Hasta La Gadget!

Well, you don’t see this too often. A new phone dubbed the Smart Bar is set for sale in Japan on September 22nd that combines the retro styling of a candybar with a modern 3-inch touchscreen. We’re undeniably intrigued by the numerical keypad (for obvious reasons), and the WVGA display sports an admirable pixel density of 311ppi, although the rest of the specs are decidedly mundane. The handset is manufactured by Huawei and features an 800MHz Qualcomm MSM7227 SoC, 512MB of RAM, a 5 megapixel camera and Gingerbread. There’s also support for 802.11n (which allows tethering for up to five simultaneous devices), Bluetooth 2.1 and IrDA. It features 3G support on the 2100 and 1700MHz spectra, along with tri-band 1900 / 1800 / 900MHz GSM capability. The Smart Bar will sell for approximately ¥29,800 ($385), where fans of vintage fusion may select from black, white and brown variants.

Smart Bar from eAccess combines Gingerbread with traditional numpad for old-school enthusiasts originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung certainly had its moment in the sun last week, but it appears that another alluring smartphone will soon emerge from South Korea — this time as the Optimus Note from LG — which presents itself in the wild and with a leaked press shot. It’s said to feature a 1.2GHz dual-core Tegra 2, along with a 4-inch WVGA NOVA display and Gingerbread. We can also expect a 5 megapixel primary shooter with an LED flash on the rear, a front-facing VGA cam up front, 8GB of internal storage and WiFi Direct capability. The device itself is 12.3mm thick, which accommodates a four-row sliding QWERTY keyboard. While this version seems destined for LG’s home territory, we can’t help but wonder if we’ll see similar specs in the Optimus Slider that’s bound Sprint. Also, since the phone has yet to become official, perhaps a last minute name change is in order? As you ponder this final point, hop the break and take a squint at Mr. Blurrycam’s finest.

[Thanks, Jungin]

Continue reading LG Optimus Note slider emerges from South Korea as dual-core Tegra 2 contender

LG Optimus Note slider emerges from South Korea as dual-core Tegra 2 contender originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Sep 2011 23:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Daum.net (translated), Juggly.cn (translated)  | Email this | Comments

TouchPad mania has been in full effect since the slate went on blue-light special a few weeks ago. Yet, with the future of webOS in flux, crowds have clamored to get Google’s green bots on the woebegone tablet. Last week, Team-Touchdroid gave the TouchPad a slice of Gingerbread, and now it’s delivered full 10-point multitouch as well. Of course, the video below only shows it doing the trick on a testing app, but it’s a good start. Shouldn’t be long now before you TouchPad owners can get touchy-feely with any Android app your hearts desire.

Continue reading HP TouchPad gets multitouch drivers for Android courtesy of Team-Touchdroid

HP TouchPad gets multitouch drivers for Android courtesy of Team-Touchdroid originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Sep 2011 16:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung Stratosphere aims to be Verizon’s first QWERTY-packing LTE device originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Sep 2011 07:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Verizon’s LTE lineup will soon be expanding like a balloon. With this week’s launch of the Motorola Droid Bionic and eventual release of the Samsung Stratosphere and LG Revolution 2, 4G shoppers will soon have options aplenty to choose from; why not throw another one into the mix? The LTE-enabled Pantech Breakout — which passed through the FCC as the Apache — now has some higher-quality renders, courtesy of PocketNow. While most of the phone’s specs are in line with the HTC Thunderbolt and Samsung Droid Charge, it differs by offering a smaller 4-inch WVGA display, Pantech’s custom Android UI and a 10-device mobile hotspot. There’s still no word on pricing or release date, though we were expecting to see the device come out last week; we can’t think of many people completely devastated by the delay, but it will at least provide much-needed variety to Verizon’s arguably stale 4G setup.

Verizon’s Pantech Breakout rendered, is four inches of LTE goodness originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Sep 2011 22:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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