Apple introduced iOS 5 and its new widget system just last week during WWDC, and a day later it was jailbroken. Now, Cydia developers have taken iOS 5 a step further by providing new third-party applications that allow users to tweak the Notification Center with new widgets. iOS 5 currently only offers widgets for viewing the weather or a stock ticker, but one app — UISettings — will allow users to quickly toggle their network and phone controls, too. Similarly, a widget called MusicCenter is being developed that enables users to view the current audio track they’re listening to. We can’t wait to see what other developers have in store. Hit the jump for an image of UISettings.

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Welcome one and all to BGR’s live coverage of Apple’s WWDC 2011 keynote! Apple CEO Steve Jobs is on hand to unveil the latest Apple has to offer, and we’re expecting a huge event despite the fact that Apple is not expected to reveal a new iPhone model at the show this year. Instead, Apple will focus on software, with the big addition being the company’s new iCloud service. Apple will also show off more OS X Lion details during the keynote, but we have to admit: we’re much more anxious to see Apple show off iOS 5 for the first time. We think iOS 5 is going to be the most significant update to the platform since Apple introduced the App Store alongside iOS 2.0. A completely rebuilt notification system, basic widget functionality, a new automatic app update delivery mechanism and deep social integration are among the changes we’ll be looking for, but we’re certain that Apple has a few surprises up its sleeve as well. Hit the break for our live coverage of Apple’s WWDC 2011 keynote for the latest updates!

12:28PM:We're heading in and should be seated soon!

12:40PM:Doors are finally opening.

12:45PM:Alright we're almost seating, there are still tons of people pouring in.

12:49PM:We have a feeling the event might be starting a little bit late as we are getting reports that WWDC attendees aren't even in the building yet, but still in line outside.

12:59PM:"Please turn all your devices on silent."

1:01PM:Pair of MacBook Pros on stage, for demo time, obviously!

1:02PM:Steve Jobs is out! Everyone is applauding!

1:03PM:There are over 5,200 people here today — the biggest place we have, sorry to everyone who couldn't make it.

1:03PM:over 100 hands on labs, 1,000 Apple engineers, and 120 sessions.

1:04PM:We're here to talk about 3 things today. And we're going to talk about software. Hardware is the brain, software is the soul.

1:04PM:We're starting with Lion. Phil Schiller is up on stage/

1:05PM:Ha — he's trying to get people riled up in Ballmer-esque fashion.

1:05PM:"We have over 54 million active Mac users."

1:05PM:Sorry guys, we're having major camera issues! Working on it!

1:06PM:PC market has shrank 1% this year, Mac has outgrown the industry. Products are incredible like the MacBook Air

1:06PM:Leading in notebooks, over 70% of Mac sales are notebooks

1:07PM:Entire PC industry wants to copy our hardware. We make the best, not just hardware, but software, too.

1:07PM:Showing off OS X 10 years ago.

1:08PM:Next up is Lion. There are over 250 new features, only have time to show 10.

1:08PM:Multitouch gestures. We have built multitouch trackpads into all our laptops

1:08PM:Kinetic scrolling, multitouch zoom and taps and swipes

1:10PM:Phil is talking about fullscreen apps and how in Lion there is a simple swipe to get in and out.

1:11PM:Mission control is up

1:13PM:We're now seeing full screen apps — three-finger swipe will take you from the full screen back to the desktop/dashboard.

1:14PM:The three-finger swipes will also switch from one app to the next. To exit full screen it just takes one click.

1:15PM:PhotoBooth looks awesome full screen — especially with effects being added in real time as you add/remove them.

1:15PM:Three-finger swipe up on the trackpad will bring mission control back into focus.

1:16PM:Spaces can bee added simply by clicking at the top corner of mission control, and windows can then be added to a new space by simply dragging and dropping.

1:17PM:When you close a space in mission control view, the windows within will slide back into the main windows — very smooth.

1:17PM:Spaces can bee added simply by clicking at the top corner of mission control, and windows can then be added to a new space by simply dragging and dropping.

1:18PM:Schiller is talking about the Mac App Store now, which is now the number one PC sales channel for software, passing Best Buy.

1:19PM:The Mac App Store is now built right into Lion. There are also push notifications to alert users of updates. Auto updates are also supported.

1:20PM:Launchpad — a simple pinch gesture brings up an iOS-like inteface where you can access all of your apps and launch them.

1:21PM:The next key feature is Resume — when you launch an application in Lion, it will bring you right back to where you were when you left the software. The feature even works after a reboot!

1:21PM:Applications, Spaces and settings are all covered by Resume.

1:22PM:Auto-save — Lion will automatically save documents in the background with no need for the user to do anything.

1:23PM:The feature can be enabled and/or disabled for each document individually. There's also a lock feature that will stop auto-saving at a certain point.

1:23PM:Versions — like Dropbox, Lion will make past versions of documents accessible in a document history.

1:24PM:The Versions interface is similar to Time Machine — you can scroll through every version of a document with a smooth animated interface.

1:24PM:Sorry again for the lack of photos guys... we're working on it!

1:26PM:Now we're watching a demo of these new features. Launchpad really is awesome — think of it as a giant iOS home screen that is automatically populated with all of the apps on your computer.

1:27PM:Auto-save also means there is no prompt to save a document if you're made changes just before closing a program. When you open it again, it will be exactly as you left it — including cursor position!

1:28PM:With Versions — and this is awesome — you can view multiple versions of a document in live windows. This means you can actually copy/paste things from one version of a doc to another!

1:29PM:Feature number 9: Airdrop — this basically a peer-to-peer Wifi-based network that lets you move files from one computer to another by simply dragging and dropping.

1:30PM:When you drag the doc to another person's PC — which will appear automatically in Finder — they get a pop up where they can accept the transfer.

1:30PM:The last feature is a completely redesigned Mail app. Needless to say, it looks A LOT like the iPad version.

1:32PM:The coolest feature of the new Mail app is easily conversation view. Think Gmail threads but a little sexier.

1:32PM:Craig is coming back up to demo the new Mail app now.

1:33PM:The message list runs down the left side in a column just like the iPad version. Folders are further to the left, and they're hidden when you don't need them.

1:33PM:The search is enhanced, and it suggests searches as you type based on your mail and your search history.

1:34PM:Users can also search for keywords and date-ranges with one string. Awesome!

1:35PM:Finally, conversation view will auto-hide everything but the new content within each message. Craig just poked Gmail for now doing that very well. Wink, wink.

1:36PM:Lion also features a new migration feature for users switching from Windows, not just another Mac. There are over 3,000 new APIs total in Lion. Get cracking, developers!

1:36PM:Lion will be available ONLY in the Mac App Store. No more discs!

1:37PM:Lion will be about a 4GB download and a single purchase can be installed on ALL of your authorized Macs.

