Monday, February 14, 2011

MobileCrunch

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Pac’n Twit: Pac-Man Twitter Client For The iPhone

Posted: 14 Feb 2011 05:11 AM PST

It's not that the App Store suffers from a lack of Twitter clients, but this new one is too cool to pass up: NamcoBandai in Japan released PAC'N TWIT, an awesome iPhone app [JP] that has Pac-Man written all over it. The app is only available in the Japanese App Store at this point, but it's free and is also translated into English and French. Read the rest on CrunchGear.


The Umeox Apollo Is Powered By Android… And The Sun

Posted: 14 Feb 2011 05:02 AM PST

Surrounded by outlets no further than an arm’s length away, it’s easy to forget just how nice it is having power everywhere. Then the power goes out. Or you go camping. Or you’re living in a remote area of Africa, and you’ve got to walk a few miles to juice up your gear. How’s a smartphone junkie supposed to survive?

Fortunately, there’s one power source that never* goes out, and that pretty much everyone has access to for just shy of 12 hours a day: the sun.

Meet the Umeox Apollo, just announced at Mobile World Congress. While we’ve seen a few promises of solar-powered Android phones in the past, this is one of the first we’ve actually seen head for production.

Before you get too excited: there’s no word on whether or not this thing’ll ship stateside and, given that it’s a Chinese manufacturer, it might be a bit hard to track down here. Additionally, it looks like there are actually two different models: One for the US (MTK6573) with support for 850/1900Mhz bands (AT&T!), and one (the MTK6516) that’ll work in Europe and much of Asia. That Euro model would make a pretty killer backpackin’ phone.

The rest of the specs aren’t anything too special, but for the curious:

  • 3.2″ 320×480 Display
  • 1GB storage internally, with a microSD card slot
  • FM Radio
  • Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP
  • 3 megapixel rear camera
  • 3.5mm audio jack

Just be careful not to kill your battery completely — while the company estimates that charging up for daily usage should only require about 2.5 hours of sunlight, bringin’ it back to 100% after it hits deads-ville will require a hefty 17 hours. Look for the 900/1800MHz model to hit in Q2 of this year, and the 850/1900MHz model to hit in Q3.

* well, technically not never, but you know, probably not for a while.

Hands-On With The LG Optimus 3D

Posted: 14 Feb 2011 02:04 AM PST


LG is really betting on 3D this year; from 3D TVs to the G-Slate to this handset, 3D is everywhere in their lineup. Not that I’m complaining; I think it’s cool, though I probably wouldn’t buy the first generation of 3D phones. The Optimus 3D, which we saw leaked many times before it finally got official last week, is available to be pawed at their booth, and it’s a real monster. It’s a bit heavy but feels sturdy and well-made. The specs are, of course, quite serious: dual-core 1GHz OMAP 4 processor, dual-channel RAM, dual 1080p cameras, and 4.3″ 800×480 screen with a parallax barrier to create the 3D effect. Check out our little hands-on gallery:

opt3D-01 opt3D-02 opt3D-03 opt3D-04 opt3D-05 opt3D-06

The 3D effect has a pretty narrow sweet spot; this is a factor of the parallax barrier tech, similar to the Nintendo 3DS. I felt the 3DS had a wider sweet spot and a more convincing 3D effect, but the conditions really weren’t very good in that crowded booth. It works, but a slight movement of your head (or a jolt on the bus or train) will ruin the illusion. The HDMI out will create a 3D image and can feed that directly from the camera or media library. It seemed to run well and the 3D effect was solid when viewed on the TV with glasses.

In the picture of the 3D menu interface (which was neat but seemed more a tech demo than anything convenient or useful) you can see the parallax barrier’s grill, but it’s not quite that visible in real life.

Video: A Quick Demo Of Netflix For Android

Posted: 14 Feb 2011 01:37 AM PST

When we were talking to Qualcomm about their new 2.5 GHz Quad-core smartphone chipset this morning, someone made a passing reference to the fact that Qualcomm had partnered with Netflix to help them bring their video streaming app to Android.

