Archive for April 17th, 2009

There’s a mild chance that Sony Ericsson CEO Hideki Komiyama has been hitting the sauce just a wee bit too hard of late, but we’re guessing it’s mostly just an inability to comprehend his own company’s situation. As SE pushes out awful report after awful report, the company’s head honcho has just revealed that it’ll be some time yet before it hops on the Android bandwagon — as if it really has time on its side. In an interview with Reuters, he stated: “[Going Android] does require a lot of evaluation, as well as a lot of testing, a lot of acceptance from a consumer viewpoint, and there is still some time to go.” He did confess that “looking ahead,” he viewed it as an “important operating system,” but he definitely gave no indication that we’d see an Android-based SE handset in the near future. Which is strange, really, considering that we’d already heard it would produce one during this calender year…

Filed under: Cellphones

Sony Ericsson says no Android phone anytime soon originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We haven’t heard much from Stone since it fulfilled its destiny and bought Rock Computers last year, but it looks like the company is now finally having a go at a netbook of its own, and blending right in with the masses with its just-announced Neo 101 model. As you can no doubt guess, this one packs a standard issue 10.1-inch 1,024 x 600 display and an unspecified Atom processor, along with built-in WiFi and optional 3G, a pair of USB ports and, somewhat notably, an ExpressCard slot for a bit of expansion. You’ll also get a slightly better than usual three-year warranty, which apparently doesn’t add much of a premium to the netbook’s £275 price tag (or about $400). Look for this one to be available in the UK starting May 1st.

Filed under: Laptops

Stone Neo 101 drops into the netbook pond, doesn’t cause a ripple originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The reason Blu-ray recorders have migrated from Japan to the UK recently — and why you’ll likely never see them in the U.S. — is all about the copyright holders. Danielle Nagler, head of BBC HD, hit the blogs to break down the wheres and hows of the DRM changes associated with bringing FreeSat disc HD DVRs like the Panasonic DMR-BS850 and Humax FOXSAT-HDR to market, basically meaning users are allowed one HD copy of a show, which can be played back on protected devices and connections only (transfer to portable players is planned to the future.) Follow the flow chart for the details, and figure out if it’d be worth it to make your own BD-R DVR backups so easily.

[Via Pocket-Lint]

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

BBC breaks down the new DRM rules for Blu-ray recorders originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hey, look at that — Verizon employee training materials that prominently feature the HP Mini 1000. That’s exactly what we predicted after we heard the two companies were talking about offering subsidized 3G laptops last month, and while we won’t congratulate ourselves too much, well, we told you so. Sadly, there’s no pricing on these slides, but we’ll go out on a limb and say it won’t blow minds when it’s finally released. Hit the read link to check out the rest.

Filed under: Laptops

Verizon’s subsidized HP Mini 1000 leaks out originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s certainly not unheard of for Nokia to take existing models in its lineup, tweak ‘em with slightly improved hardware and software, and re-release them — see the N85 / N86, N93 / N93i, N95 / N96, and so on — so we can totally buy that the company’s hard at work at updating its 5800 for a future revision. DigiTimes (which admittedly doesn’t have a pristine record for nailing these sorts of rumors) cites “sources” with Taiwanese component suppliers as saying that Nokia wants to replace the 5800′s resistive touchscreen with a capacitive one — the S60-based Samsung i8910 does that, by the by — in an effort to better compete with its rivals. That would certainly make the device more usable and responsive, but in all likelihood, this isn’t a simple matter of swapping out a component (how would you use that totally awesome plectrum, after all?) so we’d expect this to be more of an indication that Espoo’s looking to move to capacitive going forward, particularly as it transitions over to the Symbian Foundation’s builds.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Nokia prepping updated 5800 XpressMusic with capacitive screen? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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digg_url = ‘http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/17/windows-mobile-6-5-to-officially-launch-on-may-11/’; Well hey — it looks like Windows Mobile 6.5 will arrive a little earlier than expected. A post on the WinMo team blog says that the update to Redmond’s smartphone platform will officially launch on May 11, the first day of the Tech Ed conference. We’re figuring that could mean we’ll see the gold build demoed for the very first time, seeing how the version showed off at the glamorous MWC launch was described as an “alpha” cut. Of course, after that it’s all up to the carriers and handset manufacturers as to when we’ll actually see the OS loaded onto devices, but we’re sure the hacking community will find a way to satiate the impatient until then — or until Windows Mobile 7 comes out.

[Via Electronista]

Filed under: Cellphones

Windows Mobile 6.5 to officially “launch” on May 11 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Apr 2009 14:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/gadgets/Engadget_endorses_Monster_Cable_Uh_hell_no’; You know, we were as surprised as anyone to see a totally out-of-context quote of ours used on a Monster Cable site (without permission, mind you) to sell the company’s “Beats by Dre” headphones (you can see the screen cap after the break). It’s ironic, really, given that we currently have a blacklist in place for the overpriced cable-maker because of their rotten business practices (like regularly going after other companies that happen to use the word monster in their name, faking performance tests, and generally bilking customers out of their hard-earned dough). Regardless, if Monster wants to use a quote from Engadget, that’s no problem. We suggest this one:

Monster Cable sucks.

Update: Monster has removed the quote from the site. Now that was fast. Power to the people!

[Thanks, Michael K.]

Continue reading Engadget endorses Monster Cable? Uh, hell no.

Filed under: Meta, Portable Audio

Engadget endorses Monster Cable? Uh, hell no. originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Apr 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So this is pretty out-of-the-ordinary looking. LEGO‘s recently-announced MP3 player — produced through a partnership with Digital Blue — fits in nicely with the rest of the company’s kiddie gadget offerings, though we’ll admit that this is probably the first one we’re truly tempted to check out for ourselves. These bad boys have 2GB of storage, LCD displays, and unlimited attitude. It’s got that sweet brick shape that brings to mind memories of our olden days while staying on top of the latest tech that kids today demand… you know, MP3s of Miley Cyrus and stuff. Right? The MP3 players — in multi-color and pinkish (for girls) — will be available sometime this summer for $39.99

LEGO MP3 player: another brick in your kid’s wall of sound originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Apr 2009 14:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Some keen-eyed fellows at the Audi Forum Tokyo car show were just hanging out, checking out an R8, when bam! The recently announced special edition white Leica M8 appeared out of thin air, ready to impress. We don’t know what the circumstances were, or how the cam came to be there, but it’s looking really fly, we can tell you that much. There’s still no official word on pricing or availability, but rumor has it that it’s going to appear sometime in May and might cost around €7,000 (about $9,150). One more shot after the break.

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Leica special edition white M8 spotted at car show in Tokyo originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Apr 2009 13:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nintendo may have been denying any rumors of a Wii price cut earlier this month, but it looks like it could possibly be reconsidering its options if this latest sales trend keeps up. Apparently, sales in the U.S. for the month of March clocked in at around 601,000 consoles, or about a 17% drop from a year earlier. During the same period, however, Xbox 360 sales were reportedly up a healthy 26%, while PlayStation 3 sales dipped 15% — although, in sheer numbers, both were still well behind the Wii. That unsurprisingly didn’t make investors too happy, with Nintendo shares falling 6.6% on the Osaka Securities Exchange after the news broke, which accounted for it’s biggest drop in more than two months. Also contributing to the sell-off was a 19% drop in Nintendo DS sales compared to the previous year, although the company seems to be betting pretty heavily that the DSi will quickly turn those numbers around.

Filed under: Gaming

Nintendo shares fall after surprising drop in Wii demand originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Apr 2009 13:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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