More BlackBerry slider pics appear — is this the next Bold?

What looked like a drizzle last night seems to be turning into a full on downpour. The folks over at BlackBerry Leaks have gotten themselves even more facetime with that mysterious BlackBerry slider device — and it looks a lot better than we thought. Right now the theories are flying about just exactly what kind of phone this is, with BBL suggesting it might be the next phone in the Storm family, while Kevin over at CrackBerry has it on good authority that this new handset will be part of the Bold line. Kevin also says that the rumors he’s heard on this device call for a 360 x 480 touchscreen display (sans SurePress) and expectations for BlackBerry OS 6.0 to be onboard. The pictured phone apparently has a battery issue which is keeping it from powering up, but hopefully someone will find a way to spark this thing to life and we can get some more solid info. For now, check out one more pic after the break.

Continue reading More BlackBerry slider pics appear — is this the next Bold?

More BlackBerry slider pics appear — is this the next Bold? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 23:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LG’s LU2300 set to challenge Samsung’s M100S for Korean Android dominance?

Eternal archrivals-to-the-death Samsung and LG have a tendency to match one another tit for tat in virtually every consumer electronic category, but for whatever reason, LG’s been far less interested in going for broke with Android over the past year — though a preoccupation with Windows Phone 7 Series is a solid guess at this point. Things may be changing, though, now that we’ve got news out of Telecoms Korea that they’re prepping a more brutal assault than the weakling GW620 could ever provide in the form of a so-called LU2300 for the domestic market (we’re assuming the actual thing will be a little more… well, “designed” than the snow-white mockup above). The site is playing up LG’s announcement that the phone will bundle a bunch of popular apps in ROM (awesome?) but the real news is the impressive spec sheet, which is said to include a Nexus One-like 1GHz Snapdragon and WVGA AMOLED display paired with Android 2.1 and a 5 megapixel cam capable of 720p video. It certainly sounds like it’s ready to give Samsung’s M100S a run for its money, but we’ll need to wait until its second quarter release to know for sure.

LG’s LU2300 set to challenge Samsung’s M100S for Korean Android dominance? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Mar 2010 17:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple rumored to be readying Mac mini with HDMI

A Mac mini with HDMI. Makes sense, right? Well, it hasn’t to Apple so far, but it looks like it just might be ready to change its tune. That’s according to AppleInsider, at least, which has it from “two people familiar with the matter” that prototypes of a Mac mini with an HDMI port have been seen making the rounds in the usual inner circles. At least one of those prototypes was also said to be based on NVIDIA’s MCP89 chipset, which means that any forthcoming Mac mini revision would pass over the latest Core i3, i5 and i7 processors in favor of older Core 2 Duos if it is indeed the chipset used in the final product. Unfortunately, there’s nothing more specific than “this year” in terms of a rumored release date, and this is still just one rumor about what would be a fairly big shift in Apple’s strategy — so, you know, keep that in mind before you start ripping apart your current HTPC setup.

Apple rumored to be readying Mac mini with HDMI originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mysterious yellow and black cards lead to wild Nikon speculation

You know what’s black and yellow all over, fits in the average mailbox and gets the imaginations of camera junkies running wild? These cards, that’s what. Over the past few days, mysterious cards have begun to arrive in the hands of Nikon users, and while the company’s name is nowhere to be found, the colors and hints are starting to build a case for something new. It seems a countdown from 8 has begun, with the first card stating “I am…” and the second “I am fun….” In case you weren’t aware, Nikon has yet to dabble in the Micro Four Thirds world (or even hint at a competitor like Samsung’s NX range), but whispers of a so-called EVIL lineup have been building steam. Nikon aficionados have pointed out that the countdown will end just prior to a UK press meeting on March 8th, which could very well mean that an all-new compact is just days away from being properly revealed. Or it could be nothing at all. Keep your expectations low — it’s better to be pleasantly surprised than deflated and alone, right?

Mysterious yellow and black cards lead to wild Nikon speculation originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Mar 2010 01:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple files for Magic Trackpad trademark

This one slipped under our radar last week, but it’s interesting nonetheless: Apple’s filed for a “Magic Trackpad” trademark, which would seemingly indicate that there’s a companion to the Magic Mouse in the works. That’s all we know for now, but recall that John Gruber at Daring Fireball hinted that Apple was working on a “multi-touch trackpad gadget for desktop Macs” back in October just before the revised white MacBook was released. Obviously nothing’s come of that yet, but it all seems to fit — either that, or Apple’s trademark attorneys are just trying to cover their bases. We’ll see what happens.

Apple files for Magic Trackpad trademark originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Feb 2010 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nexus One coming to Verizon March 23rd?

What better way to start your Saturday afternoon than with another Nexus One release rumor. Without further ado, today we’ve got whispers care of Neowin that the recently-FCC’d CDMA device is launching on Verizon’s network March 23rd, perfect timing for the beginning of CTIA. And while that fits pretty neatly into that initial “Spring 2010” launch window, there’s really no way for us to corroborate at this point other than just taking their word for it. You can wait diligently, can’t ya?

Nexus One coming to Verizon March 23rd? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 27 Feb 2010 11:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What Is Apple’s Magic Trackpad? [Apple]

The US Patent & Trademark Office just published Apple’s latest trademark application for “Magic Trackpad“—and, looking at a bit of history, we think it could be one of two new products.

