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Engadget Mobile Podcast 037: MWC Day 3 – 02.19.2010

admin — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:00:00 +0000

Sleeplessness. Angst. Megalomania. Just a few of the conditions that bloggers can succumb to at the tail end of a mobile technology trade show in a faraway land.

Well, one outta three ain’t bad.

Join your traditional Engadget Mobile Podcast Crew as they round up the best things that happened at Mobile World Congress in 2010.

Hosts: Chris Ziegler, Sean Cooper
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Music: Daestro – Light Powered (Ghostly International)

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Engadget Mobile Podcast 037: MWC Day 3 – 02.19.2010 originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia cancels NFC-equipped 6216 handset

admin — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 16:17:00 +0000

Visa may be pushing ahead to bring NFC to phones via microSD cards, but it looks like phones with built-in NFC capabilities have now suffered a bit of a setback, as Nokia has officially canceled its already delayed 6216 handset. That phone was a rather unimpressive candy bar in most respects, but it was the first such phone that would have tied NFC payments to a carrier’s SIM card, which Nokia had hoped would have been enough to at least give it a foothold, if not kick-start a wave of NFC handsets. For its part, Nokia isn’t offering too many details on the reasons for the cancellation, saying only that it felt “the quality of the consumer experience was not what it needed to be,” and adding that its “commitment to NFC remains as strong as ever.”

Nokia cancels NFC-equipped 6216 handset originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 15:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola cable boxes to get Blur, connect with phones

admin — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 14:56:00 +0000

Now that Moto’s phone and set-top box divisions are being split out into their own company, it looks like there’s some convergence afoot: the MOTOBLUR interface found on the CLIQ and the Backflip is currently being tested on the company’s cable boxes with a tentative release scheduled for this year. That’s the word according to CEO Sanjay Jha, who also told the Wall Street Journal that he wants Moto’s phones and set-top boxes to eventually support a common platform so they can “share media and features” — lending credence to those old rumors about Android-powered Moto cable boxes. Of course, getting custom software on cable boxes requires negotiating with cable companies, which is an even slower and tougher process than working with cell carriers, so we’re not holding out hope that we’ll see the fruits of this labor any time soon — but it’s nice to think about, isn’t it?

Motorola cable boxes to get Blur, connect with phones originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 13:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LG not interested in proprietary smartphone OS, likes Android and Windows Phone 7

jedwan — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 05:26:00 +0000

LG has told the press at MWC that it will not be developing its own smartphone platform “at least for the next two to three years.” We think companies should focus on what they do well, and given our ambivalence toward the S-Class UI, it’s probably a good thing that LG will narrow its operation down to churning out delectable slabs of electronics and leaving the software side to the geeks over at Google and Microsoft. The head of the company’s handset unit, Skott Ahn, has indicated that the future of LG smartphones will be shared between Android and Windows Phone 7 (sorry, Symbian lovers). It will have taken plenty of restraint to not respond to local nemesis Samsung — who has just introduced its first Bada handset — but LG appears to be of the opinion (which we share) that the smartphone OS sector is already overcrowded, and its expectation is that over the next couple of years the market will distill itself down to just three predominant operating systems.

LG not interested in proprietary smartphone OS, likes Android and Windows Phone 7 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 04:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ZTE’s Smooth Android slider is a not-so-smooth Pre knockoff

jedwan — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 21:52:00 +0000

We hate to yell “Pre!” at the top of our lungs here, since we’d really like to see further exploration of the portrait QWERTY form factor for Android, but it’s hard to avoid the form factor and stylistic comparisons. The new “Smooth” phone from ZTE is a low-end handset running Android 1.6, with a 2.8-inch QVGA screen, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS and a love for Palm industrial design. The phone, which is being shown off at MWC, should retail under 1000 Yuan (about $146 US) and be released in August of this year as a low-end smartphone contender.

