HTC and AT&T took the wraps off of their latest device during an AT&T press conference on Monday, the HTC Titan II. The device is the first 4G LTE-enabled Windows Phone to be announced at the show but it won’t be the last — Nokia CEO Stephen Elop confirmed earlier on Monday that the Finnish vendor will unveil an LTE Windows Phone as well during its press conference. The Titan II is a fantastic first LTE device for Windows Phone fans, as long as the monstrous size isn’t a turn off. The phone sports the same 4.7-inch Super LCD display as its predecessor, but the build is much different. The unibody aluminum case from the Titan has been replaced by a soft-touch plastic — we liked the aluminum case a lot more so we’re definitely sorry to see it go — and the dark black color has been replaced by a light gray. The user experience is still among the best available; like the Titan, the Titan II is unbelievably responsive and smooth. Differences of note beyond the case are the embedded LTE radio, of course, and the 16-megapixel camera. Images taken with the camera were definitely impressive on the Titan’s display and on our MacBook Air, but we didn’t have an original Titan handy to compare photo quality. Where data speed is concerned, however, there was obviously no comparison. We’ll have more for you in our full review but in the meantime, be sure to check out our hands-on gallery below.

HTC’s unreleased Sense 3.5 UI has been shown off extensively ahead of its formal introduction thanks to Chinese-language website XDA.cn. Expected to be unveiled alongside the upcoming HTC Vigor and Bliss Android smartphones, Sense 3.5 will seemingly offer some great enhancements to the UI including new animations, a new side-mounted dock and a tweaked unlock mechanism. We have repeatedly called HTC’s Sense overlay the best such offering among Android vendors and as such, it’s nice to see HTC make some solid improvements in its upcoming new version. The full 5-minute preview video follows below.

[Via Droid Life]

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The first notebook model to run Google’s Chrome OS is now available for $499 through a private sale. Samsung’s Chromebook Series 5 notebook computer is currently a featured item on Gilt Men, a subsection of Gilt Groupe’s popular private sale website. Gilt’s sale began today and it runs until 9:00 a.m. Eastern on Friday. The Samsung Series 5 Chromebook features a 12.1-inch display, a dual-core Intel processor, Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity and an HD webcam, and it ships with a free sleeve as part of Gilt’s sale. Samsung will release the notebook to the general public on June 15th but Chromebooks purchased through the Gilt sale will be delivered between June 8th and June 14th.

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According to a report filed by Bloomberg Businessweek, Google is beginning to shorten the proverbial leash that Android licensees are currently attached to. Citing “dozens” of industry executives working at “key companies in the Android ecosystem,” the publication writes that Google will need to approve the future Android-plans of its software partners in exchange for early access to upcoming builds of the mobile operating system. “There will be no more willy-nilly tweaks to the software,” reads the report. “No more partnerships formed outside of Google’s purview.”

The report goes on to note that over the past several months, Google has been asking Android distributors to sign a “non-fragmentation clause,” that gives the search giant the “final say” on how manufacturers can “tweak the code.” Bloomberg also casually mentions that Facebook is one of the parties upset about that particular measure, as it has “been working to fashion its own variant of Android for smartphones.”

The article also suggests that Google may have tried to delay the release of Verizon Wireless Android devices that ship with the Bing experience as the default. ”There have been enough run-ins to trigger complaints with the Justice Department,” the report continues.

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Here’s an interesting way to add value to your mobile application store, free test drives! An overlooked feature of Amazon’s new Android app store provides users with the ability to try both free and paid applications before making their purchase. Being referred to as “Test Drive,” the company is utilizing an Android virtual machine to allow users to preview applications, in the desktop browser, before purchasing on their mobile. While a VM can’t give you the complete experience, it definitely can aid in weeding out those applications that are duds. The online retailer boasts that it has “hundreds of apps to Test Drive,” with more on the way.

