According to the Survey, Americans sent over 1 Trillion text messages in 2008, almost triple the number (363 million) from 2007. That works out to roughly 3.5 billion txts per day, or almost 13 messages per wireless user (the survey reports that there are “more than 270 million wireless users” in the US) per day.

When you factor in the increasing popularity of smartphones (iPhone 3G, T-Mo G1, BlackBerry Storm, yadda, yadda), Twitter’s pop culture explosion, and the extra 15 million new wireless subscribers in ‘08, among other factors, all of a sudden 13/per doesn’t really seem all that staggering.

Even so, we’ve officially entered the Age of Trillions (stimulus package, anyone?). Gone are the days when Billions (yes, with a capital B) seemed unfathomable. But alas, I digress. Here are a few more fun facts:

[W]ireless revenues showed impressive year-to year gains, as wireless data service revenues for the year 2008 rose to more than $32 billion. This represents a 39% increase over 2007, when data revenues totaled $23.2 billion. Wireless data revenues for 2008 amounted to nearly 22% of all wireless service revenues, and represent what consumers spend on non-voice services.

Other highlights of the survey include: wireless customers using more than 2.2 trillion minutes in 2008, an increase of 100 billion minutes from 2007, and record-breaking six-month wireless service revenues of more than $75 billion with annual service revenues reaching $148 billion by year-end 2008.

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In a tucked away room in the North Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center, Sprint and Palm are demonstrating a number of Pre applications for the first time. Earlier this afternoon we got a bit of footage of Classic, a PalmOS emulator by MotionApps’ purposed for running any legacy applications you may have laying around. Since then, we’ve also had the opportunity to check out the Pandora, Fandango, Sprint TV, FlightView, and Nascar applications, and brought back a boatload of video for you to check out.

For all videos below, I’d recommend hitting the HQ button for the sake of visibility. These applications are all pretty dang gorgeous, so the extra click is worth it.

Pandora:

They were one of the first to be disclosed as being in the know when it came to the webOS SDK, and now they’re one of the first with something to show. Pandora brings all the streaming radio functionality you’d expect of an app to bear the name, but leverages the Pre’s notifications bar to serve as a media controller from outside the app.

Fandango:

Like all of the apps Palm had on display, the Fandango application is reaaally smooth. The UI is gorgeous, it localizes theater times and ticket availability via GPS. A bit of a neat trick: it can automatically add the movie to your calendar, making sure you don’t miss your flick when you lose track of time whilst grabbing a pre-show drink, and allowing you to invite others.

Sprint TV:

FlightView:

Gotta pick up grams at the airport? Want to check if her flight is on schedule? FlightView is a fairly basic application, but it serves a purpose. Punch in the flight info, and you’ll get notifications of any changes along with access to a live flight tracker once it’s in the air. Recently searched flights are automatically stored for later viewing.

Nascar:

Not to unfairly generalize here – but is there all that much overlap between the Palm Pre’s audience and devout Nascar fans?

Whether it sees much use, the Nascar application seemed well designed. The demonstrator had a bit of trouble getting it to connect to video streams while we were recording, but we’d seen cars successfully tearing around the screen just minutes before. I’ve gotta ask: Any Nascar fans out there dying for the Pre?

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If you’ve got loads of 5 year old PalmOS applications laying around, fear not – they’ll run on the Pre. Well, sort of; they’ll run in MotionApps’ recently announced PalmOS emulator which, for most purposes, should be just as good. We stopped by Palm’s lounge this afternoon for a quick demo, and brought the whole thing back on video for your perusal

Don’t expect much luck with anything that requires an infrared port (HotSync, for example) – while they’ve emulated the hardware functionality up to the buttons, it’s a bit tough to fake an IR port. Throwing a new application into the emulator is a matter of plugging in the USB cable and dragging over the PRC.

Classic will not come installed on the handset out of the box, but should be available in the Palm App Catalog at launch.

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Hey, look! It’s the LG GD900 from Mobile World Congress, except not behind an inch of glass!

We’re amazingly torn on this device; on one hand, it’s an exercise of vanity, with nearly every defining feature existing solely for show. I mean, come on – a clear touch keypad? Why? On the other hand, hot damn it’s pretty. It’s a fashion phone without a fashion brand attached (yet.)

The S-class interface which made its first appearance on the LG Arena has made its way onto the handset, but the port doesn’t seem quite ready for prime time. The rep couldn’t get a number of features (quick launch touchpad gestures, for example, refused to play nice – in theory, you could draw a letter with your finger down on that clear layer to skip to user selected areas of the handset). LG is promising the GD900 some time in this quarter, so hopefully they can get things brushed up quick.

