RIM has hired JP Morgan to “assist in reviewing RIM’s business and financial performance”:

To further enhance our commitment to successfully completing our transformation, after the release of our year-end financial results, we engaged J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and RBC Capital Markets to assist the Company and our Board of Directors in reviewing RIM’s business and financial performance. These advisors have been tasked to help us with the strategic review we referenced on our year-end financial results conference call and to evaluate the relative merits and feasibility of various financial strategies, including opportunities to leverage the BlackBerry platform through partnerships, licensing opportunities and strategic business model alternatives.

This is relatively straight forward. RIM is reporting that the company will continue to lose money through their transitional period for the next few quarters, and RIM has hired JP Morgan and RBC to advise them on the best (or what available) road to take. BGR reported that RIM was pushing for a sale of the entire company to Samsung earlier this year, but RIM wanted an insanely high number — around $10 billion — and Samsung has denied talks ever having place. RIM is currently trading at around $10 a share, making the company worth about half of what they originally wanted in a sale.

Bold emphasis ours, full press release follows.…

May 29, 2012

Research In Motion CEO Provides Business Update

WATERLOO, ONTARIO–(Marketwire – May 29, 2012) – Research In Motion Limited

(RIM) (NASDAQ:RIMM)(TSX:RIM), a world leader in the mobile communications market, today provided a business update from Thorsten Heins, the Company’s President and CEO.

“During the Q4 2012 and fiscal year-end financial results conference call on March 29, I said that I would provide our shareholders with candid and timely updates when possible on the progress and challenges RIM is experiencing. While we are no longer giving quantitative financial guidance, I wanted to provide a brief business update at this time, and will provide more details when our Q1 financial results for the quarter ended June 2, 2012 are released on June 28.

In terms of challenges, as I mentioned on the March financial results conference call, RIM is going through a significant transformation as we move towards the BlackBerry 10 launch, and our financial performance will continue to be challenging for the next few quarters. The on-going competitive environment is impacting our business in the form of lower volumes and highly competitive pricing dynamics in the marketplace, and we expect our Q1 results to reflect this, and likely result in an operating loss for the quarter. We are continuing to be aggressive as we compete for our customers’ business – both enterprise and consumer – around the world, and our teams are working hard to provide cost-competitive, feature-rich solutions to our global customer base. On the positive side, we expect to further increase our cash position in

Q1 from the approximately $2.1 billion we had at the end of fiscal 2012.

Despite the current challenges, we have made significant progress on a number of fronts in the past few months:

/T/

–  Our annual BlackBerry World conference and BlackBerry 10 Jam took place

earlier this month and both were tremendously successful. More than

5,000 developers, partners, carriers and enterprise customers from 115

different countries saw the first glimpses of our next-generation

BlackBerry 10 platform and their response was encouraging.

–  Our developer partners have been enthusiastic with the BlackBerry 10 Dev

Alpha prototype unit we distributed at BlackBerry World and many are

well underway in developing applications to be ready for the launch of

BlackBerry 10 in the latter part of calendar 2012.

–  The support and enthusiasm from our developer community is also

reflected in our app growth, where we now feature more than 80,000 apps,

which represents a 220% increase from one year ago, and more than 15,000

apps for PlayBook compared to less than 2,000 last year. We believe this

bodes well for our ecosystem as we get set to launch BlackBerry 10.

–  We are making steady progress with the innovation of our next-generation

BlackBerry 10 mobile computing platform, which is still on track to

launch in the latter part of calendar 2012.

–  Our global subscriber base continued to grow this quarter to

approximately 78 million, driven primarily by growth in international

markets, which is partially offset by high churn in the United States,

and our BBM user base has grown to approximately 59 million users

globally.

–  Our strong brand internationally was recently enhanced with the

successful launch of two new BlackBerry 7 phones in India and Latin

America.

/T/

We continue to make strategic changes to RIM’s senior management team with the hiring of two key new members to RIM’s executive leadership team.

Kristian Tear, our Chief Operating Officer, whose background also includes extensive experience in international sales in Europe, Asia and Latin America, and Frank Boulben, our Chief Marketing Officer, who will provide our team with deep experience in the mobile computing and communications industry. Both will assist me and the existing executive team as we continue to make the organizational changes necessary to position RIM for the future and prepare for the launch of our new BlackBerry 10 platform.

The CORE (cost optimization and resource efficiency) program we told you about previously is focused on delivering key operational savings through various initiatives. The financial objectives for the CORE program are targeted to drive $1 billion in savings by the end of fiscal 2013, based on our Q4 run rate. We are targeting better efficiency and use of resources in our sales and marketing initiatives to effectively leverage marketing windows and evaluate our country portfolio to determine where it makes sense for us to prioritize our efforts. We will also continue to review RIM’s organizational structure and clearly define accountabilities for all key businesses and business processes with a goal of eliminating fragmentation, duplication and inefficiencies. While there will be significant spending reductions and headcount reductions in some areas throughout the remainder of the fiscal year, we will continue to spend and hire in key areas such as those associated with the launch of BlackBerry 10, and those tied to the growth of our application developer community. We will share more details regarding our progress throughout the year as programs are implemented or changes are completed.

To further enhance our commitment to successfully completing our transformation, after the release of our year-end financial results, we engaged J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and RBC Capital Markets to assist the Company and our Board of Directors in reviewing RIM’s business and financial performance. These advisors have been tasked to help us with the strategic review we referenced on our year-end financial results conference call and to evaluate the relative merits and feasibility of various financial strategies, including opportunities to leverage the BlackBerry platform through partnerships, licensing opportunities and strategic business model alternatives.

Although we are facing challenges, we remain excited about BlackBerry 10 and believe that this platform coupled with the results of the strategic review will create long-term value for our stakeholders. We will provide another more detailed business update when we report our first quarter results in June.”

Q1 Results Conference Call Details

RIM will be reporting results for the first quarter of fiscal 2013 on June 28,

2012 after the close of the market. The Company will discuss today’s announcement and first quarter fiscal 2013 results on a conference call and live webcast beginning at 5 pm ET, June 28, 2012. The call can be accessed by dialing 1-800-814-4859 or at www.rim.com/investors/events/index.shtml. A replay of the conference call will also be available at approximately 7 pm by dialing

1-416-640-1917 and entering passcode 4501363#. A replay of the webcast will be available clicking the link above. The replay will be available until midnight ET July 12, 2012. The conference call will also appear on the RIM website live at 5 pm ET and will be archived at http://www.rim.com/investors/events/index.shtml.

