A few days ago I mentioned my new phone. As some observant readers gleaned, it’s a Samsung Galaxy Note. This 5.3” monster Android phone also has a Wacom active digitizer for much more accurate inking. And Samsung has promised an upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich the first quarter of 2012!

I bought this device unlocked from my friends at GSM Phone Source. This model (GTN-7000) works on AT&T bands, including HSPA+ (more on that in a minute). It does not support LTE but, hell, here in L.A. I’m still waiting on LTE for my HTC Jetstream. HSPA+ is good enough (again more on that soon).

The first challenge for all of us early adopters is not getting kicked off the AT&T voice network. You see, AT&T’s internal database of IMEIs erroneously identified the Note as a 7” Samsung Galaxy Tab tablet, which supports voice (and does so in Europe) but AT&T permits on its network as data only. If you’re interested, you can read about both the saga and the solution. While AT&T has been panned for its customer service, when you read these threads (my posts are by genghiskhent, duh), you’ll see AT&T did step up to the plate and fix the problem.

While there no long was a danger of being kicked off the voice network, for data I was stuck in the 3G slow lane. HSPA+ isn’t really 4G (though carriers do advertise it as such). It’s more like 3.5G. And 3.5 is better than 3, right?

The key is to access an APN that supports HSPA+. In order for your phone can access that APN (which has the exotic name “phone”),  you first have to be on the right data plan. I’m on a metered 4G Smartphone plan. So far so good.

But not good enough … yet. Your phone has to be properly provisioned to access the HSPA+ APN. Bottom line is you need to talk to tech support (as opposed to customer support). A very friendly and helpful tech named Todd helped me out. So now I can access the faster APN. Thanks Todd!

I realize there’s a lot of technical mumbo jumbo here, and believe me, I skipped over a lot of details so this wasn’t overwhelming. If you have questions, please post. And Todd, if you happen to see this (I did mention the blog to him), feel free to post a comment, if only “Hello.”

Soon I will post on my actual usage of the Note. Until then …

No, not the pink marker. The phone. it’s the newest arrival to my gadget harem. Do you recognize it?

I rebooted my HTC Jetstream because – like marriage – it seems a good idea at the time. I then entered the dreaded HTC Jetstream reboot loop. The device boots to the lock screen. Slide to unlock. Reboots. Consulting Mr. Google, I learned I was not alone. The problem may have to do with the SIM card; one suggestion was to remove it. There were other suggestions, some not printable.

Anyway, I was rebooting in landscape mode. Something possessed me to rotate the device to portrait mode. Amazingly, that worked. Later, I saw some posts from others this worked for also. Not sure why this worked, but it beats a reboot loop.

I’ve been looking for a long time for a tablet techie’s equivalent of the Holy Grail. I want a tablet I can use for note-taking. That doesn’t sound so tough. But consider this scenario.

I’m in Court standing before a Judge who makes a rhinoceros seem pleasant, patient and even-tempered. Or meeting with a boss who must be that Judge’s sibling. Or with a client who comes from the same gene pool as the Judge and boss.

I can’t afford to wait for the device.  Quick on and resume. No OS crashes or hanging apps. Smooth and responsive to touch. Efficient multi-tasking – I may need to look at my calendar or a document while taking notes.

I also want long battery life; I can’t run out of power during the discussion. The device also needs to be light as I may need to hold it; not just while standing but also while sitting so I can look at the other person rather than down at my device.

So let’s look at the choices – and why I made mine.

(more…)

BGR scoops that the next iteration of the Google phone (which started with the Nexus One) is coming to Verizon, perhaps exclusively, and soon. This phone. together with Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). will be announced at Samsung’s Unpacked event in San Diego on Tuesday, October 11th. But the specs are known now:

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich 9mm thin
4.65-inch 1280 x 720-pixel Super AMOLED HD with curved glass
TI OMAP 4460 dual-core Cortex A9 processor clocked at 1.2GHz
1GB of RAM
32GB of built-in storage
5-megapixel camera on the back, 1.3-megapixel in the front
1080p HD video capture support
LTE(my ?)
Wi-Fi a/b/g/n
NFC
1,750 mAh battery

Yum, yum. Especially if it supports LTE.

So this will be my next phone if I go the Android route? Yes, except there is this one other Android phone … more on that soon.

Update: Samsung/Google announcement of Nexus Prime and Ice Cream Sandwich delayed, apparently to October 27. The delay may not necessarily be due to any problem with the Nexus Prime or Ice Cream Sandwich. It could be out of respect to the passing of Steve Jobs, whose contribution to all we discuss here was truly iconic.

I just ended my Sprint service on my HTC EVO 4G after just over one year. There’s nothing wrong with the EVO 4G. Rather, I’m not using it very much in comparison to my other phones. So why pay just under $100 per month for a phone I use very little?

Since I have almost one year to go on the contract, there’s an ETF. But that’s a wash; the ETF is about the same as one month of service.  Additionally, I should be able to resell the EVO 4G for a bit over $100 on Gazelle or EBay’s InstantSale.

Last words on the device: I do like the EVO 4G’s 4.3” screen. But the screen display is a bit washed out, as compared with qHD, Super AMOLED +, etc. I suspect that’s an important reason why I used other phones more.

I also thought of getting an upgraded phone from Sprint. But I think that WiMAX is a dead end technology. And I’d like to reduce the number of carriers with which I have contracts.

So what will be my next main squeeze phone to replace my aging HTC Droid Incredible? Well, that’s a subject for another post

Source: Samsung Galaxy S II Hitting Verizon in July. May replace my HTC Droid Incredible.

Samsung Galaxy S II has monster specs. However, we in the US have seen other super-phones that didn’t make it here. And even phones that did have been restricted to a carrier I don’t use. A very recent example is the HTC Sensation, going only to T-Mobile (apparently).

Per a number of sources (see via below), the Galaxy S II is coming to every major US carrier – except T-Mobile. It will be called the Attain on AT&T, the Function on Verizon and Within on Sprint. Dumb names. But who cares? What I want to know is if the Function supports LTE? If so, I want it now! But the release date is still unknown. Soon hopefully.

[via Android Central, SlashGear, Engadget Mobile]