(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)It was a big day for Motorola. The handset manufacturer unveiled its first Google Android device, the Motorola Cliq, to a packed house at the Mobilize ’09 conference in San Francisco. While much of the interest was in seeing Moto’s premier Android handset, many were …
Originally posted at Android Atlas
We know you’ve got questions, and if you’re brave enough to ask the world for answers, here’s the outlet to do so. This week’s Ask Engadget question is coming to us from Ryan, who’s trying to be all humble about his ability to stick a kickflip 1080 while gnawing on a burrito.
“I’m looking for a pair of quality headphones that aren’t seemingly made of glass. The issue is I’m an avid BMXer which causes me to frequently bash on any type of technology that joins me for my daily riding. I’ve been through the higher quality headsets in the Skullcandy line as these are supposed to be built for “abuse,” which is disgustingly laughable. I cant wear earbuds or canal buds, as my large ears seem to have a repelling property upon anything that sits in them. Wired or Bluetooth doesn’t really matter, but I need something that can hold up to taking a few hits every now and again. I’m trying to keep ’em under $150. Thanks!”
We have all ideas at least a few readers get out of the house every now and then (don’t let us down here, okay?) and jump on the bike / board / etc., so hopefully those who abuse their cans in a similar fashion can explain which ones hold up. And… go!
Filed under: Ask Engadget
Ask Engadget: Best headphones for the extreme sports enthusiast? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 Sep 2009 21:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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One of the new iPod nano features that Apple didn’t bother to illustrate much yesterday is the integrated pedometer, and if an updated Nike+ iPod user guide is to be believed, that ain’t the only fitness-related extra that the 5G nano will be good for. As the image above so clearly shows, a Nike+ compatible heart rate monitor could be on the way, and it’ll function exclusively with Cupertino’s only camera-toting iPod. AppleInsider was told that the product launch was actually scheduled for yesterday, but it was held up for reasons unknown and may not ship until 3058. Too bad — we just know that you were waiting for this very device to start your workout regimen. Ah well, what’s another dozen months of kicking back and ingesting Ho Hos, right?
Filed under: Handhelds, Peripherals
Nike seemingly plans 5G iPod nano-compatible heart rate monitor originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 Sep 2009 21:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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It looks like it isn’t just bluster from Palm when it comes to thinking differently about its app approval policy. Besides taking a pretty healthy stance on applications that deviate from its current standards, today 10 new titles have shown up for download… a Google Voice app being one of them. gDial Pro, a piece of software which started its life as a homebrew application, is now an official part of the beta store. The program lets you access Google Voice’s full feature set (including a dialer), and no one seems very bothered by it. Here’s hoping Palm keeps up the flow of new software to the Catalog (they’re eating for two now) and they keep a healthy distance from rejection letters.
[Via PreThinking]
Filed under: Cellphones
Third-party Google Voice client hits the webOS App Catalog originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 Sep 2009 21:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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We still don’t know what it looks like or when exactly it’ll arrive — rough estimate sometime in 2010 — but Windows Mobile 7’s being given special care by Microsoft with a chassis concept of “carefully defined hardware specifications” for hardware vendors, according to James McCarthy. As for what those specs are and how strictly it’ll enforce adherence, we’re still in the dark. If it’s anything like what we saw with the rumored “Pink” specs from back in May, we’re not too worried, but it’s really in Microsoft’s hands to screw up. If they say it’s okay to see StrongARM chips in WinMo 7 devices, someone’ll do it, and we gotta imagine some negative vibes towards the mobile OS in general should someone ever have to manage with a handset like that.
[Via WMPowerUser]
Filed under: Cellphones
Windows Mobile 7 chassis concept confirmed by Microsoft, not detailed originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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We figured enough was enough and that it was finally time for the HD crew to get in on some of this meetup fun, so with some help from our new friends at the Georgia Tech chapter of the Association of Computing Machinery, we’re having the very first Engadget HD reader meetup. The event will take place on the Georgia Tech campus — so no University of Georgia apparel is permitted — at the Klaus building in room 1116W at 6:00pm on Friday the 11th and will go for about two hours — we’re told the easiest way to find the room is to walk through the main stairs to the courtyard and look for the signs. There is a place to park a few buildings over, but it isn’t free. So come by and geek out over some CEDIA news with Ben and Richard of Engadget HD, and the members of the local chapter of the ACM. Map shot is after the break.
Continue reading Engadget HD reader meetup at CEDIA tomorrow
Engadget HD reader meetup at CEDIA tomorrow originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The LiMo Foundation’s platform is far from vaporware — countless Japanese domestic market handsets run it in one form or another, which makes sense considering that NTT DoCoMo, NEC, and Panasonic are all counted among its founding members — but outside the land of the rising sun, LiMo’s had very little end-user impact even as it’s collected big-name members and released several rounds of specs and whitepapers over the last year and a half. To a certain extent, that’s by design; unlike Android, LiMo is as much about creating synergies for manufacturers and carriers as it is about giving subscribers flashy user interfaces, but a new Samsung for Vodafone leaked on Boy Genius Report today suggests that we might be getting flashy UIs nonetheless. We don’t know what this phone will ultimately be called, but it doesn’t take more than a couple glances to pick up on the fact that it’s relatively high-end, equipped with an 8 megapixel cam and full AMOLED touhscreen. The social-oriented interface looks seriously tricked out with faces (hopefully of people the user knows) moving in and out in three dimensions — usability is an open question, but at least it’s pretty to stare at, which is really what a good phone’s all about anyway, right? Word on the street is that this might be announced at a London event on the 24th, but here’s our question: where’s Verizon in all this?