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Long time MobileCrunch readers may know that I have a bit of an aversion to Motorola. They’ve never done anything wrong to me, personally – it’s just that every handset they’ve released in the past 4 years is a mundane, haphazard piece of garbage. However, I’m glad (though a bit reluctant) to say that they’ve strayed from this path with the Evoke QA4; it has its flaws – but as far as phones that tiptoe the line between smartphone and featurephone go, the QA4 seems pretty nifty. Check out our impressions and the full hands-on demo video after the jump.

The main screen is primarily dedicated to a widget panel, which always show one of seven widgets (Myspace, USA Today, RSS feeds, Google Search, Weather, Picasa, and Youtube). Hopping from one to the other is a matter of a quick finger slide, and any panel you don’t find yourself using often can be disabled within the settings. Unfortunately, the Motorola rep said the seven widgets that come out of the box are all that we can expect; they don’t currently plan to release any new ones, nor open up development to others.

Our main fault with it is that they went with a number pad for the slide out layer, rather than QWERTY. If you’re going to bulk it up with a slider layer, at least make it a keypad that can’t be almost faultlessly replicated on a touchscreen. Beyond that, it seemed like a decent piece – the slider was smooth, and the touchscreen was responsive. The silver bezel around the face seems gaudy, but we’ll write that one off as a personal nitpick.

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Original E71 on left, AT&T E71x on right

It seems a bit silly to do a full hands-on of the just announced Nokia E71x for AT&T, seeing as it’s essentially identical to the original E71 – which we’ve already given a thorough reviewing. Besides the obvious color difference (Black on black, rather than silver on white), the changes are somewhat trivial: it has Feature Pack 3 rather than Feature Pack 2 (which is just about the same thing, from the end user’s standpoint), AT&T’s standard service suite, and it lacks the FM radio of the x-less edition.

While there may not be all that much to write about it*, that doesn’t stop it from being pretty; we stopped by Nokia’s booth to give it a bit of lens time alongside the original E71 – check out the fully gallery below.

(If we did have one thing to say about it, it’d be: holy crap, fingerprints. We wiped this thing down a good 10 times during the photoshoot, but fingerprints are still visible in every shot. Maybe it’s the Vegas grime all over my hands, but I just couldn’t keep this thing clean.)

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By all major counts, I should hate this phone. I don’t generally like candybar QWERTY phones, and I don’t like Windows Mobile 6.1. But somehow, HTC has brought both of these things together in a way that I really like.

The hardware itself is rock solid; it’s well balanced and nicely weighted in the hand, and the 12mm profile looks deadly sharp.

The software is virtually identical to that of the HTC S743 – that is, it’s Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard with a few modifications, such as custom text messaging and weather applications amongst the sliding panels on the homescreen.

The camera booted up quickly, without much lag upon taking a photo. The speaker wasn’t the loudest we’ve ever heard – we could hear music playing back over the rumbles of the passing crowds in the Las Vegas Convention Center, but not very well. That’s an unfair metric, however – for most cases, it’s likely to be plenty loud.

The keyboard buttons were nearly perfect – they were sized and shaped well, but they were a bit too close together for our tastes. HTC went almost all the way to the edge with the keys to maximize the size – but as a result, the keys are a hairs width from touching each other. For clumsy typists like myself, this means the occasional double-key press. Fortunately, the large size of the keys makes up for it – after a few moments, we were blasting away like Mavis Beacon.

The flagship feature here is the “Inner Circle”, which allows one-button access to a whitelist of contacts you consider most important. Tap it at anytime, and it’ll pull up solely those emails which are from your preselected closest compatriots. There’s no noticeable lag in the process whatsoever. It seems well designed; it works across all of your active inboxes, and adding people to the white list can be done directly from an email, or manually from the Inner Circle application. When doing it the latter way, Inner Circle prints out all of the people you’ve ever communicated with – not just your address book contacts. Fortunately the search function is just a click away.

For a form factor we generally despise and a platform we avoid, we liked it far more than we expected to. Solid job, HTC.

Check out our fully gallery below.

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Yesterday, Cricket announced their plans to carry Motorola’s just disclosed Evoke QA4. What wasn’t announced, however, was whether US Cellular would also be carrying the device, as previous rumors had indicated. If the demo phones on the floor at CTIA are any indication, it just might.

We just met with Motorola for a quick hands on demonstration of the Evoke (video of which just so happens to be uploading now). After they’d handed it over to us, we accidentally powered the device off while learning to work it. For about 3 seconds while the device was booting, the US Cellular logo was on screen, clear as day. Alas, our camera had already found its way back into our pocket, and the logo was gone by the time we whipped it back out – but it was undeniably there.

