Thursday, January 28, 2010

Apple lifts VoIP over cellular restrictions in new iPhone SDK

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/27/apple-lifts-voip-over-cellular-restrictions-in-new-iphone-sdk/

Great news for the VoIP world: iCall, the maker of the iCall VoIP iPhone app that can catch a GSM call and flip it over to WiFi, has issued a press release saying that the new iPhone SDK allows for VoIP over 3G cellular connections. Previously such calls had to be made over WiFi, since AT&T's network (or someone well acquainted with AT&T's network) didn't think it was man enough to take the VoIP traffic. Interestingly, iCall says its 3G-friendly VoIP app is available now, and is the first and only such app in the App Store -- which seems like some pretty quick turnaround on everyone's part, but apparently the 3G restriction wasn't anything to do with the software itself, but instead a server-side block. We just tested this out and it totally works, and while we'll be looking for more verification that the ban has indeed been lifted, it sounds like it's time for some cheaply connected international parties in the streets.

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Apple lifts VoIP over cellular restrictions in new iPhone SDK originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jan 2010 22:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Posted by Augustine at 4:04 AM

Apple's iPad keyboard dock, case and other accessories get the hands-on treatment

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/28/apples-ipad-keyboard-dock-case-and-other-accessories-get-hands/

Apple didn't give us a great amount of time with its newly unveiled iPad today, and as you've likely seen, we spent the bulk of our allotment touching the unit itself. Lost in the proverbial shuffle were a number of the unit's launch accessories, including the admittedly intriguing keyboard dock ($69), case ($39), iPad Dock Connector to VGA adapter ($29) and camera connection kit ($29). Each of these doodads seem to look and feel exactly as you'd expect 'em to, though we're still baffled by Apple's decision to make you pay extra for access to the world's most widely accepted connector. We're also somewhat appalled (but not surprised) by the $39 price tag purportedly attached to the stripped-down case, and while the $69 MSRP on the keyboard dock is apt to cause some grumbling, at least there are a few iPad-specific keys on there to make it (marginally) worth your while. Dig in below for more on each.

Read - iPad keyboard dock hands-on
Read - iPad case hands-on
Read - iPad Dock Connector to VGA adapter hands-on
Read - iPad camera connection kit hands-on

Apple's iPad keyboard dock, case and other accessories get the hands-on treatment originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Jan 2010 00:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Posted by Augustine at 4:03 AM

iPad won't handle GSM voice calls -- or will it?

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/28/ipad-wont-handle-gsm-voice-calls-or-will-it/

Like the camera references, this could just be another case of vestigial SDK weirdness -- but for whatever reason, devs have noticed (and we've been able to reproduce) a "Touch to return to call" bar in the iPad emulator just like you'd expect to find on an iPhone during a traditional GSM call. It certainly seems like Steve would've bothered to mention during today's festivities if you could do something crazy like pair up a Bluetooth headset and go to town (and you'd need a voice plan on top of that $29.99 data anyway), so who knows: either Apple's just made every UI element as adaptable as possible regardless of whether it's applicable to a particular device, they're planning a higher-res iPhone down the road, or they're integrating the bar into some VoIP action. Or... you know, none of the above.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

iPad won't handle GSM voice calls -- or will it? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Jan 2010 03:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Posted by Augustine at 4:03 AM

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

FaderTouch creates custom trippy visuals for your own private club, opium den (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/27/fadertouch-creates-custom-trippy-visuals-for-your-own-private-cl/

FaderTouch creates custom visuals for your own private club, opium den
A night of trance insanity just isn't the same without some screen somewhere projecting bizarre and nonsensical but thoroughly trippy visuals -- but what if you host your own basement raves and all you have is basic cable with C-SPAN? What you need is the faderTouch, a road case-based "visual performance" device created by VJ Fader that allows you to play virtual instruments by dragging fingers across the screen, instruments like one seemingly based on Pong and another that spawns and destroys pixels and notes using Conway's Game of Life (the cellular one, not the one with the spinny wheel and the peg families). It's a fun toy, but it seems somewhat... overengineered to us. A simple laptop with a touchscreen could manage the same thing without the finnicky rear-projection system, but then that wouldn't look quite so road worthy, right? Video after the break.

