On Gear Live: iBooks Author allows you to create and publish books for the iPad

Latest Gear Live Videos

Motorola Droid RAZR unboxing gallery

Droid RAZR thin

Motorola has ressurrected the RAZR from the dead, slapped the Droid branding on it, and has come up with a 7.1mm thin powerhouse. Appropriately called the Droid RAZR, the smartphone has a Gorilla Glass covered 4.3-inch qHD Super AMOLED display and a body made of Kevlar, making it lightweight, water-resistant, and durable. On the inside you've got a dual-core 1.2GHz TI OMAP4430 chip, 8 megapixel camera that records 1080p video, 1 GB RAM, and 16 GB flash storage onboard (and another 16 GB on the included microSD card.) It runs on Verizon's 4G LTE network. so you know, it's fast. We'll be getting a review up soon, but in the meantime, be sure to peep our Droid RAZR unboxing gallery first!

Gallery: Motorola Droid RAZR unboxing gallery


Advertisement

Motorola Droid RAZR: 4G LTE, 4.3-inch qHD Super AMOLED screen, $299 this November

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Cell Phones, Google, Handhelds

Motorola Droid RAZR

Today Motorola announced the return of their most popular brand ever when they unveiled the Droid RAZR smartphone. The RAZR isn't just another Android handset, and you know they Motorola wouldn't just slap that name on any average device. This one has a Gorilla Glass covered 4.3-inch qHD Super AMOLED display (this has not been seen on any other mobile phone to date,) and a body made of Kevlar, making it lightweight, water-resistant, and durable. On the inside you've got a dual-core 1.2GHz TI OMAP4430 chip, 8 megapixel camera that records 1080p video, 1 GB RAM, and 16 GB flash storage onboard (and another 16 GB on the included microSD card.) It also runs on Verizon's 4G LTE network.

Motorola's also tried to make the phone as thin as they could, touting that it's just 7.1mm thin, but that doesn't take into account the thicker bottom area. Who's counting, right? One other nice feature is the addition of something Moto's calling SmartActions. It's meant to preserve and optimize battery life by doing things like turning off Bluetooth when you get home, or clocking down the processor while you're on a phone call.

You'll be able to squeeze out 12.5 hours of talk time when this bad boy hits Verizon this November 6th, and it'll cost you $299 for the priviledge. Pre-orders start October 27th.


Video: Motorola begins teasing the Droid Bionic

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Cell Phones, Google, Handhelds, Videos

The Droid Bionic is a woman! Motorola on Wednesday released the teaser video, "Rule All Machines," for its upcoming Droid Bionic smartphone.

And like in previous ads, the video personifies the device rather than show any part of the actual phone (see below); the latest Droid incarnation is a black leather-clad assassin with a bit of a Black Widow-meets-Droid logo edge.

No, no details yet on an actual launch date or price. The Droid Bionic is arguably Motorola's most highly anticipated product this year, perhaps because it has been delayed since, well, January. The Bionic was hit with one delay after another, forcing Verizon to release a statement explaining that it was undergoing some design revisions. No price has been announced, but an alleged advertisement pegged the phone at $300.

Click to continue reading Video: Motorola begins teasing the Droid Bionic


Motorola Droid X: $199 on July 15th for Verizon

Motorols Droid X Verizon

A few minutes ago and got together to announced the new Android smartphone, and we’ve got all the details for you. First and foremost, the Droid X will ship with Android 2.1 and a new customized UI. It boasts a 4.3-inch 854x480 display, 1GHz TI OMAP 3640 processor, 8 megapixel camera with dual LED flash, 720p video capture, and 8GB internal storage. It’s also got a flash card port that supports up to 32GB of storage, and the phone does ship with a 16GB card. The Droid X can also act as a mobile hotspot, providing WiFi access to up to five other devices, multitouch keyboard (thank you!), DLNA support, and even an HDMI out.

We know you are wondering when Froyo (Android 2.2) will hit the phone, and Verizon says that will happen later this summer, alongside Flash 10.1 support. You’ll be able to pick up the Droid X on July 15th from Verizon Wireless for $199.99 with two-year contract after rebate (rebate? really? still?) and if you wanna add the hotspot feature, that will be an extra $20 per month with a 2GB cap. Similar to how AT&T made all customers with upgrade dates through 2010 eligible for the right away, Verizon is doing the same for the Droid X.


Motorola Droid X hits Verizon on June 23 [UPDATED]

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Cell Phones, Handhelds, Rumors

motorola droid x

One day before the arrives to take over the world, Verizon is set to reveal the Motorola Droid X in an official capacity. As you can see from the image above, they aren’t exactly keeping it under wraps—hey, you gotta take all the buzz you can get when you launch one day before the iPhone 4, which has sold over 600,000 units already. So, we will get the full meal deal on June 23 as far as the Droid X goes, but in the meantime we do know that the display on this thing is 4.3-inches in screen size. Definitely very -ish with a display that size. Verizon is also touting the Droid X as having a 720p high definition display, which we are wondering if that’s a mistake. Don’t get us wrong, we’d love to see it, but earlier prototypes had 854x480 screens, and the EVO 4G itself has an 800x480 display. If we find out that the Droid X has a 1080x720 on June 23, we’ll have to bow down to Motorola. This Droid X also has a built-in HDMI port, allowing you to display content on a big screen with the appropriate cable.

We will be keeping an eye out for more Droid X tidbits from now through the 23rd, when everything gets revealed.

