Daily Roundup: Samsung Galaxy Camera 2, LG WebOS TV, ZTE BlueWatch and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Samsung unveils Galaxy Camera 2 and NX30
Samsung revealed two new additions to its camera lineup: the NX30 and the Android-powered Galaxy Camera 2. Click the link for hands-on photos and more information about their NFC-based “Tag & Go” feature.
Rumored LG WebOS TV interface leak
LG is rumored to be releasing a new WebOS Smart TV at CES, and according to @evleaks, this is what it looks like. Click through for more details about the smartphone-like UI and potential launch apps.
Mozilla delays Windows 8 Firefox app
After being announced almost two years ago, Mozilla has yet again delayed the release of its Windows 8 Firefox app until mid-March. Follow the link for details.
ZTE Grand S II and BlueWatch for CES debut
ZTE is bringing an impressive seven devices to CES, and leading the pack are the Grand S II handset and BlueWatch smartwatch. Click on through for more information.
Filed under: Cellphones, Misc, Home Entertainment, Blackberry
Leak shows LG’s radical new interface for its webOS Smart TVs
LG’s rumored webOS Smart TV is tipped to arrive at CES in the coming days, but that hasn’t stopped intrepid leaker @evleaks from giving us what could be an early preview of its next connected set. In what appears to be a significant departure from the smartphone-like UI utilized in its current Smart TVs, the leaked render shows off LG’s modern interpretation of the Cards interface we first saw in Palm’s webOS-powered smartphones and tablets. LG chiefs have already indicated that the company has thrown its weight behind the Enyo open-source JavaScript development framework, which it acquired from HP as part of the webOS project, in the hope it will encourage third parties to create apps and services for its next-gen TVs. If the leaked image is real, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Skype apps will likely be available at launch, but we’re set to find out for sure when CES 2014 commences next week.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Software, HD, LG
Source: Evleaks (Twitter)
LG’s webOS Smart TV tipped to arrive at CES
Remember when LG bought the festering remains of the once proud webOS project from HP with the plan to add it to Smart TVs? Nearly a year later and it looks as if the company is ready to show off the results. According to ZDNet Korea, company officials told investors that next fortnight’s CES is where the platform will launch. At the same event, LG chiefs also said that it would throw its weight behind Palm’s Enyo open-source JavaScript development framework in the hope of encouraging third parties to craft software for the new system. You never know, maybe Jon Rubinstein’s big project could get a happy ending after all.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Software, HD, LG
Via: The Verge
Source: ZDNet Korea (Translated)
HP TouchPad review
As things get older they tend to get bigger. It’s the same for people, corporations, models of cars, budget deficits… and so it is for webOS. As Palm was in the process of being subsumed its great mobile operating system was being eyed for much broader things, far bigger than the little phones it had previously been flashed on. Things like printers and desktops and laptops, but for its first proper foray outside of a phone it has a tall task: compete in the brutally vicious tablet space.
Its weapon is the TouchPad, a 9.7-inch tablet from HP that got official back in February and will be available July 1st (if you don’t manage to find it earlier) — $499.99 for the 16GB model, $599.99 for 32GB. That’s exactly on parity with the WiFi iPad 2 and Galaxy Tab 10.1, current kings of the tablet court. Does this plus-sized Palm progeny really have what it takes to hang at that price point, or is this just a chubby pretender that’s outgrown its britches? Read on to find out.
Official: HP TouchPad ships July 1st in US, 3G model coming to AT&T ‘this summer’
Amazon may not be shipping HP’s first webOS tablet until July 17th, but why wait? The outfit itself just affirmed that the long-awaited TouchPad will go on sale to eager Americans on July 1st, with the UK, Ireland, France and Germany a few days later (and Canada in mid-July). Following that, a phased rollout will take it to Australia, Hong Kong, Italy, New Zealand, Singapore and Spain “later this year.” It’ll be on sale pretty much everywhere for $499.99 (16GB) / $599.99 (32GB) — or £399 / £479 across the pond — with pre-orders starting at your favorite e-tailer just ten days from today. For those looking for a highly connected version HP also made clear that it’ll be partnering with AT&T for a 3G (or will it be “4G?”) edition later in the summer. Head on past the break for a look at the full retail partner list, and yeah, yesterday would be a great time to start saving up.
via Official: HP TouchPad ships July 1st in US, 3G model coming to AT&T ‘this summer’ — Engadget.