Continue reading FaderTouch creates custom trippy visuals for your own private club, opium den (video)

FaderTouch creates custom trippy visuals for your own private club, opium den (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jan 2010 09:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Posted by Augustine at 7:33 PM

iPad powered by custom 1GHz Apple A4 chip

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/27/ipad-powered-by-custom-1ghz-apple-a4-chip/

Look out Intel and friends, Apple is using its own P.A. Semi technology for a custom 1GHz "Apple A4" chip in the iPad. Apple claims to get 10 hours of battery life out of this sucker, along with a month of standby.

Update: we got a picture of the processor courtesy of the iFixit Twitter feed. The chip was apparently manufactured in September of last year! Also, we've got hands-on with the iPad for your external fixations.

iPad powered by custom 1GHz Apple A4 chip originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jan 2010 13:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Posted by Augustine at 7:31 PM

iPad has optional keyboard dock, camera connection kit and Apple-designed case

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/27/ipad-has-optional-keyboard-dock/

This whole time we've been wondering how we'll really get any typing done on Apple's new iPad, and at last we have the answer: an optional keyboard dock! No word on price yet, or whether this will be available at launch -- we'd say "eat your heart out, netbooks" but we won't, because they shouldn't. In even better news, however, the device will also work with standard Bluetooth keyboards like Apple's own wireless QWERTY slabs. Additionally, Apple will be selling a "camera connection kit" to allow you to plug your camera in over USB or use an SD card to import pictures. Finally, there's an Apple-built case for the device that protects the screen, but also doubles as a stand in two different orientations.

Not enough for you? We've got hands-on right here.

iPad has optional keyboard dock, camera connection kit and Apple-designed case originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jan 2010 14:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Posted by Augustine at 7:31 PM

Apple iPad first hands-on! (update: video!)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/27/apple-ipad-first-hands-on/

Here it is folks, the Apple iPad. The screen is gorgeous, tilting is responsive, and the thing is super thin. Still, if you've used the iPhone before -- and you can see the two devices side-by-side here -- there's not a lot of surprises here so far. Here are some initial thoughts on the iPad:
  • It's not light. It feels pretty weighty in your hand.
  • The screen is stunning, and it's 1024 x 768. Feels just like a huge iPhone in your hands.
  • The speed of the CPU is something to be marveled at. It is blazingly fast from what we can tell. Webpages loaded up super fast, and scrolling was without a hiccup. Moving into and out of apps was a breeze. Everything flew.
  • There's no multitasking at all. It's a real disappointment. All this power and very little you can do with it at once. No multitasking means no streaming Pandora when you're working in Pages... you can figure it out. It's a real setback for this device.
  • The ebook implementation is about as close as you can get to reading without a stack of bound paper in your hand. The visual stuff really helps flesh out the experience. It may be just for show, but it counts here.
  • No camera. None, nada. Zip. No video conferencing here folks. Hell, it doesn't have an SMS app!
  • It's running iPhone OS 3.2.
  • The keyboard is good, not great. Not quite as responsive as it looked in the demos.
  • No Flash confirmed. So Hulu is out for you, folks!
Update: We've got video, head after the break to check it out!

Continue reading Apple iPad first hands-on! (update: video!)

