Penny-pinching wireless customers who want cool, new smartphones now have a less expensive option via some prepaid providers. pOriginally posted at a href=”http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-20005349-266.html” class=”origPostedBlog”Signal Strength/a/p
Guess who has another Apple scoop? Tinhte, the upstarts from Vietnam have first pics of the mythical iPod touch with a camera. The “DVT-1” stamp on the back makes it clear that this is an early design verification test unit in the evolution of product testing. In other words, this might not be the final design whenever Apple chooses to announce it, say, on June 7th. A check of the device’s serial number identifies a late 2009 third generation iPod touch — could be that this device was one of those eBay prototypes that never made it to production for whatever reason.
The Foxconn manufactured device is also running the same base diagnostic utility that we’ve seen before (who could forget that “serial number” icon). The Foxconn label appears to indicate a 64GB model (“64G” using a pair of Samsung 32GB Flash modules presumably) in addition to a 2 megapixel, backside illuminated sensor manufactured by Omnivision (part OV2665-6s). Video after the break.
Continue reading iPod touch with 2 megapixel camera leaked in Vietnam (video)
iPod touch with 2 megapixel camera leaked in Vietnam (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 May 2010 06:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Want to draw attention to an otherwise ordinary piece of consumer electronics? Do something emotive like, say, smash a giant Apple ice sculpture in front of the world’s Chinese press. Besides putting the boys in Cupertino on notice, Hanvon‘s officially launching the company’s TouchPad B10 — a 10.1-inch multitouch capacitive slate that we went hands-on with back in March. A €500ish device that runs Windows 7 on a retired 1.3GHz Celeron M ULV743 processor and Intel GMA 4500 graphics capable of delivering about 3.5 hours of battery life. Other specs include 2GB of memory, a regular ol’ 2.5-inch 250GB or 320GB hard disk, HDMI-out, and WiFi. Watch the theatrics after the break while we wait for Hanvon’s 1 million units sold announcement.
Continue reading Hanvon CEO smashes Apple effigy at TouchPad launch (video)
Hanvon CEO smashes Apple effigy at TouchPad launch (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 May 2010 06:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Assuming you resisted the temptation to either root your Hero or update it with the recently leaked 2.1 firmware, this is your very first chance to finally slap a dash of Android future on your senescent device. Sprint has at long last made the update available, though it isn’t quite yet ready to download from its site. Fear not, the good folks behind the yellow network have put together a guide on upgrading through your phone and we’ll link up the download as soon as it’s ready for consumption. Time to start enjoying that Google Maps Navigation magic and all the other goodies constituting Eclair‘s delectable filling.
Update: It’s now available direct from HTC’s website, as well as Sprint’s own site. Thanks, all!
[Thanks, Jonathan]
Sprint’s Hero finally gets official Android 2.1 upgrade originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 May 2010 06:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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For $15, you can turn your notebook computer into what looks like a box of Lego. Those keys are in fact stickers which sit atop your MacBook keycaps and turn the keyboard into a sea of dimpled plastic bricks.
The stickers, made from easily-removed vinyl, come from Etsy-seller openandclose. They’re kind of neat, but the toy-nerd in me can’t help spot the non-Lego elements in these “Lego-style” bricks. First, the colors are way off. Whoever heard of pink Lego?
Second, the circular nubbins are too small on the function keys and too big on the letters. Only on the spacebar do you see anything approaching Lego-like proportions. Going by the shadows, though, it looks like openandclose at least made the stickers in real 3D, and didn’t just shade the tops to look as if they are raised.
Available now, for you to buy and use for five minutes before ripping them off in a fit of annoyance.
Lego Style MacBook Keyboard Decor Decal Sticker [Etsy via Oh Gizmo!]
You didn’t think Germany was gonna have all the Palm fun, did you? The UK is keeping pace with its longtime nemesis by matching the May 28 launch date for the Pre and Pixi Plus on O2, and has even supplied us with a handy reference sheet containing all price plans available for the handsets. You’ll find it after the break, but sadly it’ll only be of interest to true WebOS enthusiasts. There’s nothing south of £25 ($36) per month available, and if you want a reasonable call allowance, you’ll have to get on into the £30 and above bracket. All contracts do at least come with unlimited texts and data, but overall the cost seems too steep to entice us, what with all the Desires and Bolds floating around at better price points.
[Thanks, Chris W.]
