Samsung Wave: 3.3-inch Super AMOLED, Bluetooth 3.0, and new Bada OS (updated)

How’s about a little smartphone love on Valentine’s Day? Samsung’s press conference just got underway in Barcelona, and one of Mobile World Congress‘ first smartphones to debut this year is a real doozy. The Wave (S8500) that we’ve heard so much about lately is finally official, and it’s the first handset to ship with Bluetooth 3.0. It’s also packing 802.11n WiFi, TouchWiz 3.0 and the company’s own Bada mobile platform. You’ll also get a 3.3-inch “Super AMOLED” (saywha?) display, and while the 800 x 480 resolution is just dandy, the lack of multitouch is a real buzz kill. Digging into the internals, you’ll find a 1GHz processor, 5 megapixel camera, aGPS, accelerometer, 2GB or 8GB of internal storage space, a microSD expansion slot, multi-codec support for DivX, XviD, MP3 and WMV, and support for virtual 5.1 surround sound and 720p recording / decoding. The company’s also touting its mDNIe (mobile Digital Natural Image engine) technology, which is already used in its LCD and LED TV lineups; in other words, this phone is probably one of the better ones for multimedia viewing (so long as you don’t venture under direct sunlight, of course). It’ll be available worldwide starting in April, but unfortunately pricing remains a mystery. Full specifications and press release are after the break.

Update: Check out our hands-on with the device! The at show prototypes do respond to multi-touch pinch and zoom… with an error. But at least the detect it.

Continue reading Samsung Wave: 3.3-inch Super AMOLED, Bluetooth 3.0, and new Bada OS (updated)

Samsung Wave: 3.3-inch Super AMOLED, Bluetooth 3.0, and new Bada OS (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Feb 2010 13:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft’s PB10ZU (turtle) and PB20ZU Project Pink phones outed by FCC?

Oops. Those two pics looks similar, eh? And if we’re not mistaken, Microsoft’s Pink phone is rumored to be made by Sharp. This wirerame for model PB10ZU just hit the FCC looking every bit the “Turtle” device that was leaked last year. Of course, seeing Sharp behind Pink is only natural since it was one of Danger’s manufacturers of choice for the Sidekick — a team wholly ingested by Microsoft a few years ago. Looking through the FCC docs we see that it’s a slider with dual-band CDMA, EVDO Rev. A, Bluetooth, and 802.11b/g WiFi. We also see reference to a second model, the PB20ZU (aka, “pure“?), although that model is lacking any detail whatsoever. The tastiest of FCC docs are being withheld by request until March 29th — right in line with a rumored spring launch. Hopefully Microsoft will have more to say about Project Pink and Windows 7 devices here in Barcelona so stay tuned.

[Thanks, Jeremy F.]

Microsoft’s PB10ZU (turtle) and PB20ZU Project Pink phones outed by FCC? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Feb 2010 07:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Boeing 747 destroys ballistic missile with laser (update: photos!)

No, this isn’t a call to arms (yet), the US is simply evaluating its airborne laser weapon again. Now listen in because this latest test was a doozy. Last night at 8:44pm Cali time, the Airborne Laser Testbed (ALTB) successfully “destroyed” a liquid-fueled ballistic missile from an airborne platform, according to the Missile Defense Agency. A first for the directed energy weapon that we’ve been following since 2006. The dirty work was achieve by a modified Boeing 747-400F airframe fitted with a Northrop Grumman higher-energy laser and Lockheed Martin beam and fire control system. After an at-sea launch, the ALTB used a low-energy laser to track the target. A second, low-energy laser was used to measure and compensate for atmospheric disturbances before the megawatt-class laser was fired, “heating the boosting ballistic missile to critical structural failure.” The entire episode was over just two minutes after missile launch. Good work generals, but let’s see you fit that laser to a shark if you really want to impress us.

Update: Infrared images of the ALTB destroying the short-range ballistic missile after the break.

Continue reading Boeing 747 destroys ballistic missile with laser (update: photos!)

Boeing 747 destroys ballistic missile with laser (update: photos!) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Feb 2010 06:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Compaq Airlife 100 puts Android OS, Snapdragon CPU, and an SSD behind 10.1-inch touchscreen

HP’s mobile computing unit appears to have decided that the term smartbook refers to putting a smartphone’s components inside a netbook’s body — which kind of makes sense — so they’ve built their Airlife 100 atop an Android OS platform, underpinned by a Snapdragon CPU (unconfirmed, but highly likely), a 16GB SSD, 3G and WiFi connectivity, and a 10.1-inch touchscreen display. We really can find no cause for complaint — in fact this is the most excitement a Compaq-branded product has caused us… ever. HP touts a rock solid 12-hour battery life for the Airlife, which stretches out to a mighty 10 days of standby, in case you’re one of those folks who hate to switch their electronics off. Announced in partnership with Telefonica, this smartbook will be offered as a subsidized part of mobile broadband service plans in Europe and Latin America. It may well find itself renamed under the HP Mini branding when it rolls around to the US, but for now head on over to Engadget Spanish for the full PR.