About Research In Motion

Research In Motion (RIM), a global leader in wireless innovation, revolutionized the mobile industry with the introduction of the BlackBerry(R) solution in 1999. Today, BlackBerry products and services are used by millions of customers around the world to stay connected to the people and content that matter most throughout their day. Founded in 1984 and based in Waterloo, Ontario, RIM operates offices in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America. RIM is listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market (NASDAQ:RIMM) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX:RIM). For more information, visit www.rim.com or www.blackberry.com.

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and Canadian securities laws, including statements regarding: RIM’s intention to provide shareholders with updates, when possible, relating to RIM’s progress and challenges; RIM’s transformation as it moves towards the BlackBerry 10 launch; RIM’s expectation that the business will continue to be challenging for the next few quarters; the effects of the intense competition in the wireless communications industry, and RIM’s plans and strategies to address competition; RIM’s current expectations regarding its financial performance in Q1 of fiscal 2013, and its anticipated cash position at the end of the quarter; RIM’s expectations and beliefs relating to the support of its developer partners and the development of its ecosystem in advance of the launch of BlackBerry 10; the anticipated timing of the launch of RIM’s BlackBerry 10 platform; the anticipated benefits of recent strategic changes to RIM’s senior management team and the hiring of outside advisors; RIM’s plans and expectations relating to the CORE program; and RIM’s expectation that it will be able to create long-term value for its stakeholders. The terms and phrases “would”, “will”, “transformation”, “move towards”, “continue”, “ongoing”, “expect”, “likely”, “well underway”, “to be ready”, “believe”, “progress”, “still on track”, “position RIM for the future”, “prepare for the launch”, “targeted”, “goal”, “accelerating”, and similar terms and phrases are intended to identify these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on estimates and assumptions made by RIM in light of its experience and its perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors that RIM believes are appropriate in the circumstances, including but not limited to general economic conditions, product pricing levels and competitive intensity, supply constraints, the timing and success of new product introductions, RIM’s expectations regarding its business, strategy, opportunities and prospects, and RIM’s confidence in the cash flow generation of its business.

Many factors could cause RIM’s actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation: RIM’s ability to enhance current products and develop new products and services in a timely manner or at competitive prices, including risks related to further delays in new product introductions, such as the Company’s BlackBerry 10 smartphones; risks related to intense competition, including RIM’s ability to compete in the tablet market, strategic alliances or transactions within the wireless communications industry, and risks relating to RIM’s ability to maintain or grow its services revenues; RIM’s reliance on carrier partners and distributors; risks relating to network disruptions and other business interruptions, including costs, potential liabilities, lost revenue and reputational damage associated with service interruptions; RIM’s ability to manage inventory and asset risk; RIM’s ability to implement and realize the anticipated benefits of its Cost Optimization Program and CORE program; RIM’s ability to maintain or increase its cash balance; security risks and risks related to the collection, storage, transmission, use and disclosure of confidential and personal information; RIM’s ability to attract and retain key personnel; RIM’s ability to adapt to recent management changes and fill vacant key management positions; RIM’s reliance on suppliers of functional components for its products and risks relating to its supply chain; RIM’s ability to maintain and enhance the BlackBerry brand; risks related to RIM’s international operations; risks related to government regulations, including regulations relating to encryption technology; RIM’s reliance on third-party network infrastructure developers, software platform vendors and service platform vendors; RIM’s ability to expand and manage its BlackBerry App World applications catalogue; RIM’s reliance on third-party manufacturers; potential defects and vulnerabilities in RIM’s products; risks relating to litigation, including litigation claims arising from the Company’s past practice of providing forward-looking guidance; RIM’s ability to manage its past growth and its ongoing development of service and support operations; potential additional charges relating to the impairment of goodwill or other intangible assets recorded on RIM’s balance sheet; disruptions to RIM’s business as a result of shareholder activism; risks related to intellectual property; and difficulties in forecasting RIM’s financial results given the rapid technological changes, evolving industry standards, intense competition and short product life cycles that characterize the wireless communications industry.

These risk factors and others relating to RIM are discussed in greater detail in the “Risk Factors” section of RIM’s Annual Information Form, which is included in its Annual Report on Form 40-F and the “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” section of RIM’s MD&A (copies of which filings may be obtained at www.sedar.com or www.sec.gov).

These factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on RIM’s forward-looking statements. RIM has no intention and undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

Apple has officially confirmed that the Worldwide Developers Conference keynote will be held at 10:00am on June 11th at Moscone West. Surprisingly, Apple has not confirmed who will in fact be delivering the keynote. Traditionally Apple’s CEO has participated, with Steve Jobs famously speaking for many years, and Tim Cook filling in for him among other executives. We’ll be covering the WWDC keynote live.

Apple has been working on an in-house mapping solution for a few years, and it appears as if the company is finally ready to release a new Maps app for iOS, sidestepping Google’s mapping data for its own. BGR has obtained exclusive information and photos of parts of Apple’s new Maps app from a trusted source, and the app features a refreshed user interface including a brand new navigation bar. This bar, we’re told, is silver instead of blue. Since the current Maps app follows the standard blue iOS color scheme, we think it’s possible Apple might shift toward a silver color theme in iOS 6 like on the iPad.

The iPhone version of Maps has a floating locate me button (it sounds very similar to Android’s Google Maps app) in the bottom left corner. To access 3D mode, which will make use of Apple’s C3 Technologies acquisition, you have to peel back the lower right corner of Maps just like the current version and enable 3D mode. Once enabled, you can switch in and out of 3D mode by tapping a 3D icon in the lower left corner. A photo of this feature can be seen in our gallery.

Apple is now putting the finishing touches on its 3D mapping functionality, and it is currently being tested in build 10A3XX of iOS 6.

The above image is a mock up based on what Maps will look like, as communicated by our source, and it includes elements of Apple’s actual refreshed Maps app taken from photos we received. These photos can be viewed in the gallery linked above.

The first episode of The BGR Show doesn’t premiere until May 31st, but we wanted to put together a little something to tease the show with Pharrell Williams — and it’s hilarious. We have some amazing segments lined up, and we would tell you about them but we don’t want to spoil it. The show will air weekly around 11:00 a.m. Eastern every Thursday on i am OTHER‘s channel beginning on May 31st. Make sure you subscribe to stay updated with our show schedule; you can find the show every week at the read link below, and of course, on BGR.com (and more places coming soon!).

