Hasta La Gadget!

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

Before the mass adoption of smartphones in the U.S., many fretted that the heavy subsidization model was feeding a free handset model that would keep Americans hopelessly addicted to basic voice plans and phones optimized for them. The price consumers paid in relation to the value of the handset, it was argued, was hopelessly out of whack. This year, a string of successful smartphones have shown that an increasing percentage of U.S. consumers are willing to pay $200 for a flagship device. On the other hand, there’s still ample evidence that price and value can remain disconnected. And the carriers aren’t making it much easier.

The smartphone surge has been driven in part by a desire to acquire the best and by a response to carrier advertising. However, a recent run-up in advanced smartphones have made it difficult to define a clear top of the line at many carriers, and carriers simply cannot promote them all with the same attention lavished on the iPhone or original Droid. Take the turn of events at Verizon, for example, which in the space of a few months has rolled out the Droid Incredible, Droid X and Droid 2, with the Samsung Fascinate in the wings. At least the first three have been all priced at $199, with strong precedent for the Fascinate coming in at that level. And while AT&T has been a bit more diverse in the operating systems of its recent spate of high-end contenders — the iPhone 4, BlackBerry Torch and Samsung Captivate — they too have all been priced at $199.

Continue reading Switched On: Gluts and glory

Switched On: Gluts and glory originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 21 Aug 2010 19:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If the Vibrant’s $200 price tag on contract was the only thing keeping you planted on the fence, you might want to head over to T-Mobile’s interwebs right this second seeing how they’re offering a one-day special — $99, online only — which makes it $100 cheaper than AT&T’s Captivate and $150 less than Sprint’s Epic 4G. Any way you slice it, that’s a killer carrier-direct price for a high-end Android phone with a 1GHz core and one of the best phone displays we’ve ever seen… and remember, it includes Avatar, which means you’re getting this for the price of a few Avatar Blu-rays. Yeah, that’s the way to look at it.

Update: Don’t want to drop even a single Benjamin on T-Mobile’s foremost Android? How’s a penny sound? We’re seeing the Vibrant for $0.01 (and two years of your life) right now at Amazon.

[Thanks, Aaron and Kevin L.]

T-Mobile offering Vibrant for $99, if you’re quick about it (update: one cent at Amazon) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Aug 2010 19:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You may have noticed the update on our Epic 4G review from yesterday where we lauded the fact that Samsung seemed to have fixed the GPS problem plaguing every other Galaxy S flavor released thus far, but it turns out there are actually two distinct issues. One has a fix — sort of — while the other is hopefully what we’re going to get next month. Here are the two failure modes, based on what we know so far:

• “Use wireless networks” is now turned off by default, but even with it on, the phone may be slow or unable to determine even a rough location. Originally, we’d believed this was the only problem. Samsung tells us that it’s a new Google mandate that Android devices be shipped with the “use wireless networks” option disabled, which means you’re relying on traditional GPS alone to determine your location — a lost cause indoors, in urban canyons, or under dense tree cover. Indeed, we discovered it was turned off on our Captivate, Vibrant, and Epic 4G after fresh hard resets, and there’s no indication to the user that it’s probably in their best interest to enable it; we’re accustomed to being presented with the option during account setup on other Android devices, but it doesn’t happen here. After enabling it from settings, we found that both the Captivate and Epic 4G were able to get our location with 1,000 to 1,500-meter accuracy practically immediately in Google Maps, though the Vibrant still never came through; it had the weakest signal of the three, which may have accounted for that (though it never dropped the signal altogether).
• The regular GPS circuitry and software aren’t doing their job. Cell tower triangulation and WiFi location database services like Skyhook only take you so far — at the end of the day, you still need to tune in to the birds a few thousand miles up to figure out precisely where you are. All Galaxy S models seem to be having trouble turning GPS reception into coordinates, even when the phone is able to see four or more satellites in view (four is the minimum you normally need for a precise, three-dimensional lock). In some cases, resetting the phone apparently helps, but it ceases to work again after a day or two of use. To our knowledge, none of the homebrew fixes out there have been able to solve this part of the problem perfectly and permanently. The Captivate and Vibrant are both affected by this one; we’re not sure on the Epic, but we’re working to nail it down.

What this means for you: for now, simply make sure you have “Use wireless networks” checked in your Galaxy S’s settings under the “Location & security” menu. It won’t get you the most reliable, precise location you should be entitled to, but it’s a start — and next month’s round of firmware updates should hopefully take us the rest of the way.

[Thanks, Carl]

Samsung Galaxy S GPS-gate: two problems, not one (and what to do about it) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Aug 2010 02:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AGPS capability on various versions of the Galaxy S — including the Captivate and Vibrant released here in the US — has been deeply hosed since launch, the apparent result of a bunk positioning server being used to associate towers to geographical locations. In practical terms, that’s made apps like Google Maps nearly useless indoors and in urban canyons where line of sight to the birds up in orbit is dicey or impossible, and for European users where the phone’s been out even longer, the wait’s been an especially excruciating one. Fortunately, Samsung’s finally come out with some concrete details on Twitter today, saying that updates are expected next month with “details and download to follow.” No word for Euros specifically, but we imagine (er, make that “hope”) they’ll all be fixed around the same time.

Samsung commits to September updates for Galaxy S GPS woes originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Aug 2010 20:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Like your Samsung Galaxy S with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and a dash of WiMAX? Sprint’s website has finally spilled the beans: the Epic 4G will arrive Tuesday, August 31st for $249.99 on contract (after $150 instant rebate and $100 mail-in rebate). Oddly enough, we’ve gotten a number of screencaps from readers who see an August 20th date, one that coincides with an upcoming Epic 4G promo we caught wind of, but the press release definitively lists the 31st. No way to pre-order at this point — reservations begin Friday, according to the press release — but feel free to sign up for reminders. Whew, glad that mystery’s finally solved. PR after the break.

Update: With Sprint now offering two Android-powered 4G smartphones, you’re probably wondering, Epic 4G or EVO 4G? Fortunately, Sprint’s got a video laying out the differences highlighting the Epic’s Super AMOLED display, keyboard, Samsung Media Hub movie store (available post-launch), and DLNA to wirelessly send pics and video to other DLNA devices in the home. Check it out after the break.

Update 2: Although reservations for in-store pickup aren’t set to begin until tomorrow, we’ve been tipped on a reservation link intended for premier customers. [Thanks, Miguel]

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Epic 4G coming August 31st for $249.99 on contract (updated)

Epic 4G coming August 31st for $249.99 on contract (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Aug 2010 00:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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