Aircell releases GoGo tech roadmap: EV-DO Rev B in 2012, global satellite coverage by 2015

Aircell started putting its air-to-ground (ATG) mobile broadband technology in planes about three years ago, and its GoGo in-flight internet's reach has grown ever since -- all the way up to the home of mavericks and mama bears. Presently, the company's ambit is limited to the continental US, but that's about to change with the addition of Ka-band satellite coverage that will blanket the US in 2013 and the globe by 2015. Yes, dear readers, that means you'll be able to poke, tweet, and blog your way over international waters. Not only that, next year a new ATG-4 network using EV-DO Rev B promises four times the capacity of its trusty Rev A service we've come to know and love. The company says both upgrades are cheap and easy for carriers -- if only they were rapid as well. PR's after the break.

PRESS RELEASE

Aircell Announces Technology Roadmap

ITASCA, Ill., March 9, 2011 – Aircell, the world's leading provider of inflight connectivity, today unveiled an expanded technology roadmap for the delivery of its revolutionary and widely deployed Gogo® Inflight Internet service. In addition to Aircell's existing and highly successful Air-to-Ground (ATG) technology, the company will enable connectivity via a next generation version of ATG ("ATG-4") as well as Ka-band satellite technology. These technology options will be selectable at the aircraft or fleet level and enable attractive solutions for every airline, aircraft and mission.

"Between business and commercial aviation, there are currently more than 6,000 Aircell-equipped aircraft across ATG and satellite technology platforms," said Michael Small, President and CEO of Aircell. "We're thrilled to be the only inflight connectivity provider that can meet our partners' full fleet needs in the United States today. With this announcement we strengthen our offerings domestically and begin to extend our leadership globally."

The suite of technologies powering Gogo® Inflight Internet will consist of the following:

Air-to-Ground (ATG): With a proven track record of performance, reliability and scalability, Aircell's ATG-based service will continue to provide a rich user experience for connected travelers by featuring 3G wireless utilizing EV-DO Rev. A.
ATG-4: Aircell's ATG-4 service will significantly enhance the existing ATG network and improve per aircraft capacity by approximately four times current performance through the addition of Directional Antenna, Dual Modem and EV-DO Rev. B technologies. ATG-4 is scheduled for commercial delivery beginning in the first half of 2012. This new platform is backwards compatible and allows for upgrades to existing ATG systems through low cost retrofits.
Ka-band satellite: Aircell's Ka-band satellite technology will provide additional capacity to supplement what is available through ATG, ATG-4 and current generation satellite technology, as well as enable Gogo service beyond the continental United States (CONUS). Based on satellite launch and antenna development schedules, Aircell expects its Ka-band technology to be available for CONUS in 2013 and globally by 2015. Aircell expects many aircraft to take advantage of its unique and proprietary ability to integrate air-to-ground solutions with satellite solutions for better performance, enhanced features and higher reliability.

By offering multiple technology platforms, Aircell is the only provider able to meet the needs of any aircraft and its mission. ATG's combination of low cost, small equipment footprint and high performance will continue to delight travelers in the future. At the same time, many larger aircraft with higher capacity needs will benefit from the improvements enabled by ATG-4, again at a low cost and with a smaller equipment footprint as compared to satellite solutions. Aircraft with missions beyond CONUS will benefit from the geographic flexibility a satellite solution provides. In advance of the global availability of Ka-based satellite service, Aircell can provide a Ku-based satellite solution for the international needs of its airline partners.

For commercial airlines, Aircell's technology roadmap will allow airlines to select the technology that best suits particular aircraft at a particular time, and to easily upgrade from one Aircell platform to another. In addition, all Aircell network technologies will utilize its enormous advantage in proprietary "know how" (including over 30 US and international patents for its inflight connectivity solutions), and will leverage its world-class systems for technical monitoring and support, customer care and billing.

In the business aviation market, Aircell currently offers three different inflight technologies, including Iridium Satellite, Inmarsat SwiftBroadband (satellite) and Gogo Biz™ (ATG). Specific details about ATG-4 and Ka-band Satellite technologies for the business aviation market will be released in the coming months.

