IBLOG SPACE

It looks like Nokia isn't too happy that its big N8 / Symbian^3 reveal this morning was tarnished by Eldar Murtazin's harsh preview of the device and OS a few days ago: in a new Conversations blog post, the company says that Eldar's "salacious headlines" masked the fact that he was looking at a "very early, pre-production prototype with dated software that is not yet ready," and that it only ships products that are "refined, tested, re-tested, evaluated, [and] tested again." Now, Eldar says the devices he examined had the very latest hardware and software, so it's a bit of a he-said-she-said at this point, but there's no denying that Nokia's definitely shipped some not-quite-ready-for-prime-time devices lately -- the N900 and Maemo 5 shipped in pretty roughed-out form, and the company itself has said the N97 was a "tremendous disappointment." How that recent history reflects on Symbian^3 and the N8 remains to be seen, but

We just spent a few minutes playing with the beta version of Skyfire 2.0 for Android that was released today, and we'll cut to the chase: this is easily the best browser we've used on the platform. Clearly we'll need to spend more time with it to make sure it can handle all the typical sites you'd want to visit while you're on the road -- but loading the desktop version of Engadget is always a great barometer for this sort of thing, and this browser rocked it. Rendering is about as reasonably fast as you can expect it to be (on our Snapdragon-powered Nexus One, anyhow), and everything we saw displayed spot-on perfect (save for embedded Flash, of course), but if you're in a situation where you don't need to see the full page or it looks screwy, you can toggle it to send an Android user agent right from the app's toolbar below the URL field. Interestingly, the experience is noticeably slower than Steel on a G1 we tested -- but on the upside, Flash videos w

We posted up our own review of the new MacBook Pro with the Intel Core i7 processor this month and found the rig to be pretty good. The faster processor was a nice upgrade to the aging MacBook Pro line that had been waited for anxiously by Mac fans for a long time. PC Authority has posted up its own review of the MacBook Pro with the Core i7 CPU and noted that the chassis got very hot during its testing. According to the publication, the temperature of the CPU went to 84 degrees Celsius within a few minutes of running Dwarf Fortress in Windows with Boot Camp. With Cinebench fired up in OS X the temperature of the CPU hit a sweltering 90 Celsius making the bottom of the notebook almost too hot to touch. That is enough heat to roast your chestnuts for sure, keep this laptop out of your lap. The processor later hit temps as high as 101C in testing.

Peek’s cryptic tease about their upcoming “really, truly big stuff” has been fleshed out a little, and it looks as though the change isn’t new hardware but in fact a software update. In a recent WSJ piece, Peek CEO Amol Sarva confirmed that the company’s “big product news is coming this summer: a free upgrade to all Peeks that significantly expands the capabilities of our mobile internet device.” Unfortunately there’s no indication of exactly what that update will bring. Meanwhile Peek Pronto owners can head over to upgrade.peek.com and get their hands on the latest firmware, v1.09.20 for the Exchange-supporting emailing handheld. Among the changes are a new lockscreen with date, time, number of new emails and number of new text messages all shown, a new dedicated texting UI, and an improved email inbox, along with various stability and bug fixes.

I have been a PC gamer for a long time and when NVIDIA first rolled out its SLI technology, I was pumped to see the benefits that you got in video games using multiple cards. Over the years, NVIDIA has improved the tech and you can use up to four of some of the companies cards in SLI today. A while back we saw a test of quad SLI with the GTX 480 video cards and today another such test has surfaced. This time the test was conducted at Hardware.info and I want four GTX 480’s so bad I can taste it. I am sure with summer rolling around four of these beasts in an office during the Texas summer would not be a happy thing. The rig with four of the video cards inside posted a 3DMark Vantage score of 24673 with Extreme mode running and the machine turned in a score on Far Cry 2 of 169.8 fps at impressive settings.

Back when the iPad first launched we also talked a lot about theofficial iPad accessories from Apple. Among those accessories was the iPad Camera kit that includes a pair of adapters with one having a SD card reader and the other having a USB port for direct connection of cameras. Reports are coming in that the iPad Camera kit is good for more than just connecting a camera to the iPad. Apparently, that USB adapter also allows other devices to be connected to the iPad like USB audio and keyboards. The keyboard connectivity is a big deal for those not wanting the Apple Keyboard dock. You will need a stand of some sort to go along with your USB keyboard though since laying the iPad flat is a headache in a few minutes. You don’t have to buy a stand though, you can always make a stand out of the iPad packing materials.

