Hasta La Gadget!

Shopping for a smartphone can be an exciting and arduous experience. Along with the promise of something new and fantastic, it brings the fear of commitment, and even worse, the prospect of saddling yourself to a lousy device for two years. Fortunately for you, Engadget spends tons of time playing with the latest gear and we’re constantly on the lookout for what’s coming next. If you’re wanting to take the pain out of shopping for a smartphone, you’ve come to the right place. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Engadget’s smartphone buyer’s guide: your one-stop resource to finding the best and most exciting handsets on the market today.

Before you dive in, however, we’ve introduced a few changes to the buyer’s guide, so take a minute to prepare yourself for what’s in store. First and foremost, you’ll now find alternate selections to supplement our top picks. This should already be familiar to many of you, which is the same format we use for our seasonal gift guides. The next one is a biggie: we’ve dropped the QWERTY selection. By and large, manufacturers and carriers alike have shifted their focus away from keyboard-equipped smartphones, and you’ll rarely find more than one option on any given carrier. That said, if you still insist on the tactile experience, you’ll always find everything you need to know in our reviews. Finally, whenever possible, you’ll now find prices from Amazon Wireless, which allows us to provide you with more compelling budget selections and highlight the substantial savings that you can score by circumventing the carriers. It’s not like they need your charity, anyway.

If you’re curious to see how it all unfolded — and we know you are — join us after the break, where we round up the very best smartphones of the season.

Continue reading Engadget’s smartphone buyer’s guide: fall 2012 edition

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, HTC, Nokia, Google, Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, LG, T-Mobile

Engadget’s smartphone buyer’s guide: fall 2012 edition originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Oct 2012 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s time to open the book! We’re live from Nokia’s headquarters in Espoo, Finland, with Stephen Elop. The smartphone maker’s CEO has set aside 30 minutes to answer your questions about anything and everything Nokia. If you haven’t already submitted your questions, it’s not too late! Head over to Twitter and give us a shout @EngadgetLive — we’ll be pulling our questions directly from there, along with the comments section of yesterday’s post. Unfortunately we won’t be able to get to everyone, but we will be setting aside the second half of the session to respond to your follow-ups, so keep an eye on the Q&A and fire off your queries. Click the image above to get started — this page will go live just before the clock strikes 4AM ET.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

Engadget Live: ‘Ask me anything’ Q&A with Nokia CEO Stephen Elop originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Sep 2012 03:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s time for the greatness of Nokia’s own City Lens technology to be released into the wild, the same powerful beast shown earlier this year at CTIA and more recently on the Lumia 820 and 920 lineup! This software brings the power of Nokia Maps to the virtual universe showing an overlay of places and attractions on your real world view through your device’s camera. City Lens will be available for several Nokia devices for real, in a v1.0 version out of Beta, starting today!

If you use the Nokia Lumia 900, 800, or 710, you’re in luck. These devices will have access to City Lens starting today. All you’ve got to do is follow the following directions to grab it quite quickly! You’ll be using your device’s camera to see a QR-code first and foremost – from there you’ll get the download and you’ll be on your way! Note that you do need an internet connection to grab this download, so make sure data or wifi are on!

1. Press the Search button on your Nokia Lumia and then tap Vision
2. Scan the barcode
3. Tap on the link when it appears on the screen
4. Install the application from the Windows Phone Marketplace

You could also, of course, just go straight to the Windows Phone Marketplace, but that’s not nearly as fun a process! Have a peek at our hands-on with City Lens through the eyes of the Nokia Lumia 920 here, and note that the final version for the 920 and the 820 will vary just a bit from the version you’re seeing for your 900, 800, or 710 today.

With Windows Phone 8 as it appears on the 920 and 820 you’ll find some features that only appear on Windows Phone 8 devices and above. With this version of City Lens, you’ll be able to pin to start any category tile. You’ll also be able to add your own favorite searches, and you’ll be able to use City Lens in both portrait and landscape modes. Check our timeline below for more City Lens action!

[via Nokia]

Nokia City Lens released from Beta for Lumia devices is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If you love Groupon deals and have a phone capable of running Nokia Maps, then boy does Nokia have the update for you. Today, Nokia’s Pino Bonetti announced that Nokia Maps has been updated and now includes support for Groupon Now! deals. This means that you’re never too far from the next great Groupon deal, as Groupon Now! allows you to purchase them and use them immediately. Pretty cool, no?

Bonetti explains the process of buying a Groupon deal on your phone in a post on the Nokia Conversations blog – when you’re looking for something in Nokia Maps, you’ll be alerted to Groupon deals at nearby places. Each deal listed on your map comes with an “exhaustive description,” and deciding to buy one will take you to the Groupon mobile site where you’ll complete your purchase. Unfortunately, those living outside the US are out of luck for the time being, as Groupon Now! deals are currently only available in the US due to their “geographically limited” nature.

Support for Groupon Now! isn’t the only thing Nokia is touting with this update. Nokia has introduced a new feature called “advanced route setting” in this update, which allows users to plan trips within the Nokia Maps app. Select your starting point and destination, tell the app if you’ll be walking, driving, or taking public transportation, and you’re good to go. Nokia also says that users can save the route to their start screen, so it will be ready for future trips.

At this point in time, Nokia Maps is only compatible with the Nokia Lumia 610, 710, 800, and 900, so if you don’t own one of those models, then this update doesn’t apply to you. Users can get the update by either waiting for the notification from the Windows Phone Marketplace or downloading it from the Nokia Collection. It sounds like an excellent update, so if you’re a regular user of Nokia Maps, be sure to grab it.

Nokia Maps updated with support for Groupon Now! deals is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If you’re an owner of a Nokia Lumia 800 or 710, you’ll be happy to know that the long promised Tango update is now rolling out for your handsets. Nokia has taken to its Conversations blog to detail the various changes and features you’ll be seeing, which includes Tethering, flip-to-silence, and some fairly extensive camera modifications. The company is also keen to promote Play To, its DLNA sharing app which was recently released.

WiFi Tethering is as you would expect, enabling you to share your phone’s internet connection with up to five devices, while flip-to-silence will mute any incoming calls or alerts once you reposition the phone. The Camera Extras app includes Group Shot, which takes five photos and determines the best faces from the selection, while Action Shot serves as a burst mode, allowing you to choose the best photo from the handful that are taken. Self-Timer and Panorama mode are self-explanatory.

As mentioned above, Play To will allow you to stream video and music to other DLNA compatible devices, and there’s also a Contact Share feature that will let you send business cards using SMS. Nokia says that the Tango update will start rolling out to the handsets now through the end of July, and once you’ve upgraded you’ll have access to the new apps. If you want to check for the update you’ll need to plug your phone into a computer and fire up Zune, so hop to it.

[via ZDNet]

Nokia Lumia 710 and 800 receiving Tango update is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.