HTC DROID Incredible Officially Announced – $200 on Verizon

April 15, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Verizon [VZ] have made the DROID Incredible official by way of a press release. The press release confirms all the details we have already seen such as the Android 2.1 operating system from Google [GOOG] along with a 3.7 inch AMOLED screen and a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU.

The press release also confirms the April 29 release date with an on-contract price tag of $199.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate.

The phone it’s self is said to have seamless integration with Exchange ActiveSync and as it’s an Android 2.1 based smartphone, it also gives access to the Google Market Place where you can download from a library of 30,000 apps. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Cell Phones

Motorola Android 2.1 Updates Outlined

April 15, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Motorola have outlined their Android 2.1 roadmap to get all their Android handsets current with the latest version of Android, ie, 2.1.

There are currently six Android phones listed by Motorola of which the DROID has already gone through the process of OTA updates to Android 2.1. Next on the list is the MILESTONE that also has had updates pushed out to it and this process “should” be complete by now.

The Motorola CLIQ and CLIQ XT are both pencilled in for a Q3 OTA update and following that is the Motorola BACKFLIP and some country versions of the DEXT. The Motorola DEVOUR however, is under review perhaps due to how recently it launched. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Cell Phones

3D Printing in Glass

April 15, 2010 by Leave a Comment

We’ve seen a few 3D printed objects before at gadgetvenue and have been impressed with the progress made in terms of companies being able to print in more than 1 material at a time.

The next material to be added to the list is glass which joins stainless steel, ABS, acrylic, sandstone and other various plastics.

Shapeways are a company who are now offering clients the ability to print 3D objects in glass although it’s not as straight forwards as throwing them a model and them whipping it through a printer for an hour or so. In terms of glass the process is a little longer that uses recycled glass powder that is placed on a mat a layer at a time. This is then mixed with a binder and then baked to harden it up a little. The remaining white power is moved at which point the object is heated up to 750 degrees C in a kiln to make it in to solid glass. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Computer Gadgets

Apple iMac 27 Inch to get Firmware Update

April 15, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Two firmware updates are hitting the 27 inch iMac today that fixes three issues on the Apple [AAPL] devices.

The first update is as follows…

27-inch iMac EFI FW Update 1.0, weighing in at 2.1 MB and requiring Mac OS X 10.6.3, is recommended for all quad-core 27-inch iMacs and addresses a pair of issues related to high processor usage and display backlighting.

– Resolves an issue that sometimes caused high processor utilization while playing audio through the headphone output mini-jack.

– Resolves an issue that prevented the display backlight from turning on after powering on the iMac.
The 27-inch iMacs are not the only current Mac models to have experienced problems with processor performance during audio-related tasks, as Apple’s Mac Pro line received a software update in mid-February to address its own issues with heat and performance while handling audio-related tasks.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Computer Gadgets

Lenovo ThinkPads Coming April 22

April 15, 2010 by Leave a Comment

It appears that a new series of ThinkPads from Lenovo are about to be launched due to some cryptic marketing stuff received in the shape of the crossword puzzle above.

It is expected that the Lenovo ThinkPad L series will be announced that will replace the R series of laptops. As for model numbers Engadget believe that the L400 and L500 are specifically due that are sightlier more bulky than the T-label versions.

The puzzle above shows quite a bit of Green type material indicating that they will focus on being green in both terms of materials used and green in terms of power consumption. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Laptops

Toshiba 3D TV Coming this Summer

April 15, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Toshiba are to release the 3D Regza LCD TV this summer which is a TV capable of displaying 3D images. As well as launching a new 3D TV we also hear they are launching a Blu-ray player that supports 3D video.

By the end of 2010, Toshiba have a goal to get 20% of their 46 inch + TV’s to be 3D, meaning they want 1 in 5 large TVs to offer 3D.

“Based on the concept of high-quality 3D images, we will release products that are different from other companies’,” Toshiba said.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Displays

Toshiba Windows 7 and Android Tablets Launching

April 15, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Toshiba are in the process of creating a new range of tablet computers that are going to be launched later this year. Details of the tablet computers indicate that they will come with different options of operating systems which will include Android OS from Google [GOOG] along with Windows 7 from Microsoft [MSFT].

Specifically mentioned was a 10 inch tablet that will run Google Android and this model will be the cheaper of two models that have been mentioned.

The Toshiba Windows 7 tablet is said to be a little more powerful and also could include dual displays to make a booklet device which seems to be similar to the Microsoft Courier. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Laptops

iPhone 3G Multitasking with iPhone OS 4.0

April 15, 2010 by 2 Comments

Several days ago we posted about a hack that could be made to a jailbroken iPhone OS 4.0 3G device that allowed it to run multitasking. The reason the hack needs to happen is that the iPhone was deemed by Apple [AAPL] not to be up to the task of multitasking due to insufficient RAM and a slower processor.

The hack involves applying the iPhone OS 4.0 jailbreak and then editing a .plist file which simply has a line in it to enable or disable multitasking.

We came across the video below just now that demonstrates the multitasking on an iPhone 3G. From what we see it does run fine with the voice in the video saying that the processor seems not to be the issue here. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Cell Phones

Official Twitter App Heading to Google Android

April 15, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Evan Williams of Twitter announced at the Chirp conference that the microblogging network will be launching an Android app.

Right now it isn’t clear who will create the app, as in will it be built in house or will they acquire a company and work on their app, or if they will even higher 3rd party developers. Either way, the official Twitter Android app will be coming sometime soon.

Saturday just gone, Twitter acquired a company called Tweetie who created a very good twitter application on the iPhone. Now that this has been purchased the application is being called Twitter for iPhone and will not be charged for like it currently is. We are unsure of the time line but we suspect the minor changes to price and a name are just going through app store approval which should be complete by the end of the month. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Cell Phones

Olympus PEN Firmware Update Announced

April 15, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Olympus have announced a new firmware update for their PEN family of cameras which includes 3 models – the E-P1, E-P2 and E-PL1.

The firmware is scheduled for launch on April 22 and is designed to improve the operation of the cameras. Specific features that will be improved include the auto focus performance on both still and video capture. Auto focus lock has been improved by 15% when capturing stills and the auto focus tracking on video has also been improved.

Viewfinder/LCD Simultaneous Playback Function
This upgrade also brings additional display functionality to the E-P2 and E-PL1 cameras when fitted with the VF-2 Electronic Viewfinder. Photographers using these combinations can now view menu and recorded images on the LCD while the VF-2 Electronic Viewfinder is in use.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Camera Gadgets

Microsoft to add Features over time to Windows Phone 7

April 15, 2010 by Leave a Comment

In an interview with Charlie Kindel about Windows Phone 7 he has mentioned that Microsoft [MSFT] will be adding features over time to the operating system. In the past he said that Microsoft have tried cramming all the features in to Windows Mobile. This in my opinion, has caused the OS in the past to not be where it should be. Microsoft are not focusing on doing it well.

The reason for adding features over time is to not rush them in to production models. Rather than adding a function like copy and paste, it will be added at a later date when they get it right. This follows how Apple [AAPL] work in some ways in that they don’t introduce something till it is done the best way possible. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Cell Phones

DROID Incredible Specs now Official

April 15, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Verizon [VZ] have published the official specs for the DROID Incredible by HTC on their website.

The specs are as we expected in that it has a 3.7 inch OLED touchscreen that can display a 480×800 resolution (WVGA). The camera on the back is capable of capturing in 8 megapixels. The operating running on the HTC Incredible is Google Android 2.1. The full run down of specifications can be found below… [Read more…]

Filed Under: Cell Phones