[Via Engadget]

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On the heels of today’s MacBook Pro unveiling, Apple announced that it would be making a preview of Mac OS X 10.7 — codenamed Lion — available to developers. The company writes that Lion “takes some of the best ideas from iPad and brings them back to the Mac.” Apple details several, previously disclosed, features — such as Mission Control, Launchpad, and multitouch gestures — along with a handful of new, unannounced feature additions:

• A new version of Mail, with an elegant, widescreen layout inspired by the iPad; Conversations, which automatically groups related messages into one easy to read timeline; more powerful search; and support for Microsoft Exchange 2010;
• AirDrop, a remarkably simple way to copy files wirelessly from one Mac to another with no setup;
• Versions, which automatically saves successive versions of your document as you create it, and gives you an easy way to browse, edit and even revert to previous versions;
• Resume, which conveniently brings your apps back exactly how you left them when you restart your Mac or quit and relaunch an app;
• Auto Save, which automatically saves your documents as you work;
• The all new FileVault, that provides high performance full disk encryption for local and external drives, and the ability to wipe data from your Mac instantaneously; and
• Mac OS X Lion Server, which makes setting up a server easier than ever and adds support for managing Mac OS X Lion, iPhone®, iPad and iPod touch® devices.

The new operating system has been given a “summer of 2011″ due date. A link to Apple’s new Mac OS X Lion page and the full press release are waiting for you after the break.

Apple Releases Developer Preview of Mac OS X Lion

CUPERTINO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Apple® today released a developer preview of Mac OS® X Lion, which takes some of the best ideas from iPad™ and brings them back to the Mac® for the eighth major release of the world’s most advanced operating system. Lion features Mission Control, an innovative new view of everything running on your Mac; Launchpad, a new home for all your Mac apps; full screen apps that use the entire Mac display; and new Multi-Touch™ gestures. Lion also includes the Mac App Store℠, the best place to discover, install and automatically update Mac apps. The Lion preview is available to Mac Developer Program members through the Mac App Store today, and the final version of Lion will ship to customers this summer.

“The iPad has inspired a new generation of innovative features in Lion,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “Developers are going to love Mission Control and Launchpad, and can now start adding great new Lion features like full screen, gestures, Versions and Auto Save to their own apps.”

Mission Control is a powerful, entirely new feature that unifies Exposé®, Dashboard, Spaces®, and full screen apps to give you a bird’s eye view of every app and window running on your Mac. With a simple swipe, your desktop zooms out to display your open windows grouped by app, thumbnails of your full screen apps as well as your Dashboard, and allows you to instantly navigate anywhere with a click.

Launchpad makes it easier than ever to find and launch any app. With a single click, Launchpad displays all your Mac apps in a stunning full screen layout where you can launch, re-order or organize apps into folders. You can also arrange apps into multiple pages and swipe between them.

Lion brings the full screen experience that iPad users love to the Mac. With one click, your application window goes full screen, taking advantage of your Mac’s brilliant display. You can swipe from one full screen window to another and even back to your Desktop or Dashboard.

New Multi-Touch gestures and fluid animations give you a natural and intuitive way to interact with your Mac. New gestures include pinching your fingers to zoom in on a web page or image, swiping left or right to turn a page or switch between full screen apps and swiping up to enter Mission Control.

Lion also includes the Mac App Store, where you can find great new apps, buy them with your iTunes® account, and download and install them in just one step. Apps purchased from the Mac App Store are installed directly into Launchpad.

Additional features in Lion include:

• A new version of Mail, with an elegant, widescreen layout inspired by the iPad; Conversations, which automatically groups related messages into one easy to read timeline; more powerful search; and support for Microsoft Exchange 2010;
• AirDrop, a remarkably simple way to copy files wirelessly from one Mac to another with no setup;
• Versions, which automatically saves successive versions of your document as you create it, and gives you an easy way to browse, edit and even revert to previous versions;
• Resume, which conveniently brings your apps back exactly how you left them when you restart your Mac or quit and relaunch an app;
• Auto Save, which automatically saves your documents as you work;
• The all new FileVault, that provides high performance full disk encryption for local and external drives, and the ability to wipe data from your Mac instantaneously; and
• Mac OS X Lion Server, which makes setting up a server easier than ever and adds support for managing Mac OS X Lion, iPhone®, iPad and iPod touch® devices.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork, and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple is reinventing the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced its magical iPad which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

