AT&T today introduced the NEC Terrain, a ruggedized Android smartphone that offers AT&T’s enhanced push-to-talk services. The Terrain features a 3.1-inch screen, a dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm snapdragon S4 processor, and a physical keyboard for text entry. It also includes a 5-megapixel main camera and VGA user-facing camera. The device ships with 8GB of internal storage, and support for microSD memory cards up to 32GB. The Terrain has a dedicated PTT button and earSmart technology, which NEC says gives the Terrain’s dual speakers a significant boost with echo cancellation and noise suppression. It is ruggedized for protection against dust, water, and shock. The NEC Terrain will be available beginning June 21 for $ 99.99 with a new contract. It can be purchased through AT&T’s business sales channels.

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Nvidia today announced that it plans to offer its mobile processor technology to other companies. Nvidia hopes to generate income through this new business model, which will see it license its mobile technology for a fee. To start, Nvidia said that it will offer the GPU core based on its Kepler architecture. The Kepler GPU includes support for OpenGL 4.3 and GPGPU, and Nvidia claims it offers excellent performance and efficiency. Kepler is found at the core of Nvidia’s own GeForce, Quadro, and Tesla GPUs, as well as its next-generation platform, codenamed Logan. Companies that choose to license Nvidia’s technology will receive all the support they need to integrate Kepler into their own hardware. Nvidia said today’s move is based in part on the changing landscape of computing and its shift toward mobile devices.

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Dish Networks today offered an update on its bid to acquire Sprint. According to Dish, Sprint’s recent legal actions have caused Dish to reevaluate its plans moving forward. It will drop its proposed acquisition of Sprint and will instead concentrate on acquiring Clearwire. “While Dish continues to see strategic value in a merger with Sprint, the decisions made by Sprint to prematurely terminate our due diligence process and accept extreme deal protections in its revised agreement with SoftBank, among other things, have made it impracticable for Dish to submit a revised offer by the June 18th deadline imposed by Sprint. We will consider our options with respect to Sprint, and focus our efforts and resources on completing the Clearwire tender offer.” Sprint filed a lawsuit against Dish on Monday seeking to block its bid to acquire Clearwire, calling the proposal illegal.

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Facebook today pushed out a small update to its iOS mobile application. The latest version of Facebook for the iPhone brings with it the ability to add emoticons to status updates, change who can see posts after they’ve been published, and start conversations after receiving photo messages. Facebook for iOS is a free update from the iTunes App Store.

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Virgin Mobile today announced that the Samsung Galaxy Ring is now available for $ 179.99. The Ring features a 4.0-inch touch display, 5-megapixel main camera with LED flash and 1080p HD video capture, 1.3-megapixel user-facing camera, and a 1.4GHz processor. The Ring runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and is compatible with Virgin iD packs. Other features include Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, Wi-Fi, and support for Virgin’s CDMA 3G network. It is compatible with microSD cards up to 64GB and has a 1,750mAh battery. The device is for sale online and in stores beginning today.

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Huawei today announced the Ascend P6, an Android smartphone that measures just 6.18mm thick. The P6 features a metallic body that houses a 4.7-inch HD in-cell display that can be used with when wearing gloves. The P6 includes a 1.5GHz quad-core processor and an 8-megapixel main camera with backside illumination and an aperture of f/2. The P6 also has a 5-megapixel front-facing camera for higher-quality self portraits. It comes with a 2,000mAh battery and Huawei’s Automated Discontinuous Reception (ADRX) and Quick Power Control (QPC) battery optimization tools that Huawei claims results in power efficiency gains of 30%. Other Huawei software elements include its Emotion user interface, which offers customized widgets and apps. The Ascend P6 runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. The P6 will first ship across China and European markets beginning in July, with other markets to follow. Huawei did not say if the P6 or a version thereof would be sold in the U.S.

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BlackBerry returns to its roots with the Q10, a smartphone that claims to offer the best of both worlds: a QWERTY keyboard for typing and a touch interface paired with a modern operating system. Did BlackBerry get the combination right with the Q10? Let’s dig in.

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Sprint today filed a lawsuit against Dish Networks and Clearwire in Delaware that aims to prevent Clearwire from acting on Dish’s tender offer for Clearwire. Last week, the special action committee evaluating Dish’s proposal for Clearwire recommended that the board accept Dish’s offer rather than Sprint’s. Sprint contends that Dish’s offer violates both Delaware law, as well as the rights of both Sprint’s and Clearwire’s investors. Sprint also calls the offer “structurally and actionably coercive.” Sprint points out that the offer cannot be accepted without approval from 75% of Clearwire’s investors, including both Sprint and Comcast specifically. Sprint goes on to accuse Dish of attempting to fool Clearwire’s shareholders and obstruct Sprint’s attempt to acquire the portion of Clearwire that it does not already own. Sprint wants portions of the tender offer to be rescinded, and is also seeking declaratory, injunctive, and compensatory relief.

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Microsoft today revealed that it has made some under-the-hood improvements to Bing voice search for the Windows Phone platform. The updates take advantage of advances in Deep Neural Networks technology, which helps computers mimic the behavior of neurons. Microsoft says the result is voice recognition that is twice as fast and results that are 15% more accurate. The improved Bing search is being rolled out in waves. Microsoft said that the improvements carry over to other apps, such as text or email messages, which will be better at transcribing dictated content.

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Samsung plans to introduce a version of the Galaxy S4 with LTE-Advanced on board, according to mobile chief J.K. Shin. “We’ll be the first with the commercial launch of the advanced 4G version of the smartphone,” said Shin. LTE-Advanced can attain download speeds that are about twice that of today’s LTE. This new device will be sold in Korea as soon as this month, and Samsung is in talks with other carriers to sell the phone outside of Korea, though Shin didn’t say which ones. The LTE-Advanced Galaxy S4 would mark the fifth variation of the device, following the S4, S4 Mini, S4 Active, and S4 Zoom. At the moment, there are no operational LTE-Advanced networks available in the U.S.

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