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Huawei Ascend D Quad XL hits the FCC with North America-friendly 3G, 12MP camera mention
We'd been hoping that Huawei's flagship Ascend D Quad would roll by the FCC, hinting that the long-in-waiting hardware was soon to become a reality. It's here, and it looks to be the XL version we were promised back in Barcelona, with no mention of the LTE that some US carriers love so well. Like the Ascend D1, though, it's carrying pentaband HSPA+ that would let its 3G fly at full speed on any North American GSM carrier. There's a slight surprise in the camera. Schematics mention a 12-megapixel sensor as a possibility alongside the officially announced 8-megapixel shooter -- that said, whether it's a quiet upgrade, a regional variant or just a discarded dream isn't made obvious here. More certain references can confirm video out through HDMI and MHL as well as the increasingly de rigueur NFC. We don't need the FCC to confirm launches that start late this month in China and October in Europe, but the approval guarantees that there won't be rude surprises for the release or for any imports, whether they're unofficial or through a carrier deal.
Teclast enters the e-book fold with the K3 Talking Portable Library
Judging by the snowballing number of e-readers we've seen over the last year or so (culminating at CES 2010, as you are no doubt well aware) either people really, really, really love these things, or OEMs are going for the lowest hanging fruit. And what do we have here from Teclast? The company, known 'round these parts for its portable media players, has entered the game with the K3. In addition from the usual array of supported document formats this bad boy rocks a 6-inch E Ink display, an MP3 / MP4 player and -- hold on to your caps! -- text-to-speech either in English or Chinese. The term the company is using to market this bad boy is "Talking Portable Library," but since most TTS devices usually make HAL sound like James Earl Jones we're going to suggest that anyone truly interested in this technology stick with the Kindle. Besides, Tom misses you! You two haven't talked in a long time.
HP's iPAQ K3 Obsidian gets FCC approval enroute to AT&T
Sure, we could beat around the bush and say, "well, the test report calls it an iPAQ and it's got both GSM and HSPA on the 850 and 1900MHz bands, so it's probably headed to AT&T" -- but let's cut to the chase for once, shall we? Despite much of the documentation still falling under confidentiality, HP's latest phone has "AT&T SKU" written right on its publicly-available ID label, so that pretty much settles that. Interestingly, the documentation repeatedly refers to the new WinMo-powered handset as the "iPAQ KB1," but we have every reason to believe this is the K3 Obsidian that's been floating around for a while now. To be fair, we don't know whether that's a go-to-market name -- nor do we know the price or launch date, for that matter -- whatever it's called, we can now take comfort in the knowledge that it'll be 100 percent legal to use on American soil.
HP iPAQ K3 Obsidian lives it up in the wild, sneaks in a stylus for the nostalgic types
There's always been a little chunk of softness in our cold, stone hearts for candybar QWERTY handsets. Stylus interaction? Not so much. That's why it's a little disappointing to see HP's upcoming iPAQ K3 Obsidian handset for AT&T show up with a stylus on board, despite the initial leaked documents we saw that clearly stated otherwise. Still, it's nice to see how Windows Mobile 6.5 can operate under such conditions, and the 2.43-inch screen is OLED, even if it's restricted to a mere QVGA resolution. It appears that a scroll wheel does the duty of shuffling through that honeycomb menu. As far as we know, we're still looking at a November release.[Via SlashGear]
Insider Trader: Patch 3.2 updates and Engineering analysis
Insider Trader is your inside line on making, selling, buying and using player-made products.Over the past few weeks, Insider Trader has been discussing and analyzing the changes to professions set to go live with patch 3.2: Patch 3.2 Profession Change Analysis takes an in-depth look at the early announcements. Patch 3.2 Q&A answers questions being asked in the WoW community. Recently, a rather large list of Patch 3.2 Engineering Changes was released. This week's column will be devoted to updating you on some of the newer changes, clarifying as many details as possible, and analyzing some of those juicy Engineering changes.
