Welcome to Engadget's Back to School guide! We know that this time of year can be pretty annoying and stressful for everyone, so we're here to help out with the heartbreaking process of gadget buying for the school-aged crowd. Today, we have mobile phones in our sights -- and you can head to the Back to School hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the month.

Continue reading Engadget's back to school guide: Fun Stuff!

Engadget's back to school guide: Fun Stuff! originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Aug 2010 14:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Notion Ink, the plucky Indian startup intent on shaking up the tablet industry, was most recently spotted turning over the sofa cushions looking for spare change, but that isn't stopping the company from announcing pricing for its mythical first product. The Adam, it has now been revealed, will be available for $498 with WiFi, 3G, GPS, and a Tegra 2 system-on-chip powering things, with prices dipping down to $449 if you exclude either the 3G or Pixel Qi display option, and $399 if you drop both and make do with a WiFi-only LCD-based tablet. That certainly adheres to the promise of aggressive pricing, but the Q3 launch -- which in itself was a slip from a Q2 pledge -- has now also been definitively scratched off the board of possibilities, as the device won't be submitted to the FCC for certification until November. Notion Ink claims that from there on it'll be just a matter of waiting on the FCC to clear the Adam for its US launch, which could happen in late 2010 or CES 2011 at the latest. Or, you know, never.

Notion Ink Adam priced at $498, lives up to promise of being below $499 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Aug 2010 11:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  SlashGear  | Email this | Comments

The cart left the gate on Thursday and here comes the horse: the official BlackBerry Curve 3G (model 9300) announcement just landed in our inbox. So in addition to sporting (800/850)/1900/2100MHz or 900/1700/2100MHz HSDPA data, quad-band GSM, WiFi, and GPS, we now know that if you buy this BlackBerry 5 device today you can upgrade to BlackBerry 6 "in the coming months." Assuming your carrier can get its act together, of course.

Continue reading BlackBerry Curve 3G (9300) is officially BlackBerry 6 ready

BlackBerry Curve 3G (9300) is officially BlackBerry 6 ready originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Aug 2010 07:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  BlackBerry  | Email this | Comments

First we had maps, which were delicate and unwieldy. Eventually our smartphones started showing us where to go. Someday, connected contact lenses will unobtrusively overlay directions onto our eyeballs. Until then, these GPS-enabled, LED-equipped spectacles will have to do. [Ubergizmo] More »

Check out this 14mm-thin contender: built by Pegatron and still at the prototype stage, the MasterPad looks to be the embodiment of Steve Ballmer's incoming armada of desirable Windows 7 tablets. It sports an 11.6-inch IPS screen, which accommodates a 1,366 x 768 widescreen resolution, a 1.3 megapixel webcam plus mic, two USB ports, a memory card reader, an accelerometer, mini-HDMI port, 3G connectivity, and 32GB or 64GB SSD options. All that hi-tech goodness is wrapped up in a magnesium and aluminum alloy body, weighing 990 grams. There are some less cutting edge specs, like the disappointing 2-cell battery that will only get you 5 hours of use and the 1.66GHz Atom N450 CPU -- but we're being promised 1080p video playback and Flash compatibility are ready to roll, and our machine translation hints at an additional HD video-processing chip. The early hands-on experience seems to have left the Israeli journos impressed, and their homeland can expect the MasterPad to arrive "in the coming months," with an Android version also in the works. See it on video after the break.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading MasterPad prototype marries Windows 7 to 11.6-inch IPS screen (video)

MasterPad prototype marries Windows 7 to 11.6-inch IPS screen (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Aug 2010 06:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Ynet.co.il  | Email this | Comments

When Apple's latest privacy policy revealed the company could track any iPhone's location in real time, it threw some for a loop... including a pair of gentlemen from the US House of Representatives, who asked what Cupertino was up to. In a thirteen page letter dated July 12, Apple's legal counsel explains the whole matter away, while giving us a fascinating look into how the company collects -- and justifies collecting -- all that GPS data. Legally the defense is simple, as Apple claims users grant express permission via pop-up messages for ever single location-based service and app, and if you don't care to be tracked, you can simply shut down location services globally or (in iOS 4) on a per-app basis in the phone's settings panel.

