Motorola Razr

It looks like some foldable phones owned by tech reviewers are already breaking — and it’s happening for more people than just the one that intentionally abuses his devices. The latest events involve both the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip and the Moto Razr (2020), and it looks like there might be temperature-related causes for the maladies… Expand
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A lot of people had high hopes for the Motorola Razr, but those quickly fell apart when its durability was questioned and reviews were… not good. Today, iFixit has given the Motorola Razr a teardown and, unsurprisingly, they’ve come to the conclusion it’s extremely difficult to repair, even saying it’s “one of the most complex phones ever.”

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Durability concerns are rife for the first-generation of foldable phones, and the Razr is no exception as emphasized by one folding test in particular. JerryRig has hands-on with with the Motorola Razr and subjects it to his usual torture test to the expected outcome.

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As we start off 2020, more foldable smartphones are hitting the market, and the latest is from Motorola. To see just how durable it is, CNET has tasked a robot with folding the Motorola Razr until it dies, and you can watch live.

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More foldable smartphones are coming in 2020, and the Motorola Razr has finally arrived after a brief delay. This week, just ahead of the phone’s shipping date, a few first impressions videos and articles have hit the web, and unfortunately, they don’t paint a great picture for the device.

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The Motorola Razr was rumored for quite some time, but the quality of this foldable device caught everyone by surprise. However, a delay halted pre-orders and pushed back its release date.

Now, Motorola has confirmed pre-orders for the Razr’s return on January 26, while shipping begins early next month.

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The original unveiling of the Motorola Razr was expected sometime during the summer, but the Lenovo-owned company finally announced it last month. Motorola today revealed that it’s delaying Razr pre-orders and the launch.

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The Motorola Razr is likely the most iconic flip phone ever released. In 2011, Motorola and Verizon tried to revive the brand with a series of thin — for their time — Android phones. The Lenovo-owned company is now bringing back the Razr as an Android Foldable.

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Motorola is hosting an event later today to unveil its first foldable smartphone following a collection of leaks earlier this month. Now, Motorola has confirmed the design on Twitter with a Razr teaser right as FCC images show off the live design again.

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When it rains, it pours. Just minutes after the first official-looking image of the folding Motorola Razr phone hit the web, another leak reveals more images of the device, as well as some of its key specs.

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Folding phones have struggled a bit so far with delays and disastrous design flaws, but there’s another big name in the pipeline. Motorola is set to reveal its folding Razr phone in just a few weeks, and today a leaked image is showing off the design.

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This year has seen Android Foldable unveils from Samsung, Huawei, and most recently Microsoft. Motorola has also been rumored to be working on a device, and the Lenovo-owned company today announced an event set for November 13th.

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Foldable phones are off to a rough start with Samsung’s durability troubles and Huawei’s… other problems. According to a report, Motorola’s Razr foldable phone could be a bright spot when it debuts sometime later this year.

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For the past couple of years, Motorola has become less and less of a big name in mobile phones, but that wasn’t always the case. Before smartphones were widely available, Motorola was one of the biggest names thanks to its popular RAZR lineup. According to a new report, that brand is coming back with a new foldable RAZR smartphone.

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Google CEO Larry Page just wrapped up his opening comments during the company’s Q4 2013 earnings call taking place right now. While noting that “managing our supply better” is a priority (see Nexus 4 supply constraints), Page also hinted at some possible upcoming Motorola smartphone features. Page said Motorola is working on the following two areas: better batteries and impact-resistant designs.

I am excited about the business. In today’s multi screen world, the opportunities are endless.  Think about your device.  Battery life is a huge issue.  You shouldn’t have to worry about constantly recharging your phone.  When you drop your phone, it shouldn’t go splat.  Everything should be a ton faster and easier.  There’s real potential to invent new and better experiences.

Page also said Motorola’s new CEO, Dennis Woodside, has a built a “world-class team” that is currently exploring these new opportunities: Expand
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=K2zDApeDXJc#!]

Motorola made things official today for two new Droid RAZR’s hitting the United States. Following the introduction of the Droid RAZR M, Verizon announced today that it would get the Droid RAZR HD and RAZR Maxx HD starting Oct. 18. The 4.7-inch devices were unveiled in September at Motorola’s New York City launch event and landed in Canada yesterday, but today we get confirmation on pricing and availability for the U.S. market.

