BERLIN — HTC unveiled two new smartphones at the IFA electronics conference in Germany on Thursday, the company’s first devices to run Microsoft’s revamp of the Windows Phone mobile platform, codenamed ‘Mango.’
First, the HTC Radar is a stylish white smartphone made with social networking in mind. Mango’s interface keeps you connected with every friend, contact and follower you have all around the world, with Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn integration.
With a 5-megapixel back-facing camera complete with an f2.2 lens, LED flash and BSI sensor, the Radar lets you shoot wide, bright pictures even in the dark. The Radar has a dedicated camera button, a burst shot function to capture split second moments and a 1-GHz processor to do it as fast as you can imagine.
It’s also got the full range of standard smartphone sensors and connections; GPS, accelerometer, 3G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. And, of course, 5.1 surround sound for excellent audio playback.
Composed of an aluminum uni-body design, the Radar weights 137g, is 0.42 inches thick, 4.74 inches long and 2.42 wide.
The second phone, HTC’s Titan, is aptly named. The phone’s screen size measures in at a whopping 4.7-inches, larger than most any smartphone screens we’ve seen. Other specs aren’t exactly outstanding — 512 MB of RAM, 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera — but it’s obvious the Titan’s size is supposed to be the true star of the show.
Release dates and pricing details were not made available.
Viewsonic has been taunting us a slew of slates for months, one of which we even got to manhandle way back in February. It seems the company is finally ready to deliver its ViewPads to the public though, and announced the availability of three models at IFA. The ViewPad 10pro has been around the block a few times by now and, after a limited run earlier, the Android 2.3 and Windows 7-running tablet will hit shelves on September 5th starting at €499 ($714) for the WiFi only version. Next up is the oft–teased ViewPad 7x, a 7-inch slice of Honeycomb that sports the custom, 3D ViewScene skin. A definitive date hasn’t been set for this 8GB, Tegra 2-powered device, but it’s expected to land before the end of the month for €349 ($499). Last, is the budget-minded ViewPad 7e. We don’t know much about this device, outside of the fact that it sports a 4:3 screen, most likely of the 7-inch variety, but it seems safe to assume we’re looking at another Android device. One with relatively low-power internals considering its estimated €169 ($242) price when it lands sometime in Q4.
Long since gone are the days of sitting at the breakfast table, drinking a cup of coffee and sharing the Sunday paper… or are they? The New York Time’s R&D Lab is developing a “kitchen table” based-on Microsoft Surface touchscreen technology, designed to take individuals that are normally face down in their iPads, back to the table for a more social way to consume and share content. The display gives multiple readers the opportunity to sit at the table and interact, with options to share across the surface by swiveling and enlarging images or articles. The Times envisions that it will also be a mode of discovery, where users could get more information on a certain product by placing it on the table to find prices and related NYT articles, which could also an interesting method for advertising — just be careful where you put that Starbucks cup.
Most anyone who’s paid attention knows Windows 8 will feature some fancy tweaks, including a revamped Windows Explorer and new copy, move and rename functions. But now Redmond’s given us a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it preview of a new Start Menu, in a video about accessing ISO and VHD files in the new OS. We’ve included a screen capture above — hit the source link if you’d like to see the full (and admittedly quite dry) video. You’ll spot the wily Start Menu about 25 seconds in.
HP’s webOS had a feature called Touch to Share which allowed information to easily sync between devices, like the TouchPad and the unreleased Pre 3. Photo by Jon Snyder/Wired
These days, accessing the same files across multiple devices can be a feat. Services like Dropbox can help transfer files from one device to another, but it’s not the most elegant solution.
We’re moving toward a world in which you can swipe, flick and tap to share data from one piece of hardware to another, effortlessly. One where you never have to worry about which device you stored that file on. We want a seamless, integrated computing experience.
Software company Nsquared is working hard to make this a reality. Using a Windows Phone 7 device, a Slate tablet, a large Kinect-controlled television display and a Microsoft Surface smart table, Nsquared came up with a model for how information can be shared and manipulated among a variety of like-branded devices.
When the smartphone is placed on the Microsoft Surface smart table, information instantly branches out onto the table around the perimeter of the phone, displaying the e-mail itself in larger text to the left while other relevant information sits above the top of the phone. The information can be touch-manipulated from either the phone or the table.
