Viewing the Android Community Weekly roundup this week will land you in-depth reviews of two amazingly well build devices, more information on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, and some Android OS controlled supergadgets. Both American variants of the Samsung Galaxy S II are now in our possession! The Epic 4G Touch was extensively reviewed this past Sunday, with benchmarks even the original Galaxy S II can’t touch (out of the box that is). And just recently, the AT&T Galaxy S II was unboxed by Chris Burns; be sure to ask him any questions regarding the device so they may be answered before the official review! The Epic 4G Touch is already available, but AT&T expects to release their Galaxy S II for under $200 coming October.
Looking for an affordable smartphone capable of Verizon’s incredibly fast 4G speeds? The Pantech Breakout was officially announced on Verizon Wireless for $100 with a two year service contract. Though this device may not give you the same speed and functionality available on their recently released DROID Bionic, it is indeed much cheaper. The HTC Rhyme is also scheduled to debut on Verizon soon; Chris Burns went hands-on with the phone Tuesday. As the name suggests, one would expect the Rhyme to ship with Beats integration, yet this was not the case within our hands-on coverage. The Rhyme will run HTC’s Sense 3.5 UI, which is now said to incorporate a free 5GB of free Dropbox storage.
Google Wallet went live this Monday and is now available for all Nexus S 4G devices. Currently, only Citi and Mastercard users can link to the service. However, Visa, American Express, and Discover will all support Google Wallet in due time. It will surely be supported by the next generation Nexus device, so Google Wallet’s potential may rise from spread popularity. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is now rumored to arrive before the DROID Prime on Verizon’s network with a launch date of November 3rd. Verizon normally launches devices on Thursdays – so this very well may be accurate.
If the tablets released as of late have been slightly too small for your taste, then maybe the Android MegaPad 23″ life-sized tablet may be of interest to you. Within the video demonstration, it’s easy to see how adapting Android to such a large tablet is such a good idea. Two other awesome gadgets previewed this week were the Sphero robotic ball and the TankBot micro-vehicle. Both of these are remotely controlled by your Android device! Who wouldn’t want to control a tiny ball around their house with Android or iOS device?
Even though Android 2.4 Ice Cream Sandwich hasn’t even hit devices yet, Notion Ink has confirmed it will be running on their Adam slate this October. This may very well fall through, as Notion Ink previous history hasn’t complemented their ability to follow through with their customers. Finally, Amazon has just recently started sending out invitations to their press event in NYC come September 28! Could this be the introduction to a long awaited (and affordable) Android tablet? The majority of us hope so!