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We hope you’re sitting down — Sony Ericsson has another handset ready for an unveiling at Mobile World Congress that will ship with… Gingerbread! Yes, while modern versions of the Android operating system continue to elude Sony Ericsson’s current Android crop, TechRadar has managed to get its hands on another forthcoming Sony Ericsson handset that will ship with Google’s latest smartphone operating system. This handset might look familiar to you, and for good reason; Russia’s Mobile-review.com put the phone through its paces last month before it had an official name. Notable specs for this Vivaz sequel include an 854 x 480-pixel “Reality Display,” a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, an Adreno 205 GPU, dual cameras, HD video capture (720p), an HDMI-out port, 512MB of RAM, a hefty 1500 mAh battery and Android 2.3. Look for an official announcement one week from Sunday at Sony Ericsson’s MWC press event, which we’ll be covering live, and hit the jump for more images of the Xperia Neo.

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We just spent some time with Verizon’s new iPhone 4 and… well, it’s just like the regular iPhone 4. Aside from compatibility with two additional cellular bands, of course, it includes a personal hotspot feature that allows up to five devices to connect to the iPhone via Wi-Fi and share its data connection. It’s pretty intuitive and easy to use, but there’s no status bar icon to indicate that it’s running — and your hotspot name will be the name given to your iPhone during its initial setup, so be careful. And back to that new antenna configuration, Apple confirmed that the top ones are for GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and the bottom ones are for cellular connectivity. Everything else is basically the same, and Apple confirmed to us that battery life is identical to the GSM model. Of note, there are no white iPhones here and unlike the photos that leaked a while back, there is no SIM slot. Also, Verizon’s iphone 4 will ship with iOS 4.2.5. Don’t forget to check out the gallery below and hit the jump for a hands-on video preview!

Sony Ericsson might not be ready to unveil the highly anticipated Xperia Play at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, but the world is most definitely ready to see this little guy get official. Perhaps in an effort to appease the masses of anxious mobile gamers waiting impatiently to get their mits on the upcoming PlayStation-branded Gingerbread phone, Chinese enthusiast blog IT168 has issued an extensive preview of the device. And when we say extensive, we mean it. Details found within the preview include confirmation of a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, a Qualcomm Adreno 205 graphics processor, a 4-inch 854 x 480-pixel display, an 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, a 1,500 mAh battery, microSDHC support and 512 MB each of RAM and ROM. The blog also ran some benchmark tests and, well, the results were pretty impressive — the forthcoming Xperia phone scored 1,733 in Quadrant. Hit the jump for some solid Xperia porn and then hit the read link for a gigantic, poorly translated preview.

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We have to be up-front about our hands-on time with the newly announced Dell Streak 7… it was brief. We found ourselves with just a few minutes of time to spare between the T-Mobile event and Verizon’s upcoming event though, so we managed to check out Dell’s latest tablet offering. In a nutshell, it was a whole lot like, well, the Dell Streak. Hit the jump for our preliminary thoughts.

The look and feel of the Streak 7 is very similar to the Streak, of course, though we must mention that the Streak 7 felt much more responsive and fluid compared to its predecessor. This is thanks in no small part to the 1GHz dual-core Tegra 2 processor lurking within, of course. Despite having been manhandled quite a bit before we managed to get our hands on it, there was no bogging or stuttering to speak of and multitasking was smooth as can be. Of course Android 2.2 has a decidedly stodgy look to it now that Honeycomb is beginning to swarm the show floor, but compatibility with T-Mobile’s speedy HSPA+ 4G network helps bring some shine back to Froyo.

Amidst the Studio 54-like lighting in the T-Mobile booth, we really couldn’t get a good feel for the display, but the Gorilla Glass-covered WVGA screen on the Streak 7 seems like it’ll get the job done well. We also sampled the browser a bit, but connectivity was too clogged to get anywhere.

We’re definitely looking forward to spending some more time with the Streak 7 once things calm down a bit. In the meantime, don’t forget to check out our gallery, skimpy though it may be, and stay tuned for more action from the show!

Courtesy of T-Mobile and its newly announced G-Slate tablet by LG, several videos showing off Google’s new tablet-only OS have surfaced. Honeycomb will power the next generation of Android tablets, and it appears to offer some huge benefits over previous versions of the OS, which were designed with smartphones in mind. We really like what we’ve seen from Honeycomb so far, and we can’t wait to see more on the show floor. In the meantime, hit the jump for a handful of great videos that really give us a taste of what’s in store from Android 3.0 Honeycomb.

