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Android Go could help make Android O a runaway success
Android O might not seem like the most thrilling software update at first, but it just might be one of the most important. Google has been on a quest to capture and delight billions of new Android users for years with various initiatives. So far, scaling hasn't been a problem -- there are now 2 billion monthly active devices, and with Android Go, Google's hell-bent on picking up even more in developing and underserved markets.
Panasonic Lumix GF5 looks identical to its predecessor, offers similar specs for $100 more (hands-on)
It's been a bumpy ride for Panasonic's GF line of Micro Four Thirds cameras. The GF1, an excellent mirrorless camera for its time, was soon replaced with a less-capable entry level model, the GF2. Then another, the GF3. And now, it's time to say hello (again) to the GF5. For better or worse, the GF3 won't be going away -- it'll sit tight at its new $500 price point (with a 14-42mm kit lens), ready to confuse consumers looking to purchase its nearly identical, yet $100 pricier, pseudo-replacement. Both cameras come equipped with 12.1-megapixel Live MOS sensors, though the newer model adds a "High Picture Quality" distinction -- it's been dubbed a 12.1-megapixel "High Picture Quality" Live MOS sensor. So, naturally, we're going to expect some pretty incredible images. Panasonic has also added an ISO 12,800 "extended" mode (the GF3 topped out at a native ISO 6400). There has been a jump in the video department, with 1080/30p MP4 recording joining the 720p mix. Burst mode capabilities have seen an increase as well, from 3.8 frames-per-second to... 4. Finally, it's slightly larger, due to a more substantial (and more comfortable) grip, though battery life has dropped from 340 shots to 320, likely due to a new processing technique aimed at further reducing noise in low-light captures. The GF3 and GF5 look so similar that we mistakenly photographed the former for a minute or two, only realizing the error when we flipped on the LCD. The 5 has a much-improved touchscreen, with a 920k-dot resolution (460k dots on the GF3). It looks gorgeous by comparison, but amateurs making the switch from a point-and-shoot may not take notice. The features they'll appreciate most relate entirely to the GUI, and include a highlight window for selection options, 14 filters with a realtime preview option, a background image that appears on the main menu and a filter recommendation while in Intelligent Auto. This feature works by suggesting that you apply the Expressive or Toy Effect if you're taking a macro shot, for example. Other additions include a stereo microphone for video capture, though the left and right mics are positioned oddly near each other -- on either side of the word "MIC" on the top of the camera, with the right mic angled towards the left -- so we can't image that you'll be getting a true stereo effect. Like its predecessor, the GF5 is clearly designed with beginners in mind -- more advanced photogs should consider the GX1 -- but with a $599 sticker price (with 14-42mm lens), it's sure to be a hit.
Pantech Burst review
Consider the high-end smartphone. While you lust after those, Pantech is on the prowl, steadily adding to and improving upon its army of budget offerings in the US. It may not be as formidable a force as the Samsungs and Motorolas of the world, but the outfit is finally beginning to leave a mark. Once a complete unknown outside of Asia, the phone manufacturer is keeping itself incredibly busy on this side of the Pacific, cranking out low-cost devices for AT&T and Verizon. Now, Pantech's focus has turned to LTE, starting with the $50 Breakout on Big Red, followed by a smartphone and tablet option on Ma Bell. Pantech Burst official on AT&T Pantech Burst hands-on Pantech Element hands-onThe Pantech Burst is the inaugural entry-level LTE smartphone in AT&T's lineup, debuting at $50 with a two-year commitment. Don't let that bargain-basement price turn you off, though -- this thing's got plenty of mojo to back it up, which makes the Burst a stark contrast to its Verizon counterpart. But what can we expect from a budget-friendly handset? Is Pantech finally pushing out a device that will help it earn a new level of respect from American consumers? We're bursting at the seams to answer those questions and take the device for a spin after the break. (Yes, we just went there.)
Pentax K-r receives a rainbow paintjob, 35mm prime lens for limited edition kit
Do not adjust your browsers, that really is a Pentax product adorned with a generous helping of the three primary colors and a mech's head attached to its flash hotshoe. Why? In response to customer demand, of course. It'd seem people were so enamored with the way the K-x got abused restyled that they wanted more of that Korejanai magic, and Pentax is kindly obliging them with a limited run of 100 "robotized" K-r sets. The internal specs are unchanged from the original, but you do get a new 35mm prime lens with a wide F2.4 aperture to play with. Pre-orders costing ¥99,800 ($1,187) will start on December 24th for a delivery in early January. Yup, just in time for you to be the coolest blogger at CES.
