Nokia UK have finally announced launch and pricing details for the Nokia X6, the company’s new Comes With Music flagship media phone.  Packing a 3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen, 32GB of integrated storage and a 5-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, the Nokia X6 will arrive at UK retailer Phones4U on Friday November 27th, free with a £35 ($58) per month agreement.

Video demo after the cut

If you have an old Nseries Nokia you fancy trading in, you can knock £10 off that contract price and still take the X6 away without spending a penny on the handset itself.  It’s also available to preorder SIM-free online, at Nokia’s UK store, for a somewhat extravagant £449 ($746), though at time of writing we couldn’t find any sign of it.

Other features include 3G, up to 35 hours battery life for music playback, the Ovi apps store and a TV output and support for video recording.  It also has a touch-enabled browser with Flash Lite 3.0 support, Bluetooth 2.0, WiFi, A-GPS and a micro-USB port.  Check out our hands-on video with the Nokia X6 and live gallery below.

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Read the rest here:
Nokia X6 arrives in UK this Friday

Even though Broadcom, Atheros, and Qualcomm have all been sampling phone-ready draft 802.11n chipsets for some time now, you’re still not seeing the tech swiftly overtake 802.11g in the mobile arena — in fact, we dare you to find a single phone in your carrier’s store that can do it. Odds are you can’t, but HTC HD2 owners can win a few quid off their skeptical (non-Engadget-reading) friends by enabling support after the fact. Looks like draft-n support got buried in the company’s WinMo monster — a fitting device to add such a rare display of raw, savage wireless power, if we do say so ourselves — but it got turned off in the shipping firmware for some reason, possibly concerns over increased battery draw, flakiness, or a stark realization that the benefits of 802.11n might not be fully appreciated in a device hamstrung more by a crappy browser than by slow WiFi. If you want to live on the edge anyway and flip the switch, xda-developers has the registry hack you need — and if you’re using an HD2 in the States without 3G right now, let’s be honest: you kinda need all the speed-boosting wireless hacks you can dig up.

HTC HD2 can be coaxed into doing 802.11n, if you know how to sweet-talk it originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Nov 2009 03:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Several airlines have been offering Wifi for a while now. United Airlines wants to ensure that people are actually trying it out and so through the end of the year, you can get one free session if you create a new account with Aircell’s Gogo Inflight. The offer is only good on United’s 757-200 flights between New York Kennedy and the airline’s Los Angeles and San Francisco hubs.

Of course this is aimed at getting more people to pay for the service, which costs $12.95 per flight. But hey, you can’t turn down free Internet. Your boss will love it.

United Airlines Introduces Try-Before-You-Buy Wi-Fi Promotion
Gogo ® Inflight Internet now available on all p.s. flights

CHICAGO, Nov. 23, 2009 – Just in time for the busy Thanksgiving holidays, United Airlines customers on transcontinental p.s. (SM) flights can enjoy a complimentary
onboard Internet session with the new Try-Before-You-Buy promotion, offered in conjunction with airborne communications provider Aircell.

Through Dec. 31, first-time users of Aircell’s Gogo ® Inflight Internet service will be offered one free session upon creating a new account.

Gogo enables customers with Wi-Fi enabled devices such as laptops, smartphones and PDAs to surf the Web, check e-mail, send and receive instant messages, and access a corporate VPN.

The service is available on all of United’s p.s. flights between New York Kennedy and the airline’s Los Angeles and San Francisco hubs.

“Gogo Inflight Internet service on our p.s. flights provides our customers with an even more productive and enjoyable travel experience,” says Allen Will, managing director of strategic aircraft programs. “With Gogo Inflight Internet and an AC power port at every seat, p.s. customers will get more accomplished in the air this holiday season, leaving time for more holiday cheer on the ground.”

For more information on United’s inflight Internet service, visit united.com/Wi-Fi.