Read

BGR has learned from a reliable source that Microsoft is currently planning to release the company’s full Office suite for not only Apple’s iPad, but for Android tablets as well. The company is targeting November of this year for both launches. Additionally, our source has seen Microsoft Office running on an iPad first-hand and has said that it looks almost identical to the previous leak from The Daily a few months back, despite the fact that Microsoft flat out denied that the app was authentic. It is also plausible that Microsoft Office will be coming to the iPhone and iPod touch rather than only the iPad, as we’re told the loading screen in the app clearly said “Office for iOS” and not just iPad.

Thanks, John E.

Over the past six years, BGR has grown into one of the most prominent destinations in the world for mobile and tech news. We have broken some of the biggest stories in tech and offered up some of the most honest opinions. But we’ve never done video. Today, we’re announcing The BGR Show, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to partner with a long-time friend of mine, Pharrell Williams, to bring the show to his new YouTube channel, i am OTHER.

The BGR Show won’t be a boring show that looks at the technical aspects of cell phones. It’s a show that focuses on the fact that technology is now present in practically every aspect of our lives, and we’ll dive deep into this idea during exciting segments with manufacturers, celebrities, personalities, executives and more. We’re working with an amazing design and production team to develop the series and build out a huge BGR set for the show, and we can’t wait to show it to you.

In addition to working with Pharrell and Google, we went to Just Blaze for an original BGR theme song for the show, and we’ve partnered with Sennheiser on the audio front as well.

Episode 1 of The BGR Show will premier on May 31st. From then on you can catch our show every single week on Thursday on YouTube, and of course here on BGR. In the meantime, here the teaser for the channel can be seen below — stay tuned for a clip of Pharrell and BGR. Also feel free to drop us a comment below with some suggestions for segments and interviews you’d like to see on the show.

P.S. You will notice a huge new personality for BGR roll out onto the site and elsewhere in the coming weeks, but that’s for another time.

While I may recommend the iPhone to the majority of people who ask, Android is still my mobile operating system of choice. Google has created a truly amazing and innovative platform, and because it is open-source anyone can tweak it and customize it. Even devices that weren’t meant for Android, such as my HP TouchPad, can run the mobile OS beautifully thanks to dedicated third-party developers. As I spend more and more time with an iPhone, however, I realize that my love for open-source is slowly beginning to fade. While I used to believe open-source would play a huge role in pushing Android ahead of the competition, which it did, I now believe it may end up being the thing that kills it.

With the release of Ice Cream Sandwich, Google revamped Android, making it prettier and more user-friendly. If you were to ask me what the best Android smartphone is, I would confidently state “the Galaxy Nexus.” While the handset has its flaws — for example, the camera is dreadful compared to the iPhone 4S and HTC One X — it is one of the very few smartphones that runs an unskinned version of Android, not to mention the latest version of Google’s Android software. Skins are the reason 90% of Android devices aren’t running Ice Cream Sandwich.

I understand that vendors need to distinguish their devices from the competition, but forcing customers to use a clunky, battery-wasting skin is not the answer. I wouldn’t be so against Android skins if the manufacturers allowed the average user to remove them completely, and I mean without the need to root a device. I praise HTC and Samsung for making their devices developer friendly, but it would be great for them to take things a step further and give users the option of going skinless without voiding warranties.

The days of Android may be limited when you can walk into your local Kohls or Sears store and buy an “Android tablet” for between $25 and $150. These no-name tablets, that in many cases run something crazy like Android 2.2, are killing Android brand and further confusing consumers. I am a big advocate of buyer beware and I always suggest that people do extensive research before buying anything, but this might be solved with a more closed approach to the Android operating system.

If Google were to license Android to manufacturers such as Samsung, HTC, LG and Sony, little would change where the end user is concerned, but it would put an end to what I call “craplets” — off-brand, no-name, crappy tablets.

Lastly, if Android can survive the dangers of being open-source, can survive the sale of “craplets,” and doesn’t get skinned to death by vendors, there is another matter at hand — the carriers. Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint — they all do it, some more than others — pre-install apps on their devices. This “bloatware” often cannot be uninstalled and is found on just about every Android device, including my “pure Google” Galaxy Nexus.

To make matters worse, carriers and vendors sometimes enter into exclusive partnerships to offer services on certain devices. The latest example is Flipboard for Android exclusively for the Galaxy S III, and although it was eventually pulled from the device and made available for all, leaving a large portion of a carrier’s user base in the dark could end up coming back to haunt them.

Another and perhaps the worse case was when Verizon partnered with Microsoft and replaced numerous Google services with Bing as the default option. Yes, Bing was forced upon numerous Android users.

Google might be well-served to follow in Apple’s footsteps to a degree, at least, and take more control. Whether or not that means closing Android off to an extent, something must be done. The company might tell the carriers to back off with the bloatware and exclusives as well, but rumors of multiple vendors selling Nexus devices directly to end users — which Google has been considering for quite some time, as BGR reported last year — likely isn’t the answer.

When discussing the matter publicly, Google measures Android’s success in daily activations. The most recent figure sits at a sky-high 850,000. While that remarkable stat might be the best way for an advertising company to measure its success, Research In Motion and Nokia can both attest to the fact that it takes more than volume to stay on top in the mobile business.

Successfully launching an iconic smartphone is a daunting task, and following up a blockbuster flagship phone launch is even more difficult. Apple and Samsung might make it look easy, but companies like Motorola, Nokia and RIM have shown us that the success of one phone is anything but a guarantee that sequels will be met with the same fanfare. Perhaps no recent smartphone launch better embodies that notion than the HTC EVO 4G, a smartphone that gave Sprint a much-needed smash hit when it launched in 2010, and its successor the EVO 3D, which is now all but forgotten less than a year after its debut. Now, Sprint and HTC are back again with the HTC EVO 4G LTE, a smartphone that is more than worthy of its “flagship” designation. Impressive though it may be on paper, can Sprint score an EVO 4G-sized hit with this upcoming superphone or is it destined to meet the same fate as the EVO 3D? My full review follows below.

The Inside

HTC’s business exploded beginning in early 2011, and the company went on a run that saw it post record revenue for six consecutive months. The vendor’s growth came to a screeching halt in the fourth quarter, however, thanks to the launch of Apple’s iPhone 4S and increased competition from Samsung. HTC is well aware that it fell behind, and it is also well aware that a window may have opened; the company’s direct response to a BGR article on the matter suggests HTC is ready for battle, and on paper, the HTC EVO 4G LTE — Sprint’s branded and redesigned version of the HTC One X — is a very powerful weapon.

