Hasta La Gadget!

WiFi in a camera. No matter the practicality or the cost of adding wireless functionality, it’s become a must for high-end point-and-shoots, and if they don’t pack it now, they soon will. But access hasn’t become as prolific as protocol prophets once preached — we’re at the mercy of pay gates, passwords and bandwidth limitations, even today. Our smartphones, on the other hand, are always connected. There’s no need to fuss with hexadecimals or other cryptic keys — assuming we haven’t crossed an international border, getting online is as convenient as taking a breath. As the world’s most prolific smartphone maker, Samsung is very much invested in cellular. Sure, there were gasps from the crowd at last week’s Unpacked, but built-in 4G makes perfect sense, and while WiFi and a Micro SIM may make the Galaxy Camera an instant winner, it’s Android that completes the package, as the glue that cements this latest category’s promise. Samsung may be the pioneer, but should other manufacturers be scrambling to shift roadmaps, ready to embrace this new digital direction? Tap past the break for our take.

Continue reading Editorial: Android cameras — could Samsung’s Galaxy gamble save the point-and-shoot industry?

Filed under: Cameras, Mobile

Editorial: Android cameras — could Samsung’s Galaxy gamble save the point-and-shoot industry? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Sep 2012 08:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re still recovering from the onslaught of goodies shown off at IFA 2012, but there’s one thing we didn’t notice while perusing Samsung’s gadgetry. The team at German site BestBoyZ discovered S Cloud in the settings menu of the Note II, which included the option to sync user data with Dropbox. Apparently, Samsung reps didn’t have much to say on the matter, and BestBoyZ believe that’s because it’s not quite working yet (we’re willing to agree, given the various delays). It’s looking like the feature might be ready in time for the Note II’s launch, which ties in nicely with the 50GB of free Dropbox storage you’ll snag if you pick one up. Owners of other Samsung gear needn’t be disappointed though, as it’s suggested that S Cloud integration will be part of the Jelly Bean upgrades expected soon. We’ve embedded the reveal vid below, and don’t worry if you can’t speak German — you’ll still get the gist.

Continue reading S Cloud spotted on Galaxy Note II, reveals Dropbox integration (video)

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Storage, Software, Mobile

S Cloud spotted on Galaxy Note II, reveals Dropbox integration (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 Sep 2012 09:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When it first landed on the Kindle Fire, HBO Go for Android tablets seemed like a dead cert. And, sure enough, it wasn’t long before the service found its way on to slates with version 4.x, with one minor exclusion — those running Jelly Bean. Well, version 1.7.1 puts that all in the past, and now means the full gamut of Android users (unless you never made it past Donut) can join in the fun. Reading this on your Nexus 7? Make haste toward the source link for the download.

Filed under: Tablets, HD

HBO Go 1.71 update adds support for Jelly Bean devices originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 01 Sep 2012 13:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Here at IFA, the Galaxy Note II‘s glossy plastic build is practically fading under the ambush of cameras snapping away at Samsung’s booth, but clearly this phone is more than just a (super sized) pretty face, and it’s time to take a look at what’s under the hood. As mentioned in our hands-on, Samsung upgraded the original Note’s dual-core 1.4GHz chipset to a quad-core 1.6GHz Exynos processor. We put the device to the test today to see how those amped-up insides reflect in the Note II’s benchmark scores. As you’ll see below, Sammy’s latest handset fares significantly better than the original Note and the Galaxy S III.

Oh, what a difference a processor makes. Clearly the step up to a quad-core CPU is to thank for the large performance delta between the Note II and the last-gen Note, though the international version of the Galaxy S III, with a quad-core 1.4Ghz Exynos processor, also falls behind in Quadrant and other tests. The Note II also trumped its Samsung siblings on the browser-focused Vellamo benchmark, which hints at snappier performance on this phone. The phone’s graphics chops look pretty good, too, if the GL Benchmark score is any indication. Our testing got cut short before we could run SunSpider, but we’ll add that figure shortly.

Update: We’ve added SunSpider as well — the device clocked in at 1,330ms, which is a hair faster than the Galaxy S III.

Filed under: Cellphones

Samsung Galaxy Note II gets early benchmark treatment at IFA originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Aug 2012 07:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’re sporting Android 4.1 Jelly Bean then one of its most notable features just got better, as an update for the Google Search update is enhancing Google Now (still getting adjusted? check the guide book for a list of commands) functionality in a few key ways. The new version brings public alerts to your Now page, with emergency messages like storm warnings or earthquake alerts, so if you’re in range of Hurricane Isaac, it may be worth grabbing sooner rather than later. A more trivial change lets sports fans manually select their favorite teams from 140 pro soccer, baseball, basketball and hockey clubs — we tried to find our college favorites and were denied, for now. While trying to automatically decipher our preferred squads from searches is nice, it might not be practical when we’re just looking up information on our fantasy football players so this should be a help.

It has also added support for movie listings as seen above. Search for a flick that’s in theaters and you will not only receive relevant information, but also when and where it’s playing in your area. If that’s not enough, it can be set to pop up on your “movie days” or when you just happen to be loitering outside a theater. Finally, in a move that should please many prospective Galaxy Note II owners it is ready to work in Korea — grab the new version of the app at the link below.

Continue reading Google Now update brings public safety alerts, lets sports fans manually pick teams and adds movie listings

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Software, Mobile

Google Now update brings public safety alerts, lets sports fans manually pick teams and adds movie listings originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Aug 2012 19:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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