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Cellphones thinner than ever

by Chris Ziegler posted Oct 10th 2009 at 5:47PM

Strategy Analytics latest look at its spec-tracking (hence the name) SpecTRAX database of wireless devices has unearthed a few juicy tidbits of information, none more notable than the fact that phone thickness is at a new all-time low -- 13.96mm on average, the first time the metric has ever fallen below 14mm (for comparison, Motorola's original DynaTAC clocked in around 89mm, so we're making some solid improvement there). USB penetration is at a new high, too, supported by some 85 percent of newly-entered devices in the database, and battery life is up 25 percent from two years ago. Of course, that's still not nearly long enough -- battery tech is falling dangerously behind virtually every other technology that goes into the making of a mobile device, sadly -- but we'll take any improvement we can get.

[Via MobileTechNews]

NPD: Mac owners are bigger gadget nerds than PC owners

by Thomas Ricker posted Oct 6th 2009 at 7:04AM

There's no easy way to say this so we'll just spit it out: Mac owners are bigger gadget nerds than PC owners. At least that's the conclusion drawn in NPD's 2009 Household Penetration Study. NPD concludes that Mac owners not only own more computers than the norm, they also own more types of consumer electronics -- the average Apple household owns 48 consumer electronics devices compared to 24 in the average computer household. In fact, NPD suggests that "Apple household owners' actions and purchases can be used by the industry as leading indicators for hot new products and adoption." Unfortunately, there's no direct mention of Linux PC owners because they usually still live with their parents. Oh!

AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon goaded into customer service showdown

by Joseph L. Flatley posted Sep 29th 2009 at 2:59PM

It doesn't matter who your carrier is, you're gonna have some complaints. But is the grass always greener somewhere else? To answer that question, the kids at Laptop Magazine have conducted a test of the customer service practices of the big four (Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, and AT&T) to ascertain each company's friendliness, knowledge, and timeliness. The publication placed customer service calls twice during a week (once at midday and once during rush hour), visited two stores per carrier in New York City, and tried to find solutions to its problems using each carrier's online knowledge base. Apparently, T-Mobile takes the prize for in-store assistance and web support, and Sprint, while not always able to answer questions, at least had taken steps to streamline the support process (and the fact that its employees were friendly didn't hurt). Apparently Verizon Wireless offered solid in-store support (albeit with grumpy employees), "quick and accurate phone support" and "solid" online help. AT&T, sadly, was the loser here -- Laptop says it left the store "shocked" that one representative couldn't figure out how to get email up and running on its Blackberry. Shocking! Hit the read link to see for yourself.

New study says Palm Pre second only to iPhone 3GS in mindshare

by Joshua Topolsky posted Sep 24th 2009 at 8:48AM

Market research firm Interpret recently made some discoveries about public perception of smartphones that should shock, surprise, and amaze you. The just released report, dubbed "Signature Smartphones: Gaining Mindshare in Order to Gain Market Share," reveals that despite being massively disadvantaged in the marketplace, Palm managed to nab a huge chunk of mindshare with the Pre -- in fact, the report suggests that the Pre is number two only to the iPhone 3GS in the metric. The study looks at the driving factors behind purchaser's decisions to buy a smartphone, narrowing down the list to three major components: belief that the phone is "smart," belief that the phone is "hip / cool," and belief that the phone will make them more productive. Rating a swath of phones (BlackBerry Curve and Storm, G1, iPhone), the report found that only the iPhone and Pre balanced the three factors in a way in which consumers felt the higher price tags were warranted. More to the point, only the Pre and the iPhone 3GS managed to strike that balance at all; offerings such as the two BlackBerrys were lopsided. There's not much more meat to the study, though it does shed some interesting light on just how Palm managed to squeeze its way back into the limelight (of course, it doesn't hurt to have a product that's actually kind of cool). Check out the whole PDF for yourself over at that read link.

Disclosure: Engadget columnist Michael Gartenberg is an employee of Interpret, and worked on the study cited above.

58 percent of salespeople recommend Samsung HDTVs, 100 percent like big commission checks

by Tim Stevens posted Sep 11th 2009 at 7:36AM

Survey finds salespeople love Samsung HDTVs, commissions

We're sure that none of our stunningly attractive, gadget-expert readers would ever think about walking into an electronics retailer and asking the opinion of the teenagers in blue shirts and name tags. But, we also know that there are plenty of other folks out there who do, and when they do they're told to buy Samsung HDTVs a whopping 58 percent of the time. There's certainly nothing wrong with Samsung sets, but there are certainly plenty of options out there, too. These numbers come from the always quotable J.D. Power and Associates, which also found that salespeople are becoming less likely to recommend LCD sets over plasma sets, which goes against the industry trend. We'd never hope to be able to get inside the head of one of those doing the recommending, but as always we would recommend reading a few reviews and going to the store to see what you like best -- after you ask to turn down the lights and use the right cables, of course.

