Engadget

Apple lets devs bite their nails in real time as iPhone apps navigate approval process

by Chris Ziegler posted Nov 11th 2009 at 8:11PM

Apple's App Store approval process is one of the great black boxes in the mobile industry, a bizarre place ruled by emotion, erratic logic, and an uneven application of censorship that has driven some developers to the very brink of insanity since the day of iPhone OS 2.0's release. Well, folks, here's the bone just thrown your way from Cupertino: a new dashboard where you can watch closely as your pride and joy makes its way through the bureaucratic assembly line. Before, all you could do was submit, pray, and wait indefinitely for your app to get accepted or rejected, so consider this an almost imperceptible step in the right direction. Next on our list: emulators. You know you want to, Apple.

Motorola Droid torn down despite desperate cries of 'no disassemble'

by Chris Ziegler posted Nov 11th 2009 at 5:32PM

If you were thinking of tearing apart your own Droid, let us direct you first to this quote straight from the folks at phoneWreck: "no easy task." It seems that even finding some of the screws involved in holding the mess together was a problem, but at the end of the day, good old-fashioned human ingenuity prevailed over... well, other human ingenuity, and the phone fell asunder into the 16 pieces you see here. As you might imagine, there's a bit of industrial magic involved in fitting a full QWERTY slide into a package this tight -- but just as Moto was up to the challenge of putting it together, some dude with a little time on his hands was up to the challenge of asploding it. Needless to say, we won't be doing this to ours.

Hey, Google: failing to spellcheck Android 2.0 can have 'undesireable consequences'

by Chris Ziegler posted Nov 10th 2009 at 9:08PM

Add this into the December patch, won't you, Google?

[Thanks, Yosef]

NTT DoCoMo, Softbank announce grand total of 37 phones: Android, perfume holders, and more

by Chris Ziegler posted Nov 10th 2009 at 12:51PM

When two of Japan's largest mobile carriers conspire to release nearly 40 phones in the span of 24 hours, editors covering the story are sure to lose hair and a solid year of lifespan -- but for consumers in the local market, it's nothing but good news. Here are some of the highlights from NTT DoCoMo:

Fujtsu F-02B: Described as a "jewelry quality" phone with a snap-on perfume holder for "an air of elegance."
LG L-03B: Has support for Korean, Japanese, and English for frequent travelers (in other words, English speakers, if you find yourself on this archipelago and you don't speak a lick of the local tongue, seek out this phone).
Sharp SH-04B: Designed to look like a melting chocolate bar by food-themed wardrobe accessory maker Q-Pot -- for some reason we don't fully comprehend.
Fujitsu F-04B: Realizing the concept shown off at CEATEC last year, this one features a removable keyboard that operates via Bluetooth and a 12.1 megapixel camera.
Panasonic P-01B: This flip looks like pretty much every other in the lineup, but its got a secret -- the keypad doubles as a touchpad. Clever.
Samsung SC-01B: Samsung's Windows Mobile 6.5-powered entry here appears to be a remix of the B7330 sold globally, which makes it about 1,000 times weaker than every other phone in the lineup.

And from Softbank:

Sharp AQUOS Mobile FULLTOUCH 941SH: All we need to say about this one is "4-inch 1024 x 480 display," which, as you might be able to imagine, is a world's first.
Sharp AQUOS Mobile 943SH: Dual one-seg tuners let you watch one program and record another, and a mention of transferring Blu-ray content has us thinking that Managed Copy is along for the ride.
Toshiba dynapocket X02T: Remember how NTT DoCoMo had previously gotten the TG01 as the T01A? Yeah, well, now it's Softbank's turn -- and this time, it's called the X02A. Not much more to it than that.
Samsung X01SC: This looks to be a localized version of AT&T's Samsung Jack, of all phones, meaning that it's a Windows Mobile 6.5 Standard phone (no touchscreen) with a QVGA display and portrait QWERTY keyboard.
Sharp 942SH KT: No lineup would be complete without the obligatory Hello Kitty marketing tie-in, and the 942SH KT does the honors this time around with a black shell featuring stylized pink text and graphics.
Samsung OMNIA VISION 940SC: Samsung's now-famous OMNIA brand comes to Softbank on the wings of a 3.5-inch AMOLED display, one-seg tuner, and kickstand for desktop viewing.
Sharp Jelly Beans 840SH: We don't think you'd want to try eating it, but the 840SH comes in seven colors -- hence the name, we think.
Android: The simply-named Android runs -- you guessed it -- Android with a 3.7 inch AMOLED display and 1GHz Snapdragon processor; unfortunately, it won't be available until next Spring and the manufacturer isn't being revealed right now.

