Mobile, Internet, etc

Filed under: Handsets, RIM, Verizon Wireless, EV-DO, CDMA

We’ve long suspected that the Storm 2 would be bowing in the next couple months, within earshot of the original Storm’s one-year anniversary — and new evidence suggests that even if we can’t get an actual device in October, we’ll at least be able to make clicking sounds with our mouths as we amble around a non-functional display unit (you laugh, but it’s our idea of a good Saturday night). Boy Genius Report has been slipped a Best Buy inventory screen — a familiar sight in the phone scooping world — that reports an in-stock date for Storm 2 dummies of October 25. Those dummy units can end up arriving before or after the actual phones, and considering that we’ve seen other evidence pointing to an October launch, this could be the real deal. Tao envy might be a problem by the time this hits, but we’re sure there’ll be a few folks willing to give RIM a mulligan on its touchscreen dealings.

[Via PhoneArena]

BlackBerry Storm 2 dummies coming to Best Buy around October 25? originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Virgin Mobile

Last year, MetroPCS kicked off the respectably ballsy practice of inviting competitors’ subscribers to bring their CDMA phones over to get flashed for use on its network, prompting Virgin — a carrier that plays in the same value space as MetroPCS — to take issue. Long story short, Virgin ended up filing a lawsuit against MetroPCS citing a couple claims: one, that MetroPCS is willfully interfering with Virgin’s customer contracts, and two, that the flashing ultimately results in a trademark violation since Virgin’s logo is still on the phone. Funny how law works, isn’t it? Anyhow, a court’s thrown out the contract claim but is allowing the trademark issue to proceed, making this an interesting one to watch. In the meantime, anyone looking at bailing to MetroPCS and planning on taking some hardware along for the ride might want to look into that sooner rather than later — you never know what sorts of injunctions might come out of this.

[Via Phone Scoop]

MetroPCS and Virgin Mobile scrap over MetroFlash program originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Multimedia, Peripherals, Misc

“Game changing” is thrown around way too frequently these days, but man, this thing just might be. The Livepack is being described as “a satellite television truck in a backpack” by creator Livestream, and for all intents and purposes, it is. Put simply (or as simply as possible), the pack includes everything one would need to stream “HD quality” footage: encoding hardware, a Firewire cable and the real kicker, a built-in wireless connection with six load-balanced 3G modems over three carriers (AT&T, Verizon Wireless and Sprint if you have to know). Users simply provide their own camcorder, mash a button when it’s show time, and out goes the signal. The Livepack can currently be rented for $2,500 per month (includes 30 hours of streaming) or $1,500 per month if you commit to a year-long agreement. So, who’s up for showing the world their high school prom live in HD? Demo vid is after the break.

[Via Red Ferret]

Continue reading Livestream Livepack: a ’satellite television truck in a backpack’

Livestream Livepack: a ’satellite television truck in a backpack’ originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, Motorola, EV-DO, CDMA, Android

Now that the Sholes has seemingly been gifted with a less bizarre, less reminds-us-of-a-shoe-insert name, pictures and specs of the so-called Tao are starting to flow en masse — just in time for a possible introduction at next week’s CTIA show out in San Diego (we can only hope, anyway). The first round of in-the-wild shots really didn’t reveal much of anything, but the cameraman has elected to apply just enough wide-angle this time around to give us a full-on view of the high-end Android beast in its closed position — and if this is what we’re going to be getting on Verizon shelves, HTC (and heck, even Moto’s own CLIQ) should be on high alert. So, who’d switch to Verizon for this?

[Via Boy Genius Report]

Motorola Tao’s photographer zooms out a little, better shot ensues originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, Others, GSM, EDGE, UMTS

Here’s the problem with carbon fiber phones: they’re not for everyone, especially those who aren’t interesting in dropping over two grand on a midrange candybar. Don’t sweat it, though, because Gresso’s back at it again with a leather-clad version of its Grand Monaco called the Grand Monaco LE — “LE” apparently stands for “Limited Edition,” if the badging on the back of the phone is any indication — available in your choice of red and black. Otherwise, you’ve got the same pricey materials found on the basic Grand Monaco like machined titanium and sapphire (plus a few not-so-pricey materials like a 2 megapixel camera) which somehow ultimately collaborate to produce an $1,800 price tag.

Gresso’s Grand Monaco gets wrapped in leather, credit card debt originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, Others, ATT, Windows Mobile, GSM, EDGE, HSDPA

Welp, that didn’t take long. Just a few months after TerreStar announced that it had completed its first call on the new bird, the revived sat phone provider has now announced the first dual-mode smartphone for AT&T. Granted, we knew these two would be holding hands in the near future, but it’s still refreshing to see the Genus hit the landscape. The WinMo-based phone will ship with a 2.6-inch touchscreen, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS and GSM / GPRS / EDGE / UMTS / HSDPA radios. Oh, and it can tap into satellite waves too. This one’s actually aimed at government, energy, utility, transportation and maritime users, and while it’s slated to ship in Q1 2010 for an undisclosed amount, AT&T assures us that a consumer-oriented version is in the pipeline. Too bad this only enhances coverage in the US, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands and territorial waters — we always dreamed of phoning home from Komsomolets Island.

