Editorial: The Engadget style guide reaches a MILESTONE

So last week the New York Times Magazine published a piece called "Against Camel Case" which argues that intercapped product names like iPhone and TiVo are "medieval," because they harken back to a time in which people mostly read aloud, slowly sounding out each word as they tried to understand them. Proper word spacing, says the Times, "eventually made possible phenomena like irony, pornography and freedom of conscience."

That's sort of a crazy coincidence -- while we're not so sure word spacing and porn have anything to do with each other, we did just re-do our style guide when we launched our jazzy new redesign, and we actually thought long and hard about how to handle intercapped, all-capped, and otherwise non-standard product names. This is something we deal with a hundred times a day, and we simply weren't going to let Motorola tell us to write MILESTONE over and over again, completely contradicting our own sense of style and taste -- as the Times says, "Writers of the world, fight back!" Well, we can't say no to that, so we thought we'd share our four newly-minted rules for writing out non-standard product names:

1. Product and company names that are regular English words shall be treated like proper English nouns, complete with proper capitalization. Example: DROID becomes Droid and nook becomes Nook.
2. Product and company names that are not regular English words shall be capitalized first as proper nouns, and then as the company treats them. Example: RAZR stays RAZR, but chumby would become Chumby.
3. Intercapped product and company names should generally be treated as the company treats them, unless it's egregious and / or looks weird. Example: iPhone stays iPhone, BlackBerry stays BlackBerry and TiVo stays TiVo, but ASUSTeK becomes Asustek. This rule is subject to many exceptions based on usage and history, and also functions as the "this is stupid" loophole.
4. Acronyms should obviously be in all-caps.

We think these rules are flexible to handle most situations, although there are some edge cases and blatant Rule 3 violations out there. Still, it's a start -- unlike the Times, we're pretty sure "iPhone" and "MasterCard" are here to stay, but we feel like our rules are a small step towards making our site clearer and more readable. Either that, or we're just crazy in the head.

All credits and information was found on engadget.com

Apple iPhone makes official debut in South Korea

After years of wrangling with privacy concerns over the iPhone’s location-based services, the Apple iPhone is now finally available in South Korea. Hundreds of people, hoping to be the first on their block to rock the iPhone, lined up overnight outside Olympic stadium in Seoul. Those not willing to brave the elements turned to pre-orders, with nearly 65,000 customers reserving an iPhone in the weeks leading up to the launch. The iPhone is being sold by #2 cellular provider KT Corp and has been priced competitively with a 32GB iPhone 3GS retailing for 396,000 won ($338USD) with a monthly plan of 45,000 won ($38 USD) and 264,000 won ($225 USD) with a monthly fee of 65,000 won ($55 USD). Samsung and LG, two homegrown manufacturers that currently dominate the South Korean market, are supposedly already feeling the pressure as they’ve started to lower handset prices across the board in South Korea.

All credits and information was found on boygeniusreport.com

4iThumbs overlay adds a tactile keyboard to your iPhone

The iPhone keyboard (or the lack thereof) has been a polarizing point for many, and while we've seen a workaround or two in our day, we've yet to see a solution to the lack of tactility as beautifully simple as this. 4iThumbs is a screen overlay that adds minuscule bumps on your iPhone display -- bumps that correspond to where the keys are when using the vertical keyboard. 'Course, these things are apt to bug you when using the horizontal keyboard (or no keyboard at all), but we're guessing the heavy texters in the crowd won't mind. Have a look at the videos below the break for a better idea of what you're about to get yourself into. Oh, and be sure to pick up a pair of Awethumbs while you're at it -- we hear these two go great together.