Both companies are also adding wireless digital photo frames to the lineup, and in Softbank's case, a pair of data modems with support for 7.2Mbps on the downlink. We'll admit -- we didn't think we'd live to see the day when Canada had three live networks with data rates trouncing Japan's.

Read - Softbank Winter '09 / Spring '10 collection
Read - NTT DoCoMo's new series

Sprint cutting up to 2,500 more employees from the payroll

by Chris Ziegler posted Nov 10th 2009 at 5:59AM

It's been a helluva couple years for Sprint -- new networks, new platforms, and new acquisitions have all been intermixed with a drawn-out recovery effort that's undoubtedly weighed heavy on the hearts and minds of staff at the company's dual headquarters in Kansas and Virginia. With more (albeit slower) subscriber losses in its most recent earning's report, it's still all but impossible to say whether they'll be able to survive in the long term as an independent operation, and we're not quite sure what to make of this latest move, either: a promise of 2,000 to 2,500 job cuts to be announced through the fourth quarter, many of which will be completed before the year's up. It gets a little weird here because Sprint's applying some hardcore spin in its press release, touting the fact that reduced calls to customer service -- ostensibly due to an improved experience -- have lessened the need for call center staff, but we're not really buying it; the business continues to shrink, and staff continue to be cut. The good news is that they're being cut at a much slower rate than before, so it's still entirely reasonable to believe that black ink is in sight -- particularly if they've got a killer 2010 lineup in store.

Verizon already prepping DROID and DROID Eris firmware updates?

by Chris Ziegler posted Nov 10th 2009 at 4:08AM

The last thing you want to hear about a few short days after a product's launch is a litany of issues plaguing devices in the field, but that's not quite what's going on here -- instead, this looks to be an extension of Verizon's well-known policy of testing the crap out of devices until manufacturers are practically crying uncle. The carrier has already generated long internal lists of issues on both the DROID and DROID Eris, it seems, with the leaked documents revealing some five pages for the Motorola product and seven -- yes, seven -- for the HTC one; the good news is that they're all slated to be fixed in one of two firmware updates slated for December and January windows. Again, knowing Verizon, these firmware updates could very well get stuck in the testing lab for another six years, but we'll keep our hopes skyward.

Read - DROID
Read - DROID Eris

T-Mobile to myFaves: 'Good day, sir; I said good day'

by Chris Ziegler posted Nov 9th 2009 at 9:39PM

T-Mobile is now offering unlimited voice for little enough cash through its Even More promo these days that it's officially bidding myFaves adieu, spelling out the final chapter of one of the better-known plan packages in the US wireless biz. It won't go away completely -- the myFaves app will apparently continue to be offered as a convenient, cutesy way to access five frequent contacts and existing subscribers won't be kicked off their plans -- but for new subscribers, Even More is being billed as the spiritual successor. For the record, unlimited voice through Even More Plus starts at $49.99, so the price is definitely right -- but more importantly will this end up meaning that we lose the beloved silkscreened myFaves logo on the back of virtually every T-Mobile handset sold today?

