For Sprint the HTC EVO has help it for the first time stop bleeding more subscribers and gain new subscribers. If you follow our column we have in Laptopmag.com, you can see I call this before any report came out. I called it that the HTC EVO would be the true savior of Sprint unlike the Palm Pre. Looks like this may be coming true. While Sprint definitely still has a lot of work cut out for itself ahead, this is definitely a step in the right direction!

Then you have Motorola. What a turn they have made for themselves in recent days compared to before. At Motorola there was spin offs, attempts to sell their mobile division, and all kinds of trouble over there. Now like Sprint they definitely still have their work cut out for them, but wow at their comeback campaign.

First with the original DROID whose only challenger at the time was the mighty Nexus One, to a multitude of Android devices now. They definitely got the public’s eye back with the DROID, and now their flagship the DROID X is heating up the scene. And it isn’t even over yet, with stories of the DROID 2 coming, Motorola is definitely grabbing mindshare again!

Both companies beaten, weaken, and slowly dying, have been given a lifeline in the form of Google’s Android. Where they go from there is up to them, but if their business turns around, this was the moment it happened!

[Mashable]
[NY Times]

Not to be the last to the announcement party, but yes G Style Magazine will be at the exclusive RIM/AT&T event this Tuesday!

Rumor has it that they will be unveiling the Blackberry 9800 Slider with Blackberry OS 6. If this pans out to be true, then of course we need to be there to see if the next generation of Blackberry devices will bring the style on the hardware & software side.

With strong comp from the likes of Apple and Google, RIM needs to go big or go home with this one, with even out Publisher Jason Anderson taking a hard look at Android. So stay tuned as we’ll probably be live tweeting from the event with a recap post after.

On the homescreen you have six customizable slots of your choosing. They seem to blend in so well too with the design. If you scroll above you have a hidden profile slot. Notifications, time, and meters to your left side. Also this theme is wallpaper friendly so you can have fun with that too. The Apps screen looks good as i touched before as the icons are all created just for the purpose of this theme.

“Tribal” is something you haven’t seen before and may not see anything. It is a different direction and breathes some nice bright colorful life into your blackberry. It also runs smooth and haven’t noticed any lag or slowdown thus using this far. One of my fave from CockyCulture.

Tribal is available for 8350, 8500, 8900, 9000, 9500, 9600, and 9700 series for $4.99. You can pick this up from www.cockyculture.com

Style
We always have to start off with style, for this is what we are about and the Captivate doesn’t disappoint. Funny enough when I see the Samsung Captivate in pictures and even at the media event they had in New York, I wasn’t really too impressed with it. It wasn’t until I got it that definitely had a change of heart. The Samsung Captivate is one sleek piece of hard. Glossy piano black and a beautiful screen on the front, and a nice brush metal back with a carbon fiber pattern. It is squared, but adds a curvy aspect to it’s square design. Speaking of the screen the Super AMOLED is beautiful!. It looks good in clear sun light and phenomenal when watching movies. I encoded Avatar as well as some other movies to test out and you would swear you was watching an LCD HDTV screen in your hands! It looks that good! As for the rest of the look, it is very slim, and very light. Feels good in your pocket and is very easy to use in hand.

Experience
Using the Samsung Captivate is similar to most of the other Android devices out there, so if you have used Android before, then you have a shorter learning curve than most. The Captivate runs on Android 2.1 (though Samsung has said 2.2 is coming soon) and is overlapped with Samsung’s TouchWiz UI. TouchWiz UI isn’t bad at all, just prior to using the Captivate I had used the HTC Aria. Using the Aria got me use to HTC’s SenseUI, so I did miss some of these features going to Samsung. One thing I wasn’t use to is with the Captivate in the Application folder instead of scrolling up and down to view your apps, you go left to right, it is a minor thing, but I prefer up and down.

Performance on the Captivate is smooth and speedy for the most part thanks to it’s 1Ghz Hummingbird processor. I do notice the stutter or slight lag here and there, but for the majority of the time, it is smooth speedy sailing. I do have to note that AT&T has meddle with this device and crippled a cool feature on most Android device, which is side loading apps. However I’m delighted to say that correcting that issue isn’t too complex. I was able to root my phone in 2 minutes and after figuring it out, change that setting. So now I’m able to side load apps with easy. I know other sites in their reviews have that as a bad mark on the Captivate, but I won’t on here. Why, well it isn’t the Captivate’s fault and it is quite easy to fix making it a no issue. So if you don’t have know how or want to bother with it yourself, find any tech savvy kid and they’ll be able to do it for you.