Pentax's K-r entry-level DSLR reviewed: the sweet spot has been hit
It may look like a toy, but as ma always said, it's what's underneath that counts. It's not often that those old adages prove true in consumer electronics, but such is the case with Pentax's newest entry-level DSLR. The K-r ($800 in kit form) is positioned between the K-x and K-7, and according to PhotographyBLOG, it fits perfectly there. They felt that the compact design was a boon for newcomers to the field who wouldn't be keen on lugging around anything of size, and most importantly, the image quality was said to be "excellent." Of course, low light performance began to suffer at ISO levels north of 800, so those interested in ditching the grain and blur after dark will still need to spend a bit more on a prosumer model like the Nikon D7000. The wide range of manual controls were also a hit, but considering that the HD video mode is identical to that on the lower-end K-x, you'll be forced to deal with a less-than-stellar UI. We'd suggest hitting the source link for the full skinny, but we'll go ahead and spoil the ending: it managed a Highly Recommended badge.
Motorola Citrus budget candybar outed by Verizon, sports Android 2.1 and Blur
Boy, Motorola must've been real busy lately. Sharing the Verizon limelight with the Droid Pro today is this new entry-level Citrus candybar, which is actually the WX445 we saw exclusively back in July. Sadly, said handset will still be shipped with a slightly disappointing Android 2.1 OS and Blur skin, but hey, we did say it's entry level, right? The good folks over at xda-developers will probably Froyo-lize the phone in no time, anyway. Not much else is known right now, but bear with us while we look out for more deets. Update: Okay, the press release is out -- check it after the break. The Citrus is hitting this quarter for an unannounced price (a low one, we'd presume), and one of its claims to fame is the fact that it's fashioned of 25 percent post-consumer recycled plastic and is both PVC and BFR free. Better yet, the phone's also given the CarbonFree certification by Carbonfund.org for its carbon-neutral status. Good on ya, Motorola.
Orange launches OLED-donning San Francisco, doesn't break the Android piggy bank
Oh snap! This is exactly what Nokia needs right now -- another cheap Android handset to gobble up its wallet-friendly stronghold. What we're looking at here is Orange's oddly named San Francisco, a £99 ($154) pay-as-you-go Eclair handset crafted by ZTE. Much like its humble sibling Racer, Orange's 4.6-ounce offering is loaded with a 600MHz Qualcomm MSM7227 chipset, 3.2 megapixel camera, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, FM radio, and MicroSD expansion. Yet for the same price, the San Francisco somehow comes with a larger 3.5-inch 480 x 800 OLED capacitive touchscreen. This sure sounds like a tempting deal, but don't whip out your credit card just yet -- we'll give you a yay or nay once we've seen how the phone fares in real life. For now, check out the official promo video after the break.
TomTom Ease splashing down later this year for not much coinage (hands-on)
Like getting from point A to point B without getting lost along the way? Enjoy saving money? Chances are you'll dig TomTom's new Ease, an entry-level PND to lead all entry-level PNDs, with an integrated Fold & Go port mount, a slightly tweaked UI, Map Share / IQ Routes, a 3.5-inch display (320 x 240), 2GB of internal memory, pre-loaded Tele Atlas maps of America, text-to-speech and an integrated battery. We were told tonight by the outfit's booth representatives that it would ship in Q2, and they emphasized that whole "priced very competitively" aspect. %Gallery-81882%
Ask Engadget: Best non-netbook laptop for around $400?
We know you've got questions, and if you're brave enough to ask the world for answers, here's the outlet to do so. This week's Ask Engadget question is coming to us from Todd, who's looking to snap up a solid cheap laptop (for his father-in-law, no less!) before that fateful Friday in December. Have a look below and hand out some Christmas cheer, won't you? "My father-in-law is heading back to school in the spring and wants a laptop for Christmas. The only catch is their budget is around $400 and he does not want a netbook. He's not very "tech savvy" at all and doesn't need a hoss of a machine (not that $400 could get you one). We would like to get it for him as soon as possible and would love some input. Thanks for any help and Happy Holidays!" We've already penned our laptop gift guide for 2009, but we understand the desire to get more input for this particular scenario. It's tough to find a sub-$400 machine that's not a netbook (and not a total heap), but we're confident that one or two gems are out there. Spill it if you know it, cool?
