HTC

Verizon has recently given us a good glimpse of the smartphone landscape for late summer and early fall this year, staring the Samsung Galaxy S3. The lineup will include more than one Verizon flagship smartphone, and all of the details push Verizon way ahead of the pack in terms of offerings.

Beginning with the Samsung Galaxy S3, we know that it will definitely be offered by Big Red, we just don't know when. It's assumed by many industry analysts that Summer is the magic season for this stellar gadget to hit shelves.

And while we're on the subject of Android smartphones, there are several Motorola RAZR models due to hit Verizon in the coming months, one of which will most likely be the Motorola RAZR HD, with a larger and clearer display.

The full-steam vendor HTC ain't puttin' on the brakes either. They might actually be the star of the Android show this time around. It is being reported that HTC will have a major flagship device hitting Verizon shelves in the fall. It's said to feature a whopping 5-inch 1080p HD display, a new chipset that includes a quad-core Krait CPU and an Adreno 320 GPU, HTC Sense 5 and a Scribe pen. This sounds a lot like a competitor of Samsung's Galaxy Note.Read more

New reports are suggesting that a new "Facebook phone" is being developed by HTC, reminiscent of the Chacha and the Salsa. The first reports of this phone were leaked back in 2010, but were retracted when Facebook denied that it was working on its own smartphone with hardware and software partner HTC. The handsets that were thought to be Facebook phones ended up being unveiled the following month as the HTC Chacha and HTC Salsa, but consumers weren't terribly interested in mid-range Android phones with a dedicated Facebook sharing button. Rumors resurfaced this past November before dissipating, but now the reports seem a little more authentic.

Recently, industry sources reported that Facebook and HTC are jointly developing a smartphone. The device will be a customized Android smartphone launching in the third quarter of this year. The report draws a number of comparisons between the secret Facebook phone project and HTC's previous efforts with Google on the Nexus One, suggesting that because Samsung has taken over as Google's Nexus partner, HTC is looking elsewhere for branded Android projects. Sources also claim that Samsung has likely been tasked with building the next Nexus phone, though no additional details are available.

The Facebook phone currently under development is said to have a "platform exclusive to Facebook," enabling deep integration of Facebook services and providing a variety of custom functionality. No details have been shed regarding how the device might handle private user data.Read more

Sprint and HTC just unveiled the HTC EVO 4G LTE during an NYC press conference. As a Sprint version of the HTC One X, Sprint's new flagship smartphone features a 4.7-inch Super LCD display with 720p HD resolution, a dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, an 8-megapixel camera powered by a dedicated ImageChip, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, Sense 4.0, 16GB of internal storage plus microSDHC support, 1GB of RAM, NFC, 4G LTE and a 2,000 mAh battery.

The smartphone will also be Sprint's first device to feature HD voice, an enhancement that will be enabled by Sprint's Network Vision efforts. The service is not yet enabled, but rumors indicate that the difference between standard voice and HD voice is akin to the difference between a standard-resolution television and an HDTV.

HTC EVO 4G LTE pre-sales begin May 7th for $199.99 on contract, and the device will launch sometime in the second quarter. Read more

While the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and LG Viper will be the first 4G handsets to launch on Sprint's upcoming LTE network in the second quarter, there's a new report that suggests Sprint will follow these models up with a flagship launch early this summer. Blogger S4GRU on Sunday reports that a smartphone code-named the HTC Jet will hit store shelves on June 10th, nearly two years after Sprint's iconic HTC EVO 4G launched as the carrier's first WiMAX-enabled smartphone.

According to the site, the Jet is actually HTC's new One X smartphone, the stunning Ice Cream Sandwich-powered flagship handset that HTC unveiled at Mobile World Congress in February. While the global version of this smartphone will be powered by a quad-core Tegra 3 processor, S4GRU reports that Sprint's version will include a dual-core Snapdragon S4 like the variant AT&T is preparing to launch next month. The site also reports that the Galaxy Nexus and LG Viper will both become available on April 15th.

The One X is the only announced HTC handset to utilize the recently debuted Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 MSM8960 chipset, and to include Near Field Communication (NFC) capability. The Jet matches both of those specs, suggesting that the Jet will be a CDMA1X/EV-DO/LTE entry in the One X lineup.Read more

You could make a case that the Rezound phone by HTC could be the Flagship Android phone of the year so far. It ain't the thinnest, nor does it have Ice Cream Sandwich yet, but being the first carrier-branded handset in the US boasting a 720p HD display does set it apart from the rest. It's also the first HTC phone to incorporate Dr. Dre's Beats Audio technology. The HTC Rezound ($300 with a new two-year contract) is one of the more capable devices released in the past year. With robust specs, including a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor and Verizon LTE 4G connectivity, the Rezound could be the phone to beat for the rest of the year.

