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Mar 29

Zune HD v4.5 firmware ‘coming soon,’ adds SmartDJ, new codecs, and Marketplace access via AV dock (update: video!)

Posted in: hands-on, Microsoft, Today's Chili, video, zune, zune hd, ZuneHd

We know you’ve been waiting at the edge of your seat for that added codec support and SmartDJ for Zune HD, patient ever since its CES unveiling, and now we’re here to assure you that it’s coming with the next firmware update, version 4.5. We had a chance to preview both SmartDJ and Marketplace access via the AV dock connection this afternoon (video coming soon) — the former being very smooth and easy-to-use, the latter being convenient except for having to input text using the simple remote and an on-screen keyboard. According to Marketing Manager Michael Yaeger, there’s nothing in the cards right now for a new, more text input-friendly remote. While we had his attention, we also asked him about Mac support and international Zune HD releases — neither of which he could answer definitively, but it doesn’t sound hopeful in the near future. As for release date, we couldn’t get anything more specific than within the next few weeks, but at least it’s next on the docket. Press release after the break; so with that out of the way, how about some answers on that 64GB model, eh Microsoft?

Update: Now with a video demonstration, after the break.

Gallery: Zune HD v4.5 firmware: SmartDJ and Marketplace access via AV dock

Continue reading Zune HD v4.5 firmware ‘coming soon,’ adds SmartDJ, new codecs, and Marketplace access via AV dock (update: video!)

Zune HD v4.5 firmware ‘coming soon,’ adds SmartDJ, new codecs, and Marketplace access via AV dock (update: video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Mar 2010 19:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 29

MEDL Technology’s ‘The Panel’ hands-on

Posted in: hands-on, Today's Chili

MEDL Technology’s portable LCD display “The Panel” sounded like the perfect laptop sidekick, but would you really want to slip the 13.3-inch screen into your messenger bag? We invited company co-founder Eric Liao — and his prototype Panel — to a local Starbucks to find out. The verdict? Lightweight and incredibly easy to use, but at this point most features (including those all-important analog video inputs) aren’t quite ready for primetime. Housed in a silvery frame that perfectly matched the brushed aluminum finish of our Mac and Dell laptops, the screen was equally easy to hook up to either one. Using a DisplayLink USB graphics chip, we only had to plug in an USB cable to instantly connect the external screen, once the driver was installed. The Panel was nice and bright, even eclipsing our LED-backlit XPS M1330 on maximum settings — though the screen looked washed out, viewed from off-angles — and featured smooth action and no perceptible audio sync issues when playing a DVD-quality movie. Basic functionality’s all we got to test, sadly, but Liao made a number of intriguing promises for The Panel’s future.

At 80 percent brightness, Liao says the device’s 4200mAh rechargeable battery gives it 4 to 5 hours of spreadsheet slinging bliss, and those buttons on the right side might be used to control more than brightness and contrast — should the company adopt wireless USB as originally planned, Liao intends to have them double as arrow controls, allowing you to cut the cables and still have basic e-reader functionality. A headphone jack is still in the works, which should allow audio passthrough from HDMI and possibly USB. Last but not least, there’s a reason The Panel looks so good lying prone next to that Macbook: should cost decrease, future revisions may include a tablet-style touchscreen. Shame most of these ideas are still on the drawing board, but even the primary product is shaping up nicely. Hit up our gallery for the visual scoop.

P.S. Those blotches on the LCD screen? Liao says that’s a manufacturing defect, and that MEDL is testing LCD panels from a variety of manufacturers to avoid such mishaps in the final product.

Gallery: MEDL Technology’s The Panel hands-on

MEDL Technology’s ‘The Panel’ hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Mar 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 29

Exclusive: Dell Aero hands-on and UI walkthrough (video)

Posted in: exclusive, hands-on, HandsOn, Today's Chili, video

We took a look at the Dell Aero during last week’s CTIA bonanza, but AT&T and Dell weren’t exactly forthcoming with letting us take the UI for a spin. Luckily, we’re pretty resourceful folks, so we’ve wrangled some face time with a functioning device, and walked away with some insight into the phone’s unique personality. Read on after the break for a bulleted breakdown of exactly what this phone is all about, a video of the Aero in action, and make sure to feast your eyes on the gallery below.

Update: We’ve just been contacted by an AT&T spokesperson and told on no uncertain terms that the final version of the Aero will definitely have the Android Market, so that’s a relief — and it also means we should be able to get our hands on Maps, even if the firmware doesn’t include it.

