BenQ’s IMS-100 Bluetooth speaker
Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio, Wireless We’re not sure there’s going to be a whole lot of amplification going on with a 1.6-inch thick speaker that weighs 9.5 ounces, but we’re BenQ’s IMS-100 will give your tunes its best shot. The good news is that it’ll look good pumping out those three watts, and the Bluetooth ability means no wires will have to get in the way. You can also do the boring thing and hook this up with a regular ol’ mini-jack. The device operates on 4 AA batteries or an external adapter, works for speakerphone action and should be out in August.[Via MobileMag]Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Source: cellphones.engadget.com
Another blurry Treo “Hollywood” shot, plus specs?
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds, Wireless Palm’s sieve-like reputation for keeping a lid on unreleased devices continues to the current round of Treos in the pipeline, and we’re happy to feed the fire today with possible specs of the upcoming “Hollywood” accompanied by the obligatory hastily-snapped shot (blurred here to protect our valiant tipster). Though we still don’t fully understand the relationship between this bad boy and Cingular’s upcoming “Nitro” and “Lennon,” it’s said that we’re looking at an antenna-less GSM Treo rocking Windows Mobile 5, 128MB of internal storage, and a 412MHz XScale core, all gussied up in a package “considerably lighter” than its 700w stablemate. If our source is accurate, all this goodness will drop sometime this September — not a moment too soon for Treo fans on GSM carriers getting a little jealous of their CDMA brethren. Naturally, skepticism is in order here, but the engraving on the device lends some validity to the thought that it’s a prototype, and this all lines up pretty nicely with Cingular’s roadmap, no?[Thanks, anonymous tipster]Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Source: cellphones.engadget.com
Wild speculation: iPhone to launch in August?
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds, Portable Audio, Wearables, WirelessAlright, dear readers, you know the drill: proceed with caution. We have no confirmation here, but sometimes a tip is too juicy not to share, no matter how suspect it might be. A reader is reporting to us that a coworker’s tech-unsavvy friend, who is regularly hired by Apple to do marketing photo shoots, was recently brought on to take some shots of “the sleekest, sexiest damn phone he’s ever seen.” The launch date? “Some time in August.” Yeah, not a typo — August. Now, to be perfectly clear, we don’t know what the iPhone (if it exists) will be actually called, we’ve never seen a real pic of the elusive beast, and this doesn’t really jive with the time frame suggested by Peter Oppenheimer’s recent comments — but we want to believe, and we don’t have to wait very long for this one to get debunked or confirmed.Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Source: cellphones.engadget.com
Motorola’s MOTORIZR Z3
Filed under: Cellphones What was once known as the Capri — the US Motorola team’s first 4LTR slider effort , not to be confused with the Korean team’s Z — can now be called the MOTORIZR, and the skinny is, of course, not entirely surprising. The 0.6-inch thick quad-band device features EDGE, a 2 megapixel camera, QQVGA display, Bluetooth with A2DP, microSD, and a 2H launch time frame. Again, nothing to turn the head of anyone who’s heard about the device over and over online, but still a welcome addition to Moto’s staid lineup of RAZRs in an ever-increasing array of colors.Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Source: cellphones.engadget.com
Verizon launches Chocolate July 31st
Filed under: Cellphones It’s laid so bare at this point it’s almost kind of an open secret, but contrary to what we’d heard earlier (which was a week off), we’ve got launch dates and prices for Verizon’s LG VX8500 Chocolate phone. Starting July 31st you’ll be able to snag the phone online, and come August 7th you can get it in stores. The price? Not too terrible: $359 without contract, $249 with 1 year, and $199 for two years committed to the carrier. Might be a little more than we’d originally expected, but outside the Q you’re not likely to see a sexier EV-DO device on Verizon for a little while yet.[Thanks, V]Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Source: cellphones.engadget.com
Apple on iPhone: “We’re not sitting around doing nothing”
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds, Portable Audio, Wearables, Wireless Apple’s been dogged with rumors of an iPod / phone hybrid (the real deal, not a rehash of a Moto E398 with iTunes support) for nearly as long as the iPod’s been kickin’ around. Apparently looking to beat the dead horse yet again, an analyst mentioned Sony’s success with their Walkman line of music-oriented phones during Apple’s Q3 earnings call, prompting CFO Peter Oppenheimer to respond with a fairly solid non-denial: “As regards cell phones, we don’t think that the phones that are available today make the best music players. We think the iPod is. But over time, that is likely to change. And we’re not sitting around doing nothing.” Knowing Apple, of course, this is about the biggest admission we’ll get until the iPhone actually drops, so relish in the moment, keep your eyes peeled in a year or so, and if you’re really hard up, you could fashion your own, like the pictured Nokia 6680 makeover.[Via MacDailyNews]Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Source: cellphones.engadget.com
