Section: Communications, Smartphones Those with Android devices haven’t exactly had a ton of apps for reading ebooks aside from Aldiko. Amazon has promised an app soon, though hasn’t delivered it yet, and there’s no mention of anything from Barnes & Noble beyond “coming soon.” So it looks like we may have the first multiplatform ebook reader software coming to Android with Kobo. Kobo recently gained attention as providing the premium ebook reader for Borders, though it also has apps now across major major smartphones. Today marks the release of it’s newest smartphone app for Android. The app works just the same as we’d expect for any ebook service. it connects to your Kobo account to sync all your ebooks to your device and all other devices. Kobo will also bookmark your place int eh Android app, or on any other device, so you can easily pick up wherever you left off reading. Unlike some other smartphone ebook readers, Kobo for Android actually has a built-in ebook store so you don’t have to open your browser just to buy another book. While not gaining in mindshare, really, Kobo seems to be pushing really hard to be available in as many places as possible, and doing so faster than Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Launching what looks like a good Android app before Amazon even releases one is definitely a good step. Kobo even has an app for Palm’s WebOS, which neither of the other two seem to have even plans of doing. The ebook prices look to be about the same for Kobo and the other two, which certainly helps. Maybe Kobo can use this app as a way to offer yet another alternative to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and even Apple’s iBookstore. Read [Kobo] Full Story » | Written by Shawn Ingram for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones According to Engadget, Best Buy will be carrying the latest Sprint smartphone, the HTC EVO 4G in white. Previously, the only color it was offered in was black, as most Android smartphones the conventional color of Android smartphones. However, not everyone likes the sleek black casing as evidenced by the popularity of the white iPhone models. Best Buy, reportedly, will be the exclusive carrier of the white model, which will be sold on July 11. Sprint will only begin selling the white HTC EVO 4G starting on August 8, while other retailers will sell the white model in September. Best Buy will begin taking pre-orders for the white HTC EVO 4G today (June 18) and I am assuming the price remains $199 on a new two year contract. Via [Engadget] Full Story » | Written by Natesh Sood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Haven’t caught all of the Gadgetell news this week? Here's your chance to catch up on this week’s top 10 articles! - E3 2010: New XBOX 360 revealed
” The E3 madness has begun and today there were plenty of news worthy notes to go around. One of the most significant announcements came out of the Microsoft camp revealing MORE » - AT&T goes down -site “down for maintenance” under iPhone 4 pre-order load
” Under the strain of users pre-ordering Apple’s iPhone 4, AT&T’s wireless site has been crumbling. From ultra-slow performance to a message about the server being down, clearly iPhone 4 has struck a chord with…” MORE » - HTC Aria coming to AT&T on June 20 for $129.99
” The day before iPhone 4 presales begin, AT&T has seen fit to announce the release of it’s second Android smartphone. Rather than another weird design from Motorola like the Backflip, AT&T is finally releasing a smartphone from HTC. The phone…” MORE » - Motorola Droid X specs confirmed; will feature 4.4” display, 8MP camera, Android 2.1 & more
” MORE » - EVO 4G falling apart? Reports of screen problems abound
” Are you an EVO owners? Then it’s time to check your screen and keep an eye on it. It seems several owners of the hot new HTC EVO 4G device from Sprint are finding their screen’s glue…” MORE » - Amazon rolls out Kindle firmware 2.5 with password protection & Twitter and Facebook sharing
” It looks like the latest firmware update for the Kindle has officially rolled out. The update will bring your Kindle up to version 2.5 and according to the change log, you can expect; Collections: Organize your books and documents into one or more collections. PDF…” MORE » - Rumor: RIM testing a tablet to rival the iPad
” Research In Motion (RIM) has been on top of the smartphone world since they perfected mobile e-mail on their Blackberry devices. However, with the space becoming more and more populated with Android and Apple devices, it is about…” MORE » - Official: Verizon Wireless to unveil “next generation of Droid” on June 23rd
” And just like that, the rumor becomes official and it was almost correct. Anyway, it seems that Verizon is preparing to unveil what they are calling the…” MORE » - Nikon Camera lost at sea turns up 1,100 miles away
” Coast Guard Investigator Paul Shultz came across a red Nikon L18 camera while he was walking along a Key West, Florida marina on May 16th. The camera, which was covered by a beat…” MORE » - Verizon Wireless Droid Incredible now delayed until July 12th
” It looks like the Droid Incredible shipping delay is continuing to grow. As of now, the shipping estimate over on the Verizon Wireless website is showing a “Will Be Shipped” by date of…” MORE »
Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones, Mobile 
Over in the Motorola support forums, an update schedule for Motorola phones like the Droid, CLIQ and Backflip appeared with date ranges on when the update will be completed. The chart lists upgrades to Android 2.1 and shows a lot of “under evaluation” for many of the phones in overseas markets. For the US, the news is rather good. The CLIQ (US) and CLIQ XT (US) are shown to get the upgrade to Android 2.1 in Q2 of this year, which is any time now. The Backflip (US) is pegged to get the upgrade in Q3. The Milestone (aka Droid in US) is rolling out in stages for Europe, Asia, Canada, and Latin America. What’s interesting is the upgrades max out at Android 2.1. We expect to start seeing 2.2 devices roll out in the coming weeks which has to be frustrating to the developers working hard to get 2.1 on all these devices. According to Google, half of all Google Android phones are now running 2.1. That’s an impressive feat. Read [Gizmodo] via [Mobile Crunch] Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Audio, Video, Communications, Features, Originals, Columns, Who's On Crack 
Welcome to another week of moves in the tech world that seem obviously, to us anyway, fueled by drugs. This week saw the great iPhone 4 meltdown and a whole lot more. Here are this week nominees to be headed to rehab real soon: - 3D camcorder lets you make Avatar 2
- Movie rental landscape is weird
- If you thought the pre-order was bad..