About United
United Airlines (Nasdaq: UAUA) operates approximately 3,300* flights a day on United and United Express to more than 200 U.S. domestic and international destinations from its hubs in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, Chicago and Washington, D.C. With key global air rights in the Asia-Pacific region, Europe and Latin America, United is one of the largest international carriers based in the United States. United also is a founding member of Star Alliance, which provides connections for our customers to 1,071 destinations in 171 countries worldwide. United’s 47,000 employees reside in every U.S. state and in many countries around the world. News releases and other information about United can be found at the company’s Web site at united.com.

*Based on United’s forward-looking flight schedule for October 2009 to October 2010.

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United Airlines & Gogo offering try-before-you-buy in-flight Wifi promo

AT&T is following Verizon’s lead today with the introduction of new prepaid broadband plans targeted directly at netbook and laptop users who find themselves out of WiFi range (and in desperate need of email) every once in a while. The so-called DataConnect Pass plans exactly mirror Verizon’s pricing, which means you can get 75MB as a “day pass” for $15, 250MB as a weekly deal for $30, or a half gig per month for $50. Like Verizon, you’re far better off getting the 5GB postpaid plan if you’re a heavy user here — but if you find yourself needing wireless once in a blue moon, this may very well be the way to go. The packages are available now; follow the break for the full press release.

Continue reading AT&T’s new DataConnect Pass plans serve up data a la carte

AT&T’s new DataConnect Pass plans serve up data a la carte originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony VAIO UX handheld gets 3G wireless, quad OS, inflated sense of self originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The CrunchPad may or may not have stumbled, but competitors seem to be swooping in for the kill regardless. The latest is Camangi with its WebStation, a 7-inch, Android 1.5-powered tablet said to be shipping in just a few weeks. Detailed specs have still not been made official, but the glass touchscreen is 800 x 480, WiFi 802.11b/g, and there’s GPS on tap if you want to take this out into the real world. We found two demonstration videos, both embedded after the break for your viewing pleasure, the first a simple walkthrough while the second shows it struggling to render the Avatar trailer — something James Cameron is surely hoping won’t be a problem on the final device. Retail price is said to be $399 but the site indicates the first 100 purchasers will get “early bird pricing,” whatever that amounts to. Might as well sign up and see. What’s another bit of spam these days?

[Thanks, Peter]

Continue reading Camangi’s WebStation tablet ships soon, sports Android, loves early birds (video)

Camangi’s WebStation tablet ships soon, sports Android, loves early birds (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While many scoffed at the idea of Nokia building a netbook, the idea does have its share of merits. After all, the Finnish company knows a few things about eking out runtimes from compact batteries, and with netbooks being perhaps the most likely of computing devices to be in search of mobile connectivity, stuffing them with the sort of wireless access your high-end Nokia boasts certainly makes sense. Throw in eye-catching design and you’re onto a winner, right? Unfortunately, we’ve found the Nokia Booklet 3G falls short in other areas; check out the full SlashGear review after the cut.

Physically, the Booklet 3G is bordering on Apple-levels of attractiveness. The brushed aluminum chassis is solid and the plastic side-inserts feel high quality. We’re still not convinced by the plastic top plate on the outside of the lid, and would prefer plain metal, but that’s a minor aesthetic issue with a generally very good looking netbook. As you can see in our unboxing video, ports include power, one USB 2.0, SIM and SD along the right-hand side, together with power and a speaker, and HDMI, two USB 2.0 and a headset socket along the left-hand side, together with the second speaker. Underneath there’s the large removable battery and four rubber feet, with Nokia showing admirable restraint in their labelling.

Nokia Booklet 3G unboxing video:

Open it up, and there’s a 10.1-inch 1,280 x 720 LED-backlit display behind a glass panel. There’s no anti-glare coating to the glass, but it does have – on our review unit at least – a slightly fuzzy finish that’s absent on other glass-fronted laptop displays. Given the size of the lid and the aspect ratio of the LCD – which Nokia tell us is specially made for them – the panel does look a little dwarfed by the black surround; there’s a little too much blank space underneath it for our liking.

