Today, Monorprice is offering a Micro High-definition Link (MHL) adapter cable, for compatible smartphones.

The cable enables MHL-enabled smartphones, tablets, and other devices to provide HDMI output, as well as charge the device directly, via the power supplied from the HDMI cable. It also facilitates CEC communications, so that a Television can directly control the host device.

There aren’t too many devices currently that support MHL, but they are rather popular devices. Here’s a list of most of them today: Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Samsung Galaxy S II, Samsung Infuse 4G, HTC EVO 3D, HTC Flyer, HTC EVO View 4G, and HTC Sensation. It is expected most devices from Samsung and HTC in the future will utilize MHL, so it may be a good idea to snatch one at this low price for your next smartphone or tablet.

If you have one of these devices, this cable is practically essential at the sub-$10 price-point. Typically, these cables sell from the manufacturer for between $40 and $60. Monoprice is notorious in the tech sector for providing devastating price-cuts on adapter cables. The store was one of the first to source mini-DisplayLink cables for Apple’s MacBook products, with much more affordable adapters, as well as one of the first cheap HDMI adapters for their products.

California residents should take note that Monoprice does charge sales tax, however, even with sales tax the price is still the lowest we’ve ever seen for such an adapter. Shipping is not free, but at around two dollars, not a major impact.

Micro High-definition Link (MHL) Adapter – Monoprice.com

We have some of the first Samsung Galaxy Nexus photos on the web, hands-on with Sprint’s first LTE phone, in the highest resolution of any member of the mobile media.

Hit read more to see the live shots.

Sprint did caution that these were prototypes of their form of the Galaxy Nexus, which will be only offered in its 32 GB version at launch. The phone was missing references to Google Wallet, but we were able to confirm that NFC and Google Wallet were intact on the device as of the prototypes shown.

Stay tuned later for the first live shots of the LG Viper, Sprint’s second LTE smartphone.

We do apologize for the quality of some of these photos, the lighting at Sprint’s CES aftershow is extremely poor, and Sprint is not making units available for behind-the-scenes access (such as, with proper lighting).

Update: Sprint confirmed to us that their version of the Galaxy Nexus LTE will indeed include NFC and Google Wallet support at-launch.

Samsung has begun to roll out Android Gingerbread for the Samsung Captivate, nearly six months after the first leaked builds surfaced for the phone.

The update features a download manager, improved font management for larger text, copy/paste and text entry along with changes to APIs for graphics in order for developers to improve 3D rendering in games.

This makes the Samsung Captivate the last of the first generation Samsung Galaxy S phones to receive an update to Android Gingerbread, with every other carrier variant of the phone receiving its respective update.

MetroPCS has announced two new Android smartphones in the LG Connect and Samsung Galaxy Attain 4G with LTE support that will be launching within the next few weeks. Starting with the LG Connect, the phone features a 4-inch Nova display with Gorilla Glass and a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, 5.0 megapixel main camera with flash and 720p HD video capture, as well as a front-facing camera for video chats and also includes Dolby Mobile sound processing for enhanced audio.

The Samsung Galaxy Attain 4G features Android 2.3 Gingerbread,  3.5-inch display, and is powered by a 1GHz processor. with a 3.2-megapixel main camera, LED flash and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera with Google Talk support. Pricing for the Galaxy Attain 4G is set at $249.99 before an additional $50 mail-in rebate bringing the total to $199.99.

The new LTE smartphones reflect the new emphasis on LTE for the carrier after months of stagnating growth as a result of the spectrum crunch it faces due to not having enough available to launch LTE in current markets while making the transition from CDMA in order to make better use of the AWS spectrum it does have in order to focus on LTE.

The new lower pricing for both phones also reflects the continual decrease in prices for phones with built-in LTE radios following statements from MetroPCS last year regarding the lack of cheap LTE phones, with the next major reduction in costs for LTE enabled phones not expected until the second half of the year.

Not long after the first announcement confirming the future launch of the Mobile DTV service via MetroPCS later this year, Mobile Content Ventures, the consortium responsible for Dyle Mobile DTV has confirmed a new tieup with wireless hardware manufacturer Belkin to produce hardware tuners for the iPad and other smartphones alongside the yet to be officially confirmed Samsung smartphone with Mobile DTV capability.

As previously reported, the Dyle Mobile DTV initiative will be the first attempt to deploy the recently ratified ATSC M/H broadcast standard on a commercial level with MetroPCS spearheading the launch with the aforementioned Android smartphone from Samsung. The service will launch in much of the US with many of the major and minor over the air broadcast networks being made available to view over the Dyle Mobile TV app.

The new tie-up with Belkin is meant to expand the service outside of dedicated handsets and out to smartphones and tablets, with the goal of wide adoption as an alternative to standard portable televisions with standard terrestrial ATSC antennae, which cannot be used while in motion due to the inability for the tuner to maintain a steady signal in order to receive programming, while Dyle Mobile TV is designed to be used while in motion or outdoors.