I guess after a long day at the office even gadget designing engineers and workers need a beer. Recently some of those beer swilling folks have taken along the gadgets they are working on. The infamous loss of the iPhoen HD prototype in a California bar was not too long ago and now that new Sony mirrorless camera we talked about last week has been spied in a bar in Asia. The pictures are small and certainly don’t offer much in the way of detail on the camera. The cam is said to be the NEX3 and in the picture is wearing a 16mm f/2.8 pancake lens. The lens reportedly has internal image stabilization rather than having image stabilization in the camera to keep the size of the camera down. The camera is expected to get an official unveil on May 11 and a NEX5 mirrorless camera is also expected on the same day. Pricing is expected to be very competitive with the micro four thirds cams on the market. The NEX3 is also said to record video in 720p with the NEX5 capable of recording 1080p video.

I think Mick Jagger would approve of the new SATAsfaction line of SSDs. The SSD market is starting to look like the netbook market with companies jumping into SSD offerings left and right. Amp Inc is offering its new line of SSDs using a 2.5-inch form factor that are aimed at enterprise use. The SSDs support SATA 3.0 and are ATA-7 compliant. Native Command Queuing is supported along with PIO and UDMA-6. The line has advanced power management to save power, which is a big deal in enterprise environments. Other features include integrated ECC with 12 bytes per sector and Trim is supported. The line promises performance with up to 30,000 random write IOPs and the SSDs use a new Sandforce controller.

I’ve never had a problem with getting my mobile phone or other gadgets wet. I have spilled a Dr. Pepper on my keyboard before and had to dry the thing out and my son once spilled a whole can of root beer on a GPS device I was testing. That GPS device didn’t survive the root beer incident unfortunately. If I had something like the Wet Cellular Phone Emergency Kit, I might have been able to save that GPS unit. The kit has some sort of beads inside that absorb liquids and dry out your device. The bag measures 6″ x 10″ and has a zipper at the top and can be reused. All you have to do is take your wet cell phone, drop it into the bag, and wait for it to dry out. The kit works with any gadget that will fit in the bag and promises to work on all sorts of liquids. The kit costs $9.99 per bag and is available now.

Most of the 3D TVs that are coming to market are using LCD technology. Panasonic has announced that its new line of plasma screen 3D TVs are set to launch over the next couple of months. The sets have now been priced for fans looking forward to plasma 3D home theater goodness. The Viera VT25 series of full HD 3D plasma sets will have screen sizes up to 65-inches. The TC-P50VT25 has a 50-inch screen and will ship the week of May 3 for $2,599.95. The TC-P54VT25 will ship the same week and sell for $2,999.95. The TC-P58-VT25 is a 58-inch 3D TV selling for $3,399.95 and will ship in June. The TC-P65VT25 is a 65-inch 3D plasma TV and will ship in June as well for $4,299.95. The sets all use active shutter 3D glasses costing $149.95 per pair and sport 5M:1 native contrast ratios and more.

At Engadget, we're used to playing with premium Bluetooth headsets like the Jabra Stone and Jawbone Icon, so it's only natural this $49.95 Plantronics headset would lower our expectations, but turns out it's not bad for the money. For starters, the actual earpiece looks much better than the renders we saw, with a retro look that we quite liked. We're also promised easy operation with few buttons -- the silver paddle-like button (with LEDs underneath) for phone calls and Bluetooth pairing; the black volume button on one side with five incremental volume steps; and the ridged power slide switch on the other side. You'll find a micro-USB port at the end of the silver button, followed by the ear plug underneath and the mic on the other end. Enough with the list of features -- read on to find out how well this headset performs.

We've been seeing mobile browsers steadily raising their game lately, so it was inevitable that Skyfire would look to shock and awe us with its first release for the Android platform. Version 2.0 introduces a brand new SkyBar -- which ironically sits at the bottom of the screen -- providing users with a trifecta of new features. Firstly, the Video link serves as a workaround for those pesky "your phone ain't got no Flash" missives by doing server-side conversions of Flash video into universally comprehensible formats like HTML5. If implemented well, this should be a major coup for the company, particularly in light of a potential iPhone release as well. There's also a streamlined sharing feature for social networks, and an Explore function that suggests internet content on the basis of what's currently on display. We'll be testing out the usefulness of these shortly -- for now, hit the source link to get your own Skyfire going.

