Android Tablet Update

Today NVIDIA announced that their Icera 410 LTE multimode data modem was successfully validated by AT&T for operation on its 4G LTE network. This modem is designed for tablets and clamshell devices, but it’s an important step for NVIDIA that could lead to Icera LTE modems appearing in Tegra-powered smartphones.

“Validation with AT&T is an achievement that paves the way for NVIDIA Icera-powered LTE devices on the AT&T network through this year and next,” said Stan Boland, senior vice president of Mobile Communications at NVIDIA.

NVIDIA released their quad-core Tegra 3 chip last year, but you won’t find it inside any mobile devices at US carrier stores yet. The issue is that most US carriers are now demanding LTE connectivity, and the few modem providers that have gained approval to operate on these LTE networks (namely Qualcomm) are not interested in working with NVIDIA.

That should change in the second half of the year as NVIDIA releases their own LTE modem and the leading suppliers of cellular silicon solutions release additional LTE modems that will work with Tegra 3.

NVIDIA acquired the Icera technology last year this year ZTE announced the first smartphone based on both its Tegra processor and Icera modem, the Mimosa X.

Later this year we expect NVIDIA to reveal a newer chip called Tegra 3+ that should work with the latest LTE modems from GCT Semiconductor, Renesas Mobile, and ST-Ericsson. We also expect NVIDIA to release another chip codenamed Grey in early 2013, which will be their first Tegra chip to integrate an Icera LTE modem.

Head over to NVIDIA’s Icera products page for additional details on their modem lineup.

Samsung was the first major manufacturer to get into the Android tablet game a year and a half ago with the original 7-inch Galaxy Tab. It was an excellent piece of hardware, but there was no official support for tablets on Android, it was really expensive and was initially only available with a data plan. Not surprisingly the Galaxy Tab thus saddled didn’t exactly burn up the sales charts, regardless of Samsung’s early claims to the contrary.

Fast forward to today and I have in my hands the Galaxy Tab 7.7 LTE from Verizon. Things have come a long way technologically in the last year and a half, but some of the same issues persist. Is the Galaxy Tab 7.7 LTE good enough to overcome the criticisms that plagued it’s predecessor?

1. Build Quality

The Galaxy Tab 7.7 LTE (7.7) is thin. It seems like a simple statement and I’m sure you’re nodding your head that yes you know all about thin tablets. I’m telling you right now that you are wrong. The 7.7 is pure thinsanity (yes, that just happened). I’ve included a couple comparison shots above with my Galaxy Nexus and a deck of cards to try to give you a sense of it. If you prefer to go strictly by the numbers it is 7.87mm thick, which is about .7mm thicker than the Droid RAZR. So if it’s that thin it must feel like you can snap it like a twig, right? Surprisingly not. There isn’t a significant amount of flexibility in the device despite it’s narrow dimensions and while I wouldn’t advise doing any concrete bounce tests, the kind of basic jostling and short drops that typically happen to devices wouldn’t leave the 7.7 any worse for wear.

While I know some people would prefer that their devices be carved out of a block of metal, I appreciate the feel and light weight offered by Samsung’s durable plastic construction and the 7.7 is one of the finest implementations yet.

2. Aesthetics

The 7.7 is one of those devices that I was just immediately taken with when I first saw it at CES this year. Now the amazing screen, which I’ll get to in a moment, is a big part of that, but the form factor and look of the device aren’t to be ignored.

I’ll try to avoid specifically obsessing over the thinness again, but the overall size of this device is fantastic. While the 7.7-inch screen feels much more substantial than any phone screen, it is still small enough to produce a manageable and portable device. The 7.7 fit in all of my jacket pockets and if you are into looking ridiculous it might even fit in the back pocket of your pants (albeit with the top sticking out). At just 12 ounces it’s actually plausible to just throw this thing in a pocket too as it is barely noticeable and of course its weight completely vanishes when in a bag.

