Hasta La Gadget!

Sure, we already told you what Hulu Plus looked like on iPhone, iPad and a Samsung TV, and not much has changed since that juncture, but we expect a number of you care quite a bit about how it will operate on PlayStation 3, especially considering you’ll (presently) have to cough up an additional $50 annually for the privilege. The good news is it’s absolutely nothing like the PS3’s disc-based Netflix solution — here, you’re looking at a responsive experience through and through, and the interface is about as simple and full-featured as we’d hoped.

After a 28MB download, we were invited to either log in with an email/password combination or link our console at Hulu’s website, both of which launched the program nigh instantly from the hard drive. The interface afterwards is a dead-ringer for the Samsung TV version, except optimized for console control, with the analog stick and shoulder buttons smartly seeking through programs at high speed, or tapped to jump ahead in fifteen-second increments. You can similarly adjust video quality (and thus, bandwidth usage) with a press of the R1 button, watch picture-in-picture programs while you browse, and the search function admirably narrows down Hulu’s content as quickly as you can type the letters in. It does have its bugs, like when we tried to watch High Fidelity and were asked if we wanted to subscribe to the show, and there was the time we got caught in an unending advertising loop for body wash, but that time we think the app was just trying to tell us something. Yeah, we’d better run out to the store, but don’t go away — hit the gallery below for a brief tour.

Update: Our friends at Joystiq have a video walkthrough; check it after the break!

Continue reading Hulu Plus on PS3, hands-on (update: video)

Hulu Plus on PS3, hands-on (update: video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Jul 2010 19:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Toshiba Libretto W100 made a guest appearance on the Engadget Show last week, and since we got to spend a bit more time with the dualscreen laptop we thought it was only right to release some more impressions into the ether. We also got confirmation from Toshiba that the somewhat-of-a-concept-PC will be hitting retail channels in August, including Amazon, and will cost $1,100. It may be one of the only dualscreen tablets on the market, but no matter how you break it down that price seems a little outrageous. But you wouldn’t make up your mind before reading some further impressions and watching a close up video of the screens working in tandem, would you? Well then, we’ll see you after the break.

Continue reading Toshiba Libretto W100 preview

Toshiba Libretto W100 preview originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Jul 2010 14:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You’d think we’d be totally sick of Samsung’s Galaxy S phones after seeing AT&T’s Captivate and Sprint’s Epic 4G, but we’re just not done lovin’ the 4-inch Super AMOLED, Android devices. Verizon’s Fascinate and T-Mobile’s Vibrant happen to be the last two Sammy phones to jump into our hands-on, but coincidentally, they’re also the most alike. Design-wise, both remind us of the iPhone 3G / 3GS — they’re all screen on the front, strikingly thin, and have black shiny backs. And just like the Captivate and Epic 4G, they’ve got four touch sensitive buttons along the bottom edge. The Super AMOLED screens continue to impress, and watching a clip of Avatar on both versions was pretty breathtaking. (No, we didn’t have an iPhone 4 on hand for comparisons, but make sure to check out the post where we put them head-to-head).

We didn’t get to put the 1GHz Hummingbird CPU to the test in our short hands-on time, though both Android 2.1-running phones seemed to perform briskly when opening videos and pulling up the browser. Beyond Samsung’s TouchWiz skin, both are preloaded with Swype and other carrier apps — Verizon’s version had Skype Mobile as well as a number of VCAST applications. Oh, and unlike most of the other Galaxy S phones, the Fascinate had a flash on its backside. We don’t have much more on these bad boys for now — we’re still waiting on pricing and availability — but the pictures and videos after the break should hold you over.

Note: Pay no attention to the background — there isn’t any intended symbolism to draw here, it was just the best lighting arrangement we could muster.

Continue reading Samsung T-Mobile Vibrant and Verizon Fascinate preview

Samsung T-Mobile Vibrant and Verizon Fascinate preview originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 Jun 2010 21:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sure, Pandigital’s Novel may be delayed until next month because of some firmware issues — and we haven’t heard the most positive things about the 7-inch LCD based e-reader / tablet — but we had to check it out for ourselves. At $179.99 $149, the all-plastic reader isn’t going to win any build quality awards (it’s also rather heavy for what it is), but the Android 2.1-powered gadget does have a pretty attractive user interface. In use, however, the resistive screen had to be pressed quite firmly to make selections and the software was noticeably sluggish. Surprisingly, the device did play a standard definition video smoothly and it has an accelerometer — which is more than the Archos 7 Home Tablet can brag. Barnes & Noble’s eBookstore will be preloaded, and it also has a skinned Android browser of some sort. We’ve got a short hands-on video after the break, but you’ve got the picture here: the Novel isn’t what we’d call novel, you just get what you pay for.

Continue reading Pandigital Novel preview

Pandigital Novel preview originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Jun 2010 00:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Although we had a chance to play with the new Xbox 360 at E3, that was under Microsoft’s gentle supervision — now that the stealthbox is hitting stores and we’ve got a couple of our own to play with, we’re ready to dive deep and figure out what’s what. In person in the living room, the new 360 isn’t quite as small as you’d think — although it’s definitely thinner and narrower, Microsoft clearly had to jury-rig its big “lift off the old Xbox to reveal the new one” moment at E3, because the new unit is actually a bit deeper by about a half-inch. We’ll forgive them in interests of show business, but just know that you won’t be saving a ton of space with this new version. We also went head-to-head with the OG PS3 and the Slim, as well as the Wii — as you’d expect, the new Xbox 360 is much smaller than the original PS3, noticeably smaller than the Slim, and a hilariously gargantuan monster compared to the Wii. We just did a quick noise comparison video, and we’ve got some early notes, so check it out below!

P.S. Fun note: the older 360 pictured here RROD’d almost immediately after we unboxed the new unit. Karma!

We’re going to be continually updating this post throughout the day, so hit us up with questions and keep checking back!

Continue reading The new Xbox 360 is here — we go head-to-head with the 360 Original, PS3 Slim, and Wii

The new Xbox 360 is here — we go head-to-head with the 360 Original, PS3 Slim, and Wii originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Jun 2010 13:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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