Verizon Wireless and Casio today announced the Gz’One Ravine 2, a mil-spec rugged flip phone. The Ravine 2 meets mil-spec 810G for protection against immersion, water, shock and dust, vibration, salt fog, humidity, solar radiation, altitude, and low and high temperatures. It is global phone and can roam on overseas GSM networks, has push-to-talk capabilities, and comes preloaded with the Opera Mini browser. Other specs include a 3.2-megapixel camera with autofocus, flash and camcorder; GPS and VZNavigator; dual displays; Bluetooth 2.1+EDR; and support for microSD cards up to 32GB. The ...

Google today made the source code of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich available to developers. This build of Android is the specific version that will ship on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, the first Ice Cream Sandwich smartphone, and is numbered 4.0.1. Google said that the code contains the entire Android family tree, including 3.2 Honeycomb, but Google prefers that developers ignore Honeycomb and focus all efforts on Ice Cream Sandwich instead. The source code is free to download. Tweet Vote on ...

AT&T today announced that it is boosting the footprint of its Long Term Evolution 4G network on November 20. The handful of new markets include Charlotte, N.C.; Indianapolis, Ind.; Kansas City, Mo.; Las Vegas, Nev.; Oklahoma City, Okla.; and San Juan, Puerto Rico. These six markets bring the total number of markets covered by LTE to 15, increasing AT&T’s LTE coverage to 70 million Americans — which was its goal for 2011. For a limited time, customers who purchase the new LTE-enabled Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 will also receive a Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket or Samsung ...

Google today provided a new release of the Android 4.0 native developer kit so that application writers can access new native APIs (application programming interfaces). The first new native API is called low-level streaming multimedia. This API allows applications to assert total control over media as it is passed from the source to the handset. Google notes an example could be a media application that retrieves data, applies proprietary encryption/decryption, and then delivers it to the handset. The other API added to NDK r7 is called audio decoding into PCM. This API lets native apps ...

The rumors are swirling that the latest Google flagship smartphone, the Galaxy Nexus by Samsung will land November 21 with Verizon Wireless. The device was announced last month and will run Google’s latest and greatest operating system, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS). The Galaxy Nexus offers a massive 4.65-inch Super AMOLED HD touchscreen display, a 1.2GHz dual-core processor and support for Verizon’s 4G LTE data network. Other features include a 5MP camera with LED flash, 1080p HD video recording, a user facing 1.3MP camera for video chats, and NFC support. ...

U.S. Cellular has announced the launch of the Samsung Repp, a new entry-level Android smartphone that should appeal to first-time smartphone buyers. The Repp features Android 2.3 Gingerbread and a 3.2-inch display. Tweet Vote on HN ...

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 is one of the best tablets yet released.Taking a lesson from the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and adding a few features beyond what the Apple iPad 2 offers, this thin, light and longer-lasting tablet is the best option around if you’re more interested in portability than in playing games and watching movies on a 10-inch screen.The slightly smaller size is also a better fit for reading books, browsing the web and checking email.Some might wonder why this model even exists. After all, there’s a slew of 7-inch tablets available, including the Acer Iconia Tab ...

Samsung and AT&T today announced the Galaxy S II Skyrocket, one of the first smartphones capable of using AT&T’s growing Long Term Evolution 4G network. The Skyrocket features a 4.5-inch Super AMOLED Plus display (800×480 pixels); Android Gingerbread 2.3.5; 1.5GHz dual-core processor; 8-megapixel rear-facing camera with LED flash, with 2-megapixel front-facing camera, and 1080p HD video capture; and 16 GB of on-board memory, and support for microSD cards up to ...

Nokia was showing off a flexible display concept at Nokia World this week, but Samsung might beat them to the punch with bringing a mobile phone with a flexible display to the market if the company’s latest statements are to be believed. Samsung says that it plans to have mobile phones with bendable displays on the market as soon as next year.Samsung doesn’t intend to stop with mobile phones, either. It says that it will bring the technology to tablets and other devices after phones. “The flexible display, we are looking to introduce sometime in 2012, hopefully the earlier ...

Both the Samsung Focus S and Focus Flash will arrive at AT&T on November 6th. Tweet Vote on HN ...