Of course, this doesn’t absolutely mean it’s destined for the US’s 6th most popular carrier. It could have been a place holder, and plans might change – but as far as we can tell, it’s likely we’ll see it hit US Cellular within the next few months. Motorola, as expected, declined to speak about unannounced carrier plans.

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Contrary to what Facebook friend counts may lead you to believe, most people really don’t have hundreds upon hundreds of friends. Sure, they may know some absurd number of people – but according to a study by HTC, about 55% of people really only care about communicating with five or fewer people.

Playing around with this idea a bit, HTC has just introduced a new feature they’ve dubbed “Inner Circle”, which prioritizes messages from a select group of people, granting them special notifications and one-button access. Want to see the e-mails from your mom, your wife, and your kids – but no one else? Tap the Inner Circle button, and they’ll shoot onto the screen.

The first handset to make use of this new functionality is the HTC Snap, which they’ve just announced at CTIA 2009 moments ago. Coming in at an oh-so pocket friendly 11.9 millimeters, the Snap’s packin’ Windows Mobile 6.1 running on 528 Mhz processor. We got a chance to play with one a few hours ago, but cameras were strictly prohibited. We’re off to see it again in a matter of hours, so be on the lookout for hands-on impressions and shots later today. The Snap will launch in “select channels” in Q2 2009, “around the world” in the second half of 2009, and in the US (as the unlocked S522 at 850/1900 Mhz with HSDPA support) sometime this summer.

(Oh – and for the sake of those wondering which one is the Inner Circle key, it’s the green circle on the bottom right of the keyboard.)

Full Specs:

• Qualcomm MSM 7225, 528 Mhz
• Windows Mobile 6.1
• 256 MB ROM, 192 MB RAM
• Expandable via microSDHC
• 4.59″x2.42″x.47″ (LxWxT)
• 4.23 Ounces
• 2.4″ QVGA (320×240) display
• HSDPA/WCDMA 900/2100 Mhz (HTC Snap) or HSDPA/WCDMA 850/1900 Mhz (HTC S522)
• GSM/GPRS/EDGE 900/1800/1900 MHz
• Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR
• 802.11g WiFi
• GPS/AGPS
• 2.0 megapixel camera
• 1500mAh battery
• 8.5 or 5 hour talk time (GSM, WCDMA respectively), 15.8 days or 20 days standby (same)

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To put it gently, the Celio REDFLY didn’t launch without criticism. Essentially a mono-purposed netbook which is fueled by and acts as an extension of a Windows Mobile smartphone, the REDFLY pulls your WinMo handset’s display onto its own, and pushes all keyboard/touchpad input back to the handset. The main issue people seemed to have is that they simply didn’t understand why it was necessary; they already carried a laptop, and they already carried a phone – why bring more hardware into the mix?

A few months ago, Celio announced that they were working on a fix for this fault. Rather than requiring users to add more gear to their kit, they would release an application which more or less replicated the functionality of the REDFLY on any Windows computer.

Later today, Celio will be releasing the first public beta of this app, which they’re now calling the REDFLY Mobile Viewer. The application will be free throughout the beta once it’s made available on Celio’s site, but will go for $39.95 once the beta has come to an end.

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Samsung didn’t officially have the Instinct S30 available for hands-on demos after yesterday night’s announcement – but, well, you know how we roll. We spent a good chunk of time poking at the device – so what do we think?

It is, by just about every count, the original Instinct. A rounder, slightly polished Instinct – but still the Instinct. The UI felt nearly identical, albeit slightly polished and with a (perhaps imagined) more responsive touchscreen. When asked about what the new model had to offer over the original, even Samsung only had one hardware-oriented bit to offer: It now supports 32GB SDHC external memory cards, whereas the original could only handle 16GB. I can count all the people I know with 32GB SDHC cards on zero hands.

Unfortunately, there isn’t much more we can say about the handset from a pre-release hands-on standpoint, because there just isn’t much that can be said. If you loved the original Instinct, you’ll love this one – seeing as it’s, you know, the same phone. It’s just slightly prettier and has an extra 16GB added to its external memory limit.

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RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis is slated to take the stage later today in Las Vegas at the CTIA show and all eyes will be focused on RIM’s answer to Apple’s App Store. While we wished that RIM had held off on the launch of BlackBerry App World until Lazaridis’ little talk, there’s nothing that could have prevented this announcement from hitting at midnight. So, ladies and germs, I present to you BlackBerry App World. Please ensure that you have a PayPal account, OS 4.2 or higher and a trackball or SurePress touch screen (aka Storm) BlackBerry before proceeding.

