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xpPhone teased with specs and pictures, makes Windows XP young again

by Paul Miller posted Oct 30th 2009 @ 5:02PM

Don't panic, we haven't gone back in time. What we're looking at here is the world's first but still-yet-to-be-released phone that runs on Windows XP, and its Chinese maker has just released some juicy specs and interface images to tease us all. The ITG xpPhone will be blessed with the chutzpah-filled AMD "Super Mobile" CPU, coupled with either 512MB or 1GB RAM. Storage options range from 8GB SSD to 120GB HDD (probably 1.8-inch) and everything in between. While the sheet confirms both GSM and CDMA support, ITG's pre-order page -- which looks more like a newsletter sign-up page at the moment -- is still vague on the phone's availability and price. For now we'll just continue to gaze at the interface pictures until something happens.

[Via Gizmodo]

Dell Streak is a 5-inch Android 2.0 MID, packs 3G and WiFi (video)

by Vladislav Savov posted Oct 21st 2009 @ 6:08AM

Well, hello there! Those Dell MID rumors we've been hearing have finally received vindication in the form of a nice, picture-heavy leak courtesy of some industrious folks in Vietnam. What we know as of now is that there's an 800 x 480 capacitive touchscreen display (with multitouch zooming), WiFi, Bluetooth and 3G WWAN connectivity, all riding atop an Android 2.0 (aka, ~~Donut~~ Eclair) install. A dual-LED flash 5 megapixel camera adorns the back, and there's a 1,300mAh battery to power all that goodness. See pics below and a video awaits after the break, where an old friend of ours plays with the jumbo smartphone.

[Via SlashGear; Thanks, Nicky N.]

Gallery: Dell Streak is a 5-inch Android 2.0 MID, packs 3G and WiFi

Continue reading Dell Streak is a 5-inch Android 2.0 MID, packs 3G and WiFi (video)

Intel announces Moblin 2.1 for phones

by Nilay Patel posted Sep 22nd 2009 @ 12:48PM

Intel just announced a new version of Moblin designed for phones, running on an Atom-based phone. The interface has been redesigned for handheld usage, and there's a lot of widget-based social networking integration, as well as a panels-based navigation system that allows you to flip through multiple running applications. There's no hard date on when this might ship, but it was demoed running on a MID -- which we'll be scoring the show floor trying to find just as soon as the keynote is over.

Continue reading Intel announces Moblin 2.1 for phones

ITG's Windows XP-loving xpPhone now accepting pre-orders worldwide

by Tim Stevens posted Sep 17th 2009 @ 7:21AM

It's been awhile since we last saw the xpPhone, a quick, quiet demonstration at Computex that left us doubting whether the thing would ever see the light of day outside a packed showroom floor. It seems our doubts are about to be put to rest as ITG, creator of the thing, has thrown up a pre-order page on the phone's website. There's no mention of a price, and indeed you won't be asked to plunk down any cash right now (it's not much of a pre-order), but what's interesting is that it asks you to choose between 3G modules for Vodafone, Orange, or AT&T. That means ITG seemingly has aspirations of a global release for this thing, and while we're not sure how many people are going to want to lug around a MID-sized monster celly with a "super big" 4.8-inch LCD and a weight of nearly a pound, surely some nation in the world has pockets big enough for this.

[Via Pocketables]

MIU's vaporware HDPC now looking like a Nokia E90, but less buyable

by Chris Ziegler posted Aug 25th 2009 @ 4:23AM

The problem with your product not existing is that it's hard to make money off of it, and after a while, would-be buyers start to hate you and everything you stand for. On the plus side, redesign costs hover near zero, so why not play around and shoot for the moon with wild specs that we'll likely never have the opportunity to own? As far as we can tell, South Korea's MIU is no closer to launching its do-everything HDPC than it was a year and a half ago -- and if anything, they've actually managed to regress a bit since they actually had a real live prototype back then. Anyway, the latest round of virtu-changes gives us a larger primary display that's up to 1024 x 600 (we'll take all the resolution we can get since the $900 flavor is supposed to run XP), a grand total of three cameras, integrated GPS, HDMI out, and a T-DMB tuner. Strangely, the MID's phone face has taken on a distinctly E90 accent, right down to the inexplicable S60 screen shot used in the mockup -- but rest assured, you'll be able to buy, sell, and buy an E90 again before you'll be able to get your paws on the HDPC, which MIU says it's shopping around to distributors. We're keeping our easily-dashed hopes in check.

