Engadget Mobile

Evan Blass

RIM's BlackBerry Remote Stereo Gateway on sale for $80

by Evan Blass posted Feb 13th 2008 at 12:55PM

BlackBerry owners looking to wirelessly connect to a home stereo or portable speakers can finally pick up that Remote Stereo Gateway we first saw sneaking through the FCC at the end of last month, for $80 from Tessco. The matchbook-size dongle receives a Bluetooth signal from your compatible 'Berry, and then pushes the audio out a standard 1/8-inch jack. According to the retail description, the device is also capable of streaming tunes from your stereo to a pair of Bluetooth headphones, which would mean that we are in fact looking at an A2DP profile here and thus likely compatibility with non-BlackBerry devices. Anyone wanna do us a solid and test this out with a WinMo phone?

[Via The Boy Genius Report]

Sprint layoffs start at the top

by Evan Blass posted Jan 24th 2008 at 9:39AM

Well, not the very top -- give the guy a chance, will ya! -- but it's clear that heads are already starting to roll at Sprint Nextel following last week's disastrous report of subscriber churn, with the company's chief financial officer, chief marketing officer, and president of sales and distribution effectively getting the boot as of tomorrow. In respective order, Paul Saleh, Tim Kelly, and Mark Angelino will all be "stepping down" on Friday, according to the Wall Street Journal (subscription required) -- the first casualties of a planned 4,000 head count reduction. CFO Saleh is getting replaced in the interim by Senior Vice President and Controller William Arendt, while the other two positions will be temporarily filled by unnamed executives. Sprint lost 639,000 valuable postpaid customers in the fourth quarter, and taking a look at our decidedly unscientific poll may give you some idea why.

Update: Sprint sent us some more info regarding the other interim replacements: "John Garcia, currently senior vice president, Product Development and Management, will serve as acting Chief Marketing Officer. Paget Alves, currently Sprint Nextel's regional president for sales and distribution, will serve as acting president, Sales and Distribution. All will report directly to Hesse."

[Image courtesy of Chip Kidd, The New York Times]

Chime in on the HTC video driver controversy over at Engadget!

by Evan Blass posted Jan 23rd 2008 at 10:09AM

It's pretty clear that HTC's stance on the lack of ATI Imageon video drivers in recent devices has caused quite a stir over here at the Mob, so we thought some of you would be interested in heading over to Engadget classic to voice your opinions in poll form. This seems to be a somewhat divisive issue, so your input would be greatly appreciated. Also, feel free to take part in the burgeoning comment thread: gotta keep the pressure on, right?

Pizza Hut serves up SMS ordering: "lg ? w xtra chz, plz"

by Evan Blass posted Jan 20th 2008 at 5:06PM

Pizza Hut has joined rivals Domino's and Papa John's in implementing a nationwide order-by-text service, giving customers even easier access to its tasty-but-greasy fare. To take advantage of the "Total Mobile Access" feature, you have to visit the Pizza Hut website for a one-time registration of your mobile number, along with setting up your so-called "pizza playlist" to enable easier ordering. You can also satisfy your pizza jones by hitting up the same site on a mobile browser, which provides an optimized version of the desktop ordering system that has been in place for several years.

[Via InformationWeek]

Sprint announces massive layoffs, store closings amid subscriber defection

by Evan Blass posted Jan 18th 2008 at 11:22AM

New Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse appears to have inherited a company bleeding subscribers by the thousands, and will now officially be dropping the ax on 4,000 employees and 125 retail locations. Amid the loss of 639,000 postpaid customers in the fourth quarter, Sprint will be cutting a total of 6.7% of its work force (following the 5,000 layoffs last year) and 8% of company-owned brick-and-mortar stores, while remaining mute on other rumors that it will consolidate its headquarters in Kansas. Sprint Nextel shares are down $2.89, or nearly 25%, at the time of this writing.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

