Author: Chris Ziegler

Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Play ad: gross human thumbs stitched onto robots, drugged clubgoers, not much more we can say

Is this the creepiest ad ever produced to introduce a new video game console? That’s a high bar to pass — but is it the creepiest ad for a new smartphone? Perhaps. The minute-long spot for Sony Ericsson’s upcoming Xperia Play called “The Donor” appears to explain the backstory behind its last ad, relaying the tale of a young gentleman who was clubbing with friends, met an attractive woman, took her home, and woke up the next morning to discover that his thumbs were stone cold gone (notice the dirty, poorly-bandaged stumps on the table as he tells his tale of woe to a local law enforcement official). Cut to the next scene, where we’ve got our cute, lovable Android bot waddling around town… oh, and he’s got human thumbs crudely sewn onto his arms. Go ahead, recoil in horror, vomit in the trashcan next to your desk, then cue the inevitable increased desire in owning this phone. Follow the break for the video, if you dare.

Continue reading Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Play ad: gross human thumbs stitched onto robots, drugged clubgoers, not much more we can say

Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Play ad: gross human thumbs stitched onto robots, drugged clubgoers, not much more we can say originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Mar 2011 19:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Is this the creepiest ad ever produced to introduce a new video game console? That’s a high bar to pass — but is it the creepiest ad for a new smartphone? Perhaps. The minute-long spot for Sony Ericsson’s upcoming Xperia Play called “The Donor” appears to explain the backstory behind its last ad, relaying the tale of a young gentleman who was clubbing with friends, met an attractive woman, took her home, and woke up the next morning to discover that his thumbs were stone cold gone (notice the dirty, poorly-bandaged stumps on the table as he tells his tale of woe to a local law enforcement official). Cut to the next scene, where we’ve got our cute, lovable Android bot waddling around town… oh, and he’s got human thumbs crudely sewn onto his arms. Go ahead, recoil in horror, vomit in the trashcan next to your desk, then cue the inevitable increased desire in owning this phone. Follow the break for the video, if you dare.

Continue reading Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Play ad: gross human thumbs stitched onto robots, drugged clubgoers, not much more we can say

Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Play ad: gross human thumbs stitched onto robots, drugged clubgoers, not much more we can say originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Mar 2011 19:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Screen Grabs: Dr. Dre video for ‘I Need a Doctor’ features HP Touchpad, Pre 3, weird Dr. Dre floating in a glass tube

If you have pleasant memories from your youth of a Dr. Dre in happier times, chilling with Snoop somewhere in LBC doing things we can’t discuss on a family-friendly site such as this… well, you’re in for a bit of a shock to the system with this latest video. The clip for I Need a Doctor — which is really more of a short film — features a brutally mangled Ferrari 360 Modena, Skylar Grey, and an angry Eminem (is there any other kind of Eminem?) yelling at Dr. Dre while suspended in some sort of creepy life-supporting fluid. Oh, but let us fast forward to the technology angle: Dre’s already hooked up with HP for Beats, and the trend continues here with the appearance of a Touchpad and Pre 3 doing a little Touch to Share action around the 4:20 mark. Follow the break for video.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Screen Grabs: Dr. Dre video for ‘I Need a Doctor’ features HP Touchpad, Pre 3, weird Dr. Dre floating in a glass tube

Screen Grabs: Dr. Dre video for ‘I Need a Doctor’ features HP Touchpad, Pre 3, weird Dr. Dre floating in a glass tube originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 Feb 2011 19:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you have pleasant memories from your youth of a Dr. Dre in happier times, chilling with Snoop somewhere in LBC doing things we can’t discuss on a family-friendly site such as this… well, you’re in for a bit of a shock to the system with this latest video. The clip for I Need a Doctor — which is really more of a short film — features a brutally mangled Ferrari 360 Modena, Skylar Grey, and an angry Eminem (is there any other kind of Eminem?) yelling at Dr. Dre while suspended in some sort of creepy life-supporting fluid. Oh, but let us fast forward to the technology angle: Dre’s already hooked up with HP for Beats, and the trend continues here with the appearance of a Touchpad and Pre 3 doing a little Touch to Share action around the 4:20 mark. Follow the break for video.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Screen Grabs: Dr. Dre video for ‘I Need a Doctor’ features HP Touchpad, Pre 3, weird Dr. Dre floating in a glass tube