As is the case with AT&T’s One X, the HTC EVO 4G LTE loses NVIDIA’s quad-core Tegra 3 chipset in favor of the LTE-compatible Qualcomm Snapdragon S4, which includes a 1.5GHz dual-core Krait CPU and an Adreno225 GPU. Performance and responsiveness may or may not take a hit as a result of the change, but I did experience the same performance hiccups covered in my review of the HTC One S.

HTC’s Sense 4 UI and service layer sits atop Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich, and it is most definitely a step in the right direction compared to previous versions of Sense. As discussed in BGR’s review of HTC’s One S for T-Mobile, Sense 4 goes back to the basics for HTC. It focuses more on adding value for the end user and less on differentiation for the sake of differentiation.

Beyond the processor and operating system, this smartphone is packed to the brim with cutting-edge technology. In terms of connectivity it includes CDMA, EV-DO, LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n with DLNA and mobile hotspot support, Bluetooth 3.0, USB 2.0 and near-field communication (NFC) support. It also features 16GB of internal storage, a microSD slot for up to 32GB of additional memory, 1GB of RAM, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a proximity sensor, a compass and plenty more.

Though the EVO 4G LTE is only 8.9 millimeters thick, HTC managed to squeeze in a 2,000 mAh battery. While I couldn’t test the device’s battery performance on Sprint’s 4G LTE network since such a thing does not exist, battery life on Wi-Fi and 2G/3G was more than ample. I was able to easily make it through a full day of moderate usage on a single charge, and after charging the phone early in the morning, I often didn’t have to plug the EVO back in until mid-way through the following day.

Typical usage during my testing included streaming music via Pandora, regularly interacting with Twitter, monitoring Reddit with Baconreader, staying on top of the news with gReader and News360, capturing a bunch of photos and some video, browsing the Web in Chrome and sending and receiving more email than any man should ever have to deal with.

The Outside

As is the case with most modern flagship phones from HTC, the EVO 4G LTE’s build is second to none. Barring one area that I will soon cover at length, HTC used top-notch materials on the EVO and the result is a solid smartphone that feels like a premium product should.

The display and capacitive navigation buttons on the HTC EVO 4G LTE are covered with Gorilla Glass by Corning, and a front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera sits above the top of the screen alongside the ear speaker. Calls on the EVO were loud and clear, and people I spoke to during my tests had no complaints whatsoever regarding call quality.

The display on this smartphone is very impressive. HTC opted for a Super LCD2 panel that squeezes high-definition 720 x 1,280-pixel resolution into display that measures 4.7-inches diagonally, and the result is a pixel density of 312 ppi. It’s a beautiful display.

While the clarity isn’t on par with the likes of Apple’s Retina display on the iPhone, it is certainly among the most impressive I’ve seen on a smartphone. Images and high-definition video look fantastic on the EVO 4G LTE’s screen, and UI elements are impressive as well. Colors aren’t quite as deep as they are on the Super AMOLED panel HTC used in the One S, but the higher resolution is well worth the trade off.

The right side of the phone contains a volume rocker and a dedicated two-stage camera shutter button — something that is noticeably absent from AT&T’s version of the One X — and the left edge of the phone is home only to a microUSB port. The top of the new EVO includes a power button, a secondary microphone for noise cancellation and a standard audio jack, while the bottom contains the primary mic. On the back of the smartphone sits a loudspeaker, a camera, a single LED flash and a red aluminum kickstand.

The bulk of the case is made of anodized aluminum, but HTC added a twist to its design that we have not seen before on any smartphone. The unibody aluminum part of the case is anodized in black across the entirety of its exterior surface, but then the anodized layer is ground away in a thin strip around the outer edge of the phone. The result is a sleek black case with red accents on the back, and then a brushed aluminum band around the outer edge of the phone.

It’s an interesting idea that might have made for a fantastic looking smartphone had HTC not used a glossy black plastic piece to cover the top half of the back of the EVO 4G LTE.

The Upside

I had a great deal of praise for HTC’s fourth major iteration of Sense when I reviewed the One S for T-Mobile recently, and Sprint’s EVO 4G LTE keeps the experience surprisingly pure.

“Sprint Zone” is the only carrier-branded application you’ll find on this smartphone out of the box, and it can hardly be categorized as annoying, intrusive or “bloatware.” Quite to the contrary, the app offers a single hub through which users can access account management features, app recommendations, a Sprint store locator and plenty more. In theory, this is great. In practice, the first time I tried to access anything through Sprint Zone (the Manage Your Account link), the app froze, couldn’t be killed using the EVO’s built-in task manager, and remained useless until I rebooted.

Beyond Sprint Zone and a visual voicemail app, the EVO 4G LTE experience is essentially exactly as HTC intended it. HTC dialed Sense 4 back a bit after taking user feedback to heart. The result is an attractive user interface that adds unique visual elements to Google’s Android 4 Ice Cream Sandwich UI, a suite of custom apps and a series of great features that enhance Android.

Samsung will push the envelope further with the launch of the Galaxy S III this summer, but HTC’s subtle functionality automation tweaks really add to the overall user experience where daily operation is concerned. The examples I mentioned in my One S review are still among my favorite: a simple setting has Sense greet users with the weather forecast each morning on the lock screen, another setting that automatically enables speakerphone mode when the phone is placed face-down on a table during a call and disables it when the phone is picked back up, and so on.

Moving past the software, the display on the EVO 4G LTE is another bright spot for this flagship phone.

In the television industry, display quality is everything. Vendors strive to outdo each other, and later this year we will see Samsung and LG push things to the next level when they release their debut 55-inch OLED TVs. Of course display quality will never be as important to smartphones as it is to TVs, for obvious reasons, but I believe we are quickly approaching a time when picture quality will be regularly named among users’ top priorities when choosing a device.

Samsung and Apple are clear leaders in this space right now. Apple’s Retina display on the iPhone 4S offers unrivaled clarity and Samsung’s Super AMOLED panels feature vivid colors that no other screen even approaches. Competitors are regularly narrowing the gap, however, and HTC can certainly be counted among the smartphone players that have recognized the importance of display quality on phones.

HTC’s One S utilized a Super AMOLED display panel on while the color reproduction is definitely more impressive, the Super LCD2 panel on the EVO is outstanding. Colors are often a bit more faint compared to AMOLED displays, but the clarity is where this screen shines. Compared to panels on HTC’s previous-generation smartphones, the EVO 4G LTE’s 720p high-definition display is clearer and brighter, and it really does have a significant impact on the user experience.

