is just barely past the mid-way point, so to expect an unlocked bootloader may be wishful thinking. Still, we certainly can’t say it’s not a possibility.

The first dual-core phone in the US is definitely a powerhouse, but we’re beginning to see devices that best it in specs, and come with Android Gingerbread out of the box. Hopefully the Gingerbread bump will help the Atrix maintain its allure once the hordes of dual-core competition make it to market.

Here’s to an Android phone getting an update in a (somewhat) timely fashion! Now if it was only the latest version, we’d be even more exited.

Sprint HTC EVO 3D and View 4G now available

You’ve waited patiently, but you’ve also waited just long enough – the HTC EVO 3D for Sprint, along with the HTC View 4G Android tablet, is now available for your purchase and pleasure. We first got a glimpse of the HTC EVO 3D at CTIA 2011 in Orlando, FL, and it looked like a beast of a phone. In addition to having your run-of-the-mill high-end Android phone specs, it also rocked two cameras in the back for 3D pictures and video recording. The display itself was able to show us some glasses-free 3D content, too.

At the same time, we saw the HTC View 4G, an Android tablet that is compatible with a stylus. Sometimes you want to take notes or doodle on your tablet, and using your finger isn’t quite as intuitive as using a stylus – after all, we’ve spent most of our lives drawing and writing with pens and pencils. The digital pen is called the HTC Scribe, and it will set you back $79.99, which might be a bit outrageous. However, Sprint says that for a limited time, it will throw in the Scribe for free with a purchase of the 7-inch View 4G Android tablet.

The EVO 3D will sell for $199.99 with a new, two-year contract and qualifying data plan. The HTC View 4G sells for $399.99 with a two-year agreement and a data plan starting at $34.99.

Where I can buy Nokia N9?

The Nokia N9 is Nokia's first phone with MeeGo. It features a curved 3.9-inch AMOLED display with Gorilla Glass. The N9 is unique as it doesn't have any buttons on the front, so all navigation is handled with virtual buttons and gestures in MeeGo. Under the hood, a 1GHz TI OMAP3630 CPU matched with PowerVRSGX530 GPU and 1GB of RAM, powers the platform. On the back, there is an 8-megapixel Carl Zeiss wide-angly auto-focus camera capable of capturing 720p videos. The phone ships with Nokia Maps supporting online navigation and features NFC, Dolby Headphone and Dolby Digital Plus. The N9 will be sold in 16GB and 64GB varieties.


Search on http://www.m2cmobile.com, Nokia N9 has been listed on it!!!

Apple is awarded a potentially industry-altering patent on touchscreens

Apple filed for this touchscreen patent back in 2007. But now that it has finally been awarded, it could have sweeping effects on the wireless landscape in the U.S. The patent covers nearly every industry-standard feature of the capacitive interface, which would affect every device maker.

The patent states, most generally, that it covers "a computer-implemented method, for use in conjunction with a portable multifunction device with a touch screen display, [that] comprises displaying a portion of page content, including a frame displaying a portion of frame content and also including other content of the page, on the touch screen display."

The patent also extends to multi-touch gestures like pinch-to-zoom, which have become ubiquitous among touchscreen devices. Florian Mueller of Foss Patents says that Apple could use this patent award to bully other device makers out of the U.S. market: "This patent covers a kind of functionality without which it would be hard to build a competitive smartphone."

Experts suggest that the patent could be interpreted as only applying to the web browser. But even that would prove problematic. Unless the patent is invalidated, Apple could legitimately sue every smartphone and tablet maker, as well as makers of touchscreen music players. On the other hand, the volume of support against the patent could make it easier to invalidate.

A breakdown of the best-selling devices at AT&T and Verizon

We suppose this wasn't much of a mystery. BTIG Research determined that the iPhone 4 is the best-selling device at Verizon and AT&T retail locations.

They conducted the survey by contacting 250 retail stores, and asking them which devices were selling better than others. They didn't ask for specific numbers, so we can only see the percentage of stores at which a device is dominant.

