Hasta La Gadget!

We’d heard some rumblings ST-Ericsson might be moving in on its turf with Nokia’s Windows Phone devices, but Qualcomm has now reasserted that it’s still the main game in town. Following the big Mango announcement this morning, Qualcomm confirmed that Microsoft has chosen it to bring a “new generation of Windows Phone handsets exclusively featuring Qualcomm’s second generation Snapdragon mobile processors to market.” The company’s executive vice president, Steve Mollenkopf, further went on to say that Qualcomm is “excited about this next Windows Phone Mango release,” and that it will “leverage the synergy of our highly integrated second generation Snapdragon solution and Microsoft’s Windows Phone software.” Leveraging synergy, what more could you ask for?

Qualcomm confirms its Snapdragon processor will power ‘new generation of Windows Phone’ devices originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 May 2011 11:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Another week, another look into the wild, mysterious world of Mirasol. We met with the company for an extended period here at SID 2011, and while the smartphone concept shown above was certainly intriguing, it’s the behind-the-scenes story that truly piqued our interest. If you’ve kept even a loose eye on display technologies, Qualcomm’s Mirasol branch has no doubt caught your eye — in fact, the company seemed overwhelmingly sure that it’d ship consumer products soon after we met with ’em at CES 2010. Yet here we are, nearly 1.5 years later, without a single Mirasol product available on the open market. It begs the question: why? We found out. As the story goes, Mirasol’s been shipping displays to partners for years, and it really did have confirmation that partners would be punching products out onto the market soon after 2010 began. But then, the iPad happened.

No, seriously — that’s the story. Apple’s sudden and calculated tablet launch caused Mirasol’s stable of partners to “reevaluate” their launch strategies, and that reevaluating led to the shelving / delaying of every single promising product in the pipeline. One angle in particular seemed to catch everyone off guard; prior to the iPad’s launch, most companies (and consumers, for that matter) reckoned that people wouldn’t even consider reading on an LCD. Digital bookworms would want E Ink, or better still, a colorized alternative like Mirasol. Come to find out, people actually don’t seem to mind reading on LCDs, and in fact, they seem downright appreciative of the extra functionality baked into modern day tablets. As you can imagine, all of that spelled trouble for a display technology like Mirasol. So, where do we sit today? Read on to find out.

Continue reading Mirasol showcases 4.1-inch smartphone concept at SID 2011, promises ‘converged e-reader’ this year (video)

Mirasol showcases 4.1-inch smartphone concept at SID 2011, promises ‘converged e-reader’ this year (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 May 2011 10:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve been hearing a lot of rumors about the upcoming iPhone. Many questions have been thrown around like will it be called the iPhone 5 or the 4S, will it have near-field communication technology, will it be 4G, and will it be available on other carriers? Two research firms have come out with their take […]

In a dim environment, the mirasol frontlit prototype (left) outshines a traditional mirasol e-paper display. Photo: Nate Hoffelder

If you want to catch up on the day’s reading before bed, in your darkened room, you’re a bit SOL with a traditional e-paper e-reader.

Sure you could use a tablet to read on instead, but that backlighting is harsh. You just need to see the words onscreen — you don’t need them burned into your retinas.

Qualcomm has come up with an innovative solution that’s currently in prototype form: an e-paper display with integrated LED front lighting. Unlike clip-on lighting options, the display is evenly lit. And unlike tablets, the illumination can be completely turned off in order to preserve power.

A model with an ambient light sensor, which would automatically shut off the LEDs in bright situations and switch them on in the dark, is in the works, and Qualcomm expects the first products to utilize this front lighting technology to be released in the fall.

But is there still a market for e-readers? Barnes and Noble is transforming its Nook e-reader into a full-on Android tablet, and the tablet arena has been absolutely booming with new products (2011 has been the year of the tablet after all). Many e-reader makers have been having difficulties, filing for bankruptcy or canceling plans, in the wake of the tablet revolution.

Would you be more likely to purchase an e-reader if you could use it in the dark, or would you rather stick with a multi-functional portable like a tablet? Sound off in the comments.

There’s good news and bad news about Mirasol [The Digital Reader via Slashgear]

If you’ve been closely tracking the development of Qualcomm’s 1.5GHz dual-core MSM8660, you would’ve already seen AnandTech‘s impressive set of benchmark results back in early April. But of course, it’d be more convincing to actually see this chipset in action, so Qualcomm’s latest videos of its Mobile Development Platform should satisfy your curiosity. As demoed after the break, this Snapdragon’s Adreno 220 is seen effortlessly handling in-page HTML5 video streaming, Flash video streaming, and 1080p playback. And as a sideshow, Qualcomm even put its current-gen single-core QSD8255 head-to-head with a rival dual-core chipset — no doubt a Tegra 2 in an LG Optimus 2x — and easily won the Flash video contest. All of this might lure you into getting the MDP as your next everyday phone, but here’s the bad news: this professional kit will cost you a dear $1,350. So unless you’re feeling very generous, you’d probably want to wait for the consumer devices to arrive in the summer — think EVO 3D, Sensation (with GSM-flavored MSM8260, naturally), and TouchPad.

Continue reading Qualcomm shows off MSM8660’s slick video performance on development kit (video)

Qualcomm shows off MSM8660’s slick video performance on development kit (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 May 2011 04:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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