For those who’ve been wanting to score the iPhone 4S but are not wanting to get tied up with an AT&T or Verizon contract, regional carrier Bluegrass Cellular is offering an alternative option. Starting May 18, Bluegrass Cellular will be offering the iPhone 4S with a base price of $149 provided that you’ll sign-up for a two-year contract. The carrier is also offering three price plans to go with your purchase of the iPhone 4S and all of these plans offer 3GB of data. The plans provide different free minutes allowance as follow – Individual 200 for $64.99 with 200 voice minutes across any network and 600 minutes of on-network calling and unlimited text, Individual 550 for $79.99 with 550 minutes across networks and unlimited on-network minutes and Individual Unlimited which is an all-you-can-eat plan for $99.99. Additionally, the $149 price tag is for the 16GB iPhone 4S. If you want the 32GB or 64GB models you’ll have to pay $249 and $349 respectively. Bluegrass Cellular is accepting pre-orders starting today and your iPhone 4S shall be delivered on May 18. Via [SlashGear]  
Also at CTIA Wireless 2012, Nokia has announced that several Windows phone apps will become available for Lumia smartphones and these apps will be exclusive to devices in the Lumia series. So, if you’re a Nokia Lumia phone owner, you might want to check out for new Windows phone apps coming to your devices pretty soon, these include – PGA Tour app which will be exclusive to Lumia phones for 12 months, ESPN Hub exclusive the whole month of May, Groupon updated app exclusive in six months starting this summer and AOL Entertainment Hub which will be exclusive to Lumia phones for six months as well. Nokia also announced several new Windows Phone apps which will be available not only for Lumia smartphones but for other devices as well, these include Angry Birds Space, FIFA, Madden, NFL, NBA Jam, Tiger Woods PGA Tour, Mirror’s Edge, Yatzee, Paypal payment app, Time Magazine, Newsweek Daily Beast, and Box for Windows Phone. Via [Nokia]  
Aside from the Hydro Android smartphone which Kyocera unveiled at CTIA Wireless 2012, the company also announced another Android 4.0 smartphone, the Kyocera Rise. Similar to the Hydro, the Kyocera Rise is being touted as a budget-friendly Android smartphone. Said device comes with a four-row QWERTY slide-out keyboard and also runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. It has a 3.5-inch IPS LCD touchscreen with a resolution of 480 x 320, 512MB of RAM, 3.2MP camera with LED flash, 30fps video recording capability and also the same 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8655 processor as the Hydro. Connectivity-wise, the Kyocera Rise supports EVDO Rev.A together with Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR. This points to the fact that it might be carried by Verizon or Sprint. Other features of the Kyocera Rise include USB, a microSD card slot, accelerometer, digital compass, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor and GPS. No pricing details were divulged yet, but the Kyocera Rise is expected to become available during the second half of 2012. Via [Kyocera]  
What is being reviewed?Up for review today is the Brookstone Bluetooth Keyboard Pro for the iPad 2 (and new iPad). This keyboard case is selling for $149.99 and is currently available by way of the Brookstone website. Disclaimer: The Bluetooth Keyboard Pro was provided to GadgeTell by Brookstone for the purpose of this review. 
