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Saturday, August 20, 2011

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Best Buy stops selling selling the TouchPad, HP offers refunds to owners

Posted: 20 Aug 2011 10:18 AM PDT

HP TouchPad
Tempted by the promise of a $99 TouchPad, in spite of its imminent demise? Well, it looks like American Best Buys won't be enjoying the same liquidation sale as our neighbors to the north. A couple of tipsters have reported that the big box electronics retailer has pulled the webOS tablets from its shelves and is shipping them back to HP. The slates have also disappeared from Best Buy's website, though you can buy $30 screen protectors for one. You can still try to score one on the cheap straight from HP, but both the 16GB and 32GB models are currently listed as out of stock. Don't get upset if you already plunked down $400 for 10-inches of webOS goodness -- HP will refund you the difference. Call up the company or the retail partner you purchased it from, and ask. Just be prepared to sit on hold with all the rest of the folks trying to get their cash back.

[Thanks, Alex and David]

Caption Contest: No doubt, these two are definitely made for each other

Posted: 20 Aug 2011 07:38 AM PDT

Ah, yes. We all know that couple... the ones that don't speak to each other at dinner because they're too busy playing Cut the Rope or tweeting. You know 'em: the texting while walking or texting while driving sort of folks. What can we say? Sometimes you're locked in an epic battle you can't walk away from. Perhaps they're anti-social, or maybe they're addicted to tech love -- but what say you?

Billy: "Did you forget our anniversary?" "Our what? Oh, no... of course not."
Zach Honig: "Hug me." "LOL OK BRB."
Darren: "Short-range communication protocols are the best."
Terrence: "Little did he know that his sweetheart was texting her other boyfriend literally behind his back."
Michael: "I thought sexting was only for long distance relationships..."
Sean: "Love is letting your boyfriend save another princess. And helping over WiFi, of course."
Christopher: "Who wears flip flops with a denim jacket?"
Joe: "Ad hoc lovin'."
Richard Lai: "Can't wait to try Dance Central tonight."
Josh: "wePhone."

Mobile Miscellany: week of August 15, 2011

Posted: 20 Aug 2011 06:00 AM PDT

This week was packed with news on the mobile front, so it was easy to miss a few stories here and there. Here's some of the other stuff that happened in the wide world of wireless for the week of August 15, 2011:
  • Vodafone's very own budget-friendly Facebook Phone, the Vodafone 555, is now on sale. £62.50 is all it will take to get the non-touchscreen featurephone in your fingertips. [via SlashGear]
  • A spec sheet and screenshots of the Sony Ericsson Nozumi leaked this week. The handset will likely feature a 1.4GHz single-core Qualcomm S2 CPU, Adreno 205 GPU, and 4.3-inch display with 1280 x 720 resolution. Interestingly enough, the phone is rumored to require a micro SIM, much like the iPhone 4. [via XperiaBlog]
  • US Cellular launched two new Android devices for its prepaid lineup, the Samsung Gem and HTC Merge. The Gem offers a 3.2-inch WVGA display, 800MHz CPU, and Android 2.2 for $140, while the Merge is a global-capable QWERTY slider with a 3.8-inch display, Android 2.2, and more for $300. [via US Cellular]
  • Immediately following Google's acquisition of Motorola, discussion centered around the possibility of the latter company becoming the preferred OEM for Android -- a privilege that would, in theory, include designing and producing the next Nexus. Andy Rubin, the head honcho for the open-source OS, put such rumors to bed by offering more insight on the approval process for upcoming Nexus phones, and insisted that HelloMoto will continue to be treated the same as every other OEM; it will have to bid for the job just like every other company does. [via AndroidCentral]
  • The Huawei Blaze, a budget Android handset that runs on Gingerbread, may arrive in the UK as early as September. The Blaze would mark the first time we've seen the company offer a phone under its own branding in the UK. [via CNet]
  • Shocked to hear the Kyocera Echo isn't selling as well as the company had hoped? Yeah, neither are we. Nonetheless, in the hopes of sparking sales, it's started offering twelve premium games for free to the first 10,000 downloads as part of its "summer of free apps" campaign. Good luck with that. [via Electronista]
  • With all of the buzz rightfully centered around Nokia and its quest for Windows Phone dominance, how bright does Vertu's future look? If Eldar Murtazin is to believed, Espoo's luxury phone branch will also be on the receiving end of WP7 devices. The main difference with Vertu's version compared to the rest of Nokia's lineup? It'll most likely be covered with gold and diamonds. [via WMPowerUser]
  • The Samsung Galaxy Q, another name for the Gravity Smart, is now available on Rogers. The device is geared toward the lower end, so it may not be the most lustworthy letter in the Samsung Galaxy alphabet. [via MobileSyrup]

Samsung Galaxy Precedent coming to Straight Talk, seemingly $150 off-contract (video)

Posted: 20 Aug 2011 04:21 AM PDT

Walmart and its MVNO partner, TracFone, are preparing to plunge into the shallow depths of Android with the Samsung Galaxy Precedent. While little is known about the device itself, it appears strikingly similar to the Samsung Prevail, from the chunky volume rocker and external microSD card slot on the side of the phone, to the absent flash on the rear. Of course, Straight Talk's primary selling point with the Precedent is the price itself, which -- according to a promo video for the device -- is said to be just shy of $150 off-contract. This, combined with Wally World's competitive pricing of $45 per month for unlimited voice, text and data, could be a boon for many users who rely on Verizon for coverage (assuming this is a CDMA phone, anyway). While no official launch date has been set, you're welcome to get in line and reserve yours today. Or, just check the video after the break.

[Thanks, Nickolas]

We're In ushers Bing into the location-based social networking game

Posted: 20 Aug 2011 01:33 AM PDT

Bing We're In
Are you one of the few out there who thought Latitude was, like, totally awesome, but your heart lies with the boys at Redmond? Well, rejoice Bing fans, because We're In is the location-based social network you've been waiting for. At its most basic, the app lets you share your location with friends, find contacts on a map, and update your status -- great for seeing who is around and organizing outings. But, We're In has one unique feature that's actually quite ingenious, location sharing is time limited. You choose who to share GPS data with and for how long. Once the invite expires -- poof! No more tracking. A few more details and the download link can be found at the source.

