Motorola Droid Bionic Now Available From Verizon

After a long period of waiting -- since it was first introduced this January at CES and then went through a facelift procedure -- the Motorola Droid Bionic was finally introduced yesterday by the OEM together with the carrier.

As promised, the phone is available as of now and it goes for $299.99 with a two-year contract. If you decide to buy only the phone it will cost you $589.99 but you'll get a dual-core 1GHz CPU, 1 GB of RAM, 4.3-inch qHD display, eight-megapixel autofocus camera with flash and 1080p HD video capture, front-facing camera for video chat, HDMI-out, and 32 GB memory out of which 16 GB on board and 16 GB microSD card pre-installed (with support for 32GB cards).

There's also a deal for you over at Amazon if you're into grabbing the Droid Bionic. They have it for $199.99 if you sign a two-year contract but the phone is only backordered so you'll probably have to wait a couple of days until you get it. Still, worth the $100 you save!

iPhone 5: First Screenshot?

This is a screenshot taken from the About screen of an iPhone 5, according to someone who claims to have access to a testing unit of the unannounced handset. The most notable aspect of this image is the alleged storage capacity: it would seem to confirm that the next iPhone will have at least 64GB of flash NAND. However, an even more interesting claim is being made of which there is no proof: the iPhone 5 is said to eschew the iconic hardware home button for a virtual one which appears onscreen.

This configuration apparently allows for a larger screen, although no specific dimensions were given. The unit in question is, naturally, described as being black, and it's not clear if there would be other colors available. The screenshot shows the latest build of iOS 5 (beta 7), although obviously this sort of image is trivial to fake.

Following yesterday's spotting of a likely iPhone 5 eight-megapixel image capture, it seems like details of the highly-anticipated device are slowly starting to come together prior to an expected release next month. There are, however, still more questions than answers at this point.

Samsung SGH-i708 Passes FCC, Omnia 7 Refresh With Front-Facer

No, you are not looking at the Samsung Omnia 7in the images above, even though you might be easily fooled by the exact same outer aspect of the phone. It's the Samsung SGH-i708, a refresh to the Samsung Omnia 7 and it will most probably run Windows Phone Mango.

Aside from the front-facing webcam on the front-top left, there is close to no difference between the refresh and the initial version. Of course, the form factor was a popular one, so why change it (even though some would argue otherwise)? There's a slight difference on the bottom of the phone where you can see a cut-out while as well as a fourth hardware button on the left side of the device which looks like a toggle. Oh, and the Windows Phone logo is the old one but we're sure the FCC has an older prototype and the final product will be fully polished.

LG Optimus Note Appears In Photos With Its 1.2GHz Dual-Core CPU

With Samsung recently announcing its outrageously huge Galaxy Note, LG should probably reconsider the name of the phone which is pictured above, called Optimus Note. It surfaced in a blurry picture as well as press render and, as you can see, it's a QWERTY slider.

What you can't see is that it appears to pack a 1.2GHz dual-core Tegra2 chip inside to power Android 2.3 Gingerbread. It also features a four-inch NOVA display (LG's own technology for ultra-bright screens), five-megapixel camera, VGA front-facer, 8GB of internal storage and 12.3mm thickness to accommodate the four-row QWERTYkeyboard. Not sure how closely the Optimus Note is related to Sprint's upcoming Optimus Slider, but we've heard the specs of the upcoming Sprint-phone will be more in the Optimus One range.

AT&T Adding Sony Ericsson Xperia Play 4G To Its Stable This Month

Earlier this summer, AT&T revealed that the SonyEricsson Xperia Play, the "PlayStation phone" with a slide-out gamepad instead of a QWERTY keyboard, would be finding a home with the carrier. So far, Android gamers in the States have only had the option of using the Xperia Play on Verizon. Come September 18, AT&T will join the fray with the Xperia Play 4G.

Besides the switch to a GSM radio, as in the international version of the smartphone, there's nothing changed from the Verizon edition. That means having a single-core 1GHz Snapdragon, Adreno 205 graphics, 512MB of RAM, and a four-inch FWVGA display.

AT&T is trying to make its Xperia Play stand out by offering the phone in a "stealth blue" shade, throwing in a Sony Ericsson Multimedia Dock and music cable, and loading the phone with some games to get you started; Dungeon Defenders Second Wave, Asphalt 6 Adrenaline, Star Battalion, Madden NFL 11, The Sims 3, Tower Bloxx: My City, and Crash Bandicoot make the cut.

When the Xperia Play 4G arrives on the eighteenth, you'll be able to pick it up for about $50 on-contract.