WebOS 2.0 review
When it comes to webOS 2.0 (now actually called HP webOS), it almost felt like we’d never see the version number, let alone get to review it. It’s been an intense few months for Palm: after floundering in the early part of the smartphone wars, it was scooped up by HP for a tidy sum of $1.2b. Though it seemed like the dream of webOS could fade away, the company made it clear that it had plans to not only continue the work Palm had done in the mobile world, but extend what the tiny company had created to other platforms as well (tablets, and yes, printers). We’ve heard a lot of talk from both parties since the acquisition, but have seen little in the way of proof that progress was indeed being made — but that’s all changed today. Palm has officially released its second generation OS into the wild, along with a new, beefed up version of the Pre (at least in France — North American handsets are coming soon). The company offered us an early developer phone to test out the new OS and see if the combination of tightened code and a significantly faster device (the Pre 2 clocks in with a 1GHz CPU) could make a difference between last place and a fighting chance. We’ve taken an extensive look at the new OS, so read on for our full take! Read more 
Palm gets official with webOS 2.0 and Pre 2: hitting France on Friday, Verizon 'in the coming months'
And just like that, the rumor mill smirks. HP has just come clean with a device that we’ve been hearing more and more about over the past few weeks, and with it will come the next generation of webOS that we’ve been hearing about for even longer. The Palm Pre 2 will be the first device to ship with HP webOS 2.0, with the revamped and renamed (presumably to use on more than just Palm smartphones) mobile OS promising “true multitasking,” Stacks (for organizing apps) Just Type, HP Synergy (links your email and social networking accounts), Exhibition (enabling users to run apps designed specifically for the Palm Touchstone Charging Dock) and support for Adobe’s Flash Player 10.1 Beta. It’s also bringing along a new Favorites tagging option, Skype Mobile (on the Verizon version only), text assist, integrated Quickoffice, VPN support, a redesigned launcher and full support for Bluetooth keyboards and SPP peripherals. Read more
France's SFR announces Palm Pre 2: 1GHz processor, 512MB RAM, webOS 2.0
Considering how tight of a lid Palm and HP have been keeping on details about the next Palm device, we were surprised to see it pop up on the website of French carrier SFR (who recently disappeared the Pre Plus). It’s official: the Palm Pre 2 is coming.
Yeah, you’re interested. Here’s what details SFR dropped:
- 1GHz processor
- 512MB RAM
- Same design as the current Pre series, but with a “flatter screen” (we’re supposing glass) and “more refined design.”
- Update: as arthurthornton notes in the comments – if you look closely that finicky USB door has been removed and replaced with a simple, exposed MicroUSB port. Looking more closely the finish on the edge is matted – so it looks like that crack-prone plastic we’ve been dealing with is a thing of the past.
- Update 2: PreCentral member thomas92 notes via email that SFR also says that webOS 2.0 will bring a faster boot time. We really need to work on our French, it seems.
Additionally, our rusty French translation yielded this until-now unannounced webOS 2.0 feature: push. Specifically, SFR is talking about Facebook push integration (touting it as “the great innovation of 2.0”) with messages, events, wall postings, and chat. We’re not going to read too much into that, as we would hope that Palm would integrate push into more than Facebook. So either SFR is overreaching, or they’re not telling us everything about push and instead are focusing on what customers want to hear about, i.e. Facebook.
HP has webOS phones up its sleeve for 2011
One of the most anticipated and talked about aspects about HP acquiring Palm back in April was the prospect of HP branded webOS powered phones.
After all, despite not being the iPhone killer that it was talked up as, the Palm Pre enjoyed some relative success, with much of the praise heaped on the revolutionary OS.
But, 6 months down the line and….nada. Not a HP webOS phone in sight.
But, all that could be set to change with a HP head-honcho stating that phones are definitely on the agenda for next year.
“You will see us coming early next year with new phones”, said HP senior vice president Eric Cador.
And whilst it’s not the most expressive statement we’ve ever heard, it does strongly suggest that the company has something special lined up.
And, it backs up what HP executive vice president Todd Bradley said back in July in an interview with CNBC, when he stated HP would opt for webOS rather than Windows Phone 7 or Android in the future.
HP has already confirmed that a webOS-based tablet was on its way for 2011, so could 2011 see webOS rivalling iOS and Android as a serious contender again?
WebOS 2.0 gets fresh round of screenshots; new Palm phones and Touchstone certified?
The name of certification firm TÜV Rheinland may not ring a bell, so allow us to jog your memory: these are the guys that outed the GSM versions of the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus prior to their announcement earlier this year. Hence, the interwebs are paying pretty close attention this evening now that we’ve found US and Canadian certifications for Palm models P102UNA and P102EWW, which — following Palm’s typical model numbering convention — would correspond to North American GSM and CDMA versions of some new device, respectively. To put things in perspective, the P101UNA was unearthed in the certification database on January 23rd and announced for AT&T on March 22nd, so we could reasonably still have a couple months’ wait on these… or a couple days. No way of knowing yet how Palm plans to play this. There’s also a listing for a new “inductive battery charger,” which would certainly imply a new Touchstone — which may or may not still bear the Touchstone name.
On a related note, we’ve received a slew of new webOS 2.0 screen shots — and while some of them look familiar, our eyes were drawn to the sexy new “classic” and flip-style digital clocks. Important? Not necessarily, but sometimes it’s the little touches that count. Hit up the gallery for the full show (and don’t forget our first batch from a few weeks back, while you’re at it).
AIVAnet 