Gemini
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ICD's Tegra 2-toting Gemini tested, briefly enjoyed
It's only been a single day since the Tegra 2-powered ICD Gemini promised us a world in which tablet PCs could magically make calls, sport webcams and play Flash content (yes, we're still a bit sore about that), but somehow one man has already managed to get his hands on a prototype of the wannabe iPad killer. The verdict? "Blisteringly fast," according to Stuff.tv, albeit buggy and thoroughly unready for market. The website liberally praised the large, 11.2-inch screen for superb color and detail even as it found the resistive touch controls sluggish, and was blown away by how quickly the 1GHz Tegra 2 dealt with web browsing on Android OS. Sadly, it seems there wasn't time to get Hulu running on the device, and important features (including those webcams) weren't working on this early prototype. But don't worry, the publication says the feature-packed slate won't even hit the company's native UK until August, when ICD expects carrier deals to be signed. Now, Stuff, assuming you haven't returned that shiny tablet -- how about you shoot us some video?
ICD's Tegra 2-powered Gemini is the most feature-complete tablet we've seen yet
Built around the 1GHz Tegra 2 SOC, the 11.2-inch ICD Gemini should provide comparable endurance to Apple's A4-sporting iPad, while besting it in the grunt stakes with its glorious ability to chew through 1080p video when required. If that wasn't enough, the rest of this thing's spec sheet reads like a wishlist. Headlined by a 3G connection that allows cellular voice calls (crazy, we know!), it also includes a user-replaceable 40Wh battery, an SD card reader, FM radio, GPS, 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth, MicroUSB connectivity to PCs and USB peripherals, stereo speakers, and dual webcams -- a 2 megapixel front-facing unit and a 5 megapixel autofocusing snapper on the back. Multitouch displays will be available in both resistive and capacitive flavors, with the 1,366 x 768 resolution being filled by Google's snappy Android OS. Oh, and did we mention it will run Flash? Because it will. Full specs and a comparison to its direct competitors await after the break, though we've yet to find out when this JooJoo killer will be making its arrival or at what price. Update: We've come across a couple of real (i.e. not rendered) pictures of an earlier prototype for the Gemini, which looks generic as hell but should give you a good idea of the dimensions and scale of the device in question. Yours after the break.%Gallery-89815%
BlackBerry 8520 now up on T-Mobile's site, no purchases just yet
It may not be the 5th of the month just yet, but that's not stopping T-Mobile from going ahead and posting its product info page for the upcoming BlackBerry 8520 with a big, fat "Coming Soon" right next to it. Everything here is pretty much exactly as you'd expect it: EDGE data, WiFi, 2 megapixel camera, microSD expansion, and a rated 4.5 hours of talk time with 17 days of standby -- the only thing we're really missing then (besides 3G, of course) is a Buy button, which we're figuring will show up any day now.[Via Boy Genius Report]
Video: T-Mobile BlackBerry 8520 sold and unboxed early
We all know there ain't no party like a Super Walmart party, 'cause the Super Walmart party don't stop. Aiding its cause in being the go-to place for night owls and bargain hunting insomniacs is the fact that it's apparently selling T-Mobile's newest BlackBerry ahead of the August 5th street date. Don't believe us? Jump on past the break for an unboxing video, and afterwards, feel free to call your nearest five Wally Worlds until you find one ready and willing to take your $48.88 (on contract).[Thanks, Alex]
BlackBerry Curve 8520 gets a hands-on, photo shoot
Hot on the heels of the word that RIM's BlackBerry Curve 8520 would be heading for Vodaphone in the UK, Pocket Lint's gotten a hold of one. The optical trackball-boasting, entry-level non-3G darling looks pretty brilliant in the photos, despite its stripped down form factor. Pocket Lint is also reporting that it'll be Vodaphone-bound in August, and it'll also be available through Orange for pre-paid deals and from Carphone Warehouse where it'll be offered in violet. Now that, we'll admit, we're kind of interested in. The 8520 (or Gemini, as it's also known) is T-Mobile-bound in the US of A, most likely on August 5th. There's another shot after the break -- hit the read link for the full set.
