Hasta La Gadget!

Alltel Wireless has announced that the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8230 smartphone will hit retail stores and the online site beginning in early May.

The handset is one of the few flip smartphones out there, combining the popular form factor with a genuine BlackBerry handheld. This model is a bit larger than most other flips–it extends more than half a foot when fully opened–but it features the Pearl’s SureType-style QWERTY keyboard, along with a 2.3-inch LCD and a 2 megapixel camera.

The 8230 is essentially the same as the somewhat buggy 8220 model on T-Mobile that we reviewed several months ago, except that the 8230 lacks Wi-Fi. Hopefully RIM and Alltel will have cleaned up some of the bugs by the time the handset is released–most notably, an extremely slow Web browser implementation (much more so than other BlackBerrys).

We’ve been hearing about the Garmin-ASUS nuvifone forever. Well, actually, January 2008, which was when we first heard about the “breakthrough product that cellphone and GPS users around the world have been longing for,” as the Garmin COO put it back then, according to Engadget.

Now comes word via Boy Genius Report that the G60 handset is finally scheduled to drop sometime before June 30th. There’s still no confirmation of a carrier or price, but AT&T is looking more and more likely for the LiMo-powered handset. A 3.5-inch touchscreen–comparable to a Garmin nuvi 350 navigation unit, not to mention the iPhone 3G–and HSDPA compatibility are among the included features.

It’s been nearly three years since the Onyx tickled our imagination, but Pilotfish is looking to completely melt our brains with its latest concept. The Munich-based industrial design firm has just introduced its Ondo music editing mobile, which is half cellphone, half music mixer and thoroughly amazing. In theory, the phone would boast a small mixing panel, three removable recording sticks with internal memory and a bendable center to give music lovers the ability to insert pitch bends and relieve stress. Essentially, the trio of OLED-infused sticks serves two purposes: when installed, they’re the main phone panel, and when removed, they can be clipped onto instruments for recording purposes. Afterwards, they can be swapped with other Ondo owners or edited on the fly right on the device itself. Needless to say, there’s a better shot at you winning the lottery than seeing this thing hit mass production, but you can feel free to dream by checking the full release, Q&A and demonstration video just past the break.

Continue reading Pilotfish’s Ondo music editing mobile concept puts new twist on smartphones

Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio

Pilotfish’s Ondo music editing mobile concept puts new twist on smartphones originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Apr 2009 03:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The last time we saw the Pre’s Classic Palm OS emulator in action, we had a few lingering questions in our mind, chief among them being how well can it game? From the looks of this latest video, released by Motion Apps to answer that very question, pretty well so far. In addition to confirming sound support for the latest build, we also get a brief glimpse of the software handling 3D driver GTS World Racer. Of course, seeing this makes us even more curious about the gaming potential for the native webOS, but alas, we’re in the cold there. In the meantime, check out some classic 3D racing in the video after the break.

Continue reading New Pre Classic emulator video shows off 3D gaming prowess

Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming

New Pre Classic emulator video shows off 3D gaming prowess originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 19 Apr 2009 04:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve been waiting on pins and needles for confirmation, but it looks like an all-too-vague Reuters report actually is referring to the Garmin-Asus nüvifone G60. After a senior company official noted that a “Linux-based operating system” would be used in one of its two smartphones, we pinged Garmin directly to cut through the mystery and get down to the meat. What we were told was this: “The Garmin-Asus nüvifone G60 has a proprietary Linux-based OS, and we’re still working towards delivering the nüvifone G60 in the first half of 2009 in limited markets, which haven’t been named yet.” Of course, the tandem is quickly running out in months in that window, so we’re pretty jazzed to be all up on top of an imminent release. Now, if only we knew where those patience pills made off to…

[Via Boy Genius Report]

Filed under: Cellphones

Garmin-Asus nüvifone G60 to rock LiMo, launch in 1H 2009 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Apr 2009 17:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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