Hasta La Gadget!

We had a brief peek at yest another pico projecting set at MWC, this time an NTT docomo Samsung affair without a name, price, or even a release date. Specs are as sketchy as these are usable in a brightly lit room, but the hopes are this device will be used for services like mobile TV, home theater (yeah, right), document editing, presentations, and video calling. We were enthused to see the mock ups (pictured above) of where the design of this device could go — and we’re hoping that by next year the bricks we’ve seen lately will be gone and sleek design will become the norm. We filmed a bit of it in action and honestly, we’ve seen TI’s pico projector before and it doesn’t seem to have changed significantly. Follow the link to see the media.

Continue reading NTT docomo and Sharp show projector phone at MWC

Filed under: Cellphones, Displays, Handhelds, Home Entertainment, Portable Video

NTT docomo and Sharp show projector phone at MWC originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Feb 2009 16:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We were really impressed with Texas Instruments’ OMAP 3-based mobile development platform when we saw it running Android earlier today, and the hardware seems to hold up well to all sorts of video-accelerated magic for a multitude of Linux-based interfaces. Not so much with Windows Mobile 6.5. Granted, this is a very early build of the OS according to Microsoft, and is lacking all sorts optimization mojo that will go into the final product due end-of-year-ish, but at the same time this is basically an interface skin to Windows Mobile 6 that Microsoft has had nearly a year to work on since 6.1, and it’s not exaggerating to say that performance is a complete joke at the moment. TI’s OMAP 3 was clearly struggling to handle basic scrolling of the home screen and app menu, though “smoothness” was slightly improved in scrolling through a gallery of photos. TI has been working with 6.5 for “a few months,” and claims to have added optimizations to interface performance — and interestingly is running this on a capacitive touchscreen device, something that isn’t officially supported as far as we’re aware. They’re also saying that they plan on achieving full smoothness by the time this launches, but there’s really a long way to go, and it’s difficult to understand why this seems to be a last priority for Microsoft at the moment. On the other hand, TI is doing great things with its own 3D-accelerated interface, something which Windows Mobile 6.5 brings support for, so perhaps these will all one day (soon) meet in the middle and give us the sort of interface smoothness and usability we’d expect on a phone built a decade into this century. Check out the painful videos after the break.

Continue reading TI’s OMAP 3 hardware doesn’t manage to do Windows Mobile 6.5 any favors

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

TI’s OMAP 3 hardware doesn’t manage to do Windows Mobile 6.5 any favors originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Feb 2009 11:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Right around this time last year, Texas Instruments was busy showing off its OMAP 3 platform, which enabled 720p playback from a mobile phone. At this year’s MWC, we’ve got a real live handset recording 720p, and TI upping the ante once more with a chip that handles 1080p. For those still with us after being blasted with resolutions, the predictably titled OMAP 4 aims to bring 1080p support, 20 megapixel imaging and “approximately a week of audio play time” to mobiles and MIDs that house it. Granted, TI also calls this stuff “future-proof,” so don’t believe it’s totally incapable of uttering some pretty outlandish stuff. At the heart of the platform is a dual-core ARM Cortex A9 chip, a programmable multimedia engine based on TI’s C64x DSP and a POWERVR SGX540 graphics engine. We’re told that it’ll play nice with Linux variants such as Android and LiMo, Symbian and Windows Mobile, though it’ll have to be mighty impressive to outgun NVIDIA’s Tegra. Battle on, we say.

[Via Linux Devices]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

TI’s OMAP 4 bringing 1080p support to smartphones and MIDs originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Feb 2009 13:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s not that hybrid GPS systems are all that new, it’s just that most are working totally under the radar. Skyhook’s hoping to get its rendition out in the open a tad more via a new partnership with Texas Instruments. The company’s XPS hybrid positioning system is now cleared for integration within TI’s NaviLink and WiLink mobile solutions, though there’s no mention made of who all is drooling to get this into their phones. In short, Skyhook‘s XPS works by detecting WiFi hotspots, raw GPS readings and cellular IDs, and then comparing that information against a known database of geo-located points. In theory, this stuff could totally amp up the location abilities of most any handset, but in reality, we wouldn’t be surprised to see it get swept away and forgotten just like the eerily similar announcement between Skyhook and Broadcom. Full release is after the break.

Continue reading Skyhook XPS integrates with TI’s NaviLink and WiLink mobile solutions

Filed under: GPS, Wireless

Skyhook XPS integrates with TI’s NaviLink and WiLink mobile solutions originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung’s Show (formally known as the W7900) made a brief but resonating appearance at CES this year, and now, the lucky kids over at PopSci have managed to acquire a few more juicy specifications as well as a few moments of coveted hands-on time. The forthcoming projector phone, which is apt to land in South Korea first, includes a 3.2-inch OLED display (400 x 240 resolution), quad-band GSM connectivity, 7.2Mbps HSDPA, a five megapixel camera, support for video calling and the obligatory ten lumen projector that shoots 480 x 320 images out at up to 50 inches. The entire device measures in at 4.4- x 2.2- x 0.7-inches, and it actually doesn’t emit a half bad image when the lights are all down. Have a look for yourself just after the break.

Continue reading Video: Samsung Show W7900 projector phone gets specced, demoed

Filed under: Cellphones, Displays

Video: Samsung Show W7900 projector phone gets specced, demoed originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Jan 2009 12:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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