A device that almost got lost in the CES 2012 hooplah, the Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G has finally been given a more pinpointed release date for T-Mobile. The device’s most notable feature is the fact that it will run on T-Mobile’s super fast HSPA+ 42Mbps down network.

It will also be running off a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor with the latest version of Android 2.3 Gingerbread pre-installed. The device, which seems to be a rehashed/souped up Nexus S, features a 3.97 (I’ll go ahead and call it a 4-inch) SAMOLED display with 5MP rear/1.3MP front facing cameras. It will be a bit more affordable than its Hercules brother, carrying a $ 150 price-tag (after $ 50 mail-in rebate).

You can expect the device in “late March” with no actual specific date given but I guess it’s better than nothing. My guess that the device wold be an HD version of the Hercules was totally off. Anyone interested in the Galaxy S Blaze on T-Mo?

BELLEVUE, Wash. — Feb. 22, 2012 – T-Mobile USA, Inc. and Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile), the No. 1 mobile phone provider in the U.S.,¹ today confirmed the upcoming March availability of the Samsung Galaxy S^® Blaze^™ 4G, exclusively from T-Mobile^®. The Galaxy S Blaze 4G is the latest addition to the successful Galaxy S line of products, and T-Mobile’s newest fast 4G smartphone to take advantage of 4G (HSPA+42) technology, providing customers with the ability to browse the Web faster than the average home Internet² connection while on the go.

Consumers are increasingly demanding more from their smartphones — keeping them entertained, staying connected with loved ones and enabling them to complete more tasks using a single device. A recent T-Mobile survey³ found 79 percent of smartphone users are less likely to carry other technology devices, such as cameras, laptops and GPS devices, when they have their smartphone.

T-Mobile’s newest 4G smartphone offers a variety of features and applications to help consumers be entertained and have access to the information they need when they need it. The Galaxy S Blaze 4G entertainment offerings make it easy for T-Mobile customers to stream their favorite movies on Netflix^®, enjoy live or on-demand TV programs on T-Mobile^® TV in mobile HD⁴ or download a popular movie or TV show using Samsung Media Hub. Additionally, the smartphone features TeleNav GPS Navigator, which provides hands-free, voice-guided turn-by-turn driving directions, real-time traffic alerts, full-color 3-D moving maps and local alerts, helping customers get to where they need to go. The Galaxy S Blaze 4G also comes preloaded with a customized version of the Yelp mobile application, featuring the ability to save profiles so users can keep preferences the same with one touch in any city, making it easy to find and read reviews for local places to eat, shop, drink and play.

Also pre-loaded on the device, the T-Mobile 4GPro App Pack offers an aggregation of key business applications, such as DropBox, Evernote, Square, TripIt, Camscanner and LinkedIn, helping busy consumers be even more productive while balancing their professional and personal lives.

“The Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G is loaded with rich features and services to keep consumers entertained and connected virtually anywhere they want to go,” said Andrew Sherrard, senior vice president, marketing, T-Mobile USA. “Paired with T-Mobile’s fast 4G network and our unlimited data plans, we’re making it easy for consumers to enjoy the benefits of 4G experiences at a price they can afford.”

Featuring a sleek and stylish form factor, the smartphone comes in a carbon black color and runs on Android^™ 2.3 Gingerbread. The Galaxy S Blaze 4G also features a Snapdragon^™ S3 processor by Qualcomm^® with 1.5 GHz dual-core CPUs and a beautiful 3.97-inch Super AMOLED^™ touch screen providing consumers with a rich experience watching their favorite movie or TV show on the device.

The Galaxy S Blaze 4G also makes it easy to connect and share photos and video with loved ones. It features a 720p HD video recorder, 5-megapixel camera with 4x digital zoom, flash and advanced shooting modes, as well as a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for video chat.

Availability

The Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G is expected to be available at T-Mobile retail stores, select dealers and retailers nationwide, and online at http://www.t-mobile.com starting late March. The Galaxy S Blaze 4G is expected to cost $ 149.99 after a $ 50 mail-in rebate card, with a two-year service agreement and qualifying Classic voice and data plan. For more information, visit http://galaxy-s.t-mobile.com/samsung-galaxy-blaze.

