Forget the fact we're still waiting for the current Samsung Galaxy S II variations to arrive in the U.S. for a second and feast your eyes on the Samsung Galaxy S II Celox that comes fully loaded with LTE. Sounds awesome, right? Not so much, you see -- the LTE-loaded in this case is for 800/1800/2600 MHz making it only capable in Europe, Asia or Australia.

In order to get it working for Verizon it would require the 700MHz band. For the most part, specs are the same as the current Samsung Galaxy S II and we're not saying this device won't show up in North America eventually but for now -- it's not showing signs of that.

Source: SammyHub; via: Unwiredview

If you had to pick one of the most influential smartphones of the past year or so, there's little doubt the HTC EVO 4G would be high up on the list, if not atop it. It was the first 4.3-inch smartphone. The first 4G smartphone. And it it brought with it that sense of style that is a trademark for HTC.

Donn Koh was a designer with San Francisco-based One & Co. from November 2008 to May 2010. This was the design firm that gained notoriety with the Windows Mobile HTC Diamond and was later purchased by the Taiwanese manufacturer. Koh was the lead designer on the EVO 4G and has done a beautiful job breaking down the design of the device, which he says took a good 12 months from start to finish.

Koh tells of the team working directly with HTC's engineers, and of the challenges faced in combining large components while keeping it relatively (and deceptively) thin. In particular, Koh said, the EVO 4G's 8MP camera component, and how its design was incorporated into future HTC phones. Writes Koh:

While it was a requirement to highlight this key feature, it shouldn’t feel unnaturally big or loud. To create this balance, I needed to find an aesthetic solution that would somewhat mask the component size, and one that would look honest and purposefully ‘camera-like.’

This led to a spherical design that partially protrudes the outer surface of the phone. It created an interesting and iconic character akin to an eyeball sitting in a socket. I liked that it had the notion of the phone as a housing for powerful, intelligent, internal components.

This is a must-read if you're at all curious about what goes into smartphone design, and it should make you appreciate that little wonder in your hand that much more.

Thanks, David!

Update: The blog post referenced here has been made private; image and links removed by request.

Sadly, it isn't the infamous playground of the rich and famous, but their latest Android device to be released sometime this weekend on Orange UK.

The Monte Carlo was first seen during MWC in Barcelona earlier this year, in its other guise as the ZTE Skate. As with the San Francisco, it will come pre-loaded with goodies from Orange such as HD voice (as seen on the Xperia Arc) and a whole host of their own apps. 

Squarely aimed at the lower end of the market, the follow on to the San Francisco packs a 4.3" screen, 800mhz processor, 5MP camera and comes fresh out of the box running Gingerbread. We're also looking at the latest 2.3.4 version, and all this for £149 ($242) off contract. 

Hopefully we'll be getting one soon to have a proper look at, but in the meantime take a look at the video after the break.

Source: Orange UK

After having been spotted in a few leaks before now, the Samsung Admire has finally hit MetroPCS in official form and will arrive on the scene just in time for back to school.

"The Samsung Admire is the latest device in our growing Android smartphone lineup and delivers the right set of features at the right price for students as they head back to school. And the best part is that customers will continue to save money year-round with MetroPCS' affordable, unlimited service plans," said Tom Keys, president and COO, MetroPCS"

Those features are of course the 800MHz processor, 3.2MP camera , Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS all wrapped up in some TouchWiz UI. Still no pricing details revealed or an exact launch date but as noted before, we can't see this one going for more then $150. Full press release is beyond the break.

Source: PRNewswire

Looks like Sprint's got quite the mouthful coming to its stable in the coming months, according to a leak received by Engadget. The U.S. carrier's version (previously codenamed "Within") of the Samsung Galaxy S II will go by Epic 4G Touch, or Samsung Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch, if you're man enough for it.

Then there's the HTC EVO Design 4G, which Engadget opines is what's been codenamed the "Kingdom," which we've already seen in leaked shots some months ago with a qHD display.

