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Engadget Podcast 177: CES 2010 Day 3 - 01.08.2010
It took every bit of geeky fortitude we had left in our bodies to tear ourselves away from @LadyGaga's tweeterfeed for an hour and produce this podcast for you, but we did it. Feel appreciative?Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel, Paul MillerProducer: Trent WolbeSong: Bad RomanceHear the podcast01:40 - Live from Palm's CES 2010 press event03:25 - Palm swings open doors to App Catalog's innards03:35 - Palm gets serious about 3D gaming on webOS04:00 - Video recording coming to all webOS devices in February (updated: Flash, too!)04:10 - Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus first hands-on (video)!04:40 - Palm introduces Palm Pre Plus: 16GB, coming to Verizon on January 25th06:30 - Palm Pixi Plus: WiFi-equipped and heading to Verizon23:10 - Palm intros Mobile Hotspot app, guaranteed to make your router jealous25:47 - Live from Dell's CES 2010 press event26:42 - Alienware M11X netbook gets official, costs less than a grand26:55 - Alienware M11x hands-on27:20 - Dell teases the Streak?29:00 - Dell slate (secret) hands-on30:00 - Dell 5-inch slate press pics want you to study them30:30 - Dell Mini 3 lightning hands-on33:17 - Live from NVIDIA's CES press event33:35 - NVIDIA announces Tegra 2, tablets en route35:00 - Plastic Logic QUE proReader in-depth video hands-on38:20 - Live from Paul Otellini's Intel CES keynote39:50 - Intel launches AppUp Center app store for Atom-powered devices (updated with hands-on impressions)40:25 - Intel announces WiDi HD wireless display technology43:27 - LG GW990 hands-on video48:12 - Spring Design announces partnership with Borders, lowers price on Alex reader49:35 - Notion Ink Adam prototype hands-on: it looks nothing like the render, but it's still pretty wild52:32 - Boxee Box confirmed to have Tegra 2, Boxee Beta now open to all Subscribe to the podcast[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (enhanced AAC).[RSS MP3] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically.[RSS AAC] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in enhanced AAC) to your RSS aggregator.[Zune] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in the Zune MarketplaceDownload the podcastLISTEN (MP3)LISTEN (AAC)LISTEN (OGG)Contact the podcast1-888-ENGADGET or podcast (at) engadget (dot) com.Twitter: @joshuatopolsky @futurepaul @reckless @engadget
Engadget Mobile Podcast 030: Friday @ CES 2010 - 01.08.2010
Chris Ziegler. Sean Cooper. Together, again, at last - and this time, even in the same goshdarn room! Get the raw, uncensored take on new mobile communications technology developments from companies like Palm, LG, Samsung, and Sony! Almost live and direct from the showroom floor: It's the Engadget Mobile Podcast, CES Edition 2010, Volume 1.0. Live it, breathe it. Get inside that new-phone smell. Become your mobile dream. Hosts: Chris Ziegler, Sean CooperProducer: Trent WolbeMusic: Solvent - Devices and Strategies (Ghostly International)01:55 - HTC Smart hands-on10:43 - Motorola Backflip hands-on17:17 - Live from Palm's CES 2010 press event18:30 - Palm Pixi Plus: WiFi-equipped and heading to Verizon19:17 - Palm introduces Palm Pre Plus: 16GB, coming to Verizon on January 25th25:24 - Palm gets serious about 3D gaming on webOS27:57 - Palm swings open doors to App Catalog's innards30:37 - Rogers and HTC give up: Magic will see Android 2.1, but Dream gets a pass32:25 - Sony Ericsson's 'Robyn' pops into the limelight -- an X10 mini?37:50 - Samsung Bada S8200 and Galaxy2 may match Nexus One's specs40:10 - Parrot AR.Drone hands-on: a quadricopter for the rest of us41:30 - LG Rumor Touch launches for Sprint41:40 - LG Lotus Elite hops from a Las Vegas billboard right to Sprint retail44:00 - Sprint Overdrive 4G mobile hotspot unboxing and hands-onSubscribe to the podcast[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes[RSS MP3] Add the Engadget Mobile Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically[RSS AAC] Add the Engadget Mobile Podcast feed (in enhanced AAC) to your RSS aggregator[Zune] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in the Zune MarketplaceDownload the podcastLISTEN (MP3)LISTEN (AAC)Contact the podcastpodcast (at) engadgetmobile (dot) com.
Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus first hands-on (video)!
We just had a chance to play around with the new Palm Pre Plus (and Palm Pixi Plus), and we must say -- they've made some solid improvements to these devices. We're going to focus on the Pre, since it's really had the bulk of the changes. Firstly, it's now a Verizon branded (and bound) phone, which should bump the status of the device in many people's minds. The company has also improved the action of the slider mechanism, which is now way, way snappier, and clicks into and out of place with a confidence-stoking solidness. Palm has also changed the keyboard a bit, getting rid of the orange coloring, and revamping the action of the keys, making them far clickier (and maybe a bit more raised). The feel is closer to the Pixi, and that's a really good thing. Of course, they've added an additional 8GB of storage, making the internal capacity 16GB, and Palm is going full steam ahead with gaming on the device thanks to its PDK. Check the video and gallery below for the full story. Update: Video is up! %Gallery-82029%
Palm introduces Palm Pre Plus: 16GB, coming to Verizon on January 25th
No surprises here, but Palm just dropped its "big news" here at CES -- or half of it, anyway. The Palm Pre Plus will ship with twice the internal memory of the original (up to 16GB), a standard induction cover for Touchstone charging (it was an option before), an omitted navigation button on the front panel (to keep it clean, we guess) and a Big Red logo. You heard right, this one's hitting Verizon Wireless on January 25th! We're still waiting to hear back on a price, but we'll be sure to pass it on as soon as that goes official. Update: Video's after the break! %Gallery-82067%
Video recording coming to all webOS devices in February (updated: Flash on the Pre, too!)
High on the list of conspicuously-missing features for the Pre and Pixi has been video recording -- but happily, Palm's looking to close that gap shortly. Both devices will get hooked up next month with the goods, including integrating editing (that admittedly looks a bit like the iPhone's setup) and uploading to YouTube, Facebook, email, and MMS. We're not sure what actual webOS version this'll be launching in, but hey, who cares? Important thing is that it's hitting very, very soon. Update: So it turns out it'll be part of webOS 1.4, which also includes beta support for Flash 10 on the Pre (sorry, Pixi owners). We know which one we're more excited about!
Keepin' it real fake, part CCXLIX: Cool K07 is the ultimate facePalm
Yeah, yeah -- we've seen a fairly weak effort to ape the Pre before, but this... this is the knockoff webOS device your shady side has been waiting for. A dead ringer for the Palm Pre, the Cool K07 boasts a luscious 2.8-inch touchscreen (320 x 240 resolution), a T-Flash card slot, a 2 megapixel camera, inbuilt speaker, MP3 / MP4 player, a blazing fast connection to the web (GPRS, if you must know), Bluetooth, an FM radio tuner, alarm clock, a few games and room for 1,000 contacts. Granted, there's none of that fancy "Synergy" stuff, and we're guessing you won't find any "cards" or "multitasking" here, but for $128 unlocked and room for the SIM card of your choice, how on Earth could you complain? Exactly. You can't. Or maybe that's just stunned silence we hear... [Thanks, Dechris]
Palm Pre and Pixi get updated to 1.3.5.1, Exchange bug fixed
Don't expect anything awesome (like "new features" for example), but Pre and Pixi owners are getting a minor boost today in the form of webOS 1.3.5.1, being pushed out to handsets as we write this. The ultra-minor ".1" on the end there portends the cold, hard reality here, which is that the new ROM does nothing but fix one absolutely critical bug that couldn't wait for the next major release: the unceremonious clearing of all calendar events after syncing to an Exchange account. Grab it while the grabbin's good, folks. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
webOS paid apps coming to Europe in March 2010
Okay, so this is quite the lag from October's North American availability, but at least when the paid portion of Palm's App Catalog rolls out across Europe it shouldn't experience the stuttering start it suffered back in the US of A. Palm has excitedly blurted out the news on its developer network blog, but not without the requisite garnishings of buzzwords like "leverage," "freedom," "choice," "control," and "speed," as well as something about "faster cycle times" -- all of it designed to get more developers onboard. Kinda ironic the company is boasting about fast cycle times when it can't transition its paid Catalog to Europe in less than six months, but hey -- the Pre already has that one killer app, and it's free, so what do you care? [Thanks, Ben]
Palm's Jon Rubinstein named a 'Geek of the Year'
Just to clarify right out of the gate, the "year" Fast Company is referring to is 2009, but nonetheless, it's an award we're sure Jon is happy to have. 11 geeks were found worthy of the "Geek of the Year" award in '09, with the likes of Evan Williams and Biz Stone (Twitter), David S. Goyer (the creator of Flash Forward on ABC), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) and Neill Blomkamp (the writer of District 9) joining him. The justification for Jon making the cut? "He came on board as the new chairman of Palm and brought about the Web OS and the Palm Pre, the start of a line of products that is the best hope for reintroducing the geek masses to Palm." After speaking with him on our first-ever Engadget Show and falling head over heels in love with webOS, we can't help but agree. And yes, after last year's introduction at CES, it's all we can do to contain our excitement for this Thursday.
