Flash 10.1 might just not be a battery hog on Android
Looking to fight an apparent outbreak of FUD, Adobe's Flash evangelist Mark Doherty has posted some hard numbers (and accompanying video) on the effect Flash 10.1 has on the Nexus One -- and put simply, it really doesn't appear to have much effect at all. To back up his cause, Doherty plays a 17-minute embedded video in the full YouTube site then pops over to Android's built-in battery use utility, which indicates that only 6 percent of the juice has gone to power the browser (of course, leaving the screen on to watch the video is another story altogether). He says that the company's tests suggest they can get about three hours of H.264 playback over WiFi, which is theoretically enough to watch a movie or two; obviously the proof is in the pudding here, but this is a promising sign that these guys have taken battery optimization very, very seriously for this mobile push.
Categories: Android, Mobile Phone, Other, nexus one Tags: adobe, browser, engadget, hog, mobile, nexus, nexus one, promising-sign, Proof, pudding, taken-battery, watch-the-video, wifi
Vertu taste on a Nokia budget: meet the N97 Mini Gold Edition
Phone manufacturers usually leave the gilding to jewelers and other specialty shops that are more willing to show complete disregard for taste and common sense than themselves, but once in a while, pure, unadulterated emotion gets the better of someone in a position to make product decisions -- yes, even at Nokia -- and something like this slips through the cracks. Meet the N97 Mini Gold Edition, which is pretty self-explanatory: it's an N97 Mini with 18-carat gold on the important bits
Categories: Mobile Phone, Other Tags: decisions, edition, engadget, important, manufacturers, meet-the-n97, middle, model, n97 mini gold edition, other-specialty, phone, product, slips, specialty, standard
The titanium iPhone is real, really real (video)
You came, you saw, some of you were not convinced. So what's a gadget blog to do when picture evidence isn't enough?
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: 3gs, after-the-break, austria, engadget, entry, gadget, iphone3gs, mod, really-real, the-corporeal, titanium, titanium iphone
Sonim XP2 Spirit gets hammered with Engadget
At the MWC Pepcom event earlier in the week we bumped into Sonim and its almost indestructible handset, the Sonim XP2 Spirit. The XP2 is a seriously tough set with the display covered in Gorilla Glass from Corning, a magnesium core, and a shell crafted with hardened rubber and fiberglass, all backed by a rather bold unconditional 3-year guarantee: you break it, they replace it. Sonim gave us an opportunity to try to destroy the thing, and..
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: engadget, fiberglass, gets-hammered, gorilla-glass, magnesium-core, mobile, mwc, result, sonim, xp2, xp2 spirit, xp2spirit
iPhone 3GS mod ditches plastic cover in favor of titanium vestment
Engadget reader Martin Schrotz is a man after our own hearts. He's taken the editors' choice for best smartphone of 2009 and tricked it out with a handsome new back cover made out of titanium. Not sufficiently pleased with the plastic casing provided by Apple, Martin opened up his favorite CAD program and refashioned his phone into the much hardier and indubitably more awesome machine you see before you.
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: communications, editors, engadget, entry, iphone 3gs, price, program, result, titanium, tricked-it-out, wireless
MagiTact hands-free phone control makes multitouch seem absolutely passe
Are you sick of your needy cellphone, always asking that you pick it up in order to perform essential tasks? Well, the brain wizards at Deutsche Telekom (pictured above) have just the thing for you: MagiTact is an app that uses your phone's compass (provided your phone has a compass) to track changes in the magnetic field around the device.
Categories: Mobile Phone, Other Tags: deutsche-telekom, engadget, field, interesting, phone, possibility, seeing-as-how, source, technology, wizards
Nokia VP: N97 taught company some tough lessons
It's unusual for a company to publicly admit its shortcomings -- particularly a company as big, proud, and resolute as Nokia generally seems to be -- but an All About Symbian / Mobile Industry Review joint interview with Anssi Vanjoki, vice president of markets, at MWC last week painted a very different picture with regard to Espoo's views on the maligned N97 . Though he says that the phone absolutely met the company's goals for sales volume and revenue, it was a "tremendous disappointment in terms of the experience quality for the consumers and something [they] did not anticipate." This isn't a sob story, though: he uses the opportunity to note that they've completely closed the gap on software quality for the flagship device, launching new firmware first in Norway where the response has been positive
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: anssivanjoki, atop-the-lineup, engadget, mwc, nokia, norway, pills, president, quality control, qualitycontrol
Gartner: Apple, Android, and RIM winners in 2009 smartphone growth, Nokia and Symbian still dominate
Gartner just released its annual numbers for worldwide mobile phone sales to end users in the year known as two thousand nine. Looking at smartphone OS market share alone, Gartner shows the iPhone OS, Android, and RIM making the biggest gains (up 6.2%, 3.4%, and 3.3% from 2008, respectively) at the expense of Windows Mobile (down 3.1%) and Symbian (down 5.5%).
Categories: Android, BlackBerry, Mobile Phone Tags: apple, BlackBerry, engadget, expense, gartner, handsets, iphone, nokia, phone, result, sales, samsung, smartphone, worldwide
Mexican 3G auction attracts phalanx of bidders
Mexican wireless regulator COFETEL probably has peso signs in its eyes this week on news that 17 -- yes, fully seventeen different firms have filed the requisite paperwork to participate in upcoming auctions for 3G services in the 1900MHz and AWS ranges.
Categories: Mobile Phone, Other Tags: auctions, cofetel, companies, different-firms, engadget, engadget-mobile, iusacell, mobile, result, spectrum
T-Mobile Pulse Mini does cheap, tiny, prepaid Android for Europe
In the US, the concept of a prepaid Android phone is about as foreign as the concept of an effective high-speed mass transit system, but abroad, T-Mobile is following up its Pulse with a cuter, smaller sibling in the Pulse Mini.
Categories: Android, Mobile Phone Tags: britons, concept, engadget, entry, europe, huawei, qualcomm, shelling-out, similarities, speed, the-concept, the-original