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Continue reading Google details low-level Renderscript API for Honeycomb

Google details low-level Renderscript API for Honeycomb originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 11 Feb 2011 16:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Steve show just ended with both Elop and Ballmer hosting a very informative media Q&A following the reveal of Nokia’s plan to use Windows Phone 7 as its “primary smartphone platform.” Here are the highlights:

• No specific announcement for when we’ll see the first Nokia Windows Phone. Ballmer mentioned that the engineering teams have spent a lot of time together already.
• Elop also confirmed that Nokia is a Finnish company and always will be — they will not be moving to Silicon Valley or anywhere else.
• Ballmer said that the partnership is “not exclusive” but some things that Microsoft is doing with Nokia are “unique” allowing Nokia to differentiate itself in the market. Elop added that it’s important for the Windows Phone 7 ecosystem to thrive, which means that multiple vendors must succeed.
• Elop didn’t believe that Nokia could create a new ecosystem around MeeGo fast enough.
• Nokia will “substantially reduce” R&D expenditures while increasing R&D productivity moving forward.
• Nokia did talk with Google about adopting Android but decided that it “would have difficulty differentiating within that ecosystem” and the “commoditization risk was very high — prices, profits, everything being pushed down, value being moved out to Google which was concerning to us.” Microsoft presented the best option for Nokia to resume the fight in the high end smarpthone segment.
• Elop clarified that MeeGo will ship this year but “not as part of another broad smarpthone platform strategy, but as an opportunity to learn.” Something that sounds very similar to position Nokia took with its so-called “experimental” Maemo-based N900 last year. After the first (and apparently, only) MeeGo device ships this year, the MeeGo team will then “change their focus into an exploration of future platforms, future devices, future user experiences.” Trying to determine the “next disruption” in smartphones.
• Responding to “hope for a broad MeeGo-based ecosystem,” Elop said that Nokia simply wasn’t moving fast enough to effectively win and compete against Apple and Google. Windows Phone makes it a “three-horse race,” something that Elop says is pleasing to the carriers he’s been speaking with.
• Nokia has different options for its tablet strategy including using something from Microsoft or something that Nokia has developed internally.

Nokia Q&A reveals more MeeGo details and tablet plans — says Android ‘risk of commodification was very high’ originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 11 Feb 2011 06:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We heard some weird reports over the weekend that the 3G Motorola Xoom tablet couldn’t be sold unless you bought at least one month of wireless data. That, plus the groan-inducing $800 MSRP, is surely giving some potential buyers a wee bit of pause. This might help. Crossing the wires at the FCC is what appears to be a WiFi-only version of the Xoom, called a “wireless tablet with embedded WLAN.” It’s lacking a 3G radio so, unless Moto has another trick up its sleeves, this is probably that. Obviously any speculation on price would be highly… speculative, but here’s to hoping ditching that modem brings this thing down a Benjamin or so. Also spotted, this time in Dubai but also embedded below, was a silver version of the Xoom, sporting a two-tone back that will nicely complement your Casio Data Bank calculator watch. No word on whether we’ll get that on these shores, but we hope so. Variety is, dear readers, the spice of life.

Continue reading WiFi-only Motorola Xoom tablet does its FCC duty, silver version spotted in Dubai (video)

WiFi-only Motorola Xoom tablet does its FCC duty, silver version spotted in Dubai (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 Feb 2011 07:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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By now, you know how HP’s new slate compares to the crowd — now, see how it looks up close and personal. We just got our hands on that dual-core Palm webOS tablet here in San Francisco, and it’s a beaut, with a slim black profile that highlights the brilliant 9.7-inch screen. We’ll be back in a jiffy with some impressions of that newfangled Tap to Share and card-based multitasking, but for now, simply feast your eyes on our gallery below.

Update: Video time! Check it after the break.

Continue reading HP TouchPad first hands-on! (updated with video!)

HP TouchPad first hands-on! (updated with video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 09 Feb 2011 15:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Time Inc. has been trying to work out a deal on tablet magazine subscriptions for some time now, and it’s just made a fairly big move in that direction with the help of HP. It confirmed at its “Think Beyond” event today that it has teamed up with the publisher to offer subscriptions to some of its magazines on the TouchPad when it launches this summer. That will apparently include Sports Illustrated, Time and People initially, with Fortune and other Time Inc. titles to follow further on down the road, according to AdWeek. Still no word on pricing, but HP promises they’ll deliver an “immersive reading” experience.

Update: Palm’s Lisa Bewster has confirmed via Twitter that this deal also involves Time getting its big wish: subscribe to the print magazine and you’ll get full access to the tablet version.

For more on all of HP’s webOS announcements today, click here!

Time inks deal with HP to bring magazine subscriptions to the TouchPad originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 09 Feb 2011 14:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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