Screen Grabs: Dr. Dre video for ‘I Need a Doctor’ features HP Touchpad, Pre 3, weird Dr. Dre floating in a glass tube originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 Feb 2011 19:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia CEO: cheap Windows Phones can come ‘very quickly’

We’d raised our own concerns in interviews with both Stephen Elop and Microsoft’s Aaron Woodman in the past week that Nokia could have difficulty pushing the Windows Phone platform low enough to fill the holes left by Symbian’s departure in the bottom rungs of the market, but the Nokia CEO is making it very clear that he thinks that won’t be a problem. In a talk with Finnish journalists on Friday, Elop said that it has become “convinced” that it can hit “a very low price point” and do it “very quickly,” a strategy that will be key to converting significant swaths of Symbian market share into Windows Phone market share without losing it to other manufacturers or platforms. Of course, something tells us the leaked design concept (pictured right) doesn’t represent the types of hardware Nokia has in mind for those low price points — but no single device or market segment is going to take Espoo to the promised land here.

Nokia CEO: cheap Windows Phones can come ‘very quickly’ originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 Feb 2011 19:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’d raised our own concerns in interviews with both Stephen Elop and Microsoft’s Aaron Woodman in the past week that Nokia could have difficulty pushing the Windows Phone platform low enough to fill the holes left by Symbian’s departure in the bottom rungs of the market, but the Nokia CEO is making it very clear that he thinks that won’t be a problem. In a talk with Finnish journalists on Friday, Elop said that it has become “convinced” that it can hit “a very low price point” and do it “very quickly,” a strategy that will be key to converting significant swaths of Symbian market share into Windows Phone market share without losing it to other manufacturers or platforms. Of course, something tells us the leaked design concept (pictured right) doesn’t represent the types of hardware Nokia has in mind for those low price points — but no single device or market segment is going to take Espoo to the promised land here.

Nokia CEO: cheap Windows Phones can come ‘very quickly’ originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 Feb 2011 19:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Engadget Mobile Podcast, live… right now!

Another year, another CES — time to wrap this thing up, eh? Follow us through a magical, soul-stirring journey as we reminisce about the stuff we’ve seen in the past week.

Continue reading The Engadget Mobile Podcast, live… right now!

The Engadget Mobile Podcast, live… right now! originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Sun, 09 Jan 2011 19:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Another year, another CES — time to wrap this thing up, eh? Follow us through a magical, soul-stirring journey as we reminisce about the stuff we’ve seen in the past week.

Continue reading The Engadget Mobile Podcast, live… right now!

The Engadget Mobile Podcast, live… right now! originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Sun, 09 Jan 2011 19:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Olive Telecom rolls out HSPA+ / EV-DO Rev. B dual-mode modem in Russia

Qualcomm’s MDM6600 RF chipset might not ring a bell for you, but the ultra-flexible silicon — introduced earlier this year — has launched in a product you may have heard of: Motorola’s Droid Pro for Verizon. What makes it so special? Basically, it supports just about every 3G+ standard you could possibly want, up to and including HSPA+ at 14.4Mbps and EV-DO Rev. B (with backwards compatibility to A, naturally) up to 14.7Mbps, and India’s Olive Telecom is apparently the first to deploy it in a modem. It’s not going to India, though — instead, they’ve teamed up with Russian carrier Sky Link, which means you should theoretically be rocking among the best wireless speeds in Moscow regardless of the network technology in your local area. Follow the break for the full press release.

[Thanks, Bhuvaneshwari]

Continue reading Olive Telecom rolls out HSPA+ / EV-DO Rev. B dual-mode modem in Russia

Olive Telecom rolls out HSPA+ / EV-DO Rev. B dual-mode modem in Russia originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 29 Dec 2010 20:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Qualcomm’s MDM6600 RF chipset might not ring a bell for you, but the ultra-flexible silicon — introduced earlier this year — has launched in a product you may have heard of: Motorola’s Droid Pro for Verizon. What makes it so special? Basically, it supports just about every 3G+ standard you could possibly want, up to and including HSPA+ at 14.4Mbps and EV-DO Rev. B (with backwards compatibility to A, naturally) up to 14.7Mbps, and India’s Olive Telecom is apparently the first to deploy it in a modem. It’s not going to India, though — instead, they’ve teamed up with Russian carrier Sky Link, which means you should theoretically be rocking among the best wireless speeds in Moscow regardless of the network technology in your local area. Follow the break for the full press release.

