We hope you weren't too excited about getting a Pebble Blue-tinged Galaxy S III in May, because we're seeing unconfirmed reports that the darker Hyperglazed hue might not be available for everyone in the first round of launches. Some would-be customers, primarily in Nordic countries but also in Asia-Pacific, Europe and Persian Gulf states, have been told that only the Marble White color will be on shelves at first. Most of the consensus, based on retailer notices, is that demand for blue is straining supply. Samsung Benelux's press lead Vivian Peters told Tweakers.net that at least the Netherlands wouldn't be getting the stealthier color until early June, but didn't confirm a rumor that there had been flaws in the blue plastic backplates that might have triggered shortages. There hasn't been mention of problems for the heavily-hyped UK launch.

We reached out to a Samsung spokesman ourselves and were told only that the company "does not comment on rumors or speculation" -- a slightly unusual statement given what Peters said on the record, but it does lead us to take at least the more dire claims with a grain of salt.

Pebble Blue Samsung Galaxy S III reportedly pushed back for some launches originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 May 2012 19:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It's a rite of passage for newly released Android überphones: the inevitable root. Just one day after Sprint managed to get its flagship device out of customs and into subscribers' hands, comes a one-click solution for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X users. By running a simple script compiled by XDA member Zedomax, EVO 4G LTE owners will be able to install both busybox and superuser hassle-free, giving them the admin privileges required for nearly unrestricted tinkering. Bear in mind, this underground workaround won't unlock that HTC bootloader, so a future filled with custom ROMs is still slightly out of reach. Ready to claim mastery of your device? Then click on the source below for the requisite downloads and hand-holding video how-to's.

Continue reading HTC EVO 4G LTE gives it up, gets rooted on its first day on the town (video)

HTC EVO 4G LTE gives it up, gets rooted on its first day on the town (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 May 2012 17:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Are you a Londoner so taken with the Galaxy S III that you want to pre-order one before you've even held an in-store dummy unit? Samsung wants to give you a little something something for your eagerness: namely, Olympics tickets. The first 50 who pre-order the giant phone and pick it up at the Westfield Stratford City store on May 29th will get free passes to watch the home team run and leap its way towards a few medals. If you're hoping to claim the reward, though, be prepared to get into the kinds of lines that Samsung skewered in ads just a few months ago. Customers are being asked to show an hour ahead of the 6PM on-sale moment, and the limited slots for ticket winners could easily Samsung repeat its sale-driven Australian lineups in the northern hemisphere. There's no word yet on whether or not the promo will make the leap to Mobile Pin pop-up stores, but we wouldn't be surprised if Samsung spreads the perks around.

PSA: Samsung giving free Olympics tickets to early Galaxy S III buyers at London store, hopes you'll vault the queue originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 May 2012 16:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Get ready to be taken to a dreamworld of mobile podcasting as Myriam and Brad hit up the mics. Or is it a dreamworld of rants? Either way, it'll be magical.

Continue reading Listen to the Engadget Mobile Podcast, live at 5PM ET!

Listen to the Engadget Mobile Podcast, live at 5PM ET! originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 May 2012 16:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

To hell with Instagram. Seriously. It's not that we don't understand the appeal of the photo filter standard bearer, it's just that it lacks a cleverness and visceral quality that InstaCRT has in spades. See, rather than simply recreate retro effect with some software trickery, InstaCRT actually uses the aging titular tech to achieve its goals. The concept, while clever, is actually pretty simple: you take a photo on your iPhone using the InstaCRT app, it's then uploaded to the developer where all the magic happens. Your image is displayed on a tiny 1-inch CRT (harvested from an old-school VHS camcorder) in the company's office, a picture of your photo is then taken with a fancy DSLR, and the resulting image is sent back to you. The results are monochrome, loaded with scanlines and just slightly distorted -- offering a sense of physicality that other photo filter apps just can't match. However, as clever as the concept is, it's equally innefficient and, as more people start using the app, the wait between snapping a pic and getting the finished product back, gets longer and longer. (We had to wait almost four minutes for the image above.) Still, we can't help but fall in love with InstaCRT... at least until the next photo filter app hits the market. Don't miss the video after the break, and hit up the source link to buy it now for $1.99 and see how fast we can crash the developer's servers.

