Windows Phone 7 launch day app roundup

Windows Phone 7 launch day app roundup: "

With thousands of developers churning out thousands of apps, we've no doubt exploring the Marketplace is going to be a full-time job for at least a day or two after you nab your Windows Phone 7 device this fall -- but with all the hullabaloo today, we thought this would be a good opportunity to highlight a few that Microsoft and its partners have been talking about recently. Dig in!

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Windows Phone 7 launch day app roundup originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Oct 2010 11:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC HD7 preview (update: video!)

HTC HD7 preview (update: video!): "

Alright, so by now we all know that HTC's HD7 is mostly a HD2 in imperial new clothes, but let's give the new phone a chance, shall we? We've just gotten to grips with the latest member of HTC's 4.3-inch brigade and predictably enough it feels just as snappy as the rest of the Windows Phone 7 devices introduced today. Navigation is blazingly quick, interrupted only by Microsoft's excessive fascination with animated screen transitions. Clearly, designing the new WP7 OS around hard-set minimum specs has paid off for Microsoft, whose end product exhibits a great deal of polish. T-Mobile, the HD7's exclusive carrier in the US, is keen to point out that it's the largest Windows Phone 7 launch device, so if size is atop your list of priorities, this will be the phone you'll want to start your journey with. We've got some in-depth impressions of the hardware after the break and a video is coming right up as well. Enjoy!



Update: As promised, a lengthy video exhibition of the HD7 awaits your eyeballs just past the break.

Gallery: HTC HD7 first hands-on!

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HTC HD7 preview (update: video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Oct 2010 10:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dell Venue Pro (aka Lightning) first hands-on!

Dell Venue Pro (aka Lightning) first hands-on!: "

You see that? That, comrades, is what happens when Lightning strikes! Or, you know, when Venue Pro strikes. So, it doesn't quite have the same ring to it, but no matter what you call Dell's Windows Phone 7 portrait slider, it's downright awesome. We got a chance to play around with an early build of the phone a few weeks ago -- as you'll hear us say in the video below, it was still codenamed the Lightning -- and we haven't been able to get it out of our minds since. The handset has a very similar look and feel to its Android brother, the Thunder -- its rounded chrome sides are reminiscent of an iPhone 3G/S, the black contoured back has a nice grippy feel, and the curved, WVGA AMOLED, Gorilla Glass screen is just stunning. The 4.1-inch capacitive, multitouch display is joined by additional back, home and search touch-sensitive buttons, all of which seemed responsive in our short time with the device. The back is also home to a 5 megapixel cam with flash while there's a 3.5mm headphone jack on the top of the device and a micro-USB port on the bottom edge.



But obviously, it's that glorious slide-out QWERTY keyboard that makes the Venue Pro, well, so pro. The rubber-feeling keys remind us a lot of those on the Droid 2 -- though, they feel a bit firmer -- and the slider mechanism felt sturdy when we slid it open and closed a number of times. On the spec front, we were told it was packing a Snapdragon processor, and while the phone seemed to briskly run an early build of WP7, we didn't get to test much out as Dell was lacking both a SIM and a nearby WiFi network. We'll be hoping to grab some more time with the T-Mobile version today, but from what we've seen so far we're fairly confident that Dell's struck pretty darn close to gold here. Oh, and don't forget to hit the break for a short video walkthrough of the hardware and keyboard.

Gallery: Dell Lightning / Venue Pro hands-on

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Dell Venue Pro (aka Lightning) first hands-on! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Oct 2010 09:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC 7 Surround graces AT&T with a slideout speaker, Windows Phone 7 credentials

HTC 7 Surround graces AT&T with a slideout speaker, Windows Phone 7 credentials: "

Need a break? No chance, there are still so many more phones to look at! HTC's sole Windows Phone 7 launch device for AT&T has just been revealed as the HTC 7 Surround. You'll remember this as the sexily titled T8788, which made us gape back in August with its unusual design that incorporates a slideout speaker. We can now add an integrated kickstand to the multimedia-friendly physical design, while the spec sheet (available in full after the break) is consistent with the rest of HTC's lineup. The 7 Surround offers a 3.8-inch WVGA display, a 1GHz Snapdragon chip from yesteryear, 576MB of RAM, 5 megapixel camera with 720p video, and Dolby Mobile and SRS Surround Sound technologies. This unconventional handset will be exclusive with AT&T in the US and Telus in Canada. Pricing in the US will be $199.99 on contract.

