Samsung Wave 723 flaunts Bada, little else at IFA

Samsung just grew its Bada line with a low-end foil to the original Wave, the so-called Wave 723 — and we just happened to catch it hanging out tucked away in a distributor’s booth at IFA this week. Though the leather-grain flip cover is a classy touch, make no mistake that this one is destined for the bottom bits of the full-touch featurephone market segment thanks to a middle-of-the-road TFT LCD that looks pretty washed out and low-res compared to the Wave’s Super AMOLED (interestingly, the 723 is the first Bada phone to use version 1.1 of the platform, whose major addition is support for auto-scaling between multiple resolutions). We were also surprised at how poorly responsive the screen was to touches and swipes; we even thought for a moment that it might be resistive, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Then again, 802.11n support ain’t bad, and Samsung certainly seems as committed to Bada as ever, so we imagine they’ll sell a few. Hit up the gallery!

Samsung Wave 723 flaunts Bada, little else at IFA originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Boost Mobile adds $2-a-day unlimited everything option

For voice and data alike, “unlimited” is a major buzzword among value carriers like Cricket, Virgin Mobile, and Boost Mobile lately — and when they can offer it for $10 or $20 less than the big guys, why shouldn’t it be? Boost is slicing the unlimited option in a new way this week with the announcement that it’s now offering unlimited nationwide voice, messaging, web, IM, email, and information for $2 a day, which if our rough math is correct, works out to $60 a month. That’s $10 a more than you pay if you just bite the bullet and prepay on a monthly basis, but obviously it’s a heck of a lot more flexible, too — and with these prepaid guys, flexibility is king. Follow the break for the full press release.

Continue reading Boost Mobile adds $2-a-day unlimited everything option

Boost Mobile adds $2-a-day unlimited everything option originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Skype updates Android app for Verizon users, lets you keep the WiFi on

Skype updates Android app for Verizon users, lets you keep the WiFi on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 13:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Verizon officially announces prepaid smartphone data packages

After a flood of leaks, Verizon’s just officially announced its prepaid data plan for smartphones. The new 3G Prepaid data package will offer smartphone users “unlimited” data for $30 a month, while feature phone users can score 25MB of data a month for $10 with a 20-cent-per-meg overage fee — all contract-free, of course. The prepaid smartphones include all of Verizon’s Android phones, the Pre and Pixi Plus, as well as most recent BlackBerrys, which is a pretty solid list of choices — and you can sign up for them today or online on September 28. Of course, you’re still on the hook for a full price phone and a voice plan (and there’s no mention of texting), so whether or not this works out to be a deal is up to you, but we’re definitely seeing the prepaid data market start to significantly heat up, and we like it. PR with full device list after the break.

Continue reading Verizon officially announces prepaid smartphone data packages

Verizon officially announces prepaid smartphone data packages originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 13:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung: ‘we are prioritizing our Android platform’

Samsung may be one of the big players that Microsoft is pinning its hopes on for Windows Phone 7, but you wouldn’t know that from listening to the company at IFA. Speaking to Reuters at the show, Samsung’s head of marketing for its mobile division, YH Lee, said flatly that “we are prioritizing our Android platform,” adding that, “Android is very open and flexible, and there is a consumer demand for it.” Lee further went on to note that the company will continue to focus on its own Bada platform (at least outside of North America), but seemingly downplayed Windows Phone 7 when asked about it, saying only that “there is still some professional, specialized demand there.” Ouch. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, Samsung also says it’s “not seeing visible demand for Symbian.”

Samsung: ‘we are prioritizing our Android platform’ originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WSJ: iPhone 4 to be offered by Vodafone and O2 in Germany as T-Mobile loses exclusivity

The last bastion of Applephone exclusivity in Europe is about to be toppled, according to the Wall Street Journal, as Deutsche Telekom is said to be preparing for the loss of its iPhone 4 monopoly ahead of this year’s holiday shopping season. Citing separate sources familiar with the matter, this report suggests that Vodafone and O2′s German arms are earnestly reaching out for Apple’s latest and greatest, and while distribution deals haven’t yet been finalized, negotiations have reached an “advanced stage.” Much as with O2′s UK exclusivity deal, Apple looks to have opted against extending its arrangement with Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile in an effort to reach the widest possible consumer base. Makes a lot of sense to us, now how about doing the same back home?

WSJ: iPhone 4 to be offered by Vodafone and O2 in Germany as T-Mobile loses exclusivity originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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OpenFeint PlayTime brings cross-platform multiplayer gaming to iOS, Android

OpenFeint PlayTime brings cross-platform multiplayer gaming to iOS, Android originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Skyfire submits iPhone browser for App Store approval, we wait for the Flash to hit the fan

There was a time when Skyfire on Windows Mobile meant full Flash all the time. The 2.0 version on Android reigned that in a bit, really only supporting Flash video and little else, something Android 2.2 users no longer need to worry about. iOS users, however, do still spend their days ruing websites with such content, and so that’s the market Skyfire is targeting next. The company has submitted a version of the browser for App Store approval, transcoding Flash video such that the phone only sees HTML5, with content coming in over H.264 adaptive streaming. As such, video is said to be compressed an average of 75 percent, in theory allaying any concerns about this thing being a bandwidth hog. In other words: there’s no reason for this to not be approved, right? Right! However, something tells us things may not be so easy…

Update: Now with video — watch the Skyfire crew coerce a poor iPhone into playing Comedy Central content right after the break.

Continue reading Skyfire submits iPhone browser for App Store approval, we wait for the Flash to hit the fan

Skyfire submits iPhone browser for App Store approval, we wait for the Flash to hit the fan originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 08:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung Fascinate arriving in Verizon stores, early September launch seems a given

Lest all the paper-based leaks weren’t sufficient evidence for you, we’ve now got ourselves an insider at one of Verizon’s brick-and-mortar outlets informing us that Fascinate launch kits are being distributed. VZW is said to be training up its staff (presumably that involves more than just pointing out where the above puzzle piece should go) and the whole thing’s looking “right on track” for the mooted early September launch. So that basically gives us about a week’s time to kill with 21:9 HDTVs, 3D prototypes, slinky tablets, and whatever else we can find at IFA. We might just be able to manage it.

Samsung Fascinate arriving in Verizon stores, early September launch seems a given originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 09:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sharp shows off mobile prototype with 3D screen, 3D camera, and 3D output

We’ve seen enough home theater 3D already to be well and sick of it, but mobile 3D is still an upcoming sector, one which Sharp seems to be making a bid for. It’s showing off a mobile device prototype (it looks like it could be your friendly neighborhood carrier’s next Android handset) with a glasses-free 3D parallax screen (akin to the tech used in the Nintendo 3DS), a 3D camera around back, and 3D output over HDMI. The result isn’t stellar — just because a mobile device is shooting grainy, color-bleeding footage in 3D doesn’t make the footage stop being grainy and color-bleeding — but it most certainly works, as we witnessed both on the device’s own screen and on a regular glasses-required 3D TV the prototype was outputting to over HDMI. The 3.7-inch LCD rocks a 800 x 480 resolution in 2D mode, which gets halved to 400 x 480 in 3D, and Sharp is also showing of a 10-inch glasses free LCD that didn’t come off as so impressive somehow.

Sharp shows off mobile prototype with 3D screen, 3D camera, and 3D output originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 08:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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