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Volkswagen plans a North America factory to build EVs
Volkswagen is planning a new factory in North America to build electric vehicles for the market, and the automaker is exploring potential sites. Scott Keogh, the new Volkswagen Group of America CEO, said at the LA Auto Show that VW's existing plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee could fit the bill, as there's enough space, but the company won't necessarily pick that location.
Volkswagen will build EVs in North America starting in 2021
Volkswagen introduced its new e-Golf at the LA Auto Show last week and today the automaker announced more plans for its electric vehicles in North America. As part of its plan for the next decade, the company wants to "evolve from a niche supplier into a relevant and profitable volume producer." Part of that strategy includes building EVs in North America beginning in 2021.
The PlayStation VR demo disc has 17 games in North America
Last week Sony outlined the eight demos that will be bundled with PlayStation VR for European customers. Now, the company has revealed a bigger lineup of free games that'll be included on the VR demo disc in the US and Canada.
Prepare your PS3s, North America: 'Yakuza 5' lands next month
Yakuza 5 launched in Japan for the PlayStation 3 in December 2012. Three years and one console generation later, it's heading to North American PS3s in "mid-November, if all goes to schedule." Sega announced the release window today in a blog post, noting, "It's a little later than we would've liked, and a few weird development bugs that popped up in localization caused the delay." Specifically, but not technically, Sega ran into issues with the on-screen text, which had to be flipped from Japanese to English. Once the bugs are squashed, Yakuza 5 is on track to hit PS3 digitally via PSN next month across North America.
Air Canada to offer WiFi across many of its North American flights
If you've flown to or from Canada in recent years using one of its airlines, you've probably noticed the lack of in-flight WiFi; apart from a couple of aircraft, you're incommunicado until you reach the ground. You won't be stuck reading books and taking naps for much longer, though. Air Canada has announced that it's rolling out Gogo-based WiFi on many of its continental North American flights, keeping you connected even if the US is on the itinerary. The company will outfit 29 aircraft with internet access between May and the end of 2014, and 130 narrow-body models should get online by December 2015. The initial service will stick with Gogo's regular (that is, fairly slow) cellular-based technology, but Air Canada will be testing advanced satellite broadband from both Gogo and Inmarsat next year.
HTC One officially hits Germany, UK and Taiwan next week, other regions before the end of April
There's been an uncertainty hovering over just when the HTC One would make its formal debut, between delays in many areas and a trickle of availability in others. At least in theory, those doubts have been resolved: HTC now says that Germany, the UK and Taiwan will have an official One launch next week. Europe, North America and large swaths of Asia-Pacific will get their own units before the end of April. The company hasn't been more specific about carrier deployments, but we're sure that HTC is happy just to beat a key competitor to store shelves. Read the company's full statement after the break.
LG's 5.5-inch Optimus G Pro is the first with a Snapdragon 600 quad-core CPU
LG finally showed off the XL 5.5-inch version of its upcoming Optimus G Pro at the end of a Facebook promo last week, and now it's revealed a launch date in Korea, more specs and a window for arrival in North America. Also of note? Its CPU is the just-announced quad-core Snapdragon 600 running at 1.7Ghz. Announced at CES, the 600 is supposed to be a milder upgrade (compared to the potentially 2.3GHz Snapdragon 800) to its predecessor, the powerful S4 Pro. New software tweaks include a dual record that uses both cameras simultaneously and VR Panorama that appears to be similar to Google's Photo Sphere stitching. Besides the expanded 1080p screen and updated internals, the larger version also sports a slightly larger battery than the Japanese version announced previously by NTT Docomo with 3,140mAh compared to 3,000, but keeps the 2GB of RAM, 13MP rear camera, microSDXC slot and LTE. The phone will be released on local carriers SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus on Wednesday for 968,000 won ($897), while a North American launch is mentioned for Q2 along with the Japanese release. We'll find out more about this phone -- and likely a few others -- at MWC 2013 later this week, for now check out the press release after the break for more specs.
