Motorola MT917 - 720p display, 13 MP, Kevlar

Motorola has announced the MT917 Android smartphone, which will be an TD-SCDMA exclusive for China Mobile. The phone's highlights are a 1280 x 720 4.5-incher (~330 ppi), a dual-core 1.2 GHz processor, 1 gig of RAM, 13 MP camera (capable of 1080p video capture) on the back, and speaking of which, the back is made of Kevlar just like on the RAZR.

   
The Motorola MT917

The phone is due to launch mid-December on China Mobile's network and there's no word on global availability just yet.

The phone is among the slimmest around with a 8.5 mm profile (not quite as slim as the RAZR, though) and will offer a scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass display, Kevlar fiber back, zinc frame and splash resistant coating on the inside and out. It will come with Android 2.3 Gingerbread but hopefully will offer ICS some time post-launch.

We'll be eagerly awaiting a global GSM variant of the MT917, that will enter the elite among 720p-bearingphones and, hopefully, have a non-cyborg name to go along with it too.

‘Inferior products’ to blame for weak HTC sales in Q4, Citigroup says

HTC cut its fourth-quarter guidance for the second time earlier this week, sending shares of the company’s stock to their lowest point in more than a year. The Taiwan-based smartphone vendor cut revenue estimates by roughly 23% for the fourth quarter as steep competition from Samsung, Apple and other companies will seemingly makeHTC’s run at the top short-lived. But pent up demand for a new iPhone and Samsung’s ongoing charge are only half of the equation according to two Citigroup analysts. HTC’s weak fourth quarter is “driven more by inferior product than by macro reasons,” analysts Kevin Chang and Jonathan Gu wrote in a research note earlier this week according to Bloomberg. “We are most surprised by the lack of visibility and by how fast things deteriorate in the smartphone business.” Chang and Gu cut their price target on HTC stock to NT$463, dropping their earlier Buy rating to Neutral.

Quad-core ASUS Transformer Prime tablet now available for pre-order

The highly anticipated sequel to ASUS’ convertible Android tablet, the Eee Pad Transformer, is now available for pre-order in North America. Set for release some time next month, the Transformer Prime features a 1.3GHz quad-core Tegra 3 processor, Android 3.2 Honeycomb, a 10.1-inch display, 1GB of RAM, an 8-megapixel rear camera, a 1.2-megapixel front-facing camera, a microHDMI-out port and SD card support. ASUS has also promised that an update to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich isn’t far off. The tablet will cost $499.99 for the 32GB model and $599.99 for the 64GB model, and it is available in gray or champagne. ASUS had trouble keeping the original Transformer on store shelves for quite some time after it was released, so pre-orders are definitely recommended for those who hope to snag a tablet out of the first batch to ship.