Archive for June 14th, 2009

We heard earlier this month that the first official CrunchPad units would arrive soon, and it seems like Mike Arrington and company are making progress — here’s what looks to be semi-final hardware and packaging on video for the first time. Interestingly, the device is still plastic and somewhat chubby, not the 18mm-thick aluminum we’d heard earlier — and whoever’s in charge here won’t boot it, so we’ve yet to see the custom Linux / WebKit OS in action. It’s all due to drop in July, so we’ll know what’s what soon enough — for now, check out the vid after the break.

Update: Looks like there is a short video of it in action, so we’ve stuck it after the break as well. It’s certainly an interesting idea, but we noticed some glitches here and there — we’ll see how cleaned up things are at launch.

Update 2: Oh, Mike Arrington. The king of all whispered rumors isn’t too happy that this video went out — he says it’s not “sanctioned or official,” and that “it’s certainly not the launch prototype… which doesn’t actually exist yet.” Of course it doesn’t, Mike.

[Thanks G]

[Via jkOnTheRun]

Continue reading CrunchPad unboxed, handled on video

Filed under: Handhelds, Tablet PCs

CrunchPad unboxed, handled on video originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Jun 2009 15:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Looks like the E71 is about to be upstaged as Nokia’s premier business-class smartphone — someone in Espoo’s just hit the corporate YouTube account with this promo video for an E72. Upgrades include a five megapixel camera, a relocated headphone jack, and what looks to be an optical mouse instead of a D-pad — a welcome upgrade for click-happy S60. That’s all we know for now, but we’re digging for more — check the video after the break.

Update: The YouTube video’s been pulled, but luckily the guys from IntoMobile snagged it.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Nokia E72 leaks out in promo video form

Filed under: Cellphones

Nokia E72 leaks out in promo video form originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Jun 2009 13:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Pioneer isn’t going for subtle here: the company just unleashed a flurry of in-dash navigators, with a considerable amount of accoutrements on display. The units range through the flagship AVIC-Z110BT (pictured), “midrange” AVIC-X710BT and X910BT, and the AVIC-U310BT for rich people on a budget. Seriously, with a starting price of $599, none of this is suited for the cheap-and-simple set, but at least Pioneer backs up those pricetags with serious functionality. In the high end, the Z110BT includes an tilt-out XGA 7-inch touchscreen, MSN Direct tuner (for traffic and other live info), 4GB of internal storage, CD and DVD playback, and Bluetooth. Comforts include both voice recognition (“Find the nearest Starbucks”) and text-to-speech (“I wouldn’t do that, Dave”), along with iPod control and support for optional rear seat monitors and wireless headphones. Of course, all those perks aren’t cheap: the device retails for $1,600. The other units include smaller screens and subsets of the specs, on down to the 4.3-inch U310BT.

Read – AVIC-Z110BT
Read – AVIC-X710BT and AVIC-X910BT
Read – AVIC-U310BT

Filed under: GPS

Pioneer explodes your dashboard with new AVIC U, X and Z-series in-dash navigation systems originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Jun 2009 10:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sure, once you get Doom onto a device there isn’t much stopping you in the homebrew department, but we thought the implementation of an NES emulator on webOS outside of the Classic environment was worth noting — even if it happens to be astoundingly easy to pull off. All it requires is a quick trip to root on the device a compile of the FCEUltra NES emulator for Linux and bam, it’s good to go. Hit up the read link for instructions (we’re sure we’re simplifying things just a tad) — and no, the incredible appropriateness of using a Contra ROM to kick things off hasn’t escaped us.

Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming, Handhelds

Pre gets NES emulation in Linux; our thumbs are in for a world of hurt originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Jun 2009 07:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Are you fully prepared to live in one company’s most likely inaccurate and yet still totally awesome vision of the future? If not, check out the video after the break. ASUS tossed together its ideas into a “Seamless Experience” showing at its Computex 2009 booth. Apparently the future involves a lot of interactive countertops — a sort of pervasive Surface-lite, which presents interactive, relevant info for objects placed on it. The tech also facilitates interaction between devices placed near each other, and can even capture data from a plain ol’ piece of paper and integrate it into the system. Sure, it’s been shown before, but we’re sure once enough companies come up with this idea independently they’ll be able to form two warring factions and fend off consumer adoption with a format war for years to come.

Read – ASUS PR
Read – Video from NewGadgets.de

Continue reading ASUS ‘Seamless Experience’ is the best conception of the future we’ve seen in the past five minutes

Filed under: Displays, Household

ASUS ‘Seamless Experience’ is the best conception of the future we’ve seen in the past five minutes originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Jun 2009 02:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A whole new day is dawning for the never-ever-a-netbook Sony VAIO P — those new processor and drive upgrades apparently have the little PC churning through benchmarks at twice the pace of the original. Most of the benchmark help comes from the SSD drive, but the Atom Z550 doesn’t hurt. Meanwhile, Japan is getting a WiMAX version to churn through stereotypically Japanese websites in record time. We’d be jealous if only we lived under 1,000 miles from the nearest WiMAX signal.

Read – VAIO P gets WiMAX
Read – VAIO P benchmarks

Filed under: Laptops

VAIO P gets whole new lease on life with Atom Z550 processor, SSD and WiMAX originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Jun 2009 22:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There’s nothing particularly offensive about this DAP, but we can’t imagine it changing anyone’s life — and really, is that too much to ask out of a portable audio player? After catching wind of this upcoming YP-R1 from Samsung, the fine folks at DAP Review did a bit of sleuthing to pair up the specs with a photo, and it’s all pretty traditional: 8GB of flash storage, a 2.7-inch 400 x 240 touchscreen display, a good amount of video and audio codecs, TV-out, Bluetooth, FM, e-book reader and even some games. Supposedly it’ll be out in the UK on July 30th for £109.99 (about $181 US). Like we said, pretty standard stuff, but who knows, maybe Samsung will surprise us all with a new UI theme or something.

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Samsung’s upcoming YP-R1 uncovered, just barely worth the effort originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Jun 2009 20:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve already seen a bit of guitar in DJ Hero, but apparently it might not just be a one way street: Neversoft (developer of the Guitar Hero franchise for Activision) hinted to Eurogamer at E3 that they’re interested in bringing the DJ Hero turntable to future versions of Guitar Hero. They also aren’t ruling out the possibility of bringing drums to DJ Hero — which seems to us an even more exciting prospect — and we’re sure in a few years time you’ll be able to direct wire Activision to your bank account and fill you living room to the brim with more-or-less interoperable pretend instruments.

[Via Joystiq]

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

Neversoft interested in bringing turntables to Guitar Hero, making large amounts of money originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Jun 2009 17:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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