Quake ported to the Pre, webOS 3D gaming truly within reach
Yeah, hardware accelerating Doom is an important milestone in any fledgling system's career, but when you talk 3D acceleration, Quake is certainly a giant leap ahead of Doom in polygonal terms. The game has now been ported to webOS using the same new SDL library from version 1.3.5, and while it looks a little sluggish and crashy in the video after the break, it's clearly a landmark event just the same. Now if only we could get stuff like this in the App Catalog we'd be perfectly happy forever and ever. Or for at least a week.
Engadget now available for Pre and Pixi: the first webOS app of 2010 (and 1000th in the Catalog)!
That's right folks. Hot on the heels of our iPhone app release (which has since skyrocketed up the App Store charts to #1 in News), the webOS version has officially landed. You'll see that the experience is shockingly, wonderfully similar to the iPhone / iPod touch version, but of course there are a couple of webOS flourishes to be found. You can download the application right from your Pre or Pixi by simply popping open the App Catalog and, you know... downloading the thing. This is the 1000th application in the Catalog -- a piece of info we feel pretty psyched about. We've got even more on the way (like BlackBerry and Android versions), so keep it tuned here, but for now... webOS fans, go get your fix! For those viewing this on a Palm device, here's your direct link: Download Engadget for webOS
Hardware accelerated 'Doom' comes to the Pre
Pre homebrew has certainly come a long way in its short but happy life -- and now it's just gotten another little notch in its belt. Apparently, with the release of webOS 1.3.5, Palm has included a software library called SDL (or Simple Directmedia Layer) which allows developers low-level hardware access -- like the kind needed to tap into accelerated 3D graphics. With a little bit of elbow grease, webOS hacker extraordinaire zsoc was able to put together a port of Doom which can be run within a card in the OS, and completely functions (including keyboard controls). You've got to get your hands a little dirty with the Terminal app to make things happen right now if you want to try it for yourself, though the experimenters promise an easier solution in the coming days. Exciting stuff for webOS users hungry for a little more horsepower... now let's see if Palm puts this into play come CES. Update: PreCentral has a video of the app in action -- check it out after the break! [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Palm likely calling its new Verizon models Pre Plus and Pixi Plus
We've alluded to this a couple times already, but Boy Genius Report is coming out today and saying that Verizon's webOS launch devices early next year will indeed be called the "Pre Plus" and "Pixi Plus." We're able to independently confirm that this is the intel out in the field right now -- so unless Big Red calls an audible, these are the names you should be keeping an eye on as you're scanning the shelves. The report goes on to say that Verizon's models are the same size as Sprint's, but as we've already seen in the FCC, these new versions are going to be supercharged in one way or another -- at the very least, the Pixi should have WiFi on board, a welcome boost. Any way you slice it, it sure looks like Sprint got the short end of this stick, doesn't it?
Palm smartphone pops up in WiFi certification database: is this Verizon's Pre?
