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Engadget News |
- Microsoft announces special edition Chrome Series Xbox 360 controllers
- NOOK for iPad now with Retina content, improved highlighting features
- Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G review
- UK planning second snooping bill, proxy servers to sell out shortly
- HCL intros trio of Android 4.0 tablets aimed at Indian classrooms
- US Navy shows off its new LASR autonomous robot testing facility
- Renault's Twizzy EV for 16 year-olds comes too late for Justin to skip the DMV queue
- Fujitsu buys out Toshiba's stake in mobile joint venture, division now called Fujitsu Mobile Communications
- Engadget's smartphone buyer's guide: spring 2012 edition
- Internet Explorer claws back a bit of market share at the expense of Chrome and Firefox
- Samsung throws in free extended battery with VZW Galaxy Nexus, applies to new purchases only
- Engadget Giveaway: win a Nokia Lumia 800, courtesy of Quixby!
- Samsung's eeeny-weeny Galaxy Pocket is examined under the FCC's magnifying glass
- Samsung, NTT DoCoMo, et al. cancel plans for LTE chip joint venture
- Ceton's Q DVR companion app for Windows Phone gets detailed tour (video)
- Intel 330 SSD leakage hints at bargain price tag, perhaps just $149 for 120GB
- Philips transfers TV business to a joint venture with TPV Technology, TPV takes the controlling stake
- Application Developers Alliance reveals its founding directors
- Sensitive scales can weigh individual atoms, ensure perfect recipes
- Garmin partners with Suzuki for company's first in-dash infotainment system
- Microsoft moves logistics center out of Germany, blames Motorola patent battle
- Sony HXR-NX30 camcorder: built-in projector, 96GB storage for $2,500 (video)
- IBM: 'We must build an Exascale computer before 2024' (video)
- Sony outs NEX-FS700 cinema camera: does crazy slow-mo now, 4K coming later
- HTC Sense 4 review
- HTC One S review
- HTC One X review
- Samsung Display spinoff officially launches as 'the world's largest display manufacturer'
- Kaleidescape DVD servers granted a temporary stay
- How would you change Samsung's Galaxy Nexus?
- Inhabitat's Week in Green: gigantic LED cube, synthetic bones and a playground from recycled wind turbines
- Refresh Roundup: week of March 26th, 2012
- Tribune stations nationwide including WGN America go dark on DirecTV
- Switched On: Angry Nerds
- USRobotics PalmPilot Personal review
- Android 4.0.4 leaked for Nexus S 4G, lets Sprint users join ICS party
| Microsoft announces special edition Chrome Series Xbox 360 controllers Posted: 02 Apr 2012 12:06 PM PDT  There's no console to match, but Xbox 360 owners who prefer things a little shinier than your run-of-the-mill controller will soon have a trio of new options to consider courtesy of Microsoft. It's just announced three new Chrome Series special edition controllers that will be available in "mid-May" for $54.99. Those come in your choice of blue, red or silver, and each feature the so-called "transforming D-pad" along with everything else you'd expect from a wireless Xbox 360 controller. Check out the gallery below for a closer look. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| NOOK for iPad now with Retina content, improved highlighting features Posted: 02 Apr 2012 11:41 AM PDT  Better late than never, right? Only a couple of weeks after its rival Kindle, the NOOK app is finally ready to join the new iPad's pixel-packed party. While the main feature is obviously its Retina display compatibility, version 3.1.3 also brings an improved Highlight feature for books, the ability to read in one or two columns when in landscape mode and the enigmatic bug fixes. The refreshed app is up for grabs now, and you can snag it directly from your iPad or via the source link below. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G review Posted: 02 Apr 2012 11:00 AM PDT   HardwareCheck any pre-conceived notions of Samsung's notoriously cheap-feeling materials at the door. The Galaxy S Blaze 4G is beautiful and in particular feels worthy of its price. The design is neither utilitarian nor gaudy; just elegant. While the enclosure is fashioned entirely out of plastic, a few details such as the thin outer bezel, woven-texture back cover and brushed metal camera pod are sufficient to imbue a sense of luxury. The plastic outer bezel has a metallic appearance, but rather than mimicking chrome, it's most reminiscent of pewter. Likewise, the power button and volume rocker make up part of this outer bezel, and each run flush with the device. There are few external amenities, save for a headphone jack on top, an exposed micro-USB port on the bottom, and a covered microSD card slot located on the right-hand side.  The Blaze 4G packs a Qualcomm APQ8060 SoC with a 1.5GHz dual-core CPU and an Adreno 220 GPU -- the same internal engine that powers the Galaxy S II on T-Mobile and the Skyrocket on AT&T. Like the Magenta-branded Galaxy S II, it also offers similar access to T-Mobile's fantastic 42Mbps HSPA+ network, with an internal radio that supports HSPA / UMTS on the 2100/1900/1700/850MHz bands. For legacy GSM / EDGE networks, it's also compatible with the 1900/1800/900/850MHz bands. Despite sharing the same internal core as the Galaxy S II, the phone lacks a number of premium features that prevent it from competing head-on with Samsung's premiere handset, which is somewhat of a shame. The company had the opportunity to introduce a powerful, fully featured smartphone in a smaller enclosure than the Galaxy S II, but it stopped just short of that. The Blaze 4G is a mid-tier device, but thanks to just enough spec bumps, it'll at least have some longevity. It sports a 4-inch Super AMOLED display, a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash, a front-facing 1.3-megapixel cam and a 1,750mAh battery. It also includes 1GB of RAM, 4GB of built-in storage and a 4GB microSD card. Rounding out the list of specs, the phone also supports 802.11a/b/g/n (WiFi), Bluetooth 3.0 and NFC, along with free WiFi voice calls, WiFi Direct and both mobile hotspot and USB tethering capabilities.  The Blaze 4G is undoubtedly a fine-looking handset, but it's hardly the most ergonomic option we've come across. By all accounts, its smaller size should allow the phone to be easily held with one hand -- and to a degree, that's the case -- but due to the straight, symmetrical form, it doesn't rest nicely on your fingers or palm. As such, we found the handset was slightly awkward and uncomfortable to use with just one hand. Thankfully, operating the device with two hands is quite pleasurable. The symmetry and flush keys also make it a bit more difficult to locate the power button and volume rocker by touch; all too often, we found ourselves trying to accomplish this while holding the phone upside down. The Blaze 4G measures 11mm thick and weighs 4.5 ounces (127g), which makes it more substantial than its replacement in both regards -- a welcome change that serves to boost the perceived quality of the phone.  No hardware element reinforces the Blaze 4G as a mid-range phone more than its display. On one hand, the 4-inch, WVGA Super AMOLED is a known quantity that's found widespread acceptance. It offers excellent contrast and color saturation, provides admirable viewing angles and is decently workable in direct sunlight. On the other hand, its PenTile matrix is poorly suited for text, which results in a subtle blurriness that's characteristic of the technology. Samsung could've easily justified the price of the Blaze 4G had it included a Super AMOLED Plus display, which rectifies this problem with its proportionately sized sub-pixels. Alternatively, it could've included a higher-res display for improved sharpness. Instead, users will merely need to settle for par. Performance and battery life Remember how we said the Blaze 4G straddles the line between mid-tier and high-end? Well, we've only told half of the story so far. With the same internal platform that powers smartphones such as T-Mobile's Galaxy S II, AT&T's Galaxy Note, the Galaxy S II Skyrocket and the Pantech Burst, you probably have a good inkling of where this is going. Needless to say, this thing is fast, and thanks to its well-tuned software, it often surpassed its siblings in our benchmark tests. Unsurprisingly, the Snapdragon S3 SoC was still bested in the benchmarks by Samsung's home-grown Exynos platform, but we were more than pleased during our objective, real world interactions -- most applications popped open instantly, animations were buttery smooth and the web browser was quick and fluid. Aboard T-Mobile's HSPA+ 42 network, the Blaze 4G averaged 17.2Mbps down and 2.9Mbps up, which is thoroughly competent -- and faster than most will need -- but an earnest reminder of the merely theoretical speeds that T-Mobile so often touts.
We were just as impressed with the Blaze 4G's battery life. In our standard rundown test, the phone exceeded our expectations by a wide margin -- it lasted an incredible 11 hours and 20 minutes. To put this in perspective, a good number of Android phones run out of steam at the five-hour mark, and even the best performers often drop after eight or nine hours. While it can't compete with the Droid RAZR Maxx's hallmark 16.5 hours, the fact that it even forced the comparison speaks volumes.  Our real-world battery tests were no less remarkable. Under light to moderate use, the phone lasted a solid 52 hours, and even when we intentionally tried to wear it down with reasonably heavy usage, it kept alive for a respectable 34 hours. We've no doubt that Samsung could push this even further. It's no surprise that the display was the primary drain on battery life, but the automatic brightness setting often caused the screen to shine more brightly than necessary. In this regard, we'd love for Samsung (or Google) to introduce a feature that allows users to configure the overall aggressiveness of the screen's brightness, to work in unison with the automatic brightness setting. The Blaze 4G stands as proof that an Android phone can deliver respectable battery life with only a moderately sized cell, but there's still additional room for improvement. We're pleased to say the Blaze 4G offers call quality that was nothing short of excellent. In every case, voice calls featured ample volume and zero distortion, and we appreciated the warm, well-rounded tones in the caller's voices. Similarly, those we spoke with had nothing but positive comments with respect to the depth and clarity of our voice. Camera It's no secret that Samsung can make a quality cameraphone, and that rings true with the Blaze 4G. Yes, we're a bit miffed by the exclusion of the Galaxy S II's fabulous shooter, but users will still be treated to the same five megapixel gear that was present in the Galaxy S 4G. The phone captures handsome photos with little fuss, with accurate color balance and exposure -- although, we would've liked to see a bit more detail at full resolution. The touch-to-focus function is handy for shot composition, but is unable to create much appreciable bokeh. Those wanting greater control over their photos will find various scene and white balance modes, along with settings to control ISO, EV and light metering.
New to the setup is an LED flash, though by default, the camera tends to rely on its admirable low light performance and won't fire the bulb unless absolutely necessary. Indoor photos were remarkably free of noise, but unless you're careful, these shots may turn out slightly blurry -- this is due to Samsung opting to keep the shutter open for greater durations, rather than cranking up the ISO sensitivity. The camera captures video at 720p, and in the water scene that we shot, the ripples were remarkably fluid and free of any significant choppiness. Sadly, the video camera shoots at a fixed focal length and there's absolutely no ability to focus in video mode, even beforehand. The camcorder was useless for closeup movies, whereas at the same focal length, the still camera produced beautiful shots. SoftwareThe Blaze 4G includes Android 2.3.6 and Samsung's TouchWiz UI, but due to a heavy amount of customization from T-Mobile, the out-of-the-box experience is really unpleasant. Not only is the phone sullied by a heavy amount of non-removable junk, but upon first start, each of the seven screens are haphazardly and incoherently littered with unwelcome apps and widgets. It's bad. The majority of the selections are designed to sell you content, sign you up for a service or draw you into purchasing a premium version. By all appearances, it was almost shocking to not find an app from CompuServe or Prodigy begging you to sign you up for 20 hours of free dial-up internet. There's a widget that tries to sell you apps and a widget that's only useful for adding other widgets, but neither of these were as annoying as Highlight, which immediately began hassling us via the notification tray to update our Final Four bracket -- yet another clever ploy to get us to sign aboard. Make no mistake: the default experience is in no way designed to provide you with useful apps or get newbies up and going, it's there to bolster the carrier's bottom line, and it's offensive.  The list of bundled software is long, and while some users may have planned to install a few of the titles anyway, there's no reason that a properly motivated individual shouldn't be able to delete unwanted apps. Instead, they'll be continually nagged to update software they never wanted, and their launcher will be cluttered just the same. Earth to T-Mobile: let us delete this stuff! No excuses. Just do it. It's unfortunate that we had to expend all that energy to point out the obvious, because it detracts from one of T-Mobile's customizations that we're quite fond of. Known as WiFi Calling, it's a free service that allows users to augment their coverage in spotty areas and place unlimited calls without affecting their monthly minute allotment. The service is simple and brilliant, and all carriers should be offering it.  As a small saving grace to all the junk that T-Mobile has piled onto the Blaze 4G, the TouchWiz interface allows users to create folders within the launcher to make the unwanted apps less obtrusive. Unfortunately, the process is a bit awkward, as it requires users to go into a special edit mode. To further complicate matters, items we added to folders didn't always save, and for whatever reason, folders can't be renamed after they've been created. Similarly, while we really appreciate that folders can be placed on the home screen, the feature is absolutely useless because the folder remains open once an app has been selected -- that's right, once you exit back to the home screen, you'll still be forced to close that folder in order to access your other apps. While TouchWiz brings some genuinely nice enhancements, it's small but important elements like this that've gone overlooked and unaddressed -- it's like the team decided to call it a week at noon on Thursday and then never came back. The Blaze 4G is said to be on the list for an Ice Cream Sandwich update sometime in the future. We can only hope that Samsung and T-Mobile each step up and deliver a quality user experience for a phone that's undeniably worth it. Wrap-up We're certainly excited to see dual-core processors trickle down into T-Mobile's mid-tier, and thanks to some well-tuned software, the Blaze 4G is an excellent performer. It's an admirable handset that offers top-notch battery life and network performance, pristine call quality and a beautiful, sturdy enclosure. That said, it's a good handset that stops just short of greatness. To justify its high price, Samsung could've included a better display and its superior 8-megapixel camera. Instead, it stopped short of the mark its competitors will be hitting in just a few months -- at which time, this little guy will have a difficult time making its case for your attention. Considering all of these factors, we'd take a serious moment of pause before plunking down $150 for the Blaze 4G. Once it falls to a lower price, however, it promises to be an excellent choice for those unwilling to splurge on top-shelf features. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UK planning second snooping bill, proxy servers to sell out shortly Posted: 02 Apr 2012 10:39 AM PDT  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HCL intros trio of Android 4.0 tablets aimed at Indian classrooms Posted: 02 Apr 2012 10:21 AM PDT  HCL, previously known for launching those budget-friendly MiLeaps, is now getting ready to take its low-cost approach to the tablet market. Earlier today, the Indian outfit announced a trifecta of ICS-packed slates, all of which are aimed squarely at the education sector. Aside from running the freshest version of Android, these 7-inch (800 x 480) slates feature an unspecified 1GHz CPU alongside 1GB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage (expandable via microSD) as well as full and mini-USB ports. Additionally, the K-12 and HE MyEduTabs are being bundled with bonus educational content, including free NCERT books and an extra SD card on the former. The trio is set to hit the shelves later this month in India, with the ME U1 priced at 7,999 rupees (approximately $162), while the K-12 and HE are 11,499 and 9,999, respectively. [Thanks, Rakesh] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| US Navy shows off its new LASR autonomous robot testing facility Posted: 02 Apr 2012 10:00 AM PDT  The Naval Research Laboratory opened the doors of the massive facility up to members of the media today, and Engadget was on-hand along with a moderate sized gathering of fellow reporters. Included in the tour were two simulated environments. The Tropical High Bay is designed to mimic rainforest terrain, with flowing water, fog and climate controlled temperature and humidity. The Desert High Bay is a bit let complex in its environmental simulation, limited to a sand pit, rock way, and adjustable light, smoke and wind. Meanwhile, an on-site indoor pool is used to challenge aquatic vehicles. Testers demonstrated the Pectoral Fin Swimmer – an autonomous bot inspired by the biological movements of fish, in order to access areas not reached by more traditional propel driven robots. Also on hand was Lucas, a Mobile, Dexterous, Social (MDS) humanoid robot [pictured above] with a Segway base. The laboratory demonstrated how the robot was capable of reasoning in a simulated firefighting scenario – and, equipped with an extinguisher, was capable of putting out a very real fire on the floor of the facility. We'll have a more in-depth tour of the facility in the near future. In the meantime, check out a sneak-peek of what we saw in the gallery below.