1:37PM:Lion will cost... just 29.99 when it's released. WOW!

1:38PM:Lion developer preview will be available today, and the release version will be available in July.

1:38PM:Next up... iOS 5! Scott Forstall is coming up on stage

1:39PM:To date, Apple has sold over 200 million iOS devices total.

1:39PM:That makes iOS the No.1 mobile operating system with over 44% of the market.

1:40PM:In the first 14 months, Apple has sold more than 25 million iPads. That's iPad and iPad 2 combined.

1:40PM:Apple has sold more than 15 billion songs through the iTunes music store across all platforms.

1:41PM:More than 130 million books have been downloaded through iBooks.

1:41PM:There are now more than 425,000 apps in the App Store, with more than 90,000 of them built for the iPad.

1:42PM:The iOS App Store has served more than 14 billion downloads, and more than $2.5 billion has been paid out to devs.

1:43PM:Apple now holds more than 225 million accounts on file, all with credit cards and one-click purchasing enabled.

1:44PM:iOS 5 is a MAJOR release, Forestall stressed. There are more than 1,500 APIs and more than 200 new features!

1:44PM:The first new feature being covered... NOTIFICATIONS!

1:45PM:Apple has served more than 100 billion push notifications so far.

1:46PM:Apple has completely redesigned the push notification system for iOS. Notification Center is the big addition. It combines all over your notifications into one panel that is accessed by swiping down from the top. Oh hi, Android.

1:46PM:Stocks and weather sit at the top of the notification center.

1:46PM:Notifications are no longer disruptive — they appear at the top of the display and they do not interrupt usage.

1:47PM:The lock screen displays recent notifications as well, and a swipe on a notification will open the applicable app.

1:48PM:A swipe brings you right to the relevant message, by the way, as longer as the developer makes full use of the notifications APIs.

1:48PM:Second feature: Newsstand

1:50PM:Newsstand lets users access magazines through a new, separate interface. It is accessible in the App Store and there is a new newsstand on the home screen where all of the magazines are accessible (it works like a folder).

1:50PM:Background downloading is supported!

1:50PM:Newspapers and magazines can take advantage of newsstand.

1:51PM:Third feature... Twitter integration.

1:51PM:Twitter is now built into the Settings app in iOS. Every twitter app will work with the new single sign on feature!

1:52PM:Twitter is now integrated with the Camera and Photos apps in iOS. Photos can be tweeted from either app now.

1:53PM:Other apps that have twitter integration are Safari, Maps, and YouTube. Also, contacts features contact integration — contact photos will automatically be pulled from Twitter.

1:53PM:Next feature: Safari. Nearly 2/3 of all mobile web browsing is done with Safari.

1:54PM:Safari now has a Reader feature that takes the story you're reading and eliminates all of the noise around the story and just displays the images and text from the body.

1:54PM:Safari will also let users email a link AND story content right from within the browser.

1:55PM:There's also a new Reading List feature that lets users save stories to read later. Uh oh, Instapaper.

1:56PM:Safari will also now include full tabbed browsing. Tabs are displayed across the top and switching between them is lightning fast. We're watching a demo now.

1:57PM:The Read Later feature is accessible on the same button as bookmarks, and it will save items across all of your iOS devices and Mac computers.

1:58PM:Next feature: Reminders. 50,000 apps were just made obsolete.

1:59PM:Reminders is a reminder and task feature that lets you set time or location-based reminders.

1:59PM:In other words, a date and time can trigger a reminder, or a GPS location can trigger a reminder. Reminder also sync with Exchange which is nice.

1:59PM:Next new feature: camera.

2:00PM:The iPhone 4 is now the most popular camera phone used to take photos on flickr and second most popular over all.

2:01PM:The new camera app opens much, much, much faster. Camera is also accessible with a double-tap on the home button.

2:01PM:The volume up button can also be used to take shots. FINALLY!

2:02PM:The native camera app now also has grid lines available and pinch to zoom works in the UI. There's even a zoom-lock feature!

2:02PM:There are now integrated editing features as well. Cropping, red eye removal, and one-tap enhance are all supported.

2:03PM:The seventh new feature being covered is a redesigned Mail app.

2:03PM:Rich text formatting is now supported, indentations are supported, dragging addresses between cc and bcc is supported, and so is flagging!

2:04PM:Search now supports content searching on the server as well.

2:04PM:There's also added support for SMIME for enterprise users.

2:05PM:Now we're getting a demo. Flags can be added and removed with a single tap, and there's also an integrated dictionary that lets you look up words in emails with just a tap.

2:06PM:There's also a new system-wide thumb keyboard available. Users can now split the keyboard into two halves and thumb-type very easily. Not sure how the split keyboard will be received, but it's nifty.

2:07PM:Eight new feature: PC Free. Uh oh... Tons of applause.

2:08PM:With iOS 5, users will no longer need a PC to activate iOS devices. FINALLY! The "post-PC" marketing is slightly more realistic now...

2:08PM:Setup is now done right on the device, as is activation.

2:08PM:Software updates are now OTA (over the air)!!

2:09PM:Delta update are supported as well, so only changes to the OS will be updates and the entire OS doesn't need to be downloaded.

2:10PM:Ninth new feature: Game Center. That's still around?

2:11PM:iOS is by far the most popular gaming platform in the mobile world, and Apple currently has over 50 million registered Game Center users. That's 20 million more than Xbox Live.

2:11PM:Game Center now supports user photos, game recommendations, and game purchase support right within Game Center.

2:12PM:Turn-based game support is now supported as well (think Scrabble).

2:12PM:iMessage is the next iOS 5 feature being covered.

2:12PM:WOW. Apple is launching a new iOS-only messaging service called iMessage.

2:13PM:It supports text, photos, videos, contacts, group messaging, delivery receipts, read receipts, typing indications, and multi-device support so you can move from an iPhone to an iPad and not miss anything.

2:14PM:It is fully encrypted as well, and it works over Wi-Fi or cellular connections.

2:15PM:Poor, poor third-party messaging app devs. We're now seeing a demo and it really is BBM for iPhone. Multi-platform is all app like WhatsApp and Kik have going for them now...

2:16PM:We're now seeing how easy it is to send photos and videos — the interface, by the way, is the same as the Messaging app so it's beautiful and familiar.

2:17PM:Those are just 10 of the 200 new user features. Others include TV mirroring, which let's you mirror your iPad 2 to your TV to Apple TV.

2:18PM:Wi-Fi sync to iTunes is now supported as well! Your iOS device will back up and sync to iTunes automatically over Wi-Fi. FINALLY

2:19PM:iOS 5 is available to developers TODAY. Fire up those accounts, fellas!

2:19PM:iOS 5 will ship to end users this fall.

2:19PM:The iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, both iPads and the two latest iPod touch models are all supported.

