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Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Google Navigation video hands-on: you want this

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/28/google-navigation-video-hands-on-you-want-this/

We apologize for being fanish, but Google has pulled off something with its new Navigation elements in Google Maps (or is it Google Maps in a Navigation app? It's hard to tell) that has serious ramifications for a navigation device industry used to charging money for functionality. The introduction of satellite view, a tasteful touch of street view (peep a still of your next turn, or see your destination), and of course regular stuff like spoken directions and street names, and Google's voice recognition applied to search (anywhere on the device just tap voice search and start your phrase with "navigate to") make this a pretty astonishing offering for what's essentially a free app with the purchase of an Android 2.0 device. The biggest worry here is that if you lose signal you won't be able to pull maps, but while there's no whole-map caching, it does cache a route when you enter it in, so as long as you don't stray too far from the beaten path you should be fine with a dropped signal here or there. But enough of our blather, check out a video walkthrough after the break.

Gallery: Google Navigation hands-on

Continue reading Google Navigation video hands-on: you want this

Filed under: Cellphones, Software

Google Navigation video hands-on: you want this originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia's N97 mini gets its shipping papers

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/28/nokias-n97-mini-gets-its-shipping-papers/

Right on cue, the smaller-but-just-barely N97 mini is now ready for public consumption over in Europe. Granted, we're certainly at the tail end of October, but we can't say that we caught Nokia in a lie or anything based on what was said last month in Stuttgart. You've already committed the specifications to memory and read all about firmware 2.0, so now all that's left to do is run along, fork out €450 ($667) and wonder forever if this decision will positively or negatively change the course of your life.

Filed under: Cellphones

Nokia's N97 mini gets its shipping papers originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC Droid Eris priced at $99 for Verizon?

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/28/htc-droid-eris-priced-at-99-for-verizon/

Sure, the DROID's getting all the attention today, but you might recall that it's not the only thing Verizon has in the pipe has it preps its first Android assault -- HTC's got the Droid Eris in there somewhere, too, which is shaping up to be little more than a branded Hero in a slightly different shell. Against the insanely-spec'd DROID, that may not be a drool-worthy proposition, but fortunately, it's looking like Verizon is going to be pursuing an aggressive tiered pricing strategy that might allow these phones to coexist in peace and everlasting harmony: unlike the DROID's $199 sticker, gdgt has it on good authority that the Droid Eris will run a hundie less at $99. That spanks Sprint's version which currently runs $179.99, but hey, if this means we're going to see a price war down in the 528MHz trenches for the Android midrange, we're all for it.

[Image via AndroidGuys]

Filed under: Cellphones

HTC Droid Eris priced at $99 for Verizon? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Netflix streaming purportedly hitting Nintendo's Wii next

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/28/netflix-streaming-purportedly-hitting-nintendos-wii-next/

Mmhmm. We see precisely where this is going. First came Microsoft's Xbox 360, then came the PlayStation 3. Now, the beast that is Netflix's "Watch Instantly" is coming to Nintendo's Wii... or that's the scuttlebutt, anyway. According to StreamingMedia, an undisclosed source close to the project has confirmed that the Big N is currently testing Netflix streaming on the Wii, and that it'll be rolled out to the public "very soon." Our initial reaction is to think that "very soon" will translate into "before the holidays," though we all know that only time will tell. But hey, when you've been waiting for this to happen since March, patience comes naturally.

Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment

Netflix streaming purportedly hitting Nintendo's Wii next originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MTube Android MID streams media to the TV and back via touchscreen (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/28/mtube-android-mid-streams-media-to-the-tv-and-back-via-touchscre/

MTube, known most famously in these parts for its diminutive, WiMAX-sportin' media player, seems to be putting some time and effort into Android as of late. While the MTube II hybrid Android / XP / tablet / netbook has certainly inspired its share of techno-lust, the Android MID hits us where it counts: in front of the television. The unholy union of a handheld and a multimedia controller, this guy lets you drag and drop video from the device to your TV, stream media to the TV or vice versa, and transfer files between multiple MTubes -- all this in addition to the core functionality of the OS. Details are still scant: although we know it's rocking an ARM Processor, a 7.6-inch 800 x 480 capacitive touchscreen OLED, and Android 1.6, there's no word on storage or memory, or even how the video is streamed (we think that WiFi might be a good guess). As it stands, the thing is most certainly not ready for prime time (as becomes painfully obvious when the system crashes at 1 minute 45 seconds), but as a taste of things to come we're definitely intrigued. Peep the video after the break to see for yourself.

