Nexus S 4G Coming to Sprint;Nintendo 3DS Arriving This Week,Glasses-Free 3D LG Thrill

[Mike Mercury]

Nexus S 4G Coming to Sprint, With Google Voice
The Nexus S 4G smartphone will be released this spring, and will come to Best Buy, Best Buy Mobile and BestBuy.com in a retail exclusive.

The phone will include Google Voice, as part of a deal with Sprint also announced Monday.

"The exclusive launch of Nexus S from Google was a landmark for us and it continues to be one of our best-selling devices,” Scott Anderson,head of merchandising for Best Buy Mobile, said as part of the announcement. “Bringing Nexus S 4G to our stores is one more way we’re making it as easy as possible for people to find the phone that’s right for them.”


Nintendo 3DS Arriving This Week
Nintendo's 3DS mobile console will have its long-awaited U.S. debut this weekend. The device, which retails for $249.99, will arrive March 27 complete with pre-installed games.

The Best Buy in New York's Union Square will host an exclusive midnight launch Saturday, with early openings taking place at Best Buy locations nationwide.

“Nintendo 3DS can play 3D video games and take 3D pictures, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg,” Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime said as part of the announcement. “The 3D display is amazing in its own right, but just as compelling are the new forms of game play it delivers.


AT&T Bringing Glasses-Free 3D LG Thrill 4G
The LG Optimus 3D will be officially known as the LG Thrill 4G when it releases exclusively on AT&T in the United States. The LG Thrill 4G will be the first smartphone in the country to feature a glasses-free 3D display. There’s a good chance that when the phone does launch “in the coming months”, it will be one of two commercially available devices to use glasses-free 3D technology in the US. The 3DS will be the first. A price for the LG Thrill 4G hasn’t been revealed.

The LG Thrill 4G will have a 4.3-inch display and a dual core 1Ghz processor. It’ll be powered by Android 2.2, but I don’t see a reason why it won’t be upgradable to Android 2.3 not too long after it releases. In addition to the glasses-free 3D screen, the Thrill 4G will have two 5-megapixel stereoscopic cameras. Those two rear cameras will enable the Thrill 4G to shoot 3D video and take 3D still pictures in high definition. 3D video will output in 720p HD, and 2D video will have a resolution of 1080p HD. Videos can be played back on a larger screen through the phone’s HDMI-out port, or they can be streamed wirelessly.

Gameloft has signed on to release three games for the LG Optimus 3D. Those games should also come pre-loaded onto the LG Thrill 4G as well. The phone will come with 16GB of space (8GB internal and 8GB stored on a SD card). Additional 3D content such as games, video clips and images will be made available through LG 3D Space.


Microsoft Sues Over B&N Reader
Microsoft Monday announced that it is suing Barnes and Noble and Foxconn, alleging that the Android ereader marketed by the companies violates Microsoft-held patents.

The suit was filed in both the International Trade Commission and the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Washington. It followed an extended period of patent negotiations, Microsoft said.

“Other vendors, including HTC, a market leader in Android smartphones, have taken a license under this program, and we have tried for over a year to reach licensing agreements with Barnes & Noble, Foxconn and Inventec," Horacio Gutierrez , Microsoft's Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel for Intellectual Property & Licensing, said in a statement.

"Their refusals to take licenses leave us no choice but to bring legal action to defend our innovations and fulfill our responsibility to our customers, partners, and shareholders to safeguard the billions of dollars we invest each year to bring great software products and services to market."