Cell Phone Hub

The International Imaging Industry Association — colloquially known as I3A — announced today that Google’s signed on as a member of the non-profit organization. They’ve also simultaneously announced that pre-existing member Microsoft has joined forces with Google on the Camera Phone Image Quality Initiative. What’s that all about? The initiative, which also calls Motorola, Eastman Kodak, Nokia, and other members, is dedicated to creating the metrics needed to “produce an accurate and repeatable testing program for camera phone image quality.” Considering the wild variances in quality among different cellphones, such formalized measurement techniques would surely be welcomed by everyone on planet earth.

Google and Microsoft join I3A’s Camera Phone Image Quality Initiative originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

White space devices seem likely to play a major part in the FCC’s solution to the wireless spectrum crisis. Operating in the buffers between frequencies used by television broadcasts, these devices will be able to exploit TV’s airspace without interfering with the incumbent users’ traffic. The unlicensed utilization of white spaces has been approved going on for a year now, but really important government stuff has gotten in the way of making that vote a reality. It was only recently that Claudville, Virginia got the very first such network, and initial results show that it hasn’t disrupted any of the fine, fine programming percolating the local airwaves. The only issue we see is that your WSD will need to be capable of both identifying its own position by GPS and hooking up to the database to find out what bands it may use, but then it’s not like anyone sells smartphones without these capabilities nowadays, is it?

FCC starts up white spaces database, devices now inevitable originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Dec 2009 06:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apparently us Yanks have been spoiled by the warm embrace of Google Maps Navigation, forgetting that our friends in the UK don’t have the same luxury. Leave it to Electricpig to connect worlds, finding a somewhat hack-induced way to bring the app upgrade to British Android 1.6 devices. Instructions are pretty easy, so if you’re game, don your DIY hat and click over.

Update: As indicated, the gang at xda-developers forum have been doing this for some time now. Consider the tutorial provided here as very straightforward and easy to follow — anyone with an Android 1.6 device would be remiss not to give Navigation a shot now.

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Google Maps Navigation makes trip across the pond, thanks to some hackery originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Nov 2009 20:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Hey — what’s that? Oh right, it’s the LG eXpo, the slider with a pico projector jammed inside. Among other things, the full QWERTY slider’s packing a 1GHz CPU, a 3.2-inch touchscreen, a 5 megapixel camera, a microSD slot, and of course that removable Texas Instruments projector. The just-announced handset bears quite a strong resemblance to the Monaco we heard about way back in May — though from the looks of it, its lost all of the brassiness we were so fond of. The eXpo runs Windows Mobile 6.5, and it will hit AT&T on December 7th for $199 after a mail in rebate with a two year contract — plus an additional $179 should you choose to opt in on that projector.

Continue reading LG’s pico projector-packing WinMo eXpo outed for AT&T

LG’s pico projector-packing WinMo eXpo outed for AT&T originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

File this under “it’s not a bug, it’s a feature” if true. According to Guyver at the maemo.org forums, some glitch in the OS caused his Nokia N900 to switch into portrait mode for everything, not just dialer and photo apps as previously allowed. We’d love to eliminate the need for two hands to run our favorite chunks of mobile software, but so far we haven’t been able to recreate his trick. Try it at home if you’d like by tilting the device to launch the phone app, then sliding up the screen and closing the app. Perhaps the gang at Espoo can turn this into a legit update — if they’re awesome people, of course. Video after the break.

Continue reading Nokia N900 glitch leads to useful portrait mode, caught on video

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Nokia N900 glitch leads to useful portrait mode, caught on video originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 29 Nov 2009 15:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

O iPhone3,1, where art thou? Last time we spotted that signature, it was buried in lines of code as part of a beta OS 3.0 firmware build. Now according to data from analytics software inside iBART, the San Francisco-centric transportation app has been host to a new visitor with the aforementioned device identification number. As MacRumors points out, iPhone2,1 was originally spotted in October 2008 and later became the iPhone 3GS about eight months later. Not that it’s necessarily the case Apple will keep to the same schedule — nor should it come as a surprise that the company’s maybe-kinda-sorta looking into a successor to its prized moneymaker — but if you happen to be in the Bay Area and see someone quietly pulling out a sleek touchscreen, it might be in your best interest to make friends.

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Mysterious iPhone model found in app usage records? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 29 Nov 2009 13:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Clocking in at 1:48, this glimpse at LG’s IQ (a.k.a. Monaco) is indeed very brief and not much is said. It’s got a fingerprint sensor lock, S-class UI (which we knew), and that backing is definitely Windows Mobile 6.5, but for everything else we’ll have to refer to the previous specs we’ve seen leaked. As noted twice by the voice behind the on-screen hand, it’s coming “this holiday season” and will be exclusive to Telus, so all the fine print should be revealed soon. Video after the break.

Continue reading LG IQ (Monaco) demoed on video, coming to Telus ‘this holiday season’

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LG IQ (Monaco) demoed on video, coming to Telus ‘this holiday season’ originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Nov 2009 22:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Pomera DM20 Digital Memo puts your old Brother to shame originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

We’ve thought before how nice it might be to have some powers of magnification on the iPhone’s cam… but are we going to go out and mod our unit? Probably not, but that doesn’t mean we can’t admire someone else’s work. Taking various lenses and attaching them to the lid of a jar, the modder quite carefully built a contraption that looks a little “hobo Steampunk” to us, but we’re still fairly impressed with this little gadget. Hit the read link for full, detailed instructions and more photos if you’d like to make one of your own.

iPhone camera mod for magnification: because you can originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Right on schedule, the latest BlackBerry to grace the Verizon’s CDMA spectrum, the Curve 8530, is now on sale. A 2.5-inch display, OS 5.0, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and yes, WiFi — take that, Tour. Price is $199.99 on two-year contract, with an added $100 discount if you buy it online. Let’s be honest, what else were you gonna spend that money on tonight, hm?

Filed under: Cellphones

BlackBerry Curve 8530 now putting Verizon through the rounds originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.