Hasta La Gadget!

Well, well — what have we here? That up above is LG’s Revolution, a Snapdragon-powered Android superphone. What’s inside is no normal Snapdragon, though. It’s actually a newfangled chip that isn’t shipping to consumers just yet, which includes DRM libraries at a hardware level that serve to satisfy paranoid movie execs. The good news is that Qualcomm has actually whipped up a solution that’ll finally bring Watch Instantly to Android; the bad news is that existing smartphones — even existing Snapdragon devices — will not be able to utilize the app. Without new hardware, the Android version of the Netflix app simply won’t function, and no one at Qualcomm was willing to tell us when these Netflix-friendly Snapdragon chips would begin to ship out.

Whenever that fateful day arrives, though, Snapdragon devices with HDMI sockets will be able to beam that content right to their HDTV — the company’s hardware is HDCP-approved, so there’s no sweat when it comes to watching content on the big screen. On-site representatives made clear that both the phone and the app were for demonstration purposes only, but we’d be shocked if LG’s handset shipped without this compatibility. The demo we saw was smooth as butter, and the app itself looked glorious on the Revolution’s 4.3-inch touchscreen. See for yourself in the video just past the break.

Continue reading Android-powered LG Revolution caught streaming Netflix at MWC (video)

Android-powered LG Revolution caught streaming Netflix at MWC (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 07:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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For most of us, ZTE’s only known for its budget Android devices in the cellphone market, but this ever-expanding company’s aiming to change its image with a slightly more powerful flagship device come May. Dubbed the Skate, this Android 2.3 smartphone sports a generous 4.3-inch display (although no screen type or resolution is specified here), and is powered by an unnamed 800MHz processor plus a soon-obsolete Adreno 200 GPU. There’s also a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash on the back, along with the usual Bluetooth, A-GPS, and WiFi bundle. Sadly, the listed cellular frequencies indicate that the Skate won’t be heading to the US any time soon, which is rather ironic given ZTE’s desire to make it big in the North American consumer market this year. On the flip side, maybe the Chinese giant’s got some surprises for us, and we like surprises. Press release after the break.

Continue reading ZTE Skate coming near you later this year with Android 2.3, 4.3-inch goodness

ZTE Skate coming near you later this year with Android 2.3, 4.3-inch goodness originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 02:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you hadn’t noticed, Intel’s running huge MeeGo ads all over the place today, including here on Engadget. That’s got our attention for a few reasons: first, our editorial staff wants the hair-trigger audio playback and content-obscuring animation disabled as badly as you do, and second, we’re sort of wondering what Intel is trying to accomplish by pushing MeeGo now that Nokia has strongly backed away from the OS in favor of Windows Phone 7. It’s hard to understand, especially since Intel’s directing these ads at developers — who’s going to develop apps for a platform that has zero shipping mass-market devices? And even if there were a groundswell of MeeGo development action, why is Intel leading the charge, when it has yet to ship any chips suitable for a phone or tablet, and MeeGo tablet development appears to have completely stalled out? It’s very curious.

Now, we have great faith in Intel — the company is smart, capable, and big enough to succeed at anything it wants to, and it’s made it very clear at MWC that devices with Medfield mobile processors will ship sometime this year and be competitive with the best of what ARM can offer. That will be an enormous and noteworthy accomplishment when it happens — Intel’s been promising a serious mobile chip for years now, and it’ll be exciting to see the company finally join the race. But let’s be honest: any viable Medfield device will be running Android, not MeeGo. To quote Nokia’s Stephen Elop, the battle of devices has become a war of ecosystems, and MeeGo simply doesn’t offer an ecosystem that’s competitive with iOS, Android, or what Nokia and Microsoft are planning to build with Windows Phone 7. It’s a harsh truth, but it’s inescapable. Sure, maybe Intel can convince a second-tier manufacturer to ship a Medfield / MeeGo device — it’s using the Atom-based ExoPC Slate to demo the MeeGo tablet UI, for example — but it’s simply not going to entice the Samsungs and HTCs of the world to invest the serious capital required to make MeeGo a success without some sort of major industry disruption.

