It's far from a secret that T-Mobile has been cooking up its next myTouch handset with Huawei (also known as the Ascend G 132), and now the phone has landed at the door of the FCC. According to the label location diagrams, it plays nice with HSPA, UMTS, GPRS, GSM and Edge, but there's no indication of whether this is the QWERTY variant we spotted at the company's headquarters. If you'll recall, Huawei has this 4-inch (WVGA) device pegged to ship with Android Ice Cream Sandwich, running atop a 1.4GHz Qualcomm MSM8255T SoC with 1GB of RAM that's supplemented by 4GB of on-board storage. Of course, this doesn't leave us with any more information about when T-Mobile will officially debut this next-gen myTouch, but for now, you can can view the currently available FCC documents at the source link below.
We know you've got questions, and if you're brave enough to ask the world for answers, here's the outlet to do so. This week's Ask Engadget inquiry is coming to us from Andrew, who wants to get a proper keyboard, for doing serious business on. If you're looking to send in an inquiry of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com.
"Hi, I'm thinking about getting a mechanical keyboard for my desktop. I'm a student so I'll need to do a bunch of word-processing and also moderate FPS gaming in the downtime. I've got a budget of $150 and prefer Cherry MX Blue and Brown switches, do you have any suggestions?"
No "thank you?" Man, the kids of today. Anyway, it's a weird coincidence because we've also been pondering swapping out our chiclet daily-driver for something more serious. We played with Matias' One at CES, while Andrew himself has one eye on the Razer Blackwidow or the Das Model S Pro / Stealth. But that's us, what we want to know is what y'all out there are using when it comes to properly made keyboards -- stick your comments below and let's get this doing done.
If you've been facing signal issues with your HSPA+ since that recent Android 4.0.4 update, you'll be happy to know that Google's apparently readied a minor update that might help. A small amount of owners have noticed a new build of Android 4.0.4, listed as build IMM76I, showing up on their devices. As The Verge notes, Google hasn't publicly come out with what's been changed from the previous IMM76D build, but many folks over on the forums at XDA-Developers and Android Central have noticed that their handsets' cellular connectivity has improved. Furthermore, Android Central says that devices set to auto brightness aren't experiencing lag on the lock screen as some have had issue with. Mum's the word on when the update will hit every HSPA+ Galaxy Nexus, but move your cursor to links below for all the information that's currently available.
If you've been facing signal issues with your HSPA+ Galaxy Nexus since that recent Android 4.0.4 update, you'll be happy to know that Google's apparently readied a minor update that might help. A small amount of owners have noticed a new build of Android 4.0.4, listed as build IMM76I, showing up on their devices. As The Verge notes, Google hasn't publicly come out with what's been changed from the previous IMM76D build, but many folks over on the forums at XDA-Developers and Android Central have noticed that their handsets' cellular connectivity has improved. Furthermore, Android Central says that devices set to auto brightness aren't experiencing lag on the lock screen as some have had issue with. Mum's the word on when the update will hit every HSPA+ Galaxy Nexus, but move your cursor over to links below for all the information that's currently available.
Not all mobile news is destined for the front page, but if you're like us and really want to know what's going on, then you've come to the right place. This past week, Verizon announced that its LTE service now covers two-thirds of the US population, and T-Mobile dropped its 'nice girl' image in attempt to position its HSPA+ network as a viable competitor to LTE. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore the "best of the rest" for this week of April 16th, 2012.
A new streaming service has shed its beta cloak, only this one isn't made for U.S. eyes. Youzee, a Madrid-based start-up, aims to offer Spaniards the best of both pay models, offering up a monthly subscription service alongside separate à la carte pricing. According to the company's site, its catalog of films and TV shows will be made available in a range of dubbed and subtitled versions to suite language and viewing preferences. You'll have to pony up 6.99 Euros (about $9 USD) monthly for access to those selections, but for any titles -- new releases or otherwise -- that reside outside of its collection, there's a one-time fee required, ranging from either 2.99 Euros (about $4 USD) for 480p DVD-quality or 4.99 Euros (about $7 USD) for 720p HD. Plans are also on deck to grow the outfit's content library of paid content with an assortment of free exclusives. So, if you call the Iberian peninsula home and the return of the Bluths on Netflix just isn't enough to tide you over, well, now you have an alternative online video fix.
Boost customers might soon be able to bite off another bit of Android, according to Pocket Now. It's reporting that the HTC Evo Design 4G will be landing on the prepay network before the end of this quarter. It was running Gingerbread when we first got our hands on it, but will apparently be landing with Ice Cream Sandwich squeezed into its 1.2GHz single-core configuration. It's been a while since a new smartphone was offered up to the Boost faithful, so when the EVO 4G turns up it should be king of the pile, though we're not sure if it'll be asking an equally regal ransom when it does so.