Motorola Motus gets FCC approval, Sholes Tablet looking legit

by Chris Ziegler posted Nov 9th 2009 at 6:11PM

Whenever a Moto with triband HSPA hits the FCC, we're naturally going to end up scouring the documentation -- what can we say, it's in our blood -- and today we've found a model claiming to be the rumored Motus. As a refresher, this is a device we'd heard would rock the Android midrange with a 5 megapixel AF cam, 3.1-inch QVGA display, and HSPA for a Q1 '10 release, so it's not much more than a tweaked CLIQ as far as we're concerned -- but the big news here might actually be that the Motus filing adds legitimacy to the leaked roadmap where we'd originally heard of it. That document made mention of a "Sholes Tablet" that takes the already-high-end DROID / MILESTONE further upmarket with an 8 megapixel cam and xenon flash, and as you can imagine, we'll be listening to our friends at the FCC pretty intently over the next few weeks to see if we can catch that one sliding through.

AT&T intros USBConnect Lightning for 7.2Mbps service

by Chris Ziegler posted Nov 9th 2009 at 12:54PM

When you're rolling out a new 7.2Mbps upgrade to your network, it naturally helps if you've got some compliant hardware in the stable -- so to that end, AT&T has announced its USBConnect Lightning from Sierra Wireless today. Apart from 7.2Mbps downlink capability, the new model's little more than a run-of-the-mill USB stick so there's not a lot to say about it, though it features a trick swiveling USB connector that should make the thing more likely to work with unusual (and unusually tight) port configurations. It'll be available on November 22 for free after rebate on contract, just in time for service launches in Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and Miami expected by the end of the year.

RIM unveils tighter Adobe partnership, new app payment platform, OpenGL ES support, more

by Chris Ziegler posted Nov 9th 2009 at 12:00PM

There aren't any new devices in the mix, but RIM has unleashed a torrent of BlackBerry OS-related news today at its BlackBerry Developer Conference in San Francisco that's sure to make devs happy in the short term -- and you know how that goes: when devs are happy, it doesn't take long before end users reap the benefits. Here are the highlights:

BlackBerry devices running OS 5.0 and higher will be able to benefit from OpenGL ES support, the 3D platform used by many of the world's high-power smartphones for delivering killer games. There's a beta of the SDK already, so let's get cracking, everyone -- we need some first-person shooters that totally negate BlackBerry's ultra-productive image.
A new plugin for the Eclipse development environment should make building BlackBerry app GUIs easier than ever, which should hopefully lead to prettier apps; it'll be available in mid-2010.
BlackBerry Theme Studio is now available, simplifying theme creation with support for changing the home screen layout, fonts, icons, colors, cursors, and more; it supports BlackBerry OS 4.2.2 and higher, which means that virtually every BlackBerry in a pocket (or holster) today should be able to take advantage. The timing's perfect on this one, because RIM has also announced that themes can now be submitted to App World.
BlackBerry Payment Service has been announced for mid-2010 availability, bringing in-app payments, subscription support, and a variety of billing options, which all sounds far more robust than the PayPal-only setup they've got going today.
The Push Service made available to Alliance Program members earlier this year will be made available to all comers in "early 2010," making it easy to push bite-sized chunks of "time-sensitive alerts" to phones quickly and easily.
BlackBerry Advertising Service has been announced for 1H 2010 availability, bringing a unified ad platform for developers with a variety of existing ad networks on board. If this means more free apps in App World, we're all for it.
Expanding on the Flash partnership previously announced, RIM has teamed up with Adobe yet again to unveil tight integration with Creative Suite 5 with direct file exports for BlackBerry-optimized formats and the creation BlackBerry-specific web layouts. End users will also be able to pull files directly off their BlackBerrys into consumer offerings like Photoshop Elements. This particular news seems pretty fluffy since Adobe products are already capable of opening and saving media formats that the phones can use -- but as with many of the other announcements here, we're on board as long as it means better-looking apps.

Sure, we wouldn't have complained if some crazy Storm2 with a QWERTY slide had unexpectedly shown up, but all things considered, BlackBerry software shops have to be salivating at the bounty here.

