Hasta La Gadget!

AT&T is adding the first e-reader to its catalog of connected devices and, unsurprisingly, it’s the 3G version of Amazon’s latest-generation Kindle. There’s nothing peculiar about this agreement, the 3G Kindle will cost $189, the same as it does on Amazon’s online portal, and there are no special content or add-on deals in place. It’s just another locale where you’ll be able to “test drive” and purchase Amazon’s all-time best-selling product. Stock should be arriving shortly for a March 6th launch, though if you’re looking for the WiFi-only Kindle, you’ll have to look elsewhere, AT&T will only be selling the 3G-equipped 6-incher.

Continue reading AT&T will start selling Kindle 3G e-reader in its retail stores from March 6th

AT&T will start selling Kindle 3G e-reader in its retail stores from March 6th originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Feb 2011 09:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So, by now you’ve seen the PlayStation Certified Qriocity tablet known within Sony as the “S1.” But that’s not the only tablet the venerable Japanese company is preparing to launch in 2011. We’ve been told by a pair of highly trusted and proven sources that Sony is also working on two rather unconventional tablet form factors including a dual-screen Honeycomb clamshell and newfangled Windows 7 tablet slider.

First, let’s look at the clamshell model sporting a pair of 5.5-inch displays — a device first hinted at in a 2010 Sony patent application titled “Electronic Book with Enhanced Features.” However, unlike the patent’s blocky illustration, we’re told that Sony’s clamshell — known as the “S2” internally — more closely resembles an oval cylinder when closed as depicted in the illustration above. Spec-wise, we’re told that it will be very similar in performance to the S1 with a Tegra 2 SoC and WiFi + 3G radio on the inside and front- and rear-facing cameras on the outside. And like the S1 tablet, the S2 will be focused on delivering Qriocity media to the consumer. Sorry, no word on whether the S2 is PlayStation Certified. Obviously, the S2 won’t be running stock Honeycomb — instead, Sony is currently optimizing the Android OS to make the most of those two displays. One source reports having seen Gmail running on a demonstration prototype where the list of messages is displayed on one screen with the body of the selected message displayed on the other. Maps, we’re told, will display the map graphic on one display with the detailed turn-by-turn instructions or Streetview displayed on the other. Likewise, the S2 will display a video and picture navigation menu on one half of the clamshell with the selected content blown-up to fill the screen of the other. We’re also told that these apps will work in a variety of orientations. Sounds interesting, to say the least. Regrettably, our sources are less than enthusiastic. Click through to find out why.

Continue reading Exclusive: Sony ‘S2’ dual-screen Android clamshell and 9.4-inch Windows 7 VAIO slider due this year

Exclusive: Sony ‘S2’ dual-screen Android clamshell and 9.4-inch Windows 7 VAIO slider due this year originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Feb 2011 10:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Qualcomm just refined the term “blowout” here at Mobile World Congress. It’s obviously a critical show for the wireless supplier, and while the 2.5GHz Snapdragon CPU is the undisputed highlight, there’s quite a bit of chipset action worth paying attention to if you’d prefer that your next handset / mobile hotspot be capable of handling the world’s most advanced network technologies. First off, there’s the Gobi3000 modules, which Qualcomm just announced were shipping en masse. Compared to the Gobi2000 that has been infiltrating laptops and MiFi devices for the past year, this one doubles the HSPA downlink speed and enhances the Gobi common application programming interface (API) functionality for enterprise applications. The design supports single-mode (UMTS) and multi-mode designs (CDMA / UMTS), and should be popping up soon in devices from Huawei, Novatel Wireless, Option, Sierra Wireless and ZTE.

Next up are the MDM9625 and MDM9225 chipsets, which are designed to support LTE data rates as high as 150Mbps within mobile broadband devices. These guys are fabricated using the 28nm technology node, and are backwards compatible with previous generations of LTE and other wireless broadband standards, giving consumers using USB modems powered by the MDM9625 or MDM9225 chipsets an uninterrupted broadband data connection on nearly any network around the world. These are being launched alongside the MDM9615 and MDM8215, which are similar chips designed to support multi-mode LTE and dual-carrier HSPA+, respectively. As for the MDM8225? That’s being released today to support HSPA+ Release 9 (the latest version, obviously), which will support 84Mbps on the downslope (not to mention dual-carrier HSUPA operation) and should fit into at least a couple of T-Mobile USA devices by 2012. Finally, Qualcomm has nailed down a deal that’ll enable all future Snapdragon-powered Android devices to “have access to instant streaming of TV shows and movies from Netflix.” Just sounds like a pre-loaded installation to us, but hey, we’ll take all the optimization we can get when it comes to streaming video on the mobile.

Qualcomm ships dual-mode Gobi3000 WWAN chip, intros LTE / HSPA+ chipsets galore originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Feb 2011 07:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We heard some weird reports over the weekend that the 3G Motorola Xoom tablet couldn’t be sold unless you bought at least one month of wireless data. That, plus the groan-inducing $800 MSRP, is surely giving some potential buyers a wee bit of pause. This might help. Crossing the wires at the FCC is what appears to be a WiFi-only version of the Xoom, called a “wireless tablet with embedded WLAN.” It’s lacking a 3G radio so, unless Moto has another trick up its sleeves, this is probably that. Obviously any speculation on price would be highly… speculative, but here’s to hoping ditching that modem brings this thing down a Benjamin or so. Also spotted, this time in Dubai but also embedded below, was a silver version of the Xoom, sporting a two-tone back that will nicely complement your Casio Data Bank calculator watch. No word on whether we’ll get that on these shores, but we hope so. Variety is, dear readers, the spice of life.

Continue reading WiFi-only Motorola Xoom tablet does its FCC duty, silver version spotted in Dubai (video)

WiFi-only Motorola Xoom tablet does its FCC duty, silver version spotted in Dubai (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 Feb 2011 07:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nice timing, Verizon. Just as thousands — possibly zillions — of smartphone users are pondering the switch to Big Red for Apple’s iPhone 4, the carrier has slipped in two critical policy changes that are apparently effective immediately. Tucked within loads of fine print in a new PDF that surfaced on the company’s site, there’s this:

“Verizon Wireless strives to provide customers the best experience when using our network, a shared resource among tens of millions of customers. To help achieve this, if you use an extraordinary amount of data and fall within the top 5 percent of Verizon Wireless data users we may reduce your data throughput speeds periodically for the remainder of your then current and immediately following billing cycle to ensure high quality network performance for other users at locations and times of peak demand. Our proactive management of the Verizon Wireless network is designed to ensure that the remaining 95 percent of data customers aren’t negatively affected by the inordinate data consumption of just a few users.”

To our knowledge, this is the first time that VZW has taken a notable position on throttling, and the link to its stance on net neutrality (as it applies to wireless, anyway) is fairly obvious. What’s most interesting to us is the five percent of data users figure; the top one or two percent isn’t a huge amount, and there’s a good chance that bandwidth abusers are up in that echelon. But we’re guessing that quite a few business travelers will fall within this particular range, and given that VZW now holds the right to throttle data for your existing billing cycle and the next one… well, good luck gritting your teeth and lasting through that two-year contract.

In related news, the company is also implementing optimization and transcoding technologies in its network, which is a politically correct way of explaining that it can downres any multimedia you try to send through Verizon’s pipes. Head on past the break for the full quote.

Continue reading Verizon can now throttle top five percent of bandwidth hogs, downres multimedia transfers

Verizon can now throttle top five percent of bandwidth hogs, downres multimedia transfers originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Feb 2011 12:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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