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Best Buy knocks Nexus S down to $100 on contract for two weeks only

Had your eyes on a Nexus S but still haven't taken the plunge? Then it looks like that indecisiveness has finally paid off, as Best Buy has now knocked a full $100 off the phone for a limited time if you're signing up for a contract. That's from today until March 23rd, to be precise, and it seems that your local Best Buy doesn't even need to be a T-Mobile dealer for you to get the deal -- you'll just have to get the phone shipped to you. Hit up the link below for all the details.

[Thanks, Kevin]

Best Buy

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Suzuki Burgman fuel-cell scooter approved for EU public consumption

Battery power gets a lot of publicity these days, what with YikeBike and Yogo EVs tooling around. However, that doesn't mean other kinds of ecofriendly propulsion, like fuel cells, won't be part of our transportational future. Suzuki, for one, is betting on hydrogen power -- its Burgman Fuel Cell Scooter just became the first fuel cell vehicle to receive Whole Vehicle Type Approval (WVTA) from the UK's Department of Transport. Having the WVTA stamp of approval means that the scooter meets EU performance standards and can be sold in Europe -- setting it free to frolic hither and yon on the cobblestone streets of the old country. No word on plans to bring it to the US, but a boy can dream, can't he? PR's after the break.

PRESS RELEASE

Intelligent Energy: Suzuki Burgman Fuel Cell Scooter Obtains Whole Vehicle Type Approval

World's first WVTA certified fuel cell vehicle by Intelligent Energy and Suzuki

LOUGHBOROUGH, England--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Intelligent Energy, the global clean power systems company, and Suzuki Motor Corporation, have today announced that the jointly developed Suzuki Burgman Fuel Cell Scooter has obtained Whole Vehicle Type Approval (WVTA) – the first time any fuel cell vehicle has achieved this level of certification. WVTA qualifies the Suzuki Burgman Fuel Cell Scooter design as safe to use on public roads without having to be inspected and tested individually, and brings zero emission motorcycles a step closer to becoming commercially available.

"Suzuki Motor Corporation is pleased to announce that the Suzuki Burgman Fuel Cell Scooter has become the world's first fuel cell vehicle to earn Whole Vehicle Type Approval in the European Union"
First exhibited at the 41st Tokyo Motor Show in October 2009, the Suzuki Burgman Fuel Cell Scooter, equipped with the latest version of Intelligent Energy's unique, air-cooled hydrogen fuel cell system, has been participating in a UK public road testing program run by Intelligent Energy and supported by the UK Government's Technology Strategy Board. The Suzuki Burgman Fuel Cell Scooter design has now met with specified EU performance standards meaning that the vehicle and its components are approved for production and sale within Europe.

"Suzuki Motor Corporation is pleased to announce that the Suzuki Burgman Fuel Cell Scooter has become the world's first fuel cell vehicle to earn Whole Vehicle Type Approval in the European Union," explained Mr. O. Suzuki, Chairman and CEO, Suzuki Motor Corporation. "Our aim is to make eco-friendly fuel cell scooters increasingly common in Europe, in line with the establishment of hydrogen filling stations and other necessary infrastructure."

The city-friendly Suzuki Burgman Fuel Cell Scooter was jointly launched in Europe at London's City Hall in February 2010. At the event, the Chair of the London Hydrogen Partnership and London's Deputy Mayor for Policing, Kit Malthouse, hailed the zero emission scooter as a "fantastic piece of kit which shows how we can combat climate change." A fleet of the scooters will now undergo a further test program in various public road conditions at sites in the East Midlands and London.

"We're immensely proud that our five year partnership with Suzuki Motor Corporation has led to the Suzuki Burgman Fuel Cell Scooter becoming the world's first hydrogen fuel cell vehicle to achieve Whole Vehicle Type Approval. This is an important day in the history of fuel cell technology and a huge step towards cleaner, more efficient vehicles being part of the mainstream," said Dr Henri Winand, CEO, Intelligent Energy.