My thoughtsThe Brookstone Bluetooth Keyboard Pro is a keyboard and portfolio style case combo. The folks at Brookstone tout this as being made of “luxurious top-grain leather” right on the box. And well, true to the words — this case is made of a nice leather. As soon as the box was opened the room filled with that wonderful leather smell. The model that I had in for testing and review was brown, however there are a few options available including matte black, shiny black, matte brown, distressed brown and shiny red. Perhaps more important than the colors though, this is real leather, which means that it looks good now and will continue to look good with age. Well, that is assuming you care for it properly which really means avoiding water and moisture and the occasional wipe down with a soft dry cloth. On that note, when visiting a public place such as a coffee shop, you may want to give the table a quick wipe before setting down. This keyboard case combo has a magnetic closure as well as magnets holding the keyboard in place on the inside. The keyboard being attached with magnets is nice for a few reasons — one being that is is easy to clean and remove and two being that it can be removed easily for charging. Of course, the keyboard has rather nice battery life which should keep that charging to a minimum. According to what was posted, the keyboard will get about 90 hours of use from a 4.5 hour charge. And while I can say that I have not used the keyboard for 90 hours yet, I have not seen any flashing lights. The flashing lights are the LED indicators which blink when the battery gets low. Otherwise, the keyboard is charged using (an included) USB cable and the keyboard has an on/off switch, connect button to pair with your iPad and indicator lights for caps lock, Bluetooth, charge and power. In terms of the case itself, I already mentioned the leather on the exterior. On the inside you will find a soft rubber material, which I would assume will not only hold up nicely over the long term, but also clean easily should the interior ever get dirty or dusty. The iPad can be propped up in two different viewing angles and the back side has an opening for the rear-facing camera on the iPad. The same goes for the front facing camera and the iPad home button — both are accessible and useable. Touching back on the keyboard, it is on the thin side, which makes it nice when typing. Though it does feel on the flimsy side when removed from the case. Of course, I suspect that would never really be an issue as the keyboard is intended to be used in the case. Still, something worth mentioning. Otherwise, the keyboard is comfortable to type on. In fact, I am using it to write up this review. In terms of size, it is comparable to other keyboards made for the iPad. Similar in size anyway. Lets say that this is smaller than your standard notebook, certainly smaller than the keyboard on my 13″ MBA, but still plenty big enough to knock out lots and lots of words. The keys are chicklet style and feel durable. That is to say that you can mash the keys with little worry about having them stick in place. 
The bottom lineAll said and done, there are plenty of similar offerings for your iPad. On that note, the keyboard seems to be pretty standard in terms of build quality and battery life. What really shines for me is the case, of course I am sort of a sucker for leather. For that reason I would recommend this case. Similar to the Brookstone iPhone projector that I recently reviewed, this is another review item that I wish was able to stick around. That being said, I am not all that convinced I need one personally, however can see the use for the person that has an iPad and does not have a notebook. More to the point, the person that already has an iPad and sometimes finds the need for a notebook style device (without necessarily needing a full notebook). And with that, I am going to close this review out and move onto some other writing work, after all, this leather smell deserves to stick around for a while longer. Product [Brookstone Bluetooth Keyboard Pro]                         
Which one of you are still using old-fashioned flip phones? Are you not quite ready to take a leap into the daunting world of touchscreens? According to a report from Nielsen, women are more likely to adopt smartphones than men (50.9 percent to 50.1 percent), and Asian Americans are currently leading smartphone usage rates at 67.3 percent. Hispanics are next in line at 57.3 percent followed by African-Americans and whites at 54.4 and 44.7 percent respectively. In terms of age, more than two-thirds of the individuals surveyed between 25 and 34 claimed to own a smartphone. Android is still king-of-the hill accounting for 48.5 percent of the smartphone market running some iteration of Google’s OS. Apple users follow in second place at 32 percent, Blackberry at 11.6 percent, Windows Mobile at 4 percent, Windows Phone 7 with a mere 1.7 percent, and “Other” at 2.1 percent. For those of you who haven’t upgraded to a smartphone, what’s keeping you from doing it? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section. Via [Washington Post]
and [Nielsen]  
