Hasta La Gadget!

Last time we spied the XO-3 tablet concept from OLPC, we were told to expect the thing to ship in the far-distant year 2012. Much has changed since then in the tablet arena, however, and Nicholas Negroponte, the project’s founder, is saying they’ll have a working prototype ready by December of this year, to be shown off at CES in January of 2011. Many details are still up in the air, but the initial device will be designed for use by children in the oft-neglected developed world, “testing many of the things that combine a laptop, an iPad and a Kindle.” Word is they’ll be starting with that Marvell Moby reference design, with a 9-inch-ish dual mode LCD for outdoor readability (thanks to Pixel Qi, presumably). The prototype will have a glass screen, but the goal is “100 percent plastic, unbreakable and almost extruded out of a machine,” said Negroponte, something that won’t happen until 2012 most likely. The best, and possibly wildest, claim of all is the $75 price tag that they hope to slap on this thing when all is said and done. We suppose the veracity of that claim will come down to how long this actually takes to make it from prototype to production. There’s video of NickNeg discussing it after the break.

Continue reading OLPC should have an XO-3 prototype ready by the end of the year

OLPC should have an XO-3 prototype ready by the end of the year originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 May 2010 10:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When Samsung launched its Behold II with Android 1.5 on board, it made something of a big deal about the fact the handset will be upgradeable to version 2.0 when that software became available. Such a big deal that it even put the promise of an OTA update into a promo video — a video that subsequently got yanked as the company realized it wasn’t going to be able to stick to its word. Well, that evidence has now been tracked down (see it after the break), and all those buyers who were left with a Cupcake in lieu of a promised Eclair have hardly forgotten about it either. Samsung’s position varies between the boilerplate “we don’t have a future release date,” to a stone cold “the SGH-T939 will never qualify for the Android 2X update,” depending on which rep you speak to. The disappointed users have therefore resorted to putting a petition together, which asks that either a refund, replacement Android 2.x handset, or a real update be provided to them, and concludes that “legal action will be taken” if Samsung fails them. That’s not exactly unreasonable , given the unfulfilled expectation — Samsung, what say you?

[Thanks, Yitzhak]

Continue reading Samsung Behold II fails to fulfill Android 2.0 promise, jilted users contemplating lawsuit (video)

Samsung Behold II fails to fulfill Android 2.0 promise, jilted users contemplating lawsuit (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 May 2010 08:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In case you missed it, you really should go back and check out Google’s Vic Gundotra roasting of Apple during the Google I/O day 2 keynote last week. Hearing a VP from a major company in the consumer electronics industry so ruthlessly lampoon Apple was refreshing to say the least. TechCrunch sat down with the man post I/O and asked Vic about Google’s relationship with Apple, particularly after the flurry of jabs Google made in the direction of Cupertino. Vic responded as follows:

“It wasn’t necessarily jabs at Apple, we have a deep respect for the innovation they brought. And places where Android has gone further we’re very excited to show those off, we’re very proud of Android. And I think in the end consumers really benefit from healthy intense competition that leads all companies to elevate their game. And it was done in a spirit of good fun.”

When pressed on the jabs and particularly calling Apple “closed” and Google “open,” Vic responded:

“We do like to draw sharp distinctions between our various approaches. But let’s be clear we’re two competitors competing for the hearts and minds of developers and we’re trying to have some fun while doing that.”

We’ll see how much fun Google thinks this is when Steve Jobs unleashes his RDF onto the world on June 7th. Until then, watch the TC interview after the break — the good stuff kicks in at about 5:35. Oh, and we’ve also tossed in Vic’s notorious “draconian future” dig for reference.

Continue reading Google: jabs at Apple ‘in a spirit of good fun’ in fight for developers (video)

Google: jabs at Apple ‘in a spirit of good fun’ in fight for developers (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 May 2010 05:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Last time we heard about ExB’s PTPT (pronounced “petite petite”), the software startup was just beginning to show off the basics of its touchscreen interface; since then, the small German company has been polishing up the UI and prepping it for Android phones and tablets. According to the CEO Ramin Assadollah, the company is in talks with a “major hardware manufacturer” that’s planning on skinning its Android products with the incredibly unique software. We got to see PTPT running on an Android 1.6-powered Acer Liquid while at the Netbook Summit, and though it took us a few minutes to understand how the interface worked, it’s definitely interesting and responsive. The input starts with three circular icons representing people, places, and things and then a bar that represents time.

You can simply select an individual person — you can import contacts from a variety of sources, including, Twitter, Facebook, and so on — from the halo that appears, and then drag them up to a specific time to get various updates or e-mails from that person. The custom predictive text keyboard in the e-mail interface was very snappy — it’s also just nice to see a change from the stock Android input. Then, you can drag that person to things to see pictures of them. And just like in the original demo, you can then move the pictures icon to a point on the timeline to see pictures from that time. Though the phone and tablet demos we saw didn’t have widgets on the homescreen, we were assured that they can be added. We promise this is all better explained in the demo video below, so mosey on down after the jump. We’ll be here, wondering what Android devices this software may pop-up on.

Continue reading PTPT shows off wild Android UI skin, we go hands-on

PTPT shows off wild Android UI skin, we go hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 May 2010 18:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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After Google shut down web sales of the Nexus One earlier this month, the company is moving swiftly to seed retail stores with the HTC-designed smartphone.

I wireless, a T-mobile affiliate will sell the Nexus One at its 250 stores mostly in the Midwest. But in stores, the Nexus One will be pretty pricey. The device is expected to be available for $300, after a $50 mail-in rebate, and with a T-Mobile contract. That is higher than the $180 Google had priced the Nexus One at in its web store.

It’s the price that Google and customers must pay for the privilege of getting their hands on Nexus One before committing to buy the device.

Google introduced the HTC-designed Nexus One in January as a phone that would initially be available on T-Mobile’s network. But instead of being sold through T-Mobile stores, the search giant said it would sell Nexus Ones through its web site and handle customer support itself.

Though innovative and clever, the strategy didn’t resonate with consumers. Nexus One’s online store failed to catch on. Potential customers found they just couldn’t find a Nexus One in the real-world to play with, unless they knew a friend who already had the device.

“While the global adoption of the Android platform has exceeded our expectations, the web store has not,” wrote Andy Rubin, vice-president of engineering and Android czar at Google in a blog post. “It’s remained a niche channel for early adopters.”

The idea also gave rise to customer service complaints early on in the device’s life. Customers complained about the poor tech support from Google–the company didn’t offer a telephone help line for weeks, instead asking people to send in e-mails.

Now Google seems to be taking the first steps towards getting Nexus Ones to stores. The high price tag on the device at retail, though, dampens our enthusiasm. But if Google can strike deals with Best Buy or other big electronics retail chains, it could offer the Nexus One in store for the same price as it was on the web.

See Also:

• Google Debuts Android-Powered Nexus One ‘Superphone’
• Wired Review: Google Nexus One
• Google Nexus One Sales Still Sluggish, Says Analytics Firm
• Google Fails With Web Store Experiment for Nexus One

Photo: (Johncatral/Flickr)