Samsung Cetus i917 is in this video, automating your homes (video)

Believe it or not, we know most everything about the Samsung’s Windows Phone 7-powered Cetus — what it looks like, where it’s going and what’s inside, despite never seeing the device invoke a single pane of that Metro UI. Well, that’s just changed with a new video from WMPowerUser, who tricked with WP7 program manager Charlie Kindel showing off his personal device — albeit running a humble garage door opener app and thumbing through the dialer rather than showing a potent program of some sort. Still, that 4-inch AMOLED screen is very much in attendance, as you can see from the saturated orange squares above, and we’ll just have to hope the last pieces of the Cetus puzzle — release date and price — come together in good time. Video after the break.

Update: It appears this is actually a clip from Microsoft’s internal Channel 9 crew, going behind-the-scenes with part of the Windows Phone 7 team, as many have noted in comments. We’ve updated our links to reflect that.

Continue reading Samsung Cetus i917 is in this video, automating your homes (video)

Samsung Cetus i917 is in this video, automating your homes (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 19 Sep 2010 15:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft’s Tivanka Ellawala: no plans to develop more phone hardware

Well, that settles that. Not that we really expected Microsoft to branch out and try the whole “let’s make a phone!” thing again — particularly after the Kin debacle ended the way it did — but the company’s own Tivanka Ellawala just said as much at an investor conference in San Francisco. For those unaware, Mr. Ellawala is the company’s CFO for the Mobile Communications Business, and we have all ideas he’s still reeling from lost investments related to Kin. Answering a question about rumors surrounding a future Microsoft-built phone, he stated: “We are in the software business and that is where our business will be focused.” He went on to stress the importance and magnitude of Windows Phone 7, which he says will spearhead demand for data services and will be “strong on the gaming side.” Honestly, we aren’t too bummed out — we’d rather the engineers in Redmond stick to making the best mobile OS they can, while the dudes and dudettes at HTC, Samsung and LG keep on cranking out the drool-worthy hardware. But mostly we’re just terrified of the Kin 2.

Microsoft’s Tivanka Ellawala: no plans to develop more phone hardware originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Sep 2010 20:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Is this HTC Sense on Windows Phone 7? (update: and is this HTC’s Hub?)

Whoa, Nelly! Just 24 hours after we caught wind of a leaked webOS 2.0 video, in flies this. If the “Confidential use only” watermark is accurate, the video embedded after the break is HTC’s Sense overlay on Windows Phone 7. If you’ll recall, we finally heard that Sense would indeed be hitting Microsoft’s forthcoming mobile OS after all back in July, but we’ve yet to see any real indication of what the end product would look like. Until now, of course. With “the holidays” rapidly approaching and Redmond holding funerals for rival operating systems, there’s a better-than-average chance that this is legitimate. Frankly, we’re digging what we’re seeing thus far, but is it wrong to wish that even more panels were shown off?

Update: And what’s this? Yet another video has fallen into our laps, and it’s featuring an HTC handset we’ve never seen before. Pocket PT is calling it the Hub (while tipster Eric suggests it may be the Mozart), suggesting that it’s also running Sense atop Windows Phone 7 in the video after the break. When it rains, right?

[Thanks, Sid and Pedro]

Continue reading Is this HTC Sense on Windows Phone 7? (update: and is this HTC’s Hub?)

Is this HTC Sense on Windows Phone 7? (update: and is this HTC’s Hub?) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Sep 2010 13:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Palm webOS 2.0 preview video hits the wilds

First things first — before you jump on past the break and mash play, mute your speakers. Mute. As in, off. Alrighty, now that you’re prepared, you’ve got two minutes and 14 seconds of teasing just a click away, as some sure-to-be-yelled-at developer has leaked a sneak peak into the wide, mysterious world of webOS 2.0. Not that we haven’t seen a cornucopia of screenshots already, but at least this emulation vid gives you a better idea of how things will actually flow once it gets released to end users. Oh, and as for those DropBox and MobileMe integration rumors? Looks like that’s just QuickOffice being QuickOffice.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Palm webOS 2.0 preview video hits the wilds

Palm webOS 2.0 preview video hits the wilds originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Sep 2010 14:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Windows Phone 7 slides into TV spot, Rachel Zoe’s life

If you knew anything about The Rachel Zoe Project, you’d know that dear Rachel never, ever leaves home without her BlackBerry. Apparently, her comforting hubby — known affectionately as Rodger Berman — isn’t going far without his unbranded Windows Phone 7 device (and a little help from Bing, naturally). Curiously enough, the date on the screen shows July, so there’s a halfway decent chance the software they’re playing with is of the pre-production variety… particularly since he’s wielding a Samsung Omnia i9810-based prototype. Oh, and as you can see above, we’re guessing he’s relying on WiFi or some off-camera magic to actually pull anything up. Hard to get 3G in Los Angeles, especially when your phone is missing its SIM card. At any rate, the spot in full is embedded just past the break, and just between us, we get the feeling this is just the first of many more to come.

