| LG Eclipse may be coming to Sprint and AT&T by Halloween Jun 14th 2012, 19:21  After initial specs and a few decent pics bubbled up to the surface of the internet, the "superphone" known as the LG Eclipse is shedding its shyness. The device, supposedly sporting a quad-core Krait APQ8064 with Adreno 320 GPU, has been spotted with a User Agent Profile and Bluetooth 4.0 Certification. Even better, it appears to be in two distinct flavors: the LS970 for Sprint and the E970, allegedly for AT&T (according to leaked benchmarks, at least, which we'll discuss in a moment). The User Agent Profile, listed specifically for the E970, confirms the 1280 x 768 screen resolution; if the phone does indeed offer a 4.67-inch panel, this means we can expect a pixel density of a rather respectable 320ppi. Also, the Bluetooth sheet mentions that the device -- referring to both models -- "will be available on North America market around 2012.10.31." We can definitely see this as a potential winner for the holiday season, though we wouldn't be surprised if LG's upcoming superphone faces its fair share of stiff competition when it launches. In addition to the official docs, a keen-eyed tipster also spotted the device making the benchmark rounds: it was seen on GLBenchmark, AnTuTu and Nenamark2. We have to be a bit more skeptical when looking at test results, since they're pretty easy to fabricate. With that disclaimer, the Adreno scores were quite impressive on GLBench, with the LS970 notching 125fps using the offscreen Egypt test (the E970 got a score of 113fps). As for the other tests, the E970 netted an average 58.8 on NenaMark and the LS970 got 11,663 on AnTuTu -- putting it ever-so-slightly higher than the Tegra 3-powered HTC One X. Unfortunately, this test also mentioned that the LS970 uses a screen resolution of 1280 x 720. If this turns out to be true, this means that AT&T's version will offer a tad better display. Not that 720p is bad by any stretch of the imagination; it just probably won't be among the best in the market come this holiday season. The full suite of links can be found below, so have a look and see if anything else pops out.
[Thanks, Ketul] LG Eclipse may be coming to Sprint and AT&T by Halloween originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Jun 2012 15:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink |  Bluetooth SIG, LG UAP | Email this | Comments | | Project Hexapod: eyes-on with Gimpy, the (half-scale) giant robot leg Jun 14th 2012, 19:02  Admittedly, this is one of our shorter editors on staff. But he is, believe it or not, an adult male that stands five foot, eight inches tall. Which puts that giant chunk of metal next to him at about five feet. Turns out, that slab of black steel is a prototype robot leg -- and one that's only half scale. It's the work of a bunch of hobbyists, engineers and hackers at the Artisan's Asylum in Somerville, MA where its the big dog amongst a pile of other amazing projects. This is simply an early stage in the building of what will ultimately be one of the largest six-legged robots in the world, dubbed Stompy. All told some 19 different people are hard at work on the bot as part of an intensive class taught by Gui Cavalcanti, James Whong and Dan Cody at the hacker space that covers everything from metal work, to hydraulics, and, of course, robotics. When it started in April, the goal was to build a fully functional and rideable hexapod in four months time, by breaking down the project into much simpler to tackle tasks. Now the class is gearing up to enter the final stages, namely, building the full scale mechanical monster. Continue reading Project Hexapod: eyes-on with Gimpy, the (half-scale) giant robot leg Project Hexapod: eyes-on with Gimpy, the (half-scale) giant robot leg originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Jun 2012 15:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Project Hexapod | Email this | Comments | | Chameleon adaptive Android home screen returns to view, Kickstarter Jun 14th 2012, 18:44  For three days, Chameleon lived up to its name, disappearing from the web as quickly as it arrived. The Android home screen's Kickstarter page spent most of this week offline, after the Amazon Payments account holder departed the company, leaving Chameleon without any way to collect on its pledges. Fortunately, the project has now returned, and is already more than a third of the way through to its $30,000 funding goal. And, as an apology of sorts for the inconvenience, new backers (or re-backers) of five dollars or more will receive five "bonus" Chameleon backgrounds. Regardless of whether this modest offer or the launcher's potential is responsible for the seemingly considerable interest, the project is back up and running -- this time though the July 4th deadline, we hope. Jump past the break and hit up our source link to make your pledge. Chameleon adaptive Android home screen returns to view, Kickstarter originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Jun 2012 14:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Kickstarter | Email this | Comments | | ASUS PadFone gets its first firmware update, minor bugs removed Jun 14th 2012, 18:31  We've been regularly poking the "Check Update" button on our PadFone since the release of our epic review, and just as promised, today ASUS has finally delivered the hybrid device's first OTA update. While the release notes have yet to pop up, we can see that the system firmware on our Taiwanese model's been upgraded to IML74K.CHT_PadFone-9.18.8.41_CHT_9.1.15-0, which has eliminated