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While perusing the Samsung booth for something fresh and fun we happened upon this, the Samsung SCH-M830. The M830 is a WiBro (mobile WiMax) and HSPA set, WiFI, Bluetooth, 3 megapixel camera, a 3.3-inch LCD, memory expansion with microSD, and runs Windows Mobile 6.1. The interface and all the UI elements were in Korean (see that Anycall branding? That's the hint) so if there were any special goodies in there we definitely didn't catch them. Impressions? It felt great and was really solid, but as to performance we can't add much there -- though just that big display had us smiling. Lovely gallery and a quick video flip-through follow the break.
Continue reading Samsung SCH-M830 hands-on Filed under: Cellphones Samsung SCH-M830 hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Feb 2009 22:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments
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We had a brief peek at yest another pico projecting set at MWC, this time an NTT docomo Samsung affair without a name, price, or even a release date. Specs are as sketchy as these are usable in a brightly lit room, but the hopes are this device will be used for services like mobile TV, home theater (yeah, right), document editing, presentations, and video calling. We were enthused to see the mock ups (pictured above) of where the design of this device could go -- and we're hoping that by next year the bricks we've seen lately will be gone and sleek design will become the norm. We filmed a bit of it in action and honestly, we've seen TI's pico projector before and it doesn't seem to have changed significantly. Follow the link to see the media.
Continue reading NTT docomo and Sharp show projector phone at MWC Filed under: Cellphones, Displays, Handhelds, Home Entertainment, Portable Video NTT docomo and Sharp show projector phone at MWC originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Feb 2009 16:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments
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We just played around with Viliv's latest MIDs, the stylish S5 and X70. Both devices use haptic feedback for onscreen keyboard input, and despite the resistive screen we found them both to offer some of the best touchscreen interaction we've seen on devices like this. They were both running Windows Vista, and seemed rather responsive and usable, even with Atom under the hood. What's really impressive is the X70 (pictured), which is thinner than the S5, and also can be mounted to an optional leather case that brings a keyboard and foldability to the device, and turns the unit into a laptop of sorts. Neither device is particularly thin or light, but there's a lot of quality going on here, and for folks sold on this sort of functionality and form factor, it would be hard to do much better than these at the moment -- of course, you'll have to swim to Korea to do it. Video of the S5 is after the break. Continue reading Viliv S5 and X70 MIDs hands-on with video! Filed under: Tablet PCs Viliv S5 and X70 MIDs hands-on with video! originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Feb 2009 13:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments
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The Engadget Spanish team just got their hands on the Samsung Show (the European, i7410 model) projector phone that we first caught a sneak peek of a CES. The Show's projector is powered by Texas Instruments' DLP pico technology, and though the fact that it packs a projector does increase the bulkiness of the phone as far as looks are concerned, the phone is still rather small and light. The Show can project an image of anywhere from five to fifty inches, with a 480 x 320 resolution . It's got a 3.2-inch WQVGA touchscreen, the TouchWiz U
and also boasts a 5 megapixel camera. There are plans for this bad dude to hit Asia and Europe (but no word on if it'll ever make its way to North America), but we still haven't heard when, nor how much it'll cost when it arrives. Check the video after the break. [Via Engadget Spanish] Continue reading Samsung Show hands-on and video at MWC Filed under: Cellphones, Displays Samsung Show hands-on and video at MWC originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Feb 2009 13:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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We were really impressed with Texas Instruments' OMAP 3-based mobile development platform when we saw it running Android earlier today, and the hardware seems to hold up well to all sorts of video-accelerated magic for a multitude of Linux-based interfaces. Not so much with Windows Mobile 6.5. Granted, this is a very early build of the OS according to Microsoft, and is lacking all sorts optimization mojo that will go into the final product due end-of-year-ish, but at the same time this is basically an interface skin to Windows Mobile 6 that Microsoft has had nearly a year to work on since 6.1, and it's not exaggerating to say that performance is a complete joke at the moment. TI's OMAP 3 was clearly struggling to handle basic scrolling of the home screen and app menu, though "smoothness" was slightly improved in scrolling through a gallery of photos. TI has been working with 6.5 for "a few months," and claims to have added optimizations to interface performance -- and interestingly is running this on a capacitive touchscreen device, something that isn't officially supported as far as we're aware. They're also saying that they plan on achieving full smoothness by the time this launches, but there's really a long way to go, and it's difficult to understand why this seems to be a last priority for Microsoft at the moment. On the other hand, TI is doing great things with its own 3D-accelerated interface, something which Windows Mobile 6.5 brings support for, so perhaps these will all one day (soon) meet in the middle and give us the sort of interface smoothness and usability we'd expect on a phone built a decade into this century. Check out the painful videos after the break. Continue reading TI's OMAP 3 hardware doesn't manage to do Windows Mobile 6.5 any favors Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds TI's OMAP 3 hardware doesn't manage to do Windows Mobile 6.5 any favors originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Feb 2009 11:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Technically, i-mate's only official announcement at MWC this year is the mega-rugged 810-F that'll withstand 140 degrees of heat, 14 degrees of cold, water resistance, and shock resistance courtesy of a nasty rubber casing, but it's certainly not going to appeal to the average consumer -- especially consumers who aren't wearing clown pants with one-liter pockets. So to that end, the company is also showing off a Windows Mobile Standard device codenamed "Centurion" -- and we're pretty sure this is the most compelling device i-mate has ever made. The version we saw was literally the first working prototype they've assembled, which meant it was creaky, wobbly, and felt like it could break at a moment's notice, but we're not taking too much stock in that; the more important thing to note is that it's freakin' tiny. The keyboard was too mushy from its overwhelming prototype-ness to take stock of whether it'll actually be usable in production, but our quick impression gives us hope that it might be wide enough to get the job done. The battery is absolutely tiny, so i-mate will be throwing in a battery wallet (remember the Upstage?) to help mitigate the problem -- they didn't have a wallet ready to show, but even with such an accessory tacked on, you're still looking at a smartphone leaps and bounds smaller than pretty much anything else you've used. There's no date on the Centurion's launch, but they're targeting mid-year -- and yes, both the 810-F and Centurion will get free Windows Mobile 6.5 upgrades. Cheers to that.
