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Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 announced, we go hands-on

by Vladislav Savov posted Nov 2nd 2009 @ 11:00PM

The first Android device from Sony Ericsson may have undergone an upgrade in the naming department, jumping from X3 all the way to XPERIA X10 (probably to avoid confusion with Nokia's X3 handset), but what lies under the hood is reassuringly in line with what we've been hearing. That is to say, a 1GHz Snapdragon chip from Qualcomm, wide 4-inch capacitive touch display, 8.1 megapixel camera with LED flash, and a thoroughly tricked out Android skin named Rachael. Sony Ericsson stressed to us the symbiotic importance of both the new flagship device and "open OS" UI -- they see the X10 as the patriarch of a whole new family of handsets, which we can expect to see in the first half of 2010, all sporting the beauty of Rachael and perhaps helping to bridge the gap between featurephones and, well, more advanced featurephones. So don't be shy, come along to Engadget Classic to see our full and uncensored first impressions of both, along with hands-on video and pictures.

FCC Fridays

by Chris Ziegler posted Oct 30th 2009 @ 10:29PM

We here at Engadget Mobile tend to spend ~~a lot of~~ way too much time poring over the latest FCC filings, be it on the net or directly on the ol' Federal Communications Commission's site. Since we couldn't possibly (want to) cover all the stuff that goes down there, we've gathered up all the raw info you may want (but probably don't need). Enjoy!

Phones
Read - LG GB280
Read - LG LN510
Read - LG MT310
Read - LG GW825
Read - Samsung B5310
Read - Samsung i6330C
Read - Samsung S3600i
Read - Samsung SCH-W259
Read - Samsung SPH-M8400
Read - Samsung SPH-W9700
Read - Sanyo SCP-6760
Read - Huawei U8220-6
Read - Panasonic 840P

Peripherals
Read - Huawei ePico3801
Read - ZTE AC2766
Read - Parrot Grande Specchio

Motorola DROID review on Engadget!

by Nilay Patel posted Oct 30th 2009 @ 11:23AM

It's finally here: the Motorola DROID, perhaps the most hotly-anticipated Android smartphone yet. We've been poring over every nook and cranny of this svelte QWERTY slider, and our full review is up on Engadget Classic -- so what are you waiting for? Hit the read link and dive right in!

Samsung Moment review

by Chris Ziegler posted Oct 26th 2009 @ 5:30PM

In the world of Android, it's not yet clear who's going to come out victorious -- QWERTY sliders or their keyboardless brethren -- but does there really need to be a winner? We say there's room for just about everyone in this open-source party, and Sprint is starting to round out its Android offerings by introducing the keyboard-equipped Samsung Moment to saddle up alongside the HTC Hero that was released a few weeks ago. In the scheme of things, the platform is still extraordinarily young which means that virtually every new handset that's announced brings "firsts" to the table; in the Moment's case, it's both the first Android device with an 800MHz ARM11 core and the first Android QWERTY phone with an AMOLED display (you'd have to go back to another Sammy, the Galaxy, to find the first AMOLED Android phone regardless of input method).

Being able to stuff Android, AMOLED, QWERTY, and 800MHz all into one sentence certainly sounds like a winning combination, but does the Moment deliver? Let's find out.

Gallery: Samsung Moment review

Continue reading Samsung Moment review

FCC Fridays

by Chris Ziegler posted Oct 23rd 2009 @ 11:32PM

We here at Engadget Mobile tend to spend ~~a lot of~~ way too much time poring over the latest FCC filings, be it on the net or directly on the ol' Federal Communications Commission's site. Since we couldn't possibly (want to) cover all the stuff that goes down there, we've gathered up all the raw info you may want (but probably don't need). Enjoy!

Phones
Read - Huawei G1157
Read - LG GR700
Read - LG GT550
Read - Kyocera Domino S1310
Read - Samsung SCH-R860
Read - Samsung i5700L
Read - Samsung X01SC
Read - Samsung 940SC
Read - HTC myTouch 3G Fender Limited Edition

Peripherals
Read - Motorola CPEi 725
Read - Novatel Ovation MC998D

iGOG VelAUcity brings velocity-sensitive drums to your humble iPhone

by Paul Miller posted Oct 23rd 2009 @ 1:20PM

Mom / wife / building superintendent still won't let you get a drum set, huh? Well, you can show them, you can show them all with the new iGOG VelAUcity app, which for a mere $5 lets you do velocity-sensitive drumming on the iPhone. It works pretty great, too... to an extent. The technology appears to be based on the iPhone's built-in mic (VelAUcity doesn't work on an iPod touch), and the app recommends you use it with headphones, but not a headset with its own built-in mic, which would gum things up. In practice the drumming is really great, with multiple hit points on the drum pads and pretty good velocity sensitivity (for an iPhone app), but there are plenty of mic-introduced foibles like the potential for feedback or stray noises messing things up -- you basically would have trouble using this in a live application, though there are plenty of sliders so you can tweak things and give it a shot. Our favorite part perhaps is the mic trigger mode, which lets you do your fake drumming next to the iPhone, adding a whole new level of fake realness. Our least favorite part was the crashiness and the buginess -- part of which might've be blamed on our speed-strapped 3G. Don't say we didn't warn you. Video demonstrations are after the break.