Continue reading MTube Android MID streams media to the TV and back via touchscreen (video)

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Video

MTube Android MID streams media to the TV and back via touchscreen (video) originally appeared on Engadget on ! Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tuesday, October 27, 2009

I Want to Have Twins Just to Get Them These Awesome T-Shirts [T-shirts]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/Txiye0e7P3k/i-want-to-have-twins-just-to-get-them-these-awesome-t+shirts

So cute, those two and their t-shirts. Mine would say cmd + c and cmd + v, however. [The Daily What]

Xerox Develops Ink To Print Circuits On Nearly Anything [Printable Circuits]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/k1Uzvr-oZSc/xerox-develops-ink-to-print-circuits-on-nearly-anything

Wearable electronics aren't news, but being able to make them cheaply and easily is. Xerox has developed an ink with which you can print circuits onto plastic, film, fabric, and nearly anything you can think of.

From more durable, flexible electronics to nifty, wearable gear to cheap, throw away gadgets, the possible applications will be endless the day Xerox's "silver bullet" ink hits the market. Despite the lack of details on when that'll actually happen or what sort of equipment will be required for the actual printing process, I'm already daydreaming about pants with all sorts of gadgetry built in. [Venture Beat]

Bridgestone announces flexible touchscreen color e-reader

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/27/bridgestone-announces-flexible-touchscreen-color-e-reader/

When we heard word of a "big announcement" back in July we imagined an e-reader of some sort, but what is it that we have here? Based on a technology Bridgestone calls Quick-response Liquid Powder, the company's all-color touchscreen e-book reader is about 5.8mm thick, features a 13.1-inch touch-sensitive e-paper display (with 4,096 colors and a refresh rate of about 0.8 seconds), and some sort of unspecified mobile phone connectivity. Most exciting, of course, is that the entire package -- circuit board, touchscreen, and housing -- are designed to bend together. A neat trick, sure, but probably not too practical for jotting down notes with your stylus. Still, we'd take two. Trials begin at the Kansai Urban Banking Corp early next year, but you can check it out sooner at FPD International 2009 in Yokohama City, Japan, starting tomorrow.

[Via Tech-On]

Filed under: Displays, Handhelds

Bridgestone announces flexible touchscreen color e-reader originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC HD2 fulfills its unboxing obligations on video

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/27/htc-hd2-fulfills-its-unboxing-obligations-on-video/

You've already seen the HD2 that HTC would have you see, but now it's time to take the obligatory journey to the world of unboxings. Seen here in "not-yet-final" packaging, the WinMo 6.5-packin' handset looks sexier than ever, even in that still-to-be-tweaked green box. Hop on past the break and mash play if you're looking to get all sorts of jealous this morning.

Continue reading HTC HD2 fulfills its unboxing obligations on video

Filed under: Cellphones

HTC HD2 fulfills its unboxing obligations on video originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Liquavista's e-reader displays do video, color and other magic tricks (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/27/liquavistas-e-reader-displays-do-video-and-color-video/

Liquavista's been kicking around in the shadows for years now, and while its stuff has largely been viewed as vaporware, the video waiting for you just past the break changes everything. The company has today revealed three new e-reader display technologies that it's working on, and all three of 'em are in prototype form ready to wow. LiquavistaBright aims to speed up page refreshes on e-book readers and add support for video playback, and considering just how awful web browsing is on existing e-ink displays, we can hardly wait to surf on this stuff. It's also toiling away on a LiquavistaColor screen, which is exactly what you think it is. Finally, there's the elusive LiquavistaVivid, which is planned for "product implementation" throughout 2010 and 2011. Hit the read link if you're down for looking into the future, and be sure to tell PixelQi its main competition has just come out in a big way.

Gallery: Liquavista's e-reader displays do video and color (video)

Continue reading Liquavista's e-reader displays do video, color and other magic tricks (video)

Filed under: Displays, Handhelds

Liquavista's e-reader displays do video, color and other magic tricks (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NEC working on an Android tablet for suits?

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/27/nec-working-on-an-android-tablet-for-suits/

Super-vague report in the Nikkei this morning about NEC working on a seven-to-eight-inch "mobile device as capable as a personal computer" that's aimed at business customers -- no specs are given, but the tiny accompanying pic definitely shows the Android app tab at the bottom of that custom UI. Very mysterious. The report says NEC thinks it'll move 100,000 to 200,000 of these a year after it launches next fall, and plans to sell a million a year over time, but we'll wait to see what's real and what's not before we tackle that prediction.

