Hasta La Gadget!

We recently had the chance to spend time with David Greaves and Vesa-Matti Hartikainen of Jolla and take Sailfish OS for a spin. As you might recall, this open source mobile OS builds upon Mer (a fork of MeeGo that includes Qt) and uses the Nemo framework with a custom UI. Like any decent Linux-based OS, it supports both ARM and x86 devices. The company is also behind the Sailfish SDK which is in the process of being finalized but is still open to developer feedback (the source code is available). After seeing Jolla’s various demo videos and noting some UI similarities with MeeGo (swipes) and, strangely, with BB10 (peek gestures), we were eager to experience Sailfish OS for ourselves.

If you’re wondering why the mobile OS is usually shown running on Nokia’s N950 developer handset, that’s because Jolla employs many ex-MeeGo engineers, so the OMAP-based phone was a natural fit. We were first given a walkthrough of Sailfish OS, then allowed to play with it. Many apps are still being worked on and some are still off-limits (we got in trouble for launching the camera), but what we saw was pretty solid. Take a look at the gallery below, then hit the break for our hands-on video and first impressions.

Continue reading Hands-on with Jolla’s Sailfish OS (video)

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile, Nokia

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It isn’t exactly a secret that Texas Instruments has been struggling in the mobile space a bit lately, so it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that today the company announced it will soon be broadening its focus when it comes to its OMAP processors. We’ve heard about such a change before, but today Texas Instruments is giving us a better idea of what pros and cons this broader focus will have. While the company will be able to save a healthy amount of money by focusing less on the smartphone space, this unfortunately means that TI will be letting around 1,700 employees go.

In a statement today, the company reiterated plans to “focus its OMAP processors and wireless connectivity solutions on a broader set of embedded applications with long life cycles, instead of its historical focus on the mobile market where large customers are increasingly developing their own custom chips.” This is all in an attempt to save money moving forward, and Texas Instruments expects this move to result in annualized savings for $450 million by the end of 2013.

Texas Instruments elected to go this route because making these changes will be less expensive than other options, but the company will still be paying a hefty sum to implement this shift in focus. TI expects the changes to cost a total of $325 million, most of which will be covered in the current quarter’s financials. Even though Texas Instruments will have to plop down a lot of cash to make the shift it needs to, it sounds like the company will still come out on top.

It’s just a shame to hear that nearly 2,000 employees will have to lose their jobs in order for Texas Instruments to save some money. Hopefully the company’s plan works out, because if it doesn’t, even more people may be out of a job in the future. Stay tuned.

Texas Instruments announces plans to lay off 1,700 workers is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

We’re very familiar with Kopin’s Golden-i, but it was surprising that an early collaboration with Motorola Solutions didn’t immediately lead to Motorola selling the head-mounted computer on its own. That odd discrepancy is being patched up now that Motorola Solutions’ HC1 is here. The design keeps its signature micro-display, head tracking and voice commands, but sees a slight repurposing from Kopin’s focus on security: Motorola Solutions’ attention is on giving construction workers, field technicians and soldiers an always-up computer that keeps their hands free when it would be too dangerous (or just unwieldy) to grab a handheld. We haven’t been told if the HC1 has been upgraded to that promised TI OMAP 4 chip, although we do know that there’s an optional camera to bring on the Aliens-style video feeds as well as pairing support that offers cellular data, GPS and voice calls when linked to the right phone or hotspot. Whether or not the HC1 keeps the Golden-i’s $2,500 price is an unknown as well — that said, the corporate emphasis is more likely to see bulk sales of the wearable PC than any kind of scrimping and saving.

Update: You’ll find an official clip for the HC1 after the break. The clip also confirms that there’s no OMAP 4 in this version.

Continue reading Motorola Solutions outs HC1 head-mounted computer, keeps workers’ hands free in sticky situations (update: video)

Filed under: Wearables

Motorola Solutions outs HC1 head-mounted computer, keeps workers’ hands free in sticky situations (update: video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Oct 2012 08:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve had the unexpected early opportunity to try what should be a production-grade Huawei Ascend P1 LTE — early enough that the phone has yet to formally ship to its initial carrier. While we’ve seen hints of the 4G model towards the start of the year, what’s landing in our hands is at least different than devices like the original Ascend P1, P1 S and P1 XL; months of extra engineering time, the LTE chipset and that bigger 2,000mAh battery have clearly had an effect. But by how much? Read on past the break for a quick tour of the refreshed design.

Continue reading Huawei Ascend P1 LTE hands-on

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

Huawei Ascend P1 LTE hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 06 Oct 2012 11:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Texas Instruments (TI) has said that they will no longer be developing new OMAP processors for smartphones and tablets, as TI cited that their range of OMAP boards have started to become less and less popular among mobile manufacturers, considering how the majority of them have started to place good money on Qualcomm. Not only that, big players in the industry such as Samsung and Apple are working on their very own in-house solutions, meaning OMAP is going to go the way of the dodo pretty soon. After all, one of the glaring disadvantages of the OMAP chipset would be a lack of an on-board 3G/4G modem.

This means manufacturers who have devices that are powered by OMAP chipsets will need to make sure that their hardware come with extra radio chips, resulting in an increased battery consumption as well as escalating production costs. Having said that, this could be one of the major reasons as to why Qualcomm’s suite of complete solutions have become more and more popular over time. Adios OMAP, you will not be missed.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Liquavista pursues full color e-ink displays, Texas Instruments OMAP4 Chipset Can Drive 3 Independent Displays,