Samsung Supersonic & Motorola Charm Pricing Revealed

One of our trusty ninjas dropped a nice little pricing sheet in our mailbox today for two upcoming handsets. Let’s start off with the Motorola Charm/Basil. This candybar style handset will sport a full portrait QWERTY keyboard, a new and improved version of MotoBLUR and Android 2.1 to top it off. The handset will run you $269.99 retail and $74.99 with a 2-year contract (after a $75 rebate). Not bad, not bad at all.

Now here’s where it gets a little tricky. The pricing sheet above shows a “Samsung Supersonic”, which, if we didn’t know better, is probably an internal codename for the upcoming Samsung Vibrant. Of course it could always be a completely different handset we know nothing about. We’re still diggin’ for details. But whatever this “Supersonic” device is, it’ll cost you $199.99 after a $50 mail in rebate (which is the same exact price the Samsung Vibrant is) and $499.99 retail price.

According to Phandroid, who have apparently been contacted by T-Mobile about pricing after a typographical error, the Samsung Vibrant could run for $449.99 without contract.  Take it for what it’s worth, but maybe we will learn the real price, or what the Samsung Supersonic is, soon.

Source: Tmonews

Android 2.1 for Cliq delayed

Don’t say we didn’t tell you! Today, Motorola officially announced, via their support forums, that Android 2.1 for the CLIQ has been delayed. Motorola states that the reason they’re unable to deliver the Android 2.1 update for the planned Q2 date is because of a decision to take more time on the release to help “optimize the experience in some key areas”. This delay seems to line up perfectly with what we heard previously of an update for the CLIQ scheduled for release sometime in July. Let’s all hope there aren’t anymore delays!

Via: Tmonews

T-Mobile kills Sidekick

It’s truly remarkable to see almost every trace of a successful, well-established Valley start-up’s work wiped out in the span of 24 hours, but here we are: T-Mobile’s discontinuing the Sidekick line as of tomorrow, July 2, which effectively means that the Sidekick LX 2009 will no longer be available. As a refresher, the latest Sidekick LX was the last product holistically engineered by Danger as it got shoehorned into Microsoft — square peg in a round hole, as it were — before repurposing the team to work on the just-killed Kin line. In a way, it’s a miracle that the LX ever went back on sale following the nightmarish data issues they’d gone through last year, so we suppose it’s a silver lining that they made it this far — but still, it’s sad to see Danger’s years of design effectively vaporized without a trace like this. For what it’s worth, T-Mobile says that it’s working “on the next chapter of [its] storied Sidekick franchise” and to “stay tuned” for a “fresh” experience, but since T-Mobile owns the Sidekick brand (not Danger / Microsoft), we’ve got every reason to believe these new products will be based on Android considering the carrier’s huge investment in its myTouch line. Adios, Sidekick — we’ll do one last screen flip in your honor.

Source: Engadget

Verizon sends letter, $25 gift card to patient Droid Incredible buyers

Still haven’t received your HTC Droid Incredible due to that AMOLED shortage? Then it looks like you’ll soon be hearing from Verizion, if you haven’t already. Android Central reports that the carrier has begun sending letters to all customers still waiting for their phones that apologizes for delay, and informs them that they’ll soon also be receiving a $25 Verizon gift card as a little thank you for their patience. As for when you’ll actually receive the phone itself, however, Verizion is only saying that if your order date was June 28th or prior, you “may experience an additional delay of up to 7 business days.”

Source: Engadget

Apple’s War With Google Takes To The Skies With iTunes In The Cloud

iTunes in the cloud. We all know it’s coming, it’s just a question of when, and with what capabilities? A story from Boy Genius Report today appears to answer at least one of those questions, and vaguely answers the other.

If BGR’s “reliable” Apple source is to be believed, Apple’s iTunes cloud strategy will consist of three parts: 1) Streaming content from Apple’s servers to your devices 2) Streaming content from your computers to your devices 3) Wirelessly syncing content to your devices. If true, that would obviously constitute a major push into the cloud by Apple. It would also likely elevate their war with Google.

Currently, Google basically owns the cloud, at least with regard to consumer apps. But one of their major weak points there is entertainment content. They’re hoping to change that this Fall with the launch of Google Music (or whatever it will be called), which will take on iTunes directly.

