We’ve seen it powered down and had it dangled in front of us and now, four months after its launch, we’ve finally had a chance to play with a real, working Samsung Infuse 4G . This 4.5-inch superphone — the biggest Sammy has made to date — feels surprisingly light in the hands, despite its width. That’s largely thanks to its crazy-thin 8.99mm profile, along with a subtly textured backside. The Super AMOLED Plus display — the same kind found on the smaller Droid Charge — which promises to be brighter than Super AMOLED as well as easier to view in direct sunlight, is simply stunning. We were seriously impressed by the punchy colors and deep blacks, although that outdoor test will have to wait for another day. Blessedly, Samsung lets those vibrant colors speak for themselves — it loaded the phone with Android 2.2 and abstained from saddling it with its TouchWiz UI made its TouchWiz UI less intrusive out of the box. The handset packs a single — not dual — core 1.2GHz processor, but you won’t notice or care how many cores it has unless you’re a benchmark junkie — the phone launches applications briskly, while the touchscreen is responsive and always precise. We noticed nary a delay as we swiped among the seven home screens and three application pages. Speaking of speed, this is AT&T’s first device to promise max speeds of 21 Mbps . Samsung held its press event in a New York City restaurant with poor reception, alas, and we have a feeling the crawling rates we observed off-camera don’t do this phone justice. We’re walking out of here with one of these bad boys, and we’re stoked to fully put it through its paces over the next few days. We’ll be back with an in-depth review, but in the meantime, have a gander at the gallery of close-up shots below. Gallery: Samsung Infuse 4G hands-on! Updated: Unlike the Inspire 4G, Captivate, and Aria, the Infuse 4G enables app sideloading and features the “Unknown Sources” menu item in the settings. Check out a photo of the appropriate settings screen in the updated gallery. Samsung Infuse 4G hands-on (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 May 2011 17:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Google Earth gets optimized for Honeycomb tablets, interior photos hit Google Maps next week
May 5, 2011 No Comment
There may have been a slight shortage of Honeycomb-optimized apps to go along with the first round of tablets, but things are now starting to pick up a bit , and Google has now filled in one more gap itself. It’s just released a Honeycomb-optimized version of Google Earth , which brings with it support for fully textured 3D buildings that you can view from street level, as well as a new action bar on top that lets you jump between layers and other options. What’s more, Google has also now announced that its new Business Photos feature for Google Maps (Places, specifically) will begin to roll out next week, offering what’s effectively Street View for the inside of retailers and other buildings — with the owner’s permission, of course. Head on past the break for a demonstration of how it will work. Continue reading Google Earth gets optimized for Honeycomb tablets, interior photos hit Google Maps next week Google Earth gets optimized for Honeycomb tablets, interior photos hit Google Maps next week originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 May 2011 18:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Have you tried Sprint’s new Google Voice integration ? We know a lot of our readers have — and many of them have had problems, writing in to us to express their displeasure. We started investigating and found a hoard of complaints, and the deeper we looked, the more issues we found. To make matters worse, Sprint has instructed its representatives to refer all Google Voice -related questions to the Google Voice Forum, which for reasons that frustrate us as much as you, Google itself seems to have forgotten exists. Join us for a full investigation into the issues, including voicemail security holes, accounts accidentally crippled by Sprint , and calls overseas that’ll leave you swimming in usage fees. Continue reading Sprint / Google Voice integration has major issues, major lack of support Sprint / Google Voice integration has major issues, major lack of support originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 May 2011 18:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Creative’s family of Bluetooth speakers got a few more additions today. The company unveiled the wireless one-piece D80, which for most intents and purposes, is identical to its colorful sibling the D100 , save for a lower price tag at $50 and a loss of battery power. The $300 ZiiSound D5x, meanwhile, looks an awful lot like 2010′s D5, though this one plays nice with the newly announced D3x modular speaker and DSx modular subwoofer, both of which are priced at $150 a pop. The D80 is hitting this month and the ZiiSound’s various components will be arriving this summer, so don’t throw out last year’s models just yet. Press info after the break. Continue reading Creative’s new Bluetooth speakers sound vaguely familiar Creative’s new Bluetooth speakers sound vaguely familiar originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 May 2011 17:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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We’ve known Samsung’s Infuse 4G was coming to AT&T since the day we got our grubby mitts on one at CES, and now it’s finally here. Samsung’s svelte superphone with the dazzling 4.5-inch Super AMOLED Plus display is launching May 15 on AT&T for $200 on a two-year contract. Keep it locked right here, as more pics and a hands-on with Sammy’s hot new handset are on the way. Developing … Samsung’s Infuse 4G coming to AT&T May 