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds i-mate's 810F and Centurion handled with wild abandon originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Feb 2009 06:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Samsung sure has made some high claims about its OmniaHD supermegaphone, and now we've got some HD footage and stills to put those claims to the test. The camera does seem pretty stellar for a phone, and the video is undoubtedly HD, but we saw pretty sluggish performance in the HD recording mode, both in the on-screen preview and in the finished product. We'll chalk that up to the super-early build of the device software, but hopefully this will be resolved before the phone ships. The phone also does ultra-slowmotion video, which is awesome, but seems similarly inconsistent and stuttery in frame rate. We'll shut up and let you see it all for yourself, both in the gallery below and the videos after the break. Again, this is all from a pre-production phone, and we're really expecting (or at least hoping for) the frame rate to smooth out by launch. The video was shot in 720p, but it was downsampled for web playback -- it looks pretty sharp in native form, and the first image in the gallery is a screencap from the video in full resolution for your perusal. Continue reading Samsung OmniaHD's camera put to the test Filed under: Cellphones, Digital Cameras, Handhelds, HDTV Samsung OmniaHD's camera put to the test originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Feb 2009 19:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments
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digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gadgets/NVIDIA_Tegra_in_the_flesh'; NVIDIA really has a technical wonder in the Tegra APX 2600 chipset, and is more than happy to show it off, with a myriad of tech demos on display here at MWC. Some of this they showed off back in June of last year, but it's no less impressive -- there aren't really any mobile devices out there capable of this stuff right now. Still, we're here for the new, and NIVIDA showed up with Android running on one of its proof-of-concept units, and with another unit pumping out 1080p video, with a claimed 10 hours of battery life at that task. NVIDIA says it took them just a few weeks to port Android to the system, and we found it already quite snappy and even usable on the capacitive touchscreen-ed device. We also saw the forthcoming Android-running Yulong N8 and IAC S2 Tegra APX phones, along with an untitled CompalCom set -- they were all in non-working prototype form, but it's clear this chipset isn't just for MIDs. Check it all out in the videos after the break and the gallery below! Continue reading NVIDIA's Tegra in the flesh, booting to Android and pumping out 1080p video Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds NVIDIA's Tegra in the flesh, booting to Android and pumping out 1080p video originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Feb 2009 10:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments
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In light of its fresh tie-up with Microsoft, we can understand how any LG smartphone not running WinMo might be perceived as a black sheep this week. Still, it bums us that the the company has launched its latest S60-powered handset -- the KT770 slider -- at MWC this week with little more than a brief mention on LG's official MWC site and a couple of forlorn demo models stuffed in the corner of the company's booth. The good news is we decided to make good on LG's oversight and give this little beauty the love it deserves with a mention, a gallery, and a quick video of its tweaked S60 3.2-based UI in action. The faux carbon fiber back is a little cheesy -- particularly for a device that otherwise looks fairly businesslike -- but with 7.2Mbps HSDPA, GPS, a WQVGA display, and a 5 megapixel camera on board, it's hard to argue that this device can't be competitive (put this up against the far bulkier, uglier N95, for example). The UI seemed reasonably responsive, and though we weren't able to test the browser without a connection, we imagine the stock S60 apps work every bit as well as they do on Nokia fare. Check out the video after the break!
Continue reading LG doesn't rock the WinMo boat, launches S60-powered KT770 on the downlow Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds LG doesn't rock the WinMo boat, launches S60-powered KT770 on the downlow originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Feb 2009 09:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments
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 digg_url = 'http://digg.com/hardware/HTC_Magic_first_eyes_on';
Surprise, surprise! Vodafone and HTC launched a new Android set named the Magic today. We had a brief eyes-on with it, though the version we see above is not final hardware. If you peek at the slides in the gallery you'll notice that there are more buttons and they're laid out quite differently than what you see above. Of course, we plan a more extensive tour of the Magic and all its Cupcake goodness a little later on today. Pics and a shaky vid after the break. Continue reading HTC Magic first eyes-on! Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds HTC Magic first eyes-on! originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Feb 2009 07:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments
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