With that, we figured the Netflix app for Android had to be floating around somewhere in Barcelona — and sure enough, we found it.

As far as I know, this is the first time we’ve seen the Netflix Android app in action — and whatd’ya know: it looks like Netflix… running on Android. Alas, Mobile World Congress’ trademark network congestion is already rearing its head here, so we weren’t able to actually see any video streaming goodness. I’m pretty sure it looks just as you’d imagine.

The rep demoing the app wouldn’t/couldn’t spill the beans on when the Netflix Android app will be available, but we’ll go back and bug’em a bit more later.

Snapdragon Bites Back: Qualcomm Announces A Quad-Core 2.5Ghz Chipset For Mobile Devices

Posted: 13 Feb 2011 10:59 PM PST

I’ve been writing about the mobile industry for a few years now, and there’s one thing that still blows my mind each and every day: the rate at which these companies are able to make new feel old. Everytime something comes along and rocks our world, someone else in the industry responds with “Oh yeah? Well our new thing is twice as fast! And twice as efficient! Oh, and ours is completely powered by the laughter of unicorns! Beat that!”

And then someone does.

Just 3 weeks ago, NVIDIA announced the Tegra 3, a 1.5 GHz, Quad-Core chipset for smart phones and tablets. Madness, right? Texas Instruments responded with their own quad-core chipset — except theirs clocked in at 2 Ghz.

Now it’s Qualcomm’s turn. Their rebuttal? 4 cores, each running at a theoretical maximum of 2.5 GHz. Punch it, Chewie!

Later this morning at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Qualcomm will be announcing the next-generation of their Snapdragon chipset line. Based on a brand spankin’ new micro-architecture that Qualcomm calls “Krait” (which, we’ve learned from the vast Internets, is the name of a genus of snakes from India whose bite will straight wreck your day), the new APQ8064 chipset is faster, runs cooler, and gobbles up less battery than any Snapdragon before it.

Here’s what you should know:

  • Four cores, each capable of running at 2.5GHz
  • Qualcomm promises that this new CPU is 12x faster than the first-gen Snapdragons, while still using 75% less power.
  • LG’s Optimus 3D may be the first smartphone to do the whole recording-in-3D thing, but that seems pretty likely to become a trend. This chipset can do it out of the box, recording simultaneous 1080p video feeds from two cameras at once.
  • As with past Snapdragon chipsets, it’s more than just a CPU: it’s also got WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth, FM radio, and support for NFC (for mobile contact-based payments) built-in.
  • Last but absolutely not least, this new chipset also comes packed with Qualcomm’s brand new quad-core graphics processor, the Adreno 320. They’re staying a bit light on the details regarding this new GPU, but add that its performance is “fifteen times greater” that of the original Adreno.

But of course, there’s a catch: as chipset manufacturers tend to do, Qualcomm’s talking this thing up long before it’s actually available. Samples of this chipset won’t even start reaching manufacturers until early next year, so expect it to be a pretty long while before we actually see this new chipset sneak into any devices. By that point, I’m sure we’ll be getting all worked up over a deca-core 10GHz processor that ManufacturerX will be promising to install in our heads by 2015.

Hands On Video: The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

Posted: 13 Feb 2011 01:49 PM PST

I just got my grubby mitts all over Samsung’s brand new 10.1″ Android 3.0 tablet, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (or, as all the cool kids seem to want to call it, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2).

Once you’ve torn through our hands-on video up above, take a glance behind the Read More >> link below. There be first impressions and a hands-on gallery over in them thar hills.

First Impressions

  • This thing is surprisingly light. It looks heavier than it is (a stark contrast from my time with HP’s new Touchpad tablet earlier this week, which felt a good bit heavier than I expected from the looks.)
  • Even after a few weeks of lookin’ at Honeycomb (Android 3.0) in the SDK and in photos, I’m still not entirely sold on Android’s new look. In a tech world still in love with rounded corners and bright colors, Honeycomb’s doom-and-gloom color scheme and ultra-sharp edges comes off as a bit, for lack of a better word, depressing.

