Google looking to expand Voice tie-ins to more carriers

Tuesday 27 March 2012

Google Voice, which is currently only available to Sprint users (without the $20 charge to port one's number to Voice), may not be so exclusive for much longer. According to Vincent Paquet, the Group Product Manager for Google Voice, they're talking to other carriers about getting the service integrated. This is sure to please thousands, if not millions of customers on other carriers like T-Mobile and AT&T, who use Google Voice regularly. Of course, no official partnership with another carrier has been announced, but Paquet's statement obviously points to talks between Google and a second, or possibly even third carrier.

Tie-ins with another carrier would bring mutual advantages to both Google and the respective carrier. As Sprint said last year when the two teamed up,

This is an extremely important event for Sprint.

That proved to be true, as Paquet is claiming that Sprint integration has worked well, with a steady stream of people signing up for Google Voice since day one. Again, we haven't heard any official announcements from Google or any carriers, so this is one of those wait-and-see situations. More on this as it develops.

So are you excited by the possibility of Google Voice on your carrier? Do we have any Sprint users out there that currently use Google Voice? Drop a comment below

Continue Reading | comments

Yet Another Motorola Android device leaked, looks familiar

Recently, a Motorola device was leaked under the name Droid Fighter, which we expect will be hitting Verizon sooner or later. Now another Motorola device has been leaked out somewhere in China, and it looks a lot like the Fighter, but it's being called the  "Blade". Something about the name points us to another Razr device from Motorola, which wouldn't be surprising.

We know from the photo above that the device has a large screen, a front facing camera, and the typical Android capacitive keys as well. There's a kevlar covering on the backside, and we have seen it on devices from the Razr line. Rumor has it that the Blade will come with a 13MP HD camera, and hopefully a good-sized 3,300 mAh battery.

At any rate, let's see if the device is destined for Verizon Wireless or if Motorola is planning to make it exclusive to China. Based on the rumored specs above, who's looking forward to the Moto Blade? 

Continue Reading | comments

AT&T HTC One X benchmarked, results are surprising

If there's an Android phone that I can't wait to get my hands on, then it's none other than the HTC One X. It was announced last month at MWC as a flagship device for HTC, and now some benchmark results are out proving yet again that the One X is no ordinary device. The benchmarks are actually of AT&T's version of the HTC One X,which comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, instead of a Tegra 3. We have the LTE capabilities to thank for that one.

Even with Qualcomm's Snapdragon S4, a dual-core chip, the results are proving that it's not less than any other dual-core chip. Have a look at the benchmark below:

In this one, you can see the device's score is superior to even the Transformer Prime, which is actually a quad-core tablet. This is one of the devices I am really looking forward to, and these results only reaffirm that. So anybody else looking forward to it? Tell us in the comment box below.

Continue Reading | comments

Android 4.0 build leaked for AT&T’s Galaxy S II Skyrocket

Just few days ago, AT&T confirmed that an Android 4.0 update is coming for some more recent Android devices, including the Samsung Galaxy S II SkyRocket. However, AT&T didn't tell us when they are planning to bring the update to the devices, as usual. But fret not, because if you are using the SkyRocket, then today might be your lucky day.

The ICS update for the SkyRocket has been leaked over on RootzWiki, and it looks to be the real deal, based on the build.prop below.

ro.build.description=SGH-I727-user 4.0.3 IML74K 107 release-keysro.build.fingerprint=samsung/SGH-I727/SGH-I727:4.0.3/IML74K/107:user/release-keys
ro.build.characteristics=default

At the moment, only Windows users can use the file, so Mac and Linux users are stuck with waiting and admiring from afar. So if you can't wait for the official release, download the update (at your own risk, of course) and give it a try. Be sure to leave your thoughts about it in the comments below!

Continue Reading | comments