Category: Mobile Tech

Epic’s Mark Rein Talks Android, iOS, and PlayStation Vita

Epic Games’ vice president Mark Rein recently spoke with Game Network about a wide variety of topics. The section on mobile gaming was particularly interesting. As I noted in December 2009, Unreal Engine 3 on iOS was a huge step for smartphone gaming. Since then, Epic and Chair Entertainment have had one of the biggest iOS hits ever with Infinity Blade. It was interesting to hear what he had to say about iOS, Android, and PlayStation Vita gaming. Check it out:

iOS is certainly part of Epic’s future. Our recent iOS game, Infinity Blade, has already earned us over $10 million in its first six months and hammers home the notion that iOS users are ready for the kind of high-production value games that Unreal Engine 3 is uniquely qualified to produce on iOS. Our engine is also available on Android and one of our licensees — Trendy Entertainment — holds the distinction of having the first-ever game certified for Android’s Honeycomb tablet release with Dungeon Defenders. They were also demoed on Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Play (aka the “PlayStation phone”) and we showed them onstage at the Tokyo reveal event for Sony’s next-gen portable, the PSVita. Epic and Unreal Engine 3 are already big players in the mobile and handheld space.

Epic’s Unreal Engine is already dominant in the console gaming world. It looks like the company is on its way to having similar success on numerous mobile platforms. While that’s nice for Epic, it also mean better looking games for you and me. I have no doubt that Unreal Engine will succeed on iOS and PS Vita. Android developers have a bunch of other problems to worry about, but I’m sure Unreal Engine will help a few of them make great games too. While Gears of War is still the company’s prime franchise, it’s clear that Epic sees how important the mobile market will be in the near future.

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Vellamo Benchmark Measures Android Web Browsing Prowess

Qualcomm has released the Vellamo Mobile Web Benchmark, which is a testing suite that measures the web browsing prowess of Google Android phones. According to the official description, Vellamo measures, “browser performance and stability, including networking, JavaScript, rendering, and user experience.”

I just ran the test on the T-Mobile G2x by LG and the HTC Thunderbolt. The former uses a dual-core Tegra 2 processor, while the latter uses a single-core Snapdragon processor. The G2x scored a 604, while the Thunderbolt nabbed a 592. Please keep in mind that these were initial runs; any serious benchmarking should been done multiple times.

I’d love to see your results. If you have an Android phone and have some time to run a benchmark, please download Vellamo and post your score in the comments section.

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Coffee Talk #374: Totally Loving Google+

I’ve been using Google+ for about two weeks and I’m totally enamored with the service. I love that it combines facets of Facebook, Twitter, and BlackBerry Messenger. I love the control offered by its…

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Spotify’s American launch, waiting for HSPA+ 42 phones, or naughty dreams about Ann Coulter, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

I’ve been using Google+ for about two weeks and I’m totally enamored with the service. I love that it combines facets of Facebook, Twitter, and BlackBerry Messenger. I love the control offered by its Circles feature. I love the excellent Android app for Google+. Certainly there’s a whole “shiny and new” aspect to my fascination with Google+, but there’s no denying that Google launched a strong product and has several excellent features in the works.

The reason I’m most excited about Google+ is that it allows me to easily write personal blog posts again. After seven years of consistent blogging, I haven’t really touched my personal blog in three years. I love that I can easily share some intimate thoughts through Google+ Circles, whether it’s with five super-close friends or 50 people I really like. I’m definitely going to start using Circles for personal writing. Of course the big fear is a security issue exposing all my thoughts to the world…and also writing drunk blog posts.

I know that several of you are using Google+ too. Please let me know what you like and don’t like about the service. If you’re not using the service yet and would like to, just leave a comment here. Several RPadholics and I can send you an invite.

EA Mobile iOS Fourth of July Sale

EA Mobile is having an outstanding sale on games for your iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. There’s lots of great stuff available for 99 cents. Here’s the full list…

