Google shocked the tech world last year when they announced that they would acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion. Shareholders already approved the deal and many in the industry assume it will go through, but there are still a few hurdles left to clear before it becomes official. Motorola provided an update on the progress in yesterday’s earnings report.

In order to be approved antitrust clearances, or waiting period expirations, are required by the U.S. Department of Justice, European Commission, Canada, China, Israel, Russia, Taiwan and Turkey.

So far, clearances have only been received from Turkey and Russia. The waiting period has expired in the United States and Canada, but Motorola has been informed that the reviewing agencies have not finished their investigations. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced in December that they have moved on to phase two of its investigation.

Motorola “expects the transaction to close in early 2012″ but notes that “factors outside the company’s control” could “delay or prevent completion of the transaction altogether.”

The biggest obstacle to completing the transaction could come from Europe where consumer groups are urging the European Union to block the merger. Consumer Watchdog, a US-based advocacy group, has written a letter [.pdf] to the EU asking them to stop the deal.

Parts of the letter read, “Allowing the Motorola Mobility deal would provide Google with unprecedented dominance in virtually all aspects of the mobile world – manufacturing, operating systems, search and advertising. It would be a virtually unstoppable juggernaut. We urge the Commission to block the proposed $12.5 billion deal.”

Not only does the letter ask the EU to block the merger, but it also calls for an investigation into the Google’s alleged anti-competitive practices.

If you are not familiar with Consumer Watchdog, they have accused Google of engaging in “close relationships” with the U.S. governement and produced several videos attacking former Google CEO, Eric Schmidt.

The EU Commission was originally supposed to make a decision on the merger by January 10th, but that deadline was extended to February 13th after Google submitted additional documents to support its case.

At this point I doubt the deal will get killed, but anything is possible. There was a time when we thought that AT&T’s acquisition of T-Mobile was certain, and look how that turned out.

If Samsung doesn’t make any drastic changes to their model numbering conventions, the Samsung Galaxy S III may very well have just appeared on the company’s official support site. Listed among Samsung’s various smartphones is the GT-i9300, a model number that sequentially follows the GT-i9xx series (Galaxy S), GT-i91xx (Galaxy S II), and GT-i92xx ( Galaxy Nexus and Note). There is always the possibility that this turns out to be some other upcoming handset or a variation on a current design, as clicking on the device model doesn’t reveal any further information. We may not have an answer as soon as we’d like, as Samsung is rumored to be shelving the announcement of the GS3 until sometime after Mobile World Congress. The annual trade show for the mobile industry was expected to serve as a coming out party for the new flagship handset.

[via Engadget]

Lumigon first announced their Lumigon T1 smartphone at Mobile World Congress way back in February of 2010. The company will be back at MWC this year, this time showing off…the Lumigon T1. If you aren’t familiar with the device, it was one of a set of handsets initially unveiled by the mobile hardware startup. Plans for S1 and E1 designs were abandoned as Lumigon focused its efforts on their flagship device, which was promised to launch by the end of 2010. After throwing an unveiling party for the T1 the handset never managed to surface. Two years later Lumigon is at it again and looks to be unveiling a redesigned T1 at this year’s MWC.

When originally announced the T1 was specced with a 3.5-inch display, HDMI output, 5MP camera, and a 1GHz CPU. Later a partnership with Bang and Olufsen promised to bring premium audio to the handset. The phone was positioned as an industry leader in terms of hardware, so the assumption is Lumigon will have an updated device to show off at this year’s event (if they plan to stay at the head of the premium market). We’ve been tracking the smartphone equivalent of Bigfoot since its first announcement. Perhaps this year we can bring you a hands-on overview.

[via AndroidCommunity]

Ah yes, behold the long-awaited Verizon ZTE V66 tablet in all its glory. We already knew it was on its way as we saw it make a brief appearance last month, but we hadn’t heard any further news about it until now. The V66 comes in at 7-inches and will carry Honeycomb 3.2 along with a handy custom lock screen among its noteworthy features. Furthermore, rumor has it this nice tablet could arrive around “February 2x”, which means it will possibly arrive right in the middle of Mobile World Congress.

Naturally we expect Verizon to give the mysterious tablet a more formal name, though we have no indication of what it will be just yet. Keep it locked with Talk Android for further updates, especially as we approach MWC.

We know Samsung is pushing its Exynos line of processors in its devices. That’s a given. However, we all know Sammy has yet to really push the boundaries of its impressive chip. It’s exactly why the brand is hard at work on its Exynos 5250 series of chips. According to Phandroid, Sammy is looking to take the ARM Cortex-A15-based processor and push it into 2GHz territory. You read that correctly folks, it is looking to have its chips at a whopping 2GHz. Moreover, rumor has it that while the chip will be insanely fast, it will suck less power than that the earlier chipsets. As it stands, the chips are currently in testing right now and we can expect to see them in devices by Q2 of this year.

Naturally you can’t have a chip in the works without a device made for it. That’s why Sammy is also rumored to be developing a special Galaxy Tab that will take full advantage of the Exynos 5250 series of chips. The tablet can support a resolution of up to 2560×1600, all in a WXQGA display of greater than 10-inches of course. Further details are scarce at the moment, but we expect to see something demoed or previewed at the upcoming MWC.