Electric Cars Report

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Sony working on a Cyber-shot camera with 3G cellular connectivity?

If the warm, soothing waves of IEEE 802.11 are beaming down on your location, there are certainly several ways to send pictures directly from your camera to the cloud, but Sony's reportedly prototyping a camera that won't need a single bar of WiFi to get your upload on. Our friends at gdgt cite anonymous sources that say Sony's got a camera with a built-in 3G modem in the works, and we're not talking about a cameraphone. While Sony's cellphone CMOS sensors may have improved, gdgt says the prototype unit will probably be a dedicated point-and-shoot, though the publication says their moles aren't sure it's actually coming to market. If it does, though, here's hoping it comes with some Whispernet so we don't have to foot a monthly or (perish the thought) per-picture bill!

gdgt

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Motorola Xoom update rolling out starting tonight, brings 'required enhancements' for Flash 10.2

In the spirit of issuing software updates with the sole purpose of preparing for more software updates, Motorola says there's about to be some brand new firmware for the Xoom, which will cross the Ts and dot the Is required to install the promised Adobe Flash Player 10.2. The company doesn't say when, exactly, to expect Flash, only that it's "coming soon," but the update will also fix a bug with Daylight Savings Time, which -- given recent history -- should find itself richly welcomed. If you're paying Verizon for 3G bandwidth, you can expect an OTA update in the days to come.

[Thanks, Bob, Jake and Oscar]

Motorola (Facebook), (Twitter)

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Yahoo Mail gets IMAP patch, Windows Phone 7 data consumption catches a break

Yahoo had been pegged a few weeks ago as the culprit behind excessive data usage on Windows Phone 7 devices, sending far more information in replies to requests from the phone than necessary -- not really a big deal for those on unlimited data plans, but a legitimate cause for concern if you've got a data cap and overage to worry about (as more and more customers on AT&T do these days). Well, turns out Yahoo went ahead and updated its IMAP servers at some point in the last few days, fixing the issue and more or less obliterating the ravenous gobbling of kilobytes. If you don't use Yahoo... well, this is of little concern, but for the rest of you -- whether you're on a Windows Phone, an iPhone, or pretty much anything else with a limited bucket -- this should be music to your ears.

Electronista Within Windows

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iPad 2 launch day: everything you need to know

You know what tomorrow is right? Yep, Friday, but it's also iPad 2 launch day! After months of rumors and a pretty impressive launch event, Apple's releasing the second iteration of its popular tablet. Yes, it's true, in a lot of ways the iPad 2 is a lot like the first iPad, so many of you should be old pros at this, but if you happen to be a first timer or you simply just need a refresher, we've broken down everything you need to know about getting your own "magical" tablet. We've also put together a short list of things to do with it as soon as you've gotten it out of the box. Hit the break for a full breakdown of everything you need to know and don't forget to read our full review.

Versions / 3G Plans

We've always been big proponents of determining what you want before you get to the store, so before we get into how you actually get an iPad 2, let's go over the options.

In the past Apple's kept its options fairly streamlined, but with the iPad 2 there are more options than ever. Actually, we figured out that there are a total of 18 SKUs, when you factor in the black and white colors, three storage options, and AT&T / Verizon 3G versions. Here are your choices!

	16GB	32GB	64GB
iPad WiFi	$499.00	$599.00	$699.99
iPad 3G (AT&T / Verizon)	$629.99	$729.99	$829.99

Naturally, those 3G models don't include the price of monthly data. Verizon and AT&T don't require contracts, but the pricing between the two carriers does differ. The handy chart below breaks it down.

So, should you go with Verizon or AT&T? We can't really answer that for you since it comes down to where you live and your budget, but we we definitely suggest looking into which carrier provides better coverage in your area.

Getting one

Apple's made things a bit simpler this year with the order process since both pre-orders and in-store buying starts on the same day -- yes, March 11th. Sales start in stores at 5PM local time. So, if you want to get your hands on the 9.7-inch tablet right away, you'll want to head down to an Apple Store, Best Buy, Target, Walmart, AT&T or Verizon store after 5PM to do so. There's no telling what the lines will be like so make sure to bring some reading material or charge up your phone.

