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HTC Thunderbolt and LG Revolution show up on Verizon site, officially official

Would you look at that. Verizon's ongoing press conference has been accompanied by the appearance of two 4.3-inch LTE handsets coming to the network. Both HTC's Thunderbolt and LG's Revolution were pretty well known in advance, but hey, now we have big luscious high-res pictures to gawk at. The Revolution will come with Android 2.2 preloaded while the Thunderbolt has Skype video calling integrated right into HTC Sense. The latter device also boasts a Super LCD display, 8 megapixel camera with HD video recording, DLNA, Dolby Surround Sound, and the honor of being a Verizon exclusive in the US. Now that the devices have been made official, we also know that the Revolution can stream, play and record HD video, perform video chat with a front-facing camera, and share its 4G connection with up to eight devices through its built-in hotspot functionality. Jump past the break for the full announcement.

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ASUS tablet lineup preview: Slider, Transformer, MeMO, and Slate EP121 go wild (with video!)

We just played with ASUS whole new tablet lineup, which is truly impressive not only in scope, but also for the fact that ASUS didn't just pick a few capacitive screen sizes and call it a day. Each of the four tablets (three Android-based Eee Pads and one Windows-based Eee Slate) has its own "twist" on what's come to seem traditional in modern day tablets, while also maintaining significant hardware and screen quality. We're not crazy about the 'MyWave' ASUS software skin on its Android models, but they at least seem serious about providing UI and apps for the entire experience -- they're not kidding around, is what we're saying.

We've got a ton of pictures and impressions, so follow after the break as we break it all down!

Update: We've added video as well. You'd be a fool not to click.

Eee Pad Transformer - this is possibly the most traditional of this line, because the tablet itself is simply a 10.1-inch capacitive screen in an exceedingly thin (and light!) form factor. However, ASUS didn't stop there, and you can dock the Transformer into an optional keyboard to turn in basically into a very thin Android laptop, complete with keyboard, trackpad and USB peripheral support (like an external mouse). It's no Motorola Atrix, since you're dealing with the same skin whether docked or undocked, but from what we've seen of Honeycomb that might not be too much of a usability stretch.

ASUS Eee Pad Transform hands-on

Eee Pad Slider - We're part of the (possible minority) that uses our Tablet Model of Choice with a keyboard just as much as without, and the Eee Pad Slider seems aimed at that use. There's a surprisingly nice slide-out miniature chiclet keyboard (think on-par with a $300 netbook), which also acts as the stand for the laptop when pulled out. The base also hold's the tablet's battery, leaving the screen itself scary thin. The sliding mechanism we saw wasn't that great -- you had to leverage the screen just right to open it easily, but we were dealing with prototypes and we expect the final product to be better in this regard.

ASUS Eee Pad Slider hands-on

Eee Pad MeMO - This is possibly our favorite of the models, thanks to its small size and emphasis on pen input. ASUS extended the bezel below the screen to make room for a stylus, a perfect solution because it leaves the tablet itself exceedingly thin -- one of the thinnest we've seen in a 7-inch form factor. The actual screen feels very much like standard high quality capacitive glass, and it's also very bright and viewing angle-friendly. However, "pressure sensitive" pen input is possible thanks to a rubberized nub on the stylus that flexes and expands based on your pressure and input. It's not Wacom-quality, but it's a lot nicer than binary stylus input on most tablets.

ASUS Eee Pad MeMO hands-on

Eee Slate EP121 - Windows 7 and tablets have a bit of a sordid history, but we think ASUS has taken the right approach with the Eee Slate EP121. It's large, high-powered (Core i5), has a Wacom digitizer for exceptional pen input, and ASUS bundles a Bluetooth keyboard just to make sure you don't get any ideas about trying to pen-input a novel. Despite the 12.1-inch size, the tablet is still surprisingly thin and light, though it really seems better suited for desk use than schlepping around to coffee shops -- more of a poor man's Cintiq than the iPad of Windows 7 tablets. Our only gripe was the fact that the finger touch input didn't feel as good as the Android tablets in the bunch -- not bad, just not excellent.