I can’t conclude the experience part without talking about the media aspects. The music player, I’m not to excited about. I mean it gets the job done and I’m sure there is some app for that in the Android Market, but it left me wanting more. The coverflow like way of going to little CDs looks nice, until you realize you are doing that for each song instead of maybe album. On the flip side, watching movies (and I can assume TV shows encoded well) was a dream. Now only was it like I was watching a pocket size 1080P HDTV in my hands, but when you plug in a pair of headphones, you can turn on simulated 5.1 surround sound. This made for a great movie watching experience that to me is unmatched on any phone. We just got the iPhone 4 in, so well load up the same movies on there for a head to head.

To close you can get this from AT&T for 199.99 without the trouble of a mail in rebate. So if you on AT&T and want to go Android, this is the droid you are looking for. If you are trying to device on either iPhone 4 or Android, it will no longer be a easy decision!

Signing up for Rdio is simple enough, and I really like the concept of the service. I’d like to call it Pandora with a social element. You see you can follow other people, invite friends to join and then get music recommendation based upon what your friends are listening to. Great concept I thought, but sorry to say, that doesn’t translate to the mobile app for Android that well. You see for the Android app I’m limited to just Collection (mines) and Playlists (ones I’ve created). I had a quick look back at the Blackberry app just for reference and it really shines on Blackberry. This is actually surprising as normally Android and iPhone apps are better featured than Blackberry ones.

On the Blackberry app you can see Your Queue, Recently Played, and Recently Added. You can also see the Heavy Rotation, Recently Added, and Playlists of those in your network. This mirrors what you can do from the main website as well. I’m actually glad I picked up my Blackberry again as I was ready to now give Rdio good marks based on their Android app. But Rdio is a really great service that shines as least for the Blackberry.

The one thing I can’t get down with on Rdio is the pricing structure. You see after the 3 day trial, unlike a Pandora just to use their main website on a computer you have to pay $5.00 a month. Now if you want to use their mobile app and the main website you have to $10.00 a month. Seems not like a really good choice when you can get Pandora, Last.FM, and even Slacker from the website for free. Now if the website was free, but you had to pay $5.00 a month to be able to use the mobile app with it, I could work with that, but definitely not just the main site for a price.

If Rdio can change up their fee structure I could fully recommend their service. But see for yourself, sign up and check out he 3 day trial (if you can get a invite). Really wish that trial wasn’t just 3 days, a week would be better. Check it out at www.rdio.com

Ok so many of you obviously have heard of Swype and how great typing on that is. Well today I want to show you guys Swift Key. Now this is probably the greatest keyboard I have ever used on a mobile device. I haven’t tried Swype yet so I can’t give you a direct head to head comparison, however I think Jason may have used Swype and we’ll see if he can comment on it.

As for Swift Key, this keyboard sure knows what I’m typing. In the video you can see I’m not that familiar with it yet because i did in fact just install it while I was doing to video. It is really easy to set up and really takes the pain out of typing on small buttons. It is in beta at the moment but once they finish testing, I would be happy to pay for something like this.

Fun Fact: If you start typing and click through the middle choice boxes it will automatically write out, “I am a beautiful person.”

If you are interested in trying out this keyboard for yourself, head over to the market place on search for Swift Key on Android devices. Otherwise try heading to their site www.swiftkey.net and see if it works for other phones from there.

-Universal search
-Enhanced media features
-Social feeds
-Visual, fluid interface
-Social feeds
-BBM (Black Berry Messenger)
-Simultaneous postings
-Richer web browsing
-Pinching and zooming

Well it was a fancy trailer with catchy music but I’ve come to ask myself this. Hasn’t all of this been done already? I mean check out the iPhone or even Android devices. Looks like its about time Blackberry caught up with the rest of the group. Now as you see in the trailer it obviously looks like its being controlled via touch. Last question remaining would be: What happens to the trackball/trackpad?

On the surface there are 10 customizable icons at your leisure. Whats great is it has a hidden dock so if just want to display the beauty of the wallpaper of your choosing go right ahead. Under that is three tabs for Messages,Calendar and Profile. Scroll a little more to the right and you also have Connections and Options. If you hold your Alt button and press “$” you have a nice sms/mms shortcut. This theme also has Calendar Display showing the next 8 appointments you have set up. You have the option to pick themes w/ or w/o this function which is good.

I always like transition screens and this theme carries that as well, a earlier review i did they seem to be one of the 1st using transition screens then. Also if you don’t like transitions, you can get one without it. The app screen also looks like your normal screen, besides the touch of blue rather then the solid black.

Overall I always like the themes presented by Shankeith as times I don’t want the complex icons,m enus or look and I just want something simple to use and run smooth on my Blackberry.

“defined pro” is available now for the Blackberry 8900, 9000, 9630,9 700 with different options for $2.00.
Free trials are also available for use and you can get them at www.shankeith.com

Word comes that today marks the end of the famous brand known as the Sidekick. T-Mobile who owns the brand says that it’s working “on the next chapter of [its] storied Sidekick franchise” and to “stay tuned” for a “fresh” experience.

