Hasta La Gadget!

Volkswagen has outed the 2013 Golf, the seventh generation of the company’s bestselling hatchback, now lighter and almost a quarter more fuel efficient than before. Although outwardly similar to the model it replaces, the 2013 Golf is in fact redesigned completely, using VW’s “Modular Transverse Matrix” platform; it also gets new engines, offering from 85 PS to 150 PS of power and fuel economy improvements of 23-percent over the 6th-gen Golf.

Outside, the new Golf is 2.2-inches longer, while the wheelbase has stretched 2.3-inches over the old car. That not only improves internal space, VW says, but benefits the crash-protection structure and gives the car a sportier stance; you’d have to be a real Golf obsessive to notice that it’s 0.8-inches lower and 0.5-inches wider, however.

Despite the size change, the 2013 Golf sheds 220 pounds through a culmination of dieting. The air-con unit is six pounds lighter than before; the seats a full 15 pounds less. 80-percent of the car is high-strength steel (versus 66-percent before), and of that 28-percent is ultra-high-strength. For the Euro models, that means a 140 HP 1.4-liter turbo good for 49mpg, or 62mpg (EC figures, not EPA) from the 105 HP TDI Clean Diesel.

Inside, it’s another clean sweep for Volkswagen. Shoulder, leg, and cargo room are all bigger, with the hatch now opening for a more-easily accessible load area. Kit is yet to be confirmed, but there’s a 5-inch touchscreen infotainment system even on base-spec Euro models, while the top-end blows that up to an 8-inch unit with navigation.

Not all of the specs of the European 2013 Golf – the model VW showed off this week – will necessarily make it over to the North American version, though any design changes should be minor. Pricing will be announced closer to launch.

2013 VW Golf makes official debut is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Verizon has officially unveiled the Intuition by LG, the carrier’s LTE version of the 5-inch Optimus Vu phablet, with sales kicking off September 6. Priced at $199.99 with a new, two-year agreement, the LG Intuition will come preloaded with the company’s QuickMemo app, intended to gather up handwritten notes and sketches made with the bizarrely named “Rubberdium” stylus.

There’s also LG Tag+ loaded, which uses NFC to control settings and modes, and Verizon will throw a couple of programmable NFC stickers into the box. These can be used for automatically kicking the Intuition into silent mode, for instance, when you tap it on your nightstand. The Intuition comes preprogrammed with four different modes: Car, Office, Sleep and User.

The 5-inch display uses the unusual 4:3 aspect ratio and has a 650 NIT backlight for easier outdoor use; there’s also an 8-megapixel main camera, with LED flash and 1080p Full HD video recording, along with a front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera. OS is Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, running on an 1.5GHz dual-core processor with 1GB of RAM, while connectivity includes Bluetooth 3.0+HS and that all-important LTE, complete with mobile hotspot sharing for up to ten WiFi-tethered devices.

Online sales kick off on September 6, with in-store sales following on September 10. Of course, with Samsung’s Galaxy Note II freshly announced, it’s entirely possible that Verizon and LG have collectively waited too long to bring the Intuition to market.

Verizon Intuition by LG brings 4G phablet fun on September 6 is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

An event is coming up this week that’ll be hosted by Microsoft and Nokia in New York, it containing a whole lot of Windows Phone 8 news that appears now to have a leaky pipe. What we’ve seen thus far has been a collection of smartphones, a wireless charging pad, some speakers, and a few headphones in Nokia bright colors as well. What’s left to be shown off if not the final confirmation that all of these devices exist, and how much they’ll be costing? You never know, readers, you never know.

First you’ll want to check out the details of the event itself – it’s taking place on September 5th at 9:30AM EST in New York and we’ll be covering it right from the real-world location for your benefit! Stay tuned to SlashGear during the event to get up close and personal with the next generation of Nokia devices working with Windows Phone 8, code-named Apollo. Nokia has provided one single detail on this device lineup outside the fact that they’ll be working with Windows Phone 8: the name. According to Nokia, Samsung should be “taking note”, because their “next generation Lumia” will be coming soon – September 5th soon, that is.

There’s been word that Verizon will be amongst the carriers that’ll be working with Windows Phone this season – with Nokia in mind. After the Apple vs Samsung case in the USA had its first verdict, Nokia stock went up, this looking bright for the next generation of Microsoft-embedded Lumia lineup. The details are surprisingly abundant on this line of devices even though they’ve not been revealed as such by the manufacturer.

Have a peek at the Nokia Lumia wireless charging pad that appeared this morning and make sure you don’t mistake it for a mouse. That same post shows some wireless earbuds and a wireless charger for the earbuds as well – or it could be a holder for some Nokia thin minds too – we don’t know yet! This tip also includes a note that Nokia’s wireless charging will be working with the Qi system so you wont need to use the Nokia puck if you don’t want to.

There’s been a tip on a Nokia Lumia 920 PureView, complete with PureView technology inside. This PureView isn’t the same 41 megapixel camera beast we saw earlier this year in the Nokia 808 Pureview, but an 8 megapixel cousin that we’ve yet to hear any details on.