Compaq Airlife 100 puts Android OS, Snapdragon CPU, and an SSD behind 10.1-inch touchscreen originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Feb 2010 05:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola Droid gets official multitouch support — in Google Maps, anyway

When it rains, it pours, huh, Google? Not even a week after announcing the big multitouch update for its own Nexus One, Google has turned loose a new version of Google Maps that enables pinch-to-zoom support on the Droid. Of course, it was no secret that Android 2.0 had the framework in place to support this kind of stuff — Moto enabled it all by its lonesome on the Euro-spec Milestone — but it looks like this could be the watershed moment where multitouch finally becomes a must-have feature on Android devices across the board, as Moto CEO Sanjay Jha recently suggested would happen. The new version 3.4’s available as a software update in the Market right now, so grab it if you’ve got your Droid handy.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Motorola Droid gets official multitouch support — in Google Maps, anyway originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Xbox v1 games, systems no longer Live; Microsoft’s pulling the plug April 15

It’s been no secret that original Xbox games and systems have been the vestigial limb holding back much wanted XBL features including raising the limit on our friends list to over 100 or mobile tie-ins, and on April 15 Live access for all of them comes to an end. Even those Xbox Originals downloaded to the 360 or played via backwards compatibility will be cut off from online play, so we’d suggest getting those last few rounds of Halo 2 in now or at least look into an alternative solution like XBConnect. Affected users should keep an eye on their inbox, Xbox Live GM Marc Whitten has promised “details and opportunities” to come for you as partners in this process — we’re figuring a coupon or two or an extended XBL subscription as the lights are turned out is the least they can do. For the rest of us already living in the future? The timing of this announcement mere days before the X10 event in San Francisco February 11 can’t be coincidental, we should find out what comes next by then.

Xbox v1 games, systems no longer Live; Microsoft’s pulling the plug April 15 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 04:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AT&T letting SlingPlayer stream over 3G on the iPhone at long last

After all the hubbub and controversy caused by the release of SingPlayer for iPhone back in May, we knew it would take a serious change of heart for AT&T to reverse course on the issue of 3G streaming. The app’s super-conspicuous lack of 3G was one of the clearest statements around that the iPhone represented a level of data consumption that AT&T was fairly unprepared for, and that certain uses like VoIP over 3G and live video streams were just not going to fly. Well, we’ve just now gotten over that VoIP hump, and now AT&T has given in to SlingPlayer demand at last. AT&T says it has been testing an “optimized” version of the app on its 3G network since December, and Sling says the dynamic bandwidth adjustment should keep the app from bringing the network to grinding halt — in not so many words. The 3G-friendly version will be a free upgrade to the $30 application, and should be available as soon as the revised software makes its way through the App Store approval process.

AT&T letting SlingPlayer stream over 3G on the iPhone at long last originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 08:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola Devour officially coming to Verizon next month

And just like that, it’s official. Verizon Wireless has today announced that Motorola‘s scrumptiously named Devour will be heading to its network next month, with it being the first VZW phone to feature Motoblur. Not that we’re seeing any surprises here, but a quick specification run down draws our attention to a 3.1-inch capacitive touchscreen, a touch-sensitive navigation pad, a pre-installed 8GB microSD card and Bluetooth support. Unfortunately, there’s no apparent mention of multitouch — and we wouldn’t expect it out of the box, since the Devour runs Android 1.6 — but we’re crossing our fingers (and toes, for that matter) for Google to sling that delightful Nexus One update to the rest of its high-powered Android phones in the very near future. There’s nary a mention of an asking price, but we’ll be sure to keep an eye out as launch day approaches.

Motorola Devour officially coming to Verizon next month originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Feb 2010 09:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nexus One gets a software update, enables multitouch (updated with video!)

The iPhone isn’t the only handset getting bumped today — Google’s just outed a very, very significant update to the Nexus One that includes Google Goggles on board and a re-upped version of Google Maps that includes suggestions and a dedicated night mode. Much more significantly, though, they’ve capitulated and enabled multitouch in Browser, Gallery, and Maps — great news and a big win for the Android community at large. Finally, there are some 3G improvements in there, but you might have to wait a bit — Google expects to have it rolled out to pretty much everyone toward the end of the week. Seriously though, now that we’ve gotten that whole multitouch spat cleared up, it’s time for Engadget to rally around something else: ridding the world of tiny ninjas, perhaps? Follow the break for a video of the new firmware — in all its multi-fingered glory — in action!

Update: ReadWriteWeb’s gotten an official statement from Google on the question on everyone’s mind: why now? The company says that Android 2.1 “powers a new class of devices” with more horsepower and bigger displays, and “based on these new capabilities and numerous requests from Android users, we decided to provide pinch-to-zoom capabilities with this new over-the-air software update for Nexus One devices.” This sounds like a total cop-out to us — HTC got multitouch working just fine on the Hero way back on 1.5 — so we still think they just got uncomfortable with the noise surrounding the groundswell of demand for it. Of course, that’s fine by us — power to the people, right?

Continue reading Nexus One gets a software update, enables multitouch (updated with video!)

Nexus One gets a software update, enables multitouch (updated with video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Feb 2010 20:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone OS 3.1.3 available now

It’s not version 3.2, but there’s a little stopgap out now for iPhone and iPod touch owners in the form of OS 3.1.3. According to the changelog, we can expect better battery level reporting and fixes for problems with the Japanese Kana keyboard and some mysterious issues where third-party apps would fail to launch. Sounds good to us!

Update: As usual, we’re hearing blackra1n (and presumably redsn0w) has been busted by 3.1.3, so you probably want to hold back if you’re jailbroken until you’ve gotten the all-clear. Thanks, Eric!

iPhone OS 3.1.3 available now originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Feb 2010 13:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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