But still no indication of pricing structure or availability
Although AT&T and Verizon have both announced and launched their variants of the Moto X, T-Mobile customers are still waiting for the carrier to expand on its vague statements from the Moto X's initial launch day. Back when it was announced, T-Mobile's official statement was that the carrier wouldn't be selling the handset directly, but rather Motorola would be handling the distribution. The above training documentation obtained by TmoNews seems to indicate that Google Play, not Motorola, will be handling the sales instead.
A certain launch date or any other details aren't available at the moment, but this one makes us scratch our heads a little bit. Is T-Mobile expecting to just support an unlocked version of the Moto X? That could certainly be the case, but then we're unsure how pricing will break down. We haven't seen Google Play sell devices with contracts or financing — the main way T-Mobile sells phones — before, and we don't really see it starting now.
Hopefully we get a better feel for when the handset will be available for T-Mobile, as well as Sprint, in the coming weeks.
Our complete guide to what’s coming out of Berlin next week
After a relatively low-key CES and Mobile World Congress earlier this year, it’s time for IFA — or Internationale Funkausstellung, to give it its full name — the annual consumer electronics show held in Berlin at the end of the summer. And this year’s IFA looks to be the the busiest yet for major Android announcements and product unveilings. The show proper begins Friday, Sept. 6, but the big press conferences start from Wednesday, Sept. 4.
IFA has traditionally been a major event for Samsung, and of course the Korean company is sure to have its share of big announcements this year, too. But we’re also expecting phones, tablets, cameras and more from other manufacturers like Sony and LG.
Naturally, we’ll be live from Germany next week to bring you full coverage of IFA 2013. Check past the break to learn about all the awesome Android stuff we’re expecting to see.
Samsung — Galaxy Note 3, Galaxy Gear and possible tablets
Samsung’s got its second “Unpacked” event of 2013 on the evening of Wednesday, Sept. 4. Once again it’s being held at the Tempodrom in central Berlin — that’s the thing in the photo above that looks like a glowing, upturned umbrella. We’ll be liveblogging the whole shebang, and Samsung will also have a live video stream; the action kicks off at 7pm Berlin time (1pm EDT).
Of course we’ll see the Galaxy Note 3 — a device that’s been partially leaked in recent weeks. We more-or-less know that it’ll pack high-end smartphone internals — supposedly a Snapdragon 800 for the LTE variant, and the new Exynos 5 Octa in non-LTE markets — along with oodles of RAM and a camera that’ll probably be an upgrade on that of the Galaxy S4. (Specifically, 13 megapixels with OIS is rumored.)
We also know the front of it will probably look like a Samsung phone — no surprises there — though if the reported 5.68-inch screen size is accurate, it’ll mean that the Note 3 will fit in roughly the same footprint as the Note 2, only with narrower bezels. As usual with the Galaxy Note range, however, the most interesting part of the Note 3 will be what you can actually do with all this hardware. Surely there’ll be a host of new software features, and that’s what we’re expecting Samsung to spend much of Wednesday’s presentation talking about.
This year there’s also a lot of hype surrounding Samsung’s entry into the smartwatch arena, with a device known as the Galaxy Gear. The name, and the fact that it’s a watch, has been all but confirmed at this point, and in a recent interview a Samsung exec also quashed rumors that it’ll use the company’s flexible AMOLED technology. So we’re probably getting a wearable device that actually looks like a watch, as opposed to the kinds of magical space-age bangles we’ve seen in concept drawings.
The use of the Galaxy brand suggests the device will run Android, and it’s going to be really interesting to see how Samsung has adapted Jelly Bean to run on such a low-power device. At the same time, Samsung’s Android lineup is all about delivering the maximum number of cool, eye-catching features, and so we’re sure to see some unique possibilities when the Gear is paired with a GS4 or Note 3.
Finally, we’re long overdue a decent high-end Android tablet from Samsung. We’ve heard rumors and more rumors — and we certainly hope it’ll be time for the Galaxy Note 12.2 — or whatever flavor of Galaxy Tab is next, to make an appearance at IFA. Samsung can make awesome-looking tablet displays, as evidenced by the Nexus 10 and newer devices like the Ativ Q. Next week we’ll be crossing our fingers for some Android tablets that aren’t as forgettable and overpriced as the current Galaxy Tab 3 range.