Apple, Microsoft meet with Turkish minister, may bid to supply 15 million tablets to schools

Posted: 19 Aug 2011 10:41 PM PDT

When it comes to the economy, things appear to be pretty shaky in the land of feta and olive oil, but at least Greece's neighbor to the east is ready to spend, considering a very ambitious (and costly) investment in its education system. Turkish Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan just completed a tour through Seattle and Silicon Valley, making stops to meet with executives at Apple, Intel and Microsoft along the way. Caglayan's stateside mission was to discuss Turkey's FATIH Project, which somehow stands for "Movement of Enhancing Opportunities and Improving Technology" and aims to equip 15 million students with tablets within the next four years. The official seems to have left with a positive impression, telling the Turkish Weekly that "upon agreement, Microsoft teams will come to Turkey to cooperate with Turkish firms on the project." He went on to say that Apple executives expressed interest in having iPhone and iPad accessories manufactured in Turkey as well. Doesn't exactly sound like a firm commitment from either company, but 15 million tablets would be nothing to sneeze at, so we'd be surprised if the tablet makers didn't end up making formal bids. With South Korea and now Turkey making commitments to improving education, perhaps we'll see a similar plan hit stateside soon?

Mobiado's Grand Touch phones ditch the Nexus S plastic for a precious metal finish

Posted: 19 Aug 2011 08:38 PM PDT

Nothing quite screams money to burn like last year's tech gilded in pricey, CNC-machined metals. Purveyor of mobile extravagance, Mobiado, has recently rolled out the red carpet for two new additions to its Grand Line -- the Grand Touch and Grand Touch GCB. These high-end exercises in wireless hauteur are merely gussied up versions of Samsung's Nexus S, sporting the same ol' 1GHz Hummingbird processor, 16GB of storage, 512MB RAM, 4-inch Super LCD display and front-facing VGA / 5 megapixel rear camera. Available in either anodized aluminum or solid brass with gold plating (take a guess which is costlier), the sapphire crystal-backed duo comes unlocked with quad-band GSM, and tri-band UMTS / HSDPA radios, so you can stay connected aboard that yacht in St. Tropez.

Adidas Wearable Coach prototype promises to help you find the perfect pitch

Posted: 19 Aug 2011 06:51 PM PDT

A gadget that helps with your running or cycling is one thing, but can a device also make you a better pitcher? Designer Sebastiaan Pijnappel thought so, and the Adidas Wearable Coach prototype is his solution -- which, as of yet, is not an actual Adidas product. The idea is a simple but ingenious one; the device plays musical notes that correspond to certain movements, strike just the right ones and you know you've gotten in the zone. What's more, while the device has only been tested with pitchers so far (with some successful results), it's not hard to see how it could also be applied to a whole range of other sports and activities. Head on past the break for a video.

Let the liquidation begin -- HP's 16GB TouchPad on sale for $99

Posted: 19 Aug 2011 06:01 PM PDT

Well, that didn't take long. It's only been a day since HP announced its intention to discontinue production of webOS devices, and it looks like the outfit's already throwing its flagship tablet in the bargain bin. PreCentral reports that HP sent out a memo to its affiliates asking them to cut the price of the ill-fated TouchPad to $99 and $149 for the 16GB and 32GB editions, respectively. The date apparently put forward by HP is August 20th, but at least two Canadian retailers (Best Buy and Future Shop) have already made the cut -- though both outlets show the sale ending August 22nd. As proof that being fashionably late isn't always a good thing, the white 64GB edition has surfaced on HP's US site, sporting a $600 asking price, leaving us to wonder, well: why now? If all of that isn't enough to turn your smile upside down, webOSroundup is playing the bearer of bad rumors, with what they say is an internal memo from AT&T stating that the carrier's launch of the Pre 3 has been "completely cancelled."

Update: Looks like the SlickDeals forums folks have discovered a way to bring those Canadian prices down south, and are reporting that they will be official in the US on Saturday morning. Hit up the link below for details.

Andy Pad Pro makes film debut, shows off bird slinging skills (video)

Posted: 19 Aug 2011 05:31 PM PDT

Still waiting to get your affordable Android tablet on? You've got a little over a week to go, but here attempting to tide you over is a montage of the Andy Pad Pro. First made official in July (alongside a video of its lesser sibling), the Gingerbread tablet still rocks a 1.2GHz Cortex A8, a "powerful 3D GPU" and 1080p HDMI output. And at £179 (or about $290) the 7-inch capacitive slate won't break the bank. Ready to see it and its more affordable brother shred through a bevy of Android games? You know the drill: hop on past the break, bud.

AT&T enhances network in part of Manhattan you probably won't visit

Posted: 19 Aug 2011 04:39 PM PDT

If you're walking through New York City today, you may notice that your AT&T phone just got a little bit faster. But you probably won't. The carrier activated a new broadband cell site in Manhattan's Turtle Bay area in Midtown -- somewhere between Times Square and the Upper East Side -- in a five-block area that few tourists ever visit. The company says the upgrades are part of a larger plan to enhance coverage across the nation and eventually roll out 4G LTE coverage, with help from recently acquired T-Mobile -- that is if all goes well in court, of course.
Show full PR text
AT&T Customers Get More Mobile Broadband Coverage in Midtown Manhattan
New Cell Site Activated as Part of Ongoing AT&T Investment in Local Wireless Network

NEW YORK, Aug. 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of its continuing network investment to support growing demand for advanced mobile devices and applications, AT&T* today announced the activation of a new mobile broadband cell site in the Turtle Bay neighborhood of Midtown Manhattan to enhance coverage for consumers and businesses.

