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7 hours ago

AT&T gets ultra-rugged PTT smartphone in the NEC Terrain

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NEC Terrain

AT&T today announced an ultra-rugged Android smartphone with the added capability of Push-to-Talk in the NEC Terrain. It'll be available June 21 through AT&T Business Solutions and online for $99 on a two-year contract.

The NEC Terrain has a 3.1-inch display (with Gorilla Glass) and full physical QWERTY keyboard. It's powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor at 1.5 GHz and runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. It's got a 5-megapixel rear camera and a 0.3MP camera out front. 

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8 hours ago

What will it take to get every app on every platform? - Talk Mobile

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There are three ways to choose what smartphone experience you're going to have: by carrier, by device, and by apps. Choosing by carrier places the quality of your voice and data service first, whereas making a decision based on the device means you're after a specific platform experience and hardware features. But choosing by apps is trickier.

The current array of mobile ecosystems is simultaneously fragmented and unified across the many platforms. Some major apps are available on all or most platforms, as are apps from smaller developers. Other apps are exclusive to a platform by virtue of features unique to the operating system or the resource constraints of the developer. But if you need that one app to do what you need to do, then the carrier or the device don't matter so much.

But what if all apps could be available on all platforms? Is cross-platform development something that developers should be concerned about, and what are the pitfalls that can be faced in doing so? Is it better to build an app specifically for each platform, or should the app be built with a cross-platform web-based framework?

Users and developers alike can agree that having an app available regardless of platform is a great ideal. But at what cost?

Let's get the conversation started!

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8 hours ago

Rockmelt brings the best of the Internet to Android

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Rockmelt

No longer 'just' a browser, Rockmelt has released its app for Android

Rockmelt is bringing their critically acclaimed "everything" aggregation service and social network to Android, and they're doing so with style. If you're not familiar with Rockmelt, they started life as a web browser on the desktop, complete with social tools and ways to subscribe and share what the web has to offer, and now their new content discovery and delivery system has made it's way into Google Play.

We sat down and had a little chat with Tim Howes, Rockmelt's CTO and Co-founder, and Sharon Chang, Head of Marketing for the company and and discussed both the history of the Rockmelt brand as well as the present iteration. They're excited about what they're doing, and after having a go with the Android version of Rockmelt for a while, I think they have good reason to be.

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9 hours ago

Dolphin Browser hits version 10 with a fresh design, new features

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Dolphin Browser

Version 10 brings a refreshed design to the entire app, with small feature enhancements to keep the experience fresh

With over 10 million downloads to date in the Play Store, Dolphin is one of the most popular browsers on Android. It's moving right along with development though, and with a bump up to version 10 including a refreshed interface and new set of features that should build on its great user experience. With its latest version Dolphin left no portion of the interface untouched, keeping the same color scheme but rethinking the design and interaction at every point. On the back-end, a revamped web app store and development tools increase the potential for expansion.

This is a big step towards modernity for Dolphin, and things are looking good. Hang with us after the break where we break down the improvements in Dolphin Browser version 10.

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10 hours ago

Huawei Ascend P6 available for preorder from Carphone Warehouse in the UK

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Huawei Ascend P6

UK retailer Carphone Warehouse today announced that the Huawei Ascend P6 is now available for preorder. It'll run £21 per month on a two-year contract.

The Ascend P6, which we took a look at this week in London, is described by our own Alex Dobie as "a good-looking piece of kit, with an iPhone-like metal trim around its top and sides, and a featureless back panel." It sports an 8-megapixel rear camera, a 5MP shooter up front and is just 6.18 mm thick.

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13 hours ago

Huawei Ascend P6 gets priced in the UK, expected July 4

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Android Central

Carphone Warehouse taking pre-orders for July 4 availability, £329.95 SIM-free

During the Huawei Ascend P6 launch event in London, we were given an RRP of €449, but in putting the device up for pre-order Carphone Warehouse has undercut this by quite a bit. The CEO of Carphone Warehouse appeared at the event, but didn't discuss any pricing or availability, but the high street retailer is now taking pre-orders. A SIM-free Ascend P6 will cost £329.95, and will be available on contract for free on deals starting at £21 a month. 

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15 hours ago

Falcon Pro removed from Play Store while dev addresses Twitter token issues

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Falcon Pro

Developer says Twitter may have 'shut him down'

On Monday, for the second time in just a few months, popular Twitter client Falcon Pro ran up against the 100,000 user token limit imposed upon most third-party clients. And as it did back in February, the app managed to sidestep the restriction by revoking all the old keys and requiring users to sign in again. But Falcon Pro has run into additional issues this morning, as it seems it may have once again exhausted its available tokens.

Writing on the official Falcon Twitter account, developer Joaquim Vergès said "Wtf? I wake up one day after resetting keys and they're already all used? Did twitter just shut me down?" In a later tweet, the dev said he'd unpublished the app from the Google Play Store "for now" while he figures out a new strategy.

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15 hours ago

HTC Butterfly S announced: BoomSound speakers, 5-inch display and Snapdragon 600 CPU

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HTC Butterfly S

A worthy successor to the original Butterfly with some HTC One influences

HTC has just unveiled the successor to its flagship Butterfly device from last year at an event in Taiwan, and it is indeed named the Butterfly S as previously rumored. As the name would lead you to believe, this is a mild refresh to the original handset, borrowing many features from its cousin the HTC One. The Butterfly S is packing dual front-facing BoomSound speakers as well as an UltraPixel camera, keeping the same 5-inch 1080P display.

On the inside, the specs have been bumped to a 1.9GHz Snapdragon 600 processor, alongside 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage and a notably large 3200mAh battery. This Taiwanese version has a simple quad-band HSPA+ radio on-board.

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17 hours ago

AT&T launching or expanding LTE network in nine new markets

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AT&T

New network equipment going live in new markets across the U.S.

As it regularly does, AT&T is keeping us up to date on the rollout status of its LTE network. This week, the carrier is lighting up or expanding its network in 9 different markets, listed below:

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17 hours ago

Unlocked HTC One getting OTA tonight, still Android 4.1.2

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HTC One

HTC Sense update brings "System Enhancements"

The unlocked HTC One is in the midst of getting a small (17.55MB) OTA update this evening, bringing the version number to 1.29.xxxx.17. The device has hit our developer edition HTC One, and is tagged only with the obscure but ever-present "System Enhancement" bullet point in the update prompt.

HTC hasn't posted any change log at this hour, but we know you Android junkies needed to know about any OTA, no matter the time. If you want to grab this one -- rooted users consider any consequences -- grab it through your system settings.

No word on when we'll see anything similar for carrier branded devices, we'll reach out tomorrow when our HTC folks get out of bed.

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