Microsoft may be planning to launch a special bundle that includes the Nokia Lumia 800 and several accessories for $899. Citing unnamed industry sources, The Verge said the deal will kick off on February 14th and will include a Bluetooth headset, a Purity HD stereo headset and Nokia’s Play 360 wireless speaker. Microsoft will reportedly not be offering the Lumia 800 as a stand-alone product. $899 seems a bit steep to us, even considering that consumers will be getting an unlocked device and a bundle of solid accessories. After all, AT&T will be launching the sub-$100 Lumia 900 with 4G LTE support and a bigger screen just one month later.

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M-Edge Accessories has filed a lawsuit against Amazon with a federal court in Maryland that accuses the online retailer of bullying it into coughing up higher commissions in exchange for better placement on Amazon’s website. M-Edge Accessories isn’t just filing a suit for extortion according to The Wall Street Journal, however — the accessory maker is also accusing Amazon of patent infringement, false advertising, creating unfair competition and hampering M-Edge’s customer relations. Amazon reportedly played some pretty dirty games with M-Edge in order to secure a larger percentage of commissions. M-Edge said it initially signed a deal with Amazon that would provide the retailer with a 15% commission on all goods sold. Amazon allegedly came back two months later and demanded a larger 32% commission. When M-Edge declined, an executive told M-Edge that Amazon would “de-list,” “play” with, or bury the accessory maker’s products so that “no one will be able to find you.” M-Edge eventually signed a new contract with Amazon, but it had to pay $6.5 million in commissions in order to do so. Even still, Amazon allegedly left its products off of the “Amazon Approved Accessory Maker” list. M-Edge is also suing Amazon for patent infringement and is arguing that it holds a patent for a Kindle case with a built-in reading light.

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A patent filing by Microsoft titled “Mobile Communication Device Having Multiple, Interchangeable Second Devices” was published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office on Thursday. The patent was originally filed on March 17th of last year and it describes a device that consists of a display and “multiple second devices” that can serve as accessories to the primary screen. We have seen this design executed before: Verizon Wireless launched the LG Versa in 2009 that could be equipped with a game pad accessory, but Microsoft has bigger plans. The patent describes the additional accessories as “more game controllers, batteries, physical keyboards or mobile phone handsets with a display.” Users can detach the devices too, and use wireless communications to interact with the primary display. It is a compelling concept although we aren’t so sure consumers will want to carry multiple accessories at once.

[Via Unwired View]

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Verizon Wireless will drop the price on all of its iPhone 4 accessories in anticipation of the iPhone 5 launch, PhoneArena is reporting. Verizon Wireless is expected to continue selling the iPhone 4 at a lower price point after its successor launches, however, so it is unlikely that the carrier will completely clear house of its accessories. If this report is accurate, the move could suggest Apple has a redesigned iPhone up its sleeves instead of a phone with the same industrial design and newer hardware inside. That’s in line with our exclusive report that the Cupertino-based firm will release a successor with a “radical new case design,” and another report from The Wall Street Journal claiming the phone will be thinner and lighter than its predecessor. Apple is expected to unveil the phone in late-August or in September.

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Sales of video game hardware and software declined 10% in June according to new data reported by industry watcher The NPD Group. Total content sales including home consoles, portable consoles and PC game sales totaled $1.03 billion last month, down 10% from June 2010. Hardware sales declined 9% from $401.7 million in June 2010 to $366.6 million last month, and software sales dropped 12% over the same period to $469.5 million. Video game accessory sales also declined from June of last year, dropping 11% from $177.7 million in 2010 to $158.9 million last month. Game publisher Take 2 Interactive was responsible for the two best-selling games in June, with L.A. Noire occupying the top spot and Duke Nukem Forever coming in at No. 2 despite low ratings from reviewers. Sony’s Infamous 2 was the third best-selling game for the month, while Disney’s Lego Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game and Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D rounded out the top-5. Overall hardware, software and accessory sales in the first half declined 2.4% compared to the first half of 2010. A list of The NPD Group’s top-10 software titles for the month of June follow below.

