NavGenius PND looks like a GPS, is really a covert location tracker

Those sadistic souls over at Lightning GPS are at it again, making the lives of parents and promiscuous children awesome and horrible, respectively. Just in case NavTrac’s RTV10 PND isn’t enough to keep your mind at ease when Johnny (and his track record of poor decision making) is out and about, there’s the newly announced NavGenius. At first glance, this here navigator is about as vanilla as they come, but underneath the shell is a dedicated tracking module which enables the owner to monitor every turn, stop and donut from the web. Heck, you can even re-route vehicles from any connected computer, and the owner can get an SMS should the driver exceed a certain speed or break a customizable perimeter. All that’s required to shatter the last pinch of trust you actually had with your offspring is $599.95 up front and $39.95 per month for the tracking service — which you only pay until they wise up and take a Louisville Slugger to the device.

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NavGenius PND looks like a GPS, is really a covert location tracker originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Apr 2009 05:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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CTIA Roundup, Day Two

Day Two of CTIA Wireless 2009 was marked with little news — most of the big stuff hit yesterday — but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t plenty to see. We wrote a bit about Motorola’s surprisingly awesome Evoke, LG’s and Samsung’s latest contributions to AT&T, and a couple of watch phones that you may (or may not) want on your wrist — so if you haven’t had a chance to catch up on the day’s festivities, read on, won’t you?


NVIDIA’s Franken-Mini is half HP, half Tegra, no Intel
And now, a little visit to the “Why not?” department.

Motorola Evoke QA4 hands-on with video
When you look at the Motorola Evoke QA4, the last thought that springs to mind is RAZR, and that’s such a good thing.

Sony Ericsson’s T707 hands-on with video
Sony Ericsson’s presence at CTIA this year is a rather quiet thing, but we did catch up with them at Ericsson’s booth as we were hell bent on seeing its newest, the T707.

Samsung Propel Pro video hands-on, now with more keyboard
A number of folks wanted video of AT&T’s Samsung Propel Pro and a better view of the keyboard.

Neutrano’s Nutec WristFone watch phones at CTIA
If this guy looks serious, it’s because he is — serious about bringing you some awesome watch phones
Also check out:


CTIA Roundup, Day Two originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Apr 2009 02:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Neutrano’s Nutec WristFone watch phones at CTIA

If this guy looks serious, it’s because he is — serious about bringing you some awesome watch phones. Canadian firm Neutrano is working with Chinese OEMs to import, tweak, and certify some of those watch phones that we’ve unfortunately been spending more time reading about than actually using — and while they aren’t going to appeal to everyone, the stainless steel version is the closest thing we’ve seen to something we’d consider wearing this side of an LG. Fans of chunky, stylish wristwatches should be able to pass it off as a fashion statement of sorts — your friends don’t even have to know it’s a phone, really. When you get a call, the thing’s got to come off your wrist and be held up to your ear unless you’ve got a Bluetooth headset ready to rock, but worry not: Neutrano’s also showing a model of its Nutec WristFone that pops off at the base of the wristband so you don’t need to unstrap it from your wrist. You pay for that convenience with some extra bulk (and we’d argue that this is the geekiest, ugliest model of the bunch), but we’ll admit, it’s pretty trick. Everything’s controlled over touchscreen; you’ve got character recognition for entering text messages and a row of shortcuts silkscreened across the bottom of the display, and the detachable model also features an integrated keypad (think Casio calculator watch) to make entering phone numbers a little less painful. Neutrano is targeting June for these at a price somewhere between $300 and $400, and the company’s president is still actively deciding on colors, band styles, and software features, so sound off in comments if you’ve got any hot ideas for ’em. Oh, and check some video of the phones in action after the break!


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Neutrano’s Nutec WristFone watch phones at CTIA originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Apr 2009 22:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung Propel Pro video hands-on, now with more keyboard

A number of folks wanted video of AT&T’s Samsung Propel Pro and a better view of the keyboard. We just couldn’t get it the first night and coupled with the horrible lighting, the results would have been miserable anyway. So we did one better and combined both in one well lit video. We checked the device’s browser, too, but sadly the signals in the building weren’t helping us out. Enjoy the tour right after the break.