[Thanks, Bhuvaneshwari]

Continue reading Olive Telecom rolls out HSPA+ / EV-DO Rev. B dual-mode modem in Russia

Olive Telecom rolls out HSPA+ / EV-DO Rev. B dual-mode modem in Russia originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 29 Dec 2010 20:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Official Froyo update for Samsung Intercept going awry, Sprint investigating; unofficial fix available for now

Samsung’s really struggling to release solid Android firmware updates, as evidenced by the Bell Vibrant situation — and now, this little mess. Sounds like some Intercepts on Sprint are dying after applying the official update to Android 2.2 released a few days ago, prompting Sprint to put out an official statement today:

“It has been brought to our attention that some customers may be experiencing issues with the Android 2.2 (Froyo) software upgrade for the Samsung Intercept. Some users have reported their device to be unresponsive after the upgrade is completed. We apologize for any inconvenience while we investigate the issue and get it corrected as quickly as possible. If you experience issues with your device following the upgrade, please contact Sprint Customer Solutions at 1-888-211-4PCS.”

Fortunately, it sounds like there’s an unofficial, unapproved fix floating around that might bring dead Intercepts already in the field back to life, and it merely involves applying another incremental update that’s available for download. Again, this is definitely unofficial — it’s not being offered by Sprint publicly and we wouldn’t recommend doing it unless you’re desperate to bring your piece back to the land of the living without a trip to the Sprint store — but for what it’s worth, it’s out there. Goes to show you why these guys like to roll out updates in small waves, eh?

Official Froyo update for Samsung Intercept going awry, Sprint investigating; unofficial fix available for now originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 20 Dec 2010 19:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung’s really struggling to release solid Android firmware updates, as evidenced by the Bell Vibrant situation — and now, this little mess. Sounds like some Intercepts on Sprint are dying after applying the official update to Android 2.2 released a few days ago, prompting Sprint to put out an official statement today:

“It has been brought to our attention that some customers may be experiencing issues with the Android 2.2 (Froyo) software upgrade for the Samsung Intercept. Some users have reported their device to be unresponsive after the upgrade is completed. We apologize for any inconvenience while we investigate the issue and get it corrected as quickly as possible. If you experience issues with your device following the upgrade, please contact Sprint Customer Solutions at 1-888-211-4PCS.”

Fortunately, it sounds like there’s an unofficial, unapproved fix floating around that might bring dead Intercepts already in the field back to life, and it merely involves applying another incremental update that’s available for download. Again, this is definitely unofficial — it’s not being offered by Sprint publicly and we wouldn’t recommend doing it unless you’re desperate to bring your piece back to the land of the living without a trip to the Sprint store — but for what it’s worth, it’s out there. Goes to show you why these guys like to roll out updates in small waves, eh?

Official Froyo update for Samsung Intercept going awry, Sprint investigating; unofficial fix available for now originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 20 Dec 2010 19:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PSA: Don’t try to wow your friends with the key scratch test on the Nexus S — because it’s not Gorilla Glass

Before you stand (perhaps slightly inebriated) in front of a group of wide-eyed disbelievers and poke your brand new Nexus S’ display with a fork, rock, key, icepick, or anything else that’s hard and pointy, just remember this: it’s not Gorilla Glass. That’s the official word from Samsung Service’s Twitter feed, a stark contrast to the hardened, tough-as-nails surface of the original Galaxy S’ Super AMOLED display. No reason is given for the change, but there’s an obvious theory: Corning might not have the technology to produce Gorilla Glass that’s curved in the way that Samsung wanted — or they can’t produce it in the quantities asked of them — and so Sammy decided to go with a slightly less rugged screen rather than ditching the so-called Contour Display. We imagine it won’t be an issue for most — it’s the glossy plastic back we’re actually more worried about — but just bear that in mind before you toss it in a pocket full of coins.

