© 2012, Wideawake. All rights reserved.

May 23rd sounds a lot better than indefinitely!

Thanks to Inside Sprint Now for a little hope.

© 2012, NinjaMom. All rights reserved.

According to an Inside Sprint Now blog ALL pre-orders are in a "Pick and Pack" status. So wouldn't that mean that the pre-orders are basically ready to go and we are really just waiting to find out what is happening on the legal side of things.

I personally like thinking that they will have enough on hand to ship out the orders all at once, but I am not sure how I feel about being told the phones are at customs when the above makes it sound like they are not.

What are you thoughts on this? Do you think that all orders are really ready to go like mentioned in the Inside Sprint Now blog? Do you think they are truly still sitting at customs? Is it possible that this is just a scheme in Apple's master plan to sue everyone into dumbing down their products so Apple can catch up? ((Ok, maybe that last question was a bit "aggressive".))

Thanks to Inside Sprint Now for their insight on the this story here: http://insidesprintnow.wordpress.com/2012/05/16/update-htc-evo-4g-lte-delayed-launch-status/

© 2012, NinjaMom. All rights reserved.

Word has it that HTC released the following statement:

The US availability of the HTC One X and HTC EVO 4G LTE has been delayed due to a standard U.S. Customs review of shipments that is required after an ITC exclusion order. We believe we are in compliance with the ruling and HTC is working closely with Customs to secure approval. The HTC One X and HTC Evo 4G LTE have been received enthusiastically by customers and we appreciate their patience as we work to get these products into their hands as soon as possible.

What do you think? Will this affect the pre-orders and in stores stock, just in store stock?

This news was first posted on The Verge.

Story developing...

© 2012, NinjaMom. All rights reserved.

If you have been around the various forms you will see a frenzy forming. Rumor has been that pre-orders for the Evo Lte would be shipping out tonight at 11 pm and pre-order customers are concerned. Why? Well, because Sprint hasn't really updated any order information for their customers. Worry is setting in that the phones will be delayed and that pre-ordering really isn't going to get the phone to the consumer any faster.

Now add rumors of delays in shipping and you have a full on mass panic. All we can say is take what you read on the internet with a grain of salt. Remember, than anyone can say anything and it will spread like wildfire. Also, remember that the official release date is the 18th. It is the 15th, we still have time for Sprint to make good on their promise that we will get it first.

It has always been my experience when dealing with Sprint that I always get the phone before I get any kind of update in their system. My personal account shows that Sprint owes me money since they have already charged my credit card for the order. I have no tracking information. Am I concerned? Sure, because I already passed on my Evo 3d to my husband and I am stuck with my daughter's old LG at the moment. Am I'm stressing out? Not yet... but I will if this goes into the weekend. I am a phone geek after all.

I did come across this press release on 5-14-12 from Sprint and I feel that if they were concerned about stock they would not be pushing media events at a brick and mortar store.

Surely they wouldn't stick us pre-order folks with a rain check slip and release them to the general public. Right?

© 2012, NinjaMom. All rights reserved.

Microsoft is sending out emails that once again inform us that the Windows Mobiel 6.x marketplace will indeed be unavailable after May 17.  We all knew this was happening and that Windows 6.x was a dying OS, but it's still sad for those of us who spent time cooking and flashing ROMs and enjoying all that WM6.x had to offer.

MS suggests you make sure you have all updates installed for all of your WM6.x apps before the Market Place is taken down, although I'm not sure how often those apps have been getting updated recently.  They also remind us that hard-resets apparently wipe our games and apps...

Not that I personally ever used the WP6.x Market Place, but this may be the final eulogy of the WM OS we used to love modifying so much.

A moment of silence please.

 REMINDER: Windows Marketplace for Mobile 6.x to be Discontinued

May 2, 2012

Dear Windows Mobile 6.x customer:

Microsoft is discontinuing the Windows Marketplace for Mobile service for Windows Mobile 6.x. Please review the details below to familiarize yourself with the changes:

Windows Mobile 6.x Marketplace Service To Be Discontinued

Beginning May 17, 2012, the Windows Mobile 6.x Marketplace service will no longer be available. Starting on this date, you will no longer be able to browse, buy or download applications directly on your Windows Mobile 6.x phone using the Windows Mobile 6.x Marketplace application and service. Please note: The service discontinuation date has changed to May 17, 2012.

Applications and games acquired from the Windows Mobile 6.x Marketplace service installed on your Windows Mobile 6.x phone will continue to work after the service is discontinued on May 17, 2012. However, additional downloads of these applications and games from the Windows Mobile 6.x Marketplace service will no longer be available.

Take Action

Microsoft recommends you review the applications or games installed on your Windows Mobile 6.x phone and install any available updates in advance of the Windows Mobile 6.x Marketplace service shut-down on May 17, 2012.

