Cell Phones

Okay, this is getting ridiculous. Samsung’s Galaxy Tab has once again surfaced online via unofficial channels, and this time it’s carrying a sticker on one side that clearly states CDMA. The iAndroid forum goer who allegedly snapped these shots praised the device for its strong speakers, call quality (although not clear if that’s over 3G or WiFi), and ability to run Flash — but at the same time notes the GPS is just a bit slow (it does work, though). More pictures in the gallery below, right next to our ever-increasing impatience to try this little guy out ourselves.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
VIA:gadgety.co.il
SOURCE:iAndroid

Verizon can’t be feeling too hot about being the straggler to the Galaxy S party, but the wait seems to be almost at an end. Best Buy’s just started taking in-store pre-orders for the Fascinate, while the latest internal document leak from VZW indicates a specific September 9 launch for the 4-inch Android handset. That’s when you should be able to snap the Fascinate up along with a prepaid data plan from Big Red, which fits in nicely with earlier unsanctioned disclosures on the matter. Either way, Samsung’s quest to conquer all networks with its Super Gorilla phone will be coming to a victorious end pretty soon.

[Thanks, Brian G.]
VIA:
SOURCE:Best Buy, Boy Genius Report

Looking for a good reason to camp out a Sprint store overnight? Then you won’t find a much better one these days than the Samsung Epic 4G, which is launching on the carrier tomorrow for $249.99 on a two-year contract (in case you needed a reminder). According to Sprint, most stores will be opening at 8 a.m. sharp, which still leaves you plenty of time to read (or re-read) our review of the phone.

VIA:Mobile Burn
SOURCE:Sprint

We’ve seen these kinds of Verizon launch decks before, so we tend to believe the September 8 date we’re seeing for the before. Either way, it’s looking like a sure thing that we’re going to see this on shelves come next week, completing Sammy’s impressive four-way coup to get its high-end Galaxy S line launched on all of the US nationals. Like the Droid 2 and Droid X, the Fascinate will feature Blockbuster Mobile to let you download full-length movies on the go — in other words, that’s a feature that won’t be a Droid brand exclusive — and Bing search will be installed out of the box, giving Microsoft a fun little foothold in Google’s kingdom. So, who’s buying? And while we’re on the subject, why isn’t this thing called the “Droid Fascinate?”

[Thanks, Bryan]
VIA:
SOURCE:Android Does

When Samsung’s 7-inch tablet finally sees the states, it might indeed be more than a giant Galaxy S — for one thing, it may have Froyo, but for another, it could have faster, more building-penetrating WiFi than most comparable devices on the market. That’s because when the Galaxy Tab hit the FCC by the name “SHW-M180S,” it came loaded with dual-band 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz 802.11 a/b/g/n WiFi capable of speeds up to 150Mbps. It also intriguingly sports the GSM 1900 radio frequency, meaning an AT&T launch might be in the cards alongside the CDMA one rumored for Verizon. Browsing through the WiFi Alliance databases in an attempt to track the tablet down, we spotted both a “GT-P1000T” and a “GT-P1000L,” each with dual-band WiFi, suggesting that there are multiple versions in the works… and the Global Certification Forum shows one of them actually has quad-band GSM and HSDPA connectivity. Not bad, Samsung. Now, let’s hear about battery life.
VIA:Wireless Goodness
SOURCE:FCC, Global Certification Forum

We told you it was coming, now the Samsung Epic 4G is on sale at Sprint for a cool $249.99 plus two year life commitment. In other words, it’s time to let Sprint know whether this Galaxy S variant (with — gasp — working GPS) is worth the $50 premium over HTC’s EVO 4G. Well, is it?

Update: As usual, Amazon’s offering a discount showing a $199.99 listing for new contracts. It still shows a pre-order status (with 2-3 weeks ship time) but that’s likely to change any minute now.

