Hasta La Gadget!

We hate to yell “Pre!” at the top of our lungs here, since we’d really like to see further exploration of the portrait QWERTY form factor for Android, but it’s hard to avoid the form factor and stylistic comparisons. The new “Smooth” phone from ZTE is a low-end handset running Android 1.6, with a 2.8-inch QVGA screen, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS and a love for Palm industrial design. The phone, which is being shown off at MWC, should retail under 1000 Yuan (about $146 US) and be released in August of this year as a low-end smartphone contender.

ZTE’s Smooth Android slider is a not-so-smooth Pre knockoff originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 20:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Not content with conquering space, Richard Branson looks to underwater tourism with his new underwater craft.

Bizarre concept phones, USB-enabled soccer balls and a solar-powered phone named after a shoe company are some of the stranger things the mobile phone industry has up its sleeve for the coming year.

All those and more were on display at the Mobile World Congress, a big, annual cellphone tradeshow in Barcelona, Spain, that ended on Thursday. Windows Phone 7 Series and Google’s Android OS stole the headlines, but there was a lot more going on this week than just boring, sensible product launches.

As the booth babes danced their last humiliating dance and the suits squeezed off their last, unnecessary and job-justifying e-mails, we took a look at the best of the rest of the show.

The photo above shows the flags at the entrance to La Fira, the venue of the show, which is turned into a swirling hub of chaos for a week every year. Even the roads around the exhibit halls are fenced off to give more space to conference-goers and their gadgets.

The Puma Phone is a joint project between the sneaker company and Sagem, and it’s more about the fun than the phone. It’s solar-powered by a cell-covered back panel, and the menus are actually enjoyable to use: Dimming the screen involves using the touchscreen to push a cloud icon over a sun icon, for example.

But the best part is the pet Puma that lives inside, and pops up onscreen from time to time. Why do we like this? His name is Dylan, just like silky voiced Gadget Lab editor Dylan Tweney. (Editor’s note: I’m totally getting this phone.)

What we’d normally brush off as pretty standard mainstream tech piece became comedy gold thanks to the acerbic wit of Dell’s John Thode. The VP of mobile devices was discussing its companies entry into the tablet industry (all the while promoting the Mini 5, of course) and seemed to downplay Apple’s iPad momentum.
“It’s really hard to kind of do the same thing over again twice or three times… [Apple] is going to have more competition here.” A rational statement, but here’s where it gets interesting: “If anybody tells you they know exactly what’s going to happen here, they’re either Apple, or they’re smoking dope.” Don’t tell John, but we hear Gartner just hired the entire cast and crew of Dazed and Confused for a special analytics department.

CE-Oh no he didn’t! Part LXVIII: Only Apple and dope smokers claim to know the future of tablets, says Dell VP originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 19:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Just when we thought Guitar Hero had removed every shred of dignity from the once proud profession of “rocking out,” along comes Paper Jamz to do away with all pretense. WowWee, known primarily for its creepy robotic toys, has put some of its technical chops into a new musical line of utterly flat instruments. The “paper” guitar and drum sets use capacitive sensors to pick up on touch, and there’s even a fake amp built of cardboard to complete the ensemble.

Surprisingly, it all works. Each $25 guitar is packed with three different songs, and pretend rock stars can strum along in three different modes: a fail-safe mode where all you have to do is keep strumming and you’ll jam out the appropriate guitar part, a rhythm mode where you have to strum at the right intervals, and a freestyle mode. The last of these is where things actually get interesting, since there’s a usable fret board in so-called open E tuning, letting you select actual cords by placing a finger on its respective fret up or down the printed-on fret board. One finger does major, two fingers does minor, and three fingers does a 7th. It’s an approximation, sure, but it actually could teach a kid a lot more about how to play a real guitar than Guitar Hero ever will. Prepare to hear more 12-year-olds playing “Smoke on the Water” than you ever supposed the universe was capable of containing. The modes on drums are similar, and you can pair up drums and guitar to play the same song simultaneously. The $15 amp uses a sonic transducer to vibrate its entire, cheap cardboard mass, and is actually rather loud. The “Series 1” selection of guitars and drums will be out in early July, and you can check out a video of this stuff in action after the break.

Continue reading WowWee’s Paper Jamz: fake guitars make the jump to 2D, gain some musicality

WowWee’s Paper Jamz: fake guitars make the jump to 2D, gain some musicality originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 18:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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