LG Optimus One headed to T-Mobile with 3G hotspot and WiFi calls?
If the allegedly leaked slide immediately above is the real deal, it looks like the LG Optimus One is destined for T-Mobile, and it's going to get some serious use out of that 802.11 b/g WiFi radio. We knew the quad-band GSM handset was going to have a shot of Froyo on top of some fairly middling specs , but here's an unexpected treat: the Android handset just might be the first Android device with UMA support. If you've already forgotten what that particular acronym means, we don't blame you, as Unlicensed Mobile Access hasn't held the spotlight since the days of HotSpot@Home , but suffice it to say the tech uses a WiFi access point to make free VoIP calls, no cell signal (or minutes) required
Categories: Android, Mobile Phone, Other Tags: bandwidth, engadget, laptop, optimus one, quad, tech, uma, voip, wificalling
Co-creator of T9, Martin King, passes away
Some of today's young'uns starting out on QWERTY and full-touch devices might not even know what T9 is, but let us tell you something: back in the day, it was the way things got done on your phone.
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: eventually-find, exbiblio, itap, martinking, nuance, premier, qwerty, sony
Engadget Mobile Podcast 055 – 09.25.2010
Chris and Myriam are joined this week by the frequently infuriated and always fascinating diehard Sony Ericsson fanboy of your dreams: Nilay Patel. Android and next-gen wireless broadand rollouts weigh heavy on their minds this week. Start your Saturday right with a healthy dose of mobile madness right now
Categories: Android, Mobile Phone Tags: chris-ziegler, engadgetmobilepodcast, entry, madness, motorola-droid, result, saturday, wolbe
Apple granted patent for handheld that recognizes your hands
You could probably fill a book with Apple patent applications that never amounted to anything, but here's one that's at least been granted -- a "handheld device" that uses capacitive sensors to recognize your identity just by the way you hold it , and subsequently personalize the device's buttons and settings to your hand based on your user profile.
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: apple, capacitive, digit, handheld, identification, patent, personalization, profile, Recognition, useridentification
Nexus One getting minor update to Android 2.2.1
We're told it's merely bug fixes, but Nexus Ones across the land are getting updated to Android 2.2.1 -- "FroYo.1," if you will. Whether Gingerbread will ever make an appearance on this bad boy remains unclear, but hey, at least Google's still hustling to keep it updated in the meantime.
Categories: Android, htc, Mobile Phone, nexus one Tags: bad, entry, fri, gingerbread, mobile, nexus one, nexus-ones, Ota, still-hustling, update
Engadget explains net neutrality — and our full interview with Professor Tim Wu!
Still trying to get up to speed on the whole net neutrality situation?
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: after-the-break, entry, fcc, flavor, Hour, interview, mind, neutrality, result, rickkarr, the-full-flavor, tim, time
Droid 2 R2-D2 edition launch kit makes emergency landing
It's getting awful close now, eh? Merely hours after hearing that Droid 2 R2-D2 edition launch kits were splashing down in select Verizon Wireless locations, in flies a foursome of images proving as much.
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: edition-launch, fri, proving-as-much, r2 d2 edition, r2d2, result, someone-at-big, wireless
HTC CEO: ‘initially, we don’t have time’ to put Sense on Windows Phone 7
We think there might be a miscommunication or a disagreement in semantics here, because HTC CEO Peter Chou has mentioned in an interview with FierceWireless that its ubiquitous Sense UX won't "initially" appear on its first crop of Windows Phone 7 devices, but that "over time [they] will innovate on top of that to provide some HTC experience ." That seems like odd phrasing considering that we've already seen HTC devices in the wild running bits and pieces of Sense on WP7 , so we tend to believe Chou might have a more thorough, comprehensive experience in mind -- something that Microsoft is pushing back on (for now, anyway) by demanding that UI innovation be sandboxed in some pretty significant ways. In the same conversation, Chou mentioned that they'll be releasing an LTE phone in 2011, though he didn't give any details on design, platform, or carrier.
Categories: htc, Mobile Phone Tags: ceo, design, htc, metropcs, phrasing, semantics, sense, sense-ui, states, windows, windows-phone
Google’s Schmidt says requiring stock Android would violate ‘the principle of open source’
The suggestion has been made countless times that manufacturers who customize their devices' builds of Android (that is to say, nearly all of them) should have the decency to offer users the option of reverting to a completely clean, stock version of the platform if they so choose. The concept came up at a press lunch featuring Google CEO Eric Schmidt last week, and the dude responded with an interesting explanation for why they don't require that of their partners: "if we were to put those type of restrictions on an open source product, we'd be violating the principle of open source." Of course, "the principle of open source" is open to wild differences in interpretation, the source of well over 20 years worth of intense debate in the developer community and the reason why countless types and versions of open source licenses exist (GPL, BSD, MIT, and so on)
Categories: Android, Mobile Phone, Other Tags: capitalism, engadget, eric-schmidt, luncheon, market, opinionated, schmidt, video
AT&T-branded Motorola Flipout released… on eBay
You might not be able to score a Flipout in AT&T stores just yet -- in fact, AT&T still hasn't fessed up to the fact that it's coming -- but if you've got $388 and a can-do attitude, you can still grab one. The swiveling Android set in full AT&T livery and packaging has shown up on eBay for $388.88..
Categories: Android, Mobile Phone Tags: 388-88-which, att, contract-once, ebay, entry, fact, flipout, friend-via, motorola, probably-less, still-grab, trigger