Hasta La Gadget!

We’re seeing a few companies mixing a little Android on the dashboard, most notably Parrot, and while we think the little green guy certainly has a future in next-gen infotainment systems, we’re not quite sure this is it. It’s a prototype display, running on Tegra power and developed in conjunction with Fujitsu Ten. Right now it’s offering little more functionality than a raw Android tablet, made more car-friendly only by the addition of big home, back, and menu buttons. The UI is showing only a simple maps app, centered in Tokyo, and overall things look… early. But, we’re certainly eager to see what the companies can do with Android on the dash — down the road a little.

Continue reading NVIDIA and Fujitsu Ten’s Android Car Nav hands-on (video)

NVIDIA and Fujitsu Ten’s Android Car Nav hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Jan 2011 16:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Pandora founder and chief strategy officer Tim Westergren just rolled up to our CES trailer in the new Mini Cooper Countryman with Mini Connected, which features integration with Pandora’s iOS app when an IPhone is plugged in. Once you plug the phone in and switch to the app, Connected takes over and you navigate and control Pandora using the Mini’s rotary jog dial — BMW doesn’t want you to mess with the phone while driving, so the iPhone essentially serves as a 3G modem. The Connected interface is quite clean — it’s definitely more user-friendly than the BMW iDrive system from whence it sprang — and we were jamming along to 32Kbps Pandora streams in no time. That’s a little better than FM quality, and the Pandora app does a little buffering so any gaps or blips in signal are smoothed over. Phone calls are handled by the Mini’s Bluetooth system, so Pandora fades out when a call comes in, and fades back in when you hang up. It’s definitely slick — and Pandora is actually just the first Connected app to launch, with more iOS apps from Mini’s partners due to come in the future. Video and PR after the break.

Continue reading Mini Cooper Connected with Pandora drive-on

Mini Cooper Connected with Pandora drive-on originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Jan 2011 16:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We brought you the official details earlier in the week and now we have images of the Recon next-gen GPS goggles in its broken-down self. Users will be able to choose from an assortment of Recon frames and lenses, in collaboration with the integrated LCD, allowing for customized appeal. Recon is bringing in a revised platform based on Android, which allows users to shred some powder while using apps, music and track their GPS locations as well as locations of others that share the must-have for apps-in-your-goggles fetish. The Android platform allows for full integration with your Bluetooth-enabled phone with real-time alerts and notifications straight onto the built-in LCD. With the Recon next-gen GPS goggles, you can look like a tech-savvy hipster while flying down your favorite trails.

Recon next-gen GPS goggles eyes-on originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Jan 2011 16:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ViewSonic’s taking tablets to great new lows here at CES, calling its new 4.1-inch ViewPad 4 a “tablet device with smartphone functionality.” Whatever the description, though, this is a pretty handsome, angular Froyo handset with an 800 x 480 resolution, 5 megapixel camera that can record 1080p 720p video, a front-facing imager, 2GB of ROM, and either 512MB or 1GB of RAM. The spec sheet we found online says the former, but the chap at ViewSonic’s stand today told us the latter. Either way, we’re really liking the smoothness of the Android UI on this tabletphone, it was very pleasantly responsive. The most shocking thing about the ViewPad 4, however, might be its launch date, which we were told will be somewhere around mid-June. Froyo in mid-June … really? Get your video hands-on fix after the break.

Update: A second pass through the ViewSonic stand informed us that actually the ViewPad 4 is only capable of 720p video recording. Bogus, man.

Continue reading ViewSonic ViewPad 4 hands-on (video)

ViewSonic ViewPad 4 hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Jan 2011 15:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re not going to lie — we’re pretty excited to bring this to you guys. Here at CES 2011 we had a chance to sit down with Matias Duarte, the man behind webOS (as well as the Sidekick and Helio UIs), who’s now heading up Google’s user experience for Android. Matias is currently driving the interface and design for Android 3.0 (AKA Honeycomb), and it’s clear that he’s bringing his big, bold ideas to the Android platform. This is the first video interview Matias has done since leaving Palm, and we pressed the man on his involvement in Gingerbread and Honeycomb, what had to be torn down in Android, how desktop OSs can inform mobile devices, and much, much more. Don’t just take our word for it — follow along after the break and watch the full interview!

Continue reading Exclusive interview: Google’s Matias Duarte talks Honeycomb, tablets, and the future of Android

Exclusive interview: Google’s Matias Duarte talks Honeycomb, tablets, and the future of Android originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Jan 2011 15:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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