[Via Create Digital Music]

Continue reading iGOG VelAUcity brings velocity-sensitive drums to your humble iPhone

Jabra STONE Bluetooth headset review

by Engadget staff posted Oct 23rd 2009 @ 11:36AM

Finally, the teaser's over. The latest delivery to Engadget's UK penthouse is the Jabra STONE Bluetooth headset due out in the US on 8th November, and we took no time to extract the pebble from the transparent cylinder. In front of us are the two parts of the STONE: an earpiece of a breakthrough form factor that instantly makes you pity its rivals, and behind it is the accompanying portable charging base which serves as an external battery. The latter is equipped with a micro-USB port and an LED indicator -- simply green or red -- to show whether there's enough battery juice for one full charge. It's a pretty neat idea as this is the only feasible way to fit eight hours of talk time (or twelve days of standby time) into such tiny package: two on the earpiece and an extra six from the surprisingly light battery base -- our scale reckons it is just under one ounce. We also dig the auto-off function when you dock the earpiece and vice versa. Docking and undocking are pretty straight forward too: just snap in for the former, and poke your thumb through the bottom hole of the base to push the earpiece out. The generic click button hidden under the Jabra badge is easy to access and responds well. Above that is the invisible vertical touch strip for volume control and similarly it responded nicely to our strokes. What's left on the earpiece are the two LED indicators on the underside for Bluetooth connectivity and battery. So far so good, but what really matters is the ear-on experience and the audio quality -- listen for yourself after the break.

Samsung Moment unboxed!

by Paul Miller posted Oct 21st 2009 @ 10:35AM

It's here, folks. We'll naturally have more impressions in the near future, but for now feast your eyes on the Samsung Moment and one of the least eventful unboxings of all time -- Sprint sure isn't packaging this like a premium handset, but at $179 we suppose it isn't really pricing it like one either. The hardware itself might tell a different story, with a solid, hefty feel to it and great screen. So far our editors are divided on the keyboard, with Chris not being sure it meets up to the CLIQ's standards, while this writer feels it's far superior -- not tiresome to press, but super clicky and very touch type-able. While we sort out this astonishing bit of interoffice drama, check out the unboxing shots in the gallery below. The phone goes on sale November 1st.

Gallery: Samsung Moment unboxed!

Engadget Mobile Podcast 028 - 10.19.2009

by Trent Wolbe posted Oct 20th 2009 @ 12:30PM

Once again, our focus turns to Android this week with a number of big announcements and big reviews -- well, big review, anyway, with the CLIQ getting fully detailed. Check it out!

Note: Our apologies for the sound quality this week, Chris was sitting next to a Tesla coil the entire time.

Hosts: Chris Ziegler, Sean Cooper
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Music: Solvent - Devices and Strategies (Ghostly International)

01:38 - Microsoft recovers 'most, if not all' Sidekick customer data
07:00 - Garmin-Asus nuvifone G60 review
11:10 - Motorola CLIQ review
14:35 - Walt Mossberg leaks the BlackBerry Storm 2
17:34 - Nokia posts $834 million quarterly loss, smartphone share down to 35%
21:24 - Acer Liquid slips through human fingers, but not before divulging new specs (updated)
22:55 - Verizon's anti-iPhone gets its first commercial: 'Droid Does'
25:30 - Mysterious HTC Android phone spied, might lean the way of the Dragon
28:50 - Listener questions

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LG BL40 New Chocolate review

by Vladislav Savov posted Oct 19th 2009 @ 11:44AM

You know the deal by now: we grab a slab of fresh new hardware, fiddle, play, and tinker with it until exhaustion or boredom is reached, then wax poetic about the whole experience, with a side serving of pictures and videos thrown in. Today's candidate for a grilling is LG's BL40, which is now available in Europe. You'll be familiar with it already from our hands-on look last month, but do join us past the break where we explore what's under the glossy hood in more detail, and give you a definitive answer on just how useful that elongated screen really is.

