Hasta La Gadget!

HTC’s ThunderBolt along with Motorola’s Atrix 4G and Droid Bionic might be taking the overwhelming majority of the attention here at CES over the past few days, but remember that both companies have introduced some other models that are expected to be serious midrange breadwinners for their respective carriers. One of the most obvious head-to-head matches would be the HTC EVO Shift 4G taking on the Motorola Cliq 2, both launching this month on Sprint and T-Mobile, respectively.

Continue reading HTC EVO Shift 4G vs. Motorola Cliq 2… fight!

HTC EVO Shift 4G vs. Motorola Cliq 2… fight! originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 22:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We visited Griffin’s CES booth to check out the Beacon universal remote control expecting yet another Redeye clone, but instead wound up walking away impressed. Two notable features of the prototype Bluetooth to IR converter device are that it’s battery powered and includes a 360 degree IR blaster. These are key since they give users the freedom to place the transmitter almost anywhere around an entertainment center. The free iPhone remote app built by Dijit was the real highlight though. The UI and functionality was incredibly intuitive, and we especially liked that the setup process doesn’t require inputting device model numbers. Instead, users just pick the brand and then test a series of code cycles to see if their components respond. The TV guide and Netflix integration are also points of distinction over competitors — since you can select shows or movies to watch directly from the app. Last but not least, your remote settings can be saved and downloaded to as many devices as you like. To give you a feel for the system, we’ve included plenty of shots of the app’s UI in the gallery below along with more photos the device.

Continue reading Griffin Beacon universal remote control system hands-on

Griffin Beacon universal remote control system hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 22:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The folks behind the Pleo robot dinosaur didn’t have much but promises and a giant, not-for-sale version of the bot at last year’s CES, but Innvo Labs has come through this year. They have a number of their new Pleo RB dinos on hand, and we got a chance to both check them out and talk to Innvo COO Derek Dotson about what the future might hold for the robot dinosaur that refused to die. As for the current Pleo RB, while it may look relatively unchanged from before, it does boast some fairly impressive improvements, including voice recognition (with any language), more touch sensors, the ability to sense temperatures, RFID-based “learning stone technology” for feeding and other advanced commands, and time of day awareness. As you might be able to surmise, the combination of those latter two means that the Pleo will get slow and lethargic if you don’t take care of it, but Innvo assures us that it won’t actually die (just make you incredibly sad).

It sounds like we could be seeing some even bigger changes in future generations of Pleo, though. Innvo tells us that they’ve basically pushed the current design to the limit, and they seem to be keeping all options on the table for future models. We asked about different versions, internet-connectedness, and even a Roomba-like ability to recharge itself, and Dotson said that Innvo considering all of those, but that it doesn’t want to rush and do anything that would dilute the Pleo brand. Hit up the gallery below for a closer look at the Pleo RB, and head on past the break for a video.

Continue reading Pleo RB cuddles up to CES, we go hands-on and talk to Innvo about future Pleos

Pleo RB cuddles up to CES, we go hands-on and talk to Innvo about future Pleos originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 21:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cars are big and stupid. Well, most of the time, anyway. Need to bring home a couple sheets of drywall in the rain? Man it’s nice to have a big truck with a cab. Need to run Jr. to school five miles away on a smoothly paved? Suddenly that full-size, extended cab, 13.5mpg dually monster starts seeming just a little silly. Assuming people continue their flock to the cities, in the future that latter situation will be an awful lot more common than the former and our cities simply won’t be able to manage. The streets won’t be wide enough, parking garages tall enough, nor oil wells deep enough. We need something different, and GM thinks that something is the EN-V. Even though it still isn’t the future we just got a drive in one, so read on for our impressions.

Continue reading General Motors takes us on a crazy test ride in the EN-V electric prototype vehicle (video)

General Motors takes us on a crazy test ride in the EN-V electric prototype vehicle (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 21:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MultiTouch Ltd has been at this IR-based multitouch thing since 2007 and it’s hit CES in force this week. Sure, the current 46-inch model requires 12 inches of depth — in order to provide sufficient space for the infrared cameras embedded in its back to capture the whole, ahem, surface — but having unlimited touch inputs is always a wildly impressive sight. We put one of the displays to the test by exploiting a nearby crowd and slapping down a good 40+ fingers on it, all of which were recognized. To be perfectly fair, the IR cameras don’t seem to have a very flat recognition area and many of our inputs were picked up from over an inch from the screen. The 46-incher under hand is already available for a totally affordable $17,000, provides full HD resolution, and hooks up to a PC for processing of input. See our thoroughly intensive test on video after the break.

Continue reading MultiTouch Ltd’s 46-inch panel accepts unlimited touch inputs, we put it to the test (video hands-on)

MultiTouch Ltd’s 46-inch panel accepts unlimited touch inputs, we put it to the test (video hands-on) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 20:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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