The Galaxy S III isn’t due to hit the first retail shelves for another two weeks or so, but Nicollo Rolli from HD Network got his hands on a unit early and took to YouTube to show it off for us. In the video the S III gets compared to the latest top of the line devices from Samsung and HTC. Although the entire video is in Italian (which we don’t understand), the visual comparisons are enough to get more of a feel of the Galaxy S III. If anyone out there does speak Italian, feel free to chime in with anything important shared on the video.

Sprint seems to think that the more press releases they put out, the more phones they will sell. So today they put out a whopping 10 press releases to tell you that the following Sprint stores will be opening at 8am on Friday, May 18th for the HTC EVO 4G LTE launch. Yep, a press release for each city.

• California: 320 Gellert Boulevard, Daly City, CA and 364 S La Cienega Blvd, Los Angeles, CA
• New York: 175 Fifth Avenue, NY
• Washington DC: 1101 South Joyce Street, Suite B15, Arlington, VA
• Colorado: 9992 Commons Street, STE 100, Lone Tree
• Washington: 148th Ave NE Redmond
• Massachusetts: 422 Boylston Street, Boston
• Florida: 12540 SW 120th Street, Miami
• Georgia: 3400 Around Lenox Road, Atlanta
• Texas: 1913 Preston Road, Suite 100, Plano

Seriously, Sprint? Is somebody over there getting paid by the press release?

[Sprint Newsroom]

T-Mobile has been teasing Ice Cream Sandwich updates for a while now, and now they’ve finally come out and gave us a date, at least for the HTC Sensation 4G.

Beginning May 16, an optional update will be available for the Sensation 4G to update to the latest operating system, Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). You can choose to download the update to Android 4.0.3 by following the software update steps.

In addition to Android 4.0 and HTC Sense 3.6, the Sensation 4G support documents also list the following changelog:

New Features

• Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich)
• Sense 3.6
• System bar enhancements to easily view recent apps.
• Re-sizeable widgets
• Lock screen actions including pull down notifications and adjust volume while device is locked.
• Data usage controls.
• Face Unlock
• Home screen folders
• Improved battery life
• Note: HTC Sensation 4G will be required to add Wi-Fi Mobile Hotspot feature in order to use the service after completing this update.

Improvements

• Improved text input and spell checking
• Improved menu structure

Prerequisites

• Manual update
• Device is running Android version 2.3.3 / Software version 1.50.531.1, 1.29.531.2, or 1.45.531.1
• Device software is not rooted
• More than 50% battery life
• Data or Wi-Fi connection

Additionally, Android 4.0 for the HTC Amaze 4G is also nearly ready. T-Mobile’s support documents for the Amaze 4G also list nearly the same changelog as the Sensation, but we don’t have a specific date yet.

[via Android Police]

If you were thinking about shipping a phone or tablet via the US Postal Service internationally, you better hurry up. It was just announced via a press release that as of May 16th, the USPS will no longer ship anything containing lithium batteries internationally, which of course includes pretty much every single phone and tablet.

The ban is due to lithium batteries potentially catching fire or exploding under certain conditions. Which has been the cause of at least two airline accidents since 2006. The new policy isn’t likely to be permanent, the USPS is working with the International Civil Aviation Organiza­tion (ICAO) and the Universal Postal Union (UPU) to come up with a safe shipping solution, which they expect to have figured out by Jan 1st, 2013.

In the meantime, if you’re looking to ship a phone or tablet to someone out of the US, private companies like FedEx, UPS and DHL will still gladly service you, but it’s likely to cost you slightly more money.

[via Ars Technica]

AT&T announced the Galaxy S II Skyrocket HD a few months ago at CES 2012, and at the time, it would have been a top-tier device. The Galaxy S II variant not only had LTE connectivity like the original Skyrocket, but also added a 720p display. Now in light of the Galaxy S III announcement, launching the Skyrocket HD doesn’t make sense anymore. Samsung Mobile’s Director of Product Marketing, Ryan Bidan, confirmed with The Verge that the Skyrocket HD has been axed from AT&T’s line-up and won’t be launching.

Although it wasn’t specifically confirmed that AT&T would be carrying the Galaxy S III when it launches this summer, the cancellation of the Skyrocket HD almost certainly confirms it. Biden didn’t confirm any specific carriers, just saying the the Galaxy S III would be coming to “the fastest HSPA+ and LTE networks”, which seems to be T-Mobile, and AT&T or Verizon.

[The Verge]

Those of you in the UK looking to pick up Samsung’s latest and greatest, the Galaxy S III, will be pleased to know it’s now available for pre-order from Vodafone, O2 or Three. Ranging in price from free with a £41 monthly plan on Vodafone, to as high as £219 with a shorter commitment or smaller plan, there’s sure to be a deal to fit your budget. Launch day is less than 3 weeks away on May 29th, so pre-order now if you want to be one of the first to get your hands on Samsung’s newest flagship device.

[Vodafone UK, Three, O2]

[via Engadget]

Samsung has started rolling out Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich for the international Galaxy Not (N7000). The mega sized 318.89MB update not only includes Android 4.0, but also Samsung’s Premium Suite apps. It may depend on your region whether or not the update is currently available for you. Users in Germany can download the update via Kies.

[via SammyHub]

While the Asus Eee Pad Slide might not be as popular as its transforming cousin, it’s still eligible for the Ice Cream Sandwich update. We first heard the update was coming months ago, but the more popular Asus tablets received it first. Today, Asus took to Twitter to let everyone know the Android 4.0 update is dropping today the new software version is 9.2.1.21. So if you’ve got the SL101 Slider tablet, you may want to hurry up and click that update button to get the latest and greatest Android version.

UPDATE. #Android ICS release v9.2.1.21 hits the Eee Pad Slider SL101 today in the US.

— ASUS (@ASUS) May 10, 2012

A newspaper in the UK recently published a story that the Google Play Store was about to surpass 15 billion apps downloaded. Google’s last published numbers were 11 billion downloads as of January 2012, so it seemed about the time to hit 15 billion. TechCrunch reached out to Google, and a spokesperson confirmed the Play Store already hit 15 billion apps downloaded “a few weeks ago”.

With Android stomping out market share over Apple, it’s no surprise that the Play Store is closing the gap on the iPhone App Store. Currently the Google Play Store has around 500,000 apps, while Apple has 600,000 apps in their App Store. Meanwhile the Play Store is averaging about 1 billion app downloads per month verses about 1.25 billion from the iPhone App Store. Of course these numbers don’t include other app markets such as the Amazon App Store and other outlets, so it’s entirely possible those numbers could be higher.

It’s barely been a week since we saw that last build (3.13.605.7) leaked for the HTC Rezound, and now there’s another one out, with bugfixes and new radios.

Changelog:

• Lock screen shortcut settings separated from launcher bar shortcuts
• 3G/4G icon displayed prior to entering decryption password
• Hidden menu (*#*#4636#*#*) removed
• Messages application – wrong sender displayed on occasion
• IPv6 solicitation timer value change
• New radios

If you’re interested in flashing this to your Rezound you have to be completely stock with a locked bootloader or S-OFF. For downloads and flashing instructions, head over to the source link below.

[Android Police]