Skip to content

Archive for

2
Apr

Microsoft to update all WP8 Nokia Lumia devices with Windows Phone 8.1


Just before announcing “the next generation” of Nokia handsets, EVP of devices Stephen Elop dropped some update news for the freshly outed Windows Phone 8.1. Microsoft will be updating all Lumia devices that are running Windows Phone 8 to the next version. This means that many folks already sporting one of those WP8 smartphones can expect Cortana and all her vices in the days to come.

Filed under: , ,

Comments

2
Apr

Windows will be free on phones, small tablets and the Internet of Things


Windows will be free on small devices

It turns out that those rumors of Microsoft cutting Windows prices to spur adoption were true — and then some. The company has announced that Windows will be free for hardware makers to use on phones, tablets with screens under nine inches and Internet of Things devices. Suffice it to say that this is a huge move for a tech giant whose operating system licensing is arguably its bread and butter. Microsoft is obviously willing to take a financial hit to compete against Android, Chrome OS and other freely available platforms.

Filed under: , , , ,

Comments

2
Apr

Nokia announces the budget Lumia 630 and 635 with Windows Phone 8.1


Nokia’s had a rough time with its high-end Windows Phones over the years, but it’s excelled with its cheaper handsets that cater to emerging markets and anyone interested in a budget smartphone. Announced today at Build, the Lumia 630 and 635 focus on expanding the latter category. The new devices come with Windows Phone 8.1 onboard, and while the 635 includes speedy LTE data, the 3G-only 630 will also come in a dual-SIM variant. They’ll be available in five colors with changeable shells, and even offer features like fitness tracking with an integrated low-power chip called SensorCore. They’ll arrive in May as the first Lumia devices with Windows 8.1, running on quad-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon 400 processors. As one would expect, these will ship in Asia first before spreading out worldwide, with a US release planned for July. Off-contract, the Lumia 630 will cost $159 / $169 for the single or dual-SIM versions, while the 635 will be $189. We should know more about these and get hands-on experience in a few hours when Nokia holds its own press conference, so check back then for more details.

Filed under: , , ,

Comments

Source: Nokia Conversations, Nokia

2
Apr

Engadget Mobile Podcast 202 – HTC One (M8)


This week, your host Brad Molen is joined by Phil Nickinson (Android Central) and Russell Holly (Geek) to dig into the details of HTC’s newest One smartphone. They’ve all spent some quality time with the M8 version of the One and can provide insight into the build quality, software performance and day-to-day functionality. There’s lots of laughs, no-nonsense perspective and more than a few anecdotes about the One (M8), Android, HTC and life in general. So put down that peanut butter and jelly, because it’s Engadget Mobile Podcast time!

Hosts: Brad Molen

Guest: Phil Nickinson, Russell Holly

Producer: Jon Turi

Music: Tycho – Coastal Brake (Ghostly International)

Hear the podcast:

Subscribe to this podcast:

[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes
[RSS MP3] Add the Engadget Mobile Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically
[RSS AAC] Add the Engadget Mobile Podcast feed (in enhanced AAC) to your RSS aggregator

Download this podcast:
LISTEN (MP3)
LISTEN (AAC)

Contact this podcast:
podcast (at) engadgetmobile (dot) com

Follow us on Twitter:
@phonewisdom, @engadgetmobile, @philnickinson, @russellholly

Filed under: ,

Comments

2
Apr

Amazon debuts FireTV, a set-top box that doubles as a game console


KB-Jeff-Letter-CenterGraphic2._V340675763_

As if we expected anything else, Amazon today announced its set-top box experience. Taking aim at devices such as Apple TV, Roku, and even Chromecast, the Amazon FireTV is a hardware and software solution for today’s living room. Designed for movies, TV shows, music, and even games, it’s bound to be one of the year’s most talked-about products.

Media

In terms of content, the FireTV features stuff from a variety of partners. Familiar names are present here; Hulu, Netflix, YouTube, MLB.TV, and Vimeo are some of the apps offered. Naturally, Amazon’s own Instant Video is the key player and main draw. Like we have in similar devices, the FireTV also has Pandora, iHeartRadio, and other streaming music options.