BlueAnt unveils voice-controlled V1 Bluetooth headset

by Evan Blass posted Jan 3rd 2008 at 9:43AM

Anyone who's used the stylish, compact, voice-isolating Z9 Bluetooth headset from BlueAnt knows that while the unit itself performs satisfactorily, remembering the thousand and one unintuitive button combinations (three-second push to end a call?) can be a real pain in the ass. Well thankfully for fans of that somewhat flawed product, the Australian manufacturer will be back as CES with yet another dual-mic model, the V1, which drops the Z9's awkward input method in favor of almost complete voice control. The so-called BlueGenie Voice User Interface promises to operate the full suite of headset functions with the use of but a single activation button, which -- if it can actually work in real-world situations -- should definitely help give this new model a leg (or six -- ha) up on the competition. Stay tuned to our CES coverage for more details, along with pricing and release info.

Celio's REDFLY platform enables Foleo-like WinMo devices

by Evan Blass posted Jan 2nd 2008 at 9:37AM

It's not that we don't see the appeal of using a supplementary keyboard and display with our smartphones, rather, we simply felt that the Foleo was way overpriced for the relatively limited functionality it provided. Well now a new company called Celio seems to be heading down the same risky path as Palm, announcing the REDFLY Smartphone Interface System, a platform that allows Windows Mobile 5 and 6 devices to be controlled using external hardware; sounds promising, except that the first piece of gear to incorporate the technology will cost $499, the same targeted MSRP as the failed Foleo (after its planned instant rebate). Celio wisely claims that it's initially targeting enterprise users with the Bluetooth 2.0, clamshell device, although frankly it seems like they'd have more success concentrating on the software and letting OEMs deal with designing products that offer a more attractive price / performance ratio.

Broadcom wins major injunction against Qualcomm

by Evan Blass posted Dec 31st 2007 at 8:59PM

In the latest major twist in this epic battle between wireless chipmakers, a US District Judge has slapped a permanent injunction on any products containing those Qualcomm 3G chips ruled to be infringing on Broadcom's so-called '686 patents. Not only can Qualcomm no longer offer infringing devices nor the chips themselves in the US, the retroactive nature of the ruling means that the company can't even provide service or technical support for '686 products already on the market. At this point, with a voluntary licensing agreement seemingly off the table, the next move for Qualcomm is establishing a plan of action to show Judge James Selna how it plans to redesign its products into compliance. [Warning: PDF link]

[Via Reuters]

iPhone firmware 1.1.3 video walkthrough posted

by Evan Blass posted Dec 31st 2007 at 9:22AM

It seems pretty clear by now that the images and videos floating around of an iPhone running firmware 1.1.3 are legit, but if you still have doubts as to their veracity, a new walkthrough that's been posted should put those to rest. We've already ~~been nauseated by~~ seen the jiggly icon home screen, and now we get a look at the new multi-recipient SMS feature as well, along with a brief rundown of Google Maps' impending cell-based location tracking -- which should also help Apple legal narrow its search for this rogue iPhone to somewhere in the Lynnwood, Washington area. Click down below to catch the full vid after the break.

Continue reading iPhone firmware 1.1.3 video walkthrough posted

iPhone firmware 1.1.3 icon rearrangement on video?

by Evan Blass posted Dec 30th 2007 at 11:10AM

Just yesterday we saw some pics of what was being touted as an iPhone running the as-yet-unannounced 1.1.3 firmware version, and now we've got word of some video proof from a pretty reliable source. Nate True, all-around modder and creator of the Walluminate light-up wallet, has a short vid up on his cre.ations.net site that claims to depict that handy home page icon rearrangement feature -- you know, the one that suggests an SDK to make use of all the new slots. Go on, check out the short clip after the break.

[Thanks, Marcus S.]

Continue reading iPhone firmware 1.1.3 icon rearrangement on video?

