The DROID 4 is the last of Verizon’s CES phones to receive an official release date. At one point, this phone was scheduled to be released back in December, but with so many phones already dominating the holidays, it was seemingly pushed back. According to our sources, Verizon has finally set a new date. The current target is next Thursday, February 9 at a price of $199 on 2-year contract (matches the most recent MAP we saw). February 2 was at one time in the plans, but unless Big Red surprises us with an announcement today or tomorrow morning, you can set your sights on next week.

And be sure to check out our hands-on with the DROID 4 from CES.

Cheers ___ and  ___!

I know this is only a teaser, but they better come bigger than this on Sunday. The full 90 second spot will air during the 4th quarter.

Designed by a student in the UK who was sick of the lack of variety in the smartphone market (no not RIM’s CEO), the ADzero could end up as the world’s first all bamboo phone. With backers in China and a model that can be put on display at trade shows, the team behind this eco-friendly phone hopes to launch some time in 2012.

Hardware details are scarce, but from photos we can see that the phone matches up in size to the current Android players around. In fact, it looks a lot like an HTC Thunderbolt only one that is made of bamboo. The other significant thing to note is that the device is ultra lightweight thanks to its build materials. ADzero is also mentioning some some sort of new camera technology called “ring flash” that isn’t available on any other phone. The phone will run a “custom” version of Android. Interesting.

I will say that the phone is beautiful to look at. The idea that a phone could be made of all bamboo, remain ultra lightweight, and run Android is at least worth talking about. Tough to tell if it will ever become a reality though. We have yet to see the phone turn on. 

If you are planning to upgrade smartphones within the next year, Best Buy wants your business now and is willing to give you $50 for it. Even if you can’t upgrade until June, September or even December, you can let them know and a $50 gift card will be held for the day you finally do upgrade. In order to participate, you only have until February 12 to reserve a card, so be sure to jump on it if BBY smartphone deals are you thing.

Offer.

Cheers Scott!

Your financial world needed some tablet action and Mint.com is here to give it to you. Released just moments ago to the Android Market, the new Mint app works all of the wonders of the phone version, but in a much bigger and more pronounced way. Your accounts are more easily organized, detailed graphs of spending are taps away, and tracking your wife’s shopping sprees never felt better. Or does that ever feel good?

No matter what though, the folks at Mint are betting on Android gobbling up 40% of the tablet market share in the next few months, so they want to make sure their bases are covered. Why can’t we get more developers like this?

• Organize all accounts: One tap gives users a complete overview of their finances; helps them review account balances and automatically categorizes transactions.
• Obtain financial insight: Detailed graphs drill into spending by category, such as food, clothing and travel, or spending over time; provide customizable date ranges for a personalized view.
• Stay on top of spending: Personalized budgets track spending help users reach financial goals.
• Get personalized updates: Streaming delivery of account alerts, bill reminders and personalized advice provides the most up-to-date information and helps people make smart financial decisions.
• Track cash spending: Enter cash transactions while on the go to more accurately capture spending.
• Easily find transactions: The search bar helps users find specific transactions or purchases by merchant, category or tags.
• Review finances anywhere: No Internet? No problem. Storing information from the latest download allows easier viewing of finances, anytime, anywhere

Market Link

And there you have it. When Mobile World Congress (MWC) kicks off at the end of this month, you can set your sights on offerings from the rest of the smartphone world, as Samsung confirmed this morning that they will not be unveiling their new flagship, the Galaxy SIII. They plan to hold a special separate and self-hosted event for the device that is closer to “commercial availability.” Basically, that means that they don’t want to announce it at MWC and then have everyone sitting around waiting for 4 months before they can get their hands on it. You could call this the “Apple approach,” but it certainly sounds like they are going to wait until the device is on the verge of shipping before making it official.

Here is the statement:

The successor to the Galaxy S II smartphone will be unveiled at a separate Samsung-hosted event in the first half of the year, closer to commercial availability of the product.

Oh, and they will have other products at MWC to check out. Rumors have it that we could see the follow-up to the Galaxy Tab 10.1, assuming you are all still interested in Android tablets.

Via:  Pocket-Lint

I fired up my Sony Blu-ray Google TV tonight and was surprised to see an update available. It’s a decent size at almost 260MB, bringing with it performance enhancements and the ability to play 3D discs.

If you are not prompted to update, head into System Settings>About>System updates and pull it manually.