For those that don't need to get that 0.34-inch thin tablet in hand immediately, you can order on Apple.com starting at 1AM PT. It will also be up for order on some of those other retailer's websites, including Walmart, AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and Best Buy. Walmart will offer free site-to-store shipping, so you can pick up the tablet at a local store without paying for shipping. It's not the fastest way to get one -- we're guessing it will take a few days to arrive at your local store -- but we bet it's the most peaceful!

Accessories

Oh, you thought you were done spending money? Well, hopefully you have a bit stashed up for some of the new accessories. Apple's got two new notable add-ons for the iPad 2...

Smart Cover (Starts at $39.00)

Indeed, Apple has cooked up one smart cover. It attaches to the iPad with a self-aligning magnetic hinge, and not only can it be folded into a triangle to become a stand, but it will automatically wake or put your iPad to sleep whenever you open or close it. On top of that, it has a microfiber lining that cleans your screen each tip you flip it open. Yep, these are available in multiple colors -- the polyurethane versions will set you back $39 and the leather variants $69. Oh, and please don't call it a case!

Digital AV Adapter ($39.00)

Yep, Apple's finally bringing HDMI-out capabilities with its new AV Adapter. The 30-pin connector lets you connect the tablet to your HDTV, and unlike the past VGA version, you can actually mirror the entire display. Oh, and did we mention you can also charge it at the same time?

Other accessories

Obviously, there are some other third-party cases and accessories to consider. There are new ones from all the usual suspects, including Belkin and iSkin. We're actually big fans of that crazy looking DODOCase pictured above. Why wouldn't you want to conceal your new tablet in a case that looks like a bound book that's made of Moroccan cloth? Speaking of crazy cases, Grove has also made a new bamboo case with a leather cover, which actually claims to have the same sort of "smartness" as Apple's smart cover -- yep, it should wake and put it to sleep.

We're still digging around for some new keyboard cases, like the ClamCase, that accommodates the new slimmer iPad, but until then, Apple's still got its Bluetooth keyboard for $69.

Now what? Apps to try

So, you've gotten your iPad 2 and some accessories, now what? It's time to play. Or work. Or read. Yes, there are lots of things you can do with your new tablet, and there are now over than 65,000 apps for the iPad specifically. Of course, there are a few new apps from Apple and others out there than take advantage of the cameras. Here are some we'd strongly consider trying out once you've got that iPad 2 out of the box.

• GarageBand ($4.99) - We took a closer look at GarageBand in our full review and found it to be extremely intuitive and fun to use. There are eight tracks of recorded audio or software instruments, along with the ability to mix your levels, add effects, and even apply amps and stompboxes to your tracks.

• iMovie ($4.99) - So, we may not have felt like the cameras on the iPad 2 were the best they could have been, but they absolutely suffice for shooting some video when out and about. And when it comes to cutting and editing that footage, iMovie is one of the best ways to go at this point. The app is full of movie templates and effects which you can apply to your clips.

• Other photo apps - Apple bundles the iPad 2 with Photo Booth and FaceTime, but there are plenty of other fun photo apps for iOS that are must haves for your new camera-equipped tablet. We tried out Instagram on the iPad 2, and while the company hasn't released an iPad version yet, it's still just as fun to apply filters on the bigger screen. We'll be keeping an eye out for more camera apps in the next few days.

We're planning on taking a deeper look at new apps soon -- so stay tuned. On that note, we'll leave you to your iPad 2 buying adventures. Let us know how it goes in the comments!

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Microsoft taking 'extra time' to make sure Windows Phone 7 copy and paste update is solid, targeting late March

Eric Hautala -- the cog in the Microsoft machine responsible for Windows Phone 7's update mechanism -- has taken to the company's official Windows Phone blog today to deep-dive on some of the concerns, problems, and delays that have dogged the platform's updates so far. In brief, Hautala says that the glitches that hosed the small February update for a few customers has brought the company to pause and take the time to make sure everything's rock solid before proceeding with the so-called NoDo update -- which includes copy and paste, performance improvements, and CDMA support -- and had originally been scheduled for the early part of March. Now, they're looking at "the latter half of March," which lines up with what Microsoft France had reported yesterday. He goes on to say that the problems have zero effect on the timeline for awesome new features previewed at MWC last month, which would seem to allay fears that the Mango update had been pushed to 2012. Needless to say, Windows Phone's still got some catching up to do -- so that's good news.