The service has yet to have pricing or launch details confirmed, with external dongles and the aforementioned Samsung smartphone being demonstrated at CES all this week. It should be noted that Qualcomm had a similar agreement with automotive aftermarket manufacturer in Audiovox for MediaFLO with plans to release dongles and commercial availability of in-car systems before its liquidation via agreement with Chrysler, which met with a tepid response.

A promotional banner on the CES show floor has confirmed that the Samsung Galaxy Note will be released on AT&T within the next few weeks. Additional commentary also suggests that the hybrid phone and tablet has been testing internally since last December in preparation for a launch on the network.

The Samsung Galaxy Note for AT&T will also be modified from the current international version by shipping with the standard Android capacitive button layout instead of the center home button, ostensibly to avoid litigation.

The Samsung Galaxy Note is a 5-inch Android smartphone in the vein of the discontinued Dell Streak 5 with a heavily modified version of Android 2.3 with custom software in order to support Samsung’s own stylus oriented software dubbed S-Pen that is integrated into the operating system.

Specifications are also identical to the international version with  a 1280 x 800 5.3 inch Super AMOLED display, 8.0 megapixel and 2.0 megapixel cameras, and the same Samsung-sourced dual-core 1.4GHz processor as the Galaxy Tab 7.7 announced at Germany’s IFA trade show last year. More information is expected during Samsung’s keynote being held on Monday.

Not long after this afternoon’s announcement of  Sprint’s first four LTE markets that are intended to launch by the end of June this year, more details on the resurgent carrier’s plans have surfaced, first regarding its perpetually cloudy policies on data throttling and the first sighting of the forthcoming Sprint version of the Galaxy Nexus manufactured by Samsung.

Today while speaking to investors at a conference being held ahead of next week’s Consumer Electronics show, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse offered some sort of response regarding its throttling policies, stating that “the top 1%” of users were being dropped from the network as a way to deal with what the carrier terms as excessive use of data.

The statement would normally have merit, were there any evidence to back up this claim. Cursory investigation of Sprint’s own forums and others such as HowardForums and XDADevelopers show no evidence of customers either being contacted for excessive  usage or being dropped by the carrier for such activity, putting Hesse’s own statement into question. Other news organizations have attempted to clarify the statement by inferring that the customers that are being contacted and subsequently dropped by the carrier are using excessive data while roaming, but Sprint’s own data roaming policies dictate that any usage over 300MB would trigger notifications before forcing the customer off of the network for excessive usage.

Naturally, many others have decided to jump on the throttling = false advertising soapbox based on a cloudy statement made by Dan Hesse during an investor conference in order to address concerns regarding data network integrity as a result of the iPhone, when his own previous statements praise the iPhone for allowing them to continue to offer unlimited data to begin with. PhoneNews.com is awaiting clarification from Sprint on the matter.

Next up, following the leaked Flash ad that revealed planned Black Friday pricing for the Verizon Galaxy Nexus before its series of delays, the next leaked Flash ad found rotating on CNET earlier today has revealed that Sprint will indeed be launching its own version of Google’s own Galaxy Nexus manufactured by Samsung with an LTE radio instead of the expected WiMax radio.

The Sprint Galaxy Nexus will also receive another upgrade, with a newer generation 1.5GHz processor compared to the 1.2GHz version found in the Verizon and international versions of the phone, although not much else is known about what other changes, if any have been done to the Sprint version besides the upgraded processor.

It’s also expected that the Sprint version will retain support for Google Wallet, as the Verizon version of the phone has had support stripped in favor of its support for the competing ISIS mobile payment initiative, which upset many owners and potential customers expecting the Verizon version of the Galaxy Nexus to be identical to the international version with little in the way of carrier customization.

This latest leak confirms a previous leak that first surfaced last October, in which the packing list for Sprint marketing materials revealed that Sprint was going to be launching a version of the phone, but at the time it was speculated that the Sprint version would have a WiMax radio instead of an LTE radio. As the ad confirms an LTE radio, this suggests that Sprint has had LTE devices in development since the third quarter of last year, if not earlier. CES is expected to confirm further details on availability for the Galaxy Nexus, as well as complete specifications for the phone and possible pricing details.

It would not be a stretch to say that the Sprint Galaxy Nexus will launch in time for the launch of LTE service in Dallas, Atlanta, San Antonio and Houston, but such launches can be fluid and ever changing, as evidenced by the constant delays with AT&T’s LTE network launch last year with AT&T originally intending to launch the network in Summer before a series of delays forced it to move the launch to the late Fall timeframe and rushing to play catchup to Verizon.

With Sprint giving its embattled LTE partner LightSquared 30 days to clear FCC hurdles, it remains to be seen how the carrier will also handle the rollout of its network, as its depending on LightSquared for a good chunk of its LTE network footprint and its Clearwire tie up will more than likely be used to shore up coverage areas that are already covered by the ISP and only need new equipment along with its own Network Vision network plan.