Leaked Rogers memo details its BlackBerry Playbook 4G LTE pricing options
For a few days now, folks in the Great White North tied to Telus and Bell have known how much coin they'll have to layout for a BlackBerry PlayBook 4G LTE when it launches on the 9th. Thanks to leaked memo from Rogers, obtained by MobileSyrup, we now know what the carrier will be charging as well. $550 nets Canadians the slate free of any commitments, while one- and two-year contracts drop that price by $50 and $100 respectively. If you're brave enough to partner up with the OS 2.0.1-loaded, 1.5Ghz slate for three years, it can be yours for a more wallet-friendly $350. Hey, it's not like BB10 is exactly right around the corner.
Google Nexus 7 tablet gets mid-July arrival dates from Staples in US and Canada
It's no secret that both the 8GB and 16GB variants of Google's Nexus 7 have been set to ship in two to three weeks from pre-orders placed at its Play store. While retailers like Gamestop are also remaining mum on specifics, Staples has stepped up with actual arrival dates on its US and Canadian websites for the 16GB model. Apparently, fast fingers within the United 50 that lay out $250 to reserve one of the Jelly Bean-loaded slates by July 10 can expect it to arrive as early as the 13th -- that said, Staples notes that this "limited quantity" of initial stock is set to ship "between July 12th and July 17th." Heading to Staple's site for the Great White North, the tablet is listed to hit shelves in-stores and online on the 23rd for 259 Canadian dollars, however, there's no word on when online orders might ship. We'd still advise you to take these dates with some NaCl at this point, but it's likely a safe to bet that you'll have yours before August if you place an order soon.
HTC picks former AT&T exec Mike Woodward as North American president
HTC has been fighting to get a better relationship with US carriers lately, and it may have just chosen a clever (if roundabout) approach: hire one of their executives. As of today, AT&T's former phone portfolio VP Mike Woodward is now HTC's president of its North American division, reporting directly to worldwide sales head Jason Mackenzie. The new position won't necessarily get him any privileged access, but it certainly gives HTC someone who's well versed in what carriers want out of a device launch. We'll have to wait awhile to see what Woodward's strategy will be; suffice it to say that the company wants more One X-level anticipation and fewer of those bumpy, Inspire 4G-like releases.
Samsung Galaxy S III coming to AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless and US Cellular this month
Official is as official does... right? In a bid to one-up the Galaxy S II's launch here in the States, Samsung has just announced that five carriers will soon have their own customized versions of the Galaxy S III. And by "soon," we mean "beginning in June." AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless and US Cellular are all in line to take part, with exact pricing and availability to be announced by each of the five carriers in the coming weeks. We are, however, told to expect on-contract prices as low as $199, and it sounds as if all five variants will keep the same 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED display. Naturally, S-Beam, S-Voice, Smart Stay and Android 4.0 (with TouchWiz) will be onboard, with Qualcomm's 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 at the heart of each matter. We're told to expect 2GB of RAM across the board, with Gorilla Glass 2.0 guarding against your clumsiness. Moreover, we're reminded of the mythical Pebble Blue hue (which will be available alongside Marble White), with a removable 2,100mAh battery and 16GB / 32GB capacity options. Looking to learn more? There's a bit left just beyond the break, but the real deets will be pouring out in the weeks ahead from the carriers themselves. Update: AT&T has added a preview page; check the more coverage link for details.
LG celebrates three million LTE phones sold worldwide, shockingly finds high speed data is awesome
LG has hitched its mobile fate to the future of LTE high speed data equipped phones basically since the technology was introduced and today it announced the fruits of its labor: three million LTE phones sold to date worldwide. While some will quibble over shipped / sold to end-user counting methods, or how this compares to figures recently touted by competition like Samsung and Apple, we need only look at LG's most recent earnings report to see the positive impact its LTE-infused lineup has had. According to LG, most of the gains have been in South Korea and North America so far, although it plans to have LTE phones in 20 countries by the end of the year. After kicking off the LTE frenzy with the Revolution last year on Verizon, it's talking up the combination of LTE and HD LCD screen features in its Optimus LTE phone, already a million seller in Korea just as its successor, the Optimus LTE II arrives on shelves.