[Via phonescoop]

TerreStar Genus: AT&T’s first dual-mode cellular / satellite smartphone originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 13:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, ATT, Apple

To be sure, a certain number of dropped calls are to be expected when you’re dealing with the wonders of cellular communication, but some phones do seem to fare worse then others when paired with certain carriers in particularly congested regions. Apparently fed up with such problems in New York, Gizmodo reader Manoj decided to stop by an Apple Store to see if something might be wrong with his iPhone — this, after apparently being assured by AT&T that everything was all right on its end. After a few tests, the Apple Genius determined that Manoj’s phone was dropping 22 percent of its calls, which turns out to actually be “excellent” compared to most iPhone users in the New York area, where a dropped call rate of 30 percent is said to be average — according to the dude at the store, anyhow. The Genius further went on to confirm that the phone was indeed “fully functional,” and that the problem is “consistent with the service provided by AT&T.” So, nothing to worry about, folks — everything is “normal.”

[Thanks, Canis]

Apple Genius says 30 percent iPhone call drop rate is average in New York originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Multimedia

mSpot has been streaming full-length movies to cellphones for a few years now, but not until this week has the company had a potential customer base of 40 million. As of right now, mobile phone users on Sprint, AT&T, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile (yes, that includes the G1, Pre, iPhone and every other smartphone with a half-decent browser) can surf over to m.mspot.com in order to stream major motion pictures, and being that the service is on-demand, you can also pause and restart ‘em whenever you darn well please. Deals have been inked with Paramount Studios, Universal Pictures and the Weinstein Company, and we’re told that more agreements are in the works. Movie rentals will cost $4.99 per title, and can be viewed from 24 hours to 5 days after they’re rented. Naturally, mSpot recommends paying for an “unlimited” data plan, and if you’re smart, you won’t utilize the service whilst traveling abroad.

mSpot brings new release movie streaming to major US carriers originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, Motorola, Android

All we’ve got to go on here are a few screen images, but at a cursory glance, they sure match what we expect the Motorola Sholes (or Tao, as it were) to look like. The biggest news is that Android is alive and well, and while we’re still waiting for an official release date, things are looking up for this to be the outfit’s second-ever Google-powered device. Have a peek in the read link for a few more Google Maps shots as well as a glimpse at the 1,390mAh battery, and yes, it’s completely fine if you bookmark the last page of the thread and refresh it continuously until actual hardware shots slip out. Not saying that’s “normal,” but hey…

[Via phoneArena]

Motorola Tao (Sholes) purportedly seen running Android, traversing America originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 10:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Games, Handsets, Nokia, Linux

We’ve already seen Nokia’s Maemo 5-powered N900 pull off some pretty fanciful tricks, but without qualification this is the one most dear to our hearts. Somehow or another, Konttori managed to get his palms around an N900 of his own, and rather than testing out the social networking abilities or battery life, he simply installed an SNES emulator, tweaked it to accept Wiimote controls and even connected it to his TV for a staggeringly authentic gameplay experience. Vicarious living is just a click or two away, so hop on past the break for a video of the action. Oh, and don’t mind the baby — he’s not in the corner or anything.

[Thanks, Sathish]

Continue reading Video: SNES runs beautifully on N900, makes out hearts flutter

Video: SNES runs beautifully on N900, makes out hearts flutter originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 09:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, HTC, O2, Windows Mobile, GSM, EDGE, HSDPA

We’ve been furnished with the above page from an O2 in-store catalog detailing the HTC HD2 (aka Leo), which was set for a UK release on October 12 (though we’re hearing that may have slipped to the 26th). Interesting that it’s pictured with a stock Windows Mobile 6.5 UI instead of TouchFLO 3D. Is O2 rushing HTC’s new hotness out the door in response to losing its iPhone supremacy? Or did an absent-minded employee just slip out the catalogs ahead of time? We’re getting in touch with O2 to find out and will update with more details as we get them. For now, check out the full catalog page after the break.

[Thanks, Peter W.]

Update: After O2 stonewalled our phone enquiries, we decided to drop by our nearest (which was still annoyingly far away) store to have a look for ourselves. Alas, we only found September issues of the catalog, and the above snapshot is from the October iteration, which sports a big fat Pre promo on the front. So, anyone else seen an advance copy yet?