ASUS Eee Slate EP121 hands-on

MyWave - ASUS is doing its own UI and core apps, dubbed MyWave, which seems a little silly with Honeycomb on the way. Right now ASUS is demoing the tablets with Froyo, though they have roughly working Gingerbread in the wings. However, the tablets won't ship without Honeycomb, so our great dream is that when ASUS gets ahold of the final 3.0 build they'll realize that Google has a lot more money to spend on perfecting UI and core apps. Perhaps a light touch of a skin wouldn't hurt, and of course ASUS has to work its partnerships, but these tablets would be really badly served without Google's core apps (mail, gallery, media playback [if Google actually builds a good DLNA-friendly player], and browser), or Google's overall UI metaphors it's sweating to build for tablets in Honeycomb.

Samsung 4G LTE Smartphone

We knew this was coming, and here it is. The white curtains just lifted here at the Samsung booth at CES to unveil the Samsung 4G LTE Smartphone. This Verizon LTE-ready beast touts a Super AMOLED Plus display, runs Android 2.2 and features a front-facing cam. We're busy sorting out details and grabbing pics more. Stay tuned!

CES ASUS unveils Eee Pad MeMO, Eee Pad Transformer, Eee Pad Slider and Eee Slate EP121

On Tuesday, ASUS introduced four new tablet devices ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The Eee Pad MeMO, Eee Pad Transformer, Eee Pad Slider and Eee Slate EP121 are the first of many tablets that will be introduced this week, and the gauntlet has been thrown down. ASUS’ offerings are stylish, functional and well spec’d, giving customers an array of choices to suit a variety of needs. Hit the break for all the juicy details including pricing and availability.

ASUS Eee Pad MeMO

• Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) OS
• 7-inch capacitive touchscreen display
• 1024 x 600-pixel resolution
• Capacitive stylus included
• 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm 8260 Snapdragon processor
• 5-megapixel camera with LED flash
• 1.2-megapixel front-facing camera for video chat
• HD video playback
• Starting at $499, available in June

ASUS Eee Pad Transformer

• Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) OS
• 10.1-inch IPS touchscreen display
• 1280 x 800-pixel resolution
• NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core processor
• 5-megapixel camera with LED flash
• 1.2-megapixel front-facing camera for video chat
• Unique docking station with integrated keyboard and 16-hour battery
• Priced between $399 and $699, available in April

ASUS Eee Pad Slider

• Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) OS
• 10.1-inch IPS touchscreen display
• 1280 x 800-pixel resolution
• NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core processor
• 5-megapixel camera with LED flash
• 1.2-megapixel front-facing camera for video chat
• Sliding full QWERTY keyboard
• miniHDMI, miniUSB ports
• microSDHC support
• Priced between $499 and $799, available in May

ASUS Eee Slate EP121

• Windows 7 OS
• 12.1-inch IPS touchscreen display
• 1280 x 800-resolution
• Wacom digitizer pen
• Core i5-470M processor
• Up to 4GB of RAM
• 64GB SSD
• 1.2-megapixel front-facing camera for video chat
• Included Bluetooth keyboard
• HDMI port
• Starts at $999, available later in January

ASUS’ full press release:

ASUS Brings Innovation to Life at CES 2011

– Chairman Jonney Shih Unveils the Ground Breaking Eee Slate and Eee Pad Tablets plus the latest TUF Motherboards and ROG products as ASUS brings Innovation to Life at CES –

Consumer Electronics Show, Las Vegas, NA (January 4, 2011) — ASUS Chairman Jonney Shih introduced the long-anticipated Eee Pad, Eee Slate, TUF Motherboards and the latest Republic of Gamers (ROG) lineup during the annual ASUS press conference at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show (CES). With innovation and choice being the dominate theme this year, Shih reiterates the company’s strength in cutting edge design and superior engineering to bring consumers the devices of their dreams. Shih was also proud to announce that ASUS is the winner of eight CES Innovation Awards which echoes ASUS’ persistence to bring innovation to life.

