Ctia2009 -- Engadget

Barnes and Noble 'confirms' color Plastic Logic e-book reader for Spring 2010 (video)

by Thomas Ricker posted Oct 9th 2009 at 3:52AM

In no uncertain terms, a Barnes & Noble representative at what looks like the CTIA show says that a color (color!) Plastic Logic e-book reader will launch in Spring 2010. Now, we're not sure if Daniel Joresson is authorized to make announcements about its Plastic Logic partner but he did so nonetheless. The Plastic Logic e-reader will feature a color screen about the size of a paperback and runs the "Barnes & Noble e-book reader application." It's not clear, but it sounds like the B&N application will also be available for cellphones including the iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android devices. Right, similar to the Kindle app. So how does this jibe with rumors about a 6-inch Barnes & Noble e-reader from Plastic Logic launching as early as next month? Easy, the first version will be grayscale while a new model featuring a color display will launch in Spring. In fact, Plastic Logic's own web site says that its color reader is "around the corner" and expects to be "first to market with a large, flexible color display" -- take that Sony and Amazon with your PVI built E Ink-based displays. Watch the flirtatious B&N reveal after the break.

[Thanks, Tom]

Read -- Plastic Logic FAQ (color reader)
Read -- Video

Continue reading Barnes and Noble 'confirms' color Plastic Logic e-book reader for Spring 2010 (video)

RIM goes pale, shows white Curve 8520 for T-Mobile and Bold for AT&T

by Chris Ziegler posted Oct 8th 2009 at 11:32AM

We know it's after Labor Day, but that doesn't seem to be stopping RIM from rolling out a couple BlackBerrys in bright white this season -- and who are we to accuse Waterloo of a fashion faux-pas? First up, the Curve 8520 on T-Mobile is now available, complementing the black and "frost" versions that have already landed; perhaps more interesting, though, is direct confirmation from RIM that there'll be a white version Bold hitting AT&T in mid-October. With the Bold 2 seemingly around the corner, recoloring the current model seems like an odd move -- but if they can continue to sell the Bold at a moderate discount a la iPhone 3G / 3GS, there might yet be a strategy there. The version RIM had on hand wasn't AT&T-branded, but... you know, just imagine the silkscreened logo and customized wallpaper, and you'll get the idea.

Gallery: RIM goes pale, shows white Curve 8520 for T-Mobile and Bold for AT&T

Nokia's product testing labs in 3 minutes, 42 seconds (video)

by Chris Ziegler posted Oct 7th 2009 at 9:07PM

We had a chance to take a tour of Nokia's research and development facility in San Diego this week -- and while we're afraid to say we didn't see any Maemo 6-powered devices or Symbian^4 emulators lying around, we did see some pretty cool stuff, particularly in the product testing laboratories where engineering samples and final products are put through pure hell. The idea is to simulate years' worth of real-life product use in just a few days -- individual tests last anywhere from a few hours to three weeks or longer -- by pressing buttons, sliding sliders, actuating hinges, heating, cooling, wetting, drying, dropping, whacking, shaking, rubbing, bending, and generally defacing the phones in every way imaginable. Once a phone finally breaks, they look for obvious reasons -- cracked plastic, broken springs, and the like -- but if that initial analysis fails, they've got a well-equipped lab on site complete with a scanning electron microscope and CT scanner for taking microscopic looks at failed components in both two and three dimensions; from here, they can find broken connections on chips, incorrectly-fabricated materials, and the occasional ant eye magnified a couple thousand times (it's posted on the wall in the lab, and yes, it's scary). Follow the break for a cheerful montage of a few Nokia phones getting mercilessly beaten beyond recognition.

Continue reading Nokia's product testing labs in 3 minutes, 42 seconds (video)

Samsung Behold II caught behind glass

by Chris Ziegler posted Oct 7th 2009 at 8:36PM

Whoa, Android overload! Moment isn't the only Google-rife device out of Samsung that's on display at the show -- to get the whole picture you've got to turn your attention over to the Behold II, which is more or less a Galaxy done up in T-Mobile-specific clothes and makeup, right down to the all-important AMOLED display. Unfortunately, Sammy's been stingy with access to this one so far -- and it's apparently a non-working model, which might explain it -- but at least we can get a pretty good sense of the size of the device here. It looks plenty thin, and at a glance, it's got a higher-end appeal to it than the Moment; suffice it to say, the myTouch 3G's reign atop T-Mobile's full-touch Android lineup isn't long for this world. Check out a few shots below.

Gallery: Samsung Behold II caught behind glass

Barnes & Noble working on an e-book reader of its own?

by Donald Melanson posted Apr 8th 2009 at 3:42PM

Everyone else is doing it, so why not Barnes & Noble too? That's the talk following last week's CTIA at least, where mysterious "insiders" were reportedly abuzz about the possibility of a B&N e-book reader that, like the Kindle, would supposedly be tied to a cellular carrier for some Whispernet-like connectivity. According to one of those insiders, Barnes & Noble had apparently first been in talks with Verizon about a partnership, but those seem to have fallen apart for one reason or another, and it now looks like Sprint (Amazon's partner, coincidentally) is the top contender. Some "observers" apparently still aren't ruling out AT&T as a possibility, however, especially in light of its recent expression of interest about getting into the e-book reader game. No word about the actual device itself just yet, but there's no shortage of ready-made options out there (like Plastic Logic's e-reader above) should B&N decide to go that route.

