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Buick and GMC vehicles will support Android Auto and CarPlay
If you prefer to drive big honking Buick sedans and GMC trucks, you won't have to give up a phone-savvy infotainment system for the privilege. Both Apple's CarPlay and Google's Android Auto are coming to the Buick and GMC lineups, starting with the 2016 model year. CarPlay will arrive first, beginning with Buick's LaCrosse and Regal as well as GMC's Canyon, Sierra and Yukon. The Android option will show up some time later in the model year. Between this and similar moves from Cadillac and Chevy, you won't have to be fussy about your choice of cars or smartphones -- so long as you like GM's brands in the first place, you'll be taken care of.
Mobile Miscellany: week of September 26, 2011
This week was packed with news on the mobile front, so it was easy to miss a few stories here and there. Here's some of the other stuff that happened in the wide world of wireless for the week of September 26, 2011: Last week we heard the rumor that Sprint would be launching the BlackBerry Curve 9350 on October 2nd, and we've finally received the official confirmation. The device will be hitting stores tomorrow for $80 with a two-year contract. [PhoneArena] The Motorola Photon WiMAX, referred to as the Photon 4G in the US, is now making its way to Japan as KDDI announced the launch of the device this past Monday. [Motorola] Verizon Wireless launched the Pantech Jest 2 this week, which is a feature phone with a full slide-out QWERTY keyboard. [Verizon Wireless] The Samsung Galaxy Y is now listed as "coming soon" on O2's website, which makes it the second carrier to announce upcoming availability in the UK. The actual date of release, however, is still unofficial. [O2] Softbank (Japan) looks ready to land the ZTE Lord V882, which appears to be an Android device running on Gingerbread, and comes packed with a 1GHz CPU, 512MB of RAM, 3.8-inch LCD at WVGA resolution and a 5MP camera. [LandofDroid] NTT DoCoMo and Orange have teamed up to offer the Sharp AQUOS SH80F, which features dual 8MP stereoscopic cameras and claims to be the world's first Android device capable of converting 2D content into 3D in real time. It'll first be launched in France on October 6th and will follow to other European and Asian countries shortly after. [Softpedia] Maybe Microsoft Canada just assumed nobody actually reads terms and conditions, because the company outed the names of a few upcoming Windows Phones in the T&C for a developer contest: the Nokia Sabre and a duo of Samsungs named the Yukon and Wembley. The Nokia Searay was also named in the list, indicating the Sabre is a second device running on Mango. [Nokia HDBlog (translated)] In preparation for its Windows Phone debut, Nokia is also rumored to be featuring a new voice navigation system with 3D maps, according to some leaked marketing materials. [WinRumors] Here's a rendering of the HTC EVO Design 4G, also known as the Kingdom or Hero S. [Pocketnow] Samsung may have a midrange device coming soon to AT&T's lineup as a complement to the Galaxy S II. We've already seen the I857 pass through the FCC and show up in a leaked roadmap, and now it appears to have been dubbed the Doubletime, according to uncovered Cellebrite records. [Pocketnow] Also appearing in Cellebrite records are the HTC Vigor (PH98100), Motorola Droid HD (XT912), and the Samsung Nexus Prime (SCH-i515). [Droid-Life]
GM extends OnStar smartphone control to 14 more vehicles
Once solely slated for the Chevy Volt, the OnStar MyLink smartphone app has gained considerable ground -- last July, GM expanded the iPhone and Android remote domination over your horn, door locks, and real-time data to every 2011 automobile, and now it's reaching back through time to activate fourteen vehicles from 2010. As you'd expect, that's mostly a smattering of SUVs and crossovers like the Cadillac Escalade, Buick Enclave, GMC Yukon and Chevy Avalanche, though the Impala will also get the goods, and if you live in the lap of low-end luxury, you may be able to listen to Facebook updates on your 2010 Cadillac DTS or Buick Lucerne. Find the full list of compatible vehicles at our source link.
GMC's SATIMO ATS system spins a Denali right round to ensure proper antenna placement (video)
As a certain company knows quite well, finding the right place to put an antenna can be harder than it looks. Rather than just slap one on the roof and call it a day, General Motors has installed the SATIMO ATS, a near-field antenna testing system of the sort we're used to spying in all those FCC photos. This one, however, is SUV-sized, as you can see in the video below. Workers for the General can drive a GMC Yukon Denali onto a turntable and spin it all around while 103 sensors test antenna placement, creating a 3D rendering of the resulting performance. It was the first such system in the world and will be the perfect place for our next Faraday rave. Update: We got an e-mail from SATIMO, the company behind this system, with pictures of a few other automotive installations, one for Renault and one for Peugeot. Both in France, and both pictured below for your browsing enjoyment.