2:20PM:Next up... Steve Jobs is coming back up on stage to unveil iCoud!

2:21PM:iCloud has been in the making for 10 years, when APple realized the PC was going to become your digital hub — one device to hold all of your media.

2:22PM:A new problem has risen lately though — multiple devices all need the same data and it's become necessary to sync them all separately. Wonder where this is going...

2:22PM:With iCloud, the digital hub is being moved to the cloud.

2:23PM:So now, photos (even new ones as you take them), music, etc are synced to the cloud automatically and they become available across all devices.

2:24PM:iCloud also is completely integrated with your apps — everything happens automatically. "It just works."

2:24PM:"Why should I believe them? They're the ones who brought me MobileMe?" Steve joked. Zing!

2:25PM:Contacts, calendar and Mail are no longer MobileMe apps — they're now iCloud apps. For example, a new contact will automatically be uploaded to the cloud and synched across all devices. Changes to existing contacts are handled the same way.

2:26PM:iCloud also supports calendar sharing, so changes you make on your calandar will automatically be visible by anyone you share your calendar with.

2:27PM:Jobs also highlighted the fact that there are no ads involved with this service... at all.

2:27PM:MobileMe was $99... Mail, Calendar and Contacts with iCloud are completely free!

2:28PM:There are also three new apps coming with iCloud that weren't in MobilMe. The first is the App Store.

2:28PM:Apps purchased on one devices can now be added to any other device through iCloud.

2:29PM:For future devices, all apps are automatically added to all devices.

2:30PM:The next app they added is iBooks — books purchased on one device can be downloaded to all devices. Also, your read history is synched between devices as well, as is reading position.

2:30PM:Finally, Apple added automatic cloud backup.

2:31PM:The service will back up your important data once daily, and when you get a new device, all of your data will sync wirelessly from the cloud.

2:31PM:Uh oh... there are three more apps being added to iCloud!

2:31PM:First... Documents in the Cloud.

2:32PM:Documents now sync automatically via the cloud from one device to all your other devices.

2:32PM:Pages, Numbers and Keynote are all supported as of the latest versions of the apps, which have already been released. Sneaky!

2:34PM:There is a new interface within the apps that lets you view all of the documents that are synced to the cloud, and they all sync automatically.

2:36PM:Apps can store documents to iCloud as well!

2:37PM:Developers have access to iCloud Documents in the Cloud APIs with the iOS 5 SDK.

2:37PM:Macs and PCs are supported as well! This is a huge ding for Dropbox and the like.

2:38PM:Next up, Photo Stream.

2:38PM:Photo Stream will sync photos taken on any device to the cloud, and then to all other devices.

2:39PM:The functionality is all built right into the apps, so there is nothing new to install or configure. It all just works.

2:40PM:Photo Stream is also built into Lion on Macs, and on PCs it will work with the Pictures folder. What's more, Photo Stream will work on Apple TV as well.

2:42PM:Another feature of Photo Stream is memory management. It will store the last 1,000 photos on each iOS devices, and all photos on Macs and PCs. In the cloud, photos will be stored for 30 days so they can be synced to all other devices before they are automatically removed.

2:42PM:Eddie Cue is on stage now to demo Photo Stream.

2:43PM:He just took two photos on stage with an iPhone and as soon as he launched the photos app on his iPad, the photos wer already there.

2:43PM:Since only the last 1,000 photos are saved with Photo Stream, users can drag any photos they want to keep permanently into an album.

2:44PM:Last up... iTunes in the Cloud!!

2:45PM:This is what we've all been waiting for — music purchased in iTunes will automatically be synced to all devices.

2:46PM:Songs you've already purchased pre-iTunes in the Cloud can be downloaded on other devices for free.

2:46PM:For future purchases, once this feature is enabled, a song purchased on one device will be pushed to all devices.

2:47PM:Eddie Cue is back up to demo the service. Unless they throw us a curveball, it looks like music purchased outside of iTunes will not be supported by the service. We'll know for sure in a few minutes.

2:48PM:In the demo, it looks like they just snuck in a redesigned iPad music app.

2:49PM:The service is amazingly seamless. Buy a song on one device and it's available everywhere else immediately.

2:49PM:iTunes in the Cloud supports up to 10 devices.

2:50PM:WOW. Everything relating to iCloud, including iTunes in the cloud, is completely free!

2:52PM:Awesome — to set up iCloud, all you need to do is log in with your Apple ID. What's more, users get 5GB of free storage... and that doesn't include music/etc purchased through iTunes.

2:52PM:iTunes in the Cloud becomes available today for iOS 4.3 as a beta — the full release will launch with iOS 5 in the fall.

2:52PM:ONE MORE THING

2:53PM:iTunes in the Cloud is just for songs purchased from iTunes... but you might have music you got elsewhere.

2:54PM:These other songs can be synced to the cloud one time, and they will become available everywhere.

2:55PM:Rather than syncing, there is also an "iTiunes Match" application that will scan your library and match songs with versions available through iTunes. These songs will then become accessible just like iTunes purchases!

2:55PM:In addition, iTunes Match will upgrade all of those songs to 256 AAC.

2:56PM:iTunes Match service will be $24.99 per year.

2:56PM:That yearly fee will support up to 20,000 songs!

2:57PM:"If you don't think we're serious about this, you're wrong," Steve said. He's talking about the new data center in NC now.

2:58PM:"It's a pretty large place and it's full of expensive stuff."

2:58PM:This facility will manage all iCloud services.

2:58PM:It looks like that's it folks — thanks for tuning in!

Verizon Wireless on Thursday announced that it will carry a 4G LTE version of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 Android Honeycomb tablet. The device — currently the thinnest tablet on the market — will be available in two capacities, 16GB and 32GB, and will launch in two color schemes: “metallica gray” and “glossy white.” Save for its 4G LTE radio and updated operating system, the tablet is nearly identical to the special edition that we reviewed earlier this month: it offers a 1GHz dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor, a 1280 x 800 resolution display, a 2-megapixel front-facing camera for video chats, and a 3-megapixel rear camera. Pre-orders begin on June 8th, and you can pick up the 16GB version for $529.99 or the 32GB model for $629.99 with a new two-year contract. Verizon Wireless also said that it will offer a range of accessories for the Galaxy Tab 10.1, including a full keyboard. Hit the jump for the full press release.

