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Unreal Engine 3 up and running on webOS, and we’ve got video!

Posted on 11. Mar, 2010 by IBM. 

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Palm just showed us the Unreal Engine 3 running on webOS, which apparently took a couple weeks to port over to the platform using that fancy new PDK. It runs at a pretty smooth clip, with just a tiny bit of artifacting in our enemy’s death animation. As an added bit of wow factor, Palm has it currently setup to demonstrate the game at 1 fps when in card view. Like most touchscreen shooters, this doesn’t really solve the problem of simulating dual analog sticks, but it’s still a fun and good looking engine for a mobile device. We’re still unaware of any games that have been built for the mobile engine, which has now been shown for iPhone, Tegra 2, and will be headed to the iPad as well, but we have to assume we’ll be seeing some before too long. Check out the webOS video after the break.

Continue reading Unreal Engine 3 up and running on webOS, and we’ve got video!

Unreal Engine 3 up and running on webOS, and we’ve got video! originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola CLIQ XT hands-on

Posted on 09. Mar, 2010 by IBM. 

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We know you’ve barely recovered from our Devour review, but Moto just threw another Blur-ified phone in our laps this afternoon – the CLIQ XT. We’ve been playing around with the Android 1.5-based, Flash Lite-supported, multitouch-capable handset for the last couple of hours — but before we grace you with our first impressions, just a fair warning: we don’t yet know the price of the new T-Mobile Android handset, though Motorola did promise us that it will hit shelves this month. With that said, hit the break for a quick rundown of our early thoughts.

Continue reading Motorola CLIQ XT hands-on

Motorola CLIQ XT hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft shows off XNA games running on Windows Phone, full 3D is a go

Posted on 09. Mar, 2010 by IBM. 

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Alright, we’re going to be straight with you: you’re not going to like this. See, Microsoft just showed us a pair of 3D games running on its ASUS Windows Phone prototype and built with its brand new XNA Game Studio 4.0, but wouldn’t let us nab a single photo or video of the process. What we can tell you is that they exist, they work, and at least Microsoft tossed us some screenshots to wave in your face. The two titles are The Harvest (pictured), a good looking touch-controlled dungeon crawler with destructible environments, being developed by Luma Arcade; and Battle Punks, a less impressive one-on-one sword fighting Facebook game by Gravity Bear that’s being ported over. We didn’t get to see any full motion 3D camera moves, since Battle Punks is just composed of two characters duking it out, and The Harvest has a fixed camera and some pre-rendered elements, but there were indeed some real polygons being crunched before our eyes at a full resolution (no upscaling), alpha-rev, choppy framerate, and we were assured that full screen 3D was possible. We also got to see one of our first glimpses of universal notifications on Windows Phone: Achievement unlock notices (also pictured above) that slide down from the top of the screen in a black bar and then slide back, and can’t be interacted with. Follow after the break for some more nerdy details, along with a video of VisualStudio in action, and screenshots of the two games are in the gallery below.

Continue reading Microsoft shows off XNA games running on Windows Phone, full 3D is a go

Microsoft shows off XNA games running on Windows Phone, full 3D is a go originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Facebook for webOS gets a much-needed, and much-appreciated, 1.1.0 update

Posted on 03. Mar, 2010 by IBM. 

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After a disappointing initial effort, Palm has unleashed version 1.1.0 of its webOS Facebook app. Currently only available via the update function but not the standard App Catalog, users will find new and improved access to their inbox, all their friends’ photo albums, profiles, direct photo uploading, friend search and a list view for upcoming events and birthdays. The first thing we noticed was the initial news feed now matches the notification preferences set on the standard webpage stopping the inevitable flood of Farmville updates we blocked so long ago. Features still missing include chat, video and the ability to respond to friend requests but with a distinctly faster and tighter experience, it’s certainly surpassed the mobile webpage as the best way to access Facebook on the Pre. Can’t reach the update button right now? Check our gallery for a few more images or this video demo from PreCentral embedded after the break.