Bluetooth headset helps foil Wendy's robbery

by Evan Blass posted Dec 28th 2007 at 10:02AM

An armed robbery at a Columbus, Ohio Wendy's restaurant on Wednesday morning was thwarted mid-progress, partly due to an employee's Bluetooth headset automatically answering a call because of the robber screaming at her to do just the opposite. We've all learned to live with the wonky voice command features in our headsets and handsets, but on this occasion it actually turned out to be a benefit, as 35-year-old Keith Allen Sturgill's screams to NOT pick up an incoming call actually opened the connection, while the parolee and his three hostages waited for the safe to unlock before customers arrived . The caller, a friend of the employee who worked at a nearby bank, heard the screaming and called police, who were eventually able to talk Sturgill into surrendering -- but not before he had "rammed the gun to his own forehead until he bled," as you can see from his mugshot. Luckily for the habitual offender, he'll soon be back in a familiar place where neither cellphones nor their many accessories will bother him for a very long time.

[Via UPI]

iPhone marriage proposal warms even the cynical heart

by Evan Blass posted Dec 26th 2007 at 9:36AM

Maybe we just turn a bit sentimental during the holiday season, but damn it, we'll admit to getting a little choked up over reader Claude M's well-planned, uber-geeky proposal to his girlfriend -- even if his method of choice did happen to employ the totally overexposed iPhone. Being the romantic fellow that he is, Claude spent what must have been numerous hours producing a video proposal in the style of those ubiquitous commercials -- as you can see after the break -- and then screened it for his sweetheart (probably on his or her you-know-what) while they were strolling around the area where they'd first met in college. We'd like to congratulate the happy couple -- she said yes, duh -- and encourage them to race over to our Christmas contest post, where they could score a pair of round trip tickets for the honeymoon.

Continue reading iPhone marriage proposal warms even the cynical heart

Toshiba's Portege G910 / G920 go FCC: followup to the G900 superphone

by Evan Blass posted Dec 16th 2007 at 11:56AM

Probably because it's not that big of a player in the domestic cellphone space, Toshiba may not be familiar with all the ins and outs of FCC confidentiality agreements, as evidenced by its testing subcontractor leaving tons of juicy photos of the unannounced Portege G910 / G920 smartphones in those devices' recently-declassified applications. Tosh's blunder clues us in to a whole world of info about this followup to the WVGA, Windows Mobile 6 Portege G900, such as the fact that it's eschewing its predecessor's sliding form factor for the clamshell-design of the Nokia E90 (perhaps an answer to the tilting screen of HTC's TyTN II?). While full specs aren't yet available, we've pieced together that these devices (differentiated by the fact that one of them will have a crippled GPS receiver) are tri-band GSM 900/1800/1900 -- sorry, fellow Americans, no US broadband here -- with WiFi, Bluetooth, and dual cameras, and powered by a Qualcomm processor of unknown speed. Hit up the gallery here for a few more inelegant FCC glamour shots, including some dissection photos that may help our clever readers glean even more information...

[Via Unwired View]

PlayStation emulation coming to iPhone via psx4iphone

by Evan Blass posted Dec 12th 2007 at 10:31AM

Those of you who have already loaded up like 1,000 NES ROMs on your iPhone will be excited to learn that an even more powerful emulator is on the horizon, this one for the original PlayStation. Called psx4iphone, and currently in pre-beta, the software is being developed by ZodTTD, the same programmer responsible for the gpSPhone GameBoy Advance emulator for the iPhone and iPod touch. According to ZodTTD, if enough people donate, the program could be out within days, complete with sound implementation and memory card support, along with compatibility for a claimed 75% of titles. Still, we've played with the DualShock a time or two before, and considering how difficult FPSEce playback is on Windows Mobile devices with full QWERTY keyboards, we're not sure how well all those buttons, triggers, D-pads, and analog sticks will translate to the touchscreen experience.

[Via pspsps]

Zander to be replaced by Brown as Motorola CEO

by Evan Blass posted Nov 30th 2007 at 8:59AM

Motorola announced today that Ed Zander will be relinquishing the role of Chief Executive Officer in January 2008, a title he will have held for four years. Greg Brown, current President and Chief Operating Officer, will take over as CEO, while Zander will remain Chairman of the Board of Directors until at least May of next year. Zander, who came to Moto from Sun Microsystems, will perhaps best be remembered for overseeing the company during its RAZR-led handset revival.