I must say that BAW is laid out much better than the initial screen shots that RIM released many months ago. But before we dive into it, you should probably download the BAW storefront. Simply navigate here or here from your BlackBerry Browser and experience the awesomeness that is BAW. A circle icon with the BlackBerry emblem will appear on your desktop.

The BAW homescreen features four icons across the bottom and “Featured Items” which can be navigated through by scrolling left or right. The first icon – a set of folders with a blue tab – is your Categories folder where you can search for apps by genres such as Games, Music and Video, or Personal Health and Wellness. Next to the Categories icon is the Top Downloads section (25) – denoted by a starred folder – of BAW that tells you which apps you are most popular. You can also search for applications by clicking on the magnifying glass icon; search works within categories as well.

The download process is simple and straightforward, but we still hate the fact that RIM wasn’t able to implement a backend payment structure of their own. I just don’t trust PayPal and I know lots of folks (besides myself) who have had issues with them over the years. Anyway, clicking on any app that tickles your fancy will present you with the following options: Download, Reviews or Screenshots. I don’t think I need to go into detail or describe what each of these entail, but I will tell you that when you purchase a free application you’ll be taken directly to My World (we’ll get to this in a second), but if it’s a paid app you’ll be asked to sign into PayPal before proceeding.

Now that we’ve searched through apps and purchased a couple or downloaded all the free apps, you’ll want to hit up that last icon with the outline of a person or My World. In My World you can keep tabs on all the apps that you’ve downloaded, write reviews, recommend or uninstall apps. A nice feature about My World is that you can virtually host apps that you might not use all the time without actually having the app downloaded to the device. If you want to reinstall an app that you previously deleted, you just need to log back into PayPal and voila.

We’ll update this post once BAW goes live with a full list of available apps, which might not happen until later today. Please refresh every few minutes as we continue to add apps.

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Featured Apps (11)

Viigo for BlackBerry – Free
Yahoo Messenger – Free
Facebook – Free
Bloomberg – Free
Texas Hold’em King 3 – $5.99
MySpace – Free
AOL Instant Messenger – Free
Brain Challenge 2: Stress Management – $4.99
New York Times Crosswords – Classics Vol 1 – $4.99
Google Talk – Free
ICQ – Free

Entertainment (9)

PhoneyFart – $2.99
Fart Storm – $2.99
Mobile Bartender – $4.99
ELLE – Free
ELLEgirl – Free
ELLEgirl Latina- Free
People Mobile – Free
Premiere – Free
Woman’s Day – Free

Games (126)

Arcade & Action (37)
Card & Casino (29)
Puzzles & Mind Teasers (32)
Sports (10)
Strategy & Board (18)

Maps & Navigation (8)

Text2C – Free
ConnectorLocal – Free
GPS Tracker – Free
Geocache Navigator Free Trial – Free
SOS-GPS – $2.99
Telmap Navigator – Free
Trimble Outdoors Free Trial – Free
e-Mobile GPS Companion – $19.99
NIM Gokivo Navigator – $9.99
TeleNav GPS Navigator – $99.99 (1-year unlimited service for the Storm, 8330, 8130 and 8830)

Music & Video (10)

Shazam – Free (Enhanced version is $4.99 after May 31)
Relaxing Sounds – $2.99
FlipSide MP3 Player – $19.99
Flycast – Free
Hip Hop Official by GoTV – $4.99
MP3 Ringtone Creator – $4.99
MajiPlayer – $9.99
Nobex Radio Companion – Free
Pandora – Free
Slacker Radio for BlackBerry – Free

News & Weather (17)

Viigo for BlackBerry – Free
AP News – $2.99
Boston News Web Shortcut – Free
CBS News – Free
ELLE Canada Mobile – Free
Fox Business Bookmark – Free
Fox News Alert – Free
Fox News Bookmark – Free
Handy Weather for BlackBerry – $17.99
Maclean’s – Free
Newsweek – Free
Noticias de AP – $2.99
Slate Magazine – Free
The New York Times Politics News Notifier – Free
The New York Times Web Shortcut – Free
Washington Post- Free
WindTrack – $6.99

Personal Finance & Banking (9)

A Personal Assistant Premium – $9.99
EzQuote – $10.99
Market Simplified – Free
Mobile Checkbook – $9.99
TheStreet – Free
Tipper – $4.99
iStockManager – Free
trackIT: Expense Edition – $14.99
trackIT: Vehicle Edition – $14.99

Personal Health & Wellness (9)

Army Body Fat Calculator – $11.99
AllSport GPS Free Trial – Free
Calorie Count Nutrition Search – Free
Canadian Living – Free
ECG Guide – $7.99
Fast Food Calorie Counter – $4.99
FitDeck Mobile – $14.99
Health Diet Manager – $19.99
vClinic Mobile Health – Free

