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.
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.
Dish gives up their plans to buyout Sprint, but will still focus on their offer for Clearwire
Dish Network has declined to submit a new bid in their on-again, off-again plan to acquire Sprint, and will miss the June 18 deadline. This opens the way for SoftBank to carry out their original plans to buy a significant portion of the U.S. carrier, pending regulatory approval of course.
In a statement released today, Dish says they are unable to submit a bid by the deadline because Sprint has "made it impracticable for Dish to submit a revised offer by the June 18th deadline". The company will consider their other options to strike some sort of a deal with Sprint, and will continue to focus on a separate offer for Clearwire.
Augmented reality robots give hints of Verizon's intentions for its upcoming Droid release
Update: What looks to be the same D:Com game is showing up on Google Play, but doesn't seem to be compatible with any devices. We may be catching Verizon in the middle of a Play Store update.
Original: Verizon somewhat-mysteriously started using its @DroidLanding Twitter account once again to tease a new Droid device, and now the account is giving up more details on its campaign. The latest tweet states: "Incoming ::: Nationwide sightings of 50-ft mechanized wARriors under the command of civilians." and includes a link that takes you to a promotional Youtube video that reveals even more info.
The video, seen above, shows off some fancy Droid-like animations and sounds, but focuses on large AR (augmented reality) robots being placed in locations all around the country. At the end of the video, some branding information reveals the names "D:Com - Mission Alpha" and "Droid Combat". Some quick sleuthing shows that D:Com - Mission Alpha is currently an iOS-only AR game made by developer MunkyFun, which previously partnered with Verizon to make the "Droid Bionic ARena" game in 2011. Looking at the current iOS game reveals extremely similar robots as those seen in the Verizon promo video.
Licensing its technology will help the company expand its reach to even more devices and markets
NVIDIA announced in a blog post today that it will be breaking away from simply making its own GPUs and SoCs to now licensing its technology out to other manufacturers. The chip maker will kick things off by offering up its latest "Kepler" GPU architecture, which it says is the world's most advanced and efficient GPU and the reference design for its next-generation Tegra processors. Licensees will receive designs, collateral and support to integrate the Kepler GPU into their devices. Above and beyond hardware design, NVIDIA also plans to license its vast visual computing portfolio, which will open up to licensees the intellectual property necessary to make their own GPUs.
From its blog post, Executive Vice President David Shannon made a clear statement about NVIDIA's plans:
"But it’s not practical to build silicon or systems to address every part of the expanding market. Adopting a new business approach will allow us to address the universe of devices."
A clean and well-designed new client with a shortage of features but lots of potential
Twitter has been not-so-subtly placing restrictions on developers of third-party Twitter clients in recent months, drastically cutting down on the number of new options out there. But they haven't scared everyone away quite yet -- Hootie is a new client from developer Two Toasters that's a little rough around the edges but has a lot going for it. While it isn't likely to replace your main client of choice if you're a junkie for tweaks and settings, there's a lot here to love that will have us keeping our eye on it going forward.
Hang around after the break and learn a little more about Hootie, a new Twitter client that just hit Google Play.
Ready the hype machine, another Droid will make its way to Verizon
Inactive since the launch of the Droid RAZR in November of 2011, the @DroidLanding Twitter account sent out a tweet today indicating that we may be greeted by another "Droid" device from Verizon. In typical macho-robot-ridiculous fashion, the tweet reads:
"Reactivation protocols initiated ::: Systems nearing operational status ::: Stand by for further instructions...".
Huawei showed the gathered press a number of different videos during todays official unveiling of the new Ascend P6. While we hope you enjoyed the liveblog coverage, we appreciate that describing a video isn't quite the same as seeing it with you own eyes. So, here they are, all the videos that Huawei used to show off the Ascend P6. Enjoy.
Samsung and AT&T have made the Aurora Red version of the Galaxy S4 available today. The 16GB version is identical to the black and white versions, and will have the same 2GB of RAM, 1080p display and Snapdragon 600 under the glass. It's also priced the same, $200 with a new two-year contract or $640 if you buy it outright.
The Galaxy S4 is one of the years best selling phones, and has broken just about every sales record Samsung keeps track of. With 10 Million units sold in black or white, this is your chance to get your hands on one with a little more flair.
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