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| Renault's Twizzy EV for 16 year-olds comes too late for Justin to skip the DMV queue Posted: 02 Apr 2012 09:59 AM PDT  Renault's planning to take advantage of a change in the law that'll enable 16-year-olds to drive vehicles on the roads without a license by releasing the Twizzy EV. The futuristic golf-cart will have a top speed of 28mph and give budding Dominic Torettos the chance to drag-race each other in mall car parks every night. Unfortunately, environmentally-friendly road-raging will come at a price, with the Twizzy expected to retail at £6,200 ($9,940) and teenage insurance premiums being a further £4,000 ($6,400). At the same event, the company's Andy Heiron mentioned that the high cost of (sister-company's) Nissan Leaf was responsible for the sluggish sales in Blighty, and that Nissan is considering letting buyers rent their EV batteries in order to lower the initial cost of their enviro-whip to more manageable levels. Otherwise, it won't just be the kids fighting over who gets to do that extra paper-route. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 02 Apr 2012 09:43 AM PDT  Fujitsu Converts Fujitsu Toshiba Mobile Communications into a Wholly Owned Subsidiary | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Engadget's smartphone buyer's guide: spring 2012 edition Posted: 02 Apr 2012 09:00 AM PDT  AT&T AT&T has no shortage of amazing smartphones to choose from, so fortunately, picking a good one is somewhat akin to shooting fish in a barrel -- it's quite fun. Our top pick for the network remains the Skyrocket, which adds a larger screen and LTE connectivity to the carrier's original Galaxy S II ($100). For those of you who've yet to receive AT&T's LTE service in your own hometown, we still recommend choosing a handset with this capability as a good insurance policy for the future. Another LTE phone that we adore is the Galaxy Note ($300), but its unorthodox size prevents it from being the most appropriate choice for the mainstream -- not to mention that AT&T's version lacks the raw horsepower of the international model. If you're able to delay your smartphone purchase just a bit, be sure to watch for our review of the One X. Its arrival at AT&T is just around the corner, and it has a good chance of becoming the carrier's premiere smartphone. Even though it doesn't offer LTE, we'd encourage all users wanting an iPhone 4S ($200 - $400) to go with AT&T. Unlike the models on Sprint and Verizon, which offer a relatively slow 3G data technology known as EV-DO, AT&T's iPhone 4S offers appreciably better data transmission thanks to an improved technology known as HPSA+. Also unlike Sprint and Verizon, iPhone users on AT&T have the unique advantage of being able to talk and surf the web at the same time. Those looking to go the Windows Phone route will currently find an excellent option with the Titan ($200), but due to its lack of LTE connectivity, we recommend holding out for either the Lumia 900 ($100) or the Titan II ($200), both of which will be available on April 8th. There's no telling which handset we'll ultimately favor, but they both promise to be quality options and will add LTE to AT&T's Windows Phone repertoire. If a keyboard is what you're after ... Even though QWERTY handsets are quickly being relegated to an afterthought in the smartphone realm, the Captivate Glide bucks this trend with an extremely competent option that can hold its own against the big boys. It and the Droid 4 ($200) from Verizon are currently the two most desirable smartphones with physical keyboards. One of the few omissions that may steer users toward the Droid 4 is the lack of LTE connectivity on the Captivate Glide -- fortunately, its nimble HSPA+ 21Mbps data speeds should more than satisfy the majority of consumers. We were a bit disappointed by the call quality of the Captivate Glide during our review, but otherwise, it's an outright winner. If you're looking to squeeze every penny... As you've seen, we've been talking a lot about LTE in smartphones, and thanks to the Burst, you won't need to empty your bank account to join the fun. For a mere $50 layout, you'll be treated to a proper LTE handset that gives the Skyrocket a run for its money in terms of performance. Just let that sink in for a minute -- no longer do you need to spend a fortune to run with the big dogs. The Pantech Burst is the best value by a country mile on any network, and while you'll need to forego niceties such as premium build materials and a stellar camera, we think it's a trade-off that you'd be mad to refuse. Sprint Want the best Galaxy S II handset in the United States? Go with Sprint. Of all the domestic models, it (along with AT&T's Galaxy S II, but not the Skyrocket), remains closest in spirit to the original with its blazing Exynos processor. In many ways, the Epic 4G Touch is an improvement from the original Galaxy S II, thanks to its larger display, extra battery life and handy notification light. In fact, its only downside is the lack of international support -- in which case, the Photon 4G ($100) remains a viable option. It's also worth a brief mention that Sprint is the only carrier that offers unlimited data for the iPhone 4S ($200 - $400), which could be a boon to some. Still, given Sprint's relatively slow EV-DO network, we feel that AT&T's still the most appropriate choice for the majority of iPhone 4S users. If a keyboard is what you're after ... Want a QWERTY handset on Sprint? Don't bother. While the Epic 4G was once a fine option in its heyday, it's now a miserably outdated handset with a price that's nothing short of an insult. Until Sprint begins giving the Epic 4G away for free, you should steer clear at all costs. If you want to upgrade today, your best bet is to jump ship to either AT&T or Verizon. Otherwise, the only sane option is to wait for Sprint to get its act together. If you're looking to squeeze every penny... The Conquer 4G is positioned as a low-cost WiMAX handset on the Sprint network. While we appreciate its responsive performance -- thanks in large part to the near-stock implementation of Android -- we have serious misgivings about its subpar, low-res HVGA display. Most importantly, the XPRT Conquer 4G is nothing short of a steaming pile in comparison to the Burst ($50) on AT&T. Those looking to stay with the Now Network should avoid company stores and seek out third-party resellers such as Amazon Wireless, where quality devices such as the Epic 4G Touch and Nexus S 4G can often be found for a mere penny. T-Mobile In many ways, T-Mobile's Galaxy S II is the runt of the litter. Despite its use of the same chipset as the Skyrocket, it performed significantly worse in our benchmark tests and pulled up the rear in terms of battery life. To its credit, it's only when compared to the other Galaxy S II handsets that T-Mobile's version appears anything less than excellent. In practice, it offers quick performance, dependable battery life, a beautiful display and a solid camera. Depending on your region, T-Mobile offers three different classes of HSPA+: 14.4Mbps, 21Mbps and 42Mbps. Sadly, not all handsets can access the speediest tiers -- which offer blazing performance -- but T-Mobile's Galaxy S II is more than capable of riding in the fast lane. Put simply, it easily rises head and shoulders above the rest of the Magenta clan, and unless you insist on the absolute cream of the crop among smartphones, T-Mobile's Galaxy S II is a fantastic choice. If a keyboard is what you're after ... We're not gonna lie, we have some serious reservations about the myTouch 4G Slide. Yes, it's the best QWERTY handset that you can find on T-Mobile, but you can do better elsewhere. Despite its dual-core foundation, the device offers sub-par performance, its star feature -- the physical keyboard -- is overly mushy, and its battery is bound to check out on you sooner rather than later. Sure, it has a fantastic camera, but its high price makes the myTouch 4G Slide a laughable choice when compared to its rivals at AT&T and Verizon. If you're looking to squeeze every penny... If you're loyal to T-Mobile and need to save some cash, look no further than the Lumia 710. The handset offers consistently snappy performance that's characteristic of Windows Phone, and its support for T-Mobile's HSPA+ 14.4Mbps network translates into a nimble web browsing experience. Outside of its finicky camera, the Lumia 710 can go toe-to-toe with considerably pricier handsets, thanks to a foundation that's nearly identical to the Lumia 800. The Lumia 710 is set to receive hotspot capabilities in a future update, but if you want this feature today -- or simply insist on Android -- then the Exhibit II 4G ($70, before $50 mail-in rebate) is another great value proposition. Keen shoppers should also note that T-Mobile sporadically runs online promotions where some of its finest handsets are offered for next to nothing. Verizon Wireless Motorola has won us over with the Droid RAZR Maxx by offering blistering LTE performance inside a svelte handset that simply refuses to give up the ghost. It's a pricy option, for sure, but who among us has ever complained that our phone's battery lasted too damn long? In this sense, the Droid RAZR Maxx is appropriate for anyone that can afford it, and its massive 3,300mAh cell is a clear enough advantage to unseat Verizon's previous king, the LTE-equipped Galaxy Nexus ($300). For those unable to swallow such expensive medicine, the Rezound ($200) is a worthy alternative that offers an absolutely stunning display, admirable performance and a set of premium headphones -- in fact, the only area where it comes up short is battery life. Ironic, isn't it? If a keyboard is what you're after ... If you insist on having a QWERTY keyboard in your smartphone, then you're in luck. Of the two handsets on the market that we're willing to recommend, one of them just so happens to be on Verizon -- it's the Droid 4. The phone hits many high marks, thanks to its speedy performance, LTE connectivity and impressive battery life. Perhaps most importantly, its keyboard is absolutely fabulous. Our only noteworthy gripe with the Droid 4 is its relatively lackluster display. In this regard, we prefer the Captivate Glide ($150) on AT&T for its higher quality (albeit, lower-res) screen, along with its even faster performance and longer battery life. Neither option is completely without sacrifice, but if you're content to stick with Verizon, it's a safe bet, indeed. If you're looking to squeeze every penny... In the ten months that've passed since the Droid X2's arrival, it's since been relegated to the carrier's value bin -- which makes it quite a steal. While, sadly, LTE isn't in the mix with this smartphone, it brings many premium features down to a price that was previously unthinkable on Verizon. The X2's high points include solid performance, excellent build quality, respectable battery life and a nice, high-res display. For those who absolutely insist on having LTE and refuse to pay a premium, the Pantech Breakout ($50) is your one-way ticket to speed -- at least in terms of data. Don't be fooled, though, because the Breakout doesn't nearly approach the performance of the Burst, and users must also contend with its sub-par battery life and a similarly lousy camera. If you're able to act before March 31st, Verizon is offering a limited-time, online promotion that'll fetch you a Droid Charge for free. Unlike the Droid X2, it packs LTE, and unlike the Breakout, it offers an excellent camera and battery life. We're also particularly fond of its display, and its only major omission is the lack of a dual-core processor. Boost Mobile Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile are both owned by Sprint, but unlike Virgin, Boost offers some rather nice handsets. If you're able to afford it, our favorite among the bunch is the Marquee, which offers a superior IPS NOVA display and a better camera than its closest rival, the Warp ($200). Both are reasonable performers, however, thanks in large part to the near stock implementation of Gingerbread (save for Sprint ID). If the desire to save some cash outweighs the Marquee's advantages, you'll be safe with the Warp, although we can't recommend descending any further down the food chain. Cincinnati Bell How about a little more love for Windows Phone? The Radar is one of the most well-rounded smartphones we've come across in a good while, which offers solid performance, dependable battery life and an excellent display. We're also quite fond of its build quality and camera. Granted, the Radar can't match the spec sheet prowess of the LG 2X -- our pick if you insist on an Android phone -- but we find its $300 price tag (before $100 mail-in rebate) an absolute crime. Cricket Good news for the Cricket folks: the pre-paid carrier finally has a phone that we genuinely like, and better yet, its price really can't be beat. Known as the Mercury, it's a rebadged version of the Honor, which delivers a solid display, very good performance and top-notch battery life. It's utterly without peer on the low-cost carrier, and given its relatively low cost -- after rebates, anyway -- you'd be genuinely remiss to purchase any other handset from Cricket. C Spire Wireless Speaking of handsets without peer on a particular network, let's talk about the iPhone 4S on C Spire. Curiously enough, if you happen to live within the carrier's relatively limited coverage area -- primarily in Mississippi, Memphis and the Florida panhandle -- you can pick up a subsidized version of Apple's latest smartphone for $50 less than any major network. While we generally prefer larger displays and LTE connectivity, it's hard to dismiss the mass appeal of the iPhone 4S, which is redeemed by its fluid performance, pixel dense IPS Retina Display and fantastic camera. For those with a general aversion to Apple's ecosystem, you can also pick up the Milestone X2 -- a rebadged version of the Droid X2 -- for a mere $70, which also makes it a great pick for those on a budget. MetroPCS At first blush, you might mistake the Connect 4G as another rebadged version of the Optimus Black, but that couldn't be further from the truth. While it retains the excellent IPS NOVA display of its forebear, the Connect 4G brings a dual-core processor and LTE connectivity to the mix. We've yet to subject the phone to a full review, but it certainly impressed us during our hands-on time with the device. The Connect 4G easily bests its similarly priced sibling, the Esteem ($349, before $30 mail-in rebate), and absolutely buries our previous pick, the Admire ($80, before $30 mail-in rebate). If you want to save some cash, we recommend the Wildfire S, which has now dropped in price to a very palatable $119 (before $30 mail-in rebate). US Cellular Remember how we said that the best domestic variant of the Galaxy S II could be found on Sprint? Well, that's also quite true of US Cellular. The only appreciable difference that separates this handset from the Epic 4G Touch is US Cellular's lack of a WiMAX network -- otherwise, this version is every bit as awesome. Unfortunately, this Galaxy S II costs a full $130 more than Sprint's version, which is absolutely ridiculous. Virgin Mobile As it stands, the only reasonable choice offered by Virgin Mobile's brand is the Optimus V, but before you run to the store, let's have a little discussion. Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile are both owned by Sprint, and as such, they each use the same network and offer similar pricing tiers. Our advice is to shop each brand as if it were one. While at first blush the Triumph ($280) is the superior choice on Virgin, if you're willing to spend that much cash, you're much better off grabbing the Marquee ($280) with Boost Mobile -- see how this works? Similarly, the Optimus Slider ($200) compares poorly to the Warp ($200). In fact, the only category that Boost Mobile doesn't properly address is the low-end. Meanwhile, the Optimus V is a perennial favorite of ours, and it's the only phone offered by Virgin Mobile that Boost simply can't match. That said, it's also the only phone on this list that clocks under 1GHz. Make Virgin Mobile your choice only if you can't afford to spend more. Unlocked handsets There are many amazing smartphones on the market today, but if you're looking for the most powerful, awe inspiring handset among the bunch, there's no need to form a search committee -- simply choose the One X. This is the new smartphone to beat, and for the moment, it bests the competition. Not only is the phone insanely fast, but it's a stunner and feels wonderful to hold. Early adopters will be among the first to experience its high-quality, pixel-dense, 4.7-inch HD display and superb camera. You'll find HSPA+ 42Mbps connectivity on the 2100/1900/900/850MHz bands, along with support for the 1900/1800/900/850MHz bands for legacy GSM and EDGE networks.  Our favorite handset for the unlocked scene remains the Galaxy Nexus, thanks in no small part to its pentaband HSPA+ 21Mbps radio. For this reason alone, it's an ideal solution for globetrotters and those who appreciate the freedom to use any number of carriers. It also holds special distinction as being one of the few smartphones on the market with Ice Cream Sandwich, and most importantly, it offers Android 4.0 in all its glory -- untouched and straight from Google. Our only major grievances with the handset are its relatively lackluster camera and its lack of support for USB Mass Storage mode. Those beefs aside, it remains one of the best smartphones on the market today.  The Galaxy Note LTE recently caused quite a stir with its arrival at AT&T, but if you want a phone that really rocks, go with the international version and never look back. The Samsung Exynos SoC delivers blazing performance, but due to its lack of LTE support, you'll only find the Exynos in the HSPA+ model. Combined with the Galaxy Note's blazing performance, you'll also be treated to its impressive 5.3-inch display, excellent battery life and top-notch camera. We've also found its S Pen (a stylus on steroids) to be incredibly handy, which is bound to become only more useful once the handset receives its upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich. Sadly, the international version doesn't support T-Mobile's 1700MHz (AWS) band -- which makes it slightly less competent than the Galaxy Nexus -- but it's perfect for AT&T's network, along with the 2100MHz and 900MHz international bands.  If you find the large size of many top-shelf Android phones a bit disagreeable, then the iPhone 4S is nothing short of a golden ticket to the world of premiere handsets -- all in a form factor that you can easily grasp. With an unlocked model available directly from Apple, it's also an excellent choice for frequent travelers. It'll give you the ability to use micro-SIMs from a number of carriers while abroad -- thanks to its quadband GSM (850, 900, 1,800, 1,900MHz) and HSPA (850, 900, 1,900, 2,100MHz) support -- all without incurring any nasty roaming charges from AT&T. Naturally, we think users are bound to appreciate the iPhone 4S's excellent Retina Display, nimble performance, quality camera and app selection that simply can't be beat.  For those that want to buck the Android / iOS trend, the Nokia N9 remains your best bet on the unlocked scene. It offers pentaband UMTS / HSPA (14.4Mbps) support, along with quadband connectivity for GSM and EDGE networks. While we'd really love to see Nokia integrate such versatile radios into its Windows Phone handsets, for the moment, not one member of the Lumia family can match the flexibility of the N9. Thankfully, this phone is awesome -- due in no small part to its unique OS, beautiful enclosure, excellent ClearBlack display and very solid camera. Our advice? Get the white one. After all, there's nothing quite so special as owning a unicorn. Just watch your kidneys on the next trip to Candy Mountain. Editor's note: There are many outlets that sell unlocked phones, but we recommend including Expansys, Negri Electronics and NewEgg in your search. They've always treated us fairly and we're pretty sure they'll do the same for you. Good luck in the hunt, everyone! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Internet Explorer claws back a bit of market share at the expense of Chrome and Firefox Posted: 02 Apr 2012 08:38 AM PDT  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Samsung throws in free extended battery with VZW Galaxy Nexus, applies to new purchases only Posted: 02 Apr 2012 08:21 AM PDT  Samsung must be keenly aware that the Galaxy Nexus' battery life takes a hit on Verizon's LTE network: for a limited time, the outfit's throwing in a free 2,100mAh extended battery for first-time buyers (sorry, current Nexus owners are out of luck). To take advantage of the promotion, you'll have to purchase it through Samsung Direct (link below), which means you'll be paying $300 for the device and agreeing to a two-year contract. As Android and Me notes, though, you'd save quite a bit of money picking up the VZW Nexus and accompanying battery pack at Amazon for a combined $134. Suffice to say, then, this isn't a stellar deal, but those of you who disagree can avail yourselves through May 10, or while supplies last. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Engadget Giveaway: win a Nokia Lumia 800, courtesy of Quixby! Posted: 02 Apr 2012 08:01 AM PDT  The rules:
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| Samsung's eeeny-weeny Galaxy Pocket is examined under the FCC's magnifying glass Posted: 02 Apr 2012 07:39 AM PDT  Once those wags at the FCC had finished joking about how difficult the Galaxy Pocket is to see with the human eye, it was time to get examining. Samsung's cellphone with a 2.8-inch display was revealed to be packing GSM 850 / 1900 and UMTS Band V radios that'll operate on AT&T's network (and those like it). The company hasn't committed to a US launch for the handset, but one thing is for sure: if it does arrive stateside, it'll come in very, very small boxes. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Samsung, NTT DoCoMo, et al. cancel plans for LTE chip joint venture Posted: 02 Apr 2012 07:16 AM PDT  Looks like the decision to not make a decision has... well, created a decision. Back in December of 2011, NTT DoCoMo, Panasonic, Samsung and a smattering of other Japanese firms put their heads together in order to launch a joint venture to manufacture and sell ICs for mobile devices. Communication Platform Planning Co. was actually established with the goal to hawk these LTE semiconductors, but now that a consensus on how it'd all play out wasn't reached by the March 2012 deadline, it'll be liquidated in June. Reportedly, DoCoMo even set aside some $5.4 million to set up the now-defunct subsidiary, but now it's all for naught. The entire press release is embedded just after the break, though it's about as light on deets as they come. NTT DOCOMO to Dissolve Communication Platform Planning Co., Ltd. Partnerships TOKYO, JAPAN, April 2, 2012 --- NTT DOCOMO, INC., announced today that it has terminated an agreement concerning the establishment of a joint venture company to develop and sell semiconductor products for mobile devices, which the company signed with Fujitsu Limited, Fujitsu Semiconductor Limited, NEC Corporation, Panasonic Mobile Communications Co., Ltd. and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. in December 2011. The joint-venture agreement was terminated because a consensus on the details of the envisioned company could not be reached by the target deadline, the end of March. As a result, Communication Platform Planning Co., Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary that DOCOMO had established to prepare for the formation of the joint-venture company, will be liquidated in June. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ceton's Q DVR companion app for Windows Phone gets detailed tour (video) Posted: 02 Apr 2012 06:53 AM PDT
You might recall Ceton's Q DVR making its debut at the start of the year and now the beans have been spilled on the multiroom recorder's companion app. The Windows Phone 7 version separates out into home, television and recent screens. The home section houses galleries and search, while television will display scheduled recordings, channel guides and management options for those upcoming shows. Finally, the recent screen keeps tabs on what you've been watching or recording last, all done in that inimitable metro style. There's no launch date yet, but Android and iOS versions are also being readied for release. You can take a video tour of the features right after the break. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Intel 330 SSD leakage hints at bargain price tag, perhaps just $149 for 120GB Posted: 02 Apr 2012 06:22 AM PDT  Update: Amazon UK helpfully lists April 13th as launch day. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 02 Apr 2012 06:05 AM PDT  Philips and TPV announce start of Television joint venture named TP Vision | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Application Developers Alliance reveals its founding directors Posted: 02 Apr 2012 05:30 AM PDT  The ADA hasn't only been recruiting members, but founding directors too. It's succeeded in getting Google and RIM around its laptop-laden table, as well as representatives from CBS Interactive, AT&T Interactive and numerous other companies listed in the PR after the break. If you're an app developer, and if you sign up, these guys will be your A-Team. Now they just need a logo. Application Developers Alliance Announces Founding Board of Directors Leading companies and industry experts bring broad range of experience and services to newly formed Apps Alliance Google, RIM, Brad Feld, Robert Scoble and others join Alliance in commitment to serve developers, drive industry innovation and growth Washington, D.C., (April 2, 2012) – Many of the top names in application development, app integration and digital media have joined the Application Developers Alliance and are among its founding board of directors. The board will convene for the first time April 24 in San Francisco. The Apps Alliance Board will be responsible for guiding the organization, formally launched Jan. 3, 2012, to deliver services to developers and drive innovation and growth within the development industry. Since its formation three months ago, Apps Alliance membership has already grown to more than 4,500 individual developers and 45 corporate members and service sponsors. "It's gratifying that such significant individuals and companies are supporting our mission of providing developers with more resources to power innovation and growth," said Alliance founder and President Jon Potter. "By joining together in support of app developers, they're acknowledging that small and medium-sized developers are a critical source of talent and innovation that has to be cultivated for the whole industry to succeed." The board members bring a broad range of relevant expertise to the Alliance, including global platforms Google and RIM; content publishers AT&T Interactive and CBS Interactive; leading tool developers and application producers such as Media Chaperone, TMSOFT, Locaid Technologies, appMobi and The Echo Nest; and evangelists and innovators like Robert Scoble, Joel Spolsky and Brad Feld. The full board includes: Philippe Browning, Vice President, Advertising and Operations, CBS Interactive Don Dodge, Developer Advocate, Google Brad Feld, Co-founder, Foundry Group Mike Fordyce, Senior Vice President, Business Development, Publisher Products & Partnership Management, AT&T Interactive Josh Hartwell, CEO, Mobile Deluxe David Kennedy, CEO, appMobi Ed Lewis, CEO and Founder, Media Chaperone Jim Lucchese, CEO, The Echo Nest Andrew Maltin, CEO and Co-founder, MEDL Mobile Josh Matthews, CEO and Co-founder, Apkudo, Inc. Todd Moore, Founder, TMSOFT Naomi Morita, Vice President, Product Development, Locaid Technologies Grant Neerings, Chief Technology Officer, DIY Media Services Jose A. Vallés Núñez, Director, BlueVia Alec Saunders, Vice President Developer Relations and Ecosystem Development, RIM Robert Scoble, Startup Liason Officer and Developer Evangelist, Rackspace David Simon, Managing Director, Woobaa Games, Inc. Joel Spolsky, CEO and co-founder, StackExchange.com The Alliance provides application developers with tools, resources and services to help them grow, learn and create. Its services include training and education, business development support; public policy advocacy, and access to an online collaboration network for developers. About Application Developers Alliance The Application Developers Alliance is newly formed industry association dedicated to meeting the unique needs of application developers. The Apps Alliance supports developers of every type, across all languages and platforms and works to make building, testing and shipping great apps easier for all developers. Alliance members include more than 3000 individual application developers, software entrepreneurs and leaders, and beneficiaries of application innovation. Visit us at appalliance.org. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sensitive scales can weigh individual atoms, ensure perfect recipes Posted: 02 Apr 2012 04:57 AM PDT  Those of you who have navigated beyond using an Easy-Bake Oven will know that weighing out ingredients is a chore. Then again, it's nothing compared to the sort of balancing that takes place at the Catalan Institute of Nanotechnology, where a team has developed a method of weighing individual protons. Using heated, shortened carbon nanotubes in a vacuum, the scale vibrates at different frequencies depending on what molecules are balanced on top. The Yoctogram-scale will enable scientists to diagnose health conditions by finding differences in mass, identifying elements in chemical samples that only differ at the atomic level and ensuring you never over-flour your batter mix again. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Garmin partners with Suzuki for company's first in-dash infotainment system Posted: 02 Apr 2012 04:00 AM PDT  Garmin® Enters In-Car Infotainment Market with Factory-Installed Suzuki System OLATHE, Kan./April 2, 2012/Business Wire - Garmin®International Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN), the global leader in satellite navigation, today announced that it will provide a fully integrated, factory-installed infotainment system for most American 2013 model year Suzuki vehicles. Garmin's infotainment system combines a 6.1-inch high-resolution touchscreen display with a full-featured infotainment platform, including AM/FM/CD radio, multi-media playback, backup camera support, Bluetooth® hands-free connectivity, Pandora radio and Garmin's award-winning navigation. The intuitive user interface with advanced voice control makes it easy to operate the system and switch between functions. The Garmin infotainment system will be on display at the Suzuki booth (#1507) at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center at the New York International AutoShow during the press days (April 4-5, 2012). "We're pleased to extend our cooperation with Suzuki Motor Corporation by providing our fully integrated infotainment platform that goes beyond GPS navigation and provides a whole range of information and entertainment functions," said Matt Munn, Garmin's managing director automotive OEM. "By leveraging our long-standing experience in developing navigation software, user interfaces and hardware design, we created an integrated system that is easy to use and makes driving more enjoyable." Garmin's Suzuki system includes the following functionalities: Media and music integration:Music and media is integrated in multiple ways,providing users a wide range of options to choose from. This includes an integrated AM/FM radio and CD player as well as several interfaces that allow user to play music from external devices such as a mobile phone or iPod, including a USB and AUX jack, Bluetooth and a SD card slot.Also included is an integration with Pandora (via a connected smartphone[1]) that allows users to easily browse and select their personalized radio stations, skip a track orgive a song a thumbs-up or down. Navigation: The system integratesGarmin's intuitive and award-winning navigation, providing premium road guidance with spoken turn-by-turn directions and street names, PhotoReal Junction View with lane guidance, optional traffic via TMC, speed limit andcurrent speed displays, millions of points of interest, a customizable datamenu and many other features. The navigation system has access to vehicle speed sensors to provide precise location information even when a GPS signal is not available, for example in tunnels. When switching to other menus, such as the music player, navigation directions will continue and visual cues will be displayed at the top of the screen. Map updates can easily be downloaded to a SD card from a Garmin Web portal. Full voice control: Users can control the system with voice commands, which helps reduce driver distraction. This includes all the integrated functions, such as navigation, radio, CD player and Pandora. Garmin's one-shot address entry technology allows user to speak a full address at once without going through multiple steps. Additionally, the system includes steering wheel control buttons on selected vehicles to activate voice recognition or directly control certain functions, such as the volume, switching between radio stations or accepting and ending calls. Connected services: Real-time information, such as traffic, dynamic parking, weather and fuel prices,will be available through Garmin Smartphone Link[2]. This app can easily link an Android phone to the Suzuki infotainment system via Bluetooth. It utilizes the existing data connection of a smartphone to bring live services to the vehicle, so users don't have to pay for an extra data plan. Backup camera support: When backing up, the system automatically displays the backup camera on the screen, so drivers get a better view of what's behind the vehicle. Hands-free Bluetooth: The integrated Bluetooth calling function allows users to make calls hands free. A phone can easily be synced via Bluetooth and then controlled with voice commands. The hardware of the Suzuki Infotainment System is designed and built by Garmin and includes a 6.1-inch touchscreen display, Bluetooth, an AM/FM tuner, a CD player, a USB and an AUX jack, a SD card slot and internal flash memory. Garmin's infotainment system will be available for selected Suzuki vehicles in Australia and New Zealand,Europe, North America and Russia. Garmin's automotive OEM business segment provides a broad range of in-vehicle electronics for the automotive industry, including automotive grade infotainment and telematics systems, navigation software, location-based services, and integrated portable navigation systems. Garmin has agreements with leading brands in the automotive sector such as BMW, Chrysler, Honda, Kenwood, Panasonic, Suzuki and Toyota, among others. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Microsoft moves logistics center out of Germany, blames Motorola patent battle Posted: 02 Apr 2012 03:47 AM PDT  It may be a mere thorn in the foot of a giant like Microsoft, but the ongoing H.264 licensing dispute with Motorola is clearly starting to sting. German news outlet CIO reports that Redmond has shifted part of its European logistics operation from Germany to the Netherlands, affecting around 50 jobs at a contractor called Arvato. Although it might seem like a minor shuffle, CIO reports that Microsoft explicitly blames Motorola's patent litigation for the decision, saying it was otherwise happy with Arvato's services in warehousing Windows and Xbox 360 titles. If this represents the start of a new trend, those tasty Euros being earned by Mannheim lawyers could potentially be cancelled out by losses elsewhere in the German economy.[Ausgang photo via Shutterstock] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sony HXR-NX30 camcorder: built-in projector, 96GB storage for $2,500 (video) Posted: 02 Apr 2012 03:12 AM PDT  SONY'S NEW PALM-SIZED NXCAM HD CAMCORDER TAKES IMAGE STABILIZATION TO A NEW LEVEL New HXR-NX30U Combines Balanced Optical SteadyShot™ with Small, Lightweight Form Factor and High-Performance Features PARK RIDGE, N.J., April 2, 2012 – Sony is giving video professionals freedom from camera shake with the HXR-NX30U high-definition camcorder, a palm-size addition to Sony's NXCAM line. The new model uses Sony's breakthrough Balanced Optical SteadyShot™ image stabilization technology to significantly reduce camera shake in challenging shooting applications. The new camcorder also offers convenient features such as a built-in projector, all combined in Sony's smallest, lightest handheld professional camcorder. "This high-quality yet easy-to-use camcorder is an extremely versatile field production tool," said Chiyoko Yannette, marketing manager at Sony Electronics' Professional Solutions of America group. "It's perfect for documentary makers, video journalists, educational establishments or corporate users, for shooting in many different situations where other stabilization equipment is not practical such as on-board a vehicle or in a crowd." Conventional image stabilization systems typically "float" an individual lens element with a motor drive to compensate for camera shake. Balanced Optical SteadyShot™ combines the entire lens and image sensor assembly into one floating element that moves as a unit to reduce the shaking effect caused by normal motion during shooting. The new HXR-NX30U records at full 1920 x 1080 HD resolution using a Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* lens (35mm equivalent :26.0mm -260mm) for superb optical quality, sharpness and brightness. The camcorder's 1/2.88-inch image sensor uses Sony's Exmor R™ CMOS technology, which significantly enhances low-light performance, speeds image readout, reduces rolling shutter artifacts and enables a range of frame rates - 1080/60p, 1080/30p, 24p, 60i, 720/60p. Using AVCHD recording, the camera has 96 gigabytes of internal memory (approximately 40 hours of HD content), with a slot that accepts either SD or Memory Stick media cards for additional recording capacity. A built-in video projector lets users play back images of up to 100 inches from a distance of about 16 feet (5m) on any flat surface. This feature is ideal for reviewing footage in the field or on a set, when a monitor is either not available or convenient to use. The HXR-NX30U also features a detachable XLR unit and professional-quality audio, record level control, the option of Linear PCM audio recording, time code, and the ability to reset time code on multiple NXCAMs via infrared remote control. The HXR-NX30U is planned to be available in June for a suggested list price of less than $2,500. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| IBM: 'We must build an Exascale computer before 2024' (video) Posted: 02 Apr 2012 02:06 AM PDT  ASTRON has enlisted the help of IBM to lead a five-year, $43 million project to develop and build a supercomputer for the new Square Kilometer Array. The SKA is a $2.1 billion initiative to construct the world's largest radio telescope across a 3,000km strip of Australia or South Africa. It's hoped to be around 50 times as powerful as the dishes we currently point heavenward and will be used to examine the deepest reaches of space to learn more about the formation of the universe. When it goes live in 2024, it'll produce an Exabyte of data each day: twice as much information as there is traffic on the internet in the same period. Of course, no existing computer could handle the job, so Big Blue has a slim 12 years in which to turn nascent technologies like Nanophotonics, 3D chip stacking and phase change memory amongst others into a practical, workable Exascale computer. Its either that, or somehow daisy-chain 100 million PCs with enough power and cooling fans to keep it all working and hope for the best. If you'd like to know more, then head on past the break, although unfortunately it won't count as college credit.  From Big Bang to Big Data: ASTRON and IBM Collaborate to Explore Origins of the Universe - Partners to research the exascale computer systems that are needed for what will become the world's largest radio telescope - Initial 32 million EURO, five-year collaboration will materialize in Drenthe, the Netherlands at the newly established ASTRON & IBM Center for Exascale Technology - System will be targeted to investigate high performance technologies required to read, store and analyze one exabyte of raw data per day, two times the entire daily traffic on the World Wide Web Drenthe, the Netherlands and Zurich, Switzerland, DATE: ASTRON, the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy and IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced an initial 32 million EURO, five-year collaboration to research extremely fast, but low-power exascale computer systems targeted for the international Square Kilometre Array (SKA). The SKA is an international consortium to build the world's largest and most sensitive radio telescope. Scientists estimate that the processing power required to operate the telescope will be equal to several millions of today's fastest computers. ASTRON is one of the leading scientific partners in the international consortium that is developing the SKA. Upon completion in 2024, the telescope will be used to explore evolving galaxies, dark matter and even the very origins of the universe-dating back more than 13 billion years. The next generation of large scientific instruments, of which the SKA is a key example, requires a high-performance computing architecture and data transfer links with a capacity that far exceeds current state-of-the-art technology. To solve this unprecedented challenge, ASTRON and IBM scientists in the Netherlands and Switzerland have launched an initial five-year collaboration called DOME, named for the protective cover on telescopes and the famous Swiss mountain. DOME will investigate emerging technologies for large-scale and efficient exascale computing, data transport and storage processes, and streaming analytics that will be required to read, store and analyze all the raw data that will be collected daily.* Scientists from both organizations will collaborate at the newly established ASTRON & IBM Center for Exascale Technology in Drenthe, the Netherlands. Ton Engbersen, IBM Research – Zurich explains, "If you take the current global daily Internet traffic and multiply it by two**, you begin to get into the range of the data set that the Square Kilometre Array radio telescope will be collecting every day. This is Big Data Analytics to the extreme. With DOME we will embark on one of the most data-intensive science projects ever planned, which will eventually have much broader applications beyond radio astronomy research." Only by basing the overall design on architectures that are beyond the current state-of-the-art will it be possible to handle the vast amounts of data produced by the millions of antenna systems of the SKA. Specifically, scientists at ASTRON and IBM will investigate advanced accelerators and 3D stacked chips for more energy-efficient computing. They will also research novel optical interconnect technologies and nanophotonics to optimize large data transfers, as well as high-performance storage systems based on next-generation tape systems and novel phase-change memory technologies. "Large research infrastructures like the SKA require extremely powerful computer systems to process all the data. The only acceptable way to build and operate these systems is to dramatically reduce their power consumption. DOME gives us unique opportunities to try out new approaches in Green Supercomputing. This will be beneficial for society at large as well," said Marco de Vos, Managing Director of ASTRON. To help determine a fundamental design based on realistic parameters, scientists will use advanced and proven methodologies developed by IBM Research – Zurich to model and optimize the architectures of large-scale infrastructures. The basis for this optimization will be an analysis of the existing system for the low-frequency array (LOFAR), designed and built by ASTRON. LOFAR also serves as a so-called "pathfinder telescope" for the larger SKA because it demonstrates pivotal SKA technology. The DOME collaboration is realized with financial support of the Province of Drenthe, the Netherlands and from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation (EL&I). Introducing the SKA A global community of astronomers from more than 20 countries is setting out to build the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), the world's largest radio telescope This extremely powerful survey telescope will have millions of antennas to collect radio signals, forming a collection area equivalent to one square kilometre but spanning a huge surface area-over 3000 km wide or approximately the width of the continental United States. The SKA will be 50 times more sensitive than any former radio device and more than 10,000 times faster than today's instruments. The SKA is expected to produce a few Exabytes of data per day for a single beam per one square kilometer. After processing this data the expectation is that per year between 300 and 1500 Petabytes of data need to be stored. In comparison, the approximately 15 Petabytes*** produced by the large hadron collider at CERN per year of operation is approximately 10 to 100 times less than the envisioned capacity of SKA. A History of Collaboration IBM has collaborated previously with ASTRON on the design, engineering and manufacturing of customized, high-performance, low-power analogue and mixed signal processing chips for a SKA prototype system. Furthermore, the two organizations worked together on implementing IBM's Blue Gene® supercomputer, currently being used to gather and analyze information from ASTRON's low-frequency array (LOFAR) "software telescope" network located in the northern region of the Netherlands. Plans for the location of the SKA are still to be finalized, with a decision expected in 2012. Australia/New Zealand and South Africa are the two remaining options, where it would be possible to install the millions of antennas required for receiving the very weak signals from the universe. * To put in perspective the one exabyte that the SKA is expected to generate daily: approx. 