In case you forgot: both devices pack a 4.7-inch HD display, 1.5 GHz dual-core processor, 8-megapixel camera, NFC, and 4G LTE. The Razr Maxx HD is identical to the Razr HD—apart from a bigger battery and double the internal storage (32GB). Both will ship with Android 4.0, but a Jelly Bean update is expected in the future. We have all the details in our coverage of the launch event.

As far as pricing goes…the HD will cost you $200 on a two-year contract, while the Maxx HD is $100 more.

The DROID RAZR HD will be available for $199.99 and the DROID RAZR MAXX HD will be $299.99, both with a new two-year contract. The DROID RAZR HD will be available in either Black or White and have 16 GB internal storage. The DROID RAZR MAXX HD will be available in Black and have 32 GB internal storage. The new smartphones will be available in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online on Oct. 18. Expand
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William Blair analyst Anil Doradla (via Barron’s) wrote in his notes today that the iPhone is still the best-selling smartphone across the United States, but it is coming “under pressure, particularly at Verizon” due to the carrier’s aggressive marketing of 4G-capable devices. Citing his checks of sales for the current quarter as of June, Doradla claimed the Motorola Droid RAZR MAXX outsold the iPhone on Verizon:

Since Apple’s iPhone launch in North America, we believe this was the first quarter where the iPhone was not the best‐selling smartphone at a North American mobile operator (where it was available). While Apple continued to maintain its top position at AT&T and Sprint, Motorola’s Droid RAZR MAXX was the best‐ selling smartphone at Verizon. Our checks also indicate that at this stage consumers are not pausing in front of the iPhone launch as it is not influencing their purchasing decisions (but we expect it to start impacting over the next couple of months).

While the RAZR MAXX took the top spot, Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus grabbed third position behind the iPhone, according to Doradla. He backed his “outperform” rating on Apple by saying he is “not worried” given the next generation iPhone, which is likely due in October, is expected to include 4G LTE capabilities:
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While many of the devices on the list have rumored or leaked release dates already, BGR claimed to have Verizon’s summer/fall roadmap that details flagship smartphones being launched later this year.

According to the report, Verizon Wireless will offer Samsung’s highly anticipated and much rumored Galaxy S3, which the company confirmed yesterday will pack its new 1.4GHz Exynos 4 quad-core processor. The report does not give a release date, but it speculated a summer release based on the roadmap.

Also apparently on the roadmap are multiple Motorola RAZR devices and a new 5-inch HTC device that appears to be a Galaxy Note competitor…

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Engadget shows us something it pulled from Chinese language forums:

What you see on the right is called the Droid RAZR “Fighter,” and it has a 4.6-inch 720P display much like HTC’s 4.7-inch One and the 4.65-inch Galaxy Nexus.

You will note that it does not have physical capacitive buttons, instead opting for the ICS-y soft buttons. That allows Motorola to push the screen further toward the edges, which is something we complained about in our review.

The smaller bezel and lack of physical buttons allows Motorola to break out a much bigger screen without increasing the footprint…much.

Other probabilities: LTE on board, lots more graphics power, and Ice Cream Sandwich.

Hopefully the Google buyout of Motorola cuts through the blur, but as with all Verizon phones, you will expect that Verizon will have its way with ICS.

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Motorola announced in a blog post today its all-in-one fitness band is about to get a new update. Motorola said it would detail more as the launch date of the update comes closer, but it did reveal that the MOTOACTV would gain support for up to 40 new activities, including: yoga, Pilates, dancing and martial arts. Motorola will also roll out an online hub —where users can track fitness progress—at the time of the update. The MOTOACTV band will push the fitness information over Wi-Fi, so you can then setup competitions among friends.

Just as a refresher: Motorola announced the MOTOACTV at an event in October along with the Droid RAZR. The MOTOACTV can track your every move, play music through an FM radio, and can even store up to 4,000 songs. The 8GB version retails for $210 and the 16GB version retails for $300. Stay tuned, as Motorola said there is more to come.

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The answer to the question of “what would happen if you slapped a keyboard on the back of a Droid Razor” just showed up for a brief moment on Verizon’s DroidDoes website.  The Droid 4 “only” has a 4-inch screen compared to the RAZR’s 4.3″ but pretty much everything else lines up the same.  Perhaps more importantly, yes, that is a 5 row keyboard (4 rows is for suckers) and of course the speedy LTE comes along too. DOES below. Expand
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The folks over at iFixit have torn-down the Galaxy Nexus, per usual, exposing what’s underneath. While they didn’t find anything we didn’t already know in terms of hardware, the team found that it’s fairly easy to get into the device — unlike the Droid RAZR — requiring only a few screws and a guitar pick. For replacing the 1750mAh battery users shouldn’t have any problem. The iFixit team does worn however that the screen is fairly hard to replace. They’re still working to identify a few power amplifiers and motion processing units , but we’ll let you know when iFixit finds them.