PSA: Sears charging $50 less for new DROID activations than Verizon

by Chris Ziegler posted Nov 6th 2009 at 11:14AM

If you walk into a Verizon store today and pick up a DROID, you'll be out $300 (before tax) out of pocket, then you'll twiddle your thumbs for a few weeks while you wait for some mysterious PO box in Texas to send you your $100 rebate on a debit card. Wouldn't you rather just pay $200 upfront? Or better yet, $150? Sears -- which, we have to admit, we didn't know sold phones -- is charging just $150 without a rebate for the DROID today, a full $50 less than Big Red proper with rebate. We don't know how good these guys are with customer service (Simplexity is running the store on Sears' behalf, it seems), but truth be told, we can deal with a little incompetency for $50.

[Via I4U]

Poll: Will the DROID have you in its clutches?

by Chris Ziegler posted Nov 6th 2009 at 10:26AM

We've already got some smartphone beasts in the market like the Pre and the iPhone, but Android hasn't really had a supercharged, drool-worthy device yet -- a knight in shining armor ready to sweep the platform off its feet and ride off into the sunset. The DROID could very well be that device, so we're turning the question over to you: are you jumping in?

DROID mania sweeps the nation, so to speak

by Chris Ziegler posted Nov 6th 2009 at 9:19AM

It appears that last night's midnight opening in Manhattan went off like gangbusters, but the situation across the country is a little more subdued this morning with seemingly short lines and easy access to DROIDs at every location we've visited. We won't put out a number, but we can confirm that several Engadget editors have taken the plunge today -- and if riffraff like us can waltz into the store and get them, you should certainly be able to. Good luck being assimilated out there today, and be sure to post pictures of your experience in comments (up above we've got San Francisco's first buyer courtesy of Ross Miller, and after the break, you can live it up with the good folks of Albany as they were paid a visit by Tim Stevens).

Continue reading DROID mania sweeps the nation, so to speak

Palm demos web-based Ares SDK for webOS

by Chris Ziegler posted Nov 5th 2009 at 6:50PM

Currently, mobile entrepreneurs wishing to hawk their wares on the Pre (or Pixi, or unnamed webOS device of the future) use a software development kit from Palm called Mojo, a stack of Java-based tools that must be installed, studied, understood, loved, and respected before serious development can get underway. Palm sees that as a barrier of entry for web-oriented developers who want to make the leap to mobile apps, though, which is why they've crafted a new SDK called Ares that's based entirely on web technologies -- in fact, there's no install at all, apparently. Much of the interface is said to be drag-and-drop with enough JavaScript exposed to make your local .com designer feel right at home, potentially opening the app landscape to a whole new set of folks -- and considering that the App Catalog is tens of thousands of goodies behind the App Store and Android Market, they can use every loyal dev they get.

BlackBerry Curve 8530 now official on Sprint

by Chris Ziegler posted Nov 5th 2009 at 3:03PM

As we revealed this morning, the BlackBerry Curve 8530 -- a CDMA remix of the 8520 now available on T-Mobile -- is coming to Sprint to do battle with its Verizon-branded cousin. Unlike Verizon, which promises a November 20 launch for $99.99 on contract after rebate, Sprint isn't revealing pricing or availability details for the low-end BlackBerry -- but naturally, if they're smart, the answers will be "cheap" and "soon," respectively.

Verizon launches BlackBerry 8530, LG Chocolate Touch, Samsung Convoy, and prepaid data

by Chris Ziegler posted Nov 5th 2009 at 9:45AM

HTC's DROID ERIS is arguably the biggest announcement out of Verizon today, but that's not the only thing getting real this morning -- far from it, in fact. If BlackBerrys, music-centric dumbphones, rugged flips, or commitment-free data are your bag, head on over to Engadget Mobile where we've covered the rest of the action!