Gallery: HTC 7 Surround for AT&T press images

Continue reading HTC 7 Surround graces AT&T with a slideout speaker, Windows Phone 7 credentials

HTC 7 Surround graces AT&T with a slideout speaker, Windows Phone 7 credentials originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Oct 2010 09:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ultrasone Edition 10 headphones sound and are expensive: $2,749 for one of only 2010 made

Ultrasone Edition 10 headphones sound and are expensive: $2,749 for one of only 2010 made: "

Hands up if you actually know what ruthenium is. Don't worry if you don't, it's just used as an external plating on these extremely luxurious open-back cans. More familiar expensive materials can be found within, with titanium-plated 40mm drivers, silver-plated copper wires with 99.99 percent purity and kevlar-coated cables, and of course, for that extra special touch, Ethiopian sheepskin earcup pads. That's skin, not wool, so bear it in mind if you care for the welfare of little fluffy ones. Either way, the Ultrasone Edition 10s do seem like they've packed just enough luxury and exclusivity to justify their $2,745 price -- only thing we need now is a matching mahogany furniture set, preferably with some endangered species' heads adorning our walls.

Continue reading Ultrasone Edition 10 headphones sound and are expensive: $2,749 for one of only 2010 made

Ultrasone Edition 10 headphones sound and are expensive: $2,749 for one of only 2010 made originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Oct 2010 07:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung's Galaxy Tab will come with Gorilla Glass screen

Samsung's Galaxy Tab will come with Gorilla Glass screen: "

It might not share the Galaxy S' vibrant Super AMOLED display, but there is one way in which the Galaxy Tab's visage is identical to its elder smartphone sibling: both are protected by Gorilla Glass. Corning has just dropped a quickie press release to announce that Samsung's upcoming 7-inch tablet will benefit from its scratch- and impact-resistant alkali-aluminosilicate goodness. Guess now Samsung's ad advising us to stuff this slate into our pants pockets makes a lot more sense.



[Thanks, Olivier]

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Samsung's Galaxy Tab will come with Gorilla Glass screen originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Oct 2010 04:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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CineXPlayer adds iPhone and iPod touch to its Xvid party list, still won't cook your popcorn

CineXPlayer adds iPhone and iPod touch to its Xvid party list, still won't cook your popcorn: "

Remember how NXP Software surprised the world with its CineXPlayer iPad app just two months ago? Well, the gang is back to give our iPhone (3GS and 4) and iPod touch (3rd and 4th gen) the same dose of Xvid goodness. Like its older sibling, this $1.99 CineXPlayer utilizes the same method for easily sideloading your AVI files via iTunes (under the iDevice's Apps tab), and you'll also find a familiar-looking interface topped with an extra rotation-lock button -- much more useful than iOS' native lock that only lets you watch in portrait mode. Alas, video files other than of Xvid and DivX nature aren't currently supported, but hopefully it won't be long before the VLC iPad app gets a smaller variant as well.

Gallery: CineXPlayer for iPhone and iPod touch

CineXPlayer adds iPhone and iPod touch to its Xvid party list, still won't cook your popcorn originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Oct 2010 04:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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OnLive ditches monthly fees altogether, makes the world a freer place

OnLive ditches monthly fees altogether, makes the world a freer place: "

OnLive's cloud gaming service has just become exponentially more appealing with one simple move: monthly fees for its use have been scrapped. Company CEO Steve Perlman has gleefully dished the good news, garnishing them with the explication that such was the plan all along -- though it couldn't be announced in advance as there was uncertainty about whether the economics of the nascent on-demand service would work out to support its fee-free operation. So now that the beans have been counted, Perlman and co have done the best thing possible by under-promising and over-delivering -- all an OnLive user will need to pay for now are PlayPasses, which offer you three- or five-day access to a game, or you can buy the game in full, which comes with a minimum three-year guarantee of support after its release on OnLive. Paying only for the content you want to use? Now that truly is a revolutionary idea.