How would you change Nikon's D3000?
Nikon's D3000 launched under the long, dark shadow of the D300S, but for entry-level DSLR buyers, it has certainly remained a viable option. For those who passed on the D5000 and tossed their six bills towards this, we're curious to see just how great / terrible it is at Nikon's bottom rung. Are you still enjoying your cam? Do you wish you would've selected a higher-end model? Is the kit lens worth a darn? Feel free to spill your rant in comments below, and make it good -- you never know when the D3000S or D4000 will hit the market.
Motorola prepping new low-end WX series?
Motorola's already got a low-end series whose members are identified with the letter W at the start of the model name (take T-Mobile's W233 Renew, for instance), so we're not sure if they'll be going away or if Moto wants to slot in another ultra-low-end range below it -- but one way or another, mobil.cz seems to have the inside line on a new WX series that's on its way to market. We're talking about seriously basic stuff here: tiny cameras, little to no internal storage, small displays, and in the case of the one model mobil.cz supposedly has full details on -- the WX395 -- just dual-band GPRS data on board. Who knew component vendors still made EDGE-less 2G chipsets? No word on availability for these, but we don't think these are the kinds of phones you cross off days on a calendar for anyhow.
Nikon D3000 summons up courage to get tested, needn't have worried
The best thing to be said about the Nikon D3000 is that it's simple. It's a camera that knows who it's aimed at -- first time or amateur DSLR users -- and makes direct provisions for that audience by automating as much as possible. Simple to understand, simple to use. Having undergone a grueling review session, it can now boast about its Photography Blog-approved image quality, solid body construction and actually useful extras like 3D subject tracking, 11-point AF, built-in lens sensor cleaning, and an accelerometer that rotates menu items when you turn the camera for a portrait shot. The lack of live view or video recording might prove a stumbling block for some, but the reviewers found this shooter compelling enough to give it their "Highly Recommended" badge of honor.
Audioholics overviews entry level receiver choices
Take one sagging economy, add in advancing technology, bake them with some economies of scale and serve up to consumers hungry for this newfangled digital, HD AV craze -- it's a winning formula. When it comes to AV receivers, however, the pool is so crowded that picking a winner in the entry level category (remember that sagging economy) is daunting enough to push people to HTIB simplicity. The truth is that there's no single "best" entry-level receiver, but Audioholics has gone through the trouble of putting appropriate models from Denon, Yamaha, Harman Kardon, Onkyo and Pioneer into a feature comparison grid. The answer that emerges on which receiver is the "best" is a definite "it depends" -- you basically get to pick two out of three: audio features, video features and price. So the bad news is, you've got some choices to make; the good news is, you've got some choices to make.
Low-end Kyocera S1300 candybar survives the FCC
And by "survive," we mean "survives the awful FCC photography clinic." All kidding aside, the photos this time didn't turn out too bad, but maybe that's because this phone is about as plain as plain can get. In fact, we'd suggest this here candybar is just marginally more sophisticated that those incredibly simplistic senior phones, though it does include a tri-band CDMA radio, GPS, speakerphone and a presumably putrid web browser. It's practically a lock for someone like MetroPCS, but we suppose only time will tell.[Via phonescoop]
Sony's new NR-series laptops get a price, release date
Those shiny new VAIO NRs we told you about a couple of weeks ago have gotten the US nod and a price tag, and we thought we'd share the good news. The model, which Sony is referring to as "entry-level," touts a 15.4-inch, XBRITE-ECO display, a Core 2 Duo CPU, and all the regular bells and whistles, like 802.11a/b/g, DVD-RW, and an ExpressCard slot. The new laptop comes in a "fabric-like" casing, is available in three "stylish" colors (wenge, silk, and granite), and will be selling next month for the surprisingly low price (at least for Sony) of $750.