All credits and information was found on engadget.com

Nokia unveils the 6700 and 7230, two new sliders

Nokia has announced two new entry level 3G sliders, the Nokia 6700 slide and Nokia 7230. Both are set to launch in Q1 2010. The Symbian-powered Nokia 6700 slide features a 5 megapixel camera with dual LED flash and Carl zeiss optics, 2.2 inch QVGA display, HSDPA/HSUPA connectivity, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, an FM radio and microSD expansion slot. Available in a rainbow of colors as shown above, the 6700 slide will retail for EUR 160 ($239 USD). Less flashy but equally attractive is the Nokia 7230, a slim slider that features a 2.4 inch QVGA display, 3.2 megapixel camera, FM radio, Bluetooth, microSD expansion lot, with Symbian S40 being the OS of choice. Look for the Nokia 7230 to retail for an affordable EUR 100 ($149USD). One more shot after the break.

all credits and information was found on boygeniusreport.com

Stats show Motorola Droid is the new elephant in the Android room

Remember back in the day when the West was still wild, the gold rush was still in full effect, you owned whatever land you could manage to fence off, and tycoons were being made and broken on a daily basis? No? Well, some of you whippersnappers might be too young to recall it, but trust us, it happened -- and it seems like that's the kind of frontier mentality we're getting again today in the nascent Android landscape. Just a couple weeks after launching, mobile ad clearinghouse AdMob reports that the Motorola Droid is already accounting for a whopping 24 percent of all its Android-based traffic -- no small feat, considering that the then-unreleased device didn't even move the needle in their October report (pictured in the left graph). The HTC Dream -- the world's first retail Android device, you might remember -- still reigns supreme at 36 percent, but it's amazing that the entire Android space is still volatile enough to register nearly a 25 percent shift with the launch of a single new device on a single carrier. For comparison, the CLIQ clocks in with a lowly 6 percent -- proof that Verizon's aggressive advertising has been working some magic. Question is, what'll be the next device to completely screw up this pie chart again?'

All credits and information was found on engadget.com

BlackBerry Bold 9700 now available from AT&T

What’s that sound we hear in the distance? It’s probably cash registers at AT&T going wild as today, the new BlackBerry Bold 9700 is publicly available for sale. The device was offered up to Premiere customers starting at the top of the week, but since general availability is this morning, we have to ask… are you going to hit an AT&T store and grab RIM’s finest? Or maybe you’re on T-Mobile and snagged one already? Let us know in the comments!

All credits and information was found on boygeniusreport.com

Kyocera announced three new phones for the U.S. market.

• SCP-6760 Incognito: This Sanyo-branded handset is a sideways clamshell that has both a touch display and full QWERTY keyboard. Its main display measures 2.6 inches and has 240 x 320 resolution. It also has what Kyocera is calling a "glow-thru" keypad and OLED secondary display. The Incognito features 3G, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, a 2 megapixel camera, and support for microSD cards up to 16GB. It runs Sprint's OneClick user interface, has threaded messaging, and supports an array of Sprint services. It will be available from Sprint on November 30.
• S2300 Torino: This bar-style messaging phone has a full QWERTY keyboard, 1.3 megapixel camera, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, threaded messaging, speakerphone, and has 1xRTT data. It should be available in February.
• S1310 Domino: This monoblock phone is a tri-band CDMA device that is also limited to 1xRTT data. It features Bluetooth 2.0, WAP browser, speakerphone, and basic SMS/MMS messaging. The Domino will launch in December.

  from Kyocera

All credits and information was found on phonescoop.com

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 hands on!