EA Mobile is having an outstanding sale on games for your iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. There’s lots of great stuff available for 99 cents. Here’s the full list:

iPhone / iPod Touch
Battlefield: Bad Company™ 2
Dead Space™
Dragon’s Lair II
FIFA 11 by EA SPORTS™
Fight Night Champion by EA SPORTS™
Madden NFL 11 by EA SPORTS™
NBA JAM by EA SPORTS™
NCAA® Football by EA SPORTS™
Need for Speed™ Hot Pursuit
Need for Speed™ Shift
Need for Speed™ Undercover
RISK
SCRABBLE
TETRIS®
Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® 12
The Sims™ 3
The Sims™ 3 Ambitions
The Sims™ 3 World Adventures
TRANSFORMERS:™ DARK OF THE MOON

iPad
Battlefield: Bad Company ™ 2
BATTLESHIP
Command & Conquer™ Red Alert™
CLUE: Secrets & Spies
Coconut Dodge
Dead Space™
Draw Jump
The GAME OF LIFE™
Madden NFL 11 by EA SPORTS™
Max and the Magic Marker
Mirror’s Edge™
MONOPOLY™
NBA JAM by EA SPORTS™
Need for Speed™ Hot Pursuit
Need for Speed™ Shift
PICTUREKA!
Reckless Racing
RISK
SCRABBLE
SimCity™ Deluxe
SNOOD
TETRIS®
Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® 12
TRANSFORMERS:™ DARK OF THE MOON
Ultimate Mortal Kombat™ 3
YAHTZEE™ Adventures

Any of you buying?!? I see about five games I want. This will be brilliant for the airplane ride to Hawaii!

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Skype Adds Video Chat and SMS to Android Client

Skype has finally added some much-needed features to its Android client. The one that’s getting most of the attention is video chat. Android users will be able to use their phones to make Skype video calls. The receiver can be on a mobile phone or a PC. Unfortunately, this functionality is currently restricted to a handful of Android phones: the Google Nexus S, the HTC Desire S, the Sony Xperia neo, and the Sony Xperia pro.

The feature that I’m excited about is that finally — and I say that similar to how The Rock says, “Finally!” — the Android client gets SMS functionality. This is a huge addition for people that send international text messages. I send several every day and it’s so much cheaper on Skype than through a mobile phone.

Skype for Android is still a red-headed stepchild compared to its iOS counterpart, but I’m thrilled that the Google version is finally catching up to the Apple version.

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Will the HTC Status Facebook Phone Become the New Sidekick?

From roughly 2002 to 2007, Danger’s Sidekick phones were the choice for teens and tweens. They were cool, relatively cheap, and focused on messaging. The smartphone market has changed drastically with the introduction of the iPhone, but there hasn’t been a phone that was aggressively targeted towards teens and tweens…until now.

The HTC Status has been officially announced for AT&T and Telus. It’s a Google Android phone with HTC Sense 3.0 and, most importantly, heavy Facebook integration. Here’s some marketing copy and specs from the official Facebook page:

The HTC Status lets you share pretty much everything with just about everyone, instantly. It’s the first-ever device with a Facebook Share Button. Now, you can share videos, chats, check-ins, sites and songs with your friends on Facebook at the push of a button. And with new music, new videos, group deals and live events to share with you all summer long, it’s the most outgoing phone in the social universe.

Platform: Android™ 2.3 + HTC Sense™
Display: 2.6-inch touch screen with 480 x 320 resolution
Network: Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 UMTS/HSDPA 850/1900
Memory: 512 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM
Processor: MSM7227, 800 MHz
Battery: Rechargeable lithium-ion battery, 1250 mAh
Camera: 5 MP main camera with autofocus, 1.3 MP front-facing camera

On paper, it seems like a brilliant idea. The Status should be a relatively inexpensive phone that combines a capable mobile operating system, fashionable hardware, and the most popular social network in the world. That said, I wonder if the target market even wants such a phone. The Android and iOS apps for Facebook are already quite capable. Is more Facebook integration really required or needed? Would a teen on a budget rather have the HTC Status or last year’s iPhone model?

Of course I’d love to get your thoughts on the HTC Status. Do you think it will take off? Will it be this decade’s Sidekick? Or will teens and tweens be content with slightly older Android and iOS products that already have strong Facebook options?

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Today’s Poll: Will You Use Google+ Project?

Google has gone official with its Google+ Project, a social network that combines features of Facebook, Twitter, Skype, BlackBerry Messenger, and more. On the plus side, it’s seems like a huge and comprehensive service. On the down side, you know there’s a problem when a company has to post six videos just to explain what a service offers.

Naturally, I have to use the service for outreach purposes (and because I have too many Silicon Valley nerd friends that will give me crap if I don’t sign up). However, I’m genuinely curious about some of Google+’s features. The mobile aspect seems like it has a ton of potential. There are millions of Android users out there and it looks like Google+ will feature super-right Android integration. That said, I’m already a bit schizophrenic from juggling my Facebook and Twitter personalities.