Look, let's not beat around the bushes -- Verizon Wireless will one day stock Palm's Pre. It's a rather well documented fact, and at this point the only real question is "when?" Judging by a mysterious Wi-Fi Certificate that just popped up, we're beginning to think that the waiting period is nearly up, and with CES 2010 happening in a week, there's hardly a better time for us to really start believing. If you'll recall, Sprint's Pre snagged a Wi-Fi Certificate number of P100EWW, and just this summer we spotted a few leaked Palm devices within VZW documents with "P101" and "P121" monikers; lo and behold, the certificate for this elusive dual-mode (WiFi and cellular) smartphone boasts a P101EWW label. We aren't trying to read too deeply between the lines or anything, but if this isn't a Pre destined for Big Red, we're eager to know what kind of new mobile Palm has lined up for its presser at CES. [Thanks, Rehman]
Palm Pre plays Need for Speed, undercover (video)
While Palm's Pre is many things to many people it still can't game. Oh sure, it'll play Magic Fortune Ball like a champ but when it comes to intensive 3D action the Pre is as helpless as a would-be terrorist trying to ignite his underwear. See, webOS and the Mojo SDK currently can't exploit the GPU the way other smartphone platforms can. Rewind a few weeks, however, and we're reminded of a video showing EA's Need for Speed Undercover running impossibly smooth on a Pre. At the time, the video and claims of the device running Flash were shot down as fake largely due to the accompanying screen caps of the purportedly new App Catalog. Well guess what? Those screen caps were vindicated today with the webOS 1.3.5 update that just so happened to launch a new App Catalog matching the leaked images, exactly. That lends credence to the video then doesn't it, while hinting at future apps and games with full OpenGL graphics support. Is that the big reveal at CES alongside enhanced Pre+ and Pixi+ handsets headed to Big Red? We'll find out shortly enough -- until then check the gameplay after the break. [Thanks, Brian K.]
Sprint now pushing webOS 1.3.5 to the Pre
We'd heard webOS 1.3.5 would be coming to the Pre on Sprint today, and here we go -- it's being pushed to devices right now. The official changelog is quite long, but the big-ticket tweaks include the removal of the app storage limit, better performance, and improved battery life. We'll let you know how our update goes -- you let us know the same now, kaykay? Kay. %Gallery-81102%
Sprint says webOS 1.3.5 is hitting the Pre today
Well, lookie here: it's not up on Palm's support site yet, but Sprint is showing a release date of December 28 -- that's today, by the way -- for webOS 1.3.5 on the Pre. This is a pretty nifty little upgrade, you might recall -- nifty enough to get none other than CEO Jon Rubinstein to name-drop it during the company's most recent earnings call -- thanks to the removal of the platform's troublesome app storage limit, better performance, better battery life (particularly in weak cell coverage), and a host of bugfixes sure to put a smile on your pretty face. Let us know how those updates go, alright? [Thanks, Gon Kim]
webOS 1.3.5 coming to CES: better performance and more app storage, says Palm CEO
Here's something to glean from Palm's recent quarterly call, besides the still less-than-profitable fiscal number, of course. CEO Jon Rubinstein divulged that yes, we will indeed be seeing webOS 1.3.5 during CES early next month. Even better, we got some insight into what we'll be expecting from the update: more application storage (hooray!), better WiFi / app performance, improved battery life, and "increase Pixi speed and responsiveness" -- interesting that Pixi is called out solo for that last one, but we're not about to read too much into that just yet. Good news all around, but let's hope there's still a surprise or two left in store come January 7th.
Verizon begins internal webOS training
We always knew Palm would be bringing the Pre to Verizon sometime in early 2010, and it looks like preparations are underway: check out this leaked internal training slide, which describes a 20-minute Palm / webOS training that runs until January 4th. Interestingly, that's the day before CES, so we're guessing we'll be hearing something about all this during Palm's CES event -- and if we had to guess, we'd wager that that updated Pixi with WiFi will somehow figure into the mix as well.
webOS 1.3.5 to finally kill off app storage limit?
There's no debating it: having 8GB of onboard storage on your phone is great. What's even better, though, is if you can actually use it -- and currently, owners of Palm Pres and Pixis are stuck with an arbitrary limit for curious technical reasons that caps app installations after a couple hundred megabytes and change. Back in the day when the App Catalog had a few dozen submissions, that was fine and dandy -- but these days, owners are staring down the barrel of a selection more than 500 apps deep, so the time's definitely come to put this annoyance to bed. PreCentral is reporting that webOS 1.3.5 will finally kill this one by moving app storage to another partition on the device's memory -- the media partition -- which has about 7GB free on a completely virgin phone. Coincidentally, this is the same partition that gets used when you hook up mass storage mode on a PC, so to prevent unencumbered copying of apps off the device, Palm will allegedly be employing some sort of on-the-fly encryption that keeps apps secure while connected. Next step, Palm: microSD expansion so we can install each and every one of those 500-plus apps. What do you say?
