Motorola Planning Soak Test for Droid 3 Update

While taking a look at the just-beginning release of the Motorola Droid 2 Global's Gingerbread update, we noted how Motorola's luck seemed to be improving when it came to readying software updates for its phones on Verizon. It looks like the company's sights are now on the new Droid 3, with plans to get an update out sometime this month.

Owners of the phone have reported receiving notification of an upcoming soak test to try out the update with a limited number of users. If everything goes smoothly, we should see the "Sept. 2011" update come out on-schedule.

What would this new software bring to the Droid 3? We haven't seen any official lists, or even leaked copies, but rumors are pointing to fixes for certain battery problems, and enabling video calls with Google Talk. If you end up taking part in the soak, we'd love to hear what changes you notice to your phone. 

Dell's Smartphone Future Focused On China?

Though once a major player in the days ofWindows Mobile, Dell's mobile presence has taken a big dive in recent years. Devices like the Venue and Venue Pro have been few and far between, and we were surprised to see the company not make the list as one of Microsoft's hardware partners for upcoming handsets. More recently, the companypulled the plug on its nearly-smartphone-sized Streak 5 tablet. Just what could Dell be thinking about when it comes to its smartphone strategy? It turns out that its sights are set on one of the biggest markets around, as we've learned about an agreement to start producing phones for China's Baidu running the Yi Android-based OS.

China's certainly big enough to keep Dell busy selling Yi smartphones, so that explains that, but couldn't Dell release those phones there while coming out with Windows Phone and proper Android models elsewhere? Bloomberg reports that the company is hoping to drive up its smartphone sales figures; it can't very well do that if we don't have the chance to buy them! 

AT&T LG Thrill 4G Hardware Tour (Video)

The LG Thrill 4G features a dual-core 1GHz Texas Instruments OMAP4 processor aided by a PowerVR SGX 540 GPU, 512 MB of RAM and 8GB of ROM storage. The screen is 4.3", 800x480 pixel glasses-free auto-stereoscopic 3D. The dual five megapixel cameras on the back can record 1080p 2D (30 fps) and 720p 3D (30 fps) video. There’s also a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for video calls and conferencing in addition to the usual suspects: accelerometer, proximity sensor, light sensor, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n with DLNA and hotspot capability, Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP and EDR, microUSB and HDMI-out ports, GPS with A-GPS support, and a 1500mAh battery. The radio supports GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz 2G and HSDPA 900/1900/2100MHz, HSDPA 1700/2100/850MHz frequencies. 

T-Mobile Leak Suggests BlackBerry Torch 9860 Arrival

Now that Verizon has confirmed its plans for the BlackBerry Torch 9850, the smartphone has a solid home on CDMA networks in the US. What about its presence on the big GSM-based carriers, as the Torch 9860? AT&T announced its plans for the phone back at the beginning of August, but things have been much quieter over at T-Mobile. Now we're starting to see signs that the carriermight pick up the 9860 after all, thanks to a newly-leaked screenshot.

This info comes courtesy of a webform T-Mobile uses to process smartphone trade-ins. There, under the list of possible BlackBerry models a customer may be upgrading to, is the Torch 9860.

Now, this is hardly bulletproof confirmation that we'll see the phone on T-Mobile - and it doesn't give us any sense of just when the carrier might start selling the Torch 9860 - but it's definitely a sign pointing in that direction.

Also included in the list is the BlackBerry Curve 9360, which we've already heard rumored for a T-Mobile release. That model will supposedly go up for sale next week, on September 14. 

Samsung Stratosphere Hits FCC With Verizon's LTE Band

Yesterday we took a look at some of the nicest pics we've yet seen of the Samsung Stratosphere QWERTY slider headed to Verizon and its LTEnetwork. At the time, we mentioned that the Stratosphere's release could be nearly upon us, ready to drop almost any day now. You can't very well launch a smartphone in the US without it passing FCC testing, and as of then we were still waiting for the Stratosphere to put in an appearance with the agency. Right on cue, the FCC has published its documentation for theSamsung SCH-I405 Stratosphere, showing off its compatibility with Verizon LTE.

Just as expected, alongside the Verizon CDMA and EV-DO bands, is the carrier's LTE band 13, setting the Stratosphere up for some high-speed data access. In addition those cellular modes, the phone also supports both 2.4GHz and 5GHz WiFi.

While that sorts out the Stratosphere's radio, we're still lacking some important information on the rest of the phone's hardware specs. It's supposed to be an upper-mid-tier device, but details on its processor and memory are still unavailable. If the phone's launch really is almost upon us, we might hope to see that data leak out from somewhere or other in the very near future.