After the failed merger with AT&T last year, it seemed like things calmed down on the merger front as far as the big national carriers go. A quote from Deutsche Telekom CEO Rene Obermann suggests that T-Mobile USA is still open to the idea however.

We do not exclude any option for the T-Mobile unit in the U.S., also not a merger. A complete sale is unlikely. You understand that I can’t say more in public on T-Mobile USA.

Obermann goes on to talk about the fact that Deutsche Telekom doesn’t see T-Mobile creating any business as it stands by itself, and that MetroPCS or Sprint Nextel might be on their sights for a “network sharing deal.” T-Mobile seems to be working pretty hard to move itself up in the national carrier spotlight, a merger like that would certainly help them out.

Via: TmoNews

The poor Galaxy SIII is being picked through every inch before it even hits our greedy little hands. Today, XDA has a few of the new version of TouchWiz for you if you have the predecessor, the Galaxy SII, or the Galaxy Note. The overall feel of TouchWiz has been upgrade over the earlier versions, but TouchWiz is going to have to impress a lot of people to make a comeback. Kellex, who got to play with the Galaxy SIII at CTIA this year, admitted that Samsung added some new things in but said that TouchWiz “still looks like a cartooon and is ugly.”

If you do enjoy TouchWiz though, downloads can be had below. For the Galaxy SII the file just replaces the old TouchWiz framework, but for the Galaxy Note requires a new ROM to be flashed if you’re looking for the upgrade. Whether or not it’s worth it is up to you, but please, make a back-up before you do anything too crazy.

Via: Pocketnow | XDA (1) (2)

The HTC Amaze 4G may have just gotten it’s official bump to Android 4.0.3 the other day, but that did not come with Sense 4.0. Arguably their best Sense to-date is not going to be included on any of their older phones. It is being saved for the new One series of phones. If you want the new version of Sense, you have to go the developer route, and the Amaze has a booting port of Sense 4.0, but booting is about all it does.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This is still very much a work-in-progress according to XDA member sportsstar89. The phone boots, the touchscreen works and Bluetooth for some reason is already functional; everything else, not so much. But knowing the community surrounding HTC devices this port will pick up steam pretty quickly. If this is possible, what then is to be made about HTC saying that hardware-specific problems keep Sense 4 from older phones?

Via: XDA

Every handset maker is hard at work (some more than others) to bring Ice Cream Sandwich to their phones to keep their customers happy. The latest phone we are hearing is going to get an update sooner than later is the LG Nitro HD. With it’s fantastic screen and decent specs the Nitro was a good pick for Android on AT&T, and now it’s going to get even better.

Click here to view the embedded video.

It looks like LG has been hard at work porting their new Optimus UI that they have been talking up into this phone and it looks to be running pretty smoothly. Android 4.0.3 is on-board which seems to be standard these days, the question is: when can we have it? It looks pretty complete overall but carriers like to stress test these builds before they go into public. Hang tight guys.

Via: Phandroid

HTC has made more movement than most handset makers towards updating their phones to Ice Cream Sandwich. The Amaze 4G and Sensation 4G both saw updates this week and they’re not planning to stop there. HTC released an updated schedule for their phones and the EVO 3D and EVO Design 4G on Sprint are looking at an update in near a month. 

Also of note is that these upgrades will not include the new Sense 4 that we have seen launched on the One series. HTC says that “some aspects of Sense 4 require dedicated hardware, which is not available on all devices.” So that is that. It is good to see such dedication to bring a whole portfolio of phones up to the new version of Android.

Via: HTC

Just yesterday we saw that T-Mobile’s Galaxy SIII was outed when it went to get Bluetooth certified, we saw AT&T’s before that and even Verizon’s just got certified today. That only leaves one carrier left, and today Sprint’s SIII has been outed as well. The model number SPH-L710 is a close cousin to the Galaxy SII on Sprint and lets us know that Sprint plans to carry one of the most anticipated Android phones to-date. That makes 4 out of 4 of the major US carriers. We don’t know when or how much, but we do know that it’s on its way, isn’t that enough for you?

Via: Android Police

Sony had a lot of steam coming into 2012 with the re-launch of sorts with their Xperia line of handsets. Unfortunately they had an uphill battle and it seems to have quieted down in these months, one of the remaining questions is: where is Android 4.0 for the Xperia S, the flagship phone? Sony has heard the complaints and said there was a “mix up” and the update should be coming soon:

Xperia S is planned to get ICS somewhere around late May/early June. That’s what’s been said and that’s still what we’re sticking to. Any other dates (such as “June/July”) is just speculation. The roll out is, as always, gradual and will not happen over night for all phones. Some phones might get the update in late May whilst other will get in it mid June etc.

Let’s hope they stick this self-imposed deadline now. We would hate for another “mix up” to come along and delay this phone from getting ICS any longer.

Via: Pocketnow