Hasta La Gadget!

The foremost question in the hive mind of Android power users these days is typically whether to go with HTC’s 1.2GHz, dual-core, 4.3-inch Sensation or the similarly specced Galaxy S II from Samsung. Of course, neither of those is actually out in the US yet, so if patience is not your favorite virtue, T-Mobile just made that decision for you. The carrier has announced it’ll start selling the HTC Sensation from June 12th at Walmart stores, after which it’ll be “exclusively” available on June 15th from T-Mobile retail stores. Pricing is your typical $200 on a two-year contract after a $50 mail-in rebate. Samsung’s superphone shouldn’t be too far behind, but it does look like T-Mo subscribers will get a good few weeks to familiarize themselves with Sense 3.0 before having to hear any gloating about Super AMOLED Plus displays and 8.49mm slimness. PR after the break.

Continue reading HTC Sensation available on T-Mobile June 15th for $200, hits Walmart ‘as early as June 12th’

HTC Sensation available on T-Mobile June 15th for $200, hits Walmart ‘as early as June 12th’ originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 May 2011 22:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We got a hint of Sling’s desire to let users catch their video streams directly on TV without a box during CES 2010, and now there’s video of the company showing off its SlingPlayer for Connected Devices app on Google TV. We caught a a preview at CES earlier this year, but interested Slingbox owners (SOLO and PRO-HD boxes only, just like the mobile apps) can sign up for the upcoming beta at the link below. We’re wondering if this app could be based on Flash, which could allow for easy porting to other embedded TV platforms with Adobe Flash & Air support like Samsung’s Smart Hub. Also not lost in the moment is the ability for the Google TV to show some potential, since it desperately needs for the list of things it actually can do well to garner more attention than the list of things it’s blocked from doing.

SlingPlayer for Google TV teased on video, beta program opens up soon originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 May 2011 18:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So, Samsung missed that mid-May target date for the Galaxy S Gingerbread update… after already aborting an earlier push to Google’s latest and greatest in mid-April. But, time for some cautious optimism — it appears that Android 2.3 is finally here for Sammy’s carrier-agnostic former flagship. A reader from the UK wrote in to let us know that he fired up Kies today and voilà — firmware version 2.3.3. He was even kind enough to send us the photo above. We’re not sure when to expect this as an OTA update here in the States, but we’d venture to guess it’ll be soon.

[Thanks, Lee]

Update: Sammy actually started the Galaxy S Gingerbread update on time earlier this month, but it seems our tipster simply wasn’t among the first to get in on the Android updating action.

Galaxy S Gingerbread update lands in the UK, better late than never (updated: it wasn’t late) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 May 2011 17:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve already fiddled with ViewSonic’s two new tablets at Computex’s pre-show event, but we decided to hit the booth earlier today to get a closer look at the ViewPad 10Pro’s BlueStacks Android virtualization on Windows 7, as well as the ViewPad 7x’s funky UI. Starting off with the bigger slate, you’ll see in the above video that the Android implementation isn’t as good as it sounds — ViewSonic says it wants to offer an Android experience “similar” to that of actual Android devices, but alas, we beg to differ with the virtual Android’s laggy performance plus its odd bugs. The reps assured us that the final product will be much smoother, but then we were further let down by the fact that Android Market is absent. The reason? It’s simply because from ViewSonic’s point of view the 10Pro’s focus is on Windows 7, so the company decided that it wasn’t worth all the hassle to obtain a Google Mobile Services license. To sum it up, this whole Android “feature” is very much just a gimmick, and it doesn’t look like running native Android on Oak Trail soon will do much good, either.

On a brighter note, the dual-core ViewPad 7x fared way better than its bloated brother. This world’s first 7-inch Honeycomb tablet ran surprisingly smooth, and we were glad to see SPB’s contribution here with its Shell 3D Android launcher (which we reviewed with much praise a little while back). We managed to get ViewSonic director Max Liu to give us a brief demo of the 7x after the break, and to be frank, the more we look at it, the more we want it. Here’s hoping that this tablet will be priced right.

Oh, and did we mention that ViewSonic had a few real Gouldian finches on the show floor? Check out them birds after the break.

Continue reading ViewSonic ViewPad 10Pro and ViewPad 7x hands-on redux (video)

ViewSonic ViewPad 10Pro and ViewPad 7x hands-on redux (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 May 2011 14:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sure, all your friends are rocking Android 2.3. But hey, quit complaining AT&T Xperia X10 owners, everyone knows that Eclair is way better than vanilla Froyo.

Android 2.1 update now available for AT&T Xperia X10 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 May 2011 06:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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