Nokia's Maemo 5 tablet shows up again, ready to play

by Chris Ziegler posted Aug 19th 2009 @ 12:16PM

We're calling it: this N900 / Rover / whatever it's called is the best looking device yet in Nokia's Internet Tablet line, which is an encouraging thing to be able to say considering we haven't seen any ultra-polished PR shots yet. Granted, we might be influenced a little by the rumored HSPA support with voice, T-Mobile USA availability, and Maemo 5, but really, what's wrong with that?

CLEAR WiMAX goes live in Las Vegas, Samsung Mondi ships to take advantage

by Darren Murph posted Jul 21st 2009 @ 10:06AM

Looking for one more excuse to stay inside and avoid that sweltering Las Vegas heat this summer? Good news, gamblers -- Clearwire's CLEAR WiMAX service has officially gone live across 638 square miles in the greater Las Vegas area. By the books, that's serving right around 1.7 million residents, not including the influx of tourists from other WiMAX-equipped cities that will undoubtedly take advantage. To coincide with the launch, Samsung has also announced that its QWERTY-packin', DivX-friendly Mondi -- which we toyed with back at CTIA -- will be available in Vegas-area Best Buy and Clearwire outlets starting August 1st. Said MID arrives with 4G support, WiFi, GPS, 3 megapixel camera, a QWERTY keypad, a 4.3-inch touchscreen, Opera 9.5 and a customizable set of widgets on top of Windows Mobile. The device is supposedly available now through Samsung's website and "select Samsung authorized distributors," but we're having no lucky hunting one down at present time.

Read - CLEAR in Las Vegas
Read - Samsung Mondi shipping

Gallery: CLEAR WiMAX goes live in Las Vegas, Samsung Mondi ships to take advantage

xpPhone runs Windows XP, gets costumed as a MID

by Darren Murph posted Jun 5th 2009 @ 3:04PM

You see, the name "xpPhone" is rather disingenuous here. At first glance, you may assume that you're about to discover what's likely the planet's first cellular telephone to run a full-fledged version of Windows XP. Sadly, we've got to slot the device shown above squarely into the MID category -- GSM support be darned. Still, we can't help but applaud the engineering efforts; after all, this thing somehow packs an AMD CPU, 1GB of RAM, a 64GB SSD, 4.8-inch 800 x 480 touchpanel, WiFi, various cell radios, a 1.3 megapixel camera and a battery good for five solid hours of use into a device barely larger than the average, yawn-inducing MID found in every last corner of Computex. In fact, it's so impressive that we're beginning to question its authenticity as a real, working product. Much like the number of licks to the center of a Tootsie Pop, the world may never know.

DigiCube unveils newest MID, doubles as a giant cellphone

by Laura June posted Jun 4th 2009 @ 4:38AM

Jkkmobile's gotten a hold of DigiCube's just unveiled MIDPhone-50 at Computex, and we have to say that from the looks of it, it's quite a wild affair. The MIDPhone-50 is a Windows XP, full QWERTY-boasting, touchscreen mid, and a 3.5G mobile phone to boot. The tilting, 800 x 480 touchscreen is 4.5-inches, with mini-USB, standard USB, and microSD slots, plus a docking station with VGA output. Specwise, the phone / MID has an Intel Atom Z-series CPU with up to 1GB of RAM, with Bluetooth and WiFi. The battery supposedly gets a quite sad two hours of life. There's no word on price or availability yet, but there is a video after the break.

