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Continue reading Teenage Engineering OP-1 synthesizer now available for pre-order, we tour its shiny new features (video)

Teenage Engineering OP-1 synthesizer now available for pre-order, we tour its shiny new features (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Jan 2011 15:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iGUGU InterneTV works as promised in its strange little niche (hands-on) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Jan 2011 00:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SwiftKey for Android was one of the breakout stars in the virtual keyboard business last year, thanks to a unique predictive phrase system that learns how you talk (or write, as it were) and recommends entire words based on your personal style. It sounds weird, but it’s surprisingly helpful — and even if you don’t use the phrase prediction aspect at all, it’s simply a well laid-out, easy-to-use keyboard. The company has big plans for 2011 with talks of OEM deals in the pipeline, UI and functionality tweaks, new utilities for learning your writing habits by ingesting RSS feeds, Facebook posts, Gmail, and other sources… oh, and this: a new app customized for use on Android tablets.

Text entry on tablets is a challenge that manufacturers and software vendors have been trying to solve for a long, long time, and one look in a busy airport with dozens of people trying to type on iPads carefully-balanced on their laps will tell you that we’ve still got a long way to go. We’re not sure how SwiftKey’s new version will work on 10-inch tablets (take the Xoom, for instance), but we had a chance to check it out on a Galaxy Tab — and we have to say that it’s probably the best landscape virtual keyboard we’ve used on a 7-inch tablet so far. Swype and other tracing keyboards seem out of place on a screen this big, but SwiftKey takes advantage of the fact that your thumbs are so far apart by splitting your QWERTY into two parts and placing the lesser-used numbers in the center.

The keyboard isn’t ready for prime time just yet — SwiftKey still bills it as a prototype — but we imagine it’ll be available before too long. Follow the break for a hands-on video!

Continue reading Exclusive: SwiftKey tweaks its Android keyboard for tablets (hands-on with video)

Exclusive: SwiftKey tweaks its Android keyboard for tablets (hands-on with video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Jan 2011 17:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Smartphone integration in your car’s head unit isn’t of all that much use if it’s only going to play nice with one brand or another (we’re looking at you, Mini Connected). Johnson Controls is being rather more open with what it’s calling the Connected Center Stack, basically a framework that OEMs and aftermarket radio makers can build upon to create their ultimate infotainment system. It quite naturally connected and played audio over USB or Bluetooth, augmenting that with support for Pandora and even Terminal Mode, as implemented on a Nokia N97, replicating the phone’s UI exactly. There are both touchscreen and jog dial controls, and the unit can get data either directly from a smartphone or through a USB connected 3G modem. Or that’s the theory, at least. The unit on display was a little buggy and not reliable enough for us to get a video of it in action, but with any luck it’ll be cleaned up and hitting production center stacks… eventually.

Johnson Controls Connected Center Stack plays nice with a quartet of smartphones, we go hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Jan 2011 11:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When offered a chance to take a Ford Focus Electric for a spin we jumped at it, though were admittedly a bit perplexed when told it would be on the show floor. As it turns out the company set up a loop upon which a Transit Van and Focus Electric were driving, one after the next, up a steep incline and over the heads of fellow journalists, stopping at a little dyno to see just what this thing was putting down, and then back around to where it all started. No shocking information was gleaned, and we still can’t get anyone to confirm or deny the ability for a 480v quick-charge, but it sure beat walking.

Continue reading Ford takes us on the world’s shortest test drive in the Focus Electric (video)

Ford takes us on the world’s shortest test drive in the Focus Electric (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Jan 2011 09:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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