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HTC Merge official, coming to 'multiple' US carriers this spring
Boy, we've had so many leaked materials relating to the HTC Merge that we kind of assumed the handset was official by now. Never mind, HTC is taking care of that little oversight now, admittedly much later than we expected the phone to show up, by announcing that the Merge will arrive on multiple US carriers in the spring. It brings Android 2.2, skinned with HTC's Sense UI, a 3.8-in touchscreen plus that slide-out keyboard, and a 5 megaixel autofocus camera with 720p video recording. Not bad, now let's see how those carriers decide to price this mid-range contender.
Nokia and Microsoft enter strategic alliance on Windows Phone, Bing, Xbox Live and more
It's happened. Former Microsoft exec and current Nokia CEO Stephen Elop has married his future and his past in the holy matrimony of a "strategic alliance." Windows Phone is becoming Nokia's "principal smartphone strategy," but there's a lot more to this hookup -- scope out the official press release just after the break. Microsoft's Bing and adCenter will provide search and ad services across Nokia devices, while Nokia will look to innovate "on top of the platform" with things like its traditional strength in imaging. Ovi Maps will be a core part of Microsoft's mapping services and will be integrated with Bing, while Nokia's content store will be integrated into (read: assimilated by) Microsoft's Marketplace. Xbox Live and Office will also, as is to be expected, feature on these brave new Microkia handsets. An open letter on Nokia's Conversations site, penned jointly by Stephen Elop and Steve Ballmer, sets out the foregoing details along with the following statement of intent: "There are other mobile ecosystems. We will disrupt them. There will be challenges. We will overcome them. Success requires speed. We will be swift. Together, we see the opportunity, and we have the will, the resources and the drive to succeed."
Dell Venue Thunders into Korea this month with Android 2.2 and 4.1-inch Gorilla Glass screen
Dell's keeping up its usual habit of sneaking devices out with today's announcement of the Dell Venue for launch in South Korea. Local carrier KT has revealed the details of this 4.1-inch Android 2.2 device (sans keyboard, unlike its WP7 cousin the Venue Pro), which is set to arrive by the end of this month at a price of 700,000KRW ($606). Formerly known by its codename of Thunder, this has actually been one of the most hotly anticipated Android handsets of the year, though the only other information confirmed by KT so far is that it'll have a curved Gorilla Glass screen. We're sure a US launch can't be far behind.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 detailed: 512 CUDA cores, 1.5GB of GDDR5 on 'world's fastest DX 11 GPU' (update: video!)
It might not be November 9 all around the world yet, but NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 580 has already had its spec sheet dished out to the world, courtesy of CyberPower's seemingly early announcement. The new chip will offer a 772MHz clock speed, 512 processing cores, and a 192.4GBps memory bandwidth, courtesy of 1.5GB of GDDR5 clocked at an effective rate of 4GHz. CyberPower is strapping this beast into its finest rigs, and for additional overkill it'll let you SLI up to three of them within one hot and steamy case. Now let's just wait patiently for midnight to roll around and see what the reviewers thought of NVIDIA's next big thing. Update: CRN has a $499 price for us and a recital of NVIDIA's internal estimate that the GTX 580 bests the GTX 480 by between 20 and 35 percent. It seems, however, that the embargo for this hot new slice of silicon is set for early tomorrow morning, so check back then for the expert review roundup. Update 2: Lusting to see one on video? How about two side by side? Skip past the break for the eye candy [Thanks, Rolly Carlos!].
Apple's new MacBook Air (update: video)
Apple asked itself what would happen if an iPad and a MacBook Air "hooked up." Benefits from the iPad? "Instant on... great battery life, amazing standby time... solid state storage... and it's thinner and lighter." It's 0.68-inches thick at its thickest, 0.11-inches at its thinnest, and weighs 2.9 pounds (the old MacBook Air was 0.76-inches thick and weighed 3 pounds). Naturally, Apple is going unibody construction here, with one of those big new glass trackpads. They're also sticking with a 13.3-inch screen, running at a 1440 x 900 resolution (with an 11.6-inch "little brother" to boot). There's SSD storage, a 1.86GHz or 2.13GHz Core 2 Duo processor (the same ones available on existing MacBook Airs, apparently), GeForce 320m graphics, and 2GB of RAM standard. Apple says its new "more stringent" battery life tests offer 7 hours of "wireless web" and 30 days of "standby." Prices start at $1,299 for 128GB and $1,599 for 256GB of storage; they're available today. Be sure to check out our complete live coverage right here! %Gallery-105537%
AMD Radeon HD 6870 and HD 6850 officially pictured, coming this Friday
AMD said it's bringing the new heat this week, but, in a classic act of showmanship, it's teasing out only imagery today and insisting on making us wait until Friday to truly learn what the next generation of Radeon graphics is made of. For now, we have the full titles of its leading lights, namely the Radeon HD 6870 and Radeon HD 6850, along with plenty of pictorial evidence of their existence in a lab somewhere. We note with glee that the default output arrangement includes no less than five ports, including two DVI, one HDMI (1.4a), and two Mini DisplayPorts. We'd rather the latter two were full-sized, but it doesn't look like ATI AMD had the room to fit them in. As to power requirements, the HD 6870 will need two 6-pin connectors to augment the juice it gets from the PCI Express port, while the HD 6850 will sate its needs with just the one. Anyhow, enjoy the gallery below and make sure to have your popcorn ready for the benchmark-heavy reviews coming up at the end of the week.%Gallery-105362%
HTC Gratia is an Aria by another name, coming to Europe in November
It seems like launching a battalion of new handsets over the past month wasn't enough for HTC, so today the company's rolling out yet another option for European mobile phone buyers. Americans will already be familiar with the Gratia from their experience with AT&T's Aria, which looks to have made a more or less straight transition to the Old World markets. It now comes with Android 2.2 as its OS, while retaining its HTC Sense top-level skin (notably without the new "new" Sense additions present in the Desire HD and Desire Z), and is available in a pair of fresh new hues that include the deep green above and a lustrous white number after the break. Black is also an option for the more conservative among you. Look out for the Gratia on your local Euro retailer's cheap and cheerful shelves from next month.
