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WD TV Live Plus gets reviewed, lauded for value
After being announced in early June, Anandtech recently put the Western Digital WD TV Live Plus through its paces and discovered the Netflix enhancement works as advertised. Like many Netflix-enabled devices though, the TV Live comes up short compared to the full PC experience since access is limited to only the Instant Queue. Its presence also sacrifices firmware hackability -- a quality which previously made up for the WD TV Live's lack of versatility as an HTPC. The ability to move, copy, and manage locally stored media files via the interface, on the other hand, was praised as a unique advantage over competing models -- exciting, we know. Sadly, video quality was docked as being "significantly less than the HTPC counterparts they've seen so far." However, it's possible this could be improved in the future via firmware updates, since its Sigma Designs processor features noise reduction and deinterlacing algorithms that strangely aren't currently enabled. File format-wise, DVD ISOs worked flawlessly, while Blu-ray ISO and some WMV video formats experienced issues that users may want to read up on before buying. Gripes aside though, Anandtech was still willing to place it "around the top of the list" for media player devices, thanks to its wide file compatibility and robust features. For more details, hit the review source link.

WD TV Live Plus gets reviewed, lauded for value originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Jul 2010 11:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Enso whips up two smartphones and three new slates, but we wouldn't order any of 'em
Oh, Enso -- must you really give us a reason to hope? After dealing with what felt like a case of the vaporwares, and then being epically disappointed with the zenPad (which is now out of stock, curiously) that you finally shipped, we just can't muster up the courage to look fondly upon the five new products that are gracing your webstore. That said, those that don't mind risk taking and actually enjoy the thought of fighting for a refund have three new MIDs / slates to ponder along with a pair of Android-based smartphones to consider. Let's break 'em down real quick, shall we?
  • zenPad 2 ($219; shipping now): Here you have a 5-inch, Android 1.5-based MID with an 800 x 480 resolution resistive touchscreen, a bundled stylus, inbuilt 3G, 802.11a/b/g WiFi, microSD slot (8GB included), 128MB of RAM, 256MB NAND Flash, a 624MHz Marvell PXA303 Xscale CPU, integrated accelerometer, onboard GPS, micro-USB port, 3.5mm headphone jack and a battery good for 4.5 hours of use. We're told that an Android 2.1 update is "imminent," but we believe that about as much as we believe BP's promise to "make it right."
  • zenPad 3 ($249; pre-order): This here tablet boasts the exact same specifications as the zenPad 2 (right down to the battery life and resolution), but it rocks a 7-inch design that'll aid those who can't squint hard enough to see fonts on the 5-inch sibling.
  • zenPad 4 ($199; shipping now): We hate to state the obvious, but this is quite obviously an iPad KIRF -- right down to the Home button. You'll find a 10.2-inch resistive touchpanel with a 1,024 x 600 resolution (one that Enso swears up and down "has a fast response and works very well"), along with Android 2.1, 802.11a/b/g WiFi, 256MB of RAM, 2GB of storage, a microSD slot (8GB included), a 1GHz Cortex A8 CPU, built-in accelerometer and a 2,400mAh battery that's good for 5 to 7 hours of life.
  • zenPhone ($349; shipping now): So... it looks like a Nexus One KIRF, it's called a zenPhone, yet it says it's a MID. Oh, and it's not this ZenPhone. Whatever the case, it's got a 4.3-inch resistive touchscreen (800 x 480), 3G HSDPA radio, 802.11a/b/g WiFi, Bluetooth, 256MB of NAND Flash, a microSD slot (8GB included), a 3.2 megapixel rear camera, 0.3 megapixel front-facing camera, a 2,600mAh battery, onboard GPS, 3.5mm headphone jack and -- wait for it -- Maemo 5 running the show. Yeah, seriously.
  • zenDroid ($319; pre-order): In the market for a Droid KIRF, are you? You've come to the right place, with this one offering a 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen (800 x 480), 3G HSDPA, 802.11a/b/g WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, an FM radio tuner, Android 2.1 ("upgradable to 2.2," we're told), a microSD slot (8GB bundled in), 512MB of NAND Flash, a 624MHz Marvell PXA935 processor, 5 megapixel rear camera, 0.3 megapixel front-facing camera, a 1,500mAh battery, onboard GPS, 3.5mm headphone jack and a micro-USB connector.
[Thanks, Neil]

Gallery: Enso zenDroid, zenPhone, zenPad 2, zenPad 3 and zenPad 4

Enso whips up two smartphones and three new slates, but we wouldn't order any of 'em originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Jul 2010 08:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PS3 firmware 3.41 said to be causing hard drive upgrade problems
The recently released PS3 firmware 3.41 seemed to just be a minor update that added a new "You May Like" section to the PlayStation Store, but it looks like it's been causing nothing but headaches for anyone trying to upgrade the hard drive in their console. As a 30-page strong thread on the official PlayStation forums reveals, folks upgrading their hard drive have been getting a "no applicable data" error after trying to install the update, which has left them with a non-working PS3 and, in some cases, a corrupted original drive. According to CVG, the issue may have something to do with a newly discovered feature of the 3.41 update that allows for more incremental patches, which might also explain why the problem only seems to be affecting PS3s where the firmware is stored in on the hard drive instead of the system's memory. As for Sony, it hasn't offered an official explanation just yet, but all indications are that it's a bug and not an intentional blocking of hard drive upgrades -- at least we hope it is. Head on past the break for a video of the problem.