Continue reading InstaCRT puts all other photo filter apps to shame (video)

InstaCRT puts all other photo filter apps to shame (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 May 2012 15:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

After introducing video on-demand streaming for mobile devices on the iPad early last year and iPhone last May, Comcast has finally extended the courtesy to Android users as well. Unlike its iOS counterpart however, on Android there's a separate Xfinity TV Player (simply labeled "Player" in the launcher) app from the Xfinity TV remote control app. It's a free download from Google Play for devices running Android 2.3 or higher and when we checked it out just now it was smooth but plain looking, although it a native tablet interface at launch is a nice touch. Beyond the usual VOD selections (including HBO Go and more) there's also support for Comcast's Streampix subscription service within the app as it promised back in February. One odd quirk noted by Android Police is that on rooted devices the app apparently requests root permissions, but still works if they are denied (could be worse). There aren't many other details available yet, if you want to try it out grab your Comcast account info and hit the source link to give it a shot.

Comcast Xfinity TV Player app brings VOD streaming to Android devices originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 May 2012 14:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Owners of the Xperia Play, it's time to curl up with a teddy bear and your favorite ice cream -- just as long as it's not in sandwich form. After the sudden and unexplained disappearance of the "PlayStation Phone" from the Android 4.0 upgrade list yesterday, Sony has followed it up with a full confirmation accompanied by the usual explanation. As you may have already guessed, the manufacturer tells us that after extensive testing, it was determined that "a consistent and stable experience, particularly with gaming, cannot be guaranteed for this smartphone on Ice Cream Sandwich... in this instance the ICS upgrade would have compromised stability." Sony went on to discuss that it received similar feedback from the developer community after releasing a beta ROM. Still, after being told repeatedly that the entire 2011 smartphone lineup would receive the update, we can't help but be a bit heartbroken by the news.

In the same breath, however, Sony also updated its timeline for the rest of the lineup that is still on schedule to receive upgrades to Ice Cream Sandwich: the Xperia arc, neo, mini, mini pro, pro, active and Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman will begin receiving their refreshes next week. The Xperia S is still on track for an end of June rollout, with the Xperia P closely following it and the Xperia U sometime in the third quarter. It's just unfortunate that the good tidings must be balanced out by equally horrible news, depending on which device you own.

Sony pushing ICS to more devices next week, confirms Xperia Play won't be upgraded originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 May 2012 12:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It's a strange feeling, receiving such a keenly anticipated phone to review. The hubbub of launch events, hands-on previews and heated debates suddenly dies away, leaving you with one small and intensely silent cardboard box. In this instance, the packaging contained the "marble white" version of the Galaxy S III (not the more daring "pebble blue") alongside one burning question: apart from all the hype, do this handset's paper credentials translate into a product that is worthy of serious cash and a 24-month commitment?

Those credentials are certainly more subtle than those of other recent devices. There's no unusual camera, stand-out display or unibody build. Instead, we get an abstract design statement about the phone being "inspired by nature" alongside a list of incremental hardware improvements such as a quad-core processor, as well as fresh additions to Samsung's customized Android 4.0 skin. As it turns out, these specs forgo immediate swagger in favor of creating a solid workhorse of a smartphone that is intent on attracting a long-term following. Read on and you'll discover just how it pulls that off.

Gallery: Samsung Galaxy S III review

Continue reading Samsung Galaxy S III review

Samsung Galaxy S III review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 May 2012 11:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

We already knew that Nokia had been running its fingers through Bing's map-like hair, marking it with its scent, now it's added a little lipstick to its collar. The latest addition to the Microsoft-mapping service now uses Nokia's live traffic and geocoding algorithms. This brings the functionality of Nokia's "Where" platform over to 24 nations (including the US, UK and Canada) of Bing users. Best of all for American maps that info also covers side streets. Good to see the Nokia / Microsoft collaboration yielding ever more fruits, let's just hope they're considering the bigger picture, too.