Productivity & Utilities (88)

Clocks Calculators & Utilities (29)
Document Management (8)
On-the-Go Productivity (20)
Personal Organization (30)

Professional & Business (14)

Bloomberg – Free
AlertMatrix – $29.99
BigHand – Free
BillableGoal – $7.99
Biz TrackIt – $39.99
RepliGo Reader – $19.99
ReportAway – $29.99
SalesNOW – Free
SalesForce Mobile – Free
The New York Times DealBook Notifier – Free
WebMessenger Message Alerts – $6.99
Wireless Database Viewer Plus – Free
pMDsoft – Free
powerOne Finance Calculator – $29.99

Reference & eBooks (22)

BEIKS English Dictionary and Thesaurus – $19.99
Berlitz Basic Dictionary Chinese – $19.99
Berlitz Basic Dictionary French – $19.99
Berlitz Basic Dictionary German – $19.99
Berlitz Basic Dictionary Italian – $19.99
Berlitz Basic Dictionary Spanish – $19.99
Duden Corrector mobile (DCM) French – $2.99
Duden Corrector mobile (DCM) German – $2.99
Duden Corrector mobile (DCM) Italian – $2.99
Duden Corrector mobile (DCM) Multilingual – $2.99
Duden Corrector mobile (DCM) Spanish – $39.99
Duden Corrector mobile (DCM) UK English – $2.99
Duden Corrector mobile (DCM) US English – $2.99
HNHSoft Advanced English Dictionary – $19.99
HNHSoft Advanced Chinese Talking Dictionary – $49.99
HNHSoft Advanced English French Dictionary – $29.99
HNHSoft Advanced English German Dictionary – $29.99
HNHSoft Advanced English Italian Dictionary – $29.99
HNHSoft Advanced English Spanish Dictionary – $29.99
Kaplan GRE Exam Vocabulary Flashcards – $4.99
gFlashPro Flashcards – $2.99
gRefPro Reference Guides – $2.99

Social Networking & Sharing (17)

MySpace – Free
Facebook – Free
Windows Live Messenger – Free
Yahoo Messenger – Free
Google Talk – Free
ICQ – Free
AOL Instant Messenger – Free
ITookThisOnMyPhone – Free
BlipPlus from Blackline GPS – Free
CellSpin – Free
GypSii – Free
Loopt – Free
Postelly – Free
SwooshSMS – $4.99
VH1 Watch and Discuss – $2.99
Wauwee – Free
WikiMobile – $9.99

Sports & Recreation (36)

The Hockey News Mobile – Free
Maple Leafs – Free
Car and Driver – Free
Golf Tracks – $4.99
GreenFinder – $39.99
MLB.com – Free
Mariners.com – Free
Orioles.com – Free
Basically every baseball team has their own app and it’s free

Travel (17)

WorldMate Live – Free
Auto TimeZone – $2.99
HRS Hotel Organizer – Free
Lonely Planet Czech Phrasebook – $9.99
Lonely Planet French Phrasebook – $9.99
Lonely Planet German Phrasebook – $9.99
Lonely Planet Italian Phrasebook – $9.99
Lonely Planet Japanese Phrasebook – $9.99
Lonely Planet Mandarin Phrasebook – $9.99
Lonely Planet Spanish Phrasebook – $9.99
Lonely Planet Thai Phrasebook – $9.99
Lonely Planet Vietnamese Phrasebook – $9.99
Taxi Magic by RideCharge – Free
TheFastPages – Free
Trapster – Free
Travel Genius – $2.99
WHERE – Free

Update: One problem that I think a lot of folks will encounter is the lack of on-board memory on most BlackBerry devices. Compared to the iPhone, you don’t have 8GB or 16GB of memory to work with on your BlackBerry. I’m adding as many free apps now to see what happens when the memory on my 8900 gets full. It’d be nice if RIM allowed you to store apps on external memory cards, but you might have to uninstall apps and store virtually as you go.

Update 2: It appears that some developers are allowing trials for paid apps and not just lite versions. Also, you can’t move the BlackBerry App World icon from your homepage.

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Judging by the vague press release, Samsung might have even loaded their own skin on top of the Windows Mobile 6.1 core. Apparently there are widgets – cause everything must have widgets these days – that users can drag and drop on the 4.3-inch touch screen. So far pricing and availability hasn’t been released, but chances are the price will be higher than you’re willing to pay. Expect to find the Mondi into the hands of corporate Jack Bauer types anyway.

