Samsung Stratosphere Hardware Specs Leaked

We've been expecting the Samsung Stratosphere to make its way to Verizon with a little LTE action, but besides that 4G connectivity, the phone's capabilities have been largely unknown to us. We had been expecting something upper-mid-tier-ish, and it looks like we weren't too far off; a leaked Verizon spec sheet details the Stratosphere's components while identifying it as mid-tier piece of hardware.

According to the leak, the Stratosphere will have a 1GHz processor (we're assuming single-core), 512MB of RAM, and 4GB of internal flash storage (a 4GB microSD brings total storage up to 8GB). The QWERTY slider will feature a four-inch WVGA Super AMOLED screen, a five-megapixel main camera, and a 1.3-megapixel front-facer. It will arrive with Gingerbread and TouchWiz installed, and support mobile hotspot mode with up to eight devices when connected over LTE.

Considering all that, Verizon's mid-tier assessment sounds pretty spot-on to us. Look for it to arrive in early next month, possibly on October 6. 

Sprint Posts Overview Video For LG Marquee

We only first heard of the LG Marquee earlier this month, after a Radio Shack video gave away its existence with a brief cameo. It sure looked like an Optimus Black, and it didn't take long before we were able to match the Black's model number to the Marquee. Just days later – all of this spanning a mere week – Sprint formally announced the smartphone with a planned October 2 launch. With under a week to go, Sprint has uploaded an overview of the phone to YouTube, giving you one last preview before it hits retail.

After going over the Marquee's hardware layout, detailing the placement of all buttons and ports, Sprint touches on what you can accomplish with the handset's software. Ultimately, there's nothing to that end that's unique to the Marquee, but Sprint nevertheless brings up some interesting points worth considering, like how the higher-than-average 2-megapixel front-facing camera makes the phone well-suited for video chat using an app such as Qik.

Because this is a render, we don't get to appreciate how great the four-inch IPS NOVA display is supposed to look; you'll just have to wait until Sunday in order to check it out for yourself.

Ice Cream Sandwich First Look? (Video)

If a lucky eBayer is to be believed, he bought a Nexus S, and ended up with an Ice Cream Sandwich.

Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS for short) is Google's next version of Android that is rumored to be combining smartphone and tablet features back into one "trunk" operating system. It's also the alleged reason Android Honeycomb hasn't been released to the AOSP -- for fear that custom ROM builders would release the tablet version of theAndroid OS to the smartphone platform.

This lucky shopper received his Nexus S and apparently got ICS as the operating system, notGingerbread (2.3) like all the other Nexus S owners have. He took a two minute video walking through various aspects of the "new" operating system. Here are some of the things we caught in the video:

- Running a 3.x Kernel (others are around 2.6)
- Honeycomb-like lockscreen
- Honeycomb-like dialog boxes and color scheme
- Honeycomb-like Google search bar and voice-input button on the homescreen
- Honeycomb-like icons (specifically the "settings" icon)
- Honeycomb-like Recent Apps list with titles and thumbnails
- Honeycomb-like Settings screens
- Honeycomb-like horizontally paginated app drawer

Is it really Ice Cream Sandwich, or just a very elaborate, and very elegant theme? Watch the video and you be the judge. Let us know what you think in the comments!

Telstra HTC 4G Revealed as HTC Holiday, Coming First Half 201

We've seen the HTC Holiday, now known as the HTC Raider 4G, being put through the paces onAT&T's fledgling LTE network, and more recently learned of its planned debut in South Korea. Telstra in Australia had revealed that it would be getting an LTE model of its own, called simply the HTC 4G, and now that phone has been revealed to be a Holiday as well.

A shot of the Telstra HTC 4G shows it pulling down a decent 19Mbps in a speed test, not quite as fast as what we've seen the phone do on AT&T, but it did manage to eclipse those AT&T figures in regards to upload performance. In both cases, though, we should really wait and see how the phones perform on an LTE network congested with users before drawing conclusions.

The release date for the HTC 4G is extremely loose at the moment, with Telstra not committing to anything more definite than sometime in the first half of next year. At that rate, it's likely we'll see the Raider 4G hit AT&T in the US well in advance.

Top 5 Pocketnow Requested Features For Apple's iPhone 5

With Apple’s next generation iPhone just a week away, many of us have speculated over what will be included on the device. Rumors have done a good job in showing us what the device may look like, but even when Gizmodo leaked the iPhone 4, there was more to the device than met the eye.

