Feb 14

Adobe confirms no Flash in Windows Mobile 7 (updated)

Posted in: adobe, breaking news, BreakingNews, flash, mwc, mwc 2010, Mwc2010, rumor, Today's Chili, windows phone, windows phone 7, windows phone 7 series, WindowsPhone, WindowsPhone7, WindowsPhone7Series

Look, it’s pretty clear that Windows Mobile 7 will be revealed by Microsoft at Mobile World Congress. We’ve been feeding on a veritable feast of WinMo7 rumors for several months now all pointing to Steve Ballmer’s keynote scheduled for 3PM Barcelona time (9AM in New York). Now Adobe has issued a statement apparently confirming what we’ve already heard: Windows Mobile 7 will not support Flash. Unfortunately, the actual quote carried by Phone Scoop doesn’t mention Windows Phone 7:

“Microsoft and Adobe are working closely together. While the newest version of Windows Phone won’t support Flash at initial availability, both companies are working to include a browser plug-in for the full Flash player in future versions of Windows Phone. More details will be shared at Microsoft MIX next month.”

Of course, the “newest version of Windows Phone” is technically 6.5.3 — a WinMo update recently announced (but hasn’t shipped) and presumably still works with Flash 10.1 beta (but isn’t guaranteed). And since we can’t find the Adobe statement on any of its usual press channels, we can’t say for sure this quote is related to Windows Mobile 7. Still, we don’t doubt the accuracy of Phone Scoop so don’t get your hopes up for Flash in the initial builds of Windows Mobile 7 Windows Phone 7 Series devices.

Update: Sorry kids, we have independent confirmation: Windows Phone 7 will not support Flash at initial launch.

Adobe confirms no Flash in Windows Mobile 7 (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Feb 2010 20:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Feb 14

New Samsung chips bring HD image sensors to slimmer, smarter mobiles

Posted in: camera, mwc, mwc 2010, Mwc2010, processor, samsung, sensor, smartphone, Today's Chili

In case you haven’t noticed, Mobile World Congress is upon us, and you can bet that Samsung is here in a big way. The outfit is kicking things off with a couple of low-key releases: the S5K4E2 and S5K5CA CMOS image sensors. The former is a 5 megapixel chip that utilizes Samsung’s own Enhanced Energy Steering technology and can capture video at up to 15 frames per second. We’re told that it’s also pretty darn good at reducing noise, and better still, it can slip into some of the slimmest and smallest handsets this world has ever seen. Moving on, there’s the S5K5CA SoC imager, a 3 megapixel chip that combines both the image signal processor (ISP) with the CMOS image sensor. As the story goes, this one’s some 25 percent smaller than prior 3 megapixel chips and the 720p video capture capabilities aren’t too shabby, either. Both slabs are expected to hit mass production later this year, so go ahead and get ready to break the bad news to your existing cameraphone now. It’s better this way, we promise.

New Samsung chips bring HD image sensors to slimmer, smarter mobiles originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Feb 2010 19:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Feb 14

Sony Ericsson X10 mini and X10 mini pro hands-on with video

Posted in: hands-on, mwc, mwc 2010, Mwc2010, Sony Ericsson, SonyEricsson, Today's Chili
We’re kinda chuffed about Sony Ericsson’s showing this year at MWC, and between the three launched sets — Vivaz pro, X10 mini, and X10 mini pro — this little QWERTY stands out as the best of the bunch. The idea behind the X10 mini series, of course, is to have all the features and functionality of the larger X10 in a small package designed with one-handed use in mind. The keypad is surprisingly pleasant and not cramped (provided you aren’t equipped with baseball bat-sized fingers) as it looks and the key feedback is really great. The UI is generally snappy in most apps we saw, though we did see a bit of sluggishness while playing with the Timescape feature; with some months til launch, we can at least hope for some improvement there. The phone’s back is soft touch plastic — the mini is a smooth plastic, by contrast — and the face is the glossiest finish imaginable. As you can guess, that means it’s a fingerprint magnet — so if you worry about that type of thing, bring a cloth to keep it lovely. We’re absolutely stoked to get our hands on one of these for review for you as soon as possible, but until that fateful moment arrives, the gallery and vid after the break will have to do.

Gallery: Sony Ericsson X10 mini and X10 mini pro hands-on

Continue reading Sony Ericsson X10 mini and X10 mini pro hands-on with video

Sony Ericsson X10 mini and X10 mini pro hands-on with video originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Feb 2010 19:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Feb 14

Sony Ericsson Vivaz pro hands-on

Posted in: ericsson, hands-on, mwc, mwc 2010, Mwc2010, qwerty, sony, Sony Ericsson, SonyEricsson, Today's Chili

It kinda got buried beneath the X10 mini and mini pro, but Sony Ericsson went ahead and threw us a Symbian-flavored bone this evening with the Vivaz pro. The phone’s nearly a dead ringer for its non-pro doppelganger — the original Vivaz — but it adds a claimed 2 millimeters of thickness, which we found to be nearly imperceptible when you’re holding it or gazing in its direction. We’ll admit this is a better looking phone (along with the Vivaz) in person than we’d figured from the press shots, but we’re still not sure we’d buy in — the UI feels a little bit like a warmed-over S60 5th Edition, unlike the X10’s thorough reworking of Android. If anything, this could very well be an N97 mini killer, especially considering the keyboard’s decency — just check out that centered spacebar! Enjoy a few more shots of the phone in Sony Ericsson’s ridiculously under-lit venue (it’s a nightclub, in case you couldn’t tell) below.