  • Movies and TV Shows from Netflix, Prime Instant Video, Hulu Plus, and More – Fire TV comes with instant access to all of the most popular subscription video services, including Netflix, Prime Instant Video, Hulu Plus, WatchESPN, VEVO, SHOWTIME, Crackle, YouTube, and more, with additional services like WWE Network, MLB.TV, WATCH Disney Channel, WATCH ABC, and Twitch coming soon.
  • Prime Instant Video, with Exclusives and Original Shows – Fire TV is seamlessly integrated with Prime Instant Video, Amazon’s subscription streaming service. With tens of thousands of movies and TV episodes, Prime Instant Video is the exclusive premium subscription streaming home for thousands of hours of video, including shows like Downton Abbey, The Americans, Workaholics, Justified, 24, Hannibal, Dora the Explorer, SpongeBob, and more. Prime Instant Video also includes shows from Amazon Studios, the original TV production arm of Amazon, such as Alpha House from Pulitzer-Prize winner Garry Trudeau and starring John Goodman, which debuted last year and quickly became the most watched show on Amazon since its release. Alpha House is now in production for its second season, and Amazon recently greenlighted six new shows, including The After, Bosch, Mozart in the Jungle, and Transparent, which will be available starting later this year.
  • The Largest Selection of Videos for Rent or Purchase – Rent or purchase over 200,000 movies and TV episodes from Amazon Instant Video, which has the world’s largest selection of videos to rent or buy, including new releases and blockbusters. Amazon is the only nationwide video service that offers rental and purchase, as well as a subscription streaming service, so you can find everything you want in one place—catch up on past seasons of popular TV shows with Prime Instant Video before purchasing the most recent episode of the show as it’s released.
  • Find the Lowest Price—Even if it’s Not from Amazon – Just like on Amazon.com, Fire TV integrates viewing options on a single page so you can always choose the lowest price. This is available starting with Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video, and Prime Instant Video, and will expand to other content providers so you’ll see all of your options in one place.

feature-gaming._V340389429_

Games

Switching gears, the Fire TV will also play host to games from players such as Sega, EA, Disney, and others. Starting next month we’ll see thousands of new games debut in the AppStore. An optional Fire Game Controller can be purchased for $39.99 and comes with 1,000 Amazon coins worth $10 in app purchases. Seeing as how the average price of a game today is only $1.85, the FireTV could become the next killer console experience. So, not only does this take a swipe at Apple and Roku but it also aims at OUYA and other products.

Price

Shipping immediately, the Kindle Fire TV is available for $99.

 

The post Amazon debuts FireTV, a set-top box that doubles as a game console appeared first on AndroidGuys.

2
Apr

Native Union POP DESK Review


IMG_4025


61v-FBnSK-L._SL1500_

The Native Union POP DESK is a beautifully crafted retro handset system for your cell phone, Skype calls, and more. Using your smartphone with the Pop Desk allows for an old school version of mobile phone calls while charging your device.

The POP DESK setup comes with Native Union’s improved Retro Pop Handset and a classy metal stand to hold your device of choice. Opening ports on the stand allows for USB cables to access most of your devices without being in the way.

What I love about this model is that I have a place to sit my phone down, charge, and handle calls with more of a professional appearance. I really liked the feel of an office desk phone without the need for an extra line.

Pros:

  • Beautiful smartphone stand with a sturdy weighted base
  • New and improved pop handset with better audio quality
  • Functionality allows for charging and data access to most devices
  • Small Profile

Cons:

  • Larger smartphones have issue with stand

Overall, I’d definitely recommend this product; it takes up minimal space on even the most crowded of desks. Check out Native Union’s website to learn more about the POP DESK. You can buy one there for about $50 but that’s far more than you’ll spend elsewhere. We found it for $19.99 at Amazon.

 

The post Native Union POP DESK Review appeared first on AndroidGuys.

2
Apr

Greenpeace Features Apple as ‘Green Energy Innovator’ in New Report


Environmental activist group Greenpeace, which has in the past taken Apple to task over environmental issues, has released a new report entitled “Clicking Clean: How Companies are Building the Green Internet” which classifies Apple along with Google and Facebook as “green energy innovators”. The report praises Apple for its commitment to renewable energy, awarding the company three “A” grades and a “B” grade in the group’s four rating categories.

