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Aava Mobile reveals Virta 2 smartphone development kit, we go hands-on

Sean Hollister — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 01:12:00 +0000

When we met with Finnish startup Aava Mobile today, they pulled out the same old prototype phone... then, to our great surprise, dropped a brand-new device right alongside to show us how their Moorestown-based ambitions have grown. This is the Virta 2 reference design, which will ship to developers soon, with the same basic hardware inside but a few important tweaks. First of all, you'll note that's MeeGo on this screen, not the droid we were looking for, but that's because the development kit can switch between operating systems by merely swapping out the microSD card.

Whereas the original prototype had a thin, flimsy shell, the Virta 2's gone downright rugged, ditching the iPhone chrome for a more durable gunmetal frame, and there's a full compliment of sensors (compass, accelerometer, ambient light and proximity) alongside quad-band radios, WiFi, Bluetooth and a pair of cameras for your video chat testing needs. At €1900 (roughly $2393) per unit, the dev handset isn't exactly cheap, but where else are you going to get an Atom Z600 to play around with? Devices ship late August or early September, and Aava expects the platform (but not this exact handset) to see commercial availability next year. Find preorders at our source link, if you've got the bankroll.

Gallery: Aava Mobile's Virta 2 hands-on and comparison shots

Aava Mobile reveals Virta 2 smartphone development kit, we go hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Jul 2010 21:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft’s Windows Phone Developer Tools package goes to beta

Chris Ziegler — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 19:57:00 +0000

Early versions of the tools Windows Phone 7 developers will use to craft their wares have been floating around since Microsoft's MIX event in March, but it looks like things have finally gotten robust and feature-complete enough this week to bless the kit with a beta label. In fact, Microsoft is coming out and saying that this release "represents the near final version," which we take to mean you can develop with some confidence that your world won't be turned upside down when the time comes to prep your apps for shipping devices and firmwares. The actual API has been tweaked and Expression Blend is now fully integrated with the tools, though there are apparently still a few controls that aren't ready for primetime and will be added over the coming weeks. Oh, and if no emulator is enough to satisfy your intense cravings, you might be excited to learn that more developer devices are slated to ship next week -- so keep an eye on your mailbox and your porch if you signed up to get one.

Microsoft's Windows Phone Developer Tools package goes to beta originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Jul 2010 15:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple now accepting iOS 4 apps, multitasking ahoy

Nilay Patel — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 19:11:00 +0000

Although we've been running iPhone OS 4 -- now known as iOS 4 -- since it was first announced in April, we actually haven't been able to try out any of the fancy new multitasking features, since no third party apps have been released with support yet. That's all about to change: as of today, Apple is accepting iOS 4 apps, which means we should see quite a few apps that take advantage of multitasking on the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4, as well as make use of the 1500 other new APIs in the system when it launches on June 21.

That's definitely good news, but we've got a feeling Apple's unique take on iPhone multitasking will take a few people by surprise, as only certain tasks are allowed in the background -- and apps that need to run persistently, like IRC and IM clients, still won't really work at all. In fact, there's already some rumblings by devs that they need additional backgrounding tools in order to provide features that users are asking for; Instapaper's Marco Ament has proposed a network polling API that would allow his app to update content in the background, for example. We'll see how quickly Apple responds to these requests, but for right now we're just happy we'll finally be able to switch away from a Skype call or GPS app while using our iPhones.

[Thanks, Oliver]

Apple now accepting iOS 4 apps, multitasking ahoy originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 11 Jun 2010 15:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aava Virta Android reference platform will be the first shipping Moorestown smartphone

Nilay Patel — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 22:03:00 +0000

Sure, Intel might not be planning for Moorestown-based smartphones to hit the market for at least another six months, and the LG GW990 might have died a quiet death, but that's not stopping Aava from getting right in the game with its Virta Android, an Atom Z600-based reference smartphone designed for developer testing. Slated to ship in Q3, the Virta features a Moorestown processor, a 3.8-inch 864 x 480 capacitive touchscreen, quad-band EDGE radios with AT&T 3G support, WiFi, Bluetooth, a five megapixel video camera, and a microSD slot. We're assuming the shipping version will look a lot like the prototype Aava device we've been seeing for a while now, but Aava has some fancier renders up on its site, so we'll see what happens and how much this costs when this thing arrives.

Continue reading Aava Virta Android reference platform will be the first shipping Moorestown smartphone

Aava Virta Android reference platform will be the first shipping Moorestown smartphone originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Jun 2010 18:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MeeGo 1.0 demoed on MSI netbook, looks shockingly stupendous (video)

Darren Murph — Thu, 27 May 2010 20:56:00 +0000

You've already watched pre-release versions of MeeGo fly around on a number of netbooks, but if you're still wondering if it's worth your while to install v1.0 on your own machine, you owe it to yourself to have a look at the video posted after the break. The fine folks over at Liliputing have installed the fresh-out-of-the-lab operating system onto their MSI netbook in order to showcase some of the features, and frankly, we're duly impressed by what we're seeing. It's clearly light on its feet, with an Expose-like shifting of screens happening at speeds which we previously only dreamed of seeing on an Atom-based rig. We can't say the rest of the world is really ready to ditch Windows 7 for something as niche as this, but judging by this vid, you should probably give it a whirl. What's to lose, right?