When you pay $29.95 for a phone on contract, you have a pretty good idea of what you're going to be getting: basic communication. Indeed, that's exactly how we'd describe the Samsung r330 Stride for US Cellular, a red-accented flip sporting a 1.3 megapixel cam, Bluetooth, speakerphone, 55MB of internal storage for all of your address book needs, and not much else

Steve Jobs just posted an open letter of sorts explaining Apple's position on Flash, going back to his company's long history with Adobe and expounding upon six main points of why he thinks Flash is wrong for mobile devices. HTML5 naturally comes up, along with a few reasons you might not expect. Here's the breakdown: It's not open. "While Adobe's Flash products are widely available, this does not mean they are open, since they are controlled entirely by Adobe and available only from Adobe. By almost any definition, Flash is a closed system." Man, that's some strong irony you're brewing, Steve. Still, we get the point -- HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript are open web standards. The "full web." Steve hits back at Adobe's claim of Apple devices missing out on "the full web," with an age-old argument (YouTube) aided by the numerous new sources that have started providing video to the iPhone and iPad in HTML5 or app form like CBS, Ne

If Apple created the first round of disruption to the business-as-usual lethargy infecting the cellphone industry then Google appears poised to bring round two. When looking around at choices, it's the Android OS backed by Google's cloud-based services and the 50k app-strong Android Market we usually find underpinning the sexiestand most powerful hardware on the market. And guess who's making the hardware? Right, HTC. Now HTC -- thanks to its recently introduced Desire, Legend, HD Mini, Smart, EVO 4G and Droid Incredible -- says it expects record revenues of $1.6 billion in Q2 on sales of 4.5 million handsets, up from 3.3 million handsets sold in Q1 and ahead of analyst expectations. Cheng Hui-ming, HTC chief financial officer, credits the bump to the "growing popularity of the Android platform in Europe and the US". One can only imagine what HTC sales will do when its long-standing Microsoft partner releases Windows Phone 7 OS later this year.

AT&T's own Ralph de la Vega mentioned as early as November of 2008 that you'd be able to tether your iPhone to your computer and use it as a modem "soon," but here we are some ten months after the initialannouncement of official tethering support in the platform and there's no sign of it. Considering that many iPhone carriers around the world deployed it as soon as Apple had it ready -- and many more came online over the months to follow -- it seems that AT&T's silence on the issue has spoken volumes. We reached out to the company today to get a statement on the feature's status, and here's what we got back (text bolded by us, not AT&T): "We understand that there is great interest in tethering but cannot provide any details at this time. We know that iPhone users love their devices and mobile broadband, and that they're likely to embrace tethering just as they have other features and apps - by using it a lot. iPhone tethering has t

Color us excited. HP's Todd Bradley just made an interesting proposition on the conference call about its Palm acquisition. Specifically, Bradley said, "Between smartphones, slates, and potentially netbooks, there are a lot of opportunities here." You read that right: slates and potentially netbooks. The tablet route is pretty obvious, but having the netbook / smartbook form factor is quite a twist. Think about it, a Foleo descendant you can be proud of -- whodathunkit ? If you're worried HP has forgotten about other platforms, we need only point in the direction of the Android-fueledAirlife. Obviously nothing to announce at this point, but doesn't that just get us hopeful -- roadmap announcements are said to be forthcoming closer to the merger being finalized. The call is still ongoing, so stay tuned!

Well, we can't say we were expecting HP to step up and be the one to buy Palm, but here we are, getting ready to liveblog the conference call. The deal is worth some $1.2b, and we've heard that HP is "doubling down" on webOS, so we're eager to find out what's in store -- and, quite frankly, we're excited to repeatedly hear that it's really, really true. It's about to start at 5PM EST, keep it locked right here.

