Samsung excuses absence of Super AMOLED on Galaxy Tab with Super TFT

A Super AMOLED 7-inch tablet was extremely unlikely to ever appear in a marketable form, but that didn't stop many of us from dreaming about one. as a result, there was palpable dissatisfaction when Samsung failed to deliver on our unicorn hallucination with the Galaxy Tab, but the company says not to worry. The Tab's 7 inches of glorious visuals are being handled by a Super TFT panel, surely the Korean company's answer to Sony's Super LCD. It's a screen technology that has been developed "alongside" Super AMOLED and just so happens to offer better battery presentation and an obvious saving in cost. We're usually inclined to consider such moves cynical marketing ploys keep the Super branding, drop the actual super hardware but the SLCD display on the HTC Desire gives us faith that perhaps TFTs really can be souped up.

Read rest of entry

Nuu Mini Key adds a bulky physical keyboard to the iPhone 4?

For all the reimbursement of touchscreen keyboards, there are many who maintain a steadfast allegiance to the gods of tactile feedback. So how does this Mini Key case with sliding QWERTY for the iPhone 4 strike you? Unfortunately, the keys were a bit hard to press on the backlit prototype keypad handled by Engadget Spanish, and it links to the iPhone via Bluetooth, not the iPhone's dock connector (there's a cutout at the bottom for a cable to pass through). And no, all that added bulk still doesn't include an extended life battery pack. Perhaps some of this will change before it goes on sale before the end of the year for $60 / €60, we doubt it though.

Read rest of entry

iOS 4.1 confirmed for September 8th on Apple's UK web

iOS 4.1 confirmed for September 8th on Apple's UK website
Apple's UK website, iOS 4.1 will hit on Wednesday, September 8th. The US website still displays the message, so we'll have to keep our eyes peeled. We're going to go ahead and guess that all those shiny new iPods will come to retail that day too... but don't hold us to that one. Like we said, it's only a guess.

Read rest of entry

Motorola's Droid X?

How would you change Motorola's Droid X?
The iPhone 4, and this time around we're doing the same for Motorola's best frienemies. The Droid X is without question the largest Droid in the family today, and calling it a showstopper on Verizon would maybe be understating things. Now that it's been on the market a few months, we're curious to know how you early adopters like it. Did the massive screen end up being too large for comfort? Anything you'd tweak software-wise? How's the VZW service been? Might your world change if Android 2.2 ever hits in official fashion? Go on and let us know how you'd alter this behemoth down in comments below but give it some real thought first, cool? Cool.

Read rest of entry

Sony Walkman NWZ-S754 unearthed at IFA

The Walkman section of Sony's booth at IFA this week has an routine information system that pops up spectacles on a central display for each model as you pull it away from its base, but there was one unknown model chilling out that pop up nothing more than a message when you yanked it out. What gives, Sony? Why the mystery and suspense? Why are you doing this to us? Well, a little digging through the menu system reveals that it's the NWZ-S754, I assume the follow-on to last year's S745. Given the lack of specs we weren't able to glean much, but both the black and silver units on display were 8GB models; naturally, we'd assume larger capacities are also in the cards when it launches. The display was contrasty enough so that we're thinking it could be OLED, which would make sense -- they do OLED on a number of other Walkmen models already -- and the "Mickey Mouse effect" of the button layout has been diminished a bit. That's good or bad, we suppose, depending on just how hardcore of a Disney fan you are. More details when we have 'em.

Read rest of entry

iPhone 4 gets stuffed inside Canon

iPhone 4 gets stuffed inside Canon SLR body
Joining that illustrious group is one Aniebres who, typos aside, has built one of the most impressive contraptions to date. We're still waiting to see what the end results look like, but the hardware side of things looks to be surprisingly solid, with the iPhone 4 slotting in with a satisfying click, while the entire lens mechanism has been shifted over to line up with the iPhone's camera (and make room for an Apple sticker). Head on past the break for a quick video of the rig.


iPhone 4 inside a SLR Cannon body. from Aniebres on Vimeo.

