Posted by on under multimedia powerhouse, physical keyboard, cube menu, iterati, phes, 3d cube, unboxing, somee, solid materials, t mobile, first glance, software side, launch, droid, handset, slate, samsung, ui, stock, job | 
Dubbing itself the "multimedia powerhouse" for T-Mobile's expansive Android lineup, the
Samsung Behold II has just been confirmed for that rumored November 18th launch on T-Mobile (still no word on price, though we're hearing a predictable $200). The slate-style touchscreen handset has a 3.2-inch AMOLED display, and puts it to good use with a hearty skinning job on the part of Samsung, porting in most (but not all) of its TouchWiz UI -- unfortunately for us, that silly cube menu made the cut. Underneath is Android 1.5, and what seems to be a pretty standard processor. Check out our unboxing below, and stand by for a few initial impressions.
Hardware-wise there's really nothing to complain about on this phone. It's heavy, relatively thin (not iPhone-thin, but just fine), with solid materials and wonderfully tactile face buttons. The screen is everything you'd expect out of an AMOLED display, though high-resolution phones like the Droid dampen that enthusiasm somewhat. One wonderful Samsung addition to the traditional Android experience is a "real" camera button on the side, which can even register half-presses for focus. For someone who doesn't want a physical keyboard, but doesn't want their handset to feel like a toy (sorry, myTouch) there's plenty to love. However, we're more concerned about the software side of things. We're not morally opposed to Samsung adding in TouchWiz, but we
are afraid of anything that has the potential to slow down the OS, and on first glance we'd say it's notably less responsive than stock Android. We'll of course be going further in-depth to see just how usable this iteration is, but let us just put this out on the table: a virtual 3D cube to launch media apps is no way "intuitive," "helpful" or "cool." OK, maybe it's kind of cool, but seriously Samsung, stop it.
Filed under: Cellphones
Samsung Behold II hits T-Mobile on November 18th, unboxed today originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tagi: multimedia powerhouse, physical keyboard, cube menu, iterati, phes, 3d cube, unboxing, somee, solid materials, t mobile, first glance, software side, launch, droid, handset, slate, samsung, ui, stock, job
Posted by on under california san diego, mexican citizens, university of california san diego, first glance, phe, professors, immigration, university of california |
At first glance, it sounded as if a pair of University of California, San Diego professors were cooking up a mobile phone app that would actually assist in the illegal crossing of the US border by Mexican citizens, but in fact, their work is far different than what you may believe.
Tagi: california san diego, mexican citizens, university of california san diego, first glance, phe, professors, immigration, university of california
Posted by on under nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp, work pants, cable installer, doing projects, knee pads, knee pad, first glance, background story, youtube, heavy weight, gimmick, painters, armor, squares, pockets, flooring, knees, amp, rsquo, demo |
Armor Professional Work Wear makes work pants (mostly for painters) that have additional pockets for knee pads. Sounds like a simple gimmick that you might think, big deal, at first glance. I was lucky enough to demo a pair and was very impressed. The construction of the pants was very solid, material was a heavy weight but still comfortable. The knee pads are flexible squares that simply slide in and out of the knee pockets so it’s very easy to take them out for wearing them around the house and then put them in when it’s time to work. Not to say they are a problem to leave in because you really don’t notice the knee pads just walking around.
The knee pads will not replace a true knee pad for those laying flooring or other such work but for just doing projects around the house or general construction work you wouldn’t believe how they change the way you work. Our shop has concrete floors but when you are wearing these it changes the way you work by allowing you to get down under projects like second nature. I also showed them to a cable installer and he thought they were the greatest invention since sliced bread because in addition to added support, these would help keep his knees from getting muddy/wet outside.
The background story on these pants in also pretty interesting one. It is all about professional painters but I think they are ideal for anyone who has a favorite pair of work pants, which I would bet is everyone who reads coptool.com. Cost is $35 (white) & $40 (tan) per pair. Here is a YouTube on these:
Tagi: nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp, work pants, cable installer, doing projects, knee pads, knee pad, first glance, background story, youtube, heavy weight, gimmick, painters, armor, squares, pockets, flooring, knees, amp, rsquo, demo
Posted by on under shin yamashita, first glance, floor mat, table chair, industrial design student |
Now here’s an invention that’ll have you whispering to yourself, “Ah, now I’ve seen it all.” The Land Peel is a floor mat designed by Japanese industrial design student Shin Yamashita. While a floor mat may not seem all that exciting at first glance, hold onto your seat. The mat, although it can [...]
Tagi: shin yamashita, first glance, floor mat, table chair, industrial design student
Posted by on under death knell, idealab incubator, twitter, bill gross, early grave, first glance, adverting, time search, launch, pistol, adsense, starters, streams, ceo, third party, real time, search engine |
Last night, Twitter finally unveiled the details of its long-awaited ad platform,
Promoted Tweets. The news, at least at first glance, couldn't have come at a worse time for
TweetUp, the '
AdSense for Twitter' startup that had launched out of the
Idealab incubator a mere 24 hours earlier. So did TweetUp have the worst startup launch timing ever? Earlier this afternoon I spoke with TweetUp (and Idealab) CEO
Bill Gross — best known as the founder of Overture and the man who pioneered search advertising — who is confident that the startup is not headed to an early grave. For those that missed the news, Twitter's Promoted Tweets allow advertisers to display tweets they've written in a more prominent position than they would normally receive. For starters, Twitter is showing them at the top of results pages for its real-time search engine, but in the future it intends to roll out Promoted Tweets to third-party Twitter clients and users' Twitter streams.
Tagi: death knell, idealab incubator, twitter, bill gross, early grave, first glance, adverting, time search, launch, pistol, adsense, starters, streams, ceo, third party, real time, search engine