Windows Phone Blog

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Samsung Galaxy S 4G review

It's only been six months since Samsung launched its highly successful Galaxy S assault upon the US market with a series of carrier customized phones: the Vibrant and Captivate GSM twins for T-Mobile and AT&T, the WiMAX-rocking Epic 4G for Sprint and the Fascinate for Verizon. More derivatives arrived later, with the Mesmerize, Continuum, Nexus S, and LTE-equipped Galaxy Indulge. Still the Vibrant was the first, and the closest in appearance to the original Galaxy S, losing the front-facing camera, but gaining a search button. Unfortunately, Samsung was slow to upgrade early devices like the Vibrant beyond Eclair, and to fix the well-documented AGPS problems. As such, the release of the Samsung Galaxy S 4G for T-Mobile -- basically an updated Vibrant with HSPA+, a front-facing camera, a bronze battery cover, Froyo out of the gate, but no dedicated internal flash storage -- is bittersweet. While beneficial to those who waited, it's a slap in the face to those who purchased the Vibrant. But is it a worthy upgrade? How does it fit into T-Mobile's high-end Android lineup? Read on for our full review after the break.

Samsung Galaxy S 4G review

Hardware

At a glance, you'd be hard pressed to tell the front of the Galaxy S 4G apart from the Vibrant. The only difference is the return of the front-facing VGA camera also present on the original Galaxy S, Epic 4G, and Nexus S. It features the same gorgeous (dare we say vibrant?) 4-inch WVGA glass capacitive Super AMOLED touchscreen, complete with faux-chrome surround. The T-Mobile logo is in the same top center location, below the earpiece and next to the proximity and light sensors, while the Samsung logo is positioned bottom center, above the standard row of backlit capacitive buttons. And yes, the LEDs behind the capacitive buttons still turn off too soon and still shine too bright. In back, the Galaxy S 4G is almost identical to the Vibrant, with the same metal-rimmed 5 megapixel camera, speaker grill, and Galaxy S logo -- even the signature bump in the battery cover carries over. But instead of being finished in shiny black with a faint silver dot pattern, the back is painted a satin bronze finish that changes color slightly depending on the viewing angle, just like a lenticular print. It's a very polarizing design: while some people really like it, we think it looks cheap and tacky, especially on what is arguably T-Mobile's flagship phone. Everything remains the same around the edge of the device, with a standard 3.5 mm headphone jack and microUSB connector (behind a clever sliding door) on top, a battery cover removal slit and microphone on the bottom, a lanyard hole and volume rocker on the left, and the power / lock key on the right. The Galaxy S 4G feels just as light as the Vibrant, and no less plasticky, which is a shame.

Spec-wise the Galaxy S 4G further mirrors the Vibrant, but cranks things up a notch with the addition of HSPA+ for network speeds up to 21Mbps (what T-Mobile calls "4G"). Inside you'll find the same 1GHz Hummingbird CPU with PowerVR SGX 540 graphics, 512MB RAM, WiFi b / g / n, Bluetooh 3.0, AGPS, a compass, a gyroscope / accelerometer, and a light sensor. Despite being already six months old, this combination of hardware still delivers solid performance, especially when paired with Android 2.2. In addition to the aforementioned HSPA+ radio (with AWS / 1700MHz and 2100MHz support), there's also a legacy quadband radio for EDGE duty. Lifting the battery cover reveals a microSD card slot along with the obligatory SIM slot. A 16GB card is supplied along with an SD adapter -- it contains the movie Inception as a DRM encrypted file. Strangely, the 16GB of internal flash storage present in the Vibrant is gone from the Galaxy S 4G, leaving the microSD card slot as the sole option for storing media and other content. In our tests, calls sounded clear and reception was equally good. Battery life, however, was only average, with the 1650mAh battery lasting about 24 hours on a charge with moderate use (taking pictures, listening to music, surfing the web, and messaging). While this is in line with most other high-end Android phones, we think there's room for improvement.

