ICS-based MIUI ROM arrives on the Samsung Galaxy S II

After Google open sourced Ice Cream Sandwich, the developers community over at XDA has been hard at work to bring ICS-based ROMs before updates to ICS officially start arriving on carriers. And here’s one new take on that with the MIUI Fresh ROM for the Samsung Galaxy S II, which supports all of the features of Samsung’s dual-core flagship and is ICS-based.

MIUI Fresh comes with visuals typical for the ROM, so that’s something that you’d better check out and if you like, you can hit the source link for all the instructions about how to flash it. XDA’s adyscorpius has done all the hard work to bring the ROM to its current 2.1 version. As we said, it supports all of Galaxy S II’s features including the 8-megapixel camera and microSD card slot for extending memory.

Sprint to Deploy Faster LTE in 2013 to Keep Up in 4G Race

Sprint announced plans to deploy LTE-Advanced technology in 2013, indicating the company's entry into the 4G race won't end with its rollout of a regular LTE network next year.

Speaking at the 4G World conference in Chicago yesterday, Iyad Tarazi, Sprint's vice president of network deployment and engineering, said the carrier expects to upgrade to faster LTE technology in the first half of 2013.

LTE-Advanced is a "true 4G" standard, according to the International Telecommunications Union, and Sprint expects its 4G devices to reach speeds of 12-15 Mbps after the upgrade, which are comparable to what Verizon subscribers get now on its leading, regular LTE network.

The Overland Park, Kan.-based company's announcement speaks to its efforts to challenge competitors Verizon and AT&T in the race for the fastest network.

Verizon was the first carrier to launch 4G LTE, and its network is surpassing growth projections. The company expects to open up 13 more LTE markets next month, bringing its total to 178 and reaching 185 million U.S. residents by the end of the year.

AT&T plans to launch LTE service in five cities Sunday, and expects to add at least 15 more markets by the end of the year. The carrier's acquisition of T-Mobile may gain spectrum to challenge Verizon's 4G LTE domination, if it passes regulatory hurdles.

In contrast, Sprint is late to the starting line in the 4G race, but Tarazi assures the carrier will have more than 250 million subscribers under its LTE umbrella by 2013.

Theoretically, LTE-Advanced can support speeds up to one gigabyte per second when users are stationary and 100 megabytes per second when they are mobile, about 10-20 times faster than Verizon's network. Many factors can bring down those speeds, though, including lack of spectrum.

Some may question whether Sprint's spectrum has the capacity to support its ambitious LTE upgrade plans. It's unclear whether the carrier's tangled relationship with Clearwire, which has 4G designs but lacks the cash to realize them, can support LTE-Advanced speeds.

Sprint's partnership with Lightsquared may also boost spectrum, but until Lightsquared clears up regulatory concerns over GPS interference, that deal is questionable as well.

Sprint's investors, however, have already expressed concerns over the carrier's cash outlays for potentially high-risk strategies, including acquiring rights to the iPhone 4S.

As Sprint opens its wallet once again to make its LTE-advanced plans a reality, it may need to convince investors and subscribers before the risk pays off.

Sprint will move to LTE-Advanced in 2013, unlimited data is here to stay

Sprint's vice president of network development and engineering, Iyad Tarazi, said that the carrier will be having LTE-Advanced Release 10 deployed in a 10x10 setup by the first half of 2013, to take advantage of its carrier aggregation feature, and bring 12-15 Mbps download speeds on average in realistic scenarios. Unlimited data is also here to stay, Sprint clarified, noting that it will be specifically building capacity to support what it views as one of its most strategic offerings.

The launch of its LTE services will start mid-2012 using the company's 1900 MHz spectrum, and move also to the 800MHz now occupied by iDEN. Sprint said it will have 250 million to 277 million POPs covered with LTE by the end of 2013, which means it will have a bigger LTE footprint than its existing CDMA network by that time. Where are Verizon and AT&T going to be then is another matter entirely.

At least 12 LTE devices are in store for next year and although they will be using the network just for data, Voice over LTE is to come at a later date, around the first quarter of 2013. The WiMAX network provided by Clearwire will be supported in the years ahead because of contractual obligations, so those who have WiMAX devices needn't worry, although Sprint will stop selling them at the end of 2012.

If you are also concerned about the download speeds with your shiny new iPhone 4S on Sprint, Mr Tarazi confirmed that the carrier will upgrade its EV-DO network as well to support the existing 3G smartphone customers. He expects the number of small femtocells deployed to grow to more than 1 million by the first half of 2013.

It certainly seems like Sprint is spreading itself pretty thin with so many wireless technologies to provide and support, but the ultimate goal apparently is LTE-Advanced, where Verizon and AT&T will be heading in the future too.

Pantech Vega LTE allows for gesture navigation to avoid finger grease

Remember that crazy Pantech Vega LTE phone which sports 800x1280 pixels on a 4.5" LCD display, that rings in 335ppi - the highest pixel density out there? Sadly, it is only sold in Korea for now, but it looks like the folks from Pantech embedded one more "i'm first" feature in the handset - gesture recognition.

They use the front-facing camera to read your hand movements, and the phone reacts accordingly. For now it supports the most common situations, like waving to answer a call, flip an e-book page, browse pictures in the Gallery, or change a song, after your hands have been buried deep in the KFC bucket.

The Pantech Vega LTE is powered by a dual-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S3 processor, and we know Qualcomm has been experimenting with gesture recognition after acquiring GestureTek. So has Texas Instruments, which is powering the new Samsung Galaxy Nexus and Droid RAZR, so hopefully we will see similar tech in other Android handsets soon.

A close look at the Samsung Galaxy S II HD LTE

Samsung Galaxy S II HD LTE is pretty much everything an Android aficionado would dream of - except it’s currently landing only in Korea. Hopefully, that doesn’t mean that in a certain time in the future, we won’t see it land in the States.

The new device, pictured on the right, boasts a 4.65-inch Super AMOLED HD screen with 1280 x 720 resolution, which translates to about 316 pixels per inch.

Other than that, its specs are identical to those of the Gingerbread-laced S II LTE, which is powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core processor and features 16GB of internal memory, an eight megapixel camera that supports 1080p HD video and the usual collection of WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS and NFC capabilities.

 No word yet on pricing or availability, but the Galaxy S II LTE will be available exclusively on SK Telecom, while the HD variant will be available on all three Korean carriers -- SK Telecom, LG U+ and KT.