VERIZON WIRELESS ADDS 4G LTE-ENABLED SAMSUNG GALAXY TAB™ 10.1 TO PORTFOLIO

4G LTE-Enabled Samsung Galaxy Tab™ 10.1, Exclusive from Verizon Wireless,  Measures Only 8.6 Millimeters Thin

BASKING RIDGE, N.J., and DALLAS – Verizon Wireless and Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile), today announced the 4G LTE-enabled Samsung Galaxy Tab™ 10.1 will be available on the fastest, most advanced network in coming weeks.  The slim and sleek Galaxy Tab 10.1 debuts with Android™ Honeycomb and will be available in either Metallica Gray or Glossy White.  Customers will be able to pre-order the device online on June 8 at www.verizonwireless.com/galaxytab4glte.  When the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 hits Verizon Wireless stores this summer, it will be accompanied by an array of optional accessories such as a full-sized keyboard dock and a multi-media docking station.

“The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is a great option for customers who want to enjoy the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network – the fastest network in America,” said Jeff Dietel, vice president of marketing for Verizon Wireless.  “Customers can also use the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 wherever they are on the nation’s largest 3G network.”

Dietel added, “The tablet market is exploding as customers are discovering new uses for the technology that features a large screen, powerful processing speeds and access to Android Market™’s 200,000 applications.  The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is perfect for customers who want to take advantage of Google™’s new movie rental option and view their favorite film on-the-go.”

“Samsung Mobile is excited to expand its mobile tablet portfolio with Verizon Wireless to include the 4G LTE-enabled Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1,” said Dale Sohn, president of Samsung Telecommunications America.  “The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is the thinnest and lightest tablet in the world that delivers a truly mobile multimedia experience on an Android Honeycomb platform.”

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 offers full support for Google™ Mobile Services, including Gmail™, YouTube™ and more. Customers will relish the 10.1-inch enhanced display with a 1280×800 resolution HD screen, 1 GHz dual core application processor, a 2-megapixel front-facing camera and a 3-megapixel rear-facing camera.  Both consumers and business customers will find a multitude of uses for the Galaxy Tab that range from video chat to business tools, including those that allow for the opening and editing of documents, spreadsheets and presentations.  The Galaxy Tab 10.1 features Adobe® Flash® Player to deliver an enhanced Internet browsing experience and access to content-rich Websites.

Verizon Wireless will offer two 4G LTE-enabled Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 models both priced with two year customer agreements: $529.99 for the 16GB model and $629.99 for the 32GB model.   For more information on the Samsung Galaxy Tab, go to: www.verizonwireless.com/galaxytab4glte.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Media can access high-resolution images of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.)

About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless operates the nation’s fastest, most advanced 4G network and largest, most reliable 3G network. The company serves 104 million total wireless connections, including more than 88 million retail customers.  Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with 85,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE, NASDAQ: VZ) and Vodafone (LSE, NASDAQ: VOD).  For more information, visit www.verizonwireless.com. To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.

About Samsung Telecommunications America
Samsung Telecommunications America, LLC, a Dallas-based subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., researches, develops and markets wireless handsets and telecommunications products throughout North America. For more information, please visit www.samsungwireless.com.

Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet, originally announced with Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) on board, will now ship with the updated Android 3.1 operating system. Samsung has updated its Galaxy Tab 10.1 product page to reflect the update, and a representative for Samsung Mobile confirmed in a comment on the firm’s official Facebook page that “the original had 3.0 but now it will [ship] with Android 3.1.” The new operating system should include support for Google’s Android movie rental service, Adobe Flash Player 10.2 support, USB-connected peripherals, resizable home screen widgets, and more.

[Via Liliputing]

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Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 Android Honeycomb tablet is now available for pre-order from J&R. The 16GB tablet is priced at $499.99 while the 32GB version will set you back an additional $100. Here’s a quick rundown of its specs: it offers a 10.1-inch display with a 1280 x 800 resolution, a 1GHz dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor, full 1080p HD playback, a 3-megapixel camera capable of recording 720-p video, a 2-megapixel forward-facing camera for video chats, and more. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 also happens to be the thinnest tablet on the market right now. If you want a deeper dive, be sure to check out our full review of the limited edition version.  J&R doesn’t specify exactly when the tablet will ship, although we’ve heard the Galaxy Tab 10.1 will be available on June 8th.

[Via GottaBeMobile]

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The BGR team picked up the new and improved Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 from Google’s I/O conference earlier this week, and I have been using it non-stop for the past few days. There’s a lot to discuss here: the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is the third Android Honeycomb-powered tablet launched by a major OEM in the United States, and Samsung went to great lengths to revise the design and slice off the extra bulk. The unit I have measures just 0.33-inches thick, which makes it the thinnest tablet available on the market today. It’s powered by a dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor, contains 32GB of storage, and Samsung promises that there will be an Android 3.1 update coming in the “next few weeks.” Is the Galaxy Tab 10.1 the best Honeycomb tablet yet? Check out our gallery below, and then read on to find out!

Hardware / Display

If you’re looking for a tablet that resembles the iPad 2 but with Android Honeycomb on board, Samsung has nearly nailed the aesthetics with the Galaxy Tab 10.1. My special edition unit has a glossy white back with an army of Android figures marching across it. Most Galaxy Tab 10.1 units will likely have a brushed metal finish, however, which I’ve found to be much more appealing. The border of the tablet is metal, as is the area surrounding the rear 3.2-megapixel camera and its single LED flash — a nicety that adds to the premium look and feel of the device.

There are volume buttons, a power button, and a 3.5mm headphone jack on top of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 — when it’s held in landscape view — and there’s a proprietary Samsung charging port on the bottom. I don’t typically use HDMI-out very often, but I love having the option and I was stunned to see that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 doesn’t have a dedicated HDMI-out port. I’ll revisit this in the multimedia section.

The tablet’s display was nice and bright, but when I took it out on my terrace to relax and check email, I found it was a bit hard to see under direct sunlight. I really like the 7-inch display on the BlackBerry PlayBook — it makes the tablet much easier to tote around in a jacket pocket, but I quickly got adjusted to the 10.1-inch 1280 x 800 resolution screen on the Tab 10.1, and especially liked it while browsing websites and playing games.

The Tab 10.1’s hardware spec sheet is impressive, too. It packs a dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, 32GB of onboard storage, and a 7,000 mAh battery. Unfortunately there isn’t a microSD card slot to be found, so I wasn’t able to add any additional storage. Similarly, while Android Honeycomb 3.1 promises support for USB devices, there aren’t any USB ports on the Galaxy Tab 10.1. That means you’ll be left in the cold if you want to use USB devices with your tablet, unless Samsung can come up with a dongle solution of its own.

Software

I had used Android Honeycomb for a few minutes at times on various tablets, but I had not spent a great deal of time with the OS until the Galaxy Tab 10.1 landed in my lap. The current 3.0 version definitely needs work, so I’m glad 3.1 is promised in the coming weeks. You’ll call me crazy, but I prefer the BlackBerry QNX UI to what Honeycomb has to offer so far. Yes, I know there’s a lack of apps available for RIM’s tablet, but QNX feels so much more spry, especially when it comes to multitasking and flipping around the user interface.

