We’ve seen iPod hacks run the gamut, from the useful to the just plain absurd, but no matter how rough around the edges such a project may seem, we always get a kick out of the ingenuity and hard work involved. Today’s DIY wonder comes from a cat named Benjamin Kokes, who’s using his engineering chops to put together a GPS peripheral for the iPod nano. As the project stands right now, he’s taken a reference board sporting a Nemerix GPS and written a screen driver for it, allowing it to do its thing on the handheld. Apparently, all this bad boy is capable of doing right now is finding a satellite and displaying your latitude and longitude — but we’d like to see your old nano do that! Hit the read link for the whole, sordid tale in geek-tastic detail, or to speak with the developer if you’d like to give this a shot your own self. Tell him Engadget sent you.

[Via Technabob]

Filed under: GPS, Portable Audio

iPod nano GPS hack ensures that you and your MP3s make it home safely originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Apr 2009 16:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, RIM, Verizon Wireless, EV-DO, CDMA, BlackBerry OS

We’ve even mentioned it on the podcast — RIM’s naming convention is starting to get confusing, especially in the crowded 8000 range where you’ve got both an 8230 and an 8320 to worry about (and they’re very different phones). TheStreet is claiming that RIM will introduce both the 9630 Tour and a flip phone — the Apex — at the company’s WES conference next week; we have a very, very hard time believing that Verizon would launch multiple flip BlackBerrys in a short span of time, so that leads us to the logical deduction that the rumored 8230 Pearl Flip will come to be known as the Apex. Makes you wonder how Alltel, Bell, and Telus feel about that, doesn’t it?

[Via Unwired View]

Verizon calling BlackBerry 8230 Pearl Flip the “Apex”? originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Thu, 30 Apr 2009 15:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, Palm

Liked that blurry photo of a new Palm webOS phone we saw earlier? Well how about some specs, a name, and a better look at this thing? Enter the device above, apparently dubbed the Palm Eos (codenamed Castle… where have we seen that before?), which it seems will be the company’s proper follow-up to the Centro — a quadband GSM / HSDPA phone notably rocking the 850 / 1900 AT&T and Rogers-friendly frequencies. The phone will supposedly be an astounding 10.6mm thin, will measure just 55mm x 111mm (about 2.1 by 4.3-inches), weigh 100 grams, and will tout a 2.63-inch, 320 x 400 capacitive display. Of course, the info we’ve got right now can’t be verified, and since there are a couple of minor question marks here (like barely rounded corners in the OS), you should take it all with a grain of salt… as usual. Needless to say, we’re working on getting more details (and some confirmation), so stay tuned!

Update: Oh boy — looks like we just got the full spec list. And yes, it’s definitely coming to AT&T (if it’s really coming).

• 4GB storage
• Price: $349 (pre-rebate)
• Camera: 2 megapixel fixed focus digital camera and flash / video capture
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.1 w/ A2DP and EDR, USB 2.0 via micro USB
• Removable 1150 mAh battery (4 hours 3G talk time)
• Messaging: SMS, MMS (picture and video only), integrated IM client
• Contact sync with AT&T Address Book
• MediaNet
• Cellular Video
• Email: POP3, IMAP4, and EAS support
• A-GPS
• Audio: WAV, MP3, AAC, AAC+ ringtones
• Video Playback: MPEG4, H.264, H.263

Palm Eos: super-thin, 3G, and headed to AT&T? originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Thu, 30 Apr 2009 12:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, Sony Ericsson, ATT, GSM, EDGE, HSDPA, UMTS

Yep, that rumored W508a remix with AGPS is real — the FCC says so. No word on pricing or availability for the W518a, of course, but we’re heartened to see that another decent midrange Sony Ericsson with HSDPA is on its way to AT&T; now all we need is the C905 and we’ll be all set. Expect a 3.2 megapixel cam, the full range of Bluetooth profiles, external music controls, and if we had to guess, a pretty hot sticker price on contract.