Now, that disruption isn’t impossible to imagine — let’s say one of the various IP lawsuits aimed at Android is successful, or something — but unless and until that happens, we’d say Intel’s far better off investing its resources into working with a vendor on a top-tier Android handset that can run with something like the Motorola Atrix 4G or the HTC Thunderbolt. That’s a sure way to get back into the conversation — and after years of empty promises around Moorestown, Medfield, Moblin, and now MeeGo, getting back in the mobile conversation is something Intel desperately needs to do.

Oh, and figuring out how to make ads that don’t autoplay audio wouldn’t hurt, either.

Editorial: Intel keeps pushing MeeGo, but why? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Feb 2011 19:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Wall Street Journal has weighed in on rumors of Apple’s smaller iPhone, and citing “people familiar with the matter” the publication says that the rumors are likely true. One such familiar person reportedly saw a device half the size of the iPhone 4, bearing the codename “N97,” and said that the handset will be only about half the size of the original, and at only around half the price too. Amazingly, those anonymous sources continued to divulge information, expressing the idea that Apple could finally make its MobileMe cloud service suite free, and that it just might be the platform from which Apple could finally launch a streaming music platform and lessen the need for all those gigabytes of flash storage in your pocket. We’ll let you know if or when any of that happens, okay?

Update: The WSJ‘s source proved even more talkative after getting an eyeful of the Samsung and Sony announcements this morn; the publication’s article has been updated to read that the device is “significantly lighter” than the iPhone 4, has an “edge-to-edge” touchscreen, and “voice-based navigation” of some sort.

WSJ corroborates the mini-iPhone, says Apple may make MobileMe free (update: ‘edge-to-edge’ screen) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 13 Feb 2011 18:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ll forgive you if you thought the Xperia Play was eons before. Let’s quickly run through its short-yet-illustrious history: we published first details in August last year, followed by the very first pictures in late October. More and more details emerged throughout the remainder of the year. By the time 2011 hit, a prototype was making the Chinese media rounds (teardown included), and then we managed to get our own Xperia Play prototype for preview. It’s at this point that Sony Ericsson joins in on the fun with its creepy Super Bowl ad reveal.

But after months of detailed leaks, early hands-on previews, and numerous executive non–denials, the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play is finally 100 percent official.

As we’ve heard for ages now, it’ll run Android 2.3 Gingerbread on a 1GHz Snapdragon processor with Qualcomm Adreno 205 graphics and display those games on a sizable 4-inch, 854 x 480 multi-touch LCD screen, the combination of which Sony says will provide 60 frames per second playback and manage up to 5 hours, 35 minutes of battery life in a single game session with the slide-out PlayStation Certified controller. Gaming credentials aside, you’re looking at either a quad-band GSM or CDMA and EV-DO smartphone with a 5-megapixel autofocus camera, LED flash, stereo speakers, Bluetooth and WiFi functionality baked in, as well as Sony Ericsson’s Timescape UI layer.

The phone comes preloaded with a “legendary” PSone game of the undisclosed variety, as well as a bevy of popular Android games including Asphalt 6, The Sims 3 and Tetris, and Sony Ericsson promises a library of 50 additional titles available at launch from 20 publishing partners. Some games ported from existing smartphone platforms (like Reckless Racing) will have bonus content on Xperia Play, too. Local area multiplayer gaming is a go, as you’ll be able to host a WiFi hotspot on one device and join the game with another. It’s launching in March, and will be available on Verizon (a US timed exclusive) in “early spring,” suggesting that we’ll see the European launch before it hits the States.

Update: Press release, full, gigantic spec sheet and loads of video after the break!

Update 2: A brand new Xperia Play hands-on with games!

Continue reading The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play (update: video and full spec sheet!)

The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play (update: video and full spec sheet!) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 13 Feb 2011 13:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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