Enhanced areas of mobile broadband coverage include East 49th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues and along 2nd Avenue between East 47th and East 51st Streets. With mobile broadband speeds, AT&T customers can surf the Web, download files faster, and enjoy the very latest interactive mobile applications.

"Delivering dependable wireless coverage for consumers and businesses who need to stay connected is our ultimate objective," said Tom DeVito, AT&T vice president and general manager for New York and New Jersey. "AT&T's ongoing investments in the city will help ensure that our customers have access to the wireless services that help drive economic growth."

The new cell sites are part of AT&T's ongoing efforts to drive investment and innovation to deliver the nation's best, most advanced mobile broadband experience for customers. With the nation's fastest mobile broadband network, AT&T provides accelerated mobile data speeds and simultaneous voice and data capabilities.

"Our goal is for our customers to have an extraordinary experience throughout the city," DeVito added. "We're always looking for new opportunities to provide enhanced coverage, and our investment in the local wireless network is just one way we're accomplishing that. In addition, our recently announced agreement to acquire T-Mobile USA will strengthen and expand our network in New York. If approved, this deal means that we'll be able to expand the next generation of mobile broadband – 4G LTE – from our current plan of 80 percent of the U.S. population to more than 97 percent."

AT&T's mobile broadband network is based on the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) family of technologies that includes GSM and UMTS, the most widely used wireless network platforms in the world. AT&T has the broadest international coverage of any U.S. wireless provider, providing access to voice service in more than 220 countries and data service in more than 200 countries. AT&T also offers voice and data roaming coverage on more than 135 major cruise ships, as well as mobile broadband services in more than 130 countries.

AT&T operates the nation's largest Wi-Fi network** with nearly 27,000 AT&T Wi-Fi Hot Spots at popular restaurants, hotels, bookstores and retailers, including more than 515 hotspot locations in the New York metro area, including in Times Square, near Rockefeller Center, near St. Patrick's Cathedral, along Park Avenue and near Ed Sullivan Theater. AT&T Wi-Fi Hot Zones supplement mobile broadband coverage in areas with consistently high traffic.

For more information about AT&T's coverage in New York City or anywhere in the United States, consumers can visit the AT&T Coverage Viewer. Using the online tool, AT&T customers can measure coverage quality of coverage from a street address, intersection, ZIP code or even a landmark.

For updates on the AT&T wireless network, please visit the AT&T network news page.

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.

** Largest based on company branded and operated hotspots. Access includes AT&T Wi-Fi Basic. A Wi-Fi enabled device required. Other restrictions apply. See www.attwifi.com for details and locations.

Elgato HDHomeRun iPad app brings (some) cable channels to the tablet

Posted: 19 Aug 2011 03:48 PM PDT

Whether or not your cable TV provider has decided to offer live TV streaming to your mobile devices, you can do it yourself with the new HDHomeRun iPad app from Elgato. Paired with one of SiliconDust's new HDHomeRun Prime CableCARD tuners, the $17.99 app can tune into cable channels that are sent without encyption or are marked copy freely (varies from provider to provider) and even allows users to record them right on the app. Restrictions include that it only works on the iPad 2, with standard definition MPEG-2 channels and (for now) only the most recent HDHomeRun hardware is supported. Check out the video demo for more information on exactly how it works or click the source link to get to iTunes and buy -- in a market suddenly flooded by CableCARD tuners maybe this extra functionality is just what's needed to tip the balance between one device or another.
HDHomeRun for iPad


Show full PR text
HDHomeRun® PRIME™ App for iPad 2 – Watch & Record Cable TV Wirelessly

San Francisco, Calif. – August 19, 2011 – Elgato today announced that its HDHomeRun® PRIME™ App for iPad 2 is available on the App Store. The App works in conjunction with the Silicondust HDHomeRun PRIME line of CableCard™-enabled network tuners, and it enables users to stream and record live premium cable TV to iPad 2. Whether you want to watch the news in the kitchen while you make dinner, or the baseball game on the patio on a warm evening, or late night TV without disturbing anyone, the HDHomeRun PRIME App enables viewing and recording of live cable TV anywhere in your home's Wi-Fi network.

Elgato's HDHomeRun App and Silicondust HDHomeRun PRIME together deliver premium television and DVR capabilities to iPad 2. The HDHomeRun PRIME device sends the TV signal straight to the HDHomeRun PRIME App, so there is no need for the user to turn on a computer. This saves energy and adds to the ease of use that users have come to expect from Elgato products. In addition, the HDHomeRun PRIME App lets the user record programs directly to their iPad with the option of transferring those recordings from the iPad 2 to a Mac or PC.

Elgato's latest solution streams cable TV "copy freely" channels to iPad 2. Users with Verizon FiOS or Comcast cable television have a particular advantage, since the majority of channels from these providers are sent with a 'copy freely' flag. And naturally, users receive all the unencrypted digital cable TV (Clear QAM) channels offered by their cable provider.

"With our new HDHomeRun PRIME App, we wanted to offer iPad 2 users even more accessibility to their favorite TV programming," said Adam Steinberg, Elgato's VP of Marketing. "Our HDHomeRun solution opens up a world of TV viewing options for users. Couple this with the fact that you don't need a computer to enable the streaming of live TV to iPad 2, and the constraints of archaic TV watching are a thing of the past."

"Elgato is an innovative leader for TV content control on Apple devices. Silicondust has collaborated for years with Elgato to ensure users the ability to control digital TV on their home network, using the HDHomeRun line of products," said Theodore Head, Silicondust's President / CEO. "This new app continues our vision of Freedom Across Your Home Network allowing you to Watch, Pause, Record Live Digital TV Anywhere in your home, and now from your iPad 2."

The HDHomeRun PRIME App is available for the introductory price of $17.99 from the App Store on iPad 2 or at:
www.itunes.com/apps/hdhomerun.

