Google Inc. has opened its first retail store in London to display Chromebooks and promote the always-connected laptops, according to the company’s official website. The search giant opened Chrome Zone Sept. 30 in an electronics superstore in the hope that consumers will spend time discovering web applications on a Chromebook and chat with Chrome specialists. “Many things in life, like football and rock music, are best experienced in person. Chromebooks are no exception,” Laura Thompson, Google’s product marketing manager, posted on the Google Chrome blog. Google’s Chromebooks, unveiled in June this year bearing the brand names of South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co. and Taiwan’s Acer Inc., are supposed to offer users a quicker and simpler experience by storing all software and data using cloud computer technology. So far, only the 12.1-inch Samsung Chromebook is for sale at Chrome Zone, with Acer’s 11.6-inch version yet to be launched in the U.K., according to the U.K.-based online news TechRadar. Thompson said Google will open more Chrome Zones in additional locations in the U.K. over the next few months, but did not say whether the retail store concept will make its way to other countries. Chromebooks are currently being sold in the U.S., the U.K., France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy and South Korea.
Research In Motion’s retail partners have begun slashing prices on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet in an effort to bolster unimpressive sales. RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie confirmed on the company’s second-quarter earnings call that price drops were imminent after the company reported just 200,000 units shipped into channels during the tablet’s first full quarter of availability. YoGadgets reported earlier this month that Rogers employees were able to purchase the PlayBook starting at $250, and now the general public can finally get in on the action. Read more…
The new features in the software upgrade of the 2011 Xperia™ smartphones.
This upgrade will include an upgrade to Android 2.3.4, Google Talk with Video Chat (models with front-facing camera), updated Facebook inside Xperia™ functionality for enhanced like, share and discover abilities, 3D sweep panorama functionality powered by Sony, swipe text input, screen capture on your phone with easy sharing and USB on the go to turn your Xperia™ smartphone into a mini-mobile PC by connecting USB peripherals (mouse, keyboard or game controller) to Sony Ericsson LiveDock™ multimedia station. Combining that with HDMI to a TV you can have a big screen experience with your Xperia™ smartphone.
The Xperia Mini Pro camera is a 5MP effort with a single LED flash, and is capable of recording 720p HD footage. The LED is pretty darn bright for such a small package, flinging out bucketloads of photons even in only semi-darkness, and also acts as a handy video light too. Read more…
None of other video sharing site has become as popular as YouTube. Many of us must have uploaded at least a couple of clips to share with friends. However, there was no way to tweak the uploaded videos, until now.
Google has now implemented an Edit video button on the My Videos page. It enables you to stabilize your shaky footage, rotate it, and boost the contrast as well as colours. Moreover, there are a number of effects available, such as Black and White, Thermal, and Cartoon. Since the editing is performed online, you don’t have to re-upload the video. This means you won’t lose your view count and comments.
The editor also features an option to revert to the original, so you don’t have to worry about your experiment going horribly wrong. Here’s a quick video showing what you can do with the editor : Read more…
Several of Samsung’s forthcoming Android, Windows Phone and bada devices have been leaked by telefonino.net. If the leak is indeed legitimate, Samsung will surely have some big announcements during the Berlin-based IFA trade show in early September and probably at CTIA Fall 2011 in October as well. Starting things off, the P6200 is said to be a 7-inch Honeycomb tablet with a 1024 x 600-pixel Super AMOLED display, an HSDPA radio, a 3-megapixel camera and a 2-megapixel forward-facing camera for video chats. Also on deck is the Samsung I9250, which is apparently equipped with a 4.65-inch 1280 x 720-pixel Super AMOLED HD display, a 5-megapixel camera and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Samsung’s first Windows Phone Mango device could be the Samsung i8350 Omnia W, which offers a 3.7-inch WVGA display, a 1GHz processor and a 5-megapixel camera. It’s expected to launch in October according to the report, which is on a par with Microsoft’s leaked Mango launch plans. Read on for more details on Samsung’s Android and bada handsets.
