Hasta La Gadget!

When we reviewed the Nintendo 3DS (both times) there were some things we liked and others we didn’t, but one thing stood out as a true flaw: the battery life. Three to four hours on a charge just doesn’t cut it when portable game systems are traditionally known for shrugging off entire international flights. The 3DS would struggle with a puddle-jumper. Now, Nyko says it has a fix, and have released a battery backpack that promises twice the life of the stock console. Does it deliver? Not quite, but close.

Continue reading Nyko Power Pack+ and Charge Base for Nintendo 3DS review

Nyko Power Pack+ and Charge Base for Nintendo 3DS review originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 03 Apr 2011 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Way back in September of last year, Apple filed a patent-infringement suit against HyperMac, the folks behind these external batteries. At the time, it looked like Apple was protecting its patented MagSafe power connector, but a newly released USPTO application for a “Power Adapter with Internal Battery” might reveal a more accurate view of the company’s litigious motivations. From the look of things, the outfit intends to make its mark on juicing solutions with what is basically a wall charger packing an internal battery. According to the patent filing, the contraption would include a processor for parceling energy to the host device as well as the adapter, and could also incorporate a supplemental energy source like a solar cell. Among other things, it would also communicate with the device being charged to allow users to monitor the juice stored in the extra battery. If the thing does end up making it to market, it looks like HyperMac could have a whole lot more trouble on its hands than a little patent-infringement suit.

Apple patent application reveals plans for external battery pack, spells further trouble for HyperMac originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 01 Apr 2011 18:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Clean and constant power is something that we take for granted here in the Americas. Sure, we’ve seen rolling blackouts in California before, and that outage in the Northeast back in 2003 was decidedly uncool, but those are the exception to the norm. Right now many Japanese citizens are dealing with power problems in the wake of the devastating tsunami, but in parts of Russia unreliable power is a decidedly reliable part of day-to-day life.

So, what’s going to happen when a couple-hundred-thousand fans from around the world swoop into Sochi in 2014, along with a flotilla of international media and all the world’s greatest athletes? The Winter Olympics will happen, and the power will flow. It has to, and it will thanks to that unassuming looking shipping container above. It’s being assembled at Ener1‘s facility outside of Indianapolis, and it’s actually a giant battery holding an amazing one megawatt-hour of power. That’s enough to juice 1,000 average homes for an hour, or to act as the mother of all UPS’s. Join us for a look inside and a video show how each of those packs is made.

Continue reading Inside the giant megawatt batteries that will power Russia’s Sochi Winter Olympic Games (video)

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Inside the giant megawatt batteries that will power Russia’s Sochi Winter Olympic Games (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 13:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The HSUPA-enabling update? No, not yet. The voice call quality fix? In the pipeline. The mission-critical Bluetooth multimedia experience improvements? Oh yes, we’ve got those right here! Motorola is preparing to deliver an imminent OTA update to its Atrix 4G super phone, which will fix up battery performance, overall software stability, and car dock, headphone jack, and fingerprint reader performance, but will regrettably leave the two major drawbacks to the AT&T-riding phone untouched. Alas, if you’ve rooted your Atrix, you’ll have to pay a dear price to benefit from these upgrades as users over at xda-developers, who’ve obtained the pre-release build, report the new 4.1.57 update disables their previous superuser privileges. C’est la vie.

Update: Word is this update will be released to the general public tomorrow. Sit tight.

[Thanks, Daniel]

Atrix 4G’s 4.1.57 update spruces up a few things, patches known root methods originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Mar 2011 05:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We can’t say the methods for charging mobile devices have been top of our agenda lately, but when you’re talking about speeding anything up by 100 percent, our interest is inevitably piqued. ST-Ericsson has come up with a new charger, tailored specifically for servicing tablets and mobile phones, that can juice them up at the brisk rate of 3 Amps. Efficiency is touted all over the place with this accessory, from the 60 percent improvement in PCB utilization to the 92 percent maximum power throughput rating, bringing the drably titled PM2300 dangerously close to a state of desirability. Best of all, tablets featuring its promised double-speed refilling capabilities are expected in the fall of this year, so the wait won’t be long, however you look at it.

[Thanks, Ola]

ST-Ericsson’s PM2300 will charge smartphones and tablets twice as fast, speeding to market this fall originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 Mar 2011 06:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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