Apple’s aggressive pursuit of its commitment to power the iCloud with 100% renewable energy has given the company the inside track among the IT sector’s leaders in building a green Internet. Apple has made good on its pledge by building the largest privately owned solar farms at its North Carolina data center, working with its utility in Nevada to power its upcoming data center there with solar and geothermal energy, and purchasing wind energy for its Oregon and California data centers. Apple’s commitment to renewable energy has helped set a new bar for the industry, illustrating in very concrete terms that a 100% renewable internet is within its reach, and providing several models of intervention for other companies that want to build a sustainable Internet.

greenpeace_clicking_clean
The full report (PDF) highlights Apple’s strong performance in transparency, its commitments to renewable energy and siting of facilities in areas with access to renewable energy, and its deployment of and advocacy for renewable energy. The only area where Greenpeace gives a slight downgrade to Apple is in energy efficiency and mitigation, where the group believes that Apple could do more to share details on its energy efficient facility designs to help the industry in general become more environmentally friendly.

Greenpeace was initially quite sour on Apple’s renewable energy plans for its flagship North Carolina data center, believing the company to be relying mostly on coal-powered energy sources. Apple took issue with Greenpeace’s claims, but the publicity seemed to have encouraged Apple to become more open about its commitments to renewable energy as it publicly stated its intentions to run all of its data center on 100% renewable energy. While Greenpeace continued to overestimate Apple’s energy needs for the North Carolina facility for some time, the group appears to now be satisfied with Apple’s disclosures and is on board with the company’s energy policies.

    



2
Apr

SITU Smart Food Scale Connects to iPad to Relay Nutritional Information [iOS Blog]


Newly released on Kickstarter, the SITU is a food scale with a built-in Bluetooth chip that enables it to communicate with an iPad. When a food item, such as fruits, vegetables, or even chips, is placed on the scale, it weighs the food and then relays the nutritional information to the iPad via the SITU companion app.

situfoodscale
Designed to allow people to monitor their calorie intake and other nutritional factors while preparing fresh foods, the SITU can measure each component of a meal to calculate its exact nutritional value. It’s able to measure individual components and more complete meals, like a sandwich, a bowl of cereal or a slice of pizza.

Place your food on SITU and you’ll see exactly what’s in it–from calories to salt to sugars to vitamins and minerals. You can use SITU to quickly check the nutrition content for a single piece of food, or you can choose to go further, tracking entire meals, saving them to your dietary history, setting alerts for nutrient limits, and even exporting your data to share with your doctor, nutritionist, or personal trainer.

According to the product’s developers, the SITU is a useful tool for calorie counters, athletes, parents, health professionals, and those who want to be more health conscious, tracking nutrients like sugars and salts within food.

Additional details about the SITU and multiple videos of the product in use can be found on the Kickstarter page. Interested backers can preorder the SITU for a pledge of £50 plus £12 for shipping outside of the U.K., which equates to approximately $103. There are a limited number of scales available at that price and orders are expected to ship in November of 2014.

    



2
Apr

Sprint sends out invites for April 29th event, may talk about HD Voice


Well, here’s a noodle-scratcher to start your day with. Sprint has just sent out invites to an event on April 29, and it’s being characteristically coy about what’s going down. The carrier’s chosen imagery and tagline leave little to the imagination though: this rodeo is all about audio, and our guess is that CEO Dan Hesse probably has some more to say about Sprint’s HD Voice rollout. Sprint’s been slowly rolling out the service (which it claims will provide “crystal clear” call quality to owners of compatible devices) in Kansas City, with Philadelphia and Baltimore to follow in the coming weeks. Hesse’s ultimate goal is to get the whole nation flying under that HD Voice banner by July, and it probably won’t be long before he steps on-stage to let us know how that’s working out for him.

Filed under:

Comments

2
Apr

Catch our Amazon video event liveblog right here!