Honeycomb’s UI is easy to use, but I hate that the navigation buttons are on the bottom left of the screen. I love the option to swipe up from the bottom panel in QNX to move back to the home screen. It feels much more intuitive than searching for a button to leave the current app. That reminds me — the app selection for Honeycomb tablets is still pretty slim.

I used the original 7-inch Galaxy Tab, and I wasn’t impressed with how it ran apps designed for smaller displays. Unfortunately, that hasn’t changed a whole lot with the Galaxy Tab 10.1. As it stands there are just a few dozen Honeycomb apps available, most of which cost between $0.99 and $4.99, and none of which were all that exciting. Apple’s iPad offers a totally different experience, but the app selection makes it more attractive and more versatile.

Despite the dual-core processor, Honeycomb was sluggish at times. Sometimes apps would randomly crash back to the home screen, and sometimes new ones wouldn’t install at all. I also had a number of lockups while browsing the web: the website would just freeze so that I couldn’t pan or zoom, and on multiple occasions the keyboard failed to pop-up when I was trying to type in text fields. The only solution for this problem was to reboot the device entirely. I don’t think I used the Galaxy Tab 10.1 for 45 minutes without seeing at least one of these bugs pop up. That’s bad.

The default Honeycomb keyboard was nice and large and I was able to type — slowly — with two hands at once. Most of the time, though, I found myself pecking at the keys, and I couldn’t type nearly as fast as I could with a smartphone. I still peck to type on the iPad, too, but I’ve heard of more than a few people who can cruise on that keyboard, and I’m not sure they’d have the same success with the Tab 10.1.

Honeycomb 3.0 allows you to customize five different home screens with widgets. Version 3.1 will allow you to resize the widgets on the fly, and that’s going to be a welcome addition. I enjoyed most of the widgets, particularly the email ones that allowed me to flip through my inbox, but they don’t branch too far away from what’s available on an Android smartphone. There’s also a useful, albeit ugly, notification system on the bottom right-hand of the screen. It works well, although I hate the look of the clock and buttons for Home, return, and the task manager. The icons are blue and retro-robotic, and I hope Google has plans to make them skinnable.

So what can we expect from the next version of Honeycomb? On May 10th, Google took the wraps off of Android 3.1, the next update for tablets. It will add support for aforementioned resizable home screen widgets and will also allow users to use input devices like keyboards, mice, trackpads, and gaming controllers — provided there’s a USB interface in place. Similarly, multitasking will be enhanced to reduce crashes and improve transitions. Hopefully this also addresses a number of the bugs I discussed earlier. What remains unclear, however, is if this will be available for the regular edition Galaxy Tab 10.1, which may sport Samsung’s custom TouchWiz user interface on top of Honeycomb.

During the Consumer Electronics Show in early January, Samsung gave me a close look at its custom “TouchWiz UX” skin for Honeycomb, the first such UI overlay. I really liked several of the enhanced widgets for social networks, email, and more. I have a feeling this will be used in the European versions of the tablet, but perhaps it’s being saved for a future update.

Camera / Video chat

The Galaxy Tab 10.1 has a 3-megapixel camera that took decent shots, but it wasn’t very impressive. There was noticeable grain in a lot of the images, and while night shots came out OK with the flash, the quality was on a par with a run-of-the-mill smartphone camera. I’m not so sure that it’s a huge deal to offer 5-megapixel cameras capable of recording HD or 3D video, as is the case on the T-Mobile G-Slate, because I’d rather use a more compact phone or dedicated camera for snapping photos instead of a 10-inch tablet. Still, I’m sure more than a few users would enjoy the option.

The 3-megapixel camera is capable of recording 1280 x 720 video (720p HD), and a few quick clips that I shot outside looked decent when I played them back on my computer. The frame rates were smooth and there was just a little distortion when I panned around with the camera. Again, most people will probably use a more compact smartphone for recording video, but the Galaxy Tab 10.1 does a fine job also.

There’s a forward-facing 1.3-megapixel camera for video chats, and it worked well during a test call to a friend over Google Talk. My buddy said the quality was “typical” and that I looked more crisp when I sat still talking directly into the cam – as opposed to moving around. The audio was solid, the video coming through to my display was crisp, and I was pleased with the performance overall.

Multimedia

Google recently announced its new music locker and video rental services, both of which will be available on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the future. I haven’t had access to the music beta, but I did load up a few movies and tunes on the tablet to test out its speaker and screen. A quick viewing of the movie “Hackers” looked just fine on the screen, and the viewing angles were sufficient enough that two people could easily watch a movie together. The default movie player didn’t have an option to blow the video up to full screen, though, so I was limited to watching it with large borders above and below the clip.

Google’s new Music player application — not to be confused with the aforementioned music locker service — looked excellent on the Tab 10.1’s large display. Album art was displayed nice and large, which made it easy to find the artist I was looking for. The speakers were loud, but not as crisp and full sounding as those on the BlackBerry PlayBook. I also appreciated that Honeycomb places a small music icon in the bottom right-hand side of the screen for easily controlling music from the home screen.

As I noted earlier, I don’t think the lack of an HDMI-out port is a deal-breaker, but it is a bit of a shocker. I’ve seen the dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 chip used in the Galaxy Tab 10.1 output full HD video, pictures, and games to a big screen HDTV. It’s a nice option to have, especially if you want to share content on your tablet with a room full of people.

Battery

When I used the Galaxy Tab 10.1 regularly to surf the web, play a few games, chat, and check my email, I was able to get through about two full days. That’s about what I expect from a tablet with a 7,000 mAh battery, and you’ll no doubt see longer life out of its battery if you use it lightly and leave it idle more often than I did. Unlike a few of the other tablets, which offer more portability thanks to support for 3G connections, you’ll probably be using the Galaxy Tab 10.1 with a Wi-Fi hotspot most of the time, and that means an outlet shouldn’t be too far either. You won’t need to look for one too often, though, as I found the battery to be more than sufficient for my needs.

Conclusion

This is one of the tougher conclusions I’ve had to write. Here’s why: the Galaxy Tab 10.1 itself is a beautiful and thin tablet with an industrial design to die for. But Honeycomb 3.0 definitely isn’t ready for primetime. It was slow and sluggish at times, apps crashed regularly, and the web browser froze often. Hopefully the forthcoming Honeycomb 3.1 fixes those issues, but we’ll have to wait and see.

If you’re in the market for a new tablet, you need to do yourself a favor and go hands-on with Honeycomb first. The hardcore Android enthusiast community will enjoy the tablet, and rightfully so, but I don’t think everyday consumers will appreciate the frequent crashes. The BlackBerry PlayBook’s QNX user interface is more fun, more polished, and more intuitive right now. Apple’s iOS is also dead easy to use and has a much more robust application catalog.