ZTE’s Smooth Android slider is a not-so-smooth Pre knockoff originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 20:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SK Telecom shoves Android onto a SIM, we check it out

admin — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:36:00 +0000

SK Telecom was showing off some interesting ideas about where it’d like to see SIM cards go in the future here at MWC this week, including a couple particularly juicy ones called Android SIM and the SIM Theme Package. Android SIM shoehorns a CPU, the Android OS, applications, user data, and 1GB of storage into the card pictured above. SK Telecom envisions it being used in dumbphones — as the CPU is onboard, there wouldn’t be a need for the device to have one — letting consumers move between sets or perhaps to a tablet with even more ease than they already can. SKT’s Theme SIMs use a similar smart card to take advantage of the storage space for theme elements, music, pictures, and any variety of apps that vendors or operators care to put in them. Follow on for a quick demo (and some minor failure — typical demo time Murphy’s Law) of moving the themed chips between two handsets.

Continue reading SK Telecom shoves Android onto a SIM, we check it out

SK Telecom shoves Android onto a SIM, we check it out originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 16:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony Ericsson CEO: Google asked us to build the Nexus One, we refused

jedwan — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 09:36:00 +0000

Aw, why don’t these CEOs say stuff like this in press conferences? Sony Ericsson’s head Bert Nordberg has shared with Swedish publication Sydsvenskan the rather salacious news that his company was asked to build the so-called Google phone before HTC… and it turned down the opportunity. Fearing brand dilution or something equally crazy, Nordberg states that Sony Ericsson is committed to building only its own-branded hardware and will not be a subcontractor to anyone. Haughty words from a company whose own Android device is still a good couple of months away from hipsters’ pockets, but we’re sure Bert knows best. After all, it’s not like HTC got a ton of positive press and brand awareness out of its partnership with Google, and it’s exceptionally clear that SE doesn’t need a dime of additional revenue. Oh, wait.

[Thanks, Michael N]

Sony Ericsson CEO: Google asked us to build the Nexus One, we refused originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 08:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola MT710 quick hands-on

jedwan — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 08:56:00 +0000

We’ve already had a quick look at the Korean Motorola MOTOROI, and we figured it was only fair if we gave the Motorola MT710 a fair shake, too. The MT710 is running the Android-based Ophone OS on some pretty sweet hardware including an 854 x 480 FWVGA resistive touchscreen display — to help with Chinese handwriting recognition we’d bet — replacing HSPA 3G with TD-SCDMA for 3G, and a pretty slick housing accented in reflective and red metals. Of course the MT710 isn’t meant for our market, but we’re still encouraged to see how many Android sets are cropping up here at the show and indeed from Motorola.

Motorola MT710 quick hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 07:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Android-powered Motorola Backflip headed to AT&T on March 7 for $100 on contract

admin — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 08:32:00 +0000

AT&T just got its first Android-powered smartphone (four more coming this year) in the HSPA 7.2-capable Motorola Backflip. The Motoblur device with reverse flip design and 3.1-inch touchscreen packs GPS, WiFi, and a 5 megapixel autofocus camera with flash and camcorder function that neatly integrates with social media sites like Facebook and Twitter or photo sharing sites like Picasa. It lands March 7th for $100 after $100 rebate and two-year contract with smartphone data plan. AT&T promo video after the break.

Continue reading Android-powered Motorola Backflip headed to AT&T on March 7 for $100 on contract

Android-powered Motorola Backflip headed to AT&T on March 7 for $100 on contract originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 07:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Kindle for BlackBerry e-reader app now available

admin — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 04:22:00 +0000

Amazon is today adding BlackBerrys to its stable of Kindle-compatible devices and also taking the opportunity to remind us that it’s working hard on Mac and iPad versions of its software. The app is a freebie download for Americans (sadly it’s not international just yet) and should offer the same functionality as its PC and iPhone brethren — namely automatic syncing via Whispersync and what Amazon hopes will be a seamless reading experience from one device to the next. There’s also an in-app book store, as well as the ability to create bookmarks and view annotations from other portable Kindle readers. Go download it at the Amazon link if you care, or move right along if you don’t.

Kindle for BlackBerry e-reader app now available originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 03:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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