AT&T adds 4G LTE Galaxy Express, Rugby Pro, Galaxy Note II, and GalaxyTab 2 10.1 to lineup

Samsung Galaxy Express

Nowadays, we can pretty much count on AT&T to be the first out of the gate with announcing new products to its expansive smartphone and tablet lineup. The same can almost be said for Samsung, who today have announced the newest additions to AT&T's 4G LTE offerings.

The Samsung Galaxy Express sports a 4.5-inch Super AMOLED Plus screen with Ice Cream Sandwich and a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor on board. The Galaxy Rugby Pro is touted as being built to "military specifications" and is waterproof, dust proof, and shock resistant. The Galaxy Note II smartphone/tablet comes in with improved battery life, a  narrower design, and Jelly Bean out of the box. AT&T completes the lineup with the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 sporting a 10.1-inch display and a 7000 mAh battery.

The devices are scheduled for release "in the coming months". Pricing is not yet available.

The complete Press Release is below:

AT&T Continues To Build 4G LTE Android Portfolio With The Addition Of Three Smartphones And One Tablet From Samsung

DALLAS, Sept. 28, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- AT&T* and Samsung Telecommunications America, LLC (Samsung Mobile)1 announced three new 4G LTE Android™ smartphones– Galaxy Express™, Galaxy Rugby Pro™ and the Galaxy Note® II – and one new 4G LTE Android tablet, Galaxy Tab® 2 (10.1), available in the coming months.

Samsung Galaxy Express
First-time smartphone users will find their perfect match with the Samsung Galaxy Express, a 4G LTE smartphone that combines high performance features at a great price. Galaxy Express runs Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and sports a clear and bright 4.5-inch Super AMOLED™ Plus screen. The 1.5 GHz dual-core processor and 2000 mAh battery helps users stay productive throughout the day; while the 5-megapixel rear facing camera lets you capture and share images easily through text messages, email and social networks.

Samsung Galaxy Rugby Pro (pictured above... Ed.)
An ideal mix of brains and brawn, the Samsung Galaxy Rugby Pro gives customers with active lifestyles access to a 4G LTE smartphone that can handle whatever life throws at it. The Rugby Pro is built to military specifications (810g specifications) and is waterproof**, shock resistant and dust proof. It features a 4-inch WVGA Super AMOLED display and a 5-megapixel rear facing camera that lets you record HD video in 720p. Business customers can rest assured that in addition to being protected from every day wear and tear, Rugby Pro also comes with full device encryption and EAS corporate email support. The device will have access to Enhanced Push-to-Talk functionality upon launch of the service.

Samsung Galaxy Note II
Announced earlier this month, Samsung Galaxy Note II continues to expand the popular category created by the Galaxy Note with improved battery life, a thinner and narrower design and enhancements to the S Pen™. Arriving later this year running Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean), Galaxy Note II with 4G LTE combines the productivity of a tablet with the convenience of a smartphone and the S Pen features you need to unleash your creativity in a single device. With a 5.5-inch HD Super AMOLED™ display and 1.6 GHz quad-core Exynos™ processor with integrated graphics processing unit (GPU), the Galaxy Note II provides PC-like processing power and advanced features like Popup Video, new Gallery views and great gaming performance in a truly pocketable device.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1"
This 4G LTE Android 4.0 tablet delivers entertainment and productivity to fit your whole life. Galaxy Tab 2 10.1" offers a 10.1-inch display and premium entertainment options including Media Hub, Smart Remote and AllShare® Play. Features like on-device encryption and VPN access ensure your tablet is secure for business use. The 7000 mAh battery allows you to stay connected throughout the day.

AT&T customers have access to the nation's largest 4G network***, covering 275 million people. AT&T has two 4G networks that work together for customers, LTE and HSPA+ with enhanced backhaul. That means AT&T customers are able to enjoy a widespread, ultra-fast and consistent 4G experience on their compatible device as they move in and out of LTE areas. With other carriers, when you travel outside of their LTE coverage area, you may be on a much slower 3G network.

All of these devices will be available from AT&T in the coming months.