.
Get your own 3D camera from Hammacher Schlemmer Ready to be a 3D filmmaker? Our Shawn Ingram found this gem: “the camcorder is capable of shooting both 3D movies and images, though with dual 3MP cameras, the video is only going to 640 x 480. With a 4 GB SD card, which isn't included in the price, you can shoot 4 hours of 3D videos. However, you can really only shoot two hours at a time as the camcorder (which seems to lack a name) can only last for two hours on a single charge which takes six hours.” 3D is coming in a big way, if you believe HDTV makers who are in need of pushing TV prices back up north of $2,000. Accessories like these help justify the TV purchase and would make your safari videos so much more interesting. Right? No. The only thing worse than being forced to watch someone’s home movies are being forced to watch them will a silly pair of 3D glasses on. Seriously, I am out the door when I get handed a pair of 3D glasses, because only 1.2% of users of the 3D camera are going to use it on safari. The rest are taping Timmy’s 2nd birthday party (ooh, look at him ignore the presents!) who’s parents insist the movie is way better in 3D. Run. For. The. Door. 
Rent this movie 28 days later from X or now from Y Can’t we get a quorum? Paramount has penned a deal with Redbox, the ubiquitous unattended movie rental kiosk company, to allow rentals to be available from the date of the movies release on DVD. It’s a rare move in movie land, one that actually makes some sense. Just recently, Warner Brothers decided Netflix would wait 28 days from the release of the DVD, much to users disappointment. Our Hunter Clarke found this quote from Dennis Maguire, Paramount's Home Entertainment's worldwide president, "By granting Redbox day-and-date availability we are allowing the consumer a choice of how to consume our movies while maximizing the profitability of our releases in the home entertainment window." I’ve never understood the desire to buy DVDs. Music, I get that; it’s easy to me to commit to a 3 minute replay vs a 2-hour one. So it’s you crazy folks buying movies that are messing it up for the rest of us. If you would just buy it all on day 1, stingy folks, like me, would get them sooner. Unless it’s a Paramount pic and I happen to be near a Redbox. It just goes to show, you can never tell what is going to come out of Hollywood. Maybe the next Indiana Jones movie will actually be good? 
IPhone 4 pre-sale meltdown As the guy who started trying to get the iPhone 4 before 7am EST, I can tell you the day was bad. My day wasn’t as bad as say Appletell’s Kirk Hiner, ” 14 hours after my first attempt, and I was finally able to place my order online. Note…once you get past the AT&T checks and the iPhone is in your cart, it'll stay there. I had another half hour of trouble completing the credit card process, but I didn't have to go through the hassle of having Apple connect to AT&T to approve the purchase and get my rate.” Ouch. Is there any other product you would try to buy for 14 hours? Here is my list of things I’d wait that long to buy: - Flying car
- light saber
- Invisibility cloak
- Hoverboard (ala Back to the Future)
And that’s about it. Now, I am sure Kirk is under some kind of contract with Appletell to own the latest iPhone, so he probably had no choice. Still, I applaud his tenacity. And I am embarrassed to note that I’ve probably spent that amount of time baby sitting my order for the new iPhone, just to make sure it doesn’t disappear. Think you are lucky to be part of the 600,000 pre-order army? Uh-Oh. The real race becomes the activation when these uber-phones are delivered. AT&T’s database will seem like the pyramids (built to stand the test of time) compared to Apple’s activation servers. Who knows how many days it will be before we’re able to download the latest version of the software, install, and activate the phone for use (and since it is an iPhone by use I mean text and internet - not voice). I am plagued by one reoccurring thought: how many of the 600,000 will get through the activation process before the system goes down? 100,000? 10,000? 7? So, you’ve got to be ready. Download the latest version of iTunes. Have the sync cable ready to go as soon as UPS rolls up. Sprint, don’t walk to the door. Hit “sync” “go” or whatever button appears as fast as you can. Say “I accept” to any legal doc Apple throws your way (surrendering first born children on demand is something you can figure out later). See if you can beat me. I am doing dry runs now. Counting the steps from the door to the computer. I’ve slipped the UPS man a fiver in hopes he heads to my office first. I even told him I’d meet him somewhere but that conversation got awkward as I don’t think I explained myself enough. Why has Apple turned this into an episode of The Amazing Race? I see you all as competitors now and I’ll do everything I can to win. I am eating nothing but Powerbars and Redbull for the next week. Of course, with that diet and the stress over my order getting lost, I’ll probably be passed out with a package sitting on my doorstep. Or maybe, that’s just what I want you to think. Full Story » | Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Communications, Smartphones, Mobile, Computers, Mobile Computers  Yesterday afternoon there was a webinar for developers that was hosted by Palm and AT&T and as an outcome we have word of new devices and a new version of webOS. Granted, it seems like we could have already expected that, however given the recent HP/Palm deal its kind of nice to get some further confirmation.