Another device that’s been leaked is the Nokia Lumia 820 Arrow, this device being a mid-range device with much of the same lovely software enhancement suite that comes with Windows Phone 8 on the Lumia lineup. Here you’ll likely be seeing a much more affordable version of the hero devices also coming up this week. Like the rest of the line, this phone appears to have a flat front screen.

There’s also been a Nokia Lumia 820 appearing with Windows Phone 8 aboard. This device appeared right alongside the 920 PureView in a single underground news blast, both of them working with Windows Phone 8, but the 820 having slightly less powerful specifications. The 920 will likely be sold with its camera being the main point of interest while the 820 will be appearing as the hero line of standard Windows Phone 8 smartphone – it’ll also have slightly rounder edges and will be appearing in purple, blue, gray, black, white, yellow, and red.

The final release date for Windows Phone 8 is currently looking quite likely for October 29th, 2012. Because of this, each of the Windows Phone 8 smartphones that have been shown off so far – and will be shown off this week – will probably be showing up on carriers late in October as well.

As a bit of a bonus, it seems, Nokia has also shown off – and officially, this time, mind you – a couple of audio hardware lines of products. FIrst take a peek at the Nokia / JBL NFC speakers announced last week during IFA. Then have a look at the Nokia Purity Pro Wireless headphones that are made – just as the NFC cans are – to match the color pallet of the Lumia line perfectly. These headphones are manufactured by Monster and will also be connecting to your devices using NFC.

Remember to tune in on September 5th at 9:30AM EST right here on SlashGear to see what Nokia actually brings to the table with Microsoft at their side. It’s time for more color, that’s for sure!

Nokia Windows Phone 8 Lumia event: What we know already is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

An eight-year project to revive Half Life will culminate in the first release of Black Mesa on September 14, the team behind it have revealed, a free game built on Valve’s own Source engine. Up to 10hrs of gameplay will be included in the first release, taking the basis of the 1998 classic title and bringing it up to speed with the new, significantly improved engine, as the developers attempt to address criticisms of Valve’s own Half Life: Source reworking.

“[Black Mesa] will include our re-envisioning of Half-Life all the way up to Lambda Core” the team revealed at the weekend. “We believe this is a great way to provide a complete-feeling 8-10 hour experience with a solid ending, make our fans happy and help us make the best overall game possible.”

Half Life was originally built on Valve’s GoldSrc engine, but the company re-released it in 2004 as a new version after Source was developed. However, public and reviewer response to the game was subdued, with many expecting a greater improvement in graphics and suggesting that Half Life: Source did not take full advantage of what Source could do.

The Black Mesa team took up that challenge itself, the combined efforts of two previously independent projects to entirely recreate the original game. The overall storyline will remain the same, although with some tweaks and modifications whether the Source engine allows for better play, while maps will be enlarged and effects improved.

A second part of the game is expected to follow, though no release date has been confirmed as yet. “We are still working hard on Xen and BMDM” the team says, “but instead of making you wait we are giving you Black Mesa as soon as it’s ready.”

[via BBC]

Black Mesa due September 14: Half Life reloaded is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If you were looking for a set of high-definition photos of the new iPhone 5 (or whatever they’ll end up calling it) next to the iPhone 4 AND the iPhone 3G, today’s you’re lucky day. Today a collection of photos have been revealed by SoHu.com where they’ve gotten their hands on what appears to be an iPhone 5 case model – handed out to 3rd party accessory manufacturers so that they might know the shape and size of the device before it’s released. Here you’ll see the next iPhone – or this heavily trafficked model that certainly appears to be the iPhone 5 – next to a couple of its predecessors as well.

The folks at Sohu have gotten their hands on a measured model of Apple‘s newest iPhone as well – showing it to be 124.46 × 58.58 × 7.41mm. They compare this set of measurements to the iPhone 4/4S which come in at 115.2 × 58.6 × 9.3mm. This tells us that the new iPhone is almost exactly the same width of the iPhone 4/4S but is certainly taller by about 10mm. This also shows that the new iPhone is just about 2mm thinner than the previous iPhone, as you can also see in the picture below.

This image also shows that the new iPhone will be working with much slimmer sections of glass on top of and on back of the device – though we’ve seen here and before that the back of the device will very likely be mostly aluminum with a couple sections of glass at the top and bottom for signal strength. The sides of the device appear to have two section breaks and the same sized volume buttons as well as screen lock – and the screen lock has a slightly smaller section of red coloring whilst locked, too.

The iPhone 5 will very likely take on a whole lot smoother appearance as far as individual bits and pieces than we expected when the first “renders” were shown off weeks ago. Here we’re seeing an iPhone that seems downright Apple-worthy – realistic, that is. Have a peek at the timeline below to see additional important news blasts and/or tips and leaks in the history of the release of this device and stay tuned for more! The next-generation iPhone has been rumored to be making its first appearance next month!

[via NWE]

iPhone 5 HD photos appear with specific measurements is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.