The camera and Beats Audio are two more big check marks in the plus column for this phone. The EVO 4G LTE sports an 8-megapixel camera with an f/2.0 wide-angle lens, and it is powered by a dedicated chip. It can capture 8-megapixel still images while recording 1080p HD video at 60 frames per second, and it can also shoot multiple full-resolution images per second in burst mode.

HTC’s camera on the new EVO can capture an 8-megapixel image and then return to a ready state in less than a second. The camera app in Sense also includes a number of Instagram-like photo filters that can be previewed in real-time, and having a dedicated two-stage shutter button makes the camera experience even better than it is on AT&T’s version of the One X.

Beats Audio works across all music apps on the EVO 4G LTE, as it does on all One-series phones, and it may very well offer the most impressive listening experience among all smartphones on the market. Beats tuning enhanced sound quality across every genre I played from my own catalog during testing, and it dramatically improves the listening experience with streaming apps like Pandora and Spotify as well.

The Downside

As impressed as I have been with the overall user experience offered by the HTC EVO 4G LTE, two gigantic road blocks lie between me and any possibility of an enthusiastic recommendation to run out and buy this phone when Sprint releases it in the near future.

First things first: it’s hideous.

I’ll elaborate — from the front, the new EVO is a great looking phone. It basically looks like any other full touchscreen handset. Tilting the device to its side exposes the brushed metal detailing that surrounds the outer edge of the phone, which is a unique feature that might help separate this phone from the pack. Flip the phone over to expose its back, however, and the fun is over.

HTC uses various plastics on the exterior casing that surrounds its many phone models. AT&T’s One X utilizes a sleek polycarbonate, and a number of other devices feature a soft-touch rubbery finish that feels great in the hand. I enjoy either of those options.

The EVO 4G LTE includes two plastics on the exterior of the device. Near the bottom of the back, there is a narrow hard plastic area near the speaker that nearly matches the aluminum finish above it. It breaks up the lines a bit, but it works. Above the aluminum region that sits near the middle of the back of the phone lies a red aluminum strip that houses the device’s kickstand. It’s not my cup of tea but there are definitely people who will enjoy this design element.

Then comes the cheap, glossy, flimsy, grease magnet of a plastic cover that houses the antennas and covers the microSD card slot.

During the week I have spent with the EVO 4G LTE, I asked more than a dozen friends, family and random people of varying ages for their initial impressions of this smartphone. Without exception, a complaint about the appearance of the handset was among the first few comments made, and it was often accompanied by an expression that might involuntarily cross one’s face after taking a big swig of milk that spoiled a month earlier.

I honestly have no idea who the look of the EVO 4G LTE might appeal to.

Why HTC chose this finish is beyond me, because the soft-touch finish found on other HTC models would have looked great here. I sincerely hope Sprint enlists the help of some top-notch protective case designers and offers a wide variety of high-quality third-party cases in its stores across the country, because something needs to be done to cover the back of this phone.

My other major qualm with this smartphone involves data speeds. Painfully slow data speeds.

T-Mobile and AT&T get jabbed constantly for marketing their HSPA+ networks as “4G.” In these cases, a matter of marketing is at the root of the debate and data speeds are typically more than adequate.

In the case of the EVO 4G LTE, Sprint is actually selling a device with “4G LTE” in its name and no 4G LTE network to support it. Sprint will roll out its LTE network over the next 18 months or so, but in the meantime, I spent a week testing a “4G LTE” phone with download speeds that averaged less than 1Mbps.

And as an aside, that name — ”HTC EVO 4G LTE” — is a horrible one. Enough with “4G” and “LTE” in phone names, carriers.

The Bottom Line

When it launches in the near future — the phone was supposed to be released on May 18th but a delay caused by a patent spat between HTC and Apple has left things up in the air — the HTC EVO 4G LTE will easily be one of the most impressive flagship smartphones Sprint has ever released. And one of the ugliest. And one of the slowest.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I truly have no idea who might look at the back of the HTC EVO 4G LTE and think to him or herself, “now this is one gorgeous smartphone.” In my unscientific study, I did not find a single person who liked the look of this phone. Instead, each and every person I handed the device to said it was “ugly,” “gross,” “nasty,” or “hideous” without any provocation.

Aesthetics are open to discussion but performance is not. This smartphone, which includes the term “4G LTE” in its name, is the slowest flagship device I have tested in recent memory. Compared to Verizon Wireless and AT&T’s LTE networks or even T-Mobile and AT&T’s HSPA networks, the data speeds I experienced while testing the EVO 4G LTE were simply pathetic.

Of course this phone is slow, you might say to yourself. Sprint hasn’t yet begun to roll out its next-generation 4G LTE network!

This is indeed the case, and while Sprint is under immense pressure to catch up in terms of network technology, launching the EVO 4G LTE without any 4G LTE network to support it — and having the audacity to include “4G LTE” in the device’s name — is putting the cart before the horse at best. At worst, it’s disingenuous.

The simple truth is that most customers who consider purchasing the “EVO 4G LTE” will do so with the belief that the phone will come alongside “4G LTE” service. For early adopters, this will not be the case. In fact, even months from now as 2012 rolls into 2013, a huge chunk of Sprint’s nationwide network will still not support LTE service.

At $199.99 on contract, the EVO 4G LTE offers a user experience that is second to none… as long as you cover it with a third-party case and stay within range of a Wi-Fi network. If you would prefer to roam about freely and maintain fast data speeds, or if you shudder at the thought of ruining the handset’s 8.9-millimeter thick profile with a bulky case, looking elsewhere might be the best option.

Behold the Ghost of Palm Past. Earlier this week, industry watchers got to relive the rise and fall of webOS as Research In Motion gave the world a brief look at a gorgeous new smartphone platform while failing to convince anyone that it can succeed in a market dominated by Apple and Google. RIM’s stock plummeted from a high of $14.62 earlier this week to the $11-range as a result. Then, on Thursday, Samsung took the wraps off its latest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S III. The impressive smartphone’s design was described as having been inspired by pebbles that had been smoothed be the flow of water in a river. There was once another smartphone with a design inspired by river rocks, but I can’t quite put my finger on it…

To make Samsung’s Galaxy S III announcement even more Palm-like, the South Korean vendor even aired a short promotional video featuring a somewhat creepy woman discussing the new phone. Granted, she didn’t appear to be hallucinating at the time, but the similarities between this promo and Palm’s uncomfortably pale spokeswoman were definitely there.

Of course Samsung certainly is not where Palm was in 2009, and it isn’t where RIM is today. Samsung is the No.1 smartphone vendor in the world, and its mobile business is pushing the company’s profits to new heights.

