Hasta La Gadget!

Looks like Chris’ hatred wasn’t totally unfounded. We just got our hands on a Google Ion — which as you can tell is a spitting image of the HTC Magic — complete with 30 days’ worth of T-Mobile service on an included SIM card. It’s not a public release model, but seems fully capable. Yes, it’s got Cupcake, and while the portrait keyboard seems more cramped than the iPhone’s, we found it very comfortable to type in landscape mode. Form factor wise, this thing is as sexy as hardware gets — light, sleek, and thin. The only thing that exceeds our love for it right now is its own love for fingerprints — seriously, the entire body and screen attract them like flies to honey. Colorful similes aside, hit up the gallery below for all the pics you could ask for.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Google Ion hands-on and unboxing originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 May 2009 16:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AT&T on Wednesday announced plans to significantly boost its 3G network performance and begin testing its new 4G network over the next two years.

The 3G upgrade involves boosting the network to High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) 7.2, which the company claims will double peak speeds of the current network, from 3.6 megabits per second to 7.2Mbps. AT&T said these improvements would begin later this year, and that it would also be releasing phones capable of handling the higher speeds.

AT&T’s release did not mention Apple’s next-generation iPhone or indicate whether the new iPhone, which is expected to be announced June 8, would include a 3G speed upgrade.

Farther down the road, AT&T will begin trials of its 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) network in 2010 with plans to begin deployment in 2011. LTE is a new wireless technology that is expected to become a global standard. Many domestic and international carriers, including Verizon, have announced plans to adopt LTE for their next-generation networks as well.

This news appears to be a competitive move from AT&T in response to recent statements from Verizon. Verizon’s chief executive Ivan Seidenberg recently said Apple would likely consider sharing the iPhone with Verizon once the telecom company began upgrading to LTE in 2010. Thus, this announcement may be AT&T’s effort to retain its current iPhone customer base as well as its exclusive relationship with Apple.

Press Release [AT&T]

Photo: ktylerconk/Flickr

If nothing else, Della–a Dell marketing experiment–shows that women are listening to technology companies that reach out to them. That doesn’t mean we always like what we hear.

Della’s patronizing tone provoked criticism that started here and on sites such as Maximum PC, then made its way over to Twitter, and finally was picked up by mainstream media including the New York Times and MSNBC. The criticism was universal, decrying Dell for talking down to women and playing to offensive stereotypes that female technology users have been fighting for decades.

The fact that Dell was attempting to reach out to the fairer sex is admirable, but suggesting that women are inept when it comes to technology (with statements like, “You’ll find that netbooks can do a lot more than check your e-mail.”) was downright insulting.

Home is where the bum is.

(Credit: Eduardo McIntosh)

Yikes. If this is the future of armchair living, gimme a Fatboy Hammock anytime. Designer Eduardo McIntosh’s post-apocalyptic vision of an Autonomous Living Unit looks like a hot seat custom-made for the dystopian future of John Connor (Christian Bale).

According to McIntosh, this proposes a way of putting all the functions of a home into a single chair, and is intended to be installed in derelict buildings and deserted housing projects. Though why he reckons a recliner comprising a sinister tangle of speakers, wires, tubes, and dangling light bulbs could serve the basic needs of 21st century man remains a mystery.

But since this was designed as “a somewhat satirical project,” if you didn’t get, well, you got it. The concept contraption was exhibited at New York’s d3 as part of the “Future Cities: Past, Present” exhibit in April. More images after the jump.

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While we’ve been getting a pretty good look at Moblin 2.0 as of late, we haven’t been hearing much about the end-user distributions that’ll actually be winding up on netbooks and nettops as the Linux-based OS moves out of beta. Linpus now looks set to change that, however, with it announcing that it’ll be showing off a Moblin version of its Linpus Linux Lite OS at Computex next week, which is apparently the first such end-user distribution to emerge. What’s more, while the initial batch of screenshots don’t exactly offer many surprises, Linpus says that it has indeed put its own touch on the interface, and that it’s version will boot in just 15 seconds and give users access to a live desktop that’ll let them quickly access a range of websites and applications. Not many more details beyond that, unfortunately, but we’re sure this is just beginning of Moblin talk that’ll emerge out of Computex.

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Linpus set to debut first Moblin 2.0 distribution for end users originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 May 2009 16:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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