Update 2: We’ve also had Dell reach out to us, who adds that “since the Dell Aero is not generally available, this is not representative of the final product.” Seems like the software deficiencies here have riled up carrier and manufacturer alike, which is probably a good thing.

Gallery: Dell Aero hands-on and UI walkthrough

Continue reading Exclusive: Dell Aero hands-on and UI walkthrough (video)

Exclusive: Dell Aero hands-on and UI walkthrough (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Mar 2010 15:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 27

Novatel NovaDrive cloud-based unlimited storage preview

Posted in: ctia, Features, hands-on, storage, Today's Chili

Hold onto your hats, it seems Novatel, maker of some of the finest 3G / WiFi devices has decided to stretch its legs from connectivity into the realm of data storage. Not only is the cloud-based storage accessible through their software for Windows or Apple, but they’re thoughfully built a nice mobile site so your cellphone can get in on the fun. Other notables include the ability to mail files to your file server, easy online collaboration for a team, and you can even send folks links to files who don’t have access to your server and track when and if they download it. NovaDrive also touts “unlimited” storage — though, we’d bet they’ll drop the fair use hammer quick if you go too wild — for roughly $50 a year for the personal version and $150 for the team fileserver version. Not too shabby if online storage is your thing, and even if it isn’t, Novadrive has a 30-day demo that won’t cost you one red cent, so feel free to give it a whirl.

Gallery: Novatel Wireless Novadrive hands-on at CTIA 2010

Novatel NovaDrive cloud-based unlimited storage preview originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 27 Mar 2010 12:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 26

Nintendo DSi XL review

Posted in: DS, handheld, hands-on, nintendo, portable, review, Reviews, Today's Chili, unboxing, wifi

Since Nintendo first asserted sole domination over the handheld gaming market with the release of the paperback-sized Game Boy in 1989, the company has striven time and again to make its pocket systems smaller, meeting fantastic financial success along the way. Nintendo did it with the Game Boy Pocket, the Advance SP, the Micro, the DS Lite and again ever so slightly with the DSi — the last even at the expense of backwards compatibility and battery life. Now, for the first time in the company’s history, it’s made an existing platform bigger, with questionable reasons as to why. Does the Nintendo DSi XL squash its predecessors flat? Or is Nintendo compensating for something? Find out inside.

Gallery: Nintendo DSI XL / LL unboxing and hands-on

Continue reading Nintendo DSi XL review

Nintendo DSi XL review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 26 Mar 2010 15:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 25

Bitbop hands-on: is this the Hulu of mobile?

Posted in: BlackBerry, ctia, hands-on, RIM, Today's Chili, TV, video

Fox Mobile unveiled its Bitbop venture this week that promises to provide a wealth of TV and movie entertainment from a variety of top-tier studios, and if you can get past the fact that you’re actually going to have to pay for this content, it’s shaping up to be a pretty promising system when it launches later this year. There’s no live programming — just a database of show episodes and movies that you have your choice of either streaming or downloading for later consumption over 3G or WiFi — which makes it a little bit like using an on-demand service from your cable company. Bitbop was only demoing the BlackBerry version of its app at CTIA this week, but it looks like there’ll be iPhone and Android versions on the way; at any rate, video quality looked plenty good on the Bold’s 480 x 320 display. Initially, there’ll be just one plan — $9.99 a month for access to shows, while movies will be pay-per-view exclusively — but we got the impression that the company is leaving the door open for other payment models down the road. Great, just what we needed: another really cool way to kill productivity. At least we’ll be able to catch up on Gossip Girl in the process, we suppose! Follow the break for video.

Gallery: Bitbop hands-on: is this the Hulu of mobile?

Continue reading Bitbop hands-on: is this the Hulu of mobile?

Bitbop hands-on: is this the Hulu of mobile? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Mar 2010 20:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 25

LG Air Sync hands-on

Posted in: ctia, hands-on, LG, Mini, Today's Chili

We got a peek today at the new “3-way” synchronization service from LG that the company is calling Air Sync; it’s only available on the GD880 Mini right now in the UK, but they’re looking to expand it across Europe and Asia before too long and — if we’re lucky — North America eventually. So what is it, exactly? Basically, it’s a synchronization service for text clipping, photos, videos, contacts, and the like that integrates with your PC using a downloadable client. After it’s installed, you get a few new context menu items that let you fast-track content to your phone via the cloud, and we were pretty amazed at just how quickly the transfers consistently happened — within a few seconds, a dialog pops up on LG’s demo Mini notifying you that the goods have been received. It sounds like LG will be looking at deploying this with a subscription model in most markets, so don’t expect gratis awesomeness — but if you transfer tons of pictures from your desktop to your mobile, this might be the way to go. Follow the break for video.