That said, one of the webinar attendees asked a Palm rep if they planned to release any new devices this year (2010) and they replied with; “I’m not allowed to talk about future roadmaps, especially because we’re in the process of being acquired by HP, so I can’t say. But yes we have a road map. We are working on future devices. And [a] new version of the OS. So I think, you’re going to find the next year very exciting."
Then again, this just leads to more questions such as what those devices are. Will they be smartphones along the lines of a Pre and Pixi or are we now talking tablets or something else. Either way as a long time Palm fan I am still (despite feeling like I should know better) hoping for something exciting. Read [PreCentral] Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Business News, Communications, Cellphones, Cellular Providers, Smartphones 
One of the newest and exciting smartphones rumored to launch on the T-Mobile network is the Samsung Galaxy S phone, which runs Android 2.1. Pricing and exact availability have not yet been released, but we should learn more about the high-end Samsung smartphone on June 29, which marks the date of the Samsung launch event. On June 29, J.K. Shin, President of Mobile Communications Business for Samsung, will be the main speaker alongside Omar Khan, the Chief Strategy Officer of Samsung America. It will be interesting to see the specs of the Android smartphone and how it compares with the latest Android smartphones we have seen as of late. Full Story » | Written by Natesh Sood for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Gadgets / Other, ebooks I am a sucker for a good case, and a Moleskine notebook. Given that I was excited to see this recently released Moleskine case for the Amazon Kindle. It combines the things that are great about a Moleskine (nice black cover, suede interior lining and black strap) and puts it in the form of a Kindle cover. Plus the cover also has a spot on the left hand side for a notebook, which can be refilled when needed. Bottom line, it almost makes me wish I had a Kindle, but maybe we can get something similar for the iPad. Bottom line, the case is $40, which seems pretty fair to me. Product [Moleskin] Via [Wired Gadget Lab] Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Communications, Cellphones, Smartphones, Mobile It looks like the Motorola Droid 2 has made yet another in-the-wild appearance. This time the yet to be announced handset ended up in the hands on a Gizmodo tipster, who claims to have picked up the Droid 2 where it was on display at a tech show at the lab. With ‘the lab’ of course being the place where he is currently an intern, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA). Personally, I cannot help but think that sounds cooler than a Droid 2, but back to the task at hand—the Droid 2. Anyway, he was kind enough to confirm (re-confirm) some specs and according to the information that he sent in, the Droid 2 will have a 5 megapixel camera, 8GB of internal storage, microSD card slot, a 1GHz processor, Android 2.1 and a model number of A955. Plus the usual array of hardware toggles and controls to include a headphone jack, volume buttons, power/sleep and microUSB port. All of which were noted as being “in the same place and pretty much exactly like the original.” And touching on the keyboard for a moment; “It’s not easy to tell in the pictures, but it was nice that there was no lip on the right side when the phone was open. That combined with the wider keyboard made it easier to type on the device. My favorite part about the keyboard was the button for voice commands on the lower left.”
Interesting to see a voice command button on the keyboard. Oh, and, according to the representative that was on hand—its expected to be released in “the next few weeks.” Of course, the Droid 2 name was not confirmed so this could still release with a much cooler name. Read [Gizmodo] Full Story » | Written by Robert Nelson for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 Section: Apple, Communications, Smartphones, Mobile  Due to overwhelming demand, Best Buy has stopped accepting pre-orders for the upcoming and eagerly anticipated iPhone 4. The company said that like AT&T, their system was flooded and they have run out of pre-order stock. While they will honor all pre-orders placed so far, it can't guarantee everyone who has pre-ordered will get their phone on launch day.
The iPhone 4 is looking like another success for Apple. Over half a million people have pre-ordered the handset. Read [PCWorld] Full Story » | Written by Sue Walsh for Gadgetell. | Comment on this Article »
 More Recent Articles | 
No comments:
Post a Comment