But despite a big-budget press conference featuring a live orchestra and an Olympic Games sponsorship, the Samsung Galaxy S III wasn’t met with overwhelming enthusiasm, as Samsung had undoubtedly hoped.

The Galaxy S III is an impressive phone. It features a quad-core 1.4GHz Exynos processor, a gigantic 4.8-inch high-definition Super AMOLED display and an ultra-slim case that is among the thinnest in the world. Even still, it’s just not that exciting.

The design looks to be a less impressive take on HTC’s One X, opting for cheap plastic in place of HTC’s unibody polycarbonate case. Samsung’s “S Voice” voice-command feature is a dumbed down version of Siri, and AllShare is all too familiar. Some might say Samsung’s new TouchWiz interface atop Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich can’t match the sleek look and feel of HTC’s Sense 4, and the Galaxy S III’s new camera software is a clear improvement over previous-generation Samsung handsets, but it falls well short of matching HTC’s Image Sense software and the new camera hardware found on its One-series phones.

The biggest winner on Thursday afternoon may very well have been HTC.

Samsung’s new smartphone will launch on nearly 300 carriers in the coming months, and it will be a top seller. Samsung mobile boss JK Shin on Thursday said that the company aims to sell 200 million smartphones in 2012, and the way things are looking right now, this is a very real possibility — Samsung shipped an estimated 44.5 million smartphones in the first quarter, and its new flagship phone won’t even begin rolling out until later this month.

There is another vendor that should be doing everything in its power to make sure Samsung doesn’t meet that goal, however, and that vendor is HTC. HTC had a record run in 2011 that was abruptly halted when Apple launched the iPhone 4S. The Taiwan-based smartphone company has been sliding since then, and its profit plummeted 70% in the first quarter this year.

HTC responded with three smartphones. Three fantastic smartphones that marry cutting edge technology with sleek designs and high quality materials. We’ve seen what a company can do with just three smartphones, but products alone won’t right this ship. HTC might be well-served to take a page from Apple’s book and double, triple or even quadruple down on marketing. No consumer electronics company spends more money marketing its gadgets than Apple, and perhaps not entirely by coincidence, no consumer electronics company in the world makes as much money as Apple.

The HTC One S — one of the most gorgeous smartphones I have ever held — is now available on T-Mobile, a carrier in desperate need of a hit. Or is it? Did the One S even launch? Is T-Mobile selling it? For every HTC One S commercial on TV, I see 20 commercials featuring the T-Mobile girl decked out in leather riding around on a crotch rocket while on-screen text talks up T-Mobile’s 4G network. Maybe it’s because I’m in a small market (New York) and HTC and T-Mobile are hitting larger markets harder with the One S.

And is the One X launching this Sunday on AT&T? I know AT&T sells the iPhone and the carrier is making sure as many people as possible are made aware of Nokia’s Lumia 900 thanks to the Finnish vendor’s deep pockets, but HTC’s One X will hardly be a contender at AT&T — which sells more smartphones than any other carrier in the all-too-important U.S. market — unless HTC puts its money where its mouth is.

Maybe HTC is banking on Sprint’s version of the One X, the HTC EVO 4G LTE, which is an amazing LTE phone with no LTE network to support it and a back cover that might invoke your gag reflex.

There is a window, and it is open. HTC got a head start on Samsung’s Galaxy S III and its One-series smartphones have everything it takes to find success… if wireless subscribers are made aware of their existence more effectively and aggressively.

That window may slam shut this summer when the Galaxy S III launches, and it may have iron bars bolted over it this coming fall when Apple launches its next-generation iPhone. In the meantime, HTC has little time to spare if it hopes to seize this opportunity and become a smartphone leader once again.

The Samsung Galaxy S III is finally real, and it’s just about everything we have reported it would be, though the specs have been dialed back a bit in some areas. The super-smartphone features an insanely fast 1.4GHz quad-core processor, a 4.7-inch HD display, an 8-megapixel camera with 1080p HD recording, 1GB of RAM and of course, 4G LTE. It’s all tightly packed into a slim case that is just 8.6 millimeters thick. Samsung is launching the Galaxy S III on May 29th in Europe and in the coming months, nearly 300 carrier partners will offer the phone. It will start to appear on local carriers in the United States some time this summer, and it will be the official phone of the Olympic Games in London this summer. Samsung’s full press release follows below along with a video.

Samsung Introduces the GALAXY S III, the Smartphone Designed for Humans and Inspired by Nature Effortlessly smart and intuitively simple, Samsung GALAXY S III reveals a new concept of smartphone 

London, UK—May 3, 2012—Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, a global leader in digital media and digital convergence technologies, announced today the third generation GALAXY S, the GALAXY S III. Designed for humans and inspired by nature, the GALAXY S III is a smartphone that recognizes your voice, understands your intention, and lets you share a moment instantly and easily.

This sleek and innovative smartphone has the enhanced intelligence to make everyday life easier. With Samsung GALAXY S III, you can view the content like never before on the device’s 4.8 inch HD Super AMOLED display. An 8MP camera and a 1.9MP front camera offer users a variety of intelligent camera features and face recognition related options that ensure all moments are captured easily and instantly. Samsung GALAXY S III is powered by Android™ 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich, with greatly enhanced usability and practicality to make life easier. Packed with intuitive technology, the GALAXY S III delivers a uniquely personalized mobile experience that refuses to be compromised.

“With the GALAXY S III, Samsung has maximized the consumer benefits by integrating superior hardware with enhanced smartphone usability,” said JK Shin, President and Head of IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung. “Designed to be both effortlessly smart and intuitively simple, the GALAXY S III has been created with our human needs and capabilities in mind. What makes me most proud is that it enables one of the most seamless, natural and human-centric mobile experiences, opening up a new horizon that allows you to live a life extraordinary.”

Introducing Natural Interaction

The GALAXY S III enhances the interaction experience between the device and user. Smart enough to detect your face, voice and motions, the GALAXY S III adapts to the individual user to provide a more convenient and natural experience. With the innovative ‘Smart stay’ feature, the GALAXY S III recognizes how you are using your phone – reading an e-book or browsing the web for instance – by having the front camera identify your eyes; the phone maintains a bright display for continued viewing pleasure.

The GALAXY S III features ‘S Voice,’ the advanced natural language user interface, to listen and respond to your words. In addition to allowing information search and basic device-user communication, S Voice presents powerful functions in regards to device control and commands. When your phone alarm goes off but you need a little extra rest, just tell the GALAXY S III “snooze.” You can also use S Voice to play your favorite songs, turn the volume up or down, send text messages and emails, organize your schedules, or automatically launch the camera and capture a photo.

