Hasta La Gadget!

When we met with Finnish startup Aava Mobile today, they pulled out the same old prototype phone… then, to our great surprise, dropped a brand-new device right alongside to show us how their Moorestown-based ambitions have grown. This is the Virta 2 reference design, which will ship to developers soon, with the same basic hardware inside but a few important tweaks. First of all, you’ll note that’s MeeGo on this screen, not the droid we were looking for, but that’s because the development kit can switch between operating systems by merely swapping out the microSD card.

Whereas the original prototype had a thin, flimsy shell, the Virta 2’s gone downright rugged, ditching the iPhone chrome for a more durable gunmetal frame, and there’s a full compliment of sensors (compass, accelerometer, ambient light and proximity) alongside quad-band radios, WiFi, Bluetooth and a pair of cameras for your video chat testing needs. At €1900 (roughly $2393) per unit, the dev handset isn’t exactly cheap, but where else are you going to get an Atom Z600 to play around with? Devices ship late August or early September, and Aava expects the platform (but not this exact handset) to see commercial availability next year. Find preorders at our source link, if you’ve got the bankroll.

Aava Mobile reveals Virta 2 smartphone development kit, we go hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Jul 2010 21:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You thought about shipping off to Warsaw for the Imagine Cup 2010 finals, didn’t you? ‘Tis a shame you didn’t, because Microsoft is fixing to hand out Windows Phone 7 prototypes to every last finalist at the show (around 400, we’re hearing). The winning team has already received their handsets after receiving a mighty round of applause from developing Beastware, and while it’s impossible to tell from images so far, the phones that they acquired look to be the same as the Samsung device we toyed with back in June. Funny — we reckoned the finalists at a show like this would be in that elusive Kin generation.

Update: Microsoft just pinged us with a clarification. Only the Rockstar Award winners are getting prototype devices today, with the rest of the finalists on a list to receive “a retail Windows Phone 7 device when and where they become available.”

[Image courtesy of artificialignorance]

Samsung’s Windows Phone 7 prototype slipping out to Imagine Cup finalists originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Jul 2010 15:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve been moaning about middling AIO performance for a while now, and outside of Apple’s spendy iMacs, not many have stepped up to the plate with equivalent grunt to what you might be able to splice together with a separate case and a bit of elbow grease. That won’t stay true for long, however, if Asetek’s prototype gets picked up by one of your favorite vendors. This liquid-cooled beastie — which proudly proclaims it has the same profile as the iMac at 58mm in thickness — is capable of powering and chilling both a 2.66GHz Core i7-920 and a GeForce GTX 280M. That’s a total TDP output of over 200W, which is handled by a proprietary radiator design that’s integrated into the stand and some pump-assisted action convecting the heat away from the chips. It both sounds and looks like a winner to us — check it out after the break to see what you think.

Continue reading Liquid-cooled Asetek prototype redefines our all-in-one expectations (video)

Liquid-cooled Asetek prototype redefines our all-in-one expectations (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Jul 2010 05:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve always wondered whether Microsoft’s multitouch table would actually ever arrive, dreaming of Minority Report hijinx all the while, but after seeing what the company’s Applied Sciences Group is currently cooking up — a touchless telepresence display — we’d rather drop that antiquated pinch-to-zoom stuff in favor of what might be Surface’s next generation. Starting with one of Samsung’s prototype transparent OLED panels, Microsoft dropped a sub-two-inch camera behind the glass, creating a 3D gesture control interface that tracks your every move by literally seeing through the display. Combined with that proprietary wedge-shaped lens we saw earlier this month and some good ol’ Johnny Chung Lee headtracking by the man himself, we’re looking at one hell of a screen. Don’t you dare read another word without seeing the prototype in a trifecta of videos after the break.

Continue reading Microsoft hints at touchless Surface combining camera and transparent OLED (video)

Microsoft hints at touchless Surface combining camera and transparent OLED (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 Jun 2010 10:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When Nintendo of Japan first announced the 3DS (think: way back in March), it promised a release of the portable by the fiscal year ending March 2011. Given the DS and DSi’s six-month global rollout window, however, we weren’t sure if that applied to the world or just the company’s backyard — sure, we’ve heard rumors of a UK release in October, but nothing’s been confirmed. Cue Nintendo of America’s president Reggie Fils-Aime to give a definitive answer: “The one thing, for sure, is that we will launch in all of our major markets by March 31, 2011.” Well, that about settles it in our mind. Fils-Aime also clarifies that what we saw on the floor is not the final design — something that was mentioned during the press conference — but we wouldn’t expect anything more than slightly altered button placement (for its part, the official site lists “look,” battery, pre-installed software, and supported languages as TBA). But hey, if you want to believe a third screen is possible, don’t let us stop you from dreaming.

Nintendo 3DS will launch ‘in all major markets’ by March 2011, design still being tweaked originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Jun 2010 17:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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