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Samsung Propel Pro video hands-on, now with more keyboard originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Apr 2009 19:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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CTIA 2009: ATT Wireless OK With Skype, In The Future

AT&T is okay with VOIP over their wireless network. No, not their current wireless network – their future LTE network. Execs gave a picture of the network future at a Q&A session today that showed connections getting really fast, then going all data.

The nation’s number-two carrier is currently upgrading their network to HSDPA 7.2, which will up to double the speed of their current high-speed network HSDPA 3.6. Realistically, that means we’re looking at about 1.5 mbits/sec on average. After that, though, they’re going to 14.4 and even HSDPA Release 7, which offers maximum speeds of 20 Mbits/sec, AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega said.

“We’ve got an all-out assault to increase the bandwidth on the radio access network as well as on the backhaul,” de la Vega said.

That’s just the opening act, though. Just like Verizon Wireless, AT&T is prepping a next-generation LTE network. With LTE, everything becomes data; there are no circuit-switched voice calls. And once everything’s data, AT&T will become much more comfortable with VOIP systems like Skype, de la Vega implied. Right now AT&T disapproves of running VOIP applications like Skype for iPhone on their cellular network.

“It will be an environment where people just buy the amount of data they need. What rides on the data could be voice, and it could be whatever you want,” he said.

MSI X-Slim X340 photographed, benchmarked in mysterious hotel room

We’ve seen plenty of photos of MSI’s X-Slim X340 floating around as of late — but these ones — which were taken in a Las Vegas hotel room at CTIA, are pretty interesting, artistically speaking. More interesting, however, is the fact that the lucky chap from Laptop Magazine also did a little preliminary benchmarking of the laptop as well. He found the display to be quite satisfactory for viewing videos from any angle, though the speakers (housed on the bottom of the system) produced disappointingly weak sound, and that performance-wise, the CULV CPU is speedy enough to run Windows Vista without any hitches. Applications also loaded quickly, and things like multiple browser tabs didn’t strain the system either. They’re planning on running the full battery of benchmarks at a later date, but hit up the read link for further impressions. Also, there’s one more snap after the break.

[Via Slashgear]

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MSI X-Slim X340 photographed, benchmarked in mysterious hotel room originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Apr 2009 16:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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CTIA 2009: The Ghost of iPhone Looms Over Microsofts CTIA Keynote

There’s no way to watch Microsoft’s keynote address at CTIA Wireless today without hearing “iPhone. Apple. iPhone. Apple,” like the whispering voices in the background on Lost. Of course, Microsof’t’s Robbie Bach and Jim Wilson never mentioned either of those words during their keynote presentation, as they demoed a mobile OS whose navigation and interface work almost identical to the iPhone’s.

Wilson kept a straight face while showing the finger-swiping, double tap to zoom, and Start button on the Windows Mobile 6.5 interface. Bach played it straight while talking about how Microsoft is building a consumer tech ecosystem that involves a user’s PC, TV, phone, and syncing service, and when talking about how excited he was that EA Mobile’s Sim City was coming to Windows Mobile.

The only overt mention of Apple came when Bach showed a Windows commercial in which an attractive young girl goes laptop shopping and decides she’s “not cool enough to be an Apple user.”

I’m a Windows Mobile expatriate who defected to the iPhone, so maybe this is all in my head, but the entire keynote presentation appeared to be Microsoft talking up all the features they’d cribbed from Apple, knowing full well that the audience was in on it.

If I were better at video editing, I’d splice the clips of Bach and Smith demoing iPhone-esque features and put together a mock Apple commercial for YouTube.

Anyway, sorry for the diversion. Now go back to reading Sascha’s excellent CTIA coverage.

Palm Pre’s First Apps Hands On: Seriously Good-Looking Programs

We’re nearing the still unknown release date for the Palm Pre, and new details are slowly surfacing. Sprint demoed the Pre’s WebOS apps at CTIA, including PalmOS Emulator, Google Maps and Pandora. These look fantastic.

Like the iPhone, Palm gives developers a set of recommended UI design elements in the SDK, to promote a cohesive look in WebOS. While use of these buttons and menus aren’t mandatory, these early developers have embraced them. I also happen to think the design DNA of WebOS looks better than any platform on the market, even Mobile OSX.