NVIDIA launches sub-$80 GeForce GT 430 for single-slot cooler enthusiasts
The graphics card that doesn't require a fridge-sized cooler is turning into something of a rarity nowadays, but we doubt the market for quiet, efficient, and halfway-decent GPUs is ever going to disappear completely. NVIDIA is fleshing out its Fermi family today with a creature that aspires to such epithets, the 96 CUDA core-equipped GT 430. It's a patently humble GPU, as indicated by its $79.99 typical price, 49W TDP, 5.7-inch board length, and single-slot cooler design. Mind you, while those are typically considered positives, they do limit gaming performance quite significantly, with the GT 430 getting roundly beaten by ATI's (sob!) AMD's similarly priced Radeon HD 5670. So what niche is left for this card? Well, it's an upgrade over integrated graphics and it gets you on the 3D bandwagon, but on the whole we're left scratching our voluminous craniums as to why anyone would dodge AMD's more accomplished hardware for NVIDIA's latest. Hit up the reviews below and form your own opinion, if our one doesn't suit your outfit today. Read - HardOCP Read - AnandTech Read - PC Perspective Read - Hot Hardware Read - Legit Reviews Read - Hexus%Gallery-104721%
HTC 7 Mozart and 7 Trophy set out to conquer the WP7 world, 7 Pro coming to Sprint next year
HTC's kicking the Windows Phone 7 era off in style today with no less than three new phones scheduled to debut on October 21 in Europe: the HD7, the 7 Mozart, and the 7 Trophy. Both the Mozart and Trophy offer a WVGA LCD screen, a 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8250 chipset, 576MB of RAM, 8GB of built-in storage, and 720p video recording. Where the 7 Mozart sets itself apart is in having an aluminum unibody construction wrapped around its 3.7-inch display, together with a more advanced 8 megapixel imager and a Xenon flash. The 7 Trophy makes do with an LED flash illuminating 5 megapixels' worth photons, but it does also come with HTC's promise to be the most aggressively priced WP7 handset from the company. It'll be a Vodafone exclusive across the big red network's global footprint, while the Mozart will be exclusive to Orange in the UK, France, Spain, and Switzerland, exclusive to Deutsche Telekom in Germany, and available on a choice of carriers elsewhere. No peep of an American release for either handset, however. For the home crowd, Sprint is set to deliver a HTC 7 Pro with a QWERTY keyboard that slides out and tilts -- you can see it pictured in the gallery below -- at some point in the first half of 2011. It too goes with the same old 1GHz Snapdragon, 576MB of RAM, 5 megapixel cam plus 720p video, and WVGA display resolution (on a 3.6-inch screen), but it gets a bump in storage to 16GB. Full spec sheets for all three phones, along with HTC's big Windows Phone 7 announcement, await just past the break. %Gallery-104739%
Dell Venue Pro gives WP7 a 4.1-inch QWERTY slider with Lightning heritage and a T-Mobile future
To say we've been eagerly anticipating the Dell Lightning would be an understatement along the lines of suggesting Microsoft's launching a few Windows Phone 7 devices today. Dell's AMOLED-equipped WP7 debut has just gone official with a cringe-worthy renaming to the Venue Pro for T-Mobile, who has in turn announced its intention to carry the 4.1-inch portrait QWERTY slider "in time for the holidays." Notably, you won't be able to purchase the Venue Pro directly from T-Mo stores, as Dell and its choice of handpicked retailers are set to handle the purchasing experience. Don't look for any AT&T hookups, either -- Dell has acknowledged T-Mobile as its "launch partner" for the device, giving team Magenta a second major exclusive, even if this one doesn't last much beyond the launch period. Needless to say, we'll seek to confirm the full spec sheet as soon as we can, though the officially known 1GHz Snapdragon chip and 5 megapixel imager agree with the Lightning's original leak. For more on the fresher than fresh Dell Venue Pro, check out our hands-on pictures and impressions.%Gallery-104726%
HTC HD7 is a HD2 lookalike with Windows Phone 7 and 720p video, exclusive to T-Mobile in US
Stop us if you've heard these specs before: 4.3-inch WVGA (800 x 480) TFT screen, 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8250 system-on-chip, 576MB of RAM, 5 megapixel camera with dual-LED flash, and Microsoft's latest mobile OS on board. Yes, the HTC HD7 is almost a carbon copy of the much-loved HD2, albeit with a major upgrade to Windows Phone 7 software and an appreciated bump to 720/24p video recording. Beyond those enhancements, American buyers will be greeted with preinstalled Netflix, Slacker, and T-Mobile TV entertainment apps, along with 16GB of built-in storage. T-Mobile gets the honor of being the exclusive US carrier, with exclusives also going out to O2 in the UK and Ireland and Telstra in Australia. O2 Germany will also distribute the phone, along with Movistar in Spain, Bouygues Telecom in France, and a choice of carriers in Italy. Bear in mind that the non-US HD7s are likely to come with a less capacious 8GB of storage. The phone is scheduled for an October 21 retail debut in Europe, to be followed by a mid-November arrival on US shelves. You'll find the full press release after the break, although you shouldn't bother if you expect it to explain why the nearly identical HD2 isn't getting a WP7 upgrade.%Gallery-104727%