PSA: Don’t try to wow your friends with the key scratch test on the Nexus S — because it’s not Gorilla Glass originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Sun, 19 Dec 2010 20:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Before you stand (perhaps slightly inebriated) in front of a group of wide-eyed disbelievers and poke your brand new Nexus S’ display with a fork, rock, key, icepick, or anything else that’s hard and pointy, just remember this: it’s not Gorilla Glass. That’s the official word from Samsung Service’s Twitter feed, a stark contrast to the hardened, tough-as-nails surface of the original Galaxy S’ Super AMOLED display. No reason is given for the change, but there’s an obvious theory: Corning might not have the technology to produce Gorilla Glass that’s curved in the way that Samsung wanted — or they can’t produce it in the quantities asked of them — and so Sammy decided to go with a slightly less rugged screen rather than ditching the so-called Contour Display. We imagine it won’t be an issue for most — it’s the glossy plastic back we’re actually more worried about — but just bear that in mind before you toss it in a pocket full of coins.

PSA: Don’t try to wow your friends with the key scratch test on the Nexus S — because it’s not Gorilla Glass originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Sun, 19 Dec 2010 20:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Greatest Road iPhone Application Update | footshifted

It’s a little cold in most parts of the country right now, but the Greatest Road iPhone application was just updated with some new features. If you are traveling to a new place, or just want to find some new rides in your area check out …

It’s a little cold in most parts of the country right now, but the Greatest Road iPhone application was just updated with some new features. If you are traveling to a new place, or just want to find some new rides in your area check out …

Read the rest here:
Greatest Road iPhone Application Update | footshifted

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    HTC Aria gets Android 2.2 update… but not on AT&T yet — Engadget

    We know this isn’t exactly the news you wanted to hear, AT&T customers, but it’s comforting to know that the diminutive Aria has been upgraded.

    We know this isn’t exactly the news you wanted to hear, AT&T customers, but it’s comforting to know that the diminutive Aria has been upgraded.

    Read the original here:
    HTC Aria gets Android 2.2 update… but not on AT&T yet — Engadget

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      LG ‘B’ Android phone caught in the wild, looking thin and ready to spank Super AMOLED

      We’re still coming down from that rush of adrenaline that accompanied the launch of the dual-core Optimus 2X last night, but we’ve had a hunch lately that LG is planning on taking Android very seriously in 2011 — seriously enough to have something even sexier than the 2X up its sleeve. Looks like that sexiness could be delivered in the form of a device codenamed “B,” shots of which have been delivered to Phandroid in a direct comparison with the iPhone 4 and the Galaxy S — two handsets we’re sure LG would love to embarrass. As you can see up there, the screen’s looking pretty insane, especially when you consider that those other two phones in the picture have arguably the best displays in the mobile business right now; it’s claimed to offer 700 nits of brightness, a 40 percent improvement over the Galaxy S. Oh, and if that doesn’t impress you, Phandroid‘s tipster has also sent in a shot of the edge that appears to make the 9.3mm iPhone 4 look downright chubby. No word on a release date for the B just yet.

      LG ‘B’ Android phone caught in the wild, looking thin and ready to spank Super AMOLED originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Dec 2010 19:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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      We’re still coming down from that rush of adrenaline that accompanied the launch of the dual-core Optimus 2X last night, but we’ve had a hunch lately that LG is planning on taking Android very seriously in 2011 — seriously enough to have something even sexier than the 2X up its sleeve. Looks like that sexiness could be delivered in the form of a device codenamed “B,” shots of which have been delivered to Phandroid in a direct comparison with the iPhone 4 and the Galaxy S — two handsets we’re sure LG would love to embarrass. As you can see up there, the screen’s looking pretty insane, especially when you consider that those other two phones in the picture have arguably the best displays in the mobile business right now; it’s claimed to offer 700 nits of brightness, a 40 percent improvement over the Galaxy S. Oh, and if that doesn’t impress you, Phandroid‘s tipster has also sent in a shot of the edge that appears to make the 9.3mm iPhone 4 look downright chubby. No word on a release date for the B just yet.

      LG ‘B’ Android phone caught in the wild, looking thin and ready to spank Super AMOLED originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Dec 2010 19:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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