HP has just announced that it's acquiring Palm to the tune of $1.2 billion, which works out to $5.70 per share of Palm common stock. The deal is planned to close by July 31, which marks the end of HP's third fiscal quarter of the year. Current Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein is "expected to remain with the company," though it's not said in what capacity. Press release after the break. There'll be a call to discuss the acquisition in more detail (well, we hope in more detail) at 5PM ET, so we'll keep you abreast as we learn more. Update: PreCentral 's managed to grab a copy of Rubinstein's letter to Palm employees.

If we know you at all (and we think we know you pretty well) you'll probably be amused and titillated to learn that Vodafone has announced that its first Vodafone-branded Android phone will be available this May. The Vodafone 845 -- which we first saw in an FCC filing a couple weeks ago -- certainly is, in the UK idiom, a "budget blower." Featuring Android 2.1, a 2.8-inch (240 x 320) touchscreen, 3.2-megapixel camera, 128MB RAM, and 512MB storage, there is nothing too terribly wild here, but you know what? Sometimes a company just needs to hit a comfortable, middle-of-the-road benchmark. The kids at the UK mobile website Fone Home have a handsome gallery for you to check out, so do hit that via to get rolling... but not before you peep the video after the break. Update: OK, maybe the title of this post was a little misleading. We meant to say that this is the first Vodafone-branded Android handset -- as you're probably well aware, this carrier is certainly no strang

In public, Microsoft has been adamant about its relationship with Verizon in bringing the Kin to market, even saying that the research and development process involved regular trips to Big Red's New Jersey offices -- but how strong is that bond behind the scenes? Well-established WinMo hacker Conflipper seems to have stumbled across a Kin ROM in recent days, tearing it apart in search of interesting tidbits, and here's a doozy: the firmware appears to be ready for provisioning on a variety of North American, European, and Asian carriers, including T-Mobile and AT&T in the US, Fido (a Rogers subsidiary) in Canada, O2, 3, TeliaSonera, China Mobile, China Unicom, Bharti Airtel for India, and both NTT DoCoMo and SoftBank in Japan. Amusingly, launch partner Vodafone is misspelled as "Vodaphone" in the files, but seriously, we're wondering how close any of these deals are to actually going down. Fido would make a lot of sense since Microsoft has yet to announce a Ca

You'd be hard-pressed to find a more direct competitor to the BlackBerry businessphone hegemony than Nokia's E7x series. It's therefore quite logical that only a day after RIM chief Mike Lazaridis made the white Bold official, Nokia is following up with its own pale-hued E72. Coming with a skinned UI to match the externals, the new handset is being announced alongside a firmware update (for E72s of all colors and creeds) that updates Ovi Maps, improves social networking integration, and allows location sharing through Facebook. You know, for when you wanna let your hair down after a hard day at the office. Internet radio of an unspecified variety has been included as well, along with general performance and stability improvements. Both the white handset and new firmware are available through Nokia today.

Sure, you might hear the words "Worldwide Developers Conference" and start to yawn, but in Apple parlancewe're looking at a likely announcement of a new iPhone (the 3GS was shown at last year's event) and maybe a sneak peak at a new version of OS X. Whatever else Apple might have in store for all of us is anyone's guess, but suffice it to say that we expect to be bringing you the meat from the opening keynote just like always, though specifics on that keynote have yet to be announced. PR is after the break, full of non-revelatory software development topics that will be covered at the conference.

As Google quietly continues to take over the smartphone space, along with just about every other crevice in the technology realm, a trio of handsets have popped up over in Asia with its Android operating system loaded on. LG has seen fit to make official a pair of Snapdragon-based handsets -- the LG-LU2300 that we spotted earlier in the month, as well as a newfangled LG-SU950 -- the latter of which will go by KU9500 on KT. Both of these will sport a 3.5-inch WVGA display, DivX playback, 3.5mm headphone jack, DMB mobile TV, multimedia playback and a May / June release on Korean soil. Over in Samsung's court, it has just announced its first Android-powered smartphone for the Korean market: the Galaxy A. Otherwise known as the SHW-M100S, this bad Larry will ship with Android 2.1, a 3.7-inch WVGA AMOLED display, 720MHz CPU, mobile TV onboard, DivX playback, a 5 megapixel camera, HD video recording, A-GPS, Bluetooth and WiFi, with availability on SK Telecom scheduled by the end of this