Today we hit up Sony Ericsson’s shindig in NYC for some one-on-one time with its XPERIA X10, and so far (it’s a non-retail prototype) it looks like SE has a decent device on its hands. Of course, we all know the X10 is running Android 1.6, but SE has created its own UI, or UX as it prefers to say (short for User Experience), called Nexus. Like other UI overlays for Android, Nexus focuses on social media integration, entertainment and simplifying contact info by aggregating user information. Two very unique applications that SE has integrated into Nexus are Timescape and Mediascape. Timescape is much like viewing your contact information on HTC’s Sense UI and Motorola’s MOTOBLUR: you can view your contact’s email, SMS, Facebook and Twitter updates all in one place. Mediascape allows you to access photos, video and music from your phone as well as YouTube and PlayNow, SE’s music store. The great thing about Timescape and Mediascape is that they recognize connections between your contacts (like facial recognition), music and media and it makes suggestions on how you can communicate or get a guide to new media. Now that we’ve got the software aspect out of the way, hit the jump to see not only what think of the device itself, but quite a few pretty pics and a video overview!
Our initial impression of the XPERIA X10 is mixed. The screen is a vivid and crisp 4″ capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 480 x 854 while the device itself is both light and thin. It also packs smartphone basics like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, A-GPS, 3.5mm headset jack and a rather impressive 8.1 megapixel camera. The device feels nice in the hand, although those with small hands might think it’s rather large. Still, it’s not cumbersome by any means. When running through the screens, we did experience a bit of lag even though the X10 is running the 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. And while SE has added its own UI over Android 1.6, it still feels like a bare-bones Android device. The UI is very functional and it gets the job done, but it’s not as attractive as HTC’s Sense UI. We’re not quite sure what it is about the XPERIA X10, but we’re just not feeling that “wow” we got with the Droid, for example.
SE says it’s working with U.S. carriers to get the XPERIA X10 subsidized in the States, but in the even that doesn’t happen it could be another expensive device that might be overlooked in the Americas – we’ve got our fingers crossed that AT&T or T-Mobile will pick this up. There’s no word on when this will be released, but with all the press and fanfare we’re thinking it shouldn’t be much longer.

All credits and information was found on boygeniusreport.com

$3 Million of iPhones Stolen in Belgium Heist

A company named CEVA Logistics was housing somewhere between 3,000 and 4,000 iPhones in a warehouse when intruders climbed up a fire ladder and sliced a hole through the roof.

The hole was conveniently cut directly above the crates of iPhones.

An unknown amount of burglars managed to walk away with roughly 2 million euros worth of iPhones. And while they're almost sure to make a decent buck off the black market sale, carrier Mobsistar has revealed that they have a list of all serial numbers from the caper and will be deactivating the phones accordingly.

In other words, don't buy an iPhone in a back alley of Belgium. [De Standaard via AppleInsider]

All credits and information was found on gizmodo.com

LG Shine II Headed to AT&T on Nov. 22

Yesterday LG and AT&T announced the Shine II. Similar to the original Shine, the Shine II is a slider phone with 3G and stereo Bluetooth. It features a 2.2-inch wide mirror LCD, Java 2.0, and a 2 megapixel camera with autofocus, flash and video capture. The Shine II comes with on-board photo editing software, as well as a music player with customizable equalizer, music recognition and ringtone creator. The Shine II goes on sale November 22 and will cost $120 after mail-in rebate with new two-year contract.

All credits and information was found on phonescoop.com

Palm Makes webOS 1.3.1 Available to the Pre

Palm has released the most recent version of webOS for the Palm Pre, just a day ahead of the Palm Pixi's official launch. webOS 1.3.1 brings a number of improvements to webOS, including Yahoo contacts/calendar support, better management of contacts that are pulled from multiple accounts, more features in the Instant Messaging client, and improvements to the email program. Users are recommended to back-up their device before updating.

All credits and information was found on gizmodo.com

Second iPhone virus found, again targets jailbroken iPhones

Earlier this week, an Australian coder by the name of Ikee wrote an interesting iPhone worm targeting users with jailbroken iPhones — specifically those users who had not RTFM and changed their root password. The worm was programmed to scan the 3G IP ranges of the Telus, Optus, and Vodafone networks in Australia. Once a vulnerable iPhone was found, the exploit would change the wallpaper of said device to…Rick Astley. Respect. In an interview Ikee explains that his worm was designed as more of a warning shot than an attempt to compromise user data. Ikee had hoped users would be motivated to change their root password, which is set to “alpine” by default post-jailbreak, after seeing the consequences of a compromised root password. Fast forward to today, and a new anonymous coder has modified Ikee’s worm, and this new variant has less of that public service announcement feel to it. The modified strain, dubbed “iPhone/Privacy.A” by the online security firm Intego, is programmed to do several things: act silently and retrieve e-mail messages, SMS messages, calendar appointments, contacts, photos, music files, videos, along with any other data recorded by your iPhone apps. Currently details on where the worm is uploading the farmed data is scarce, and the threat of being infected is low. What’s our recommendation? If you have a jailbroken iPhone, change the root password. Maybe this is why Apple’s looking to secure their incredibly unsecure mobile operating system…