Nokia busts out new low-end fleet
Avert your eyes if you're married to S60 -- you'll find nary a smartphone here -- but Nokia's mustered a new slew of devices for emerging markets today that cover the full spectrum of form factors and radio technologies. Starting from the upper left, the lowly 1200 keeps things about as simple as they possibly could be with a throwback monochrome display, 32-chord ringtones, a "dust-resistant" keypad, and an integrated flashlight. The 1208 takes a small step up, swapping out the monochrome screen for a color one but otherwise keeping specs the same. The 1650 moves yet a little more upmarket with a considerably larger screen, though the keypad apparently loses dust resistance in the process. The 2505 is a CDMA (!) flip that maintains the integrated flashlight and rocks downloadable ringtones and wallpapers, a speakerphone, and a handful of integrated games and tools. Onto the second row starting at the left, the 2630 re-ups the 1650's formula and adds Bluetooth, GPRS data, and a VGA cam (heck, this seems like a perfectly decent handset for... uh, emerged markets, let alone emerging ones) -- and get this -- it becomes Nokia's thinnest phone, period, at 9.9 millimeters. The 2660 does the 2630's features in flip form, but loses the cam in the conversion -- but no worries, you can get it back with the 2760. Did ya get all that? Look for all of 'em to launch in the middle of this year in "select markets" for between €35 and €90 ($48 and $123) -- not bad at all, considering those are unsubsidized prices.
$10 cellphone may be coming in two years
With Motorola not making a heckuva lot of profit these days, can it and the other handset makers really get a $10 handset to market? Some at UC Berkeley's Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) say that it may be possible to get a $10 cellphone -- likely targeted at emerging markets -- on the streets. Still, can it be done from a cost and logistics perspective? CITRIS in California (no pun intended) believes such a handset could be on the global market within a few years if any Taiwanese contract manufacturers care to sign up to the vision. With Taiwan's Quanta being the top maker of the $100 OLPC laptop computer system that is shipping, perhaps a $10 cellphone can, in fact, be done. After all, the MOTOFONE ain't that far away.
Sony Ericsson's entry level J110, J120, K200, and K220
It seems Sony Ericsson prefers to use the more pleasant-sounding term "accessible" to describe the most lowly four of the handset barrage it's whipped out ahead of 3GSM, but let's just be straight up and tell it like it is -- these things are cheap. Hey, that's not a bad thing; Europe's number two manufacturer is holding its own on the high end, and we're all about covering every segment of the market. Going in order from left to right, the J110 is the... ahem, most accessible of the four with little more than an anemic 96 x 64 color display to its name. Next up the J120 takes the J110's formula and throws in an FM radio to add an ultra-affordable musicphone (if we dare use the term) to the stable. The K200 ups the display to 128 x 128 and tacks on a VGA cam, while the K220 gets the same FM radio as its cheaper J120 cousin. The J110 and K200 will come in 900 / 1800 and 850 / 1900 flavors for various parts of the globe, while the more expensive models will initially hold to 900 / 1800. Look for all four to hit in the second quarter of the year.
Sony Ericsson shows W200 on the low end
Sony Ericsson may only be teasing us right now on the high end, but the low end's looking a lot clearer today with the introduction of the W200 Walkman phone. The small-but-pudgy candybar just barely qualifies for musicphone status with a meager 27MB of internal storage, though the Memory Stick Micro slot comes in handy for remedying the situation. Other features include a VGA cam, 160 x 128 display, FM radio, and a 900 / 1800 / 1900 or 850 / 1800 / 1900 GSM radio topping out with GPRS data (no EDGE -- now that's low end!). Availability should kick off in the second quarter at an undisclosed price, though we're not too worried about this bad boy pricing itself out of the market. Follow the break for hands-on pics!
Samsung abandoning low-end market in India?
In a move that has to have the MOTOFONE's product manager grinning from ear to ear, it seems Samsung has decided that the fight for India's low- and ultra-low-end market isn't worth fighting anymore. If Telecom Korea's unnamed sources are to be trusted, the increasing introduction of smartphones to the country (combined with ever-increasing demand for them) is apparently pushing prices on basic handsets down to the point where the Korean company is ready to take its ball and go home. Don't worry, though, India; Samsung's not leaving you -- not by a long shot. Besides the recent introduction of the SGH-P310 credit card phone there, the company apparently intends to continue launching "color and camera phones" to satisfy Indians' rising demand for upscale products.[Via Mobile Magazine]
