Hasta La Gadget!

LG‘s most anticipated device yet is about to hit the US next month. The Optimus G will be the company’s flagship phone, and they created this four-minute-long “product movie” that showcases some of the more notable features of the Optimus G, like QSlide and the camera’s Live Shot and Time Catch Shot features.

The video is fairly odd in a way, and features dancing, archery, and weird hand-waving. However, it all has a purpose, and that’s to show off the LG Optimus G in an artsy kind of way that viewers might enjoy. The “movie” is four minutes long, and is split up into different advertisement spots of various lengths.

The device itself doesn’t get a lot of camera time, so we’re mostly succumbed to the interpretive dancing and the shirtless, muscular archers. However, throughout the video LG gives us a quick briefing of all the features coming to the new device narrated by wavy hand gestures that would put a magician to shame.

The LG Optimus G will come packing with a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, 2GB of RAM, and 32GB of internal storage. The display is a 4.7-inch True HD IPS+ screen that offers a 1280×768 WXGA resolution. We certainly wouldn’t mind one of these devices in our hands, and you can check out the device more by checking out our hands on.

LG Optimus G “product movie” released is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

After the launch of Apple’s iPhone 5, we knew it would only be a matter of time before sparks flew. We already saw Samsung’s advertisement about the Galaxy S III that bashes Apple’s latest offering, but now it’s Nokia‘s turn. The company released a video advertisement on YouTube that features the manufacturer’s Lumia 920 flagship phone and attacks the iPhone 5 at the same time.

The video is pretty subtle (and kind of weird, frankly) and doesn’t include any dialogue whatsoever, but it gives you a clear idea that Nokia simply thinks the iPhone 5 is boring. More specifically, the only difference between a boring phone and great phone is apparently the color of the device.

Nokia boasts that its lineup of vibrantly-colored Lumia devices is the one thing that separates them from Apple’s boring black and white iPhone 5 models. Apparently, having a selection of colors to choose from when picking out a smartphone is a huge deal to Nokia, and they think that it’s one of the biggest reasons that users will switch to the company’s Windows Phone 8-powered Lumia devices.

The video advertisement is part of Nokia’s “switch” campaign to sway users away from iOS and Android. In an odd way, the video reminds us of Apple’s famous “1984″ ad that was for the original Macintosh. It includes some of the same eeriness and subtle messages that were in Apple’s Macintosh ad.

[viaW Macgasm]

Nokia attacks the iPhone 5 in new Lumia ad is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If you had to pick between the iPhone 5 and the Samsung Galaxy S III, which one you choose? A new ad from Samsung looks to make the decision easy. Rolled out over the weekend, this new ad compares the specifications of the two phones side-by-side, saying that “it doesn’t take a genius” to figure out which one is the better phone.

That phrase, obviously, is taking a shot at Apple‘s famous Geniuses, who pop up in Apple’s stores to tell you all about the company’s products. Looking at the full ad below, you can see that the list of specs and features for the Galaxy S III is quite a bit longer than the one for the iPhone 5. Naturally, Samsung points to the S III’s 4.8-inch screen running at 1280×720 resolution while the iPhone 5 has a 4-inch one at 1136×640. Both offer 1080p video recording, and while the iPhone 5 may be smaller, the Galaxy S III has it beat when it comes to RAM (2GB to iPhone 5′s 1GB) and talk time (11.4 hours to iPhone 5′s 8).

The Apple faithful have since bitten back with an ad of their own, this one titled “Don’t settle for cheap plastic.” In this ad, we see the iPhone 5 sporting the longer list of specs and features, with around the second half of Samsung’s list for the Galaxy S III missing entirely. You can see both full-size ads by clicking on their respective thumbnails below.

What’s the takeaway from all of this? You should probably just pick the phone that suits you best instead of obsessing over comparing specs and features. After all, there’s a reason why the Samsung Galaxy S III has sold 20 million units since launch, just as there’s a reason why people line up year after year to pick up the latest iteration of the iPhone. Don’t expect this to be the last of Samsung’s assault on the iPhone 5, however, as the company is rumored to have a commercial in the works that aims to pull people away from the allure of the iPhone 5. Stay tuned.

[via CNET]

iPhone 5 targeted in new Samsung Galaxy S III ad is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Amazon’s roster of fresh Kindle Fire slates won’t just be delivering content for your entertainment, they’ll also be serving up ads. That’s right, each of the new tablets will greet users with “Special Offers” on their lock screens like some of the firm’s other e-readers, which matches previous rumors nicely. While the low-end Kindle and Paperwhite devices come in both subsidized and ad-free flavors, its tablet brethren aren’t getting the same treatment. Also, there’s no word if you’ll be able to avoid gracing the advertisements with your eyeballs in exchange for some additional cash once you have the hardware in hand. Alongside messages from other companies, the folks in Seattle promise to offer a $5 credit for both the Amazon MP3 and Instant Video Stores.

Filed under: Tablets

Every new Kindle Fire model is ad-subsidized with lock screen ‘Special Offers’ originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Sep 2012 20:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Earlier today, Nokia announced the Lumia 920, which comes complete with a reboot of PureView. During its press event, Nokia gave us a look at the new PureView’s main feature: optical image stabilization. The idea behind OIS is that it stabilizes the video you’re recording, giving you a more professional look instead of the amateur (and sometimes nauseating) shaky-cam effect.

To show off OIS, Nokia played a very impressive ad featuring a lovely couple as they enjoy an evening bike ride. That ad wowed attendees and those watching at home alike, but according to The Verge, it also may have been faked. In the ad, we’re treated to side-by-side comparison reels of the video shot without OIS and the video shot with OIS. Obviously, the video shot without OIS doesn’t look very good, whereas the video shot with OIS activated looks excellent. There isn’t any shakiness, despite the fact that the person filming the scene is riding on a bike.

Or is he? Toward the end of the video, our blonde-haired subject passes by a parked trailer. When she does, we see the reflection of a white van keeping pace with the girl in one of the trailer’s windows. When the video is paused at exactly that point, we can see what appears to be a cameraman recording the scene with something that definitely doesn’t look like a Nokia Lumia 920, along with a lighting rig at the front of the van to make sure that the shot is perfect. Have a look at the screen capture below to see for yourself.

So, it seems that Nokia’s ad may have been helped along by the work of a professional cameraman and crew. Keep in mind though that it’s possible the cameraman was actually using a Lumia 920 in some kind of rig, which would make it appear to be a different type of camera. It’s also important to remember that we’ve already seen optical image stabilization used in other devices, which should give us a good idea of how it functions with the Lumia 920. Still, this revelation does shed a little bit of doubt on the idea that Nokia’s OIS implementation is amazing as it appears in the video. What’s your take on the whole situation?

Nokia’s PureView ad may not be entirely honest is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.