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More Android, Windows Mango Phones Debut

NEW YORK–

Android dominated smartphone
announcements in recent days
with carriers pricing new Android smartphones
at $29 to $299.

But the first Windows Mango (Windows
Phone 7.5) smartphones for the
U.S. will soon follow because of plans by
Samsung and HTC to offer a combined
total of three Mango models later this year
for the AT&T network.

The announcements precede the expected
introduction later this year of Apple’s
iPhone 5.

The latest Android products include —
Motorola’s long-delayed Verizon Wireless
4G LTE Bionic, which is the carrier’s first
LTE phone with dual-core processor and
thus its fastest LTE phone to date.

There is also SonyEricsson’s PlayStation-certified
Xperia Play 4G game phone, which
became available Sept.18 on the AT&T
network for $49.99 with two-year service
agreement.

Kyocera’s $49 Milano for Sprint, is
targeted to entice consumers to step
up from feature phones.

Huawei’s first smartphone for AT&T,
is also priced to entice consumers to
step up from feature phones.

And Samsung’s Vitality, which is the
first Android phone for Cricket with
the carrier’s Muve music unlimiteddownload
service.

The two planned Mango-based phones are the Samsung
Focus S and Samsung Focus Flash. They’re due
sometime in the fall.

Here’s what the phones offer:

Droid Bionic:

Verizon began on Sept. 8 to offer its
third 4G LTE phone, the Motorola-made Droid Bionic
with dual-core 1GHz processor.

The Bionic’s $299 price tag matches the initial
price of the Samsung-made Droid Charge
when it became available in April. The carrier’s
other LTE phone is the HTC-made 4G
ThunderBolt.

The Bionic features Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread
OS, dual-core 1GHz processor,
1GB of RAM, 4.3-inch qHD display with
scratch-resistant Corning and dual-layer
anti-reflective coating, 8-megapixel autofocus
camera with flash and 1080p HD
video capture, front-facing camera for
video chat over cellular and Wi-Fi, Motoprint
app to print to Wi-Fi-enabled
printers, Mirror Mode with HDMI-out
to display 1080p video on an HDMIequipped
display, business security
features and apps, and 16GB onboard
and preinstalled 16GB MicroSD
card.

The Bionic is also the first phone
with an app called ZumoCast by Motorola.
It lets users remotely download
PC-stored videos, music, pictures
and documents to their handset.

A $299 Lapdock with integrated
11.6-inch screen, keyboard and trackpad lets users
dock the Bionic to it to view email and documents on
the display’s larger screen as well as view websites
via 4G from a Firefox web browser app loaded on the
phone.

For a limited time, Lapdock purchasers get a $100
mail-in rebate when subscribing to a minimum $50,
5GB data plan.

With the $99.99 HD Station, users
can view pictures, video and content
from the Bionic on any HDTV or monitor
by connecting a separately sold
HDMI cable.

The $29.99 Adapter for Webtop
connects the Bionic to a TV or monitor
via HDMI cable to view email, documents
and the web.

A $39.99 vehicle navigation dock
delivers turns the phoine into a portable
navigation device (PND) and delivers
hands-free calling and music playback
through a car’s sound system if
the system features a 3.5mm aux-in.

HTC:

The Titan features 4G HSPA+,
4.7-inch display, 1.5GHz processor
and 8-megapixel rear-facing camera.
It’s due sometime in the fourth quarter
exclusively through AT&T.

In addition, HTC’s HD7S and HTC
Surround for AT&T will both be upgraded
to Windows Phone Mango,
HTC said.

Huawei:

The first Huawei-made
smartphone at AT&T is the Impulse
4G, a 4G HSPA+ phone with Android
2.2 OS. It became available Sept. 18
for $29.99.

Features include 720p HD video recording, 3.8-inch
WVGA capacitive touch screen, 5-megapixel camera,
WI-Fi hot spot capability, and GPS navigation.

Kyocera Milano:

For Sprint’s 3G network, the
$49.99 device features a slide-out QWERTY keyboard,
Swype technology to speed up text
entry on the touchscreen, Android
3.2 (Gingerbread), 3.2-megapixel
camera/camcorders, 512MB onboard
memory, included 2GB
MicroSD card, Wi-Fi hotspot
capability supporting up to five
devices, and Google Mobile services.
It also features Eco Mode,
a proprietary preloaded powermanagement
application from Kyocera
to help users manage battery
life. Users can select a battery-level
point when they want their phones to
enter a low-power-consumption mode.
Phone functions, such as screen timeout
and brightness, will be automatically
adjusted.

Because many smartphone users want
a tactile full-QWERTY keyboard, said
Kyocera sales and marketing VP Eric Anderson,
Milano’s multiple keyboard options
is “ideal for those making the leap to Android
but not wanting to give up their QWERTY
keyboards.”

Through Sprint’s direct channels, the $49
price is after $50 mail-in reward-card rebate.

Samsung:

Samsung is preparing two Windows
Phone 7.5 (Mango) OS phones for AT&T, due in
the fall.

The Samsung Focus S is the next-generation Windows-
based Samsung Focus and features 4.3-inch Super
AMOLED Plus display, 1.4GHz processor, 4G-capable
speeds, and thin profile at 8.55mm at its thinnest
point. Other features include 1.3-megapixel front-facing
camera and 8-megapixel rear-facing camera.

The Focus Flash will be the lower
priced model featuring 3.7-inch Super
AMOLED screen, 1.4 GHz processor,
5-megapixel rear-facing camera, and
front-facing camera. The company
did not say whether it would feature
4G speeds, indicating the phone will
likely be a 3G HSPA model.

In addition, the current Samsung
Focus will get a Windows Mango update
in the fall.

The company did not release more
details.

Prepaid carrier Cricket launched its
first Android smartphone with Cricket’s
Muve Music unlimited-download
service. The service is also available
on the $149 Samsung Suede feature
phone. More Muve-enabled handsets
from Samsung will be announced later
this year.

The Vitality retails for $199 with
preloaded copy-protected Muve Music-
compatible 4GB SanDisk flashmemory
card. An 8GB card is available
separately.

The Android 2.3 Gingerbread
phone features 800MHz processor, 3.5-inch HVGA touchscreen, 3.2-megapixel
camera/camcorder, and stereo Bluetooth.
Other features include Google services.

Muve Music service is included in a $65/
month wireless rate plan and features unlimited
full-song downloads; ringtones and ringback
tones; nationwide calling; nationwide
text, picture and video messaging, and email
and data backup.

SonyEricsson:

The PlayStation-certified
game phone for AT&T has the Android 2.3
(Gingerbread) OS. A 3G version for the Verizon
Wireless network has been available
since early this year.

The AT&T version operates on AT&T’s 4G
HSPA+ network, while the Verizon version is
3G CDMA 1x EV-DO Rev. A.

For AT&T customers, the device will be preloaded
with seven games. Hundreds of additional
games optimized for the Xperia Play
are available in the Android Market or directly
from their publishers .

Handset features include slide-out game
pad equipped with directional keypad, dual
analog touch joystick, two shoulder buttons,
and the four PlayStation symbol keys: circle,
X, square and triangle.

Other features are a 4-inch 480 by 854
screen, stereo speakers, 1GHz Qualcomm
Snapdragon processor, 5-megapixel rear
camera, VGA forward-facing camera and video
chat over Wi-Fi.

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