The 7.7 breaks a bit out of the Samsung tablet mold and I’m a big fan of the look they went with here. The back is predominantly brushed metal with dark grey plastic at the top and bottom. The back immediately reminded me of the HTC Legend, which was a beautiful device. The front is obviously dominated by the screen and is ringed by a thin black bezel with white Verizon and Samsung logos gracing the top and bottom respectively.

Following around the outside of the device there’s the 3.5mm headphone jack at the top and the proprietary Samsung charging/docking port at the bottom. On the left side as you look at the device there are microSD and sim slots. Finally the right hand side has the power button, volume rocker and an IR port.

3. LTE

As per usual the LTE was fast as fast can be. However, I do get to finally break my endless chain of “this device performed just as the rest of my LTE devices perform in my area.” The 7.7 had consistently superior upload speeds to my Galaxy Nexus and an HTC Thunderbolt sitting side by side. Upload speeds were in the neighborhood of 10-14mb whereas my Galaxy Nexus and the Thunderbolt remained in my familiar range of 4-8mb. Download speeds were consistent with the rest of my devices with speeds in the range of 12-16mb on average. Upload isn’t usually the big stat that people throw down, but if it’s something you are craving the 7.7 can deliver.

4. Performance

Samsung stuck with their homegrown 1.4GHz dual-core Exynos 4210 processor with the Mali-400MP GPU for the 7.7 and while quad-core may be the flavor of the day, the dual-core Exynos manages to push the pixels around fast enough that I doubt anyone will be disappointed.

The 7.7 ran every game and app that I threw at it. Obviously if you’ve been eyeing any of the exclusives in the ‘Tegra Zone’ then those are going to be out of reach for you, but otherwise I doubt you’ll find an app that the 7.7 won’t run well. The only place that I saw occasional lag or slowdowns was in app launching or screen transitions and I’m reasonably confident that Android 4.0 will iron out those minor issues.

For those of you that are more numerically minded you can check out the benchmark results that I got with the 7.7 below.

Update: A commenter rightly pointed out that I neglected to mention the storage capacity so I’m slotting it into performance. The 7.7 offers 16GB of on-board storage and as previously noted has a microSD slot that will let you bump that up another 32GB if things get tight. I appreciate the option to expand, but with all of the streaming and cloud storage options at this point I think I’d be hard pressed to even fill the 16GB.

5. Display

If our scoring allowed me to give more than one point to the display I absolutely would as the Super AMOLED Plus display on the 7.7 is the best I’ve seen. People talk about looking at the new iPad screen and being blown away and in my opinion the 7.7 is even more eye catching. I understand that at 1280×800 it may not have the pixel density of the iPad, but the deep blacks, the vivid color reproduction and the insane viewing angles more than make up for the fact that I can see some pixels if I hold it a few inches from my face.

I mentioned it once already, but the 7.7 grabbed my attention the moment I saw it at CES and that first reaction was completely driven by this screen. If you mainly use your tablet for web browsing and productivity apps this may not be as critical to you, however for those of you that watch video or play games on your tablet this screen makes a world of difference. I’m just hopeful that we keep seeing Samsung push this screen tech out into the rest of their smartphone and tablet lines.

6. Camera

The cameras on the 7.7 are adequate for tablet usage, but shouldn’t of course be thought of as a replacement for a real camera or even the camera on any remotely decent Android phone.

The rear-facing camera is 3.2MP and in bright light it can capture noise free images, but I’d avoid it unless you are going to slap some heavy filters on it (fortunately Instagram supports it so you can do exactly that). I only really see the rear facing cameras on tablets to be good for augmented reality apps and the 7.7 camera performs just fine in that regard.

The 2MP front-facing camera is one of the better I’ve seen. I tested it by calling over GTalk on my desktop and was impressed with the fluidity of the image. I’m sure you’ll have similarly positive results with whatever your video chat app of choice might be.