You ain't nobody if you don't have an Android handset (or two) these days, and Garmin-Asus has just added the A10 to its own stable of devices. It's a pretty humble 3.2-inch HVGA communicator, but it has a healthy 1,500mAh battery, a multitouch-friendly WebKit browser, and an autofocusing 5 megapixel camera with automatic geotagging. Coming with preloaded Garmin Navigation maps and software, the A10 eliminates the need for a web connection when looking up your local topography, and similarly retains turn-by-turn voice instructions while used offline. It's not altogether clear what the pedestrian optimizations are, aside from the public transport-aware cityXplorer maps, but in-car navigation is also obviously fully supported and encouraged. We're told to expect the A10 in mid-2010 for European and Asia-Pacific markets

The lawyers up in Redmond seem to have been woken from their slumber with the sudden realization that -- oh look! -- Google's Android OS infringes on Microsoft's boatload of software patents. How specifically it does so is not identified, but Microsoft believes that elements from both the user interface and the underlying operating system are in violation of its rights. This is very much in keeping with the Windows maker's crusade to assertpatent claims over Linux, which in the past has garnished it with cross-licensing deals with Amazon andXandros, as well as a settlement from TomTom. Lawsuits are not yet being discussed here, but lest you think this is a small-time disturbance, longtime Windows Mobile / Windows Phone partner HTC has already decided to shorten its list of troubles by ponying up for a license from Microsoft that covers its Android phones -- it would be pretty insane if Microsoft sued one of its biggest and most important hardware manufacturers for patent in

We've been surmising that RIM's brand-spanking-new BlackBerry Pearl 3G has a decent shot at becoming a runaway hit if carriers can offer it for peanuts, and Canada's Telus is off to a good start with the announcement that it'll hit for CAD $29.99 (about $30) on a three-year contract starting next month. It looks like these guys will only be offering the 20-key version, but there'll be a choice of two colors: black and pink, a Telus exclusive (only within Canadian borders, we'd assume). Without a CDMA version of the phone in sight, what do you want to bet they're thanking their lucky stars they've got their HSPA network up and running now?

If Boost Mobile's latest from Sanyo -- the so-called Juno -- looks familiar, it damn well better: it's nothing more than a rebrandedSCP-2700. We're still having a hard time getting used to the fact that Boost is back into the CDMA game yet again (in a big way) with Sprint's acquisition of Virgin Mobile, and needless to say, the Juno doesn't have a trace of iDEN compatibility coursing through its electronic veins. The fairly light spec sheet includes a 1.3 megapixel camera, QVGA display, GPS, Bluetooth, speakerphone, and an address book capable of swallowing up to 600 contacts; it's available today for $99.99 contract-free in your choice of pink or blue.

Young Jiah Khan has encountered quite a few road blocks ever since she turned towards the world of films. If her entry into Bollywood was a faux pas of sorts with a missed opportunity in Emraan Hashmi starrer Tumsa Nahi Dekha a few years back, last year was even more disheartening for her as she was replaced by Genelia D'Souza when Shahid Kapoor starrer Chance Pe Dance was almost complete. It didn't take much time for her to wipe off her tears and move on to Housefull . Still, the scars still remain, understandably so, even as she looks forward to far better years ahead with bigger projects and stronger roles in the pipeline. Joginder Tuteja catches up with the young actor who is ready to shock audience with her contrasting portrayal of a simple girl and a seductive siren alternatively Housefull . After Nishabd and Ghajini , audience get to see the sensual side of Jiah in the 'suhaagraat' song (I Don't Know What To Do) in Housefull . That should

While RIM's WES 2010 keynote is still ongoing, the company's YouTube channel has kindly released the first teaser video for the incoming BlackBerry 6 operating system. There's a lot of movement on screen -- so much, in fact, that it's almost like RIM really doesn't want you to see the OS at all. We did catch sight of a Cover Flow-aping music organizer, an onscreen keyboard engaging in some threaded messaging, Facebook and Twitter clients, and even the briefest of glimpses at that famed WebKit-based browser. Interaction in the video is done via touch, but you'll naturally be able to utilize the new interface on more conventional, touch-less devices as well. Skip past the break for the moving pictures.