HDHomeRun PRIME is available for $249.99 from http://www.hdhomerun.com/products/hdhomerun/prime

To view a video demonstration of HDHomeRun PRIME, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spBMS2yMCzk&feature=youtu.be

*Note that Elgato's HDHomeRun App is only compatible with Silicondust's HDHomeRun PRIME hardware, not previously debuted HDHomeRun products.

Retina Display-equipped iPad 3 looking more and more likely for early 2012

Posted: 19 Aug 2011 03:07 PM PDT

iPad WITH A VENGEANCE
Well, the Wall Street Journal's headline certainly isn't going to surprise you -- Apple Developing New iPad -- that has been a safe assumption since the iPad 2 was announced. Rumors are circulating though (some, for quite a while) that are painting an increasingly convincing picture of a Retina Display-equipped slate shipping in early 2012. Reports are in that suppliers have already received Q4 orders for parts that may eventually find their way into Apple's next tablet. Can we say for certain that the iPad 3 will hit shelves in Q1 of next year sporting a 2048 x 1536 screen? No, but it's starting to look more and more likely.

The Engadget Show is live, here at 6:00PM ET!

Posted: 19 Aug 2011 03:00 PM PDT

The Engadget Show is live again, tonight, starting at 6:00PM ET! Not only will it be filmed live in New York City, it will be streaming live to you on these very internets. Lock your browser in to this address at that time and you'll receive yourself a visual treat and an information smorgasbord.

We'll be looking at RIM's latest smartphones and seeing how they fare, taking a trip to Italy to get a peek at what the Ferrari of 2030 might look like, chatting with Fusion Garage's Chandra Rathakrishnan about the Grid 10 and Grid 4 (and why his company deserves a second chance), taking over Times Square, and chatting with the EFF to figure out just what the heck Google is going to do with all those patents.

Again, it'll be live here at 6:00PM ET.

Update: Thanks guys. Look for the recording early next week!

Sprint's Epic Touch 4G may be first US-bound Galaxy S II, arriving September 9th?

Posted: 19 Aug 2011 02:44 PM PDT

Samsung is expected to unveil its US Galaxy S II lineup on August 29th, and if you have that date highlighted on your calendar for that very reason, this rumor will likely turn you ancy for the next ten days. We're hearing from SprintFeed that the Samsung Epic Touch 4G, Sprint's variant of the upcoming device, may win the race to market by launching on September 9th. It's no surprise that the Now Network would beat T-Mobile, given whisperings that the Samsung Hercules won't make it to stores until October 26th, but we're still unsure of when to expect Big Red and Ma Bell. Regardless of if this report is accurate, the next two months are still gearing up to be rather exciting, wouldn't you say?

The Engadget Interview: HP's Stephen DeWitt discusses the state of webOS

Posted: 19 Aug 2011 02:05 PM PDT

The last time we spoke with Stephen DeWitt, the head of HP's webOS global business unit was on the defensive about the TouchPad. In spite of -- or perhaps because of -- the anticipation of the device, the first webOS tablet received a lukewarm reception at hands of reviewers. DeWitt vigorously defended the slate against the critics, suggesting that technology writers had been approaching the product the wrong way. A lot has happened since that conversation, of course, including reports of unmoved stock and, more significantly, yesterday's news that HP would effectively be discontinuing production on its webOS devices, the TouchPad included.

There's been a good deal of confusion around precisely what yesterday's announcement means for both the company and the mobile operating system that it picked up with its purchase of Palm back in April of last year. In spite of his understandably packed schedule, DeWitt sat down with us to set the record straight and shed some light on the future of webOS -- a future both he and the company remain rather optimistic about.

Read on for the full interview.

We heard you're buying Motorola, is that right?

No, but you know certainly the landscape is fluid, and I think it speaks to the fact that this is the mobile space and all aspects of it and the future of connected devices -- the company's role in that equation is being vetted out right now. So it is a very fluid market and there are going to be a lot of decisions. Obviously, Google made a decision that has pluses and minuses associated with it. We've made some decisions that have pluses and minuses associated with it, but we did it for a reason, and I think you're going to see more activity. I certainly don't think things are going to slow down over the next handful of weeks or quarters. This is important stuff.

Can you give us just a quick overview of exactly what that decision is, because I think there's been a lot of confusion on exactly what the announcement means?

I'll try to use See Spot Run-type metaphors through all of this. What we decided not to do is build a device-end of the equation. What we have decided to do is invest in the webOS as a platform so that we can deliver the type of innovation in that platform to fulfill our vision of connected devices. There's a lot of excitement around tablets that are out there. Apple's success in the pad market -- remember it took a long time for Apple to get to the market. These have not been products that have been in the market for ten years. These are products that have been in the market for a couple of years. These form factors have got everybody excited about what the potential is from an application perspective, and applications are a lot more than just tens of thousands of games. Applications are gonna be defined by a lot of different things: vertical solutions... literally, I could spend an hour going through the various applications that are going to emerge that are ultimately going to be delivered on a connected device, whatever that connected device may be.


It doesn't mean -- in any way, shape or form, at all -- that we are abandoning webOS.


And so we have gone down a path, and it was kind of the legacy Palm path, if you will, and we were vertically integrated. We did hardware design, we did hardware -- we basically did the whole stack, from the hardware up, and there advantages to doing that. There are also disadvantages to doing that, and so we made the decision to focus on the platform. Focus on the development of that platform to give us flexibility for alternatives, if you will, in terms of how we could bring webOS to the market and expand the ecosystem, and those opportunities and alternatives are pretty obvious. We can look at licensing; we can look at OEM and ODM-type relationships. There isn't a one-size-fits-all here, because a one-size approach is going to limit the opportunity of delivering tens of billions of connected devices -- at least in our opinion. So we made that decision.

It doesn't mean -- in any way, shape or form, at all -- that we are abandoning webOS. In fact, we're allowing webOS to fulfill the vision that I think everyone in the industry wants to see, and that is a viable alternative to other tablet or mobile operating systems that are out there that have their own baggage.