7. Ports

Like most of Samsung’s tablets the 7.7 has only the proprietary 30-pin connector for charging and wired data transfer. I cannot put into words how much proprietary connectors and/or media annoy me. I have hated it for years while Sony has done it and Apple of course seems to revel in the practice. It would have been bad enough 5 years ago when every single cell phone you got had some slightly different charger, but today we are so close to everyone standardizing around microUSB. Samsung needs to stop this foolishness.

While I realize it isn’t the most wildly used feature it is a bit disappointing to not see an HDMI out as Android finally has a bevy of streaming video options that you might just want to toss up on the big screen.

So what is the redeeming port that tips the scales of this section to a ‘meh’ from the gaping maw of ‘bad?’ Why naturally it’s the IR port. No, stop laughing, I’m serious. I was pretty skeptical when I first saw the IR port on there and it wasn’t until I fired up the Peel Smart Remote app (see Software for more on Peel) that I realized it was actually good and useful. Now this is definitely a your mileage may vary situation, but considering the overlap in the Venn diagram of tablet usage, coach sitting and TV watching is nearly complete for me I can definitely see getting a lot of use out of the IR port. If you have ill will towards IR ports based on years of disappointing experiences with IR on PDAs then I recommend you give this a chance as I think it actually delivers on the promise that all those PDAs dangled in front of us.

8. Software

I’ll start with the Peel Smart Remote app since I just brought it up with the IR port. Now yes if you have some insane all-in-one remote you are unlikely to care about this app, but if you are rocking whatever remote came with your TV then this should be a nice boost. The Peel app is stupidly simple to set up as rather than forcing you to find an oddly sized booklet and punch in codes like you are playing a mid-90′s PC game they just have you enter the brand of your TV and then it proceeds to spit codes at it until it manages to power your TV on. There’s another couple of steps to establish what cable/satellite package and then the final step is to input the types of shows you are into. It’s all painless and took no more than 5 minutes. Once you have it set up the app provides remote functions, as you might imagine, but the real value is the display of what’s playing right now that you might be interested in watching. It’s a graphical display akin to what you see on the Hulu, Netflix, or HBO Go apps and perhaps because of my familiarity with those apps it feels far more natural and practical than traditional channel surfing. There are quite a few more features that I won’t get into as this isn’t a review for Peel Smart Remote, but suffice to say I thought it was a much more welcome piece of bloatware than what we have come to expect.

Verizon putting a couple dozen pre-installed apps of varying value on their devices is hardly news at this point so I won’t really get into it. Kindle, Netflix, QuickOffice and the aforementioned Peel Smart Remote are among them so it’s not all bad.

Finally the biggest knock against the 7.7 in this category is that it is currently running Android 3.2. Samsung has had it on their Android 4.0 update list basically since they started publicly reporting one, but we still don’t have a definite timeline for that update to happen. As this is a temporary problem I don’t see it as a deal breaker by any means and when you do finally get that Android 4.0 update I think it’ll iron out a few of the little hiccups you see here and there.

9. Battery Life

The 7.7 manages excellent battery life despite its diminutive frame. I typically was able to go about 12-15 hours before needing to plug back in. Toward the low end if I was streaming video over LTE extensively, but even with quite a bit of streaming you would be hard pressed to kill the battery with any kind of normal days usage. This is good news considering the battery is not replaceable so you are stuck with what’s on board.

Standby battery life was similarly impressive with very minimal drain (4-6%) if I neglected to charge the tablet overnight. Unless you are travelling and using the Tab constantly the tablet should easily get you through 2-3 days between charges without the need for any serious battery conservation.

10. Price

All good things must come to an end and the pricing is where things unravel for the 7.7. The tablet is available on Verizon for $449, but that carries with it a 2-year data contract at a minimum of $30 a month for 2GB of data. You can of course opt to buy it without a contract, however you are going to have to shell out $699 for that privilege and that’s a tall order in todays tablet market. If you could buy the 7.7 for $450-500 and have the flexibility to opt in and out of data on a month to month basis I would feel differently about its value proposition.