Sony — Xperia Z1, Z1 'mini' and crazy lens cameras
Another longstanding big player at IFA, Sony also has its big press conference on Sept. 4 — at 4pm CET (10am EDT), just hours ahead of Samsung. On the smartphone side, we’re going to see the Xperia Z1 — the smartphone formerly known as “Honami” — and thanks to a steady stream of leaked information and photos, we already know an awful lot about Sony’s late 2013 flagship.
According to these leaks, it’ll pack a Snapdragon 800 CPU and a 20-megapixel camera with Sony G Lens, and it’ll look a lot like the Xperia Z, only with taller bezels. It also appears that Sony’s reworked its “skeleton frame” design, as it did between the Xperia Z and Z Ultra. The Z1’s trim seems to have a more metallic finish, compared to the Z’s soft-touch, which should help it to be less of a lint magnet than its predecessor.
It’ll also be interesting to see whether the Z1 sports a “Triluminos” display like the larger Xperia Z Ultra; during our brief time with the Ultra back in June we were impressed with the clarity this delivered compared to earlier (and admittedly lackluster) Sony phone displays.
There are also rumors of a smaller version of the Z1 (a “Z1 mini,” perhaps) going by the codename “Itsuki.” This device has only emerged in shaky photos and rumors in the past week or so. But if, as is being reported, the “Itsuki” can deliver a Snapdragon 800 CPU alongside a 4.3-inch, 720p screen, it could instantly conquer the small-form-factor Android phone space. (That’s assuming the manufacturer can successfully charm international carriers.)
Finally, onto Sony’s “lens cameras” — a class of product that sounded too crazy to be real when we first reported it weeks ago. Yet subsequent leaks have essentially confirmed that Sony is working on a compact “camera within a lens” that straps to the back of your smartphone, turning it into an oversized viewfinder. There are reportedly two models coming, an entry-level unit with point-and-shoot optics and 10X optical zoom, and a higher-end one based on the Sony RX100 Mk. II compact camera. The idea is to provide high-end imaging as a smartphone accessory, in response to devices like the Nokia Lumia 1020 and Galaxy S4 Zoom.
The “lens cameras” are rumored to work with both Android and iOS, which if true could shake up mobile imaging in a big way — assuming the price is right.
LG — More G2, the G Pad 8.3 and maybe something with a 1440p screen
LG has already announced its 2013 flagship phone, the G2, and a U.S. release is expected by the middle of next month. So at IFA we’re expecting the Korean manufacturer to focus on the unannounced tablet that it sorta-announced a few days ago. The LG G Pad 8.3 will show us LG’s vision what a small-form-factor tablet should be in 2013, and if the one press render leak we’ve seen is accurate, there’ll be a lot of crossover with the G2 in terms of hardware design. It’ll also be interesting to see what LG can offer on the software side to compete with the new Nexus 7, which will be reaching even more markets over the next month.
Finally, we’re interested to see what LG’s going to do with that 5.5-inch, 1440p smartphone display it’s cooking up. The obvious choice would be another Optimus G Pro — perhaps a G2 Pro or G Pro 2. The G Pro isn’t old by any means, but LG has cycled through product quickly in the past, and a new oversized phone with such an eye-popping display could present it with a way to leapfrog local rival Samsung.
Others
But it isn’t just about the big press conferences. We’ll be hitting the show floor to bring you devices from the smaller manufacturers, and there’s always some interesting stuff to be found at the European carrier booths. At the same time, IFA is about more than phones and tablets, so we might even see Android embedded in new classes of device. (We’ve already had an Android-powered oven. How about an Android refrigerator or dishwasher?)
There’re also going to be new phones and tablets from Archos on the way. And on the HTC side, there've been rumors in recent weeks surrounding the blue HTC One, the HTC One "Max" and the Mini+, the miniature “phone for your phone.”
So stick around for a busy, busy week of new Android devices. And hit the comments to let us know which you’re looking forward to the most!
