We all know the story: Apple launched a holy war on Samsung for violating their trade dress and design/software patents — and won. A jury in the US ruled in favor of Apple last week, causing widespread panic and general angst among the Android community. Never one to rest on their laurels, Apple is now going after a few of Samsung’s newer devices (read: competition), alleging that Samsung’s Galaxy S3, Galaxy Note, and Galaxy Note 10.1 infringe on their ’721, ’604, and ’647. These how-the-hell-did-they-get-granted patents deal with slide-to-unlock, universal search, and clickable links inside of emails, text messages, etc. (which you may remember caused “the great banning of HTC devices” a few weeks back).

It’s official. Apple hates competition and they wont rest until their competition is dumbed down enough to claim some soft of sick victory. Somebody, please. Make this all stop and let’s get back to innovating.

[Complaint PDF | Reuters]

Images of a a mysterious new HTC device have just popped up in a Chinese forum and you know what? It looks damn sexy. We really don’t have much to go on other than a few blurry images, so we’ll just speculate for now. We’ve heard rumors HTC could be working on an appox 5-inch Galaxy Note challenger and judging by what we can see in these images — this might be it.

You’ll see red colored aluminum accents along the side (hinting at a possible Verizon release), and the 3 capacitive key combo along the bottom. The back looks very similar to the HTC One X, so we wouldn’t expect a removable battery or SD card slot. In fact, this could simply be a CDMA version of the One X for all we know. After a GLbenchmark appeared not too long ago showing HTC’s plans for a device with a 1080p display, there’s been some speculation that this could be that device but I wouldn’t hold my breath. 1080p on a 5-inch device just doesn’t sound practical.

[Phone HK | Via TheVerge]

After showing the world they can make a smartphone with a “Razr“ thin profile, Motorola is now looking to release a device that has a razor thin bezel to match. Seems Bloomberg has it on good authority that Motorola is gearing up to introduce the world to their all new device at their September 5th event and will reportedly feature an edge-to-edge display. This would make it a quite the head turner among Android devices (and iPhones) plagued with large bezels. Per the usual with Motorola, it’s being whispered the device will also be headed to Verizon Wireless.

No word on the display size of said device, but without a single (worthy) Galaxy Note challenger in the world of Android, I’d hope for something close to 5-inches. What do you guys think of a phone with a bezel-less display? Is that feature you would actually look for in an upcoming device?

Perhaps you saw that Neverstill Mobile, parent company of Phandroid, released a nifty little football pick’em app for Android devices. If in addition to the pro game you like to keep an eye on what’s happening at the college level, we are introducing today College Football 2012. The premise of the app is the same premise as another Neverstill app providing a schedule for the NFL season: get instant access to your favorite team’s schedule as well as the schedules of all teams playing week in and week out.

It’s a lightweight app that does exactly what it says and nothing more, which is the real beauty of it. You won’t have to navigate some bulky sports app to find dates and times for upcoming games, if the information is available at all. So if you are a college football fan you will definitely want to install it to your phone and have complete schedules just a few taps away.

Google Play Download: College Football 2012

The LG E970, otherwise known as the LG Eclipse for AT&T, recently made a visit to the FCC. The device has been dubbed a “superphone” after previous leaks revealed a quad-core Krait CPU and 4.67-inch 720p HD display. The filing reveals the band 4 and 17 LTE support as well as approval for bands 2 and 5, though AT&T currently doesn’t operate on the latter pair. Also covered was the Eclipse’s NFC chip and HSPA+/UMTS/EDGE connectivity. Rumors place the phone as launching towards the end of October.

[FCC via Engadget]

Google is hopping aboard the Labor Day deals train with the launch of their “End of Summer” sale in the Google Play Store. Twenty apps and games, including among others the popular keyboard app SwiftKey, have been marked down to $0.99. If you’re in the mood for a bit of an apps shopping spree, this weekend looks like the time to let loose. Our guess is the sale will only last through the end of the long weekend, so act fast if you want to take advantage of some killer deals.

[Google Play]

Starting today you can pick up the Kyocera Rise from Virgin Mobile in the US for $100 up front. The phone features a 3.5-inch display and full QWERTY keyboard as well as Android 4.0 powered by a 1GHz single-core Snadragon processor. Users get 2GB of internal storage plus a slot for microSD card. The phone carries a 3.2MP camera.

A prepaid option, Virgin Mobile is offering the Rise alongside its $35/month unlimited data and messaging plan. Not too shabby. Right now the phone is only available online but will hit retailers next month.

The Kyocera Rise with a full QWERTY keyboard. Now on Virgin Mobile USA without a contract and with our unlimited data and messaging Beyond Talk plans starting at $35/month

The Rise is available right now – just in time for back to school – for $99.99 online, at select dealers and Virgin Mobile’s own branded stores. It will roll out across national retail outlets starting in late September.

Awesome features include:
Touch Slider with QWERTY Keyboard and a 3.5″ HVGA LCD Touchscreen [we think of it as quite the "texty beast!"]
Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich)
1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon Processor
Google Play for access to over 600,000 apps
3.2MP Camera, LED Flash and Video Capture
microSD Card Slot – supports up to 32GB
Swype for rapid text entry
Eco Mode for better battery management
Stereo Bluetooth

This is a great choice for first-time Android users, including parents looking for that great first smartphone for teens and tweens, or seniors. Customers get to move into touchscreen smartphone territory while still keeping the ease and familiarity of a keyboard, and at an affordable price.

Join the no-contract wave on Virgin Mobile USA. We answer to A Higher Calling