Nokia has its wicked way with Bing Maps, stork delivers traffic advice and geocoding originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 May 2012 09:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Get ready, folks. We've got quite the treat for you this week. Not only do we have a brand spanking new issue of our weekly for your peepers to consume this weekend, but we've redesigned said e-publication as well. Of course, the real star this week is the Summer Gear Guide. That's right, our editors have painstakingly selected their top choices in all of the major categories to keep you blazin' the balmy trail with the best gadget arsenal possible. To go along with the refined digs, we introduce some new pages this week, too. Time Machines will test your geek cred by removing the easily identifiable logos from a classic device for your trivia pleasure. We'll also go eyes-on each week with some quite dapper offerings to satisfy the design nerd inside us all. Speaking of recent additions, we break down our recent hands-on impressions while Reaction Time offers some thoughts on next-gen gaming and upcoming releases. Switched On chats about what's next for Facebook, the Stat tallies the rise of mobile apps in the last year, Fusion-io CEO and Chairman David Flynn admits his love of Flowbee in the Q&A and Sean Pryor returns for The Strip. So, what are you waiting for? Hit the download link below that you fancy the most and you'll have a copy of this week's e-magazine before you know it.

Distro Issue 42 PDF
Distro in the iTunes App Store
Distro in the Google Play Store
Distro APK (For sideloading)
Like Distro on Facebook
Follow Distro on Twitter

Distro Issue 42 lands with the Engadget Summer Gear Guide, a handsome new look and more! originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 May 2012 09:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Absinthe's "so-easy-your-grandma-could-do-it" jailbreak tool just got an update to version 2.0, enabling support for a handful of Apple portables running iOS 5.1.1. Absinthe 2.0, which was developed by the "Jailbreak Dream Team" (Chronic-Dev and iPhone Dev) joins Redsn0w's tool, and will support all iPhone and iPad versions, with the exception of iPad2,4 -- the most recent iPad 2 variant, shipping with a 32nm A5 chip. The jailbreak tool can also be installed on iPod3,1 and 4,1 models. Assuming your iOS device is up and running with firmware 5.1.1, you can hit up the source link after the break to get your download on. AppleTV (second gen) users can get in on the fun too, with the latest version of Seas0npass for 5.0.1.

Continue reading Absinthe 2.0 hits the download wire, jailbreaks all iOS 5.1.1 devices but the 32nm iPad 2

Absinthe 2.0 hits the download wire, jailbreaks all iOS 5.1.1 devices but the 32nm iPad 2 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 May 2012 09:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Although PayPal's mobile payment system started out small with a Home Depot deal, that snowball is quickly rolling itself into a boulder. Starting next month, 15 extra US retailers will be happy to see you slap down your smartphone (not literally, we hope) instead of a credit card. The selection leads us to think a lot of smartphone owners like to shop for wearables -- Aéropostale, Foot Locker and JC Penney are in the batch, along with others -- but there's a few useful exceptions, like Barnes & Noble, Jamba Juice and TigerDirect. At least a total of 20 merchants are expected by the end of year, and as with Home Depot, you won't need special hardware besides an Android or iOS device to spend your hard-earned cash. We'll just be thankful we won't have to buy our yogurt with actual cash, like savages.

PayPal lines up 15 retailers for mobile payments, will let you buy Jamba Juice smoothies with a smartphone originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 May 2012 06:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

At one time the Enyo app framework was supposed to help webOS run faster and on a wider variety of devices, but as HP continues to struggle, reports have surfaced from The Verge and AllThingsD that much of the team behind it, including leader Matthew McNulty, has been hired away by Google. Numbering a half dozen or so, the immediate danger is the effect this might have on HP's efforts to open source webOS, but in a statement the company indicated it remains on track and will stick to the roadmap it announced in January. Less clear is what these employees might end up working on for Google, although Enyo's focus on web apps and HTML5 suggests the possibility they'll end up working on ChromeOS projects.

Update: The remaining members of the Enyo team have also chimed in now, with a blog post indicating yes, some "key members" have left, but that "the majority of the engineering and leadership team remains." Of course, while it continues work on the product there are some job openings now, so interested coders are encouraged to toss an application HP's way.