All credits and information was found on boygeniusreport.com

Garmin Nuvifone to rock out with Windows Mobile 6.5

You know your proprietary mobile OS isn’t all that great when we go ahead and say: thank heavens for Windows Mobile. Garmin/ASUS have announced that their M20 “GPS that can make phone calls” will now ship with Windows Mobile 6.5, and “all” current M20 owners are eligible for the free upgrade. Sweet. The two companies claim 6.5 will be available in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, India, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Czech, Turkey and elsewhere on the M20 by the close of 2009. No love for Western Europe and the US? Oh well. WinMo 6.5 for the M20 is nice and all, but what about all those fellas who purchased a G60?

All credits and information was found on boygeniusreport.com

Nokia’s N900 gets its marching orders

Nokia smartphone loyalists that feel S60 is a bit long in the tooth and are looking for something new should be all smiles today, as earlier Nokia announced that the Maemo 5-powered N900 smartphone has begun shipping out after a series of delays. To officially retail for around 500€ ($749 USD), the N900 has been spotted on various US-based websites for well under $600. And that’s a darn good deal, too, because you’re not going to find many phones at that price that offer up the following:

• Maemo 5 OS
• 3.5-inch WVGA (800 x 480) resistive touchscreen display
• 110.9 × 59.8 × 18mm, 181g
• Portrait-orientation sliding QWERTY
• Mozilla-based browser, full Adobe Flash support
• ARM cortex A8 processor
• 32GB internal memory
• 5.0 MP Carl Zeiss camera with dual-LED flash, auto-focus and sliding cover
• MicroSDHC support up to 16GB
• FM transmitter
• Quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE, WCDMA 900/1700/2100, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth with A2DP
• GPS
• 1320 mAh battery

One word of caution: as it currently stands, the N900 will not play nice with the new SIMs from 3 in the UK, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark and Austria, although a software update to resolve this comparability issue is due out before the end of the year. A launch video from Nokia is lying in wait after the jump.

All credits and information was found on boygeniusreport.com

Navigon updates US iPhone navigation app, live traffic updates are a go

A little later than previously alluded to, but Navigon's finally rolling out live traffic update to its MobileNavigator iPhone app. Same prices as mentioned before, it'll regularly be $24.99, but for the next four weeks, it's only gonna ring up at $19.99 for lifetime use, no monthly fees. Not that TomTom needed anything else to think about, of course. Full presser after the break.

All credits and information was found on boygeniusreport.com

Motorola Droid, Nice new cell phone

Finally the Motorola Droid has come out and this is a big expectation from a lot of Motorola fans. The Pros about this phone:
1. QWERTY key board
2. It has really good response time on the touch screen
3. Has the potential to surpass the iphone

Also check out the Motorola Droid accessories like plastic cases, silicone cases, that really protects your phone.

Palm Pre price keeps sinking on Bell, down to $100

Just weeks after Palm's Pre sunk to CAD $149.95 on Bell, the outfit's first-ever webOS phone has now stooped to just CAD $99.95. That still requires a 3-year contract, of course, but man -- a single bill for a smartphone like the Pre? Anyone tossing out guesses on how long it takes Sprint to follow suit (and embarrass the Pixi)?

[Thanks, David]
All credits and information was found on engadget.com

Verizon announces the BlackBerry Curve 8530

We’re sure that most of you are sick and tired of all of this Verizon news (how do you think we feel having to write about it?), but they’re on a tear. Today Verizon announced that it will be carrying the BlackBerry Curve 8530 starting November 20th. To go for $99.99 on contract after a $100 mail-in rebate, the new Curve offers the following: full-QWERTY keypad, optical trackpad, 2 megapixel camera, GPS, dedicated multimedia keys, 3.5mm headphone jack, 256MB of app memory, 528MHz processor, EV-DO connectivity and last but not least, Wi-Fi! Yes, indeedy, Verizon is definitely looking like the front runner in the smartphone arms race of the 2009 Holiday Season.