UPDATE: Verizon just updated their Droid X teaser, and it now shows “702p Capture.” In other words, it can record 720p HD video, but the screen isn’t HD. So, that’s that!

Read More | Verizon

Top 10 Gear Live Videos of 2009

2009 is just about over, and we are just in time with our annual top 10 list of the most-watched Gear Live video episodes. Over the past year, as expected, there was a bunch of gear that made the list, but Microsoft gets the top two spots with our dashboard tour, and the hands-on preview. Also getting an honorable mention is the and Elgato Turbo.264 transcoding device.

Oh, and if you wanna be sure to get our new video episodes as they come out in 2010, be sure to subscribe to us in iTunes, on YouTube, or in your RSS reader!

Click to continue reading Top 10 Gear Live Videos of 2009


How to fix the Motorola DROID MMS bug

Posted by Dan Hughes Categories: Cell Phones, Google, Handhelds

Motorola DroidWe recently reported an issue regarding the Motorola DROID and it’s MMS problem, and it looks like we’ve tracked down the issue.

After some hefty research (read: lots of Googling and failed MMS messages,) we finally stumbled upon a post over on Howard Forums from a user who seemed to identify this issue.  We have tested it successfully, both purposefully breaking and then fixing our ability to send MMS.

The culprit: parentheses around your contact’s area code.  If your contacts have parentheses around them when they are synced to the phone, the Droid faithfully preserves that.  However, when the address is used for an MMS transmission (and ONLY MMS, for some reason), it glitches out and fails. [Ed. note: What an absolutely ridiculous bug!]

Here’s how to fix the DROID MMS issue, if you are experiencing it:

  1. Delete any open threads containing the user you want to MMS, including any text message threads.  Otherwise, it will pull the address form the thread instead of using the new one.
  2. Edit the contact, removing the phone number and retyping it in.  Notice the Droid will type the hyphens in itself, but will not place parentheses.  Make sure to do this on EACH form of data this may synchronize from (e.g. Corporate AND Google contacts, if this person is in both.  Haven’t figured out if parentheses coming from Facebook can cause a problem.)
  3. Soft reset the phone.
  4. Attempt the MMS.

This worked for us.  Drop us a comment and let us know if it worked for you.  There have been some reports of the problems reoccurring, and so we’d like to know your circumstances.

Personal note: Make sure you edit the information that syncs to your phone so it has no parentheses.  I know I exported my contacts from Outlook, and imported them into Google, and Outlook puts parentheses by default, so that is why none of my contacts worked in the first place, but we COULD send to the guy at Verizon Wireless (because we typed in his number directly.)  I’m wondering if somehow the parentheses data is somehow being synced back to the phone.

We’ve reported the situation to Verizon’s Wireless Data Technical Support team, who thanked us for the information. (Direct quote: “Awesome.”)


Reports of Motorola Droids Not Sending MMS

Posted by Dan Hughes Categories: Cell Phones, Google, Handhelds

Motorola DROID MMSUpdate: It looks like we’ve found the culprit - How to fix the Motorola DROID MMS bug.

It seems to be few and far between at this point, but stemming from an unfortunate first-hand series of events, we’ve investigated and found a few unhappy Verizon Wireless customers out there who are experiencing an annoying problem:  MMS’ are being sent and being rejected with the error message: “You have entered an invalid address.”

The problem seems to be intermittent and with no discernable pattern.  Reports show customers who are inflicted with the problem are unable to send to certain numbers but are able to send to others.  Our first-hand experience involved attempting to send pictures to a quarter of the address book before giving up and calling tech support.  Oddly enough, the first successful picture message sent on this particular Droid went to the guy from Verizon’s Wireless Data Technical Support team who was helping us to fix the problem.  We were able to receive MMS from the numbers we tried, but failed receiving from another of Verizon’s Customer Support reps.

Posts on Android’s and Motorola’s support forums found that there was no workaround yet, but some of those who swapped out for a new Droid had no problems with the new phone.

Is anyone else having this problem?  Verizon, Motorola, and Google definitely have not spoken up yet, so we don’t know how many people are calling about the problem, but there are a few out there.  For all we know, it could be a small glitch.  Drop a comment and let us know.


The gloves are off: Verizon iPhone attack commercials go full swing

iPhone Verizon ad

Oh man, you’ve got to love how Verizon Wireless has gotten so bold now that they’ve finally got a killer device in the to brag about. You’ve also got to love how Apple is getting a taste of their own medicine, after running the “I’m a Mac” ads for years now. Verizon is aiming to highlight their phone offerings, as well as their huge 3G network, in their holiday commercials that dump on the iPhone and AT&T. There are three so far, and we must admit, they’re pretty clever. You can watch all three commercials, one of which sees the iPhone banished to the Land of Misfit Toys, after the break.

Click to continue reading The gloves are off: Verizon iPhone attack commercials go full swing


Bleeding Edge TV 322: Motorola DROID Review

Yes, we definitely hit you with our full Motorola DROID review, but many wanted to see a bit more video of the device. That being the case, we recorded this episode of Bleeding Edge TV to show off the different features of the Motorola DROID smartphone. We give you a look at the hardware, some of the Android 2.0 features, Google Maps Navigation, and more. All in all, it’s a twelve-minute walkthrough of the DROID, the smartphone that has grabbed the attention of the industry, giving Google, Motorola, and Verizon Wireless a lot of attention.

If you are at all curious, be sure to hit the video above.


Advertisement