Sony Ericsson W518a for AT&T gets FCC blessing originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Thu, 30 Apr 2009 11:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, Palm

The Boy Genius Report just got ahold of this ultra-blurry shot of what purports to be Palm’s next webOS device, with a supposed fall release date and zero other info to go on. From the looks of things the keyboard is stationary, but with the relative height-to-width ratio (and last night’s “Mini-Pre” rumor) we’re thinking the keyboard and screen might be shrunk down slightly — which, were we to conjecture further, could mean a webOS Centro. Or perhaps Palm’s gone large and produced something entirely more delicious.

Palm going Centro for next webOS handset? originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, Motorola

Motorola has spilled some very unappetizing beans with its first quarter results. The company missed its projected sales figure of $5.62 billion, posting $5.4 billion, $1.8 billion of which were in its handsets division. The cellphone space is where the company seems to be hurting the most — sales were down 45 percent there — though some projections had it faring worse than that. Overall, Moto’s looking at a $291 million loss, or $0.13 a share, which, even in this economy, can’t be the greatest of news.

Motorola posts $291 million loss in first quarter, mobile sales fall 45 percent originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, Others, T-Mobile, Danger, GSM, EDGE, HSDPA, UMTS

Sure, T-Mobile said May 13 for the Sidekick LX 2009’s official date with destiny, but if they want to start drop-shipping units a few days early, we don’t think anyone’s going to complain. In-the-wild unboxings certainly seem to back up stories that devices are already being shipped to those who’ve pre-ordered it ahead of release — and call us crazy, but we think we prefer these shots to that creepy viral video unboxing from a while back. Enjoy the shots, and if you didn’t (or couldn’t) pre-order, we might suggest viewing them very, very slowly so they last through to the 13th.

[Thanks, Ed]

New Sidekick LXs trickling into buyers’ hands ahead of launch originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Thu, 30 Apr 2009 09:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, Nokia, Symbian, GSM, EDGE, HSDPA

Thanks to the always revealing FCC, we knew good and well Nokia’s painfully expensive N97 had Carolina (and probably the other states, to be fair) on its mind, but now we know the moment of truth is drawing near. As of right now, Nokia’s US website has a teaser block informing us Yanks that we’ll be able to pre-order this here smartphone “soon.” Hitting the link only directs us the European legalese that we’ve digested before, but surely it’ll lead to something meaningful in due time. Patience… it’s a virtue.

[Via phoneArena]

Nokia throws up “pre-order soon” logo on US N97, drives the kids crazy originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Thu, 30 Apr 2009 09:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, Samsung, GSM, EDGE

In case you needed any more evidence that the full touchscreen cellphone fad is in full swing, we’d present to you this little midrange number — Samsung’s just-announced Tocco Lite for the UK market. Just the latest member of the now well-established Tocco series, the Lite is actually little more than a specific branding of the S5320 that we saw back in March, offering EDGE data, a WQVGA display, 3 megapixel camera, TouchWiz interface, and integrated FM radio. Look for it to hit up British stores come mid-May.

[Via MobileBurn]

Samsung S5320 Tocco Lite reps the midrange in the UK originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Thu, 30 Apr 2009 07:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Handsets, Palm, webOS

As if we didn’t have enough Pre rumors to sort through, along comes TechCrunch and Mikey A. with some hard hitting stuff. According to the TC honcho, one of his “better sources” claims that Palm is “very far along” on a second webOS device which is smaller and slimmer than the Pre and may or may not have a physical keyboard. Apparently, this won’t be the iPhone 3G to the first-gen iPhone, rather a device which addresses “a different part of the market.” Details are still sketchy, but Arrington claims that the “Mini-Pre” (his name) will land sometime this year — possibly as soon as the Fall. This is all complete rumor right now, but Palm has previously said that there would be more than one webOS device, so the idea of another model in the oven doesn’t exactly come as a surprise. Stay tuned for further updates as we get them.

Palm launching smaller Pre-like device later this year says rumor-mill originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 29 Apr 2009 22:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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