Samsung Mobile Launches First WiMAX-Enabled Mobile Internet Device
Samsung Mondi™ Provides Full Broadband Speeds, HTML Web Experience
and Mobile WiMAX/WiFi Access in Compact Touch Screen Device

LAS VEGAS – March 31, 2008 – Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile) today announced the upcoming availability of the Samsung Mondi™, the most advanced mobile WiMAX enabled handheld device in the U.S. The touch screen Mondi, which takes its name from the Latin word for “world”, is designed for use with the Clear™ mobile WiMAX service from Clearwire.

The Mondi carries many of the powerful features and uses of a laptop computer or netbook, but its compact slider form factor easily fits into the hand or pocket. GPS Navigation provided by Route 66 adds to the Mondi’s versatility. Available in a solid black finish, this device extends horizontally to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard and optical mouse. The Mondi™ is packed with multimedia features that offer instant access to E-mail, Internet, video content and business applications.

Mondi packs a full -featured web browser, powered by Opera 9.5, which takes full advantage of the device’s 4.3-inch touch screen. To keep connected while on-the-go, Mondi offers best-in-class location based services and instant access to social networking websites. It also supports various services including Fring™, Gypsii™, and MS Live Messenger.

The Mondi is completely customizable, thanks to a set of widgets that can be dragged and dropped anywhere on the display screen for easy viewing and use. Mondi is also an excellent device for work or for play. WiFi connectivity offers the business user fast and simple connections to Outlook Email / Calendars, Microsoft Office and many other vertical business applications outside the Clear service area. For the multimedia user, this device offers the ability to download and watch movies, listen to music or play games.

The Samsung Mondi includes the following features:

Windows Mobile 6.1
Microsoft Outlook and Windows Mobile Office
WiMAX Mobile Internet Access
WiFi Access (BTv2.1+EDR)
GPS: Route 66 Navigation with Preloaded Maps
4GB of Internal Memory
Direct Push/Mobile Email (POP3, IMAP, SMTP)
Supports Instant Messaging and MMS
3.0 Megapixel Camera and Camcorder
Bluetooth ® 2.0
Opera 9.5 Web Browser
HDMI TV Out
Supports Multiple Video and Audio Player Formats
“The Samsung Mondi is an important step toward our goal of bringing 4G network speeds and connectivity to people across the U.S.,” said Bill Ogle, Chief Marketing Officer for Samsung Mobile. “The Mondi™ is a great match for people who want immediate access to the Web without having to sacrifice download speed and portability.”

“The mobile broadband experience that the Mondi offers to Clear customers places the power of the open Internet in the palm of the hand,” said Atish Gude, Chief Marketing Officer for Clearwire. “As our network grows across the US, we will continue to work with innovative device manufacturers to expand the mobile WiMAX device ecosystem and leverage the value that a 4G wireless Internet connection delivers.”

Samsung is the global leader in delivering mobile WiMAX technologies and offers an end-to-end solution including chipsets, infrastructure, mobile devices and consumer electronics, including devices capable of accessing both mobile WiMAX and other wireless technologies. UQ Communications in Japan and Scartel LLC., in Russia are examples of other Mondi ™ing operators preparing for significant commercial deployment of national-wide service using Samsung’s mobile WiMAX total solution.

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• Expansive touch screen featuring localized haptic feedback giving users a gentle vibration as they use the virtual QWERTY keypad
• Live Search for Sprint, powered by Microsoft, provides easy access to directory information on-the-go, GPS-enabled directions, interactive maps and one-touch click to call access
• Visual Voicemail, allowing users to listen to messages in their order of preference and manage them with a simple tap of the screen
• Sprint TV® with an extensive selection of channels and on-demand programming
• Sprint Music Store allowing users to browse and wirelessly download full-length songs directly to their phone for just 99 cents each
• Advanced stereo Bluetooth® 2.0
• SMS voice and text messaging with threaded text
• True HTML Web experience from both the enhanced embedded browser and the addition of Opera Mini 4.2 with a desktop-like browsing experience
• 2.0 megapixel camera with camcorder

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We’re in good ol’ Sin City, fresh out of a pre-CTIA 2009 meeting with HTC. While most of the hardware they brought to the party were things we’d seen at Mobile World Congress last month, they had one thing on the software end that was just out of the oven: the latest build of the Android “Cupcake” release.

The firmware build number we were playing with was 1.5/CRA79. We didn’t spot any major new features in this build – but we did see a good number of things we’d heard about previously get their first implementations. Oddly, we also noticed at least one thing missing since last time.