18 exabytes represents the limit of what is addressable with today's 64-bit computer architectures (it is exactly 18.4467441 × 10E19) ** Based on 14,984 petabytes per month, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_traffic ***Source: http://user.web.cern.ch/public/en/LHC/Computing-en.html | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sony outs NEX-FS700 cinema camera: does crazy slow-mo now, 4K coming later Posted: 02 Apr 2012 01:54 AM PDT  SONY EXPANDS NXCAM LINE WITH NEW FULL-HD SUPER SLOW MOTION CAMCORDER NEX-FS700U Delivers High Quality, Flexible and Creative Shooting Options for Workflows of Today . . . and Tomorrow PARK RIDGE, N.J., April 2, 2012 -- Sony is pushing the creative boundaries once more with the new NEX-FS700U Full-HD Super Slow Motion camcorder, the latest in Sony's line of NXCAM interchangeable E-mount camcorders. The new Super 35mm model is designed for high-speed shooting, capable of capturing footage at up to 960 frames per second. The camera also features a range of capabilities such as 3G HD-SDI output and built-in ND filters. Additionally, it also offers several creative options, shooting styles, and enhanced ergonomics – all based on customer feedback -- to deliver a flexible production tool that can fit seamlessly into a variety of shooting applications. "This camera opens a new door to creative shooting," said Juan Martinez, senior product manager at Sony Electronics' Professional Solutions of America group. "You can record beautiful high speed full HD movies with the freedom of creative interchangeable lens choice. The NEX-FS700U, with its super slow motion mode, is ideal for promos, TV dramas, commercials and documentaries as well as sports and a variety of event shooting." The camera delivers full HD quality at 120 and 240 frames per second in a 16 or 8 second burst mode respectively. The NEX-FS700U's high sensitivity and low noise shooting capability makes super slow motion shooting more convenient without the need for additional equipment. Its 480 fps and 960 fps at reduced resolution are available for faster frame rate recording. The NEX-FS700U camcorder uses a new 4K "Exmor" Super 35 CMOS sensor (Total 11.6 million pixels). This high-speed readout chip is optimized for motion picture shooting, giving high sensitivity, low noise and minimal aliasing. The NXCAM line's E-Mount flexibility is designed to accept virtually all SLR and DSLR 35mm lenses, with the use of simple, inexpensive adapters without optical degradation. FS series owners can use their existing lenses and add more lenses without being limited to brands or mounts. Users can capture high-quality still images with the NEX-FS700U. The camera also includes "face detection" and auto focus to help ensure that a subject is always kept in focus. With the NEX-FS700U, operators can take advantage of the camera's built-in ND filters, with a newly designed ND filter wheel that rotates across the sensor like a turret. The wheel includes positions for Clear, 1/4 (2 Stop), 1/16 (4 Stop), and 1/64 (6 Stop). The camera is 60/50Hz switchable to give shooters the freedom of working in any geographic region without being restricted to only PAL or NTSC recording. The NEX-FS700U's 3G HD-SDI and HDMI connectors can output full HD 50p and 60p, in addition to standard HD 60i, 24p, 25p or 30p frame rates with embedded time code and audio. With 3G HD-SDI, it can output native 23.98, 25, 29.97 progressive signals. Users can elect to output PsF over the 3G HD-SDI. Thanks to flexibility of the digital ports virtually any external recorder can be paired. Users can save up to 99 camera profile settings on a memory card, and can copy the same setting to multiple cameras. Compatible media includes SD and Memory Stick cards, and Sony's HXR-FMU128 flash memory unit that attaches to the camera. The NEX-FS700U features a robust detachable top handle, secured by a pair of screws (a cold shoe, plus two sets of 1/4 and 3/8 inch holes) to allow secure mounting for heavy accessories. The handle is attached with a rosette mount. A key element of the handle is an "active grip" that features four buttons for commonly used functions – expanded focus, auto iris, still capture and recording start/stop. Function buttons are also enlarged to make operation easy even while wearing gloves. The camcorder's enhanced design also includes anchor points for compatibility with third-party accessories and a more durable design than previous models. Sony is planning a future firmware upgrade that will enable the NEX-FS700U to output 4K bitstream data over 3G HD-SDI when used with an optional Sony 4K recorder. The NEX-FS700U (body only) and NEX-FS700UK (with 18-200mm zoom lens) are planned to be available in June at a suggested list price less than $10,000. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 02 Apr 2012 12:02 AM PDT  When we previewed Sense 3.6, we were disappointed at its similarity to previous versions and the sloppiness of its integration with key features in ICS. Even though it marked an improvement in functionality and performance, it seemed as if the OS and customized UI were at war with each other. Sense 4 is a different story. It's lighter, cleaner and much more visually appealing than older versions of the user interface, and it has the full suite of ICS goodies to go along with it. HTC also throws in its own imaging technology, dubbed ImageSense, to offer some cool new enhancements to the camera. Ultimately, HTC has successfully tweaked Sense's design in a way that keeps the spirit of stock Android 4.0 alive, while still offering something familiar to loyal HTC fans. The tour is about to begin, so park yourself in your favorite chair and join us. Home screenThe home screen of Sense looks like, well, a slightly modified version of Sense. As silly as that sounds, HTC didn't break a lot of new ground here. Perhaps the company figured this was a great way to help ease customers into the transition from yesteryear to the new era. Unlike stock ICS as seen on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and Nexus S, Sense 4 doesn't feature the non-removable Google search bar at the top of every panel (though it's offered as a removable widget by default), and it also lacks a virtual row of navigation buttons on the bottom of the display since HTC opted to use three capacitive keys on the One series instead. We can't just assume that this means the manufacturer will never try the virtual buttons on for size down the road, but it seems rather unlikely at this point. Even though the virtual buttons aren't offered on Sense 4, HTC still made sure to throw in an ICS-style launch bar along the bottom of the screen, with app menu access flanked by up to two customizable app shortcuts on either side. You can choose whatever app you want -- heck, you can even toss in a folder if that's what really moves you. The launch bar's also a tad different here than it is on 3.6, since it's chopped off on each side and uses only one color tone (in contrast to a two-tone black and grey motif). This means there's a little extra space in the two bottom corners; it's not enough real estate to take advantage of, but it lends a greater feeling of minimalism, as well as a cleaner appearance.  The signature clock / weather widget is still there, eating up the entire top half of the screen, but it has a more modern look to it. The massive dark grey box that serves as the backdrop for the entire widget is gone, which makes it seem less intrusive somehow. And, as always, you can simply remove the widget if it's taking up too much space. Easy enough. It's not like you'll be hurting for clock options, considering HTC spared no expense by throwing in a wide variety of possible widgets to choose from. Good news: the 3D carousel in older versions of Sense that spins your main panels around and around like you're playing the Wheel of Fortune? Retired. Another Sense staple that's sticking around for the long haul is the overview screen, which gives you a card-style view of all seven home panels. It's still accessible by tapping once on the home capacitive key or using pinch-to-zoom, and once you arrive here you'll be able to change the panel order and even add or remove unwanted screens. This comes in handy if you're looking to avoid clutter. Finally, long presses have changed a bit. For instance, performing this gesture on the capacitive keys no longer do anything. Doing it on one of the home panels, however, takes you into a modified screen with a layout that emulates what you'd see if you did the same thing on a Honeycomb tablet: it pulls up a menu that shows thumbnails of your main panels on the top, tabs for widgets, apps and shortcuts on the bottom and a section in the middle that allows you to choose from a variety of options related to whichever tab you've selected. When looking at widgets, for instance, you can use a drop-down menu or do a search to quickly find something specific. This part of Sense seems to take advantage of the ICS design style, but the screen itself is nowhere to be seen on the stock version. Personalization options Also predominant in past versions of Sense has been the personalize menu, which was featured as a non-customizable shortcut on the launch bar. Essentially, this screen was an extension of the settings app, with several options for display, sound and shortcuts. It's still around (minus the shortcuts option, since you can find that by long-pressing the home panel), but it seems to have lessened in priority now. How can we tell? The only points of access to this screen are in the settings itself and as a shortcut in the app menu that can be added to whatever spot you want it to go. But that's the key: you can do whatever you want with it. Freedom to choose. No longer is this menu stuck on your home screen without any way of removing it. Notifications When it comes to staying true to stock ICS, the notification bar in Sense 4 may not be a direct copy, but at least it gets much closer to the general idea than 3.6 does. Individual lines take advantage of the original style, and you can swipe each one to the left or right to get rid of them. And just like the pure vanilla version, you can find buttons to clear notifications and access settings on the top, but HTC pushes them over to the top right corner and adds words to each symbol, helping you understand exactly what each one is there for. Instead of going the same route as Sense 3.6, which offers a section for recent apps near the top and a quick settings tab at the bottom, HTC kept only one tie to earlier versions of the UI: it keeps ongoing processes and one-time notifications separate. The new version of HTC's user interface also throws in extra choices for viewing notifications. Not only can you pull down the bar to see the full list without even unlocking the phone -- standard for Ice Cream Sandwich -- you can also choose a new lock screen style that lets you view a small selection of notifications directly on the lock screen. You can view missed calls, messages, email (from the standard Mail client, but not Gmail) and calendar events this way. What's more, you'll be able to pick and choose specifics: display missed calls from Bob only, view calendars A and C but leave out B, show messages from your wife. We have no idea why Bob's calls would be more important than your spouse's, but you certainly have that option at your disposal. Lock screen The standard Face Unlock feature is available, as is the standard Sense ring and accompanying quick access shortcuts at the bottom. The apps featured here will ultimately reflect whatever you have hanging out in your launch bar, regardless of what it is. And since you can choose the number of apps you have laying on the bottom of your home panel, this means you can have anywhere from zero to four shortcuts to choose from. Just as with vanilla ICS, you can pull down the notification bar directly from the lock screen. And if that's not quick enough access for you, it's not a bad idea to choose the "productivity" lock screen style mentioned earlier. Calendar events and changes in the weather will also pop up from time to time, and it's easy enough to simply dismiss them and get those notifications out of your way. App menuUnlike Sense 3.x, version 4.0 adopts the appearance of Matias Duarte's horizontal app menu, but you'll notice one significant difference right off the bat: no widgets. Those can still be accessed by long-pressing the home panel screen, as we discussed earlier, and that's the only place you can find them. We assume this decision was made to avoid possible confusion when switching back and forth between apps and widgets, but it's a significant enough departure from the true ICS setup. In the top right corner you'll have a search button, Play Store access point and options menu at your disposal. Within the latter you can find the ability to manage, share or sort your apps. There aren't many options to customize the app menu -- you won't be able to move the icons around to fit your liking, but you at least still have more flexibility with Sense than the vanilla OS. Also, tucked between the icons and tabs is a menu progress indicator that tells you exactly where you are in the potentially vast expanse of app screens.  Last but not least, HTC has made it possible to edit the tabs lining the bottom of the app menu. If you've played with earlier versions of Sense and couldn't stand the frequent or download tabs, you can remove them on 4.0 simply by going into the app menu options on the upper right corner of the screen and clicking on "edit tabs." Boom goes the dynamite. If you like your tabs but hate the order they're displayed in, you can rearrange them however you'd like. The best part is that this isn't the only part of Sense that allows this -- a plethora of apps within the UI now offer the same ability. Customization FTW. Multitasking The multitasking (or "recent apps," if you prefer) menu is different. Very different. HTC's design choice took us completely by surprise, because it opts for a card layout that's actually closer in function and appearance to webOS and Windows Phone 7.5 than what we see in stock Ice Cream Sandwich. Each open application is presented as a card, and the entire series of apps is displayed in a horizontal setup that looks like it was inspired by Cover Flow. The slide to close feature is still around, but you flick the card up to get rid of it. We can't help but be reminded of webOS every time we use it. While we enjoyed this method on webOS, seeing HTC adopt it on its Android devices is a bit of a letdown. One of our beefs with previous versions of Sense is that the UI is so involved, so overbearing, that it often takes you away from feeling like you're even using Android in the first place. HTC has sought to eliminate much of that same concern in its latest firmware and it largely succeeded in doing so by making the interface more closely resemble Matias Duarte's vision. The multitasking screen, however, is a gargantuan departure to that philosophy. It functions well, but it's as if we're using a completely different OS. Here's where it gets even weirder: Sense 3.6, also considered to be a heavier, more "watered down" version of ICS, uses the stock app switcher. Browser We have a feeling many ICS fanatics will shun the native Sense browser in favor of Google's own Chrome flavor, but there's still plenty to like about HTC's version -- and it's especially beautiful on a high-performance phone like the One X, given how incredibly smooth it works. We had a very difficult time finding any lag, and tiling on the browser was practically non-existent. And just like the Galaxy Nexus, Sense's version scored a perfect 100 / 100 on the Acid3 test. The native browser keeps many of the stock settings and adds a few of its own for kicks and giggles. Instead of throwing in extra stuff just for the sake of being different, however, the new features can actually become quite useful: a toggle switch to enable Flash, wireless printing (not new to Sense, but it isn't on the vanilla ICS browser) and an "add to" option which lets you easily stash your current page on bookmarks, an