Hasta La Gadget!

To everyone who rocked a Motorola RAZR in the ’00s, it’s time to get excited again. The line — or at least the name — has been reborn, and not without good reason. This is a thin device — extremely thin. The Droid RAZR by Motorola is 7.1mm thin, in fact, and holding it up next to the iPhone 4 makes Apple’s phone look downright beefy by comparison. At 127 grams, it’s also incredibly light, a fact that’s quite apparent the first time you hold thing — we were honestly a bit surprised when it was first dropped in our hands. The company has clearly come a long way from the first generation Droid.

Of course, as noted, Motorola didn’t skimp on the specs here. The RAZR’s got a TI OMAP 4430 1.2GHz dual-core processor and 1GB RAM inside, and it does zip through apps with ease. The handset is rocking Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread — or at least was during our hands-on. No word on Ice Cream Sandwich — though we’ll no doubt be hearing more about that OS at tonight’s event. The 4.3 inch qHD Super AMOLED display is quite bright, and should do wonders on those Netflix HD videos.

Also of note is the phone’s relative ruggedness, thanks to its Kevlar backing, diamond cut aluminum and Gorilla Glass, but in spite of these facts, it really doesn’t feel or particularly look like a rugged device in your hands, just a big, surprisingly light handset. It’s a slick, fast, thin phone, that certainly seems worthy of the RAZR name we’ve all know and love.

Zach Honig contributed to this report.

Continue reading Motorola Droid RAZR hands-on (video)

Motorola Droid RAZR hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Oct 2011 13:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Back at Mobile World Congress in February, Sony Ericsson managed to surprise attack us with the reveal of its Xperia pro. Now, nearly a full year and oodles of leaks later, that Android 2.3 QWERTY slider’s ready to find comfort in consumers’ hands. Hitting retailers globally this October, SE’s 3.7-inch enterprise-minded handset comes pre-loaded with Mc Afee mobile security, Office Suite Pro, and is designed to make syncing with MS Exchange and other email clients a cinch. Business-friendly add-ons aside, the device packs ANT+ (to keep you in peak road warrior shape), and a generous 8.1 megapixel rear camera outfitted with an Exmor R sensor for HD video and 3D Sweep Panorama capture. There’s also a Type & Send widget to make use of the device’s Smart Keyboard — which suggests reply options when slid open — letting you bang out and send off text from the homescreen. Sound like the kind of slider that’ll suit your white-collared needs? Then hit up the source below to get your order on.

Sony Ericsson Xperia pro on sale this October, corporate thumbs flex in anticipation originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Oct 2011 17:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Where have all the split-keyboard phones gone? It’s been roughly six years since the days of the Nokia E70, a messaging device with an innovative form factor, but handsets with a similar mold have become extreme rarities in the market — if they even make it to the market at all (remember the MotoSplit?). LG’s hoping to gain some ground in this area by officially announcing the DoublePlay, a unique Android 2.3 handset with dual touchscreens and split QWERTY. Here’s the scoop: the DoublePlay’s powered by a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU and offers a 5MP rear-facing camera capable of capturing 720p HD video. Where it gets interesting, however, is in the DoublePlay’s design — it uses a 3.5-inch display on top, sliding out to reveal a 2-inch internal screen sandwiched in between both halves of the keyboard. As it turns out, both screens can be used separately or in tandem with each other, depending on your needs. No pricing or availability was specifically announced, but the presser appears to coincide with the 2011 National Texting Championship beginning October 26th, so the phone will likely launch around the same time. Perhaps we have a device here that’ll be a legend in another seven years?

Continue reading LG DoublePlay makes its official intro on T-Mobile, offers dual-screens and split keyboard

LG DoublePlay makes its official intro on T-Mobile, offers dual-screens and split keyboard originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Oct 2011 01:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging to get updated. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it’s easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don’t escape without notice, we’ve gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery from the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!

Official Android updates

• Motorola Xoom owners who swapped in their devices for one with LTE capability may have found an OTA enhancement waiting for them when the tablet arrived. It included a few minor changes, such as updates to Android Market and some additional browser security measures. The full changelog can be found at the link. [AndroidCentral]
• The update to the Motorola Droid 2 Global was pulled last month due to an Exchange encryption issue, but we’re hearing reports that it’s once again resuming the rollout with that concern resolved. [Droid-Life]
• Motorola’s Photon 4G on Sprint is on the receiving end of a minor bug fix update, which includes video chat capability for Google Talk. [PhoneArena]
• The good news for unlocked Dell Streak 7 users: the official update to Android 3.2 (Honeycomb) is now rolling out and you should see it over the course of the next couple weeks. the coming weeks. [Dell]
• The bad news for T-Mobile Dell Streak 7 users: Honeycomb isn’t coming to your tablet, for unknown reasons. [Android Community]
• According to a tweet from LG, there’s a small refresh in the works for the Optimus 7 which will finally enable WiFi tethering. [WPCentral]

Unofficial Android updates, custom ROMs and misc. hackery

• A new piece of firmware for the AT&T Galaxy S II was leaked via RootzWiki, and includes a few bug fixes. Sadly, it adds some bugs as well. [Android Community]
• Samsung’s officially released the kernel source for the Stratosphere, Transfix and Galaxy Y Pro. [Android Community]
• And now for the best news for TouchPad owners: after several weeks of progress, it appears that CM7 is now ready to roll on the HP TouchPad. As always, download and install at your own risk — we have a feeling this may be a bit more involved than your typical Android custom ROM. [Redmond Pie]

Other platforms

• Redsn0w 0.9.9b5 is here, giving you the go-ahead to jailbreak iOS5. Up for the task? Head to the link for all of the details on how to make it so. [Redmond Pie]
• Some Windows Phone users have noticed a few bugs popping into their updated devices ever since they received Mango. The main concerns seem to be found in the keyboard and live tiles, though the reported issues are much more numerous. Have you experienced any of these on the list at the link? [WMPowerUser]

Refreshes we covered this week

• Motorola a bit slow boomerangin’ back with LTE update
• iOS5 now available for download

Refresh Resource: week of October 10, 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 16 Oct 2011 10:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The latest product off Samsung’s near-constant conveyor belt, the Galaxy Y, has been spotted loitering around Vodafone UK stores. The “youth“(translation: entry-level) smartphone arrives with a slightly better spec sheet than the Korean giant’s cheapest Android phone, the Galaxy Mini, although you shouldn’t expect a load of GS II-eque features. The petite handset includes a two megapixel camera, a three-inch touchscreen, an 832MHz CPU, and the typical wireless medley of Bluetooth, 801.11 b/g/n WiFi and GPS — all packed into a 3.5 ounce shell running Google’s Gingerbread OS. Sure, there’s no 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus screen, but for just £10.50 per month, we may be willing to overlook it.

Samsung Galaxy Y available now from Vodafone UK originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 08:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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