Hasta La Gadget!

Following the series of Angry Birds Star Wars trailers this month, Rovio is now giving us a glimpse of the game’s tactical aspects by releasing its first ever gameplay footage on YouTube. The short video, as seen above, shows Luke slashing through the walls of the “bad piggies” in a spectacular Jedi knight-ish fashion. And yes, he’s got a lightsaber weapon too.

There’s also Leia, the previously teased female character, who seem to posses mind powers that can cut through the heart. Rovio says that the official gameplay trailer will be out this coming November 5. The Angry Birds Star Wars game will be available beginning November 8. “Don’t worry, you’ll be slinging birds and waving Lightsabers around in no time! Until then, we’ll have animations, comics and fan art to keep you going on our http://angrybirds.tumblr.com page,” Rovio said.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: New Angry Birds Star Wars teaser trailer revealed, Rovio releases new Angry Birds Star Wars teaser trailer,

AU Optronics, the Taiwanese TFT-LCD manufacturer, has unveiled the world’s thinnest bezel display on a smartphone. AUO harnesses its “super narrow border technology” and low temperature poly-silicon (LTPS) methodologies to significantly reduce the display border width to a mere 1mm on a 4.46-inch screen that has a 720p resolution. This, according to AUO, will make images and videos appear larger in size and better in terms of quality. “The panel is capable of exhibiting sharper quality for texts, and refined and realistic image property,” the company said.

Additionally, AUO also announced that it was able to successfully develop IGZO (indium gallium zinc oxide) and AHVA (Advanced Hyper-Viewing Angle panels ranging from 3 inches to 15.6 inches for smartphones, e-readers, tablets, ultrabooks, digital cameras, and car displays. One example is AUO’s 4.97-inch Full HD AHVA mobile display that has a full HD resolution of 1080 x 1920 (443ppi) and is currently in production. Another one reportedly in the works is an ultra-slim IGZO-based 10-inch panel technology for tablets that has a whopping 2560 x 1600 resolution.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Ortus introduces 9.6-inch LCD panel at 458ppi, Toshiba found guilty of LCD price-fixing,

Chuwi has dropped their newest Android 4.1 tablet ‘V99 Retina’ for the mass market. Specs-wise, the device sports a 9.7-inch 2048 x 1536 IPS capacitive multi-touch Retina display, a 1.6GHz Rockchip RK3066 dual-core processor, a Mali-400 GPU, a 1GB RAM, a 16GB of flash storage, a microSD card slot (up to 32GB), dual cameras (2MP front & 2MP back), 1080p Full HD video playback support, 3G external support, WiFi, a 10000mAh battery and runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean OS. The V99 Retina can be yours for $289.99. [Product Page]

The last time we saw Steve Ballmer star in a commercial for Microsoft, he was extolling the virtues of a 286-based PC running the glory that was Windows 1.0 — in 1986. You can imagine the surprise we got 26 years later when Microsoft premiered an ad featuring the now-CEO during its Windows Phone 8 event. If you were expecting that same kind of unbridled enthusiasm Crazy Eddie once used to hawk underpriced TVs, you may be either pleased or disappointed. It’s a very level-headed and well-spoken Ballmer this time around, with the executive calmly highlighting the advice he gets through his HTC Windows Phone 8X from people like his wife and a certain Billy G. Besides evoking nostalgia, the pitch is an illustration of what Windows Phone’s live tiles can do as well as a reflection of Microsoft coming full circle — as it was two decades ago, Redmond is fighting for market attention at a time when new interface concepts are challenging its main business. We’re just glad there’s fewer plaid business suits in 2012.

Continue reading Steve Ballmer returns triumphantly to Microsoft ads for Windows Phone 8, now with less Crazy Eddie (video)

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Microsoft

Steve Ballmer returns triumphantly to Microsoft ads for Windows Phone 8, now with less Crazy Eddie (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Oct 2012 21:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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After having seen its mug plastered all over the internet in the days leading up to its release, actually playing with LG and Google’s new Nexus 4 seemed a bit anti-climactic. I mean, when you’ve seen a device like that cracked open and posed for your pleasure, it felt like there wasn’t much I didn’t already know about the thing.

Oh how wrong I was.

The first thing I noticed when I picked up the Nexus 4 is how remarkably sturdy it feels. Despite being an LG device, the Nexus 4 doesn’t really feel like one — it’s far more solid and slab-like than the plasticky handsets that the company has churned out in the past. This may sound weird, but I once I picked it up and got a feeling for its heft, I couldn’t resist the urge to tap the thing on the table a few times just to see how it held up (the answer: quite nicely).

Turning the thing over reveals the funky patterned finish that we’ve seen before, and it catches and reflects light in some interesting ways. To be honest, it seems a bit too flashy for a Nexus device (previous Nexus phones were largely free of visual flair), but that’s just me picking nits. I get the feeling that Nexus aficionados will either love or hate the way the Nexus 4 looks, and for now I’m caught right in the middle.

Speaking of looks, the Nexus 4 (as you’ve probably already heard) runs Android 4.2, which doesn’t stray too far from the aesthetic seen in Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean. You can check out a more detailed list of tweaks and additions here, but one change in particular threw me for a bit of a loop — the app launcher now sports five columns of apps instead of the customary four.

Meanwhile, the Nexus 4’s display represents a big step forward from the one seen in its predecessor. Don’t get me wrong, I love my Galaxy Nexus to bits, but the Pentile sub-pixel configuration meant icons and text didn’t appear as smooth as I would’ve liked. Thankfully, the Nexus 4’s 4.7-inch 720p IPS panel rendered colors brightly and accurately, but I think my eyes have grown accustomed to the way colors pop on AMOLED panels.

That’s all well and good, but how does the thing run? Well, it’s always tough to judge a phone’s performance after only playing with it for a few moments, but the whole thing — from swiping through pages of widgets and apps to scrolling through long lists of emails — was as snappy as you would expect from a top-tier Nexus handset. Of course, we’ve got LG’s Optimus G to thank for that since both devices share the same 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor and 2GB of RAM. To trot out a well-worn Android cliche, the experience was downright buttery, and I’m looking forward to really putting this thing through its paces.

I’ll refrain from making sweeping judgments for now, but the Nexus 4 managed to make a strong impression during the few brief moments we shared together. Expect a deeper dive into Google’s newest Nexus phone later this week after I’ve had some serious playtime, but in the meantime enjoy the rest of these photos.