[Via PC World]

New study finds close to one quarter of Xbox 360s fail within two years

by Donald Melanson posted Sep 4th 2009 at 2:43PM

Sure, it's not exactly news to hear that the Xbox 360 is the most unreliable console of the big three, but just how unreliable is it? Now there's a point of contention. The good news for Microsoft, of sorts, is that a new study from SquareTrade found that just 23.7% of Xbox 360 consoles failed within the first two years of ownership, which is actually a fair bit better than some of the previous numbers that topped 50%. The study also found that 10% of PlayStation 3 users reported a system failure, compared to a mere 2.7% of Wii owners. The Wii actually fared the worst when it came to power and remote control issues, however, while the most common problems with the Xbox 360 and PS3 were disc read errors and output issues. For its part, while Microsoft hasn't responded to this particular study, it has previously pointed to its "best warranty in the industry" to reassure its users and, of course, to its more recently-produced consoles, which are less likely to buckle under the pressure of a marathon Call of Duty session.

[Via InformationWeek]

Tetris players found to have greater brain efficiency, thicker cortex and better hair

by Darren Murph posted Sep 1st 2009 at 10:44AM

You just knew all that Tetris playing you did ~~as a kid~~ yesterday was good for you, huh? A new study published by the big thinkers at Mind Research Network has found that "practicing Tetris" can actually improve brain efficiency and lead to a thicker cortex in other areas of the tabula rasa. In short, the study was done in order to show that the brain can change with stimulation, and that "a challenging visuospatial task has an impact on the structure of the cortex." Of course, this is far from the first published report to use the quarter century-old title as its testing tool, but it's certainly one of the best for getting your mum and pop to believe gaming really is good for the gord. Hit up the read links below for all the details -- you know they'll be firing off questions when you hit 'em with this.

[Image courtesy of BumpyBrains]

Read - Tetris study [PDF]
Read - Press release

Study finds Kindle more eco-friendly than actual books, maybe

by Donald Melanson posted Aug 28th 2009 at 5:53PM

A mass-produced piece of plastic and electronics more environmentally-friendly than a simple book? Possibly, at least according to a new study released by the Cleantech Group. While the group found that the Kindle's upfront environmental impact was indeed fairly significant, they also found that the numbers can change dramatically over the course of the device's lifecycle -- depending largely on the users' reading habits, of course. More specifically, they say that the Kindle can produce a potential savings of 1,074 kg of CO2 if it replaces three books a month for four years, or a whopping 26,098 kg of CO2 if the Kindle DX is used to its fullest capacity. They also found that the Kindle would still break even if it replaced just 22.5 books over its lifespan, although they're quick to point out that its impact can turn to a negative if folks continue to buy books and print periodicals in addition to e-books and don't recycle them.

GPS study finds that real-time traffic updates save drivers four days per year

by Joseph L. Flatley posted Aug 28th 2009 at 11:23AM

You know what we hate? Sitting in gridlock when we could be, you know, out doin' stuff. At the very least, it's the antithesis of the "wind in your hair," Dean Moriarty-esque image we've carefully cultivated over the years. "If only," we say to ourselves, "there was a way to find routes that were free of congestion." Sure, we've heard all about your fancy real-time traffic updates -- but how well do they actually work? According to a study by the GIS data and services company NAVTEQ (so, you know, take it with a grain of salt), drivers that use GPS systems with real-time traffic info spend 18% less time behind the wheel than those who do not (that's a whopping four days over the course of a single year, or enough time to watch 1 1/2 Peter Watkins films). In addition, the company says that smarter navigation has been shown to lower CO2 output by 21 percent -- which is a good deal, no matter how you slice it. There's been no study yet to determine how drastically driver performance would decrease if Bob Dylan was the voice of your PND, but we'll definitely keep our eyes out for that one.

Palm Pre, iPhone 3GS owners' satisfaction polled, compared in new study

by Laura June posted Aug 14th 2009 at 8:02PM

Studies just released by RBC Capital and ChangeWave Research polled iPhone 3GS and Palm Pre owners on their respective levels of satisfaction with their devices -- then compared them. In the studies, 200 iPhone 3GS users and 40 Palm Pre owners were polled. Overall, 99 percent of owners of Apple's phone proclaimed themselves to be "satisfied," while 82 percent of that number declared they were "very satisfied." The poll of Pre owners showed that 87 percent are "satisfied," and 45 percent of those owners describe themselves as "very satisfied." Interestingly, the 42 percent of "very satisfied" customers are the highest score ever attained by a Palm device, and it's a number that's only ever been bested by RIM and Apple. When asked about their respective reasons for buying their devices, Palm Pre owners listed the touchscreen interface, ability to multitask, and ease of use in the top three, while iPhone users cite its touchscreen, ease of use and faster web browsing as its biggest draws. So what about drawbacks? iPhone users (a whopping 55 percent of them, in fact) say that AT&T's network is their main gripe with the device, while Pre owners list short battery life and lack of third party apps as the devices biggest drawbacks. All in all, a pretty good showing for both -- though the microscopic sample size (especially for the Palm Pre) makes us wonder about the validity of the findings a bit.

