Mobile Phone News

Filed under: Handsets, LG, ATT, GSM, EDGE, HSDPA, UMTS

Mum’s still the word with AT&T, but LG’s gone ahead and spilled the beans on the burgundy version of the Vu — a phone that’s starting to look a little long in the tooth in the face of its newer competition from Samsung, so what better way to freshen things up than with a new color? Only the MediaFLO-equipped CU920 version of the phone seems like it’s coming in the new shade, so if you were hoping to squeeze by without having to buy the mobile TV circuitry, we’re afraid you might walk away disappointed. Let us know if you see this one galavanting around stores, won’t you?

[Via phoneArena]

LG Vu at this time official in burgundy originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 15 Dec 2008 18:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, Samsung, Verizon Wireless, Windows Mobile, EV-DO, CDMA

There’s some ongoing debate as to whether Verizon’s upcoming version of the Samsung Omnia, the predictably-named SCH-i910, would feature WiFi. In general, Verizon’s historically just been about the least WiFi-friendly of the major US carriers, so prevailing logic had us believing (pessimists that we are) that the Omnia would Rel. on EV-DO alone to go about its high-speed Dat. business, too. Ah, but wait — there’s this little matter of a WiFi Alliance certification proudly proclaiming the i910 as a “Phone, dual-mode (Wi-Fi and cellular),” which would suggest that there’s an extra radio up in there somewhere. Of course, Verizon could go ahead and disable that circuitry in software before they drop it on a store shelf, but with that giant heart of gold of theirs, would they really sink so low as to disable it? (Don’t answer that.)

[Thanks, Ari]

WiFi certification: pretty strong evidence Verizon’s Omnia is WiFi-equipped originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 29 Oct 2008 02:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Software, HTC, Windows Mobile

Though some newer firmware revs for affected HTC devices have touted video performance tweaks, the company’s still not terribly interested in coming out with outright hardware-accelerated binaries to fully support the dormant ATI Imageon circuitry on board, citing a host of technical issues. That’s been an ongoing source of ire for some in the user community who’ve complained of lackluster video playback performance, and after giving up on an official solution, there’s been a grassroots effort for homebrew drivers that’s finally starting to yield some paydirt. 2D (read: video playback, among other things) acceleration still isn’t in the cards, but HTCClassAction.org has released binaries and sample vids showing improved 3D performance thanks to newfound Direct3D and OpenGL ES acceleration. On the issue of whether 2D efforts have been abandoned, the organizers say “we have not [abandoned it], it may still come. The simple fact is, that in this particular case, it was easier to work with the 3D drivers first.” Anyone want to test these out and see if your hair’s getting blown back by the blistering performance? Follow the break for the full video.

[Thanks, Bernard]

Continue reading HTC community well on its way to its own accelerated video drivers

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