Along with a Sony Ericsson Anzu , the James Bond of cellphones — alias Eldar Murtazin — claims to be playing with a Samsung GT-i9100 right now, calling it the “Galaxy 2″ and saying it’s “so technically advanced” thanks in part to a dual-core processor. It seems like a long shot that this would be the Cortex-A9-based Orion since chips and development boards are just now being sampled — but considering how far in advance Murtazin tends to score phones, we can’t rule anything out. One possible scenario is that the i9100 could be something akin to a TouchWiz -skinned version of the upcoming Nexus S , much as HTC’s Desire was essentially a Sense -skinned version of the Nexus One . Samsung, of course, has been pushing TouchWiz very hard across its Galaxy S line this year, and if the Nexus S is as beastly as the rumors are claiming it to be, there’s little doubt that Samsung would love to repurpose the hardware for something with a little more of its flavor thrown in. Speaking of the Galaxy S, keep in mind that the original European GSM model goes by the code GT-i9000, so it would stand to reason that the i9100 could be the proper successor — and with Gingerbread -based TouchWiz and a dual-core processor on board, we’d say they’re off to a strong start. [Thanks, Peter] Samsung i9100 is the dual-core Galaxy 2, sequel to the Galaxy S? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Nov 2010 18:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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What would you name your next superphone ? HTC may be calling its device the HTC EVO Shift 4G, as that’s the name its lawyers filed for trademark for on the 21st of last month. We can’t say which particular gizmo the moniker refers to, though it evokes a Sprint leaning , as well as dredging up our suppressed feelings towards a certain QWERTY-equipped MID . Though, interestingly enough, the company applied for “HTC EVO 4G Shift” before changing the name to “HTC EVO Shift 4G.” We’ll let you draw your own conclusions about what that could possibly mean. [Thanks, Naval P.] HTC attempts to trademark ‘HTC EVO Shift 4G’ originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Nov 2010 18:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Verizon happy to offer Windows 7 devices ‘as soon as Microsoft has ‘em ready’
November 14, 2010 No Comment
It’s not easy to tell whether Verizon is talking about Windows Phone 7 handsets or Windows 7 tablets given the ambiguous wording of this tweet. Still, the underlying message is clear: Ball’s in your court, Microsoft. There are no CDMA-ready smartphones or tablets running Microsoft’s latest operating systems (save the late-blooming HTC 7 Pro for Sprint) and Verizon doesn’t intend to take any of the blame for that. [Thanks, Daniel R.] Verizon happy to offer Windows 7 devices ‘as soon as Microsoft has ‘em ready’ originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Nov 2010 17:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …PC World stops selling the Toshiba Folio 100, we go hands-on to find out why (video)
November 14, 2010 No Comment
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In our inevitable Utopian future (assuming we make it past this 2012 noise ), we’ll all use one frequency for our high-speed wireless broadband across the globe. Actually, we’ll probably just beam information directly between our brains and brain-like supercomputers at speeds so fast they can’t be measured, and we won’t need smartphones at all because they’ll be installed in our bodies at birth, complete with eyeballs capable of 1080p video capture. Until then, though, we’ve got companies like Nokia showing some hustle to put pentaband 3G radios on the market, and the trend continues with the upcoming E7 . Of course, we already knew it was going to be pentaband — Nokia had said as much — but seeing it in the cold, hard graphs and tables of an FCC filing is still music to our ears. Won’t be long now, folks . Nokia E7 hits FCC with as much 3G support as you can handle originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Nov 2010 15:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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You know, our readers are really awesome. Super awesome. Not only are you guys really smart and funny, but you’re wildly creative — and there’s no more compelling evidence for that argument than the video in this post. Based on nothing more than an Engadget Podcast rant, commenter (and podcast listener) Michael Jacob created an amazing parody trailer for the non-existent film The Gadget Blog . And that image up top? Created by commenter AWartinger! If you’re not familiar with the source material, go back and take a listen to our most recent ‘cast , but for the rest of you, enjoy the hilarity below. Continue reading ‘The Gadget Blog’ trailer ‘The Gadget Blog’ trailer originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Nov 2010 14:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Titanium Blue PS3 hits Japan on November 25th, long-awaited racing game in tow
November 14, 2010 No Comment
