Hasta La Gadget!

Though we played with ASUS’ Android-powered Eee Pad MeMO back at CES, the company spilled a couple new secrets here at CeBIT today: first, it’ll be running Honeycomb by the time it launches in June — current prototypes are running Gingerbread — and second, certain MeMO bundles will include the MeMic, a separate Bluetooth handset that lets you take calls without holding a giant tablet to your face (it’s pronounced “me-mike,” by the way). Interestingly, the MeMic features a translucent LCD that we’re told will make it to the production units; unfortunately, the units on display were running very early alpha software that had “given out” by the time we arrived at the booth, so we couldn’t get a sense of viewability. In addition to making calls, the MeMic will let you stream music, control media, and perform a few other basic tasks that make sense for a tablet remote.

On the Honeycomb side, ASUS tells us the delay is simple — as it stands, a commercial-grade Honeycomb port doesn’t exist for Qualcomm hardware, which is what the Eee Pad MeMO is running (the Xoom — the only released Honeycomb tablet so far — is running Tegra 2). The company’s confident that it’ll be ready by the time the MeMO’s slated for release in June, however. Follow the break for video!

Continue reading ASUS Eee Pad MeMO and MeMic hands-on (video)

ASUS Eee Pad MeMO and MeMic hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Feb 2011 08:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve been hearing reports about Nexus S’ Android 2.3.3 update adding a yellow tint to the screen and even washing out its colors, but according to Google’s Ry Guy, said patch is indeed intended to tweak the display’s color temperature. Here’s the full quote from Google’s support forum:

“With your new OTA complete, you may notice a slight difference in the way colors are displayed on your Nexus S. For Nexus S, we have adjusted the color temperature settings to more accurately reflect darker colors at all brightness levels. The Gingerbread UI being darker, we found that the colors were not as accurate when the device was being used at lower brightness levels. For example, some users reported that the initial color temperature was too high leading to some darker greys having a reddish tone; with the new color temperature this is no longer the case.”

So while this display tweak is well-intentioned, it looks like many commenters on both the forum and XDA-Developers aren’t too happy with this. Being curious geeks that we are, we went ahead and manually updated our own Nexus S (and by the way, be sure to match your build number with the appropriate patch). As you can see in our comparison photos (shot with the same manual camera settings and medium screen brightness), the new overall color temperature is no doubt subtly warmer, although the dimmer brightness settings no longer suffer from the aforementioned red tone. Interestingly, we actually approve this change, and the Super AMOLED display certainly doesn’t look washed out to us, nor do we see any noisy dithering that some have reported. Surely we can’t be alone. Well, there’s only one way to help solve this mystery: if you happen to be a fellow Nexus S owner who’s applied this update, why not chime in below?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Nexus S 2.3.3 update adjusts screen’s color temperature, we go eyes-on originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 27 Feb 2011 05:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Our first indication of a delivery date for the Gingerbread iteration of Android came way back in May when we were perusing the FAQ to Google’s then newly announced WebM video format. There should be no expressions of shock, therefore, to hear that WebM support has indeed been added into Google’s mobile OS, with the lowest compatible version being today’s freshly introduced Android 2.3.3. Google has already demonstrated its intention to brute-force this format into our lives, which we’ll be quite happy to accept just as soon as Gingerbread starts appearing on more devices than its own Nexi.

Android 2.3.3 gives you another reason to want it: WebM support originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Feb 2011 05:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Can you handle one more Android tablet? Let’s find out. That one up there is Huawei’s IDEOS S7 Pro, which is not to be confused with its new IDEOS S7 Slim. The Pro didn’t get a formal introduction here at MWC 2011, but it was lounging around the Huawei booth with a placard revealing its specs. Unfortunately, this one won’t be launching with Honeycomb — it packs a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, Android 2.3, HSPA+, WiFi 802.11bgn, and two cameras. The metal model on display seemed to be just a mockup, and despite the LED buttons lighting up, it wouldn’t actually boot. We overheard a company representative say that it would be launching this spring and our comrades at Engadget Spanish have also heard that it will launch at 10-inch version later in the year. You know what that means? Yep, even more Android tablets!

Huawei IDEOS S7 Pro tablet sneaks out, coming this spring originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Feb 2011 13:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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For most of us, ZTE’s only known for its budget Android devices in the cellphone market, but this ever-expanding company’s aiming to change its image with a slightly more powerful flagship device come May. Dubbed the Skate, this Android 2.3 smartphone sports a generous 4.3-inch display (although no screen type or resolution is specified here), and is powered by an unnamed 800MHz processor plus a soon-obsolete Adreno 200 GPU. There’s also a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash on the back, along with the usual Bluetooth, A-GPS, and WiFi bundle. Sadly, the listed cellular frequencies indicate that the Skate won’t be heading to the US any time soon, which is rather ironic given ZTE’s desire to make it big in the North American consumer market this year. On the flip side, maybe the Chinese giant’s got some surprises for us, and we like surprises. Press release after the break.

Continue reading ZTE Skate coming near you later this year with Android 2.3, 4.3-inch goodness

ZTE Skate coming near you later this year with Android 2.3, 4.3-inch goodness originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 02:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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