Read rest of entry

FCC cracks open Sony's Xperia X8

FCC cracks open Sony's Xperia X8, posts user's manual and revealing photos
Certain, that Xperia X8 in the picture may look demure, but the FCC doesn't mess around mere seconds after we found this shot of the 3-inch, Android 1.6 handset, we stumbled across a PDF showing the phone in various states of dress. Now, we try to run a clean site here, so you'll have to hit our source link to find those salacious pics (and manual) yourself, but if you want some nice, tasteful shots of the device's exterior and ports you'll find them immediately below. No new specs here, by the way -- it's the same quad-band GSM HSPA handset with WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, A-GPS and FM radio we've seen before

Read rest of entry

Samsung Windows Phone 7

At this position you'd think we covered almost every nook and cranny of Windows Phone 7, from games and UI to a launch device or six, but of course there's a few dust balls of info our swiffer of newsgathering has yet to grab up. Microsoft Canada's Greg Milligan has revealed at a recent Xbox 360 event. The big takeaway is future plans for phone-to-console gaming. While suggesting an initial use would be companion games that bring enhancements to full 360 titles (our first thought is how both a web game and Arcade casino title directly tied into Fable 2), he says it's something they are "absolutely" working on for the "near future" -- likely initially through WiFi only due to network speed sensitivities. "Near future," on that note, is a lot sooner that the impression we got at the recent hands-on, but in either case, we won't believe it until we see it with our own eyes.

Windows Phone 7's short-term future includes phone-to-console gaming, Twitter
In reports that won't directly affect your gamer score, Twitter, which has been noticeably (and annoyingly) absent from our time with the device, Milligan had this to say: "Twitter is not part of the base platform, but we're working closely with a number of software developers to make sure we have a twitter experience... on or very shortly after launch." Some on the staff are divided whether or not this implies full integration or just some third-party apps, but let's be hopeful for the former, aye? Video interview after the break.

Read rest of entry

Dell Streak procures a hacked-up mini USB adapter

Dell Streak procures a hacked-up mini USB adapter, gets friendly with your dusty cables
Still if you can look beyond the SIM lock and the aging Android 1.6 OS on the Dell Streak, there's still one irksome problem: the lack of a mini or micro-USB port (Dell clearly missed the USB party last summer). Dissatisfied with this state of affairs, John from Linux Slate decided to build an adapter for his tabletphone's dock connector, which he confirmed to be PDMI instead of a proprietary design. The procedure was simple: John cut up his Streak's cable plug, soldered a mini USB socket onto the board, and housed the new assembly within the Streak's cable clip. Voilà! Until third-party USB-to-PDMI cables start to show up in the stores, it's either this mod or cough up $20 for a spare cable from Dell. See the adapter in action after the break.

Read rest of entry

Samsung Galaxy

Samsung Galaxy Tab gets official teaser video
Now we're talking. It's short, sweet, and dramatic, yet the official Samsung Galaxy Tab teaser video still manages to reveal a number of features previously only rumored. We've got Android 2.2 running on a 7-inch display, video calling, Swype, HD movie playback, "Flash support," GPS navigation, an e-reader, and plenty more. Now get ready to be teased mercilessly by the video embedded after the break it's as close as you'll get before the official reveal in Berlin (at IFA) on September 2nd. Yeah, we'll be there.

Read rest of entry

Nokia N900

In a world where smartphone unlock pattern and PINs can be with no trouble gleaned from display muck, and computer passwords can be deciphered from the telltale audible clicks of the keyboard, it's any wonder that research is funded for alternative identity verification schemes. One promising technology is face verification, technology we've already seen implemented in webcams, laptops, and more recently, Microsoft's Kinect for Xbox 360. Where we haven't seen it broadly deployed is in the easy-to-lose smartphone, at least not with the level of sophistication achieved by the University of Manchester (UK). Using an N900, the research team developed a prototype that quickly locks and tracks 22 facial features in real time (even when upside down) using the Nokia's front-facing camera. The Active Appearance modeling technique was developed for the EU-funded Mobile Biometrics (MoBio) project as a means of using face verification to authenticate smartphone access to social media sites. Unfortunately, there's no mention of how long Manchester's face-verified login actually takes. Nevertheless, the video, apparently shot in a steam room full of hot man smudge, is worth a peep after the break.
Nokia N900 does real-time face tracking for verification video

