Hasta La Gadget!

The countdown is over and the mystery is solved. Nokia just let us in on the secret of its “everyone connect” teaser: a trio of new middling handsets. Yes folks, hardware, but not the N-series flagship many of you were hoping for. Instead we’ve got a handful of affordable QWERTY cellphones bent on bringing messaging and social networking to the masses. Naturally, these devices aren’t going to compete for the attention of the N8-00 crowd — that’s fine, they’re not meant to. Today’s launch is part of Nokia’s global strategy to push the smartphone experience down into the dumbphone market.

Let’s start things off with the colorful C3-00 (available Q2 for €90 pre-tax and pre-subsidy) — Nokia’s first Series 40 QWERTY. The quad-band GSM candybar crams its social networking tools onto a 2.4-inch QVGA homescreen with Bluetooth 2.1, WiFi, and 55MB of internal memory (and up to 8GB supported on microSD) coming along for the ride. It’s also packing the Opera Mini browser in addition to the standard Webkit fare for browsing the mobile internet on the C3’s paltry EGPRS data connection. But hey, €90. Moving on, we’ve got the more ambitious C6-00 (Q2, €220) 4-row QWERTY slider with quad-band GSM/EDGE and quad-band HSDPA/UMTS on the 850/900/1900/2100 frequencies. The familiar looking C6 runs S60 5th on that 3.2-inch nHD (640 x 360 pixel) touchscreen (resistive, we presume) with a 5 megapixel autofocus camera and flash riding the backside. Of course, it also features integrated A-GPS for free Ovi Maps turn-by-turn navigation as is the case for all new Nokia GPS-enabled smartphones. Finally we’ve got the E5-00 (Q3, €180) for those in need of a S60 3rd device that’s a bit more business-minded than the C3 but twice the price (but still cheap). That means tri-band UMTS, A-GPS, WiFi and another unfortunate 2.4-inch LCD. Full press release after the break.

Continue reading Nokia C3, C6, and E5 try to smarten up the dumbphone market

Nokia C3, C6, and E5 try to smarten up the dumbphone market originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Apr 2010 04:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple patent applications are usually pretty dry, but it looks like a new one turned up by Patently Apple has a bit more user-focused meat to it — it describes a location-based social networking app called “iGroups,” which lets groups of people share data amongst themselves using a service like MobileMe. Once group members are identified and linked up, they can securely share information and users carrying devices without GPS-abilities will be able to triangulate their position using the positions of other GPS-enabled devices in the group. Of course, the actual patent itself is focused on the cryptographic key system that protects all the data, and we’re pretty sure the “iGroups” name is just a placeholder for now — we’d guess the developer of the iGroups app currently in the App Store hopes so too — so how this winds up in a shipping product is totally up in the air, but our interest in what iPhone OS 4.0 may hold has certainly been piqued once again.

Apple patent reveals iGroups location-based social networking for iPhone originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Mar 2010 01:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you thought the constant roll out of VUDU updates would end once Wal-mart took over the reins, think again — and no, were not talking about how quickly the after dark content got pulled. The update this week will be of particular interest with those who love to flood their social feeds with their every movement, as now VUDU will update your Facebook or Twitter status with the your impressions of the movie you’re watching. In addition your friends with VUDU will also be able to see those particular updates, but also join in on the fun by watching the same movie. A pretty neat way to promote and discover content, but we’re not sure we’d want to follow anyone with such mundane updates and wonder if baking the social features in makes more sense, you know, the way Boxee does it.

VUDU rolls in Facebook and Twitter integration originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Mar 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple might think it’s going to change the world tomorrow with some sort of crazy tablet, but we’re here to tell you that the world has already changed. American humans will soon be able to buy a product called “Puppy Tweets,” a product actually designed, tested, and released by the Mattel corporation. First, you need a dog with a Twitter account. (Who doesn’t have one of those?) Then, you need to use $30 of your actual money to buy Puppy Tweets, a plastic sound-and-motion sensor that clips onto your dog’s collar and sends out several pre-written tweets that have extreme amounts of dignity, like “YAHOOOOOOO! Somedays you just gotta get your bark on.” Then you have to weep gently for the future of our society.

Puppy Tweets lets your puppy… tweet originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Jan 2010 23:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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DARPA would have you believe that it’s the brilliance of modern day social networks that led an MIT-based team to win its red balloon challenge this weekend, and while there’s no doubt that the presence of the internet assisted in the locating of ten randomly placed floating objects, we’re crediting the bright minds at the university for their strategy of soliciting team mates. The challenge was constructed in order to “see whether social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter should be seen as credible sources of information,” not to mention investigate new ways to react to various threats that need instant attention. Less than nine hours after the contest began, MIT‘s team had deflated the hopes of around 4,000 other teams by finding all ten, though it’s hard to say exactly how many members were out looking. You see — MIT established a website that promised hundreds, even thousands of dollars to individuals who sent in the correct coordinates of balloons, noting that the $40,000 in prize money would be graciously distributed should their efforts lead to a win. DARPA may call it a triumph of the information superhighway; we’re calling it victory in numbers.

Continue reading MIT-based team wins DARPA’s Red Balloon Challenge, demonstrates power of social networks (and cold hard cash)

MIT-based team wins DARPA’s Red Balloon Challenge, demonstrates power of social networks (and cold hard cash) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 06 Dec 2009 23:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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