During Apple’s press conference earlier in the week, they claimed that the infamous “death grip,” or the common name given to the signal loss you get when holding the iPhone 4 a certain way, is by no means exclusive to the iPhone 4 – they claimed that just about any mobile phone manufacturer suffers from the problem, and that you can find a way to hold any phone that will reduce signal and force calls to drop.

Almost immediately, Apple’s competitors in the mobile space, like Nokia, Samsung, and HTC, all fired back claiming that this was anything but true and their handsets were immune from any sort of “death grip.” So what does a smart tech columnist do? They put it to the test!

The fine folks over at PC Mag grabbed a bunch of phones they have for testing (and other hilarious objects) and decided to see if they could death grip the signal out of them as well. The results are in the fantastic video above – those with a sense of humor only need apply, but the results are pretty interesting – sure, if you pretty much wrap both hands around some phones you can force some signal loss, but in most cases it’s slight or the grip is so unwieldy that you’ll never find yourself holding the phone that way. Even so, other phones suffer from the death grip pretty substantially. You’ll have to watch the video to see the results!

[ PC Mag :: Death Grip Testing on iPhone Competitors Shows Mixed Results ]

So the Motorola Droid X is out in the wild, and sure enough, I’m happy to say that on the day it was released, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to play with one – a couple of my colleagues got theirs on launch day, and trust me, it’s as gorgeous and fast as the reviews have said it is. The esteemed Sascha Segan over at PC Mag gave it 4.5/5 stars and the Editor’s Choice award, and while there’s no disputing the fact that it’s definitely a huge device – larger than most people would expect a phone to be – it’s got a gorgeous screen, Motorola’s UI is attractive (even though you can’t turn it off,) and it’s remarkably thin and light.

Over at Revision3 though, there’s a brand new episode of Unboxing Porn featuring what else but the Droid X! The last episode featured the iPad and was utterly hilarious, and this one’s no different – it’s actually a really great way to describe a new product, do a little unboxing shots, and talk about the new features in a way that’ll hold attention.

…that’s what she said.

[ Revision3 :: Unboxing Porn: Motorola Droid X ]

Today is Droid X Day, meaning that while it’s not as big a deal as a new iPhone or anything, the Droid X launches today on Verizon Wireless.

As much as Verizon Wireless has gotten a great deal of publication, love, and overall approval from smartphone lovers and geeks alike for the release of the Droid by Motorola and the subsequent releases of other powerful exclusive Android phones like the Droid Eris and Droid Incredible by HTC, prior to their releases, leaks, and announcements, Verizon Wireless was the carrier that people begrudgingly signed on to because the voice and data networks were robust and covered the majority of the country – business signed on so they could get their employees cheap BlackBerry phones, and if you wanted a smartphone your options were BlackBerry and Windows Mobile, all on horrible horrible devices – the rest of us either had to jump ship for another carrier that had good handsets and smartphones, or we had to deal with feature phones or simple handsets because we couldn’t give up the network.

I’m in that boat – I was ready to jump ship to AT&T at the end of my contract last year just because I wanted a smartphone and Verizon Wireleess’ selection was awful; and then something glorious happened. The Droid by Motorola was released, and to this day I consider it one of the best technology purchases I’ve ever made, and I haven’t considered leaving for AT&T, iPhone or no, since then. The combination of a solid Android phone that’s not loaded up with Verizon Wireless’ standard suite of bloatware that you find on their feature phones and their amazing network, and even though I still think the iPhone is a slightly better device than the Droid, the combination of the Droid and Verizon’s network simply overwhelm the combination of the iPhone and AT&T’s network.

The odd thing is that I don’t know that I’m not the only one here. So how did this happen? Google and Verizon Wireless are closer now than they’ve ever been, and both are dedicated and determined to working together on Android phones. So did Google ride to Verizon Wireless’ rescue and save their image from cementing as the stodgy, old carrier with cheap voice handsets but good call quality, bargain basement smartphones for individual users, and the only way to get any attention from them is to have a BlackBerry and be on a business plan? Here’s a hint: I think so, and let’s dive into why after the jump.

The first step to understanding what the world was like before there was a Droid on the market. There was a time when Verizon Wireless’ strongest smartphones were made by AudioVox, and if you wanted a smartphone your best bet for apps and features was to either get a BlackBerry and put your hopes in the hands of RIM (who, mind you, is still the number one smartphone manufacturer in the United States) or suffer through the experience of owning a Windows Mobile 6 device. Now, with RIM planning yet another major upgrade to the BlackBerry operating system (since the BlackBerry Storm and Storm 2 on Verizon Wireless were less than stellar successes although they’re both semi-solid devices) and Microsoft planning to get Windows Phone 7 onto the market at the end of the year, Verizon Wireless is poised to have a number of amazing devices on its network.