Motorola’s 9mm MOTOFONE
Filed under: Cellphones Eat your heart out, Samsung. Well, not really, since Motorola’s new MOTOFONE is not only 2.1mm thicker than Samsung’s current record holding X820, but also comes up quite short in the features department. Instead the new MOTOFONE, coming in GSM and CDMA flavors at a svelte 0.35-inches, is targeting first time wireless users, prepaid buyers, and developing countries. Luckily, while Moto was weeding out those “nonessentials” like a camera, MP3 playback and a color screen (The MOTOFONE has instead an electrophoretic display with similarities to e-paper) they managed to lose that unsightly hump Samsung slapped onto the X820. Motorola’s thinnest phone does include some niceties beyond size, like local language voice prompts for ease of use, dust and sun resistance, and “extended” battery life. There’s no word on price or a release date, but we’re sure we can find enough change in our couch for whenever it does come around. Phone Scoop is calling this unit part of Motorola’s “Scalpel” platform, of which the rumored SCPL should be a bit more of an exciting member.[Via Phone Scoop; thanks everyone]Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Source: cellphones.engadget.com
Motorola’s MOTOKRZR K1 and K1M
Filed under: Cellphones We’ve only been hearing about (and seeing, and getting the launch of) the Canary for a couple months now, so it’s about time Motorola officially launched the damned things. The KRZR, as we very well know, is the latest in Moto’s 4 LTTR DVCE NAME LINE, both models featuring a microSD, Screen3, and a thinned-wideness but slightly girthier body. The specs between sub-models do vary, however: GSM K1 has Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, 176 x 220 display, and 2 megapixel camera; both K1ms will forgo the A2DP, but the CDMA / 1xRTT version has a QVGA display (and an accordingly larger battery), and a 2 megapixel camera, while the EV-DO K1m has that damned 176 x 220 display a 1.3 megapixel camera, as well as a millimeter added to its waistline. Despite the differences, though, all should be available in the second half of the year (you know, the half we’re currently in) from, well, you know damned well who’s gonna offer this phone.P.S. -From the looks of it, that device is running Moto’s new Juix interface. We can’t yet confirm this, but that’d certainly be a welcome addition to the otherwise predictable handset. Read - MOTOKRZR K1 Read - MOTOKRZR K1mPermalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Source: cellphones.engadget.com
Microsoft demos “FonePlus” OLPC killer
Filed under: Cellphones, Laptops, WirelessProving that corporate agendas sometimes can’t be put aside long enough to create a unified computing platform for the world’s poor, Microsoft has unveiled “FonePlus,” a concept device making good on its proposal to use smartphones as the basis for sending computers deep into emerging markets. Unfortunately we’ve been unable to dig up any eye candy, but FonePlus looks to follow Gates’ formula pretty closely: you get a CE-based smartphone (likely watered down from the full Windows Mobile package) with TV out and an external keyboard connection. The logic behind FonePlus suggests that phones and televisions are pervasive even in some of the world’s poorest regions, making the product an easy sell — plus, Internet access is part and parcel with the phone, something OLPC doesn’t provide out of the box. Whether FonePlus will see production remains to be seen, but Microsoft’s studying the idea closely — and when you get snubbed by OLPC in favor of Linux, well, it’s no surprise to see them come out swinging.Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Source: cellphones.engadget.com
Engadget Podcast 082 - 07.16.2006
Filed under: Cellphones, Features, Handhelds, Podcasts, Portable Audio, Portable VideoAfter nearly two months hiding out in the wilderness, the Engadget podcast returns! This week we’re on a strictly portable tip. We’ve got some hot-off-the-presses scoops on Microsoft’s Zune — its forthcoming iPod-hunting wireless audio/video media player. T-Mobile customers also finally get their hands on the Sidekick 3, Peter discusses his new relationship with the Treo 700p, and Palm announces a new Windows Media Treo for the European market. We’ll be taking another brief break as Pete heads to Europe to hit up the Amsterdam meetup (and take a much needed vacation) but the Podcast is back, no doubt about it.Get the podcast [iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (MP3). [RSS] Add the Engadget Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically (MP3). [MP3] Download the show (MP3). [AAC] Download the enhanced show (AAC). [OGG] Download the show (OGG). Host: Peter Rojas and Ryan Block Producer: Trent Wolbe Music: Solvent - Instructograph (Ghostly International) Format: 44:33, 20.4 MB, MP3 Program: 07:28 - Microsoft’s media player dubbed Zune25:24 - Sidekick 3 available to current T-Mobile customers28:55 - Pete gets a 700p33:06 - Palm announces WM5-powered Treo for Vodafone21:34 - Record labels sue XM over Inno recording30:00 - Sony gets official on new Vaio UX Micro PC38:28 - Engadget Reader Meetup in Amsterdam on July 20th LISTEN (MP3)LISTEN (AAC) LISTEN (OGG) Contact the podcast: 1-888-ENGADGET, Engadget (Gizmo Project) or podcast at engadget dawt comPermalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Source: cellphones.engadget.com
