Engadget

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

With the release of the Windows 8 Consumer Preview, more consumers can more easily experience Metro, along with Metro-style apps. With this new approach, Microsoft is making the most radical shift in user interface it's ever attempted -- a change so drastic it will supplant the desktop as the default user experience.

This week epic green transportation initiatives kicked off around the world as Inhabitat reported that Shenzhen, China launched the world's largest electric vehicle fleet and London's brand new Eco-Routemaster hybrid bus hit the streets for the first time. We also showcased an earthquake-proof Japanese building system capable of levitating an entire house, and we brought you sneak peeks at the hottest eco vehicles that will be unveiled at next week's Geneva Motor Show, including Hyundai's sexy i-oniq hybrid and Infiniti's Emerg-E plug-in. Audi also turned heads with its souped-up R18 E-Tron Quattro hybrid Le Mans racer, and Perave's 350 MPGe MonoTracer electric motorcycle hit the market.

It was also a bright week for renewable energy with a revolutionary spherical solar cell capable of capturing light from all directions, and Austria Solar sending out a "sun-powered" annual report that only appears when exposed to sunlight. Meanwhile, we said goodbye to the polluting energy technology of the past as Midwest utilities shuttered 10 fossil fuel-powered plants and the world's oldest nuclear reactor closed up shop in the UK. Brilliant designers also chased away dark winter days with a sunflower-shaped heliostat that can flood any house with natural light and a cheap, photovoltaic Little Sun lamp for the developing world.

Green tech also wired the world in exciting new ways as the Smithonian Institute announced plans to replicate and share its collection with the world using 3D printing tech and a 14-year-old boy invented an incredible LEGO printer. We also watched HP launch an all-in-one workstation that pops open for easy DIY upgrades and repairs, while Huawei unveiled a soaring Pegasus sculpture made from 3,500 smartphones. Last but not least we brought you a look at Google's new Terminator-style augmented vision goggles, and we shared a fun tutorial on geocaching with your children.

We don't think there is such a thing as Racing stripes "2.0", but if there was, this is what it might look like. Audi's "Visions" project brings the OLEDs we know and love to the outside of the not-so-humble automobile. Like something out of Tron, the fancy light array in the concept we see here hints at how external lighting on cars might look in the near future. Stephan Berlitz, Head of Lighting Electronics for the car maker, states that we're still some way out from OLED surfaces replacing front and brake lights, due to low currents and the temperature ranges the diodes can presently operate under. We might, however, see it replacing tail and side lights before too long. If you watch the video after the break, you may have a few ideas for those pseudo-screens of your own.

Not to be outdone by the Nokia 808's appearance at MWC, HTC has released sample shots taken using the ImageSense camera module that comes in its One X and One S phones. In many ways they're normal-looking stills, with nothing like PureView's 41-megapixel oversampling (which is claimed to result in a superior 5-megapixel still), and certainly no over-sized 1/1.2-inch sensor. However, if you look closely, you can see the benefits of some of HTC's improvements. Top among those is the faster f/2.0 lens, which will allow for shorter exposures and clearer moving subjects -- like the skateboarders above. Such images will also likely benefit from the 0.7-second time window for capturing an image and the 0.2-second auto-focus when shooting continuously. Whatever you make of the sample shots in the gallery below, HTC can also claim one key advantage over PureView: camera technology that still fits into a regular-sized smartphone.

Look who just beat Nokia, ZTE and Lenovo to launching the first official Windows Phone in China? At the opening of HTC's first Chinese flagship store in Beijing yesterday (pictured after the break), Sina Tech's Zāng Zhì Yuān noticed that the company's already accepting pre-orders for the 4.7-inch Titan, which is priced at ¥4,399 or about $700 sans contract -- very much in the high-end of the market, surprisingly enough. In fact, we had already heard HTC's managers claiming to have the first Chinese Windows Phone at MWC last week, except they couldn't comment on the actual timing.

Judging by the sign above, the only noticeable difference here -- depending on your Chinese literacy -- is that the phone's dubbed Triumph locally; but additionally, HTC informed us that its first Chinese Windows Phone will be powered by WP7.5 Tango, with its Facebook and Twitter integration replaced by the likes of Sina Weibo, Tencent Weixin and SkyDrive to play the local rules. If you'll recall, such localization is very much what Nokia's Stephen Elop had confirmed in our Engadget Show interview back in November. So, any bets on who's next in line to climb over the Great Wall?

