Hasta La Gadget!

Fair’s fair, right? The last time we spoke, we gave you all ample opportunity to tell webOS’ new owners how revision 2.0 should be changed, and now that Microsoft’s latest and greatest has been on the open market for a few months, it’s time to do the same with Windows Phone 7. It’s obvious that WP7 is a huge, huge leap forward over Windows Mobile, but as a fledgling mobile OS, there are naturally quite a few areas where improvements could be made. If you were blessed with the ability to magically wave a wand and change anything about Windows Phone 7, what would it be? Would you tweak how the email notification system works? Alter how the tiles are laid out? Make it just a bit more like the Kin? Go on and spill your heart below — you’re an early adopter, you’ve earned the right.

How would you change Windows Phone 7? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Jan 2011 22:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The only hard news we’ve seen from Microsoft regarding Windows Phone 7 sales was less than revealing, but it seems that LG is stepping out from the behind the curtain a bit to let us in on how things are going — from its perspective, anyway. In a sit-down with the folks over at Pocket-lint, LG’s marketing strategy and planning team director James Choi noted: “From an industry perspective we had a high expectation, but from a consumer point of view the visibility is less than we expected.” Nothing too shocking there, but he followed up by noting that LG feels Windows Phone 7 “is absolutely perfect for a huge segment out there.” Perhaps more shocking was this tidbit: “What we feel is that some people believe that some operating systems, mainly Google, are extremely complicated for them; but Windows Phone 7 is very intuitive and easy to use.” He followed his not-terribly-subtle Android jab with a WP7 jab, oddly enough, noting that “for tech guys, [WP7] might be a little bit boring after a week or two, but there are certain segments that it really appeals to.” What’s left unclear is exactly how much support LG is going to give Microsoft after launching the Optimus 7, but we’re guessing that next month’s outlay at Mobile World Congress will be a huge indication. Naturally, we’ll be there with our eyes peeled.

LG: Windows Phone 7 launch did not meet expectations, still a fine OS for ‘a huge segment’ originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Jan 2011 09:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re kind of getting used to Intel setting records with its earnings this year, and it capped off its 2010 with another killer quarter. With $11.5 billion in revenue, and a total of $43.6 billion for the year (up 24 percent from last year), Intel is naturally riding high. There’s danger lurking on the horizon, however, with Microsoft announcing at CES that the next version of Windows will also run on ARM chips, potentially ending a decades-long x86 dominance in the desktop OS space. Naturally, the topic came up in the earnings call, and here’s Intel CEO Paul Otellini’s level-headed statement on the topic:

The plus for Intel is that as they unify their operating systems we now have the ability for the first time, one, to have a designed-from-scratch, touch-enabled operating system for tablets that runs on Intel that we don’t have today; and, secondly, we have the ability to put our lowest-power Intel processors, running Windows 8 or the next generation of Windows, into phones, because it’s the same OS stack. And I look at that as an upside opportunity for us.

On the downside, there’s the potential, given that Office runs on these products, for some creep-up coming into the PC space. I am skeptical of that for two reasons: one, that space has a different set of power and performance requirements where Intel is exceptionally good; and secondly, users of those machines expect legacy support for software and peripherals that has to all be enabled from scratch for those devices.

After careful analysis of Paul’s voice, we couldn’t detect any hints of panic or fear in it, and we buy about 50+ percent of what he’s putting down — a lot better than we expected, to be honest. It’s very interesting that he sees the new version of Windows being a “designed-from-scratch, touch-enabled operating system for tablets,” and the idea of Windows Phone running on regular Windows is also news to us — though it certainly makes plenty of sense in the long run (and perhaps Ballmer has been hinting at it). Still, Intel has just as much of a disadvantage making a phone processor as ARM guys have a disadvantage at making high-powered PC processors, and when it comes to legacy support, they’ll at least be on pretty equal footing when it comes to a “designed-from-scratch” tablet OS. No matter what, Intel certainly has a great roadmap and a ton of cash right now, so we look forward to a fair CPU fight on all sides of the form factor coin.

Intel CEO Paul Otellini addresses Microsoft’s ARM move in the wake of record earnings announcement originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Jan 2011 20:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you fancy yourself a codec nerd then you’ll love a tongue-in-cheek piece penned by Tim Sneath, Senior Director of Windows and Web Evangelism at Microsoft. Sneath, posing as the President of the United States of Google, calls for Esperanto (aka, WebM) to replace English (aka, H.264) in order to foster global peace and understanding.

Though English plays an important role in speech today, as our goal is to enable open innovation, its further use as a form of communication in this country will be prohibited and our resources directed towards languages that are untainted by real-world usage.

Brilliantly played following Google’s announcement to drop H.264 from Chrome. Esperanto, as you might recall, was the universal second language designed in 1887 to facilitate international communication. Something that never quite worked out judging by the preponderance of English spoken by humans everywhere except Parisian cafes and taxi cabs.

Microsoft mocks Google, likens WebM to failed Esperanto language originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Jan 2011 05:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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CES: part tech fest, part carnival, and all fun. Sadly we couldn’t bring you everything we saw in the booths as they’re so full and have become so immense that we’d need the entire week to take it all in; we did, however, drop by a few of the showier booths and take a handful of pics of each for your ocular entertainment. So without further ado, hop past the break and see what the likes of Samsung, Microsoft, Intel, Sharp, Panasonic, and more had to offer at CES 2011.

Continue reading CES 2011 booth tours: the best of the rest

CES 2011 booth tours: the best of the rest originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Jan 2011 19:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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