    It even depressed my camera. After a minute or two of battling with my lens, I realized that the default void-like wallpaper was just too emo-kid for my camera to be able to auto-focus on — hence the super cheery flower wallpaper in the hands-on video above.

  • The Tab 10.1 has speakers on both the top and the bottom of the device, making for particularly nice in-bed movie watching. No more missing important lines just because you slid one of your hands into the wrong spot!
  • Even in this pre-release state and running an early build of Honeycomb, this thing seemed plenty speedy. Not once was I left hangin’ (outside of in the browser, but that’s the fault of terrible WiFi), nor did I ever catch it lagging between transitions. This is a presumably fresh-flashed device with next to nothing installed on it, of course, so things might get bogged down a bit with proper usage — but so far, so good.

    • Alas, I still won’t be giving up my iPad. Why? Netflix. What about you: are you making the jump to the Tab 10.1, be it from the iPad, a different tablet, or the world of the tabletless? If not, what’s keeping you?

    DSC_0242 DSC_0243 DSC_0244 DSC_0245 DSC_0246 DSC_0247 DSC_0248 DSC_0249 DSC_0250


Hands-On With The Samsung Galaxy S II

Posted: 13 Feb 2011 01:21 PM PST

We’re fresh out of Samsung’s “Unpacked” event in Barcelona, where the Internet connectivity (be it WiFi or 3G) was about as stable as a skyscraper built out of warm butter.

Fortunately, Samsung brought along a new toy to make up for their lack of Internet: the Galaxy S II. We just spent some hands-on time with it and brought back video footage of every glorious second — check out the video up above, then hop behind the jump for our first impressions and a gallery of hands-on shots.

First Impressions:

  • At 8.49mm thin, Samsung’s able to claim this is “the world’s thinnest smartphone” — and man, does it show. This thing is about as slim as I can imagine ever wanting a phone to be. Any thinner, and I’d be tempted to shave with it.
  • That thinness is pretty much uniform along the device. In other words, there’s no big hump around the camera as other slim devices (like the Droid X) tend to have. There’s a mild chin down on the bottom where I assume the antenna is located, but it’s pretty subtle.
  • The 4.3″ Super AMOLED Plus screen is absolutely gorgeous. I’ve heard people complain about the ugliness of the previous’ Samsung Galaxies “sub-pixel layer” (Nerd alert) which made certain fonts, curves, and edges look a bit off — couldn’t find any of that here.
  • Of all the custom Android UIs (HTC’s Sense, Motorola’s BLUR, etc.), Samsung’s TouchWiz 4.0 is probably the least invasive. It doesn’t tend to do much fixing of that which isn’t broken, and that seems to hold true in this device.
  • As you can see in the video above, the lock screen can be a fit finnicky
  • As you can see in the image gallery below, the iPhone 4′s screen still has a noticeable advantage when it comes to resolution/font smoothing.
DSC_0252 DSC_0253 DSC_0254 DSC_0255 DSC_0256 DSC_0257 DSC_0258


Sony Ericsson Finally Unveils The Xperia Play, Coming To VZW In Spring

Posted: 13 Feb 2011 12:06 PM PST

It began its life around the rumor mill as “The Playstation Phone”. It ran the full rumor gamut from there, with everything from “Fake!” to “Cancelled!” to “Will Lay Golden Eggs!” being pinned on it by on pundits at one point or another.

And today, it becomes a reality. Well — it’s not really any more a reality than it was a week ago, given the innumerable leaks and Sony Ericsson having acknowledged the device’s existence a handful of times before.. but hey, it’s official. Oh, and it’s coming to Verizon!

