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Verizon nabs Samsung Continuum, Zeal and Motorola Citrus on November 11th, according to gushing leak?
Someone's found their way into an internal database and pulled out details on three Verizon phones -- the Samsung Continuum, Samsung Zeal and Motorola Citrus, all of which will reportedly drop on the 11th of next month. We don't have any reason to doubt that, as all three showed up on a recent rebate, but there's more to these leaked screens than a release date. For instance, the Continuum will apparently sport a Swype virtual keyboard on top of a 3.4-inch Super AMOLED screen, to say nothing of that secondary display, and the Motorola Citrus explicitly doesn't support tethering. The Samsung Zeal, meanwhile, isn't a modern smartphone at all, but rather a dual-hinge device with "magic" e-ink keys that change from a standard dialer to a four-row QWERTY layout. Isn't it nice to have all that sorted out? [Thanks, Gavin]
Verizon's new rebate form shows two Droid 2 Globals, Samsung Continuum, and more
Carrier rebate forms have a fun tendency to reveal unannounced hardware, since they cover several upcoming weeks when they're published -- and Verizon's latest for the month of November is a particularly juicy one. Here's what we've got: There are two SKUs listed for the Droid 2 Global, but only one for the Droid Pro, leading us to wonder whether it'll actually be the Global that's getting a cameraless version. Speaking of Motorola, the WX445 Citrus is in the mix for the first time. The Pre 2 is in the system with a $100 rebate. There are two new SKUs for the Bold 9650, possibly indicating the release of new versions with BlackBerry 6 pre-installed. The LG Cosmos Touch is in here, which we imagine will be a touchscreen successor to the Cosmos. There's a Samsung Zeal listed with a $50 rebate, but we're not sure what it is -- we know that Sammy has a number of Android phones in the pipe for Verizon, and we suppose this could be one of 'em (likely low-end considering it's not a $100 rebate). More interestingly, the Samsung Continuum is in here, suggesting that the November 8 event could be for this dual-screened (and Galaxy S-branded) beast. $100 rebate here. Of course, November is a time when retailers of all types and sizes bring out new products in time for the holidays, so we're not surprised to see the mother lode here. Who's excited?
Samsung to unveil new Android device November 8th
Two weeks. That's how long you'll have to wait before Samsung Mobile officially shows off its latest Android device. We say officially, because as these things go, there's a chance the gadget will make it into the limelight via unofficial channels. No indication what it might be, but if we had our say, the Continuum and its secondary OLED screen would make for a nice treat... hey, why are you even asking? Of course we'll be there covering it live!
Verizon scoop extravaganza: Motorola Venus with portrait QWERTY, Stingray LTE tablet, and more?
We've been tipped by multiple sources today on some interesting developments in Verizon's roadmap over the next couple quarters, and if you're a BlackBerry fan, an Android fan, or a fan of exceptionally fast data, you're probably going to want to tune in. Let's get right into the meat of it, shall we? Follow the break!
Exclusive: Samsung Continuum for Verizon has double the displays, double the fun
The Fascinate's ride at the top of Sammy's Android lineup for Big Red might be a short one -- a very short one. Feast your eyes on this monster, said to be the rumored SCH-i400 Continuum, whose biggest claim to fame would be the addition of a secondary OLED display below the main. What might you use it for? Well, it's called the "Ticker," and it'll show notifications and RSS updates (and judging from that picture, weather conditions, too). Naturally, one of the selling points is that you can access basic phone functionality and information without having to fiddle with the normal UI or turn on that big, power-sapping primary display; in fact, the Ticker will automatically turn on when you grasp the bottom of the phone. The Continuum's also got a microSD slot on the side (accessible without a battery pull) and a dedicated camera button, and judging from one of the shots we've got, it might be Galaxy S-branded. Follow the break for a couple more shots!
Verizon's remaining 2010 roadmap to be an Android-fest of phones and tablets?