Nokia confirms intent to bring unlocked 808 PureView handset to North America (update)
Nokia's major focal points within the US market may currently be its Lumia 900 and Windows Phone, but that doesn't mean it's planning to leave its other notable offerings outside of Uncle Sam's borders. Speaking with PC Mag, Nokia executive Chris Weber explained that the company aims to offer its current Belle-rocking, imaging-champ, the 41-megapixel 808 PureView, north of Mexico in the "next couple of months." That's rather unsurprising, considering it recently passed through the underground testing-chambers of the FCC. Unlike the Lumia, however, this mega-phone will only be sold unlocked, naturally sporting AT&T bands (possibly others, too. See the update below) for connectivity. While we're still eager to find out more detailed availability information, you can now rest assured that you'll soon be able to capture highly detailed photos of your freedom fries to post on Tumblr. Update: PC Mag's Sascha Segan wrote in the comments below to clarify this device's likely connectivity options: Weber said he was sure the phone would support AT&T. He didn't refer specifically to any frequency bands or say the phone wouldn't support any other carrier. I presume it's going to be the international model, so it'll be any carrier the international model supports.
Intuit GoPayment goes live in Canada, more rectangular than Square
Looks like Canada just scored another mobile credit card payment system within its borders. It was back at CES when Intuit revealed its updated GoPayment dongle for our neighbors up north, and now the company's announced that the service has officially launched in the region. Once you're application is approved, you'll get the card reader for free without any contract -- and best of all, GoPayment works on a "pay-as-you-go" basis (3.3 percent if you enter the digits, 2.7 percent with a swipe). It's currently purposed for iDevices with a free downloadable app, accepting Visa and Mastercards, but Intuit notes that Android and BlackBerry compatibility is in the works. With services NetSecure and PayPal also claiming space in the country, we're still left to wonder when Square -- essentially the godfather of this type of thing -- will finally be joining the card-swiping party in the great white north. If you're curious for all the details or wanting to apply for yourself, head on down to the source link below. [Thanks, Mike]
Acer Iconia Tab A510 now available, 10.1 inches of Olympian ICS and Tegra 3 for $450
Ah, Acer's Olympics-themed Iconia Tab A510. If you'll recall, after months of staying quiet about its A500 successor -- which was already viewable in public -- Acer finally made the 10.1-inch (1280 x 800) slate official when it went up for pre-order last month. Fast forward to today, and the company's US website is now listing the tablet as in-stock and ready to ship. Notably, the A510 is Acer's first tab loaded with NVIDIA's quad-core Tegra 3 SoC and Android Ice Cream Sandwich (slightly modified) -- a duo of delicacies seldom found together in tablets up for grabs as of late. To refresh your memory, its $450 price tag also gets you 32GB of storage with 1GB of RAM, your choice of a white or black bezel and other goodies, including a 1-megapixel front-facing camera and an auto-focusing 5-megapixel shooter on back. Not too shabby for device that can reportedly handle 12 hours of video playback. Sweet tooth tingling? Hit up the source link below for all the details. [Thanks, Daryl]
Garmin partners with Suzuki for company's first in-dash infotainment system
Sure, the portable GPS may still have a home among multi-car families, or drivers that have yet to make the jump to a smartphone, but we wouldn't be surprised to see the dedicated device's share decline over the next few years. At the same time, in-car infotainment systems are clearly gaining in popularity, so it only makes sense for one of the world's largest handheld GPS makers to make the jump to in-dash. Garmin's partnering with Suzuki for its first factory-installed infotainment system, which includes a 6.1-inch "high-res" touchscreen, a CD player and AM/FM radio, internal flash memory, along with USB, AUX jack and Bluetooth connectivity. The voice control-enabled system also includes backup camera support, Pandora integration and an SD card slot for loading updates. One benefit of vehicle integration is access to the car's speed sensors, allowing the GPS to follow along accurately when it doesn't have a signal, such as in enclosed areas or tunnels. You can also use Garmin Smartphone Link to access traffic, weather and fuel price info. The in-dash system will ship with most American 2013 model year Suzuki vehicles, along with select cars sold in Australia, New Zealand, Europe and Russia. I'll also be on display at Suzuki's New York Auto Show booth next week, if you happen to be planning a trip to the Big Apple.
