Hasta La Gadget!

HP’s mobile computing unit appears to have decided that the term smartbook refers to putting a smartphone’s components inside a netbook’s body — which kind of makes sense — so they’ve built their Airlife 100 atop an Android OS platform, underpinned by a Snapdragon CPU (unconfirmed, but highly likely), a 16GB SSD, 3G and WiFi connectivity, and a 10.1-inch touchscreen display. We really can find no cause for complaint — in fact this is the most excitement a Compaq-branded product has caused us… ever. HP touts a rock solid 12-hour battery life for the Airlife, which stretches out to a mighty 10 days of standby, in case you’re one of those folks who hate to switch their electronics off. Announced in partnership with Telefonica, this smartbook will be offered as a subsidized part of mobile broadband service plans in Europe and Latin America. It may well find itself renamed under the HP Mini branding when it rolls around to the US, but for now head on over to Engadget Spanish for the full PR.

Compaq Airlife 100 puts Android OS, Snapdragon CPU, and an SSD behind 10.1-inch touchscreen originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Feb 2010 05:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s been no secret that original Xbox games and systems have been the vestigial limb holding back much wanted XBL features including raising the limit on our friends list to over 100 or mobile tie-ins, and on April 15 Live access for all of them comes to an end. Even those Xbox Originals downloaded to the 360 or played via backwards compatibility will be cut off from online play, so we’d suggest getting those last few rounds of Halo 2 in now or at least look into an alternative solution like XBConnect. Affected users should keep an eye on their inbox, Xbox Live GM Marc Whitten has promised “details and opportunities” to come for you as partners in this process — we’re figuring a coupon or two or an extended XBL subscription as the lights are turned out is the least they can do. For the rest of us already living in the future? The timing of this announcement mere days before the X10 event in San Francisco February 11 can’t be coincidental, we should find out what comes next by then.

Xbox v1 games, systems no longer Live; Microsoft’s pulling the plug April 15 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 04:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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And just like that, it’s official. Verizon Wireless has today announced that Motorola‘s scrumptiously named Devour will be heading to its network next month, with it being the first VZW phone to feature Motoblur. Not that we’re seeing any surprises here, but a quick specification run down draws our attention to a 3.1-inch capacitive touchscreen, a touch-sensitive navigation pad, a pre-installed 8GB microSD card and Bluetooth support. Unfortunately, there’s no apparent mention of multitouch — and we wouldn’t expect it out of the box, since the Devour runs Android 1.6 — but we’re crossing our fingers (and toes, for that matter) for Google to sling that delightful Nexus One update to the rest of its high-powered Android phones in the very near future. There’s nary a mention of an asking price, but we’ll be sure to keep an eye out as launch day approaches.

Motorola Devour officially coming to Verizon next month originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Feb 2010 09:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s not version 3.2, but there’s a little stopgap out now for iPhone and iPod touch owners in the form of OS 3.1.3. According to the changelog, we can expect better battery level reporting and fixes for problems with the Japanese Kana keyboard and some mysterious issues where third-party apps would fail to launch. Sounds good to us!

Update: As usual, we’re hearing blackra1n (and presumably redsn0w) has been busted by 3.1.3, so you probably want to hold back if you’re jailbroken until you’ve gotten the all-clear. Thanks, Eric!

iPhone OS 3.1.3 available now originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Feb 2010 13:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s finally here: Windows Mobile 6.5.3, the iterative finger-friendly Windows Mobile release that should have been wrapped into 6.5.0. The latest mobile wares from Microsoft come wrapped inside the Sony Ericsson Aspen (aka, Faith); a business-focused QWERTY candybar with 2.4-inch QVGA TFT touchscreen LCD, 3.2 megapixel camera, A-GPS with Google Maps, 3.5-mm audio jack, WiFi, and microSD expansion. This latest addition to Sony Ericsson’s GreenHeart portfolio comes in black or white silver and packs quad-band GSM/EDGE with either HSPA 900/2100 or 850/900/2100 radios (depending on region). Available in Q2.

Back to Windows Mobile 6.5.3 for a second, although this is a .dot.dot update it’s actually a fairly significant move for Microsoft. For starters, this release now includes a more finger-friendly layout (no stylus needed even when digging deep into the OS), support for capacitive touchscreens (huzzah!), and acts as a platform to enable multitouch. Microsoft has also improved browser performance with faster page load times and better memory management while improving the pan and flick gestures and zoom and rotational speeds. Sounds like somebody is getting ready for Mobile World Congress.

Sony Ericsson Aspen: first with Windows Mobile 6.5.3 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Feb 2010 03:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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