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It seems that Amazon is now planning to a launch a bigger version of the Kindle Fire in Q2. This new tablet will reportedly feature a 10-inch display, which we’ve heard whispers of in the past. Foxconn, a company that has manufactured such devices as the iPad, iPhone, Kindle and more, will also be manufacturing the 10-inch Kindle Fire, according to a report from DigiTimes.

Right now, there’s no word on the specs of the tablet, but as it’s launching under Kindle Fire branding, I believe that it will feature some amazing specs like a dual-core (or perhaps even a quad-core) processor, possibly a camera, and a balanced price tag like the current version.

We’re hopeful that Amazon will let it slip at MWC what their plans are in the tablet market. At any rate, who’s looking forward to a 10-inch Kindle Fire? Would you buy it if it had a camera, unlike its smaller predecessor? Drop a comment below!

Source BGR

AGs

The official Twitter app for Android was updated today bringing with it a few new functions and UI enhancements but not all Android devices will see the new improvements. All Android devices now receive a confirmation alert when you select “Find Friends,” to better find which friends in your contacts are on Twitter.

If you’re lucky enough to be using the Twitter app on a tablet or high-resolution Android device (like the Samsung Galaxy Note), you’ll be treated to the all new (yet old) swipe/long press function for replying, retweeting and favoriting your friends’ tweets without ever leaving your timeline. Why this new option isn’t available for lower/standard-resolution devices is anyone’s guess.

Devices running Android 4.0 get a better optimized version which is good because if you’re using something like the Galaxy Note running Gingerbread, the app is laggy as all heck (strangely buttery smooth on the GSII). Kindle Fire tablet owners now have access to the app with Nook Color users getting the app in their Nook Store on Thursday.

You can find the new and improved Twitter app for Android for free right now in the Android Market. Oh, and feel free to follow me for laughs and an all around good time (@Gamercore).

[Market Link]

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It’s been awhile since we’ve had a good T-Mobile leak round these parts, but today may have changed that. Thanks to TMoNews, we now see a few devices that will soon be making their way to the carrier, as revealed in this accessory inventory list.

We now have a more solid confirmation that the HTC Ville be arriving on T-Mobile with the device previously rumored to arrive in the Spring. The Huawei Prism has also made an appearance in the list, after T-Mobile recently registered a domain name with the device’s title. The more mysterious of the 3 devices in the leak is the Samsung “T769″ a device that popped up going through the FCC and shares the same model number as the Samsung Exhibit II already released for the carrier. The only Samsung device I can think of off the top of my head that’s been announced, and will soon be arriving for the carrier is the Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G, so maybe this has something to do with that.

Those looking for the next quad-core device on T-Mobile will no doubt find themselves disappointed with this leak, but there’s still a possibility more devices will be revealed at MWC in a few more days. Keep your fingers crossed.

[TMoNews]

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So what happens when Microsoft decides to drop a bombshell video on YouTube calling out Google Apps?? Well, the Android and Google fanboys hit it hard and tear it up with dislikes left and right. Not that Microsoft was attempting to earn any brownie points with it though. Then you get the all out comment war going  on the YouTube channel. It is rather entertaining if you ask me. Check out the video for yourself.

Pretty clever we think. It has points that are valid, but nothing that anyone won’t defend to their graves if they are part of the fanboy elite. I personally love Google docs and apps much more than Microsoft. Since Microsoft is so deeply integrated across the world it makes it a rough place to compete. Having a service that does similar things, offered for free and just plain works makes life a little easier. Nothing is more irritating than writing up a document in MS Office and having to save it in four formats just so the receiving party might be able to open it. We can’t help but wonder if Google Apps is creeping in and making Microsoft’s strangle hold a little less strong.

Give us your thoughts, opinions and feedback in the comments below.

Source: WhyMicrosoft via AC

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Many of you die-hard Angry Birds fans are probably super excited about the new Angry Birds Space that is coming out next month. It is time to get just a little more excited. Looks like The Daily is going have an exclusive Angry Birds Space Guide to get a little more in-depth with the new game. The guide will be able to download straight to your phone or tablet, and will have many awesome sections to check out. Sections such as, inside scoops on characters and game play, behind the scenes with the developers, photos, articles on space and much more. Check out the pretty random and funny coming soon video below.

