Archive for December, 2009

Eager to get a hold on your very own Dell-branded Android smartphone? This guy here took matters into his own hands with nothing more than his modding skill, his imagination, and a Dell Inspiron Mini. Of course, this thing won’t exactly fit in most pockets, but as a curiosity (and a conversation starter) it performs admirably. Have you ever seen a 10.1-inch novelty handset in action? Now’s your chance — peep the video for yourself after the break.

Continue reading Dell netbook modded into a rather large handset (video)

Dell netbook modded into a rather large handset (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Dec 2009 13:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s about time that the number one netbook manufacturer officially release details on its Pine Trail packing netbooks. The 10-inch Acer Aspire One A0535h seems to look slightly different than its predecessors, but its brand new Intel Atom N450 CPU, GMA 1350 graphics and promised 10-hours of battery life should give it bragging rights at the family dinner table. The rest of the specs are standard fare - Windows 7 Starter, 1GB of RAM, 160GB hard drive, and a 4400 mAH six-cell battery. We’re impressed that Acer has seemed to finagle a $299 price tag, undercutting most of the competition — including the $380 Pine Trail Eee PC 1005PE — by at least $50. It should be available in the coming weeks, but in the meantime you can check the full PR after the break or start searching for that Amazon pre-order page.

Continue reading Acer Aspire One AO532h joins the Pine Trail party with a $299 pricetag

Acer Aspire One AO532h joins the Pine Trail party with a $299 pricetag originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Dec 2009 13:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, it looks like that iPod hearing loss lawsuit that’s been nagging Apple for the past couple of years may finally be going away (in its current form, at least), as the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco has now affirmed a 2008 district court ruling and rejected a class-action lawsuit that sought to hold Apple responsible for hearing loss allegedly caused by iPods. While that may be a possibility, the court said that the “plaintiffs do not allege the iPods failed to do anything they were designed to do nor do they allege that they, or any others, have suffered or are substantially certain to suffer inevitable hearing loss or other injury from iPod use” — further adding that, “at most, the plaintiffs plead a potential risk of hearing loss not to themselves, but to other unidentified iPod users,” which doesn’t quite make the grade for a class-action suit. Not surprisingly, neither Apple nor the plaintiffs are making any comments on the verdict, and we’re pretty sure that Apple would like to keep it that way.

Appeals court sides with Apple in iPod hearing loss dispute originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Dec 2009 12:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When we first laid eyes on the SmartQ V5, we were pretty underwhelmed… yet another resistive touchscreen MID? We’re beginning to long for those halcyon days of late 2009 when an Android handheld was a thing of awe and wonder. Just a refresher: this guy features a 4.3-inch display, 600MHz ARM11 processor (which the brave among us can overclock to 800MHz), 256MB RAM, HDMI out, and more. Of some interest to the jaded gadget-head, this guy ships with Android, Ubuntu, and Windows CE 6.0 pre-installed — not a bad feature, if that’s your thing. If you poke around the Internets you should be able to find this bad boy for near $180.

SmartQ V5 MID available now to a world that’s just stopped caring originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Dec 2009 12:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While everyone’s gearing up to celebrate New Year’s Eve, it seems that Motorola’s busy squeezing out the last bit of rumor juice of 2009. We’re looking at what’s purported to be Motorola’s ‘Shadow’ (not ‘Mirage’ as Google Translate unhelpfully suggests) — a phone with 9mm thickness, 4.3-inch 850×484 screen (larger than the devices on the leaked roadmap), HDMI port and 8-megapixel camera capable of 1080p video recording. Not much else came out of the “tight-lipped” tipster who might’ve inverted the picture’s colors — see above for our fix — but an educated guess should point to that friendly green robot (though that battery icon certainly isn’t part of Android’s game). Any brave souls dare to guess otherwise?