In addition to recognizing your face and voice, the GALAXY S III understands your motions to offer maximized usability. If you are messaging someone but decide to call them instead, simply lift your phone to your ear and ‘Direct call’ will dial their number. With ‘Smart alert,’ the GALAXY S III will also save you from trouble by catching any missed messages or calls; your phone will vibrate to notify missed statuses when picked up after being idle. 

Easy and Instant Sharing 

The Samsung GALAXY S III is more than a personal device that can be enjoyed by one user – it wants you to share and experience smartphone benefits with family and friends, regardless of where you are. With the new ‘S Beam,’ the GALAXY S III expands upon Android™ Beam™, allowing a 1GB movie file to be shared within three minutes and a 10MB music file within two seconds by simply touching another GALAXY S III phone, even without a Wi-Fi or cellular signal. The ‘Buddy photo share’ function also allows photos to be easily and simultaneously shared with all your friends pictured in an image directly from the camera or the photo gallery.

With ‘AllShare Cast’, users can wirelessly connect their GALAXY S III to their television to immediately transfer smartphone content onto a larger display. ‘AllShare Play’ can be also used to instantly share any forms of files between GALAXY S III and your tablet, PC, and televisions regardless of the distance between the devices. Under AllShare Play is also the ‘Group Cast’ feature that allows you to share your screen among multiple friends on the same Wi-Fi network; you can make comments and draw changes at the same time with your co-workers, witnessing real-time sharing on your individual device. 

Human-centric Design with Uncompromised Performance

The GALAXY S III not only presents features with enhanced usability, but also provides an ergonomic and comfortable experience through its human-centric design. Its comfortable grip, gentle curves, and organic form deliver a rich human-centric feel and design. Inspired by nature, its design concept is the flow and movement of nature. The elements of wind, water and light are all evoked in the physical construct of the GALAXY S III. In its essence, the minimal organic design identity is reflected in the smooth and non-linear lines of the device. Available in Pebble Blue and Marble White at launch, Samsung will introduce a variety of additional color options.

With a 4.8” HD Super AMOLED display, the GALAXY S III offers a large and vivid viewing experience. Samsung Mobile’s heritage Super AMOLED display even enhances to HD and 16:9 wider viewing angles. To ensure faster content sharing and connectivity, the GALAXY S III offers Wi-Fi Channel Bonding which doubles the Wi-Fi bandwidth.

The GALAXY S III also sports a range of additional features that boost performance and the overall user experience in entirely new ways. It introduces ‘Pop up play,’ a feature that allows you to play a video anywhere on your screen while simultaneously running other tasks, eliminating the need to close and restart videos when checking new emails or surfing the Web. Its 8MP camera features a zero-lag shutter speed that lets you capture moving objects easily without delay – the image you see is the picture you take. With the ‘Burst shot’ function that instantly captures twenty continuous shots, and the ‘Best photo’ feature that selects the best of eight photographs for you, the GALAXY S III ensures users a more enhanced and memorable camera experience. HD video can be recorded even with the 1.9MP front-facing camera, which you can use to capture a video of yourself. Improved backside illumination further helps to eliminate blur in photos that result from shaking, even under low lights.

Mobile payment is also accessible with the device through advanced Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. The gaming experience is enhanced through ‘Game Hub,’ providing access to numerous social games, while Video Hub brings users high quality TV and movies. Furthermore, Samsung Music Hub will offer a personal music streaming service. Game Hub, Video Hub and Music Hub will be introduced in select countries initially and soon rolled out to global markets.

The Samsung GALAXY S III will be available from the end of May in Europe before rolling out to other markets globally.

RIM made an unprecedented move earlier this week when it gave away pre-production BlackBerry 10 hardware to developers, but it was a smart one. In order to develop for a brand new operating system and help grow develop support for a new platform, you need to be able to test on real hardware. Since this isn’t the phone that RIM will launch in the fall, there’s no issue letting the public see the hardware, right? Well, there’s more to the story.

The BlackBerry 10 Alpha unit is a device RIM has been testing internally for quite some time. In fact, our sources have confirmed that it’s the BlackBerry Colt handset that RIM originally planned to ship as its first BlackBerry 10 smartphone, which was later canceled.

This is just another insight into how disorganized RIM is — looking at the phone, you can clearly see how much time, effort and money RIM put into it. It’s pre-production, but this is a phone that is set up for the company to ship. It’s manufactured very well, feels good, and has way too many details for this to just be something RIM made to give away to its developer base.

The display is beautiful, and the unit is literally a smaller PlayBook. I have also been told that Mike Lazaridis and other RIM executives have been showing BlackBerry 10 off to partners using this exact device over the past few months — another sign that this was indeed in the running to be RIM’s first real touchscreen device.

During the annual Consumer Electronics Show in January 2009, a struggling smartphone company that had once helped shape the mobile industry unveiled its next-generation platform. It was gorgeous. The design was unique and appealing, the gesture-based controls were smart and intuitive, and the company’s new smartphone operating system offered a breath of fresh air in an industry dominated by just two major players, Apple and Google.

On August 18th, 2011, less than three years after this promising new platform was unveiled, it was effectively laid to rest.

During the annual BlackBerry World conference on Tuesday, a struggling smartphone company that had once helped shape the mobile industry unveiled its next-generation platform. It was gorgeous. The design was unique and appealing, the gesture-based controls were smart and intuitive, and the company’s new smartphone operating system offered a breath of fresh air in an industry dominated by just two major players, Apple and Google.

Yes, history is repeating itself.

There are too many comparisons between Research In Motion today and Palm in late 2008 and early 2009 to count. Ignoring the similarities between Palm and HP’s webOS platform and BlackBerry 10 is ignoring the obvious: a sleek UI that deviates from industry leaders and innovates in several key areas, sky-high ambitions, aspirations of pushing the platform beyond smartphones and onto various other products, and a seemingly impossible lead to overcome. RIM is in a much better place than Palm was at that time, of course, with a much larger user base, better performance and more resources at its disposal. Despite these advantages, however, both of these stories may end up sharing the same final chapter if RIM can’t find a way to tip the scales in its favor.

New chief executive Thorsten Heins took the stage on Tuesday and showed the world an operating system that looks absolutely nothing like BlackBerry 7. This is a very good thing. Based on RIM’s PlayBook OS, BlackBerry 10 appears to have the fit and finish of a modern mobile platform at this early stage. The UI is a complete overhaul compared to RIM’s current smartphone OS, and while Heins’s preview was very brief, we saw a number of exciting new features unveiled.