Samsung, Express, Note, Rugby Pro, Super AMOLED, Exynos, S Pen, and AllShare are trademarks of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

1 Samsung Mobile is the No. 1 mobile phone provider in the United States, based upon reported shipments, according to Strategy Analytics, North America Handset Vendor Marketshare, Q2 2012. Samsung Electronics Company is the No. 1 smartphone provider worldwide, based upon reported shipments, according to Strategy Analytics Global Smartphone Vendor Market Share by Region: Q2 2012.

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.

**Waterproof against incidental exposure to water when all ports (incl. USB and earphone ports) are tightly closed. NOT designed or intended for in water use. Submersible up to 1 meter for up to 30 minutes. Waterproof based on IP57 rating.

***4G speeds not available everywhere. Limited 4G LTE availability in select markets. LTE is a trademark of ETSI. Learn more at att.com/network.

 Source: AT&T

Read More

Apple CEO Tim Cook Apologizes for iOS 6 Maps

Apple has taken a tremendous amount of heat over the new maps application in iOS 6. After dumping Google Maps for their own solution, users of the new maps application in iOS 6 have complained about incomplete map data, missing or misplaced landmarks, and lack of transit information to name a few.  Google Maps have spent years building up the vast amounts of data we see today, and for Apple to take mobile mapping back down a few notches in iOS 6 has users asking, why?

Today, Apple CEO Tim Cook has published an open letter in which he admits Apple "fell short" on delivering the "best experience possible" to their customers, and is "extremely sorry". He goes on to recommend other 3rd party alternatives that customers can download while Apple works to improve their own solution including Bing, Mapquest, and Waze among others.

The complete statement by Tim Cook is below:

To our customers,
At Apple, we strive to make world-class products that deliver the best experience possible to our customers. With the launch of our new Maps last week, we fell short on this commitment. We are extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused our customers and we are doing everything we can to make Maps better.
We launched Maps initially with the first version of iOS. As time progressed, we wanted to provide our customers with even better Maps including features such as turn-by-turn directions, voice integration, Flyover and vector-based maps. In order to do this, we had to create a new version of Maps from the ground up.
There are already more than 100 million iOS devices using the new Apple Maps, with more and more joining us every day. In just over a week, iOS users with the new Maps have already searched for nearly half a billion locations. The more our customers use our Maps the better it will get and we greatly appreciate all of the feedback we have received from you.
While we’re improving Maps, you can try alternatives by downloading map apps from the App Store like Bing, MapQuest and Waze, or use Google or Nokia maps by going to their websites and creating an icon on your home screen to their web app.
Everything we do at Apple is aimed at making our products the best in the world. We know that you expect that from us, and we will keep working non-stop until Maps lives up to the same incredibly high standard.
Tim Cook
Apple’s CEO

Source: Business Insider, Apple

Read More

First Impressions: Twitpic comes to Android

Twitpic has made its official app available for Android today after first releasing it to the iOS App Store back in May. Twitpic has been the leading photo sharing site for Twitter since launching in 2008 and now hosts about 35 million users worldwide. Like the iOS app, the Android version allows you to capture a photo, edit it, and share it on the Twitpic website for all of your followers to see.

The app has the following features:

• Quickly and seamlessly share your photos and videos with all of your Twitter followers


• Edit your photos with beautiful filters and easy to use enhancement tools


• Browse your Twitter photo timeline with photos from people you follow in a beautiful interface


• Browse photos from the most popular Twitpic users


• Manage your Twitpic photos and videos in your own timeline

Currently, the app is not available for the Nexus 7 tablet.

First Impressions:

The app installed fine from the Google Play store on my Galaxy Nexus running Jelly Bean 4.1.1. After authenticating with my Twitter account, it pulled in all of my previous Twitpic uploads. The photo stream currently shows large thumbnail versions of the original photos with a comment indicator in the bottom right corner. Tapping on the photo shows it full-sized with its description at the bottom and an option to add commments. A flick of the finger up or down moves to the next photo.

The scrolling is seems rather slow and a lot of the photos seem blurred and out of focus. The navigation is a bit buggy at times where some scenes require the use of the back button to get back to where you started. Hit it one too many times and you'll unexpectedly exit the app. Taking photos and sharing them, however, seems rather solid and I had no issues getting my photos to post to my feed. The filters are fun to use and there are also options to resize, rotate, and crop your photos before uploading.