When it comes down to it, is the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 worth buying? If you want the thinnest, sexiest Android tablet available today, then yes — but only if you can get around Honeycomb’s current faults in hopes that coming builds will smooth things out.

Sprint was nice enough to shoot us over its brand new Sprint Novatel 3G/4G MiFi, and while we saw it at CES, there’s just nothing like getting one in your hands (or paws) and taking it for a spin. We’re huge fans of Novatel Wireless, and we definitely prefer its MiFi products to USB data sticks or tethering our phones when we need mobile internet — so we’re extremely glad the company introduced a 4G WiMAX version of its popular MiFi device. Our quick impressions: it’s a tad thicker than the original MiFi, though it makes up for that by not only offering 4G speeds, but also by running a stripped down version of Linux that includes a splashy dashboard to monitor signal strength, GPS status, and network connectivity status in real-time. Additionally, we’re absolutely loving the eReader-like display on the MiFi that shows signal, GPS, and connectivity status. It’s extremely valuable and something we’re not sure how we lived without before. As for performance, we’re getting pretty decent speeds at 5Mbps down and 950Kbps up in and around New York City. We haven’t been able to judge battery life in our usage just yet, but it seems to be at least as good as the original MiFI workhouse we use all the time. Make sure to check out the rest of our photos in our gallery!

In my line of work, cell phones come and go faster than mixed drinks on MTV’s Jersey Shore. They’re here, they’re gone and most of the time they’re quickly forgotten. I can’t even recall all of the mobile devices I’ve handled in the past month, let alone the past year. And though hundreds of handsets have crossed my path in the 1,211 days since June 29th, 2007, only one phone has managed to stay in my pocket day in and day out: Apple’s iPhone.

Say what you will about the device, the company, me, my mother, or anything else… the iPhone might be my go-to handset but I have no allegiance to any manufacturer or OS. In fact my iPhone 3GS was almost replaced last year by Sprint’s Palm Pre. I still love webOS but I need hardware that matches the fit and finish of Palm’s great operating system before a webOS device can fly solo in my pocket. And no, unfortunately, the Pre 2 likely won’t fit the bill.

So I continue to carry and use the iPhone because it just so happens to be the device that comes closest to suiting my needs. I almost always have a second phone on me — an Android phone, the Palm Pre or maybe a BlackBerry — but each is just a companion device that rarely gets any face time. Most common tasks are so much smoother on the iPhone than the competition, it just doesn’t make sense to bother with another device.

The iPhone is not a perfect device by any stretch of the imagination, but for me, right now, its the best we’ve got. It has the best build quality and is comprised of the best materials. It has the best display and the most responsive touchscreen. It has the best oil-resistant glass and countless amazing apps. It has the most fluid interface and the best customer service supporting it.

But for every best, there is also a worst. And because the iPhone’s bests are so great, expectations are high and the worsts become much more pronounced. Here, I go through my compilation of the iPhone’s worst worsts.

First and foremost, the iPhone is the worst smartphone I’ve ever seen when it comes to watching YouTube videos. Forgetting the fact that half the videos I try to watch aren’t compatible with iOS, videos that should work with the iPhone are terrible. Over 3G, the quality is horrendous. I get up to 6Mbps with AT&T, Apple — there’s no need to reduce the quality of the videos I’m trying to stream. Then, over Wi-Fi, the quality is spectacular but videos won’t play. Ever. If there ever comes a time when my iPhone can stream a YouTube video over Wi-Fi without choking every 2 seconds, I might pass out. It’s funny how critical Steve Jobs is of Adobe’s Flash when he’s perfectly content shipping this steaming pile of a YouTube experience.

The iPhone also has the worst auto-correct system ever devised by man. It doesn’t learn from habits, which means I have to reject the same changes repeatedly, forever. I also can’t add words, so the only way to get iOS to remember an unknown word is to add it to the address book. And speaking of the address book, I better not have any contacts prefaced with “Mr.”, such as one of my favorite little Chinese restaurants, Mr. Wok. If I do, I need to be prepared to constantly reject an unwanted change every time I type the word “me”.

It seems crazy that iOS still doesn’t support widgets. Widgets are great for grabbing information at a glance, and Apple’s competitors all make wonderful use of widget systems. But not Apple. I want to see the current weather in an instant. I want to see if I have any upcoming calendar appointments without a single tap. I want to see a small collection of items from my to do list. And so on. It’s a little scary that Apple realized how nifty it would be to show the current date on the Calendar icon but it hasn’t yet extended that functionality elsewhere.

And why doesn’t iOS include an easy way to perform simple functions such as enabling or disabling Bluetooth and Wi-Fi? If I want to save some precious battery life and disable Bluetooth when I’m not using it, it takes five taps. Compare that to Android, where disabling Bluetooth takes a single tap on a widget.

On we go, to one of the more popular gripes in recent months — multitasking. Apple is right that there are downsides to a completely open multitasking policy, but there are better solutions than the currently available workaround. State saving is great but Apple is holding developers back by limiting the number of available background APIs to just a handful. Then, it’s ridiculous that there is no way to close an app without saving its state. The iPhone is easily the worst when it comes to clutter in the app manager, and the solution would be all too simple. How about a long-tap on the home button to close an app, fellas?

While on the topic of easy fixes, I should certainly call out the Mail app. The iPhone’s email client is actually pretty fantastic, especially with the new features introduced in iOS 4. In several ways, however, it really is the worst mobile email client on the planet. It’s 2010 and I still can’t set a custom ringtone for new emails. I still can’t view only unread emails. I still can’t flag emails. I still can’t configure a unique email signature for each different email account. And, at least in my case, I still can’t send emails generated in third-party apps because they just sit in my outbox until I open each one and manually resend it.

Finally, my biggest complaint: Apple’s iPhone has the worst notification system known to man. It is, without question, abysmal.

iOS notifications are as disruptive as notifications on a mobile device can possibly be. A box pops up in the middle of the display, interrupts whatever might be taking place at the time, and prevents the user from doing anything else with the device until one of two things happens — the user must either interact with the notification (dismiss it or open the related app) or turn the display off and back on.

Then, when the stars are perfectly aligned, something special happens. The iPhone begins regurgitating an unstoppable stream of successive notifications that render the device inoperable. Calendar alarms, SMS notifications, WhatsApp alerts, banking notifications, new mentions and direct messages from Twitter, missed call alerts, Growl notifications, clock alarms, Words With Friends notifications, to do app alerts, sports scores… all popping, dinging and dancing at once.

I’m sure many users know this scenario all too well — I call it iPuke.

Apple is a company that puts a tremendous amount of time and effort into its user experiences and the results are typically astounding. In the case of iOS notifications, however, the results are downright embarrassing. We know Apple hired the engineer responsible for the webOS notification system away from Palm this past summer, so a complete revamp of the system is expected at some point. But the fact that Apple would release the iOS notification system in its current state is just plain sad.