Gallery: LG Air Sync hands-on

Continue reading LG Air Sync hands-on

LG Air Sync hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Mar 2010 19:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 25

Netcomm MyZone hands-on

Posted in: ctia, hands-on, Today's Chili

Netcomm was at CTIA showing off its 3G pocket router, and while they admit it apes the MiFi, it builds on it in some pretty useful ways. Battery life purportedly outdoes its rival, with four hours use, even with multiple devices connected — and when your batteries finally do tank, connecting it to your laptop will let it recharge and still allow wireless connectivity. The MyZone ships in both US and global 3G variants with both also packing quad-band EDGE, and 802.11g WiFi. Another handy feature — at least for those that travel — is the MyZone’s ability to sort out the APN details for whatever carrier’s SIM you happen to put in it, so using it is as simple as popping in your SIM and connecting. We didn’t have an opportunity to get connected to it and give it a proper test drive, but we’re waiting for one to arrive and as soon as we do we’ll let you know how we get on. Few more pics right after the break.

Netcomm MyZone hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Mar 2010 16:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 25

Isabella’s Vizit touchscreen, cell-connected photo frame goes hands-on

Posted in: hands-on, Today's Chili

Buying and pre-setting up a $280 touchscreen photoframe for your mom (Isabella calls the target market “parents of parents”) sounds like a tall order, and you add in the $6 a month service fee on top of that and you’re really buying in here with the Vizit photoframe. So, how does it perform? In a word: sluggish. Shuffling through pictures or the mystery-meat carousel is an exercise in patience, thanks to some slow Flash Lite UI performance, but at least the menus are simple and friendly, and the touchscreen is responsive enough that if you’re prepared for the pace, it’s not that frustrating of an experience. The actual service aspects are much more impressive, pushing and pulling photos all over the place, with an integrated web app for managing a white list of contacts. The advantage of the AT&T service plan is that your mom won’t have to do any work setting this up — when you buy the device it’s tied to an online account that you can set up for her before she even gets it — and that the device can also receive OTA firmware updates, so expect further functionality (like video playback, for instance) going forward. There’s a video after the break with the CEO of Isabella, showing us what’s what.

Gallery: Isabella Vizit hands-on

Continue reading Isabella’s Vizit touchscreen, cell-connected photo frame goes hands-on

Isabella’s Vizit touchscreen, cell-connected photo frame goes hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Mar 2010 15:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 25

OpenPeak’s OpenTablet 7 hands-on: Moorestown has found a friend

Posted in: ctia, flash, hands-on, Linux, tablet, Today's Chili

We’ve been hearing of OpenPeak devices for years, but the company is a little camera shy — particularly because most of their products, like the Verizon Hub and O2 Joggler, are re-branded by carriers. However, the company seems to be getting behind its recently announced OpenTablet 7 in a big way, recently announcing a partnership with AT&T for data plans in the US. Neither party will confirm exact plan pricing, but we’re getting the vibe that it will be “familiar” to folks who’ve seen iPad data pricing. The device itself is surprisingly well built — not at all one of these dime-a-tablet jobs — and the software is rather mature as well. OpenPeak claims to have “thousands of apps” for its platform that stretches across devices including phones, frames, and now a tablet, with a Linux-based platform with a Flash layer on top.

Refreshingly for the tablet space, the UI isn’t a bit laggy, and seems pretty far along, though we’re promised even more polish as this thing nears market. We didn’t check out a browser, and some elements like the touchscreen keyboard are pretty dismal, but for home automation or video conferencing (the device packs a 1080p front-facing camera and a 5 megapixel shooter around back), it seems like OpenPeak can carve a niche for itself on the market. Most of all, we’re impressed with the 1.9GHz Moorestown chip under the hood, which offers huge power savings over Atom; plenty of juice for some media rich apps, UI elements, and video; and even runs cool to the touch. An included docking station offers charging and port replication, but there’s also an HDMI plug built right into the bottom of the tablet, along with removable microSD up top. No word on when exactly this will hit the market this year, how much it’ll cost, or if it’ll be rebranded by AT&T. Check out a video hands-on after the break, and a quick note on the press shots below: apps are subject to change based on the rebadger’s own partnerships.

Gallery: OpenPeak’s OpenTablet 7 hands-on