PlanetSide merges last two servers into one
In an e-mail that went out to the community earlier today, the PlanetSide team has announced that the game's final two servers will be combined into one to preserve the balance of fighting between their three armies. The merge will be conducted on August 25th, so this is ample warning of the things to come.Now, normally people would be complaining and unhappy over hearing the words "server" and "merge" being put into the same sentence, but that's not the sentiment over at the PlanetSide community. This move has put the veteran players into a state of happiness in their anticipation of the merge. Old outfits are preparing for a resurgence as former players are returning to the game once more.
BlackBerry 8520 coming to Vodafone UK, too
We didn't think Vodafone UK still had the stones to launch a non-3G smartphone in 2009, so color us a little shocked with this one. A scanned ad lends plenty of credibility to the rumor that the carrier will be joining T-Mobile USA in launching RIM's latest entry-level QWERTY handset, the 8520 -- and as the print states, these guys expect to be selling it at an "affordable price." CrackBerry claims we could see this one in August (which is when T-Mobile will be launching it, too), so if you're a Brit with a hankering for optical d-pads and BES, hang tight.
T-Mobile roadmap shows Dell netbooks, BlackBerry Gemini, and more
Leaked carrier roadmap documents of unknown age and origin aren't necessarily the most accurate things in the world, but they are one very awesome, important thing: leaked. Pictured above is a fragment of one such spreadsheet that we've had the good fortune of receiving for T-Mobile USA -- obviously it's a little bit on the small slide, but no sweat, we'll walk you through what it's saying. Again, we wouldn't take these dates as the gospel truth, but we'd venture to say they're a good rough guide for what to expect out of these guys for the next few months. Move along for the full list![Thanks, anonymous tipster]
Sunday scoops: Android on AT&T, Palm Eos details, BlackBerry Magnum, and more
Usually, Sundays don't get too crazy at Engadget -- after all, even super-nerds need to rest. That wasn't the case yesterday, however, as we found ourselves knee-deep in a handful of seriously sweet smartphone leaks. Most of the news centered around AT&T's upcoming devices (you know, like its first Android phones, brand new BlackBerry offerings, and... the Palm Eos), but we also saw a few new angles on the Pre. Do yourself a favor and hit all the links below -- you won't be sorry.AT&T leaks HTC Lancaster is a QWERTY slider with Android for AT&T Palm Eos on track for AT&T release second half of 2009 HP triumphantly returns to AT&T with iPAQ K3 "Obsidian" Blackberry Magnum, Onyx, Pearl 3G, and Gemini to harmonize on AT&T HTC's Warhawk and Fortress are AT&T's Touch Diamond2 and Pro2 Nokia Grouper, Mako, Snapper, and Thresher rolling deep on AT&T Pre leaks Sprint's Pre business launch guide leaked in its entirety Plethora of Palm Pre interface videos emerge from leaked emulator
Blackberry Magnum, Onyx, Pearl 3G, and Gemini to harmonize on AT&T
BlackBerry lovers, AT&T beckons. Looks like the just-reviewed Onyx is heading to AT&T and, as rumored before, so is the Magnum. We've got no pics of the latter device, but it's being touted here as the "BlackBerry Bold portfolio evolution" and uses the same processor as the Bold. It's also got a HVGA touchscreen, QWERTY pad, quad-band GSM / GRS / EDGE, GPS, and WiFi. Want more? How about an apparently non-flip Pearl 3G with 3.6 Mbps of HSDPA goodness, Bluetooth, 3.5mm headset jack, trackball, SureType, and aGPS. Rounding out this quartet is the Gemini, with a 512MHz processor, 256MB flash memory, 128MB RAM, Bluetooth, QVGA LCD, 2 megapixel sans flash, trackball, QWERTY keyboard, 3.5mm headset jack, a microSD slot, possibly GPS, and sadly, no 3G. There's no release date in sight, but hey, knowing they're on the way is half the battle, right?
BlackBerry Aries spotted: a Gemini with CDMA in its heart
If you had your eye the BlackBerry Curve 8520 / Gemini, somehow above all the other number of RIM devices that have surfaced as of late, it looks like the stars have aligned (har har) for you. The gang at Crackberry have gotten a first peep at the Aries, which they say is essentially a CDMA-equipped Gemini that's likely to go by the eventual name Curve 8530. Not much else to note here, here's hoping we got some more concrete details -- and maybe a committed carrier or two -- in the not too distant. As for the naming conventions, we now anxiously await for alliterative darlings like a touchscreen Taurus, slide-out Sagittarius, and 18 megapixel Pisces.
