Aug 05

Samsung Hercules snapped in the wild, powering its way to Telus soon?

Posted in: 4G, Android, canada, cellphone, galaxy, galaxy s ii, GalaxySIi, gingerbread, hspa, leak, leaks, nexus s, NexusS, rumor, rumors, samsung, smartphone, Today's Chili
Would demigods feel honored that smartphones are getting named after them? The Samsung Hercules, from what we can tell, seems to fit its given title appropriately; he was, after all, famous for his behemoth strength. Sadly, we’ve known more about him than his technological counterpart, though that may be soon changing. MobileSyrup found someone clutching onto the still-unannounced device at a VIP event and snapped a quick pic for the world to see. While they didn’t get any hands-on time, they indicated that it was running on Telus, it appeared to have a 4.5-inch display (as rumored), and is a design mashup of the Galaxy S II, Nexus S, and the Infuse 4G. This still leaves us with nothing but spec rumors — which include a 1.2GHz dual-core CPU, Super AMOLED Plus display, 16GB of flash storage, 42Mbps HSPA+, and an eight megapixel camera — but it’s nice to have a face to go with the famous name. For somebody who likes to go the distance, its superphone namesake sure seems awfully close.

Samsung Hercules snapped in the wild, powering its way to Telus soon? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Aug 2011 13:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceMobileSyrup  | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags: , , , , , ,
Aug 02

Best Buy dishing out free Nexus S for one day only, ball and chain included

Posted in: Android, att, BestBuy, free, gingerbread, Google, GoogleAndroid, NeXus, nexus s, NexusS, samsung, t-mobile, Today's Chili
Have you been looking to get your hands on a nice slice of Gingerbread without totally wrecking your wallet? If so… your time has come. Best Buy has announced that starting tonight (August 2nd) at 11 p.m. CST — we’ll assume they meant CDT, aka midnight Eastern — it will begin offering the Google Nexus S for free (you read that right). Of course, you’ll still have to chain yourself to a two-year agreement with AT&T, Sprint, or T-Mobile to cash in on this deal, but wait a day later and the price will certainly jump back up to a full Benjamin. So set your clock, and make sure you score one either in-store or online before 11:59 p.m. CST tomorrow. Check out the full details in the PR, just past the break.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Best Buy dishing out free Nexus S for one day only, ball and chain included

Best Buy dishing out free Nexus S for one day only, ball and chain included originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Aug 2011 22:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceBest Buy  | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags: , , , , , ,
Jul 28

Motorola Atrix sequel gets candid with the camera, heading for AT&T?

Posted in: Android, att, gingerbread, motoblur, motorola, nexus s, NexusS, Today's Chili

With all of the hype building for the Droid Bionic’s arrival, we can’t say we were expecting to see an unannounced Motorola device receive love from the camera instead. But sure ’nuff, we beheld our gadget-lusting eyes on a handset that’s likely AT&T-bound in the near future — the carrier’s logo is flaunted on the front, at least — and may even be the next-gen Atrix 4G. Sporting a coincidentally similar design to its supposed predecessor, we only know of a few specs so far: the mystery device offers an 8 megapixel camera with 1080p video capture, HDMI connectivity, Moto’s new Blur UI replacement and a curved display similar to the Nexus S — though this time there’s no fingerprint scanner onboard. It looks and sounds great, but let’s just hope that this one really is the “world’s most powerful” smartphone. The gallery below shows the device in all its glory.

Gallery: Motorola Atrix successor

Motorola Atrix sequel gets candid with the camera, heading for AT&T? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Jul 2011 11:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Unwired View  |  sourceIT168 (requires account)  | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags: , , ,
Jul 13

PayPal announces phone-to-phone NFC support, cuts eyes at Google (video)

Posted in: Android, Google, lawsuit, nexus s, NexusS, nfc, samsung, Sprint, Today's Chili, video