Continue reading HTC HD2 makes first official appearance in O2 UK catalog

HTC HD2 makes first official appearance in O2 UK catalog originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 08:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, Pantech

Pantech’s Korea-only SKY brand has launched a new flip that it’s very overtly targeting at a female audience, the IM-S500K Crystal — and as the name implies, it’s a visual feast. The major differentiating “feature” here is a diamond patterned shiny plate up front with concealed lights and icons that seemingly illuminate at random (though are probably configurable enough to make sense to the user, just not those of us looking at a couple pictures from halfway around the globe). It’s available in no fewer than four colors and features a 2.4-inch QVGA display, FM radio reception, a 2 megapixel camera, and a document viewer — not the most Earth-shattering spec sheet we’d ever seen, but then again, can you really put a price on a shiny diamond pattern with LEDs underneath?

Pantech Crystal’s dazzling cover distracts us from its lame specs originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 08:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Software, HTC, T-Mobile, Android

Android 1.6 was just released to dev phones, and while you may not have a suitably configured handset to run it, YouTuber arsenito84 does. He’s installed the latest version on his T-Mobile myTouch 3G and was kind enough to create this nine minute video showing every tiny little tweak made to the OS. There’s not much in the way of presentation updates, most changes going on behind the scenes, particularly when it comes to performance. Those improvements are definitely noticeable when it comes to scrolling through apps, but the new Android Market is also on display, and the photo and video capturing has been improved. Why, the phone even does a fine job of loading up this very website, though scrolling is less than smooth. Still no firm word on when your average user will be able to get their Donut on, but if earlier reports are to believed it could be within a month.

Continue reading Video: Android 1.6 Donut gets jazzy walkthrough, performance and Market tweaks on display

Video: Android 1.6 Donut gets jazzy walkthrough, performance and Market tweaks on display originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 08:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Software, RIM, Announcements

A tiny little beta leak earlier this month let BlackBerry-toting Mac fans knew that something good was coming in the near future, and now we know it’s very near indeed (though a bit later than expected). On October 2 RIM will release BlackBerry Desktop Manager for Mac, specifically at 1:00pm EST. That means instead of wrapping up your busy work-week being productive you can instead spend the afternoon fighting long download queues and playing around getting this app configured — for purely work-related purposes of course, like syncing with iCal, Address Book, and automatically backing up contacts. Just don’t tell your boss you’ll also be able to sync your iTunes collection to your handset, including album art, something that should make Pre-owning Bob down the hall a little jealous. Again, the fun starts Friday afternoon at 1:00 EST. Clear your calendars accordingly.

Read - RIM Launches BlackBerry Desktop Manager for Mac Users
Read - Download here come Friday

BlackBerry Desktop Manager for Mac releasing October 2 originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 07:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Software, Apple, Accessories

Among the many minor changes included in the 3.0 release of the iPhone OS was one that would enable those myriad of iPhone accessories to work more closely with software. That is to say, to make the plugging in of one result in in a prompting to download the other. The first such piece of hardware is the latest Griffin iTrip, which, when connected, raises the dialog shown above. You can of course say “No” if you don’t feel like playing along, but when it comes to accessories like the TomTom car kit we’re thinking you’ll probably be missing out if you don’t go along with the flow.

[Via AppleInsider]

iPhone accessories can download iPhone apps to your iPhone memory originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 07:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, LG, GSM, EDGE

Gotta hand it to LG, it pulled out the big hitting hyperbole with the launch of its otherwise simplistic GD510 touchscreen phone. LG begins with a reminder that it launched “the world’s first full touchscreen phone” — the Prada — back in January 2007. A claim that Ericsson, Nokia, and others would rightfully dispute. LG then calls the brushed-aluminum GD510, or “Pop,” the “most compact 3-inch full touchscreen phone ever made,” while boasting of its simplicity. That latter claim is achieved by removing “unnecessary features” that apparently include burdensome WiFi and 3G radios since modern consumers want to browse the internet over GPRS/EDGE. Spec-wise, you get a WQVGA (note the “Q”) display, 3 megapixel camera, 8GB of internal memory, and a single home key that glows green to call or red to hang-up / cancel. They’ve also ditched the S-Class UI in favor of something that’s presumably less convoluted. There’s even an optional solar-panel battery cover which we hear is the number one requested feature on touchscreen phones… right. It does look pretty though, which is saying a lot for a phone packing a solar panel. Hitting Europe in mid October and the US at the end of October if the Bluetooth SIG entry is to be believed. Video promo after the break.

Read — Bluetooth SIG
Read — LG press release

Continue reading Video: LG GD510 touchscreen ‘Pop’ is heavy on hype, light on specs

Video: LG GD510 touchscreen ‘Pop’ is heavy on hype, light on specs originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 05:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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