Apple iPad first hands-on! (update: video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jan 2010 16:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Posted by Augustine at 7:30 PM

Apple iPad tech specs: rumor vs. reality scorecard

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/27/apple-ipad-tech-specs-rumor-vs-reality-scorecard/


Remember that history of Apple tablet rumors we concocted for you just the other day? Well, we're here to take score now, folks. As you can see from the handy (and magical) chart below, Taiwan Economic News came pretty close to nailing the iPad's specs back September: built-in HSDPA, custom P.A. Semi system on a chip (with the fancy new name Apple A4), 9.6-inch size, February unveiling, and hey -- they were pretty close on that $799 - $999 pricing too. And while iLounge was wrong about some things, they certainly hit this one out of the park: "It's a big iPhone, but it's not a big iPhone." We're going to let you dig into the chart here for yourselves to see who got what right -- and who was terribly, terribly wrong.

Here are just a few of the no-shows today, however -- no camera, no multitasking, no phone, no Verizon, no iPhone OS 4.0, and no Flash anywhere to be seen. There were also no MacBook Pro spec bumps in sight, and no iLife to be found. Well, let's just try to be happy with what we did get, okay? The chart is after the break.

Continue reading Apple iPad tech specs: rumor vs. reality scorecard

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Apple iPad tech specs: rumor vs. reality scorecard originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jan 2010 17:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Posted by Augustine at 7:30 PM

iPhone SDK calls out nonexistent iPad cam, confirms split views and popovers are iPad-specific

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/27/iphone-sdk-calls-out-nonexistent-ipad-cam-confirms-split-views/

iPhone owners holding out hope that OS 3.2 would bring some of these fancy new iPad spoils to their devices might be in for a disappointment, because two of the big ones -- split view and popovers -- are both referred to in Apple's updated human interface guidelines as "iPad-only." Realistically, this shouldn't come as a surprise; both of these UI elements were built to shine on larger displays, and it's hard to say how you could make either one of them work on HVGA -- but it's important for devs to note that heavily investing in these are definitely going to make it difficult to make their apps compatible across all iPhone OS-powered devices. Considering that iPhones will almost certainly continue to dominate iPads for sales volume, we know how we'd be developing.

In other news, running the updated iPhone simulator in iPad mode gives you the option to take photos, which doesn't make a heck of a lot of sense considering that it doesn't have a camera. There are plenty of plausible explanations for the muck-up, but our guess is that Apple's left the vestigial capability on-board since the framework's already in place for the iPhone and there could very well be iPads down the road that have a cam (or two). Follow the break for a shot of the iPad's Address Book imploring you to take a photo -- and savor it, since it's probably the closest you'll actually get to snapping a shot on the device any time soon.

[Thanks, iPhone Dev and Eric]

Continue reading iPhone SDK calls out nonexistent iPad cam, confirms split views and popovers are iPad-specific

iPhone SDK calls out nonexistent iPad cam, confirms split views and popovers are iPad-specific originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jan 2010 18:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Posted by Augustine at 7:30 PM

Sanyo bungs 23x optical zoom into Xacti DMX-SH11, Full HD into DMX-CG110

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/27/sanyo-bungs-23x-optical-zoom-into-xacti-dmx-sh11-full-hd-into-d/

Ever tried operating a handheld cam at 20x optical zoom? Without a tripod, your recordings tend to look like they were taken in the middle of an earthquake, so quite frankly, we ain't so wildly impressed with Sanyo's 23x-rated SH11 camcorder -- okay, we are, but we thought we'd inform you that that silly large number comes with limited use scenarios. Freshly announced, carrying 16GB of internal storage, and coming to Japan in late April, this is part of Sanyo's Dual Camera series, as its CMOS sensor is capable of 4 megapixel stills as well as 1080i / 30fps video in MPEG-4 format. It'll be joined there by the pistol grip-shaped CG110, which improves on the previous CGs by moving up to Full HD recording, adding 16GB of built-in storage, and even supporting SDXC cards. Check the source links for more.