icon on your home panel or a reading list -- Sense's version of offline reading. Incognito mode is still there, but it takes you one additional step to pull it up; on Sense, it can only be accessed when you go through the action of adding a new tab. Also retained in this version of the ICS browser is the clever labs feature in which a semi-circle with quick access shortcuts can appear simply by dragging your finger onto the screen from the left or right bezel. Sense, not satisfied with keeping it precisely the same as what you'd find on vanilla Android 4.0, has added two extra options. In addition to buttons for settings, window toggle and URL bar, it allows you to add a new window and go directly to your bookmarks. They're not crucially important, of course, but it was pretty handy. Camera HTC has armed the cameras in its Sense 4 devices with a new weapon: ImageSense. This technology is made possible by integrating a custom chip and enhancing several other parts of the camera like the lens, sensor and software in general. While all of these elements are crucial to ensuring ImageSense works as advertised, we'll focus on the cam's user interface specifically. The ability to do stills and videos at the same time is absolutely stunning, and very few manufacturers have chosen to offer a similar service (Samsung being one of them). Update: it appears that stock ICS has this feature, but it looks as though manufacturers are still able to add it in or take it out of their custom skins -- as evidenced by its absence in Sense 3.6. When you're recording video, the camera shutter button is still available just in case the moment is so memorable that you want to take an image without turning off the camcorder. If you forget to do this, all is well: it's possible to grab photos in the same manner after the fact. When you're watching the video in the gallery, the same shutter button hasn't gone anywhere, still accessible on the right side of the screen. Before we get to the gallery, let's turn back to the main camera UI. In addition to the pair of shutter buttons to the viewfinder's right, you'll also see gallery access on the bottom corner, with a odd blue lens on the top. The blue lens, when pressed, shows you a menu of different effects and modes to take advantage of: depth of field adjust, distortion, dots, vignette, vintage and the usual suite of greyscale, sepia, negative and others are all there. These aren't anything new to the Sense UI, but you definitely won't see them in stock ICS. The opposite side of the screen reveals three options: settings, flash mode and camera scenes. You get the usual HTC smattering of settings, such as resolution, ISO, white balance, exposure / saturation adjustments, face detection, video stabilization and so on. Continuous shooting -- which lets you hold down the shutter button to fire off a machine gun-style round of images -- is also available as a toggle here. Moving on to camera scenes, there's plenty to choose from. Panorama, landscape, low light, HDR and slow motion are a few examples of various options here. Also, the bottom of the viewfinder offers a slider for zoom in / out. A few more words on continuous shooting. One of the biggest feature enhancements in the new Sense is speed: first you'll notice the 0.7-second startup and a 0.2-second autofocus. Then, by holding down the shutter button, you'll be able to rapidly fire off a full series of continuous shots for as long as you'd like (though there is a setting in which you can choose to limit the number of captures to twenty). When you've completed your series, you're automatically taken into an album-within-an-album in which you can look at each individual shot that you captured and pick and choose whichever ones don't fit the bill. Or, you can choose to keep just your favorite shot and delete all the rest. MiscellaneousNFC/Android Beam: Naturally, this little bit will only apply to HTC devices that offer NFC functionality, but Sense 4 does indeed support Android Beam -- and on the One X, it works flawlessly. We were able to share URLs, directions, apps, contacts and even YouTube videos with our Galaxy Nexus without incident. We were also able to download Google Wallet directly from the Play Store, but carrier restrictions still apply.  Keyboard: HTC loves its virtual keyboard so much that the layout remained nearly identical, with the exception of a standard set of arrows on a fresh row at the bottom. This means if you weren't a fan before, nothing's going to change your mind now. Of course, part of the beauty of Android is the fact that you can simply download a new keyboard and use it instead, so this really isn't a make-or-break factor when you're thinking of purchasing a device. On a positive note, we were quite pleased to see the trace functionality still baked into the Sense keyboard, and it worked brilliantly. Calendar: Sense's calendar is colorful and easy to read. You can view multiple calendars and incorporate tasks, contact birthdays, Facebook events and more. The weather for the city of your choosing is spread out across the top of each individual day, but if the daily layout isn't for you, just touch one of the tabs at the bottom to switch to week, month and agenda views. Phone: The layout is very much what you'd come to expect from Sense, but a few elements have been tossed around to make room for uniformity with other parts of the UI. For instance, tabs now run across the bottom of the app and the rest of the keypad has shifted up the screen to make room for them. Two of them -- groups and call history -- can fortunately be removed if necessary. What can't be taken away, though, are the phone and contacts tabs.  Beats Integration: HTC must have received a lot of complaints from customers upset that Beats Audio couldn't be used in third-party apps, because the company added the functionality into Sense 4 and used it as one of the update's key talking points at Mobile World Congress in February. While only certain legacy devices (such as the Vivid) will get the feature alongside version 3.6, every phone or tablet bearing 4.0 will likely boast this capability. We checked it out on the One X, and was indeed able to take advantage of Beats on several third party apps. Widgets: Most widgets made available by Sense 4 aren't all that different from any other HTC device that has come before it. There are a few native Android widgets scattered about, but be prepared to wade through a much larger sea of available options with Sense than you would have on pure ICS.  Disabling apps: Not every app or process can be disabled in Sense, and there doesn't appear to be any rhyme or reason to which ones are affected. The camera app and bluetooth share can't be disabled, for instance, but the dialer and contacts apps can. With that said, there are still plenty more options to get rid of stuff on Sense 4 than any Gingerbread-running version. Dropbox: The One series is lacking in expandable storage, but we'll give HTC credit for trying to come up with a solid alternative method to make up for it. The Taiwanese company has once again partnered with Dropbox to hook you up with 25GB cloud storage space when you're rockin' on a Sense 4 device. This is more than plenty of real estate for many people, and it's most likely sufficient if you've been taking advantage of other cloud services or streaming music options such as Google Music, Spotify or anything else. Our primary concern here isn't a matter of running out of space; it's the fact that nearly all of these services end up becoming a huge drain on capped data. If you don't have unlimited, you'll want to be incredibly picky about how much you listen to on a regular basis. As a sidenote, we're unsure if you can still get the same amount of storage via Dropbox if you port the new Sense firmware onto an older device, but we'd love to find out from any aspiring devs who want to give it a shot.  Clock: Gone is the desk clock tab, and the world clock has undergone a makeover. While the same clocks are still there, they've been restricted to the bottom half. Taking its place on the top section of the screen is a Google Earth-style globe that can be rotated, tilted and zoomed, all the while displaying weather conditions in major cities as you go. Nearly all of the other tabs within the app have barely changed, with only slight variations in style. Screenshots: Yes, Virginia, screenshots are included in Sense 4. Hold down the power and volume down buttons and kapow -- the shot is stored in your gallery, and you can do whatever the heck you want with it. Easter eggs: Perhaps only a handful of people really give a darn about if their phone comes with hidden easter eggs, and perhaps HTC agrees, because Sense doesn't come with the typical stock Android gems. There, there, heartbroken reader. You're a trooper, everything will be okay. Test menu: For those that like to dig really deep into menus, we combed through the test menu (accessible by dialing *#*#4636#*#* in the phone app) and found it to be identical in setup to stock Ice Cream Sandwich. Wrap-up Ah, Android skins. We've vehemently opposed many of them over the years, because each manufacturer chooses to value differentiation and "user experience" more than the nature of the OS itself and completely misses the point. Additionally, a healthy portion of these skins are loaded up with so many extra frills and gimmicks that the performance of the actual device suffers as a consequence. HTC's proprietary UI is no exception to this, and in the past has been one of the worst offenders. With the exception of a few questionable nips and tucks, HTC's latest UI, Sense 4, has avoided this same reputation. Peter Chou's company has largely succeeded at its goal of bringing a lighter version of its skin to the One series. While it doesn't look like a copy of vanilla Ice Cream Sandwich, it's able to maintain its unique personality but still holds on to the spirit of what Matias Duarte has been working hard to accomplish with the Android OS. By this, we mean offering a fresh design, important new features and great performance -- all of these being elements that were sorely needed. For the first time in ages, we're loving the experience of a Sense-powered device. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 02 Apr 2012 12:01 AM PDT  HardwareThe top part lifts off to show access to the micro-SIM, but that's all you can get to. Like the HTC Radar there's no access to the battery or microSD storage, but it's probably this hardware lock-down that's helped HTC slim this dual-core phone down to this 0.3-inch profile and it fitted our hand great. If the One X borders on the bulky, the 4.3-inch screen here feels just right. We've come a long way. The One S also packs HTC's new imaging tech: a dedicated ImageChip combined with a f/2.0 lens. The primary 8-megapixel camera gets a red trim on the black micro-arc oxidized version, while it's blue on the grey anodized variant. The module doesn't protrude as much as on One X, but we'd still have preferred a recessed lens. When we rest the phone down, you're resting it on the camera -- we can hear and feel the lens land on the surface. Aside from this flash of color on the camera, it's a relatively understated phone, with smaller Beats Audio branding at the base of the device, while the loudspeaker and ear piece grills are actually minute holes made into the body. Hidden behind the ear piece is a subtle notification light that glows from behind those holes to illustrate when the phones charging, charged and if there's some email or social networking nugget waiting for you.  A front-facing camera lies to the right of this, with the Super AMOLED screen dominating the rest of the front. While HTC's interpretation of Ice Cream Sandwich has given its new models with three capacitive buttons (no on-screen substitutes), it's replicated the original Android 4.0 phone by including a multitask button -- there's no menu or search buttons here. Protected by that plasma-bathed coating, you'll find Qualcomm's Snapdragon S4 Krait dual-core processor, ticking away at 1.5GHz, while 1GB of memory accompanies 12GB of available storage. A recent HTC-Dropbox deal means you'll also net an extra 25GB of storage for two years once you log in to the cloud storage service -- and yes, it's in addition to your existing cap. Display Which do you want first: the good news or the bad news? Well, the good bit is that HTC has married a 540 x 960 qHD resolution with Super AMOLED. The bad news is that it's missing a "Plus" at the end of that moniker. Yes, we're dealing with a PenTile screen, and while there are still plenty willing to overlook that graininess, after seeing it side-by-side against the high-definition beauty on the One X, we're going to rule in favor of the latter. While Super AMOLED wins with the blacker blacks, whites are just a bit too off. Comparing the resolution on the two One series devices, differences in sharpness will only be apparent in native apps and on the web -- unless games and video content are ready for 720p, there's no difference in graphical polish, aside from those color palette issues. Camera HTC's been pushing its new camera chops ever since Barcelona and we finally got a chance to try it out. And it works. Really well. This, along with the One X, is possibly the best Android cameraphone we've seen yet. Specification-wise, it's an eight-megapixel autofocus camera capable of 1080p video capture, with an LED flash and a tempting f/2.0 lens. In use, it's responsive, can capture video and stills concurrently and add several playful filters you might actually use. There's all the stable camera options to tweak inside the menus, including white balance, ISO and exposure, but if you're simply looking for an easy point-and-shoot, you'll never see them. The UI is an understated simple setup, with a big camera button matched by a similarly-sized video icon, while effects are located in a glass orb in the top right corner and a preview of the last still or video is in the lower right corner. Settings for flash, scenes, and the aforementioned technical options are all on the right side. Thanks to the f/2.0 lens, even shots in low-light turn out well, burst photography was especially impressive. Video capture at 1080p is generally well-focused with a good balance of color and light adjustment. The takeaway here is that the One series have superb cameras; hardware and software both ensure good-quality images were taken quickly and easily. Performance and battery life