And, finally, there's the Motorola Admiral, which is ... well, it's the Motorola Admiral. No 4G in the name, so it's a safe bet it's lacking any sort of Wimax data.

As for when any of these will hit? No telling. The fall CTIA show is two months away, but here's to hoping we get something before then.

Source: Engadget

Right then, another Monday is now passing and we've got quite a few things lined up for the rest of the week for you all. Make sure you stick with us to keep up to date on all things Android be it here, on the blogs -- or in the Android Central forums:

• HTC Inspire 4G Forums - We're discussing Gingerbread in here!
  
• Samsung Infuse Forums - Anyone brave enough to flash it?
• HTC EVO 3D Forums - Automatically going to the mobile network if wi-fi dead?
  
• Sprint Photon Forums - Photon #2 now failing on me, not a good sign
• Samsung Droid Charge Forums - Data dropping on my Charge

If you're not already a member of the Android Central forums, you can register your account today.

We've seen the Droid Bionic leaked out in a handful of blurry pics, topless shots, and even the FCC gave us a little teaser. But today we see a couple that give a good look at the phone without the eyestrain.  If you look past Katy Perry, and the task killer this tester is running, you'll see the 4.3-inch qHD display at work, as well as some LTE action going on in the status bar.  GottaBeMobile also has a nice pic showing off the back of the phone, as well as a few standard blurry shots of the profile -- you'll wanna visit the source link to check those out.

Pictures are nice, and we all love seeing them, but what everyone really wants is a date -- even a blurry one.

Source: GottaBeMobile

A couple of weeks ago, we saw a photo of part of the rumored HTC Ruby that displayed T-Mobile branding and evidence of the Android camera app. Now a picture has surfaced of the front of the device, which looks pretty slick.

Specs have yet to leak out, but this phone could be a slightly lesser version of the popular HTC Sensation, which could appeal to a lot of people. A cheaper phone perhaps that offers solid specs would be widely adopted in my opinion. Of course nothing is official or even leaked out at this point, so we'll have to be content with the photo. When something does pop up about the Ruby though, we'll make sure to let you know as soon as it does.

Source: Pocketnow

It appears that another new phone has reached the hands of testers, as shots of the Samsung Hercules -- now officially unofficially T-Mobile's Galaxy S II variant -- are cropping up across the web.  We're still in the dark about most of the specs, we've heard things like a Qualcomm processor and 4.5-inch screen (which would be a departure from the rest of the Galaxy S II line), but we do get a pretty good look at the exterior of the new device.  These new pics have the Hercules looking a lot like the Samsung Nexus S in the overall body design, as the optical trackpad single button we see on the international versions is gone, and the rear of the phone has the familiar reverse chin.  Looking through the other pictures (check the source links) we also see a front facing camera, an 8MP rear camera, capacitive buttons, a SAMOLED display (we'd bet on that being SAMOLED plus), and a 4G icon.  The two biggest questions -- will it really be dropping the Samsung Exynos processor in favor of the Qualcomm, and the release date, are still unanswered.  For now, we'll just enjoy the pictures.

Sources: Pocketnow; TmoNews 

If you're the sort who actually reads user manuals (and we know there are a few of you out there), a draft version of the Motorola Droid Bionic user guide has been publicly revealed by the FCC. Flipping through it, we don't see too much we didn't expect -- note the microHDMI port along with confirmation of a 4.3-inch qHD display.

Curious, though, is the inclusion of a section on the World Phone GSM capabilities. Last time we checked, the Droid Bionic was to be an LTE data smartphone. And while both use SIM cards, we've yet to see a dual LTE/GSM device. And that would be different from the specs Motorola briefly outed and later pulled, and from the FCC's own testing here. And it definitely looks like other pages in this draft guide are borrowed from other devices.

So is it really a CDMA/LTE/GSM smartphone with a dual-core processor and qHD display? We're skeptical at this point. But, damn, that'd be one sweet -- and power-hungry -- device.

Source: FCC; via Droid Bionic Forums