Not bad for a 1.0 try, but it won’t tear me away from Instagram for the time being.

You can find the app in the Google Play store here.

Pros:

Views for both personal timeline and popular photos.
No fuss photo taking and sharing.
Aviary supported filters are fun to use.

Cons:

Scrolling seems slow throughout.
Buggy navigation.
Some photos seem blurred and out of focus.

 Source: Google Play

Read More

My Gadgets on the Run

As some of you may or may not know, I'm an avid runner, and in just a few days (June 8-9), I will be participating in the annual 200 mile Madison, Wi., to Chicago Ragnar Relay. Teams of 6 to 12 runners backed up by support vans will run the nearly 200 mile trek between Madison, Wisconsin, to the finish line in Lincoln Park, Chicago, over two days and one night. My part in the team relay is to help cover 33 miles of our designated route, running through neighborhood streets and scenic trails through Wisconsin and into Illinois.

I have tasked myself with recording our journey using the various social media sites and blogs to help our family and friends track our progress in real time. Some of this involves taking photos and notes with cell phones, and feeding them to sites such as Twitter and Instagram. GPS-aware apps such as Foursquare will mark where we are and where we're going. Instant video blogs will be uploaded to Facebook or YouTube for a little entertainment along the way. In the end, all of this will serve to record our memories when the fun is over.

Packed in with my usual running gear will be a gaggle of gadgets to help me record these adventures and help my team make it safely to our destination. I should note that none of them serve as an advantage to teams, and are allowed to be on the course. They simply help with navigation, or help to kill a little boredom while on the road.

Here's a peek at the various gadgets that will be coming with me on my trek to the finish line and how they'll help record our journey along the way:

Unlocked Samsung Galaxy Nexus (w/T-Mobile SIM):

This is my primary, day to day phone that I will be taking with me. I will be using it for everything from taking pictures, posting to social media sites, Instagram, Google Maps, and Navigation. The mobile hotspot will be there if I need it. I will be placing the phone in a protective pouch on my hydration belt in case of an emergency while I'm on the course. My only reservation with using this phone is whether or not T-Mobile will provide enough coverage when I need it most. This is where the next phone comes in.

Palm Pre 2 on Verizon:

You didn't think I was completely done with webOS, did you? This is my backup phone on the Verizon service in case T-Mobile isn't up to the task in the more remote areas. The mobile hotspot on this phone will come in handy for wireless access anywhere. The camera is pretty good for capturing photos, and it's small enough to carry anywhere.

Sprint Galaxy Tab 7 in. w/3G:

This is the trusty 1st generation Galaxy Tab and it will serve as a navigation aid with the excellent Google Navigation app and Google Maps. The larger 7 inch screen will help when needing to access PDF's stored in my Dropbox, or when I need to type up the impromptu post to Tumblr. The Sprint 3G will come in handy where there is no Wi-Fi, T-Mobile, or Verizon service.

Barnes & Noble Simple Touch 2nd Edition:

Nothing like having access to a good e-book when I have a little downtime. I hardly ever have to worry about battery life, and the excellent GlowLight feature lets me read in the dark without bothering my van mates.

Motorola MotoActv Fitness watch (pictured at article top):

No runner should be without a handy gadget to track their day-to-day fitness, or without a way to log their workouts, complete with every statistic you can imagine. The MotoActv does an excellent job with all of this and more. It's also my music player, allowing me to create play lists of my favorite music to keep me company on the trails. The MotoActv also has excellent GPS and Google Map tracking abilities in case I end up in a strange place and need to find my way back. A full review of the MotoActv is forthcoming on the site.

Apps:

Google Maps/Navigation: I've yet to find anything to match the mapping capabilities of Google Maps and the navigation smarts of Google Navigation on my Galaxy Nexus and Galaxy Tab.

Tumblr (Android): The blogging site and the companion Android app is handy for those quick posts, and apps such as Instagram feed posts to Tumblr automatically, so I know the feed will be kept fresh for friends and family to keep track.



Weatherbug: When the skies look a little threatening, it helps to have up to the minute radar in the palm of your hand in case of an emergency.