Where it gets more interesting is when Apple explains what it actually collects, and who they share it with -- namely, Google and Skyhook, who provided location-services to earlier versions of iOS. In iOS 3.2 and beyond, only Apple has the keys to the database, and what's inside are locations of cell towers, WiFi access points, and anonymous GPS coordinates. None of these are personally identifying, as the company doesn't collect SSIDs or any data, and in the case of device coordinates they're reportedly collected and sent in encrypted batches only once every 12 hours, using a random ID generated by the phone every 24 hours that apparently can't be linked back to the device. In the case of iAd, Apple says coordinates don't even make it to a database, as they're immediately converted (by remote server) to a advertising-friendly five-digit zip code. Concerning location data collection for services other than iAd, there's still the little question of why, but we'll just leave you with Apple legal's quote on that subject after the break, and let you hit up the full document yourself at Scribd if you want the deep dive.

Continue reading Apple responds to congressional inquiry, details location data collection in 13-page letter

Apple responds to congressional inquiry, details location data collection in 13-page letter originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Jul 2010 01:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink CNET  |  Scribd  | Email this | Comments

It's hardly the first company to implement the technology in a smartphone, but it looks like RIM finally has an answer for folks not satisfied with the GPS capabilities of their BlackBerry. It's now announced the simply-named 'Locate Service' for developers, which relies on cell tower triangulation to to either augment the phone's built-in GPS, or completely replace it when a GPS signal isn't available. According to RIM, the service also includes a set of components that "integrate seamlessly" with the BlackBerry Maps and Contacts applications and, of course, the GPS capabilities of the device. There's still no word on any apps that actually take advantage of the new service though, but it is now at the disposal of developers, so we're guessing we'll see some soon enough.

RIM finally catches up to the competition with non-GPS-based BlackBerry 'Locate Service' originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Jul 2010 16:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  RIM, BlackBerry Developers' Blog  | Email this | Comments

Google Maps Navigation is a wonderful turn-by-turn navigation app for Android. Only problem? It's only available in the US and UK. Thankfully, Skobbler is bringing their own free turn-by-turn navigation to the rest of the world. More »

Magellan's just updated its eXplorist handheld outdoor GPS units. The 510, 610 and 710 (as they are called) all feature 3-inch, touchscreen displays, 3.2 megapixel, auto-focus cams, plus a microphone and speaker for recording notes along the way. They're also waterproof, and come pre-loaded with maps of the entire world. The 710 unit comes with the most detailed on and off-road maps of the series, and both the 610 and 710 feature 3-point compasses. The new eXplorist units are available now, and the 510 will run you $349.99, the 610 is $449.99, and the 710 is $549.99. Full press release is below.

Continue reading Magellan busts out 510, 610 and 710 eXplorist outdoor GPS for all you... outdoors types

Magellan busts out 510, 610 and 710 eXplorist outdoor GPS for all you... outdoors types originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Jul 2010 12:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

GPS-guided parachutes are nothing new -- in fact, we're guessing that a few are being dropped somewhere in this wide world right now -- but a new deal between the Armed Services Blood Program and US Joint Forces Command will allow these devices to start saving even more lives in 2011. As the story goes, a cadre of air-dropped 'chutes will be sent to the front lines of the battlefield in order to deliver vital blood to medics. For those unaware, blood loss is a major cause of death in war, and by skipping over the lengthy process that's currently in place for delivery, the powers that be feel that more soldiers can be saved. Reportedly, the JPADS system "is a family of guided parachutes that can carry payloads ranging from about 150 to 60,000 pounds," and at a predetermined altitude, a "parafoil deploys and a GPS-device steers supplies to an exact target." The new system, however, will rely on ultralight versions of the aforesaid JPADS in order to sneak into locations that were previously thought impossible to penetrate. 'Course, all of this will be a moot point once the robot armies rise to power and start pulverizing each other with scrap metal, but hey...

GPS parachutes delivering blood to front lines in the coming years originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink DailyTech  |  Military Blood, Marine Corps Times  | Email this | Comments