Don’t forget, we’re still waiting on the launch of the Galaxy Nexus in the United States. The Ice Cream Sandwich device has been available in the U.K. for a little over two weeks now, and has seen positive reviews. It shouldn’t be too long until we see Verizon’s LTE in the mix. iFixit gave the device a 6/10 on the repairability scale:

Samsung Galaxy Nexus Repairability Score: 6 out of 10 (10 is easiest to repair).

• Battery replacement is incredibly simple thanks to the removable rear panel.
• Minimal adhesive makes removal of the motherboard and other components a snap.
• Headphone jack and speaker assembly are not soldered to the motherboard, so replacement is easy.
• The only soldered components are the volume switch and vibrator motor.
• Removing the rear case to access the motherboard and other internals requires a lotof careful prying and guitar-picking.
• The glass is fused to both the display and the display frame. So don’t crack the glass unless you’re good with a heat gun, or you’re fond of replacing the glass, display, and frame together ($$$).

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Last week (ending today), Amazon had a pretty incredible Penny Pincher sale where it offered just about every Android and otherwise phone (except Apple’s iPhone) for a penny with a two year plan.  That’s what we call a game-changing, evening of the field.  Sure, carriers and the plans matter, but if every phone is free, you can get a pretty good idea which are the most sought after phones in the “price not being an option” category.

From our Amazon Affiliate account we can see just how many of each phone our readers picked up, thereby getting a pretty good sample of what are the hot phones out there.  Here are some stats:

• – >90% of phones were Android (not surprising from a Google site)
• – Motorola Droid RAZR and Sprint’s Galaxy SII were the big winners (well done readers!)
• – Verizon was the dominant carrier with the top selling (RAZR), and 3 of the top 5 phones.
• – Samsung Galaxy SII was 3 of the top 6 and the number one seller overall across all carriers
• – We’re aren’t sure why*, but 9 of you bought Motorola Bionic’s giving Motorola the second place prize (*We love the RAZR and aren’t sure why one would pick a Bionic over a RAZR).
• – HTC was #3 with the Rezound having an impressive showing  and the Thunderbolt getting picked up 5 times (again, not sure why you’d pick a Thunderbolt over a Rezound at the same price). HTC on AT&T was a poor showing with none of the new Amaze 4Gs showing up.  In fact, with the Titan, HTC sold more Windows phones on AT&T than it did Android.  The EVO wasn’t as popular as you’d expect on Sprint with the Galaxy S II selling a whopping 9 times as many units on the carrier
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Overall, no huge surprises, especially at the top, though we’re somewhat surprised that Sprint’s Galaxy SII beat both of AT&T’s combined.  Toward the bottom, we started seeing some unlocked Nokias (5 C6’s) Windows Phones (3 HTC Titans, 3 Samsung Focus Ss) and a few BlackBerry Bolds.

The big question is: How will the Galaxy Nexus on Verizon upset the line?  Whatever the outcome, Verizon is already the clear winner with the RAZR and Rezound (and Bionic) already topping many granted  holiday wish lists.

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From 9to5Toys.com:

Amazon has some truly remarkable phones for free with a plan in its current penny pincher sale.

For the first time ever, AmazonWireless is offering ALL AT&T, Sprint and Verizon phones for a penny. The promotion is live now and runs through 11:59 PM on Cyber Monday (Nov 28^th) and only applies to new activations (with a two-year contract).

Additionally, AmazonWireless’ $100 Hotspot Holidays deal can be quite a savings incentive. If you activate the hotspot feature on your new phone at the time of purchase, you will receive a $100 Amazon.com credit. Not a bad way to make some extra spending money for apps…or holiday gifts.