Practically everything we've heard -- both officially and through tipsters -- lines up with information coming out of Phone Arena this week detailing a truly Google-heavy upcoming Fall and Winter release schedule for our friends at Big Red. Starting next month, it seems that we'll see a global version of the just-launched Droid 2, possibly with a white option (though it seems this could also be the R2-D2 model), and the Motorola WX455 we'd leaked has been named "Citrus" and will (as you probably could've guessed) target the low end of the market and the young'uns who are looking for an affordable way to get into Android; as WWAN-enabled laptops go, they'll be picking up the Dell Vostro V13 and the HP Pavilion DM1. Follow the break for the rest of the action! [Thanks, Steven C.]
Star Trek Online developers discuss Away Team game mechanics
Cryptic's upcoming Star Trek Online is boldly going where numerous Star Trek PC games have failed before. Only now, for the first time, the Star Trek IP meets massively multiplayer online games, and we're hoping that Cryptic Studios will release a solid sci-fi title that balances Trekkie canon bliss with gameplay that keeps MMO fans happy. A number of Star Trek fans following along with STO's development clearly have high hopes for the game, and so do we at Massively. What's also unique about Star Trek Online is that it's one of the few sci-fi MMOs that has both starship combat and terrestrial gameplay. Of course, there are many questions that remain about Star Trek Online, particularly when it comes to beaming down to the surface of planets. Have you ever wondered about when you beam down with your Away Team, if you'll visit the planets that are prominent in Star Trek canon, or will these be new worlds? For that matter, will your starship be left defenseless without you there on the bridge? And if you do Away Missions only with other player characters, will your Bridge Officers still level up with you?
Teal'c visits Stargate Worlds
Stargate SG-1 actor Christopher Judge visited Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment's game development studio to check out Stargate Worlds last week. Judge played the part of Teal'c -- the Jaffa warrior on the SG-1 team -- for the entire run of the TV series and in the movies The Ark of Truth and Continuum, and has appeared on Stargate Atlantis as well.Members of the development teamed gushed about how awesome he was on the Stargate Worlds community site. "I wouldn't have thought I was the type to get embarrassed and feel like a blushing teenage girl (no offense to blushing teenage girls) when meeting a star like Christopher Judge but apparently I totally am," said one of the team members. The team got the impression that Judge was "SUPER excited" about the game.CME/FireSky put up a gallery of pictures from the visit. The studio was also visited by Formula1 race car driver Jonathan Summerton, which seems kind of random. If you want pics of that event, there's a gallery for that too.
Wii Warm Up: The font
We like the Wii logo. It's iconic and friendly. But any time the Wii typeface (the Continuum family) is used for something other than the Wii logo, we find it vaguely awkward-looking, with the possible exception of lowercase Continuum Light (as seen in a certain website header). Sorry, Wii fansite operators. We know this is going to come off as insulting. But it's just a personal quirk, not some pronouncement of font law. What we want to know is if anyone else shares this feeling. Does the Wii font just not look right most of the time?
Expansion release schedule versus quality
Relmstein has posted a great analysis of how to do expansions right-- he looks at the history of major MMO expansion releases, and grades their qualities on three criteria: timing of release, cost at retail, and quality of content. In essence, he sets up a quick continuum that proves the old theory: "Good, fast, or cheap. Choose two."A game like World of Warcraft has released one terriffic quality expansion, but as Relmstein says, it was a long time coming. And Star Wars Galaxies released huge updates one after another, but we all know how well that worked out. Relmstein lists Everquest 2 as the best of all worlds-- they've released expansions fairly often (every 12 months regualrly), at fairly cheap prices (the fact that the original game content comes with every expansion doesn't hurt), and the quality has been done fairly well.It's an interesting balance. Of course expansion packs aren't an MMO-only phenomenon, but the idea of constantly pushing out new game content is something that lends itself very well to a persistent massively multiplayer world. You'd think that there has to be some rate out there at which players are getting their content too fast, but according to Relmstein, we haven't even reached the ideal rate yet-- it's still taking developers too long to cook up polished expansion content for hungry players.