November 3rd came and went without a Gran Turismo 5 game to play, so as you’d imagine this gorgeous Titanium Blue PS3 launch bundle also failed to see the light of day. However, now that we’ve got a totally plausible and twice-confirmed November 24th release date for the little uber-realistic racer that could, it’s probably fair to take Sony Japan at its word that we’ll see the commemorating console appear without further delay. Tell your Japanese importer to line up on November 25th if you want one with your name on it, and be sure to hand him at least
Continue reading …TiVo Premiere now free on contract for $20 monthly, as TiVo introduces (and enforces) tiered subsidies
November 14, 2010 No Comment
Well, it seems we finally know why TiVo was waxing poetic about software in recent months — it’s the way the company primarily plans to charge for its DVR hardware from now on. Following a week-long experiment of free-on-contract DVRs conducted last month, TiVo’s opening up subsidized and partially subsidized pricing tiers to the entire US for those willing to chain themselves to a pricier $20 monthly fee. You can now get a TiVo Premiere for $0 on a two-year contract or $100 with a one-year arrangement, or pick up a TiVo Premiere XL for $300 on a one-year deal — the same price the regular old 45-hour TiVo Premiere cost originally. TiVo’s also kept the original $12.95-a-month plans around in case you want to pay full price for your hardware, which would normally make better financial sense after about three years, if not for the fact that there are still lifetime subscriptions available for $400 if you’re truly in it for the long haul. We’re all for expanding our buying power in this arena, but there’s one group of customers who are liable to get mighty pissed at the new arrangement — the regular Joes and Janes headed to Best Buy right now to pick up a $99 TiVo Premiere “on sale.” You see, retailers apparently didn’t get the memo about the new tiered pricing and are advertising the arrangement as a $200 discount instead, which leaves TiVo’s fine print the unenviable role of explaining that they’re going to pony up $20 a month from now on. 2.1.2 When purchasing a TiVo Premiere box from a third party retailer at $99.99 (includes an instant $200 savings off MSRP) for the TiVo Premiere box or $299.99 (includes an instant $200 savings off MSRP) for the TiVo Premiere XL box, you may only subscribe to the TiVo Service on a monthly basis for $19.99 a month with a one (1) year commitment (renews monthly after one year). Choices, choices. [Thanks, Daniel and Chris R.] TiVo Premiere now free on contract for $20 monthly, as TiVo introduces (and enforces) tiered subsidies originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Nov 2010 12:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Scientists put color on your bling with micro carvings, gangsters pacified
November 14, 2010 No Comment
Remember that time when you sipped some herbal tea and thought, “I really want a pink gold ring ?” Yeah, that was some good tea alright, but the brainiacs at the University of Southampton have actually found a way to achieve this potential fashion trendsetter. The idea is simple: rather than coating metals — especially naturally colored ones like gold and copper — with paint, these folks alter their color by using an ion beam to carve fine patterns that are smaller than visible light’s wavelength. The resultant metamaterial dramatically boosts the metals’ light absorption efficiency, thus reflecting a different color depending on the pattern’s radius and etch depth. So for instance, gold can reflect colors ranging from orange to red to green to brown with its ring pattern etch depth ranging from 85nm to 205nm, respectively. See? We told you it’s simple, but there’s also some visual aid after the break to wrap up this science lesson. Continue reading Scientists put color on your bling with micro carvings, gangsters pacified Scientists put color on your bling with micro carvings, gangsters pacified originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Nov 2010 09:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …EU providing $21 million grant to IBM and others, funding research into cloud storage
November 14, 2010 No Comment
Clouds are beautiful things that fill our skies with wonderment, and as it turns out they make awfully good places to store our precious data, too. In that way European Union wants to make them even better, providing a €15.7 million (that’s $21.4 million US) research project called Vision Cloud. It’s set to tackle a number of related storage issues, including the ability to run applications within cloud storage , proper auditing and access restriction, and mobility of said data, so that it can be accessed from anywhere. IBM ‘s Haifa, Israel think tank is going to be leading the effort, while Siemens and SAP will be playing nice too. Really, when you’re getting paid to think about clouds, how would it be possible to not play nice? EU providing $21 million grant to IBM and others, funding research into cloud storage originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Nov 2010 06:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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