Continue reading PS3 firmware 3.41 said to be causing hard drive upgrade problems

PS3 firmware 3.41 said to be causing hard drive upgrade problems originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Jul 2010 05:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How would you change the Drobo FS?
After years of pleading, the fine folks over at Data Robotics finally gifted you with a Drobo NAS. They called it the Drobo FS, but we all know what the real skinny is. But is the five-bay, Ethernet-friendly storage robot really a dream come true? We've had nothing but success with it in our Time Machine setup, but as with pretty much any networked drive, we've heard reports here and there of frustrations and complications. For those who have sprung for the FS, we're curious to hear what you'd change about the setup. Need more drive bays? Would you prefer a few extra interface options? Would you make the box a little less noisy? Go ahead and get honest down in comments below -- we know you need an avenue to vent after the week you just survived, right?

How would you change the Drobo FS? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Jul 2010 01:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rover Puck WiMAX hotspot gets FCC'd, traction on ice subject of fierce debate
The pool of choices for WiMAX hotspots continues to expand, and thanks to the FCC, we now know of another up-and-comer. The Rover Puck -- trademarked by Clearwire and previously unheard of -- joins the ranks Sprint's Overdrive and its various rebrandings by providing pocketable 4G WiFi service. Unlike its predecessors, however, we finally have a new, more aerodynamic form factor. There isn't much to the glean from the user manual at this point, and the oft-referenced Rover website still isn't live -- a WHOIS lookup reveals it was last updated via GoDaddy on July 2008 with no other details disclosed. So, until we get some word from the official news pipelines, a plethora of external / internal photos and user manual screenshots are only a mouseclick away.

Gallery: Rover Puck user manual

Gallery: Rover Puck external / internal photos from FCC

Rover Puck WiMAX hotspot gets FCC'd, traction on ice subject of fierce debate originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Jul 2010 21:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Augen Gentouch 78 preview
It's taken quite a bit of chasing (and Kmart stalking) this week to score Augen's $150 Gentouch Android tablet, but lo' and behold, the gadget is now in its rightful home... our home! We don't need to tell you that we ferociously ripped open the box to finally see how the Android 2.1 tablet performs, test out its touchscreen and see if it actually has access to app stores (unlike Augen's smartbook which we toyed with earlier this week). We're assuming you're just as eager to find out the answers to those questions, so hit that read more button for some early impressions as well as a hands-on video.

Gallery: Augen Gentouch 78 preview

Continue reading Augen Gentouch 78 preview

Augen Gentouch 78 preview originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Jul 2010 20:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Magic Trackpad review
Digg this!Apple's Magic Trackpad isn't the first of its kind -- in fact, Wacom has been playing this game for awhile -- but it's the first of its kind from the cats in Cupertino, so obviously people take notice. The premise of such a device is stupidly simple: it's a laptop trackpad that lives on your desktop. Over the past few years, there have been rumors that Steve Jobs has his sights set on eliminating buttons from Apple products altogether, and this certainly feels like the next step in the plan. But does it make sense? Is this an improvement over standard input devices like a mouse or trackball? More importantly, in the age of iPads and netbooks, does anyone even need an external input device like this? We're going to try and answer those questions (and more), so read on for our full review!

Gallery: Magic Trackpad first hands-on


Continue reading Magic Trackpad review

Magic Trackpad review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Jul 2010 19:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVO 4G's Froyo firmware was available for download, manual install (update)
Like we said, you don't have to wait until August 3rd to get your Android 2.2 Froyo update for the EVO 4G. You can grab the update file right now from HTC's servers (via source link). All you gotta do then is move the file to the root directory of your SD card, boot the phone into recovery mode (hold the "up" button while the phone is turning on), and select apply update from the associated .zip file -- you might also have to rename the file "update.zip" and expect a few other variations in the instructions, user depending. Too much thought process for Friday evening? Feel free to take a crack at it tomorrow, or simply wait for Sprint to give your phone the head's up next week.

Update: HTC just shot us a message to clarify that this is not the final ROM version and that the company is strongly recommending not to install this. Additionally, a request has been put in to remove the file from the server, so if you still want to try at your own risk, better download now while it's still available.

Update 2: ... and now it's gone. We're sure crafty internet users can still find the file lingering elsewhere, but you won't be getting it from HTC's servers this weekend. You know the old saying, ye who snoozes, something something, tough luck.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

EVO 4G's Froyo firmware was available for download, manual install (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Jul 2010 19:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola Sage: AT&T's next Android phone?
We tend to go into full-on conjecture mode when we see an interesting FCC filing, but our instincts haven't let us down in the past, so allow us to throw something out on the table. A new Motorola just hit the feds with 7.2Mbps HSDPA and 2Mbps HSUPA on the 850 and 1900MHz bands, quadband EDGE, WiFi, Bluetooth, AGPS, and a digital compass. In other words, this is definitely an Android set, and it could definitely work on AT&T. The Backflip's already looking plenty long in the tooth, and we wouldn't be surprised to see Moto fire its second Google-powered volley on AT&T before too long -- it's certainly been doing its duties on Verizon (and to a lesser extent, T-Mobile) after all. Any thoughts on what wild form factor this one might be?

Motorola Sage: AT&T's next Android phone? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Jul 2010 18:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola Droid getting Android 2.2 next week
We've just been dropped a brief note from Verizon that the original Droid will be getting the full Froyo treatment at some point next week. Considering the brevity of the announcement, it's entirely possible that this was thrown together in response to Sprint's EVO news -- but who cares? The more Android 2.2, the better, right? No official word on other Droid variants -- most of which are likely going to see Froyo updates soon -- but we'll be keeping our ears firmly planted to the ground.

Motorola Droid getting Android 2.2 next week originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Jul 2010 17:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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