The big selling point of Google’s planned offering (which they talked about at Google I/O this year in little detail) is cloud syncing with devices. In other words, exactly what Apple is planning to offer (again, if this BGR report is true). But Apple has a huge advantage: millions of pre-existing iTunes customers. iTunes customers that are unlikely to leave because so much of their content (the protected variety anyway) is tied to that ecosystem.

Google will basically be starting from the bottom, while Apple will be starting from the top of a mountain. One of those will be much closer to this cloud, in that regard.

Of course, Google has a proven massive cloud infrastructure, while Apple only does in minor way with MobileMe. But all indications are that they’re working on bulking that up. There’s the massive data center they’re building, and, of course, the Lala acquisition.

And they need to. It’s inevitable that iTunes moves to the cloud. The amount of content and storage space needed is simply outpacing storage on devices. For example, if I download a full season of a television show in HD, it takes up dozens of gigabytes. A device like the iPhone only has he option of storing 32 GB currently.

Obviously, most people don’t keep all their content on these devices. But going forward, these devices (like the iPad) are more likely to be used as primary content viewers. The only way that’s really feasible is with a cloud streaming and/or syncing service.

And this is about more than just music, movies, TV shows, etc — it’s also about apps. From the looks of it, Google won’t be starting from complete scratch with the content offering because they’ll be building it on top of (or adjacent to) their Android Market ecosystem. This means that they’ll also have a potential base of millions of users thanks to those who use apps on Android. (Still, it’s nowhere near the numbers that use iTunes overall.)

From BGR:

For wireless syncing, we are told it will work pretty seamlessly. Any apps you buy for instance on your iPhone will immediately sync to your computer, changes to your calendar, or notes, or contacts will also automatically update on your computer as well.

The first part is exactly what Android is promising with their 2.2 release — so clearly Apple is going to answer that. The second part is a bit odd because that’s already exactly what MobileMe does. Might this new syncing service be built on top of MobileMe? If so, maybe Apple finally is preparing to make it a free service, as it’s unlikely a massive amount of people will pay for it if Google is offering the same things for free.

In terms of timing, all BGR will vaguely say is “soon.” At the end of the report, they hint that the new service might come alongside an event in the Fall (or before it). A report earlier this year indicated that iTunes.com (the obvious name for the web-based version of iTunes in the cloud) would launch this Summer. That report said June was a possibility — but obviously that’s already come and gone.

Regardless of exact timing, this Fall is shaping up to be very interesting with regard to Apple and Google. Google TV will be out to take on Apple TV. Chrome OS will be out to take on iPads. And these new cloud media streaming services now look to be battling as well.

Breaking: Disney Acquires Tapulous

Tapulous has been acquired by Disney. The iPhone gaming startup with several hits on its hands was founded by Bart Decrem, who will join Disney as a VP. COO Andrew Lacy is also joining Disney as a VP. Disney is very interested in social and mobile gaming, having recently invested in Playdom’s $33 million round.

Tapulous is a hot iPhone gaming startup which has raised only $1.8 million from angel investors including Marc Benioff, Jeff Clavier, and Andy Bechtolsheim. Legendary Silicon Valley mentor and Stanford professor Rajeev Motwani, who passed away last year, was also an investor. Its flagship game, Tap Tap Revenge, has numerous versions which have been downloaded millions of times. The basic game, which lets players tap to the rhythm of songs with their fingers is free, but players must pay for new songs. Its latest game is Tap Tap Radiation for the iPad.

Tapulous’ music-oriented games appeal to a younger crowd in particular. The company puts out versions of Tap Tap Revenge featuring the songs of specific artists such as Justin Bieber Revenge, Lady Gaga Revenge, Nickelback Revenge, and Nine Inch Nails Revenge. Its other mobile music, Riddim Ribbon is also a hit.

CrunchTV is looking to merge

CrunchTV is a technology based blog base on providing its viewers with the best, most up to date technology news. The only problem is that it is a one man site, and I do not have time to provide viewers with the content they deserve. Now if you have a blog with many writers and the same goal with providing for the readers. I am looking to become a high ranking non-paid editor for your site. So please contact me in the comments and I will get ahold of you and we can talk. (please note: I am not trying to sell CrunchTV this is a merger)