“ASUS is a global technology leader in the new digital era. We focus on the mastery of technological innovation and design perfection. We hold ourselves to the highest standards when it comes to delivering consumers the very best products. Choice is a key ingredient for success, and we offer consumers the ability to customize their own digital futures with an exciting lineup of products that are unmatched in quality and depth of features”, said Jonney Shih, Chairman of ASUSTek.

ASUS Eee Pad and Eee Slate Tablet Devices

The newly unveiled family of ASUS tablets* arrives with a splash by offering four unique and innovative products. The Eee Pad MeMO has a 7-inch capacitive screen powered by the Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ mobile processor and will ship with Android® 3.0 (Honeycomb) featuring HD playback capabilities, mobile gaming, an exciting Web experience and is accompanied by a stylus pen for taking handwritten notes.

The Eee Pad Transformer and Eee Pad Slider are equipped with 10.1” IPS touchscreens, NVIDIA® Tegra™ 2 mobile processor technology and will ship with Android® 3.0. The Transformer comes with a docking option that incorporates a QWERTY keyboard and serves as a battery extension station for up-to 16 hours of non-stop computing. The Slider is equipped with a sliding keyboard for those who desire higher mobility capabilities in a tablet product along with excellent battery life.

For consumers who value productivity, entertainment and desktop power on-the-go, ASUS offers the Eee Slate EP121 which boasts a 12.1” multi-touch screen with Intel® Core™ i5 processor technology running on Microsoft® Windows® 7 Home Premium operating system. The Eee Slate EP121 is the most powerful tablet ever introduced and allows the user to run a variety of desktop applications on its 64GB SSD drive while offering various data input options ranging from a Wacom Digitizer pen to an included Bluetooth wireless keyboard for ultimate user flexibility.

ASUS TUF and ROG Motherboards

With over twenty years of engineering expertise in producing the world’s bestselling and most award-winning motherboards, Shih was proud to introduce the latest ASUS TUF series which is designed to withstand rugged environments with the ASUS proprietary Thermal Armor and Thermal Radar cooling design plus an industry leading five-year warranty.

“As you know ASUS is a veteran in producing the world’s best motherboards. We continue to strive for technological breakthroughs on our motherboards that include a new class leading Digital VRM design. The new ROG Rampage III Black Edition motherboard is a gamers’ dream come true. The additional network lane port and built-in headset amplifier bring both speed and realism to games and media applications. The ROG Vulcan headset is just one example of our commitment to technological breakthroughs. The active noise cancellation technology and tuned frequency response brings the ultimate gaming experience to life,” said Jonney Shih Chairman of ASUS.

AT&T details 4G plans [updated]

AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vega gave a keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Tuesday. The focus was undoubtedly 4G — as we reported earlier today — and de la Vega was joined by Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha, HTC CEO Peter Chou and Samsung CEO J. K. Shin to show off exciting upcoming devices. Here are some highlights:

• AT&T is accelerating its LTE deployment — it will launch LTE later this year and complete its deployment by 2013
• AT&T HSPA+ provides “4G speeds,” and is already deployed to nearly 100% of AT&T’s network
• 20 new 4G devices will be introduced this year including modems, mobile hotspots and phones
• De la Vega included Apple in his list of manufacturers set to launch “4G” devices this year [updated]
• Motorola ATRIX 4G launches this year: 4G LTE, Android OS, 1GHz dual-core processor, 1 GB of RAM, 1930 mAh battery, 10.9mm thick, HTML5 support
• The ATRIX 4G has a laptop dock that basically turns the phone into a full notebook-sized smartbook — very weird, very intriguing — and a home entertainment dock
• HTC Inspire 4G: new HTC Sense UI, HTCSense.com support, 4.3-inch display, Android 2.2 OS, physical location awareness (phone rings louder when in a pocket or bag, then quiets when taken out), HTML5 support
• Samsung Infuse 4G: AT&T’s thinnest smartphone, 4.5-inch Super-AMOLED Plus display, Android 2.2 OS, 8-megapixel rear camera, front-facing camera for video chat, HTML 5 support
• AT&T’s first “4G” tablet will come soon from Motorola: dual core Tegra 2, 10.1-inch display, Android 3.0 Honeycomb OS
• First LTE tablets coming this year
• 12 new Android devices coming this year
• BlackBerry Torch sales have been strong and Windows Phone 7 sales have increased steadily since its launch

