Hasta La Gadget!

LAS VEGAS — After months of sneak peeks and speculation, Motorola has finally unveiled its iPad competitor. Accompanying the tablet, the company introduced the latest version of its popular Droid smartphone.

Dubbed the Xoom, the tablet will indeed be running Honeycomb, the OS described by Motorola as the first version of Android designed entirely for use on a tablet.

Unfortunately, a fully-functional Xoom wasn’t made available for playing around with, but the short demo played onstage at Wednesday’s press conference gave audience members something to think about. From what we’ve seen, Honeycomb’s user interface is very sexy, and very different from the Gingerbread UI we’re used to.

Although price points weren’t disclosed, the details that were shared made the Xoom a tablet worth watching. It boasts a dual-core 1-GHz processor, 10.1-inch widescreen HD display, a 2-megapixel front facing camera for video chat capability and a rear-facing 5-megapixel camera, which captures 720p HD video.

The Xoom will launch with 3-G and WiFi connectivity in the first quarter of 2011. In the second quarter, it will be available for the next-generation 4G LTE network  Fret not, early adopters – those that buy early can upgrade the tablet to 4G later.

Motorola did not announce an official release date or price.

Also noteworthy was the latest addition in Motorola’s Droid series, the Droid Bionic. The Bionic has a 4.3-inch screen, a dual-core processor under the hood (like the Xoom), and  512 MB of RAM. It will be compatible with Verizon’s new 4G network.

The Droid Bionic joins the earlier announced Motorola Atrix and LG Optimus 2x, two other smartphones with dual-core CPUs.

Brian Chen contributed to this report.

Continue reading Toy smartphone jailbreak: top tech trend for 2011?

Toy smartphone jailbreak: top tech trend for 2011? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 Jan 2011 13:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Pretty impressive, isn’t it? Meizu sure has made a wise decision to launch its M9 Android Froyo phone on the first day of 2011 which, like most other countries, happens to be a public holiday in China. According to some Meizu fans (aka “Mei-yo” or literally “friends of Meizu”) outside one of the two Shenzhen stores, there were already about 60 people lined up outside at around 6am. A few of them even braved the cold weather since 8pm last night, despite CEO Jack Wong actively discouraging such hustle on the forum for the sake of people’s health, promising “all the flagship stores will have sufficient stock” for all pre-orderers. Meizu wasn’t keen on giving us an official number, but the two Shenzhen stores alone could’ve easily served several thousand customers this morning. With no limit on how many units each person could pre-order (¥2,499 / $379 for 8GB, and ¥2,699 / $409 for 16GB), you can imagine Meizu’s assembly lines working long hours to supply its stores from 28 other provinces in China. Meanwhile, somewhere out there, Mr. Wong is happily checking his bank account. Video after the break.

Continue reading Meizu’s M9 launch amasses thousands of Jack Wong fans across China (video)

Meizu’s M9 launch amasses thousands of Jack Wong fans across China (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 01 Jan 2011 07:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ah, so you’ve just been given a Windows Phone 7 handset. If that’s what you’d been begging for all this time, then many congratulations; but if not, don’t hit eBay just yet — sure, WP7’s range of apps is comparatively limited with its recent 5,000 milestone, but hey, you gotta start somewhere, right? Even at its infancy, WP7 has proven to be a nice alternative choice if you want to stand out from the rest of the smartphone crowd, and don’t forget its two powerful weapons: Zune and Xbox Live integration. Until WP7 gets its major upgrade early next year, our holiday guide should keep you and your new phone going for a little longer. Go ahead and read on.

Continue reading Just got a Windows Phone 7 handset? The best apps, accessories, and tips

Just got a Windows Phone 7 handset? The best apps, accessories, and tips originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Dec 2010 11:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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All the pieces, they’re a-comin’ together. If you’ll recall, we spotted a smattering of HP Palm codenames in webOS 2.0 code early last month, and now, those very names are popping up elsewhere. Over at DirectCast, a couple of casting calls have emerged for HP Palm, with both of ’em seeking young, carefree hipsters with lovely hands. They’re willing to pay a solid grand if you fit the profile, presumably to hold one of these impending devices on camera for some sort of advertisement. A PreCentral reader actually signed up, and then received some even more interesting information — he was informed that the shoot will involve the HP Palm Broadway, Manta and Topaz. The Broadway was indeed one of the devices spotted in the aforementioned code, and while Manta wasn’t there, “Mantaray” was. Topaz, of course, looks to be Palm’s forthcoming tablet. This is all just expanded speculation for now, but if you were holding out hope for new HP Palm products, feel free to let your imagination run wild.

HP Palm Broadway, Manta and Topaz name-dropped in casting call originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Dec 2010 11:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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