Google snags the webOS Enyo team, HP says open source plans are still on schedule (Update) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 May 2012 02:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Rumors of the Sony ST26i smartphone have been swirling for a while now, but up until recently, we've had nothing to sink our teeth into. Thankfully, we've now come across an OpenGL benchmark test and system profile for the yet-to-be-announced handset, and while this one seems destined for emerging markets and budget-minded consumers, the ST26i will come with just enough niceties to hold its head high. First and foremost, the system profile reveals Ice Cream Sandwich on the handset, and even better, it'll include a 4-inch, 854 x 480 display -- none of that HVGA crap here. To keep costs low, sacrifices had to be made: the phone will include a Qualcomm MSM7627A SoC, which includes a pedestrian 800MHz CPU and an Adreno 200 GPU. Curiously, the ST26i was previously rumored to contain an ST-Ericsson U8500 chip with a dual-core 1GHz CPU, which leaves open the possibility that we may see different configurations based on markets. Still, if Sony is able to exercise some restraint with its custom skin, the ST26i could shape up to be a very nice handset.

Sony ST26i benchmarks reveal Android 4.0, 4-inch FWVGA display and lackluster performance originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 May 2012 01:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

While Samsung's Galaxy Ace Duos has already burst onto the scene in India pulling double duty on GSM and CDMA networks, the company today announced its dual-SIM GSM-only cousin will begin shipping in June in Russia, before rolling out to Europe and other regions later. Running Android 2.3 on an 832MHz processor and flashing a 3.5-inch HVGA screen, that dual-SIM capability is the highlight, with Samsung's "Dual SIM always on" feature that forwards calls from the phone number on SIM 2, even if the user is on a call through SIM 1. Bill Bellamy and all others in need of such features can check the press release after the break for a few more details, or the gallery below to get a look from a few more angles of this son of the original Galaxy Ace.

Gallery: Samsung Galaxy Ace Duos

Continue reading Samsung's GSM-only dual-SIM Galaxy Ace Duos kicks off its world tour in Russia next month

Samsung's GSM-only dual-SIM Galaxy Ace Duos kicks off its world tour in Russia next month originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 May 2012 21:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

ASUS Transformer Pad TF300TL hits the FCC with AT&T-friendly LTE originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 May 2012 20:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

No thanks to AT&T, owners of the carrier-branded HTC One X can now unlock their phone's bootloader on the HTCdev website. The process works by altering the handset's identifier, which causes the One X to appear as a Rogers unit on HTC's servers. While the instructions should be quite simple for those with the proper knowhow, they require knowledge and proper configuration of ADB, use of a hex editor and a rooted handset. Many users have already reported success with this method, but keep in mind that AT&T might not smile on the trickery if you ever need to seek warranty repair. Naturally, all of this frustration could've been easily avoided had Ma Bell simply considered the needs of power users in the first place, but until the day comes when the carrier rights its ways, just know that eager hackers have a tendency to come out on top.

[Thanks, Akash]

HTC One X for AT&T gets unofficial bootloader unlock originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 May 2012 20:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Jitters have persisted that the Canadian release of the Galaxy S III might face the customary weeks-long delays that those north of the border are used to. If we go by what looks to be an escaped Best Buy Canada flyer graphic, Samsung's Android 4.0 beast should be going up for pre-orders soon -- MobileSyrup hears May 30th -- with launches on at least Bell, Rogers, Telus and a Bell-owned Virgin Mobile around June 20th. We know that Samsung has publicly promised a US release in June, so there's a real chance that we could be seeing a simultaneous North American appearance that brings everyone together in TouchWiz harmony. There's still some big questions left open even if we're seeing an accurate snapshot, such as when Mobilicity, Wind and other LTE-less carriers will get their units as well as whether or not the LTE versions use Snapdragons instead of the Exynos 4 Quad.

[Thanks, Imdad]

Samsung Galaxy S III shows in Best Buy Canada leak due June 20th, maple syrup uncorked to celebrate originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 May 2012 19:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Tweetbot just got the update treatment, enabling a handful of features aimed at optimizing the way you interact with Twitter, both online and off. These added gems include an option to mute certain keywords ('cereal' may be a good start), location-based keyword searches, along with offline favorite and read later support (for booting links to apps like Instapaper or Pocket, for offline viewing). Most other functionality remains unchanged, as does the $2.99 price tag. You'll find the full list of updates after the break, with download links just below.