Contra: Evolution Contra: Evolution is the first official Contra game for Google Play, bringing all of the run-and-gun action of the 1988 original with 21st century graphics and controls to the palm of your hands ! Bill “Mad Dog” Rizer and Lance “Scorpion” Bean are back to business fighting aliens in the jungles of South America--but can you survive one of the hardest games ever? Collect power-ups, unlock new levels and characters, and take on challenges in this arcade blast from the past. With updated HD graphics that stay true to the classic, get ready for a whole new Contra experience!
Gravi Description Gravi is an intense puzzle-platformer that will test your tolerance for pain.
Shoot and swing your way towards victory as Gravi, an adorable blue ball of energy. While you’re launching through terrorizing traps and bending gravity to your will, Anti-Gravi, an atomic ball of rage, is barreling down on your position.
After losing yourself in the ridiculously trap-filled underbelly of an alien test facility, you must use your wits and perseverance to solve a series of perplexing puzzles. Along the way, your limits will be put to the test by all sorts of absurdly dangerous hazards.
Snatch up collectibles and fight off Anti-Gravi on your path to freedom. If you can survive Gravi’s 40 unique levels and best Anti-Gravi at his own game, you just might make it out alive.
K-@ Mail Pro - email evolved K-10 Mail Pro is the first and only email client for Android!
K-10 Mail Pro is the first and only email client for Android that combines a gorgeous graphical design with great user experience and the power of K-9 “under the hood”.
Important: K-10 Mail is neither the successor to K-9 nor to Kaiten Mail. K-10 and Kaiten Mail are two different apps from two different developers.
Please note: Exchange accounts are NOT supported yet.
Highlights:
Beautiful yet simple design for a great user experience
Automatic setup for many popular email services like Yahoo, Hotmail or Gmail
Supports more email services via IMAP, POP3 and/or SMTP
Split-screen views on tablet sized screens
Localized in more than 20 different languages
Encryption and signatures (PGP)
Highly configurable and customizable
Supports:
Phones and Tablets
Portrait and landscape mode
All screen types and sizes
Keyboard, trackball and touch screen
Android 2.2, 2.3, 3.x, 4.x
What's in this version: (Updated : Aug 28, 2013)
Transparent theme for message list widget
Contact images in message lists (configurable in global settings - message list)
Contact images in message headers (configurable in global settings - message)
Contact images in message list widgets (configurable in the widget configuration)
Contact images in notifications
Multi-select boxes can be turned off for message lists
3D iOS7 Parallax Luve WallPaper The best 3D Parallax effect ever on your Android device!
Lone hiPPo presents to you a stunning Live Wallpaper that recreates the recently launched Parallax Depth effect in iOS7, complete with simple yet powerful customization features.
iOS 7 is currently in its final leg of release. The parallax effect was one awesome feature that Apple brought in along with vibrant usage of colors in the refreshed UI. iOS7 Parallax Effect essentially creates a neat depth perception to the device's homescreen thus bringing your background images to life.
3D iOS7 Parallax Live Wallpaper for Android brings the same feature to your Android phone or tablet with plenty of configurable options. The result is an amazingly immersive experience that you can show off on your handsome device.
3D iOS7 Parallax Live Wallpaper is not a standalone app, but is a Live Wallpaper for your Android home screen. This LWP literally takes immersive experience to the next level with easy-to-use and understand customizations. The customizations themselves are pretty nifty and pack a punch in making the experience incredibly realistic in low and high end phones alike. A lot of care has been taken to ensure that battery isn't eaten up and our LWP makes sure that there is no unnecessary leak or performance glitches.
Features:
Realistic iOS 7 like immersive parallax experience
Ability to configure inclination & background movement
Choose from a set of built-in full-HD Wallpapers
Ability to choose your own Custom Wallpaper
Save battery by reducing switching to low performance mode
Enhance performance by switching to low image buffer mode
Try the 3D iOS7 Parallax Live Wallpaper on your Android Device right away!
One of my favorite features in the LG G2 is the ability to wake the phone without using the power button by tapping twice on the screen. Called "Knock Knock" or "Knock On," it's sort of a necessary side effect from the power button being on the back of the phone. You might want to wake the phone to see a notification, but not necessarily pick it up to do so.
Nokia has done this in the past, and you can get the same sort of feature with a custom kernel. But this is the first time we've seen an Android manufacturer build it in.