Is this a vision that you as a company had foreseen for some time now? Or is this something that you've arrived at given the ways in which the hardware has performed?

That's a good question. I'd say a little bit of both. The vision that we have about -- and we've been talking about this for months. I've certainly been out there broadly talking about maintaining your state and the design center being you, and that at the end of the day the blurring between personal lives, professional lives, content creation, content consumption, all of the various bits and bobs associated with your eyeballs looking at a screen and what is on there and how that content's delivered. That's all been in the vision, but vision's just vision. It isn't the execution path.

So, to the second part of your question, as we continued down the execution path, it became very clear that the investment that would have been required to maintain that model would have been a pretty high investment cost, relative to an alternative approach that would introduce significantly more flexibility into the system, allow us to focus our resources on what matters here, and what matters is the webOS. The platforms, that delivery vehicles, the car in which webOS drives or how it is delivered, is secondary to it being delivered. What's in it? What innovative areas do we invest in? What's going to give us competitive advantage and differentiation relative to other players in the market? You know, there's no question that trying to do a me-too strategy or a fast-follower strategy in a market that is going through rapid redefinition right now, isn't going to fly. And that's why my answer is a little bit of both.

Has the company been in talks with third party manufacturers?

Of course we have.

I don't suppose you can mention any?

Nope. Nope.

Does this decision have anything to do with Windows 8 and the way we're seeing Microsoft being a little more focused on the tablet?


I don't know if you're going to find any company out there that's had a longer-term relationship with Microsoft than we have.


I don't know if you're going to find any company out there that's had a longer-term relationship with Microsoft than we have. I mean, we've got intimacy up and down the stack with Microsoft, from the data center to the edge and all points in between. And I think we all know, and I certainly don't need to comment on the challenges Microsoft had in the mobility space, and just like the conversation we were having about Moto and Google, Microsoft is making moves, Nokia is making moves, others are making moves, because you have you have to refine your portfolio, your strategy. You've gotta make decisions in terms of what your cloud vision is going to be. Is it going to be open? Is it going to be inclusive? Is it going to be closed door? Is it just my way or the highway? And I think that generally, our approach to Microsoft is no different today or after this announcement than it was 72 hours ago.

We're talking with Microsoft about Windows tablets. We have a Windows tablet in the market right now that is very much a solution in our vertical approaches -- not something that we put on the shelves of Best Buy, because, obviously, if you're going to be on the shelves of Best Buy, you're competing against the iPad. So we're certainly looking at a broad approach to not only the devices themselves, but how all of these OSs are going to mature and collaborate with one another in the cloud future. We certainly -- and this again isn't new news -- I was talking about this when I joined the team four weeks ago, and we've been talking about this broadly for the last handful of months: our approach is to be open and collaborative in our cloud vision, and that's at all levels. As opposed to being closed and telling developers, "This is the model you're going to deal with and that's it."

So does that mean that we should expect to see more services for syncing across clouds? There are many services talking about syncing data within a single cloud, but, of course, there are multiple clouds. Is this something we should be expecting HP to be focusing on going forward?

I won't specifically comment on anything that HP is working on in that area, but your assumption that that kind of cross-cloud pollination is a good idea -- we agree.

Is this move away from these specific devices, has this freed the resources at HP as far as working on additional pieces of hardware within the company that utilize the OS?

The first part of your question was a resounding yes, but the second part -- the shift in models does give us tremendous flexibility in terms of where we invest our resource. The primary, the overwhelming investment that is going to come from that is into the webOS platform: innovative new areas / trajectories for our development efforts, global efforts, a lot of things that we've got on the drawing board that are going to matter in the market down the road. Not necessarily in a pari passu bake off against an Android tablet or an iOS tablet. We're thinking about the future.

We're also thinking about what we've heard absolutely in an avalanche from our commercial customers, that they are unsatisfied with the devices that are in the market today. And this isn't just simply about creating a management infrastructure that allows you to wipe info off one of these devices -- I mean, that's table stakes. This is about creating truly integrated solutions, where an endpoint has to have a certain set of characteristics to it, and a certain way that applications are delivered, and a certain human experience that goes with that. This company has a long heritage of building solutions. Think of the medical industry. Think of all the industries where HP has built solutions and built markets out of that. We're going to take the same approach with the webOS and that will manifest itself over time, across a wide arena of devices.

It sounds to me that you are at least at the present time taking the possibility of, not a copy-cat device, but a standard consumer tablet or a standard consumer smartphone running webOS off the table, for your own production.

For our own soups and nuts, I'd say that's fair -- yeah. In terms of us doing everything up the stack, what we announced yesterday is we're not building the devices.

Motorola's XT531 hits the FCC, ready for its US crossover

Posted: 19 Aug 2011 01:17 PM PDT

Motorola's XT531 has gone through more name changes than a certain rapper-cum-vodka shilling mogul, and the trend might continue as it makes its way to the US. The budget-friendly handset, known as the Fire XT in Europe and the Spice XT in Latin America, has just surfaced at the FCC toting AT&T-compatible GSM bands, UMTS / HSDPA 850MHz / 1900MHz support, WiFi and Bluetooth. Based on Moto's official PR for the handset's Chinese release, we know this 3.5-incher also sports a front-facing VGA / 5 megapixel rear camera, and is set to launch with Android 2.3 onboard. With Google's newest pal clearly chasing after heat-related naming conventions, we expect to see this one launch with an equally caliente moniker.

Engadget Primed: all mobile displays are not created equal

Posted: 19 Aug 2011 12:00 PM PDT

Primed goes in-depth on the technobabble you hear on Engadget every day -- we dig deep into each topic's history and how it benefits our lives. Looking to suggest a piece of technology for us to break down? Drop us a line at primed *at* engadget *dawt* com.