Orientation animation:

While the currently publicly available Android build already supports orientation detection and switching, it’s a bit of a hack to get it to work. When we saw a Cupcake build at MWC, it had it enabled by default – but it was a bit slow. They’ve optimized it a good amount since, but have added an orientation switch animation to make any delays less obvious. It now zooms out and then visibly “Wobbles” – see demonstration in the video above.

Emoticon key:

When we did our initial run through of the Cupcake build back in January, we noticed that certain text emoticons suddenly had graphical replacements. Which ones had replacements, however, was impossible to determine. In this latest build, emoticons have a key of their own on the virtual keyboard. Press it briefly, and it inputs a standard smiley. Hold it, and it brings up the entire array. It replaces the enter/carriage return key.

Slide-out drawer background:

This change seems a bit odd to us. On the G1 and all previous Android builds, the slide out drawer (where applications are kept) had a semi-translucent grey background. In this build of Cupcake, this has been changed to an opaque checkered background. It sort of looks like carbon fiber.

“Add to Home Screen” changes:

“Add to Home Screen” is a pop-up window that appears when you hold your finger on the desktop. It’s essentially the same as it was on the G1, with a few trivial changes: All labels now have graphical icons, and the “Application” shortcut list has been placed within “Shortcuts” rather than being immediately available from the initial list.

As we mentioned, one thing is missing from builds prior; at MWC, we noticed that YouTube was getting some love from Google with a Live Shortcut of its own. This is now gone.

On-screen Keyboard Auto-correct/Suggestions:

We knew it was coming, but it was curiously absent in the build we played with last. When Android thinks you may have made a mistake, it highlights the word it thinks you meant in orange above the input box – but unlike the iPhone, it also offers other not-as-common options as alternative suggestions. There are two Auto-correct options: Basic and Advanced. We’re not sure what the difference is.

Other notes:

• This is the first time we noticed any implementation of the input method framework. You can now select custom keyboards, though the default Android keyboard was the only one installed on this handset.
• You can add words to the Auto-correction dictionary by holding them, or by manually inputting them in settings.

[PSGallery=1kbwasftvn]

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Tucked away in a Korean press release alongside the likes of the long ago announced Samsung Behold, Memoir, and Omnia HD was one little gem we’d yet to have seen in any official light: the Instinct S30. Of course, it’s not the first time we’ve ever seen it – but it’s nice to know it wasn’t some incredibly elaborate hoax put on by some crafty gent just looking to crush the spirits of Instinct fans everywhere.

Besides the press image to the right, confirmation of a 3.2″ touchscreen, and word that they’ll be showing it at CTIA 2009 this week, there’s not much to glean from the release – but if you wanna dig around it yourself, the full translated version is hiding right behind the jump.

Experience in marketing, marketing activities, including Olympic marketing

America’s largest telecommunications exhibition ‘CTIA 2009 season’

Samsung Electronics America’s largest communications jeonmunjeonsihoein ‘CTIA (Cellular Telecommunication Industry Association) 2009′ in the United States to release the four operators, including public pulteochiseukeurinpon lineup aimed at the U.S. market strategy, products and a variety of advanced communications technology will.

Samsung Electronics, April 1-3, Las Vegas United States in the exhibition ‘Touch for Every Lifestyle’ to the theme of large-scale exhibition of 253 square meters will be installed.

□ variety of markets to strengthen the lineup pulteochiseukeurinpon

At the show, Samsung Electronics, AT & T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, including four U.S. carriers will be available through a variety of products will pulteochiseukeurinpon.

First, Samsung’s horizontal QWERTY slide keypad, plus a premium pulteochi mesijingpon ‘impeuresyeon (Impression)’ will be released for the first time. Slated for release next month, ‘impeuresyeon’ AMOLED LCD is 3.2 inches on the 300 million pixel camera, Bluetooth, and is equipped with various advanced features.

Blast from the U.S. market last year caused the pulteochiseukeurinpon ‘inseutingteu of the follow-up model’ inseutingteu S30 ‘is also notable. ‘Inseutingteu S30′ 3.2-inch screen and apply the design to the luxurious raundeuhyeong jeonjakin ‘inseutingteu the evaluation has had a floor upgrade.

In addition, the U.S. reaction to the explosion in the market is getting 800 million pixel camera phone pulteochi ‘memoah (Memoir)’ and ‘migukhyang omniah’, ‘biholdeu (Behold)’, ‘yiteoniti (Eternity)’, and the U.S. market pulteochiseukeurinpon line with the ‘Ultra Touch’ pulteochiseukeurinpon lineup, and with global plans.

Samsung mobile phones eco-friendly campaign, the blue Earth Dream (The Blue Earth Dream) ‘with the theme’ Echo ‘Corner as a separate set eneojipon Solar Blue Earth (Blue Earth)’ and is planning to exhibit.