Read rest of entry

The SAMSUNG Windows Phone 7

Windows Phone 7 dev tools go gold September 16, Marketplace taking submissions in October
Microsoft's held the line since its February proclaim that Windows Phone 7 is going to be prepared in time for the holidays this year and from what we've seen recently, we believe it so today they're announcing another small step in the process by finalizing the dev tools that first bowed at MIX in March. Specifically, the gold build will be hitting streets on September 16, just a little under a month from today, while the Marketplace will start accepting apps sometime in early October. Now, if you want to throw a little conjecture at this and make a few assumptions along the way, you could reasonably argue that Microsoft wants a healthy catalog of apps available for purchase on launch day one and that it'll probably take them at least a week or two to approve those first titles -- which means that if everything goes perfectly, we could theoretically see retail hardware on shelves by the end of October. Again, that's purely conjecture on our part, but it's pretty juicy to think that we could be playing with a Cetus in around two months' time, isn't it.

Read rest of entry

Switched On Gluts and glory

The smartphone surge has been driven in part by a desire to acquire the best and by a response to carrier advertising. However, a recent run-up in advanced smartphones have made it difficult to define a clear top of the line at many carriers, and carriers simply cannot promote them all with the same attention lavished on the iPhone or original Droid. Take the turn of events at Verizon, for example, which in the space of a few months has rolled out the Droid Incredible, Droid X and Droid 2, with the Samsung Fascinate in the wings. At least the first three have been all priced at $199, with strong precedent for the Fascinate coming in at that level. And while AT&T has been a bit more diverse in the operating systems of its recent spate of high-end contenders -- the iPhone 4, BlackBerry Torch and Samsung Captivate - they too have all been priced at $199.
And for those who find that moderate confusion level of this uniformity humdrum, Sprint has thrown things for a loop with with its recent pricing of the Epic 4G at $249. The most feature-packed of the Galaxy S quadruplets with its sliding keyboard and front-facing camera, Sprint has taken a risk in pricing the Epic 4G above its own recently launched EVO 4G and its larger, enthusiast-beckoning 4.3-inch display. In contrast, while the Droid 2 is not a perfect counterpart to the Epic 4G, Verizon's highest-end keyboard-packing Droid has not crossed the $199 transom. But counter to Sprint's focus on the keyboard, Verizon has implied that the Droid X is its highest-end handset -- and its feature set matches up fairly well against the EVO 4G.

Sprint has even released a video explaining the differences between the EVO 4G and Epic 4G in which surname-excised Sprint employee Heather asks, "how will you ever decide which one is right for you?" While the WiMAX-supporting carrier would clearly be pretty happy if customers (especially those defecting from other carriers) bought either, its justification for the Epic's 25% premium is anything but airtight. Sprint highlights the Epic 4G's display, noting that it makes for a thinner form factor and longer battery life, but the EVO's screen is, of course, larger. It also highlights the keyboard ("a third way to send messages" and an advantage diminished by the efficiency of typing on the EVO's larger display),
But the most dubious contrast is Sprint's positioning of the DLNA support of the Epic 4G vs. the HDMI support of the EVO 4G even though the EVO could certainly gain DLNA capabilities via a software update (or even an app). More importantly, though, HDMI and DLNA are really focused on different tasks. Despite the need for a cable, more consumers are in a better position to take advantage of the former for displaying HD video.
Another deviation, though, is more promising for consumers hoping to see lower prices for premium hardware. Sony Ericsson's XPERIA X10, with its 1GHz processor and four-inch display, is launching on AT&T at $149. While the XPERIA X10 ships with an older version of Android, and Sony Ericsson has not committed to an upgrade time frame yet, it's put its own TimeScape and MediaScape eye candy experiences on top of the stock Android experiences, and maintains that, unlike some manufacturer modifications, consumers don't have to use them.
With the re-entrance of Microsoft coming before the end of the year providing a new alternative to a bevy of hardware manufacturers, the cycle of new hardware smartphones coming to market may continue to compress. Gone are the days when carriers were holding out for a hero device. Now, as a whole league of them rush to the scene, the bigger burden is choosing your champion

