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If you happen to reside just north of the American border, you might have heard that Canadian carrier Bell is now offering the Motorola Atrix from $169.95 on a three year commitment, all the way up to $599.95 sans contract. While this groovy smartphone is a welcomed addition for local Android fanatics, the early adopters have learned that -- much like its AT&T counterpart -- it lacks HSUPA. This is confirmed by xda-developers members who see a mere 400kpbs upload speed on their maple syrup-flavored Atrix, which is bad news for YouTube celebrities and the likes on Bell Mobility. Alas, we've yet to hear from the carrier regarding this issue, but let's just hope that the Atrix will be set free before Bell's headquarters gets taken over by furious green robots.

[Thanks, Steve and @Shift3r]

Bell's Motorola Atrix also has HSUPA disabled, Canadians frown upon 400kbps uploads originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Mar 2011 06:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Think Twitter’s going to follow Facebook and lend its brand to a smartphone? Think again. Twitter CEO Dick Costello said during his Mobile World Congress keynote yesterday that while he does see a need to better integrate Twitter into existing platforms for phones, he sees no need for a Twitter-branded smartphone. Costello cited the ability to take a picture on an Android phone and automatically tweet it as an example of that integration he’d like to see, and further added that he would like to see “more single sign-on experiences,” and “more apps that can tweet without having to go to another app.” Interestingly, Costello also revealed that 40 percent of all tweets come from mobile devices, and that fully half of all active Twitter users are active on more than one platform.

P.S. We should note that Costello seems to have overlooked the trailblazing TwitterPeek, along with everyone else.

Twitter CEO shoots down talk of a Twitter-branded smartphone before it starts originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 14:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Think Twitter's going to follow Facebook and lend its brand to a smartphone? Think again. Twitter CEO Dick Costello said during his Mobile World Congress keynote yesterday that while he does see a need to better integrate Twitter into existing platforms for phones, he sees no need for a Twitter-branded smartphone. Costello cited the ability to take a picture on an Android phone and automatically tweet it as an example of that integration he'd like to see, and further added that he would like to see "more single sign-on experiences," and "more apps that can tweet without having to go to another app." Interestingly, Costello also revealed that 40 percent of all tweets come from mobile devices, and that fully half of all active Twitter users are active on more than one platform.

P.S. We should note that Costello seems to have overlooked the trailblazing TwitterPeek, along with everyone else.

Twitter CEO shoots down talk of a Twitter-branded smartphone before it starts originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 14:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We've spent extensive time with our prototype of the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play, but how's it feel to use the real, near-finished model? Quite a bit better, actually. The phone looks identical, to be sure, but the hinge feels much sturdier. The speaker quality has gone up, too, although in the crowded room it was much too noisy to really make a solid judgment call. The platform's UI was snappier, to be sure, and the customizations obviously a lot more complete, but really our biggest concern here was the games.

We were able to play two titles, Star Battalion and FIFA -- both found via the applications pane, but they were also highlighted by the eponymous Xperia Play app. (There was additionally the infamous PlayStation Pocket app, but more on that later.) The former title, very much a StarFox ripoff, had tight controlling via both the gamepad and optional accelerometer option. The trackpads wasn't supported, however, but when we swapped over to FIFA, we found the left "pad" could be used for moving the player. Though definitely usable, it felt rough under our thumbs and we couldn't smoothly slide about as we would with an analog nub. It is large enough to do varying degrees of a direction like an analog stick, but you won't really be fine-tuning your shot so much. The indents work really well to help gauge your thumbs' position without having to look down. Both titles took quite a while to load, crashing a few times in the process; we were told this was largely due to early software.

The PlayStation Pocket app on most demo units were as empty as our own model, but a few on hand were running Crash Bandicoot (the "legendary pre-installed title," as referenced in the press conference) for PS One at a smooth 60 frames per second. To compensate for only two L and R triggers, the settings menu offer six different button layouts where you can use the trackpads as secondary shoulder buttons or have L2 / R2 on screen virtually. Thankfully, jumping out of the app saves the game's state, and you can return by clicking on the app. There's an additional confirmation screen in to give you a second to get ready for resuming.

We'll have video later tonight; meanwhile, find hands-on pictures of the phone (and dock!) in the gallery below!

Update: Fleshed out impressions -- looks like Crash Bandicoot will come pre-loaded!

Xperia Play MWC 2011 hands-on! (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 13 Feb 2011 15:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We'll forgive you if you thought the Xperia Play was eons before. Let's quickly run through its short-yet-illustrious history: we published first details in August last year, followed by the very first pictures in late October. More and more details emerged throughout the remainder of the year. By the time 2011 hit, a prototype was making the Chinese media rounds (teardown included), and then we managed to get our own Xperia Play prototype for preview. It's at this point that Sony Ericsson joins in on the fun with its creepy Super Bowl ad reveal.

But after months of detailed leaks, early hands-on previews, and numerous executive non-denials, the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play is finally 100 percent official.

As we've heard for ages now, it'll run Android 2.3 Gingerbread on a 1GHz Snapdragon processor with Qualcomm Adreno 205 graphics and display those games on a sizable 4-inch, 854 x 480 multi-touch LCD screen, the combination of which Sony says will provide 60 frames per second playback and manage up to 5 hours, 35 minutes of battery life in a single game session with the slide-out PlayStation Certified controller. Gaming credentials aside, you're looking at either a quad-band GSM or CDMA and EV-DO smartphone with a 5-megapixel autofocus camera, LED flash, stereo speakers, Bluetooth and WiFi functionality baked in, as well as Sony Ericsson's Timescape UI layer.

The phone comes preloaded with a "legendary" PSone game of the undisclosed variety, as well as a bevy of popular Android games including Asphalt 6, The Sims 3 and Tetris, and Sony Ericsson promises a library of 50 additional titles available at launch from 20 publishing partners. Some games ported from existing smartphone platforms (like Reckless Racing) will have bonus content on Xperia Play, too. Local area multiplayer gaming is a go, as you'll be able to host a WiFi hotspot on one device and join the game with another. It's launching in March, and will be available on Verizon (a US exclusive) in "early spring," suggesting that we'll see the European launch before it hits the States.

Update: Press release, full, gigantic spec sheet and loads of video after the break!

Continue reading The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play (update: video and full spec sheet!)

The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play (update: video and full spec sheet!) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 13 Feb 2011 13:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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