[Thanks, @Isaac]

Continue reading Facebook for webOS gets a much-needed, and much-appreciated, 1.1.0 update

Facebook for webOS gets a much-needed, and much-appreciated, 1.1.0 update originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 21:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola Backflip for AT&T unboxing and hands-on

Posted on 01. Mar, 2010 by IBM. 

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We’ve just taken delivery of an AT&T-branded Motorola Backflip — the carrier’s very first Android device — and we wanted to share with you our magical first moments putting the phone through its paces. Here’s a quick rundown of our first impressions:

  • It feels solidly-built — probably a notch better than the CLIQ. There’s no wiggle or weirdness in the hinge whatsoever. Of course, we know from personal experience that “feels solidly-built” doesn’t necessarily mean it is solidly-built, so the jury’s still out on how it’ll hold up with regular use, especially with the keyboard exposed full-time.
  • Opening and closing the phone isn’t a natural one-handed operation, unless you’re comfortable putting it at extreme risk of an unfortunate tumble.
  • It’s laggy right out of the box, which doesn’t bode well for usability once you load it up with your own apps. Of course, it uses exactly the same processor as the CLIQ, so that doesn’t come as a surprise.
  • It’s filled to the brim with pre-loaded AT&T stuff: AllSport GPS, AT&T Maps, AT&T Music (which takes the place of the standard Music app), AT&T Navigator, AT&T Wi-Fi Hotspots, Mobile Banking, MobiTV, MusicID, Where, and YPmobile. We strongly prefer the approach of offering a special branded Android Market portal where you can download your carrier’s recommended apps.
  • Blur looks and feels the same as it does on the CLIQ, though the main Blur widgets — Social Status, Messages, and Happenings — have been moved one home screen left of the main one (we prefer this configuration anyhow).
  • Yahoo has replaced Google as the default search provider throughout the phone. It’s crazy: the home screen widget, the browser, everything’s been programmed to use Yahoo. We love us some irony, but golly, we’d prefer Google searches most of the time.

It spontaneously rebooted for us once in about an hour of use — a concerning sign, particularly considering Motorola’s inability to pump out a solid firmware for the CLIQ — but we’ll need a little more time with it. Want more right now? Follow the break for some more impressions, video, and a sample shot from the camera.

Continue reading Motorola Backflip for AT&T unboxing and hands-on

Motorola Backflip for AT&T unboxing and hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Exclusive: First Windows Phone 7 Series partner device unveiled (with video!)

Posted on 27. Feb, 2010 by IBM. 

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Microsoft’s Aaron Woodman just pulled off a little surprise here at The Engadget Show: he brought out LG’s Windows Phone 7 Series pre-production prototype! The QWERTY slider is the first branded Windows Phone 7 Series device the world’s ever seen, and while the hardware and software are both obviously early, we can tell you a few things about it: it’s just a hair thicker than an iPhone or Nexus One, there are dedicated hardware camera, volume, and power buttons in addition to the back, home, and search buttons dictated by Windows Phone 7 Series, and we noticed a five megapixel camera with a flash on the back, along with a headphone jack. Can’t say much apart from that right now, since things are so early and everything is subject to change, but things are certainly moving along. It’s all going down on the show right now — see it on video after the break!

Continue reading Exclusive: First Windows Phone 7 Series partner device unveiled (with video!)

Exclusive: First Windows Phone 7 Series partner device unveiled (with video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 27 Feb 2010 17:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sonim XP2 Spirit gets hammered with Engadget

Posted on 24. Feb, 2010 by IBM. 

