Hasta La Gadget!

Welcome to Friday, folks. The weekend is here once again, and what better way to kick off the festivities than with a Windows 8 purchase? The new OS went up for pre-order today, while a number of other Windows 8-related stories were popping up all over the place. For instance, we found out that the marketing campaign for Windows 8 cost Microsoft a whopping $1.5 billion, and a collection of HP computers were spotted running Windows 8 on the show floor of one Best Buy store in Minnesota.

Dell is getting in early on the Windows 8 action, opening up pre-orders for a handful of new machines today, and we learned that a staggering 6 billion people around the world are now using a mobile phone of some type. A leaked T-Mobile release roadmap gives us an idea of when the carrier expects to receive a bunch of different devices, including the Windows Phone 8X. We received a rather in-depth look at an LG Nexus prototype today, and LG delivered a brand new Optimus G “product movie” that aims to get us familiar with the new handset’s features. Netflix released a Windows 8-compatible version of its app today, just ahead of the launch of the OS.

Google could be headed for an antitrust case from the FTC, and it seems that the Apple Maps controversy hasn’t done much to damage consumer enthusiasm for the iPhone 5. Speaking of the iPhone 5, Apple’s latest mobile offering has managed to overtake the Samsung Galaxy S III in web traffic despite being available for a much shorter amount of time, and Google is getting the Play Store ready for the holiday rush. SoftBank is looking to secure $23 billion to buy a majority stake in Sprint, and industry insiders are claiming that the long-rumored iPad Mini will be revealed on October 23 – just a couple weeks from now.

Star Citizen has already managed to raise an absurd $500,000 in funding, while Borderlands 2 was seen outshining its predecessor in a pretty significant way. We learned that the games industry is still on the decline, and ASUS unveiled a brand new Windows 8 VivoBook today. Amazon is now posting a disclaimer about the Kindle Paperwhite’s backlighting, YouTube is rethinking the way it ranks videos for search results, and Anonymous has cut ties with Wikileaks after the website started restricting access and asking visitors for donations.

Finally tonight, we have an unboxing and hands-on with the Huawei MediaPad 10 FHD for you to check out, and Chris Burns tells us why every little piece of Apple news seems to matter so much these days. That does it for tonight’s Evening Wrap-Up, here’s hoping that this weekend is a good one!

SlashGear Evening Wrap-Up: October 12, 2012 is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

LG revealed Japan’s NTT DoCoMo would be the first carrier to offer its Optimus G (which it’s been proud enough to announce more than once) and now we have an exact date. Pre-orders for the L-01E start tomorrow ahead of it going on sale October 19th, bringing its quad-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon CPU, 4.7-inch True HD IPS LCD, 13MP camera, Android 4.0 packaged with the waterproofing, DMB tuning and FeLiCa wallet support local buyers will expect. While we wait for release details in the US on AT&T and Sprint (or another leak of that supposed LG Nexus phone) you can check out the red and black variants rolling out across the Pacific.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, LG

NTT DoCoMo opens Japanese pre-orders for the LG Optimus G L-01E tomorrow, sales start October 19th originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Oct 2012 23:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Stop us if you’ve heard this one before, but we had the opportunity to get our hands on the LG Optimus G… again. This would make the excursion lucky number four for Engadget, but this one is a touch on the unique side since it’s heading directly to Sprint at some point in the not-too-distant future. Here’s what we knew up until today: like the Korean versions, this particular flavor of the G — also known as the LS970 — will feature a 13MP rear camera (AT&T’s will only sport an 8MP module), and otherwise carries the same set of features such as a quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, 2GB RAM, 1.3MP front-facing camera, 32GB internal storage, 2,100mAh battery and 4.7-inch 1280×768 True HD IPS PLUS display. Much like it did on the Motorola Photon Q, Sprint has elected to keep its carrier-specific branding off of the device (it’s doing this so the handset can make its way to the network’s prepaid brands with relative ease), but we were disappointed to see that the SIM card is once again embedded and not accessible without taking the entire phone apart. Aside from these cosmetic differences there’s not much that sets it apart from the international models — something that is a pleasure to see, instead of the standard carrier practice of tweaking OEM designs to their own whimsy.

The performance expectations set by the Korean Optimus G seem to be met here, with the 1.5GHz quad-core Krait processor running the show. Despite the G using a custom build of Ice Cream Sandwich (which will be upgraded to Jelly Bean soon, according to Sprint), we were highly satisfied with how quick everything was during our time with the device — it truly acts and feels the same as its overseas counterpart. The downside that you’ll find with Sprint — as you might imagine — is Sprint’s infant LTE network; customers getting this phone in a city not blanketed by the next-gen network will find themselves frustrated with lackluster EVDO speeds. To get a closer look at the Now Network’s flavor of the Optimus G, go below to see a full gallery of images and then head past the break for a video tour.

Myriam Joire contributed to this report.

Continue reading LG Optimus G for Sprint hands-on (update: video)

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Sprint, LG

LG Optimus G for Sprint hands-on (update: video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Oct 2012 14:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rumors have been swirling that LG will get its first crack at a Nexus phone this year. If there’s any merit to that claim, we might have just received an early peek. An XDA-Developers forum goer has posted a collection of photos for the E960, which appears to be a variant of the Optimus G — until you realize that it’s using software navigation keys, doesn’t quite resemble the international or AT&T Optimus G models and is oddly badged as the “Full JellyBean on Mako.” Given that Google likes to name its reference Android phones after fish, it doesn’t take much to suspect that a device codenamed Mako is more likely to become a Nexus than an Optimus. The completely stock but unreleased Android 4.1.2 build of Jelly Bean certainly helps fuel the rumor mill. If the E960 does carry Google’s honorific, though, some may be in for a disappointment knowing that the model that reached the FCC last week doesn’t have LTE. We won’t rule out that this is one of multiple Nexus variants, if it’s a Nexus at all, but the 3G edition’s filing hints that Google may not rock the boat for its 2012 flagship.

Update: More images have surfaced, this time with the anti-spy casing removed from the back of the phone. Click past the break for more.

Continue reading LG E960 Mako surfaces in photos, may be the future Nexus phone (update)

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Google, LG

LG E960 Mako surfaces in photos, may be the future Nexus phone (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Oct 2012 23:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, we’re finally getting a look at the US edition of LG’s Optimus G and surprise, surprise, it’s not that terribly different from the version we got to play with in both Korea and NYC last month. We’re still looking at that stunning 4.7-inch 1280×768 True HD IPS PLUS display, a speedy Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core processor, 2GB RAM, a hefty 2,100mAh battery and 16GB storage — on this model, at least. But what, if anything, has changed on this Android 4.0 handset now that it’s here in the US cruising along on AT&T’s LTE network? Keep reading after the break to find out.

Continue reading LG Optimus G for AT&T hands-on (video)

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, AT&T, LG

LG Optimus G for AT&T hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Oct 2012 19:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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