Continue reading Tweetbot 2.4 brings keyword mute filters, offline favorite and read later support

Tweetbot 2.4 brings keyword mute filters, offline favorite and read later support originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 May 2012 19:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

RIM's been busy on the patent application front lately, filing off concepts for anything from smartphone docks to rotating keypads -- even flirting with potential forays into forensics peripherals. Perhaps sensing the crushing need to differentiate its ailing BlackBerry brand, Waterloo's taken to the USPTO with a doc submitted last November that could do just that. The pressure-sensitive input scheme and touchscreen interface described therein would respond to a user-set pattern of force by granting access to a handheld device's features and applications. Sure sounds a heckuva lot like a new password protection implementation, but that's just our humble take. What it actually is, where it goes from this legal limbo and whether or not it ever winds up in BB 10 tech is truly up in the air. What you can count on, though, is a continued flood of in-process IP procurement from a company close to the edge.

RIM patent application puts pressure on sensitive touchscreens for a possible unlock alternative originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 May 2012 18:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Been looking forward to porting your BBM addiction to iOS or Android in hopes of finally kicking that Crackberry to the curb? Take a seat -- it looks like RIM's private messaging service isn't going anywhere. According to a Wall Street Journal source, the firm's new CEO has shut down rumors of a BlackBerry Messenger port. "It was not up for discussion," the WSJ was told. According to a person "familiar with the matter," CEO Thorsten Heins decided that RIM shouldn't be pursuing licensing deals. Heins' apparent house cleaning might be a deal breaker for BlackBerry veterans looking to jump ship, requiring users to stick with RIM to maintain their dwindling BBM contact lists. Bummer? Sure is, but at least your pals don't need a security clearance to ping you.

BBM staying exclusive to BlackBerry, says WSJ source originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 May 2012 18:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Facebook has kept itself rather busy in the last month or so with such tasks as going public and purchasing popular photo-sharing app Instagram, but that doesn't mean it stopped working on other projects in the meantime. This realization is apparent with the launch of Facebook Camera, a photo-centric application that chooses to remain separated from the company's general mobile representation. It's still connected with the social network, of course, but it brings a fresh user interface and some light Photoshop-esque features to the table: filters, cropping, zoom, twist and so on. We had the opportunity to grab the new app and take it for a spin on an iPhone, so check out the gallery and continue below for our first impressions.

Gallery: Facebook Camera hands-on

Continue reading Facebook Camera hands-on

Facebook Camera hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 May 2012 17:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Android developers are all too familiar with not-so-hot emulator performance, so it's a relief that there's now an system image in a native x86 for testing. While you'll still likely want to test on ARM, the x86 image will both help ferret out bugs specific to Intel's architecture as well as provide a much faster experience debugging apps now that the ARM-to-Intel translation isn't needed on top of running a whole second operating system. It's not perfectly up to date, running on Android 4.0.3, but it's close enough that the environment will mimic much of what users see -- and a big help if you're jumping into writing specifically for Intel devices. If speed is of the essence, or you're not keen on importing a Lava Xolo X900, you just need to update the SDK Manager to start testing with an Intel-flavored green robot.

Intel posts x86-friendly Android 4.0 image, lets you feel the need for speed originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 May 2012 17:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Some have called Microsoft's Facebook app for Windows Phone a red-headed stepchild to the Android and iOS darlings, but it's making up for lost time in good fashion with a 2.5 update. Those who live a Metro life now get full Facebook conversation threads with group support, so they're not left out of the loop when a friend mentions the pub he wanted to visit two days ago. Along with this more conversational addition, it's now possible to tag a friend or a place in a post using plain "with" and "at" statements, and the seemingly inescapable Like button has reached comments for Windows Phone owners. There's more control over posts and active post links in the mix as well, so you'll find a surfeit of social mingling when you update at the Windows Phone Marketplace link below.

Facebook for Windows Phone rolls in threaded messaging, tagging, kitchen sink originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 May 2012 15:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

T-Mobile's USA proposed union with AT&T might have gone down in flames, but that isn't precluding the boss of parent company Deutsche Telekom, René Obermann, from exploring tie-ups in the future. He's now telling investors that the company won't "exclude any option" for its US carrier, up to and including mergers with others. Before you worry that your One S might lose its luster through an outside takeover, though, the CEO has said it's "unlikely" that DT will sell T-Mobile outright. There aren't any coded messages about possible merger targets, either, even if rumors of a MetroPCS deal have percolated elsewhere. Most of the present focus is simply on reworking and trimming the company to get it running at full efficiency in the face of some very stiff competition; Carly can keep wearing that T-Mobile magenta for awhile yet.