Still, back before the days of the Droid, people looking for smartphones had the choice of either springing for Blackberry or Windows Mobile, deciding to settle for a higher-end feature phone that would also play music like the LG Chocolate 2 or LG Envy. The only time Verizon Wireless was mentioned in the same breath as high-end, feature-rich smartphones was when people wished, hoped, and prayed for a CDMA-compatible iPhone to make its way to Verizon Wireless’ network (something that still persists to this day.)

Verizon Wireless was the carrier that everyone loved because of its network, not its technology, and technology writers and mobile phone fans alike hated on Verizon Wireless regularly for loading its devices up with bloatware, charging extra for services that are available on the Web for free like VZCast, and putting exorbitant prices on their music downloads — none of which I think has changed, honestly, but with the introduction of stronger handsets and a more hands-off approach, Verizon has managed to take the heat off of their higher-end users and the only folks who feel that burn anymore are VZW’s feature phone owners – primarily aimed at teens and pre-teens who either know better and will be upgrading soon or don’t know better and run up their parents’ phone bills.

The introduction of the iPhone and its exclusivity to AT&T changed everything though – we started to hear rumors that Verizon actually turned Apple away because they didn’t want to make the necessary changes to their network to support the iPhone and that AT&T was willing. Other, smaller carriers like Sprint and T-Mobile were agile enough to start releasing Android phones and Windows Mobile phones that could compete with the iPhone to some degree, even though none of them were remarkably successful in any way until the T-Mobile G1 running Android 1.6 was released. Verizon Wireless was stuck in the proverbial smartphone dark ages, unless you wanted a BlackBerry or you were in an enterprise that relied on BlackBerry devices. But even then, it was clear: the iPhone, the G1, and the Palm Pre’s respective successes, even as metered as they were, proved that we all wanted better phones.

Then we heard that the veneer of Verizon’s extremely lengthy and slow technology approval process was cracking, and Verizon Wireless was committing themselves to bringing new technology to their store shelves faster. Then we heard about a new touch-screen BlackBerry phone that would take on the iPhone: the BlackBerry Storm. Before it was released, people were calling it an “iPhone Killer,” and even after it was launched, the BlackBerry faithful called it as much, and defended its many flaws, claiming it could do everything an iPhone did and then some – the problem was that even though there were serious hardware flaws that you could overlook in a best case scanario, Apple had a leg up on what was most important with most smartphone users: apps and the ability to customize, tweak, and download tools to help you really make your phone your own and do with it what you chose. Between the lack of apps (still a problem with BlackBerry phones) and the hardware issues the Storm suffered from, it never got traction. Sadly, the Storm 2 – more recently released, suffered largely the same fate, but this time not because of hardware (the Storm 2 is actually a very strong handset) but because RIM simply hasn’t brought the apps to the table.

So here we were in 2008 and 2009, with one half-hearted attempt at taking on the iPhone and bringing a strong smartphone to Verizon Wireless. If you wanted a decent smartphone on Verizon Wireless, the Storm was your best bet, and it wasn’t a great bet at all if you wanted the same kind of experience you could get on a G1 over at T-Mobile, an HTC Hero over on Spring, or an iPhone on AT&T. Then Palm released the Palm Pre: a new phone with a new operating system from a company known for porting its devices to as many carriers as would take them. The Pre started on Sprint, but it wasn’t too long before everyone knew it was coming to Verizon Wireless.

Before that could happen though, Motorola and Google rode in to Verizon Wireless’ rescue with the announcement of the Droid by Motorola (and very quickly after, HTC rode in with the Droid Eris) and completely stole Palm’s thunder. Motorola hit the market first with the Droid, HTC hit the week afterward, and Palm’s release a month or so later fell flat. While sad for Palm (and eventually ended up with its $1.2 billion acquisition by HP) the waves that the launch of the Droid family of Android phones on Verizon Wireless was a huge deal for the carrier, and breathed a lot of new life into the smartphone section of its stores — life that it’s still feeling.

Considering Verizon Wireless’ history of lackluster smartphones and locked-down devices that never empowered its customers and users, and the almost 180-degree turn brought about by the release of the Android-powered Droid series of devices, you could very well say that Google’s Android and manufacturing partners like HTC and Motorola very well saved Verizon Wireless’ image, at the very least in the eyes of smartphone users, power users, the technocrati, and people looking for phones that did a bit more than just make calls.