[Thanks, Jonathan P. and Jason J.]
VIA:
SOURCE:Sprint

Far be it from us to use a screen shot as proof that Android 2.2 has been ported to a particular device — they’re impossibly easy to ‘shop and hack, after all — but there’s a groundswell of information today that a legit build of Froyo is in the wild for the Samsung i9000, better known as the Galaxy S. Early indications are that the build and the update process aren’t without their issues, suggesting we might be looking at a beta release — but if you’ve got a European version of the phone and you have no desire to wait for Samsung or your carrier to give you a proper build with proper instructions, this is your best bet at the moment (and it seems that GPS performance is improved at least a little bit). Owners of Vibrants and Captivates in the US need not apply here since the model numbers differ, but we’re foolishly hopeful that Sammy can bust all of these updates out in rapid-fire fashion.

[Thanks, Frederik]
VIA:SamFirmware (Twitter)
SOURCE:SamFirmware, xda-developers

While Sprint, AT&T and T-Mobile customers have been enjoying their epic, vibrant and captivating Galaxy S variants for weeks, the only thing fascinating about Verizon’s take on the Samsung smartphone is how long it’s taken to arrive. Come September, however, that’s all liable to change, as a very familiar-looking SCH-I500 has just allegedly appeared in Verizon warehouse databases. Coupled with the fact that the MTV Music Video Awards (airing on September 12th) are now officially sponsored by “Samsung Fascinate a Galaxy S phone” and Verizon Wireless itself, we’re thinking it’s a safe bet that early September will find the 4-inch Super AMOLED handset on store shelves.
VIA:Android Central, Boy Genius Report
SOURCE:Phandroid, MTV Video Music Awards

What now, Verizon? We kid, we kid — regional player MetroPCS’ bid to become the first American carrier to launch a commercial LTE network won’t likely have much bearing on the competitive landscape, but that doesn’t make it any less impressive. We’d already known on the record that the company was on track for a launch before the end of 2010, but Samsung — which is producing MetroPCS’ inaugural 4G handset, the Craft — is now saying on no uncertain terms that they’re ready to flip the switch in the service’s first two commercial markets, Dallas and Las Vegas, next month. Interestingly, MetroPCS won’t confirm Samsung’s statement, so we suspect Sammy just blew the lid off this thing before MetroPCS was ready. Whoops! Service pricing — and device availability beyond the Craft — both remain to be seen.
VIA:GSMA Mobile Business Briefing
SOURCE:Wall Street Journal

Now we don’t have much more to go on here than some analyst chatter and a lengthy article from TechCrunch, but if you believe what you read, a major player has just dropped Windows Phone 7 devices from its roadmap. And that player is Dell. According to Jonathan Goldberg, an telecom analyst at Deutsche Bank, the only remaining partners currently working on Windows Phone 7 handsets are HTC, Samsung, and LG. If this is true (and that’s a big if), that means that the seriously awesome looking Dell Lightning that we spied in leaks recently will never see the light of day — as a WP7 device, at least.

We already knew that HP was out of the game (instead focusing on webOS phones), but the casual suggestion that Dell has made for the door here is somewhat suspect. The company itself hasn’t made any statements (we’ve reached out but have yet to hear back), and while Dell has certainly concentrated a lot of effort on Android devices recently, its partnership with Microsoft is long-standing (despite dabbling in the world of open source). If the story turns out to be true, it could spell mixed (if not outright bad) tidings for the Windows Phone 7 launch, which Goldberg alleges may cost Microsoft upwards of half a billion dollars — no small fee. Losing two of the biggest computer-makers in the world can’t feel very good when you’re trying to fight your way back to relevancy, but at least on the bright side, neither HP nor Dell have a track record of making anything other than heroically mediocre handsets. Take this all with a grain of salt right now, however, as the author of the TechCrunch article provides no source for the statements from Goldberg, and… well, he’s an analyst, and they’re prone to making up all kinds of crazy things. We’re investigating, and will let you know as soon as we have more info.
VIA:Business Insider
SOURCE:TechCrunch