[Thanks, Tim]

Michael Bay strikes again, pulls out Samsung cellphone at LG promo event

by Nilay Patel posted Apr 6th 2009 at 2:29PM

We're not sure what LG expected when it invited Micheal Bay to speak about the company's promotional support of Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen at CTIA, but let's be honest -- they probably should have known dude was going to blow something up. Unfortunately for the gathered LG employees, this time Mike-Mike delivered a figurative explosion, telling the crowd "I don't know anything about mobile phones. In fact, look at my phone -- it's a thirty-nine dollar Samsung." Ouch -- that's roughly the equivalent of throwing a Ford in with the rest of the Autobots. Making matters worse, LG president of mobile products Juno Cho tried to salvage the moment by offering Bay his personal phone, but was rebuffed because "all my contacts are in the other one." Yeah, that's probably not the best way to play it -- although we're guessing Samsung's already angling for TouchWiz to feature prominently in Transformers 3.

[Via Gartenblog]

LG's GD900 video tour (and shenanigans) at CTIA

by Sean Cooper posted Apr 4th 2009 at 1:41PM

We've been fairly intrigued about LG's GD900 since we had a glimpse of it behind glass at Mobile World Congress this year. We were finally treated to a proper tour by LG's Martin Valdez who not only did a bang up job of demonstrating the set but covered up what may be an early build firmware bug with such aplomb he deserves an award for his performance. Notable here is the clear keypad that acts as input device for typing, text recognition, gestures, and the full-on gorgeous UI. While we wouldn't expect this to be a monster seller at the carriers, it will get LG some attention. So sit back, relax, and enjoy a few minutes with LG's transparent beauty and a great showman, Martin Valdez.

Continue reading LG's GD900 video tour (and shenanigans) at CTIA

PCD tempts with its twisting TXT8030

by Sean Cooper posted Apr 4th 2009 at 9:34AM

PCD's showed a fun twist at CTIA with the admittedly awkward looking TXT8030 by designing the handset's lower section to rotate with business up front and party in the back -- yeah, like a mullet. One one side is a QWERTY pad and on the other speakers and the music controls. We also hear the display is a 2.2-inch number, memory is expandable via microSD, it packs a 1.3 megapixel shooter, and the tale of the tape registers 4.5 inches long by 2.4 inches wide, and about a half an inch thick. No thoughts on pricing or availability, but this CDMA twistset may show up somewhere someday.

Fake Nokia N97 is fake, tiny, buggy... and fake

by Chris Ziegler posted Apr 4th 2009 at 7:56AM

What do you get if you stick a Nokia N97 in the dryer on high heat for an hour, rip the keyboard off with your bare hands, and replace S60 with a seemingly random stream of digital puke? Probably something akin to this little bugger, we'd reckon. Nothing worked, the display was wigging out, and we'd gotten it to the point where all we could do was draw red lines and watch random blocks of noise appear on screen -- awesome by Keepin' It Real Fake standards, yes, but not awesome if you're actually trying to make a call. Our recommendation: don't get any closer to this thing than the video you're about to watch after the break.

Gallery: Fake Nokia N97 is fake, tiny, buggy... and fake

Continue reading Fake Nokia N97 is fake, tiny, buggy... and fake

CTIA Roundup, Day Three

by Chris Ziegler posted Apr 4th 2009 at 12:12AM

CTIA Wireless 2009 has drawn to an anticlimactic close today, concluding one of the less memorable, less action-packed CTIAs in recent memory. Friday was as much about skedaddlin' out of town as quickly as possible as it was about making news and launching new products for exhibitors, but that doesn't mean we didn't unearth a few gems for you. No need to thank us, seriously -- click on!


Wistron's Snapdragon-powered PurseBook gets demoed NVIDIA is showing that wacky Mini 1000 / Tegra mashup at CTIA, but Qualcomm's not far behind with its own creative ways to repurpose smartphone silicon into MID and netbook-class devices.		Inventec's mirasol-equipped V112 smartphone goes on display We couldn't get the thing to turn on -- prototype buffoonery, zapped battery, or a classic case of trade show jitters, we figure -- but Inventec's curious V112 was on display inside Qualcomm's booth at CTIA.
Nokia E71x struts its stuff on video We were never able to track down an E71x with a SIM and an active AT&T Navigator account, but it's pretty clear from our time with the device that AT&T has left its S60 3.2-based core pleasantly untouched.	Also check out: Kyocera G2GO and Laylo hands-on Jabra HALO hands-on

