SlashGear Week in Review - Week 40 2010

Another week come and gone and another Week in Review is here for your perusal. Verizon Wireless has started to refund customers money that it overcharged for wireless access. The charges apparently went on for years and the refunds will cost Verizon about $90 million.

The Sharp IS03 Android smartphone surfaced this week with a 9.6MP camera and a display that is as high resolution as the iPhone 4 screen. That screen is 3.5-inches and the phone has a 1GHz Snapdragon processor. The really cool Skylifter balloon concept surfaced this week. The massive balloon is designed to carry huge equipment into remote areas that weighs up to 150 tons.

A new Android smartphone has turned up called the Altek Leo 3.5G. The official PR images where shown off and the thing has a 14MP camera with a ship date set for Q1 2011. Researchers have issued a report claiming that Apple iOS usage share is 4.9 times that of Android. The reports was in response to one that claimed Android was overtaking Apple iOS and only proves fan boys can spin numbers any way they want.

The official launch date for Windows Phone 7 is set for Monday October 11. The first handsets will hit AT&T that Monday and I hope the mobile OS is better received than the Kin phones were. The Samsung Wave II S8530 smartphone is getting a larger 3.7-inch Super LCD and dropping the previous 3.3-inch AMOLED panel. The real issue is that the phone is expected to run Bada, which is the worst part about the phone.

UD Replicas unveiled some really cool and supremely geeky replica motorcycle suits that look like the suits from the coming Tron flick. The suit for guys looks like the one Sam Flynn wears in the movie. AT&T whipped out three new Android smartphones early in the week including the Bravo, Flipout, and Flipside. All three of the devices run Android 2.1 and have Motoblur with prices running from $79.99 to $129.99.

Verizon has announced that the Droid Pro will be landing in the coming weeks. The phone will have a touchscreen with a full QWERTY keyboard and looks a lot like a Blackberry. Word that Call of Duty: Black Ops will have 3D as an option surfaced this week. I can only imagine how cool playing this game in 3D will be.

ThinkGeek started shipping the Star Wars Wampa Rug this week. The thing looks like a bearskin rug made out of the pelt of a snow monster from Hoth. Western Digital unveiled new external storage solutions with USB 3.0 connectivity. One of the new drives could be had in up to 3TB storage capacity.

The Logitech Revue Google TV box made its official debut this week for $299 on pre-order. The box lets you do all sorts of stuff like watch web content on your TV and tons more. Those rumors of a Verizon iPhone won't die. Rumors circulate claiming that the iPhone for Verizon will go into mass production starting at the end of 2010.

If you are one of the users of Netflix on the PS3, you may get tired of having to use that disc to get access. Disc-free access for the game console is due to land this month. Rumors of a 11.6-inch MacBook Air continue to circulate and create lots of buzz. The rumors are being fed by the fact that stock of the current Air are out everywhere.

PayPal has updated its iPhone app and the update allows users to deposit checks without going to a bank. Depositing checks requires images to be taken of the front and back of the check and money hits the PayPal account about six days later. Kingston unveiled its new microSD card with 32GB of storage this week. The tiny card has enough space for thousands of photos and songs.

Rumors abound that a new iPad is coming next year with a Retina display and 128GB of storage. The latest batch of rumors was started by a Wall Street analyst. New features will undoubtedly come with the huge popularity of the tablet. Augen pulled the wraps off six new Android tablets. Several of them are rather mundane, but one very cool tablet has a netbook base with keyboard and lots more.

HTC has offered up a demo of the Windows Phone 7 running HD2. The video demo shows many of the ins and outs of the coming smartphone. iFixit has torn down the Nokia N8 and deemed the phone designed very well inside and the handset is said to be very reparable. The phone looks neat on the inside. Thanks for reading this week's edition!