And, so, we knock. Or tap. A double wrap on the dark display wakes the phone. From there, you can double tap again on the lock screen to put it back to sleep.
With the power button on the back of the phone, LG needed a new way to wake it up.
Now this doesn't work everywhere, for the obvious reasons. You can't just go around double-tapping the display while you're in an app, or on widgets on the home screen. That'd break how apps and widgets work.
But you can "knock knock" on a black space on a home screen — or in the status bar that's always at the top of the screen — to put the phone back to sleep.
If you don't want to use the feature, you don't have to. And you can turn it off in the settings, if you prefer. (Go to Settings>General>Gestures>Knockon.)
Why aren't other manufacturers offering this kind of battery life?
Verizon has been pushing its three-tiered Droid strategy for a couple generations now, and the highest-end phone of the group has always sported a gigantic battery. The case is no different with the latest roundup of Droids — the Droid Mini, Droid Ultra and Droid Maxx — where the $299 on-contract Maxx has a substantially larger battery than the other two.
At 3500mAh it is over 64 percent more capacity than the Droid Ultra and 75 percent more than the Mini, while still fitting into a casing that is only 8.5mm thick. While Motorola claims an already high (but higher than we've experienced) 28 hours of "mixed usage" on the Droid Ultra, it claims an absurd 48 hours on the Maxx variant.
Throughout our time with the Droid Maxx, however, we found you can actually push closer to that 48 hour claim than you may think.
We consider ourselves pretty "regular" users when it comes to our app and service usage on smart phones, and we certainly don't go out of our way to prolong battery life outside of turning off the screen when we're not using it. With the same regular usage that gave us somewhere in the realm of 15-18 hours of battery out of the Droid Ultra (maybe over 20 if we had a really long day), we were able to push the Droid Maxx to about 40 hours of usage.
Now it should be said that in order to test how long the battery would last the Droid Maxx sat idle, simply pulling down updates and email with the screen off, while we slept for about 8 hours over night. That alone is going to bump up the total number of hours of use we are showing here. But that being said, it helps us further our explanation of how great battery life is on this handset — you can easily use the Droid Maxx from when you wake up in the morning until you go to bed the next night without charging it in between.
As our own Phil Nickinson is one to remind us, why not just plug your phone in at night? Well most of us will plug it in, or drop the Droid Maxx on a Qi charging pad, but even those who are diligent about charging their phone every night can still see value in the battery life here. There's something extremely liberating about carrying a phone that you are 100 percent not at all worried about dying, no matter what you use the phone for.
Watch a 2-hour movie from Google Play in the middle of the day? Hotspot for your computer and tablet for a couple hours? Take dozens of photos and videos? It literally does not matter what you do, the battery just doesn't die on this device.
Better yet, aside from a larger battery the Droid Maxx has more storage (32GB) and wireless charging when compared to the Droid Ultra, but is identical to it in every other way. You're getting the same great software experience and performance as the slightly more svelte sibling, with all of Motorola's newest features and a battery that will stand up to you using them for hours on end every day.
When you add up all of the improvements, its hard not to recommend spending the extra $100 on the Maxx over the Ultra. If you're a power user, traveler or just want a phone you never have to worry about the battery on, the Droid Maxx really is the phone to look at.
The NVIDIA Shield handheld Android gaming system — or HAGS, as no one but us apparently has ever called it — just got another software update that adds a couple interesting features to the Tegra 4 platform. Here's what's new:
You can now move apps and app files from the internal storage to an SD card.
Miracast streaming is improved with Actiontec ScreenBeam Pro.
Better PC streaming, gamepad detection and WIfi
Now supports Tegra developer tools
That's Software Update 59 (so simply named — we could get used to that) — and it's available now by going to Settings>About>System updates.
If you love incredible racing games, CSR Racing APK is the only FREE racing game you need to play. Race your dream car in the ultimate test: a drag race along deserted city streets. CSR Racing combines stunning, high-fidelity graphics with addictive gameplay to create a new type of racing experience.
Upgrade your Audi R8, BMW M3 or Chevy Corvette with turbos, nitrous injection and aerodynamic tweaks to beat tougher and tougher opponents. And when you’re ready, it’s time to challenge the crews that rule the city.