BlackBerry 8520 in the mix for T-Mobile in the fourth quarter?
You know what makes a lot of sense? The EDGE-only BlackBerry 8520 hitting T-Mobile USA, that's what. The carrier's already shown a penchant for launching pretty 2.5G BlackBerrys in the past, and the 8520 would be a perfect way to continue that tradition (not to say we totally support continuing any 2.5G tradition, but it is what it is). Boy Genius Report is apparently hearing that there's a Q4 launch in store for the so-called Gemini on T-Mobile USA, which feels a bit late to us -- but maybe they're just looking to give the 8900 some breathing room. Trackball for the weekdays, optical mouse for the weekends, maybe?[Image via CrackBerry]
BlackBerry Curve 8520 "Gemini" image surfaces
Well, what do we have here? The folks at Crackberry seem to have gotten their hands on a pic of the BlackBerry Curve 8520, a.k.a. "Gemini." From what we can see and from what they tell us, there's an optical trackball, dedicated media player buttons, and a "rubberized" body. Lack of 3G is a big bummer, and we're sure the non-classic trackball is gonna ruffle some feathers, but the hardware's enticing enough for us to give it a look over. Intrigued?
BlackBerry Gemini 8325 in the wild
Something tells us this isn't the most anticipated yet-to-be-announced BlackBerry at the moment, but RIM's all about choice -- and, yeah, it remains to be seen who's going to choose the Gemini 8325 when it ends up shipping. The supposed Curve 8300 successor (we thought that was the 8900, silly us) will mope along with the same EDGE data that powers the old model, suggesting that it'll hang out on the low end of the BlackBerry stable -- especially by the time it's actually released, whenever that happens to be. It's rumored to run BlackBerry OS 5.0 and feature a QVGA display, 802.11b / g / n (yes, n), and a meager 2 megapixel camera, so needless to say, the Bolds of the world can rest easy for a while longer that their dominance in the QWERTY GSM BlackBerry game isn't in question just yet.
Rumored BlackBerry 9300 "Gemini" appears, Bold gulps
After BlackBerry types lay eyes on the 8900, the same question immediately gets asked time and time again: "Why would I buy a Bold over this?" Indeed, it's hard to argue that the 8900 isn't the better looking handset, but for now, the Bold gets to lord its fancy-schmancy 3G radio over the 8900's technologically inferior head. That might just be where the rumored 9300 "Gemini" comes into play, though, which -- according to Boy Genius Report -- will feature a larger, higher-res screen than the 8900's already amazing display, a beefy processor, a slightly more "rounded" keyboard, and most importantly, quadband EDGE plus triband HSDPA. There isn't any solid information on a release window for this one yet (we'd doubt that even RIM has an answer for that one at this point), so if you had a Bold in mind, don't feel bad about pulling the trigger -- yet.
New product will let you MMO on the go
Multiplayer online virtual worlds consume a lot of your time. It's important to put them down now and then and get out of the house to live a real life, but that's about to get more difficult; we can expect massively multiplayer online worlds to become available on our cell phones any day now. There have been a couple small scale examples already, but a company called GEMINI Mobile Technologies thinks it's produced a breakthrough product.The product is called "the eXplo platform." It's a framework for 3D online environments running on mobile phones. Its features include customizable personal spaces (essentially player housing), messaging, photo sharing, shopping, and games. A few days ago the CNET News Blog took a look at S! Town, a product based on the platform. Initially released in Japan, it's headed to North America and Europe and will feature Facebook and YouTube integration for American consumers.Look for S! Town in North America and Europe in 2008.
Gemini launches iTRAX
Move over iDJ (and iDJ2), there's a new iPod DJ mixer in town, and it's only a year late to the game (albeit significantly cheaper). The Gemini iTRAX is finally hitting shelves, and brings the noise to the wheels of, um, polycarbonate with two phono ins, USB pass-through, and iPod (with video) support. They're asking $230 for the thing, but it's already going online for well under $150 (even though distributors don't yet have any to sell), so let's just say the price is up in the air on this one.
