Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Monday, October 05, 2009

AT&T touts Opera-powered full web browsing with new phones from Samsung and Pantech

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/05/atandt-touts-opera-powered-full-web-browsing-with-new-models-from/

AT&T wants you to know that you don't need a smartphone just to get a rich, full web experience from your handset -- theoretically, anyway -- with the introduction of four new models from longtime partners Samsung and Pantech alongside a new featurephone browser. First up from Samsung comes the Flight (pictured left), billed as a "next-generation messaging device" on account of its full QWERTY portrait slide paired with a full touchscreen up top; it'll be available next month for $99.99 on contract after rebate -- that is, if you didn't buy it on Craigslist already. That silvery slate in the middle that's more likely to be catching your eye is the Mythic, rocking TouchWiz on a 3.3-inch display along with AT&T Mobile TV, making it a fitting successor to the Eternity and big brother to the Solstice; like the Flight, it swings onto retail next month, but you'll be paying a stiffer $199.99 on contract after $50 rebate.

Turning our attention to the Pantech side of the table, we've got the Reveal (pictured right) that lets you have it both ways with a numeric keypad up top twined with a QWERTY slider underneath. It's 3G-capable, AT&T Navigator-equipped, and available for your enjoyment on October 18 in red and blue. Finally, the Impact (not pictured) has an OLED touchscreen up front, but when the texting gets hot and heavy, the phone opens up to reveal a second display along with a QWERTY keyboard. It'll be available in pink and blue, though neither pricing nor availability are being announced just yet.

Gluing everything together is AT&T's new mobile browser, described as "a rich hybrid experience that gives you a HTML experience similar to your PC browser at home" that "works really well on a feature phone." Additionally, users visiting att.net from their PCs will be able to send bookmarks to their phones' mobile portals -- kind of a neat trick, especially when you're trying to minimize the number of URLs you have to mash out on an on-screen keyboard. Of course, featurephone browsers have a reputation for generally sucking, so considering that AT&T bills its new line of devices as "full web browsing phones," it'll be interesting to see how close they actually come to delivering on the claim; it's said the phones use "advanced data compression from Opera Software," which we're thinking is very likely some variation of Opera Turbo -- not a bad start.

Filed under: Cellphones

AT&T touts Opera-powered full web browsing with new phones from Samsung and Pantech originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Oct 2009 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC Pure and Tilt 2 bring Windows Mobile 6.5 to AT&T

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/05/htc-pure-and-tilt-2-bring-windows-mobile-6-5-to-atandt/

Long-rumored versions of HTC's ubiquitous Touch Diamond2 and Touch Pro2 have finally been made official for AT&T -- but perhaps more notably, they mark AT&T's very first forays into the WinMo 6.5 arena as Microsoft officially unleashes the latest version of its mobile platform on the world this week. The Pure (pictured left) is a particularly heavy rework of the Diamond2's industrial design, shedding the square metal-adorned shell for a glossy black plastic one while carrying over the 3.2-inch WVGA display and 5 megapixel autofocus camera. Meanwhile, the Tilt 2 resurrects the Tilt name -- dormant since AT&T's version of the TyTN II made way for the Fuze last year -- bringing a 3.6-inch WVGA display, full QWERTY keyboard with tilt-up display (hence the name), full duplex speakerphone, and a 3.2 megapixel cam. The Pure will be the first on shelves, available already (ahead of Microsoft's official release on Tuesday, interestingly) for $149.99 on contract after a $50 rebate; the Tilt2 comes "in the following weeks" for $299.99 after $50 rebate.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

HTC Pure and Tilt 2 bring Windows Mobile 6.5 to AT&T originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Oct 2009 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms fo! r use of feeds.