STUNNING GRAPHICS Featuring a breakthrough in graphics fidelity, CSR Racing smashes the barriers between consoles and your Android device. Stunning detail and next-gen lighting combine to beat any 1080p console racing game on the market.
LICENSED CARS Officially licensed cars from Audi, Bentley, BMW, Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford, GM, Mini, McLaren, Pagani, and Nissan; incl. Audi R8, Ford GT, Chevrolet Camaro, McLaren MP4-12C, Nissan GT-R, BMW M3 and a few surprises!
THE ULTIMATE CHALLENGE R8 vs GT-R, Continental Supersports vs SLR McLaren. Your car against theirs. In a straight line. It’s about power, skill and tactics. Hit the right revs and let that turbo work. But deploy the nitrous at the wrong time, and you’re toast.
UPGRADE YOUR CAR Choose from turbos, engine stages, ECU tweaks, racing tires and much more to strategically upgrade your car to fit your driving style. But remember: no two cars are the same – don’t overload a RWD on skinny tires with power it can’t handle.
CUSTOMIZE YOUR RIDE Make a statement with custom license plates, custom paints and original custom decals.
RULE THE CITY You are not alone. The crews that rule the city are watching you, and you will soon face their best drivers. Beat their bosses, and you’ll take over their district. So far so good – but all is not what it seems…
—-
Requires Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) and above.
Make sure you play with your device connected to the internet to gain access to the latest content and features, and to ensure that your profile is backed up.
PLEASE NOTE! CSR Racing is free to play, but it contains items that can be purchased for real money. To prevent unauthorised purchases, select “Set or Change PIN” from the Google Play settings menu, create a PIN, then enable the “Use PIN for Purchases” option. You will then be required to enter your PIN before every transaction. Please be aware that this option is only available on Android OS 3.x and above.
CSR Racing is published by NaturalMotion Games
————————————–
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/csrracinggame Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CSRRacing Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/naturalmotiongames
** DON’T MISS OUR OTHER GAMES!! Backbreaker, Backbreaker 2, Jenga and My Horse; find them on Google Play now!**
We will always advocate picking your carrier before picking your phone, but sometimes the allure of a specific phone can be too much to overcome. Millions switched to AT&T to get access to the first four iPhones, BlackBerry faithful jumped to Verizon and Vodafone to get the first BlackBerry Storm, and old Palm fans moved to Sprint to pick up a Palm Pre. They made these moves not out of interest in monthly savings or coverage, but for a specific device - one exclusive to that carrier.
These carrier exclusives have long been a fact of life in the smartphone space, but with smartphones becoming something that even the average consumer has an opinion on, they're increasingly becoming more of a headache. When it comes to smartphones, there's little worse than the new hotness landing on a different carrier than yours and you finding yourself a year away from getting out of your contract without forking over a heft ETF.
Exclusives can be good for manufacturers, no doubt. But can they be bad for them too? And are they bad for consumers outside of the frustration of denial? And what about all of the apps and services that the carrier insists on loading on these handsets - are they useful, or just useless bloat?
Just what are the carriers doing here, and what does it mean?
Let's get the conversation started!
by Rene Ritchie, Daniel Rubino, Kevin Michaluk, Phil Nickinson
Carrier-exclusive devices have long been and continue to be a major component of mobile telephony, and the have long been and continue to be a major pain in the ass. There are pros and cons to carrier exclusives, of course. In the interests of fairness, let's start with the "pros" column.
Carrier exclusives can be good for manufacturers. While it may mean limiting the potential addressable market (sometimes only temporarily) to a single carrier in a nation, it also means that they're going to have the obscene marketing budget of that carrier lavished on their device. They'll have dedicated in-store displays, better training for the store's staff, and in exchange for having to make a device just for that carrier, they might even be able to argue less with the carrier over how much they're going to be paid.
This creates variety in the marketplace. Take Nokia as an example. AT&T has the polycarbonate Lumia 920, while T-Mobile got the Lumia metal-and-polycarbonate 925 with an improved camera. Verizon got another variant in the Lumia 928, with a squared-off polycarbonate body, improved camera, and xenon flash.