Deutsche Telekom chief says T-Mobile USA merger still an option, sweeps full sale off the table originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 May 2012 14:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Developers can never have too many options when it comes to ways to take your money. Google has opened the doors to In-app purchases, carrier billing and now, in-app subscriptions. Perhaps it wasn't enough that game creators be able to lure you in with perks and content you could purchase for a one-time fee, now devs can choose to hit you with a monthly charge for the privilege of using their wares. Of course, it's not all that bad. Subscription-based games aren't the only potential uses here. Customers can now buy monthly or annual subscriptions to services or publications as well. There's even a publisher API for extending the subscription beyond the walls of Google Play and your Android device. Glu Mobile will be first out the gate, turning on subscriptions in properties like Frontline Commando, but we're sure plenty of others will follow. Soon enough you might be able to get your New York Times subscription or Spotify Premium account without ever leaving the comfort of the Android app. Any handset with Google Play 3.5 or higher installed should have access to subscriptions starting today.

Google brings in-app subscriptions to Android originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 May 2012 13:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Talk about being tardy to the party: a month after its keyboard-less twin, the Huawei Ascend G312 QWERTY has finally received approval from the FCC. While this particular name may not sound very appealing to the average US customer, perhaps its other designation -- the T-Mobile myTouch Q -- will. Indeed, this is the 2012 iteration (the slide-out keyboard version, at least) of the carrier's annual series, and it sports quadband GSM / EDGE and 850 / AWS / 1900 / 2100 HSPA+. Most of the specs are already known: you can expect to find a 4-inch WVGA display, 1.4GHz MSM8255T chip with 1GB RAM and 4GB of onboard storage and room for microSD expansion. If you're a fan of the myTouch series -- or even hardware keyboards in general -- you likely won't have to wait too much longer.

T-Mobile myTouch Q makes its mark on the FCC originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 May 2012 12:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Research in Motion's head of global sales is leaving the company after serving the BlackBerry maker for 14 years. Patrick Spence joined the company before it had even produced its first smartphone before rising to his current position, based in London. Reuters hints that he was dissatisfied about being passed over for the vacant COO's position, due to be filled by former Sony Ericsson man Kristian Tear later this year. A spokesperson for the Canadian company said that Mr. Spence would be moving to a leadership role in another industry.

[Image Credit: Globe and Mail]

RIM's global sales head departs after 14-year stretch originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 May 2012 11:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

NVIDIA, likely feeling the sting of not having an LTE presence on some of the biggest carriers in the US, announced this morning that the Icera 410 modem has been validated for use on AT&T's network. This particular chipset utilizes the carrier's particular brand of Long-Term Evolution -- in addition to HSPA+, UMTS and 2G -- which means that we should see Icera-powered 4G devices on AT&T's lineup sometime this year. NVIDIA has promised we'll see Tegra 3 LTE utilizing "partners' baseband processors" before we ring in 2013, so we're hoping this bit of news can help the company live up to its word. The press release is all yours to read after the break.

Continue reading AT&T validates NVIDIA Icera 410 LTE modem for use on its network

AT&T validates NVIDIA Icera 410 LTE modem for use on its network originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 May 2012 11:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Huawei's putting a whole bunch of oomph behind its 2012 lineup, and it's finally beginning to get noticed here in the US. Not too long after getting the Ascend D1 approved by the FCC, the Chinese manufacturer has returned to Washington to push the Ascend P1 through the government agency. Regarded as a close sibling to the slimmer P1 S, this particular Platinum-class device comes offering gifts of pentaband HSPA+ / UMTS, which means there's a chance we could see it show up on AT&T or T-Mobile (neither carrier has made their intentions known as of yet). The OMAP 4460-powered Ice Cream Sandwich smartphone will, however, be available in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Australia by the end of the month, with Europe and Latin America following soon after. If you enjoy poring through federal documents, you'll love peeking at the source link below.

