Hasta La Gadget!

If your N900 is in need of a little more excitement, this post is for you. First up is word of a new firmware release (3.2010.02-8 (PR 1.1.1)), 16.2MB worth of apparently minor changes along with a slew of new regions, the inclusion of which may mean good things for those who haven’t been granted to this smartphone yet. If that’s not enough for you, at MWC Nokia is showing off some new apps for the handset, the most notable being a couple of 3D games that look a wee bit simplistic in terms of gameplay but don’t disappoint in terms of graphics. No word on when exactly these will be hitting Ovi Store — well, nothing more specific than “soon.” Video after the break (of the games, not the firmware update).

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Nokia N900 gets new firmware, new games coming too (video)

Nokia N900 gets new firmware, new games coming too (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Feb 2010 07:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC HD mini hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Feb 2010 07:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Windows 7 Phone Series, the brand new (and great) cellphone OS from Microsoft, will ship without support for Adobe’s Flash. WinMo 7 joins Apple’s iPhone and iPad in ignoring the widely used browser plugin. Could this be the end for the annoying, processor-hungry runtime?

In an email sent to Information week, an Adobe spokesperson said the following:

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.

We’re sure that Adobe wants to put Flash onto Windows Phone 7, but perhaps Microsoft would prefer to use its own Silverlight plugin instead. This news comes with ironic timing: Adobe has finally announced Flash for Google’s Android platform, although we’ll have to see if it takes off.

These shenanigans really hurt nobody but Adobe. The fewer new platforms that support Flash, the better, for the consumer at least. We might miss out on Hulu in the short term, but if you think website owners and content providers are committed to Flash itself, you’re nuts. If the world moves on, they’ll just re-code their sites, especially as HTML 5 has native support for video, the main use for Flash on the web.

In the meantime, as Adobe’s tech gradually fades away, we can enjoy cooler machines, less browser crashes and longer battery life.

Windows Mobile 7 Won’t Get Flash [Information Week]

Photo: Charlie Sorrel

See Also:

• Hands-On With Windows Phone 7 Series
• Microsoft Blends Zune Media, Xbox Live Into New Phone OS

BARCELONA, Spain — Cellphones aren’t the only things on display at the Mobile World Congress show. Motorola is showing off its new headset, the Golden-i, a joint venture with mini-display maker Kopin.

The headset is a prototype hands-free terminal for use in construction or other tough environments where the user has his hands busy, but still needs a computer. Designed to fit under a construction helmet, the Golden-i puts a tiny screen up close to the eye which gives the equivalent of a 15-inch display, and also has a headphone, a microphone along with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi for talking to other devices.

The headset is voice-controlled, and I tried it out. Once you have adjusted the eyepiece for your eyesight, you simply read off the names of the icons to access them: My Music, My Pictures and so on. The voice detection software, supplied by Nuance and called VoCon3200, ignores normal conversation, only listening to commands when there is a gap first, so you can say “my pictures” as part of sentence and it will be ignored.

The software worked for me every time, although saying “enhance” didn’t do anything, even though it felt like it should. The headset also tracks the position of your head, so you can move around and have, say, picture overlaid on reality stay put.

The Golden-i will need to be ruggedized before it goes to market. The current version, which looks a lot like a 1980s Tomy toy, is tough enough for the office, but not for a construction site.

Photo: Charlie Sorrel

Kopin Announces Availability of Golden-iTM Developer Kits [PR Inside]

Well, we just got a little up close and personal with HTC‘s “superphone,” the Desire. What you’re looking at is basically the Nexus One, sans trackball (though plus an optical touch area). Certainly the specs are the same, though you’ve got the new Sense UI on board for good measure. At a glance the phone actually doesn’t seem as snappy as we were expecting, and there are obviously a few kinks to work out with some of the new Sense concepts (Leap for instance — the pinch-to-card view — was giving our demo person some trouble). Still, the Desire is definitely high on our gadget lust list right now. We’re obviously reserving final judgment for a later date, but until we get some more time with this guy, feast your eyes on the gallery below.

Update: Added a quick video after the break showing the Sense UI… not behaving.

Update 2: We’ve been told by an HTC rep that the Sense build on the Desire unit we played with is actually quite early, so it’s probably not indicative of the actual performance of the pinch-to-card view. We played with a Legend that had a later, nearly final build of the UI and it was definitely snappier and more responsive.

Continue reading HTC Desire first hands-on (updated with video)

HTC Desire first hands-on (updated with video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Feb 2010 06:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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