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Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is barely touching the lips of hungry Android users and we’re already talking jelly beans. Android 5.0 Jelly Bean that is. With Google’s buyout of Motorola it looks like they are taking steps to integrate that division with Android (as expected). TG Daily is reporting that Android 5.0 may be in the works to be optimized for use with Motorola WebTop OS. This is the software Motorola uses for their docking phones such as the Atrix. Which begs the question. What does Google have in store for Android on other manufacture devices? Could Jelly Bean become a Motorola exclusive Android OS? A lot of questions are starting to arise and we have no answers, yet. If previous rumors are true, we should start officially hearing more in just a few months. Head over to the source link for more about these rumblings.

Source: TGDAILY

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We do our best to bring you a quick look at various themes from around the web and the market. We do our best to bring some of the coolest looking, best designed and most fun themes we can locate for almost every thing that can be themed. That can be a full-time job all by its self. Today we caught wind of a new theme created by developer elthar that was just recently dropped to the market today. It is a lockscreen theme built for GO Locker and is free in the market. The theme gives your lockscreen and F.B.I style fingerprint scanner to access your device. No it doesn’t actually scan your fingerprint. Maybe one day that technology will be build into our devices, for now it is just a novelty look. I can already see guys pulling out their phone claiming to be F.B.I. spooks to the ladies at the bar. Shame on you. It is still a fun idea though. Take a look at he screen shots below and if you are rocking GO Locker, hit up the QR code to go pick it up.

Application: Fingerprint GO Locker Theme
Developer: elthar
Cost: FREE

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1. Swipe shortcut
2. Improved scrolling and network performance
3. Improved support for devices running Ice Cream Sandwich devices
4. Confirmation dialog for Find Friends
5. Security improvements
6. New languages: Filipino, Simplified Chinese
7. Many other bug fixes, improvements, and polish

The official Twitter for Android app just received a substantial update, and you can download it from the web Market now, or wait until it’s available on the device Market in the next hour. Twitter posted a changelog on its blog, but here are the excerpts you’ll be interested in:

• Swipe shortcut: Swipe a Tweet in your home timeline to reply to, retweet, favorite or share it, or view the Twitter user’s profile, without leaving your timeline.
• “Find friends”: We’ve added a confirmation alert when you select “Find friends”. This notification more clearly and explicitly messages the fact that when you upload your contacts’ email addresses and phone numbers, you can quickly find which of your friends are on Twitter (that is, if they’ve chosen to be discoverable by email or phone number).
• New devices: Twitter for Android is now optimized to run on Android devices running Ice Cream Sandwich, as well as on the Kindle Fire (available today through the Amazon Appstore) and the Barnes & Noble NOOK Color and NOOK Tablet (available February 23 though the Barnes & Noble NOOK Store).

Basically, global changes include a minor gesture feature, plus a disclosure that Twitter will be uploading your contacts to their servers if you use the “Find friends” option.

But if you’re on Android 4.0, something much more important has changed: hardware acceleration. Oh yes indeed – if you’re on Ice Cream Sandwich, you’ll notice the Twitter app is now buttery smooth, just as it always should have been. In addition, Robot font support has been added, so it’s a whole lot more readable now.

Kindle Fire owners can now use the official Twitter app as well, downloadable via the Amazon Appstore.

Twitter Blog

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Earlier today, Canonical announced Ubuntu for Android, an incredible new system that will put a full desktop OS on your Android-powered phone. Now, one employee has taken the time to show us just a little bit of what Ubuntu for Android is capable of, and it’s nothing short of awesome. Check it out:

As if we weren’t excited enough after the initial announcement, seeing it in action really makes us want to get our hands on this and give it a whirl. Anyone at Canonical ready to hook Android Police up with some beta software?

On a side note, anyone happen to notice that all of the screenshots on the official Ubuntu for Android page display 12:04 as the time? Could mean something big for Precise Pangolin…

[via OMG! Ubuntu!]

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