Gallery: LG BL40 New Chocolate review

Continue reading LG BL40 New Chocolate review

FCC Fridays

by Chris Ziegler posted Oct 16th 2009 @ 11:57PM

We here at Engadget Mobile tend to spend ~~a lot of~~ way too much time poring over the latest FCC filings, be it on the net or directly on the ol' Federal Communications Commission's site. Since we couldn't possibly (want to) cover all the stuff that goes down there, we've gathered up all the raw info you may want (but probably don't need). Enjoy!

Phones
Read - LG 620G
Read - LG 420G
Read - LG GM750H
Read - LG GW620R
Read - Samsung M8910U
Read - Samsung S5233T
Read - Samsung S5560
Read - Samsung S7550B
Read - Sharp SH-01B
Read - Sharp SH-02B
Read - Sharp 941SH
Read - Panasonic P-01B

LG GD910 Watch Phone review

by Vladislav Savov posted Oct 16th 2009 @ 12:24PM

You're not how much money you have in the bank, you're not the car you drive, you're not the contents of your wallet, you are not your freaking khakis – oh, who are we kidding, if you're reading a site such as this, you're all about your khakis. To sate that "look good, feel good" need in all of us, LG has brought out the ultimate in techie chic: a watchphone. This is not just any watchphone though, this is a £500 ($808) droplet of Orange-tinted exclusivity that straddles your wrist and demands onlookers' attention. Do the consumer in you a favor and come along to Engadget Classic where we have the full scoop on the GD910.

Motorola CLIQ review

by Ross Miller posted Oct 14th 2009 @ 11:04PM

Palm and Motorola have taken very different paths to get where they are today; one began life as a scrappy Valley start-up founded by a tablet computing pioneer, the other traces its roots to all the way back to the early days of consumer electronics and the automotive industry. Yet somehow, through years (decades, even) of adventure, success, and misfortune, they've found themselves in exactly the same situation here in 2009: it's do-or-die time. Palm, of course, has elected to try its hand at resurrecting the very thing that took it to superstardom in the first place -- an elegant, tightly-controlled software platform of its own with hardware to match -- while Motorola has thrown virtually all of its remaining weight behind Android in the hope that it can catch a little mojo from Google's ecosystem.

For Motorola, it's the wireless equivalent of stepping up to the roulette table, putting what's left of your depleted life savings on red, and letting it ride just as you see security guards off in the distance coming to throw you -- penniless -- off the premises. It's a gamble of the highest order, but it's also a gamble Motorola's painfully aware that it needs to take. North America's only top-five handset manufacturer needs nothing less than magic (and a little luck) to earn its way back into the world's wireless elite -- and that risky play starts right here, today, with the CLIQ / DEXT.

So does the CLIQ pave the way to a New Motorola, or did the RAZR's checkered legacy ultimately dig a hole too deep to escape? Read on.

Garmin-Asus nuvifone G60 review

by Darren Murph posted Oct 13th 2009 @ 3:38PM

Had the device you're peering at above come out just a few months later, it would've taken two full years to go from introduction to on sale. Thankfully, the good folks over at Garmin and ASUS (and Garmin-Asus, as it were) were able to get the nüvifone G60 out to AT&T before the holiday shopping season of 2009, but were they still too late? There's no doubt that this very smartphone had a lot of folks drooling in early 2007, but to say a lot has happened in the mobile realm between then and now would be doing the truth a grave injustice. The iPhone 3G has fallen to $99, a slew of Android handsets have hit the market and dedicated PND (portable navigation devices) have found themselves in the bargain bin. Oh, and some pretty fantastic GPS software has managed to land within Apple's App Store and the Android Market. In other words, competition couldn't possibly be hotter, and considering that the specifications haven't been updated on this $299 device since it was originally announced, you're probably wondering if it even deserves a chance. Read on to find out the answer.

Gallery: Garmin-Asus nuvifone G60 unboxing and hands-on

Continue reading Garmin-Asus nuvifone G60 review

Achtung, T-Mobile: if Project Dark is $50 unlimited, you're in trouble

by Chris Ziegler posted Oct 12th 2009 @ 2:00AM

Put yourself in T-Mobile USA's shoes for a moment: rumor has it that the guys who pay the bills aren't happy. History, happenstance, and the realities of electromagnetics have left you with an oddball 3G frequency that literally no other carrier in the world uses (at least, not for HSPA). Larger competitors don't take you as seriously as you'd like, and you don't have smaller ones -- they're all regionals who don't play in the same space you do. So what's your next move?

Continue reading Achtung, T-Mobile: if Project Dark is $50 unlimited, you're in trouble