Today’s the day when Amazon unveils…something to do with video (or so we’re told). Let’s not beat around the bush here: this is almost certainly Amazon’s long-rumored video streaming device, and may very well also be the game streaming device we’ve been hearing about (we’re guessing it’s one device that does both). Oh, and probably that Bluetooth game controller too, right? There’s gotta be some reason Amazon bought the studio that made the new Killer Instinct!

Regardless, the particulars are missing. What kind of streaming options will there be? How about onboard processing? A set-top box or a dongle (a la Chromecast)? How does this incorporate the coming army of Jeff Bezos-controlled domestic drones? Should we bring our bugout bags to the event?

April 2, 2014 11:00:00 AM EDT

Hey folks! We’re seated in Amazon’s liveblog in extremely comfy, living room-style seating. The event’s outfitted with movie theater couture. WHAT COULD IT BE?

I’m joined today by a denim-clad Terrence O’Brien on text and a sleepy Edgar Alvarez on photos. We’ll also be breaking out the important news as it breaks.

Beyond the decorations, we’ve spotted the head of Telltale Games in the crowd. Looks like there’ll be some form of gaming announcement here!

We’re told that Amazon head Jeff Bezos won’t be on-hand, which is surprising given the seriousness of this event.

On the stage there’s a faux living room setup, and in the home theater there are two green trays covered in black felt. We’re betting that’s where today’s big announcement is hiding.

The usual gaggle of tech press are here, but a surprising number of mainstream media are also here. CNN’s Brian Stelter is sitting in the back looking dapper, and a well-dressed New York Times reporter is sitting to our left.

A nearby TV is running clips from movie after movie. Katniss Everdeen is shooting arrows and Lennie Kravitz is nodding, knowingly.

Oh, and there’s a bowl of candy next to us. Because movie theaters. You’ll excuse us if we don’t partake, as it’s 11AM.

Ellie Goulding’s “Burn” is blaring over the speakers, we are drinking coffee and looking at people who are looking at their phones. We’d love to give you a more exciting update, but that’s all we’ve got for now. This thing should kick off any minute now!

(It’s supposed to start at 11AM EDT, so, uh, literally any minute now.)

Okay fine, we’re eating candy. FINE AMAZON. You’ve won.

The lights are dimming, the show is about to begin. Let’s go!

A brief trailer for Amazon’s Instant Video is playing, showcasing BBC neo-classics and a variety of other media.

Did you know they’ve got “Great Kids Content” as well as shows for the rest of us? Now you do!

Peter Larsen from Amazon is up first, and he’s starting with Amazon Digital Video.

Between 2006 and 2010, the service only grew incrementally. In 2011, however, he says it blew up.

“It’s because we started investing in that great content you just saw.” 350 percent growth, he says!

Peter’s talking about the competition now. Hulu and Netflix are both growing, he says. “It’s clear that customers love this content.

The PS4, Xbox One, Roku 3, Chromecast, and Apple TV are all cited as devices customers love, and where they’re streaming. Sounds like he’s setting up for a reveal of Amazon’s box.

Pretty sure that’s a game controller I can see peeking through the side of a tray on stage. Get excited folks!

First things first, he’s got a demo of Roku’s search function. He…doesn’t love it.

He’s citing customer reviews of text input on streaming devices. One compares it to entering high scores on an old Nintendo. We don’t disagree!

“The second thing we hear from customers all the time is performance. Laggy performance.”

He’s saying that nothing takes you (and your loved ones) out of the experience more than load times. We don’t quite agree there, but lag does suck.

Bizarrely, it sounds like he’s talking about internet connectivity issues and not horsepower issues.

“The third thing we hear from customers is this idea of a closed ecosystem.”

It makes Pete super mad that he can’t watch Amazon Prime Instant Video on his Apple TV. He’s also citing customer complaints about Samsung’s similarly closed ecosystem.

And now he’s calling out Microsoft, pointing out that Xbox Live Gold costs $60/year to even use services like Netflix (which costs another subscription fee on top of that).

So, to review: search, performance, and closed ecosystems are all issues Amazon wants to solve.

How to solve that? “Invent and Simplify,” he says.

He’s citing solutions Amazon’s made in the past, from Kindle’s battery life to spearheading the ability to use electronics on airplanes.

