Hasta La Gadget!

Up till now, the ranks of 3D-capable smartphones were neatly organized by territory: Japan had the Sharp Aquos SH-12C, the US had the HTC EVO 3D, and Europe had the LG Optimus 3D. Now it’s all getting a tiny bit messier (and more competitive!) with HTC’s announcement that the EVO 3D has boarded a transatlantic liner and is en route to the green shores of Europa. Available “broadly” across the old continent, this Android 2.3 handset touts a 4.3-inch display with qHD (540 x 960) resolution and an added parallax barrier layer that allows it to deliver a glasses-free 3D effect. We call it an effect because real 3D it ain’t, but at least it’ll allow you to review the three-dimensional pics you snap with the included pair of 5 megapixel autofocus cameras. There’s also a 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon purring within for the performance obsessives and a generous 1730mAh battery — perhaps the biggest advantage that we can see for this phone over the similarly specced (but 3D-less) Sensation. Jump past the break for the full spec sheet and PR or hit up our review to learn just how awesome the EVO 3D’s shutter button really is.

Continue reading HTC EVO 3D landing in Europe next month, two-stage shutter button and all

HTC EVO 3D landing in Europe next month, two-stage shutter button and all originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Jun 2011 06:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oh paper, ye olde guardian of human wisdom, culture, and history, why must you be so fragile and voluminous? Not a question we ask ourselves every day, admittedly, but when you’re talking about the British Library’s extensive collection of tomes from the 18th and 19th century, those books, pamphlets and periodicals do stack up pretty quickly. Thankfully, Google’s book digitization project has come to the rescue of bewildered researchers, with a new partnership with the British Library that will result in the availability of digital copies of works from that period — spanning the time of the French and Industrial Revolutions, the Crimean War, the invention of the telegraph, and the end of slavery. In total, some 250,000 such items, all of them long out of copyright, will find a home on Google Books and the British Library’s website, and Google has even been nice enough to bear the full cost of transforming them into web-accessible gems of knowledge. Jump past the break for the similarly digital press release.

Continue reading British Library and Google Books partner up to digitize 250,000 out-of-copyright works

British Library and Google Books partner up to digitize 250,000 out-of-copyright works originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Jun 2011 07:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Droid 3 is upon us! Well, it is if you live in China and don’t mind calling it the Milestone 3. A new XT883 model has just been made official by Motorola during China Telecom’s CDMA Summit, touting the tagline “the third Milestone” and a new five-row slideout QWERTY keyboard. The salient specs include a 4-inch touchscreen with qHD (540 x 960) resolution, a dual-core Tegra 2 processor capable of driving 1080p video recording, an 8 megapixel rear camera with LED flash, up to 32GB of built-in storage, and of course, Android 2.3 as the shipping OS. A pretty compelling package, we think you’ll agree. It’s coming to China this summer, though Moto could still be crafty enough to squeeze the US launch in before actual units start shipping to Yao Ming’s homeland. Because, well, who’s ever heard of a Milestone coming before a Droid?

Continue reading Motorola Droid 3 official in China under Milestone 3 moniker, packs 4-inch qHD display

Motorola Droid 3 official in China under Milestone 3 moniker, packs 4-inch qHD display originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Jun 2011 03:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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John Thode, Dell’s Vice President for mobile devices, has shared a Honeycomb-flavored snippet of his company’s tablet roadmap with CNET. The 10-inch Android tablet that we saw at CES and suspected could be with us this month will indeed be making its debut in the summer, according to Thode, but its launch market will be China, not the US. He points to a number of “inhibitors and barriers to success” in Dell’s homeland — such as mobile carriers dictating pricing models that stifle the adoption of tablets and users being unaware of “what exactly Android is bringing” — as the causes for Round Rock’s atypical decision. The Streak 10 Pro, as it’ll officially be known, comes with a Honeycomb-standard 1280 x 800 resolution screen, an edge-to-edge glass surface, two cameras (one of them reaching a 5 megapixel res), an SD card slot, a thickness of 12mm, and 1080p video playback capabilities courtesy of an unspecified NVIDIA Tegra dual-core processor. An additional dock will allow the 10 Pro to act as a USB host, while augmenting its connectivity with HDMI, Ethernet, and, obviously, a set of USB ports. The US may still get to enjoy this bounty of options, but we’re told it won’t happen until 2012. By which point we’ll probably have a taste for fresher, icier versions of Android.

Update: Dell has confirmed all of the foregoing in a blog post.

Dell Streak 10 Pro tablet to launch in China this summer, US may get it next year originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Jun 2011 02:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Whoa! The rumors turned out to be true: a 6.2-inch screen will be built into the controller for Nintendo’s next-generation Wii U console. It’ll also feature a microphone, a gyroscope, an accelerometer, dual analog controls, two shoulder buttons and two triggers, a front-facing camera, a stylus, and yes, it’s a touchscreen, too! Satoru Iwata was careful to forewarn that the Wii U’s controller was “not designed to be a portable game machine,” even if it shares some characteristics with handhelds. You will, however, be able to game and video chat even without a TV. Screen resolution isn’t given yet, but the display ratio is stated as 16:9, matching every other widescreen in your living room. Check the video after the break while we go try to hunt down some hands-on time with this multifunctional new beast of a controller.

Continue reading The Wii U controller, revealed! (video)

The Wii U controller, revealed! (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Jun 2011 12:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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