[Thanks, Kevin S.]

OnLive ditches monthly fees altogether, makes the world a freer place originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Oct 2010 03:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hitachi intros Travelstar 5K750 and 7K750 mobile hard drives: 750GB at 9.5mm

Hitachi intros Travelstar 5K750 and 7K750 mobile hard drives: 750GB at 9.5mm: "

It's a common story, really. Your puny 120GB mobile hard drive has been overflowing for months, and you've been waiting for what feels like an eternity for an affordable, capacious SSD. It's about time to give up the fantasy and get real, and thankfully Hitachi GST is making said pill a touch easier to swallow. The company's new Travelstar 5K750 (5400RPM; 8MB buffer) and 7K750 (7200RPM; 16MB buffer) have been announced this morning, and they're the company's first to feature Advanced Format. In other news, they're also the industry's largest drives in a standard-height form factor, cramming up to 750GB (375GB per platter) into a conventional 9.5mm shell that'll slip into just about any laptop made in the last decade. Yeah, WD managed to stuff 1TB into a laptop drive earlier in the year, but you'll need a machine that's beefy enough to handle a 12mm height drive in order to take advantage. At any rate, the drives will also be available in 500GB and 640GB sizes for those who can't handle three-quarters of a terabyte, and while the 5K750 family is already shipping in volume with a starting tag of $129.99, the speedier 7K750 crew won't be out until Q1 2011.

Continue reading Hitachi intros Travelstar 5K750 and 7K750 mobile hard drives: 750GB at 9.5mm

Hitachi intros Travelstar 5K750 and 7K750 mobile hard drives: 750GB at 9.5mm originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Oct 2010 03:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Data Robotics debuts 8-bay DroboPro FS with automatic offsite backup option

Data Robotics debuts 8-bay DroboPro FS with automatic offsite backup option: "

It was inevitable, really. First comes the business-oriented DroboPro, then comes the network-savvy Drobo FS. Mash the two together, and out pops the DroboPro FS. Design wise, it's the same 3U form factor that DroboPro users will recognize, but internally, Data Robotics has bumped the CPU speed from 800MHz in the Drobo FS to 1GHz here. There are eight total bays within, and a pair of gigabit Ethernet jacks around back; by default, the second port is used to connect to a different subnet (possibly for offsite file replication), while users can opt for a protection mode during setup if they'd rather it act as a fail-safe (in case the primary port kicks the bucket). More important than all of that, though, is the new Drobo Sync feature, which will be exclusive to the DroboPro FS for at least the time being. During setup, users simply input the IP address of another DroboPro FS; once that's plugged in, they can schedule automatic offsite backups as often as each hour or as infrequently as once per day.



Here's the thing: this automatic offsite sync only works with a pair of DroboPro FS devices, so you'll need to pick up two from the start and have 'em shipped to different addresses if you're interested in taking advantage. The good news, however, is that an intelligent syncing system specifically scans for minute file changes, so if you only change two cells in a 105MB Excel chart, only a few chunks of data will have to fly over your network rather than resending and overwriting the entire 105MB file. As for pricing? Given that these are meant for small biz, it's up there -- the empty base unit goes for $1,999, while at 8TB model (2TB x 4) lists for $2,699 and a 16TB behemoth (2TB x 8) sells for $3,299. The company also has plans to sell a two-device bundle (16TB x 2 units) for $6,399, aiming this at folks who want an offsite solution from the get-go. The box itself is available today from CDW, B&H and a few other e-tailers, and even if you're not feeling spendy, you can hit that More Coverage link for a chance to win yourself a gratis Drobo FS. It's a win-win, we tell ya.

Gallery: DroboPro FS press photos and data sheet

Continue reading Data Robotics debuts 8-bay DroboPro FS with automatic offsite backup option

Data Robotics debuts 8-bay DroboPro FS with automatic offsite backup option originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Oct 2010 01:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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