BenQ gets its AMD Yukon kicks with the Joybook Lite T131
AMD's all about the thin-and-light category with its latest chips, and BenQ is happy to oblige with this new Joybook Lite T131 running AMD's Yukon chipset. At 4 pounds and 1.1-inches thick, however, the 13.3-inch laptop isn't incredibly notable in either department -- especially since it's short a disc drive -- but it's still a pretty attractive little unit. There's a 320GB HDD, SD reader and our favorite, an anti-glare screen, but other than the webcam and mic the laptop is pretty low on perks. It's available in either "opulent midnight blue" or "snowy white" and will be hitting China in June, with no word on price or when they might spread the love.[Via SlashGear]
AMD plans 'Congo' chipset for a future world of thin-and-lights, dodging netbooks for now
Just like your mom keeps telling you, AMD thinks netbooks are a bit of a fad, and is laying down a roadmap for thin-and-lights while keeping its distance from any sort of "Atom killer." The existing Yukon platform -- featured in HP's dv2 -- just got an upgrade in the form of a dual-core AMD Neo chip, but things will really start to get exciting later this year with the introduction of Congo, which will pair a dual-core Neo with much better graphics and a more modern chipset. Perks in Congo, which is based on the M780G chipset and sports ATI Radeon HD 3200 IGP graphics, include hardware decoding for HD formats, DirectX 10 gaming, love for DisplayPort, HDMI and eSATA, and Hybrid Graphics potential for pairing the integrated chipset with discrete graphics. The hope is to compete well against Intel's CULV and NVIDIA's 9400M in the low-cost thin-and-light space, and if the price stays down and performance pans out, Congo just might.
AMD to flood Computex with mainstream Tigris laptops, reveal Danube?
Besides being overwhelmed by Intel's CULV thin-and-lights at Computex, it looks like AMD will use the event to punish Engadget editors and readers with the launch of its Tigris platform. Since you've most likely supplanted any memory of Tigris with something useful, let us remind you that Tigris is AMD's mainstream laptop platform built around a dual-core 45-nm Caspian processor supporting 800MHz DDR2 memory and ATI M9x series graphics. The Commercial Times is also reporting that Computex might even bring a possible unveiling of AMD's next-generation Danube laptop platform featuring a quad-core Champlain processor with support for DDR3 memory. Unfortunately, Champlain won't be available for consumers until 2010 -- 2009 is all about Tigris laptops and the Athlon Neo thin-and-lights for AMD. Where's the AMD netbook? Oh they ceded that market to Intel a long time ago; a bad move now that Atom-based netbooks are plundering mainstream laptop marketshare that AMD was betting on with Tigris.
Frozen iPod returns from the grave
Andrew sent us this great story -- he found an iPod classic in the melting snow of Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. It had apparently been there "since early winter," and was frozen solid... as is the case, we'd imagine, with most things left outside there between September and April.Incredibly, though, once taken home, cleaned up, and given a warm cup of tomato soup and a grilled cheese, it started right back up again. Everything was completely intact -- he says it even displayed the correct date. Pretty impressive for Apple's little music player (and mine's even stuffed in a Vaja case, so I know it'll always run for me -- assuming I don't drop it in a pile of snow somewhere). He says there is a name on the iPod, so if you've been around the Whitehorse area and have recently dropped your iPod near a place called Takhini School, leave him a note and he will probably be able to get it back to you. But do it quick -- he's giving things about a week, and then it's finder's keepers. We don't blame him: who wouldn't want an indestructible iPod?
Intel's CULV platform guns for AMD's Neo: Danger Will Robinson, Danger!
Poor, poor AMD. Just when it found a niche above Atom and below the Core 2 Duo with its Athlon Neo, back comes Intel with its new "Consumer Ultra-Low Voltage" platform -- something we started to hear about a few weeks ago. This from DigiTimes' "sources at notebook makers." New CULV-based ultra-portables from the "top-three notebook vendors" (that'd be HP, Dell, and Acer by most accounts) should be hitting shelves in the second quarter of 2009 carrying prices between $699 and $899. DigiTimes claims that the new platform will allow Intel to divide the laptop market up into four segments for 2009: 1) Traditional 12.1-inch laptops and above, 2) Atom or Pineview-based netbooks, 3) Menlow-based MIDs, 4) Ultra-portables with displays between 11.x and 13.3-inches. It's also interesting to hear that the rumored 13.3-inch HP Mini-note coming in June will carry the CULV instead of the Atom Zxx on "Intel's insistence." Well, well, being pushy again are we Intel?
