Hasta La Gadget!

Buy a Core i5 laptop or a Toshiba TV, and if your country wins the World Cup Final, we’ll refund your money. Simple and to the point, don’t you think? Toshiba ran this advertising campaign in Germany, England, Portugal, Italy and Spain in the run-up to the global football tournament, but now that one of those nations has actually gone and scooped the silverware, refunds seem remarkably hard to come by. As it turns out, the small print on that ad included instructions to see Toshiba’s site for further details, which elucidated a requirement that all claimants must register their product by the 17th of June. Naturally, that’s now led to a whole heap of peeved Spaniards feeling cheated, and big time consumer association Facua arguing that such a major condition to recovering your cash shouldn’t have been hidden away online. In the absence of it being clearly marked on the promotional materials, it argues, Toshiba should honor everyone’s receipts irrespective of registration. We’re inclined to agree — maybe the Japanese company can recover any losses from the wages of its cheeky advertising staff.

Toshiba reneges on promise of free laptops and TVs if Spain win World Cup originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Jul 2010 14:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What we really want from HP is a brand new webOS smartphone, but it’d be unfair to say we’d “settle” for a Palm Pre — especially at prices like these. To commemorate the opening of the new HP Wireless store, the company’s offering both Pre Plus and Pixi Plus, on AT&T or Verizon, free of charge for a limited time. Not only that, but these handsets feature free shipping, and the Pre comes with free accessories (including a Bluetooth headset, car charger and leather case) to boot. Meanwhile, Sprint’s still sitting in the corner all alone, expecting folks to slap down cash money (up to $100) for these handsets’ original incarnations. If you’ve been considering these devices already, it seems that now’s the time to choose… but before you sign your life away, why not read our full review?

Pre Plus and Pixi Plus free on contract, with free accessories, too originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 04 Jul 2010 11:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’d heard a rumor this was coming, and T-Mobile has now made it a reality — the carrier will be offering a one-day-only, every phone is free event on June 19th to celebrate Father’s Day. Yes, that really means every phone T-Mobile offers (including the brand new myTouch 3G Slide and Garminfone) and the only “catch” is that you have to either switch to a family plan or add a new line to an existing plan — and, of course, sign a two-year agreement. The deal is only available in T-Mobile stores, however, and the carrier warns that phones will only be available “while supplies last,” so you’ll likely have to deal with a line if you’re looking to get in on the savings.

Continue reading T-Mobile celebrates Father’s Day with one-day ‘every phone is free’ event

T-Mobile celebrates Father’s Day with one-day ‘every phone is free’ event originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Jun 2010 18:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Looks like Sharp’s keeping its word — next month, the fourth-largest LCD TV maker will launch a slate of new 3D TVs in Japan, just as planned. Based on the same Sharp Quattron quad-pixel technology that made George Takei’s jaw drop, the new LV-series of AQUOS panels will come in 40-, 46-, 52- and 60-inch sizes when they debut July 30th, and feature 1080p resolution, UV²A panels and a high-speed signaling technology named FRED that Sharp says increases brightness and reduces crosstalk. More interesting are the AN-3DG10 glasses that come with them, which reportedly allow each individual viewer decide whether to view content in 2D or 3D — we’re guessing by tweaking the glasses to show either the left or right image to both eyes simultaneously, instead of flipping back and forth. Of course, you’ll also need something to watch, and thus Sharp will also release a pair of Blu-ray DVR units, the BD-HDW700 and BD-HDW70, which record two simultaneous Japanese television programs onto terabyte-sized hard drives when they’re not sending Blu-ray 3D content to the aforementioned displays.

While mum’s the word on pricing, Impress Watch believes the TVs will start around ¥280,000 (around $3,067) and top out at a cool ¥600,000 ($6,581) for that 60-incher, and says that US and European variants are expected later this year. While you wait, why not take a deep dive into the details — you’ll find an entire brochure’s worth at our source links.

Sharp plunges headfirst into 3D market with LV-series Quattron TVs, Blu-ray DVRs originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Jun 2010 01:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Qik has lived up to its name in clarifying some leaks indicating that future EVO 4G owners on Sprint will be charged $5 a month to make use of its video chat services. As it turns out, that subscription fee will be for a new range of “advanced premium features,” which will be elucidated on June 4 alongside the EVO’s retail launch. The core two-way video calling will come absolutely free, we’re promised, and only those yearning for extra features will have to pay up. It seems clear from the wording of that statement that multi-party conversations will figure prominently in the premium set, though we’re left guessing at what other ways Qik has for seducing us to part with our cash. Either way, good news if you wanted to keep things simple… and cheap.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Qik two-way video calling on the Sprint EVO 4G is free, premium service is not originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 29 May 2010 11:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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