Huawei Ascend P1 slips through FCC with pentaband goodness for all originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 May 2012 11:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Did you see the Google+ 2.0 update for iPhone and wonder if Google's attention had drifted away from its own baby? Don't fret, as the Android app has just been given similarly loving treatment. The interface shares the reworked stream look that we saw on iOS while keeping the swipe-to-switch category filters that Google+ has used from the start. There's even small rewards for having to watch your iPhone friends go first: you can now start a Hangout video chat from the main menu, get ringing Hangout notifications, download photos directly from conversations and edit your posts after the fact. The new look has already proved polarizing, but if you're the sort who revels in the purity of a Google social network running on a Google platform, you can now try the overhaul for yourself.

Google+ on Android gets its turn at a UI remake, extra Hangout and photo features in the bargain originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 May 2012 10:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

We've been jonesing for a more international look at smartphone market share for the start of 2012, and IDC is now more than willing to oblige. In case you'd thought Android's relentless march upwards was just an American fling, Google's OS has jumped from 36.1 percent of the world's share a year ago to exactly 59 percent in the first quarter of this year. That's nearly two thirds of all smartphones, folks. As we've seen in the past, Android is siphoning off legacy users looking for something fresher: Symbian and the BlackBerry have both lost more than half of their share in one year's time, while Linux (led mostly by Bada) and Windows Mobile / Phone together lost small pieces of the pie despite raw shipment numbers going up. As for Apple? Even with all the heat in the kitchen, the iPhone's share grew to 23 percent, leading to a staggering 82 percent of smartphone buyers siding with either the Cupertino or Mountain View camps.

Continue reading IDC: Android has a heady 59 percent of world smartphone share, iPhone still on the way up

IDC: Android has a heady 59 percent of world smartphone share, iPhone still on the way up originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 May 2012 10:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Nokia invited us to take a tour of the Carl Zeiss HQ in Germany, all in the name of getting some time to shoot with the pair's latest project, the 808 PureView. Sure, you've heard the specs: a 41-megapixel sensor, f/2.4 Carl Zeiss lens and a focal length of 8.02mm. That hulking sensor dominates the body, but how do those photographic results turn out? We spent a few hours shooting with Symbian's (possibly) last hurrah and found that -- unsurprisingly -- this looks to be the new benchmark for mobile imaging. The top-heavy body fits in with the focus on mobile photography epitomized in this phone and there's a tangible quality to the photos even on the 808 PureView's 640 x 360 display, alongside a noticeable decrease in noise. Check out our gallery and grab more impressions and comparison images with the iPhone 4S and One S after the break.

Gallery: Nokia 808 PureView sample images

Continue reading Nokia 808 PureView impressions, camera showdown with the iPhone 4S and HTC One S

Nokia 808 PureView impressions, camera showdown with the iPhone 4S and HTC One S originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 May 2012 10:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Samsung's Euro-centric Omnia M has finished its mandated saunter through the FCC. The Windows Phone for the old country will sport a 4-inch Super AMOLED display, 1GHz processor -- while the test documents reveal that it'll only carry a GSM and 3G radio, leaving the lucky few with LTE out in the cold. Now that it's passed the regulatory hurdle of being allowed into the US, we can hope that the company will soon start talking about when we can get our hands on one.

Samsung Omnia M stops off at the FCC, Europeans pine for the Focus 2 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 May 2012 04:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Nokia's 808 PureView may not even be blasting retinas in stores just yet, but that doesn't mean those Finnish cameraphone obsessives aren't already cooking up a buffet of high-megapixel ideas for the future. Vesa Jutila, Head of Product Marketing for the incoming 808 PureView, said that there was plenty more high-spec digital imaging products in the pipeline. While he wasn't about to be drawn on specifics for any future Lumia-Pureview unions just yet, there were "multiple ways" that Nokia could run with its new imaging jewel. Slimmer models are a possibility, still containing high-end Zeiss optics and Nokia's oversampling techniques avoiding the need for optical zoom. He added that the next generation of Nokia camera sensors are already being worked on -- the 808 PureView was borne from an idea back in 2007. Jutila included one more soupçon of information: future PureView products "would not necessarily have the same 41-megapixel sensor" that we've been playing with recently.

