Author Archives: Stefan Etienne

Founded tech site LaptopMemo. 16-years-old, loves tea, tennis, reading, tech, gaming, + more.

Hello, Nexus S On T-Mobile With Android 2.3 Gingerbread

The Nexus S — is here. It contains Android 2.3 Gingerbread stock without any extra UI coatings, and will launch on T-Mobile this December 16th. The specs are a 4-inch WVGA “Contour” Display at a crisp 235 ppi with Super AMOLED, triband HSPA with AWS support (no HSPA+), 5 megapixel camera with 480p or 720p video recording (a page on the Nexus S site say it only records in 480p, another says HD) and VGA front-facing camera, NFC chip, 16GB of onboard storage, 512MB of RAM, 1GHz Cortex A8-based Hummingbird processor, Bluetooth 2.1, and a gyroscope like all Galaxy S phones due to Samsung manufacturing the Nexus S.

Gingerbread on the other hand brings a built-in task manager, front-facing camera video chat support, improved copy-and-paste, deeply rooted VoIP support, NFC integration, gyroscope support for more accurate orientations, new download manager, and redesigned keyboard with full multitouch support (!).

With the Nexus S officially announced, it’s time to be eager to get my hands on one, and better yet, for it to be released. Promo vids for both the Nexus S and Gingerbread after the break. Also, Nexus One users are receiving their Gingerbread updates, and the Nexus S will also be available unlocked on the 20th, and on contract on the 16th at only BestBuy (a marketing choice learned from the faults that was the original Nexus One web-only sales model).

Update: Now we have pricing: $529 unlocked with a contract for use on almost any carrier (sans AT&T’s 3G) and $199 on a 2-year contract.

Via: Google Nexus S, Official Google Blog

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Google eBooks Has Arrived

That is all to say. Google eBooks is eBook reading in the style of Google, that is to say, in the cloud. You can buy books which can be read in any Webkit-compatible web browser, an Android or iOS app, or on the web browsers of mobile phones. The site is built on Java and has 4,000 U.S publishers inside, with up to 35,000 internationally.

As for the works, about 300,000 books are available at first glance for purchase, and 2.5 million as public domain, bringing the tally to almost 3 million books. Now for the extra knowledge that you might want, booksellers will receive 70% of list price, the others will be taking 52%, and others at undisclosed percentages. The entire UI is very straightforward and very much polished and yeah — technically, that’s Google eBooks. And as courtesy, Google provides you with three free books (Pride And Prejudice, Alice, and Great Expectations). The store is live now. Via: Google eBooks

White iPhone 4 Gets Released In Spring 2011

Oh, wow? The white iPhone 4, a mythical smartphone due to the fact that its different parts weren’t the same shade of white, thus delaying it for more than half a year will finally be released in Spring 2011 (!). That also means that in Summer 2011 a successor will be released and that could only mean — wait, you don’t care about the iPhone being in a different color? Oh, well then.

I only suppose it’s coming. Move along now. Via: 9to5Mac

Android 2.3 Gingerbread May Just Get Released Today. That’s Right, Today.

I don’t know about you, but when I see a post by Notion Ink on their blog, I think “it’s another delay?”, or in this case, a relatively cheeky statement:

“6th December is another big day for Android and you will find out how fast Notion Ink can work. (Eden is extremely compatible with 2.3).”

That’s enough hot fudge to start any Internet rumour, is it not? Turns out this has some kind of proof to go along with it; Andy Rubin, Google’s VP of mobile platforms, is speaking at the AllThingsD‘s D: Dive into Mobile event at 6:30 PT. Otherwise, prepare yourselves, because we might have another famous object with the name Gingerbread on it.

Via: Notion Ink, Eng

BestBuy Is Selling The DROID Pro For $50. You Know What That Means.

That means that if you need a BlackBerry with Android 2.2 on it, then your Droid has arrived. Or if you’re just willing to shed less cash on this 1GHz OMAP 3620 processor, 3.1-inch multitouch screen, 8GB internal storage, 802.11n Wi-Fi/GPS/Bluetooth 2.1, and a 5MP camera smartphone, then now you’re doing business, with the usual two-year Verizon contract, of course.  Via: BestBuy MobileBG

iPhone 4 on sale from Radio Shack — for $50 less

Is this a MemoDeal? Meh. Although it is a “deal”, it’s just $50 off the iPhone 4. Which isn’t that bad actually. The only excuses possible are a Verizon iPhone, the sale only being in retail stores, or a certain Nexus S. Otherwise, “It’s OK, Go” on this one if you want an iPhone by December 11th, when the sale ends. Via: Radio Shack

A Look At The ExoPC With 48 Hours Of Using It As A Tablet

I was pretty much stoked to hear when I was given a tracking number for the ExoPC review unit that was coming my way. Just think of it: a Windows 7 tablet that actually works — well. Turns out, I was slightly disappointed, but I still have high hopes for this thing. It runs full Windows 7, has an Atom processor that’s outdated, a front-facing camera, USB, SD slot, HDMI-out, and audio ports. It probably could be used as one of those really cool hack tablets or something. The ExoPC forums are already on it, I see.

So far the worst part of using the ExoPC is the accelerometer and the keyboard. It takes several seconds to flip from one orientation to the other, and the Windows keyboard is fairly sucky, although I took it to myself to write 2 LM posts on it, which needed some getting used to.

Other than that, it’s great to use for browsing the web, considering you keep whatever you’re doing under 4 hours before the battery cuts out, and that you have an web browser that works with the touch drivers.

Chrome also has a cool extension called chromeTouch, and it allows for some actually finger-scrolling to work in Chrome. Firefox and Internet Explorer 9 on the other hand work fine. Keep in mind this isn’t the review; ExoPC still has a software update for the UI they placed on it to add a bunch of new features that should improve the device; they tell me “at the end of the month”.

In the meantime, since it works great with HD videos on Flash, let me go watch some DrDisrespect.

PlayStation Phone: This Is As Real As It Gets

I’ve come up with a number of titles for this post, all too bad to display here. It’s been a recurring problem on my end; titles that is.

You’ve seen it a few times, you’ve dreamed of it, and now you see it in clear 480p video. The spy that took this video confirmed the PlayStation Phone/Zeus Z1 (?) runs stock Gingerbread by making that oh-so-familiar trip to the settings, revealed the PlayStation icon, played around with the hardware, and gave the world the first (clear and very legible) glimpse of what this thing actually looks like. Needless to say, I’m excited, since I’m part gamer/gadget blogger/enjoy most mobile OSes except Symbian and Blackberry. Oh, and the video is completely mute. Nice.
Via: xxmajstor” />xxmajstor” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” allowfullscreen=”true” width=”640″ height=”450″> (you’re the man) on YouTube, Dudes at Engadget

Samsung Sells 1 Million Galaxy Tabs In 2 Months

High-fives for Samsung? Whereas the iPad sold 1 million units in 1 month, the Galaxy Tab is trailing at 1 million in 2 months, with an extra 500,000 projected before the end of the year. Considering I like the Galaxy Tab, and that I’m still waiting on our demo device, it deserves that milestone. Via: CNET, CG

Apple Gets Mac OS X 10.6.6 Snow Leopard Out Of The Bag For Developers

The Gold Master edition (final version to you dudes) of Mac OS X 10.6.6 has been released to Mac developers for their amazement and ability to code. Mac users can expect the update to arrive in a few days or weeks, but one important listing in the changes is “developer support for fetching and renewing App Store receipts”, hinting at the Mac App Store that has been announced, but not yet released, to arrive onboard your Mac soon enough.

Via: Apple Mac Dev Center