All credits and information was found on boygeniusreport.com

Rogers launches the LG Eve at $49.99

Rogers Wireless was the first carrier to bring Android smartphones to Canada with the HTC Dream and Magic — two devices that weren’t exactly cutting edge — and now it’s trying to generate some excitement with the Eve, LG’s first Android offering. Pre-loaded with the Social Networks Manager app, an aggregate for Facebook, Twitter and Bebo, the Eve is being positioned as the “ultimate smartphone for social media enthusiasts”. There isn’t anything extraordinary going on spec wise, but the Eve should get the job done for most with a 3″ touchscreen display, sliding QWERTY keypad, 5 megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, GPS and 7.2Mbps HSPA. All of this can be yours for $49.99 on contract or $399.99 without. You know, unless you want to wait until Thursday to see just how much the TELUS’s HTC Hero is going to set you back.

All credits and information was found on boygeniusreport.com

Sony Ericsson announces the XPERIA X10

And yet another manufacturer has officially entered the Android game as Sony Ericsson has formally announced the XPERIA X10. Powered by a 1GHz Snapdragon processor and running on Android 1.6 “Cupcake”, the X10 boasts a 4″ WVGA capacitive touchscreen display, an 8.1 megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, GPS and two flavors of UMTS/HSPA — one of which supports T-Mobile, the other, AT&T — in addition to quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE. Regrettably there is only 1GB of built in memory, although an 8GB microSD card ships in the box. In terms of UI customization, the X10 comes with the UI overlay UX called Rachael (user experience) which extends into two premier apps: Mediascape — the media player which we’ve already seen twice — and Timescape, which more or less is SE’s answer to a MOTOBLUR type skin. Pricing and countries of availability has yet to be announced, but the XPERIA X10 will be available in Q1 2010 in Sensuous Black and Lustre White (yes, we LOL’d, too). Hit the jump for a promo video and a press release.

All credits and information was found on boygeniusreport.com

Verizon to aim for the smartphone crown

One of our really solid connects just had some information for us and we think you’re going to love it. With the Motorola DROID being Verizon’s hot handset at the moment, you’d figure that the Moto would be it for a while, right? Well, if our guy is right, we could soon be bombarded with a lot more handsets. Apparently if the DROID launch/sales go really well, (is probably will) Verizon will push up handset releases and practically aim for the smartphone crown. Were talking HTC Passion, Motorola Calgary, Curve2, etc.
Apparently the Curve2 or HTC Passion / Dragon will launch on Black Friday, “whatever is ready first.” The second device would be used in a holiday push around mid-December. I asked why Verizon wouldn’t space this out more and he/she said “best network, best smartphones campaign.” Fair enough.
There’s also some handsets coming soon that we “don’t know about,” apparently. Could all four Android devices really launch on Verizon before the end of the year, or really close to it? Plus a couple BlackBerrys, and some other stuff that hasn’t surfaced yet? It seems a little crazy, but hey, more power to them.
UPDATE: We’ve also been told that Verizon will release 15 new phones, mostly smartphones, starting with the BlackBerry Storm2 and continuing into the end of December.

All credits and information was found on boygeniusreport.com

Motorola DROID headed to Germany as the Motorola MILESTONE

Let’s be clear right off the bat: this is no rumor. The Motorola DROID is steaming towards a release on O2 Germany under the name MILESTONE. The news of this came from a German blog which leaked a photo of a business guide (pic after the jump) as well as an official O2 device price list which shows the MILESTONE coming in at 404.20€ or $594.93 USD before taxes (and subsidies). If that isn’t proof enough, we pulled the image above from from O2’s site after a simple Google query. No doubt there will be some people Stateside that refuse to go over to Verizon to get the DROID (we get a huge kick out of network fanboyism), so how many of you would be willing to import one of these Android 2.0 behemoths even if it lacks US 3G?

Thanks, Schreifels!

All credits and information was found on boygeniusreport.com