Japanese robot pet powered by iPhone
Robotic pets are kind of kid stuff here in the US, but they're a big deal over in Japan, and here's one that takes advantage of the iPhone's popularity. The Smartpet is a robotic dog that "borrows" the iPhone as head unit. The body is mechanical, of course, but the head uses the iPhone's touchscreen (and even the camera) to control the dog's movement. Not only does the touchscreen show over 100 different facial animations for the virtual pet, but apparently the included app will also learn to recognize your face and voice, and will recognize gesture movements through the iPhone's camera. There's no word on availability for North America yet, and this one may not make it over here at all. It will be available on April 24 in Japan, for around $80.
New undersea cables planned for arctic passageways, frozen gamers dream of lower pings
Hot on the heels of our own reporting of cables in the South Pacific (or the lack thereof), in flies a report that at least two new undersea cables are being planned for the arctic. According to New Scientist, a pair of lengthy fiber optic wires will be laid through the Northwest Passage above North America, connecting Japan to the United Kingdom. Moreover, a third cable is planned along the Russian coastline, with the longest of these links to purportedly become "the world's longest single stretch of optical fiber." A number of outfits are on the list to help out, and when complete, the latency between Tokyo and London should be reduced between 168ms and 230ms. The cost for such luxury? An estimated $600 million to $1.5 billion for each line. In other words, totally worth it.
ViaSat residential satellite broadband internet hands-on (video)
Last Thursday, ViaSat announced pricing for its new home broadband service, which is set to deliver 12 Mbps+ download speeds (3 Mbps+ up) beginning next week for $50 per month. We just dropped by the company's demo home just a few feet from the Engadget trailer at the Las Vegas Convention Center parking lot to try it out, and were quite impressed with the speeds we saw, especially considering that data was passing through the ViaSat-1 satellite thousands of miles above the Earth. We've used other satellite internet services before, and while there's still just over a half-second of latency, bandwidth speeds were significantly faster than what we've experienced with other services in the past. HD YouTube videos loaded very quickly, after a brief delay, as did Engadget and many other media-rich news websites. We performed a speed test and registered ping speeds of about 600ms, download speeds of about 30 Mbps and upload speeds of about 2 Mbps, but results aren't as accurate as they would be with a land-based connection because of latency and the way packet data is handled. We also placed a VOIP call, and while the delay was noticeable there, it was still usable. Want to see for yourself? Jump past the break as we step through ViaSat's front door to hop online.
ViaSat details home broadband, 12 Mbps service to roll out on the 16th for $50 per month
Earlier this year, ViaSat launched its ViaSat-1, a 140 Gbps capacity satellite positioned over North America. We've already heard about plans to bring Ka-band coverage to the friendly JetBlue skies later this year, but now the new broadband provider has detailed residential availability as well, through the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative. NRTC members will have access to 12 Mbps service packages starting at $50 per month as soon as January 16th, finally bringing high-speed broadband to areas where fiber and cable services are not available. ViaSat may not be rolling out to consumers for another couple weeks, but the provider will be on-site at CES to demo the service in "residential, commercial airline, and satellite newsgathering" scenarios beginning Tuesday, and you better believe we'll be there to test it out.