In addition to using a cell phone location information service, the LBS ‘, to mobile phones to upload pictures and video that can be easily’ Sharepix ‘, PC, and can share content hyudaepongan Samsung live’, Samsung mobile phones Application Developers site Samsung Mobile Innovators beyiteo ‘plans to demonstrate technology and mobile solutions.

□ Mobile WiMAX and next-generation telecommunications technology, introduced with

Samsung Electronics, during the exhibition period, the mobile WiMAX, LTE and next-generation communications technology will be massive.

Samsung Electronics, a variety of mobile WiMAX base stations and handsets in the lineup this year as being a commercial artist in the United States and Latin American markets will be plans to expand the Mobile WiMAX market.

Samsung’s first exhibition in a high density of population in the use of the large base station equipment from the line and mobile WiMAX ultra-small base stations pemtosele MID, mobile phones and Wi-end Mac and a variety of sponsor and demonstrate mobile WiMAX service plans.

Samsung Electronics is also emerging as the next-generation communications technology with the LTE devices and services, introduce the next-generation communications technology, plans to reinforce its status as a leading company.

□ American consumers and marketing activities aimed at

Various marketing activities aimed at U.S. consumers will be massive.

Venue for free over the phone, and digital devices that can recharge your Samsung mobile charging station ‘(Samsung Mobile Charging Station) to install.

Samsung mobile station is the main airport in the United States, Samsung Electronics, the customer experience and marketing activities in the United States is getting good response to the consumers.

Samsung Electronics will also be held in Canada, Toronto’2010 Winter Olympics’ official sponsors of the wireless communications sector as a Samsung-sponsored with the former Olympic torch in 2010 to display the Olympic emblem and mascot of the corner as a separate pre-marketing activities and the Olympics plans together.

Samsung Electronics vice president, wireless business manager sinjonggyun “Samsung Electronics introduced the cell phones in the future, a variety of specialized marketing strategies to strengthen the world’s largest telecommunications market in the United States even more deunopil phase,” he said.

Samsung Electronics, the success of a business phone, and a variety of specific strategies based on the specific marketing three-quarter and 4 percent respectively last year, 21.9%, 23.7% of the market and the North American mobile phone market as the No. 1 vendor has deunggeukhan. The growth of these markets due to its status as market leader this year and plans to strengthen.

‘CTIA’ exhibition in the world, more than 100 countries, 45,000 people visited the exhibition which is North America’s largest communications specialist. Samsung Electronics and Nokia, Motorola, Alcatel, Lucent, and more than 1200 people participated in the global telecommunications companies demonstrated new products and technologies in a variety of communications, said.
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It’s certainly not the main Novatel device we’re hoping to see announced while we’re here in Vegas, but they’ve gotten the announcement party started a bit early with this morning’s debut of the Ovation MC935D.

Built around a single-band 2100Mhz HSUPA/HSDPA radio capping out at 7.2 Mbps down and 5.76 Mbps up, this one’s pretty much strictly for our homies on the other side of the water (Read: Europe), though the quad-band EDGE/GPRS might get you through in a pinch elsewhere.

No word on pricing just yet, but we’re told to expect this one beginning in Q2. We’re just about positive this one will be floating around at the pre-CTIA ShowStoppers event tonight – so if pictures of little USB dongles sitting on tables are your thing, you’re in for one wild ride.

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It’s definitely not the first time we’ve seen the Novatel MiFi, or even the second – but they can keep cranking these things out in all sorts of different flavors and we wouldn’t mind a bit. A few weeks back, we found out that Sprint would be getting a MiFi of their own sometime in the next 3 months, and this latest leak indicates that Verizon will be getting one as well. No date is mentioned – but with CTIA 09 but a night or two away, we’d wager that an announcement is looming.

Here’s the concept, if you’ve missed our past blabbers on it: It’s essentially a battery-operated, 3G-powered WiFi router. Push a button, bam – it’s now a WiFi hotspot, fueled by the 3G network of whatever carrier’s SIM you’ve got inside. No dealing with cables or flaky tethering apps. It’s a blogger’s dream toy. Both times we messed with the MiFi were in environments that are generally absolutely horrible for such evaluations (the GSM model on an overloaded network, and the CDMA model in the basement of a hotel) – yet it performed spectacularly each time.

A few things are still unclear (EVDO Rev.A? Did Verizon lower the carrier-adjustable 5 person cap?). We just landed in Vegas – if our assumptions are correct and a VZW-branded MiFi is lurking around Sin City, we’ll have a hands-on up as soon as possible.

[Via PhoneArena]

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