Mobile, Internet, etc

Filed under: Handsets, Samsung, Announcements

We might still have debates over whether the SCH-W880 represents a cameraphone or our newly minted category of phonecamera, but there’s no doubt about this: the Samsung AMOLED 12M is now official and coming to (at least) Korea in October. The specs align closely to yesterday’s info, with a 3x optical zoom, 720p video recording, dedicated camera controls, and a 800 x 480 3.3-inch AMOLED display grabbing the headlines. Touch AF makes use of the touchscreen to let you choose focus areas, while image stabilization and Smart Auto modes fill out the software side of the camera. That leaves us with scant little info on the actual phone, but you could probably fill those specs in yourself by now, right? Full PR after the break.

[Via Samsung Hub]

Continue reading Samsung’s 12 megapixel SCH-W880 made official

Samsung’s 12 megapixel SCH-W880 made official originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Tue, 29 Sep 2009 04:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, Vodafone, EDGE, HSDPA, UMTS, Apple

Now that O2 has lost exclusivity, everyone’s getting in on the iPhone action in the UK. First it was Orange, now Vodafone has inked a deal said to have been signed only last night as a defensive move to stave subscriber defections. The new agreement sees Vodafone selling the iPhone 3G and 3GS to the UK and Ireland in early 2010, a bit later than the Orange Apple expected before Christmas.

Update: Official Vodafone UK statement now live.

[Via Randomly Accessed and The Telegraph]

Vodafone nabs iPhone in prelude to UK price war originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Tue, 29 Sep 2009 04:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Software, Apple, iPhone OS

Surprise, surprise — the App Store’s reached yet another wild milestone, hitting a whopping two billion downloads since its inception a little over a year ago. It took a little under three months to get from one billion to 1.5 billion downloads and a hair over two months to get from 1.5 to two, so the pace is accelerating just a bit — a function both of total iPhones / iPod touches in circulation and of the ever-increasing size of the App Store’s catalog, which now stands at over 85,000. The most interesting stat here might be the fact that there are actually more than 125,000 developers enrolled in Apple’s iPhone dev program, meaning there are at least 40,000 devs out there who need to feel the crack of the whip (or, like some of us, just want access to beta firmware).

Apple passes the 2 billion download mark with App Store originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading AT&T unleashes Real Time IM Relay for the hearing impaired

AT&T unleashes Real Time IM Relay for the hearing impaired originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 28 Sep 2009 21:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, ASUS, ATT, GSM, EDGE, HSDPA, UMTS

Let’s just be brutally honest here: Garmin-Asus’ nuvifone G60 is basically the Duke Nukem of phones. We’ve been following it since before Garmin and ASUS formed their joint venture, since before we had an inkling of what carriers might pick it up, and before other models running other platforms got thrown under the nuvifone branding umbrella. It’s been a heck of a ride — a ride that seemed exciting for the first year or so, but at this point, the phone’s stretched our patience to the breaking point and set expectations so unrealistically high that it seems virtually impossible that a US launch could quench our thirst for awesomeness. The world will never know with certainty what took so long — maybe it was met with a lukewarm response from carriers, maybe the formation of the joint venture set everything back a bunch of months — but whatever the case, it looks like we’ll finally be able to navigate the G60 right into our hands come October 4 on AT&T. With triband HSDPA, a 3.2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, and microSD expansion, the phone really doesn’t scream “high end,” but AT&T must think that the promise of an authentic Garmin nav experience is enough to command a hefty premium because a two-year deal is going to run $299.99 with a required $30 data plan — and that’s after $100 mail-in rebate. Follow the break for a gander at AT&T’s G60 FAQs for salesfolk.

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

Continue reading Garmin-Asus nuvifone G60 finally ready for AT&T: $300 on October 4?

Garmin-Asus nuvifone G60 finally ready for AT&T: $300 on October 4? originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: LG, LTE

If this strange, rather unhelpful FCC label diagram looks vaguely familiar, that’d be because it’s in the same product family as another LTE-compatible device submitted by LG to the FCC not long ago: the M13 with EV-DO compatibility. In fact, we’d venture to guess that this newly-passed M4 is basically the same thing as the M13, merely swapping 700MHz LTE and EV-DO for AWS LTE alone, which is the spectrum range that MetroPCS — which has aggressively committed to rolling out LTE as soon as next year — will need. LG’s been meticulous about making sure it doesn’t say anything specific enough in the FCC documentation to let us lay folk nail down exactly what it is, but there are brief mentions of connectivity via USB, so it’s conceivable were looking at some sort of data modem here. Either that, or… you know, it’s a piece of base station or test equipment that we’ll never even come close to seeing in the flesh.

LG gets mysterious AWS LTE device through FCC originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 28 Sep 2009 17:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, Palm

The tips are flooding in — webOS 1.2.0 has just been released, and downloads are starting all over. Obviously the big new features is support for app purchases in the Catalog, but we’ve heard there are a ton of little fixes and improvements in addition — we’re checking it out now, let us know how it goes for you in comments!