Here’s what you need to know about this long-mythical game-centric handheld:

  • 4 inche display, 480 x 854 resolution (FWVGA)
  • 5.1 Megapixel Camera
  • 8 GB microSD card included
  • It’s got a big ol’ slide-out layer, almost entirely devoted to gaming. It has a digital D-Pad, the signature PSX Cross/Triangle/Circle/Square buttons, two shoulder pads, and two “touch-sensitive D-Pads”
  • Runs Android 2.3
  • It’s packing a 1GHZ Qualcomm CPU and an Adreno 205 GPU.
  • It’s the first “Playstation Certified” smartphone. That means it ought to work pretty dang well with Sony’s new Playstation Suite service, which allows for select Playstation 1 titles to be emulated on Android devices.

And the big news all of our US readers are waiting for: yeah, it’s coming stateside. They’re not getting super specific with the dates, but Sony Ericsson says it’ll hit Verizon sometime in Spring. It’ll come pre-loaded with a handful of games (Sims 3, Asphalt Adrenaline, Tetris, etc), and Sony Ericsson’s promising at least 50 Xperia Play-centric titles to be available by the time it launches.

So what do you think: is the world ready for a gaming-oriented smartphone?

Samsung GALAXY S II Is World’s Thinnest Smartphone

Posted: 13 Feb 2011 10:51 AM PST

Bam… another smartphone has just hit the streets of Barcelona. The Galaxy S II is the “world’s thinnest smartphone” at 8.49mm. The Gingerbread (Android 2.3)-powered phone has a 4.3-inch 800×480 Super AMOLED screen. No availability but it runs HSPA+ so expect it on T-Mobile or AT&T.

Samsung announces the GALAXY S II, World's thinnest Smartphone that Will Let You Experience More with Less

Global launch of Samsung's most powerful smartphone delivers unmatched performance with a Dual-Core application processor and best-in-class viewing experience by Super AMOLED Plus display in sleek and lightweight design

BARCELONA, February 13, 2011 – Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., a leading mobile phone provider, today announced the Samsung GALAXY S II (Model: GT-I9100), a beautifully thin (8.49mm) and lightweight, dual-core smartphone that combines an unmatched viewing experience with incredible performance.

The Samsung GALAXY S II uses Android™ 2.3 Gingerbread, the latest version of the world's fastest-growing mobile operating system. The next generation smartphone includes access to Samsung's four new content and entertainment hubs, seamlessly integrated to provide instant access to music, games, e-reading and social networking services.

“In 2011, we will take Samsung's leadership in Speed, Screen and Content to a whole new level," said JK Shin, President and Head of Samsung's Mobile Communications Business. “With the GALAXY S II, Samsung wants to set the new standard of quality viewing on mobile, powerful performance, and slim and modern design."

"GALAXY S II is a natural and powerful evolution of GALAXY S. Building on the phenomenal success of the original Samsung GALAXY S, we are proud to unveil the ultimate smartphone. Consumers no longer have to contain themselves – the Samsung GALAXY S II allows them to design their own smart lives."

“We’re pleased to see Samsung bring another Android-powered device to market to help grow the Android ecosystem,” said Andy Rubin, Vice President of Engineering at Google.

Powerful Performance

Incorporating a dual-core application processor and advanced wireless network (HSPA+ 21) connectivity, the Samsung GALAXY S II has the speed and power to provide an unrivalled mobile performance. Dual-core application processor delivers compelling features such as fast web browsing, multi-tasking comparable to a PC-like environment, supreme graphics quality and instantly responsive 3D user interface on the large screen. The GALAXY S II also delivers seamless multitasking, switching between applications instantly. Superior 3D hardware performance makes games and video incredibly fast and smooth.

With super-fast HSPA+ connectivity, the GALAXY S II offers rapid mobile download speeds while BlueTooth® 3.0+HS considerably reduces data transfer times.

The Samsung GALAXY S II has been equipped with an 8MP, high-profile camera and camcorder with 1080p full HD recording and playback. With Samsung's patented AllShare technology, customers can capture, create and then share their experiences hassle-free.