The quality of a mobile phone's display is arguably the most important factor to consider when you establish a relationship with a handset. It's inescapable, really. Whether you're playing a rousing game of Robot Unicorn Attack or (regrettably) drunk-dialing an ex, it's the one interface element that you're consistently interacting with. It's your window to the world and your canvas for creation, and if it's lousy, it's going to negatively influence everything you see and do. Today, we're delving into the world of mobile displays, where we're aiming to entertain and edify, and hopefully save you from making regrettable decisions -- when it comes to purchasing new phones, anyway.

In this edition of Primed, we'll be examining the different qualities and underlying technologies of several displays, starting with the ubiquitous TFT-LCD and moving through the nascent realm of glasses-free 3D and beyond. We'll also be addressing the importance of resolution and pixel density. Finally, we'll be scoping out a handful of upcoming technologies -- while some are thoroughly intriguing, others are just plain wacky. Go ahead... buy the ticket, take the ride, and join us after the break. It's Primed time.

Table of Contents
Introduction
LCD fundamentals
Display technologies explained
A 3D detour
Why resolution matters
The touchscreen
Looking forward
Wrap-up

Introduction
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Generally speaking, two display types rule today's mobile phones: the Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), and the Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED). While each technology carries a set of strengths and weaknesses, a very important distinction can be drawn between the two. The LCD uses the light modulating properties of liquid crystals (LCs), but LCs don't emit light directly. As such, a light source is necessary for proper viewing. Conversely, the OLED uses organic compounds that illuminate when exposed to electric currents. As backlights aren't necessary for OLEDs, they're significantly thinner than traditional LCDs. All things equal, OLED phones should be slimmer than their LCD counterparts, but this isn't always the case. Take for example the MEDIAS N-04C, which uses a TFT-LCD and measures 7.7mm thin, versus the Galaxy S II, which uses the latest Super AMOLED Plus display and is 8.5mm thick.

The most desirable phone displays today are variants of these two technologies. In the LCD camp, there's the Super LCD (S-LCD) and the IPS display -- with the latter as the basis for the Retina Display and the NOVA display. Likewise, the OLED territory is filled with options such as Super AMOLED, Super AMOLED Plus and ClearBlack. We'll discuss the important distinctions between these competing display types shortly, but first let's develop a fundamental understanding of how these brilliant creations work and how they came to be.


LCD fundamentals
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The story of the LCD began in 1888 when cholesterol was extracted from carrots. Think we reached too far back? Not if you've ever wondered what liquid crystals are. You see, a botanist named Friedrich Reinitzer discovered this extract had two distinct boiling points and observed the molecule's ability to transmute from liquid to a crystalline structure in the interim. Even more shocking, the cloudy substance was able to reflect circularly polarized light and rotate the light's polarization. (This little tidbit will become important when we discuss how LCDs operate.) While liquid crystals appear throughout nature, it wasn't until 1972 -- when 5CB (4-Cyano-4'-pentylbiphenyl) was synthesized -- that they became commercially viable. A first of its kind, 5CB was chemically stable and entered its nematic phase at room temperature. While there's actually three phases of liquid crystals, we're most interested in the nematic one. This describes a state where molecules flow like liquid and self-align in a thread-like helix -- and coincidentally, are easily manipulated with electricity.

Now that you've got a little background about liquid crystals, let's examine how they're used in LCDs. Let's start by making a sandwich. As our bread, we'll take two polarizing filters, one which polarizes light on the horizontal axis and the other on the vertical axis. If we take the slices of bread and hold them up to a light source, nothing is going to pass through. Remember when we said liquid crystals have the ability to rotate light's polarization? Yeah, they're a critical ingredient in our sandwich because they determine light's passage. When nematic crystals are in their natural (or relaxed) state, they form a twisted helix. As light travels through the molecule structure, its polarization is rotated by 90 degrees and light is allowed to pass through the top filter. Conversely, when voltage is applied to the LCs, the helix is broken and light can't escape the polarizing filters. If you're keeping score, this is known as the twisted nematic field effect. Going back to the sandwich analogy, the nematic crystals are placed between two layers of transparent electrodes which apply voltage to the liquid crystals. It's a rather simplistic sandwich, but it describes the fundamentals of how LCDs work. For you visual learners, Bill Hammack does an excellent job of explaining these concepts in the following video.


Now let's apply this knowledge to the modern TFT-LCD that you're familiar with. It's the basis for twisted nematic (TN) and in-plane switching (IPS) displays, and both technologies rely upon the thin film transistor (TFT) for the quick response time and image clarity that we take for granted. Fundamentally, the TFT is a matrix of capacitors and transistors that address the display pixel by pixel -- although at a blistering speed. Every pixel consists of three sub-pixels -- red, green and blue -- each with its own transistor, and a layer of insulated liquid crystals are sandwiched between conductive indium tin oxide layers. Shades are made possible by delivering a partial charge to the underlying LCs, which controls the amount of light that passes through the polarizing filter, thus regulating the intensity of each sub-pixel.


Display technologies explained
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The most common LCD display is based on TN technology, which has been successful due to its relatively inexpensive production costs and fast refresh rates. Many of you will remember the shadow-trail that plagued early LCDs, and faster refresh rates reduce this effect and make the displays better suited for movies and games. Unfortunately, TN displays are famous for exhibiting poor viewing angles and most aren't capable of showing the entire 24-bit sRGB color gamut. In attempt to mimic the full range of 16.7 million colors, many screens implement a form of dithering to simulate the proper shade. Basic TN screens are hardly fantastic, but they're also good enough to survive the day without eliciting too many complaints.

IPS displays were created to resolve the long-standing problems of poor viewing angles and color reproduction of their TN counterparts. The fundamental difference between the two technologies is that liquid crystals run parallel to the panel rather than perpendicular. This alignment allows for wider viewing angles and more uniform colors, but at a loss of brightness and contrast. Traditionally, IPS panels were significantly more expensive than TN alternatives, but recent advances have lowered the production cost and improved the brightness and contrast issues. This technology is the basis for Apple's Retina Display and the NOVA display -- both of which are manufactured by LG.