Reviewers and early adopters seemed to agree that Motorola’s Webtop laptop dock for the ATRIX 4G was both very nifty and very overpriced. At the same time, we were all intrigued when Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha said back in February that all of the company’s high-end smartphones would be compatible with the quirky Webtop laptop dock beginning later this year. Last week, Jha reiterated these intentions during the company’s earnings call, noting that the Webtop dock is one way Motorola will set itself apart from other manufacturers of Android-powered smartphones. “In the Android ecosystem, there is a need for us to differentiate,” Jha said. “[With] Atrix devices with the Webtop and lap-dock we really think there is an alternative way of viewing the convergence between mobility and computing. And we will continue to focus on that.” Jha continued, “You will see multiple devices from us in the second half… and we will expand the range of our lap-dock devices so we cover a broader price point, addressing both enterprise tiers as well as more consumer tiers.” That note about covering a range of price points may be the key factor here, and we’re anxious to see how Motorola will make this accessory more accessible while still refining the experience.

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DigiTimes is citing a report from sznews.com today that three Foxconn employees have been arrested in Shenzhen, China for leaking the design specs of the iPad 2 to third-party case manufacturers ahead of the device’s launch. The three were allegedly arrested in December of last year and were charged in late March for the leaks. Foxconn grew suspicious of its own employees after accurate third-party iPad 2 cases began popping up on the market; the firm then asked local authorities to investigate. Foxconn manufacturers electronics for a number of major companies including Apple, HP, Palm, and Sony, and it has been called out in the past for the harsh treatment of its employees. [Via AppleInsider]

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We met up with LG on Tuesday to check out its inductive Wireless Charging Pad, which it hopes will compete against competitors like Powermat. During our hands-on, we weren’t able to test the device — it seems someone forgot to charge the charger — but we were able to get a feel for its size, weight and some of its features. The Wireless Charging Pad has a power indicator that alerts you just how much power is left, and LG says it takes about two hours to charge itself up fully. All you have to do once it’s juiced up is pop a special back onto your smartphone and drop it onto the charging pad. In our eyes, the Wireless Charging Pad wasn’t a whole lot different than the Powermat; it’s light in the hand and can easily be packed in a briefcase, backpack or even a Florida tourist-friendly oversized fanny pack. LG hasn’t said which of its phones the Wireless Charging Pad will be compatible with just yet, but we think it’s a little counter intuitive for LG to make it only compatible with LG phones. Don’t forget to check out our photo gallery below!

A series of what are purported to be leaked internal slides from RIM may reveal details surrounding various OEM BlackBerry PlayBook accessories. While the authenticity of the slides obtained by enthusiast blog Fommy has not been confirmed, they may give us our first glimpse as a variety of OEM accessories for the BlackBerry PlayBook, as well as pricing details and some projected availability dates. The slides show a variety of cases ranging in price from a $29.99 neoprene sleeve to a $59.99 book-style leather binder. Also seen on the slides is a $49 BlackBerry music gateway, a $99 Bluetooth keyboard and a $79.99 charging dock that props the PlayBook up while recharging the battery. The aforementioned music gateway and Bluetooth keyboard show initial shipment dates in July of this year — potentially up to four months after the Wi-Fi-only version of the PlayBook launches. The rest of the accessories do not show projected ship dates. Hit the break for two more purported slides.

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We have received a couple tips that AT&T corporate stores will start selling all Apple iPad accessories for 50% off beginning February 13th. Our tipsters note that AT&T usually doesn’t clearance items unless a replacement is imminent.

Thanks, tipsters!

Before the days of the backlit LCD-display, portable gaming — like reading — required a certain amount of ambient light. Sure, that original Game Boy was great — and you were a wiz at Tetris and Mario Bros. – but you needed an assist from your trusty floor-lamp… that was, before the Light Boy. The Light Boy was an accessory for Nintendo’s popular Game Boy portable gaming system that provided its users with two benefits. First, it illuminated the device’s monochromatic screen, allowing owners to game in the dark. And second, it had a magnifying glass that hovered over the screen, making gameplay a little easier on the eyes. The Light Boy allowed us to play our Game Boy in our favorite location forbidden by our parents: between the sheets after bedtime. In the 1990′s, it was a thing of beauty. Anyone out there own this handy little accessory?