The Samsung Replenish, Sprint’s coveted “environmentally-friendly” phone got two stories about it at once.

First, Sprint announced the immediate availability of Android 2.3, Gingerbread for the smartphone. The update is available from the over-the-air update system, and will be rolled out to all Replenish units in waves. This marks the first mid-range phone update to Gingerbread for Sprint, since the failed-and-aborted update of the LG Optimus S. The older Optimus S has yet to get a fixed update to Gingerbread.

The second wave of news regarding the Replenish, is its availability on Sprint prepaid. Boost Mobile will begin carrying the device on its monthly plans with Shrinkage. The phone is Boost Mobile’s lowest-end Android phone to-date, starting at $99.99. Like other Android devices on Boost Mobile, the phone will not work on pay-as-you-go prepaid service, requiring at least Boost Mobile’s Daily Unlimited plan.

The Samsung Replenish is designed to be an environmentally-friendly smartphone, using high levels of recycled materials and less packaging. Sprint has stated that the cost of the device has been reduced by this move, enough for the carrier to drop the $10 advanced device requirement from the phone. However, many speculate that the Replenish was offered without the Advanced Device Fee to appease angry customers who had no modern smartphone options to chose from, without paying an additional $120/year. Sprint has not released any data that supports their claim that the Replenish costs less to manage than other, similarly-spec’ed devices which run on their network.

Ahead of next week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, MetroPCS and Samsung have issued a joint announcement confirming that both companies are working together to launch the first Android smartphone with support for the ATSC M/H terrestrial broadcast standard which was ratified in 2010.

The phone will be the first phone in the US to ship with the capability to watch terrestrial digital TV broadcasts after the initial plan to launch and ratify mobile television broadcasts was first announced in 2008. Those efforts went dormant after Qualcomm’s attempts to launch its own mobile television service, MediaFLO, until Qualcomm decided to transition away from the initiative after years of losses and low subscriber counts. That shutdown culminating in the sale of the 700MHz spectrum previously used for MediaFLO to AT&T, late last month.

The service will be powered by the Dyle consortium of broadcasters with service and coverage over more than half of the total population in the US through 72 stations in 32 markets, with initial launch markets to consist of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Dallas, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Houston, Detroit, Tampa, Phoenix, Minneapolis, Orlando, Portland, Cincinnati, Greenville, West Palm Beach, Birmingham and Knoxville, Tennessee.

Mobile television in the US has had a history of stops, starts and stillborn product development going all the way back to 2007 when carriers such as Sprint and AT&T were testing everything from MediaFLO to standard ATSC transceivers to 3G streaming and even the Euro/Asian preferred DVB-H broadcast standards before eventually settling on 3G streaming and MediaFLO respectively, which had their own set of issues such as poor video quality, high costs for both data services and additional monthly fees for subscriptions, which led to low adoption rates and high maintenance costs for carriers.

Qualcomm’s MediaFLO ended up being launched by Verizon in 2008 followed by AT&T in 2009 and was plagued by low customer adoption rates and high costs, as the service required both a data plan and an additional monthly subscription fee. To add to the confusion, while the services launched by Verizon and AT&T were the same on the technical and hardware level, both carriers had their own set of exclusive channels on the service, which did little more than annoy users and customers in practice and was done in order to drive customers to each respective service with the promise of exclusive content.

In a last ditch effort to make its service marketable to consumers during 2009-2010 before its eventual decision to kill the service and sell the spectrum, Qualcomm even attempted to sell its own hardware for MediaFLO which was manufactured by HTC and spent millions on a failed marketing blitz which included heavy sponsorship during sporting events, heavy spending on commercials during events such as ESPN’s X Games and NFL football games, even going as far as having former NFL on Fox commentator James Brown tout Qualcomm’s failed MediaFLO Mobile TV as being perfect for watching football on the go during CES in 2010.

While the adoption of mobile television using existing standards and technology may prove to be a key difference from other failed initiatives, Metro’s attempt will need to take lessons from MediaFLO if it actually intends for the service to be successful.

It has already made the wise move of deploying it with an Android handset, which raises the possibility of it being equipped with LTE, but it must also price access inline with the average monthly bill per customer on the carrier keeping in mind that its own plans go no higher than $60 a month before additional fees for more profitable add-ons. Should this attempt to launch mobile television in the US prove successful, the larger carriers may take notice and decide to develop their own products around Mobile DTV, especially as carriers look to move as much data intensive activity off of increasingly strained data networks to other alternatives.

The new service and phone will be demonstrated next week at the Consumer Electronics Show from the 10th-13th.

Best Buy is currently running its best deal on the Cricket Samsung Chrono featurephone by offering it for $10 with an additional $25 prepaid card by following this link, but there’s another rebate from Cricket for a $10 rebate card that makes the phone free by clicking this link, which links to the Cricket rebate form.