Standouts on each carrier include:

Droid RAZR, Bionic, Incredible 2, X2 and others on Verizon: FREE

Samsung Galaxy SII, Skyrocket and Amaze 4G, Atrix 2 and others on AT&T: FREE

Samsung Galaxy SII Epic Touch, Nexus S, EVO 3D and others on Sprint: FREE

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7ridjtcza7E]
Motorola Ad

I’ve been enamored with the Droid RAZR since the unveiling event last month.  It is everything about the “anti-iPhone” Droid message multiplied by 100.  From the excellent commercials to the handsome styling to the robot-y motif.  Where Samsung and to a lesser extent HTC make efforts to assimilate to the smartphone (read: iPhone) norms, Motorola’s Droids try to differentiate.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=yj9yisLa4ao]

On hardware alone, this is probably my favorite Android device so far.  It is incredibly thin but also much more sturdy than the typical Galaxy handset.  Somehow, however, it manages to be just as light.  Compared to HTC’s latest offerings (including the monstrous Beats Rezound that I am also testing now – see pictures) and frankly Motorola’s previous Droid Bionic, Droid X, this thing is in a totally different class.

Droid Bionic (right) is thicker at its thinnest point than the RAZR at its thickest

And about that Bionic.  Pity the people who bought that device in the previous months knowing that Amazon sells the Droid RAZR for $111 on launch with $100 gift card for tethering.  Effectively, that is the best Android phone you can have for $11… Expand
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Starting at Midnight PT tonight, Amazon will give every new purchaser of a new Hotspot device some Amazon Credit – hopefully enticing them to pick up a Kindle Fire.

With a hotspot-ready smartphone, you can access the Internet on your Kindle Fire or other Wi-Fi devices anywhere.

Beginning at midnight PST tonight and for a limited time, customers who buy hotspot enabled smartphone will receive a $100 Amazon.com Gift Card. Also, those that purchase a mobile hotspot device will receive a $50 Amazon.com Gift Card (Note: for new lines of service and upgrade customers. Hotspot feature for smartphones must be activated at time of purchase to qualify.)

This promotion extends to some of the most desired phones out there, including the new Motorola Razr releasing tomorrow, Samsung Epic Touch 4G Android Phone (Sprint) , Samsung Galaxy S II 4G Android Phone (AT&T)  and even the HTC DROID INCREDIBLE 2 Android Phone (Verizon Wireless) , which is available for only $0.01!

Additionally, we’ve heard that Amazon is having a special on the RAZR Launch for $111.11.  If the above deal works on that, you are looking at $11 for one of the sickest phones on the market when bought with a tethering plan.

Tune into Amazon in a few hours.

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PhanDroid has posted the side-by-side chart above to compare Verizon’s three new Android offerings: the Motorola Droid RAZR, HTC Rezound, and Samsung Galaxy Nexus. As you can see, all three phones are almost dead alike when it comes to specs. The Galaxy Nexus boasts a slightly bigger screen than the Rezound or RAZR, while the Rezound has the speed in-lock with its 1.5 GHz dual core processor. Ugh, the decision is just so hard..

The Galaxy Nexus is lacking when it comes to camera, having a 5-megapixel camera while the other two have 8-megapixel cameras. All three phones do pack Verizon Wireless’s blazing 4G LTE, so network speed won’t make a difference. So which device is for you?

The question is really up in the air right now. We’re currently playing with the RAZR (which lands tomorrow) and Rezound, and will be getting the Galaxy Nexus soon. You can expect our reviews of all three to be up in the coming weeks. At any rate, it really looks like Verizon is dominating as a carrier right now. The carrier is boasting all three of the cutting edge Android phones, along with the iPhone 4S. You definitely know where to shop this holiday.

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As is usually the case, the next Droid leaks have started months before any product is released. Droid Life got their hands on a whole gallery of images of the new Droid 4 and it looks incredibly impressive. So impressive that those Droid 3s now selling in stores are looking like a waste of time and money. The Specs:

• (smaller than RAZR )4″ screen (assuming Super AMOLED Advanced)
• Full 5-row “illuminated” keyboard
• RAZR styling
• 4G LTE
• Non-removable battery
• Android 2.3.5
• 1080p video recording (assuming 8MP)
• Front camera
• HDMI out
• MotoACTV syncing

If you like your physical Keyboards, your Verizon and Motorola bloatware (already loaded so coming soon) then you may want to keep your ear to the ground.  Head over to Droid Life for a full gallery
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGyp6dS6zqk]

Following the announcement of the RAZR in partnership with Verizon yesterday, Motorola has released the official commercials for the new Android device. Motorola has released both a U.S. and Europe version of the ad. Check out the European version after the break:

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYLL1zWT0zk]

Just getting my barrings after a crazy day yesterday…and have to say that of the Ice Cream Sandwich and Nexus announcements, I was most blown away by the Motorola Droid RAZR.  Well the hardware anyway – we didn’t get to spend any time with the Software which is Android 2.3.5 with Motorola and Verizon Droid overlays.  All I can say about that is it is typical for the Droid line as far as I can see.  But let’s talk hardware really quick, shall we?