A Next Level of Viewing Experience

The Samsung GALAXY S II has been equipped with Samsung's new crystal-clear Super AMOLED Plus screen, the most advanced mobile visual display ever created. Setting the standard of quality viewing on mobile, Super AMOLED Plus introduces the best in quality in color gamut, contrast ratio and edge sharpness. Using RealStripe screen technology and a greatly increased sub-pixel count, Super AMOLED Plus complements the mechanics of the human eye to recognize images look clearer and more detailed than ever before. With a wider viewing angle and increased visibility in outdoor, the Samsung GALAXY S II provides a more vibrant viewing experience than any other mobile devices.

Even with its unrivaled performance, the innovative Super AMOLED Plus display does not compromise battery performance. A significant reduction in power consumption from Super AMOLED display means it is also more energy-efficient than other comparably-sized devices, allowing Samsung to minimize device weight.

Samsung GALAXY S II Goes to Work

Samsung has introduced a new range of enterprise mobility solutions, expanding the business capabilities of the Samsung GALAXY S II and helping enterprise customers empower a flexible and connected mobile workforce. Samsung has partnered with IT industry leaders to offer the most relevant enterprise solutions to the Samsung GALAXY S II, working seamlessly on the Android Gingerbread platform and paying special attention to securing data and network. These solutions include enhanced conferencing and connectivity services from Cisco, the most comprehensive mobile implementation of Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and secure remote device management from Sybase.

A New World of Entertainment and Smarter Interaction

Samsung has selected the Samsung GALAXY S II as its premium mobile product with which to launch Samsung Hubs – integrated mobile applications designed to fit every element of your life. With Samsung Hubs, the Samsung GALAXY S II delivers rich catalogues of books and magazines, music, advanced mobile games and control of your online social life, all from a single device.

• Social Hub Premium: The future of communication – talk to whoever you want, however you want, all from one place – your contact's list. Communication history, IM status, and updates from social networking sites are all readily available. From here, users can access all types of messages (push e-mail, text, VM and SNS) and respond directly without resorting to individual applications. It truly acts as a hub for entire social life.
• Readers Hub: Carry an enormous library of books, magazines and newspapers on-the-go. Through strategic partnerships, Samsung Readers Hub provides over 2.2 million books and novels, 2,000 global and local newspapers in 49 languages and 2,300 popular magazines in 22 languages.
• Game Hub: The easiest way to download and play best-in-class mobile games. Featuring a 3-axis gyroscopic sensor, the Samsung GALAXY S II unleashes a world of gaming possibilities. Try for free and download premium titles from partners like Gameloft, or ‘enjoy Social Network Games (SNG) powered by mobage including ngmoco’s We Rule and We City’.
• Music Hub: Make Samsung GALAXY S II a personal music manager and access over 12 million tracks from 7digital. Discover what’s hot from top charts, search for favorite music, get recommendations on albums, enjoy previews and download them directly to Samsung GALAXY S II.

The Samsung GALAXY S II gives customers more choice in personalizing their smartphone experience. New for the Samsung GALAXY S II, Samsung has introduced Live Panel, a service that aggregates live web and application contents to a single customizable home-screen. Customers can design the lay-out of their own Live Panel, online services and mobile apps to appear on-screen. SNS feeds, information and many more applications can all be embedded and accessed instantly through the magazine-like layout.

With the enhanced voice technology on the Samsung GALAXY S II, customers will be able to do more with less. From opening the app to controlling the messaging, social media, email and calling, Samsung Voice Solution will recognizes voice and convert it to text and vice versa. Customized Voice Translation application makes the Samsung GALAXY S II the perfect travel companion, translating voice or text into – and from – a range of languages: simply speak a word or phrase into the handset and it will instantly translate it, with audio and text output.

For swift and simple device management, Samsung has introduced Kies Air. With Kies air, consumers can manage their smartphone contents from their PC, via local WiFi connections. download photos taken on the built-in camera, listen to music, check missed calls and send messages in the web browser on their PC. For added connectivity, WiFi Direct allows consumers to connect to wireless-enabled PCs and printers without the need for wireless access points. According to market requirement, the GALAXY S II is able to incorporate Near Field Communication (NFC) technology to support emerging mobile payment service and other services with mobile operators.


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