Back in November, a leaked email from Apple to record label representatives indicated that 90 second song previews were in the works for the iTunes Music Store. Today, without much fanfare, the Cupertino company has begun to roll out the extended song previews to its digital music store. The site’s current top albums all have received the upgrade treatment, although, most songs still have the original 30 second previews. Apple has yet to issue a press release formally announcing the feature.

In typical Mobile-review.com fashion, the Russian blog we all know and love has managed to get its hands on Sony Ericsson’s Xperia X12 well ahead of any official announcement from the manufacturer. The Xperia X12, codenamed Anzu, will feature a 4.3-inch 854 x 480-pixel touchscreen, a 12-megapixel camera with HD video capture and playback, Android 2.2 and the same 800MHz processor found in the T-Mobile G2. This morning, Murtazin and friends published their preliminary thoughts alongside so many pseudo-arsty close-up photos, they could probably open a gallery in SoHo. What did they think? Murtazin handled the Xperia X12 at the same time as the upcoming Samsung i9100 — thought to be the Samsung-branded counterpart to the upcoming Google Nexus S — and here are his thoughts on pitting the X12 against the i9100 and its predecessor, the Galaxy S:

Going against the Galaxy S is also a suicide committed by blowing yourself up with a stick of dynamite, considering that the X12 will face both Galaxy S and its successor on the market. Even now Galaxy S offers much better features coupled with a superb screen and the only drawbacks are some of its software problems, which, by the way, didn’t prevent the device from being the best seller for Samsung.

Not long after the X12 hits the shelves across Europe, i9100 will see the light of day as the new flagship from Samsung and will offer all the characteristics that X12 was believed to have, but of course it doesn’t. The Super AMOLED screen will be improved, the hardware will be upgraded to a mind blowing level and its multimedia features will make most current devices look outdated.

Ouch. Hit the break for a few of the aforementioned artsy photos and then hit the read link for the full monty.

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Here’s a bit of good news: Hulu has just announced that its Hulu Plus premium subscription service will shed $2 from its monthly price tag. As the press release reads: “The monthly price for Hulu Plus moving forward is just $7.99. Any current subscribers who joined during our preview period will receive a credit for the difference from the $9.99 preview price. This credit will automatically be applied to their next billing cycle.”

But the juice doesn’t stop there.  Hulu has also announced the following promotions:

• One free week trials for all new subscribers. In addition, current subscribers who joined during the preview period will receive a credit for one week of Hulu Plus toward their next month’s subscription.
• Two free weeks of Hulu Plus for both current subscribers and friends they invite through our referral program. Subscribers can learn more by clicking on the “Referrals” tab on their Hulu profile page.
• 11 weeks ($20 worth) of free Hulu Plus with the purchase of a Sony BRAVIA connected TV or Blu-ray player through January 31, 2011. (See sony.com/huluplus.)
• One free month of Hulu Plus with the purchase of a Roku device through December 15, 2010. (See roku.com/hulu.)

The release also notes that the service is launching on Roku today and will be coming to “Internet-connected Vizio, LG Electronics, and Panasonic Blu-ray players and HDTVs; TiVo Premiere DVRs; the Xbox 360; and Western Digital’s WD TV Live Hub Media Center and WD TV Live Plus Network Media Player,” in the coming months. Updates to the Hulu Plus iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Samsung, and PlayStation 3 players will be made available this week.

Anyone reconsidering Hulu Plus after the price drop?

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According to blog Symphonic Distribution, Apple will be extending the length of song previews in its U.S. iTunes Music store from 30 seconds to 90 seconds. The information comes courtesy of an email being sent around to “label representatives” that reads:

We are pleased to let you know that we are preparing to increase the length of music previews from 30 seconds to 90 seconds on the iTunes Store in the United States. We believe that giving potential customers more time to listen to your music will lead to more purchases.

The communication goes on to say that the letter legally modifies the U.S. Digital Music Download Sales Agreement that was previously in effect. The communication did not mention when the new music preview length would be implemented or if there are plans to expand the offering worldwide.

[Via TiPb]

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