Hasta La Gadget!

Poll: Spotify is finally available in the US. Now what? (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Jul 2011 13:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sure, the US Army could continue to develop expensive proprietary gadgets for use in the field, or they could make the switch to (relatively) inexpensive off-the-shelf smartphones. It’s a change that’s been considered for some time, and the Army is now at the tail end of a six-week trial of more than 300 Android, iPhone, and Windows Phone devices for military use. The results have been promising, according to program director Michael McCarthy, stating that younger soldiers who grew up with smartphones and handhelds are very comfortable using them for military purposes.

Soldiers in the field can text GPS coordinates, send pictures of their surroundings, or file common reports directly from their phone. Despite positive results, the Army still has some hurdles to jump before taking the plunge — some of the phones had OS bugs, others (specifically, iPhones running on AT&T) couldn’t get signal in the New Mexico and Texas testing areas, and none of the devices were secure enough for use in overseas operations. The Army is considering tying the phones to tactical radios to help encrypt transmissions, and are testing self contained “cell tower in a suitcase” equipment to ensure coverage in sensitive locations. The Military hopes to push out limited deployment this year, and Army program director Ed Mazzanti has stated that they expect to select two mobile operating systems for official use, noting that “iPhone and Android have been very well received.” Sure, using multiple platforms may help protect soldiers against cyber attacks, but we can’t be the only ones worried the Army is unintentionally breeding a generation of fanboys with guns, can we?

US Army runs smartphone trial, could see ‘limited deployment’ later this year originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 16 Jul 2011 19:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Despite extra features like FaceTime, sales of Apple's line of iPods continue to drop as consumers use smartphones and tablets.

If sales of Apple’s iPod are any indication, the heyday of the MP3 player is over and done with.

iPod sales have been steadily declining since their peak at 22.7 million in December 2008, and analysts estimate another 7.2 percent drop over the quarter that just ended.

Apple still commands 70 percent of the MP3 player market, but it’s clear that other mobile devices, namely smartphones and tablets, can do the job of an MP3 player (while performing a myriad of other functions, too).

In September of last year, Apple dramatically revamped its line of iPods, even giving the iPod Touch some features that were unique to the iPhone 4 at the time, namely FaceTime. Smartphones are increasingly dominating U.S. mobile phone purchases, and as consumers purchase the feature-rich devices, they no longer have a need for the single-purpose MP3 player. Rumors have blazed for years that Apple would discontinue one (typically the iPod Classic) or more iPod models, but it hasn’t happened yet.

It’s worth nothing that for the first time since the iPod Touch was introduced, it’s not being included in Apple’s Back to School promo as a freebie with a Mac purchase. The iPod Touch was replaced with a $100 iTunes gift card — a freebie that can be used with almost any Apple device, and could help bolster their soon-to-be burgeoning iCloud streaming service.

It’s possible that Apple could lay an iPod, likely the old iPod Classic rather than the more popular iPod Touch, to rest at its upcoming September event.

But although iPod sales are shrinking, it’s hardly an issue for Apple. The iPhone 4 sold 18.6 million units in the first quarter of 2011 alone. And according to a study from Resolve Market Research, between 80 and 90% of tablet-owning respondents had an iPad or iPad 2. But, some analysts think Apple missed out on an opportunity for more sales.

“We believe iOS devices would have been up ~20 percent (quarter over quarter) if iPhone 5 had shipped in June,” Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said today. In late June, Google’s Andy Rubin tweeted that there are over half a million Android device activations happening daily, and yesterday, that number jumped up to 550,000 per day. Some of those extra purchases could have been iPhones, had an iPhone 5 been available.

Regardless, Apple still has a solid spot as one of the top three smartphone manufacturers in the United States. And as more and more people lay their MP3 players to rest, they’ll be turning to smartphones to plug in for their mobile music fix.

Continue reading Apple releases iOS 4.3.4, sends you back to jail, does not offer $200

Apple releases iOS 4.3.4, sends you back to jail, does not offer $200 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 15 Jul 2011 13:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Primed goes in-depth on the technobabble you hear on Engadget every day — we dig deep into each topic’s history and how it benefits our lives. Looking to suggest a piece of technology for us to break down? Drop us a line at primed *at* engadget *dawt* com.

Staring at your smartphone, you realize that there’s something missing. It does everything you want it to — very well, we might add — but what hole is left to fill? We’ll help you out with this one: you want bragging rights. There has to be a way to face your friends with confidence, right? All you need is a little nudge in the right direction, and in this edition of Engadget Primed, we’ll give you that much-needed shove by explaining benchmarks.

Perhaps you’ve seen us talk about benchmarks in our product reviews. We’ll typically use them to gauge the relative performance of various devices, but discussing a Linpack score doesn’t mean much without going deeper into what it actually means. What aspects of performance do these benchmarks measure, and what techniques do they use? How much can we rely on them when making purchasing decisions? Read on after the break for the full scoop.

Continue reading Engadget Primed: Using benchmarks

Engadget Primed: Using benchmarks originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 15 Jul 2011 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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