In terms of timing for those great new 4G smartphones mention above, five to seven HSPA+ devices will be introduced in the first half of this year, and the Motorola ATRIX 4G, HTC Infuse 4G and Samsung Infuse 4G will be among them. Hit the break for AT&T’s full press release related to today’s announcements.

UPDATE: Well, AT&T’s ridiculous decision to call both HSPA+ and LTE “4G”is already causing problems — AT&T contacted us to let us know that no iPhone-related LTE announcements were made. Apparently the “4G” mentioned alongside de la Vega’s mention of Apple did not refer to LTE “4G”.

AT&T Announces Plans to Deliver Nation’s Most Advanced Mobile Broadband Experience

Nation’s Fastest Mobile Broadband Network Getting Faster with 4G; Accelerates LTE network build — to be largely complete by YE 2013. Completes HSPA+ deployment to virtually 100% of network, enabling 4G speeds with expanded backhaul; widens lead in smartphones & devices — 20 4G devices planned for 2011, including industry-leading Android lineup; expands lead in Mobile Apps with new initiatives to speed collaboration, development.

Las Vegas, Nevada, January 05, 2011

AT&T* today said it is building the nation’s most advanced mobile broadband experience by pursuing three key initiatives:

• NETWORK: AT&T operates the nation’s fastest mobile broadband network today, and it’s getting faster in 2011 with 4G.  AT&T is the only U.S. company committed to delivering 4G using both HSPA+ and LTE technologies – providing a faster and more consistent experience for customers. The company announced plans today to accelerate its LTE network build, to be largely complete by yearend 2013; AT&T plans to begin its launch of LTE service in mid 2011. Additionally, the company said it has completed its deployment of HSPA+ to virtually 100 percent of its mobile broadband network which enables 4G speeds when combined with Ethernet or fiber backhaul. The company is rapidly expanding Ethernet and fiber to cell sites nationwide — adding new cell sites weekly — and by yearend, expects that nearly two-thirds of its mobile broadband traffic will be on expanded backhaul.

Today, AT&T is already seeing 4G speeds on its existing HSPA+ network with enhanced backhaul in areas of key markets. In these areas, AT&T is seeing network speeds up to approximately 6 Mbps** — and expects these speeds will increase as it accelerates its LTE build and further deploys expanded backhaul.

• SMARTPHONES & DEVICES:  AT&T is the leader in smartphones and devices, and expects to widen that lead in 2011. The company plans to introduce 20 4G devices by the end of the year, some on an exclusive basis. The company today announced a new commitment to deliver an industry-leading Android portfolio, including more than 12 new Android devices in 2011. AT&T expects to offer two 4G smartphones in the first quarter which will join its two existing 4G-compatible laptop cards, available since last fall.  AT&T plans to offer five to seven 4G devices in its lineup in the first half of 2011.

• APPLICATIONS: AT&T provides its customers access to more mobile applications than any other carrier. In 2011, the company plans to expand its leadership in apps with new initiatives to speed collaboration with apps developers and further open AT&T’s network capabilities to the development community.

” The key to delivering a true 4G experience is to have the combination of network, devices and applications, which together will give our customers the best and most advanced mobile broadband experience —  today and tomorrow,”  said Randall Stephenson, AT&T chairman and CEO. “Recent tax law incentives, along with other policy developments, have allowed us to accelerate the capital investment — beginning in 2011 — to largely complete our LTE network build by the end of 2013. This will not only benefit our customers, but will, we hope, benefit the economy as a whole.”