Above the display is a 1.3-megapixel webcam, while below it is a moderately cramped keyboard. The chiclet keys aren’t the most comfortable on a netbook that we’ve tried, but are still usable for pecking out emails and editing documents. The trackpad feels unnecessarily cramped, however, and the mouse buttons feel cheap and overly clicky. Integrated into the screen hinge is a row of status LEDs indicating – left to right – Bluetooth, WiFi and 3G activity, together with sleep, battery and mains-power status. Nokia have also been pleasantly lavish with their shortcut buttons, with the F-keys doubling as music track controls, volume, brightness and wireless connectivity toggles.

OS is Windows 7 – either Starter or Home Premium – and Nokia have tried to bring a little cellphone magic across too. The Ovi Suite app download store and Social Hub networking app are both available (though you need to download them separately) while tapping the power button while the Booklet 3G is powered on brings up a status window showing battery level, performance mode and shortcuts to standby, restart and power-down. An accelerometer is also embedded inside, though the most we’ve observed it doing is throwing up shake-warnings and parking the hard-drive.

You can’t knock the Booklet 3G’s connectivity. There’s the usual WiFi b/g/n together with Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, as well as GPS/A-GPS and a standard 3G modem. This last element is key to Nokia’s sales strategy, as it means they can tap into carrier subsidies; without it the Booklet 3G is around $600. Opt for a data-plan commitment, however, and in the US you can have the netbook for more like $300, assuming you’re content paying around $60 to AT&T every month for two years for their wireless data package. On the upside you can hot-swap the SIM (i.e. take it out or reinsert it without shutting down the netbook) between phones and other devices.

It’s one of the reasons the Booklet 3G is reasonably contentious, and another is Nokia’s choice of processor. Since they want to promise all-day battery life, Nokia have had to choose an especially frugal CPU, and so have picked Intel’s Atom Z530. While it runs at the same 1.6GHz as the more common Atom N270 it does promise lower power draw, hence the company claiming up to 12 hours use from the 56.8Wh battery. Unfortunately Nokia have paired it with just 1GB of DDR2 memory and a meagre 120GB 4,200rpm hard-drive, both of which fall well short of what we’d like to see on even an entry-level netbook.

It adds up to particularly uninspiring performance, and perhaps the biggest disappointment of the Booklet 3G. Out of the box, running only the 30-day trial of F-Secure Internet Security 2010, Internet Explorer 8 (which is preloaded with Windows 7) is sluggish and frustrating. Navigating even a few tabs is slow, and moving between apps in general is ponderous. Simple things – like adjusting the screen brightness with the shortcut keys – see the backlight respond and then, seconds later, the on-screen meter belatedly pop up. Trying to copy music across from another system highlighted the hard-drive’s woeful lack of speed, while 720p video could – bitrate depending – prove juddery. Considering Nokia bill the Booklet 3G’s display as ideal for 720p HD content, that’s a significant issue. We plugged in a 1080p HDTV via the HDMI connection and were impressed to see the netbook could support (with its own display shut off) Full HD; however 1080p video was a different matter, being pretty much unwatchable.

GeekBench faired no better, with the Nokia Booklet 3G’s raw benchmarking being less than impressive. The netbook managed 773 points overall, over 100 points behind Atom N270 based year-old netbooks such as the ASUS Eee PC 1000H or the MSI Wind U100.

As for battery life, that’s the Booklet 3G’s saving grace. Unsurprisingly we never saw Nokia’s 12 hours, but with WiFi switched on and the display at medium – and comfortable – brightness we saw around 8 to 8.5 hours use before needing to reach for the compact AC adapter. Media playback (with wireless turned off) varied depending on how much CPU crunching was required (there’s no discrete GPU); watch solely lightweight clips and you might see closer to 10 hours. However Flash video – even standard resolution YouTube clips – was tardy to load and chugged through power.