The Rezound sports a 4.3-inch, 1280-by-720-resolution super LCD screen, and it's not small in stature. It compares size-wise to the Nexus S and just a tiny bit smaller than the DROID RAZR. Having said that, this device is great for watching movies, live TV and playing games. It weighs in at around 6-ounces, which gives some added stability while talking on the phone.Read more

Great news for Sprint customers who own an HTC EVO View 4G! Starting today, the Android 3.2 Honeycomb update is available. To get the update now you have to manually download it (instructions below), or you can wait until early 2012 when Sprint will push the upgrade to users.

One thing to keep in mind - due to the Honeycomb layout, you'll lose your personalized widgets and screen setup. The device will revert to the out of the box home screen layout. Also, because Honeycomb is a tablet specific OS, some third-party apps might not work. Sprint recommends that you remove the application and check the Android Market to see if an updated application is available.

Business users will like this - the update will allow you to use the HTC Scribe digital pen with all applications on the device, as well as act like a stylus for navigation. Document Signature Capture is also now available via ActSoft – with additional application developers to follow. Corporate IT departments will also appreciate that the HTC EVO View 4G is now Sprint Data Link capable. This security feature allows for greater control over the device, while offering secure connectivity to a corporate network.Read more

AT&T has released its Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals and steals, offering some of this season's hottest devices with select Androids and Blackberry's for as little as a penny. The best part? No waiting in line at the store, AT&T is putting them all online, at att.com!

Beginning at 12:01 a.m. ET on Friday, November 25, the following promotions will be available for online shoppers while supplies last. Free shipping and waived activation is included:

• Friday, November 25, 12:01 a.m. ET: Touchscreen devices, including tablets, starting at unbelievably low prices
• Saturday, November 26, 12:01 a.m. ET: All Windows 7 and select Android devices, for just $.01
• Sunday, November 27, 12:01 a.m. ET: BlackBerry 9860 for only $.01, HTC Red Inspire for $29.99
• Monday, November 28, 12:01 a.m. ET: A lineup of some of AT&T's most popular smartphones—Motorola Atrix, Samsung Infuse, BlackBerry 9810, HTC Inspire and LG Thrill—all for only one cent!

Dual-core smartphone processors haven't had their sufficient honeymoon considering Quad-core smartphone processors are already the latest chatter. Leaked pictures of the HTC Edge, which will be the first smartphone to run on NVidia's yet-to-be announced Tegra 3 processor, have already surfaced. The new Tegra 3 sports four 1.5GHz cores, allowing the processor to simultaneously run multiple sets of program instructions.

The HTC Edge will feature a 4.7-inch 720p HD Super LCD 2 with optical lamination, 32GB of built-in storage, 1GB of RAM, an 8-megapixel camera with backside-illumination and support for 1080p HD video capture, a 720p front-facing camera, Beats Audio, Bluetooth 4.0, an 1,800 mAh battery and an NFC chip. It will sport a remarkably thin 8.8-millimeter unibody case.

The flagship HTC Edge superphone will launch in March or April next year, and it will feature Google's latest Android operating system, Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich." Google unveiled Android 4.0 alongside Samsung's Galaxy Nexus earlier this month, and it merges features from Gingerbread and Honeycomb into a single OS for both smartphones and tablets. Samsung, LG and Motorola are also already working on smartphones that will utilize NVIDIA's quad-core chipset.Read more

There's a new Android smartphone hitting store shelves soon that will make music lovers happy, the HTC Rezound. The first smartphone in the USA to feature Beats Audio, the HTC Rezound also comes with new Beats headphones, created exclusively to integrate with the Beats' audio profile on the device.

The HTC Rezound features Verizon 4G LTE technology and boasts a 4.3-inch true HD 720p display, 1.5 GHz dual-core processor, 16 GB on-board memory, 1 GB DDR2 RAM, Bluetooth 3.0, GPS, and comes with a 16 GB MicroSD pre-installed. It runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread with an upgrade to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich available in early 2012.

Because it's from HTC, the HTC Rezound comes packed with the latest HTC Sense experience and also includes a built-in microphone and an on-cable remote to pause, advance, rewind and answer a call mid-track. You'll also find an 8-megapixel camera with autofocus, dual LED flash, a f/2.2 and 28mm wide-angle lens with BSI sensor, as well as a 2-megapixel front-facing camera.Read more