Hasta La Gadget!

We’d heard that the Lumia 800 and 710 were to get Windows Phone 7.5 sometime soon, but the time has officially arrived for these two to Tango. Today Nokia announced that the fresh code has already started rolling out, bringing hotspot and flip-to-silence functionality to the handsets. Plus, once you’ve updated via your Zune desktop software, access to the nifty Camera Extras software — already promised to Lumia 900 owners — is but a download away. As a refresher, those Extras allow Lumias to take Scalado-powered Smart Group Shots, provide a better burst mode for action pics, plus add a self-timer and panorama mode as well. Want to see the new camera features in action before taking the plunge? Check out the video after the break.

Update: As our astute commenters have pointed out, the Lumias both have Mango onboard, so this bit of software is but an update to Windows Phone 7.5 that brings additional features.

Continue reading Nokia Lumia 800 and 710 get Windows Phone 7.5 update, finally get to Tango (updated)

Nokia Lumia 800 and 710 get Windows Phone 7.5 update, finally get to Tango (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jun 2012 18:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Make no mistake, Project Glass dominated the Google IO 2012 keynote, with a blockbuster entrance worthy of a James Bond film, and the shock news that the wearable is actually up for preorder. Google’s Sergey Brin interrupted the presentation with news that Glass-wearing skydivers were floating in a blimp above the Moscone Center, and would be jumping down while live-streaming through a Google+ Hangout. Check out the must-see video after the cut!

The skydivers were met by stunt bike riders, who passed a Project Glass unit to abseilers, who handed it to more bikers that delivered it to Brin on-stage. He then called up some friends from the Glass development team to flesh out Google’s vision for the headset, in what was increasingly sounding like a sales pitch.

That suspicion proved well-founded in fact, when Brin revealed that Google would be taking preorders for the Project Glass Explorer Edition at IO this week. Available for $1,500 and expected to ship in early 2013, the headset doesn’t come cheap but already developers are flocking to sign up.

Of course, no Google keynote would be complete without a little anti-Apple snark, and it was left to Project Glass to highlight quite how much better looking at data in a natural way out of the corner of your eye is, compared to stabbing frantically at a tiny phone screen.

Google IO 2012: Project Glass wrap-up is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Here’s a bit of a surprise that slipped under the radar during the Google I/O keynote: Google Earth for Android has been updated to 7.0 to take advantage of the new 3D map technology it unveiled at another special event just a few weeks ago. As a refresher, the visuals are automatically created from 45-degree aerial imagery and can pick up 3D elements as subtle as trees. Before you go racing to your hometown to see how it looks in 3D, be aware that just a handful of cities and regions exploit that dimension. Besides San Francisco Bay, the full coverage extends to Boulder, Boston, Charlotte, Lawrence, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Portland, San Antonio, San Diego, Santa Cruz and Tampa in the US, with Rome being the lone international hotspot. If that’s too few places to visit, there’s always the addition of guided tours. Android users can head over Google Play to get the update today; iOS users shouldn’t fret, as they’ll get the new maps soon.

Update: Google now has video, if you’d rather not (or can’t) install the app to try it yourself.

Continue reading Google Earth 7.0 for Android brings new, super-detailed 3D maps for some cities (update: video)

Google Earth 7.0 for Android brings new, super-detailed 3D maps for some cities (update: video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jun 2012 15:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s hard to ignore Google’s X Lab-born Project Glass. News of the slim-lined, sci-fi goggles’ existence first surfaced this past February and it wasn’t long after that Mountain View’s own elite began to flaunt the heads-up display in public. While little of the device’s true purpose and functionality is known, we have been privy to certain features over the past few months, like photo sharing to Google+ and even its ability to overlay Maps. Though product lead Steve Lee shrugged off rumors of a late 2012 launch, it does appear the company’s itching to spill a few more (jelly) beans at today’s I/O conference.

To do that, Sergey Brin rushed onstage at Google I/O wearing the glass units to give us a brief live action demo courtesy of a skydive over San Francisco. Video of the jump, performed by four divers in a blimp, was streamed live through Google Hangouts to attendees at the Moscone Center. In keeping with the extreme vibe of this demonstration, the showcase was handed off to bikers on the rooftop, also outfitted with the lenses, who jumped from building to building via ramp and then eventually cycled into the arena and right up to Sergey, himself. As a finishing touch, Brin also snapped a shot of the team using his own headset. All told, it’s a pretty incredible way to once again officially tease this forward-looking tech.

Check out our full coverage of Google I/O 2012’s opening keynote at our event hub!

Update: Google’s posted the entire segment by itself, it’s embedded after the break if you want to relive every step (stage to blimp and back to stage, with a few handoffs in betwee) as it happened.

Continue reading Sergey Brin demos Project Glass onstage at Google I/O (video)

Sergey Brin demos Project Glass onstage at Google I/O (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jun 2012 14:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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…And the Nexus Q is official. Google’s first consumer electronics product is a small, sphere-shaped device that will work with the Nexus 7 tablet and other Android devices to stream media from the cloud. It’s designed to hold court in your living room, pulling content from YouTube and the Google Play music app, among other services, to let you stream music and video. Anyone with an Android device will be able to take control of the Q to play content from their library; basically, everyone can be the DJ. What’s more, the device can double as an amplifier, letting users plug in external speakers to receiver power from the Q’s 25-watt amp.

Under the hood, there’s an OMAP 4460 processor — the same as in the Galaxy Nexus — along with 16GB of storage and 1GB of RAM. There’s also dual-band WiFi and Ethernet, along with Bluetooth and NFC for tapping a device to the Q to exchange software and media. The media streamer will go on sale for $299 in mid-July. As we mentioned before, Google will also sell a set of $399 Triad bookshelf speakers to go with the Q. More coverage to follow — in the meantime, check out Google’s videos about the new product.

Check out our full coverage of Google I/O 2012’s opening keynote at our event hub!

Update: Excuse the dyslexic typo. The Nexus Q is powered by an OMAP 4460 CPU.

Continue reading Google Nexus Q lets Android owners stream media from the cloud, shipping for $299 in mid-July

Google Nexus Q lets Android owners stream media from the cloud, shipping for $299 in mid-July originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jun 2012 13:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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