Hasta La Gadget!

Before hitting the states this summer, the Sensation will launch in the UK, Germany, and the rest of HTC’s “key” European markets in mid-May, with Vodafone scoring a Europe-wide exclusive for “a couple of weeks.” We can’t wait to put the Sensation through its paces in a full review, but happily we already scored some hands-on time with a near-final unit. Continue below the break for some early thoughts, full specs, and close-up shots of this superphone in action.

Update: We scored some hands-on time with a European model over at HTC’s launch event. Check the video here!

Continue reading HTC Sensation 4G official: 1.2GHz dual-core, qHD display, and Sense 3.0

HTC Sensation 4G official: 1.2GHz dual-core, qHD display, and Sense 3.0 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Apr 2011 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Don’t want to pay 3D tax for HTC’s Evo 3D? You’ll be wanting the Sensation then, which is HTC’s new worldwide flagship phone. With its sculptured, curved unibody aluminum body, it’s also one of HTC’s thinnest handsets at 11.54mm. More »

It’s official: the HTC Flyer will begin its journey across Europe on May 9th. That’s quite a bit more specific than the Q2 global release announced back in February. Now if only we had a date for Honeycomb’s arrival on HTC’s 1.5GHz 7-inch slate we’d be all set.

See more HTC event coverage in our Liveblog.

HTC Flyer begins shipping on May 9th across Europe originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Apr 2011 08:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Alright, so the cat may already be out of the bag (thank you, Vodafone!), but HTC still has a swanky London venue booked for today and the show, as they say, must go on. What’s more, there’s no reason to believe the 4.3-inch HTC Sensation will be the only thing announced at today’s marquee event from the Taiwanese smartphone and tablet maker. More buddies for the Flyer, perhaps? Unlikely, but weirder things have happened. Join us after the break for a little bit of good old liveblog action.

Continue reading Live from HTC’s April 12th event!

Live from HTC’s April 12th event! originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Apr 2011 08:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amazon will sell you an ad-supported Kindle for $114

Can’t afford a Kindle? Amazon will knock $25 off the price of the Wi-Fi model if you can stomach compulsory ads.

The new “Kindle with Special Offers” costs $114. In exchange for the price cut, Amazon will replace screensavers with ads, and put banners on the home page. The ads will not show up when you’re reading a book.

The initial run of screensaver ads will be sponsored by Buick, Procter & Gamble, Visa, and Chase, and Amazon will also drop its own special offers into the mix. From the examples, Amazon’s offers look pretty good. As for the third-party ads, they will be presented to the public for review before being used as screensavers. This will be done via an upcoming app called AdMash, which will show prospective ads to users and allow them to vote on which ones will make it to the front page.

It’s a curious move, and devilishly clever. It puts static ads onto the screens of potentially millions of Kindle’s when they’re not in use, where they can be seen by any passerby. Even the AdMash app is really a way of showing more ads to those who use it to vote. Amazon, along with its partners, is clearly getting its money’s worth.

And what of the buyers? It’s a curious group of consumers that wants a Kindle enough to pay $114, but can’t spring for $25 more to remove the ads. How are they going to buy books? And is it really worth turning your ebook reader into a mobile billboard for the price of a dinner? After all, the ads will haunt you for the life of the device. And if you are trying to save money, then its likely you’ll be hanging on to it for a long while.

There’s another downside, too. One of the greatest things about the Kindle is that you can read any old junk and nobody will know. All they see is the standard screensaver, when you’re really reading the collected works of Danielle Steel. Now all kinds of embarrassing spam could show up there. Still, I guess anything’s better than that godawful Emily Dickinson screensaver.

Kindle with Special Offers & Sponsored Screensavers [Amazon]

See Also:

• Kindle Can Now Buy, Download Audio Books Over Wi-Fi
• Read (Some of) Your Own Books on Kindle for iPad
• Amazon Launches Kindle Singles, Saves Long-Form Journalism …