Please note: All phone data, including applications acquired through the Windows Mobile 6.x Marketplace service, data and user-specific settings, will be deleted from your Windows Mobile 6.x phone in the event that your phone is wiped or "hard reset." Any data on a removable storage card, if present, will also be deleted if your phone is wiped or "hard reset".

Windows Mobile applications and games that are compatible with Windows Mobile 6.x may still be available directly from their developers or via third-party marketplaces.

Thank you for your continued support of Windows Phone.

-The Windows Phone Team

Ready for a new phone? Explore the latest Windows Phones – now with over 80,000 applications and games available!

© 2012, orangekid. All rights reserved.

As a parent, you probably are always thinking of ways to make learning fun for your child and Alphabet Find does just that. This educational app makes learning letters, numbers, and shapes a fun, interactive experience for children.

Find the Right Image

Playing is as simple as listening to the alphabet, number, or shape and then finding it in the grid of images. To play listen and look for the given letter, number, or shape, and then find it in the grid of images. If you need a hint, wait a few seconds and the correct answer will start to bounce.

You will be amazed to see how quickly kids start recognizing images. Kids have fun earning stars on every correct answer. As they progress through the levels, they can take up timed challenges.

Make Education Fun

Keep tabs on your child's progress by checking out your child's score card. Choose from three levels of difficulty. Alphabet Find engages your child's auditory, visual, and fine motor skills. This app is a great way to help your kid develop a sense of achievement while they learn basic literacy skills.

© 2012, tsowen. All rights reserved.

Samsung has finally leaped over Apple to become the number one smartphone manufacturer.  Until Q1 2012, Apple was the world leader in smartphone sales, but IDC has released shipment figures showing Samsung leading the pack!

Apple did sell an impressive 35.1 million iPhones in Q1 of this year, but Samsung did better with 42.2 million units sold.  Nokia is also continually falling in market share where they once were the overwhelming leader of phone sales.   With the eminent release of the SGS3, Samsung could jump to an even more commanding lead since rumors point to an iPhone 5 October release!

© 2012, orangekid. All rights reserved.

What do you think about Wozniak's comments? Is he just being truthful, or downright blasphemous?

© 2012, Tinkerbell. All rights reserved.

As the days grow closer to the highly anticipated release of the Samsung Galaxy S3 we are seeing a lot of leaked images and renders of the device.  Here we have yet another supposedly leaked image in what appears to be a scan from the service manual for the device, along with a list of specs, which comes from an unofficial Samsung blog, SamMobile.  If you have been following all the leaks you will note that this one is an exact match for the shape teased by Samsung Denmark on Facebook last week. This could be the real deal and the actual, final design of Samsung’s new flagship phone.

© 2012, tsowen. All rights reserved.

Sprint has been sending out flyers in hopes to generate a lot of interest in what it hopes to be one of its new flag ship devices the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. With the Samsung Galaxy S3 on the horizon I am not convinced that many will jump from there current device to the Nexus, but only time will tell. I will be attending the event for PPCGeeks bringing you live coverage.

© 2012, tsowen. All rights reserved.

It's been what seems like an eternity since Google stopped selling the Nexus One directly through google.com. Google struggled with support and logistics involved with selling a consumer electronic, and shelved the concept, instead offering its next Nexus device, the Nexus S, through retail partners. In a surprise move today, the search giant has resumed selling devices directly, this time with the Galaxy Nexus GSM/UMTS unlocked model.

© 2012, tsowen. All rights reserved.

Tempted to try out the much talked about Instagram app? Well, be careful where you get it from - as malware authors are distributing malware disguised as the popular app.

A day after the acquisition announcement, Instagram became the top free iPhone app on Apple’s App Store, and Android downloads have been off the charts (way over 5 million in less than a week, though Instagram has yet to share official numbers). The Instagram hype is higher than ever, and malware writers are of course looking to cash in.

They have set up fake websites advertising fake Instagram apps, which by the way don’t really do a good job of looking like the real one. Sophos Security has found a malicious program, identified as Andr/Boxer-F, a trojan designed to swipe data from your device. In the background, the malicious app sends expensive international text messages to earn its creators revenue.

Android lets you download and install apps from anywhere. If you want the official version of an app, however, get it from the official Google Play store. Here is the official Instagram link: play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.instagram.android.

© 2012, tsowen. All rights reserved.

© 2012, tsowen. All rights reserved.

Samsung Galaxy S II handsets not tied to a specific carrier no longer have to wait for their Android 4.0 upgrade. According to a tweet from Samsung’s UK Twitter account, unlocked Galaxy S II phones can now download and install the software, known as Ice Cream Sandwich. Orange and T-Mobile customers with a Galaxy S II in Europe remain on Android 2.3, but Samsung says these will “follow as soon as possible.”

SlashGear caught the tweet and notes that the Android 4.0 upgrade can be found through Samsung’s Kies software. Here in the U.S., carriers typically push the software over the air after they’ve tested and tweaked the platform. For that reason some people purchase unlocked handsets, with the reasonable thought that these would be among the first to see updates. Unfortunately, with the Galaxy S II that hasn’t been the case as some carrier models already received Android 4.0.

