Windows
Tired of your Windows Phone 7 device sending and receiving random bouts of data ? Well, Microsoft is, too — and they’ve started to reach some conclusions from that investigation opened a few days ago. Apparently, there’s a “third party” that’s responsible for the misbehavior, and Redmond’s already reached out to help ‘em make the necessary fixes; the story isn’t necessarily over, though, because they’re still “investigating additional potential root causes,” which we presume could involve the operating system itself. As for the third party, it seems a “small” number of customers are affected, which probably explains why it’s taken this long for the complaints to come to a rolling boil. Here’s the full statement: “We have determined that a third-party solution commonly accessed from Windows Phones is configured in a manner that potentially causes larger than expected data downloads. We are in contact with the third party to assist them in making the necessary fixes, and are also pursuing potential workarounds to address the configuration issue in case those are needed. At this point in our investigation, we believe this is responsible for most of the reported incidents. We are investigating additional potential root causes for the remainder of the reports. A small (low single-digit) percentage of Windows Phone customers have reported being affected. We are continuing to investigate this issue and will update with additional information and guidance as it becomes available.” Microsoft tracks down ‘phantom data’ bug in Windows Phone 7, points finger at unnamed third party originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Jan 2011 18:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Category : Gadgets
Egads, ASUS, has it really come to this? The company synonymous with netbooks needs to seriously rethink its product strategy if it believes that its Eee PC “Sirocco” truly deserved a teaser and launch event — two marketing ploys typically reserved for items of high consumer interest. Turns out that its “making waves” tag line was (as we feared) just a coat of texturized purple, gold, or pink paint applied to the company’s otherwise bland 10.1-inch Eee PC 1015PEM netbook that runs Windows 7 Starter on a dual-core Atom N550 CPU. An embarrassing slab of meh in the age of Fusion . Even worse, we already saw the “new” Eee PC 1015PW announced in some official capacity back in October . Apparently, when you offer over 30 models of 10-inch Eee PCs this is the only way to get any attention. Click through for a quick video overview shot behind closed doors at CES by our friends over at NewGadgets. Otherwise hit up Mobile + Notebook who’ve been burdened with bringing you the live coverage of something that’s already happened. Continue reading ASUS Eee PC 1015PW ‘Sirocco’ was not worth the fuss (video) ASUS Eee PC 1015PW ‘Sirocco’ was not worth the fuss (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Jan 2011 05:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Category : Gadgets
Well, it looks like Windows might not be the only new territory for ARM in 2011 — ARMdevices is reporting that it has it on “very high authority from someone at Google” that an ARM-powered Google TV platform is “confirmed” and “coming soon.” That authority is unsurprisingly remaining anonymous, however, and apparently hasn’t provided much else in the way of details. This is far from the first time we’ve heard talk of ARM for Google TV, though — as ARMdevices points out, even ARM President Tudor Brown weighed in on the matter back in November, saying that “if Google TV is to be mainstream, it must be built on a lower power system… on lower cost technology,” with ARM presumably fitting the bill on both counts. ARMdevices: ARM-based Google TV platform ‘confirmed’ and coming soon originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Jan 2011 15:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Category : Gadgets
Perhaps if there was some sort of Brundlefly-style gadget mix-up five years ago, the outcome would look like this: an HTC Hermes jammed inside a GameBoy Advance housing. This prototype, presented by Windows Phone Hacker, features some fun changes that make it feel more like your beloved handheld gaming console, and less like your dated Windows Mobile Pocket PC, including a startup GIF animation of the original GameBoy Advance boot screen, custom software that keeps the OS in landscape mode, and custom notifications and ringtones from the Mario games. Also included is PocketGBA emulator for playing GameBoy Advance ROMs on the phone itself. Of course, this is just the beginning of the project: we look forward to seeing a version where the buttons work! In the meantime, check out the thing in action after the break. [Thanks, Juan] Continue reading GameBoy Advance Phone caught in the wild (by the guy who built it) GameBoy Advance Phone caught in the wild (by the guy who built it) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Jan 2011 14:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Category : Gadgets
We’re kind of getting used to Intel setting records with its earnings this year, and it capped off its 2010 with another killer quarter. With $11.5 billion in revenue, and a total of $43.6 billion for the year (up 24 percent from last year), Intel is naturally riding high. There’s danger lurking on the horizon, however, with Microsoft announcing at CES that the next version of Windows will also run on ARM chips , potentially ending a decades-long x86 dominance in the desktop OS space. Naturally, the topic came up in the earnings call, and here’s Intel CEO Paul Otellini’s level-headed statement on the topic: The plus for Intel is that as they unify their operating systems we now have the ability for the first time, one, to have a designed-from-scratch, touch-enabled operating system for tablets that runs on Intel that we don’t have today; and, secondly, we have the ability to put our lowest-power Intel processors, running Windows 8 or the next generation of Windows, into phones, because it’s the same OS stack. And I look at that as an upside opportunity for us. On the downside, there’s the potential, given that Office runs on these products, for some creep-up coming into the PC space. I am skeptical of that for two reasons: one, that space has a different set of power and performance requirements where Intel is exceptionally good; and secondly, users of those machines expect legacy support for software and peripherals that has to all be enabled from scratch for those devices. After careful analysis of Paul’s voice, we couldn’t detect any hints of panic or fear in it, and we buy about 50+ percent of what he’s putting down — a lot better than we expected, to be honest. It’s very interesting that he sees the new version of Windows being a “designed-from-scratch, touch-enabled operating system for tablets,” and the idea of Windows Phone running on regular Windows is also news to us — though it certainly makes plenty of sense in the long run (and perhaps Ballmer has been hinting at it ). Still, Intel has just as much of a disadvantage making a phone processor as ARM guys have a disadvantage at making high-powered PC processors, and when it comes to legacy support, they’ll at least be on pretty equal footing when it comes to a “designed-from-scratch” tablet OS. No matter what, Intel certainly has a great roadmap and a ton of cash right now, so we look forward to a fair CPU fight on all sides of the form factor coin. Intel CEO Paul Otellini addresses Microsoft’s ARM move in the wake of record earnings announcement originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Jan 2011 20:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Category : Gadgets