Thanks to Tee for this week’s suggestion!

BGR’s Throwback Thursday is a weekly series covering our (and your) favorite gadgets, games, and software of yesterday and yesteryear.

The Motorola ATRIX 4G is the fastest smartphone not yet on the market. Come March 6th, however, it will be. AT&T has landed a screamingly fast Android device courtesy of Motorola, and that’s not all. The device is so powerful that it can power a laptop with full Firefox browser, and spit out 1080p video like it’s nothing. We’ve spent almost a day time with the phone and thought it was sufficient for a review, so read on past the break for what we think, alright?

Hardware

The Motorola ATRIX 4G is one of the world’s fastest smartphone, literally. With a 1GHz dual-core Tegra 2 processor, it’s a screamer. So much so, it can power a full netbook-like laptop accessory (we’ll touch on that later). As far as other specifications go, it’s one of the few Android handsets to feature a whopping 1GB of RAM. Rounding out the feature set is a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash and 720p video recording, the first qHD (quarter HD) display, second microphone for noise cancellation, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, front-facing video camera, HDMI port, and a fingerprint scanner for security that doubles as the on/off button.

When we picked up the ATRIX for the first time we were pleasantly surprised with how the materials felt. The device feels solid and well built, and we really love the size. It’s a tad bit thick, but since it’s nicely rounded on the edges, it feels thinner and more easy to hold than the HTC Inspire 4G to us, though the phone is incredibly slippery due to the matte black plastic casing. On the front of the ATRIX you’ll find the front-facing video camera in the upper left in addition to the proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, and notification LED on the upper right. Besides the four touch-sensitive Android menu keys on the bottom of the front, it’s pretty clean. Switching to the left side of the handset and you’ll find a microUSB port followed by a mini-HDMI port; on the right side of the phone there’s a volume up and down rocker. The on / off button is sneakily integrated into the fingerprint scanner on the top but towards the rear of the ATRIX, and while this bothered us a bit at first (only the inside part of the fingerprint sensor clicks in), it’s grown on us — plus we love using a fingerprint to unlock the handset. Moving to the back: you’ll find the 5 megapixel camera and LED flash,  a reasonably cool carbon fiber-esque pattern on the rear battery door, and the rear external speaker on the bottom of the phone.

Display

The 4-inch display on the ATRIX packs a whopping 960 x 540 pixels into what Motorola is calling a qHD display. While the resolution is quite high, the display to us still looked pretty pixelated. It’s a little odd that the display on the Motorola DROID X actually looks better than the qHD display, in terms of clarity. Colors, however, look great and the panel is very bright and evenly lit. The screen on the ATRIX also fares very well in the touch sensitivity department with a solid and reliable capacitative touch screen.

Software

The Motorola ATRIX 4G runs a version of the love-it-or-hate-it MOTOBLUR UI, and as much of an annoyance it can be sometimes, we’ve found that paired with the ATRIX, it’s not that big of a hindrance. Things run fast, smooth, and effortless, no doubt in thanks to that dual-core CPU, but again, the software UI on here isn’t that big of a deal, even if you are an Android purist.

Phone / Speaker

Talking on the ATRIX was excellent. Calls were very clear with the internal ear speaker sounding very natural, and extremely loud. Noise cancellation also performed well in noisy environments helping people on the other line to hear us more clearly. We also really love the layout of the phone dialer screen — the most recent call/contact is right above the number pad, it’s a nice little touch. You also have the ability to add a number right from the dialer to your contact list, and you have a voice command button right next to that. We can’t remember if this happened on other Motorola devices, but when you go into contacts in the phone app, you’re presented with only your direct contacts in your synced address books, not the ones that are scattered about the actual contacts app (suggested contacts, Twitter contacts from BLUR, Facebook contacts from BLUR, etc.)

The speaker on the ATRIX performed very well in our tests. Music played back reasonably loud without much distortion, though it lacked that low end punch. The speakerphone also performed great, projecting audio loud and clear.