Along with the updated Google Android software, Samsung has added a Face Unlock feature; similar to that found on stock Android 4.0 devices, such as the Galaxy Nexus. Also included is Samsung’s latest TouchWiz user interface to correspond with Google’s own software updates. It appears that Samsung is pushing the updates out ahead of a May 3 product launch event; likely to be the Galaxy S III.

Source: GIGAOM

© 2012, tsowen. All rights reserved.

Thanks in large part to Android's history of lax app policing, Google's mobile operating system has been criticized as insecure.

But now it appears that apps with no permissions pose a new threat, gaining access to sensitive personal information without authorization. Leviathan Security Group researcher Paul Brodeur explained in a blog post earlier this week that he created a proof-of-concept to demonstrate that "no permissions" apps still have access to the device's SD card, handset identification data, and files stored by other apps.

On the SD card, Brodeur's app yielded a list of all non-hidden files, including photos, backups, and external configuration files. Brodeur said he found that OpenVPN certificates were stored on his own device's SD card.

"While it's possible to fetch the contents of all those files, I'll leave it to someone else to decide what files should be grabbed and which are going to be boring," he said.

He then fetched the /data/system/packages.list file to which apps were installed on the device and scanned the directories to determine whether sensitive information could be read from those directories. He said during testing that he was able to read some files belonging to other apps. "This feature could be used to find apps with weak-permission vulnerabilities, such as those that were reported in Skype last year," he said.

Lastly, Brodeur's app was able to gather the handset's identification information. Without the "PHONE_STATE" permission, applications can't read the device's International Mobile Equipment Identity or International Mobile Subscriber Identity. However, the Global System for Mobile Communications information and SIM vendor IDs could still be read.

"Though this app uses buttons to activate the three different actions detailed above, it's trivial for any installed app to execute these actions without any user interaction," he wrote.

Brodeur said he tested the app on Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich and Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread.

Source: Steve Musil/CNET

© 2012, tsowen. All rights reserved.

HTC Chief Executive Peter Chou holds the new HTC One X Android phone at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. HTC hopes it'll have the same kind of brand affinity as the Nexus phones. (Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET)

© 2012, tsowen. All rights reserved.

Pocketnow has an image it says might be the rumored new Nexus line of tablet.

Take a look and see if you think it's a sure fake or if it's the real thing.  The debate rages as to whether it's Samsung or Asus, 7.7" or 10".

When Google does actually drop the Nexus tablet, it might be some good competition for the iPad that has dwarfed the industry.  As you can see from the image it has all google apps and no indication as to any proprietary apps from a different vendor.  It also is plainly running ICS.  We'll soon see when the tablet is actually released.

© 2012, orangekid. All rights reserved.

The latest Nielsen survey released shows some pretty amazing trends in the cell phone industry. First to note is that smartphones now account for 50% of all phone purchases in the U.S., marking a 38% increase over last year at this time. According to Nielsen, this growth is attributed to increasing smartphone adoption, with more than two thirds of the phones purchased in the last three months being smartphones.

What could be considered even more of a telling sign of things to come are the numbers per platform. Android remained unchanged with 48% of the market share, with iOS coming in at 43% and the remaining 9% comprised of RIM, Nokia and Microsoft. The increase of iOS and the unchanged share of Android smartphones in the survey show that these two powerhouses form nothing short of a duopoly in smartphone purchases, in the U.S. RIM slipped to an all time low of 5% with all ofthers comprising the remaining 4%.

While Android is at the top and iOS is steadily coming up behind them, what does this leave for RIM, Nokia and Microsoft? Will they be able to survive the loss of so many new customers? Do they have something up their sleeves to turn things around or are we destined to witness their collapse in the cell phone industry? Which OS do you use and are you tempted to try anything else? If so, which ones?

Give us your thoughts below!

Source: Nielsen Survey

© 2012, rainfreak. All rights reserved.

Sprint was one of the first carriers to push "4G" when they announced their WiMAX network. One of their hottest selling phones was the HTC Evo 4G. Now that almost every other carrier has announced their dedication to LTE for 4G, Sprint has been making the switch to LTE as well. Today, Bob Azzi, Senior VP of Networks, announced that Sprint will no longer be launching any new WiMAX phones to the market. Previously, Sprint has said that it would release WiMAX devices through 2012.

He also said that LTE will launch on their 1900MHz spectrum, but that they will also repurpose its 800MHz spectrum as old Nextel iDEN users are transitioned to their CDMA Direct Connect service.

Earlier this year, they announced that they would be releasing LTE devices by mid-2012 and they would have 15 devices (phones, tablets, data cards) coming throughout the year.

Source: FierceWireless

© 2012, mindfrost82. All rights reserved.