I’m going to say it: On hardware alone, this is the most impressive piece of mobile device equipment I’ve ever seen.  It is both impossibly thin and feels incredibly solid.  As you can see in the video above, when someone picks it up, there is a gasp.  It’s like picking up a material so light and strong (titanium?) with such a vibrant display that you can’t reconcile it with your past smartphone experiences.  Sure Samsung makes devices similar in size and weight, but they are plastic.  This is a super-light metal phone that doesn’t bend and whose back cover doesn’t fall off.

People will point out the bump at the top as making it thick – but even the bump is thinner than most smartphones (see below) and it is “so big” because it needs to house an LTE antenna and a 8-megapixel backlit CCD camera with advanced lens technology.

The display is also the best I’ve ever seen perhaps save for the tablet-phone tweener 5.3-inch Samsung Galaxy Note.  At a more pocket manageable 4.3-inch qHD 960×540 pixels Super AMOLED, it has amazing 180 degree viewing angles and looks incredible (the video above doesn’t do it justice).  I’m not sure how it will do outside but the presentation room had all kinds of lights which would have put a damper on early OLEd screens like the original Droid.  When compared to the Motorola Droid Bionic’s 4.3 inch display, it isn’t even close.  This looks like the highest end Samsung display.

For all of its thin-ness, Motorola still touts it as having a much better batter life than its competitors on LTE.

Again, based on hardware alone – I’ve yet to use it  – this is the best phone I’ve ever seen.  It goes on pre-order at the end of the month and hits stores some time in November (hopefully before Black Friday).  If Motorola has production delays like it did with the now obsolete Bionic, it will have missed a pretty significant opening.  If it delivers the product on time and without any glitches in the software, this will be its most significant phone since the original Droid, which put Android on the map two years ago.

Related articles

• Live from Motorola Droid RAZR/ MotoACTV event (9to5google.com)
• Motorola unveils the 4.3-inch Droid RAZR on Verizon (9to5google.com)

We just got back from the Motorola/Verizon event where the Motorola RAZR was announced. Along with the RAZR, Motorola announced a full line-up of accessories (as seen above). The most notable, as we mentioned on 9to5mac, is the lapdock that looks closely to the MacBook Pro. There are two versions of the Lapdock: the Lapdock 100 and Lapdock 500 Pro (hmm..). The Lapdock 500 pro features a larger 14-inch screen, VGA out, and wider keyboard.

Other accessories include a Bluetooth headset, Universal Travel Charger, Portable Power Pack, Navigation Dock, Wireless Keyboard, and Wireless Keyboard w/ touchpad. For TV connectivity, Motorola has unveiled the HD Station, HD dock, and Smart Controller. What a perfect combo for the living room.

Pre-orders for the RAZR start October 27 for $299 with an expected launch sometime in November. We’ll have a full review up then, and it’s sure to be a good one!

We’re waiting in anticipation live from the Motorola and Verizon media event where we now know we’ll get a better look at the new Motorola RAZR unveiled in a series of teasers yesterday.

12:00 Sanjay Jha enters. Smartphones are a big deal. “Might of heard about some business news”

12:05 Talking Fitness.  Hardware – Music centric experience.  “Moto ACTV”  Little iPod Nano sized device to deliver Fitness and music to headses.

12:20 Demo-ing the Droid RAZR.  Pretty much as seen before. 7.1 mm thin except for the bump.  Lightest, Strongest, Fastest, Smartest.

Preorders Oct 27 pre order.  November delivery Price $299.

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Droid Life has discovered the above image in Motorola’s teaser site we told you about this morning. The above image confirms what we already know: a thin, 4G enabled device, that features a kevlar coating and a relatively large screen. For now gaze on this picture in awe, but tomorrow Motorola and Verizon will ease our waiting by officially announcing this device.

Motorola has sent out invites to 16 different blogs to unlock more pieces to their new RAZR teaser site. The RAZR is the next Android device to be featured on Verizon Wireless. As each blog enters in their unique code a new piece of information about the phone will be revealed. Motorola did something similar with the Bionic, revealing a video that told all about the LTE beast.

The only blog to enter in their code so far is Mobile Burn who learned that the RAZR will feature a kevlar coating. We’ll be looking out for more websites as they come.

The Motorola RAZR will be announced the day before the Nexus Prime and Ice Cream Sandwich, which will be announced by Samsung/Google in Hong Kong.

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