Sony Ericsson boosts Xperia Arc and Play to 2.3.3, includes Facebook integration

Well, Sony Ericsson might just deserve a gold star for effort. A week ago we reported that a possible rollout of the long-rumored Facebook integration update would come to select Xperia series phones this week, and we're seeing the process begin today. The recipients of this particular push are the Arc and Play, though it will come to all new Xperia devices down the road. While the download includes Android 2.3.3, the major focus is on "Facebook Inside Xperia," another way for you to sync your social media with other aspects of your phone, such as contacts, calendar, and photo gallery. Other improvements in the package include WiFi stability, improved battery performance, HD video recording performance (Arc only), and bug fixes. Don't stress if your phone hasn't seen the update yet; Sony Ericsson says it's rolling it out gradually due to issues with individual markets and carrier branding. No specific timeframe was given, though the company mentioned that "it can take a while." Should you be one of the lucky recipients to get it today, however, sound off in the comments below.

Continue reading Sony Ericsson boosts Xperia Arc and Play to 2.3.3, includes Facebook integration

Sony Ericsson boosts Xperia Arc and Play to 2.3.3, includes Facebook integration originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 May 2011 00:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/27/sony-ericsson-boosts-xperia-arc-and-play-to-2-3-3-includes-face/

Edgar Betz Antonia Koppe Gertrud Hölzl Ulrike Kellner

Leaked AMD roadmap reveals Desna APU, bona fide tablet strategy

What's a chip maker to do after successfully hawking five million of its Fusion APUs? Why, expand the line, of course! A leaked slide deck from within the lairs of AMD is showing off quite a bit of the company's upcoming roadmap, and while a good deal of it has already been made public in one way or another, there's one term that's causing all sorts of buzz -- and for good reason. Desna is the name to know, a Z-Series APU that's aimed squarely at the tablet form factor. To date, only a handful of chips have managed to slide into slates, and while we always reckoned that a version of Fusion could really give those ARM-based alternatives a run for their money, it wasn't clear if AMD actually had one that would handle the power and heat requirements. Based on these sheets -- dated this month, for what it's worth -- the Z-Series chip will offer Flash compatibility, DirectX 11 support and IE9 / HTML5 acceleration, and that's just for starters. Head on down to the links below for the full skinny, but make sure you grab a cup of joe and unplug the line first. You'll need a few, to say the least.

Leaked AMD roadmap reveals Desna APU, bona fide tablet strategy originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 May 2011 19:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/27/leaked-amd-roadmap-reveals-desna-apu-bona-fide-tablet-strategy/

Fiona Brandenburg Franziska Spanier Erna Van den Hout Laura Pauli

Amazon Cloud Player review: functional, not mind blowing, and still US-only

Amazon Android Cloud Player appIt's hard to believe: our world-spanning network, our Internet, which is the cornerstone of free speech and free society -- which, on a good day, is capable of causing populist revolutions -- is still crippled by banal geolocation restrictions. We are, of course, talking about Amazon's two latest offerings, both of which are only available in the United States. Last week it was the excellent Android Appstore for Android, and today it's the Amazon Cloud Player for Web and Android.

Along with Cloud Player, Amazon also launched Cloud Drive, which is basically just like any other cloud storage digital locker. It's not particularly feature rich, and there's no real reason to use it over something like SugarSync or SkyDrive -- it does work outside the US, however.

Its primary purpose, as far as we're concerned, is that it stores your your Cloud Player music in a subdirectory. You get 5GB of Cloud Drive storage for free, and then it's $1 per gigabyte per year if you need more space.

The Amazon Cloud Player itself will not, to put it bluntly, blow your mind. It works, but it's very much an early, and possibly rushed, release. Let's dive in to the Web and Android players for a closer look.

Continue reading Amazon Cloud Player review: functional, not mind blowing, and still US-only

Amazon Cloud Player review: functional, not mind blowing, and still US-only originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 29 Mar 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/29/amazon-cloud-player-hands-on-review-functional-not-mind-blowin/

Nathalie Donnerhacke Anna-Lena Baumgärtel Sabine Kinzler Frieda Falkner

Corel VideoStudio X4 giveaway

corelvideostudiox4giveaway
This morning, Corel released VideoStudio X4. We've already published a quick overview and hands-on of the application, and now is the moment you've all been waiting for: We're giving away ten full licenses of this new version, each worth $99.99!

