Hasta La Gadget!

Usually when we hear the phrase “contract-free developer phone” the words “unlocked” and “GSM” follow shortly thereafter, but apparently Palm didn’t get the memo — it just announced discounted hardware prices for its devices, but they’re carrier-locked to Verizon and Sprint. Yeah, that’s a big sad face out of us — it’s not like Verizon’s going to give you a cheaper plan if you show up with a contract-free device. In fact, you might be better off picking up a $79 Pre on a Sprint contract from Amazon and just canceling after a year or so — the ETF will have been prorated to $120 by then, putting you way ahead of Palm’s $439 price tag. So much for that dream — at least we still have our fantasy of driving to Mexico for an illicit Telcel Pre smuggling run.

Palm offering discounted contract-free phones to developers — too bad they’re carrier locked originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 20:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Did you get your ODROID order in promptly when they went up for pre-sale back in September? Hope so, as the first lucky developers should be getting theirs any day now. Just 300 units of the 833MHz handheld are shipping, including the various cables, additional hardware, and documentation needed to start filling the thing with fun games that look an awful lot like other games, but totally aren’t. One of the first is Speed Forge 3D (which totally isn’t Wipeout), shown after the break exhibiting some laggy accelerometer-based controls — but 720p output via HDMI sure is sweet. Orders are still being accepted at $349, said to be shipping in roughly five days, meaning if Santa logs into his PayPal account quickly enough you might still find one of these under your tree.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading ODROID, the Android gaming handheld, now shipping to Android gaming developers (video)

ODROID, the Android gaming handheld, now shipping to Android gaming developers (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 11 Dec 2009 08:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading Symbian Horizon app store launched, dev program detailed

Filed under: Cellphones

Symbian Horizon app store launched, dev program detailed originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hey developers, Nokia’s got a special treat for you today. It just announced the official port of the community-driven Qt for Maemo project. That means a common framework for writing native applications (and web apps and services thanks to Webkit integration) across Maemo 5 and future Maemo 6 releases, Symbian, and Windows Mobile. That’s a broad reach in terms of devices (including the hotly anticipated N900) and marketshare and a smart move by Nokia in an era where devices are differentiated not by hardware and OS but by their ability to run apps and connect to web services. A “technology preview” release is available now and scheduled for final release (based on Qt 4.6) in Q1 of 2010. Click through for a wee taste.

Continue reading Nokia makes Qt port to Maemo 5 and N900 official (video)

Filed under: Software

Nokia makes Qt port to Maemo 5 and N900 official (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 04:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So, here’s the situation. The current fleet of netbooks would be rendered next to useless with Vista loaded on, but having Windows XP on there forces manufacturers to regurgitate specification lists. Rather than using the introduction of Windows 7 to fully pursue a world where netbooks can actually run around freely with 2GB (or even 3GB!) of RAM and chipsets powerful enough to open seven Excel sheets simultaneously, Intel is today sparking up its Atom Processor Developer Program. The reason? To “spur a new wave of applications for… netbooks, with support for handhelds and smartphones available in the future.” Call us calloused, but that sounds a lot like a company pushing for “lite” software that functions on sluggish hardware.

Granted, we know that’s not exactly the case here — after all, even we wouldn’t argue that some applications could benefit from being re-written to operate on a 10.1-inch display — but it still feels like Intel’s pushing software programmers to cater to underwhelming hardware rather than innovating its chips to work faster and more efficiently. There’s no doubt that this feeling is compounded by just how long we’ve been waiting for a new wave of Atom CPUs, but at long last, we digress. The program actually has quite a few positive merits, such as striving to “reduce overhead and streamline the creation of new applications” for smaller devices — something that would benefit every user regardless of processor. So far, both Acer and Dell have voiced their support for the program, giving us at least a modicum of reassurance that the Aspire One and Mini lines aren’t vanishing anytime soon. Hit the read link for the glorified details, if you’re into that type of thing.

[Via jkkmobile]

Filed under: Software

Intel Atom dev program launched, seeks to inspire netbook-centric applications originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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