Hasta La Gadget!

Remember Google Instant? Now, Yahoo’s got something like that — it’s called Search Direct — and like Instant, it consists of a search box that quickly and automatically suggests results as you type. Unlike Instant, however, it won’t update the entire results page to reflect the outcome of your potential search, but rather just an enlarged search box like the one you see above, providing up to ten suggested queries and three suggested results. That makes it a little bit speedier (we were able to use it on our 3G phone connection quite easily) but also fairly limited in comparison. It’s also a bit… ahem… self-serving, as any search that happens to include the same letters as one of Yahoo’s own services will promote them above all others in the results — in fact, only five letters of the alphabet presently bring up anything but a Yahoo website as the first result when typed in solo.

• I = iTunes
• J = Jennifer Lopez
• Q = QVC
• X = Xbox 360
• Z = Zsa Zsa Gabor

Some of the improved functionality is pretty useful, though, as that Xbox query will instantly bring up prices for the console, and you can type in “movies” or “weather” and your zip code to immediately plan your night out. (“Restaurants” and “food” don’t work, though.) Anyhow, Search Direct is in beta. Why not give it a go?

Continue reading Yahoo intros Search Direct, takes on Google Instant with insular effect

Yahoo intros Search Direct, takes on Google Instant with insular effect originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Mar 2011 22:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Mashable  |  Yahoo  | Email this | Comments

Okay, we admit, we were taken in by the video on Snapkey’s site showing the keyboard in action before its inner workings were revealed at CTIA 2011. The system is actually quite simple: there are four boxes to tap for letters — plus backspace and space — and each represents a type of letter. Top left includes letters with one point that touches down like “i,” bottom left includes closed letters such as “d,” top right includes letters with two points on the bottom, and bottom right curved and letters with a flat base. Sounds simple? it is, or kinda. Of course there’s a learning curve, in essence you have to rethink the way you type; as we immediately found we had to pay more attention to the letters in words, or at least the shape of them. The system we were shown was running on a jailbroken iPad, but we were told it could be moved to just about any platform. Is it as revolutionary as the buzz suggests? We’re not entirely sure but hope to find out soon with a trial in our labs. Follow on for a video of our grade school assistant Jonathan giving us a tour.

Continue reading Snapkeys keyless keyboard hands-on

Snapkeys keyless keyboard hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Mar 2011 16:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Regional carrier Cricket surprised at CTIA today by showing off a couple new units that aren’t out yet — but they’re in the pipeline for the second quarter, which the company points out is coming “very soon.” First up is the Huawei Ascend 2, which — you guessed it — would be the follow-on to the original Ascend that the company launched last year. The display’s still HVGA; WVGA obviously would’ve been nice, but Cricket is promising to launch it at the same sub-$150 price point as the first model and it’s got a 5 megapixel camera around back (up from 3.2 before).

Next up, the Indulge is pretty much the same midrange QWERTY Android slider that already launched on MetroPCS, albeit with one big difference: this one has no LTE compatibility (Cricket has no live LTE network, after all). As with the Ascend 2, we would’ve preferred a WVGA display — this one’s just HVGA — and the four physical buttons up front seem a bit out of style, but Cricket’s still in a position where any new Android hardware is a very good thing. Look for it to launch for under $350 — off contract, of course.

Cricket teases CDMA-only Samsung Indulge, Huawei Ascend 2 at CTIA (hands-on) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Mar 2011 22:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

The G-Slate from LG (aka Optimus Pad) was on display at T-Mobile’s booth here at CTIA, so we spent a few minutes investigating the apps the carrier is bundling with the 8.9″ Honeycomb tablet at launch, namely Need for Speed Shift, T-Mobile TV, and Zinio eReader. Interestingly, the same three apps are also pre-installed on T-Mobile’s other dual-core LG device du jour, the tantalizing G2x. Check out the tour in our video after the break.

Continue reading T-Mobile G-Slate bundled apps tour (video)

T-Mobile G-Slate bundled apps tour (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Mar 2011 18:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

We suspect that some other laptop manufacturer will be coming out of the woodwork in around 4.98 seconds here to refute Gigabyte’s claim, but as of now, the 15.6-inch P2532 above is the planet’s thinnest laptop with a second-generation (Sandy Bridge) Core i7 CPU. It’s not “ultrathin,” per se, but for packing such a serious amount of horsepower, it’s definitely on the anorexic side of things. Our pals over at TweakTown managed to get their paws on one, and they noted that it was sporting a 1920 x 1080 resolution display, a 500GB (7200RPM) hard drive, NVIDIA’s GeForce GT550M (2GB) with Optimus technology, a DVD burner, two USB 3.0 ports, an HDMI port, four speakers, a makeshift subwoofer and more ventilation ports than would normally be considered healthy. The company’s also offering up a smattering of interchangeable lids, with the pastel yellow one in particular catching our eye — can’t say it’s for the right reasons, but we digress. Sadly, there’s no price or release date to share just yet, but there is a hands-on video just past the break. Head on down and hit play, won’t you?

Continue reading Gigabyte’s 15.6-inch P2532: world’s thinnest second-gen Core i7 laptop (video)

Gigabyte’s 15.6-inch P2532: world’s thinnest second-gen Core i7 laptop (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Mar 2011 16:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  TweakTown  | Email this | Comments