The subset of users to whom the Nokia Booklet 3G is suited is relatively narrow, then. While the wireless connectivity is certainly there in spades, the actual browsing experience is slower than on some smartphones we’ve tested. Meanwhile video playback is acceptable only with certain clips, which is the sort of suck-it-and-see limiting factor that makes low-power devices particularly frustrating. If you do little more than browse with one or two tabs open at most and generally need your notebook to churn out text and emails then the Booklet 3G certainly has the battery life for you; however then it’s the keyboard that rankles.

We want to love the Booklet 3G, if only because it looks so good. Problem is, once you turn it on you’re stuck with performance that even the first-gen netbooks generally exceeded, and if that’s frustrating when the Nokia is box-fresh then imagine how you’ll feel when you’re into the second year of your data contract. The downside to that clean, unspoilt chassis is that doing some DIY upgrading is almost certain to invalidate your warranty; no core part of the Booklet 3G is intended to be user-accessible. It’s tough to imagine a user who would be satisfied for the next 24 months with the Booklet 3G’s abilities, and we’re left hoping Nokia sell just enough of them to green-light the next-gen model that will hopefully up the performance.

Relevant Entries on SlashGear

• Nokia Booklet 3G hits Best Buy stock system with price
• Nokia Booklet 3G priced: €575 pre-subsidies
• Best Buy scoop Nokia Booklet 3G US exclusive
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See the rest here:
Nokia Booklet 3G review

It comes as little surprise, given that we knew a release date from sneak-peaks into the carrier’s own systems last week, but Verizon have officially announced that the Samsung Omnia II will drop come December 2nd.  The Windows Mobile 6.5 smartphone will be priced at $199.99 (after a wretched $100 mail-in rebate) presuming a new two-year agreement, which nets you a 3.7-inch AMOLED WVGA touchscreen, EVDO Rev.A, WiFi b/g and a 5-megapixel camera.

There’s also Samsung’s “3D cube” UI, which we’re still less than convinced by, together with Bluetooth and a microSD card slot; Samsung also gave the Omnia II its own 8GB of internal storage.  The usual Verizon app suspects are on-board, which includes V CAST Music, Rhapsody support, V CAST Video-on-Demand, V CAST Song ID, visual voicemail, VZW Tones and VZ Navigator.

Perhaps more interestingly, given that screen, is the support for DivX and Xvid video files, meaning the Omnia II might make for a decent PMP replacement.  So, anybody thinking of picking up this touchscreen Windows Phone as an early Christmas present?

Press Release:

VERIZON WIRELESS ANNOUNCES THE AVAILABILITY OF THE SAMSUNG OMNIA II

November 23, 2009

Full Touch Screen Phone Features Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional, Swype Technology and One-Touch Access to Social Networking and Entertainment Features

BASKING RIDGE, N.J., and DALLAS – Verizon Wireless and Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile) today announced the availability of the Samsung Omnia® II™, a full-touch all-in-one smartphone powered by Windows Mobile® 6.5 to keep customers connected to their corporate and personal e-mail accounts and synchronized with their schedules and contacts.
Available Colors: Black with red accents on the battery cover
Key features:
3.7-inch ultra-brilliant touch screen
Widescreen WVGA AMOLED (Wide Video Graphics Array Active-Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode) responsive touch screen results in one of the brightest and clearest displays on a mobile phone in the United States
Virtual QWERTY keyboard with Swype technology allows customers to input text faster and easier with one continuous finger or stylus motion across the screen keyboard
Features Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional, which keeps customers connected with corporate and personal e-mail and synchronization of schedules and contacts
Microsoft Office Mobile® enhances productivity with the ability to manage Word, Excel® and PowerPoint® documents
Enhanced 3D cube user interface
Full HTML Web browsing capabilities with Opera 9.5 enhanced browser
One-touch access to social networking sites via shortcut widgets
Supports Verizon Wireless services, including V CAST Music with Rhapsody, V CAST Video on Demand, V CAST Song ID, Visual Voice Mail, VZW Tones, VZ NavigatorSM, Mobile IM and Mobile Email
Additional specifications:
Full messaging suite, including SMS, MMS, Mobile IM, Mobile Email and Corporate Email
Access to social networking applications, including YouTube™, Facebook® and MySpace, with Samsung’s unique TouchWiz™ 2.0 user interface
5.0 megapixel camera with flash and auto-focus and camcorder and decoder with DNSe technology and on-device editing capabilities
Wi-Fi technology (802.11 b/g)
Support for Divx and Xvid movie files
8 GB internal memory and expandable memory of up to 16 GB with microSD™ memory card (card sold separately)
Bluetooth® profiles supported: headset (mono and stereo), hands-free (car kits), object push for vCard, basic imaging, phonebook access profiles. Also supports serial port, dial-up networking, object push for vCalendar, file transfer, basic printing and human interface device profiles
Pricing and availability:

The Samsung Omnia II will be available online at www.verizonwireless.com and in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores beginning Dec. 2 for $199.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement. Customers will receive the rebate in the form of a debit card; upon receipt, customers may use the card as cash anywhere debit cards are accepted.
For additional information on Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to www.verizonwireless.com.

Relevant Entries on SlashGear

• Samsung Omnia II hits Verizon on December 2
• Samsung Omnia 2 Shows Up at Samsung Mobile Site Sporting Verizon Logo
• Samsung Omnia rumored to hit Bell in April
• Verizon Samsung Omnia price cut to $199.99
• Samsung Omnia II landing on Verizon in July?

Go here to see the original:
Samsung Omnia II hitting Verizon December 2nd

As expected, Verizon has chosen December 2 as the Samsung Omnia II’s date with destiny, bringing an interesting full-touch WinMo alternative to the HTC Imagio that launched back in October alongside Windows Mobile 6.5. Speaking of 6.5, there were some early concerns that Verizon’s version of the Omnia II would launch on stale 6.1 code, but fear not — it’s now confirmed that you’ll be looking at Microsoft’s latest and greatest stuff when you gaze upon that 3.7-inch AMOLED WVGA display. It’s also got a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and flash, WiFi, and 8GB of internal storage along with microSD expansion — good news for anyone who plans on making much use of that cam, especially in video mode. Verizon’s site and retail locations both take delivery of the device on the same 12/2 date, pushing it for $199.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate. Considering the pricing, we’ve gotta ask: Droid or Omnia II?

Verizon announces Samsung Omnia II: December 2 for $200 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Given how often we hear about manufacturers using Android for their mobile devices, it’s a surprise dedicated sat-nav units don’t feature more highly.  Chinese firm ArcherMind Technology have been showing off what they’re saying is the world’s first embedded Android-based navigation system, complete with 7-inch touchscreen display and integrated 3G.

ArcherMind – who were mainly responsible for the software development, partnering with local hardware manufacturers who came up with the reference design – claim to have set fifty engineers to work over a four month period in order to come up with the unnamed head unit.  As well as PND functionality it’ll access the web and play back audio and video media, work as an ebook reader and send SMS messages; there’s both a hard-drive and SD card slot for storage.

Connectivity includes WiFi and Bluetooth together with the 3G, but ArcherMind claim the setup isn’t intended for high-price luxury vehicles.  While they’re not giving out pricing details, they do expect it to be fitted to reasonably affordable cars; in fact, at least one unnamed Chinese auto manufacturer is supposedly considering it, with the first vehicles using the setup to appear in Q1 2010.

[via Electricpig]

Relevant Entries on SlashGear

• LAN-9600R, A New In-Dash GPS and Multimedia System from LG
• Dash cuts GPS hardware development & jobs in new licencing plan
• Verizon Tour, T-Mobile Dash 3G or Sprint Snap?
• CES 2008: OpenMoko partnered with DASH to make their new GPS units
• Mitsubishi developed Linux-based Car in-dash Blu-ray player

Read the rest here: 
ArcherMind Android-based in-dash PND system unveiled