At CTIA Wireless 2012, Kyocera today announced the new Hydro Android smartphone. Touted as a budget-friendly device running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, the Hydro is said to be certified as waterproof against sprayed water such as rain and immersion in water up to one meter deep for up to 30 minutes. Being such, the Hydro earns the right of becoming Kyocera’s first water resistant smartphone to be marketed in the US. Key features of the Kyocera Hydro smartphone include a 3.5-inch HVGA (480 x 320) IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 3.2MP camera with LED flash and video recording, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB 2.0, and a 1500 mAh battery. The Kyocera Hydro comes with the familiar MSM8655 Snapdragon 1GHz processor and 512MB of RAM. Not a bad-spec’d phone considering that Kyocera is marketing it as an affordable Ice Cream Sandwich device, right? The question now is how affordable this phone will be. As of this writing, there are no words yet on its pricing. But it is scheduled to become available in the second half of this year. Via [Kyocera]  
Virgin Mobile today has announced its new lineup of prepaid wireless plans including 4G WiMax service passed along by Sprint Mobile since the company is a subsidiary of Sprint. To kick off with the WiMax service, Virgin Mobile is making the HTC EVO V 4G smartphone available along with the Sierra Wireless mobile hotspot device and a USB modem. The carrier’s 4G WiMAX plans are priced starting at $35 monthly and will come with 300 minutes of talk time, unlimited text messaging and unlimited data services. However, for the unlimited data, the 4G speeds available will only be good for the first 2.5GB of data within a certain billing cycle. This could increase to 3.5GB if you purchased the hotspot plan with additional pay of $15 monthly. Likewise, there are also available plans for the USB modems and hotspot devices. Prices for these plans start from $35 monthly for unlimited 4G data and 2GB of 3G data. For unlimited 4G data and 4GB of 3G data you can opt to get the $55 monthly plan. As for the HTC EVO V 4G smartphone, this device will set you back $300 if you opt to get it with no-contract. For those not aware, the HTC EVO V 4G is an Android 4.0 ICS smartphone with 5MP camera with video and 3D HD imaging, 1.3MP front-facing camera, 4.3-inch qHD touchscreen display, 1GB of RAM, external microSD support, HDMI and Bluetooth connectivity. The device boasts a 1730mAh battery which is said to last for up to six hours of talktime. Via [Virgin Mobile]  
Instacast for iOS has been updated and the new version has arrived as 2.0. And judging from the what’s new section in the App Store listing — this is a rather big update. Aside from new features, the Instacast app also as a new price. Effective immediately the app is priced at $0.99 (down from $1.99). And for those looking for a bit more power, you will have the option to get the Instacast Pro in-app purchase for $1.99. In terms of what you will get with Instacast Pro — those features include Playlists and Smart Playlists, Bookmarks with Import/Export, Settings for individual Podcasts and Push Notification for new episodes. Otherwise, the $0.99 version of Instacast 2.0 now features the following goodies; - Revamped and improved user interface
- Episode archiving
Improved Podcast Player with: - Sleep Timer
- Continuous Playback backward and forward
- List of episode links
- Sharing of playback position via email and Twitter
- Chapter Navigation
Improved podcast Auto-Download management Download Manager with: - Pause and cancel downloads
- Reorder downloads to set priority
Improved podcast feed parser with: Support for Atom feedsSupport for MP3 chapter markersSupport for Multi-Format PodcastsSupport for Episode Deep LinkingVoiceOver supportData Export
Finally, Instacast 2.0 requires iOS 5.0 or later for use and is compatible with the iPhone and iPod touch. Via [Instacast (iOS App Store link)]        
While we obviously still need the official confirmation from AT&T, it is looking like the carrier plans to launch the Sony Xperia Ion smartphone in June. The details are coming by way of a recently spotted (and probably not intended for primetime viewing) Google advertisement. The details of the ad were rather simple and stated that the “new Sony Xperia ion” smartphone was “coming exclusively to AT&T in June.” Additionally, the ad mentioned the 4G LTE connectivity along with the 12.1 megapixel camera. That begin said, how about it AT&T — any announcement you are needing to make? Via [AndroidPolice]  
Those looking for a 10-inch Android tablet now have another option to consider, the Toshiba Excite 10. The tablet has come available by way of Amazon and the pricing begins at $449.99 for a 16GB model. Additionally, the Excite 10 is available in a 32GB and 64GB storage capacity which are selling for $529.99 and $649.99 respectively. Otherwise, the tablet features a 10.1 inch (1280 x 800) display with Corning Gorilla Glass, a 1.2GHz Tegra 3 processor, 1GB of RAM, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b, microSD card slot, mini USB, micro HDMI and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. That being said, those interested can follow the via link below. Via [Amazon]  | |
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