I loved carrying the 7.7 around for the last couple weeks and for my usage it is the best tablet hardware available on Verizon today. Unfortunately the hardware is only one piece of the puzzle and the other pieces just don’t quite manage to slot into place for the 7.7 which is why it ended up with just an OK score.

The pricing of carrier branded Android tablets just continues to be an unmitigated mess. The off contract price of $699 just isn’t going to happen and at $449 with a two-year contract the minimum cost of ownership is $1,169 and for a device category that is still trying to prove itself that’s a tall order.

The Android tablet app problem persists as well and while I actually attribute it more to discoverability than a true lack of apps the end result is still the same. There’s every indication that Google is going to be giving more attention to tablets this year and so I’m hopeful that we may be in the last days (well, months anyway) for this particular complaint.

If you are in the market for an LTE tablet the Galaxy Tab 7.7 on Verizon belongs on your shortlist. It is my favorite Android tablet available on Big Red at the moment and depending on your use cases I think it holds its own with the iPad as well. The display is phenomenal and the form factor strikes an excellent balance with a screen size that gives you far more than a phone while keeping the dimensions and weight down to the point that you can take it anywhere. To repurpose a quote often used by photographers, the best tablet is the one that you have with you.

Anyone planning on buying the newly launched Galaxy Nexus from Sprint may want to hold off for a week or two. A handful of new Galaxy Nexus owners are reporting issues connecting to Sprint’s 3G network. From what we can tell, affected users are able to send and receive phone calls and text messages, but the data connection to the phone simply remains in “connecting” status without ever making a complete connection.

Several affected users have been given replacement phones at local Sprint stores, but others have been turned away since a fix for the issue is apparently already in the works. No specifics about the software update have been revealed, but a Sprint Community moderator claims that Sprint is hoping to have the issue resolved by early next week.

Sprint/Samsung are aware of this problem and will be releasing a software update to resolve the issue. Can't commit to a date yet, but they are trying really hard to get it released early next week. Sorry for your troubles.ModeratorSprint Community

Have any of you experienced any data connectivity issues with the Sprint Galaxy Nexus? It seems a bit ironic that Sprint’s first 4G LTE phone can’t even get a 3G connection.

For a fleeting moment, the DROID Incredible 4G LTE made an appearance on the DROID DOES promotional site – revealing Verizon’s plan to sell the phone for $299.99. Since the launch of the HTC Thunderbolt, Verizon has launched nearly a half dozen phones for $299.99, but we don’t think the HTC DROID Incredible 4G should be one of them.

When it comes to specs, the DROID Incredible 4G LTE is expected to feature a 4-inch qHD display, 1.2 GHz processor, 8 megapixel camera with ImageSense technology, Android 4.0, HTC Sense 4.0, NFC, and LTE connectivity. While it may sound like a great upgrade over last year’s DROID Incredible 2, the new device is inferior to AT&T’s HTC One X, T-Mobile’s HTC One S and Sprint’s HTC EVO 4G LTE which are all selling for $199.99.

Verizon has not made any official announcements about the DROID Incredible 4G, so it could be that the price that is was shown on the site was simply a place holder which will be corrected once pricing and availability details are announced. Verizon does have the best 4G LTE network, but are you willing to pay a $100 premium for the DROID Incredible 4G LTE when it is clearly inferior to HTC’s other devices?

If you pay attention to the different ad campaigns that AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon keep in their everyday arsenal, chances are you’ve heard every single one claim they have the fastest network on the block. Whatever they use to calculate those claims, it doesn’t always translate into real world use for every individual on that network. So how could you possibly pinpoint who really does have the fastest network?

PC World has put eight different Android phones to the test, including a 3G device and a 4G device from each major carrier in the US. They selected 13 cities for their, “varying population densities, physical topography, and cellular environments.” Each network was tested at ten locations in each city, five times indoors, and five times outdoors.

When it comes to which carrier in the US posted the best 3G download speeds, T-Mobile took the crown. Thanks to HSPA+ 21, T-Mobile’s average 3G download speed was 3.84 Mbps.