That variety leads to expansive the "cons" column. Exclusives for different carriers increase device maker's manufacturing load. The Lumias 920, 925, and 928 are rather similar devices, but differences in screens, body, camera, etc mean that Nokia has sees increased complexities.
Samsung used to fall into that trap, exemplified best by the Galaxy S II. It was packaged in different shells with different screens on different carriers. Sprint even had a version with a slide-out physical keyboard. After the success of the varied S II line, Samsung had enough power to assert the S III as they made it on the carriers. Apple jumped straight to the power-over-the-carriers position; the only consideration they would make for carriers was compatible radios and bandwidth restrictions.
What if you want the Lumia 928, but you're on AT&T? Tough luck, you can't have it.
Exclusives suck the most for customers, though. What if you want the Lumia 928 with its thinner body and xenon flash, but you're on AT&T? Tough luck, you can't have it. But you can have a Lumia 1020 with its insane camera. But you can't have a Motorola Droid Maxx, because those belong only on Verizon.
Carrier exclusives limit customer choice, forcing us to choose a carrier by not just the quality and price of their service, but by their ability to manipulate manufacturers. That's not fair to anybody.
Ah, bloatware. The scourge of any self-respecting smartphone nerd. The definition of bloatware can vary a little bit. In the strictest sense, it’s an app — any app — that’s preloaded onto the phone by the operator and isn’t native to the operating system. Maybe you find some of those apps useful. But they’re still taking up room on your phone, and you didn’t load them yourself.
And in many cases — and on Android phones in particular — these apps can be impossible to uninstall without hacking the phone.
Bloatware is evil. But it’s also a method by which the operators can add additional functionality to a phone. And to make more money in the process.
Bloatware’s not a given, though. Apple had the bargaining power to keep the operators from preloading apps onto its phones and tablets. Microsoft allows it but keeps tighter a tight rein on things. BlackBerry 10 is pretty clean. Android is wide open and a freakin’ mess. Hell, back in the day we saw the likes of Verizon strip out some Google services and replace them with Microsoft’s - Bing search as a default on Android? That ain't right.
Most folks just put up with it. Out of sight, out of mind. Or maybe you find the apps useful. There’s actually nothing wrong with that, never mind what the nerds tell you. The carrier apps usually aren't alone - sometimes there are manufacturer apps, or some useful apps you're likely to download anyway, like Netflix of Kindle.
If it bothers you enough, you can hack into your phone and start deleting apps.
If it bothers you enough, you can hack into your phone and start deleting apps. Or, on some platforms, you can load a custom ROM and start from scratch. Or, our favorite method is to vote with your wallet. Give money to an operator and manufacturer that doesn’t load up your phone with apps you don’t want, or go with one that at least makes it easy to remove the bloat.
But in the end, the platform owners have the best chance at protecting our sensibilities. They have to take control of their end product. Apple’s done it. Microsoft is sort-of doing it, as has Samsung. The operators want their own little section of an app store to peddle their wares? Fine. But quit putting crap in our shopping carts.
There's nothing worse than buying a shiny new phone and finding it comes pre-loaded with all this crap you're never going to use.
- Alex Dobie / Managing Editor, Android Central
In 2013, the division in hardware manufacturers is pretty stark. On one side, you have Apple and Samsung, who can seemingly snap their fingers to get all the networks on board with their “next big thing”. And then there’s everyone else.
Why the discrepancy? It all has to do with market power. As soon as one smartphone maker sells enough phones and amasses enough consumer recognition, they can push back against carrier control and demand what they want. The tables can be turned far enough such that it's the carriers that are the ones groveling at the manufacturer's feet - case in point: iPhone.
When you're not in a powerful position, you're at the will of the carrier.
Some manufacturers just have enough history with carriers that they can offer the devices they want, as BlackBerry and HTC can. But others, like LG and Nokia have to play by the carrier's rules. That can mean exclusive devices, sometimes with what some might view as alterations for the sake of alterations. When you're not in a powerful position, you're at the will of the carrier.
