Hasta La Gadget!

In this week’s Gadget Lab podcast, Dylan Tweney and Mike Isaac discuss the upcoming BlackBerry PlayBook. We got one, and we tested it. Bottom line? It looks great, but it’s missing a few big things — like an e-mail client. Its support for Adobe Flash is causing us concern too, because Flash doesn’t run stably yet.

After that, Mike Calore comes on to talk about the Eye-Fi Mobile X2, a kind of amped-up SD card for your camera that also doubles as a Wi-Fi adapter. The newest version can transmit photos directly to your smartphone: no computer or Wi-Fi network required. Instagram fans, rejoice!

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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 stylish eyewear, 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 #112

http://downloads.wired.com/podcasts/assets/gadgetlabaudio/GadgetLabAudio0112.mp3

Like Joanna shamelessly admitted in her editorial a few months back, I was a BlackBerry addict. I’m also a 20-year old college student / tech-head whose phone serves every purpose from communications device to music player to TV remote. I tried to switch cold turkey and bought an iPhone 4 in August, but somewhere around Thanksgiving I gave in and picked up a Verizon Bold. I’ve been double fisting ever since — using the BB almost exclusively for BBM, and my iPhone for everything else.

Fast forward to late last week when I attended a meeting in New York with Tim Stevens and RIM CEO Mike Lazaridis to get the latest dish on the PlayBook. As Lazaridis demoed myriad features from HDMI presentation mode to the built-in music player on the company’s hotly debated tablet, it hit me: the one question I’ve been pondering since getting a real look at the device. Who is it for? At that moment, I realized the problem that’s been plaguing RIM as of late — and not just in its tablet strategy, but its phone strategy as a whole: it doesn’t know who its products are for and subsequently can’t deliver. Am I crazy? Read on after the break and hear me out.

Continue reading Editorial: Dear RIM, I’m your customer and I don’t wear a suit

Editorial: Dear RIM, I’m your customer and I don’t wear a suit originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Apr 2011 15:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The words “play” and “book” are a bit of an odd choice for RIM’s latest attempt at consumer relevance, a tablet that, at its core, runs one of the most hardcore and industry-friendly operating systems known to man. The OS is QNX and the hardware is, of course, the BlackBerry PlayBook. It’s an enterprise-friendly offering that’s also out to conquer the consumer tablet ecosphere, hoping to follow in the footsteps of the BlackBerry handsets that have filled the pockets of corporate executives and BBM addicts around the globe.

It’s something of a serious tablet when compared to the competition running software from Apple and Google and, while it certainly has games, its biggest strengths are rather more boring. It does a really great job at displaying PowerPoint presentations, for example, and has the security chops to keep last quarter’s dismal sales figures from falling into the wrong hands. Exciting stuff? No, but useful features for sure, and regardless of whether you find those intriguing or boring this is RIM’s seven-inch, Flash-having but 3G-lacking tablet clad in an unassuming but extremely sophisticated exterior. It’s what’s running behind the glass that disappoints.

Continue reading BlackBerry PlayBook review

BlackBerry PlayBook review originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Apr 2011 21:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Storm 3? Torch 9860? Touch 9860? Monza? Monaco? The latest all-touchscreen BlackBerry has more names than RIM has leaks, as evidenced by this hands-on video out of Thailand. We’re not sure what the handler’s impressions are of the, as yet, unannounced device (but if you speak Thai, please, feel free to enlighten us in the comments). It seems that 1.2GHz Snapdragon delivers some snappy performance, at least. It’s tough to tell, thanks to predictably out of focus camera work, but it also appears that the Torch 9860 (we’re sticking with that for now) is using Comic Sans. We hope that’s not by default. Vid’s after the break, per usual.

Update: A reader pointed us to another video (after the break) of the Torch 9860 in action. Nothing new to reveal, but the quality is much better — and not a trace of Comic Sans in sight!

[Thanks, Khalifa]

Continue reading RIM’s BlackBerry Torch 9860 makes blurry video debut

RIM’s BlackBerry Torch 9860 makes blurry video debut originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Apr 2011 13:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Have the leaked specs and tutorial video got you yearning for more BlackBerry Bold Touch coverage? Well, today’s your lucky day, RIM-o-philes, because we’ve got new some moving pictures with real, live human fingers doing the touchscreen two-step on the diminutive display of a next-gen Bold 9930 (codename Montana). Though a small sample, the footage does confirm earlier reports that the screen is quite responsive, so it shouldn’t have trouble making capacitive converts out of those in the optical trackpad troop. We know, BlackBerry World and the new Bold’s debut can’t come soon enough, so do some self-soothing, view the new vid, and breathe — you’ll have your hands on one before you know it.

Continue reading BlackBerry Bold Touch 9930 gets the hands-on treatment, complete with elevator music (video)

BlackBerry Bold Touch 9930 gets the hands-on treatment, complete with elevator music (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Apr 2011 15:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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