Battery

We’ve only been using the Motorola ATRIX for around a day now, but we can definitely report that the battery life on here seems to be pretty great. It’s easily on par or even a level better than other Android phones we’ve used and tested. We don’t do too, too much calling, but downloading, installing and using apps, email, browsing, Twitter, Facebook, and more hasn’t knocked us off the preverbal battery pedestal one bit.

Laptop Dock

This is where the phone extends beyond a phone into something more, and it gets really interesting. As you might have heard and seen, the Motorola ATRIX has a couple accessory friends, and one of them is a laptop dock — a full fledged computer powered by the phone itself. Motorola told us that there is practically nothing in the laptop dock — no memory, no processor, nothing. In addition to containing basically an 11.6-inch screen, full keyboard, and built-in battery, the laptop dock actually doesn’t skimp on some essentials. The keyboard is backlit (who’d have thunk), there is an oversized trackpad, and it’s blended together in black aluminum and soft touch rubber.

A couple annoyances include the fact that the trackpad is not multitouch, which is a pretty big issue for scrolling — and we feel like a missed opportunity to extend gestures from the laptop dock to the phone. Since the phone literally runs and is displayed on the laptop screen in it’s own window, you have to literally click and drag your finger to swipe on the phone’s display — a nice little two finger swipe gesture would have been great there, for instance. It’s also very cumbersome to use the left and right mouse trackpad buttons as they are hard to push and don’t have great tactile feedback. Additionally, the black metal gets very, very smudgy and greasy even though we’re clean freaks and weren’t eating those delicious Lay’s Salt & Vinegar chips — we swear!

Speaking of the phone running on that laptop’s screen, this literally blows our minds. You have the phone displayed on screen and it’s directly manipulatable by you — you have the four Android buttons on screen, and can do anything you’d want to do from your phone. It’s also super useful as times since you get a full computing-like experience but still have your phone front and center to handle text messages, or whatever you’d want to do. The laptop dock uses the phone’s built in HSPA+ connection so there are no extra charges at all (provided you have the tethering/hotspot $20 plan), in addition to providing you with free AT&T Wi-Fi hotspot access wherever you might be. You also might be wondering what happens if you get a phone call when you’re connected to the laptop… you can make and take calls just fine. The phone goes into speakerphone and Motorola let us know that a built-in microphone was optimized for this mode and we do have to say, it works really well.

The initial honeymoon period with the laptop dock quickly wore off, and here’s why… When purchased with the ATRIX, the laptop dock is bundled for $499 ($199 for the device, $299 for the laptop dock). Purchased separately, the laptop dock is priced at $499. Let’s throw out the possibility of buying the laptop dock separately since in our minds, that’s out of the question. The question is if the laptop dock — a single purpose accessory for your smartphone — is worth $300, and we’d unfortunately have to say that we don’t think it is. While on paper it sounds great, and even in person it looks amazing, most of the excitement is lost when you use the laptop dock. We aren’t in love with the keyboard or the trackpad, and navigation was a frustrating experience for us. Not because of the software or processor, but because of the hardware on the laptop. Additionally, while you have your phone front and center with a full-fledged Firefox browser, that’s all you get and that’s not going to be enough for most people. Especially when for $300-$500 you can buy a pretty solid netbook-like device that will do much more than extend your smartphone — it will be a full computer which can be used with your ATRIX’s mobile hotspot feature.

One last thing about the laptop dock which we loved: there’s a built-in battery and that battery powers the laptop dock in addition to the phone. So think about this… you charge the laptop dock, jump on a plan, work on Wi-Fi for 5 hours, grab your phone and close the laptop when you land, and your phone is fully charged. Pretty impressive to us.

Media Dock

The Motorola Media Dock is another accessory friend the Motorola ATRIX works with, and it’s pretty nifty. The dock connects to your TV with an HDMI cable and extends the device to your home entertainment center with little effort. You can browse and play your music, photos, and HD videos right from the phone, even 1080p video content plays back just fine. There’s one more piece to the puzzle, however. The media dock also lets you run Motorola’s webtop app experience and will save the state you’re in whether you are using the laptop dock or media dock, which is very cool. This is the same concept that the laptop dock features — your phone in a window on the big screen with the application down at the bottom and the full Firefox browser. Navigating with the included remote is a non-starter, so what’s a man to do to get his big screen, dual-core smartphone-powered, browsing on? Well, you can connect a USB mouse and keyboard, but that’s not ridiculously fun, so Motorola has a Bluetooth keyboard you can purchase which works great in this set up.