Nation’s fastest mobile broadband network getting faster with 4G

Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO of AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets, said AT&T has the nation’s fastest mobile broadband network today, according to independent expert testing, and its network roadmap will distinguish AT&T as the industry moves towards 4G/LTE technology over the next several years. He spoke at AT&T’s Developer Summit, held annually in conjunction with the 2011 International Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

“AT&T is the only U.S. company committed to both HSPA+ and LTE technologies,” said de la Vega.  “Today our customers are benefitting as we repeatedly increase speeds on our mobile broadband network.  As we accelerate our LTE network build, our customers will have blazing fast LTE speeds and when they go off LTE, they will still have faster mobile broadband speeds with HSPA+ — something our competitors will not be able to match.”

Additional information available at www.att.com/network (website available after 10 a.m., PT on Jan. 5)

Industry-leading device portfolio expands with powerful 4G devices

On the device front, de la Vega said AT&T plans to offer 20 4G devices in 2011.  In the first half of 2011, AT&T plans to feature a best-in-class portfolio of HSPA+ devices; in the second half of the year, it plans to also add LTE devices, including a leading collection of smartphones, tablets, modems and mobile hotspots.

“Today we are the clear leader when it comes to offering the most extensive line-up of handsets and devices,” he said.  “We plan to strengthen our portfolio with powerful 4G devices and a major new commitment to offer an industry-leading portfolio of Android devices.”

“The upcoming lineup of 4G Android smartphones from AT&T is truly cutting-edge,” said Andy Rubin, vice president of Engineering at Google. “These devices coupled with the recent deployment of carrier billing as an Android Market purchase option for AT&T customers
are great examples of AT&T’s commitment to smartphone leadership.”

With over 100,000 applications available in Android Market plus carrier billing, AT&T customers can more easily shop for the latest apps for Android smartphones.

• The Motorola ATRIX™ 4G Android 2.2 smartphone will be offered exclusively by AT&T and is the world’s most powerful smartphone.  Featuring a 1 GHz dual-core processor, ATRIX 4G delivers a remarkable combination of application processing power, 4G network speed and a high-resolution qHD display.  It will be complemented by breakthrough accessories that include a revolutionary, super-thin laptop dock –  for which ATRIX 4G is the “engine” — and an HD media dock that uses ATRIX 4G’s HDMI video output capabilities and processing power to enable a revolutionary browsing, application and media experience. For more information, visit www.att.com/atrix4G (website available after 10 a.m. PT on Jan. 5). This device is slated for launch in the first quarter of 2011, only for AT&T customers.

• The HTC Inspire™4G is a stunning, 4.3-inch super LCD smartphone running on Android 2.2 smartphone and the first in North America to feature the next-generation HTC Sense™ platform with cloud services.  The new Sense platform can pinpoint on a map a lost phone, send a command to sound an alert on the handset, and remotely wipe the phone’s data with a single command through http://www.htcsense.com/.  Inspire 4G also delivers an 8-megapixel camera and a HD video recorder. The HTC Inspire 4G will include a 1 GHZ processor, while also boasting a premium, aluminum unibody design. For more information, visit www.att.com/inspire4G (website available after 10 a.m., PT on Jan. 5). This device is slated for launch in the first quarter of 2011, only for AT&T customers.

• The Samsung Infuse™ 4G will be the thinnest Android device and feature the largest screen — at 4.5 inches — in AT&T’s smartphone lineup.  The device delivers a brilliant display using Samsung’s next-generation Super AMOLED™ Plus technology which features 50% more sub-pixels for better contrast and outdoor readability. The Infuse will be powered by a 1.2 GHz application processor and run the Android 2.2 platform. This device is slated for launch in the second quarter of 2011, only for AT&T customers.

