Hasta La Gadget!

T-Mobile’s Sidekick LX 2009 represented a huge leap forward in the hiptop sector. Not only was the swiveling motion as smooth as ever here, but this was the first Sidekick that seemed to really take its user interface seriously. To that end, we’re interested in knowing how you — the opinionated consumer — feel about Danger’s latest effort. Are you impressed by the grown-up features? Does the form factor still have a place in your life? Is the UI snappy enough? Do you still get enough stares from potential mates when you whip it out on the subway? The floor’s yours, make it good.

Filed under: Cellphones

How would you change T-Mobile’s Sidekick LX 2009? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 21 Jun 2009 07:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ariel Waldman contributes Movie Gadget Friday, where she highlights the lovable and lame gadgets from the world of cinema.

Previously on Movie Gadget Friday, we tapped into the near dystopian future of fear in Brazil. Keeping on that 1980’s near-future vibe (but with a slightly more sentient twist), this week we check out Michael Crichton’s Runaway, starring Tom Selleck, Gene Simmons, Cynthia Rhodes and Kirstie Alley. Filled with circuitry and hardwired chips, the movie reinforces wholesome family values by featuring warranty voids as the gateway hack to murder.

Leaping Insect Robot

Measuring in around the size of a human head, these six-legged, spider-like, autonomous robots are mechanical in movement but shockingly precise in killing prey. The autonomous insects have the ability to propel themselves up to seven feet in the air, allowing for attacks on unsuspecting victims. Dual-functioning, the legs are able to crawl and grasp a multitude of surfaces, albeit awkwardly and rather slowly. After programming targets into a mainframe, the robots are able to identify and kill victims by injecting them with acid via a probe before short circuiting and eventually exploding into a ball of flames. Sadly, the robots lack any sort of remote control, making human errors in target-programming unable to be edited.

Continue reading Movie Gadget Friday: Runaway

Filed under: Robots

Movie Gadget Friday: Runaway originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Jun 2009 13:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony announced today a new entry into its VAIO series, the NW, complete with a Blu-ray drive and what they’re hoping is an aggressive pricing point. It’s packing a 15.5-inch WXGA display with XBRITE, 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P7350, ATI Mobility Radeon HD4570 with 512MB VRAM, a 4x BD-ROM drive, 4GB of DDR2 RAM, webcam, 802.11a/b/g/n, a 400GB HDD, and a Li-ion battery that’s at best 5.5 hours in large capacity and at worst 1.5 hours with the standard-sized version. Port-wise, we’ve got VGA and HDMI output and Memory Stick Pro, ExpressCard, and SD card slots.

We got a chance to get some hands-on time with the portable, and we gotta say, it’s a pretty impressive little number. It’s not the most slender 15-incher, but at six pounds, it’s lighter than we expected. The chiclet keys — dubbed “isolated keyboard” by Sony PR — are comfortable to use, as is the textured trackpad. Body and hinge felt sturdy, with an intentionally rugged and stylistic feel to it, and as one rep was excited to show, the metallic “Vaio” logo on the back makes a great reflection in the sun. From what we saw, Blu-ray playback was smooth, but we did notice horizontal viewing angles weren’t the best. We’ll reserve judgment when we get some play time with the unit and see how hard we can push the software, but for now we’re pretty happy with what we’ve seen. Starting price isn’t too shabby, at $880 equipped with the BD-ROM and $800 without, and it comes in three colors: white, grey, and dark brown. Striking your fancy? Look for it to ship out pretty quickly, as in some time next month.

Filed under: Laptops

Sony unveils 15.5-inch VAIO NW with BD-ROM and $880 price tag, we go hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Jun 2009 20:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We had a chance to go hands-on with Layar, the new augmented reality browser from SPRXmobile. Launched yesterday on Android Market in The Netherlands, we were curious to see how the software, that looked damn-impressive in the promo video, would function in actual use, in this case, from the living room of SPRXmobile’s Maarten Lens-FitzGerald just outside of Amsterdam. Our take? it’s the real-deal, especially for a v1 release. The software looks rock-solid and the initial data layers — ATMs, social joints like cafes and clubs, and job listings — appear fully populated and thus, useful. The ATM and cafe/club layers (or layars) are definitely helpful for serendipitous discovery though we’re still scratching our heads over the job search layar. See, what you’re discovering are jobs you can apply for from that particular employment office, not jobs necessarily available in that specific neighborhood or office building. Next month, Layar will have access to what could be its killer app (or killer data layar) called Funda, the site in The Netherlands for finding places to rent or buy. Of course, you can imagine travel guide companies like Let’s Go and Frommers jumping into this with huge effect as well. And really, it’s content that’s going to make this type of augmented reality software a success. Maarten tells us that more partner announcements are expected this week with expansion into the US, Germany, and UK anticipated later this year on Android devices and on the iPhone 3G S (compass required). Check the interview and demo after the break.

Continue reading Video: Hands-on with SPRXmobile’s Layar augmented reality browser for Android

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Interviews

Video: Hands-on with SPRXmobile’s Layar augmented reality browser for Android originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Jun 2009 07:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it — right? We know countless reviews of the iPhone 3G S may begin with that cliché, but there’s little chance you’d find a better way to describe the strategy that Apple has just put into play with its latest smartphone. In many ways, the 3G S is a mirror image of the iPhone 3G; externally there’s no difference. It’s inside where all the changes have happened, with Apple issuing a beefed-up CPU, new internal compass, larger capacities for storage, and improved optics for its camera. More to the point, the release of the 3G S coincides with the launch of iPhone OS 3.0, a major jump from previous versions of the system software featuring highly sought after features like cut, copy, and paste, stereo Bluetooth, MMS, tethering, video recording, landscape keyboard options for more applications, and an iPhone version of Spotlight. At a glance, what Apple seems to be doing is less a reinvention of the wheel and more like retreading the wheel it’s already got (and what a wheel, right?). So, do the iPhone 3G S and OS 3.0 tweak the details in just the right places, or has Apple gone and gotten lazy on us? Read on to find out.

Continue reading iPhone 3G S review

Filed under: Cellphones

iPhone 3G S review originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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