Still, all of those people combined don’t make up the majority of the cell phone market, so while I don’t think it’s legitimate to say that Google or even the Google/Motorola/HTC triad actually out-and-out “saved” Verizon Wireless, it’s more than legitimate to say they certainly saved Verizon Wireless’s perception and image as a leading-edge and highly technological wireless carrier.

The court presiding over the $1 Billion lawsuit Viacom levied against YouTube has finally ruled…in YouTube and Google’s favor, dismissing the case.

In a post at the YouTube blog, Kent Walker, Vice President and General Counsel at Google, had this to say:

Today, the court granted our motion for summary judgment in Viacom’s lawsuit with YouTube. This means that the court has decided that YouTube is protected by the safe harbor of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) against claims of copyright infringement. The decision follows established judicial consensus that online services like YouTube are protected when they work cooperatively with copyright holders to help them manage their rights online.

This is an important victory not just for us, but also for the billions of people around the world who use the web to communicate and share experiences with each other. We’re excited about this decision and look forward to renewing our focus on supporting the incredible variety of ideas and expression that billions of people post and watch on YouTube every day around the world.

Obviously Viacom could very well appeal the decision, and it’s likely that they will if Viacom and Google lawyers can’t come out of this with some kind of mutual agreement, but even if Viacom does appeal, that just means the standard of proof is going to be that much higher for them in an appeals court, which would have to determine if there’s some new evidence or specific reason why the lawsuit wasn’t handled properly or the correct decision was made in the first place.

Only time will tell, and this certainly isn’t the last volley in this battle, but here’s hoping both parties can settle out of court – clearly this hasn’t put much of a dent in either of their businesses, aside from the legal fees both sides must have incurred.

(thanks to Mashable for the tip!)

[ The Official YouTube Blog ::YouTube Wins Case Against Viacom ]

In a press conference today, Motorola and Verizon, along with special guest, Google’s Eric Schmidt, announced the newest member of Verizon’s Droid family, the Droid X – Motorola’s next generation Droid handset, which by the looks of it will be leaps and bounds past the current Droid by Motorola.

There have been rumors abound about the Droid X and the Droid 2 (they’re two different phones), and which one we would see today – turns out the Droid X is a new slab-phone with physical keys at the bottom, a bigger, higher-resolution screen, a 1GHz processor, 720p video recording, an 8-megapixel camera, 24GB of storage (8GB on-board and a 16GB SD card, upgradable to a 32GB SD card), and 3 microphones for superior call and recording quality. The Droid X will be available July 15th for $199.99 after a $100 rebate for new contracts or – thanks to Verizon – any Droid owner with a “new every two” upgrade coming in 2010.

The Droid X will also serve as a Wi-Fi hotspot for an extra $20 per month, which is a huge feature, and will support Android 2.2 “Froyo” and Adobe’s Flash 10.1 when they’re both made available later this summer (but not at launch.)

The Droid 2 continues to be un-announced phone, and although a few blogs claim to have had their hands on it, nothing official from Motorola or Verizon has been announced. The Droid 2 appears to be more of a direct upgrade to the existing Droid by Motorola – with a slide-out physical keyboard and a faster processor than the existing Droid but not as powerful as the one coming in the Droid X. The Droid 2 will retain most of the features of the original Droid by Motorola, and it looks like Motorola is positioning it as an upgrade and an additional device in the market as opposed to positioning it against some of the kings of Android phone performance like the Droid Incredible and the Droid X.

Regardless, if you’re looking for an upgrade to your Droid (although not many original Droid owners will have an upgrade coming this year) or want your hands on the most powerful smartphone on the market, you may consider the Droid X. Still, it was just announced today, so the reviews have yet to roll in.

UPDATE: PC Mag has some first impressions and video, live from the unveiling event!

[ Verizon Wireless :: Droid Does ]

Another announcement from the Google I/O conference this past week was the unveiling and release of the newest version of Google’s Android mobile operating system, 2.2 or “Froyo.” This in itself wouldn’t be a huge announcement except for the fact that Froyo is expected to be remarkably faster on the same hardware that Android phones already run on, and that it’s supposed to fully support Adobe Flash.

Google has already stepped back a bit from Flash and talked up the benefits of HTML5, but their mantra has always been that their thrust is to be inclusive and support as many technologies as possible as opposed to the ones they prefer, so 2.2 will (and does, as some people have managed to get it running on the Google Nexus One) support full Flash 10.1 video and site navigation.

Additionally, the new OS is supposed to support the ability to update all of your apps simultaneously, be installed over the air so you don’t have to download anything onto a computer to upgrade your phone, improve syncing of music and video from your computer to your device, and even include built-in tethering and WiFi sharing, so your Android phone can become a wireless hotspot for other devices and tether to your laptop for remote internet access.