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At the MWC Pepcom event earlier in the week we bumped into Sonim and its almost indestructible handset, the Sonim XP2 Spirit. The XP2 is a seriously tough set with the display covered in Gorilla Glass from Corning, a magnesium core, and a shell crafted with hardened rubber and fiberglass, all backed by a rather bold unconditional 3-year guarantee: you break it, they replace it. Sonim gave us an opportunity to try to destroy the thing, and… well, how could we turn down an offer to try and smash a phone? So with hammer and nail we give it an honest go — follow on to the video after the break to see who wins.

Continue reading Sonim XP2 Spirit gets hammered with Engadget

Sonim XP2 Spirit gets hammered with Engadget originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 24 Feb 2010 06:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Emporia Solid and Elegance hands-on

Posted on 24. Feb, 2010 by IBM. 

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Emporia landed at MWC with a couple sets geared specifically to the elderly, the Emporia Elegance (pictured left) and the aptly named Solid. Both of these freshly launched phones are targeted squarely at your grannie’s generation, that’s to say they include large easy to read fonts, huge keys, and a pretty slim feature set. The Elegance will ship in both black and white, features a 1.8-inch OLED high contrast display, an extra loud ringer, hearing aid compatibility, and 900 / 1800 GSM. Elegance, the slicker of the two launched phones will retail for €129 (roughly $175) and will hit the shops round about Q2 of this year. The Solid is a rugged — at least looking — phone for seniors into extreme sports and adds Bluetooth into the mix. The Solid will retail for €199 (roughly $275) and also launched in Q2. Gallery is right down below.

Gallery: Emporia Solid and Elegance hands-on

Emporia Solid and Elegance hands-on originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 24 Feb 2010 02:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola Devour goes hands-on, hits Best Buy for $99 this week (update: video!)

Posted on 22. Feb, 2010 by IBM. 

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We’ve got Motorola’s latest Blur handset in hand, Devour-ing ill-advised puns like it’s a full time job. You can check out this aluminum slider in all its consumer-friendly glory in the gallery below, see it sized up against big brother Droid right below that, and there are some initial impressions and a video walkthrough after the break.

Continue reading Motorola Devour goes hands-on, hits Best Buy for $99 this week (update: video!)

Motorola Devour goes hands-on, hits Best Buy for $99 this week (update: video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dell Mini 5 prototype impressions

Posted on 19. Feb, 2010 by IBM. 

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Dell’s puzzled the world for quite some time with its outlandish Mini 5 — at first glance it’s just another Android-based MID, but a quick fiddle with it reveals the full-fledged 3G phone inside. So will it fit in a pocket? Can we carry it around like a normal phone? Is this the future form factor that will bring the ultimate balance between portability and practicality? With such heavy dose of curiosity, we eventually traveled all the way to Shenzhen literally just to grab this prototype. Now, before you read on, do bear in mind that some of its features — especially the OS — may not make it to the final design when it comes out later this year, nor do we know what stage this prototype was at. We good? OK.

Let’s start with the basics: the main specs on our unit include Android 1.6 (which will definitely be obsolete for the final product), five-inch 800 x 480 capacitive touchscreen, Snapdragon QSD8250 chipset (with CPU clocked at 1GHz), Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS and WCDMA radio. Sadly, we have no info on whether the Mini 5 will have other cellular radio options, but it wouldn’t hurt to send Dell a petition regarding this matter. For those who want the dimensions and weight in numbers, it’s about 152mm x 78mm x 10mm at 8 ounces (including the battery, which lasts for almost a day for normal usage on 3G). Memory-wise there’s 405MB RAM and 1.63GB of internal storage — a slight let-down for the latter, so let’s hope the retail unit will be given a more generous dose of silicon. You can add a microSD card next to the battery on the back, but it appears that the mysterious second card slot we saw in the earlier teardown only gave us false hope — we couldn’t find a way to get to it without prying open the housing. Connection to your computer relies on a proprietary port — similar but slightly larger than the iPod’s — to USB cable, which may suggest that we will see some more peripherals made for the Mini 5 and its future siblings.