So does HSPA+ really make much of a difference? We compared the Galaxy S 4G to our HSPA-only Nexus S on T-Mobile by using the speedtest.net app in various San Francisco locales (within the carrier's HSPA+ footprint) and most of the time the results were similar on both devices. Of course the topography of San Francisco is notoriously hard on signal quality, and we expect the performance gap between HSPA and HSPA+ to widen over time as T-Mobile tweaks its network, but for now HSPA+ does not appear to offer significant speed gains. Your mileage may vary.

Camera

Samsung knows how to make a nice cameraphone, and the Galaxy S 4G is no exception. It shares its 5 megapixel sensor and autofocus optics with the Vibrant, and takes excellent pictures. In fact, the results are better than most other 5 megapixel cameraphones. This is a camera with few equals amongst Android devices. It gathers a ton of information, with accurate color balance and exposure. There's no flash, but low light performance is top notch. Noise is kept well under control, and loss of detail is minimal. The Galaxy S 4G does a decent job of recording 720p video at a smooth 30 fps. While there's no autofocus before or during video capture, Samsung wisely chose AAC (instead of the default AMR) to encode audio, resulting in better sound quality. User experience can make or break a cameraphone. Thankfully, the camera interface on the Galaxy S 4G is one of the best we've seen on Android, no doubt thanks to the company's experience making dedicated point-and-shoot cameras. It's reasonably intuitive, and all the important controls are easily accessible, with less common settings nestled within menus. There's no dedicated two-stage shutter key, but you'll find touch-to-focus, smile / blink detection, and a panorama mode, amongst other features. Overall, we're very impressed with the camera on the Galaxy S 4G. It strikes a good balance between image quality and usability, without making too many compromises.

Samsung Galaxy S 4G sample shots

Software

Let's put things in perspective. The Vibrant shipped with Android 2.1 (Eclair) mid-July and just received its Android 2.2 (Froyo) update in January. Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) was launched mid-December with the Nexus S. The Galaxy S 4G is running Android 2.2, and while Froyo still offers great performance and useful features such as built-in WiFi hotspot functionality, it's somewhat disappointing to see a flagship phone arrive on the market one full OS version behind the state-of-the-art. Of course, this is the price we all pay for manufacturers and carriers customizing Android in a flawed attempt to differentiate themselves. Thankfully, the TouchWiz 3.0 UI used by Samsung on the Vibrant carries over to the Galaxy S 4G mostly unchanged. It remains lightweight and relatively unobtrusive, unlike Motorola's Blur. We're still not sold on the ultra-saturated cartoon-like color scheme (made stronger by the high-contrast Super AMOLED display), but Froyo on the Galaxy S 4G certainly feels snappier than Eclair did on the Vibrant. Quadrant scores routinely hover around the 1000 mark, and while it's no speed demon, the Galaxy S 4G consistently delivers the level of performance we've come to expect from a high-end device. As a point of reference, our Nexus S with Gingerbread easily reaches 1500+ on the Quadrant benchmark. TouchWiz 3.0 provides some nice, well... touches, like a task manager, a file browser, a much improved music player, and a row of toggles in the notification area for WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, silent mode, and auto-rotation. The sideways-scrolling app tray is a bit disorienting at first, but is easy to adjust to.