ASUS's G-series has been warming the laps of gamers for a while, whether it's the smart G74 or the elder statesman G73JH. The newest splinter of the G-team, however, is the G55 line. Right now, it's the G55VW-DS71 that's just had its specifications splayed out for all to see. It'll be a quad-core i7-3610QM Ivy Bridge chip calling the shots, with a 2GB NVIDIA GTX 660M providing graphical backup. A solid 12GB of DDR3, 1,333MHz RAM and a 750GB HDD will come with the configuration mentioned here. There are two drive bays, though, so you can set it up to your liking, and higher spec versions of this 15.6" machine will be coming in the future. It's only up for pre-order at the moment, but $1,475 will make sure it finds its way to you once released, hopefully around the end of this month -- the Intel gods willing.
It's been a little over a year since Cablevision launched Optimum for iPad with live streaming of all of its channels to the tablet, and now subscribers can experience the same thing on their computer with the Optimum for Laptops app. Available for Mac or PC it has a brand new interface and searchable guide, as well as the ability to manage DVR recordings and change the channel on cable boxes in the house. According to Cablevision its iOS app has been downloaded over a million times, we'll see how popular this followup is -- and if it spurs any new lawsuits from channel owners.
It's not like we're gonna argue with Sprint's rationale, but the EVO 3D has met its end at the Now Network. Visitors to the carrier's online store will notice that the gee-whiz smartphone is no longer available for sale, and Sprint reps have confirmed to us that it's not coming back. Those who insist on owning an EVO 3D will be glad to know that the handset is still available at Sprint's retail outlets, but according to the carrier, quantities are rather limited. Given a phone that debuted less than a year ago, its abrupt and unceremonious demise comes as a bit of a shock, but with the mighty EVO 4G LTE on the horizon, we can't blame the carrier one bit.
Is your notebook still your preferred second TV? Well, it seems you're now in the minority. The hip new way of consuming the drug of the nation -- after the 'ole tube itself -- is on a tablet, according to a recent Viacom study. Over 2,500 people were polled nationwide, and the results show a shift away from computers and smartphones to slates. Tabs made up 15 percent of full-length TV show viewings, with the increase of streaming services and companion apps being cited as contributing factors to the trend. We don't know what the fuss is about, we watch all our telly on a tablet.
It's been almost exactly a year since Zodiac Pool Systems last expanded its line of Polaris-branded pool-cleaning robots, and it's now back with two more additions that fill out the top and bottom end of its lineup. That includes the company's most advanced robot to date, the $1499 Polaris 9400 Sport (pictured above), which adds four-wheel drive for the first time, as well as the company's new accelerometer-enhanced ActivMotion Sensor technology -- something Polaris says allows the robot to continually sense where it is in the pool and optimize its cleaning action accordingly. The 9100 Sport, on the other hand, gets neither of those new additions, but it'll "only" set you back $799, and will still clean pools up to 40 feet long in about two hours. You can get a closer look at those, as well as the company's existing offerings, at the source link below.
What better way to finish off your night than by updating your favorite jailbreaking tool? Now, you'll be able to do just that after the whiz-kids from the iPhone Dev-Team have pushed out a new copy of their famed RedSn0w application. In what's perhaps the biggest inclusion, version 0.9.10b7 now adds implementation of that untethered Corona jailbreak for A5 devices, making it easier for the iOS 5.0.1 crowd to do bits like reinstalling the tweaked software. In addition, the app's now capable of grabbing SHSH blobs (you know, those tiny files that grant your phone freedom) straight from Cydia, while also giving users the ability to see if their slab carries a vulnerable bootloader or if it's exploitable. RedSn0w 0.9.10b7 is out now for both Windows and Mac, and you can grab it at the source link below.
Since breaking ground in Western North Carolina some 16 months ago, Facebook has been running at full speed to get its newest data center online. This week, Zuckerberg & Co. flipped the switch. The new facility, located in Forest City, touts the "first major deployment" of the outfit's Open Compute Project web servers and will be the first "live test" of the OPC's outdoor air-cooling design. It tends to get pretty warm around those parts and humidity levels are a bit outside of ideal data center conditions. The Carolina facility will mirror the projected power utilization effectiveness (PUE) of FB's Oregon data center at just a smidge above 1 - somewhere between 1.06 and 1.08 to be exact. In other words, this means the ratio of power used by the structure and the actual power sent to the hardware is almost perfect with minimal energy loss. No matter, it'll still be using plenty of power. A second identical building is slated to open on the site later this year, but for now, hit the source link for a bit more info on the initial launch.