Of course, there's some benefit to the manufacturer in going along with the carrier's demand for an exclusive. They often get significant marketing support - think Verizon's Droid ad campaigns, Sprint's commercials featuring the Palm Pre, or AT&T advertising the Nokia Lumia 1020. Exclusive phones also get better store staff training, and even sometimes a better subsidy deal for the manufacturer. When you’re the underdog, trading wider availability for an exclusive beats the “we’ll put it on our shelves, but won’t push it” alternative.
So what can consumers do to change this? Well, ironically one option is for a device to become such a hit, the other carriers have to offer the same or similar device on their network just due to market pressure, as has been the case with the iPhone and Samsung's Galaxy S and Note lines.
Another option? People need to prepare to put their money where their mouth is. If your carrier doesn’t offer the device you want, or has a history of being late on the hardware front, then you need to pack your things and go to another carrier that does (and still has service where you live, of course). You might have to trade-off data speeds of monthly costs, but perhaps what you are buying is a better selection.
Love Gmail and want a phone that offers more Google goodness? How about a Samsung? Or an HTC? Or an LG, a Sony, or a hundred variations from any of a dozen manufacturers? You can get an HTC One or Samsung Galaxy S4 running manufacturer-altered Android, or one with stock Android. Or there's a Nexus from Google (but built by LG) that runs stocker than stock Android.
Wait, that’s complicated. You have a Samsung TV and want a Samsung phone. There's a Galaxy S4 that runs Android; but the TouchWiz version or the Google Play edition version? Or if you prefer Microsoft, there's one running Windows Phone 8. No? Okay, there’s this Tizen thing that... nevermind.
Let’s try again. You’re on Verizon. They have Samsung's Galaxy, running Google's Android. They have their exclusive Droid line, also Android, but made by Motorola. They also have LG Android phones, Samsung and Nokia Windows Phones, and phones from Apple and BlackBerry – heard of them?
No, no, don’t cry, these two are easier. Apple makes the iPhone and BlackBerry makes the Z10, Q10, and Q5. They both run their own software and are mostly the same on every carrier. Apple even has their own stores. Cool?
Some companies, like Google and Microsoft, make software that runs phones - Android and Windows Phone, respectively. They license it to others that build phones. They don’t really care which phone you buy, as long as it runs their software. You love their other software, you’ll love them on phones, they swear!
Then there's Samsung, Nokia, HTC, LG, Sony, and a dozen others that build phones. They take that software, add in some a bundle of their own code, and then offer a bunch of phones. They don’t care what software you run, as long as you buy their phone. Some make other stuff too, like refrigerators or consoles, and they think you’ll love their phones.
At the end of the day they’d rather you buy any phone from them over any phone from another carrier.
Lastly, you have carriers like Verizon, Vodafone, T-Mobile, EE, Rogers, et al. They don’t make diddly-squat, but they’re often where you go to buy everyone else’s stuff. They may prefer you buy one phone over another, depending on their profit margins, but at the end of the day they’d rather you buy any phone from them over any phone from another carrier. Also, you had your flip phone from them, and you loved that, right?
Why won’t you stop screaming?
The smartphone buying experience is kind of weird - you're simultaneous buying from a carrier, a manufacturer, and a platform.
- Derek Kessler / Managing Editor, Mobile Nations
There's no doubt that carrier exclusives are one of the great frustrations of smartphone enthusiasts. Of course, they're merely looking out for their own best competitive interests, and so long as the manufacturers are willing to play along - of have no choice but to - that's not going to change.
There are some manufacturers that have been able to get around the exclusives deal. Apple and Samsung have by sheer willpower. HTC and BlackBerry, which the networks want to carry, don't have the money to do the exclusives deal. Nokia's perfectly willing to play the exclusives game, offering slightly modified versions of the same device on three different carriers - but they can get away with it thanks to the line's comparatively inexpensive hardware.
Carrier exclusives have been great for some carriers (AT&T with the iPhone) and awful for some manufacturers (the Palm Pre on Sprint). But by and large they've been a pain for customers. If you pick your carrier by the quality of their coverage in your area, then you're limiting your device options.
For as much pain as exclusives have been, the likes of the iPhone, Galaxy S4, Q10, and One show signs of that trend abating. Are we on the cusp of greater cross-carrier availability, or is this just a blip on the exclusivity radar?
After a relatively low-key 