The Sidekick was one of the veterans of the smartphone era and was a mainstay with children, teens, and even some adults (though they should of grown up already). It will be hard to say goodbye to such a famous and infamous device. We here at G Style Magazine would like to show our respect and we know that you Sidekick is in a better place now! And now as you are carried off, we think this musical selection by Boys 2 Men sums it all up best!

The T-Mobile Sidekick October 1, 2002 – July 2, 2010

Boyz 2 Men - Its So Hard To Say Goodbye to Yesterday.mp3

***Snickers in the background…..It is about time….finally!***

[Engadget]

Your homescreen is where all the fun happens. On it you there is a awesome looking digital display showing the date and time. To the left of that you have a dedicated weather slot or you can use it for other choices. Above that is six more custom slots, bringing you to a nice number of seven. On the very bottom is a today preview window that does a nice job of previewing your sms/mms, emails, calendar messages.

If you see at the top there are different tabs: Phone, People, Media, Utilities. Each one carries four functions per tab giving 16 different options to use. Going to each one is fluid and each tab even has designs representing that particular tab.

The applications screen has a nice look to it from the background to the app icons. The background isn’t friendly to see thru apps or white apps, some may appear barely visible or invisible all together. Most likely highlighting them will bring them back though.

Infinity seems to do good on the battery life. Also haven’t noticed any slowdown or lag thus far using it past couple of days. One of the best if not the best looking theme Elecite has released to date. Can’t wait to see what they have next brewing in their minds.

Infinity is available now for the Blackberry Tour, Storm series, Bold 9700, and Curve 8900 series for $6.99. You can pick this up at www.elecite.com

In terms of specs, this Sprint devices has the same specs as the Captivate, Fascinate, and Vibrant. However this phone features a front facing camera and has a slide out keyboard. Check out some shots in the Gallery and let us know what you think here. No release date or pricing has been mentioned yet, but stay tuned for more.

But really what is this pay option about? So I can watch it at home free, but if want to watch past episodes I have to pony up $9.99 a month. That is fair, I can live with that. Most times it is the most recent shows I want to see, since I may have missed it when it aired on TV. But why isn’t that an options on the mobile apps? I mean can’t I watch the most recent episodes from the app, but if I want to see past ones then pay? That would make more sense, and I would be downloading your app right now onto the iPhone.

I’m a happy Hulu user, I visit your website regularly, I installed the Hulu Desktop app for the Mac, shoot we even only cover HD shows that are on your site. But on this I can’t ride with you, this is where I get off. Again if you offered a limited free option, and then for more the month fee, it would be all good. But don’t charge right away just because we consume the media on the go.

This reminds me a Rdio. They have a great concept, and good service, but they charge you $5 just to use it from the PC, and $10 if you want to use it on PC and mobile. LAME!

Come on Hulu, give us a taste on mobile for free, I promise you’ll hook people in on the monthly anyway. Hulu is a great service, so they will come. Oh and we hear that we still have to view commercials though we would be paying $9.99 a month, really…

Lucky Madison checks out the latest Android device to come to AT&T, the HTC Aria. She gives some information and her thought on this device.

*Publisher’s Note – After this video, I’m proud to announce as owner of this phone, I have successfully rooted my HTC Aria and I’m not able to do all that I want with it. So like she said, be patient and you’ll be able to do all that you want with this device.

Another note, she mention 6 screen, but it is in fact 7.

The color were a little over saturated but overall looked really good. The performance was good, man this device is sexy. It has a 4 inch screen, which is great for screen realty, but I don’t know how I feel about all these larger devices now-a-days. One thing I’m not feeling is that I believe AT&T will cripple this device, just like that have with the BACKFLIP and the HTC Aria. Though I was told this was a pre-production model, when I looked in the settings, missing was the “Install Untrusted devices” options. This is definitely not a good sign.

I guess we shall see when this phone gets release, but I won’t be holding my breath. Other than this, this is definitely a nice device and if there was an Android phone you would want to watch movies on, this is it!

Check out some more shots in the Gallery

Looking like the latest members of the next big hit Boy Band, the Samsung Galaxy S class of phones made their US debut at a event last night here in New York City. And just like a boy band, there is a Galaxy class device for everyone, with Samsung starting off with the big four, there will be a device for AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, and T-Mobile.

From left to right you have the the Captivate for AT&T, the EPIC 4G for Sprint, the Vibrant for T-Mobile, and the Fascinate for Verizon Wireless. All of these devices have 4 inch screens, 1GHz processors, and are able to shoot 720p HD videos. I must say, the screens on all of these phones look GREAT. While they do seem to over-saturate their colors, you probably won’t mind when you see how good watching a movie on it looks. Then there is the performance. Though they told us these were pre-production models, the performance on these devices work great.

So if you are looking for a Android device, Samsung shouldn’t be to hard to find and you won’t have to switch carriers to get one. Oh and also all of these devices will be get Android 2.2 aka Froyo!