HTC 7 Surround graces AT&T with a slideout speaker, Windows Phone 7 credentials
Need a break? No chance, there are still so many more phones to look at! HTC's sole Windows Phone 7 launch device for AT&T has just been revealed as the HTC 7 Surround. You'll remember this as the sexily titled T8788, which made us gape back in August with its unusual design that incorporates a slideout speaker. We can now add an integrated kickstand to the multimedia-friendly physical design, while the spec sheet (available in full after the break) is consistent with the rest of HTC's lineup. The 7 Surround offers a 3.8-inch WVGA display, a 1GHz Snapdragon chip from yesteryear, 576MB of RAM, 5 megapixel camera with 720p video, and Dolby Mobile and SRS Surround Sound technologies. This unconventional handset will be exclusive with AT&T in the US and Telus in Canada. Pricing in the US will be $199.99 on contract. %Gallery-104733%
Unreleased but unforgotten systems
We must have missed the memo about yesterday being "blog about game systems that were announced but never came out" day, but we're trying to make up for it belatedly by pointing out two sites that took part. The first, TechEBlog, has compiled a list of five systems from the '90s that never made it off the drawing board, including the retro-futuretastic Sega VR helmet pictured above. Insert Credit didn't go quite so far back in looking at the FreeOn, a Korean cell phone system that was shown at E3 2003 and promptly never heard from again. Not a bad start, but there are a couple dozen other unreleased consoles just waiting to be covered by the blogosphere. We'd take one but we're too busy writing about systems that, y'know, actually came out. Read - TechEBlog: Five Unreleased systemsRead - Insert Credit: MIA FreeOn
Political FPS puts 360 in the crossfire
,Ann Coulter and Michael Moore finally have a reason to stop bitching and pick up a controller. The people who brought the ambitious failure known as Advent Rising to the original Xbox are developing a new FPS that imagines our current piquant political situation devolving into full blown Civil War. Like Advent, the story of Empire is based on a novel by sci-fi author Orson Scott Card, who apparently watches a lot of cable talk shows. Here's the book description from Amazon:The American Empire has grown too fast, and the fault lines at home are stressed to the breaking point. The war of words between Right and Left has collapsed into a shooting war, though most people just want to be left alone. The battle rages between the high-technology weapons on one side, and militia foot-soldiers on the other, devastating the cities, and overrunning the countryside. But the vast majority, who only want the killing to stop and the nation to return to more peaceful days, have technology, weapons and strategic geniuses of their own.In my fair and balanced view, the console climate is poisonous enough without throwing ideologies in the mix. But then, who hasn't watched The O'Reilly Factor and wanted to frag somebody. Oh yeah, the tanks on the cover of the novel look like they're from Halo. Bring it on!
3 Final Fantasy XIII games; 2 just for PS3
Final Fantasy XII won't be out for the PS2 in the States until October, but we now have a glimpse of Final Fantasy XIII thanks to Square Enix's pre-E3 press event -- and this installment in the series won't be coming alone.Like the different titles in the Compilation of FFVII collection of games and movies, the initially announced installments in the FFXIII universe will span multiple platforms which, in this case, include both the PS3 and sufficiently advanced mobile handsets. Not much is known about the mobile-bound Final Fantasy Agito XIII, but the subtitle-less version of FFXIII will concern a gun-and-sword-toting heroine in a futuristic world, while Final Fantasy Versus XIII will focus on "a spiky-haired character," "extreme action elements," and a primary theme of "bonding" (whatever that means). Anybody ready to "resist the world"?The multiple titles might explain the earlier rumor reported in March that FFXIII was "practically close to being finished" (maybe only one of these games was nearing completion). Whatever the case may be, we're just happy that more than one not-so-Final-Fantasy will be hitting the next PlayStation in relatively rapid succession. RPG feasting: on the way.[Via Joystiq]