“When we looked at the living room, we took that same approach. How do we make the complexity disappear?”

Pete’s got a device in his hand — “introducing Amazon Fire TV”

It’s a small black box. “Listen, this thing’s tiny, it’s incredibly powerful, and it’s unbelievably simple.”

A screen behind Pete shows off the OS operating on Fire TV. It looks a lot like Spotify! “One other thing: good news, you’re all taking one home today!”

Hey alright!

First things first, Pete’s talking performance. He says Amazon noticed three bottlenecks. “Fire TV has a quad-core processor. It’s best in class for a product of this type.”

“It also has a dedicated GPU, the kind usually found in smartphones.”

“The second performance bottleneck we solved was RAM. Fire TV has 2GB of RAM. That’s 2 to 4 times more than these other products on the market right now.”

Pete says that the extra RAM makes it operate smooth and quickly. It boots up quickly and seamlessly, he claims.

The device also has dual-band WiFi, so that applications and content download quickly and consistently.

Fire TV has “3x” more power than the competition, Pete says.

It’s shorter than a dime! Who are these people measuring things with coins?

There’s a pretty little remote control for the device as well, and we see a microphone button on there. And hey, a microphone hole! It looks like Fire TV is voice-controlled as well as remote-controlled.

It’s about the height of a piece of popped corn, according to the slide on stage.

Search, Home, Movies, TV, Watchlist, Video Library, Games, Apps, Photos, Settings are all in the main screen.

Pete’s drilling into each now. When you push in to any category, a horizontal list of tiles enables playing the content, adding to watchlist, or pushing to other devices (“More Ways to Watch”).

Pete’s showing a demo of “ASAP” — a function of Fire TV that stars content playing immediately. When we say immediately, we mean IMMEDIATELY. Like, the second he pushed the button. It made Terrence say, “Jesus!”

Fire TV is based on Android and HTML, so it’s apparently super easy to port apps over. A huge selection of the app world’s greatest hits were shown as coming to the device.

“We’re starting off with Hulu Plus and Amazon Instant Video of course, and we’re rolling in other partners over time.”

Pete also says that Amazon Studios will bolster Fire TV’s content lineup. And now he’s showing us a trailer. Oh god, it’s Alpha House!

The video cites 10 original shows coming to Amazon Video this spring, featuring everyone from Jeffrey Tambor to John Goodman.

All 10 shows are coming “exclusively” to Amazon Prime Instant Video. Pete’s also citing Chris Carter’s “The After” and “Mozart in the Jungle,” as well as Tambor’s “Transparent.”

It looks like HBO Go, SHO Anytime, Pandora, RedBullTV and a whole mess of others are headed to Fire TV. No idea of when, sadly.

Voice search is up next. Pete’s searching for John Malkovich using the remote control’s mic. Malkovich’s films are listed! Burn After Reading!

“This is voice search that actually works,” Pete says. BOLD WORDS, Pete. We’ll let you know how reliable it is just as soon as we get our hands on it.

Searching for “20 Feet From Stardom” also smartly brings up other Oscar nominated documentaries.

Now Pete’s searching by genre. He says, “Princess movies” and encounters a voice error. One more attempt and it goes through. There are princess movies on screen! “So that’s voice search that actually works,” Pete says.

Pete’s now taking a picture of the audience, and he’s using Amazon’s Cloud Drive to push it to his Fire TV.

Scrolling down to the photo in his Photos section, there we are, looking harried.

We’re now being shown a mosaic of photos that Pete’s taken running as a screen saver when he’s left the Fire TV idle for a bit.

Pete’s detailing “X-ray” — a second-screen solution on Fire TV that provides rich content for whatever you’re watching.

It works somewhat like SmartGlass on Xbox 360/Xbox One, picking up what he’s watching and providing info contextually based on not just the show in general, but the scene itself. The info is pulled from IMDB, he says.

And now we’re talking features that are coming next month. First up, music.

“We’ve got music apps: Pandora, iHeartRadio, TuneIn.”

When Pete plays Pharrell’s “Happy,” lyrics pop up on the screen as well. Free karaoke!