Possibility #1

Back in July 2009, Apple was granted a patent on their multi-touch Trackpad. However, many elements of the patent were left out, including advanced infrared imaging and optical emitters which could, in essence, make your Trackpad know when you were trying to type or trying to gesture (while opening the door for all sorts of other gesture tracking possibilities across much of your laptop’s work surface).

So the Magic Trackpad could be the next Trackpad for MacBooks.

Possibility #2

But the other, more enticing rumor, was one sourced from John Gruber back in October—that Apple could be introducing a “Wildcard I’m-Not-Sure-I-Really-Believe-It-Myself Out-There Rumor…Some Sort of Mentioned-Nowhere-Else-But-in-This-Very-Headline Multi-Touch Trackpad Gadget for Desktop Macs.”

Not so long ago, another Apple trademark was uncovered called the “Magic Slate”—many believe it to be the Gruber-described device. After HP and Dell both started coining the term “slate” around CES, I wonder if “slate” fell out of vogue, meaning the “Magic Slate” became the “Magic Trackpad.”

Taking a look at the actual Trackpad trademark filing, we must admit, the longshot standalone desktop trackpad feels like a decent fit:

International Class 009: Computers; computer software; computer operating system software; computer utility software; computer hardware; computer peripherals; scanners; touchscreens; keyboards; computer mice; trackballs; trackpads; touchpads; light pens; joysticks; game controllers; graphics tablets; digitizers; cables and connectors; flash memory drives; USB drives; solid state storage devices; barcode readers.

One thing’s for certain, if a device could actually cover every one of those categories in full, it most certainly would be something magical. [Patently Apple via Macrumors]

Acer launching thin, Calpella-based notebooks this summer?

Acer launching thin, Calpella-based notebooks this summer?

The progression of ever-faster notebooks seems to have dwindled, but the quest for thinner and lighter goes on. Acer is said to be finding the balance between those two goals with its next suite of thin performers, starting with a range of mid- and high-end portables based on Intel’s Calpella series of processors, the Nehalem spin-off that we haven’t heard much about lately. Sizes are said to be 13-, 14-, and 15-inches, all will be manufactured by Wistron, and all said to be one inch thin at their thinnest point — hopefully not much thicker elsewhere if they want to turn heads. These higher-performing machines will eventually phase out Acer’s CULV offerings, which apparently have had unimpressive sales thanks to a perceived lack of performance by consumers. We can’t imagine where they got that idea

Acer launching thin, Calpella-based notebooks this summer? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 26 Feb 2010 08:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC Supersonic (or Incredible) spotted on video?

It’s impossible to say with certainty what we’re looking at here, but by all appearances, this is likely the first time most of you (and all of us) have seen HTC’s so-called Supersonic on video. As a refresher, this is the phone rumored to be rocking Android, WiMAX, and pretty much every other spec line item you could possibly want for a date with destiny on Sprint later this year — and while you can’t make out much from the 40-second video, you can clearly make out the red earpiece grill we’ve seen in past pictures, suggesting that this isn’t the similarly-equipped Incredible we’ve heard of for Verizon. Anyhow, care to get dinner and a movie sometime this Summer, Supersonic? Follow the break for the full video.

Update: …and that was quick! Video’s been pulled, but if it’s any consolation, there’s not much more to it than the screen grab above. We’ll leave the video after the break just in case it comes back online.

Update 2: New video posted after the break! Yay! Also, commenters have astutely noted that there appears to be some sort of nav pad at the bottom of the phone, something the Supersonic lacks — so perhaps this is the Incredible after all, or a third Android superphone out of HTC. Clearly, we’re not complaining if that’s the case.

Continue reading HTC Supersonic (or Incredible) spotted on video?

HTC Supersonic (or Incredible) spotted on video? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 21:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Windows Phone 7 Series getting one chassis spec at launch, two more in the pipe?

If we had it boil it down, the singular image burned in our brains of Windows Phone 7 Series so far is that of a large, nondescript slate — the so-called “dogfood” device being passed around internally for the platform’s development — and although Microsoft isn’t talking specs at this point, it’s widely believed that this phone roughly represents the Chassis 1 spec that Redmond is passing around to hardware partners. Is this the only way you’ll be able to get your WinPho 7 served to you, though? We might yet be months away from an official answer, but a pair of Microsoft developer evangelists on an Australian podcast are saying that Chassis 1 (full touchscreen, gigahertz processor, and dedicated graphics acceleration) will be the sole option at launch, with Chassis 2 and 3 following on after that. 2 is said to be “more like a Palm Treo” with a dedicated QWERTY keyboard, while 3 remains a mystery, though there’s some speculation on the podcast that it could be a candybar — a form factor that’s becoming something of a lost art these days, particularly among smartphones. The speakers note that there’s a lot of value in offering some form factor variety — not everyone wants a keyboardless slate, after all — so the real question might be how quickly after initial launch we’ll see some of these other chassis filter down to retail.

Windows Phone 7 Series getting one chassis spec at launch, two more in the pipe? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Feb 2010 15:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink the::unwired, All About Microsoft  |  sourceFranklySpeaking  | Email this | Comments