More Motorola Droid Bionic Goodnes, New Video Shows Phone Off

As we're getting closer and closer to that rumored September 8 Verizon launch for the Motorola Droid Bionic, new information pop up. After recently seeing the Droid Bionic boot and even the commercial being leaked, today we get a chance to have a better look at the phone and its software.

The Droid Bionic will have a 4.3-inch display (not a 4.5-inch one) and will be powered by a TI OMAP4430 processor. That will be one of the two things setting the Droid Bionic aside from thePhoton 4G, plus its capability of recording 1080p video. Check out the footage above and let us know of your thoughts! 

Alltel To Get The HTC Kingdom As The HTC Acquire?

We've heard about the HTC Kingdom back at the beginning of May as an Android phone coming to Sprint and then later on we've learned that the HTC EVO 3D will most probably be featured on the carrier's line-up as the HTC EVO Design 4G.

While some reports claim that the EVO 3D will actually come to Sprint as the EVO Design 4G (and that the Kingdom will indeed be the Design 4G), there are clearly differences in hardware specs that testify against them. However, the HTC Kingdom is rumored to be arriving on Alltel's line-up as the HTC Acquire. Alltel has been bought by Verizon so, if anything, the phone should first pop-up on Big Red's line-up but as far as rumors go, the HTC Acquire is said to be landing on Alltel.

As a reminder, the HTC Kingdom sports a single-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm MSM7630 CPU aided by the Adreno 205 GPU. It features 768MB RAM, four-inch qHD display, 1.3-megapixel front facing camera, and a five-megapixel main camera. With IFA 2011 just around the corner, we might see the Taiwanese manufacturer unveiling the phone (wishful thinking). 

Samsung Officially Adopts New Phone Naming Scheme

After two weeks ago we head that Samsung is going to adopt a new naming scheme for its smartphone models, courtesy of a leak from Lithuania, the Korean manufacturer just confirmed the rumors and announced its upcoming smartphone naming convention.

Using the just-announced Galaxy W, M Pro, Y and Y Pro Android phones as examples, Samsung from now on will classify its devices according to the table above.

"S" stands for Super Smart and is at the top of the models, a letter only highest-end flagship phones will wear. Letter "R" is for Royal and phones named with this letter will be premium devices combining power, design and productivity. Going further down, there's the letter "W" as in Wonder" which will describe high-end phones. Then comes "M" as in Magical with mid-tier phones offering decent performance at affordable price. Last but not least, there's the Young collection with letter "Y", with entry-level phones which have a huge advantage offered by their low price tags.

Additionally, the Korean manufacturer will continue to use suffixes for its phones: "Plus" will stand for a refresh or upgrade of an existing mode while "Pro" will describe phones with a hardware QWERTY keyboard. The usage of "LTE" is pretty self-explanatory. 

Samsung Announces Galaxy W, M Pro, Y and Y Pro Android Phones

After we recently heard about Samsung adopting a new naming convention for its upcoming smartphones, the Korean manufacturer just announced one "W" (high-tier), one "M" (mid-tier) and two "Y" phones (entry-level).

The high-tier phone is the Samsung Galaxy W which, aside from running Google Android 2.3 Gingerbread, sports a 1.4GHz processor, 3.7-inchWVGA screen, five-megapixel camera, Bluetooth 2.1, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n and a 1500mAh battery. 

Going to mid-tier, the Samsung Galaxy M Pro also runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread and features a 1GHz processor, 2.66-inch HVGA screen, five-megapixel camera, front-facing VGA webcam, Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n and a 1350mAh battery.

The first entry-level phone is the Samsung Galaxy Y. This one also runs Google's latest Android, 2.3 Gingerbread and is powered by an 800MHz processor, has a three-inch QVGA screen, tw0-megapixel camera, Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, and a 1200mAh battery.

Last but not least there's the Galaxy Y Pro which should have roughly the same specs as the Y above, even though not confirmed. There's a hardware portrait QWERTY keyboard, and we should expect a 2.6-inch display, two-megapixel camera, Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, and Google's Android 2.3 Gingerbread on-board.

All of these phones will be showcased at next week's IFA 2011 in Berlin and we'll get some hands-on time. Remembering that Samsung promised something big with the occasion of its Berlin UnPacked event, there's got to be something more to the story which will probably be a flagship announced on the spot.

Microsoft Updates Zune Client to 4.8.2345.0, Adds Mango Support

Those of you brave enough to try the Beta 1, Beta 2 or even the RTM version of Windows Phone know that one of the steps needed to achieve this is the installation of a beta Zune client that supports connecting Mango-based phones.

Microsoft has just updated its Zune client to version 4.8.2345.0 and the update will hit both those running the old "final" version 4.7 and those who installed a previous beta of 4.8. After installation, Mango-based devices can connect to Zune and successfully sync. This is just normal as we're just hours away from theJapanese Fujitsu-Toshiba IS12T Windows Phone on KDDI.

Update: Other changes in the Zune software include renaming Zune Pass to Zune Pass Music, some UI enhancements, 48-hour movie rentals, support for M-rated (Mature) content, the option to hide purchase confirmation dialog for faster app checkout and the ability to see what apps are compatible with the Windows Phone you own.

Additionally, you can skip the phone back-up process but if you choose to go with it, the back-up files will eat less hard drive space and the update process itself only needs one press of the Update button, as subsequent updates, if available, will install automatically.

You can check with Windows Update to get the new version, check for updates from the old Zune client or head over to the Microsoft Download Center and install the refresh.