Hasta La Gadget!

From the London store

Welcome to the latest installment of our annual tradition: the iPhone launch day queue experience in pictorial form. London’s getting the party started early (not as early as some, admittedly) with a sizable crowd turning the corner from the Apple Store at Regent Street, but we’ll keep this post updated with imagery from all over the place. Wouldn’t mind if you helped us out with a few of your own pics, either. You know where to send them in by now, and once you’ve done that, feel free to slide past the break to see how everyone else is doing it.

Update: Now with reports from San Francisco!

Update 2: NY joins the fray!

Update 3: We added some of the more interesting reader-submitted stories.

Update 4: Reports from Palo Alto and San Jose, California!

Update 5: London’s doors have swung open and we’re now busy activating our brand new Apple phones.

Update 6: Woz and his Segway make their regular appearance at the San Jose Valley Fair Apple Store.

Update 7: We’re adding a bunch of reader reports. Even as Apple opens its doors to pre-orderers in the US, the lines remain crazy.

Update 8: Apple serving fries in Chicago!

Update 9: We’ve added our London video that was intended for the latest Engadget Show. Enjoy!

Continue reading iPhone 4 launch day line watch (update: Woz in action)

iPhone 4 launch day line watch (update: Woz in action) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 Jun 2010 11:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Strap yourselves in, pilgrims. Nokia’s next great handset has resurfaced in London today, and this time we were even allowed to turn it on. There’s pretty much no way you could be unaware of the N8 by now — Nokia’s done the viral video thing, the teaser demo thing, the feature walkthrough thing, we’ve covered it to near-exhaustion. But we’ve never seen it, you know, doing stuff. You can now consider that omission corrected, as we’ve finally powered up the 3.5-inch OLED screen, entered the overhauled Symbian^3 wonderland, and come back to tell the tale. In-depth impressions and video after the break.

Continue reading Nokia N8 preview

Nokia N8 preview originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Jun 2010 08:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Look at this man. Just look at him. Isn’t it obvious that Boris Johnson gets what Boris Johnson wants? In case you’ve been misinformed about the power this man’s wishes hold, you should know that he’s well on his way to establishing the first muni-fi project to actually work — or so he hopes. By and large, every attempt to sprinkle WiFi onto entire US cities has fallen short in one way or another, but London has a motivator that no American borough ever did: the 2012 Olympics. Boris’ plan is to blanket all of London in WiFi prior to the opening ceremony, with “every lamppost and every bus stop” having a router or repeater in it. The scheme is part of a larger plan to make London the “technology capital of the world,” but unfortunately, your hopes of connecting for free may be dashed. According to the London Evening Standard, “no details of pricing have been given,” and we get the impression that those in charge of the rollout would’ve jumped at the chance to gloat about its free-ness if that were indeed the case. But then again, who are we to question the might of London’s Mayor?

London to become one giant WiFi hotspot by 2012, because Boris says so originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 May 2010 12:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Good old London, full of little wonders and flagship devices for you to discover. We were at Nokia’s local HQ this morning to talk to the company’s Head of Design Marko Ahtisaari, and the good gent happened to bring with him a prototype N8 for us to play around with. It was stressed to us that it’s a prototype, so small cosmetic changes might still occur, but we are for most part looking at the hardware that will be hitting retail shelves in Q3 of this year. Speaking of Q3, Marko was adamant that that will be when Nokia “turns on” the Symbian^3 housed within the N8, which — disappointingly — meant that we couldn’t get to grips with the new UI experience in person. Ah well, there are plenty of pictures to be devoured in the gallery below, and we can provide you with a few observations of our own to tide you over till then.

The anodized aluminum shell feels very well built and is remarkably light. So much so that our first instinct was to ask whether the battery was inside or this was just a hollow mockup. We’d compare it to the feeling of picking up the Zune HD for the first time, it’s a strikingly light device. Plopping it into our pocket also felt extremely natural, which might be attributable to the particular curvature of the N8’s sides. Attention to detail in the physical design, as Marko said, was of paramount importance to Nokia. That doesn’t come without sacrifices, however, with the user replaceable battery being substituted by an integrated cell, but to quote the man himself, the “overall design concept overruled” such considerations. We found the home button on the front a bit of a pain to press in, but it’s still very early to form conclusions about the experience on this device. For now, just go gawk at it below and look out for the in-depth writeup of our chat with Marko Ahtisaari later today.

Nokia N8 hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 May 2010 07:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading Samsung NaviBot SR8845 / SR8855 vacuum cleaner hands-on

Samsung NaviBot SR8845 / SR8855 vacuum cleaner hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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