Hasta La Gadget!

Sony’s hosting a press event in Tokyo today where it just made the first announcement: a pair of Android 3.0 tablets — yes, the very two Honeycomb slabs we told you about exclusively back in February. The first is the Qriocity-focused 9.4-inch S1 media tablet with both front- and rear-facing cameras and a curved wrap design that resembles a folded magazine. The S1 features a Tegra 2 SoC and customized “Quick and Smooth” touch panel UI with “Swift” web browser. It can also be used as a remote control for Sony gear thanks to integrated infrared.

The second tablet is the dual-screen S2 clamshell with its pair of 5.5-inch 1,024 x 480 pixel displays, Tegra 2 SoC, and camera. While it sounds bulky, Kunimasa Suzuki just pulled the hinged tablet from his jacket pocket on stage. Sony takes advantage of the two screens with a custom book-style UI layout for its e-reader app, split keyboard and messaging displays for email, and split display and game controllers for PS One gaming. Both the S1 and S2 are PlayStation Certified, support DLNA, and are WiFi and 3G/4G “compatible” according to Sony. See the Sony tablets codenamed “S1” and “S2” in action after the break on their way to a global release in the fall — possibly sooner in the US.

P.S. While the company isn’t ready to talk prices yet, our sources told us back in February that Sony was considering a $599 MSRP on the S1 while the S2 would likely come in at $699. Still no word on the Windows 7 slider but with the other two leaks official, it’s now only a matter of time.

Continue reading Sony S1 and S2 dual-screen Honeycomb tablets get official (video)

Sony S1 and S2 dual-screen Honeycomb tablets get official (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Apr 2011 00:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nintendo has just announced it plans to introduce a successor to its Wii console next year, a “playable model” of which will be shown off at the E3 gaming expo in Los Angeles coming up on June 7th. No details are available as to how the next Wii will improve on the first one, though we imagine Nintendo will be happy if it simply matches the success of its current-gen home entertainer — the brief note publicizing the new roadmap also comes with a total of Wii sales accumulated between its launch in ’06 and the end of last month: 86.01 million. That’s said to be on a “consolidated shipment basis,” so maybe Nintendo is mixing its definitions of sales and shipments the way Sony likes to, but it’s a mighty big number either way. Bring on E3, we say!

Update: Bloomberg has provided the first official hint about Nintendo’s next console with a quote from company President Satoru Iwata. Nintendo will “propose a new approach to home video game consoles,” though it won’t be a simple move to 3D, as Iwata notes “it’s difficult to make 3-D images a key feature, because 3-D televisions haven’t obtained wide acceptance yet.” Given that motion gaming is no longer new and 3D is off the table until 3DTVs go mainstream, we’re now left facing only one potentiality — Nintendo is planning on bringing genuine innovation to our living rooms. We suppose it also adds fuel to the rumor of a crazy next-gen controller to go with this next-gen console.

Continue reading Nintendo confirms next Wii coming in 2012, will preview it at E3

Nintendo confirms next Wii coming in 2012, will preview it at E3 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Apr 2011 03:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, would you have a gander at that? That, friends, is Apple’s long-awaited, hardly-forgotten white iPhone 4, and so far as we can tell, this is actually the real deal. We’ve seen retailers making space for the elusive handset over the past few months, and earlier today, we heard that Vodafone UK’s inventory systems were showing the white iPhone 4 as shipping in. Now, we’ve secured a few images of a 16GB model from a separate source that has seemingly made its way into the hands of one lucky customer (read: bloke) over in Britain.

As the story goes, the salesperson rang it up as a black iPhone to help facilitate the transaction, and shortly after the sale went down, Voda sent out a notice to halt sale of these gems “until next week.” Just so you know, the MC604B/A model number shown here is particularly interesting when compared to our own in-house UK iPhone 4; the latter, which is also a 16GB edition, sports a model number of MC603B/A. We suspect we aren’t going too far out on a limb by suggesting that the “3” and “4” are there to represent hue variations, and if you’d like to stretch the theory one step further, MC605B/A represents the 32GB black iPhone 4. In other words, don’t be shocked when the white 32 gigger rolls in as MC606B/A. So, is this the first legitimate sign that a white iPhone 4 is but days away from going on sale? We’re hardly experts in meteorology, but it sure felt like spring in Londontown today.

P.S. – 9 to 5 Mac suggests that it’ll be landing on April 27th, at least in the Netherlands.

[Thanks, Anonymii]

Exclusive: White iPhone 4 lands at Vodafone UK originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Apr 2011 15:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone: in the latest chapter of the Apple-Samsung dispute over their smartphones’ resemblance, the latter company has just retaliated by filing lawsuits against Apple in three countries. Sammy’s load of ammo includes five patent infringements in South Korea, two in Japan, and three in Germany, though we’ve yet to hear more details about these claims. Now we just sit back and enjoy the show — popcorn, anyone?

[Thanks, Jake L.]

Update: Reuters has shed some light on the actual patents Samsung is alleging are being infringed. The news organization reports they relate to “power reduction during data transmission, 3G technology for reducing errors during data transmission, and wireless data communication technology.”

Samsung strikes back at Apple with ten patent infringement claims originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Apr 2011 23:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia has just published its first quarterly results in the era of its Microsoft partnership and things aren’t looking too bright. Smartphone market share, which had been at 41 percent this time last year and 31 percent in January, has now dipped to 26 percent, while operating profits have taken a 17 percent tumble relative to last year. The company managed to ship one percent more phones in Q1 2011 than in Q1 2010, but its 108.5 million units was an 18 percent drop from last quarter’s totals. CEO Stephen Elop describes the first quarter as solid, but warns that the second will be “more challenging.” The impact of Japan’s disaster earlier in the year will be felt more strongly in Q2, we’re warned, with respect to component supply and logistics, while new products won’t figure too strongly as Nokia intends to “start shipping the majority of our new products in the second half of the year.” Elop is, however, encouraged by the “roadmap of mobile phones and Symbian smartphones” that Nokia has in store for 2011, which sounds good on the surface, but we’d be more comforted if he’d have inserted the words “Windows Phone” or “MeeGo” in that sentence too. Hit the links below to see the full financial details.

Nokia’s Q1 2011: smartphone share down to 26 percent, ‘more challenging’ times ahead originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Apr 2011 06:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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