Another technology that's gotten plenty of airtime is the Super LCD (S-LCD), which is a display that's manufactured by a joint-venture between Sony and Samsung. It employs an alternate method to IPS and TN that's known as super patterned vertical alignment (S-PVA). Here, the liquid crystals have varying orientations, which help colors remain uniform when viewed from greater angles. S-LCDs also feature improved contrast ratios over traditional TN displays, which exposes a greater amount of details in dark images. Further, these displays feature dual sub-pixels that selectively illuminate based on the brightness of the screen. As you can imagine, this provides power-saving benefits, along with refined control of colors on the screen.

Now, let's take a look at OLEDs, which are a staple of many high-end phones today. As we've mentioned, these displays operate without a backlight. Instead, they use electroluminescent organic compounds that emit light when they're exposed to an electric current. The main advantages of OLEDs include deeper black levels (because there's no backlight), enhanced contrast ratios, and excellent viewing angles, while drawbacks include reduced brightness and colors that are often over-saturated. OLED screens also suffer an awkward aging effect, where the red, green and blue sub-pixels will deteriorate and lose efficiency at different rates, which causes brightness and color consistency to worsen over time. While improvements are being made, it's important to understand that this display technology is still relatively immature.

You're most likely familiar with the active-matrix OLED (AMOLED), which relies on a TFT backplane to switch individual pixels on and off. Coincidentally, active-matrix displays consume significantly less power than their passive-matrix OLED (PMOLED) counterparts, which makes them particularly well-suited for mobile devices. These displays are typically manufactured by printing electroluminescent materials onto a substrate, and that relatively simplistic process suggests that OLEDs will ultimately become cheaper and easier to manufacture than LCDs. Shockingly, the most challenging step is the creation of the substrate itself, which remains a difficult and expensive endeavor. Currently, the limited supply and high demand of AMOLED screens has restricted their availability, and you're most likely to find them in high-end smartphones.

While all screens suffer from reduced visibility in direct sunlight, the original AMOLED screens were particularly vulnerable to this drawback. To resolve this, Samsung introduced the Super AMOLED display. With this new technology, the touch sensors were integrated into the screen itself. Naturally, this allowed for a thinner display, but this also improved brightness by eliminating the extra layer. Additionally, the screen's reflection of ambient light and power consumption were significantly reduced. While colors were now bright and vibrant -- and acceptable in direct sunlight -- the displays still couldn't match the crispness and clarity of LCD screens, particularly with respect to text. Samsung's PenTile matrix is to blame, which is a hallmark of its AMOLED and Super AMOLED displays. Here, a single pixel is composed of two sub-pixels, either red and green, or blue and green, and the green sub-pixel is significantly more narrow than the other two. While the scheme works fine for images because the human eye is more sensitive to green, it makes the anti-aliasing of text rather imprecise, and the end result is a bit blurry. Like Super AMOLED, Nokia's ClearBlack display was created to make the AMOLED screen more visible in direct sunlight. This was accomplished by adding a polarized filter to the display, which allows the viewer to see through the screen's reflection and view the images as they would appear under more ideal conditions.

In its most recent incarnation, the Super AMOLED Plus features a traditional three sub-pixels of equal proportion within one pixel, along with an increased sub-pixel count and density. Both of these measures create a display that's much more crisp, especially when it comes to text. Further, the tighter spacing between pixels results in better visibility under direct sunlight. The new Super AMOLED Plus screens are also thinner and brighter to boot.


A 3D detour
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By now, you've probably had the chance of viewing a glasses-free 3D screen for yourself. Whether you think the feature is cool, gimmicky or annoying -- or, all of the above -- it's clear that autostereoscopic displays are moving into the mainstream. If you've ever wondered what makes this marvel possible, today is your lucky day. First, let's start with stereoscopic imaging itself. This merely refers to a technique that creates an illusion of depth by presenting two offset images separately to the right and left eye of the viewer. Traditionally, glasses were required to complete the effect, but a creation known as the parallax barrier has done away with that. Essentially, it's a layer of material placed atop the screen with precision slits that allows each eye to view a different set of pixels. As you've likely observed (or at least read about), you're required to position the display at a very specific angle to properly view the 3D effect. Also, because the parallax barrier effectively blocks half the light emanating from the screen, the backlight is forced to shine twice as bright -- which really kills the battery. Granted, it's an infant as technology goes, but researchers are already making refinements. For example, MIT's HR3D is a promising project that touts better viewing angles, brightness and battery life -- largely by increasing the number and varying the orientation of the slits.


Why resolution matters
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So far, we've discussed the underlying technologies of mobile displays, but these options are merely one factor for consideration as you select your next phone. Screen resolution is another very important topic, as it determines the amount of content that can be displayed at any given time. Many of you are likely aware of this, but the physical size of a screen conveys nothing about the content that it can display. For example, a 4.5-inch screen with an 800 x 480 resolution actually displays less information than a 3.5-inch screen with a 960 x 640 resolution. These numbers are simply measures of the physical number of pixels positioned vertically and horizontally across the screen. Taking it a step further, the 800 x 480 screen is capable of displaying 384,000 pixels worth of information, while the 960 x 640 screen is capable of displaying 614,400 pixels worth of information. Put simply, a low-res screen simply can't convey the same amount of content as a high-res alternative.

The most common displays today are generally based around the Wide VGA (WVGA, 800 x 480) standard, and lower-res options include Half VGA (HVGA, 480 x 320) and Quarter VGA (QVGA, 320 x 240). Another variation of this is Full Wide VGA (FWVGA, 854 x 480), which is common to Motorola's Droid family. Quarter HD (qHD) is an up-and-comer in the mobile industry, with a 960 x 540 resolution, which is one quarter the pixel count of full 1080 HD (1920 x 1080). Lest we not forget Apple's Retina Display, which measures 960 x 640. As you've seen in our reviews, we're particularly fond of high-res screens, and HVGA really is the minimum that you should accept when purchasing a new phone.

