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T-Mobile G-Slate bundled apps tour (video)
The G-Slate from LG (aka Optimus Pad) was on display at T-Mobile's booth here at CTIA, so we spent a few minutes investigating the apps the carrier is bundling with the 8.9" Honeycomb tablet at launch, namely Need for Speed Shift, T-Mobile TV, and Zinio eReader. Interestingly, the same three apps are also pre-installed on T-Mobile's other dual-core LG device du jour, the tantalizing G2x. Check out the tour in our video after the break.
iPad apps: defining experiences from the first wave
There are now over 1,348 approved apps for the iPad. That's on top of the 150,000 iPad-compatible iPhone programs already available in the App Store. When Apple's tablet PC launches, just hours from now, it will have a software library greater than that of any handheld in history -- not counting the occasional UMPC. That said, the vast majority of even those 1,348 iPad apps are not original. They were designed for the iPhone, a device with a comparatively pokey processor and a tiny screen, and most have just been tweaked slightly, upped in price and given an "HD" suffix -- as if that somehow justified the increased cost. Besides, we've seen the amazing potential programs have on iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile and webOS when given access to a touchscreen, always-on data connection, GPS, cloud storage and WiFi -- but where are the apps that truly define iPad? What will take advantage of its extra headroom, new UI paradigms and multitouch real estate? Caught between netbook and smartphone, what does the iPad do that the iPhone cannot? After spending hours digging through the web and new iPad section of the App Store, we believe we have a number of reasonably compelling answers. Update: Now includes Wormhole Remote, TweetDeck, SkyGrid, Touchgrind HD, GoToMeeting, SplitBrowser, iDisplay, Geometry Wars and Drawing Pad.
Video of games on the iPad, and what developers plan to do with them
Unfortunately, we weren't able to attend the event in San Francisco yesterday, but our good friends at Joystiq were, and they've brought back this video of Need for Speed: Shift [iTunes link] and a few other games running on the iPad. Not only can you see how the accelerometer works (exactly the same as the iPhone, basically), but you can see how the regular iPhone apps will upscale to full screen (via what looks like a small "button" in the corner) on the iPad. Of course, this video isn't ideal, but it actually looks better than I thought. Hopefully, of course, developers will actually put in the effort to recreate their apps for the iPad's bigger screen. That's exactly what the makers of Flight Control have said they plan to do; that game will be "re-imagined" to work on the iPad. They talk about not only making use of the bigger screen space, but actually going to the "next generation" of their games. It'll be very interesting to see, as the App Store evolves with the iPad, what kinds of markets emerge. Will we eventually have a set of games that works best on the iPhone, and a set that works better on the "big" screen?
'Need For Speed Shift' 250GB PS3 box art spied
We saw that new gray 250GB standalone PS3 Slim box the other day, and now we've got a shiny press shot of this Europe-bound Need For Speed Shift bundle, which will apparently retail for €350 -- only €50 more than its non-bundled 120GB counterpart. We'd heard tell of it before from deep within the bowels of the retail establishment, and it was named in Sony's original 250GB press release, but we hope Sony has a bit more to say about its much-rumored lineup of bundles for Europe before they spill all over store shelves on some vague, undetermined date. [Via Engadget Spanish]