Still eager to do business with a company that’ll lock your account on a whim and side with the buyer regardless of the facts? Splendid! If that’s you, PayPal would love for you to know that it has announced a new phone-to-phone NFC payment application at MobileBeat 2011, offering Nexus S owners the ability to request and transfer funds between handsets. As of now, the functionality is quite limited — there’s just a single smartphone with the hardware capabilities to take advantage, and there’s no phone-to-anything not a phone supported as of now. In other words, this isn’t exactly a Square killer just yet, but it’s definitely something for the sued folks at Google to pay attention to. We’re also hearing that P2P transactions through PayPal are gratis “if using a bank account or existing balance in the customer’s PayPal account,” but no one’s coughing up details on what’ll be deducted in the form of fees when using a different method of payment. A video demo of the 48 second transaction awaits you after the break, but sadly, there’s no details on how soon it’ll be made available to the public.

Update: It’ll be available in the Android Market “this summer.”

Continue reading PayPal announces phone-to-phone NFC support, cuts eyes at Google (video)

PayPal announces phone-to-phone NFC support, cuts eyes at Google (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Jul 2011 14:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink TechCrunch  |  sourcePayPal (YouTube), The PayPal Blog  | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags:
Jul 06

Google+ sneaks NFC into its Android app, gets caught red-handed

Posted in: Android, Google, nexus s, NexusS, nfc, Today's Chili
NFC is gradually turning to the social side, thanks to new functionality found within the Google+ app for Android. Software developer Ridzuan Ashim discovered that, when used on an NFC-enabled device, you can read tags and share them through the new social networking service. After scanning, the OS asks you if you want to share the associated text with Google+ or another relevant program. Though the abilities seem somewhat limited for now, we’ll likely see more developer support tossed in as the service matures. Using NFC in this way could lead us into a group Huddle, check us in at a restaurant and share it with our Circles, and perhaps even add us into somebody’s Circle or Hangout. It’s only functional on a limited number of Android devices for now, so if you happen to use a Nexus S and have been invited to the exclusive club better known as Google+, you’re a prime candidate for giving it a look-see. If the above criteria doesn’t apply, check out the video below to experience all that near-field glory through someone else’s phone.

Continue reading Google+ sneaks NFC into its Android app, gets caught red-handed

Google+ sneaks NFC into its Android app, gets caught red-handed originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jul 2011 10:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink PocketNow  |  sourceRidz.sg  | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags:
Jul 03

Nexus S mini-game adds whimsy to list of must-have specs

Posted in: Android, Google, nexus s, NexusS, Today's Chili

In an effort to help force your ambivalent hand at the checkout, Google’s taken a decidedly whimsical approach to Nexus S marketing. The end result: an interactive, YouTube-hosted mini-game that lets you bounce and blow four Google app-labeled balls through a funnel to the Nexus S. Sound fun? It kind of is, but before you wonder where the last half-hour went, keep in mind there’s no free handset at the end of this Android rainbow — just pure fun. It’s a cute distraction that probably won’t have you forgetting about dual core processors anytime soon, but could still sway your credit card if you’re the silly type. Check the source below to get your Google-gaming on.

Nexus S mini-game adds whimsy to list of must-have specs originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 03 Jul 2011 14:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceNexus Contraptions  | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags:
Jul 02

Skype 2.0 hotfix enables video chat on Sprint’s Nexus S 4G

Posted in: 4G, cellphone, Microsoft, nexus s, NexusS, samsung, skype, smartphone, Sprint, Today's Chili

Looks like some of the Skype crew might’ve had a sleepless night to please owners of the Nexus S 4G. If you’ll recall, June 30th saw a major update to its Android app enabling video chat on four devices; although the Nexus S was part of the club, its door was locked for Sprint’s 4G variant. That’s quickly changed, however, as the team’s set loose a hotfix to grant it access — this despite initially stating we’d have to wait for a “future release.” You can grab the app from the Android Market if you haven’t yet, and be sure to let us know how it goes in comments. Oh, and for those anxious Thunderbolt owners? We’d recommend not holding your breath until after the 4th of July holiday.

