A new leak (from Engadget) shows an upcoming Samsung-built, Android-powered, Galaxy-branded phone for Verizon called the SCH i400 Continuum. What’s so special? It’s got two screens. Not two big screens like on Toshiba’s Libretto, but a tiny OLED number added below the main touchscreen and front buttons. Called the “Ticker,” the smaller screen can be set up to show notifications, RSS and weather updates, or simply the date and time. To save on battery, the Ticker can be used to check on notifications without having to turn on the main screen, and to save even more power and time (as well as add a bit of cool factor), it turns on when you grip the bottom of the phone.
Nokia has announced that they’ve started shipping the N8—the company’s Symbian^3-powered flagship—to compete in a world market that’s quickly filling up with iPhones and Android devices. It’s currently shipping to the people who signed up for early pre-orders though, so it’s not quite there for everyone just about yet, but Nokia expects the N8 to be widely available in the coming weeks, depending on the carrier and country.
It’s not clear exactly how involved new Miami Heat player LeBron James was with the design process. Whether he suggested adding the ear hooks or he’s simply adding his name to help with the celebrity spin isn’t in the details, but this new in-ear kit, called the PowerBeats from Monster’s Beats by Dr. Dre line, looks every bit as awesome as the Miami Heat’s 2010 season lineup.
During RIM’s annual BlackBerry developer conference, the company finally took the wraps off their own iPad-rival called the PlayBook. On the outside, it’s sized to match the Samsung Galaxy Tab’s 7-inch wide (1024 x 600 resolution) multitouch screen fit into a 9.7mm-thick frame, but will run on a totally different operating system called the BlackBerry Tablet OS (demo video after the break). Developed by QNX, the OS will feature a WebKit browser, multitasking, and support for apps based on Adobe’s Flash 10.1 and AIR, HTML5, and—despite the “built for business” target—will also feature OpenGL support for mobile gaming.
If you’ve got five grand to burn and a blank wall in your living room that can fit a big screen, here’s something you might like: Bose’s VideoWave system includes a 46-inch 1080p HDTV, 16 speakers with surround sound processing, HDMI, USB, a separate console for plugging your set-tops into without cluttering the space around the TV itself, a universal remote so your coffee table doesn’t get filled up with all your set top remotes, and an iPod dock for playing porting media from your iPhone or iPod to the TV or speakers.
