Recent Comments:
No TV tuner, no problem with Permian's MOBview dongle {Engadget Mobile}
Dec 2nd 2008 12:00PM Oh - and by the way, guys? Their website (permian.cn) has an English-language version of that page, at:
http://permian.com.cn/en/Solution_01.asp
(for those that find Google's automatic Chinese butchering/translation less than optimal)
No TV tuner, no problem with Permian's MOBview dongle {Engadget Mobile}
Dec 2nd 2008 11:52AM Is HTC actually using the Dopod name-plate on a version of the Touch Diamond somewhere? Or is that photo just making me hallucinate?
As for the TV functionality - I just don't see this being very practical. I'm not likely to carry that tuner/blue-tooth thing with me everywhere I go unless I'm taking a bag with me - but hotels have TVs too (and I generally have a couple of shows copied over to my Diamond's internal storage, to watch with CorePlayer anyway).
I mean - when, exactly, would this thing come in handy? Or maybe I just don't watch enough TV to "get it."
Renesas aims to bring 1080p playback to your next cellphone {Engadget Mobile}
Dec 1st 2008 10:01PM Given the small screen sizes, I think there wouldn't be any visual difference between 720p and 1080p on a 3" or 3.5" screen, unless you've got your magnifying glass out. For that matter, I would bet casual observers wouldn't be able to spot the difference between a DVD (720 x 480 or 720 x 512 for NTSC/PAL respectively) and a 720P movie on those screen.
My Touch Diamond has 640 x 480 on a 2.8" screen, and I watch the occasional downloaded VGA-rez video and they look eye-popping sharp on that screen. Human eyeballs just don't have the acuity (e.g., resolution) to resolve details beyond a certain point.
Now, if a super-smart-phone cum mobile computer (which they're all morphing into anyway) has mini-HDMI or viewport "out" ports, so we can have our cake.. err... computer with us, then plug it into a monster 50" 1080p screen for watching movies, all the better, man!
Oh - @Rudolphe - your 1080p still isn't the "best", check out Panasonic's 150" behemoth plasma, with "Super HD" (3840 x 2160) rez. Not that any of us can afford one, but just sayin'
Meizu M8 unboxed before December 8th launch {Engadget Mobile}
Dec 1st 2008 12:02AM Well, it's been a long, strange trip from the first photoshopped renderings to the actual unboxing. I'm happy with my Touch Diamond for now, but out of curiosity - does anybody know if the specs on the M8/MiniOne have changed?
Did they end up adding in 3G, or is it still just Edge/WiFi? Not that we have 3G yet in Thailand (another never-ending soap-opera *sigh*), but supposedly next spring we will.
Given WinMo's slide downwards in market share, maybe Meizu should have based this thing on Android (and used a better touch-screen, from the looks of the video). If it shows up in Bangkok, maybe I'll buy one and do a full review ;-)
HTC Touch Diamond surfaces at CompUSA {Engadget Mobile}
Jun 18th 2008 2:46PM Is it possible that CompUSA made a boo-boo, and posted specs based on the Diamond's tricksey network-selection options that show all four bands (even though only three of them actually work)?
Hmmmm.... hopefully somebody who picks one up at the big box store can post a comment so we all know (I live in Thailand, where the initial 3G rollout is 900 MHz, so either way, I'll be set!)
HTC Touch Diamond hands-on, up close and personal this time {Engadget Mobile}
Jun 10th 2008 11:03AM Just FYI, the HTC Diamond Touch is now on sale in Thailand as well - despite Thailand's not having any 3G coverage, aside from some small test areas on Chiang Mai.
The price in the (always expensive) mobile store in Central World mall was 29,000 THB (about $900 USD) but a friend said he spotted it for 24,000 THB somewhere else ($730 USD).
Waaaayy too expensive for now, but prices tend to drop quickly on new mobile devices here. My HTC/Dopod S300 windows-mobile "flip" phone went from 17,500 THB to 7,000 THB in about six months. Another friend saw the phone for less than $5000 HK (about $641), so some of what we're seeing here in Bangkok might be tariff or just blatant markup.
Mouse Phone totally disregards Mickey trademark {Engadget Mobile}
May 28th 2008 9:31AM To be honest, though, the trademark on Mickey Mouse would have expired (multiple times over), except that Congress keeps on extending the trademark period every time Mickey comes close to being in the public domain.
They (congress) have recently been challenged in the courts about what amounts to a "perpertual" trademark, and sooner or later, Congress will balk at Disney's request, and Mickey will be public domain. It's already been over 100 years, let the trademark expire already.
While the law is the law, it's being abused (or pushed beyond its intended purpose) by Congress at the behest of Disney, I think.
Meizu M8 interface redesigned yet again, gets all sparkly {Engadget Mobile}
May 25th 2008 12:55AM I think I've now been following this Meizu M8/Mini-one saga for over a year now (close to 18 months), and I'm ready to nominate this for Wired's top-ten vaporware products.
As derX said, if they delivered it a year ago (or anytime in 2007, really), I would gladly have paid for one. Half-way thru 2008, when the iPhone 3G is (allegedly) mere weeks from shipping, the HTC Diamond is in the wild, and Samsung is pushing out its own would-be iPhone killer... well, a tweak to the pretty interface on the non-existent M8 doesn't cut it.
My guess is that this thing either (a) never ships in this form, or (b) ships sometime in 2009 as a mid-range smart-phone that is doomed to be a regional oddity like the Axia A108 was (a touch-screen candy-bar WinCE phone I owned a couple of years ago, out of Singapore).
Official: Google's quest for 700MHz is so on {Engadget Mobile}
Dec 1st 2007 1:55AM Wow - they're actually bidding!! I really hope they're bidding to win, rather than just firing a shot across the bow of the carriers.
It's a bit frightening to think how LARGE Google has grown, and quickly they've done it, in their very short corporate lifetime, and this (spectrum) would give them an enormous club with which to pound some competitive spirit (read: open-network/unlocked-devices) into the likes of Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, et al. Judging from recent comments from the major carriers, they're already moving that way, so this should (i hope) be a nice kick in the pants, even if Google doesn't win the auction.
One question is, what will Google do with this spectrum if they get it? I really *really* doubt they want to build their own infrastructure out, given that low-margin cutthroat business, so maybe they'd partner with some hungry wireless telecom to do the grunt-work (build towers, etc), while Google provides the Great Googley Network/Software experience?
Nokia's N94i to run Windows Mobile OS, not Symbian? Er, no. {Engadget Mobile}
Sep 14th 2007 2:15PM Whatever this phone is, it's on the auction area of sanook.com (sanook = "fun" in Thai). Sanook recently entered into an agreement with eBay, which is (or has) bought a stake in the company.
Anyway - since I live in Thailand, I'll ask my wife (who is already asleep) to read the page, and see what it says.
It's CLEARLY not Windows Mobile - in fact, it's a Windows XP screenshot, which can be seen at the top of the screen, in light gray, in the larger pic (it says "winXP.jpg"), so somebody just set their background to a cropped Windows XP desktop screenshot.
We get all sorts of wierd and wacky Chinese-made phones here (sometimes very interesting ones).
- Kirk