HTC's introduced us to a dual-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 (MSM8260A) paired with 1GB of memory. The One S never shirked from what we asked of it. Attempting to make the browser stutter proved fruitless and tiling a complete non-issue. Provided your 3G or WiFi connection can keep up, you'll sail through the internet. Loading times on meatier apps was short, and it generally coped well with the likes of Shadowgun and GTA 3, although the audio didn't match the video on the venerable console title. According to these benchmarks, the dual-core One S manages to trump its quad-core contemporary. Admittedly, tests like these can't be directly compared side-by-side, since the One X has a larger screen with much higher resolution, and takes advantage of a quad-core chip. Irrespective of this, the phone smoked its dual-core competition, leaving the likes of the Exynos-powered Galaxy Note choking on its exhaust.  The One S comes with a very middling 1,650mAh battery but performance betrayed those numbers. We hit just over eight and a half hours of constant video playback during our typical rundown test -- 2.5 hours more than its sibling, the HTC One X. This was at 50 percent brightness, with WiFi on (but not connected), and email and email and Twitter set to fetch updates at regular intervals. This pegs it at around the same lifespan as the iPhone 4S when it comes to video playback, although it doesn't quite match the bigger-screened Galaxy Note. Then again, it doesn't have the same 2,200mAh battery store to draw on. In more standard use, the phone lasted through our daily grind, including emails, web browsing sessions every two hours or so, some Spotify playback and a handful of voice calls and text messages. Charging the One S was still a daily ritual. Call reception was good, with the extra mic located at the top performing noise-cancellation duties. Data speeds were as expected on both O2's HSPA+ and Three's HSPA service. On HSPA+, we reached speeds of around 2.5Mbps down and just under 1.5Mbps up, while HSPA circled around 1Mbps up and 1Mbps down -- all pretty similar to results on our other handsets. On the other side of the pond, AT&T's HSPA+ nabbed us average speeds of around 4.5Mbps down and 1.1Mbps up. This global version features quad-band EDGE and tri-band HSPA+ 42Mbps (2100 / 900 / 850MHz) support -- an AWS-capable model is coming to T-Mobile in the US. Software HTC's latest skin catches up with its corresponding Android version, at least number-wise. Sense 4 aims to cut the excess while offering up an experience that remains familiar to HTC fans in the past. A very difficult trick to pull off, but it's a definitive move forward. While it isn't stock, it certainly holds on to more Android riffs. Several widgets are also now available in both HTC and stock flavors. Something worth noting is the new Sense keyboard. We've been testing both the One S and the One X and found key spacing was a bit tighter than on HTC's polycarbonate number. Fortunately, it's held on to some of its better keyboard ideas -- you'll still be able to slide between numbers, accented letters and more obscure punctuation by holding down a letter and sliding across. Don't forget to check out our full Sense 4 review. Wrap-up Sporting a thinner and lighter design, the One S doesn't deserve to be hidden in the shadow of its pricier brother. With the latest dual-core Snapdragon S4 and noticeable improvements to HTC's Sense UI, as well as Android 4.0 and a potent camera, this phone is likely to play a large part of the manufacturer's renewed efforts after a shaky 2011. With a tactile finish and enough power to go toe-to-toe with HTC's quad-core entrant, it comes down to whether you're willing to trade a technically weaker screen for a noticeable price difference and better battery life. It's a decision we'd prefer not to make. Myriam Joire and Brad Molen contributed to this review. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 02 Apr 2012 12:00 AM PDT  A few days before flying to Barcelona and after being sworn to secrecy, we were quietly whisked into a San Francisco conference room with clear instructions: no pictures or video. There, in the middle of the table, was a white phone that instantly caught our eye -- the HTC One X. To write that we came away impressed after briefly using it is a massive understatement. This was obviously a halo device made for geeks like us, something designed to take on the Galaxy Nexuses of the world, something with the mother of all spec sheets, something running Ice Cream Sandwich with a significantly thinner and lighter version of Sense. Better yet, there were two other handsets with the same impeccable attention to detail -- the One S and the One V. HTC was finally showing some vision again with strong branding, gorgeous design and a polished user experience. While first impressions go a long way, there's a lot to be learned about a product by living with it for a few days. So is the One X truly HTC's comeback device? Are we still delighted? Is this the Engadget phone? Hit the break for our full review. HardwareHTC went back to the drawing board. While many of its products from 2011 blended together in an amorphous, Sensation-esque blur, the company's drawn a line in the sand -- this is its flagship and it's a beauty. The phone is housed in a polycarbonate unibody that's matte on the back and glossy at the sides. This polycarbonate material means the body shouldn't interfere with the phone's signal, while incidental scratches will reveal yet more brilliant white. Some considered contours along the body of the phone mean that despite its 8.9mm (0.35 inch) profile -- and a 4.7-inch display -- it always felt safe in our grasp. Although its size may be borderline for some people's palms, it's nowhere near as monstrous as the Galaxy Note. Compared to the likes of the Rezound and Sensation, it's also around 30 grams (1.1 ounces) lighter -- presumably due to the new materials being put to use on HTC's great white hope.  Touring the body, the device is refreshingly unencumbered by complications -- the earpiece speaker is even integrated into the polycarbonate shell. The staple volume rocker is a white bar on the right side, while the micro-SIM tray is now hewn into the unibody (you'll need a metal pin to access it at the top of the back). On the left edge there's the MHL-capable micro-USB port, while the headphone socket and power button are both found on the top. Again, HTC's placement of this key, which also wakes the screen, makes less sense than if it was placed along the right edge, but the buttons are solid and responsive, coated in the same polycarbonate white as the unit -- no easily-chipped silver paint. The camera noticeably protrudes from the center of the phone, accented by a metallic circle -- this is a phone that's proud of its camera and we've dedicated a section to this below. There's also a five-pin connector along the right side, ready for those inevitable docks and in-car holsters. The speaker grill, made from 84 individually-drilled holes, belts out plenty of noise. If you're looking to use it to broadcast your music, you'll want to have the device face down -- a built-in Sense feature does exactly that when you flip the device over during calls. It still suffers from the same lack of bass found in most phones, although the One X is one of HTC's first devices to bring Beats Audio enhancements across all apps, removing one of our complaints with the tie-up. If you're looking for more detail on this Beats Audio offering, check the write-up we gave it in our Sensation XE review. Behind the polycarbonate gloss, the phone arrives with 32GB of memory, with 26GB of this accessible to the user. This is further augmented by a new Dropbox deal offering an extra 25GB to anyone that registers a device from the One series. It's all running on NVIDIA's quad-core (plus one) Tegra 3, clocked at 1.5GHz and different from its incoming LTE variant set to arrive with Qualcomm's dual-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4. The processor is teamed up with 1GB of RAM, while HTC's joined the NFC party, adding Android Beam functionality -- where ICS apps allow it. We were able to ping some email addresses and websites between the One X and the Galaxy Nexus. Display The One X's 720p display under a USB microscope at about 230x magnification. The One X matches the Rezound's 720p resolution, but houses it in a new Super LCD 2 panel and gifts it with 4.7 inches to play with, which translates to a pixel density of 316ppi. At this resolution, it embarrasses the rest of its similarly-sized cousins (e.g., the 4.7-inch HTC Sensation XL) when compared side by side. And while we're not sure whether it's the pseudo-concave design of the display, that drops ever-so slightly on both edges or the thinner Gorilla Glass, the high definition pixel matrix seems to skim across the face of the phone -- viewing angles are great, especially if the brightness is cranked up. Super AMOLED Plus aficionados, this is what your rival looks like. On the non-PenTile One X, colors seemed more natural and the whites were whiter than on AMOLED devices like the Galaxy Nexus. When outdoors, we had to max out brightness, but once we did, the screen was both navigable and readable. CameraThere are two basic ways manufacturers implement cameras on higher-end phones. One approach is to build a no-compromise imaging-centric device geared towards photography buffs, as popularized by Nokia with the N8 and the recently announced 808 PureView. The alternative is to take a competent shooter and make it simple and bulletproof for anyone to enjoy, something Apple and (to a lesser extent) Samsung have achieved with the iPhone 4S and Galaxy S II (and derivatives). While HTC has aimed -- and mostly succeeded -- at pleasing both the shutterbug and the layperson with handsets like the myTouch 4G Slide, Amaze 4G and upcoming Titan II, it has usually favored the ease-of-use approach. The One X continues this trend by delivering one of the best all-round imaging experiences we've come across without sacrificing quality -- thanks to an 8-megapixel backside-illuminated sensor, an incredibly wide aperture f/2.0 autofocus lens (vs. f/2.2 on the Amaze 4G, f/2.4 on the iPhone 4S, f/2.65 on the Galaxy S II and f/2.8 on the N8) and an extra processor called the ImageChip. It's also the quickest cameraphone we've ever reviewed, the 0.7-second startup time and 0.2-second delay between shots beating even the speedy Galaxy Nexus. A single LED flash capable of five different intensity levels completes the package. While the hardware is generally state-of-the-art, there are a few omissions that prevent this shooter from hitting the bull's eye. Most disappointing is the lack of a dedicated two-stage camera button -- we'll make do without the mechanical shutter, xenon flash and autofocus-assist light common to devices like the N8, but we'll take a proper mechanical shutter key over a basic on-screen button anytime. We're also concerned with the long-term durability of the glass covering the optics which is exposed to fingerprints and scratches by protruding from the phone's body.  Just like the rest of the One X, the camera specs only tell half of the story. The software -- called ImageSense, naturally -- plays a big part in the handset's imaging mojo. It packs serious processing chops and supports a smorgasbord of features like real-time filters, HDR, panorama, burst and slow-motion video (to name a few). Instead of unraveling every minute UI detail, let's focus (pardon the pun) on the shooter's functionality. First, there's no more distinction between photo and video modes -- you're welcome to take still or moving pictures anytime by tapping the appropriate on-screen shutter key. This means you're able to capture 8-megapixel widescreen images (3264 x 1840 pixels) while recording video! Better yet, it's even possible to grab HD frames (1920 x 1088 pixels) from an existing video during playback. Second, there's a full set of Instagram-like filters -- including tweakable vignette and depth of field effects -- which can be applied to photos in real-time or after the fact. Both the camera and gallery apps provide a plethora of adjustments available before shooting and later while editing, such as contrast, saturation and sharpness. There's also an array of manual settings to chose from, such as exposure level, white balance and ISO. We have a few niggles though -- conspicuously absent is any kind metering option (center-weighted, spot or average) and while touch-to-focus also offers some control over EV there's no way to lock focus and exposure before reframing. Most shooters enable this either by half pressing the dedicated two-stage camera button (N8), tapping and holding any part of the viewfinder until the lock indicator appears (iPhone 4S) or -- our favorite for lack of a proper mechanical shutter key -- tapping and holding the on-screen camera button (Galaxy S II). Hopefully this is something HTC can fix in a future update. Now let's talk about image quality. We pitted the One X against the current cream of the crop -- the N8, Amaze 4G, iPhone 4S and Galaxy Note (which uses the same module as the Galaxy S II) plus Canon's S95 compact point-and-shoot. The camera landed somewhere in the middle of this star-studded pack, marginally beating the Galaxy Note and iPhone 4S while almost matching the Amaze 4G. Sure, it's not in the same league as the N8 (which rivals the S95 in some cases), but this is one stellar camera, especially when you consider that HTC is not positioning this phone as an imaging-centric device like the Amaze 4G. Low-light performance is particularly impressive thanks to the fast f/2.0 lens and backside-illuminated sensor, which combine to gather a huge amount of light. HDR night shots are truly magical -- no mushrooms required. Still, the software relies on a little too much noise reduction in extreme low-light which results in a noticeable loss of detail, and since there's no assist light, the autofocus often struggles in the dark and requires a few touch-to-focus attempts before getting a lock. Pictures taken in most conditions look fantastic, but looking closely we're longing for a sensor with a wider dynamic range and higher quality lens (yes, the N8's Carl Zeiss optics are hard to beat). While color balance is generally top-notch we noticed some issues with the white balance being off at times right after launching the camera -- it rights itself after a few seconds, but it's a problem if you're trying to catch that fleeting moment. Metering is usually accurate, but the lack of exposure lock means that in some instances (like sunsets) we resorted to fiddling with the EV to avoid washing out parts of the shot. Of course, we're being picky here and none of this takes into account ease-of-use, which rivals the experience on the iPhone 4S (and beats it, in terms of speed). Yes, the proof is in the pudding -- people who care little about aperture and shutter settings will take great photos with the One X. The One X captures 1080p video at a silky smooth 30fps with continuous autofocus and stereo audio. Results mostly look sharp and sound clear -- we noticed some faint video compression artifacts (bitrate is 10Mbps) and the automatic gain control reacted a little too quickly to wind noise, but this is nothing to be concerned about in most situations. In contrast with how quickly the camera handles stills, there's about a four-second (!) delay between tapping the on-screen video capture button and the actual start of the recording which means you're likely to miss some firsts if you're not prepared. There's one more neat trick worth mentioning, and that's slow motion. Yes, this shooter is able to record 480p widescreen video (768 x 432 pixels, to be exact) at 60fps for playback at about 24fps -- check out our sample video below. Performance and battery life Quad-core phones have arrived. While we've already seen the NVIDIA tech on one of our favorite Android tablets, the One X is our first Tegra 3 smartphone to arrive for testing and it doesn't disappoint. We tried to push the hardware as much as we could and it handled nearly all of our tasks effortlessly. GTA3 loaded effortlessly -- and was fast. Even task-switching couldn't sink the phone, although it does pause to think when you jump between heavier tasks like video and gaming. Browser performance is a revelation too. We couldn't spot any tiling issues as we scrolled at high-speed through the front page of Engadget -- none -- pictures were there before we even got to them. This triumphant real-world performance is backed up by some understandably jaw-dropping benchmark scores, besting even the Transformer Prime in Quadrant and Vellamo performance tests and thrashing the Galaxy Note -- our previous smartphone heavy-lifter -- across the board.
