Hasta La Gadget!

Josh Topolsky and Paul Miller walk into a bar, but the bar is a recording studio.

The bartender, who is the recording engineer, asks, “Why the long faces?”

“Sigh,” Paul says, and looks down at his feet. “Nothing but a buncha crummy phone rumors and probably fake slim PS3 pictures this week.”

“It’s hard to podcast when there’s no exciting news to podcast about,” says Josh, staring off into the distance.

The door slams open: it’s Nilay Patel. “I know what’ll cheer you guys up!” he says as he slams three stiff drinks down on the table. “Trashing AT&T about the Slingplayer app!”

Smiles creep over Josh and Paul’s faces. They nod, the engineer hits the record button, and history is made: The Engadget Podcast, volume 146.

Update: We added a video feed of your charming hosts from the recording studio after the break. It’s definitely an experiment at this stage, so let us know what you think!

Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel, Paul Miller
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Song: Around the World

00:01:42 – Wild and slim PS3 redesign caught on camera?
00:17:20 – AT&T issues official statement on SlingPlayer’s 3G blackout for iPhone
00:28:49 – Microsoft’s latest ad: iTunes and the iPod are crazy expensive
00:37:26 – Microsoft “Pink” specs leak out: Tegra, Snapdragon, OMAP 3, oh my?
00:50:57 – Fuzzy math: Palm Pre to run about $470 full retail?
01:01:29 – Hold the phone: T-Mobile G1 v2 to really be the Samsung Bigfoot?
01:06:13 – Motorola’s first Android phone to be the T-Mobile G1 v2?

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Twitter: @joshuatopolsky @futurepaul @reckless @engadget

Continue reading Engadget Podcast 146 – 05.15.2009

Filed under: Podcasts

Engadget Podcast 146 – 05.15.2009 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 15 May 2009 14:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sprint is kicking off an exciting little contest that’ll ultimately award two lucky winners with their very own Pres, Touchstones, and one year of Simply Everything service — pretty awesome stuff. Both Sprint and Palm have been famously tight-lipped about pricing for the Pre thus far, but using a few basic calculations derived from the game’s legalese, an eagle-eyed tipster pointed out that it seems that we can probably get within a few bucks of the full retail price. Here’s the deal: we know that Simply Everything runs $99 a month. After federal taxes, FCC surcharges, and some fudge factor for local taxes, you’re looking at, say, $105 to $110 a month. We can say with some confidence now that the Touchstone itself will run $69.99 at retail — and that leaves the Pre itself. Sprint’s rules say that the prize package’s approximate retail value is $1,800, so if you subtract $105 for the plan (since Sprint can’t be factoring in local taxes here) and $70 for the Touchstone, that basically leaves you with a nice, round $469.99. That sounds like a big number at first, but first off, very few folks will be paying $470 for a Pre — they’ll either be upgrading or adding new lines at a significant subsidy — and to put the number in perspective, AT&T charges $549.99 full retail for the BlackBerry Bold. We’re basically just thinking out loud here, but $470 seems like it’d give Sprint plenty of wiggle room to blow this thing out on contract, doesn’t it? Check out shots of Sprint’s mind-blowing contest for the ages after the break.

[Thanks, Jonathan]

Continue reading Fuzzy math: Palm Pre to run about $470 full retail?

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Fuzzy math: Palm Pre to run about $470 full retail? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 May 2009 18:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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All signs are pointing toward an early June Pre launch at this point; of course, we know it’ll launch in the first half of the year — and we’re quickly running out of first half — but we’ve heard increased chatter the past few weeks suggesting that June 5 or June 7 are particularly likely targets for bringing Palm’s (and Sprint’s) would-be savior to market. The latest evidence comes once again from our friends at Best Buy, where the recently-added Touchstone inventory stub has already been updated to reflect an “In Stock Date” of — you guessed it — June 7. As we’ve noted before, that’s a Sunday, which is Sprint’s traditional launch day; not to say there’s anything traditional about the Pre or the hype surrounding its appearance, but it’s something to chew on. Worst case, we figure you’ll be able to swing by your favorite big box on the 7th and pick up a cool, pricey inductive dock even if you can’t pick up a phone.

[Thanks, Mark]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Palm Touchstone date changed to June 7 in Best Buy’s system; stars aligning for Pre launch? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 May 2009 01:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There’s really not much meat to these ultra-short videos highlighting major features of the Pre, but they do suggest that Sprint employees are already being actively trained, likely on final or near-final hardware and software. Painless for the reps that have to sit through them, yes, granted — but if this is really all the help in-store peeps are getting prior to the phone’s launch, we sense trouble. Perhaps more interesting than the videos themselves, PreCentral forum members have astutely observed that Documents To Go and Adobe Reader icons make quick cameos — two apps that many, many productivity-minded Pre owners will be taking interest in. Check the videos after the break.

[Via PreCentral]

Read – Email
Read – Gestures

Continue reading Palm Pre training dude accosted by giant hand in internal Sprint training vids, new apps spotted

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Palm Pre training dude accosted by giant hand in internal Sprint training vids, new apps spotted originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 May 2009 15:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Another possible Pre launch date is precisely the last thing the world needs, but that’s what we’re getting, so check it: a Boy Genius Report-leaked slide of some sort seems to indicate that Sprint employees will be participating in a Pre “launch lunch” Friday, June 5 at noon, which raises a few interesting possibilities. First, it could mean that they’re prepping for a June 7 retail launch, which would line up with the Best Buy rumor and fall into line with Sprint’s common policy of launching on Sundays. Second, it could mean that Sprint’s trying to really go for broke with a riot-inducing evening launch on June 5. Third, this could be totally bogus; the typo in “Employee Benfits” trips us up a bit, though we’ve seen typos in legit documents before. Fourth, it’s still entirely possible that neither Sprint nor Palm know the exact date — we’re guessing the firmware still hasn’t gone gold, and until it has, they can’t be putting an immutable stake in the ground. It’s interesting to note that Palm’s Jon Rubenstein will be speaking at All Things D the week before this — which we’ll be at live, coincidentally — so that’d certainly make an apropos place to announce something spectacular like this, wouldn’t it? Stay tuned, friends.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Sprint holding Pre “launch lunch” on June 5? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 May 2009 12:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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