Hasta La Gadget!

Well, here’s one rumor that’s looking destined to pan out: the S522, which we’d heard was being readied for availability on T-Mobile, just hit the FCC as the MAPL100 (that’s “Maple” for short, the device’s codename) bearing 3G on the AWS band. That would make it fully compatible with T-Mobile’s HSPA network — but what we still don’t know is whether the device’s new Inner Circle service will be stripped from the retail unit like we’ve been hearing. Either way, this is interesting in light of the fact that HTC has said an unbranded S522 would be made available in the States this summer, so it looks like T-Mob won’t have much — if any — North American exclusivity on this one.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

T-Mobile-bound HTC S522 throws open FCC’s oaken double doors, flexes originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Screen Grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today’s movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dt com.

Well, what do you know? Yet again, the tech-savvy bunch producing NBC’s Life has managed to incorporate a relatively fresh piece of technology into the storyline. For those still waiting to check the season finale on DVR, you may want to skip ahead, but for those who either a) already watched or b) don’t ever care to watch, here’s the skinny. Roman Nevikov, Charlie’s arch enemy, appeared to be tracking his every move on Palm’s Treo Pro (minus the branding). ‘Course, he also considered using it as a weapon upside Reese’s skull, but thankfully no LCDs or QWERTY keyboards were harmed during filming. So sad he’ll never get to upgrade to a Pre, ya know?

Filed under: Cellphones

Screen Grabs: Roman Nevikov makes final call on Palm Treo Pro originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Apr 2009 21:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So the juicy part of this rumor has to be the fact that T-Mobile could get a branded version of the lovely HTC Snap (or rather the US-specific S522, which doesn’t carry the Snap name), a belief based on a leaked ROM rife with references to the carrier’s name and logo. Of course, seeing how T-Mobile was HTC’s partner on the Excalibur / Dash, it makes a lot of sense that they’d want to carry on the portrait QWERTY tradition there with an updated model, which is precisely where the S522 fits into the puzzle. This is where it gets weird, though: the ROM apparently has wiped all references to Inner Circle, HTC’s software tweak that lets you selectively filter out emails from anyone not on your whitelist. Why they’d want to get rid of it is unclear since it wouldn’t seem to affect carrier revenue in any way, so we’re holding out hope that it’ll reappear by the time the device ships — if this rumor even ends up checking out, that is.

[Via pocketnow.com]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

HTC Snap coming to T-Mobile sans Inner Circle? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Apr 2009 00:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We couldn’t get the thing to turn on — prototype buffoonery, zapped battery, or a classic case of trade show jitters, we figure — but Inventec’s curious V112 was on display inside Qualcomm’s booth at CTIA. Why Qualcomm, you ask? Well, Qualcomm owns Qualcomm MEMS Technologies, which has been pushing its mirasol display tech for several years now; the main draw is that it’s super high-contrast which eliminates the need for a backlight in many situations where a traditional LCD would need a little help, and the WinMo-powered V112 uses a small mirasol strip as a secondary display surrounded by nav controls. Even though we weren’t getting any Windows Mobile action, we did manage to engage the mirasol display (also known as “the cool part”) where we saw an example of what the V112 might be able to do without turning on the battery-destroying LCD up top: show basic status information and the current time. It’s a good idea; we’re not sure that the V112’s implementation is perfect since there’s zero tactility to the d-pad, but you’ve got to start somewhere, and mirasol could use as many commercial implementations as it can get.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Inventec’s mirasol-equipped V112 smartphone goes on display originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Apr 2009 20:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Since the Excalibur and Cavalier, HTC’s shown an unhealthy aversion for the immensely popular portrait QWERTY format — until now, that is, with the introduction of the rumored 12mm-thick HTC Snap. The Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard smartphone features a 528MHz Qualcomm core, 256MB of ROM, 128MB of RAM, 2 megapixel camera, microSDHC expansion, and the requisite QVGA display, all paired with AGPS, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, WiFi, and HSDPA data. “What kind of HSDPA?” is the next logical question in that progression, and the answer is that you’re looking at two versions of the device: one with 900 / 2100 for Europe and Asia, one with 850 / 1900 for North America (interestingly, the North American version won’t be known as the Snap — instead, it’ll simply be called the S522). The new device also marks the introduction of HTC’s “Inner Circle” feature, which can selectively pull emails from certain contacts to the top of your inbox — the perfect way to ignore Terry from Accounting who’s been on your case for the past three weeks about filing expense reports. Look for the Snap to launch globally this quarter, while the unlocked S522 hits “during the summer.”

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

HTC Snap snaps to life, coming to US as S522 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Apr 2009 09:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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