The iPhone 5 has quite a challenge this time around. When the iPhone 4 was released, there were still no dual-core processors in the market. Devices usually had to be big and thick to offer improved specs and functionality, and screen resolution was still on the WVGA arena. Today, dual-core processors are a common deal in the high-end Smartphone line-up. The Samsung Galaxy S II has proven that thin is not an excuse to keep the device powerful, and qHD has become the standard in an Android world that already rumors HD in the Horizon.

That said, we’ve decided to compile our Top 5 most requested features for the next generation iPhone, which we all wish, changes things all over again.

5. – A Dual-Core, or even Quad-Core CPU

For all of you that are still using iOS 4.x, things must look all right. Sadly, for those of us that are already using the beta releases of iOS 5, things can get sluggish at times. Surely it isn’t fair to judge Apple for an un-released operating system, but the purpose of the beta is to test if something works well or not. So far, many of us feel it can work better. A Dual-Core A5 chip is a given for the next generation iPhone. The biggest question we ask ourselves is if Dual-Core is enough for such a competing market. Apple is in no rush to be the king of the spec kingdom, but they don’t like to be so far behind either. They proved how bold they could be with the unexpected release of the Retina Display in the iPhone 4, so hopefully they could surprise us with something better than the Dual-Core A5 chip too.

4. More Storage



If iCloud and iTunes Match weren’t already in beta testing, this would top our list. Apple has definitely worked around the storage limitations of their devices through the cloud, but the challenge gets bigger as they continue evolving iOS. Some of us believe that they remain comfortable with the fact that competitors are still having a hard time in fitting 32GB of built-in storage on their devices, but the real problem lies on the Apps being released recently. Rage HD, FIFA 12 and other games currently use as much as 1GB of storage. Even if many relied on iTunes Match to stream their music libraries, carriers are no longer offeringunlimited data plans. Cloud storage without unlimited data is like planning a long family trip and leaving without enough fuel to reach your destination. More storage is the best way to go.

3. A larger, but thinner design



Lots of people have forgotten that before Apple released the first generation iPhone, the average smartphone sported a 2.4inch display. Back in those days, 3.5 inches was massive, but sadly those standards change. The iPhone 4 feels great in the hand, and Apple has done a great job in making iOS comfortable enough to handle on a small screen. Sadly developers always struggle in offering a productive experience to the end user when everything they build in their apps has to be crammed into a small screen. Less is always more in lots of cases, but I’d consider less cramming on a screen to be better. As games continue to evolve, it’s hard to handle the touch controls we’re all obligated to use on a slate device, if a good part of the screen is covered by our fingers.

Apple could easily push a 4inch display and still retain their Retina Display brand if you do the math. Better yet, a larger design allows for them to fit a bigger battery, and you and I know that’s a killer feature in a device where you can’t easily swap it.

2. One device to rule all carriers



Apple has shown everybody that there is a way to rebel against carriers and get away with it. Release a device that’s good enough to make people go crazy over, and carriers will go crazy over it as well. The only thing that Apple hasn’t quite figured out is how to make a device usable on all the carriers. Even if my iPhone is free of all the AT&T bloat ware that other smartphones offer, I still can’t decide to switch to Verizon and keep my same phone. If Apple were able push one iPhone that works on all carriers, they’d rule the market. Obviously that device would have to be such a dramatic leap forward that carriers won’t complain about that part.

And before we get to the Number 1 request, let’s go through a good item that didn’t fit in the list:

Better Cameras
Even though Windows Phone 7 and Android defeat the iPhone in many areas, I still can’t leave my iPhone 4 at home because of the camera. I think we can all agree that there is still no real competition in the market. The problem is that this is only the deal for the back camera. The front facing camera will allow you to take a self-portrait, but at the grainiest expense tolerable. Our own recent leaks show Apple already testing an 8 megapixel back camera for the device, but let’s hope they at least fit an iPhone 3GS sensor to the front camera.

And last but not least:

1. LTE



People may debate whether it’s worth it for Apple to adopt LTE when the country barely supports it, but the best way to make your device future-proof is to prepare it for that future. LTE is what we all dream about and are willing to pay for. Speeds that drive consumption, which in turn benefits both carriers and obviously the manufacturer. HSPA+ may be 4G for some Marketing experts looking to push their current limitations, but you and I know that 4G means either LTE or WiMAX. If Apple was able to figure out a way to offer LTE without compromising the device’s daily performance, they’d have an immediate winner. And we’re talking about the Win-Win scenario all of us like. We enjoy the speeds, carriers enjoy the consumption and Apple enjoys the sales. How hard can it be?

What are your Top 5 requests? Leave us a comment bellow and share the things that you feel we left out.