There’s no firm release date for Froyo yet, but over at the Lifehacker link below you can see some screenshots and links to more information about the upcoming OS, and read a bit more about some of its best features.

[ Lifehacker :: Google Announces Android 2.2 with Flash, Google TV at I/O Conference ]

At the Google I/O conference this past week, Google announced that Google Wave, once touted as a tool that would revolutionize the way we communicate on the Internet, would be available and open to anyone who wanted to use it now, instead of the private beta testers who had been using the service (and let’s be clear, anyone who wanted in pretty much got in thanks to the sheer number of invites that were given out). Google shortly thereafter made Google Wave available to people using Google Apps for their domain as well.

This does beg the question though: is anyone still using Google Wave aside from die-hard Google fans and developers looking for a good way to collaborate? Google Wave was a lot of fanfare and hype, and while I think the tool itself is remarkably useful and still has a world of potential, it simply doesn’t have the user-base or the user-education of the masses for wide adoption.

In the end, it’s not Google’s fault for building a tool that people don’t want to use, it’s Google’s fault for building a tool that people don’t understand can be applicable to the things they want to do, and for not educating them otherwise or integrating Wave features with tools people already know and love, like GMail.

Still, with Google Wave open to the world, maybe Google is making a thrust to try that education, and without the beta tag on it, they may be looking for a way to start rolling in some of Wave’s features into their existing platforms and services. It would be a good idea.

[ PC Mag :: Google Opens Wave to Public, Previews Chrome Web Store ]

Google’s known for its remarkable Chrome ads and Web videos, but this one, even though they tell you outright how the video was created, is still a little difficult to swallow. I keep looking at this and thinking these pages must be cached in the browser and what they’re really showing off is render times, not loading times, but I’m more than willing to be wrong about that.

I love Chrome and it really is get-out-of-town fast (especially one slow systems like the one I use at the office), so I’m glad to see Google making sure to point it out to anyone who might happen to see this video.

Here’s what Google said about the making of the video:

These speed tests were filmed at actual web page rendering times. If you’re interested in the technical details, read on!

Equipment used:

- Computer: MacBook Pro laptop with Windows installed
- Monitor – 24″ Asus: We had to replace the standard fluorescent backlight with very large tungsten fixtures to funnel in more light to capture the screen. In addition, we flipped the monitor 180 degrees to eliminate a shadow from the driver board and set the system preferences on the computer to rotate 180 degrees. No special software was used in this process.
- 15Mbps Internet connection.
- Camera: Phantom v640 High Speed Camera at 1920 x 1080, films up to 2700 fps

[ The Google Chrome Blog :: Potato Gun, Lightning, and Sonic Magic: Unconventional Speed Tests for the Browser ]

The fine folks at PC Mag caught this demo of Spotify running on an Android phone at SXSW, given by Spotify’s Daniel Ek. His phone is based in the UK, where (along with the rest of Europe) Spotify is amazingly popular for its ability to give you music-to-taste and on-demand whenever you want it, based both on your own local music collection and a massive database of music to stream online – Spotify isn’t available in the United States yet because of the licensing and royalty fees the service would have to pay the RIAA in order to license music to stream.

In all honesty, I don’t see any huge benefit to Spotify over a similar service I know and love called GrooveShark, which I’ve written about a couple of times. Still, competition is good, and Spotify is incredibly popular in Europe for a reason. The app already works on Android – could it be a hop, skip, and a jump away from landing on Android phones in the United States?

[ Gearlog :: Spotify Demo on Android Phone ]

I absolutely love Google Voice. I was skeptical about it at first, but now that I have it, and I have the app on my phone, I don’t know what I’d do without the ability to review, listen to, and archive voicemail without actually having to place a call to anyone. And while I find Google’s ability to transcribe messages still a little inaccurate, it’s getting better all the time.

I haven’t taken the leap to telling everyone to use my actual Google Voice number instead of my mobile number, and I haven’t gotten as deep into setting the app up to send certain calls to certain places or to do different things for different contact groups just yet – I’m certain I haven’t scratched the surface of Google Voice’s abilities yet. That being said though, there are lots of really cool things you can do with Google Voice, considering you can score yourself an invite.

Over at MakeUseOf there are a few really great Google Voice features you may not be aware of that are definitely worth knowing about, including making outbound calls with Google Voice, listening in on your voicemail as it’s being recorded, and even using it to record calls that you make. Check out the whole list:

[ MakeUseOf :: 5 Cool Things You Can Do with Google Voice ]