Hasta La Gadget!

Never mind the Magic — we’ve run across another Android device lurking in the midst at MWC, and if you squint, you might just see some HTC influence in this one, too. We’d heard General Mobile’s dual-SIM DSTL1 would launch here, granted, but given its reasonably high-end look and the fact that we’d only seen renders ahead of the show, you have to appreciate our skepticism. Of course, we’re delighted to be proven wrong in these sorts of situations, and we had a chance to play around with a DSTL1 today; WQVGA feels weak and there might be just a little too much Touch Diamond influence, but you have to respect the 5 megapixel AF cam, 4GB of internal storage plus microSD expansion, dual SIM slots, and on-board FM radio. Ultimately, the fact that this thing’ll only be available in two tri-band EDGE flavors kills the dream, but goodness, these guys are getting close, aren’t they? Follow the break for video!

Continue reading General Mobile’s DSTL1 Android phone eyes-on

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

General Mobile’s DSTL1 Android phone eyes-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Feb 2009 13:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The talk this week at Mobile World Congress has been largely positive about Microsoft’s latest iteration of its smartphone UI, Windows Mobile 6.5. Still, some of us at Engadget (well, one of us, at least), feel like the folks in Redmond missed the mark by a longshot. Instead of demonstrating its technical prowess and vast resources, Microsoft limped out a half-hearted rehash of an OS we’ve seen all too much of, and managed to blind most onlookers with a storm of big time partnerships and bloated PR. While their major competitors (and even some allies) in the mobile space seem bent on changing ideas about how we interact with our portable devices, the company proved once again that it’s content to rest on its laurels and learn little from its mistakes.

To give you another side of the story — a side which I think Microsoft has done an immaculate job of hiding this week — here’s ten reasons why Windows Mobile 6.5 disappoints.

Continue reading Editorial: Ten reasons why Windows Mobile 6.5 misses the mark

Filed under: Cellphones

Editorial: Ten reasons why Windows Mobile 6.5 misses the mark originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Feb 2009 12:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Technically, i-mate’s only official announcement at MWC this year is the mega-rugged 810-F that’ll withstand 140 degrees of heat, 14 degrees of cold, water resistance, and shock resistance courtesy of a nasty rubber casing, but it’s certainly not going to appeal to the average consumer — especially consumers who aren’t wearing clown pants with one-liter pockets. So to that end, the company is also showing off a Windows Mobile Standard device codenamed “Centurion” — and we’re pretty sure this is the most compelling device i-mate has ever made. The version we saw was literally the first working prototype they’ve assembled, which meant it was creaky, wobbly, and felt like it could break at a moment’s notice, but we’re not taking too much stock in that; the more important thing to note is that it’s freakin’ tiny. The keyboard was too mushy from its overwhelming prototype-ness to take stock of whether it’ll actually be usable in production, but our quick impression gives us hope that it might be wide enough to get the job done. The battery is absolutely tiny, so i-mate will be throwing in a battery wallet (remember the Upstage?) to help mitigate the problem — they didn’t have a wallet ready to show, but even with such an accessory tacked on, you’re still looking at a smartphone leaps and bounds smaller than pretty much anything else you’ve used. There’s no date on the Centurion’s launch, but they’re targeting mid-year — and yes, both the 810-F and Centurion will get free Windows Mobile 6.5 upgrades. Cheers to that.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

i-mate’s 810F and Centurion handled with wild abandon originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Feb 2009 06:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Freeplay‘s ZipCharge has already made its debut, but it’s showing itself once more at Mobile World Congress now that it has a definitive ship date and price. For those out of the loop, this here power stick can charge up in just ten minutes, and the supplied cable provides all sorts of tips to juice up whatever random gadget you have laying around (Palm’s Foleo notwithstanding). The device is expected to splash down on store shelves this April for around £60 ($85), and you can peek a few more hands-on shots in the read link below.

Filed under: Peripherals

Freeplay’s ZipCharge spotted, priced and dated originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Feb 2009 05:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung sure has made some high claims about its OmniaHD supermegaphone, and now we’ve got some HD footage and stills to put those claims to the test. The camera does seem pretty stellar for a phone, and the video is undoubtedly HD, but we saw pretty sluggish performance in the HD recording mode, both in the on-screen preview and in the finished product. We’ll chalk that up to the super-early build of the device software, but hopefully this will be resolved before the phone ships. The phone also does ultra-slowmotion video, which is awesome, but seems similarly inconsistent and stuttery in frame rate. We’ll shut up and let you see it all for yourself, both in the gallery below and the videos after the break. Again, this is all from a pre-production phone, and we’re really expecting (or at least hoping for) the frame rate to smooth out by launch. The video was shot in 720p, but it was downsampled for web playback — it looks pretty sharp in native form, and the first image in the gallery is a screencap from the video in full resolution for your perusal.

Continue reading Samsung OmniaHD’s camera put to the test

Filed under: Cellphones, Digital Cameras, Handhelds, HDTV

Samsung OmniaHD’s camera put to the test originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Feb 2009 19:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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