A few weeks back, we told you about Google Voice widgets for Android that were extracted from a leaked T-Mobile G2 ROM. Today, Google has made the widgets official. In a blog post, Google writes: “Mobile is all about getting super fast access to what you’re looking for and Google Voice is no exception. So, today we’re releasing an update to the Android app, which gives you immediate access to your Google Voice Inbox and settings via two new home screen widgets.” The widgets give you quick access to text messaging, dialing preferences, the “do not disturb” feature, as well as transcripts of your voicemail. The new version of Voice is available in the Android market now. Enjoy.

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If you’re a Google Voice lover, there is a pretty good chance you’ll jump at the opportunity to install the latest leaked version. Not only does it contain ever-exciting unspecified changes since it’s a new version, it also brings homescreen widgets. Something most people have been waiting for, the widgets allow shortcuts for composing a text message, seeing your Google Voice calling balance, settings access, and the ability to toggle Google Voice. It all comes from the leaked ROM for the T-Mobile G2, made by HTC, that’s been making the rounds lately. Going to give a go? We’re loading up the .apk now!

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Symbian released the source code for the S^4 homescreen application on Friday and posted up a gallery of images that provides a quick glimpse of the UI for the next generation Symbian operating system. The screengrabs show the homescreen with a clock widget, application categories, search, wallpaper selector, and more. One image is above and the remaining six are after the jump. Take a look and let us know your first impressions of Symbian^4 in the comments.

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Lost in the hubbub surrounding smartphone powerhouses like the DROID X and iPhone 4 is the fact that the average person simply wants a phone that makes calls. To satiate this need, and throw in a few extra feature for good measure, T-Mobile today announced the immediate availability of the LG Sentio. An affordable device that brings to the table a 3″ touchscreen, 3 megapixel camera, visual voicemail and 3G connectivity. A UI with a set of customizable widgets as well as Social Buzz, an application that will not only handle your social media needs, but email as well. The LG Sentio from T-Mobile is available for $69.99 with an Even More plan, or $9 per month with Even More Plus.

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Is it a coincidence Verizon Wireless has consecutively had the last two most-anticipated Android handsets? With the Motorola DROID seemingly feeling like old news (Google even basically castrated it themselves with a promise of an unbranded, Verizon-compatible Nexus One), the HTC Droid Incredible picks up where Motorola left off in almost every area. We’ve got a much thinner and more refined product that features an 8 megapixel camera, tons of memory, and HTC’s Sense UI which takes care of most of Android’s shortcomings. We know that by now you are asking yourself only one question: “Is the HTC Incredible actually incredible?” We would love to answer that for you.

Hardware / Design

The HTC Droid Incredible is relatively unique as far as the design of the unit goes… Yes, it is a delicious slab of a touchscreen plus touch sensitive keys and an optical directional pad, and yes, the front of the device can look a tad uninspired, but we believe the distinguishing theme of the Incredible is subtlety. Once you move from the front of the unit to the back, you’ll notice not a flat battery cover, but rather a form-fitting silky smooth piece of material that seems as if it has just been carefully laid over the device, much like a fabric cover for a high end sports car. You can see practically all of the physical interior elements of the phone just from the battery cover. It is one of the most luxurious-feeling plastic blends we have ever felt — not rubbery like a normal rubberized plastic finish–but rather a perfect mix of plastic and another material that gives the phone an amazing feel when you are using it.

Once you move past the absolutely huge camera sensor and start to peel away the back cover, you will be greeted with Verizon Wireless saying, “Hello!” in the form of the color red. Seriously, it is very red. We cannot determine if it is a comforting red, or if it is so overwhelming that our minds start to wonder and hypothesize over whether it could be a prop in a horror movie.

Switching gears to how the hardware actually performs, we have mixed feelings about the layout of certain elements and buttons. While the touch sensitive Android buttons below the display are much more friendly than the Droid Eris’, we are not sure we like the optical directional pad. At least to us, it is pretty much useless on the phone. For starters, it is absolutely tiny, and you cannot really get a good rhythm when navigating quickly, scrolling, or doing whatever else you’re trying to do. It is also not entirely comfortable to us when in use, but there is a good and reassuring feedback when actually pushing in the button to make a selection, so it is not all bad.

The materials feel amazing in your hand, but actually holding the phone and using it is a little bit of a challenge, we think. First of all, the microUSB port on the lower left side is carved out a little bit too much in our opinion. This makes it uncomfortable sometimes when holding the phone with one hand as your fingers might rest on the open port, and it can be a little sharp. It definitely will not cut you, it is just a little distraction that can get annoying. Another issue? The device is not just incredibly thin (we’ll try and hold off on too many more of those), it is actually not that wide either. While in theory that sounds great, unfortunately it can get a little cramped when navigating the device with one hand. You will have to try it out for yourself and see how you feel, but we feel that the Nexus One is much more comfortable to generally hold and use with one hand.

The rest of the phone is what you would expect from a physical hardware perspective–volume up / down keys on the upper left side, a power / unlock button on the top left, and a 3.5mm headset jack smack in the middle of the top of the handset. Contrary to rumors of the phone being underclocked to 768MHz, the HTC Droid Incredible does indeed run at a full 1GHz speed, and the hardware specs read like an Android stalker’s favorite bedtime story: 512MB of RAM, 512 ROM, 8GB of internal storage, an 8 megapixel autofocus camera with dual-LED flash, Wi-Fi, an accelerometer, digital compass, Bluetooth, GPS, and Android 2.1.

The last thing we would like to point out about the hardware is that while the phone seems to be ridiculously well manufactured, we can’t seem to shake this plasticky, dare we say cheap feeling when using it. The front half of the phone seems to be made of a lower grade plastic and kind of takes away from the otherwise spectacular experience.

Screen

HTC has been gunning for the throne lately (though, they already have it) with powerful, sexy hardware, and since the screen on a touchscreen device is one of the most important parts, it is nice to see these high resolution displays being introduced by them left and right. The Incredible features a 3.7″ AMOLED capacitive display and it is incredibly responsive (ok, we broke our promise). At first, we could not figure out why the colors were so dull, but after turning off the automatic brightness feature, we realized the phone just uses a little dimmer brightness setting compared to the Nexus One (probably for battery life). Once we dialed the brightness all the way up, colors literally popped, whites were perfectly white, text looked crisp, and we started loving the screen even more.

As far as usability, everything seems well. Touches were registered with relative ease, and there were no misfires. HTC has carved out a great arsenal of capacitive touch displays, second to only you-know-who, but we still hate looking at the capacitive points on the display. You can see them really easily.