Picture of Motorola ‘Shadow’ leaked, inverted on Taiwanese forum originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Dec 2009 11:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Pre homebrew has certainly come a long way in its short but happy life — and now it’s just gotten another little notch in its belt. Apparently, with the release of webOS 1.3.5, Palm has included a software library called SDL (or Simple Directmedia Layer) which allows developers low-level hardware access — like the kind needed to tap into accelerated 3D graphics. With a little bit of elbow grease, webOS hacker extraordinaire zsoc was able to put together a port of Doom which can be run within a card in the OS, and completely functions (including keyboard controls). You’ve got to get your hands a little dirty with the Terminal app to make things happen right now if you want to try it for yourself, though the experimenters promise an easier solution in the coming days. Exciting stuff for webOS users hungry for a little more horsepower… now let’s see if Palm puts this into play come CES.

Update: PreCentral has a video of the app in action — check it out after the break!

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Hardware accelerated ‘Doom’ comes to the Pre

Hardware accelerated ‘Doom’ comes to the Pre originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Dec 2009 11:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve had some indication that Orange planned to expand its “HD Voice” technology beyond the hot testbed of Moldova sometime in the coming year, and it looks like the carrier is now starting to get a bit more specific about when the UK will finally have an alternative to standard definition calls. Apparently, Orange will begin trials of the new and improved, 3G-facilitated service early in the new year, and fully roll it out along with a “range of handsets” before the end of the year. Just what can you expect from HD voice? Why, it will make it “sound as if callers are actually in the same room,” according to Orange UK chief executive Tom Alexander, who further added that “HD voice really does inject a level of innovation into mobile phone calls,” and that “once people have tried it, they won’t want to go back.”

Update: Orange has now pushed out a press release further confirming that trials will begin in the UK early in the new year, with a nationwide rollout due “later in 2010.” In related news, DigiTimes is reporting that Foxconn has landed large orders for Android-powered handsets from Orange, although Foxconn itself has issued something of a denial on the matter.

Orange plans to bring ‘HD Voice’ calls to UK next year originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Dec 2009 10:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The previously phased out 11.1-inch Sony Vaio T has shown back up over at Sony Style Japan. The good news is that this time, it’s a Windows 7 CULV on the inside, even if it looks the same on the outside. The new Vaio Ts come with processor options including a dual core 1.2GHz Celeron SU2300, a 1.4GHz dual core Core 2 Duo SU9400, or a 1.6GHz Core 2 Duo SU9600, and they boast Intel GMA 4500MHD graphics, plus 4GB or 8GB of RAM, an up to 512GB SSD or 500GBhard drive. There’s also optional extras like Blu Ray, 802.11n WiFi, a fingerprint scanner, and digital TV tuner. The laptop’s life is rated at about 11 hours when equipped with the standard battery, or 17 with the large capacity. So far, we’ve only seen these bad boys in Japan, where they’re retailing for ¥129,800 (that’s around $1400).

Sony Vaio T makes a comeback, and this time it’s a CULV with major battery life originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Dec 2009 08:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It takes a rather unique — or hilarious! — flashlight to make the pages of this august publication. We’ve seen torches that record video and torches that induce nausea, but never before have we seen a flashlight that’s been haphazardly shoved into a digital clock and called a “watch.” The Stanley LED Torch Watch features a backlit alarm clock, timer, and mini LED torch which may or may not be detachable. Available at the low, low price of $58. Action photo after the break.

Continue reading Stanley Torch Watch lights your path, highlights your odd aesthetic sensibilities

Stanley Torch Watch lights your path, highlights your odd aesthetic sensibilities originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Dec 2009 06:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone accessory maker and recession antidote regular Mophie is about to make the most buzzworthy move of its short history by offering a credit card reader and accompanying transaction app for the Apple handset. Positioned as a direct competitor to Jack Dorsey’s Square iPhone Payment System, Mophie’s solution looks to be integrated into an iPhone case — making it possible to keep the reader on permanently, albeit at a slight cost to your device’s aesthetics. The decidedly cube-shaped Square system has a less ergonomic design, but we suspect that the winner (if either of these two succeeds) will be primarily determined by the usability of the app and affordability of the service. Look out for more info to emerge at some point during the maelstrom that will be CES 2010.

Mophie iPhone credit card reader coming to a CES near you originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Dec 2009 04:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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