Hasta La Gadget!

And it’s Samsung’s Windows Phone 7 turn! We just got to check out the Samsung Focus (formerly known as the i917 Cetus), and if you’re looking for the WP7 version of the Galaxy S, this is your guy. The curvy, glossy slate has a 4-inch WVGA Super AMOLED display, and feels a lot like the Samsung Vibrant. AT&T’s touting that the 9.9-millimeter / .3-inch device is the slimmest Windows Phone handset yet, and we do have to say it’s pretty darn slim. We’ll be going back for more soon, but feast your eyes on the gallery and video below…

Continue reading Samsung Focus first hands-on!

Samsung Focus first hands-on! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Oct 2010 11:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The first word that came to our mind when handling the HTC 7 Mozart was “classy.” The aluminum unibody construction conveys a rare sense of rigidity and durability to this phone, while its overall curvature, 3.7-inch LCD screen, and ergonomics invoke memories of the company’s Desire and Nexus One Android products. Which is no bad thing, particularly if you thought the Desire was a fine phone that could do with a more upmarket enclosure. We feel like this melting of the Legend‘s aluminum shell and the Desire’s proportions is a match made in heaven, and Windows Phone 7’s responsive ways have done little to dissuade us. The whole 7 Mozart package feels like a perfectly pitched (we had to!) ploy for the mainstream market, with its good looks, slick profile, and sharp-looking OS. The somewhat generic hardware on offer is a spectral presence hanging over all of HTC’s phones at this launch, but we’re too in love with the 7 Mozart’s build quality to care right now. Enjoy the pictures below, video coming soon!

Update: The video’s done! Check it out after the break.

Continue reading HTC 7 Mozart first hands-on (update: video!)

HTC 7 Mozart first hands-on (update: video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Oct 2010 10:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We just got a quick look at the HTC 7 Surround for AT&T, running that brand-spanking-new Windows Phone 7 OS you’ve been hearing so much about. The phone has a kickstand to help it show off its standout feature: a slide-out “Dolby Surround Sound” speaker. Stand by for more impressions and video, but for now check out the gallery below.

Update: Video is live! Here are some thoughts:

We were impeded by the security device holding the phone down, but from what we could tell the Surround is a quality device — we’d expect no less from HTC. It is built of plastic, but it pulls off that certain premium look and feel. Like we noted in the family post, however, the slide-out speaker seems like an expensive addition when you consider the thickness it’s adding. Once we get a chance to play back some media and be “blown away” by the Dolby Surround we’ll be able to tell if you if it’s truly worth the tradeoff. Somehow we’re in doubt. Overall the phone comes off as a slightly inspired design in a sea of fairly uninspired designs (at least in the US). HTC HD7 this is not.

Continue reading HTC 7 Surround first hands-on! (update: video)

HTC 7 Surround first hands-on! (update: video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Oct 2010 10:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading AT&T brings U-verse to Windows Phone 7, Xbox 360

AT&T brings U-verse to Windows Phone 7, Xbox 360 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Oct 2010 10:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You see that? That, comrades, is what happens when Lightning strikes! Or, you know, when Venue Pro strikes. So, it doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, but no matter what you call Dell’s Windows Phone 7 portrait slider, it’s downright awesome. We got a chance to play around with an early build of the phone a few weeks ago — as you’ll hear us say in the video below, it was still codenamed the Lightning — and we haven’t been able to get it out of our minds since. The handset has a very similar look and feel to its Android brother, the Thunder — its rounded chrome sides are reminiscent of an iPhone 3G/S, the black contoured back has a nice grippy feel, and the curved, WVGA AMOLED, Gorilla Glass screen is just stunning. The 4.1-inch capacitive, multitouch display is joined by additional back, home and search touch-sensitive buttons, all of which seemed responsive in our short time with the device. The back is also home to a 5 megapixel cam with flash while there’s a 3.5mm headphone jack on the top of the device and a micro-USB port on the bottom edge.

But obviously, it’s that glorious slide-out QWERTY keyboard that makes the Venue Pro, well, so pro. The rubber-feeling keys remind us a lot of those on the Droid 2 — though, they feel a bit firmer — and the slider mechanism felt sturdy when we slid it open and closed a number of times. On the spec front, we were told it was packing a Snapdragon processor, and while the phone seemed to briskly run an early build of WP7, we didn’t get to test much out as Dell was lacking both a SIM and a nearby WiFi network. We’ll be hoping to grab some more time with the T-Mobile version today, but from what we’ve seen so far we’re fairly confident that Dell’s struck pretty darn close to gold here. Oh, and don’t forget to hit the break for a short video walkthrough of the hardware and keyboard.

Continue reading Dell Venue Pro (aka Lightning) first hands-on!

Dell Venue Pro (aka Lightning) first hands-on! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Oct 2010 09:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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