UPDATE: The screen on the HTC Droid Incredible is a little different than the one on the Google Nexus One after looking at it further. The capacitive layer is different as well — the outcome is still the same, and they are both great performers, but we kind of prefer the Nexus One’s screen just a tiny bit more.

OS

Android 2.1 is Google’s latest release, and while you have probably heard our thoughts on the operating system in general, you should know that the HTC Droid Incredible isn’t a bare bones Google configuration. It is far from it actually, thanks to HTC’s construction of a custom UI, applications, social integrations, and even their own keyboard. Anyone familiar with HTC’s Sense UI will know what we’re talking about, but for those of you who are pinning the DROID and Incredible against each other, they are two completely different animals.

HTC’s implementation can be a little more consumer friendly at times than Google’s base OS, but at the same time, there are 7 homescreen pages, widgets flying out of Eyjafjallajokull’s volcano, raindrops and fog appearing on your screen, and some more sexy stuff. The best bet if you are looking at both phones is to try them out in stores and see which one is less intimidating for you. Or more if you go for that kind of thing, you sicko.

Phone

Wait, a phone that actually makes clear and crisp phone calls? In 2010? You must be kidding me. But we’re not, the HTC Droid Incredible coupled with Verizon’s famous-for-kicking-in-the-other-carrier’s-teeth network makes for a really pleasant adventure. Phone calls were loud and clear on both the earpiece and also when using the speakerphone capability. Callers heard us just fine, and we haven’t dropped a single call while testing the phone.

Unfortunately, there is one area of the device’s phone performance that is a little troubling, though probably not the end of the world. We noticed the Incredible gets a slightly lower signal than the Motorola DROID and other Verizon Wireless phones. The Incredible seems to be a bit finicky bouncing around from 2 bars to say 4 bars randomly while other devices are steadily on 4 or 5 bars consistently. We are not sure if the signal is just not being represented properly due to a software issue or the phone is actually receiving a lower signal due to other reasons.

Corporate

While we have lose count of the number of people cursing Google’s base Android 2.0/2.1 implementation of Microsoft Exchange support, you will be happy to hear that HTC’s taken this issue into their own hands. We’re also happy to report that, as usual, HTC’s Exchange support is fantastic, even going as far as supporting Exchange security profiles in addition to remote wipe capability.

Performance

You would like to think a phone with all of this horsepower under the hood would practically fly, wouldn’t you? Well, you would be mostly correct. The normal slowdowns found on even high-powered Android devices are pretty much nowhere in sight on the Incredible. Although HTC’s Sense UI isn’t exactly lightweight, we’re actually finding that the Incredible is slightly faster than the Google Nexus One laying next to it. In addition to the device overall feeling snappier, we don’t think we’ve ever seen a mobile browser perform so well and load pages so quick. That’s great and all until you realize that the browser on the Incredible supports Adobe Flash, and still manages to spit out web pages faster than a Llama hanging out at Machu Picchu. It’s, well, Incredible.

Email composing, sending, and viewing are all ridiculously fast on the Incredible, but the issue of having a separate application for Gmail/Google Apps and Microsoft Exchange still remains. While it is not a huge deal, we would love to see a totally integrated client to manage all of your email communications, though we doubt that will happen anytime soon.

Battery:

While not absolutely scientific, any battery concerns we had for a CDMA handset powered by a 1GHz processor were quickly alleviated after spending some time with the phone. We got through the day with some heavy emailing, web browsing, and light phone calling with pretty much no issue, but obviously your usage patterns will yield different results.

Multimedia / Camera

Even though the sensor is 8 megapixels, videos and stills taken with the device are average. And while it is well documented that Android has never been a multimedia champion thanks to its sub-par music/video playing software, HTC did manage to spruce things up a bit. Nonetheless, it is definitely not our favorite mobile device for consuming multimedia content. The dual-LED flash kicks ass, though! (We’re not kidding.)

Conclusion

This is always the hardest section to write because everyone has different taste, and everyone usually has their own reason for wanting a new phone. Maybe you dropped it in your toilet, maybe you want to smash your BlackBerry 9530 with a sledgehammer, maybe your boss can’t stop making fun of your Palm Centro — we’re not sure. What we do know is that HTC has come up with another incredible device, pushing the boundaries of Android in practically every direction we can think of. There is awesome corporate integration, tons of social networking elements built right in, a really friendly UI with fun and engaging widgets and animations, and a great web browser. If you are not a bare bones type of person and have no need for a physical keyboard (seriously, get over it already), we could not recommend a better phone on Verizon Wireless at this point in time.

Forget Verizon Wireless — the HTC Droid Incredible is our favorite Android device to date, and for $199 on a two year agreement, we are not sure there is a better deal to be had on the carrier. Sure there are some drawbacks to the HTC Sense UI, and you will have to wait a bit longer for OS updates, but we are pretty sure everything we have outlined for you outweighs that. We have additional photos along with high resolution photos in the gallery for you!

Click on over to our HTC Droid Incredible gallery!

Hot on the heels of the Mini and GT350, LG announced the GS500 Cookie Plus. Carrying on in the tradition of the plain old Cookie which sold some 10mm units world-wide, in reality the Cookie Plus aims to please with a “cartoon-like UI” complete with 18 blinding themes, a 3 megapixel camera enhanced by the devices ability to edit pictures before firing them off as an MMS (this should thrill paranoid, sexting weary parents), FM tuner, all the social media support a tween could ever hope for and dozens of widgets. Pricing was absent from the press release, but the GS500 Cookie Plus will start to hit shelves in Italy and France next month with 45 more countries to follow. Oh, how could we forget — LG “plans to offer a full batch of new Cookie handsets in 2010″. Cute.

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As Opera continues to chip away at its competition and gain mobile market share, you can bet it’s not resting on any laurels. The software company has just released its 9.7 Beta version for Windows Mobile and promises to render pages faster and with better compression. The new version also includes Opera Widgets manager. Do note that this is still in beta and will have some issues:

• Opera Turbo in Opera Mobile is still a preview-feature;
  • Downloads don’t work while Opera Turbo is enabled.
  • Some settings (such as toggle on/off images) do not apply when Opera Turbo is enabled.
• On older WM 5.0 Devices with 480×800 resolution, switching between portrait and landscape may cause display errors. This is due to lack of support for this resolution in early versions of Microsoft’s driver.
• Some input method editors are known not to work well with Opera because they do not comply with Microsoft’s SIP and/or IME standard. When such an editor is detected by Opera, Opera will use a known (default) input method instead. An exception is EzInput v1.5, where the phone keypad and compact QUERTY, ABC mode doesn’t work, but the rest of the modes work fine. We recommend upgrading to EzInput v2.0 to avoid this.
• Only support for FlashLite 3.x. No Flash plugin included.

Still, it looks like a fine upgrade and a great direction for Opera mobile, especially with the new widgets manager. Check it out and let us know what you think.

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