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds
LiMo Foundation could be close to bearing fruit for Samsung, Vodafone in a big way originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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We saw the Cliq this morning but we just got a chance to really play around with Motorola’s Android-based, social-networking-focused smartphone, and we have to say, we’re pretty impressed. Read on for our impressions.
The phone is significantly smaller in person than it looked in photos—it’s thinner than the T-Mobile G1 and feels very comfortable in the hand. It’s got an interesting array of buttons, some nice additions and some mysteriously absent. There’s no dedicated call button on the front of the phone, replaced instead by a soft button on the homescreen. The 3.5mm headphone jack is on the top of the device (when the keyboard is closed) and the right side holds the power button and the camera button. The left side holds the volume rocker, silent switch and microUSB charging slot.
On the front of the phone are three hardware buttons: Menu, Home, and Back. A long press on the Menu button, or navigating into any text-input area, brings up a soft keyboard, a nice option for when you just want to jot a few words down (or want one-handed operation). The Cliq’s screen was pretty good, and is capacitive, and bright and responsive. It’s as good as the other HTC Android phones, as a reference.
But the slide-out keyboard, which feels very sturdy and types quite nicely, is packing a D-pad that’ll let you navigate through the cards, contacts, and more, like a D-Pad, and should come in very handy for future gaming. The keyboard is really nice-feeling: The keys are large and well-spaced, and there’s no awkward hump to navigate around like on the G1. It’s very HTC-like in that it’s generous, but rises up higher than most HTC phones that we’ve seen.
This clip shows the home screen’s functionality: I tap the Happenings widget, browse through a few new status updates, tap one Facebook friend’s name, and up comes his entire, aggregated contact info. Stalking ahoy!
The Motorola Blur isn’t a skin like HTC’s Sense UI, but more of a collection of widgets and ways to use them. It places social networking front and center, with most of the homescreen taken up with the two main cards, Happenings and Messages. Happenings aggregates all updates from Facebook, Twitter and Myspace, and while those three are the extent of the Cliq’s supported networks, Motorola confirmed that it’s extremely easy to add more social networking protocols. Messages just aggregates all your messages from every social network you’re signed up for—Facebook, Email, SMS, IMs, whatever.
The social networking is very deeply integrated into the phone. For example, if you click on a contact anywhere under any social network, it’ll give you the full contact information for every social network that guy belongs to. From there, you communicate with him through any network.
As for speed, it’s pretty similar to other Android phones on the market now, like the Ion or the Hero. It’s not faster, and it’s not as smooth as say, the iPhone or the Pre, but the transitions are nice and it’s not sluggish by any means. The accelerometer was slower than the iPhone’s, but it wasn’t that much slower.
It’s definitely an Android phone, and can run all the Android apps you’re accustomed to. You can still take the Android apps and drop them onto the Home screen, alongside all the fancy social networking widgets. It’s pretty cool that manufacturers can take an Android phone and target it towards certain markets, like people who REALLY love social networking. There could be a business one later, that’s focused on harassing people to join your LinkedIn list. Or email. Or whatever they come up with.
 CLIQ |  Galaxy |  Tattoo |  Hero |  Magic / MT3G |  Dream / G1 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carrier | T-Mobile | — (GSM / HSDPA) | — (GSM / EDGE) | Sprint | T-Mobile | T-Mobile |
| Manuf. | Motorola | Samsung | HTC | HTC | HTC | HTC |
| Price | — | — | — | $179.99 | $99.99 | $149.99 |
| Released | — | July 2009 | — | Oct 11, 2009 | Aug 5, 2009 | Oct 22, 2008 |
| Keyboard | Slide-out | Virtual | Virtual | Virtual | Virtual | Slide-out |
| Android | MOTOBLUR | Standard | Sense UI | Sense UI | Standard | Standard |
| Processor | 528MHz MSM7201A | 528MHz ARM11 | 528MHz MSM7225 | 528MHz MSM7201A | 528MHz MSM7201A | 528MHz MSM7201A |
| Screen | 3.1-inch (est.), 320 x 480 | 3.2-inch, 320 x 480 | 2.8-inch, 240 x 320 | 3.2-inch, 320 x 480 | 3.2-inch, 320 x 480 | 3.2-inch, 480 x 320 |
| Headphone | 3.5mm | 3.5mm | 3.5mm | 3.5mm | ExtUSB | ExtUSB |
| Touchscreen | Capacitive | Capacitive | Resistive | Capacitive | Capacitive | Capacitive |
| Still Camera | 5MP with AF | 5MP with Flash | 3.2MP | 5MP with AF | 3.2MP with AF | 3.2MP with AF |
| Bluetooth | 2.0 | 2.1 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Exchange | ActiveSync | ActiveSync | — | ActiveSync | Depends on version | Depends on version |
| Storage | 256MB, microSD | 8GB, microSD | 512MB, microSD | 512MB, microSD | 512MB, microSD | 256MB, microSD |
| Battery | 1400mAh | 1500mAh | 1100mAh | 1500 mAh | 1340 mAh | 1150 mAh |
| Weight | 163g | 114g | 113g | 135g | 116g | 158g |
Update: We had a typo on the Hero screen size — it’s 3.2-inches, not the other way around! Stupid keyboards.
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds
Android Battle: CLIQ edition originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
(Credit: Panasonic)Panasonic has launched a new household LED lightbulb in Japan that it says lasts 40 times longer than incandescent bulbs.
The screw-in bulbs are part of the EverLed line, and they’re scheduled to hit stores in Japan on October 21, with monthly production at 50,000 units. …
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