Got an Android tab and don't like its government manufacturer-issue UI? Then why not join the ranks of the launcher rebel alliance. GO Launcher EX for phones has been around for a while, but now it's been upscaled for Honeycomb 3.0+ slates under the GO HD moniker. It's only a beta release, and with that comes the normal caveats on functionality -- such as a lack of fancy transitions -- but you can still make other tweaks to your tab's interface, such as alter the grid size and customize your dock. Ready to cross enemy lines? Then launch your browser toward the source for the download.

It's good to see a special edition that may actually deserve its name, for once. When the silver version of the popular K-5 came out last year, it was priced at $1,700 body-only. This new kit, which will be limited to 1,500 units worldwide and available from April, will cost just $1,600 including the bundled lens. And it's decent glass: an ultra-thin, Marc Newson designed beauty with a 40mm fixed focal length and f/2.8 aperture -- just like on the mirrorless K-01. The only thing missing? There's no sign of a "Limited Edition" stamp anywhere on it, but luckily we're too modest to notice.

In a move that is sure to surprise no one, it appears AT&T is getting ready to send its trusty 2G GSM network riding off into the sunset. MarketWatch is reporting that some Ma Bell customers have received letters, urging them to upgrade to a 3G or (gasp) 4G device and warning that service may degrade in some areas as spectrum is repurposed. While the letter stops short of saying the 2G network is being shut down, it seems the writing is on the wall. With the collapse of the T-Mobile acquisition and Verizon's sizable lead in the race to acquire spectrum, AT&T is left with little choice but to use its GSM channels for HSPA+ and LTE service. So far the notices have only gone out to customers in the New York metro area, but it seems safe to assume other locales will follow. The only question is whether the carrier will lean on hold-outs the same way it did when the time came to kill off TDMA -- with a tax on primitive technology.

"What would be the best Android PMP (basically, an Android iPod Touch) to get? I don't want a data plan and I'm normally within WiFi, so I just want to run apps and surf the internet from it. The best thing I've found so far is the Galaxy Player, but that's only got Gingerbread. What suggestions do you guys have?"

If we're honest, we're not sure if he'd just be better off with a small tablet, but his wish is our command. A PMP-class device that runs Honeycomb or better, that's a more attractive prospect than the Gingerbread-running Galaxy Player? Does such a device exist, or would it be better just to get the ROMs out and pimp one of Samsung's devices that way? You know the answers dear friends, don't let us down.

It remains to be seen if it's a full-on change of policy, but it looks like Amazon is at least shifting it stance when it comes to where some of the ebooks put out by its Amazon Publishing division are sold. As you may recall, Barnes & Noble and other booksellers recently pulled print editions of Amazon Publishing books from their store shelves because the ebook versions were only sold in the Kindle Store, a stance that B&N said "undermined the industry as a whole." Now, Amazon has confirmed that its latest addition to the Amazon Publishing roster, a series of short biographies edited by James Atlas, will indeed be sold outside of the Amazon ecosystem in both print and ebook form. Whether B&N and other bookstores will actually carry them remains to be seen, of course, but an Amazon spokesperson told The New York Times that its "intention is to distribute these books as broadly as possible." That change was further clarified by PaidContent, which was told by Amazon that "the books will be available to be sold everywhere in all formats."

We've seen some pretty incredible smartphones and technologies at MWC, but it goes without saying that one of the hottest topics at the show was Android, and speculation over the release and alias of its next-gen operating system. Based on Google's update schedule, it's within reason to expect Android 5.0 to hit within the next year -- but which popular confection will bear the honor or representing the latest OS flavor? There's been little doubt that the jelly bean will fill that role, and now ASUS has confirmed to TechRadar not only that delectable moniker -- Jelly Bean -- but also that the company will likely be among the first to get the new OS. That claim came from VP Benson Lin, who said "Asus is very close to Google, so once they have Android 5.0 I think there will be a high possibility that we will be the first wave to offer the Jelly Bean update." So, there you have it. Now go get to scooping up every variation of the Je!!y 8ean domain.

The mobile world's biggest players have exhausted themselves again, taking us with them in the process. While HTC and Nokia seemed to grab a lot of the attention, Samsung stayed quiet -- at least for now -- there was still a veritable pile of devices and news to cover from everyone else. Let's take a look at what caught our attention during the week.