Continue reading Dell Mini 5 prototype impressions

Dell Mini 5 prototype impressions originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 12:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SK Telecom shoves Android onto a SIM, we check it out

Posted on 18. Feb, 2010 by IBM. 

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SK Telecom was showing off some interesting ideas about where it’d like to see SIM cards go in the future here at MWC this week, including a couple particularly juicy ones called Android SIM and the SIM Theme Package. Android SIM shoehorns a CPU, the Android OS, applications, user data, and 1GB of storage into the card pictured above. SK Telecom envisions it being used in dumbphones — as the CPU is onboard, there wouldn’t be a need for the device to have one — letting consumers move between sets or perhaps to a tablet with even more ease than they already can. SKT’s Theme SIMs use a similar smart card to take advantage of the storage space for theme elements, music, pictures, and any variety of apps that vendors or operators care to put in them. Follow on for a quick demo (and some minor failure — typical demo time Murphy’s Law) of moving the themed chips between two handsets.

Continue reading SK Telecom shoves Android onto a SIM, we check it out

SK Telecom shoves Android onto a SIM, we check it out originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 16:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sagem Orga shows off pricey SIMfi prototype at MWC

Posted on 18. Feb, 2010 by IBM. 

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Sagem Orga was on the floor of MWC this week, a company that really doesn’t typically draw a lot of attention outside wireless industry suits who fly out to Barcelona to broker deals — at least, not until they do something totally insane like stuff a WiFi radio into a SIM card. We talked to the company a little bit about its coin-sized technological tour de force and we were shocked to learn that it doesn’t instantly nuke your phone’s battery — the gentleman running demos said that he was getting about a days’ worth between charges with occasional use. Of course, “occasional use” could mean anything, but he added that the card is currently throwing out a hotspot cloud of anywhere between 5 and 50 meters, and it could easily be reworked to stay within a much smaller radius which improves battery consumption in the process.

Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to take any pictures of the actual SIMfi; this is just a dummy pictured above, but our demo guy took off the battery cover of his phone and we were shocked to find that the real thing looks no different from any other SIM (no, seriously). We guess that makes sense since it has to fit into a standard SIM slot, but it’s rocket science how they managed to fit all that circuitry into a board that tiny — in fact, we were shown an x-ray view of the card, and the number of chips, resistors, and miscellaneous pieces of technology in there is nothing short of mind-bending. It’s hard to say when (or if) we’ll see these on carriers around the world, but it’s going to be a little while — Sagem Orga tells us the prototypes cost a stout €5,000 (about $6,800) each.

Sagem Orga shows off pricey SIMfi prototype at MWC originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 15:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Alcatel OT-980 with Android hands-on, we feel frugal just looking at it

Posted on 18. Feb, 2010 by IBM. 

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This is arguably one of the cheesiest Android devices we’ve ever handled — and yes, we’re including KIRFs in that observation — but you’ve got to give Alcatel some credit here for taking the platform to a form factor that’s entirely under-served and doing so with an affordable price point in mind. The company plans to aggressively target HTC’s Tattoo when the OT-980 launches in its usual non-US markets later this year with Android 2.1, full HSPA, WiFi, AGPS, compass, and a 2.8-inch display. The thing is a straight-up fingerprint magnet (and the harsh lighting certainly wasn’t doing it any favors), but that’s not really any different from the Pre that it vaguely apes. The only prototype Alcatel had on hand had a busted display — if you look closely, you can make out the UI, so it seems the backlight may have passed on to the giant circuitboard in the sky. That doesn’t speak very highly of the build quality here, but then again, this is an homage to the Pre, right?

Alcatel OT-980 with Android hands-on, we feel frugal just looking at it originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 09:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola MT710 quick hands-on

Posted on 18. Feb, 2010 by IBM. 

