Archive for the ‘Phones’ Category

Motorola Atrix HD Packs High-End Specs Into a $100 Phone

Motorola’s Atrix HD offers high-end specs at a $100 price point. Image: Motorola

Mid-range smartphones are getting better — on paper at least. On Tuesday, Motorola introduced the Atrix HD, a $100 phone packed with high-end specs.

The Atrix HD, a follow up to last year’s Atrix and Atrix 2 handsets, features a 4.5-inch display with a 1280×720 resolution and 331ppi pixel density. The screen is covered in scratch-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass, and inside the Atrix will have a dual-core 1.5GHz CPU and 1GB of RAM.

The phone looks a lot like Motorola’s sleek Droid Razr and Droid Razr Maxx handsets, coming in at 0.33 inches thick and backed in DuPont Kevlar that looks a lot like carbon fiber. The Atrix HD will also feature a 720p front-facing camera for high-definition video chats, and an 8-megapixel, 1080p camera on the back. There’s also an HDMI port for connecting the phone to a TV or external monitor.

Being an AT&T-exclusive, the Atrix HD will run on AT&T’s 4G LTE network. Powering the device will be Motorola’s version of Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich. All of these specs help place the Atrix in competition with top-of-the-line phones such as the HTC One X and the Samsung Galaxy S III. The Atrix HD will ship with only 8GB of included storage, but at a price of $100 (on a 2-year contract of course) and an available microSD card slot, bumping up storage shouldn’t be a problem for most consumers.

The Atrix HD hits stores on July 15 in both white and black. We should be getting a test unit soon, so stay tuned for a full review of the Atrix HD as well.

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Review: Nokia 808 PureView

The Nokia 808 PureView. Photo by Ariel Zambelich/Wired

The Nokia 808 PureView is the most exciting smartphone on the market that you shouldn’t buy.

The phone generated a ton of buzz at February’s Mobile World Congress, not because it sports a stunning display or has the latest software features — in fact, the 808 PureView runs on Symbian, an outdated operating system Nokia has openly dismissed in favor of Microsoft’s Windows Phone OS.

The 808 PureView is captivating because of one feature, and one feature alone: the on-board 41-megapixel camera. The highest-end smartphones all come with 8-megapixel cameras. Compared to those cameras, a 41-megapixel camera sensor seems totally over-the-top and unnecessary. But what Nokia has developed with its homegrown PureView imaging technology is, by far, the best camera I’ve seen on a smartphone.

That doesn’t mean it’s a good phone. It’s actually a pretty terrible phone with an outstanding camera. You should only consider buying the 808 PureView if you really love mobile phone photography. Even then, you’re probably better off waiting until Nokia’s PureView technology comes paired with a better OS, like Windows Phone (and Nokia confirmed to Neowin Sunday that PureView will arrive in its Windows-powered Lumia phones “very soon”). Also consider that, in the U.S., the phone is currently only available as an unlocked device for AT&T and T-Mobile networks at the high, unsubsidized price of $700.

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Court Clears Samsung Galaxy Nexus For Sale But Patent Battle Continues

Samsung Galaxy Nexus

The Galaxy Nexus is at the center of a patent dispute between Apple and Samsung and, after a week of being banned from sale, is now cleared to be sold again. Photo: Ariel Zambelich/Wired

Winning a minor victory in its patent battle with Apple, Samsung entered the weekend with its Galaxy Nexus cleared for sale — at least temporarily.

Last week, a U.S. federal court handed down a preliminary sales ban on Samsung’s flagship Android phone. In a San Jose court, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh granted Apple the preliminary injunction after deciding that the Nexus smartphone may violate a patent Apple owns regarding “unified search,” a feature in which Apple’s Siri voice assistant searches both the web and the contents of a mobile device.

On Friday, however, a U.S. appeals court overturned Koh’s ruling, which would have barred the Galaxy Nexus from being sold until July 30, the date on which a patent trial concerning the dispute is set to begin.