T-Mobile’s HSPA+ 42 managed to keep a slim distance when it came to 4G, but AT&T and Verizon’s LTE networks couldn’t be held back. AT&T had the best download speeds, coming in at 9.12 Mbps. Verizon was a close second at 7.35.

The absolute worst carrier if you care about download speeds is Sprint. Their WiMax 4G test numbers were lower than T-Mobile’s 3G numbers. And their 3G numbers were enough to drive any sane man mad, at a pathetic 0.59 Mbps.

Of course these tests still don’t paint an entirely accurate picture of whose networks provides the fastest network speeds, but it does give you a good idea. What kind of speeds do you get with your service? Let us know in the comments.

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Sprint has just dropped us a note letting us know that the flagship Android 4.0 device, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus will be coming to the Now Network on April 22nd for $199.99. The Galaxy Nexus will be the second phone to feature support for Sprint’s 4G LTE network, which will be live in a handful of markets by the summer, and will cover some 120 million people by the end of 2012.

While we’re certainly a bit more excited about the upcoming Galaxy S III line, which will be unveiled in just a few short weeks, the Galaxy Nexus received exemplary scores when we reviewed the Verizon Wireless variant back in January and is a solid choice for any Sprint customer. When it launches next week, the Galaxy Nexus will be the best Android phone on Sprint’s network, and a smart upgrade for those of you anxiously awaiting the next big thing.

Preorders for the Sprint Galaxy Nexus are starting today, and you can reserve your Nexus by visiting the Sprint website. All Sprint customers who purchase the Galaxy Nexus will receive a $40 Google Wallet credit in addition to the $10 credit for activating Google Wallet, bringing it up to a total of $50 back in your pocket. Preorders will go out for delivery on/around launch day, set for this coming Sunday. Who out there is planning on picking up a Sprint-branded Galaxy Nexus, or are you holding out for the Galaxy S III or HTC Evo 4G LTE?

US Cellular is one of the larger regional carriers in the US, and has a pretty solid nationwide coverage map. Recently, they have begun rolling out an LTE network, with the high-speed network reaching portions of Maine, Wisconsin, Texas, Oklahoma, North Carolina, and Iowa. Before today, US Cellular only offered one LTE-capable device, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1“.

Starting today, US Cellular will begin selling their first LTE-capable Android smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S Aviator. Yes, you read that right; the Aviator is a variant of the original Galaxy S line, and not the more-powerful Galaxy S II series. Fortunately, the original Galaxy S is definitely one of the better older Android devices, and it will only set you back $99.99 after $100 mail-in-rebate Mastercard.

Full specs for the Galaxy S Aviator include:

• Android^TM 2.3 (Gingerbread)
• 4.3″ Super AMOLED™ Plus Screen
• 1GHz Hummingbird Processor
• 8 MP Camera with LED Flash
• 1.3 MP Front-facing Camera
• 1.4GB of Internal Memory

Though we’re certainly not blown away by a device with a single-core Hummingbird processor when quad-core Tegra 3 devices are starting to eek their way out, the Galaxy S Aviator provides a solid option for US Cellular customers who want to board the LTE train.

Any US Cellular customers out there? Plan on picking up the Galaxy S Aviator, or are you holding out for a slightly more powerful device?

Tomorrow’s unveiling of the HTC EVO One is right around the corner, but that doesn’t mean we have to wait any longer to see what Sprint’s variant of the HTC One X will look like. PocketNow has managed to get its hands on a press release which they say depicts the HTC EVO One posing next to the AT&T HTC One X and the T-Mobile HTC One S. The design of the handset looks similar to the two HTC One devices, but it trades in a micro-drilled speaker holes at the top of the phone for a more traditional speaker grill and the display looks to have sharper edges giving it a looks which is reminiscent of previous HTC EVO devices.

One other feature which stands out in the leaked image of the HTC EVO One is the presence of a dedicated camera button along the edge of the phone. Since HTC is putting such a huge focus on the HTC One’s camera abilities, we were actually surprised to see they didn’t include a physical shutter button on their other HTC One devices.