Still looking for that perfect iPhone dock? Struggling to convince ma and pa that ditching the landline really is the best thing to do? Freeland Studios is up for helping with both quandaries, as the handmade iRetrofone Base provides both a perfect resting place for your iPhone (or any phone, really) and a pinch of vintage to boot. Cast from resin with the utmost care, this here adornment can be ordered in both black and clear, though you'll have to wait around a fortnight for one of the $195 devices to actually ship. Up next? A resin-based bag phone holster for those who constantly lose their smartphone between the seat and center console. Thanks for repeating yourself, history.

We heard back in mid-March that Rhapsody for iPhone was getting an offline mode for downloading music and playing at times of no reception (like most subway rides). Good news, folks, today is the day the app get this coveted update. Lest we forget, too, with this summer's OS 4 release finally enables background music, Real's aural offering just got even more enticing. Press release after the break, or hit up the iTunes link to download now -- don't forget, though, that a monthly subscription plan is still required for playback.

Two in one week -- Two leaked Chinese Motorola phones with Android and transparent MOTOMING-like flip covers, that is. However, this one's a little more exciting. Dubbed the Moto MT820, this sleek handset's got a full leaked gallery of nice, clear images courtesy Chinese forum HiAPK , and word has it this might be the first device to make use of the dual-screen 3D patent Motorola applied for early this month. Actual facts are a little more scarce, though spy shots show a front-facing camera, physical home, power, volume and camera buttons, and a microSD slot hidden inside the back cover. Oh, and that spiral G3 logo? That means this particular device is destined for China Mobile's TD-SCDMA network.

You probably won't hear Microsoft lauding this thing too much -- it's got bigger fish to fry at the moment -- but Samsung and US Cellular have just teamed up to launch the i225 Exec, a simple Windows Mobile 6.5 Standard-based smartphone with a portrait QWERTY keyboard. It's got a 2 megapixel camera and microSD expansion up to 32GB (assuming you can actually track down a 32GB SanDisk card), but otherwise, this is about as straightforward and basic as a modern smartphone can get -- no frills, just straight-up touchscreen-free legacy WinMo action. It's available right now for $99.95 on a new two-year contract after $70 rebate.

Just one day after finding a pretty thorough review of the Nokia N8 on a Russian website, the full spec sheet seems to be floating about as well -- also from a Russian source. Unwired View 's published what it believes to be the full N8 spec sheet. So what do we find contained within? Well, no shockers, to be sure, but here's what we know: the phone will boast a 3.5-inch capacitive touchscreen OLED, a 680MHz CPU, 256MB of RAM, swappable microSD capacity up to 32GB, and a 12 megapixel cam. Now, there are also a few rumored features floating around, which include a DRM-free Ovi music store, and LAN IEEE802.11 b/g -- so we'll let you know for sure when we do if those features are going to hit reality. Until then, hit up the source link to check out the full listing.

We'll be very honest with you: unless you're a Tour user amped to upgrade to something that directly addresses your specific complaints, this video might be of little interest. That said, we were able to browse a little site called Engadget (using the same old non-WebKit browser, of course) over the Bold 9650's newfound WiFi support, and while it wasn't about to set any speed records, it'll take some more comprehensive analysis to understand how much blame the WiFi radio, the hotspot, and the browser's rendering engine should take, respectively. We totally dig the optical pad over the old trackball (pardon our stupidity in the video where we attempt to keep scrolling beyond the end of the page -- it wasn't the Bold's fault, honest), and the keyboard is every bit as good as it is on the Tour of old

RIM's co-CEO Mike Lazaridis just announced in an analyst call today that the company's next platform -- coined BlackBerry 6 -- will be available "in the next calendar quarter," which we take to mean the third quarter of 2010. We weren't able to see a video preview of the platform that was shown to analysts attending the event, but the demo apparently showed a touchscreen interface; a follow-up question from the audience confirmed that it'll be available for both touch and non-touch devices, though. Interestingly, Lazaridis said that the company's all-newWebKit-based browser is part and parcel with 6, pointing out that the rendering engine will have implications throughout the platform and the apps that run on it, not just on the browser alone; in other words, we wouldn't expect a release of a WebKit browser from these guys for OS 5.0-based devices. Speaking of OS 5.0, the intention is that every device in RIM's portfolio will eventually run 6, but