Hasta La Gadget!

Google dominates this week’s Gadget Lab podcast with a new computer operating system, a smartphone, an Android upgrade and big sales number for the Android-powered Galaxy Tab.

The search giant on Tuesday shared details on Chrome OS, its browser-based OS that runs web apps. Gadget Lab just got its hands on a test unit of the Cr-48, a pilot notebook running Chrome OS, and we’ll post impressions soon.

Monday launched the Nexus S smartphone, made in collaboration with Samsung. It’s basically the sequel to the failed Nexus One. It comes with a 4-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen, a 1-GHz Hummingbird processor, 16 GB of storage and a battery rated for 6.7 hours of talk time.

Alongside introducing the Nexus S, Google announced its latest upgrade for the Android OS codenamed “Gingerbread.” It’s an incremental upgrade that improves copy-and-paste and cleans up the UI, among other changes we summarized in an earlier post.

In more Android-related news, Samsung recently reported it sold 1 million Galaxy Tab tablets. That’s quite impressive, and it shows that Google and other manufacturers aren’t too far behind Apple in the new tablet market after all.

We wrap up the show with a quick look at the Boxee, a $200 set-top box that plays web-streamed video. Dylan wasn’t a fan of it.

Like the show? You can also get the Gadget Lab video podcast on iTunes, or if you don’t want to be distracted by our unholy on-camera talent, check out the Gadget Lab audio podcast. Prefer RSS? You can subscribe to the Gadget Lab video or audio podcast feeds

Or listen to the audio here:

Gadget Lab audio podcast No. 96

http://downloads.wired.com/podcasts/assets/gadgetlabaudio/GadgetLabAudio0096.mp3

Well, we’ve got to hand it to LG for quickly doing the right thing here by keeping people informed and ultimately making the best decision for its customers. Just two days after a Facebook spat that suggested the Optimus series of midrange Android handsets wouldn’t be getting Android 2.3 Gingerbread thanks to a seemingly made-up 1GHz processor requirement, they’ve reversed the decision, saying that “all” of the models that fall under the Optimus One guise (presumably including the Vortex, Optimus T, Optimus S, Optimus M, and Optimus U) would be getting upgraded. Here’s the full statement:

“LG will upgrade all Optimus One smartphones currently using the Froyo OS to the next version of the Android OS, Gingerbread. Details of the upgrade schedule will be announced locally in due course. We sincerely apologize for the confusion and misunderstanding that was caused regarding this issue.”

Respect, LG. Respect.

LG commits to upgrading Optimus Ones to Gingerbread, angry hordes abate originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Dec 2010 16:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Notion Ink Adam pre-order to begin today, pricing starts at $375 (updated!) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Dec 2010 13:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If the Nexus S is basically a Galaxy S in Gingerbread disguise, you’d think Samsung would be bursting at the seams to offer a software upgrade for all the phones it’s already sold from that family. Okay, you really wouldn’t, but you’d hope that would be the case, right? Well, Pocket-lint prodded Samsung on just that point and managed to finagle the following response from a local UK contact presumably speaking on behalf of the mothership:

“In case a new version of Android operating system is publicly announced and released, Samsung will review the possibility of implementation of such new version to the existing Samsung products with Android operating system (“Update”).

Such a review will be based on various factors including, without limitation, the overall effect of such Update to Samsung products, the system requirements, the structural limitations, and the level of cooperation from the component suppliers and the software licensors”.

Continue reading Samsung undecided about Gingerbread on Galaxy S, Google says hardware needs ‘similar’ to Froyo

Samsung undecided about Gingerbread on Galaxy S, Google says hardware needs ‘similar’ to Froyo originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Dec 2010 04:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You might remember yesterday’s brouhaha over LG’s seemingly false claim that Android 2.3 Gingerbread requires a 1GHz processor or better, using it as a justification for keeping an official upgrade out of the hopes and dreams of Optimus One owners around the globe — but the good news is that it appears to have been a misunderstanding. Here’s the official statement from LG:

“LG released information prematurely regarding the minimum processor upgrade requirements for the LG Optimus. Google recently announced the Gingerbread platform and has not yet published the Gingerbread Compatibility Definition Document (CDD) or the public branch open source code. Once the CDD and the source code is public, LG will evaluate the upgradability of the Optimus Series. We apologize for any confusion or misunderstanding. We will alert you as soon as more information on this topic is available.”

So they’re taking responsibility for jumping the gun and have committed to “evaluating the upgradability” of the Optimus line once Google’s published Gingerbread’s official requirements and turned loose the source code. Of course, it’s possible they’ll ultimately find another reason for keeping the phones stuck on Froyo — but for now, we’ve got a sliver of hope.

LG pulls back, ‘will evaluate’ upgrading Optimus series to Gingerbread when specs and source code are public originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Dec 2010 20:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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