By now, you’ve no doubt seen the news: Google intends to acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion. What this will do is not only give Google access to Motorola’s vast patent library consisting of nearly 25,000 patents, but it will also give Google an end-to-end hardware and software strategy with smartphones, tablets and even with Google TV. The thing is, Google didn’t need to buy Motorola. Google could have just licensed the patents from Motorola. Google bought Motorola because it felt like control of the Android experience was slipping away. It’s apparent that one Nexus-like device from Google a year won’t be enough — MOTOBLUR has probably given Andy Rubin ulcers — and it’s apparent that a company that’s leading in many areas of the smartphone arena wants to control that entire experience. Open or not, it is Google’s, after all. Smartphones and tablets are also going to be the biggest categories in technology for the foreseeable future, and if you think Google is just going to play around with that, well, you obviously haven’t seen the company’s recent moves. Read on for more.
HTC, Samsung, LG, and other manufacturers are probably pissed. Regardless of any protection they might receive from Google owning Motorola’s patent library, and regardless of recent official comments, they are now not only competing with one of the best Android device vendors, but also with Google itself. The end result? You’re going to see HTC, Samsung and LG continue to buy up as many Beats-like companies as possible to further differentiate their Android experiences, because they’re not going to have anything else to offer pretty soon. There are only so many ways to physically differentiate a touchscreen device, and with Google in control of its own hardware, software and services, differentiation could become the key to other partners’ survival the Android ecosystem.
Sprint on Monday announced that it will launch Research In Motion’s latest CDMA smartphones – the BlackBerry Bold 9930 and the BlackBerry Torch 9850 – on Sunday, August 21st. In line with YoGadgets’s exclusive report from earlier this month, Sprint will offer the Bold 9930 for $249.99 on contract and the Torch 9850 will cost $149.99 on contract after a $50 mail-in rebate. The Bold 9930 is RIM’s brand new touch-and-type flagship smartphone, which launched on rival carrier Verizon Wireless this morning at the same $250 price point. The Torch 9850 is an affordable full touchscreen smartphone that picks up where RIM’s Storm lineup left off. Both smartphones feature Research In Motion’s latest BlackBerry 7 OS and are part of the largest global launch in RIM’s storied history. Sprint’s full press release follows below.
Apple has yet to release a MacBook with an integrated 3G modem, but that doesn’t mean the company hasn’t toyed with the idea. A 2007 15-inch MacBook Pro has surfaced on eBay with a built-in 3G antenna and a SIM-card slot. The seller says he or she originally purchased the 3G-capable MacBook Pro “for parts,” from a former Apple engineer and said “it was immediately clear this was no normal MacBook Pro.” The machine’s SIM card slot is still recognized by OS X 10.6.8 Leopard but the seller has been unable to get the data connection working properly, and noted that “it’s entirely possible it never worked.” The high bid for the one-of-a-kind MacBook Pro was $11,211.11 at the time of this writing. Read on for a few more images.
Google’s proposed acquisition of Motorola on Monday nearly overshadowed Motorola’s latest Android smartphone, the DEFY+. Like the original DEFY, the DEFY+ is water resistant, scratch resistant and dust proof. It is equipped with a 1GHz processor, Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) with MOTOBLUR, a 3.7-inch screen, a 5-megapixel camera, 2GB of internal storage and a 1,700 mAh battery. Motorola says the DEFY+ will be available in Asia, Europe and Latin America beginning in early fall, but we also suspect we’ll see a variant land on T-Mobile to replace the DEFY. Read on for the full press release.
The Xperia Mini Pro camera is a 5MP effort with a single LED flash, and is capable of recording 720p HD footage. The LED is pretty darn bright for such a small package, flinging out bucketloads of photons even in only semi-darkness, and also acts as a handy video light too.
