It looks like the Motorola Droid 4 – the phone that Moto labeled as “the thinnest and lightest LTE QWERTY phone” – could be available next week. According to this report at Droid Life, sources said that Verizon will be launching the Droid 4 on February 9.

The Droid 4 is basically the Droid RAZR’s twin, coming with the same 1.2GHz processor, LTE-based 4G, 8-megapixel camera and a front cam but with the addition of a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. It also comes with a different screen, rocking a 4-inch LCD instead of the RAZR’s 4.3-inch Super AMOLED.

Definitely a premium package if you’re looking for a QWERTY slider, but here’s the best part: it’s going to be priced at $199 with a two-year contract, which is surprisingly cheaper compared to Verizon’s other high-end LTE smartphones.

The Nokia Lumia 900 is now available for pre-orders from Microsoft’s retail stores. For those looking to be one of the first to rock Nokia’s upcoming Windows Phone-powered flagship, a $25 deposit will let you reserve a black or cyan blue Lumia 900, which you’ll get whenever they decide to ship the phone. Final pricing and release dates haven’t been given out for the Lumia 900, but we might have a clue that we’re in for a good deal though. A previous leak mentioned that AT&T will be aggressively priced, possibly going as low as $100 with a contract when it launches in March.

The Lumia 900 is basically an upsized Lumia 800 that comes upgraded with a 4.3-inch AMOLED screen, 4G LTE and a front camera. Otherwise, the rest of the specs are identical, with a 1.4GHz Snapdragon processor and 16GB of built-in storage.

Whenever that is, the S III expected to improve on its predecessor with a faster processor and a 720p screen. They didn’t give a reason for the delay. Some rumors point to supply or production issues, but it’s also possible that they’re just waiting to launch it closer to the launch of its main rival, the iPhone 5.

Samsung has put out another one of their Apple fan-bashing ads under their growing “Next Big Thing” series of ads. Although much of the teaser video looks very familiar (more on that later), it’s a little different this time. Instead of the usual push of the Galaxy S II’s features — compared to whatever Apple’s “new thing”  offers  — Samsung will be pushing the Galaxy Note.

What’s the same? We’ve already seen a lot of the footage they used here in an earlier Next Big Thing ad they did for the Galaxy S II. If you haven’t seen that yet, the video shows various “scenes” from launch-day Apple queues all around the US, giving us a “peek” at what Apple fans have been talking about. It does say “The next big thing is here… again!” so maybe that’s the point.

Anyway, here’s the video. We just hope there’s more to it once it gets past the “teaser” stage. We’ve always enjoyed Samsung’s Next Big Thing ads – not because we believe they’re accurate, but they’re definitely ballsy – but this one doesn’t offer anything new.

We’re all familiar with Siri’s issues by now. While the iPhone 4S – and the Siri personal assistant feature that comes with it – has been selling like crack-laced hotcakes all around the world, Siri is still mostly US-centric. Siri is limited to giving you driving directions for US streets, and will currently only recognize the English language. But it doesn’t end there. Evidently, Siri also has a problem with certain accents, as a lot of Scots have discovered. To demonstrate, someone put out this YouTube clip, illustrating just how frustrating it is to talk to Siri when you have a thick accent. [video after the break]

Just a note before hitting ‘Play’: Language. If you can’t shoo away the kids or you’re at work, it’s probably best if you plug in a headset before playing the clip.

Have you experienced the same problem? Talking slowly helps. But then again, if you have to resort to talking unnaturally, you might be better off just using your thumbs.

The video was inspired by this article from the LA Times that highlighted the Scots’ problems with Siri.

The Samsung Galaxy S Advance will be fronted by a 4-inch Super AMOLED screen and a 1.3MP webcam up front, while a 5MP main cam with an LED flash takes up the back. In between, the Advance will come running on a 1GHz dual-core processor, 768MB of RAM and either 8GB or 16GB storage capacities.

Pricing wasn’t announced yet, but it certainly doesn’t look like it’s going to be priced the same as the premium phones that pack Tegra 3 processors and more powerful cameras. According to the launch details, the phone will land first in Russia in February, followed by CIS, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Southeast and Southwest Asia, Latin America and China.

[via Redmond Pie]

Dual-SIM phones – or phones that can fit in two SIM cards for people with two numbers — have been out for years now, but this is definitely  rare. In case fitting two SIM cards into a single phone wasn’t enough numbers to handle, how about three? LG is reportedly going to release the LG A290, a triple-SIM phone, in Russia next month.

Other than the three SIM slots, the A290 is specced like a standard feature phone. It’s going to feature a 2.2-inch display with a 176 x 220 pixels, a 1.3MP camera with a flashlight at the back, and a 1500mAh battery, all packed into an relatively average frame that measures 113.5 x 51 x 12.95mm.

The A290 is set to arrive in Russia in late February for 75 euros.

[via GSM Arena]

Basically a large LTE phone for people who like almost-tablet-sized screens, the Galaxy Note rocks a 5.3-inch, 1280 x 800 display with stylus support. The Galaxy Note comes packaged with an S Pen stylus, which users can use to do handwriting or sketches.

Behind the large screen, the device is powered by a 1.4GHz dual-core processor that’s faster than what’s running on the Galaxy S II, but it keeps the same 8MP main cam, 2MP webcam, and 16GB of internal storage.

The Galaxy Note will be released on February 19, but will be up for pre-orders on February 5.

Do you geek-out by engaging in small-talk with Siri? Do you enjoy watching geeks try to flirt with Siri? If you’re any one of the two, then you probably enjoyed last week’s episode of The Big Bang Theory, where half of the episode’s plot revolved around the new iPhone’s digital assistant feature (basically, Raj gets a new iPhone 4S and proceeds to get weird with Siri). We won’t spoil the plot for you in case you haven’t gotten around to watching it yet, but the highlight – at least for us – was when their colleague Barry Kripke called the voice recognition software “tewwible.” Apparently, it couldn’t understand him when he asked Siri to “wecommend a westauwant.” Two clips from the episode after the break.

]]> http://www.techrockstar.com/2012/01/29/siri-guest-stars-in-the-big-bang-theory/feed/ 0 http://www.techrockstar.com/2012/01/26/the-samsung-galaxy-nexus-on-verizon-now-available-on-amazon-for-only-99/ http://www.techrockstar.com/2012/01/26/the-samsung-galaxy-nexus-on-verizon-now-available-on-amazon-for-only-99/#comments Fri, 27 Jan 2012 03:55:21 +0000 Sean http://www.techrockstar.com/?p=17404 The Samsung Galaxy Nexus, otherwise known as Google’s flagship phone for the Android 4.0 update, has already been released on Verizon but it’s likely something you just passed on if you didn’t care for the $299 price the carrier slapped onto it. If the price was the only thing that held you back from picking up this awesome premium handset, then hold back no more: Amazon just started offering it for only $99.99, basically taking off $200 off the contract price.

The only downside is that you’re going to have to sign up for a new 2-year deal with Verizon, but you would have done that to get Verizon’s $299 offer anyway (otherwise, it’s listed to be worth $800 off contract), so all-in-all, the deal is nothing short of awesome.

Simply put, you get an Android 4.0-powered smartphone that rocks a 4.65-inch Super AMOLED screen with a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, 1GB RAM, a 5MP camera, and a 1.3MP webcam for a shade under a hundred bucks. There’s more to it, of course (it’s a premium phone!), but we don’t want to keep you from just heading over to Amazon and clicking on the shopping cart.

To Amazon, pronto!