Anyway, check out the videos when you get a chance and let me know if you’re interested in Google+.

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T-Mobile MyTouch 4G Slide Sports Cutting-Edge Camera

I’ve never been a fan of T-Mobile’s MyTouch line. I don’t care for the industrial design and I hate the “Espresso” version of HTC Sense the phones use. The recently announced MyTouch 4G Slide addresses several of my issues with the line and packs a camera that rivals the iPhone 4’s excellent shooter (on paper). Here are some hardware specs from the press release:

The new myTouch 4G Slide features a beautiful 3.7-inch WVGA super LCD touch-screen display, with Swype®, and a slide-out full-QWERTY keyboard, offering customers the freedom to choose how they want to input text. Powered by Android™ 2.3 (Gingerbread) and HTC Sense 3.0, the myTouch 4G Slide provides an intuitive and powerful smartphone experience. With support for T-Mobile’s lightning-fast 4G network paired with a 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ processor, myTouch 4G Slide customers will experience quick access to their favorite websites, videos, applications and much more.

And here’s more information on the camera:

Ideal for capturing that perfect moment with photos that rival high-end dedicated digital cameras, the myTouch 4G Slide comes with an 8-megapixel camera with a dual LED flash and a host of advanced digital camera features, including the following:

  • Improved low-light Performance: with a backside illuminated sensor and a wide aperture lens (f/2.2)
  • Zero shutter lag: innovative software features allow for an instantaneous shot at that precise moment
  • SweepShot™: for capturing panoramic shots by sweeping across an entire scene in a single motion
  • ClearShot™ HDR: for capturing objects in bright settings so your photos are not affected by high-contrast lighting
  • BurstShot™: for capturing multiple photos in a quick burst so you don’t miss the perfect photo

The sensor and aperture are the items to note here. On paper, the camera in this phone should rival the ones found in the iPhone 4 and numerous Nokia phones. I fully expect the MyTouch 4G Slide to be one helluva shooter.

While I still don’t like the way the phone looks, I’m glad that the MyTouch 4G Slide is using a version of HTC Sense that doesn’t appear as watered down as the ones found in previous MyTouch phones. (The “Genius Button” is still stupid though.) More importantly, it rounds out T-Mobile’s Android offerings nicely. The company already has two hot Android phones with the LG G2x and HTC Sensation. The MyTouch 4G offers high-end specs, a slide-out keyboard, and a phone that should be outstanding.

Any of you interested in picking up a T-Mobile MyTouch 4G Slide?

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Coffee Talk #369: The End of the Apple iPod?

One of my reviewer friends believes that Apple selling unlocked iPhones in America spells doom for the iPod. He’s certain that the iPod will be discontinued and that Apple will position last year’s iPhone as the…

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Klatch’s Sumatra Aceh Gold, Joe Torre wearing Yankee pinstripes again, or the surprising success of Cameron Diaz’s Hot Teacher, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

Remember my reviewer friends that were arguing with me about viewing angles on mobile phones? One of them had an interesting theory that extended our brunch meeting for an hour (at least). He’s sure that Apple selling unlocked iPhones in America spells doom for the iPod. His argument is that the iPod is becoming less and less important to Apple as sales of the iPhone and iPad flourish. He’s certain that the iPod Classic and Touch will be discontinued this year and Apple will instead sell the previous year’s iPhone to snag budget sales.

Although his theory is intriguing, the rest of us doubt it will pan out that way…at least in the near future. It’s true that the iPod is no longer as important to Apple as it once was, but the company still sells million of them. Perhaps the iPod Classic will go away, but it seems too soon to kill off the iPod Touch. Furthermore, slashing the price of an unlocked iPhone 4 will surely piss off carriers. Apple has a lot of stroke, but it’s probably not a good idea for the company to alienate its carrier partners.

Still, I can see it happening eventually. Just not this year or next. What do you think? Will Apple kill off the iPod and just sell old iPhones for cheap? How do you think carriers would react to such a play? Do people still buy iPod Classics?

Nokia N9 Announcement Images

Here are a bunch of sexy images of the recently announced Nokia N9…which can also double as photos of the recently “leaked” Nokia Windows Phone Sea Ray. It’s such a good looking piece of hardware! It looks fantastic in all three colors. Right now I’m leaning towards the cyan model…but the black one looks so slick…and the magenta one will surely attract cute girls when I go to Asia. I want them all!

Which N9 color do you prefer?

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