At AT&T, the iPhone 4 has a commanding lead as the top device at 65% of AT&T's locations. Android devices were the top sellers at 31% of stores. At Verizon, the iPhone 4 is the top seller at 51% of stores, and 4G LTE Android handsets are the top sellers at 11% of stores. In case you didn't catch that, BTIG made the odd choice to compare the iPhone 4 with 4G LTE Android handsets at Verizon, rather than Android handsets overall.

The real shocker is that 2% of AT&T stores reported BlackBerry as the top seller, and 1% of stores reported Windows Phone 7 as the top seller. We think it would be interesting to see where those locations are (geographically, demographically), to see why those stores are defying the odds.

Sony Ericsson Introduces Water-Proof Phone

Sony Ericsson introduced the Xperia Ray and Active, two high-end Android smartphones, including one that's water-proof, as the company looks to turnaround its struggling handset business.

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The Japanese-Swedish joint venture said the Ray is an upscale device with a sleek design and an aluminum chassis. It features a 3.3-inch touch screen display and packs in an impressive 8.1-megapixel camera with 16x zoom, as well as face and smile detection and 720p HD video recording.

Meanwhile, the Active is geared toward users with active lifestyles. The phone is built to withstand dust and water, allowing consumers to use devices in less-than-perfect conditions. The 3-inch touch screen can also handle wet or sweaty hands. It also features apps to monitor heart rate and pulse.

The pricing and availability of the devices will be announced at a later date.

"Android smartphones is a rapidly growing part of the market, and we see our share within that market growing," said Steve Walker, Sony Ericsson's chief marketing officer, to the AP.

The company hopes the two new devices boost its current 11 percent market share of the Android platform.

The beleaguered handset maker, which has seen its sales drop 23 percent in the first quarter alone, compared to a year ago, is now looking to move to more mid-to-high end phones rather than low-end devices.

In addition, Sony Ericsson plans to focus on the Asia-Pacific region, where, according to Walker, by 2015, 60 percent of mobile phones sold in the market will be smartphones.

"We made quite a fundamental shift in strategy and decided to focus a large part of our efforts into smartphones, to focus on the mid- and high-end part of the business," Walker said. "In many markets, we see a dramatic shift from feature phones to smartphones."

Sony Ericsson seems primed to make a strong impression in the high-end smartphone market, especially now with the backing of the popular Android operating system.

The company said smartphones accounted for more than 60 percent of sales during the first quarter of 2011.

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Bell to offer Samsung Galaxy S II on July 14th

The Samsung Galaxy S II is getting closer and closer to U.S. soil. On Monday,  a leaked screenshot revealed that Canada's Bell will be launching the sizzling hot handset on July 14th. The screenshot did not divulge any news on pricing. This discovery follows by a few days a tweet from fellow Canadian carrier SaskTelsaying that the highly anticipated device will be available from the mobile operator some time next month.

Last month, online retailer Wireless Xcessories Group had listed on its web site a silicon case on sale for the Samsung Galaxy S II. As we reported, the listing leaked out the news that the Galaxy S II will be rolled out to three of the top four carriers in the U.S. as the Verizon Function, the AT&T Attain and the Sprint Within.

For a brief moment last week it seemed that a Verizon spokeswoman had confirmed the Samsung Galaxy S II for a July release, but before the celebration could start, Verizon backtracked saying that the spokeswoman was mistaken and was really talking about the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet.

Despite that bit of misinformation, there is no denying that we are getting closer and closer to the official introduction of the Samsung Galaxy S II in the States. Many U.S. cell phone fans have already mentally decided that their next phone will be this beast and are simply waiting for carrier availability, launch dates and pricing.

Zoosh Offers E-Wallet Service, Without Hardware

Zoosh is a new technology that could give mobile payment capabilities to almost any phone, without the need of extra hardware, but its success is dependent on achieving a critical mass of users and supporting retailers.

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Developed by wireless company Naratte, Zoosh uses a phone's speaker and microphone to enable ultrasonic communications with other devices. The technology could allow fast and convenient contactless payments similar to e-wallet services that use near-field communications, or NFC, technology.

"When we look at the current technologies out there, they have fallen short in trying to provide this device-to-device technology," said Brett Paulson, Naratte's chief executive.