Read rest of entry

T-Mobile G2 in the wild

These shots of a real, live G2 confirm what we'd already suspected from renders: this is basically an Americanized version of the upcoming HTC Vision. What does that mean? Well, it means you can expect a 3.7-inch display paired with Android and a sliding QWERTY keyboard -- higher-end than the my Touch 3G Slide and a fitting successor to the trailblazing G1, if you ask us (though admittedly not quite as geeky as the model it replaces).

Read rest of entry

Verizon's remaining 2010

Verizon's remaining 2010 roadmap to be an Android-fest of phones and tablets
Practically everything we've heard -- both officially and through tipsters -- lines up with information coming out of Phone Arena this week detailing a truly Google-heavy upcoming fall and winter release schedule for our friends at Big Red. Starting next month, it seems that we'll see a global version of the just-launched Droid 2, possibly with a white option (though it seems this could also be the R2-D2 model), and the Motorola WX455 we'd leaked has been named "Citrus" and will (as you probably could've guessed) target the low end of the market and the young'uns who are looking for an affordable way to get into Android; as WWAN-enabled laptops go, they'll be picking up the Dell Vostro V13 and the HP Pavilion DM1.
Moving onto October, we're looking at a BlackBerry Storm3 -- something we've heard a bit about -- that uses BlackBerry 6 but is said to still carry over the Storm2's Sure Press display -- an interesting foil to the Torch's traditional touch screen. Of course, we'd also heard that the CDMA version of the Curve 3G was also on tap, and it looks like we'll finally see that in October as well. Samsung should be coming in with a three-pack of Android models here, including the Fascinate alongside midrange "Continuum" and low-end "Gem" models. Not to be outdone in the Android arena, Moto is said to be introducing an XT610 model that basically looks like a lower-end version of the Droid X; they've yet to roll out a midrange Android slate on Verizon, so that'd make some sense. There's also a device called the A957 "Sick" floating around -- which we really hope isn't a retail name, obviously -- that is supposed to be a high-end model and may end up being the device we'd known as the Droid Pro. Oh, and remember how the Pre Plus just went out of stock on Verizon? That lines up nicely with some talk that the Pre 2 is being prepped for an October release, too -- possibly to correspond with the unveiling of webs 2.0, if we had to guess.
Phone Arena goes on to say that those Entourage e-readers we broke the news on are actually destined for a November release, not September as we'd originally thought; they'll be coming in two sizes, the original Edge and a smaller Pocket model. This is also around the time that they're being pegged to release the rumored HTC Merge, supposedly a mighty beast bearing a 10 megapixel camera and something faster than a 1GHz core -- possibly in a bid to do battle with the Glacier that T-Mobile is testing. Finally, we should be seeing these long-discussed tablets: one from Samsung called the i800 and another smaller model from Motorola tentatively labeled the "Stingray."
It's definitely notable that practically all of the Intel that we've received from trusted tipsters in the past several weeks lines up with this roadmap, so we're confident that it's pretty accurate; of course, launch dates have a nasty tendency to slip ad infinitum, so we won't be counting any chickens 'til they're hatched.

Read rest of entry

T-Mobile offering Vibrant for $99

T-Mobile offering Vibrant for $99, if you're quick about it
The Vibrant's $200 price tag on contract was the only thing keeping you planted on the fence, you might want to head over to T-Mobile's interwebs right this second seeing how they're offering a one-day special -- $99, online only -- which makes it $100 cheaper than AT&T's Captivate and $150 less than Sprint's Epic 4G. Any way you slice it, that's a killer carrier-direct price for a high-end Android phone with a 1GHz core and one of the best phone displays we've ever seen... and remember, it includes Avatar, which means you're getting this for the price of a few Avatar Blu-rays. Yeah, that's the way to look at it.

