Hasta La Gadget!

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

About a year after the debut of the first Android handset, Switched On discussed the threat that Chrome OS posed to Android. To reprise it briefly: Like chief rivals Apple and Microsoft, Google has two operating systems trying to bridge the rift between consumer electronics and traditional computing, but Chrome is different than Mac OS and Windows in an exceptionally important way.

Rather than trying to refine the traditional software experience (as Apple has done with the Mac App Store and other iOS-inspired developments in the queue) or move that experience forward to tablets (as Microsoft is doing with Windows), Chrome OS is not looking to carry forward any legacy beyond the browser.

Unlike with Mac OS vs. iOS or Windows vs. Windows Phone, the battle isn’t over which apps make sense, but rather the irreconcilable difference around whether apps to begin with. This makes Google’s suggestion that the two operating systems might merge at some point less credible, and sent a mixed message to developers about whether to focus their efforts on apps or the web. At Google I/O 2011, however, the company clarified its position.

Continue reading Switched On: Chrome alone

Switched On: Chrome alone originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 15 May 2011 21:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There are certainly advantages to rooting your Windows Phone 7 device, but there’s a heck of a downside too — Microsoft can’t update your handset to the latest and greatest build if you’ve unofficially patched your phone. Good to know, but what if you’ve already done the deed? That’s why you’ll want the application above, a ChevronWP7-tested, Microsoft-approved program for pulling your phone out of Bizzaro World and setting things right. Find it at our source link, follow the instructions carefully, and don’t fret if the official update doesn’t immediately appear after you’re done — developer Chris Walsh says availability of the build depends on carrier approval.

[Thanks, Brianna]

Microsoft-approved tool fixes your ‘walshed’ Windows Phone, helps you get official updates once more originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 14 May 2011 14:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In case you were left unsure what a “non-serviceable state” meant when Microsoft warned users to avoid the ChevronWP7 updater, we now have further details. The company is in the process of rolling out a Windows Phone update charmingly called 7392, a post-NoDo improvement that does nothing other than fix some bogus security certificates on handsets. With no user-facing changes it’s not really something users would probably be pining for — except that many are now being told they can’t get it, and of course we always want those things we can’t have.

Microsoft has confirmed that phones updated using “any unofficial mechanisms” to NoDo (which was 7390) will not be able to get 7392 via its very official mechanism: Zune. No big deal now, but it will be in six months when 7394 comes along and delivers the long-awaited addition of Microsoft Bob to the platform. No, Redmond’s brightest aren’t going to help you out of this mess you’ve created for yourself, but happily someone else is: the “clever bunch” who released the unofficial update in the first place. That bunch is said to be working on another unofficial tool that will help users get back onto the “officially supported path,” a route that is slow and meandering but is, at least, quite unlikely to hurt you along the way.

Microsoft confirms WP7 handsets updated using ‘unofficial mechanisms’ cannot get latest update originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 May 2011 16:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple has a tablet. So does RIM. HP Palm too, soon enough. And Android tablets, particularly those running Honeycomb… they’re everywhere — hell, even Sony has a few on the way. That leaves Nokia as the glaring anomaly conspicuously absent from the tablet wars. Understandable, we guess, given the company’s urgent need to transition its smartphone strategy to Windows Phone. That doesn’t mean the company is standing still though. According to an interview with YLE television in Finland, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop is taking a very calculated approach to tablets, saying, “We could take advantage of Microsoft technology and software, and build a Windows-oriented tablet, or we could do things with some of the other software assets that we have. Our team right now is assessing what’s the right tablet strategy for Nokia.” In other words, Nokia is investigating tablets running Windows 7 (doubtful), MeeGo (doubtful), and Windows Next, aka that tablet-friendly Windows 8 OS (likely). But here’s the most illuminating exchange from the well-mannered Canadian:

There are now over 200 different tablets on the marketplace, only one of them is doing really well. And, my challenge to the team is I don’t wanna be the 201st tablet on the market that you can’t tell from all of the others. We have to take a uniquely Nokia prospective and so the teams are working very hard on something that would be differentiating relative to everything else that’s going on in the market.

Q. So you’re not in a hurry?

We’re always in a hurry to do the right things, but we’re mostly in a hurry to do the right thing.

Makes sense to us and echoes what we’ve heard about Sony’s relatively delayed entry into consumer tablets. Why should Nokia build another me-too tablet when it can tap into the combined Microsoft / Nokia ecosystem and make a grab at some real market share and profit? The entire 20 minute interview is interesting as Elop discusses layoffs, the first Nokia Windows Phone, Symbian, and competing against Apple and Google. Hit the source link for the full deal — the tablet discussion begins at 10 minutes and 32 seconds.

[Thanks, Pauli N.]

Stephen Elop: Nokia won’t build just another tablet originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Apr 2011 05:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If smartphone platforms are legitimized by a KIRF manufacturer’s tenacity to rip them off, then Windows Phone has truly arrived. Today we’re looking at a larger than life “HTC”-branded knock-off of the Omnia 7, replete with an 800 x 480 4.8-inch (!) capacitive touchscreen and 1GHz Snapdragon processor. Given the massive size of this phone, there’s plenty of room for features, which include Bluetooth, WiFi and GPS connectivity, along with a five megapixel camera, dual-SIMs and two microSD slots (for up to 32GB storage). Whew. Impressive specs aside, the device comes saddled with Windows Mobile 6.5 — which has been heavily modified to resemble WP7’s tile interface. There’s no word yet on pricing — just ask someone selling phones on a blanket the next time you’re in Shenzhen, okay?

Keepin’ it real fake: Windows Phone 7 debuts in China originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Apr 2011 01:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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