NFC, which lets devices communicate wirelessly over short distances, is the emerging standard in the turbulent mobile payment space, but only a handful of phones currently support it.

Zoosh is positioning itself as an inexpensive stopgap, though if it establishes itself in the market, it could hang on as an option in low-cost handsets even after NFC becomes widespread.

Zoosh, like NFC, could also simplify direct phone-to-phone communications like sharing contact data. It could even set up pairings with compatible Bluetooth devices.

The company isn't the only e-wallet alternative, though. Mobile payment startup Square has a wireless payment system that works with iPhones using an inexpensive dongle that plugs into the headphone jack. And Starbucks has serviced millions of customers with its Starbucks Card Mobile app, which interacts with point-of-sale terminals via barcodes flashed onto the phone's screen.

However, NFC remains the go-to technology. It will be used in Isis, a joint project of AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Visa and MasterCard. Google is also using the technology in its phones as it conducts trials with MasterCard and Citigroup.

In addition, Samsung and Visa will test NFC payments at London's Olympic Games next year.

Whatever technology emerges as the standard, it will see mobile platform owners, carriers and traditional payment companies trying to monetize both the actual transactions and the valuable marketing data that will be harvested, as people helpfully build their consumer profiles by paying with their handsets.

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AT&T offering up new $50 unlimited Talk & Text for GoPhone users on June 26th

AT&T has just announced a great new plan for GoPhone users, which offers up unlimited Talk and Text, with different data options. The plan is set to go live on June 26th, and should be a great plan to go with the LG Thrive Android phone.

Existing GoPhone customers can choose to switch to the new plan when it launches this coming Sunday, and will provide unlimited texts to 100 countries. While the web plan itself isn’t included within the $50, AT&T will be providing data plans that range from $5 to $25, so you can make sure you’re getting the right amount of data for your usage.

“As summer approaches, consumers want a plan that provides even more value as they connect with their loved ones in the U.S and abroad,” said Judy Cavalieri, vice president, Voice and Prepaid Products, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. “GoPhone provides customers a unique opportunity to experience the dependability and availability of AT&T’s national wireless network with no long term commitment.”

AT&T offers a pretty decent selection of phones you can use with its prepaid service but we’d have to pick the LG Thrive over the rest. It’s no Inspire 4G, but it bests many of the other GoPhone offers out there, and since it’s Android you’ll have access to the Market to download applications. The heavy texters out there can also opt for the Pantech P7040p, which features a QWERTY keyboard.

If you’re looking to save some green this summer, then hit up AT&T this Sunday to get your GoPhone on.

Smartphone Data Usage Up, Unlimited Plans Disappearing

Smartphone owners are using more than twice the data from a year ago data usage, while data plan rates have remained constant, according to research firm Nielsen. But as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end.

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The marketing company's report comes amid news that carriers are reconsidering their data pricing, in a move that could help them gain profit from rising data usage.

Verizon is phasing out its $30-a-month unlimited data plan this summer and replacing it with plans that charge based on the number of gigabytes used. Verizon is rumored to switch data plans as soon as July 7.

AT&T, meanwhile, has been charging tiered rates for about a year, while T-Mobile recently announced it will switch over as well.

Sprint has yet to join the charge-by-the-data-usage set, but is expected to usage continues to skyrocket. Nielsen said usage increased around 90 percent year-over-year among smartphone users and more than doubled among the top 10 percent of data users.

Meanwhile, carriers weren't getting much bang for their buck, charging 8 cents per megabyte when they were getting 14 cents per megabyte the year before, thanks to increased data usage and unlimited data plans.

Verizon and AT&T, in particular, are interested in scrapping unlimited data plans as Android and iPhone owners use the most data -- 582-megabytes per month, on average, for Android owners and 492-megabytes per month for iPhone owners.

"Growth in smartphone data usage is clearly being driven by app-friendly operating systems like Apple's iOS and Google's Android," the Nielsen report said.

Google has every right to feel a little smug about beating out Apple in the data usage game, and it may mean Android phones are more fun to operate or that the Android Market is beginning to have a more crowd-pleasing selection of apps.