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Samsung Behold II marries Android, TouchWiz for T-Mobile

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/05/samsung-behold-ii-marries-android-touchwiz-for-t-mobile/

The Behold is all grow'd up with its second rendition, moving up in the world from a mere featurephone to an authentic Android-powered contender. T-Mobile's latest Android set is a full-touch model backed by a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus, flash, and video recording, a 3.2-inch AMOLED display, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1, and microSD expansion up to 16GB. Like virtually all Samsung smartphones (and many of its featurephones), the Behold II features an adaptation of the company's TouchWiz UI and has a 3D "cube menu" for rotating among common features like web browsing and YouTube access. Neither pricing nor availability are being announced right now, but we're being promised it'll be around "in time for the holidays."

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Samsung Behold II marries Android, TouchWiz for T-Mobile originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Oct 2009 00:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Flash 10.1 announced for just about anything with a screen, webOS and WinMo betas this year (update: Pre video!)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/05/flash-10-1-announced-for-just-about-anything-with-a-screen-webo/

Flash 10 already supports HD video on the desktop, but 10.1 -- announced this week at Adobe's MAX conference in Los Angeles -- is being billed the first to really reap the full benefits of the Open Screen Project by unifying feature sets across a wide variety of platforms on the desktop, the laptop, and the pocket. As usual, Windows, Mac, and Linux will all get hooked up with the latest release, but public betas of 10.1 for Windows Mobile and webOS will be hitting before the end of the year as well followed by Android and Symbian in "early" 2010. RIM's also gotten official with its rumored membership in the Open Screen Project, though the lack of a timeline for 10.1 support in BlackBerry OS is a stark reminder of the long technical road that lies ahead for Waterloo as it tries to match the smartphone competition tit-for-tat in the multimedia space. At the end of the day, mobile Flash means nothing without the horsepower to properly drive it, so let's hope that Tegra, Snapdragon, and next-generation architectures like OMAP4 start to come on board en masse just as these builds come out of beta.

Speaking of fast chipsets, the other big news out of the show is that Flash 10.1 will take advantage of GPU acceleration on a number of key mobile platforms, including both nVidia's Tegra and Qualcomm's Snapdragon alongside ION for smooth (well, theoretically smooth) 720p and 1080p video on the latest generation of netbooks and smartbooks.

Update: Added video of the Palm Pre running t! hree ins tances of Flash in parallel after the break.

Read - Flash 10.1 announcement
Read - RIM joins the OSP

Continue reading Flash 10.1 announced for just about anything with a screen, webOS and WinMo betas this year (update: Pre video!)

Filed under: Software

Flash 10.1 announced for just about anything with a screen, webOS and WinMo betas this year (update: Pre video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Oct 2009 01:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Toshiba details Cell Regza LCD TV, coming December to Japan (update: video!)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/05/toshiba-details-cell-regza-lcd-tv-coming-december-to-japan/

It's a day before CEATEC officially kicks off, but Toshiba's getting a head start on the news, dishing out all the deets on its Cell-powered Cell Regza LCD TV, now officially due out in Japan in early December. The 55-inch, 240Hz display boasts a mighty impressive 5,000,000:1 contrast ratio, self-congruency technology for improved picture detail on the edges, a peak luminance of 1250cd/m², and LED backlits dividing the screen into 512 distinct areas. A 7-speaker sound bar lies just below the display. Want more? How about eight-window simultaneous multi-display, an Opera-based web browser, DLNA, and a 3TB hard disk drive, 2TB for "time-shift" recording recording up to 26 hours of programs, up to eight channels simultaneously. There's a sizable box on display, too, which seems to be where the Cell hardware is being housed. Curious about price? If we heard correctly, the retail price is expected to be around 1,000,000 yen, or around US $11,140. We just heard their sales target is leaning on the conservative side, about 1,000 units pushed each month.

If that's not forward-thinking enough, Toshi's also outlining its future concepts, dubbed Cell Regza Next. Those four include a 3D set, a 4K2K version that upcoverts 1080p to 3840 x 2160 resolution, a 46-inch model integrating its Cell Box dedicated TV tuner and HDD, and a 37-inch that works as a home network server. It looks like we'll be getting some hands-on time with the 55X1 shortly, but in the meantime, one more pic and video after the break.

Gallery: Toshiba Cell Regza