Hasta La Gadget!

Today at Mobile World Congress, Option (makers of some of AT&T’s USB modems) announced “uCan,” a new USB modem platform that rolls together drivers and applications on a flash-based modem stick.

The idea is a lot like the U3 platform. If you plug a uCan modem into a PC – any PC – that PC then gets configured to access the Internet. The dashboard you see at left will pop up on your PC, giving you access to the uCan’s built-in apps. You can run applications off the uCan without touching the PC’s settings or leaving any trace. You save your documents on the uCan, too.

uCan modems will be sold and configured by wireless carriers, and the carriers (in other words, AT&T) will get to decide what programs go on the stick. If the carrier allows, you may also be able to install your own programs onto the uCan.

uCan modems will appear before June, Option says. They didn’t mention a price.

So it’s not totally clear to us why you’d wait for this thing over a C905 that you could buy today, but once again, that’s the confusion behind Sony Ericsson’s Cyber-shot / Walkman branding that they’re claiming they hope to clear up going forward — it’s just that the W995 isn’t really a step in that direction, and we weren’t huge fans of the chicklet-sized nav keys up front. That being said, it seems like a fine phone overall — the display looks crisp and vivid, the interface was relatively snappy, and there’s little to complain about having an 8.1 megapixel autofocus cam at your disposal. Click on for a quick shot at the UI in action!

Continue reading Sony Ericsson W995 video hands-on

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Sony Ericsson W995 video hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 15 Feb 2009 21:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Windows Mobile 6.5’s presumably going to be the big news out of Redmond here at MWC this week, but Microsoft’s also using the show as an opportunity to launch the “technology preview” of its Recite software, an ultra-simple voice note app for WinMo 6.0 and above. The concept is one of those “I can’t believe I didn’t think of that” moments, actually: one button records your quick notes, and the magic happens with a second button that you use to search your previously recorded notes by voice. For example, you can record “Sean Cooper’s birthday is May 22” and later search on “Sean,” “Sean Cooper,” “birthday,” or any combination of words you’ve mentioned in the note to recall it. Doesn’t get much more straightforward than that — and happily, you’ll pay a big, fat goose egg for the privilege of grabbing it. It’s a beta product, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing: Microsoft’s trying to gather feedback on how awesome (or not awesome) it is before deciding how to use it going forward, so give it hell and let ’em know what you think.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Microsoft Recite brings voice search to your voice notes originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 15 Feb 2009 16:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So, we played around with the new Windows Mobile-sportin’ nuvifone M20 from Garmin-Asus this evening, but there’s really not much to say: the software is barely even alpha at this point. Most every tap or swipe of the screen was met with a two or more second delay, and we managed to crash a couple of the phones. That said, it’s clear that Garmin-Asus aren’t just adding a pretty launcher to Windows Mobile and calling it a day, there’s some good navigation and location-based stuff happening here, and we look forward to playing around with it all once it’s closer to reality. We don’t look forward to meeting the resistive touch screen a second time, but we’ll just have to live with that fact — at least the Garmin-Asus apps are all touch-optimized, but you might have to pull out the stylus for a gander at the rest of Windows Mobile 6.1.

Update: Official media handed out for the M20 reveals a small handful of new screen shots, mainly a swanky new media player and calling screen that really don’t say a damned thing about the M20’s deep-rooted nav capabilities. Thing is, when you have a winged disco ball, you can get away with bending a whole lotta rules — but yeah, this is one phone where we think we’d rather let the hardware do the talking.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Garmin-Asus nuvifone M20 hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 15 Feb 2009 14:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We didn’t doubt it for a second (okay, maybe one second), but Sony’s so-called Idou is for real. Though, we wouldn’t go memorizing that name or anything, ’cause SE has plans to change it to something more commercial before summer. At any rate, the touchscreen-heavy handset — which will run Symbian Foundation at launch — does indeed sport a 12.1 megapixel shooter (which was hinted at last November), which sort of makes the also-just-official Samsung Memoir seem a bit dated already. It’s funny too, as the only dozen megapixeler we were actually expecting at this show was from Samsung. We’re still waiting on the minutiae, but we do know that it will pack a 3.5-inch panel (640 x 320 resolution; no word on capacitive or resistive) and “full media consumption,” a phrase we’re still struggling to digest. More as we get it!

Filed under: Cellphones

Sony Ericsson gets official with “Idou” 12 megapixel mobile originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 15 Feb 2009 13:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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