[Via Slashgear; warning, read link requires registration]

Filed under: Handhelds, Tablet PCs

NEC working on an Android tablet for suits? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Android 2.0 support officially added to SDK

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/27/android-2-0-support-officially-added-to-sdk/

Google's gone ahead and uncorked the bubbly to celebrate the launch of Android 2.0 "Eclair" today ahead of Verizon's big reveal tomorrow, bundling its announcements into two very important sections: SDK support, meaning devs can go ahead and start targeting the new bits, and a comprehensive list of changes in the latest version. Here are the major changes us lay folk are going to care about:

Support for multiple Google and Exchange accounts
Third-party "sync adapters" allow apps to tie in to the phone's sync services
Quick contact menus for fast access to specific key pieces of contact information
Unified email inbox (yes!)
SMS and MMS search
Text message auto-delete after a user-defined thread size is reached
Significantly improved camera controls with white balance, macro, effects, and more
Improved keyboard layout, dictionary, and algorithm based on multi-touch support
Double-tap zoom in browser, support for HTML5
Bluetooth 2.1 support with addition of OPP and PBAP profiles
"Better" graphics hardware acceleration

Needless to say, we're extremely excited about the changes Google's made here -- and on top of the Droid, we can only hope this action is coming to legacy devices on the double. We'll find out soon enough (hopefully). Check a video of 2.0 in action after the break!

[Via MobileTechWorld]

Read - SDK support announcement
Read - Android 2.0 changes

Continue reading Android 2.0 support officially added to SDK

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Android 2.0 support officially added to SDK originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dell's Latitude XT2 XFR rugged tablet gets official

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/27/dells-latitude-xt2-xfr-rugged-tablet-gets-official/

As is often the case, the FCC spoiled the surprise on this one, but Dell's keeping its PR machine chugging along with its new Latitude XT2 XFR rugged tablet nonetheless, and it's fleshed out a few details in the precess. As expected, this one is more or less just a rugged version of the company's existing Latitude XT2, including the same 12.1-inch multitouch display, a modestly upgraded Core 2 Duo SU9600 processor, up to 5GB of RAM, your choice of a standard hard drive or SSD, a range of hot-swappable modules (soon to include GPS) and, somewhat curiously, no Windows 7 option -- just Vista or the ever popular XP downgrade. Of course it's the ruggedness that's the real selling point, and this one looks to deliver the goods on that front (for a starting price of $3,599) -- just check out the video after the break.

Continue reading Dell's Latitude XT2 XFR rugged tablet gets official

Filed under: Laptops, Tablet PCs

Dell's Latitude XT2 XFR rugged tablet gets official originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Next-gen Atom N470 to relax netbook spec restrictions slightly further

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/27/next-gen-atom-n470-to-relax-netbook-spec-restrictions-slightly-f/

Netbook specs have been held in check by Microsoft and Intel's dizzying array of rules and restrictions for low-cost machines, but now that Windows 7 is out and Intel's getting ready to release the next generation of Atom chips it sounds like things are about to get slightly better. Microsoft has already started allowing netbook manufacturers to load Windows 7 Home Premium on machines without restrictions, and now Fudzilla says Intel will lift the 1GB RAM limit from Atom machines when the 1.83GHz N470 Pine Trail chip hits in March. That means we'll start to see more of a range of netbook specs going forward, but the low-end will probably still be dominated by Windows 7 Starter and the Atom N450, which will still be limited to 1GB of RAM, so don't expect to be happy with the cheap stuff anytime soon.

[Via Slashgear]

Filed under: Laptops

Next-gen Atom N470 to relax netbook spec restrictions slightly further originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone 3GS bested by Android Archos 5 tablet in browsing benchmarks

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/27/iphone-3gs-bested-by-android-archos-5-tablet-in-browsing-benchma/

We've already seen the iPhone 3GS handily win an ARM Cortex A8-powered browsing bakeoff against the Palm Pre, but now that a few more devices have hit the scene with the processor it's time for another round, don't you think? Pocketables certainly does, and they've pitted the 3GS against a pretty eclectic group of devices, including the Sharp NetWalker Android "smartbook," the Archos 5 IMT, and the Archos 5 Android PMP. That's two Android devices, one funky proprietary OS, and the iPhone, all running different browsers on different variants of the same chip design, so there are obviously a lot of variables at play here, but the results are still interesting: the 800MHz Android Archos 5's WebKit browser was just a tick faster than the 600MHz iPhone 3GS, turning in an average page-load time of 9.0 seconds as opposed to 9.6, while the 800MHz NetWalker and 600MHz Archos 5 IMT trailed at 10.3 and 11.6 seconds. All we're taking away from that is that WebKit-based mobile browsers still seem to be the speed champs, but we're sure you have a different opinion.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

iPhone 3GS bested by Android Archos 5 tablet in browsing benchmarks originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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