To enter our random draw, you just have to leave a comment. Full terms and conditions are after the break.

Continue reading Corel VideoStudio X4 giveaway

Corel VideoStudio X4 giveaway originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 22 Feb 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/02/22/corel-videostudio-x4-giveaway/

Henrik Brenner Karla Reusch Wilhelm Klassen Nathalie Füllgraf

Skype 5.3 for Windows released, improves mobile video call quality

Version 5.3 of Skype for Windows has just been released, with the main emphasis of the new release being improved call quality, and the quality of video received by mobile Skype users. Presumably one party of the video call must be using Skype for Windows 5.3, though.

Beyond improved call quality, not much has changed. You can now see your friends' presence icons when contact cards are collapsed, and the topic editing button is now always visible on the conversation header. For a complete list of changes, hit up the Skype Garage blog.

Download Skype 5.3 for Windows

Skype 5.3 for Windows released, improves mobile video call quality originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 12:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/07/skype-5-3-for-windows-released-improves-mobile-video-call-quali/

Lutz Yalcin Birte Höß Kerstin Klos Dieter Schreiter

Fast, Big and Light: Hands-On With Verizon?s Droid Charge

A new handset maker is joining Verizon’s Droid party: Samsung’s Droid Charge recently appeared on Verizon’s network, and we got a chance to take one for a test drive. Android phone manufacturers in 2011 seem to regard bigger as better. The Charge sports a 4.3-inch screen, a size more common than ever in smartphone releases. [...]

Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/05/hands-on-droid-charge-verizon-samsung/

Arne Koller Fiona Brandenburg Franziska Spanier Erna Van den Hout

HTC Sensation review

A hotly anticipated smartphone with a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, a "Super" 4.3-inch screen, and a manufacturer-skinned version of Android 2.3 -- we must be talking about the Samsung Galaxy S II, right? Not on this occasion, squire. Today we're taking a gander at HTC's Sensation, a handset that's just begun shipping in Europe under a short-term Vodafone exclusive and which should be making its way to T-Mobile in the USA early next month. By beating its stablemate the EVO 3D and Moto's Droid X2 to the market, the Sensation becomes the world's first 4.3-inch smartphone with qHD resolution, while also serving as the debut phone for HTC's Watch movie streaming service and Sense 3.0 UI customizations. That leaves us with an abundance of newness to review, so what are we waiting for?

Continue reading HTC Sensation review

HTC Sensation review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 May 2011 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/4M0eDqaSFJc/

Michael Vollmar Robin Jones Ingeburg Otte Moritz Beller

Tasty Planet is a fun flash game where you eat everything in sight

tastyplanet
So this professor comes up with a new toilet cleaner that works by "eating" the dirt; or so he thinks. That's how the plot starts for Tasty Planet. You play the role of the toilet cleaner, but you're not really a toilet cleaner after all -- you're a blob of gray goo that can eat anything that's smaller than yourself.

As you chomp away, you grow -- and as you grow, you can eat bigger and bigger stuff. The first level pits you against microscopic particles; by the time I stopped playing, I got all the way to eating cats and dogs. I know that sounds disturbing, but it's a really cute game, and there's no gore or anything like that.

Supposedly you keep growing and growing until you're able to eat whole planets (hence the name). The challenge factor comes when you realize you can't touch any critter larger than yourself - you'll get "bitten" and become smaller. In the beginning you're so small, that a single touch can kill you. Later on, you're big enough that touching larger animals doesn't kill you on the spot, but it does reduce your size. Each level is timed, so if you're not large enough by the time your clock runs out, you need to start again. As long as you don't touch the larger animals, you should be fine.

All in all, a fun, addictive little game. It's available for iOS, too.

Tasty Planet is a fun flash game where you eat everything in sight originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 08 Mar 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/08/tasty-planet-is-a-fun-flash-game-where-you-eat-everything-in-sight/

Karla Reusch Wilhelm Klassen Nathalie Füllgraf Janine Harrer

Hands-On: Incredible 2, a Phone That Lives Up to Its Name

I scoffed when HTC first released the Incredible 2. Not necessarily at its hardware or features, but rather for its presumptuous name. But after spending some time with the device itself, I can safely say the phone’s title is no misnomer (if not a little overconfident). The phone bucks the trend of the huge, power-hungry phones we’re [...]

Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/05/hands-on-droid-incredible-2/

Hugo Ruß Edith Hupertz Heinrich Peller Viktoria Barz