Why the camera isn’t the culprit for the white iPhone 4′s delay (update: Woz responds)
February 2, 2011 No Comment
Unless you’ve been away from the Internet over the last few days, you would’ve no doubt heard about Woz’s special appearance at the Engadget Show on Sunday. Unsurprisingly, a few websites ran with some quotes that they pulled from our interview — specifically, the highlight was Woz “confirming” that the white iPhone 4 was indeed delayed due to camera issues. Well, I don’t think this is the case at all. In fact, I’m sure there are plenty of other good reasons for why Apple’s been delaying the much anticipated flavor of its flagship smartphone, but the camera just isn’t one of them. Head right past the break and all will be explained. Update: Our man Woz has just responded in the comments: I said plenty to make it clear that I know nothing of Apple’s reasons for rejecting anything ever. I told how when I got my white iPhone 4 assembled I tested the flash photos and they did indeed have problems. I spoke of testing flash photos versus non-flash ones and comparing flash photos between my white and black iPhones. I don’t recall saying that it was a ‘reason’ Apple rejected the parts although I had read that. For the last part, we were referring to 0:55 in the interview video after the break, but now that Woz has spoken, it could’ve been a joke at the time that got misinterpreted by some websites. They tend to do that with Woz. Read on! Continue reading Why the camera isn’t the culprit for the white iPhone 4′s delay (update: Woz responds) Why the camera isn’t the culprit for the white iPhone 4′s delay (update: Woz responds) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Feb 2011 17:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Luxury game controller is hand assembled in Paris, overkill everywhere else
February 2, 2011 No Comment
Feeling ostentatious, are we? This luxury game controller (yes, you read that right) is hand assembled in a Parisian workshop and features a lacquered oak wood joystick, ostrich leather covering, and electronics courtesy of Sanwa . We have no idea how much this will cost (and we’re quite frankly afraid to ask) although we should know when this becomes available on the 18th of this month. Compatible with the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC, it’s being brought to the world by a French company called Hoon. Hit the source link to start wasting money. Luxury game controller is hand assembled in Paris, overkill everywhere else originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Feb 2011 16:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Rumor: Amazon could launch unlimited movie streaming in February, no major studios on board yet
February 2, 2011 No Comment
Just a few days after we got an early peek at Amazon’s unlimited movie streaming setup, the LA Times reports “people familiar with the matter” say we could see an official launch by the end of this month. Amazon apparently pushed back its original date for technical reasons and while it tries to acquire more content to take on Netflix . Amazon reportedly has yet to lock up content from any of the six major Hollywood studios, which matches the selections seen in our screenshots, as the studios continue to evaluate the impact of streaming on their DVD sales. Amazon may not be the only one jumping in either as Hulu Plus could be looking to add more movies, though both are primarily looking at titles more than seven years old. That’s bad news if you were hoping to see a fresher selection than what Watch Instantly offers for your $7.99+ a month, but as always, any of these things could change before launch. Gallery: Amazon.com unlimited video streaming menus Rumor: Amazon could launch unlimited movie streaming in February, no major studios on board yet originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Feb 2011 16:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Google’s new Android Market web store is a pretty awesome and simple idea in theory — browse and buy apps through the web, hit install, and watch them appear on your Android phone or tablet. Of course, there are a lot of things that could go wrong along the way, but that’s certainly not what we’re finding in our early use. Sure, it took Google some time to turn on the login function after opening up for business this afternoon, but once we were finally able to log in, we were installing apps right and left, and then watching them almost instantly “or automagically” pop up on our Motorola Droid 2 Global and Dell Streak 7 . (You can actually select which device you’d like to download the app to.) Yep, it’s pretty convenient stuff. The web store interface itself is simply laid out, and just like the mobile app, it’s easy to find apps by searching or just browsing the categories listed on the left rail. However, there’s no doubt that selling apps is top of mind now for Google — it’s no coincidence that in each category, the Market defaults to showing paid apps on the first tab and free ones the second. In addition, Games has been moved up to the top of the category list, and considering games are one of the most popular paid app categories, it clearly makes those racing and arcade titles hard to pass by. Speaking of forking over money for apps, you can do just that through the web store checkout process — put in your credit card right on your computer screen, save for later use (if that’s your thing), and you’re good to go shopping. Now just give us carrier billing and we’ll be all set. We could go on and on, but that would just be boring — try it out for yourself and let us know in the comments if you encounter any glitches. Gallery: Android Market web store hands-on Android Market web store hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Feb 2011 16:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Well, isn’t that just an adorable quirk of corporate timing? RIM just announced that BlackBerry App World 2.1 is now live with support for in-app payments using the BlackBerry Payment Service, matching Google’s similar Android Market announcement earlier today. Users should see the 2.1 update rolling out over the course of the day, and devs have had the appropriate SDK since January 5, so progs that use the service should be arriving shortly. Ah, commerce — ain’t it grand? BlackBerry App World 2.1 gets in-app payments, too originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Feb 2011 16:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Samsung Galaxy SL drops AMOLED for Super Clear LCD, Hummingbird for OMAP3
February 2, 2011 No Comment