There's a number of pre-installed apps from Samsung and T-Mobile on the Galaxy S 4G, such as Amazon MP3, doubleTwist with AirSync, Facebook (but not Twitter), Kindle, Layar, Media Hub, Qik Video Chat, Slacker, T-Mobile TV, TeleNav, and ThinkFree office. Like with the Optimus T, T-Mobile bundles the Swype keyboard, WiFi calling (aka UMA), and visual voicemail with the phone, along with DriveSmart, an app that minimizes driving distractions by silencing notifications, routing calls to voicemail or a Bluetooth headset, and optionally auto-responding to calls and texts. We were particularly excited to see doubleTwist with AirSync pre-loaded on the Galaxy S 4G, but we're no sure why TeleNav is included considering Android provides awesome free built-in navigation. T-Mobile TV dishes out live and on-demand TV programming. Pricing varies with the content and is billed directly to your T-Mobile account. While there's a 30-day free trial, we're not quite sure that paying to watch television on a 4-inch screen is a particularly attractive proposition, but we're not really the target market for this. To make matters even more confusing, Media Hub also allows you to rent or purchase video content and charge it to your T-Mobile account. There's definitely something to be said about Apple's unified iTunes Store approach here. As mentioned above, The movie Inception lives on the supplied microSD card and comes with its own shortcut. Just be aware that formatting the microSD card will delete the film. The rest of the Galaxy S 4G software is all standard issue Android. Sadly there's no photo or video editor available like on some other Samsung devices.

A few apps take advantage of the front facing camera right out of the box, like the camera and video recorder, as well as Qik Video Chat, a T-Mobile branded version of the popular video streaming service. We also installed Tango on the Galaxy S 4G and made several video calls over T-Mobile's network to an iPhone 4 on AT&T. Image quality is pretty much what you'd expect from a VGA camera -- acceptable in normal light and grainy in the dark -- but it gets the job done.

Wrap-up

It's an exciting time to be a T-Mobile customer. There's never been a better selection of high-end AWS-compatible Android devices before. The Galaxy S 4G, Nexus S, myTouch 4G, and G2 each bring a unique flavor of Android to the table. We think "pure" Android 2.3 trumps HSPA+, so the Nexus S is our first choice. But if you absolutely require HSPA+, we highly recommend the Galaxy S 4G. It beats the myTouch 4G with a larger, higher quality display, a less pervasive skin, and a lower price (after mail-in rebate). It also improves upon the Vibrant with HSPA+ and a front-facing camera, at the expense of that 16GB of internal flash storage. Cosmetically, we prefer the Vibrant to the Galaxy S 4G, but that's a matter of taste. If you already have a Vibrant, we suggest you wait until something more compelling comes along, unless HSPA+ and the front-facing camera really matter to you. We enjoyed our time with the Galaxy S 4G. It's a feature rich Android phone with a slightly customized UI that packs an impressive camera and delivers solid performance across the board. Battery life could be better, and it could be a little cheaper ($200 with a two-year contract, after $50 mail-in rebate). Let's just hope Samsung drops that Gingerbread update in less than six months this time around.

Nokia E6 spied again, shows off its touchy Symbian UI

We saw the Nokia E6 first leak a little over a month ago, suggesting that Nokia had plans to add a touchscreen into the portrait QWERTY formula pulled off so well in the E71... but there was a problem: the screen was off. Where's the fun in that? Now another shot of the apparently upcoming Symbian device has leaked -- this time in a darker shade -- showing an updated user interface with icons that look just big enough to comfortably fat-finger. That's all we've got for the moment, but for E71 owners still waiting for their knight in shining armor to swoop in and offer a worthy replacement, this might end up being the closest thing -- assuming, of course, it hasn't been canceled and you're still okay going with Symbian for your next phone.

SlashGear, My Nokia Blog mobilesguruji.co.cc

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LookTel's Money Reader iOS app helps the visually impaired count money

We may not use cash as often as we once did, but there are still times when it comes in handy or is necessary, and that can pose some problems for the visually impaired. They now have one other possible solution courtesy of LookTel, however, which has just released its new Money Reader app for iOS devices. Using a "patented and proprietary object recognition technology," it's able to recognize paper bills (from $1 to $100) instantly, and simply speaks the value aloud. What's more impressive, though, is that you don't need to hold the bill steady in front of the camera, or even have the whole thing in the frame -- even just thumbing through a stack will work. See for yourself in the video after the break, and hit up the App Store to grab it now for $1.99.

LookTel, iTunes Preview

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