Sanyo bungs 23x optical zoom into Xacti DMX-SH11, Full HD into DMX-CG110 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jan 2010 07:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Posted by Augustine at 11:48 AM

Hexagonal interactive OLED gaming tiles likely to cost a bundle, would sure spice up our Wednesday nights

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/26/hexagonal-interactive-oled-gaming-tiles-likely-to-cost-a-bundle/

We've seen plenty of ways for board games to be revitalized with large touchscreens, but a new concept from the Human Media Lab at Queen's University in Ontario puts the screens and interactivity onto the gaming pieces themselves. The idea would be to use slim, networked touchscreen hexagonal tiles with edge-to-edge OLED displays. The proximity of the tiles to one another, along with gestures performed with the tiles, provides the interactivity, and the occasional branching touchscreen menu selection keeps play humming. Unfortunately, that enabling tech isn't all there yet (at least in university-affordable forms), but the video demo after the break is pretty convincing in its presentation of these ideas in a top-down-projection simulation. Certainly promising, but we're sure not expecting to see this sort of gaming priced within reach of your average Sorry! board anytime soon.

Continue reading Hexagonal interactive OLED gaming tiles likely to cost a bundle, would sure spice up our Wednesday nights

Hexagonal interactive OLED gaming tiles likely to cost a bundle, would sure spice up our Wednesday nights originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Jan 2010 21:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Posted by Augustine at 7:02 AM

Is this the Apple tablet? (update: new image)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/27/is-this-the-apple-tablet/

Okay, we obviously can't confirm this, but we just got two very interesting images of what certainly looks like a prototype Apple tablet, or what could be the tablet bolted down to a table. It's big -- really big -- and it's running what clearly looks like an iPhone app, although we've never seen an iPhone app with that interface or at that resolution before. We also see a WiFi icon and a cell service indicator, although tragically there's no carrier listed. As far as fakes go, this is as convincing as it gets, so either this is the real deal or someone deserves a hearty congratulations.

On a totally separate note, we also received a tip claiming to have some specs -- we can't verify any of this either, but we're told that the device will have a 10-inch screen and look like a larger iPhone with a MacBook-like aluminum back, and that pricing will run $800 on contract with Verizon and $1000 without when it arrives in March. We're also told that the official name remains a secret and that Apple employees are still calling it by the codename of "K48" -- a name we last heard in May from the same source that pegged the iPhone 3GS exactly. This source also tells us that the iPhone will be coming to Verizon as well and that we'll see iLife '10 tomorrow, but there won't be any MacBook updates. A relatively safe set of predictions -- which is why we sort of believe them.

Just 13 hours to go -- we'll find out if any of this is the real deal soon enough.

Update: Based on some rough measurements, that screen does appear to be between 9- and 10-inches diagonal. Additionally, it looks as though there could be a front-facing camera on the opposite side of the home button (up top in these photos) due to that cutout section, though the images are really too grainy to know for certain.

Update 2: Our source has shared another photograph, this time showing an iPhone resting on the tablet for comparison. Check it out after the break (bigger image for inspection available in the gallery).

Continue reading Is this the Apple tablet? (update: new image)

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Is this the Apple tablet? (update: new image) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jan 2010 01:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Posted by Augustine at 7:02 AM

Pressure-sensitive touchscreens show up on the not too distant horizon

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/27/pressure-sensitive-touchscreens-show-up-on-the-not-too-distant-h/

Ever heard of quantum tunneling? It's the basis for the latest approach to gather steam in the never-ending quest to endue touchscreens with force recognition, and its promises are as lofty as you'd expect. Developed by UK researchers Peratech, this new methodology revolves around a 75-micrometer (less than a tenth of a millimeter) quantum tunneling composite, which display makers can add to their screens relatively cheaply and painlessly. The pressure-sensing layer consumes no power when it isn't depressed and requires a miniscule two micrometers of movement to register a touch. Japanese display maker Nissha (who counts LG and Nintendo among its customers) has grabbed a license and we're even hearing devices could be coming out as soon as April. Check the Peratech site for more info.

Pressure-sensitive touchscreens show up on the not too distant horizon originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jan 2010 04:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Posted by Augustine at 7:01 AM

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