P.S. - Phoronix was able to run the new OS through the benchmark gauntlet, and it certainly showed up Ubuntu.

[Thanks, Rafael]

Continue reading MeeGo 1.0 demoed on MSI netbook, looks shockingly stupendous (video)

MeeGo 1.0 demoed on MSI netbook, looks shockingly stupendous (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 May 2010 16:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MeeGo 1.0 for netbooks and N900 now available to download

Darren Murph — Wed, 26 May 2010 22:33:00 +0000

You've seen it teased, and now it's time to shelve whatever you had planned for this evening (or morning, depending on your current coordinates) and slap the first bona fide 1.x MeeGo release onto whatever device you've got handy. As of right now, MeeGo v1.0 for Netbooks and v1.0 for Nokia N900 are available for download, with the former supporting Atom-based machines and the latter supporting... well, we'll let you take a stab there. The API that's being released includes Qt 4.6, and while the current SDK is tailored for netbooks, the next version -- slated to hit devs in June -- will support "touch-based devices, such as handsets and tablets." We're also told that v1.1 will be outed in October, with the development tree already being open. We're certainly digging the layout shown here at a glance, but why not give that source link a visit and find out how it suits you in real life? We heard Snooki totally digs it, too.

[Thanks, Ernst]

MeeGo 1.0 for netbooks and N900 now available to download originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 May 2010 18:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Android 2.2 SDK goes live, developers likely unable to crash Google’s download server

Chris Ziegler — Thu, 20 May 2010 17:12:00 +0000

Giving devs access to freshly-announced versions of mobile operating systems on the very same day that they're announced is pretty much the way things work nowadays -- the first version of Windows Phone 7 understandably excepted -- so we're pleased to see that Google's kit for Android 2.2 Froyo is now up and running. You start out by downloading a modest 18-odd megabyte package that just contains tools with no target platforms, then you open a separate app to pull and install only the platforms you want (you can go all the way back to version 1.5, if you're so inclined). So kick off that download now while you grab lunch -- we hear the lobster bisque they're serving in the cafeteria today is pretty good.

[Thanks, Justin B.]

Android 2.2 SDK goes live, developers likely unable to crash Google's download server originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 May 2010 13:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google’s Native Client SDK developer preview provides helpful reminder of plans for world domination

Paul Miller — Thu, 13 May 2010 17:31:00 +0000

It's easy to forget some of Google's "we will own you and your children" initiatives: there are simply so many of them. One particular gambit that has been flying under the radar is Google's Native Client, which allows the Chrome browser to execute x86 code natively. This has big implications for moving those beefy, number crunching desktop app holdouts to the browser, which would not only be a boon for Google's ability to make Microsoft and Apple-beating web apps, but a big win for Chrome OS as well. Right now the Native Client is only working with the developer-oriented Chromium browser, with ubiquitous support a distant dream, but Google has already worked out ARM processor code portability, has plans to be completely processor agnostic in the future, and will be updating the SDK "rapidly" in the coming months. Basically, it's on. Check out a video demonstration of some "hello world" code after the break, along with a brief demo of a 3D shooter.

Google's Native Client SDK developer preview provides helpful reminder of plans for world domination originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 May 2010 12:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Download Squad | Google Chromium Blog | Email this | Comments

Samsung releases Bada SDK for developers who want to ride the Wave

Tim Stevens — Fri, 07 May 2010 14:16:00 +0000

Samsung still hasn't managed to get the Wave or any other Bada handset to market yet, but it's doing the right thing by offering developers the software development kit first. Granted, with a planned June release Samsung isn't managing the same sort of massive lead-time that Microsoft has with its Windows Phone 7 SDK, but a few weeks of pressure-free coding are better than none. The first public SDK for Bada was just made available yesterday, and inside developers will find an Eclipse-based IDE, a phone emulator, and tutorials. You can get it all for yourself at the source link below, but make sure you get your reading glasses out before clicking through. You'll need to agree to not one, not two, but four separate sets of terms and conditions before you can get this 606MB download flowing, and a fifth before it'll install. Oh, and it's all C/C++ based, so if you've been living in the merry land of Java and C# lately you'd better brush up on pointer dereferencing and interface definitions.

[Thanks, Sacha]

Samsung releases Bada SDK for developers who want to ride the Wave originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 May 2010 09:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone OS 4 unlocks 720p video capture, further solidifying iPhone HD?

Sean Hollister — Thu, 06 May 2010 03:52:00 +0000

Last time on let's-speculate-about-Apple-products, the New iPhone rumor mill dug up dirt on video chat and a 5 megapixel camera. Now, it appears there might be one more reason to call it the iPhone HD. MacRumors reports that the iPhone SDK 4 beta includes the value "AVCaptureSessionPreset1280x720," leading some to believe Cupertino's next phone will record video in 720p. Mind you, the iPhone 3GS was technically already capable of that feat, so this might not have anything to do with a new handset, but honestly, at this point the iPhone's camera wouldn't be competitive recording in a smaller format anyhow.

iPhone OS 4 unlocks 720p video capture, further solidifying iPhone HD? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 May 2010 22:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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