While an AT&T-branded One X is set to arrive carrying LTE (and a SnapDragon S4), this global model features both quad-band EDGE and HSPA+ 42Mbps (2100 / 1900 / 900 / 850MHz). Speed tests on AT&T in the US reached about 6Mbps down and 1.2 Mbps up on HSPA+, and Three and O2 in the UK averaged around 2.2Mbps down and just under 1Mbps up on HSPA. Call quality is good, with the noise-cancelling second mic helping to focus on the voice, although some background static remained on our test calls on several networks. Battery life, however, looks likely to pay the price for this. With brightness set to 50 percent, WiFi on but not connected, the One X's 1,800mAh juicepack managed six hours of continuous video playback -- that's two hours short of its sibling, the One S. Obviously, this sort of activity is likely to use the phone's multiple cores, but we found that Tegra 3's 4-PLUS-1 setup still continues to slurp the battery on very light use -- we didn't notice that extra companion core taking any sort of burden off the phone's power consumption. Checking our battery status, it seems like HTC's Super LCD 2 screen -- perhaps unsurprisingly-- was also to blame for a life span that didn't last a full workday. Software The latest version of HTC's proprietary skin, Sense 4, comes on top of Android 4.0.3. But this isn't your father's old version of Sense. In fact, it's a much more refreshing take on a skin that used to be incredibly bogged down by nonsense animations and unnecessary UI elements. Is it stock Ice Cream Sandwich? No, not by a long shot. But what you'll get with the One X's user experience is a pleasant mix of ICS and Sense, both halves somehow finding a way to live together in harmony. That's not to say Sense 4 is a complete and perfect Android skin. But it does a much better job figuring out the spirit of stock Android and truly striving to emulate the OS, instead of throwing Google's designs and inspiration out the window. HTC's goal was to make the new Sense much lighter and less burdensome to the rest of the platform, and we'd say it has largely succeeded. There is so much to discuss in the new Sense that our overview of it became too large to include with the rest of our impressions on the One X. To get the full scoop complete with screenshots and video, visit our incredibly comprehensive Sense 4 review. Wrap-up There's absolutely no doubt that the One X is a masterpiece of an Android device: it obliterates pretty much all of its competitors by giving even the mighty Galaxy Nexus a run for its money. HTC's really crafted something special here, with a brilliant combination of branding, industrial design and user experience. This handset looks and feels stunning, with top-notch materials and build quality, the most gorgeous display we've ever stared at on a phone, a fantastic camera that's fast and easy to use and a laundry list of every possible spec under the sun. Sense 4 is thin and light enough to enhance -- not detract from -- stock Ice Cream Sandwich. Pinch us, 'cause frankly, we're smitten. Still it's not all rainbows and glitter. While it's incredibly quick and smooth in actual use, we're surprised that the quad-core Tegra 3 in the One X performed slightly worse in our benchmarks than the dual-core Snapdragon S4 in the One S. Battery life is by far our biggest concern and we really hope that HTC addresses this head-on with future software updates. It'll be interesting to see how its LTE equipped twin (which is also Snapdragon S4-based) fares in those areas when it launches in the next few weeks -- let's just hope AT&T keeps the firmware as unadulterated as possible. Ultimately, buying a One X is a lot like getting a unicorn -- it's wild, fast, white, beautiful, expensive and fickle. Time will tell if dressage school tames this power hungry beast. Mat Smith, Brad Molen and Richard Lai contributed to this review. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Samsung Display spinoff officially launches as 'the world's largest display manufacturer' Posted: 01 Apr 2012 11:32 PM PDT  The World's Largest Display Manufacturer, Samsung Display is Launched SEOUL, Korea – April 2, 2012 – Samsung Display Co., Ltd, a global leader in display panel technologies and products, announced today that it has been officially launched as a new corporation, spun off from Samsung Electronics. Samsung Display held its inauguration ceremony yesterday and will begin business operations in earnest after carrying out incorporation registration on April 3. Donggun Park, executive vice president and head of the former Samsung Electronics' LCD Business was elected CEO of Samsung Display. The company, which recorded 22.7 trillion KRW (approximately 20 billion U.S. dollars) in annual revenue in 2011 as Samsung Electronics' LCD Business, became the world's largest display manufacturer overnight, based on its 20,000 employees and five production facilities worldwide. Park said at the inauguration ceremony, "We will make Samsung Display a well-respected company through continuous efforts to supply a wide variety of customized products that provide great value to our customers." He added, "By continually staying one step ahead of our competitors, we can make our company the very best in the display market." More than 350 employees attended the inauguration ceremony. At the inauguration, many reflected on the success of Samsung Electronics' LCD Business over the past 21 years and expressed a widespread determination to once again become 'The No. 1 Global Display Manufacturer'. Samsung Display began as an R&D arm of Samsung Electronics in 1991 and has developed and released some of the world's most creative and innovative displays for two decades. Now, as a separate corporation, it will respond to rapidly changing market conditions more efficiently, while providing timely, well- differentiated products and services this year and well into the future. About Samsung Display Co., Ltd. Samsung Display Co., Ltd. is a global leader in display panel technologies and products. Employing approximately 20,000 people at its five production facilities and five sales offices worldwide, Samsung Display specializes in high-quality displays for consumer, mobile, IT and industrial usage. For more information, please visit www.samsungdisplay.com. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Kaleidescape DVD servers granted a temporary stay Posted: 01 Apr 2012 10:36 PM PDT  Things have been looking bleak for Kaleidescape's DVD servers since a Judge ruled against them on appeal, and earlier this month issued an injunction that was to have taken effect on April 8th. We say was because CEO Michael Malcolm is now saying the California 6th District Court of Appeal has issued a temporary stay of that injunction. The court is still deciding whether or not to stay the injunction during the entire process, a decision Malcolm says could affect whether or not the company survives or has to lay people off. While the current case does not affect Kaleidescape's tethered Blu-ray servers, it's tiring to hear about all this from the DVD CCA over a DRM scheme that was cracked wide open so long ago, and a case that had appeared to be over. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| How would you change Samsung's Galaxy Nexus? Posted: 01 Apr 2012 08:19 PM PDT  "Definitely the best Android phone available today -- it's possibly even the best phone available today, period." That's the oft-repeated conclusion to our Galaxy Nexus review and the question is, were we right? Four months have elapsed since the handset arrived and it's still the daily driver for a number of staffers here. But what about you out there? What are your feelings about the camera, was your model perfect from the off or did you have the same trouble as Alex Ioannou and, if Andy Rubin's gearing up to put the finishing touches on the Galaxy Nexus 2, what improvements (if any) would you ask him to make? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 01 Apr 2012 05:56 PM PDT Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green.  Happy April 1st! In honor of the day, we've rounded up some of Inhabitat's best April Fools stories for your reading pleasure. Our collective jaws dropped this morning when we were sent an anonymous photo from a tipster which hints at intergalactic plans for Apple's new Cupertino campus. Google also surprised us today when it announced a partnership with the city of New York to replace NYC taxis with driverless Google Cabs. In other NYC news, it was revealed today that New York City's ever-popular High Line park is going to bring a train back on the High Line to keep up with the growing crowds, and satellite photos divulged that Dubai appears to be building a series of Dubai-shaped islands off of its coast. In more serious news, the New York Auto Show is hitting Manhattan next week, and in preparation this week Fisker released the first sketch of its highly anticipated Nina Plug-in Hybrid. Inhabitat will be on-scene at the reveal on Tuesday to bring you the first photos of its unveiling, so stay tuned for Inhabitat's live Fisker Nina coverage on Tuesday! We also brought you a sneak peek at several more innovative eco vehicles that will displayed at this year's New York Auto Show -- including NYC's taxi of tomorrow and Infiniti's new Nissan Leaf-based EV. Meanwhile, Lexus divulged that it is considering producing the sexy LF-LC hybrid sports coupe, and Chevy Volt's sexier European twin the Opel Ampera racked up 7,000 orders, putting it well on its way to meeting sales targets. In two-wheel transportation news, bicycles kicked into high gear as Specialized launched the world's fastest E-bike and Jose Hurtado designed a hubless 'Twist Bike' that can be turned into a tandem in a snap.  On the clean technology front, engineers developed several exciting next-gen renewable energy technologies -- including high-flying wind turbines and 3D solar cells that can produce 20 times more energy than flat photovoltaic panels. Green energy news also made waves around the world as Denmark announced plans to switch to 100% renewable energy by 2050 and Japan shut down its second to last nuclear reactor as radiation levels skyrocketed at its Fukushima plant. Wind power was a popular topic as well -- Obama expedited the approval process for the first Great Lakes wind farms, the first offshore turbine project was approved for Virginia, and Hint.FM created a mesmerizing kinetic map that shows real-time wind speeds across the US. In design and architecture news, we're thrilled to see the New York underground park proposal affectionately dubbed the "Lowline" inch closer to reality in a new partnership with Arup engineering firm. We also took a peek at a gigantic LED cube under the Brooklyn Bridge and explored a super high-tech green home by E+ that is blanketed in solar panels. We spotted some innovative uses of recycled materials this week as a playground built from recycled wind turbines popped up in the Netherlands and old automobiles were transformed into a Transformers theme park in China. Last but not least, we showcased several mind-blowing projects that use everybody's favorite plastic building brick -- Sean Kenney's amazingly detailed LEGO skyscrapers and a system for growing synthetic bone using LEGOs. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Refresh Roundup: week of March 26th, 2012 Posted: 01 Apr 2012 05:40 PM PDT  Official Android updates
BlackBerry Curve 9360: Own one of RIM's entry level handsets and happen to live in Norway? Well, if you're signed up with Telnor, be on the lookout for a fresh dose of BlackBerry 7.1 OS. The specific build is 7.1.0.336, so make sure to stake your claim. [N4BB] Refreshes we covered this week
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| Tribune stations nationwide including WGN America go dark on DirecTV Posted: 01 Apr 2012 04:47 PM PDT  WGN America National Ch. 307 s s s Local Stations: s s WGN (CW) Chicago, IL Ch. 9 KDAF (CW) Dallas-Fort Worth, TX Ch. 33 KWGN (CW) Denver, CO Ch. 2 WXMI (FOX) Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo, MI Ch. 17 WPMT (FOX) Harrisburg-Lancaster, PA Ch. 43 WTIC (FOX) Hartford-New Haven, CT Ch. 61 WCCT (CW) Hartford-New Haven, CT Ch. 20 KIAH (CW) Houston, TX Ch. 39 WXIN (FOX) Indianapolis, IN Ch. 59 WTTV (CW) Indianapolis, IN Ch. 4 KTLA (CW) Los Angeles, CA Ch. 5 WSFL (CW) Miami-Fort Lauderdale, FL Ch. 39 AZA (AZA) Miami-Fort Lauderdale, FL Ch. 40 WGNO (ABC) New Orleans, LA Ch. 26 WNOL (CW) New Orleans, LA Ch. 38 WPIX (CW) New York, NY Ch. 11 WPHL (MNT) Philadelphia, PA Ch. 17 KRCW (CW) Portland, OR Ch. 32 KTXL (FOX) Sacramento-Stockton, CA Ch. 40 KSWB (FOX) San Diego, CA Ch. 69 KCPQ (FOX) Seattle-Tacoma, WA Ch. 13 KZJO (MNT) Seattle, Tacoma, WA Ch. 22 WDCW (CW) Washington, DC – Hagerstown, MD Ch. 50 KPLR (CW) Saint Louis, MO Ch. 11 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Posted: 01 Apr 2012 02:30 PM PDT  The BerryBirdOnce, this bird seemed pretty mighty, but newer breeds have left you looking for something new out of your playbook. The developer of the native launcher hasn't created one for the BerryBird, but another developer offers to create something like it for you for $15. After positioning your cursor over the BerryBird and scrolling the trackpad to the left, you let go and are greeted with a terms of use dialog box that you must scroll through. After agreeing to the terms, the bird flies through the air and knocks down a bit of the structure, freeing a few eggs, but knows that it really needs a major update.The WinBirdThe WinBird notes that it is very different from the other birds. Most of the other launchers don't work well with the WinBird, so you import a clear black one from Finland. As you load the WinBird into the launcher, it gives you a preview of what the flight is going to look like. It uses Bing Maps to plot its course, which is right between the Birdroid and the iBird. The WinBird doesn't free many of the eggs, but using it was a great experience. Achievement unlocked.The BirdroidBefore you launch the Birdroid, the WinBird insists that you pay it $15. OK, fine. At least you'll get to customize this bird any way you want it. It seems to be in fine shape despite a habit of gorging on desserts. The bird hops into the launcher upon recognizing your face. After launch, though, the bird fragments into 300 other birds. Relatively few of these birds wind up killing most of the others, but the ones that are left collectively knock down most of the structure and free most of the eggs. The Birdroid shares the accomplishment on Google+, which you don't remember ever signing up for.The iBirdFortunately, it is the one time per year that a new iBird hatches. The iBird doesn't look much like a bird at all but is rather a perfect metal and glass sphere. You swipe to the left to place the iOS bird in the launcher, a gesture that is covered under a U.S. patent. "Siri," you command, "schedule an appointment to launch the bird now." Siri replies, "The weather doesn't look good for launching birds but Wolfram Alpha has calculated the optimal distance and angle needed to apply to the launcher." 'After launching the iBird, it uses the exclusive Bird Fly app to make its way toward the structure. Rather than knock it down, though it builds its own structure -- a geometrically perfect birdcage of steel and glass featuring a spiral perch and its own birdfeeder that dispenses expert technical support. The remaining eggs enter the iBird's building of their own accord after a few hours of waiting in line.Ross Rubin (@rossrubin) is executive director and principal analyst of the NPD Connected Intelligence service at The NPD Group. Views expressed in Switched On are his own. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| USRobotics PalmPilot Personal review Posted: 01 Apr 2012 01:00 PM PDT  It's 1996. You might have a cellphone, but it doesn't do much more than make phone calls. You might have a laptop, but it's likely too heavy to carry with you everywhere you go. Or you might only have a phone that's plugged into a wall and a PC that's confined to a desk. That's the environment that gave rise to the Personal Digital Assistant (or PDA), a new type of product that first arrived in the late 1980s but really came into its own in the mid-90s. 1996 also saw the release of the first PDAs developed by USRobotics subsidiary Palm Inc., the Pilot 1000 and 5000, which had more in common with today's smartphones than many of their contemporary devices. They had a touchscreen with only a few physical buttons at the bottom. They had apps you could download. They could sync data with your computer. And they were small and light enough to carry with you at all times. They just didn't make phone calls. A year later, Palm released the slightly upgraded PalmPilot Personal and PalmPilot Professional (with 512KB and 1MB of RAM, respectively), and the ensuing years would see a regular stream of new devices -- not to mention an acquisition by 3Com, and a new spate of Palm OS products from Handspring, a company founded by the folks behind the original Pilot. But it's those first few devices that come to mind when someone mentions "Palm PDA," and with good reason -- they set a mold that wasn't deviated from much until Palm made the jump into smartphones. Hardware The standout feature is the stylus-based input, a source of ridicule for Apple's Newton device released just a few years earlier. Unlike the Newton, however, the PalmPilot doesn't make an attempt to recognize natural handwriting, opting instead to rely solely on a shorthand recognition system called Graffiti. It has a slight learning curve (aided by a tutorial game called Giraffe), but the payoff is a fast and reliable input system that does away with the need for a physical keyboard. As for the device itself, while we'd be a bit hesitant to put it in our jeans' pocket (it creaks enough to diminish any confidence of it holding up for long sans case), it does slip easily into an inside jacket pocket -- it's smaller than, say, the Galaxy Note in every dimension but thickness. On the right side of the device, you'll find what looks like a volume knob but actually adjusts the screen's brightness (it's best left at maximum), while the left side contains a slot that conveniently houses the stylus. Around back you'll find a removable cover that allows you to install an optional upgrade kit (originally selling for $199), which boosts the memory to 1MB and adds some wireless capabilities (IR, of course). Not included is a paper clip, which we'd recommend carrying with you to perform the occasional hard reset. All PalmPilots also had the advantage of a HotSync cradle, which plugged into your computer (via the now rare serial port) and allowed you to sync apps, documents and other data at the push of a button. As good as Graffiti is, it was certainly a lot easier to add contact information or write out memos on your PC and then send it all to your PalmPilot in one batch. SoftwareUnlike many of the so-called "handheld PCs" of the day, Palm's devices weren't trying to be small computers. The apps and operating system were greatly simplified, with everything just a few taps away. Yet those apps also made the devices much more capable than the personal organizers that were popular at the time, which did only a few tasks and not very well. They may not have gone on to explode in use the way smartphones have in the past decade, but they found a niche and served it well for a good number of years. Of course, there were areas that did leave some room for improvement. While the resistive touchscreen offers reliable stylus-based input, it's also low-res (160 x 160) and hard to see in less-than-ideal conditions, with an Indiglo-style backlight offering a poor substitute for a true backlit, color LCD. The limited internet capabilities offered by the devices also require a bulky 14.4k modem that originally cost an extra $129 -- and, of course, plugs into a phone jack. What might have once been a slight drawback is a welcome feature today, though. The early Palm devices all run on a standard set of AAA batteries, which means that collectors and technology historians don't have to worry about hard-to-find rechargeable batteries (or worse, non-removable batteries) to keep them running for years to come. Wrap-up As far as we've come in the 16 years since the release of the original Pilot, it's also remarkable how much hasn't changed. The screens have gotten better, the hardware has gotten sleeker, and everything has gotten far more connected, but we're still carrying around handheld devices that supplement our main computer, help us stay organized, and have a simplified operating system with apps displayed as a grid of icons. Add in some WiFi, 3G and a decent web browser and we could almost see ourselves using getting by with one of these today -- and that's quite a testament to Palm's original vision. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Android 4.0.4 leaked for Nexus S 4G, lets Sprint users join ICS party Posted: 01 Apr 2012 12:07 PM PDT  |
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