Update: We haven’t tested it yet, but the Media Sync section of the release notes doesn’t make any mention of restoring iTunes compatibility — looks like Palm’s not going to poke at the USB-IF any more than it has to.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

webOS 1.2 now available, brings support for app purchases originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Others, Accessories

TomTom car kit for iPhone will run $120 originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, LG

LG’s BL20 Chocolate — the younger sibling of the insane BL40 Chocolate Touch — has recently been making a real splash around these parts. Ever since we got our hands on it, we’ve been wondering when we’d hear some official pricing and launch information, and the wait seems to be coming to an end. It looks like the slider is going to run in the neighborhood of about €269, according to LG’s own website, which has also thrown up a few never-before-seen shots of the handset. That’s about all the news for now, but hit the read link to check out a few more snaps of this beauty, and be sure to have a gander at our own hands-on gallery below.

LG’s BL20 Chocolate gets official with €269 price tag originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Peripherals, ATT, GSM, EDGE, HSDPA

We’ve already seen AT&T’s 3G MicroCell picked up by a few desperate Charlotteans, but for those residing in North Carolina’s only city to own a professional sports championship (sorry, Panthers), their time has finally come to secure what just might be the most anticipated femtocell debut in the states. You heard right — Raleigh, NC has become AT&T’s second test market for the device you’re peering at above, and starting today, those in and around the Triangle can procure one from their local store. Needless to say, we jumped at the chance to give the unit a go, so feel free to hop on past the break if you’re on the hunt for a few more impressions.

Continue reading AT&T 3G MicroCell unboxing and impressions

AT&T 3G MicroCell unboxing and impressions originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, HTC, Others, GSM, Android

Keepin’ it real fake, part CCXXXV: TigerG3 looks like a Hero, doesn’t act like one originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, Others, Verizon Wireless, CDMA

Verizon’s on a bizarre form factor kick lately, having just released the Nokia Twist — and now we’ve got this strange little sucker, supposedly coming to market as the “Razzle.” Astute observers will note that the Razzle is basically Verizon’s branded version of the PCD TXT8030 first seen back at CTIA in April of this year, offering a 1.3 megapixel camera, VZ Navigator compatibility, and — here’s the big one — a lower half that swivels 180 degrees to choose between a full QWERTY keyboard and stereo speakers. Interestingly, an older leaked roadmap misidentified this as an HTC product — but the “Blitz 2″ branding definitely makes sense considering both the Razzle and the Blitz are clearly geared toward a younger, funkier audience. PhoneArena says we can expect this one next month for “under $60,” so this is one CDMA oddity that hopefully won’t break the bank.

Verizon’s Razzle gives them the old razzle-dazzle originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 28 Sep 2009 11:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, Others, Misc

Aside from pushing out around one phone per year (at best), Iridium Satellite really hasn’t had a major impact on the market over the past ten years. ‘Course, that’s probably because it’s hard to have much impact after seeking bankruptcy protection in 1999, but we digress. Starting tomorrow, new life will be breathed into Iridium thanks to a merger with publicly traded GHL Acquisition. If all goes to plan, the merger will add over $200 million to the company’s bank account, enabling it to pay down debt and develop a next-generation network of satellites to be launched in 2014. Furthermore, $160 million will be raised by issuing another 16 million shares at $10 a pop, and a new label (Iridium Communications) will be thrown on for good measure. Only time will tell if the world really is ready to adopt satellite phones en masse, but if TerraStar’s latest deal is any indication, we’d say chances are good halfway decent.

Iridium to merge with GHL, get back into sat phone game originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 28 Sep 2009 09:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Software, Nokia, Symbian

One of the purely theoretical benefits of an on-device app store is that you don’t need to worry about archiving and managing apps you’ve bought in the past — your download and purchase histories are magically managed up in the cloud, and if you need anything again in the future, it’s there waiting for you. After all, you’ve already bought and paid for the goods — the least they can do is let you grab the software at your leisure, right? Well, Nokia’s Ovi Store has suffered more than its fair share of growing pains as it seeks to take the unified app management strategy to S60 and Series 40, and one of the biggest pain points has been the Store’s iron-clad unwillingness to let folks download their stuff a second time; that’s finally being fixed, though, and it seems that the new policy has apps tied to a user’s account rather than the device itself, which is exactly how it should be. Things seem to be a bit wonky at the moment — not all content can be re-downloaded and getting the re-downloads to even work at all requires a delicate balance of “right” software and hardware — but it’s a step in the right direction.

Ovi Store loosens the leash a bit, allows re-downloads originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 28 Sep 2009 08:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, Samsung, GSM, HSDPA, UMTS

In a welcome reversal of trends, Samsung just stuffed a 3G cellphone into a 12 megapixel camera making this M8920 / SCH-W880 more of a camera than most 12 megapixel cameraphones can claim. While this presumed follow-up to Samsung’s Pixon 12 (M8910) isn’t official, the announcement looks imminent based on the leaked collateral above and the spyshots that emerged over the weekend. What’s impressive here is that extending 3x optical zoom — something carried over from the SCH-B600 — and dedicated camera controls like a mode dial, shutter and zoom, and big 3.3-inch WVGA AMOLED display. Rounding out the specs are HD (720p presumably) video, HSDPA data, WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth, microSD slot, and DMB mobile television; that latter spec making this Korea-only whenever it does launch. See her in the wild after the break.

[Via HDBlog.IT]

Continue reading Samsung’s SCH-W880 12 megapixel phonecamera with 3x optical zoom

Samsung’s SCH-W880 12 megapixel phonecamera with 3x optical zoom originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 28 Sep 2009 08:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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