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We’ve already had a quick look at the Korean Motorola MOTOROI, and we figured it was only fair if we gave the Motorola MT710 a fair shake, too. The MT710 is running the Android-based Ophone OS on some pretty sweet hardware including an 854 x 480 FWVGA resistive touchscreen display — to help with Chinese handwriting recognition we’d bet — replacing HSPA 3G with TD-SCDMA for 3G, and a pretty slick housing accented in reflective and red metals. Of course the MT710 isn’t meant for our market, but we’re still encouraged to see how many Android sets are cropping up here at the show and indeed from Motorola.

Motorola MT710 quick hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 07:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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General Mobile’s Touch Stone: how can something so wrong be so right?

Posted on 17. Feb, 2010 by IBM. 

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General Mobile — maker of the DSTL1 dual-SIM Android phone — has always walked a fine line between KIRF and originality with its phones, and its latest batch is no different. Normally it’s easy to resist a device widely regarded as a knockoff (for most of us, anyhow), but in the case of the newest model here, General Mobile’s actually managed to answer a question HTC’s failed to so far: where the hell is the HD2 with Android? The so-called “Touch Stone” (deep breaths, Palm) rings true to many of the actual HD2’s specs, from the 5 megapixel camera to the 4.3-inch capacitive WVGA display, but this sucker adds an “optional” analog TV tuner (which won’t do countries with digital transitions any good) and Android 2.0 atop an ARM9-based PXA935 core. Sadly, this phone doesn’t quite exist yet — we were shown a dummy model today with the promise of retail toward the end of the year, at which point HTC and others will undoubtedly have phones like the Supersonic on the shelf. If you’ll excuse us, we need a cold shower, but you’ll find more shots of the Touch Stone along with the Cosmos (launching soon) and Cosmos 2 dummy (launching… well, eventually) in the gallery.

General Mobile’s Touch Stone: how can something so wrong be so right? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Myriad Dalvik Turbo hands-on: Android apps just got fast

Posted on 17. Feb, 2010 by IBM. 

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Even on the latest round of Snapdragon-powered models, Android apps don’t typically seem to exhibit the same level of buttery-smooth prowess as their iPhone equivalents. There are a variety of reasons for that, but the most damning seems to stem from Google’s choice of the Dalvik Java runtime, which — to put it simply — trades performance for diminutive processor and memory footprints. You may not have ever heard of Swiss company (and OHA member) Myriad, but it sprung to life through the merger of Esmertec and Purple Labs and claims to have software running on an astounding 2 billion phones worldwide — in other words, these guys know a thing or two about phones — and they’ve applied their expertise to tighten up Dalvik and make it burn rubber. Follow the break for video!

Continue reading Myriad Dalvik Turbo hands-on: Android apps just got fast

Myriad Dalvik Turbo hands-on: Android apps just got fast originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Acer Liquid e, beTouch E110 / E400, and neoTouch P300 / P400 hands-on

Posted on 17. Feb, 2010 by IBM. 

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Acer took MWC rather seriously this year with no fewer than five phone intros to its name spanning the range from Android to Windows Mobile 6.5.3, so we went ahead and put our hands on all of them today. Starting at the bottom of the range, the lowly beTouch E110 is obviously designed to compete head-to-head with the likes of the HTC Tattoo — in fact, it apes the Tattoo’s design pretty closely in some respects. Unlike Acer’s higher-end Android phones, the E110 uses a custom skin that seems pretty well-suited for its QVGA resolution, and it’s still managing 3.6Mbps HSDPA in your choice of 900 / 2100 and 850 / 1900 flavors for different areas of the world. It feels as cheap as it looks, but as long as it’s priced appropriately, we still think it’s a reasonable way to get new audiences on the smartphone bandwagon.

Follow the break for more impressions, shots, and video!

Continue reading Acer Liquid e, beTouch E110 / E400, and neoTouch P300 / P400 hands-on

Acer Liquid e, beTouch E110 / E400, and neoTouch P300 / P400 hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Feb 2010 08:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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