Hasta La Gadget!

Carrier rebate forms have a fun tendency to reveal unannounced hardware, since they cover several upcoming weeks when they’re published — and Verizon’s latest for the month of November is a particularly juicy one. Here’s what we’ve got:

• There are two SKUs listed for the Droid 2 Global, but only one for the Droid Pro, leading us to wonder whether it’ll actually be the Global that’s getting a cameraless version.
• Speaking of Motorola, the WX445 Citrus is in the mix for the first time.
• The Pre 2 is in the system with a $100 rebate.
• There are two new SKUs for the Bold 9650, possibly indicating the release of new versions with BlackBerry 6 pre-installed.
• The LG Cosmos Touch is in here, which we imagine will be a touchscreen successor to the Cosmos.
• There’s a Samsung Zeal listed with a $50 rebate, but we’re not sure what it is — we know that Sammy has a number of Android phones in the pipe for Verizon, and we suppose this could be one of ’em (likely low-end considering it’s not a $100 rebate).
• More interestingly, the Samsung Continuum is in here, suggesting that the November 8 event could be for this dual-screened (and Galaxy S-branded) beast. $100 rebate here.

Of course, November is a time when retailers of all types and sizes bring out new products in time for the holidays, so we’re not surprised to see the mother lode here. Who’s excited?

Verizon’s new rebate form shows two Droid 2 Globals, Samsung Continuum, and more originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Oct 2010 13:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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By now you’ve seen our photos of the PlayStation Phone, and likely you’ve also heard the scattered reports of debunkings and cries of “fake!” — it wouldn’t be a scoop without it. Only here’s the thing: the PlayStation Phone in the photos we ran last night, and the device reported on back in August is most definitely real. We’re not saying that because we want to believe or because we’re gingerly trying to nab pageviews: we’re saying it because we know it to be true. This is a device which has been confirmed through multiple, trusted sources. And we’re not just talking good tipsters — some of our information comes from people much more closely connected to the project. Even since last night we’ve received more info about the phone — learning that its codename is “Zeus,” and it was last seen running Android 2.X (not 3.0, which we suspect will be the shipping version). It should be obvious by comparison of our original mockup to the real photos we’ve just uncovered that the handset we described in August is the same handset now fully revealed. Prior to last night, we had never seen an actual image of the phone. It should also be obvious that the device pictured in those photos is a prototype running early software (which would explain the A / B button mention in the photo above) with hardware that was likely hand-built, or at the very least created in a very small batch.

Based on what we’ve heard about the secrecy of this plan, it makes sense that even Sony’s own employees wouldn’t be privy to information on the phone, the marketplace, and the collaboration with Google. The alleged Sony response to the device makes that somewhat clear — reports state that an employee originally told a publication that the images were fake, only to backtrack and deliver the standard corporate line that the company “doesn’t respond to rumor and speculation.” It’s possible that whomever was originally questioned either didn’t know of the device’s existence, was lying about its existence, or simply had their response taken out of context. And that brings us to our point — while there will be plenty of speculation on whether or not what we’ve shown you is real, we would never run the images or the information without a healthy sense that we were bringing you fact, and not fiction. We don’t like to boast, but as the guys and girls who brought you the first pictures and review of the Nexus One, the first details and images of the Dell Venue Pro (aka Lightning), the first pictures of the new MacBook Air, the first photos of the iPad, and the first photos of the iPhone 4, we feel pretty confident in our abilities to deliver the goods. Of course, this story is just beginning — so hold on tight.

The PlayStation Phone is still real originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Oct 2010 11:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s hard to believe that what we’re looking at is real — but we assure you, the picture above is in fact the PlayStation Phone you’ve long been waiting for. As we reported back in August, the device you see is headed into the market soon, likely boasting Android 3.0 (aka Gingerbread), along with a custom Sony Marketplace which will allow you to purchase and download games designed for the new platform. The device snapped up top (and in our gallery below) is sporting a 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8655 (a chip similar to the one found in the G2, but 200MHz faster), 512MB of RAM, 1GB of ROM, and the screen is in the range of 3.7 to 4.1 inches. Looking almost identical to the mockup we hit you with this summer, the handset does indeed have a long touchpad in the center which is apparently multitouch, and you can see in the photos that it’s still bearing those familiar PlayStation shoulder buttons. For Sony buffs, you’ll be interested to know that there’s no Memory Stick slot here, but there is support for microSD cards.

The particular model in these shots is still in prototyping mode. As such, the unit doesn’t have a custom skin (not even SE’s Timescape design seen on the Xperia devices), and is said to be rather buggy. We’re digging into more facts as we speak, but it’s likely that much of what we reported earlier is still accurate, and though the device could still be headed for a 2010 release, 2011 is looking much more realistic. Still, there’s a lot of time between now and the holidays… so keep your fingers crossed!

The PlayStation Phone originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Oct 2010 21:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We were just handed this image with very little detail other than the fact that we’re looking at “a future LG high end Android phone for Verizon,” but we can deduce a few things: one, and perhaps most notably, you can just barely make out an LTE logo toward the bottom of the back. That likely makes this one of the six-odd LTE phones Verizon has publicly said are slated for the first half of next year. Secondly, it’s got an HD camera of some sort — probably indicating either 720p or 1080p capture — and finally, it appears to have a huge, mirrored display and possibly a front-facing cam in the upper right. Looks like there’s also a WiFi logo on back (of course), but can anyone make out the other two logos there? And more importantly, can anyone wait for this to launch?

Update: It’s been proposed that one of the logos might be for DLNA, since LG’s a major DLNA player — most recently with its PlayTo service on the LG Optimus 7.

Exclusive: future LG Android phone for Verizon sports LTE originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 24 Oct 2010 16:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So, we’ve just been discussing the rumored, and long overdue, MacBook Air refresh with a trusted source. This person recently had a working model in their possession for a few minutes and managed to glean quite a bit of detail that would seemingly confirm Apple’s plan to announce an 11-inch MacBook Air at the “Back to the Mac” event later today. Here’s what we’ve been told to expect:

• Smaller 11.6-inch display.
• 2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (with a 2.33GHz option possible).
• 2GB of memory in the base configuration.
• No optical drive, naturally.
• Mini DisplayPort, USB, and SD card reader along the left-hand side and USB and power on the right (that’s 2x USB).
• The trackpad has been updated to match that of the new MacBook Pros.
• Although smaller due to the 11.6-inch display, it’s still about the same thickness as the current MacBook Air.
• A black power key now sits immediately to the right of a smaller eject key on the MBA’s keyboard — the round aluminum power button is gone. A design decision that might support the MBA’s rumored instant-on capabilities though our source didn’t see this functionality exhibited (possibly because it was running OS X 10.6.4).

Unfortunately, our source couldn’t identify the graphics or the storage related to the rumored “SSD Card.” So where does that leave us? Well, it looks like a smaller (and presumably, cheaper) MacBook Air originally rumored by AppleInsider is in the bag for a Steve Jobs announcement later today as is a refresh to the 13.3-inch model we broke last week (pictured nekkid above). So check back in a few hours and watch the reveal live, won’t you?

Update: Reader Lucas F. subimtted a mockup of the new power and eject keys which you can see after the break.

[Thanks, Anonymous]

Continue reading 11.6-inch MacBook Air detailed

11.6-inch MacBook Air detailed originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Oct 2010 04:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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