But the competition is likely to heat up as the percentage of cell phone owners packing smartphones increases from 37 percent now to an expected 50 percent next year, according to Nielsen.

Whether the plans will cost users more in the long run is uncertain. Some people may cut back on their usage, which could hurt the mobile app market or cause some people to be less interested in buying internet-ready phones, a step that could backfire on some carriers. But as long as people are creatures of habit, wireless customers are likely to keep on consuming data around the clock.

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what is Samsung Galaxy S2 ?

Samsung has been working hard to create quality ads for their new Galaxy S II, but this one leaves me questioning its intention. This new ad was posted just a few days ago, and it comes with a slightly different flow than the usual Galaxy S II commercials.

Generally, Galaxy S II ads have gone on about things that make the device much better than the rest. The ads have shown off the phone’s thinness, voice-activated features, fast processor, and other key features. This video on the other hand doesn’t do any of that, but is much more unique than any other phone ad I’ve ever seen.

The video shows off a guy’s finger skills in a style of dancing called “Tutting“, and then at the end, it hits you with the statement “unleash your fingers.” If you’ve read our review on the Galaxy S II, you might understand what they may be trying to say. The dual-core 1.2 Ghz processor-powered phone has a screen that is incredibly responsive. The phone’s digitizer can handle over ten fingers, so you can certainly unleash you and a friend’s fingers on the 4.3-inch screen and enjoy the leftover smudges.

This is one unusual ad and while I’m sure the message Samsung was trying to portrayal is important, but an ad shouldn’t need an instruction manual.

Mobile Shopping Set to Grow

Mobile shopping is set to grow steadily for the next five years, according to a Forrester report, and may destabilize traditional shopping.

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The report predicts that shopping on smartphones will rise from $6 billion, or 2 percent of the total e-commerce pie, this year, to $31 billion and account for 7 percent of web sales in 2016.

According to the report, most retailers don't yet understand the potential for mobile technology to boost sales.

"Most companies view mobile as a channel that is primarily about completing sales through a mobile site," said Sucharita Mulpuru, the report's author. "But the opportunity to arm store associates with instantaneous information and richer payment acceptance capabilities may be the most compelling reason for retailers to invest in mobile."

Some retailers are hesitant to transition to mobile shopping due to consumer security fears and relative clumsiness of conducting e-commerce on a smartphone versus a PC or tablet.

But even if people don't necessarily shop on their phones, they'll still shop with their phones. Mulpuru predicts that retail customers armed with smartphones to access product information and price comparisons and force bricks-and-mortar stores to work even harder against online retailers.

Even as shopping remains largely in the traditional domains of physical retailers and large-format web access, phones will play an increasing role in conducting the actual transactions. Carriers, phone makers, and financial companies are both cooperating and competing to develop phone-based payment systems.

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T-Mobile having Tuesday Twitter Trivia contest to give away 3 free HTC Sensation 4G units

On the heels of its Father's Day contest for which it gave away 10 HTC Sensation 4G to 5 winners and their dads, T-Mobile has another contest lined up for Tuesday evening. On June 21st, the nation's fourth largest carrier will be hosting a Twitter trivia contest and giving away 3 more HTC Sensation 4Gs.

T-Mobile tweeted to announce a Tuesday Trivia contest and will give away three HTC Sensation 4G units

The format of the contest is unknown as is the subject of the questions that will be asked. T-Mobile, announcing the trivia contest in a tweet, says more details will be coming. As soon as we know how the contest will work, we will pass the information on to you. In the meantime, you can spend the rest of the weekend boning up on your trivia. It will be worth it if you end up with a free HTC Sensation 4G, considered one of the top Android models currently available.

Just in case you are interested, the winners of T-Mobile's Father's Day contest were announced in a separate tweet from the carrier. T-Mobile selected from its Facebook wall the 5 best photos of an entrant with his/her dad. The winners are Justin Sterling, Jennifer Gaertman Tolman, Troy Bauman, Noah Furgerson and Ja'Quan Baker. Each won their own HTC Sensation 4G and one for their pop.