some of the bugs that we had reported to ASUS. For instance, the missing change-keyboard button in ASUS' Chinese handwriting input method has been reinstated, and trace input in ASUS' English keyboard is now working properly. Sadly, the "A" and "L" keys are still easy to miss -- we're accustomed to their larger sensitive areas on the native Android keyboard, so we shall stick to that for the time being. Also sent along is the camera firmware's update which brings the version number up to f09951, and consequently we're no longer getting an erroneous "no GPS signal" message in the camera app. Last but not least, the PadFone Station's firmware is now at version p40, but we've yet to notice any difference. Until we get the update log, don't be afraid to drop us a note in the comments if you spot anything else new. Update: We almost forgot to mention that the PadFone's already out in Singapore, and our pals over at Engadget Spanish reported earlier today that it's also heading to tiendas españolas next month. Likewise for Italy, according to Notebook Italia. ASUS PadFone gets its first firmware update, minor bugs removed originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Jun 2012 14:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | Facebook, Google, Twitter spearhead Ads Integrity Alliance to thwart villainous ads Jun 14th 2012, 18:20  Online heavy-hitters Google, Facebook, Twitter, AOL (Engadget's parent company) and the Interactive Advertising Bureau have have struck an alliance aimed at ridding nasty advertising "from all corners of the web." Stemming from the existing StopBadware group that began in 2006, the group will develop policies, build a platform for identifying scofflaws and share trends with government and law enforcement. For its part, Google curbed 130 million ads promoting counterfeit articles, malware and worse in 2011, but said baddies would normally move their shady businesses to another corner of the internet. Thus, the aim of this new league is to aid players across the web with its super resources in a bid to stop the knavery, no matter where it tries to hide. Facebook, Google, Twitter spearhead Ads Integrity Alliance to thwart villainous ads originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Jun 2012 14:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink  Business Wire | Google Official Blog | Email this | Comments | | IRL: Canon Powershot D20, FX Photo Studio and Nikon's 35mm f/1.8G lens Jun 14th 2012, 18:00 Welcome to IRL, an ongoing feature where we talk about the gadgets, apps and toys we're using in real life and take a second look at products that already got the formal review treatment. It's photo week here at IRL. Turns out, quite a few Engadget editors are in the mood to talk up their shooting gear lately. On the camera side, Edgar recently took the PowerShot D20 on his honeymoon in Jamaica, while Darren's been giving FX Photo Studio a whirl (spoiler: he still prefers Snapseed). And say hello to our new copy editor Philip Palermo, who says if he had to live with just one lens for his Nikon D90, it would be the 35mm f/1.8G. Continue reading IRL: Canon Powershot D20, FX Photo Studio and Nikon's 35mm f/1.8G lens IRL: Canon Powershot D20, FX Photo Studio and Nikon's 35mm f/1.8G lens originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Jun 2012 14:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | Sony STR-DN1030 7.2-channel home theater receiver with Airplay and Bluetooth hands-on Jun 14th 2012, 17:48  Truth be told, we spend a lot of time listening to music, movies and hands-on video clips through our headphones and laptop speakers, but when it comes time to sink into the plush leather seats in a proper home theater, you better believe high-quality audio is a top priority. Sony's STR-DN1030 serves as an update to last year's STR-DN1020, and promises to deliver on that quality promise, with a bounty of connectivity options to boot. WiFi and built-in Ethernet enable the 7.2-channel digital receiver to stream from AirPlay, along with Sony Entertainment Network (SEN) music services including Music Unlimited, Pandora, Slacker and vTuner. The device is also DLNA compatible, IP controllable and it can power on (from standby mode) whenever you begin to stream a song over AirPlay or Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR connections. We dropped by Sony's NYC headquarters for a quick peek at the DN1030, which we're told very quietly made the rounds at CES but has yet make its official debut. The receiver, which boasts 145 watts per channel (not including those dual powered-sub connections), was paired with seven high-end Bowers & Wilkins speakers and a powered Sony subwoofer. It's nearly impossible to pass complete judgement on any high-end audio product after a brief demo in a room that isn't optimized for sound, so audiophiles should certainly hear this thing for themselves before coming to any conclusions of their own. Still, we were quite pleased with performance from what we saw today -- Bluetooth and AirPlay connections appeared to be seamless, Slacker loaded quickly and audio quality was quite solid from all of the wireless sources, along with Avatar and a recorded Cream concert on Blu-ray. Best yet is the receiver's price -- the STR-DN1030 will set you back just $499 when it hits stores in mid-July. Edgar Alvarez contributed to this report. Sony STR-DN1030 7.2-channel home theater receiver with Airplay and Bluetooth hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Jun 2012 13:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | |
