Hasta La Gadget!

Now that the iPad is out and iPhone OS 4 has been announced, it looks like Steve Jobs is taking a little time to catch up on his email — in addition to taking up the new SDK rules, it appears he’s very tersely confirmed what we sadly suspected all along: the first-gen iPhone won’t get an upgrade to iPhone OS 4. That makes a certain amount of sense, given that Apple’s subscription accounting model for the original iPhone only booked free upgrades for 24 months, but really, that’s just paperwork — we don’t see why Cupertino couldn’t at least allow for an iPod touch-style paid upgrade, especially since the upgradeable iPhone 3G runs essentially the same hardware. And let’s not forget that first-gen iPhone owners paid more or less full price for their devices, so if this is true, Apple’s summarily dead-ended a $400 phone just under three years after it launched. Of course, none of this is officially confirmed yet, so anything can change — we’ve pinged Apple for comment and they haven’t responded yet, but we’ll let you know what we find out.

[Thanks, Tanzeel]

Steve Jobs apparently says original iPhone won’t be upgraded in the future originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Apr 2010 12:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Moribund Palm is up for sale, says Bloomberg. Who is in the short list of potential bidders? It’s not Google, but close enough: HTC. And it makes total sense, because buying Palm could save HTC’s ass in the Apple lawsuit. More »

We swear we’ve seen a Motorola phone that looks like this odd square thing before, but it’s also possible we’re crazy. Either way, it looks like Moto’s working on a new Blur set running Android 2.1, and if you thought screen size and resolution issues differences were a big part of Android fragmentation before, well, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Oh, and as for the story that this pic came from a student who borrowed the phone from a friend whose dad works for Moto? We’d be more skeptical, except that’s exactly how we’ve gotten other dead-on Moto leaks. So… yeah. Anyway, a square Moto slider running Blur. Does that do anything for anyone? No? Okay.

Square Motorola Android slider leaks out, causes consternation originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 11 Apr 2010 13:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So Phandroid has scored some internal Verizon rah-rah type material teasing a device announcement on Monday, and they’re thinking it’s the upcoming HTC Incredible — but we’re not so sure. This lines up all too well with Microsoft’s mysterious event in San Francisco, an event that we’ve heard repeatedly from a multitude of respected sources (Paul Thurrott and Ina Fried, to name a couple) would be for Microsoft’s long-rumored Pink handsets, likely for launch on Verizon. Couple that with Verizon’s verbiage here — “it’s new, it’s unique, living exclusively on… Verizon Wireless” — and we kinda think that a device as similar to phones already in the marketplace as the Incredible is doesn’t warrant the hype. Fortunately, we’ll have this all sorted out in less than 72 hours’ time.

[Thanks, Tom]

Verizon teasing a Microsoft Pink announcement for Monday? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Apr 2010 14:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Of the 1,500 or so new developer APIs and over 100 new user features mentioned by Steve and Co. yesterday, only a handful were covered in any detail. As usual, Apple was careful not to reveal anything about the next generation iPhone hardware expected to launch this summer. Fortunately we can spelunk the iPhone OS 4 SDK developer preview for hints of what’s to come. TUAW found a new “iChatAgent” process running on OS 4 devices — purpose, unknown — but surely an indicator that Apple’s finally set to launch a mobile iChat app. The fact that Apple hasn’t already is one of those great iPhone / iPad / iPod touch mysteries. We’ve also peeled back the SDK to find evidence supporting those rumors of a front-facing camera (AVCaptureDevicePositionFront), flash (AVCaptureFlashModeOn/Off/auto), and torch/flashlight (AVCaptureTorchModeOn/Off/Auto) all declared in the AVCaptureDevice.h. Who cares, right? Front-facing video cameras have been implemented on a variety of mobile devices for years. Trouble is, how many people actually use them to video conference? And if Apple’s late contribution to copy and paste can be used as a guide for setting expectations (and it can), then we expect Apple’s iChat implementation to be done with the same grace and ease of use — something that should have its carrier partners a bit worried if it’s allowed to function over 3G data.

[Thanks, Anonymous]

iChat video with front facing camera evidence mounts in iPhone OS 4 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Apr 2010 04:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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