Posted on 30 June 2009 by
At first glance it’s a little difficult to understand the necessity of another motion-sensing add-on. What could possibly be inside this particular block of white plastic that’s not inside those other countless slabs of white plastic that Nintendo has already slathered on the Wii? Sure, we know in theory that the gyroscopes that MotionPlus provides allows the controller to truly orient itself in 3D space, instead of just sensing acceleration in various directions, and breaks some of that reliance on the sensor bar, but do those theoretical advances result in a true leap in gameplay? We tested it out with EA’s new MotionPlus-enabled Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 and Grand Slam Tennis — the first such titles on the market while we wait for Nintendo to get its own Wii Sports Resort in order — and we’d say the results are pretty inconclusive so far. Check out our full impressions after the break, along with enthralling videos of both games in action.
Major thanks to The Golf Club at Chelsea Piers for letting us test this out at their facilities, and to golf pros Herb and Marj for letting us waste some of their valuable time.
Continue reading Wii MotionPlus review: it works, but so far the games aren’t worth the fuss
Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals
Wii MotionPlus review: it works, but so far the games aren’t worth the fuss originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Original post by Paul Miller
Posted on 30 June 2009 by
Step aside, JAC Hero, there’s a new firmware in town. Fatal1ty (that Fatal1ty?) and nk02 have not only managed to obtain the HTC Hero‘s new (and almost final) Sense UI-infused firmware, but have spruced it up for consumption by HTC Magic / Dream users. There’s naturally a bit of glitchiness — apparently WiFi and Bluetooth don’t work at the moment, and the camera is all funkified, but the real treat here is the first implementation of Flash 10 on Android, even if it is a bit “laggy” on the RAM-starved G1. The widgets are also on display, and other than Flash the general experience is apparently pretty snappy. Naturally, the xda-dev folks won’t be leaving well enough alone, and we should be seeing refined versions of this and future Hero firmwares leading up to and after the release of the actual device.
[Via xda-developers forum; thanks Jeremy W., screenshot by johnnylicious]
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds
New HTC Hero ROM leaked, Flash 10 already chugging along on a few lucky G1s originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Original post by Paul Miller
Posted on 30 June 2009 by
Filed under: Sprint
Screw the Pre — government contracts are where the real action is at, and Sprint’s got to be thrilled to know that it’s the first, the last, and the only carrier to be used by the US Census in its 2010 once-per-decade review of the nation’s denizens. We’ve known for some time that HTC would be supplying custom hardware to data collection folks in the field — a device cleverly codenamed Census — and indeed, Sprint’s press release makes mention of the fact that about 140,000 workers started using the Harris-branded devices with integrated fingerprint readers and GPS back in April of this year. Sprint’s also supplying a bit of infrastructure and about 1,500 wireless data cards, all told making this by far the most wireless Census in history. Makes you wonder what kind of equipment they’re going to use in 2020, doesn’t it?
Government working exclusively with Sprint for 2010 Census originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Original post by Chris Ziegler
Posted on 30 June 2009 by
Microsoft’s unleashed several guided tour videos of Windows 7 on its website. All of the videos are hosted by Latika Kirtane — Product Manager for Internet Explorer — who, in around two minutes, goes over some of the simplest features of Windows 7. Some of the sexier topics covered are Windows Search, setting up a home network, and the joys of parental controls. There’s nothing earth-shattering that we didn’t already know covered here, but you’ll still probably want to check out the videos after the break, and hit the read link for all four.
[Thanks, Alex -- via Neowin]
Continue reading Microsoft outs educational, inspirational Windows 7 tour videos
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
Microsoft outs educational, inspirational Windows 7 tour videos originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Original post by Laura June
Posted on 30 June 2009 by
Filed under: Software, Nokia, Symbian
There’s no shortage of complaints — some minor, some not-so-minor — about the shipping firmware in the N97s that are already out in the field (our wonky backlight comes immediately to mind), but fortunately, it seems that Nokia’s looking to tackle the issues perhaps more proactively than it’s ever done before. Nokia Conversations’ official Twitter account has announced that the “first variants” of the N97 (which we would take to mean the North American version, since the US got it first) will be blessed with firmware 1.1 starting on July 1, which hopefully will be available over-the-air without any Nokia Software Updater silliness. No word on what exactly will be changed in the new release, but honestly, if we can just get the LL Cool J startup screen, that’ll be good enough for us.
[Via Nokia Experts]
Nokia N97 getting firmware 1.1 on July 1 originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 08:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Original post by Chris Ziegler
Posted on 30 June 2009 by
Filed under: Culture, Handsets, RIM, Misc
Not that we haven’t heard a few miraculous gadgets-saving-lives stories before, but this one is in a league of its own. According to the always-embellishing Sun, one David Fitzherbert is thanking his smartphone after coming entirely too close to falling 700 feet to his death. As the story goes, he got wedged between a pair of rocks after losing control of his skis in the Matterhorn, and while we aren’t quite sure why he chose RIM’s BlackBerry over — say, chap-stick, car keys, his wallet or a fattening breakfast — he credited it with adding just enough width to his person to keep him wedged. Two hours after finding himself between a rock and a hard place, rescue crews arrived and flew him to a hospital where he used the “0.5-inch wide” phone to tell his wife that he had survived a nasty spill. We still say David owes a round of thanks to genetics, luck and Zeus, but hey, what do we know?
BlackBerry credited with saving skier’s life, serendipity left hanging originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 08:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Original post by Darren Murph
Posted on 30 June 2009 by
Filed under: Handsets, Palm, GSM, EDGE
Having the Palm Pre on Sprint might be good for Americans driving their pick ‘em up trucks down the CDMA data highway, but it doesn’t do Europeans (or Palm’s bottom line) any good over in the Old World. Now we’ve got video and images of a GSM-loving Palm Pre on the loose in Vietnam. Why ‘Nam? Easy, as workers gain more rights and higher wages in China, manufacturers of all our fancy consumer electronics are heading further south in search of cheap labor. While this doesn’t mean a damn thing regarding launch, it’s still good to see a functioning GSM Pre in the wild on the way to launch sometime before the end of the year, possibly sooner. Video after the break, as the saying goes.
[Thanks, Enzo]
Continue reading Video: Palm Pre caught playing with GSM SIM in Vietnam
Video: Palm Pre caught playing with GSM SIM in Vietnam originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 07:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Original post by Thomas Ricker
Posted on 30 June 2009 by
Filed under: Handsets, Multimedia, Others, ATT, T-Mobile, Windows Mobile, Android
If you want to get HD in your handheld, NVIDIA’s Tegra processor is the hot way to do it at the moment, and we’ve got reasonably concrete sounding rumors from disparate sources that a handset containing one one of the chips is currently under development by a “top five” smartphone builder (we’re guessing it’s not Apple), and that it’ll be out sometime before the end of the year, selling at T-Mobile and AT&T for just $199. The details of the device beyond that are scant, with Android being a possibility but Windows Mobile looking more likely, and a continued pledge of battery life of rated for “days and days” of mobile multimedia. We like the sound of that.
Read – NVIDIA Tegra phone due from “big five” firm
Read – Rumor: NVIDIA Tegra phones in Q409?
NVIDIA Tegra smartphone due from a “top five” manufacturer before 2010? originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Tue, 30 Jun 2009 06:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Original post by Tim Stevens