UPDATE: We’re waiting for clarification on if the media dock comes with the Bluetooth keyboard and mouse

The Verdict

The Motorola ATRIX 4G is a very impressive product that brings an impressive set of accessories and peripherals to market that extend the smartphone into something much, much more. Looking at the phone specifically, it’s a feature-packed Android 2.2 device that has a vivid, high resolution screen, and a screaming fast dual-core CPU making it the fastest phone in the market. We didn’t honestly notice the phone to be that much faster than normal 1GHz-powered handsets, except under extreme circumstances, but that’s expected. We’d say without question that the Motorola ATRIX 4G is one of the best Android smartphones to ever be available from AT&T. The accessories it brings with it aren’t going to push you to buy the smartphone, but the concepts are pretty wild and really do widen your eyes and make you step back to see what cellphones nowadays are capable of doing, and doing well. The fact we’re at a time where a phone can power a full computer is incredible, and it’s great to see a fine device like the ATRIX 4G be the first to do it. If you’re ready to go, you’ll have to wait just a little longer to get your hands on one, as the device is available for pre-order starting this Sunday and is set to be released on March 6th for $199.

Click on over to our Motorola ATRIX 4G gallery!

An Android Central forum member claiming to be a Best Buy employee brings news of possible pricing for Motorola’s upcoming laptop dock smartphone accessory. The unique dock, which was announced at the Consumer Electronics Show, transforms the Motorola ATRIX 4G into a smartbook with a full-sized keyboard and a trackpad. According to the forum post, the dock will initially be a Best Buy exclusive and it will retail for around $150. The source of the claim is said to be an AT&T district rep who also stated that Motorola’s ATRIX 4G would become available before other 4G phones from AT&T like the Samsung Infuse 4G and the HTC Inspire 4G. Unfortunately, no specific launch timing was provided, though earlier rumors point to a March 1st release.

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Research In Motion has just introduced a new Built For BlackBerry program that aims to make sure verified and approved third party manufacturing partners deliver specifically designed accessories and peripherals for BlackBerry smartphones and the BlackBerry PlayBook. RIM details the program as offering, “technical, strategic, and marketing support” to members of the program, in addition to a snazzy Built For BlackBerry logo that will appear on accessory packaging. We have reached out to RIM to try and get an idea of what requirements third party manufacturers will have to meet to be accepted into the program, and most importantly, if RIM is planning on taking a percentage of the sales in exchange for manufacturers using the Built For BlackBerry logo, much like Apple does with their Made For iPod/iPhone program. RIM’s announcement is after the break.

Today, Research In Motion launched the Built For BlackBerry Program, a new initiative that brings RIM together with select market-leading brands in the development of accessories and peripherals. Built For BlackBerry products are specifically designed to work with BlackBerry smartphones and the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. The program will offer technical, strategic and marketing support, allowing members to complement the BlackBerry portfolio with exciting accessories.

At launch, members in the Built For BlackBerry Program will include: Case-mate, Speck, Incipio, Otterbox, Tru Protection, iGrip, Vaja, Dicota and Trexta. These members are brand leaders in their markets and offer products that appeal to a wide range of BlackBerry customers. Approved products can be identified by the Built For BlackBerry logo appearing on member packaging and marketing material.
Learn more about the Built for BlackBerry program by visiting: www.builtforblackberry.com

Earlier this morning, we told you about HTC’s EVO 4G Shift (although this morning it was called the EVO Shift 4G) making a cameo in a RadioShack flyer, and this afternoon it looks like accessories for the device have made their way to Best Buy as well. Engadget was sent in images of the Invisible Shield screen protector, designed specifically for the 4G Shift’s 3.6-inch window, that arrived at a Best Buy retail location. Between this, the RadioShack advert, and CES being next week… the writing seems to be on the wall. Who’s interested in a EVO 4G Shift?

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