Hasta La Gadget!

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon has brought about a new wave of possibilities for smartphones, but evidently those chips are just too exclusive to slip into so-called “mainstream smartphones.” In order to remedy such a tragedy, the outfit has today introduced the MSM7x30 family of solutions, which uses an 800 MHz to 1GHz custom superscalar CPU based on the ARM v7 instruction set. The chips support 720p video encoding / decoding at 30fps, integrated 2D and 3D graphics (with support for OpenGL ES 2.0 and OpenVG 1.1), 5.1-channel surround sound, a 12 megapixel camera sensor and built-in GPS. In related news, the outfit also announced that it is sampling the industry’s first chipsets for dual-carrier HSPA+ and multi-mode 3G / LTE, which ought to make those champing at the bit for a speedier WWAN highway exceedingly giddy. Hit the links below for all the technobabble.

Read – MSM7x30 solutions
Read – Dual-carrier HSPA+ and Multi-Mode 3G/LTE chipsets

Filed under: Cellphones

Qualcomm chips promises 1GHz speeds in ‘mainstream smartphones,’ simultaneous HSPA+ / LTE support originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Looks like quite a few folks have got their hands on the Acer Liquid as of late, and lucky for us they’ve been rather loose-lipped with their thoughts on the subject. As suspected, the handset is running a 1GHz Snapdragon that’s been under-clocked to 768MHz. And it looks like Acer didn’t go crazy with the User Experience either, pretty much staying true to its Google Android 1.6 roots, albeit with a number of additions, including: social networking integration (Facebook and Flickr contacts and photo sharing), nemoPlayer for multimedia files, DataViz for Microsoft Exchange support, and the Spinlets music streaming service. In addition, Acer has redesigned some of the widgets, including the clock and the task manager, which now includes a preview of open apps. All-in-all, it seems to be a pretty solid Android handset with a few useful additions — but as always, the verdict is out until we get our hands on one. In the meantime, hit up the read links below for a generous helping of screenshots, hands-on pics, and impressions.

[Via JK On The Run]

Read – PREVIEW: Acer Liquid Android 1.6 WVGA Touchscreen Smartphone
Read – Acer A1, Screenshot and Interface

Filed under: Cellphones

Acer Liquid handled, evaluated, ‘not too shabby’ originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The first Android device from Sony Ericsson may have undergone an upgrade in the naming department, jumping from X3 all the way to XPERIA X10 (probably to avoid confusion with Nokia’s X3 handset), but what lies under the hood is reassuringly in line with what we’ve been hearing. That is to say, a 1GHz Snapdragon chip from Qualcomm, wide 4-inch capacitive touch display, 8.1 megapixel camera with LED flash, and a thoroughly tricked out Android skin named Rachael. Sony Ericsson stressed to us the symbiotic importance of both the new flagship device and “open OS” UI — the X10 was presented as the patriarch of a whole new family of handsets, which we can expect to see in the first half of 2010, all sporting the beauty of Rachael and perhaps helping to bridge the gap between featurephones and, well, more advanced featurephones. So don’t be shy, come along past the break to see our uncensored first impressions of both, along with hands-on video and pictures.

Continue reading Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 announced, we go hands-on

Filed under: Cellphones

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 announced, we go hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia, the world’s largest phone maker, hasn’t even registered as a blip on most Americans’ radars for years now. Not since Neo’s 8110i fell out of a FedEx envelope has the public as a whole coveted anything the company had to offer, but that could be changing very soon. According to VentureBeat, Nokia has signed on with AT&T to launch some hot new smartphone in the not too distant future, presumably with the sort of incentivized pricing that, for once, might just allow it to be a value proposition. Details are slim, but it’s said to be running a Qualcomm processor and, given rumors of Snapdragon talks, that’s where we’re putting our money.

[Via Pocket-lint]

Filed under: Cellphones

Nokia said to be launching smartphone with AT&T, Snapdragon ahoy? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 08:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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After what seemed like a full lifetime of waiting, Acer’s recently-launched neoTouch S200 is finally making its way into some reviewing hands. The fine young cannibals over at Phone Arena have just given it the head to toe treatment, and we have to say, we’re glad they’ve done the dirty work for us. This WinMo 6.5 handset, according to their impressions, seems to be a not fully baked affair — sluggishness and random crashing are both reported, as is a rather serious sounding call quality issue. The battery also seems to be inadequate for a workday, coming in at around five hours. Overall, the phone suffers from software optimization problems more than hardware issues. The one ray of light in all this is of course that 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU, which can multitask and handle several things at once without flinching — but it’s rather hard to get pumped about it in the face of all that sadness. Hit the read link for the full, exhaustive review.

Filed under: Cellphones

Acer neoTouch S200 reviewed, not recommended originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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