Rumored specs for the HTC EVO One include a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, 4.7-inch 720p HD display, 8 megapixel camera with LED flash, 16 GB of internal storage, 2650mAh battery, NFC, support for Sprint’s 4G LTE network and a kickstand. At this point it’s hard to say if all of the rumored specs will be included once the HTC EVO One is unveiled tomorrow afternoon, but Sprint has always worked hard with HTC to deliver handsets that are unique.

What do you think of the design of the HTC EVO One? Do you like what Sprint and HTC have come up with or should they have stuck with the original design of the HTC One X?

Haven’t yet splurged on the Android 4.0 flagship Samsung Galaxy Nexus? Samsung is offering a free extended battery and back cover to customers who purchase the Galaxy Nexus through Samsung Direct. Samsung Direct offers the Verizon branded variant of the Galaxy Nexus, which will run you $299.99 with a new 2-year contract or 2-year contract extension, and a whopping $799.99 without contract. Once you’ve added the Galaxy Nexus to your cart, the free gift will also automatically be added, and your Galaxy Nexus will ship with the extended battery and back cover.

Of course, you could save yourself even more money by purchasing the device from Amazon, which has the Verizon variant of the device for $99.99 with 2-year contract, and $499.99 for the AT&T and T-Mobile unlocked version. The extended battery will run you an additional $33.95 for the Verizon variant.

Regardless of the channel, if you do pick up the Verizon Galaxy Nexus, we strongly recommend getting the extended battery to go along with it. The Galaxy Nexus suffers the same mediocre battery life that has plagued nearly all LTE smartphones to date, with the Razr MAXX being the lone exception. Be sure to check out our full review of the Galaxy Nexus to aid in your purchasing decision.

Samsung Direct’s promotion runs through May 10th, 2012, or while supplies last. Anyone out there planning on taking advantage of the Samsung Direct offer, or do you plan on holding out for newer devices such as the Galaxy S III?

Sprint is gearing up to release their first 4G LTE device as soon as next month, so it’s no surprise to find out today that the carrier is done releasing new 4G WiMAX devices. Sue Marek of Fierce Wireless reports that Bob Azzi, SVP of networks at Sprint, said “While the company experienced success with its WiMAX handsets, including the HTC Evo, Sprint will not launch any additional WiMAX devices.”

The upgrade to 4G LTE is part of Sprint’s multi-billion overall network strategy, also known as Network Vision. Sprint plans to finish building it’s LTE network by the end of 2013, but we think the buildout could even be extended til 2014.

“Within the first half of 2012, Sprint customers should experience first-hand the wide-reaching improvements we have made in terms of boosting voice and data quality,” said Bob Azzi, Sprint. “With advanced smartphones and sophisticated wireless modems, our customers are using more and more mobile data, and one of our top priorities is to provide the best technology possible to improve our customers’ experience.”

We don’t have an exact launch date, but Sprint already announced the first major markets to receive LTE coverage. Sometime during the first half of 2012, Sprint customers will see 4G LTE and improved 3G coverage in:

• Dallas
• Atlanta
• Houston
• San Antonio

Coverage will then expand to 10 markets by the end of June, but specific cities have not been named.

Today tech reporter Sascha Segan tweeted a picture of Sprint’s LTE coverage map for 2014. Areas in green represent LTE coverage while areas in blue will be covered by roaming agreements with other carriers.

Looking forward, the upcoming 4G LTE devices coming to Sprint that we know about include:

• Samsung Galaxy Nexus: Rumored for April 15
• HTC EVO One: Rumored for June 10
• LG Viper 4G LTE: Rumored for Q2

At this point most Sprint customers are kind of stuck in the middle. The best Android phones on Sprint are all WiMAX, but that will slowly be phased out this year. New subscribers will be encouraged to get a phone with LTE, but Sprint’s coverage will be sparse until next year.

If you are in the market for a new Sprint phone, let us know what you plan to do.