• 4G Tablets – AT&T plans to launch two 4G tablets, including its first LTE tablet, by mid summer.  Additional LTE tablets are planned for the second half of 2011.

Additional device specifications and images are available at www.att.com/ces-news.

AT&T’s Mobile Apps Initiatives deepen relationship with developers, speed collaboration, innovation

AT&T also announced that it is building on its leadership in mobile applications by expanding collaboration opportunities with the development community — with a focus on speeding innovation to customers.

A leader in the application development community said AT&T’s strategy makes sense: “AT&T is moving quickly to open its network to developers in unprecedented ways,” said Sam Ramji, vice president of strategy for Apigee.  “Our work with AT&T will give developers easy access to network capabilities and billing tools.  AT&T’s commitment to working with the developer community makes the company a leading platform for innovators.”

AT&T CTO John Donovan said AT&T, in collaboration with others, is investing $70 million to build three innovation centers worldwide – an effort considered unprecedented in working with the app developer community.   He said the first center is planned to open in the first quarter near Dallas.  The other two – in Silicon Valley and near Tel Aviv – are slated to open later this year.  The centers are designed to foster collaboration and improve project cycle time from idea to market by threefold.

David Christopher, CMO, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets, announced plans for a series of apps initiatives including:

• A renewed commitment to providing more “Apps for All’’ by utilizing Brew Mobile Platform on all of its new quick messaging phones – which a sizeable segment of consumers who aren’t ready for smartphones rely on today.  AT&T announced plans for the first of these popular devices – the HTC Freestyle,available next month — and said it planned to introduce five additional new quick messaging phones this year.  By installing Brew Mobile Platform across quick messaging phones, which traditionally have had operating systems specific to each device maker, developers can write an application once and be able to offer it to all Brew Mobile Platform based phones from AT&T.  AT&T also announced that America Movil and Rogers Wireless have agreed to use Brew Mobile Platform, giving developers access to customers throughout the Americas.

• An opportunity for developers to apply to join a new Alpha Program for developing apps for AT&T’s award-winning U-verse® TV – allowing selected developers to collaborate with AT&T to influence the way in which mobile, Web and PC-based apps can be created and integrated in homes with U-verse services (www.developer.att.com/u-versealpha).  At the event, AT&T’s Peter Hill, VP of ecosystem and innovation, demonstrated how U-verse Mobile Application Development Technology can effectively enable a mobile device to interactively share media, content and apps with the TV.  This technology could lead to the creation of apps that enable AT&T customers to shop, vote and play games via their wireless devices and TVs.

• Plans to go live in March with a Beta program for an HTML5 development toolkit for AT&T devices (www.developer.att.com/HTML5).  HTML5 enables developers to create apps that work on multiple operating systems instead of just one – which is frequently the case today – and will spur app proliferation.  By the second half of this year, AT&T expects the majority of its new smartphones and a number of quick messaging phones will support current HTML5 standards.  AT&T is a founding member of the Wholesale Applications Community, or WAC, and HTML5 is at the core of the community’s 2.0 specifications.

• A first-of-a-kind agreement with Open Feint that makes AT&T the first and only U.S. carrier to offer a social gaming platform that can work across wireless networks. The agreement opens API’s for the popular Open Feint social gaming platform for AT&T smartphones, and the SDK is available at no charge on the AT&T Developer Program web site for Android developers (www.developer.att.com/gaming). Open Feint allows developers to tap into a social gaming engine to build games that allow a user to compare scores, challenge each other and even compete head to head — capabilities that can be costly to build independently.

More information on AT&T’s developer program is available athttp://www.developer.att.com/.  For additional information on today’s announcements, please visit www.att.com/ces-news.

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.

**4G speeds delivered by HSPA+ with enhanced backhaul. Will be available in limited areas. Availability increasing with ongoing backhaul deployment. Actual speeds experience will vary and depend on several factors include device, location, capacity, facilities, and other conditions. Android is a trademark of Google, Inc.