Hasta La Gadget!

If you detected a hint of anger in our headline, please forgive us, but we’re sure many of you are going through the same rollercoaster of emotions — after all, Dell’s lovely portrait QWERTY Venue Pro has only been sold in ridiculously limited quantities through Microsoft’s seven retail stores so far, making them virtually impossible to buy for most of us. Anyhow, in the event you were lucky enough to get one, you’ll be pleased to know that Dell is aware of the problems you might be having connecting to secure WiFi networks, and the next batch won’t be afflicted — which might explain why they haven’t offered a steady stream of devices through the stores this week. They also mention it’s a “software glitch,” but there’s no mention of timing on an update for phones in the field.

There’s also been a problem with batteries on these inaugural devices being labeled as “engineering samples,” apparently, but Dell assures that they’re production-quality cells that have simply been mislabeled. They say that customers wanting an exchange either for the WiFi issue or the mislabeled battery can get one at their local store “beginning at the end of next week,” so we’d take that to mean there won’t be any stock filtering in for anyone until then. Patience continues to be a virtue we don’t believe in.

Dell confirms protected WiFi problems, mislabeled batteries on the three Venue Pros sold so far originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Nov 2010 13:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hey America,
it’s time for Google’s annual Holiday present. The
software giant is once again getting into the spirit of the season by offering
free Wi-Fi to holiday travelers. The company is teaming up with Virgin America,
Delta, and AirTrain, offering free Wi-Fi on all domestic flights from those airlines
between November 20^th and January 2^nd (so no free Wi-Fi
for our CES trips. Boo).

The promotion is officially being sponsored by the Chrome
team, though using the browser isn’t necessary to take advantage of the service–which
is good news for travelers, seeing as how the company’s market share in the
space is still well behind Microsoft and Mozilla.

 The free Wi-Fi will
reach roughly 15 million air travelers. Last year’s sponsorship had a larger
window–from Nobember 10^th to January 15^th. Google has
also opted not to continue last year’s offering of in-airport free Wi-Fi. 

Samsung has generally been on the cutting edge when it comes to giving its smartphones the latest and greatest in terms of compatibility, with the Omnia being the first DivX certified handset in America this month two years ago. Now, it’s looking to wrangle yet another first, with this one having the potential to be far more important. The outfit’s hot-selling Galaxy S smartphone (GT-I9000) is now listed on the Wi-Fi Alliance’s Wi-Fi Direct certification docket, and while we knew that a handful of Wi-Fi modules and chipsets were about to get green-lit, this marks the first actual device to join that crowd. As we mentioned before, any modern-era WiFi device is capable of becoming Direct certified (via a firmware update given that there’s no hardware change in the protocol), but it seems as if Sammy is being Johnny-on-the-spot. We’ll keep an ear to the ground regarding an actual update that brings this functionality to life, but for now, let’s all cross our fingers and hope those other phone makers get their handsets in line, too.

Samsung Galaxy S first smartphone to be Wi-Fi Direct certified originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Nov 2010 14:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’d all like to think that when we leave our homes absolutely nothing happens there — except maybe a Roomba making its solitary rounds or a pooch waiting somberly by the door. Of course that’s not the case, lots of things can go wrong in your absence and if you’re of the paranoid variety surely you’ve entertained a few of those ideas. With a camera capable of remote monitoring you can assuage some of those fears, and the models from Dropcam are about the easiest we’ve seen to use. But, at $199 to $279 with monthly monitoring fees ranging from $8.95 to $24.95, they sure aren’t cheap.

Continue reading Dropcam Echo review

Dropcam Echo review originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Nov 2010 12:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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$599 is a bit pricey for a seven-inch tablet, and while you can get $200 off that at some places by signing your life away to a data contract, that really isn’t any fun either. Thankfully Samsung appears to have another option with what looks to be the $499, WiFi-only model that showed up in a Best Buy flier earlier this week. That version has now been cleared by the FCC, indeed with only tests for 802.11 and Bluetooth wireless. The absence of 3G looks like it will save you $100 and obviously make the device a little less flexible than its bar-bearing brethren, but whether that modified cost:inconvenience ratio works out in your favor depends largely on the value of your income:restlessness factor.

WiFi-only Galaxy Tab stops by the FCC for tea originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Oct 2010 07:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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