Gallery: Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro hands-on

Sony Ericsson Vivaz pro hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Feb 2010 18:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Feb 14

Notion Ink Adam gets detailed, pictured in its latest form

Posted in: e reader, e-book reader, E-bookReader, mwc, mwc 2010, Mwc2010, tablet, tegra, tegra 2, Tegra2, Today's Chili
The folks from Notion Ink certainly haven’t been shy about showing off their Adam tablet in prototype form, but they unfortunately haven’t been revealing anything more than the most basic specs. That’s now changed with MWC, however, which seems to have made Notion Ink quite a bit more talkative. As we’d heard previously, the Adam is Tegra 2-based with a dual-core ARM CORTEX -A9 processor, and it packs a 10-inch transflective screen with a 1,024 x 600 resolution courtesy of Pixel Qi. Also now confirmed is a swiveling 3-megapixel camera, three USB ports, an HDMI out for full 1080p video, a promised 16 hours of battery life, built-in WiFi, 3G and Bluetooth, and some welcome touches like an ambient light sensor, a proximity sensor and, of course, an accelerometer. As you can see above, the device has also undergone yet more changes from the last prototype we saw at CES, and you can check out a few more pics (and the rest of the specs) by hitting up the links below.

[Thanks, Prateek and Nasman]

Notion Ink Adam gets detailed, pictured in its latest form originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Feb 2010 18:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Feb 14

Sir Howard Stringer and friends show off Sony Ericsson’s new handsets

Posted in: Android, ericsson, mwc, mwc 2010, Mwc2010, sony, Sony Ericsson, SonyEricsson, symbian, Today's Chili

A gaggle of higher-ups from Sony Ericsson stuck around after the conclusion of today’s event to show off the X10 mini, X10 mini pro, and Vivaz pro in person, and we seriously can’t stress this enough: the mini twins are small. Well, either that, or the men holding them were gigantic — but we’re pretty sure it’s the former since we got around to spending some quality time with the mini pro and continued to be blown away by its diminutive stature. Rikko Sakaguchi (pictured left) had two colors of the mini plus a Vivaz pro, while Lennard Hoornik was rockin’ the original X10 plus a mini pro. We’ll be honest: the company’s platform strategy is as meandering and muddled as ever, but with designs like this in the pipeline, they’ll definitely be demanding their fair share of attention over the next few months. See a bunch more shots of the execs handling the phones in the gallery below.

Gallery: Sir Howard Stringer and friends show off Sony Ericsson’s new handsets

Sir Howard Stringer and friends show off Sony Ericsson’s new handsets originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Feb 2010 16:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Feb 14

Samsung i8520 ‘Halo’ Android 2.1 phone with 3.7-inch Super AMOLED and pico projector (updated)

Posted in: Android, breaking news, BreakingNews, mwc, mwc 2010, Mwc2010, samsung, Today's Chili

While Samsung is desperate for us and the world to focus on its very first Bada device — the Wave S8500 — we found something a bit more interesting for Google fans. Tucked away in the depths of a spec sheet is Samsung’s unannounced i8520 phone running Android 2.1. After quizzing a team of perplexed executives of increasing rank, a VP from Samsung’s mobile division finally told us that it’ll be revealed as the “Halo” tomorrow when the show floor opens. Looking at the spec sheet then, the i8520 Halo packs a 3.7-inch WVGA Super AMOLED display (bigger than the Wave’s 3.3-incher), 8 megapixel autofocus camera with flash (VGA on the front), 720p / 30fps video encoding / decoding, DivX and Xvid playback support, Bluetooth 2.1, standard 3.5mm headphone jack, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, A-GPS, 16GB of internal storage and microSD expansion, stereo speakers, DLNA support, and — get this — a DLP pico projector integrated. The spec-sheet also lists a “Specialized Projector UI” as one of the features, suggesting it’ll look a little different when you toss it up onto the big screen. This quad-band GSM / EDGE phone with tri-band UMTS 900 / 1900 / 2100 will ship in Q3 to Europe and Asia with a chance for a US version at some point later. We’ll bring you more tomorrow just as soon as we get through all this paella.

Note: Even though the i8520 clearly seems to run the same UI as the Bada-powered Wave, we’ve been assured by multiple people in Samsung — including a VP in the Mobile division — that it is, in fact, running Android 2.1. That ties in nicely with the fact that Bada’s graphical representation comes through as a new cut of TouchWiz, so it makes sense these guys would want to port the same look and feel to other platforms. Also of note is the fact that we couldn’t confirm from the company that it’s got a projector on board, but there’s plenty of evidence to suggest it does: the so-called Specialized Projector UI, the fact that the 14.9mm girth is likely thick enough to swallow the necessary optics, and — of course — the big DLP logo on back. We’ll bring out the final details just as soon as we know ’em.

