Hasta La Gadget!

Before phones show up at retail, they start showing up in totally random places in China — it’s basically a law of physics. And once that happens, they almost inevitably end up posted in a forum somewhere, and… well, you can gather where that leads. Chinese firm Ludle — which, according to its own description is in the business of “exploiting, producing and selling” — somehow came across a Pre (or possibly just an empty shell thereof), and a staff member took the time to do a quick set of comparo shots against a Centro and iPhone 3G. He notes that the Pre gets clogged with fingerprints as easily as the iPhone but handles scratching on the back a little better; the front is a different story, though, where the iPhone’s glass display wins. He goes on to say that the phone is currently in mass production (we’d certainly hope so), but what we don’t know is whether we’re looking at a CDMA version for Sprint or the GSM variant destined for sundry networks around the globe. We’ll take either, personally.

[Via PreThinking and TreoCentral]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Palm Pre finds a totally unofficial home in China originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Apr 2009 02:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung’s officially announcing the Instinct S30 for Sprint as we speak, but why wait for all that jazz? We spied a dummy unit in the flesh out and about in Samsung’s mobile charging center here at CTIA, and while we would’ve preferred it not be behind a thick plate of glare-tastic glass, we’ll take what we can get. Notice that little “Exclusively at Sprint” tagline at the bottom there? Coincidentally, the same phone is being shown alongside its Samsung-branded full touch siblings — the Memoir, Impression, and Verizon Omnia — on a big ol’ banner outside the show floor, so it really doesn’t take rocket science to gather what Sammy’s theme is going to be here at the show.

Filed under: Cellphones

Samsung Instinct S30 in the wild originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 20:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Now that it’s official and priced, Panasonic seems much happier to show off its wireless HD-sporting, ultra-thin Z1 series, and it’s quite the sight to behold. The 54Z1 we got to look at was very strikingly clad in brushed metal gray — compared to the regular black of most of Panasonic’s TV lineup — and of course incredibly thin. The wireless HD receiver box was across the room and working flawlessly, and it was nice to see that the included remote is an RF unit, capable of non-line-of-sight channel changing — it’s starting to feel like the 21st century around here! The plasma picture was of course very good, and we’re really feeling those Viera Tools icons across the bottom. $6,000 though? That’s your call.

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment, Wireless

Panasonic’s ultra-thin 54Z1 plasma in the wild originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Mar 2009 18:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Low light, candles in the corner — seriously folks, these shots are downright sultry. Optus’ HTC G1, er, Dream has been spotted and photographed in some random corner of the world, and while it basically looks like every other G1 you’ve ever seen in this hue, we’re absolutely certain that Australians in attendance are more than happy to have a look. You know where to head for the rest.

[Thanks, Tom]

Filed under: Cellphones

Optus’ HTC Dream spotted, photographed passionately originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Mar 2009 05:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There it is, folks — the BeBook 2. We knew Endless Ideas was bringing its next-generation BeBook to CeBIT, but we had no idea it’d be this well under wraps. We chatted with the company’s CEO and managing director a bit about the direction of the BeBook as a whole, and they’re very much believers in keeping format support wide open and giving readers the choice of where to pull content from. We were blessed with a few minutes of hands-on time with the new and improved e-reader, and while the software was still not finalized (thus our inability to photograph it more), we were impressed with what we saw.

The next iteration of the BeBook should be a serious contender in the e-reader market, particularly in Europe where Amazon’s Kindle has yet to invade. The inclusion of WiFi and 3G is a good move (great move, actually), as those two additions open up all sorts of possibilities that non-connected readers simply can’t access. As for the device itself? We’re digging it. The build quality felt remarkably sturdy, the aesthetics were beautiful and the thinness was certainly notable. The e-ink display has also stepped up the greyscale level from the original BeBook, and battery life should remain the same despite not being as bulky. As you can tell, the screen also supports doodling, and it tracked inputs as well as we could’ve hoped. We still couldn’t pry out a price, but you can be on the lookout for this to drop worldwide somewhere in the Q3 to Q4 2009 time frame.

Filed under: Displays, Handhelds

BeBook 2 e-reader revealed and in the wild at CeBIT 2009! originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 Mar 2009 13:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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