[Via Jkkmobile, Slashgear]

Continue reading DigiCube unveils newest MID, doubles as a giant cellphone

Video: Inventec's Moblin-based MediaPhone shown at Computex

by Darren Murph posted Jun 3rd 2009 @ 1:29PM

You may be doing your best to plug your ears and pretend that Moblin's no big deal, but blissful ignorance is only effective for so long. At a Moblin press event over at Computex, the Inventec handset you see pictured above was demonstrated. Reportedly, the MediaPhone was a working unit based around Intel's forthcoming Moorestown platform, and the talking head made it clear that we wouldn't see a "netbook experience" simply shoved in here. We also get the idea that this particular device is just the beginning of a short to medium list of similar products, but there's obviously no word yet on what other handset / MID / UMPC makers are swallowing the Moblin pill. Live demonstration video is just past the break.

Continue reading Video: Inventec's Moblin-based MediaPhone shown at Computex

Toshiba's leaked product roadmap gets us hot, extra bothered by fuel-cell powered L01 MID

by Thomas Ricker posted Apr 14th 2009 @ 5:44AM

If the roadmap posted after the break is to be believed (and we think it is) then Toshiba is set to capture a lot of attention with its Snapdragon-based handhelds over the coming year. Techblog.gr has what it claims to be the Toshiba Device Roadmap through 2010. They've shown us a PowerPoint sample off-line that seems to support the claim. Of course, this isn't the first time Tosh has leaked an entire product cycle and the named devices align nicely with some of the prototypes Toshiba was showing-off at CES in January (see gallery below). Toshiba was already off to a good start in 2009 with its incredibly thin 4.1-inch TG01 running atop Qualcomm's snapdragon platform. It just gets better from there. First we've got the TG02 (launching in Q4) update to the TG01 that adds IPX4 water resistance without changing the specs or the dimensions. The TG03 ups the ante again with the inclusion of a 3-channel speaker for a better video experience.

Also in Q4, Tosh looks ready to launch a 15-mm QWERTY slider version of the 9.9-mm TG01 with new capacitive (!) touchscreen called the K01. All other specs look unchanged including WinMo 6.5. Next is the K02 clamshell with primary 3.5-inch WVGA display and QWERTY on the inside coupled with a secondary LCD and 10-key on-screen keypad on the outside. The K02 features a resistive touchscreen, HSPA data, and same QSD8x50 chipset found in the TG01 (and all the other devices on this roadmap). Last, but by no means least, is the 7-inch L01 looking every bit the love-child of a Nokia N800 and HTC Advantage. The very same device that was shown powered by a DMFC (fuel cell) at CES in January. Interesting since Toshiba has promised a consumer device powered by a fuel cell before March of 2010. Unfortunately, it's limited to WinMo 6.5 (with a hint of a Windows Mobile 7 in 2010) and the same WVGA resolution seen on the smaller screens when it launches. Assuming the leak is true, of course.

Gallery: Toshiba's DMFC "internet viewer" prototypes are truly next-gen

Continue reading Toshiba's leaked product roadmap gets us hot, extra bothered by fuel-cell powered L01 MID

Nokia working on new MID for this year, wild QWERTY tech for next?

by Chris Ziegler posted Apr 9th 2009 @ 12:48PM

Let's start this out with a word of warning: TheStreet.com's latest report allegedly from deep within Espoo's most secretive labs contradicts itself on a couple occasions -- and Nokia has a decent (though not stellar) track record of keeping most prized secrets under wraps -- so we're bringing this up with a good deal of caution, healthy skepticism, and cold, hard reality on our minds. That being said, some aspects of the report seem totally plausible, particularly a new bit about a fresh MID (likely to replace the aging N810) in the works with a sliding keyboard and 4.2-inch display targeted for release before the holidays this year; Maemo 5 development is well underway, so we'd actually be kinda surprised if this didn't happen. Odds are it wouldn't be that rumored Sparrow-powered device, though, since we'd heard 2011 for that one.