15th for $200 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 May 2011 16:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Screen Grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today’s movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dot com. Cisco may be aiming for the business crowd , but if we hold to NCIS: Los Angeles ‘ golden standard of real-world gadget application, the Cius tabletphone is going to revolutionize interrogation. “I ain’t telling you nothin ‘ copper, not noth — oh, is that a Cisco Cius you have there?! Yeah okay, I did it.” Gee, isn’t technology just fabulous? Hit the break to see Nell and Eric execute the future of tablet-based criminal interrogation. [Thanks, nmrules20] Continue reading Screen Grabs: Cisco Cius plays bad cop on NCIS: Los Angeles (video) Screen Grabs: Cisco Cius plays bad cop on NCIS: Los Angeles (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 May 2011 14:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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It may not be quite as convenient to wear as a watch, but Creative’s new Zen Style M300 PMP does have a leg up on the slightly smaller iPod nano in one key respect: it packs built-in Bluetooth 2.1 support so you can use wireless headphones with it. You can also expand the PMP’s memory beyond its basic 4GB, 8GB, or 16GB capacities thanks to its microSD card slot, although you won’t get a touchscreen here — the 1.45-inch display is simply complemented by a couple of touch buttons. Otherwise, you’ll get a built-in FM radio, a mic for voice recording, a promised 20 hours of battery life, and your choice of four different colors: black, white, red or yellow. Those that can do without Bluetooth can also opt for the slightly cheaper, and otherwise identical M100 model — look for both to be available in June, with prices running from $40 to $90. Full press release is after the break. Continue reading Creative debuts compact, Bluetooth-enabled Zen Style M300 PMP Creative debuts compact, Bluetooth-enabled Zen Style M300 PMP originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 May 2011 14:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …DIYer builds his own CNC mill, fabricates a Weighted Companion Cube to show off
May 5, 2011 No Comment
So you’ve built your own homebrew CNC mill and want to test out some recent modifications? That’s a question few ever have to ask themselves, but DIYer Jamie Nasiatka recently did, and came up with the bright idea of making his very own Weighted Companion Cube. As you can see above, things turned up pretty well, and you can check out the complete build process at the source link below — yes, it lights up, and changes colors. Let’s just hope no one tries to throw this cube through a Portal t-shirt . DIYer builds his own CNC mill, fabricates a Weighted Companion Cube to show off originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 May 2011 13:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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We’ve just gotten to grips with Sony Ericsson’s new compact smartphones , the Xperia Mini and its keyboard-equipped sibling the Xperia Mini Pro, and have a gallery of shots for you below. Hit them up now and we’ll have hands-on impressions and video coming shortly. Xperia Mini — wonderful size when it comes to width and height, but we have to ask: why so thick? The Xperia Mini Pro is only slightly thicker despite having a fully-fledged slideout keyboard, so it would have been nice if the keyboard-less Mini was more svelte. Sony Ericsson is clearly going after the pocket- and handbag-conscious demographic here, who might not be all that receptive to the Mini’s girth. SE also made some bold claims about the finger-friendliness of the Mini Pro’s keyboard, which we were told were backed by usability tests against rival phones. Those trials were isolated to devices “in its size class” (of which there aren’t many), but our first response was still very positive, at least once we turned on auto-correct. This will be a matter of personal preference, but we found ourselves enjoying not having to take care of every little slip of the finger. Anyway, settings adjusted appropriately, we bashed away on the Mini Pro rather speedily and would rate it right up there with the BlackBerry Bold 9700 in terms of our typing rapidity. Browser rendering has its flaws, there’s a stuttery quality to zooming in and out of a page, but at least Flash playback seems to work without a hitch. Additional reporting by Sharif Sakr Gallery: Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini and Mini Pro hands-on Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini and Mini Pro hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 May 2011 12:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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What’s that, an alien egg? Nope. Memory foam iPillow? No, silly, it’s a Zeppelin , a Zeppelin Air more specifically. Bowers & Wilkins brought us the first iPod-centric Zeppelin in the middle of the great iPod dock flood of ’07. A few years later they downsized and brought us a mini version. The logical extension after the advent of AirPlay is here: a Zeppelin that does its thang without wires. We’ve been beaming music to it for a few weeks now — wanna find out how our relationship has been? Click through, captain. Gallery: Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Air Continue reading Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Air review Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Air review originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 May 2011 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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