Skype 2.0 hotfix enables video chat on Sprint’s Nexus S 4G originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 03 Jul 2011 00:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Android Central  |  sourceSkype (Twitter)  | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags: ,
Jun 29

Google Talk video chat finally available over T-Mobile 3G and 4G (video)

Posted in: 4G, Android, gingerbread, Google, NeXus, nexus s, NexusS, t-mobile, Today's Chili, video
Google Talk Video Chat

Remember how excited we all were when we found out that Android 2.3.4 would bring video chat to Google Talk on the Nexus S? Only to have our hopes and dreams smashed when we discover that it didn’t work over 3G on T-Mobile. Well, it seems the carrier has quietly flipped a switch, and now all you Nexus owners can GChat face-to-face over HSPA+. Surely this an historic day, one that will go down in the annals of mobile history — or, you know, at least one that deserves an exasperated “finally!” Check out the video proof after the break.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Google Talk video chat finally available over T-Mobile 3G and 4G (video)

Google Talk video chat finally available over T-Mobile 3G and 4G (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Jun 2011 11:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Coated  |  sourceAndroid and Me  | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags: , , , ,
Jun 21

Nexus S hacked and tweaked to slaughter benchmarks, reality be damned

Posted in: benchmark, hack, hacked, nexus s, NexusS, Today's Chili
Nexus S Benchmark

It’s always a good idea to take benchmarks with a grain of salt — their synthetic tests don’t always match up with real-world performance. But, we wouldn’t blame you if you wrote them off completely after spying these results from Android Community forum member Simms22. Simms took his Nexus S, blessed it with a little Cyanogen Mod 7 pixie dust, overclocked it to 1.544GHz, and made a few other tweaks for good measure. The results? An absolutely unbelievable score of 10,082 in Smartbench2011. To put that in perspective, the 1.2GHz dual-core Exynos powering the Galaxy S II hit only 3,053 — and remember, the Nexus S is working with a one core handicap. The creator of Smartbench has acknowledged there are bugs to be worked out (did besting the Xoom by 400 percent give it away?) but we’re not quite ready to dismiss the numbers game completely — then what excuse would we have for publishing copious amounts of bar charts?

Update: The creator of Smartbench2011 confirms he’s working on a new version, 1.2.1, which should fix the bugs.

Nexus S hacked and tweaked to slaughter benchmarks, reality be damned originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Jun 2011 16:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceAndroid Community, Smartbench  | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags:
Jun 10

Engadget Primed: What is NFC, and why do we care?

Posted in: Android, att, BlackBerry, Google, mobile, NeXus, nexus s, NexusS, nfc, partnership, RIM, samsung, Software, Sprint, t-mobile, TMobile, Today's Chili, Verizon Wireless, VerizonWireless, video, vzw
Primed goes in-depth on the technobabble you hear on Engadget every day — we dig deep into each topic’s history and how it benefits our lives. Looking to suggest a piece of technology for us to break down? Drop us a line at primed *at* engadget *dawt* com.

engadget primed

The introduction of Google Wallet felt a little too good to be true, didn’t it? It’s magical, like the tech equivalent of pulling a rabbit out of a hat. In reality, the tech behind mobile payments has been around since 2003 on a much smaller scale using near-field communications, more commonly known as NFC. The idea behind Wallet (amongst other services, like ISIS) is contactless pay — using your phone as a credit card — and is just one of the many ways NFC can be useful in our everyday lives. In fact, we’re only scraping the surface of what’s theoretically possible.

Google is definitely not the first company to dabble in NFC, but it appears to be poised and ready to push the tech’s adoption forward at a rapid pace with the advent of Wallet and Offers. Until now the coals have been hot; but if a fire’s going to start, someone monolithic has to throw a few newspapers in as kindling — and Google volunteered. But what good is NFC if it’s just an acronym that causes our eyes to glaze over? Is El Goog the only instigator? After the break we’ll focus on what NFC is capable of, and why we want it on our phones as soon as yesterday.

Continue reading Engadget Primed: What is NFC, and why do we care?

Engadget Primed: What is NFC, and why do we care? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Jun 2011 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags: , , , , ,