Read - BlackBerry Curve 8530 brings optical trackpad to Verizon
Read - Verizon's LG Chocolate Touch skips on the BL40 influence
Read - Samsung Convoy is a rugged push-to-talker for Verizon
Read - Verizon broadband data goes prepaid

Verizon's DROID ERIS by HTC does Android and keeps it cheap

by Chris Ziegler posted Nov 5th 2009 at 8:45AM

Verizon is making no secret about which Android device it wants to make waves this week -- that'd be the DROID from Motorola -- but there's another model that'll be available the same day with one-tenth the fanfare: HTC's DROID ERIS. Codenamed Desire ahead of launch, the phone is essentially Verizon's custom remix of the venerable Hero as found on Sprint and various GSM carriers around the world, featuring a 5 megapixel camera, 3.2-inch capacitive display, WiFi, 3.5mm headphone jack, and microSD expansion up to 16GB. Check it out in your local store hiding somewhere in the shadow of the DROID starting Friday for $99.99 on contract after a $100 mail-in rebate, which -- if you can forgo a physical keyboard, faster processor, and high-res display -- works out to a cool hundred less than Moto's entry.

Coalition of carriers, manufacturers settles on voice standard for LTE

by Chris Ziegler posted Nov 4th 2009 at 11:41AM

As much fanfare and support as it's been getting over the past couple years, LTE's dirty little secret is that there's been no unified stance on how to ferry voice services over the technology; the concentration has been on data alone so far. Sure, the occasional carrier has raised concerns -- and a variety of solutions have been proposed, ranging from VoIP to repurposing legacy networks for voice alone -- but until now, voice has been an afterthought that everyone's been procrastinating on solving. Fortunately, a veritable who's-who of industry players from both the manufacturer and carrier sides of the fence have congealed this week to announce the One Voice initiative, which basically just hand-picks existing 3GPP-defined standards for voice and SMS services over LTE. Strangely missing is T-Mobile, one of the loudest voices in demanding a voice standard for LTE up until this point -- but considering that AT&T, Orange, Telefonica, TeliaSonera, Verizon, and Vodafone are all on board along with Samsung, Nokia, Sony Ericsson, and others, we think they'll have no option but to fall in line in the long term. For consumers, this means we can all breathe a sigh of relief that LTE handsets won't be arbitrarily compartmentalized by supported voice standard, so it's a big win any way you slice it.

Motorola DROID's built-in apps don't have multitouch support, third-party stuff is another story

by Chris Ziegler posted Nov 4th 2009 at 5:05AM

Turns out that the DROID does support multitouch after all -- it's just not as baked as the MILESTONE's, and it's certainly not the kind you'll see out of the box. The DROID's European cousin features multitouch right in the phone's core software load (most notably pinch-and-zoom in the browser, which we've seen demoed on video) whereas the DROID itself still features multitouch capability in APIs but doesn't expose it through any built-in app. Translation: the apps you use every day -- Google Maps and the browser, chiefly -- get left out in the cold for some reason that neither Google nor Motorola (nor Verizon) have thus far been willing to adequately justify. Where you can experience the magic of pinch-and-zoom is in third-party apps written to take advantage of Android 2.0's new APIs (Phandroid demos it on a fresh version of Picsay, for instance), but at the end of the day, that's a consolation prize -- we still want a spin-free explanation of why this was all turned off for the base apps. Follow the break for video of Picsay's support for the good stuff in action.

[Image via mobile-review]

Continue reading Motorola DROID's built-in apps don't have multitouch support, third-party stuff is another story

LG GW620 Eve coming to Rogers, Android deftly avoids AT&T yet again

by Chris Ziegler posted Nov 3rd 2009 at 9:16PM

It looks like Canada's Rogers will be among the first carriers in the world to offer LG's first Android device, the GW620 Eve -- and for North Americans, this is particularly notable since it means there's a version of the device at retail that'll theoretically work on Bell, Telus, and AT&T in addition to Rogers proper. We have no indication that AT&T's about to actually pull the trigger on this thing (or on any Android device for that matter), though, so if you're into the 5 megapixel AF cam, full QWERTY slide, and 7.2Mbps HSDPA capability, we'd recommend putting your unlockin' pants on. For Rogers customers, we're not seeing a release date just yet, but it looks like you'll be paying a downright reasonable CAD $49.99 (about $47) on a three-year deal when it launches.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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