Update: Don't want to drop even a single Benjamin on T-Mobile's foremost Android? How's a penny sound? We're seeing the Vibrant for $0.01 (and two years of your life) right now at Amazon.

Read rest of entry

Samsung says GPS

Samsung says GPS is 'tested and validated' on Epic 4G, our testing agrees
If you own a Galaxy S anywhere in the earth or you're thinking of buying one, you're probably well-acquainted at this point with the GPS issues it's been suffering that prevent you from getting anything close to a precise lock on your location -- it might not be a deal-breaker for some, but for anyone planning on using their phone for turn-by-turn nab or fitness tracking (for instance) it's a big deal. Samsung's already committed to updating released versions of the phone in September, but what about the upcoming Epic 4G? Our testing suggests that it's functional -- Google Maps was able to give us extremely precise positions very quickly - and a statement we've received from Samsung seems to corroborate that:

We have tested and validated both Network assisted (indoor) and Autonomous (outdoor) GPS on the Epic 4G. With regards to Vibrant and Captivate, we are currently testing software updates which will optimize GPS performance. We expect to be able to make the updates available in September and will communicate more information and download instructions in the next few weeks.

Read rest of entry

Motorola Charm hitting T-Mobile on August 25 for $75

Motorola Charm hitting T-Mobile on August 25 for $75 update: Telus version caught on video.
T-Mobile USA just dropped the information on Twitter that it'll be carrying the Motorola Charm starting next Wednesday, August 25 - but what it failed to mention is pricing. For what it's worth, the company does specifically say that it'll be "affordable" - and although a marketing department's definition of "affordable" can be very different from ours, we're encouraged by a handful of previous rumors that there would be ways to get it for free on contract. If you need us to jog your memory, the Charm is a cute little portrait QWERTY Android device with a Kodak-branded 3 megapixel cam and landscape display, giving it a rare form factor that could very well appeal to a whole new.
Update: Turns out Moto's posted on its official “Facebook “page that it'll run $74.99 on contract -- not free, unfortunately, and in the age of free Pixi Pluses, that might be a tough pill to swallow. We've also been handed a video of TELUS demonstrating its version of the Charm, which should look and work exactly the same - check it out after the break. Thanks, Matt and Dead Man!

Read rest of entry

EFO rolls out credit card-sized iPazzPort mini Bluetooth keyboard

EFO may not have rather reached Brando levels low-cost gadget fame, but it did deal with to catch our attention recently with its HTPC-friendly iPazzPort keyboard, and it's now back with another interesting little device, the iPazzPort mini Bluetooth keyboard. As you can see, this one is simply a tiny Bluetooth keyboard, which EFO says is "tailor-made for handheld devices" and, of course, ideal for use with the iPhone or iPad. It's also reasonably cheap - just $32 - and it would seemingly be a good starting point for DIY-minded individuals looking to build, say, an iPhone case with a built-in keyboard. Head on past the break for a quick a video, and another shot of the keyboard sized up against an iPhone.

Read rest of entry

Gresso's Las Vegas Jackpot phone costs a million dollars

While you make it your business to deliver outlandish new looks for mobile telephony, it can from time to time be a face up to to just outdo your last effort. So Gresso's decided the only way forward is to collect all the fine materials it had lying around -- black diamonds, pure gold, diamond-cut sapphire crystals, and 200-year old African Blackwood - sprinkle them atop an otherwise nondescript feature phone, and slap on the spectacular price tag of $1,000,000. Only three Jackpots are being made, while there'll be a Las Vegas handset without the black diamonds and sapphires for the more mundanely rich among us, priced at $20,000. Oh Gresso, just one tip: next time, try to align your earpiece to your fancy designs, we hear wealthy folks appreciate some attention to detail.

Read rest of entry