HP triumphantly returns to AT&T with iPAQ K3 "Obsidian"
Tears well up in our eyes when we think back to the early days of Windows Mobile and HP's dominance; in recent years, the company has all but vanished from the scene, trudging along with a handful of poorly-marketed, underexposed devices that haven't launched on any US carrier. Turns out we haven't said our last goodbyes, though, because the iPAQ K3 -- codenamed "Obsidian," seemingly -- is scheduled for November 30 retail availability on AT&T. The device would launch with Windows Mobile 6.5 onboard and feature a 2 megapixel camera (a second cameraless version for high-security businessfolk might be available, too), 256MB of RAM, a half gig of ROM, microSD slot, GPS, triband HSDPA and quadband EDGE, WiFi, 3.5mm headphone jack, and a QVGA display to complement the full QWERTY keyboard. Looks like it won't be the most exciting smartphone on the carrier's shelves, but it might be a sensible choice for businesses and really, really boring people. Follow the break for a couple renders of the phone in action-packed angle shots!
Ask a Beta Tester: Reputation, crowd control, and more
We all know how this goes by now, so let's jump right in. If you don't know how this goes, click back through a few of the previous editions of Ask a Beta Tester. You'll catch on, I'm sure. Xaktsaroth asked...How does reputation work in general in Wrath? Are there turn-in quests? Rep for killing Mobs? Quested Rep? If you just quest, how far along does that reputation take you?It's a little different for every faction, but I can say that I have not yet seen turn-ins like we had to do for the Aldor or Scryer. Most of the rep gains seem to be via quests or dungeons depending on the faction. On beta, I'm nearly Exalted with the Valiance Expedition exclusively from quests. Strangely, I'm Neutral with the Kirin Tor as of a couple of beta patches ago when I had been Friendly. Curious! Either way, I haven't seen much in the way of rep via quests from them. You'll probably need to do dungeons or some other thing.It's going to vary from faction to faction, they're not all the same. Some are quest heavy, some are not. If you prefer dungeons, however, just get to Friendly with someone, pick up their tabard, and you can get rep with them in any dungeon you want.
Ask a Beta Tester: The Drakkensryd, Dispersion, and other stuff
We'll get started with Gareth's question... How is the Storm Peaks coming along? Seems like it has a lot of history and culture behind it. This zone has been closed off more than it's been open. There are a few hefty bugs that they're trying to iron out that forces them to seal it off now and then, since the bugs bring the entire world server down. That and there was an XP exploit that the beta testers found and needed to be dealt with mighty quickly, so it was sealed off for that as well. As far as the history and culture, I loved what I saw. A lot of Titan lore, a lot of Dwarven history. The introduction to the zone is pretty awful, though. Your first quest hub in the culture-rich zone is a Goblin town (K3) full of whimsy that has little to do with the zone's overall story. I guess you need to keep the mood light sometimes, though. Still, despite the silly Goblins, it was one of my favorite zones while I could get in there. Blizzard has thrown around the term "epic scale" quite a bit, and I think Storm Peaks really displays that. The place is absolutely massive, in the good way. Watch the video above if you want an example of the quests you'll be seeing. Be warned, it's kind of a spoiler in that doing this quest for the first time really leaves you in awe. Watching it beforehand might take that away a little.dotorion asked...Does Northrend have a 'level requirement' like Outlands?
Samsung Yepp K3 gets colorful GUI, as do current owners
So apparently the current version of the Samsung Yepp K3 only offers users a rather drab blue interface for navigating through menus, and with so many other colors in the rainbow to choose from, it's kind of sad that the "illegally sleek" player doesn't take advantage of them. Well turn those frowns upside down, K3 fans, because not only is Samsung giving the flash-based model a minor bump that enables multicolor displays, a forthcoming firmware update will bring the same cheery palette to current owners. Doesn't look like much else has changed here, with no capacity increases or additional features of note; we guess that until Apple adds video or wireless to the nano, Samsung -- unlike SanDisk -- feels it can rest on its laurels a bit.