Continue reading O2 UK will get Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus on May 28, skin you alive with pricing
O2 UK will get Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus on May 28, skin you alive with pricing originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 May 2010 05:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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At last, it seems that AT&T will allow you to share your iPhone’s internet data connection with other devices. The screen captures you see above come from the newly released iPhone OS 4 beta 4, and show the option to enable internet tethering. This would allow you to share your connection to either your computer (over USB) or an iPad or other mobile device (via Bluetooth).
Huge, right? Especially as AT&T promised us the option to tether would be available by the end of last year. But not so fast. We’ve been here before, over a year ago in fact. When iPhone OS 3 was in its beta stages, developers found that they could switch on tethering and use it. When the final version was released to the public, it was gone.
All iPhones have the software for tethering built in. It is then up to the individual carriers if they will support it. AT&T doesn’t, yet, but pretty much anywhere else in the world you can share your data as you like. While the screen-grabs above are almost certainly legitimate, having a feature flash up in a beta release is not the same as having it actually launch to the public. I’m skeptical.
Apple Releases iPhone OS 4 Beta 4 and SDK to Developers [MacRumors]
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The biggest outstanding question about the Wildfire has now been answered by at least one carrier — T-Mobile will be delivering HTC’s student-friendly handset at the £20 ($29) per month price point on two-year contracts. Frankly, that’s a bigger financial commitment than we’d expected to have to make, but it will presumably include unlimited (which in T-Mobile lingo means a 3GB fair use policy) data use and a healthy allowance of calls and texts. If that doesn’t rub you up the right way, look out for Virgin Mobile to reveal its pricing in the near term, having announced it’ll be carrying the phone via a tweet.
Continue reading HTC Wildfire priced by T-Mobile, coming to UK on June 14
HTC Wildfire priced by T-Mobile, coming to UK on June 14 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 May 2010 05:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Get ready to rumble, the latest Gartner and IDC smartphone numbers are out to give us a pretty good idea of how things shape up globally. Remember, IDC measures vendor shipments while Gartner measures actual handset sales to end users. So what does the data tell us? Well, to start with, in terms of smartphone devices, Gartner claims a 48.7% increase in smartphone sales of 54.3 million units in Q1 2010 compared to Q1 2009 — IDC pegs growth at 56.7% on 54.7 million units for the same period. Both estimates easily outpace the 17% or 21.7% growth in worldwide units of mobile phones moved according to Gartner and IDC, respectively.
IDC’s list of top 5 smartphone device makers (pictured after the break) has Nokia at the number one spot repeating its 39.3% share as it did in Q1 of 2009 while RIM is down slightly from 20.9% in 2009 to a 19.4% market share in 2010. Apple (up from 10.9% to 16.1%) more than doubled its device shipments in the last year as HTC (up from 4.3% to 4.8%) and Motorola (up from 3.4% to 4.2%) all managed to increase their shares on higher volumes.
Regarding smartphone OS market share, Android’s global numbers echo its success in the US jumping from a 1.6% market share to 9.6% in just one year. Gartner claims that sales of Android-based phones increased 707% year-on-year to displace Windows Mobile in the top 5 for the first time. Apple’s iPhone OS also saw growth from 10.5% in 1Q09 to 15.4% in 1Q10 as both RIM (down from 20.1% to 19.4%) and Symbian (down from 48.8% to 44.3%) dropped. See the OS numbers broken down into a no-nonsense table after the break.
Continue reading IDC and Gartner award smartphone growth prizes to Apple and Google
IDC and Gartner award smartphone growth prizes to Apple and Google originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 May 2010 04:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Following in the footsteps of Coca-Cola, Facebook is seeking to feed your addiction with a new zero version of its online service. 0.facebook.com leads users to a stripped down, text-only version of the social site, which will incur no data charges from your carrier. Of course, you won’t be able to access any other sites or rich media without paying for it, but at least the core functionality of reading your friends’ witty status updates and writing satirical responses will be there free of charge. This service is being rolled out primarily in the so-called emerging markets, though more mature environments like Belgium, Denmark and Finland are also present on the list (available after the break). SFR in France, 3 in the UK, and Australia’s Telstra are also going to be joining in soon. Guess it’s just a matter of finding a pliable carrier to accede to offering the minimal bandwidth necessary in exchange for being Liked by Facebookers.
Continue reading Facebook launches free mobile access site for emerging markets… and Denmark
Facebook launches free mobile access site for emerging markets… and Denmark originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 May 2010 03:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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