Hasta La Gadget!

Samsung invited the world to adventure with its own smartphone OS, Bada, almost two years ago and so far most of us have turned down the offer. Of course, that trip could look more appealing if a Wall Street Journal rumor is true and the company is planning to open source it for use by developers and other manufacturers alike next year. Citing the usual “person familiar with the situation”, Samsung apparently isn’t interested in snagging any outside companies like, say, webOS, but wants to strengthen its independence from Android after Google announced it will purchase Motorola. Right now, it feels like we’ve already seen this story play out for the still-kicking Symbian. On the other hand, maybe Samsung, with its massive manufacturing capabilities and current hit-making prowess, can strike the right balance of hardware, software and apps to make it worthwhile. If it tries and fails, well, maybe the folks in Redmond will be looking for another close friend.

Samsung taking Bada open source in 2012? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Sep 2011 02:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Contactless payments have been something of a curiosity in the credit card industry. MasterCard’s PayPass has been around for the better part of a decade, but merchants and banks alike seem hesitant to adopt the technology required to make the system work, and inconsistent implementation adds to the confusion — particularly for customers. Google’s new mobile phone-based Wallet service has the potential to transform the technology from its current status as a transaction turkey, to a future as a checkout champion. But will it work? We spent a week with a Wallet-enabled Nexus S 4G, using the device to pay whenever we encountered a MasterCard PayPass terminal. Unfortunately, that wasn’t often enough, limiting us to just a handful of transactions in the first week. Still, with Google just beginning to roll out the service and only a limited selection of launch partners ready to go, it’s impossible to deliver a complete verdict just yet. Jump past the break for an inside look at Google Wallet, including a video of the service in action, and a brief look at what the world of contactless payments may look like in the future.

Continue reading A week with Google Wallet (video)

A week with Google Wallet (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Sep 2011 16:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung’s latest Android Tab has already gotten the in-box hands-on treatment from the blue shirts at Best Buy, but now we have official word on pricing for the 8.9-inch WiFi-only model, set to hit stores as soon as Thursday. Willing to settle for the 16GB flavor? Get ready to hand over $469 to take one of these slim slates home, or pull out another Benjamin to double capacity to 32 gigs — that beefed-up model will run you $569. You’ll also get Android 3.1 Honeycomb with “the freedom of TouchWiz,” a 3 megapixel camera on the rear with 2MPs up front, and a dual-core 1GHz processor. Check out our Tab 8.9 hands-on, or hit up the source link for the full feature rundown from Sammy.

[Thanks, Kevin]

Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 WiFi gets US pricing, 16GB model starts at $469 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Sep 2011 10:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s not hard to find a good inductive charging smartphone these days, but German IT student Qian Qin absolutely had to have the feature on his Galaxy S Plus. What’s more, it needed to be just right: no voiding of the warranty and no unsightly protrusions. So, instead of bumping his gums, he went out and purchased a Palm Pre back cover and a Touchstone dock for €30 ($40), ripped the charging circuit out of the Pre cover and stuck it into the Samsung’s cover, then finally soldered a wire from the circuit to the micro-USB port (plus another wire to the microSD slot for 0V). Job done. At first, the mere mention of a webOS device gave us a twinge of sadness, but then the video after the break cheered us right up again — you can tell within the first six seconds that this guy is a pure OCD perfectionist. You’ll also find more detailed instructions at the source link, and they should work equally well for the original Galaxy S too.

Continue reading Mr Fussy mods Samsung Galaxy S for inductive charging, without frazzling warranty (video)

Mr Fussy mods Samsung Galaxy S for inductive charging, without frazzling warranty (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 18 Sep 2011 19:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging to get updated. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it’s easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don’t escape without notice, we’ve gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery from the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!

Official Android updates

• The HTC Merge on US Cellular can now be bumped up to Android 2.3.4. It appears to be a manual install, so visit here to download the file and learn exactly how to update your device. [via UnwiredView]
• HTC has added another device to its growing list of phones and tablets that now support the HTCDev bootloader unlock tool. [via PocketDroid]
• The LG Optimus S on Sprint is now on the receiving end of an OTA Gingerbread rollout. [via UnwiredView]
• Great news, Samsung Infuse 4G users: you’re getting an update. The bad news: it’s a maintenance fix, rather than a full-out Gingerbread upgrade. Still, it may be worth the download if you have the time or opportunity. [via AndroidCentral]
• Samsung has released the kernel source for the Epic 4G Touch. [via PocketNow]
• Sprint’s certainly getting a lot of love this week, and we’re not done yet: the Motorola Photon 4G is beginning to push out another smallish bug fix meant to curb WiFi issues experienced by a few users, and appears to be a gradual rollout. [via SprintFeed]
• The original Motorola Droid X is expected to receive a maintenance refresh as early as tomorrow, which is intended to resolve a widespread issue with the keyboard. If you’re in this category, definitely keep a close eye out on this space. [via Droid-Life]
• We’re hearing that the Droid 2 R2-D2 update to Gingerbread, which we originally reported on last week, is officially rolling out to eager fanboys and fangirls countrywide. [via AndroidCentral]

Unofficial Android updates, custom ROMs and misc. hackery

• Those CyanogenMod7 builds for the HTC Sensation and EVO 3D we were talking about last week? They’re now available. As extremely early builds, download and flash at your own risk. [via AndroidCentral]
• Since we’re talking so much about HTC, here’s one more thing: you can now grab a ROM for your HTC Desire HD that enables the beats audio technology. [via GSMArena and Android Community]
• A dev has been hard at work pulling various Motorola Atrix ROMs and porting them over to the Droid X2. The first one available is plain vanilla Android 2.3.4, if you’re just not feeling up to using MotoBlur (aka the now-nameless Moto UI). [via Droid-Life]
• The initial build of the Motorola Droid Bionic bootstrap is available for install, which essentially will enable you to bootstrap your recovery and create backups on your device. Custom ROMs still aren’t around for the Bionic yet (although early builds of CM7 began showing up this week), but the bootstrap is a big step toward achieving that goal. [via Droid-Life]

Other platforms

• Symbian’s Anna update is continuing to expand support to more countries, including Italy, Switzerland, Taiwan and Turkey. The refreshes for the US, Canada and Australia — according to an email from Nokia — is expected to arrive within the next two weeks. [via MyNokiaBlog]

Refreshes we covered this week

• AT&T Windows Phone 7 devices to receive Mango this fall
• BlackBerry PlayBook to get OTA update next month that will offer native email, calendar

Refresh Roundup: week of September 12, 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 18 Sep 2011 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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