[Thanks, Michael]

Continue reading Windows Phone 7 slides into TV spot, Rachel Zoe’s life

Windows Phone 7 slides into TV spot, Rachel Zoe’s life originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Sep 2010 13:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sprint gets a BlackBerry Curve 3G of its own, going for $50 on contract

Unless you’re a huge fan of Sprint’s Everything Data plan, it looks as if Verizon’s BlackBerry Curve 3G is the one to get — unless you enjoy spending $20 more (on contract) for the same thing on Sprint, that is. Just hours after Big Red announced that the 9330 would soon be coming its way, in flies Sprint to play copycat. The Curve 3G is the same as it ever was, boasting BlackBerry OS 5, a trackpad / QWERTY layout, two megapixel camera, 802.11b/g WiFi, GPU, dedicated media keys 512MB of Flash memory, a microSD / SDHC slot (2GB card bundled in) and a couple of color options (graphite gray and royal purple). Sprint’s keen on you knowing that this here phone will be eligible for an upgrade to BlackBerry OS 6 in early 2011, but you can go ahead and grab one starting September 26th.

Continue reading Sprint gets a BlackBerry Curve 3G of its own, going for $50 on contract

Sprint gets a BlackBerry Curve 3G of its own, going for $50 on contract originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Sep 2010 10:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC finally throws T-Mobile G2 up on its site, lays out the final specifications

We’ve theoretically had nearly all of these numbers confirmed piece by piece, but there’s something eerily comforting about HTC tossing it all together on a single page for our perusal. As anticipated, the HTC-built T-Mobile G2 will be powered by an 800MHz Qualcomm MSM7230 processor, and it’ll boast Android 2.2, 4GB of ROM, 512B of RAM, a 3.7-inch WVGA capacitive touchscreen as well as a five megapixel camera with auto focus and flash. There’s also aGPS, WiFi, Bluetooth and a 1300mAh battery, all of which may or may not cause you to drool. Hit the source link if you need to see for yourself.

[Thanks, David]

HTC finally throws T-Mobile G2 up on its site, lays out the final specifications originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Sep 2010 19:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Droid Does website points to imminent Froyo update for Droid X… but what does it mean?

Just as Paul Vasquez would have us do, we’re questioning the true meaning behind a curious page that has popped up over at the Droid Does website — a very authentic portal that Verizon Wireless itself has been pushing for nearly a year. Put simply, the splash page details “great news!” surrounding a heretofore unannounced Android 2.2 update for the arguably gigantic Droid X. In fact, we’re even told about all the amazing features that Froyo brings, but alas, our own X has yet to get any sort of notification from Big Red. The image you’re peering at above was purportedly texted to a tipster from VZW, but unfortunately, the links led to the previously referenced splash page rather than a download. Still, we’re guessing that this means a bona fide release is just around the corner — Verizon’s already a few weeks late at this point, so hopefully the finishing touches are nearly done.

[Thanks, Kellen]

Continue reading Droid Does website points to imminent Froyo update for Droid X… but what does it mean?

Droid Does website points to imminent Froyo update for Droid X… but what does it mean? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Sep 2010 17:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Spot the difference: HTC Desire’s SLCD versus AMOLED

Digg If you’ll recall, a little while back HTC waved its white flag amid AMOLED shortages and made the jump to the readily-available SLCD for its Desire and Nexus One handsets. As a quick recap, here’s what CEO Peter Chou said about the swap:

“The SLCD displays provide consumers with a comparable visual experience to HTC’s current 3.7 inch displays with some additional benefits including battery performance.”

So, just how “comparable” is the SLCD? To find out, we picked up both flavors of the Desire to perform some comparison tests. Let’s start off with the picture quality: what caught our attention straight away was how much sharper SLCD is, but alas, AMOLED is still in the lead for vibrancy and brightness. We dug a little deeper and learned that this has to do with the different pixel arrangements on the two types of panels — unlike traditional TFT LCD panels, AMOLED’s PenTile RGBG (red, green, blue, green, etc.) filter matrix utilizes just two subpixels per pixel instead of three in the same amount of space, thus allowing greater transmittance due to the larger red and blue subpixels. But obviously, the downside is that the pictures aren’t as sharp as the denser-packed SLCD. Read on for more!

Continue reading Spot the difference: HTC Desire’s SLCD versus AMOLED

Spot the difference: HTC Desire’s SLCD versus AMOLED originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Sep 2010 20:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Exclusive: Galaxy Tab, red / white BlackBerry Torch and Samsung Focus hitting AT&T in Q4

Mmm, delicious. That’s the feeling we’re left with after being inundated with yet another round of AT&T leaks, this time giving us insight at a few flagship devices on tap for the carrier’s holiday push. First up is the Galaxy Tab — an Android 2.2-based tablet that we had previously heard rumored for AT&T’s airwaves. Thanks to a branded snapshot from the carrier’s internals, we can confirm that the Tab will indeed be sold on Ma Bell, and it (along with three other new Android devices) will ship “prior to December.” Moving on, we’ve got even more confirmation that the Samsung Cetus (i917) will be one of the operator’s first Windows Phone 7 devices, and it looks as if a heretofore unheard of Samsung Focus and HTC Surround will be joining it. Better still, we’ve got it on good authority that three other WP7 handsets will be splashing down alongside those others in time for the holidays. As for the remaining BlackBerry loyalists, AT&T will be tempting you with a trio of limited run Torch motifs coming in “mid to late November,” with an all-white version, red / black model and olive colored edition on tap. We’ll be keeping an ear to the ground for more, naturally.

Exclusive: Galaxy Tab, red / white BlackBerry Torch and Samsung Focus hitting AT&T in Q4 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Sep 2010 17:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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