The Galaxy Nexus is now back on sale in the Google Play storefront, but the reinstatement remains tenuous. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said in a document that it is lifting the sales ban, but could decide to put it back in place after hearing arguments from Apple. The appeals court gave Apple until July 12 to respond, according to a report from Foss Patents.

Officials at Samsung were unavailable for comment by press time on Saturday. While not named in the patent suit, Google has said it is readying an imminent software update for Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) that will allow Samsung to sell the Galaxy Nexus without facing any patent conflicts. On Saturday, the Nexus’ listing in the Google Play store was updated, stating that the phone “ships soon” and when it does, will be running the latest version of Android, 4.1 Jelly Bean, which also includes the software changes.

In the same patent fight, Apple has also won a temporary sales injunction against the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet, which Apple argues looks and feels illegally close to the iPad. The appeals court has not overturned that sales ban.

Via The Verge.

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Why an Amazon Smartphone Launch Makes Perfect Sense

The Amazon Store app is currently available for Android and iOS. Releasing a Smartphone could enhance that mobile shopping experience. Photo: Ariel Zambelich/Wired

Amazon is having a banner week in the rumor department. On Wednesday, the China Times reported that Amazon is spinning up production of a next-gen Kindle Fire for a release date sometime in the next two months. And now the huge online retailer is once again the target of smartphone speculation — not bad for a company that was best known for book, garment and small appliances deliveries just 12 months ago.

Bloomberg reports Friday that Amazon is currently developing a smartphone to compete with iPhone and Android phones already on the market. The report cites two sources with knowledge of the matter.

According to one of the sources, Amazon is working with Foxconn, Apple’s iPhone and iPad supplier, to bring the smartphone to the market. Unfortunately, the Bloomberg report doesn’t include a timeframe for the Amazon phone’s arrival.

Today’s news harkens all the way back to November 2011 when Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney told investors, “Based on our supply chain check, we believe FIH [Foxconn] is now jointly developing the phone with Amazon.” Mahaney noted that the smartphone could be expected in the fourth quarter of 2012. Just in time for the holidays.
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Olympus Takes a Third Stab at Wearable Computer Glasses

Olympus puts wearable displays back in its sights. Photo: Olympus

Google might be wowing the world with its Google Glass wearable computing specs, but this seems to only inspire Olympus to work harder. The company best known for its cameras and audio recorders just announced a third attempt at augmented-reality glasses, and now we wait to see who will release a publicly available version first.

If Olympus’ wearable computing track record is anything to go by, Google will probably strike first.

The Japanese arm of Olympus announced Thursday the MEG4.0 prototype. The wearable computing device contains a 320×240 display that resides directly above the right eye of the wearer. This display placement is similar to how Google Glass handles its own optics.

But unlike Google’s wearable device, the MEG4.0 connects to a user’s smartphone via Bluetooth to deliver vital information. The HMD (Head Mounted Display) renders information using Olympus’ proprietary Pupil Division Optical System, which, according to Olympus, is bright enough to be seen outdoors without sacrificing battery life.

The MEG4.0 also includes GPS and an accelerometer to help determine the orientation of the glasses. Curiously, the glasses do not contain a camera, an element Google was keen to demo during its Google I/O keynote with a plethora of extreme stunts. It’s odd that Olympus, a company best known for its cameras, would eschew a camera in its computer headset.

While it might first appear that Olympus is trying to steal some Googly thunder, this isn’t the Japanese company’s first foray into wearable computing. In 2005, Olympus prototyped a pair of glasses that displayed alerts about incoming emails and mass transit schedules just below one’s sight line. And, in 2008, Olympus teamed up with Future Creation Laboratory and Human Media Lab to create a pair of glasses dubbed the Eye-Trek. These specs would display information to the wearer about nearby items of interest. Neither of these prototypes ever hit the market.

Information about a release date or which mobile OS the Bluetooth-connected glasses would sync with were unavailable in the press release. Unfortunately, like many companies that are based in multiple countries, the U.S. arm of Olympus was unaware of the Japanese announcement, and, as of press time, was unable to supply Wired with more information.

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