Another component of screen resolution is pixel density, which is the total number of pixels within a physical constraint. It's calculated in pixels per inch (ppi), which is fundamentally a measure of how tightly pixels are squeezed together. This element was somewhat of an afterthought until Apple introduced the Retina Display, but it has important ramifications for the overall crispness of text and images. While the iPhone 3GS came with a 3.5-inch screen with an HVGA resolution, the iPhone 4 kept this same screen size yet boosted its resolution to 960 x 640. The result was a massive increase in pixel density, which grew from 163ppi in the iPhone 3GS to a staggering 326ppi with the iPhone 4. Of course, these numbers are merely academic until you examine the impact that a high pixel density has upon the overall legibility of small text and clarity of images. As you'd expect, other manufacturers aren't letting Apple have all the fun in the pixel density war, and we're seeing particularly exciting developments from Toshiba and Samsung (more on that a bit later).

If you're interested in calculating pixel density for yourself, you'll need to start by knowing the display size and screen resolution. From there, you'll need to determine the diagonal resolution of the screen with a little help from our friend Pythagoras (famous for the Pythagorean theorem). For our purposes, his equation is best expressed as follows:

Diagonal resolution = square root of [ (width x width) + (length x length) ]

Using the example of a 4-inch display with a WVGA resolution, your equation should look like the following:

Diagonal resolution = square root of [ (800 x 800) + (480 x 480) ]
Diagonal resolution = square root of [ 640,000 + 230,400 ] = square root of 870,400
Diagonal resolution = 933 pixels

Now, take the diagonal resolution (in our case, 933 pixels), and divide that by the display size (4-inches). If you've done the math properly, you'll see this particular display has a pixel density of 233ppi. While most smartphones on the market today feature perfectly acceptable pixel densities, this little tidbit could come in handy if you're looking for the clearest possible display.


The touchscreen
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Now that we've examined display technologies and screen resolution, let's take a brief moment to discuss touch screens, which are crucial elements for modern smartphones. The dominant touchscreen technology is known as capacitive touch, which receives feedback from your body's ability to conduct electricity. When you place a finger on the display, the screen's electrostatic field becomes distorted, and the change in capacitance is registered by the underlying sensor. From there, software is used to react to your input. The beautiful part about a capacitive touchscreen is its ability to register multiple points of contact at the same time, which enables multi-touch functionality such as pinch-to-zoom.

Another type of touchscreen on the market today is known as the resistive touchscreen. It's generally less expensive to produce and responds to physical force. While there are multiple elements to a resistive screen, the most important are two electrically conductive layers that are separated by a narrow space. When you press on the display, the two layers come into contact with one another, which registers as a change in current. Unfortunately, these added layers reduce the overall brightness of the display and increase the amount of glare reflected from the screen. You'll generally find resistive touch screens in lower-end smartphones because they don't support multi-touch, although a few individuals appreciate its ability to receive input from a stylus, gloved fingers or fingernails.


Looking forward
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Hopefully we've given you a solid overview of the current state of mobile displays, but as you'd expect in an industry that's rapidly evolving, there's plenty of exciting possibilities on the horizon. Here's a few gems that are sure to whet your palate for the future.

Full HD resolution and crazy pixel density

Ortustech (a joint-venture between Casio Computer and Toppan Printing) has developed a 4.8-inch screen with full 1080p resolution and a stunning pixel density of 458ppi. While a touchscreen isn't in the mix, manufacturers understand the appeal of full HD, and we're seeing the industry continually advancing upon this holy grail. Likewise, Hitachi has announced a 4.5-inch IPS display with a 1280 x 720 resolution that supports glasses-free 3D to boot. Toshiba has introduced a 4-inch contender, also at 720p, with a stunning 367ppi resolution. Samsung isn't resting on its laurels, either, and is working on mobile displays that will push between 300 and 400ppi -- by 2015, anyway. While this announcement was specifically for tablets, we know Sammy's smartphones are bound to benefit.

Transparent displays


Manufacturers are finding a new take on our mobile phones being a window to the world, as transparent displays are now coming into the fray. TDK began production of a see-through OLED earlier this year, and while we'd be shocked to see this novelty crop up in smartphones, it's sure to give some added intrigue to the feature phone segment. Whether it can actually save SMS fiends from walking into oncoming traffic is still debatable.

Flexible displays

If you find your current smartphone far too rigid, 2012 could be quite a milestone, as Samsung is readying flexible AMOLED displays for production next year. While we plan to see smartphones with large screens that can be folded into a smaller form -- a definite improvement over current hinge-based designs -- we'd love to see an outlandish solution that fully incorporates the flexible spirit.

Electronic ink


Take one quick look at your smartphone's power consumption and it's painfully obvious that the display is the primary culprit. With projects such as Mirasol and E Ink Triton leading the way, we're hoping to see a day when color "electronic ink" becomes useful for smartphones. In addition to requiring only a fraction of the power of its illuminated brethren, these displays offer full visibility in direct sunlight. Of course, the need for a light source is a given, and current refresh rates would make for lousy gaming and video playback, but these alternatives are getting better with each new announcement. For those needing maximum battery life at all costs, these displays can't come soon enough.


Wrap-up
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While we're steering clear of crowning one display technology as king of the mobile empire, hopefully you've got enough information to make that decision for yourself. Granted, the quality of a screen is only one factor to consider when choosing a phone that's best suited for your needs, but it's an important consideration nonetheless. While LCDs typically deliver sharper and brighter images, more accurate colors, and perform better in direct sunlight, they cannot match the vibrant colors and excellent contrast ratios of their AMOLED counterparts. No matter which side of the fence you're sitting upon, you're certain to make a good decision by choosing one of the newer technologies. We've seen a dramatic improvement in mobile displays throughout the past few years, and if your budget allows, we wholeheartedly recommend that you leave older displays in the past -- where they belong. At the end of the day, your eyes will surely thank you for the consideration.
at 11:37 AM

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