When the tablet is placed on the smart table, it renders a different, more detailed view of the floor plan that’s displayed on the table. You can pick up the tablet to provide a 3-D view of that same information, then manipulate your position on the blueprint in the tablet by touching a different point on the smart table. This could foreseeably be convenient for a contractor to show a client details of a space or project — the contractor can manipulate the client’s view on the tablet by tapping on the smart table, guiding them through the project detail by detail, without needing to zoom out on the tablet to figure out where you are in the blueprint again. All you have to do is glance down at the table to see that.
But mobile OS developers themselves have also started implementing features that are bringing us towards a completely integrated computing experience.
HP’s webOS could have offered a really convenient way to share and sync data between devices (before HP killed off its mobile hardware division, that is). The “Touch to Share” feature allowed things like open web pages to be shared between webOS devices like the HP TouchPad and the Veer smartphone with a simple nearby wave.
We’ve also seen that Apple is taking steps toward making seamless computing a reality. Apple’s iCloud service will help make data a non-issue as you switch from one device to another, and iOS 5 will have AirPlay mirroring, so you can wirelessly stream video on your iPad to a larger display. A patent for projection technology, with a feature that allows for information to be swapped from one projected display to another, is another forward-looking implementation of the concept. And if rumors prove true, Apple’s got some sort of revolutionary television up its sleeve that would have iOS integration. You could use your iPhone as a controller for games using its accelerometer and gyroscope, easily swipe what’s playing on your iPad to the TV, and then back to your phone or MacBook Air.
Samsung, which makes a variety of smartphones, televisions, and tablets, is another solid contender for developing its own in-house, completely seamless computing experience. Though it isn’t remarkably popular here in the U.S., the company could use its Bada operating system across its devices to unify the experience and allow for information to easily be shared, swiped and synced between devices.
With its new Tablet S and Tablet P, e-readers, and televisions, Sony is another company that could break into the space if a software platform was unified across its different devices.
There’s obvious incentive for companies to provide a high degree of compatibility and integration between its devices — it means you’re more likely to buy more of their products, rather than their competitors. Customer loyalty.
Currently, Apple is the only one who seems to really be taking advantage of this in-house, but as Nsquared’s video shows, it could certainly be accomplished with other-brand devices.
Welcome to Engadget’s Back to School guide! We know that this time of year can be pretty annoying and stressful for everyone, so we’re here to help out with the heartbreaking process of gadget buying for the school-aged crowd. Today, we’re getting our game on — and you can head to the Back to School hub to see the rest of the product guides as they’re added throughout the month. Be sure to keep checking back — at the end of the month we’ll be giving away a ton of the gear featured in our guides — and hit up the hub page right here!
Let’s be honest, balancing coursework with recreation is just as important as maintaining a balanced food diet — perhaps even more. After you spend countless hours hitting the books, cramming for tests, and writing papers, you’re just going to need something to turn your brain to mush. Don’t worry, we have just the thing: video games. It doesn’t matter how many midterms you have, we’re sure we can find something to help you slack off. Of course, it’s not going to be easy; you’ll have to wait until next semester (at least) to get your hands on the PlayStation Vita, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t have options now. Jump past the break — we can probably help you find something to get you through mid-terms with your sanity intact. Don’t want to shell out cash to have fun this semester? Enter our back to school sweepstakes! Simply leave a comment below for a chance to win, and drop by our giveaway page for more details.
Windows Phone 7.5 will be wearing more Mac-friendly pajamas when it comes. Microsoft’s Connector app just got updated to Version 2.0 and it enables both Marketplace support and ringtone transfers for Mango-equipped handsets. It also packs some other improvements which already work with WP 7.0, including drag-and-drop file importing from the Browse Device window, better backup and restore operations, and full sync and import support for Apple Aperture software. Connector 2.0 is ready and waiting at the App Store and Mango should poke its head around the mountain any day.
REDMOND, Washington — Deep inside Microsoft is the brain of a mad scientist.
You might not think so, given the banality of the company’s ubiquitous products: Windows, Office, Hotmail, Exchange Server, Active Directory. The days are long past when this kind of software could light up anyone’s imagination, except maybe an accountant’s.
But Microsoft has an innovative side that’s still capable of producing surprises. In fact, Microsoft spends more than $9 billion a year, and employs tens of thousands of people in research and development alone. While most of that goes toward coding the next versions of the company’s major products, a lot gets funneled into pure research and cutting-edge engineering.
Much of that work happens in Building 99 and Studio B here on Microsoft’s campus.