Twitter and Facebook (Official apps): Instant updates for friends and family to follow along. The #ragnarchi hashtag will tie it all together.

Foursquare/Instagram/Dropbox: The Geo-Location abilities of Instagram and Foursquare will dot the lines on the map for us as we make our way to the finish; the photos will help keep the memories alive. The camera on the Galaxy Nexus will auto-upload my photos to Dropbox for safe keeping and editing later on.

For those of us who are always on the go, we're fortunate to have so many mobile tools at our disposal to keep track of the moments we'll remember forever. With so many to choose from these days, it's easy to find the right ones that fit your particular need. And thanks to app developers that are constantly finding ways to make their apps bigger and better, I feel we're just now scratching the surface.

Read More

Confessions of a webOS Fanboy

The first ever smart "device" I ever owned, and that I purchased myself, was a Sony Clie PEG-UX50 (released 2003) running Palm OS 5.2. I slaved away at my job for weeks to save up the nearly $600 this thing was worth at the time. It was a device ahead of its time and had every spec you could imagine. Once I had that baby in my hands I couldn't put it down. That device was my first introduction to Palm OS and the community of developers and hackers intent on making the device do incredible things- I was hooked. The UX50 and Sony's entire line of PDA's was canceled shortly after its release and I never bought another Sony product again. The hardware was gone, but I stuck with Palm OS because it did everything I needed it to do. That, and the community behind it was exciting, helpful, and knowledgeable.

The UX50 was the first in a long line of Palm OS devices that I owned; Palm OS is all I knew. It wasn't until they started putting phones on these things that I realized the full potential of having the entire Internet in the palm of my hand. The Palm Treo 650 was my first "smart phone" purchased on Sprint and it became a companion of mine everywhere I went. Palm OS had come a long way since that UX50, and Palm as a company was in its heyday, releasing a new smartphone every year; I bought as many as I could get my hands on. The Treo 755P was a personal favorite, followed by a black Palm Centro, which I could stick in a front pocket and take anywhere. webOS was introduced to the world in January 2009 and it changed everything. Not only was it a new direction for Palm OS, but for Palm itself. The mobile landscape was changing, or so we thought.



I'd never waited in line for anything in my life, ever. When the day came for the Palm Pre to be released on Sprint, I got up early to wait in line at a local Sprint store that opened early for the occasion. Looking back at it, it was the one and only time any carrier paid that much attention to a webOS device. I cracked that box open the minute I had my hands on it. In an iPhone world, webOS was a breath of fresh air, and fans of webOS were as passionate about it as I was. I got my girlfriend to buy a Pre Plus when it came to Verizon, then I broke my Sprint contract of 12 years to go to Verizon for the Palm Pre 2. Palm was acquired by HP in April 2010 and the worrying started for me, although not at first.

At that moment, I thought the HP acquisition of Palm was the best thing to happen to the ailing company. The iPhone and the iPad were king of the mobile space and having HP's muscle behind Palm could only spell great things for the company, right? HP went to work right away on new hardware. How about webOS on a tablet? Yes, please. I was a huge fan of the iPad, and to have webOS on a tablet would be icing on the cake. When my TouchPad arrived at my doorstep, the iPad took a spot in my junk drawer for the time being. But for all the TouchPad was, it still couldn't match the productivity of the iPad because the apps just weren't there. Many people thought the same, and the TouchPad never really made a dent in the tablet space. We all know what happens next: HP, on August 18, 2011, announced the discontinuation of the entire line of webOS devices. For me, it was the Sony Clie all over again. Just 49 days after the release of the TouchPad, it was all over.

So where does that leave me? I'd be lying if I said I wasn't dissapointed; that webOS will have a future in one way or another. I just don't see that happening anymore. Sure, there will be some iteration of it somewhere, and whatever that is, I will always be a fan. I feel many webOS faithful have moved on, as have I. I've picked up an HTC Radar on T-Mobile for that Windows Phone experience (there I go, picking the underdog again!), but I also carry an unlocked Galaxy Nexus with pure ICS on board. I felt like a fish out of water leaving Palm and webOS behind, but I've since opened my eyes to everything else the mobile tech world has to offer, and what an exciting world it is!

Read More