Sony's NW-A800, Samsung's K3, and Apple's iPod nano stacked
With Sony's NW-A800 Video Walkman (pictured center) now globally released, we thought you might like to see how it stacks up -- literally -- against the Samsung K3 and the notoriously thin iPod nano. As you can see, Sony opted for chub and squat over slim and long by comparison. But just look at that relatively huge, 2-inch display for video playback -- something neither the K3 nor iPod nano can do. Now go check the rest of the pics over at French site Le Journal du Geek. Fortunately, the thousand words spoken by pictures don't need machine translation.[Thanks, Aniki]
Samsung's K3 reviewed -- "so sleek, it's illegal"
We've seen Samsung's K3 in product shots, pre-release gropes, and out prowling the floor at CES. What we haven't seen until now, is a proper, full-on review of the tiny flash audio player. Fortunately, CNET Asia just corrected that in their usual good, bad, bottom-line review style. Their verdict? The player is sweet, but not tasty enough to warrant an editor's choice rating. Still it pulled a "Very Good" 7.7 of 10 points for its design which is "so sleek, it's illegal" (whatever that means) and "above average" battery life tested at 26 hours 50 minutes while looping 240MB worth of MP3 tracks. The new Media Studio software -- dubbed a "gorgeous" blend of iTunes and Sony's SonicStage -- didn't hurt the rating either. The only real nits are the K3's "smudgy surface" (read: attracts fingerprints) and its proprietary cable. Otherwise, it's one hot piece of DAP which we can already attest to. [Thanks, Samsung Fan Boy]
Samsung's K3 goes lime green
Although the color pink seems to be stealing all the attention these days, we're definitely down with a bit of green mixed in too. Samsung's K3 has gone from black to red and now to green, but considering the firm announced both of these shades way back at CES, we're just glad to see it following through. Unfortunately for most of the planet, this lime green beauty is slated to hit the Asian market exclusively, but we're sure the importing savvy will find a way to bring it on over if they so desire. The next step in the K3 chronicles? Hopefully an 8GB version landing this summer.
Samsung's K3 in red
Here's some K3 love just in time for V-day. It's "Wine Red" mind you, not PRODUCT (RED) so Samsung will keep a tight fist on any profits from this swank little player. What is it about the color red that makes these thin flash players look so fine? Oh wait... the red K3 won't ship until the summer. No worries, now we don't have to feel guilty 'bout showing ourselves the love instead.[Thanks, Aniki]
Samsung offers up DS200 speaker dock for YP-K3
Just days after Samsung's uber-slim YP-K3 DAP got all official on us, here comes news of a docking speaker attachment to give it the built-in sound projection capabilities that the YP-K5 already has. Although Samsung has also announced that the K3 will be landing in lime green and red flavors here shortly, the DS200 apparently only comes in black, and while it's admittedly less sexy that the integrated speaker on its larger sibling, it'll still get the job done when push comes to shove. We wouldn't expect this here horn to deliver anything awe-inspiring, but the battery-powered DS200 should provide your ears with a little rest when you're tired of wearing those earbuds. Reportedly, the speaker adornment should hit shelves sometime in March, but since it'll run you right around $50, it's probably a bit much for an impulse buy.
Video: Hands-on with Samsung's K3
The K5 looked great and everything, but for those not digging the external speaker or people looking for a potential Nano competitor, the K3 looks like it could do the job. For the full specs, check out our earlier coverage, but in the meantime, check the video above or the download below for a first look at Sammy's slim portable media player.[MP4] Download the video
Samsung's YP-K3 caught in the wild
Pssst... yeah, you. Want to see Samsung's YP-K3 getting groped? About as slim as a pair of mangled hangnails, eh? No price, date, or hard specs yet, just a bit more man-handed fondleage after the break.
Samsung launching YP-K3, little bro to the K5
We thought the YP-K5 wasn't too shabby, but it really needed to be rid of that folding integrated speaker system. Looks like Samsung's new K3 did just that. We're lacking other hard detail but it's got a 1.8-inch OLED display and FM tuner and hopefully the same 1, 2, and 4GB options (and maybe if we're lucky an 8GB, too). Odd how much this one reminds us of the Philips GoGear SA9100 / SA9200, but watch out for it (and even maybe a Philips-led design lawsuit) shortly.[Thanks, Tom]
