Spring Design Alex finally up for pre-order, Borders eBook store launching in June
Well it’s about time, Spring Design! After missing its February ship date, the company is finally ready for you to whip out the plastic and pre-order its Alex — that dual-screen, Android-based ereader we liked so much at CES. While you can shell out the $399 today, you’ll still have to wait until mid-April for the mailman to drop off the package. We’d like to say the wait stops there, but we’ve also learned that early buyers won’t have access to the promised Borders eBook store until June. When we chatted with Spring Design CEO Priscilla Lu last week she confirmed that Borders will officially launch its store in the “June time frame,” which will be around the very same time that the 3G version of the Alex will be ready to hit the market — at least there’s access to Google Books and an micro-SD card slot for sideloading in the meantime. With so much coming down the pike it may be worth waiting a bit more time for this one, but our own Alex arrived just last night so no matter what it’d behoove you to wait a few days for our review before you hit the source link to pre-order.
Update: Well, this is odd. Even though this news hit the wires today, the shop page on Spring Design’s website is definitely non-functional right now. Instead, you’ll see a message to check back soon. We’ll keep doing just that until we see signs of life… or hear otherwise.
Update 2: And we’re back…the pre-order page is finally up!
Gallery: Spring Design Alex unboxing
Spring Design Alex finally up for pre-order, Borders eBook store launching in June originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Smartphone GPS shootout: Google, Ovi, and Verizon go head-to-head
It wasn’t long ago that getting somewhere required a map on paper. You know, something you bought or that came groaning out of your tired old printer. GPS navigation units made those maps obsolete, but now they too are under threat. With smartphones invading pockets everywhere it’s no surprise that their next assault would be on the dashboard, early volleys shaking up financial markets worldwide. That was just the beginning of a shock and awe campaign that will leave no automotive interior untouched — and hopefully no driver unsure how many miles until the next Dunkin’ Donuts. Google Navigation was the first to really shake things up, while Nokia’s Ovi Maps is a more recent addition to the battlefield and the latest VZ Navigator, 5.0, lets Windows Mobile and BlackBerry users join the fray. We’ve taken this sampling of the best built-in smartphone navigation options (the set of paid add-on options for iPhone is a beast we’ll be taming later), learning which you should trust to get you to where you’re going and to dodge construction and traffic on the way there. Read on for a turn-by-turn exploration of each option’s highs and lows.
Gallery: Smartphone navigation
Continue reading Smartphone GPS shootout: Google, Ovi, and Verizon go head-to-head
Smartphone GPS shootout: Google, Ovi, and Verizon go head-to-head originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 11:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Google Launches Powerful Mobile Shopping App for Android
Google has just rolled out “Google Shopper,” a new mobile application for Android devices that offers a variety of different ways to search for products.
In addition to basic search functionality, users can search by voice, take a picture of cover art, or scan a bar code to get detailed product information and price comparison. Google introduces the application on its website and in the video below.
As AndroidAndMe notes, the app clearly competes with the likes of ShopSavvy, who tells the publication that Google [and Amazon] “are and always have been our biggest competitors.”
Google could deal a much stronger blow to the upstart by including Shopper –- currently a Labs product –- with new Android handsets. We also don’t see why Google wouldn’t extend the app to other mobile platforms as well.
Here’s the quick demo from Google:
Do you use shopping apps like Google Shopper and ShopSavvy on your mobile? Let us know in the comments.
Reviews: Android, Google, Shopper
Tags: android, android applications, Google, Google Android, shop savvy, shopping
AT&T Goes Google, Will Finally Sell First Android Device
Beginning March 7, AT&T will start selling the Android-powered Motorola BACKFLIP. Although the carrier is slated to sell the Dell Mini 3 exclusively later this year, the Motorola BACKFLIP will be the first Android device sold by AT&T.
Motorola debuted the new device — which combines a reverse QWERTY flip keyboard with a custom Android operating system supporting the company’s social media-intensive MOTOBLUR technology — back in January, but AT&T will be the first carrier to sell it stateside. AT&T will sell the device for $199.99 (there’s also a $100 mail-in rebate) with a required two-year contract and smartphone data plan at retail locations and online.
The union of AT&T and Android became official earlier this year when we learned that AT&T would begin selling at least five Android phones in 2010. AT&T has been slow to sell phones powered by Google’s operating system, which means come March it will be the final major U.S. carrier to embrace Android.
Given AT&T’s size and reach we should see Android’s market share continue to climb in 2010. With Apple taking more than 25% and Android doubling up to 5.2% of the smartphone market, every additional carrier and Android device creates an opportunity for Google to close that gap.
Tags: android, att, Google Android, Mobile 2.0, Motorola, motorola backflip
Motorola Devour to sell for $150 at Best Buy?
You’ve just got to love the slow trickle of information about your next smartphone, right? Just days after hearing that Best Buy would gladly accept your pre-order on Motorola’s Devour (without actually telling you the final price, comically enough), this leaked flyer has flown into our inbox to clear up the mystery. Unless we’ve got some seriously awesome Photoshop work going on here, it seems as if the Flash supporting handset will sell for $149.99 on a 2-year Verizon contract, and of course, that’s sans mail-in rebate if you snag one from the Big Yellow Tag. Not bad given the specs, wouldn’t you say?
Update: Looks like a case (shown after the break) has popped up as well. Thanks, H.R.!
[Thanks, Anonymous]
Continue reading Motorola Devour to sell for $150 at Best Buy?
Motorola Devour to sell for $150 at Best Buy? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 09:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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SK Telecom’s Android SIM prototype combines CPU, storage and OS into one (video)
This is the future, we tell ya! Not the immediate future, mind you, as it’s a humble prototype with no commercial intentions behind it, but it sure looks like the right direction for us to be moving in. SK Telecom has somehow fit a processing chip, memory, a gigabyte of flash storage and Google’s Android OS onto the SIM you see above. The concept is pure genius — you store your entire mobile environment on the SIM card, including your contacts, operating system and customizations, which should then allow you to switch up your handset hardware as often as you like without the need to set it up anew each and every time. We’ll head to SK Telecom’s booth at MWC later today for a closer look, but for now you should click past the break for a video.
Continue reading SK Telecom’s Android SIM prototype combines CPU, storage and OS into one (video)
SK Telecom’s Android SIM prototype combines CPU, storage and OS into one (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Feb 2010 08:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Comsys joins GSM and WiMAX into holy matrimony under Android as ComMAX CM1125
It looks like the next generation of little green robots just got a little bit faster, with Comsys Mobile announcing its ComMAX CM1125 reference design at Mobile World Congress 2010 (and beating HTC to the punch). It’ll apparently find life inside Windows Mobile handsets as well, where it will not only offer WiMAX, but bring GSM/Edge, WLAN, GPS, Bluetooth, and even FM radio to the table, all in a design with “exceptionally low power operation.” It’s said to be able to switch from WiMAX to Edge seamlessly, though we image that transition would feel something like being inside KITT on Turbo Boost and hitting the Emergency Braking System. No word on when we’ll see phones at retail based on this design, but we’ll endeavor to bring you more information on this design (as well as more Knight Rider references) as the show progresses.
Comsys joins GSM and WiMAX into holy matrimony under Android as ComMAX CM1125 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Feb 2010 06:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.