Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

With the great wireless race of the early 21st century going on in the US, just getting 3G, both EVDO and UMTS/HSPA, adopted across the nation is proving to be slow going. While Europe and Asia have had some awesome phones with 3G and mobile TV to name a few features for quite some time, over here in the States we have been focused on buying the cheapest phone. Either that, or the RAZR which has been bought to death.

Now that the 700MHz spectrum auction has been finished and Verizon Wireless has been declared the victor, they are already making plans for the future of their spectrum. They have decided to go the LTE (Long Term Evolution) route as their “4G Network,” which can bring download speeds of up to 170Mbps or 325Mbps depending on the tower configuration. This also means that Verizon can switch to an all IP-network, essentially using VoIP to have voice conversations. Plus, this means they will have oodles and oodles of bandwidth at their expense for whatever they decide.

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Well, they may be a little late to gifting HD DVD purchasers something to help cover the blow, but better late than never. For those who purchased an HD DVD player before February 23, 2008, Amazon is giving $50 Amazon credit to anything, to which there are, of course, some restrictions. The biggest restriction being the items have to be sold by Amazon and not a third-party merchant. You can also only get up to $500 back (which means you can redeem up to 10 HD DVD players), so that eleventh box, you’re just going to have to hang on to. Check out the letter from Amazon below:

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Love your Nokia N810 tablet but just wish it would run something more… well, Google-like? Possibly the Android OS? Well, you’re in luck! The folks over at eLinux.org have a Wiki-page on using the Android OS on the Nokia N810. Reports say that it is fully working including the keyboard, Wi-Fi and GPS as well. It is a bit technical, so those who are already familiar with the project should be fine, but those without much knowledge may want to hit up a few forums for more help or possibly search for a step-by-step guide. For those who aren’t brave enough to install it, you still have some pretty Android pics to look at and a nice internet tablet to boot.

Read [eLinux.org] Via [Engadget] 

• Google Buzz widget now available on Android
• Verizon Droid update: all according to plan or aborted?
• ZipRealty introduces new Android app

To add another chapter to the “Samsung Instinct = iPhone P0ZER” book, Sprint has licensed the visual voicemail feature for the Instinct from none other than Klausner Technologies. If you remember back just a little bit, Klausner sued AT&T and Apple after they unveiled they were going to use visual voicemail because their version, allegedly, infringed on their technology. The Instinct already has the full touchscreen going for them (except for three buttons near the bottom) along with a full web browser, and the big touch-icons on the screen.

With more and more phones picking up some of the features the iPhone has, like visual voicemail, this should keep pushing Apple to innovate even more which in turn, gives us more features to look forward to in the next generation of phones. So I say, hats off to Samsung and Sprint, competition is a good thing.

Via [I4U News]

• Nexus One also headed to Sprint, actual availability still unannounced
• Sprint takes a shot at AT&T to advertise 4G
• BlackBerry slider gets a codename of Talladega, and rumors of an April release

In a case of pure irony, Wall Street Journal reporter Kevin Delaney bought an OLPC XO Laptop for his kids, thinking it would be a good for them to learn to be creative on a computer. Well, turns out, the kids don’t seem to care about creativity. They reverted back to their five-year old desktop because it was “easier to play simple games and watch videos on the Web.”

“Generally, we limit the kids to one or two hours on the computer on weekend days. And at first, they were eager to spend that time on the XO. But they soon became less and less interested in the laptop. Once Jack packed it up in a briefcase when he was playing at being a grown-up—but he didn’t actually turn it on.”

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In another round of Verizon Loves/Hates consumers, we have the new AirCard/Smartphone data plans that are being announced on March 2nd in the spotlight. With Verizon having announced their unlimited calling plans and also details about their new “Open Network” to be set loose later this year, they looked like they were becoming more user-friendly. Well, that’s changed with this most recent event.

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Fiber: it’s a major part of communication. Google: a super search engine that is a part of most everyone’s life. Combine the two and what do you get? A Pacific subsea fiber optic cable with the ability to transfer up to 7.68 Terabits of data per second between the United States and Japan. In a press release, Google announced that, along with six international companies, a $300 million undersea fiber-optic cable is going to be routed from the West Coast, including Los Angeles, to Chikura, located near Tokyo.

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It’s been known for a while that the Samsung F700 is going to be heading to Verizon. We’ve gone through the standard process; heard rumors of it coming, seen it confirmed, and also saw the FCC put it’s big ol’ approval stamp on it. Since Verizon has been on a roll with their naming scheme (Voyager, Venus, Chocolate, Gleam), it’s only appropriate that this phone has one. The first codename was the “Q-Ball.” The new, and more appropriate name, is now the “Glyde.” This comes from the phone having a slide-out QWERTY keyboard like bigger PDA/Smartphones, so it’s only appropriate that it gains that name.

No new date has been released, but it is apparently still set for release in Q1 of 2008. Could it come a little sooner? You only have one more month, Verizon.

Via [Engadget Mobile]

• Palm Pre Plus drops to $79.99 with Verizon Wireless, for a 24 hour sale
• Incoming: Droid 2.1 update approved by Verizon
• Verizon Droid update: all according to plan or aborted?