Bing 2.0 brings better Facebook integration and the impressive Streetside to iPhone (video)
Microsoft just released -- or should we say, Apple just approved -- version 2.0 of the Bing search app for iOS devices. In addition to several other new features including integrated Facebook Likes on search results (really!?) and in-app checkins to Facebook and Foursquare, Bing now comes packing Streetside, something that first blew us away as Street Slide when it was still in the labs at Microsoft Research.
Categories: Mobile Phone, Other Tags: amsterdam, app, apple, checkin, engadget, ios, itunes app store, likes-on-search, london, microsoft, search, success
LG Optimus T hands-on
The low-end LG Optimus S that wowed us earlier the other day has a magenta twin -- the LG Optimus T , headed to T-Mobile with very similar hardware. Considering that both carriers' phones will come in purple and black, you could easily be excused for confusing the two -- aside from a prominent logo and the physical button arrangement, they've got the exact same build
Categories: Android, Mobile Phone, Other Tags: ctia, ctia2010, exact, functionality, lg optimus, lg optimus t, like-the-lack, result, school, search, smartphone, wifi
LG Vortex for Verizon spied again: Bing, no FM radio
We've got a little more detail on Verizon's low-end Vortex that leaked earlier this week, and pretty much everything we know confirms the phone's place toward the bottom of the lineup.
Categories: Android, Mobile Phone Tags: deal, engadget-mobile, performs-pretty, rarity, search, verizon, verizon-wireless, vortex, vzw
Samsung Fascinate’s Google-less existence solvable with minimum drama
We'd previously heard from Verizon that you'd be able to install Google search functionality once Android 2.2 gets rolled out (in other words, they wouldn't actively block the app that's supposed to be available on any device running Froyo), but if you can't stand Bing, it turns out that you can fast-track the process in the current 2.1 firmware with very little effort. Basically, you download Google's enhanced search APK -- which is blocked from the Market in 2.1, so you need to download it and install it outside the Market proper -- then use a third-party launcher like LauncherPro to add the widget and reassign the search button. Voice search still requires root to get working properly, but it is possible, so yeah -- user community, one; Verizon-Bing search deal, zero.
Categories: Android, Mobile Phone, Other Tags: actively-block, bing, deal, fascinate, from-the-market, froyo, galaxy s, hack, market, mobile, samsung, search, solvable, sun, verizon
Verizon dishes on Fascinate’s problems — internally, anyway
Rest assured this information was never meant to make it into the public eye (not all in one place, anyway), and from Verizon's perspective, there's a good reason for that -- if you've got a Fascinate , you just know you're going to be looking out for all these bugs now that you might not have noticed otherwise. Sorry to turn you into a nervous wreck, owners, but let's have a look at some of the bigger problems Big Red has its eye on in Sammy's latest incarnation of the Galaxy S : GPS lock latency is said to be abnormally long with no workaround available ( sound familiar? ), pressing the Search button while on a call can hang you up, calendar alerts can't be changed, and the backlighting on the bottom keys is fixed at five seconds -- something we'd complained about on other versions of the phone but is conveniently tied to the keyboard backlight settings on the Epic 4G .
Categories: Android, Mobile Phone, Other Tags: backlighting, bugs, fascinate, fri, issues, nervous, phone, problem, problems, samsung, search, verizonwireless, vzw
Debunk: Bing not replacing Google on all Verizon Android devices
There's a rumor going around today that Verizon is stripping Google services out of its Android devices going forward in favor of their Bing equivalents (much the same way that AT&T has gone with Yahoo on some phones), but the company says this afternoon that it's simply false: "...that is not true. We have a relationship with Microsoft and Bing is the search engine on our multi-media phones but we have never said it would be exclusive on all of our devices." We think the wording here is pretty important: "on our multi-media phones." We take this to mean that Verizon's looking at using Bing on its high-end featurephones and its midrange smartphones, possibly keeping the end-to-end Google experience exclusive to its cream of the crop -- which would also explain why the recently-launched Fascinate didn't get the coveted Droid brand as a part of its name
Categories: Android, Mobile Phone Tags: entry, keeping-the-end, microsoft, much-the-same, multi, our-multi-media, result, search, verizon, verizon-android, verizon-wireless, verizonwireless, vzw
Latest BlackBerry 6 preview proves that the more things change…
To say RIM has a lot riding on BlackBerry 6 is an understatement. With new kids on the block like Android and iOS stepping in with lustworthy apps and attractive UIs, the BlackBerrys have been sitting in a corner BBMing everyone else at the party trying to convince them of its sustained utility. Regardless, the latest tease on the BlackBerry Blogs shows off some of the "fresh, but familiar" elements that are getting polished in the jump from OS 5 to OS 6.
Categories: Android, BlackBerry, Mobile Phone, Other Tags: bb6, BlackBerry, blackberry os 6, blackberry6, cellphones, engadget, handhelds, kids, latest-black, search, smartphones, universal
First real Symbian^4 screen shots emerge
We'd argue that the "wow" factor still isn't there quite yet, but we'll admit: Symbian^4 is clearly going to be a bit of a departure from the versions that came before it.
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: emulator, handful, meego, nokia, outs, real-emulator, search, Versions, year-or-two
YouTube launches Leanback, mobile site gets HTML5 revamp (video)
Looks like YouTube 's having quite the day. The site has officially rolled out Leanback, its television-friendly interface first espied during Google TV's big unveiling .
Categories: Android, Mobile Phone, Other Tags: engadget, entry, incorporation, interface-first, interface-works, keyboard, result, search, Season, videos, you-tube, youtube, youtube mobile
Google setting up music store later this year, looking for search and Android synergy
Remember that chart that pointed out the differences between Google, Apple and Microsoft? Well, it's looking increasingly like Google is intent on filling any and all gaps in its portfolio. Those good old unnamed sources have been talking, originally to CNET last week and to the Wall Street Journal today, and disclosing Google's supposed intent to introduce its very own music store.
Categories: Android, Mobile Phone, Other Tags: digital content, digitalstore, download-tracks, downloadable music, entry, music, search, search-engine