Hasta La Gadget!

As you may or may not be already aware, the Nexus One and HTC Desire have the same Broadcom chip. Seems trivial at cursory glance until you realize the Desire has a FM radio app, which should ergo be just as feasible on the Google-branded device. Cut to xda-developers’ intersectRaven, who’s released a custom N1 kernel that theoretically brings life to the FM receptor. It’s available to download, but as for when you’ll get a chance to really use this yourself, that’s entirely up to the custom ROM developers updating their respective wares. For his part, Paul O’Brien said today he’s already got it working on an upcoming Froyo Sense build for the device — hang tight, folks, it’s coming.

[Thanks, John]

Nexus One now a step closer to FM radio support, thanks to modified kernel originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Jul 2010 15:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ever wondered what would happen if you threw another mobile OS onto your Nexus One? Without removing Android? Contrary to popular belief, the world will in fact not end, and in many cases, lives could very well be improved. One particular modder over at Nexus One Hacks has managed to put together a video how-to demonstrating the installation of Ubuntu as a secondary OS on his rooted N1, and while you’ll obviously find yourself dealing with a few incompatibilities should you follow suit, it’s not like you really have anything better to do tonight than tinker. Right? Right. Jump on past the break and mash play to get going.

Continue reading Ubuntu joins Android on Nexus One, apocalyptic repercussions nowhere to be found

Ubuntu joins Android on Nexus One, apocalyptic repercussions nowhere to be found originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Jul 2010 18:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s just a tablecloth and a piece of paper, until you pull out a Nexus One, at which point it magically becomes an arena where toy robots fire off punches. Augmented reality isn’t anything new, of course, but Qualcomm seems determined to bring it to cell phones in a big way — launching an AR game studio, sponsoring a $200,000 developer challenge, and announcing a free software development kit (which will see open beta this fall) all on the same day. The company partnered with Mattel to build the Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots proof-of-concept you see above using that very SDK, and you’ll find a hilarious video of grown men pretending to have the time of their lives with it right after the break.

However, augmented reality is only half of Qualcomm’s mobile gaming plan — a rep told Pocket-lint games like Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots are only financially viable if they can work across platforms. To that end, the company also demonstrated a simple three-player peer-to-peer title, but with — get this — a Nexus One (over Bluetooth), a Nokia N900 (over WiFi) and a Dell Latitude laptop all playing the same synchronous game. To commemorate this mishmash of awesome, the company funded another video; listen to an individual with a ludicrously bad accent give you the play-by-play after the break. Oh, and find some press releases, too.

Continue reading Qualcomm demos augmented reality and peer-to-peer tech, tries to punch cellular gaming’s block off (video)

Qualcomm demos augmented reality and peer-to-peer tech, tries to punch cellular gaming’s block off (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Jul 2010 02:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Another day, another Froyo build. Now that Android 2.2 build FRF85 — i.e. the big one that got pushed over-the-air to every Nexus One this week — is out on the prowl, Google’s taken it upon itself to release yet another update, FRF91. We’ve heard from a few tipsters that it’s also going out OTA, but our devices have yet to be notified — all the same, a direct link for the file has been found, so it’s legit. Word on the street is it’s just a security update, but we’ve yet to install it ourselves. Go on, live a little, download’s just below.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Nexus One gets yet another Android 2.2 Froyo update, FRF91 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Jul 2010 20:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AMOLED displays in phones haven’t necessarily lived up to their promise; they’d been billed as the be-all, end-all answer for clarity, vibrance, and low power consumption, but in reality, the latest and greatest LCDs look just as good, offer similar viewing angles, have little to no impact on battery life, and fare far better in direct sunlight. We’ve been able to confirm this evening that HTC will be adding an additional supplier of displays later this year — Sony — which will be delivering its Super TFT LCD tech as a mobile exclusive (initially, at least) to key HTC handsets, some of which are already in the marketplace.

Specifically, Samsung’s had a devil of a time keeping up with deliveries of its 3.7-inch WVGA AMOLED display, which means that the Desire, Droid Incredible, and Nexus One could all theoretically be impacted — but because this is a problem of the demand for displays outstripping supply (or at least the supply that Samsung is letting HTC buy), at least some of the affected phones will likely be offered both in AMOLED and SLCD varieties. How those products will be differentiated in the market is unclear, but it may not matter much — we’re told that the displays are virtually indistinguishable. We’re working to get our hands on an SLCD phone just as soon as we can, and when we do, we’ll put our eyeballs on the case.

HTC running low on AMOLED stock, will add SLCD to the mix for some models originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Jun 2010 19:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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