Read - Apple's iPhone 3GS has 99 percent satisfaction rate
Read - iPhone vs. Palm Pre: Satisfaction bakeoff

Study says LEDs are about as efficient as compact fluorescents, all things considered

by Donald Melanson posted Aug 5th 2009 at 5:03AM

As we've seen with the slight resurgence of new and improved incandescent light bulbs, the amount of energy used to actually light up the bulb isn't necessarily the whole measure of energy efficiency. There's also the small matter of producing the bulb, shipping it around the world, and eventually disposing of it. With that in mind, the Siemens Corporate Technology Centre for Eco Innovations conducted a study that compared regular compact fluorescents to LED lamps -- using one 25,000-hour LED lamp as a constant, compared to 2.5 10,000-hour compact fluorescents (and 25 1,000-hour incandescents). While it's still holding back on some of the finer details, the group did apparently find that LEDs are no more or no less energy efficient than compact fluorescents when the entire lifecycle of the bulb is taken into account, although it is quick to point out that LEDs should eventually win out as they become more efficient to produce.

Netbook study finds that netbook buyers don't know what netbooks are

by Joseph L. Flatley posted Jun 24th 2009 at 1:04PM

Oh noes! According to some market research dudes, the average consumer cannot tell the difference between a netbook and a notebook. We're inclined to believe that this is simply because the average consumer hasn't perused this handy chart, but what do we know? Of course, the readers of Engadget are an intelligent and sophisticated bunch, one that understands all the intricacies of this -- one of the most important questions of our time. But what about the folks that need to sell netbooks (and notebooks) to 18-24 year olds, one of the main demographics that manufacturers hope to reach with their products? Hit the read link for what's sure to be a gripping (if wicked expensive) report titled Netbooks II: A Closer Look. Or, if you're only moderately curious, feel free to check out the PR after the break.

Continue reading Netbook study finds that netbook buyers don't know what netbooks are

Plain English Campaign wants to bring down walls of technobabble, rule the world

by Darren Murph posted Apr 28th 2009 at 10:55AM

So look, we fully understand that not everyone "gets" technology-related lingo -- we've had to walk our mums and dads through setting up a WLAN router with a WPA2 password and 1337 encryption many, many times. But this... this is just comical. Peter Griffiths, who we can only imagine looks and speaks exactly like Peter Griffin (pictured), is hoping that his Plain English Campaign can knock down the "walls of techobabble" by "pulling our heads out of the digital clouds and using plain English." Ironic, really, given that most of the technologically illiterate wouldn't know that a digital cloud actually refers to an off-site storage hub where information is exchanged. At any rate, it seems the campaign is pushing to have flummoxing terms such as digital TV, phone jack, desktop and dongle (yes, seriously) changed, or at worse, have them defined clearly in a dictionary that precisely no one would ever read.

Report finds single women enthusiastic about technology, single men enthusiastic about single women

by Joseph L. Flatley posted Apr 16th 2009 at 7:14PM

A new report, entitled "The Single Female Tech Buyer: Cast Aside Myths And Embrace This Target Segment" may read like the latest Tom Clancy techno-thriller (okay, not really) but its message is crystal clear: "cast aside myths," it says, "and embrace this target segment." In its study of one thousand single men and one thousand single women residing in the United States and Canada, Forrester Research uncovered a slew of facts you can use to sell single women stuff that they probably don't need. Behold: When asked about their next computer, the vast majority of women (forty-seven percent) said they were planning on buying a laptop, while most of the men (again, forty-seven percent) said they'd be buying a desktop. Clearly, laptop makers should be concentrating hot-to-trot models like the Vaio P (or, for the budget conscious, the Vaino), while desktop manufacturers should concentrate on superhero or vicious animal-themed desktop rigs. But that ain't all! Ownership amongst bachelors and bachelorettes were darn near equal for things like gaming consoles, handheld games, and digital cameras. If you can't wait to dip into what is sure to be a real page turner, make sure you hit the read link -- the report can be yours for a mere $749.

[Via CNET]

Videogame training may improve eyesight, no word on the health benefits of Mind Flex

by Joseph L. Flatley posted Mar 30th 2009 at 11:29AM

You know, the benefits of videogames just keep adding up. According to a study published in Nature Neuroscience, video game training may help people improve contrast sensitivity, or the ability to differentiate between shades of gray. Among the two groups studied, the most improvement was noted among folks who played games which required precise, visually guided aiming actions, such as Call of Duty 2 and Unreal Tournament 2004. "When people play action games," said Daphne Bavelier, a professor of brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester, "they're changing the brain's pathway responsible for visual processing. These games push the human visual system to the limits and the brain adapts to it, and we've seen the positive effect remains even two years after the training was over." Now that we've established that the Xbox can be part of a healthy lifestyle, it would be irresponsible of us not to play it more often.

[Via CNet]