Google Maps
Google Maps is tightly integrated with the Pre’s universal search function, so when you start typing something in search, you can launch straight to Maps, and it will zero-in on the points of interest. You can pan and zoom around the app using your fingers, and pretty much behaves like any other touch-enabled version of Google Maps.

Pandora
Pandora’s integration with WebOS will make it the best available mobile version of this music service. When you start Pandora and exit to another app a little Pandora logo remains in the bottom right corner of the screen. When you tap it, a quick launch UI pops up that lets you control the app without exiting whatever else you were doing. Serious, serious multitasking. And in general, the UI seems much more intuitive and usable than most the other versions of Pandora, with plenty of UI navigation options that make it less labyrinth, more music app.

PalmOS Emulator
PalmOS Emulator lets the phone UI look and act like the Garnet OS, and even has virtual, on screen buttons to give you full functionality. If you have old PalmOS apps you can’t bear to part with, or just really hate WebOS (but love the Pre?), you can go back in time 10 years. Also worth noting is that Palm says they will roll out a solution for migrating data from old PalmOS phones to new WebOS ones, including support at the Sprint store. But Palm says they’ll divulge details closer to release.

TeleNav GPS
The TeleNav demo wasn’t fully up and running, since the demo was indoors, but it essentially looks like the version available on the T-Mobile G1. Not much else unique going on there, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, either.

Sprint TV
Sprint TV was probably the least spectacular of the bunch, but even that looked like a pretty nice app. There’s a main menu for Viewing options (Live, Premium, On Demand TV), and then secondary menus that let you choose channels or content. Once you hit that, it launches into the TV service, which pulls up video. Video quality wasn’t that great, and there was some artifacting/glitching going on, but it was certainly viewable. And there didn’t seem to be any sort of on-screen guide or controls for Sprint TV. Not a dealbreaker, but it would sweeten the package.

There were also other apps, like FlightView, which lets you track planes and schedules in real time, among other things, and a NASCAR app, which will let you appreciate America’s fastest growing sport (which is heavily sponsored by Sprint!). But if this is what we have to expect for future Pre Apps, I’m pretty excited.

Sony Ericsson’s T707 hands-on with video

Sony Ericsson’s presence at CTIA this year is a rather quiet thing, but we did catch up with them at Ericsson’s booth as we were hell bent on seeing its newest, the T707. What we found was a fairly simple quad-band GSM / triple-band HSDPA set with the standard suite of Sony Ericsson features and some golly-gee gesture controls. Building on what it already does in the gesture realm we had fun setting up Chris “Amethyst” Ziegler as a contact on the phone — a necessity to assign one of 5 indicator colors to his contact — and seeing just what could be done with them. When a contact calls with a color assigned to them the exterior blinks with their color to let you know who is calling, waving your hand over the device can end the call. In the music player and games, the handset can be flailed about to control music volume or a perhaps a car in a racing game. Basic stuff, but nonetheless still a decent phone, here’s hoping a North America carrier picks this up. Pics and vid are just after the break.

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Sony Ericsson’s T707 hands-on with video originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Apr 2009 13:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola Evoke QA4 hands-on with video


When you look at the Motorola Evoke QA4, the last thought that springs to mind is RAZR, and that’s such a good thing. Let’s face it, long live the RAZR, but its time is past, though, we’re over the moon to see Moto step up with a piece of hardware that’s made us genuinely happy excited about Moto (well, Aura aside) in a long while. While it is an EVDO handset, and our travel often makes us lean toward distinctly more GSM-flavored devices, we’re throwing it all to wind and will be rushing to get our hands on one. The layout in-hand is frickin’ ideal, the material choices, finish, and style are just so well executed that we found ourselves fairly stunned when we first got out mitts on it. The capacitive screen works extremely well for flipping through apps, surfing, messaging, and the keyboards (both landscape and portrait are here) work very well. Honestly, what’s not to like? Motorola’s new slider is without a doubt going to be a winner when it lands. Here’s hoping we hear where and for how much soon, but in the interim feel free to check the gallery and absorb some of the video goodness that is the Evoke in action.

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Motorola Evoke QA4 hands-on with video originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Apr 2009 09:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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