Hasta La Gadget!

It’s September 15th somewhere, right? Er… right! At any rate, it looks as if the leaks we saw earlier this month were 99 percent accurate, with Olympus pulling the trigger this morning on its mid-range E-5 DSLR. Boasting a familiar design, this 12.3 megapixel shooter ups the ante with a 3-inch dual-axis swiveling LCD, a TruePic V+ image processor, full-time Live View system, splash and dustproof magnesium alloy body, 720p movie mode (Motion JPEG) with a 7 minute-per-clip maximum, in-body mechanical image stabilization and an 11-point auto focus system. There’s also wireless flash control, support for both CompactFlash and Secure Digital (SDHC / SDXC) cards and an ISO range from 100 to 6400. Unfortunately, this bad boy will set you back an almost unconscionable $1,699.99 for the body alone, which sure seems lofty given all the other options popping up. Something tells us you should wait for Photokina to conclude before pulling the trigger, but even if you managed to get a pre-order in, it won’t leave the docks ’til October.

Continue reading Olympus E-5 DSLR gets official: 12.3MP, 720p movie mode, swiveling LCD

Olympus E-5 DSLR gets official: 12.3MP, 720p movie mode, swiveling LCD originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Sep 2010 02:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mmm, delicious. That’s the feeling we’re left with after being inundated with yet another round of AT&T leaks, this time giving us insight at a few flagship devices on tap for the carrier’s holiday push. First up is the Galaxy Tab — an Android 2.2-based tablet that we had previously heard rumored for AT&T’s airwaves. Thanks to a branded snapshot from the carrier’s internals, we can confirm that the Tab will indeed be sold on Ma Bell, and it (along with three other new Android devices) will ship “prior to December.” Moving on, we’ve got even more confirmation that the Samsung Cetus (i917) will be one of the operator’s first Windows Phone 7 devices, and it looks as if a heretofore unheard of Samsung Focus and HTC Surround will be joining it. Better still, we’ve got it on good authority that three other WP7 handsets will be splashing down alongside those others in time for the holidays. As for the remaining BlackBerry loyalists, AT&T will be tempting you with a trio of limited run Torch motifs coming in “mid to late November,” with an all-white version, red / black model and olive colored edition on tap. We’ll be keeping an ear to the ground for more, naturally.

Exclusive: Galaxy Tab, red / white BlackBerry Torch and Samsung Focus hitting AT&T in Q4 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Sep 2010 17:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Holy moly, it’s all gone topsy turvy over in Nokia’s camp. After Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo was given his marching orders on Friday, this week it’s the turn of Anssi Vanjoki — who only recently became the company’s Mobile Solutions leader — to announce his departure. Anssi has handed in his requisite six-month notice along with the following statement:

“I felt the time has come to seek new opportunities in my life. At the same time, I am one hundred per cent committed to doing my best for Nokia until my very last working day. I am also really looking forward to this year’s Nokia World and sharing news about exciting new devices and solutions.”

It doesn’t take a rocket surgeon to recognize that Anssi’s sudden desire to explore new opportunities is at least in part motivated by Nokia’s choice to install Stephen Elop as its future CEO at the expense of good old OPK. Still, you’ve got to think there could’ve been a better time to announce such heart-stopping news, maybe after your company’s most pivotal Nokia World convention in recent memory?

[Thanks, Ted]

Continue reading Nokia’s Anssi Vanjoki resigns, the search for a new smartphone chief begins

Nokia’s Anssi Vanjoki resigns, the search for a new smartphone chief begins originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Sep 2010 02:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The rumors were true. Nokia just announced a change in leadership: Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo is out, Stephen Elop, the current head of Microsoft’s Business Division, is in. That’s right, the very Finnish Nokia will now be led by a Canadian. Before Microsoft, Elop, a computer engineer by education, held senior executive positions at Juniper Networks, Adobe Systems, and Macromedia. The embattled OPK will vacate his position as President and CEO on September 20th and will continue to chair the Board at Nokia Siemens Networks. Money quote:

“His (Elop’s) strong software background and proven record in change management will be valuable assets as we press harder to complete the transformation of the company.”

Naturally, OPK leaves with a severance package honoring his 30 years of service. That translates to 18 months gross base salary and target incentive totalling about €4.6 million plus 100,000 restricted Nokia shares that will vest on October 1, 2010. Once again, proof that it’s good to be king.

Update: Click through if you’d like to gaze into the hopeful eyes of Nokia’s new CEO.

Update 2: Nokia just introduced Stephen Elop to the world in a live press conference (available now for replay) from Espoo. Jorma Ollila, Nokia’s Chairman and former CEO, confirmed that the CEO search had been ongong since late May and OPK, for his part, has been very professional and “very gallant” throughout the process. Jorma then praised Stephen for his “very strong cultural sensitivity,” a question that’s very near and dear to Fins concerned about a North American taking control of their beloved Nokia. Elop will be moving to Helsinki in the very near future and his first order of business will be to “listen.” Elop said that Nokia is well aware of the challenges it faces as well as the solutions to those challenges. It’s his job, then, to surface those solutions and to execute on them going forward. Understandably, Stephen refused to talk about specific next steps. Stephen did say that the North American smartphone market is absolutely critical to Nokia and will be an emphasis under his leadership (as it had under OPK, unfortunately, with poor results). Hopefully, Elop’s contacts in the US can help.

One final tidbit of interest. When Stephen sat down with Ballmer to express his intention to leave Microsoft for Nokia, Ballmer was said to be disappointed but supportive due to his respect for Nokia as a company. He even helped with the transition. Don’t you hate it when your stereotypes are debunked?

Continue reading Nokia’s OPK is out, Microsoft exec in as President and CEO (updated)

Nokia’s OPK is out, Microsoft exec in as President and CEO (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Sep 2010 01:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Way to take the wind out of our sails, ARM — no sooner does your dual-core Cortex-A9 finally ship, do you reveal an even more powerful smartphone, smartbook and server-slaying beast. The Cortex-A15 MPCore picks up where the A9 left off, but with reportedly five times the power of existing CPUs, raising the bar for ARM-based single- and dual-core cell phone processors up to 1.5GHz… or as high as 2.5GHz in quad-core server-friendly rigs with hardware virtualization baked in and support for well over 4GB of memory. One terabyte, actually. Like we’d heard, the ARMv7-A “Eagle” chips are destined for Texas Instruments, but ST-Ericsson and Samsung as also named as “lead licensees,” so we fully expect to see some badass silicon powering a Galaxy when the 32nm and 28nm parts ship in 2013. Press release and video after the break, replete with ARM partner companies fawning over the new hotness. We can’t really blame them.

Continue reading ARM reveals Eagle core as Cortex-A15, capable of quad-core computing at up to 2.5GHz

ARM reveals Eagle core as Cortex-A15, capable of quad-core computing at up to 2.5GHz originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Sep 2010 01:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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