Hasta La Gadget!

We really couldn’t make this stuff up — it would seem that T-Mobile has been sneaking some hi-tech contraband into the UK in the form of unlocked iPhone 3G handsets, which it is now peddling to its most valued clientele. And by that, of course, we mean the piggies that pay up the most every month. Limited to an extremely select 150 units a week, the Apple devices are being used as incentives for high-rolling customers to renew their eye-gouging contracts of £75 per month and above, though we suspect only a few chums in corner offices know exactly how much T-Mob is charging for the handset itself.

We’ve done some digging, and while O2 has exclusivity on the iPhone 3G until September, that does not prevent T-Mobile from essentially functioning as a reseller of unlocked SIM-free units. Further distancing itself from legal action, the carrier is only offering the handsets to upgrading customers (as opposed to newcomers), thus the phones technically come sans a SIM. So, the suits at Magenta Towers must be feeling pretty smug right about now, having danced through a loophole and secured a wildly popular (albeit older generation) phone, all in the name of keeping high-brow customers from jumping ship. While you won’t hear any PR from T-Mobile on the matter, we have a full statement from O2 on the subject of losing 3G exclusivity come September. You ready?

We have a multi-year agreement with Apple to sell iPhone in the UK. This relationship continues.

Man, those Britons keep it short and sweet, don’t they?

Filed under: Cellphones

T-Mobile UK sneakily offering iPhone 3G to moneyed customers originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Aug 2009 04:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The LG wristphone has already experienced quite a bit of exposure ahead of its August UK release, but the diligent team at Orange just couldn’t leave us without some extra titillation in the shape of a demo video. If you’ll excuse the marketing inanity from the two reps, there’s a pretty good exhibition of the GD910’s video chat capabilities to be seen. Disappointingly, the audio sounds somewhat tinny, there was one glitch in the video stream, and a particularly uncharitable conclusion might be that LG is bringing 90s-era webcam technology to your 21st century wrist. Of course, this is still the phone to use for playing out latent James Bond fantasies, so we’re willing to overlook a few foibles if LG is willing to price this device at a point somewhere south of “stratospheric.” Mosey on past the break to see the long-awaited hand-mounted communicator in action.

[Via Slashgear]

Continue reading LG GD910 used for cringe-worthy demo video call

Filed under: Cellphones, Digital Cameras

LG GD910 used for cringe-worthy demo video call originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Jul 2009 11:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s really easy to forget how far we’ve come in the past 70 or so years, while at the same time how some things stay the same. This 12-inch CRT might be the oldest working TV in the UK and has even been modified so it could be connected to a modern day converter box to gain access to Freeview — no word if the owner is paid up on his TV license though. But what’s really interesting here is that it is a rear project TV with the main mirror being mounted on fold down lid to help it blend in with the home’s decor when not in use — and to think we thought the idea of finding ways to hide HDTVs was a new idea or something.

Continue reading 1930’s rear projection TV in the UK still in service

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

1930’s rear projection TV in the UK still in service originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Jul 2009 21:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While the global economic crisis has swept aside a number of early innovators in mobile technology, Light Blue Optics finds itself flush with cash this morning. Having secured $15 million in funding, the UK outfit now plans to have its laser-based pico projection engine to OEMs by the end of the year; a move that should result in a tiny retail projector sometime in the first half of 2010. Why should you care? Well, unlike all those LED-based pico projectors now saturating the market, laser-based projectors offer more vivid colors and the ability to auto-focus that mobile image as it’s moved about. Even better, LBO has touch-enabled the system allowing users to interact with the projected display. A second generation engine about the size of a sugar cube will ultimately allow the technology to be embedded in mobile devices like cellphones as we’re already seeing with LED-based engines. Since the supplied image above totally misrepresents the first generation device, we’ve embedded a video of the tech, first published in March, after the break. Skip to the 3-minute mark if you want to avoid the pitch.

[Via PicoProjector-info]

Continue reading Light Blue Optics’ touch-based laser projector hitting manufacturers in Q4 — will look nothing like this image

Filed under: Displays

Light Blue Optics’ touch-based laser projector hitting manufacturers in Q4 — will look nothing like this image originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Jul 2009 03:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Another day, another ignorant article about high definition. This time it’s Peter Bradshaw, film critic for Guardian.co.uk, claiming Humphrey Bogart would have any cameraman approximating a “high definition” effect thrown off the set. Blatantly ignoring the fact that movies of that era were made on 35mm film with more resolution than even 1080p Blu-ray can display, Bradshaw claims that instead of a HDTV, viewers would be better off with a standard definition projector and DVDs. This is all in response to a recent Sky ad campaign (check out the video with Sir Anthony Hopkins dropping in Rutger Hauer’s Blade Runner monologue after the break, plus the original) promoting the broadcaster’s new HD transfers, allowing home viewing of many older films in quality that would be impossible unless you’d seen it the first week in theaters, and with sound that likely surpasses anything available at the time. What someone should explain to Mr. Bradshaw and so many others with this misconception is that HDTV allows us to see the movie closer to the way it was meant to be seen when it was originally mastered, with all the detail that was present. Provided a high quality transfer, there’s plenty of reasons to catch old flicks in a new format, so spread the word.

Continue reading UK film critic doesn’t understand using HDTV to watch old movies, why kids are on his lawn

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

UK film critic doesn’t understand using HDTV to watch old movies, why kids are on his lawn originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Jul 2009 18:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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