You’re Samsung, and you want to make sure you have enough still-limited S-AMOLED displays for the upcoming Galaxy S 2 , but you don’t want to discontinue the original Galaxy S. What to do? Well, you could always take a cue from the Galaxy S-based Russian Nexus S and use an LCD instead– and so here we have the Galaxy SL GT-i9003, which is destined to hit the Middle East and Asia with both a Super Clear LCD and a processor swap from Sammy’s Humingbird to a 1GHz TI OMAP 3630, along with a bump in thickness and weight due to a slightly larger battery. Apart from that it’s pretty much just a Galaxy S, all the way down to the maddening stagnation on Android 2.2 — but hey, give us 2.3 (or even 3.0) on the Galaxy S 2 and we’ll be all smiles and giggles. Update: BestBoyz got a Vodafone price list that seems to indicate the the SL will hit Germany as well. Achtung, AMOLED fans! Samsung Galaxy SL drops AMOLED for Super Clear LCD, Hummingbird for OMAP3 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Feb 2011 15:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …AT&T adding an extra 2GB to phone tethering plans, launching Mobile Hotspot app February 13th
February 2, 2011 No Comment
What, 2GB of monthly data isn’t enough for your laptoppin’ needs? Yeah, us either — fortunately, AT&T’s tweaking its phone tethering plan a bit with an extra 2GB that can be shared among all devices for a grand total of 4GB. As before, you’ll need to start off with the $25 DataPro plan and tack on an extra $20 for tethering, bringing the total to $45 a month. In conjunction with the move, AT&T has announced that it’ll begin rolling out a Mobile Hotspot app starting with the HTC Inspire 4G at its launch on February 13th, which means these guys are finally coming around and embracing the data revolution that’s been taking hold the last year or two across the industry — a trend that began with its first launch of a MiFi a few months back. Existing DataPro tethering customers will get the extra 2GB automatically added to their accounts, so there shouldn’t be anything you need to do; obviously, we would’ve preferred something closer to unlimited, but something tells us that ship has sailed. Follow the break for the press release. Continue reading AT&T adding an extra 2GB to phone tethering plans, launching Mobile Hotspot app February 13th AT&T adding an extra 2GB to phone tethering plans, launching Mobile Hotspot app February 13th originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Feb 2011 15:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Today Google announced that Android in-app purchases are coming to the platform and we were able to get a demo by Paul Sebastien of Disney. He showed us how to buy a track pack (Far East Movement, for those who care) in Tap Tap Revenge 4 over 3G on a Nexus S , and using a fake credit card! It’s interesting to note that the in-app purchase UI matches the look and feel of the new Android Market and developers can implement the functionality in a few simple steps. In-app purchases should start rolling out in various Android apps this spring. In the meantime, take a look at our video after the break. Continue reading Android in-app purchases hands-on (video) Android in-app purchases hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Feb 2011 15:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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We’re unabashed spec junkies here at Engadget, and can you blame us? There are mountains of new devices every year, and it helps to have bullet points and numerical differentiators to cut through the fluff. That’s why we’re happy to say we got the chance to run the Quadrant benchmark on Motorola’s Tegra 2-powered Xoom , and have a number with which to compare it against the many competitors sure to breech Android’s bow soon. 1823 is the magic number — which doesn’t quite compare to the LG Optimus 2X — but that’s with a non-optimized smartphone version of Quadrant running the app on the tablet’s sizable 1280 x 800 display, no less. What’s more, Quadrant cleared up some of the codename confusion we’ve seen out of Moto as of late, as it turns out the Xoom also identifies itself as both Trygon and Stingray . Good to know! Gallery: Motorola Xoom first benchmark and specs Motorola Xoom first benchmark: 1823 in Quadrant originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Feb 2011 15:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Android Honeycomb / Motorola Xoom hands-ons: widgets, Grocery IQ, and Monster Madness (video)
February 2, 2011 No Comment
Fully-functional Xooms with complete (or seemingly complete) builds of Honeycomb are out in force here at Google’s event in Mountain View today, and a bunch of partners are hanging out to demonstrate the tablet apps they’ve been working on. We checked out both Monster Madness — a game that’s been on Xbox 360 and PS3 for some time — and Grocery IQ, both of which obviously bring very different experiences to the table (unless you consider grocery shopping “a game,” which some of us admittedly do). Though we thought we detected some stuttering and lag from Monster Madness when it was demoed on stage, the experience up close and in person was much smoother — definitely 100 percent playable. We double-checked and confirmed that the tablet game is a 100 percent content port from the console games, you’re not missing anything here. It features three control modes that let you toggle between two on-screen analog sticks, one stick, and a fully accelerometer-based mode that most users probably won’t consider practical because you’ve got to tilt the screen too much. Interestingly, the developer noted that there’s a low-res mode that he actually toggled in an area of the game with a lot of water because it tends to slow down, despite the fact that it’s running on Unreal Engine and is fully optimized for multiple cores. Could it be that game studios are already pushing the limits of this hardware from day one? Moving onto Grocery IQ, it’s basically a fancy shopping list with coupons — it’s already on both iOS and Android phones, and odds are good you already know what it is. What was really interesting, though, was that we got a full demo of “application fragment” layout switching between landscape and portrait views (the app has a two-pane view for tablets) and the process of adding and removing widgets. As with some of the first-party widgets we’ve seen, Grocery IQ seems to have done a good job making its widgets visually rich and engaging — particularly the coupon browser, which appears as a stack of rotating coupons with color graphics. See videos of both products after the break! Continue reading Android Honeycomb / Motorola Xoom hands-ons: widgets, Grocery IQ, and Monster Madness (video) Android Honeycomb / Motorola Xoom hands-ons: widgets, Grocery IQ, and Monster Madness (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Feb 2011 14:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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