Here's where it starts to get a little strange -- next up, the report mentions a "Nautilus project" intending to create an ultra-thin touchscreen phone of some sort that uses a "sensor" (you know, a "sensor") to motorize the keyboard in and out of the body; what's more, the keys would rise up when deployed for better feel. This sounds unlikely at best, considering the added weight, complexity, bulk, and reliability concerns around that kind of a mechanism, not to mention the fact that it'd serve almost no practical purpose whatsoever. At first, TheStreet says this is a device, then later changes its mind and says "the first Nautilus phone isn't due out for another year" -- but whether it's a phone or an entire range of phones, we're just not seeing it; it'd be fun to play with, yes, but we think this is the kind of thing where the engineers would putz with it for a while and realize that it's a really, really bad idea.

[Via Unwired View]

BYD's "Mars" MID clamshell has a phone on the back, runs full Windows XP

by Paul Miller posted Apr 9th 2009 @ 11:58AM

Intel isn't just showing off its new Atom hotness at IDF Beijing, they also pulled out a previously unseen MID from previous non-player BYD. Codenamed Mars, the MID runs an Atom processor in a clamshell form factor, with a full Windows XP install and QWERTY keyboard. On the back of the lid there's a regular phone keypad and secondary screen. It's not going to beat the RAZR at a weigh-in, and we'd feel pretty dumb holding something this large up to our head, but it's a pretty wild concept all the same, and a nice teaser of the sort of MID / phone "synergy" we might come to expect when Moorestown rolls around. No word on the timeline for commercialization, but there's supposed to be a working unit floating around IDF so we'll keep our eyes peeled. Video is after the break, with the BYD unveiling a bit after the 3 minute mark.

Continue reading BYD's "Mars" MID clamshell has a phone on the back, runs full Windows XP

TI's OMAP 4 bringing 1080p support to smartphones and MIDs

by Darren Murph posted Feb 17th 2009 @ 1:59PM

Right around this time last year, Texas Instruments was busy showing off its OMAP 3 platform, which enabled 720p playback from a mobile phone. At this year's MWC, we've got a real live handset recording 720p, and TI upping the ante once more with a chip that handles 1080p. For those still with us after being blasted with resolutions, the predictably titled OMAP 4 aims to bring 1080p support, 20 megapixel imaging and "approximately a week of audio play time" to mobiles and MIDs that house it. Granted, TI also calls this stuff "future-proof," so don't believe it's totally incapable of uttering some pretty outlandish stuff. At the heart of the platform is a dual-core ARM Cortex A9 chip, a programmable multimedia engine based on TI's C64x DSP and a POWERVR SGX540 graphics engine. We're told that it'll play nice with Linux variants such as Android and LiMo, Symbian and Windows Mobile, though it'll have to be mighty impressive to outgun NVIDIA's Tegra. Battle on, we say.

[Via Linux Devices]

Mystery T-swivel handset identified as Compal Tabasco

by Joseph L. Flatley posted Dec 16th 2008 @ 9:47AM

It looks like that obscure Korean handset we spotted a week or so ago has been identified as a MID from Compal with the unlikely name of Tabasco. The images we saw were shot at Computex 2008 in June, and this is what Blog Times has to say about it: the non functioning prototype sports a rear facing 3.2 megapixel camera with 2x optical zoom and a flash, a front-facing webcam, and it measures about 6.3 x 3.3 x 1.3-inches with a 4.5 or 5-inch screen. It's impossible to determine the device's processor, OS or storage capacity at the this time -- so it seems that, after all this, the handheld is still something of a mystery. Of course, it could always turn out to be that fresh breath of Palm New-ness we've been warned of -- after all, it's been rumored that the company placed a significant order with Compal way back in August. Perhaps we'll find out at CES.

[Via Pocketables]