RIM showed us an interesting take on predictive text input that places words above various keys lying in the path of letters the user might type. A simple flick gesture will then complete the word. This solution is more elegant and logical than existing options that place a list of word recommendations across the top of the virtual keypad, and it is nice to see RIM innovating in a space it led for so long.

The camera software in BlackBerry 10 is fascinating as well. RIM’s next-generation smartphones will capture a series of photographs in the background as the user snaps an image. This will allow users to cycle regions of the image forward or backward in time to correct closed eyes or alter other aspects of a photo.

The problem, however, is that features like these won’t sell phones, regardless of how innovative and exciting they might be.

These features are a small piece of a massive puzzle that must be arranged in just the right order to allow a third player to emerge and succeed in today’s market. Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android have tremendous momentum, proven ecosystems and developer support, widespread carrier support and massive marketing budgets helping to sustain their success.

To say RIM has its work cut out for it is an understatement of monumental proportions. Plainly put, right now is likely the worst time in smartphone history to launch a new platform.

Apple and Google lead in the smartphone platform race by a staggering margin, and Nokia and Microsoft have a head start in terms of using innovation, a spectacular product and boatloads of cash in attempt to establish a successful third platform. And in terms of smartphone profits, that’s a two-horse race as well right now.

At some point in the coming years, other platforms will undoubtedly emerge and find success in the smartphone space. The odds are not in a contender’s favor today, however, as Apple and Google are both at the top of their game. To make matters somehow even worse for RIM, its first BlackBerry 10 smartphone will likely launch in the very same month as Apple’s next-generation iPhone, which BGR expects to feature a complete redesign when it is released this fall.

BlackBerry 10 is shaping up to be an impressive platform, and we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg. It looks elegant, well thought-out and very powerful — just like webOS. Whether or not RIM can avoid a similar fate for its mobile platform remains to be seen, but unfortunately, we haven’t been shown anything compelling or significantly differentiated thus far that suggests this will be the case. For RIM’s sake, and for the sake of smartphone users everywhere who are hungry for a viable new platform, let’s hope that changes.

We’re only a day from the official announcement of the Samsung Galaxy S III, but that doesn’t mean the leaks are done. One of our contacts sent us a photo of the Samsung Galaxy S III’s boot screen as it is turning on, but wouldn’t allow us to post photos of the actual device. Maybe next time! Samsung is set to unveil the highly anticipated Galaxy S III during a press conference on Thursday afternoon.

I sat at my computer in amazement a little earlier. Most of me knew that RIM is too damaged and too slow to pivot, and just too out of touch with its customers to know it actually has a chance. But, there was this small part of me that was genuinely excited for BlackBerry World’s announcements. Then I saw Thorston Heins start off the company’s most crucial keynote ever with Salesforce and Cisco.

This company has not changed, and won’t change. The parts of BlackBerry 10 demoed are slick — capturing a series of images and combining different elements from each one before you save a photo seems genuinely incredible, though how is that done, with an EDoF camera, so no autofocus? What we saw wasn’t truly innovative, though. It wasn’t compelling enough, and it’s unfortunately too late to try and gain enough traction and support for a third mobile ecosystem.

RIM is a company that has failed to deliver for the last eight years, and it doesn’t deserve another chance to mess it up. My live-tweets are embedded below so you can follow along to my instant (rambling) thoughts.

Also of note: RIM declined to make its BlackBerry 10 Alpha device available for BGR. Coincidentally, two publications that had early access to the smartphone also have advertising campaigns from BlackBerry running.

honestly, yes, it’s possible RIM can fuck up a live stream.

— Jonathan S. Geller (@boygenius) May 1, 2012

this is so terrible.

— Jonathan S. Geller (@boygenius) May 1, 2012

same shit, same shit. security. infrastructure. business.

— Jonathan S. Geller (@boygenius) May 1, 2012

yes, when your company is dying because you missed the consumer boat, your first guest should be salesforce.

— Jonathan S. Geller (@boygenius) May 1, 2012

oh, look, cisco is on stage now.

— Jonathan S. Geller (@boygenius) May 1, 2012

camera is dope as fuck

— Jonathan S. Geller (@boygenius) May 1, 2012

probably wont work well though and will take 90 seconds to power on.

— Jonathan S. Geller (@boygenius) May 1, 2012

everyone complaining about me complaining, just remember there are less and less of you every day.

— Jonathan S. Geller (@boygenius) May 1, 2012

this is very simple. this company has failed to ever deliver in the last 8 years.

— Jonathan S. Geller (@boygenius) May 1, 2012

also they had been working on blackberry 10 for how long? 3 years and we get 3 little demos?

— Jonathan S. Geller (@boygenius) May 1, 2012

sorry 2 years ago they acquired QNX.

— Jonathan S. Geller (@boygenius) May 1, 2012

How many times have you or someone you know lost a pet? I’ve been looking for something I can use to keep track of my dog, Moto, when we take him out of the house — you know, in case he starts to chase a squirrel and gets off leash. The Pet Tracker is the best thing I’ve found so far. It’s a reasonably small puck (with wings) that securely attaches to your dog’s leash, and it features a cellular connection to provide data on your pet’s whereabouts. It will also provide information about the device itself. The Pet Tracker charges on an included charging base in under a few hours, and in normal usage with Moto in the house most of the time, and the Pet Tracker reasonably close to the charging base, I’ve seen it last upwards of one week.

The concept isn’t new, but it’s done in a way that completely takes the frustration out of using something to track your pets. After you set up and register your Pet Tracker through their website, you’re able to define geo-fences that will alert you whenever the device is outside of that zone (from 75 to around 1,000 yards). This includes push notifications on your iPhone through the company’s iPhone app, text messages, and emails that even include a snapshot of a map with your pet’s location. You can also get alerts when the battery on the unit is low to remind you to charge it, too.

While the features of the Pet Tracker are impressive, they aren’t always completely accurate, and don’t offer 100% perfect real-time information about your pet all of the time. Additionally, the web site interface could be simplified and could be a bit faster to load and navigate.

Even so, having something that combines an always-on connection with GPS into a small and compact package is refreshing when other options are bulky and incredibly expensive. That’s not to say that the Pet Tracker is totally inexpensive — it’s $99.95 for the package with one month of monitoring service, and $7.95 a month after that. Compared to other alternatives though, this is easily the best all-in-one solution by far. Make sure to check out all of the photos in the gallery.