Building 99 is a think tank in the classic sense: It’s a beautifully-designed building packed to the gills with hundreds of scientists — about half of Microsoft’s researchers work here. In the middle is a tall, airy atrium designed by the architect to facilitate collaboration and the kind of chance meetings that can lead to serendipitous discoveries.
Many of the brainiacs who work in Building 99 are researching areas of computer science that may not have relevance to Microsoft’s bottom line for years, if ever. Heck, they may not have relevance to anything, ever, but the fundamental premise of basic research is that for every dozen, or hundred, or thousand off-the-wall projects, there’s one invention that turns out to be fabulously important and lucrative.
In fact, you only need one hit to make billions of dollars in research pay off, even if you waste the rest of the good ideas. As Malcolm Gladwell argued recently, Xerox, which is often derided for failing to take advantage of a series of amazing inventions at its Palo Alto Research Center, actually saw huge returns from just one invention: the laser printer. Against that, it’s not necessarily a bad thing that Xerox PARC was home to hundreds of useless research projects, or that Xerox never figured out what to do with some of its research, like the graphical user interface.
A few hundred yards away, in Hardware Studio B, the rubber gets a little closer to the road. An impressive, multistory curtain of LEDs hangs in the lobby, displaying some sort of interactive art that responds to movement and sounds in the space, while employees enjoy a game of pingpong. The rest of the building is more prosaic, with surplus computers stacked up in the unused back sections of long, windowless corridors.
It’s here that hardware engineers carve 3-D mock-ups, create prototypes, test and refine circuitry, and get products ready for the market. A high-concept idea that originates in the rarefied ideas of Building 99 (hey! wouldn’t it be cool if your computer were a giant touchscreen table?) may get turned into an actual product in the hardware studio (hello, Microsoft Surface).
Wired recently toured both buildings to see some of the work Microsoft scientists and engineers are doing to invent the computer interfaces of the future.
According to ComScore, out of the 82.2 million people in the US with a smartphone (up ten percent from last quarter), Android came in first as the biggest platform yet again, capturing a whopping 41.8 percent of the market like a boss. In a not-so-close second, Apple was able to snag 27 percent, followed by RIM in the third place spot with 21.7 percent — down 4 percentage points from last quarter. Pulling up the rear is Microsoft with 5.7 percent, and lastly Symbian with a grim 1.9 percent — both down when compared to the previous three months. As far as US hardware manufacturers goes, Samsung is still on top with 25.5 percent of the market, while LG got 20.9 percent and finally Motorola with 14.1 percent, down 1.5 percentage points from before. Apple was able to snag some standing in the OEM space with a 9.5 percent share, while BlackBerry-maker RIM only captured 7.6 percent. As the battle wages on, looks like Androids, iPhones, and BlackBerrys (oh my) are still on top — at least for this quarter. Check out the PR after the break for the full scorecard.
This article was written on February 13, 2007 by CyberNet.
When we last talked about DivShare, they had just introduced file searching ability, and MP3 streaming. We left off when they were getting ready to allow users to embed MP3’s onto their blogs or websites. So, here we are a few weeks later with several new features which is why DivShare continues to get two-thumbs up from us.
They’ve only been around for two months, and yet they already have 14,000 registered accounts, and they’re hosting 100,000 live files. Another interesting stat is that they just filled up their first terabyte of storage, so they’ll be adding a second storage server.
The newest feature that was just introduced yesterday is the Upload Progress Bar. Before, there was an animated bar that kept on moving so that you knew it was still active, however there was no way of knowing how much it had uploaded, how much was left to download, and the amount of time it will take. The image below shows what the new progress bar looks like. This will be especially useful with larger downloads.
Another recently added addition is the Referer Tracking which will let you know who is linking to your files. DivShare will track the five most recent refers for every file that you have uploaded, and that information will be displayed on your download page.
Now, going back to the embedded MP3 onto blogs or websites, this feature went live January 28th. This feature alone sets DivShare apart from many other file sharing websites. The player looks great, and uses Macromedia’s Flash to play the file.
With all of the new features, we’re left to wonder what will come next. They’ve already given a clue by saying to get your avatar’s ready, because they’re going social. But aside from that, it could be just about anything. Could video uploads possibly be next? They already allow 200MB uploads which is plenty of room for many movies. It would be great if they didn’t restrict the size for uploads in general, because then they’d be a truly unlimited service.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