The future for Nokia PureView: Possible slimmer models and 'not necessarily a 41MP sensor' originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 May 2012 02:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Navigating through airport security is hardly the most fanciful way of kicking off a vacation, but this summer, a handful of frequent fliers in France will take part in a field trial that aims to streamline the process and make it a bit more enjoyable. Fifty lucky travelers armed with BlackBerry smartphones will take part in a pilot study that tests the authentication technology recently developed by Orange and SITA. Upon their arrival at the Toulouse-Blagnac airport, the handset's NFC-capable SIM card will serve as an access pass to the car park, the premium access zone for departures and even the private lounge area. Smartphone integration will provide travelers with real-time flight information, and it's said that the handset will even remember the location of one's vehicle in the car park. As the system is hardware-based, the identity verification technology will even work when the smartphone is turned off. The Toulouse-Blagnac airport aims to have a broader NFC implementation available by 2013-2014, which may allow users to board flights and pay for goods with their mobile device. To learn more about the vision, you'll find the PR after the break.

Continue reading France's Toulouse-Blagnac airport to conduct NFC field trials for BlackBerry smartphones

France's Toulouse-Blagnac airport to conduct NFC field trials for BlackBerry smartphones originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 May 2012 02:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Bandwidth is a precious commodity on military vessels. Ships in the US Navy fleet are generating more data, but the pipe it's getting pumped through isn't getting any larger. What's more, with limited connectivity options on the table, the sea-faring military wing is missing out on all the smartphone and app store fun. Rather than turn green with envy, or turning their dress whites is for camouflage cargo pants, the Navy is beefing up its mobile tech arsenal, beginning with the U.S.S. Kearsarge, U.S.S. San Antonio and U.S.S. Whidbey Island. The ships will serve as test beds for a nautical LTE system, with a range of about 25 miles. The 4G network will serve as a localized platform for wirelessly feeding data to sailors, as well as a way for the enlisted to connect to the outside world. On the backend, the Marines are working on a new satellite broadband service that should be able to provide ships with 300 megabits of shared bandwidth. Satellite internet and off-grid LTE might induce yawns in some, but they're certainly a major part of modernizing our fighting forces. For more info, check out the source link.

Navy plans ship-based LTE for close-quarters communication originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 May 2012 01:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Back when it was unveiled at IFA 2011, Sammy's famed phablet was more of an attractive oddity than sure hit. Skip to now, and that 5.3-incher's not only taken the European continent by storm, it's also made inroads onto these American shores via AT&T. In keeping with the open source embrace begun last October, the OEM's once again offering up the device's kernel code, this time for the skinned ICS OS unlocked versions currently run. Devs and the amateur hackers that love them should make haste and hit up the source below to get cracking on this latest software nut.

Samsung spills Galaxy Note's ICS guts, releases kernel source code to devs originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 May 2012 23:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

While Japanese Xperia fans might have to wait a little while longer to get their hands on the Xperia GX and Xperia SX, how about some sample videos to make said extremities clammy in the meantime? So, they're not going to win any Oscars (unless there's a new category for "Best shaky in-store footage") any time soon, but the videos over the break give a taste of what we can expect from those 13- and 8-megapixel sensors. In time-honored Hollywood tradition, we're still wondering if the US remake will be just as good.

Continue reading In-store Xperia GX and SX video footage pops up online

In-store Xperia GX and SX video footage pops up online originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 May 2012 22:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The British clearly didn't waste any time once pre-orders opened up for the Galaxy S III, which just broke through pre-order records for at least one carrier and one retailer in the country. Carphone Warehouse's chief commercial officer Graham Stapleton says that the quad-core, 4.8-inch flagship is the quickest-moving pre-order of the year "so far," while Vodafone UK adds that the new Galaxy is its most pre-ordered Android device to date. Without hard numbers, though, it's difficult not to couch the successes in relative terms: both are using conditional language that makes clear neither record is absolute and that they might be eclipsed by companies with a knack for building early demand. Even so, that pride in early results suggests the third time is indeed the charm and that Samsung won't have much trouble filling its own pop-up stores with customers at the end of the month.

Samsung Galaxy S III tops UK pre-order records, shows that British love their quad-core originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 May 2012 21:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.