Update: Images confirm it, Halo is a projector phone!

Gallery: Samsung i8520 ‘Halo’ Android 2.1 phone with 3.7-inch Super AMOLED and pico projector

Samsung i8520 ‘Halo’ Android 2.1 phone with 3.7-inch Super AMOLED and pico projector (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Feb 2010 15:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Feb 14

Samsung Wave first hands-on: Bada-packed and super fast (video!)

Posted in: feature, Features, hands-on, HandsOn, mwc, mwc 2010, Mwc2010, samsung, Today's Chili

Well, we just had our first encounter with Samsung’s new Bada-sporting Wave handset. We’ll say this to start… the screen is gorgeous, and the phone itself is super fast. No hesitation almost anywhere, but it’s hard to make a judgment call at this point. A lot of the software seemed unfinished, and we saw a few crashes and weird behavior. Still, it’s clearly a device capable of handling some pretty intense work, and a Samsung rep we spoke to wanted to emphasize its ability to multitask. We were also told that the phone has more than 512MB of RAM, which is notable for a device of this type. We’re going to play with it a bit more and flesh out our impressions, but for now feast your eyes on the gallery… and check the video after the break!

A few more takeaways (with some input from senior editor Thomas Ricker):

  • Overall the device feels like a glorified feature phone, and speaking to some other tech folks here, that feeling seemed to be common. There just doesn’t seem to be a lot to it that we haven’t seen in other Samsung devices, especially considering the TouchWiz integration.
  • There was an issue with flipping the keyboard from portrait to landscape — as we said the phone is early, so this may change, but we had to leave an app and reopen in the other orientation to get it working. We also noticed that there doesn’t seem to be word prediction in place right now.
  • The browser is redirecting to WAP pages, so it was hard to see what the results were. We also thought the buttons were in a very odd place, making it a bit hard to navigate.
  • The display wasn’t always responding to touches, and at least one unit completely froze on us.
  • For those asking, from the looks of things (and the press release) there is no multitouch on this device. Correction… we just tried pinching and zooming on the phone and while it did create some kind of zoom result, it also kept giving us an error! Furthermore, when we tried to load an image heavy site, it forced the phone into its task manager mode and made us close all applications before we could proceed with using the phone. Clearly there is work to be done.

Gallery: Samsung Wave first hands-on

Continue reading Samsung Wave first hands-on: Bada-packed and super fast (video!)

Samsung Wave first hands-on: Bada-packed and super fast (video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Feb 2010 14:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Feb 14

Samsung shows off LTE-packing netbooks at MWC

Posted in: 4G, breaking news, BreakingNews, laptop, Laptops, lte, mwc, mwc 2010, Mwc2010, netbook, netbooks, samsung, Today's Chili

Samsung‘s just busted out some more news from MWC, and one of the hottest items on offer are its LTE netbooks — the first ever. Sammy’s showing off the previously launched 10.1-inch N150, NB30, and N220 — all with the same specs otherwise, but now packing the company’s own, in-house designed Kalmia LTE modem chipset. There’s no word yet as to when we can expect to see one of these bad boys on the market (though we certainly expect them to show up this year) — so far, Samsung’s only saying it’ll deploy them “according to service schedule and market demand.” You don’t say? Check the full press release which is after the break (which includes each model’s specs).

Continue reading Samsung shows off LTE-packing netbooks at MWC

Samsung shows off LTE-packing netbooks at MWC originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Feb 2010 14:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Feb 14

Sony Ericsson outs Xperia X10 mini and Xperia X10 mini pro

Posted in: breaking news, BreakingNews, mwc, mwc 2010, Mwc2010, Sony Ericsson, SonyEricsson, Today's Chili, xperia
We’d heard a few whispers of Sony Ericsson’s Xperia X10 mini, but frankly, the X10 mini pro here comes as a bit of a surprise. The sets are nearly identical with the exception of launch colors — the mini will ship in black, pearl white, lime, pink, red and silver, while the mini pro features just black and red — a minuscule size difference, and the pro packing a QWERTY keyboard. The X10 twins run Android 1.6 (though with the time to market gap we’ve come to expect from SE this could change) on a 600MHz Qualcomm MSM7227 and will ship in both North American and global 3G variants with quad-band EDGE, WiFi, Bluetooth, and a pack-in 2GB microSD card. As far as OS tweaks are concerned, Sony Ericsson’s Timescape is being touted as a major feature that enables all your communications with contacts to be accessed in one place making it simple to access to call history, Facebook, Twitter, messaging, and the like. Four-corner control also gets a mention and is basically user-customizable shortcut icons placed — not surprisingly — in each corner of the device’s 2.5-inch QVGA touchscreen display. Both phones’ launch dates are set for sometime in Q2 this year.

Continue reading Sony Ericsson outs Xperia X10 mini and Xperia X10 mini pro

Sony Ericsson outs Xperia X10 mini and Xperia X10 mini pro originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Feb 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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