Hasta La Gadget!

It’s not in our nature to get all excited about firmware updates, but B&N sure seems to be bringing the good stuff in release 1.3 of the Nook’s software. The major new features include a Beta release of a “basic” web browser and a Read In Store feature that’s reassuringly true to its name. You’ll basically be allowed to browse and read the full versions of books while inside a Barnes and Noble outlet. That looks like a win-win to us, as it directly addresses the goal of using the Nook to get people in stores while affording consumers the opportunity to get a good idea about a book. The first Android apps on the device are also offered, in the form of games like chess and sudoku, both perfectly suited to the glacially refreshing monochome screen. Speaking of which, B&N claims it’s also improved page turning and loading speeds. The update is available via manual download now or you can wait for the OTA stuff to hit your Nook within the next week.

[Thanks, Davorin]

Nook gets web browser, free in-store reading, and games in new firmware originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Apr 2010 09:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In the face of a near-constant stream of buyout rumors the past couple weeks, Palm boss Jon Rubinstein is holding the line he’s held ever since he’s taken the helm — well most of the line, anyway. In a chat with Financial Times today, the CEO said that he still believes that “Palm can survive as an independent company” and that he’s got a plan to get the company spitting black ink rather than red, but that “if someone comes to the board with a reasonable offer of course it’s something [they’d] have to consider,” which isn’t anything materially different than he’s said in the past — it’s just good business sense, and it’s a very cautiously-worded soundbite.

Rubinstein did say a couple things of note, though. First, he mentioned that they’re working “fast and furious on new handsets” with a “strong pipeline” of new goodies, which gives us great hope that we’re finally going to see something that doesn’t look like a Pre or a Pixi soon. He’s also opening up to the idea of licensing webOS to third parties, confirming sentiment we’d heard a few days back; he’s looking at it from a pretty objective business perspective, saying that “if there’s an appropriate strategic relationship or business deal that makes sense to us then of course we would license webOS because obviously the more scale we get the more the benefit there is to us.” That sounds good from our end, especially thinking back to the overwhelming awesomeness of the mighty Sony NZ90 back in the Palm OS days. Any way you look at it, though — independent or acquired — it sounds like Rubinstein has every intention of making more waves in 2010.

Palm CEO still thinks company can go it alone, open to webOS licensing deals originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Apr 2010 20:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s like Dell’s making up for lost time with smartphones: while “Lightning” is the company’s answer to Windows Phone extravagance, the Dell Thunder that’s leaking out along side does up Android 2.1 with similar aplomb and a 4.1-inch WVGA OLED screen. There’s a heavily custom Dell “Stage” UI on top, which seems much different (and classier) than what we’ve seen on the Streak or Aero. It apparently ties into Facebook and Twitter for social networking, and taps Swype for a touchscreen keyboard replacement, along with grabbing just a pinch of HTC’s Sense good looks. Dell’s document also claims this has Flash 10.1 for watching web videos, along with a mention of an “integrated web video Hulu app.” We’re not sure how that works, but hopefully it’s everything we ever dreamed mobile Hulu could be. Under the hood we’d guess there’s the same Snapdragon chip that’s powering the Lightning, but we don’t have specific specs. There is supposed to be an 8 megapixel camera, however, and the phone will be sold in AT&T and world-friendly HSDPA versions around Q4 of this year, with an LTE model to follow near the end of 2011. We can hardly wait.

Dell Thunder explodes Android with 4.1-inch OLED screen, promises Hulu app originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Apr 2010 23:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’d already heard that Dell was working on larger tablets, and tonight’s huge leak brought us tons of info on the Looking Glass, a seven-inch big brother to the Streak 5 that’s due out in November. For starters, it’s running Android 2.1 on a Tegra 2 processor, with an optional TV tuner module so you can watch ATSC or DVB-T programming on the seven-inch 800×480 display — the same resolution as the Streak, which is sort of weak. In addition, the render on the slide shows an AT&T U-verse browser, though, which is interesting — too bad there’s no more info about it. RAM is pegged at 4GB, with another 4GB of flash for storage and an SDHC slot for up to 32GB of expansion, and there’s a 1.3 megapixel camera. Yep, it’s pretty much just a bigger Streak with a different, potentially awesomer processor — imagine how slick you’ll look with this bad boy held to your face on a call.

Dell Looking Glass tablet leaks: Tegra 2 coming your way in November originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Apr 2010 21:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If Dell’s vision of a mainstream Android device for 2011 ends up materializing, we’re not sure we even need a high end anymore. Okay, that’s not true — we’ll obviously be power freaks to the bitter end — but the so-called “Flash” that we’ve just caught wind of (no relation to the Adobe product of the same name, as far as we can tell) looks to be a lovely piece of kit. Dell plans to fashion this thing out of a slice of “curved glass,” topping out at 11mm thick with a 3.5-inch WVGA LCD, 850 / 1900 / 2100MHz HSPA topping out at 14.4Mbps down and 5.6Mbps “or better” on the upstream, a 5 megapixel autofocus cam with image stabilization and smile / blink detection, 512MB of RAM and ROM with microSD expansion up to 64GB (Dell’s clearly assuming there’ll be 64GB microSD cards by next year), WiFi, TV-out, 3.5mm headphone jack, Bluetooth 3.0, and a Qualcomm MSM7230 core humming along at 800MHz.

As you might recall, the MSM7230 is part of Qualcomm’s next generation lineup of midrange smartphone cores, a series that looks to bring Snapdragon-class performance to the masses with HD video out capability and — hopefully, anyway — the performance you’ll need to make Flash 10.1 fly. Dell plans to load this bad boy with Android Froyo, presumably with the same kind of custom skin that it’ll start pushing with the Streak series this year; we’re seeing references to a so-called “Stage UI,” and we think that’s what it is. This one’s mentioned for a first quarter ’11 release on AT&T and globally, though it’s not clear whether it’ll be AT&T-branded or simply be offered as an unlocked device compatible with AT&T’s 3G bands — but either way, you can count us in. Don’t change a thing, Dell.

Dell Flash to offer Android Froyo in a ‘dramatic’ package originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Apr 2010 20:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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