Wistron's Snapdragon-powered PurseBook gets demoed

by Chris Ziegler posted Apr 3rd 2009 at 9:56PM

NVIDIA is showing that wacky Mini 1000 / Tegra mashup at CTIA, but Qualcomm's not far behind with its own creative ways to repurpose smartphone silicon into MID and netbook-class devices. Making an appearance at Qualcomm's booth was a prototype PurseBook from Taiwan's Wistron, which stuffs a Snapdragon chipset into a device looking (and weighing) a little bit like a VAIO P. That's where the similarities to the Sony box ends, though, because Qualcomm sees the PurseBook (and devices like it) hitting in the $299 to $499 range -- we'd like to see them even cheaper, truth be told -- and you won't be running Vista here. Instead, you've got a pretty slick Linux distro from ThunderSoft that'll edit Office docs, give you a desktop-class web experience, and connect with social networks, which are the three things most of us spend 90 percent of our PC face time doing anyhow. It's not going to replace your laptop by any stretch, but with a claimed 8 hours of battery life, we could totally see packing this thing as an ultra-lightweight alternative for day trips. Qualcomm expects the PurseBook and devices like it to ship in 2009 -- as does NVIDIA, so we're definitely lining up for a sweet battle royale here. Follow the break for video.

Gallery: Wistron's Snapdragon-powered PurseBook eyes-on

Continue reading Wistron's Snapdragon-powered PurseBook gets demoed

Inventec's mirasol-equipped V112 smartphone goes on display

by Chris Ziegler posted Apr 3rd 2009 at 8:44PM

We couldn't get the thing to turn on -- prototype buffoonery, zapped battery, or a classic case of trade show jitters, we figure -- but Inventec's curious V112 was on display inside Qualcomm's booth at CTIA. Why Qualcomm, you ask? Well, Qualcomm owns Qualcomm MEMS Technologies, which has been pushing its mirasol display tech for several years now; the main draw is that it's super high-contrast which eliminates the need for a backlight in many situations where a traditional LCD would need a little help, and the WinMo-powered V112 uses a small mirasol strip as a secondary display surrounded by nav controls. Even though we weren't getting any Windows Mobile action, we did manage to engage the mirasol display (also known as "the cool part") where we saw an example of what the V112 might be able to do without turning on the battery-destroying LCD up top: show basic status information and the current time. It's a good idea; we're not sure that the V112's implementation is perfect since there's zero tactility to the d-pad, but you've got to start somewhere, and mirasol could use as many commercial implementations as it can get.

Gallery: Hands-on with Inventec's Mirasol-equipped V112 smartphone

Pre Sprint Navigation app demoed on video

by Nilay Patel posted Apr 3rd 2009 at 6:08PM

It's not quite a flood, but there's been a steady trickle of Pre news out of CTIA this week, and the latest is this video demo of the Sprint Navigation app. It's pretty familiar stuff if you've ever used the carrier's TeleNav-powered navigation on a device like the Samsung Instinct, but does have a nice coat of webOS interface sheen to it, and let's face it -- we'll take all the Pre demos we can get. Video after the break.

Continue reading Pre Sprint Navigation app demoed on video

NavGenius PND looks like a GPS, is really a covert location tracker

by Darren Murph posted Apr 3rd 2009 at 5:33AM

Those sadistic souls over at Lightning GPS are at it again, making the lives of parents and promiscuous children awesome and horrible, respectively. Just in case NavTrac's RTV10 PND isn't enough to keep your mind at ease when Johnny (and his track record of poor decision making) is out and about, there's the newly announced NavGenius. At first glance, this here navigator is about as vanilla as they come, but underneath the shell is a dedicated tracking module which enables the owner to monitor every turn, stop and donut from the web. Heck, you can even re-route vehicles from any connected computer, and the owner can get an SMS should the driver exceed a certain speed or break a customizable perimeter. All that's required to shatter the last pinch of trust you actually had with your offspring is $599.95 up front and $39.95 per month for the tracking service -- which you only pay until they wise up and take a Louisville Slugger to the device.

CTIA Roundup, Day Two

by Chris Ziegler posted Apr 3rd 2009 at 2:24AM

Day Two of CTIA Wireless 2009 was marked with little news -- most of the big stuff hit yesterday -- but that doesn't mean there wasn't plenty to see. We wrote a bit about Motorola's surprisingly awesome Evoke, LG's and Samsung's latest contributions to AT&T, and a couple of watch phones that you may (or may not) want on your wrist -- so if you haven't had a chance to catch up on the day's festivities, read on, won't you?


NVIDIA's Franken-Mini is half HP, half Tegra, no Intel And now, a little visit to the "Why not?" department.		Motorola Evoke QA4 hands-on with video When you look at the Motorola Evoke QA4, the last thought that springs to mind is RAZR, and that's such a good thing.
Sony Ericsson's T707 hands-on with video Sony Ericsson's presence at CTIA this year is a rather quiet thing, but we did catch up with them at Ericsson's booth as we were hell bent on seeing its newest, the T707.		Samsung Propel Pro video hands-on, now with more keyboard A number of folks wanted video of AT&T's Samsung Propel Pro and a better view of the keyboard.
Neutrano's Nutec WristFone watch phones at CTIA If this guy looks serious, it's because he is -- serious about bringing you some awesome watch phones	Also check out: Sanyo SCP-2700 hands-on LG Neon and Xenon hands-on