Hasta La Gadget!

Considering the cheap plastics and giant white logos, our first thought when we saw this unflattering shot in the FCC’s filing system was that we were looking at some sort of connected navigation unit for delivery trucks — but alas, as far as we can tell, the so-called HIC is a “tablet” from Huawei that doubles as a phone for Vodafone. Besides a triband 3G radio, this hot mess gets you a 7-inch WVGA display, a front-facing camera for video calls, and an integrated kickstand around back for setting it on a countertop. The style of the power adapter leads us to believe that the HIC might be intended for permanent use in your home, which would explain why it bears so little resemblance with something we’d want to carry around — but still, couldn’t they have made it a little prettier? No word on when (or to which of Vodafone’s markets) it’ll be coming.

Huawei’s HIC tablet for Vodafone has all the beauty of an industrial-grade nav unit originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Dec 2010 13:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While Steve Jobs doesn’t like the form factor and Google thinks that Froyo is less than ideal for tablets, we were pretty impressed by the 7-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab’s ability to run Android 2.2. Today it’s officially on sale in UK shops as previously announced. It’s supposed to be coming to all the major UK carriers in addition to Carphone Warehouse, Dixons, and T-Mobile shops. At the moment, we’re seeing it in stock at the Carphone Warehouse under a variety of plans ranging from a £499.99 with a £10 pay monthly plan on Talk Mobile that includes 1GB of data. On the other extreme is a £99.99 deal that requires a £40 per month two year contract that includes 5GB of data on Three. It’s also offered for a standalone price of £529.99. And please, whatever you do don’t call it a UMPC, that was so 5 years ago.

Update: We’ve just heard that Orange is also launching the Tab at similar price points, starting from £499. Similarly, Vodafone’s offering the same tablet for £499 across all of its monthly contracts. On the other hand, O2’s slapped a staggering £599 tag onto the device for all of its plans — a very odd move, we’d say (link only works within the UK).

Samsung Galaxy Tab on sale now in UK originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Nov 2010 04:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Pick your poison: Vodafone Netherlands? T-Mobile UK? A shop associated with Orange? Or heck, how about RIM itself? All of the above have started teasing the BlackBerry Bold 9780 recently, RIM’s oft-leaked upcoming replacement for the Bold 9700 — so it seems like this will be a pretty wide-scale deployment around the globe (as most of RIM’s launches tend to be). We’ve yet to see any leaks via American carriers, but we’d say it’s safe to argue that AT&T (and perhaps T-Mobile, too) will be signed up to take delivery of these things before too long. As a refresher, the 9780 is basically a 9700 with a better camera, more RAM, and BlackBerry 6 preloaded… so if you love your 9700, you’re probably going to love the 9780 even more. Timing is unclear, but one carrier — Vodafone Netherlands — has proclaimed that it’ll have ’em in early November.

Update: Video review with smooth dutch delivery (subtitled in english) posted after the break.

[Thanks to everyone who sent these in]

Continue reading BlackBerry Bold 9780 starts leaking all over the place (update: video)

BlackBerry Bold 9780 starts leaking all over the place (update: video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Oct 2010 04:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You can kind of tell we’re growing ever closer to the Galaxy Tab’s promised November 1 retail launch as prices for this slate just keep coming out of the woodwork, looking ever more solid with each passing day. Vodafone Germany is the latest to reveal the wallet damage Samsung’s 7-inch Android tablet will demand, with a €730 ($1,017) levy for the 16GB version sans contract, or a €300 ($418) cost for those willing to commit to a two-year data plan at €35 a month. We’d advise against taking those direct currency conversions to heart, but the Tab’s pricing here is €30 more than the 32GB iPad WiFi + 3G, making us scratch our heads as to how Samsung believes it’ll manage to convince anyone to buy its smaller, less capacious alternative.

Samsung Galaxy Tab costs €730 from Vodafone.de, €300 if bought with a two-year data plan originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Oct 2010 07:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It may have “Windows” in the branding, but Windows Phone 7 is not the desktop PC experience shoehorned into a cellphone. Microsoft tried that with Windows Mobile… and we all know how that turned out. Today, eight months after the Windows Phone 7 OS unveiling in Barcelona, we’re finally seeing the official launch of the retail hardware: nine new WP7 handsets, some available October 21 in select European and Asian markets and others from early November in the US. The phones will find their way to over 60 cellphone operators in more than 30 countries this year. Microsoft tapped Dell, HTC, LG, and Samsung to deliver the Snapdragon-based handsets with a carrier list that includes AT&T, T-Mobile USA, Vodafone, TELUS, América Móvil, Deutsche Telekom AG, Movistar, O2, Orange, SFR, SingTel, and Telstra. And that’s just for the first wave — Microsoft has even more handsets coming in 2011 including the first for Sprint and Verizon in the US. Here’s the lineup of 480 x 800 pixel (WVGA) phones announced today:

• HTC 7 Surround — The 3.8-inch T8788 with slideout speaker for AT&T and Telus
• HTC HD7 — Schubert comes of age as a 4.3-inch HD2 cousin for T-Mobile and beyond
• HTC 7 Trophy — the 3.8-inch Spark headed to international carriers
• HTC 7 Mozart — another heavily leaked int’l player with 3.7-inch display
• Dell Venue Pro — 4.1-inch portrait QWERTY slider for T-Mobile we broke as Lightning
• Samsung Focus — AT&T’s 4-inch Super AMOLED slate we broke as Cetus
• Samsung Omnia 7 — the i8700 is a 4-inch Super AMOLED jobbie for Europe
• LG Optimus 7/7Q — the E900 is the official 3.8-inch global workhorse
• LG Quantum — AT&T’s 3.5-inch landscape slider first seen as the C900

• HTC 7 Pro — a 3.6-inch QWERTY slider for Sprint (2011)

“Glance and Go,” is the slogan Microsoft is using to differentiate itself from an already crowded smartphone market. Something we’ve already seen alluded to in that leaked AT&T ad. As Ballmer notes, “Microsoft and its partners are delivering a different kind of mobile phone and experience – one that makes everyday tasks faster by getting more done in fewer steps and providing timely information in a ‘glance and go’ format.” He’s referring to WP7’s customizable Live Tiles, of course. Xbox Live integration is another biggie with EA Games just announcing its first Xbox Live-enabled wares coming to Windows Phone 7 in the fall including “Need for Speed Undercover,” “Tetris,” “Monopoly,” and “The Sims 3.” The other big differentiators are the slick Metro UI, integrated support for Zune media and Zune Pass subscriptions, Bing search and maps, Windows Live including the free Find My Phone service, and Microsoft Office Mobile.

Now quit stalling and jump past the break for the full list of handsets per carrier and country.

Update: Added the official WP7 overview videos after the break.

Continue reading Microsoft announces ten Windows Phone 7 handsets for 30 countries: October 21 in Europe and Asia, 8 November in US (Update: Video!)

Microsoft announces ten Windows Phone 7 handsets for 30 countries: October 21 in Europe and Asia, 8 November in US (Update: Video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Oct 2010 09:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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