Next up is “FreeTime.” The service is already available on tablets — it’s a kids version of the Fire TV’s OS. Think of it as a safe environment for your children, powered by parents/caretakers.

FreeTime not only walls off kids from the dangerous stuff, but it also allows for more general searching. One such search? Dinosaurs. You’ll forgive us, but we’d like to search for dinosaurs too. Thank you very much.

The OS is adorably kiddie, as you’ll see in the pictures above.

“FreeTime Unlimited” is another option, which enables content from Sesame Street, PBS Kids and Nickelodeon. In so many words, it’s a cultivated selection of content that enables kids to explore without bottlenecks of asking parents for permission to buy.

Pete says Fire TV also has a bonus: gaming.

He’s citing the price of game consoles being too high.

(Which, to us, means that Fire TV is less than $300 at very least. No official word on price yet.)

Mike Frazzini from Amazon Games is up next.

He’s citing the variety of game developers signed up. Big names like Ubisoft and Take-Two are noted. He says that, by next month, thousands of games will be available to play.

Mike’s saying that you can play games a variety of ways. You can use the remote control, you can use a custom app that Amazon’s releasing next month, or you could use the Fire Game Controller.

“This controller is comfortable, it’s familiar.”

(Yes, this is the game controller that leaked last month.)

The controller costs $40 and comes with some Amazon Coins to get you started.

The first game being shown is…Minecraft!

That was not what we were expecting!

This is a Fire TV-specific version of Minecraft — it’s not clear how it stacks up against the mobile, PC, and console versions of Minecraft.

Next up, a Monsters Inc.-themed always-runner. “This game is fun and accessible and can be played by customers of all ages.”

Gameloft’s Asphalt 8 is being shown next. For a mobile game, it looks very impressive. Like, PSP impressive. Maybe a little better than that.

Now we’re talking price for games. Mike says the average game costs just under $2 at $1.85.

Just like video content, Amazon’s also making games for Fire TV. The first being shown is Sev Zero. Is this from Double Helix? We’re not so sure just yet.

Sev Zero is a third-person shooter in the vein of Gears of War, but ya know, a lot less visually impressive. The fidelity is somewhere between mobile phone and portable game console.

Mike says none of these games would be possible without the horsepower inside of Fire TV.

“At Amazon Game Studios, Sev Zero’s our first step at building games from the ground up.”

Mike’s giving a sneak peak at Amazon’s internal game developments now.

None of the games being shown are products we’ve seen before, so it looks like this whole reel is internal development. If that’s the case, Amazon has a TON of games in the works. More than a dozen. We’ll be sure to ask for more info as soon as the presentation’s over.

The only tease beyond the reel is “Coming Soon.”

Mike’s turning the presentation back to Peter. He’s very excited about a dinosaur with a rocket on its back. And now we’re getting some testimonials from customers that used the device last week.

These people who were sat down in a comfy room by Amazon and asked for their opinions on a device were totally interested in it. Go figure.

One of those testimonials confirms multitasking. Apparently you’re able to keep Pandora/music playing while using other apps. Good!

It looks like we’re getting to the bottom line at this point. What’s the price, Pete?!

He says Amazon did all it could to create a compelling product at the lowest possible price. First, he wants to review what we’ve learned today. Tell us the price, Pete!

Yes, Fire TV has lots of “content.” Yes, it has voice search. Yes, it’s relatively powerful. Yes, there are some neat special functions. WHAT IS THE PRICE, PETE?!

Amazon’s Fire TV costs $99 and it’s available today. Hey, that’s not too shabby!

We’re being shown the first advertisement for Fire TV now, featuring CRAZY Gary Busey.

Hey, let’s talk about that price and release date instead. It’s only a hundred bucks! And it’s available today!

The event’s wrapping right now, and we’ll have a whole mess more information for you just as soon as we’ve got one in our hands. That should be literally any second now.

Thanks very much for joining us here, folks! If you’ve got follow up questions, feel free to get at your livebloggers (@realbengilbert, @terrenceobrien, @abcedgar) or hit up Engadget @Engadget. Hugs and kisses!

Filed under: , , , , , ,

Comments

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »