Slashdot Mirror
Ask Slashdot: Info On Upcoming Handhelds?
FullBandwidth writes "Seems like some intrepid Slashdotters are always getting scoops on the soon-to-be-released handhelds (phones, tablets). What's the best way to get technical information and release dates? Apparently in the U.S., the vendors have to submit a certain amount of documentation that then gets published on the fcc.gov website, but I'm not sure if many of us have time to pore over that site. Are there reliable sites or RSS feeds dedicated to what's the bleeding edge of mobile computing?" I glance at Liliputing more days than I don't, partly because of frequent links to new handhelds and tablets as they hit the FCC. Where else should people look?
>I'm not sure if many of us have time to pore over that site
You want information, but you're too lazy to find it yourself.
I used to come to /. for the latest news on mobile gadgets, but lately all I've been able to find is news about inisibility cloaks, vaporware electric cars, and Bitcoin.
I use these two sites which give a fair heads up on the mobile world.
They both follow the fcc and their postings.
mobile.engadget.com
BGR.com
I work for a rather large specialized company who's name you would instantly recognize. (I'm posting through several proxies)
Anyhow, the R&D group does quite a few "lunch and learns" about upcoming products and ideas and there are certainly some amazing things on the 2-3 year horizon. COMPLETELY TRANSPARENT Tablets! Like a thick piece of glass with a nub on/off switch at the top... the display colors are washed out, but that will get fixed before release. Also phones with built-in wifi access points will become more popular so as long as you have a phone, you can tether your laptop off it.
Boy Genius Report and/or Engadget.
There is only two handheld devices that educated, affluent people should care about, and those are the iPhone and the iPad. To get information on those, visit Macrumors.com.
On the other hand, if you are one of the following, you can get an Android, Windows Phone, or Symbian devices:
Engadget. They reliably stay current on all new tech, review newly released portables (and sometimes before release), and filter out the crazy rumors that other sites seem to thrive on. They have a specifically mobile site as well: http://mobile.engadget.com/
... and this is available for any tag on the site. I believe you can filter tags out of the main site as well, handy for those Apple keynote days if you're not interested.
They have RSS, and RSS via tag, I use google reader to capture everything android. Subscribe to: http://www.engadget.com/tag/android/rss.xml
The new patent war involving Apple vs. [Samsung | Motorola | Google | Nokia | Blackberry | The rest of the puny world] is going to keep consumers away from the market, as well as to force companies to be very cautious developing new devices, due to litigation costs. I am not happy with idea of blasting up patent system, since creativity and innovation should be properly rewarded, but what is happening is plain insane. I had some interest into handelds, but I decided I will be happy with my old paper books and my cellphone: I don't want to take the risk of buying a costly device that becomes obsolete due to a patent war.
I troll the Mobile Nations line of websites. All pretty standard blogs (rumors, inside scoops, podcasts, etc.) that specialize in the news for each mobile platform.
www.precentral.net
www.wpcentral.com
www.androidcentral.com
crackberry.com
www.tipb.com
Engadget will pick up a story from one of them every once in a while.
Companies can request that the FCC not publish their requests until after a certain date. Apple does this all the time, usually to have the information unpublished until the day AFTER release. So FCC posts alone aren't enough.
But, yeah, plenty of websites out there that track these things.
Another non-functioning site was "uncertainty.microsoft.com."
The purpose of that site was not known.
In addition to mobile.engadget.com as others have suggested, there's www.phandroid.com. As the name suggests, it's Android specific, but has lots of good previews/reviews of upcoming/new phones and tablets. They do have an RSS feed.
has been part of slashdot since the beginning.
most of the great scientists did not pretend their field of endeavor was separated from society by some kind of impermeable wall, where they didn't have to care about things like freedom of speech or the uses that governents and military had for their creations.
im not talking about lunatics ranting and raving in the asylum, im talking about Albert Einstein, Carl Sagan, Andrei Sakharov - the Galileos and Copernicuses of our day.
I build the desktops I want. I found the tablet I've always wanted. I'm yet to find the phone of my dreams.
Do Note Want:
*** Smartphone
*** Internet Connectivity - Not even the option for it. It's a (fee) trap!
*** Touchscreen - Buttons just work.
Want:
1) Phone
2) Address book and speed dial
3) Text-messaging
4) QWERTY Keyboard
5) Simple MP3 player (along the capabilities of bare-bones WinAmp)
6) Video and Still Camera with flash
7) MicroSD card slot
8) 3.5mm headphone jack
9) Micro-USB jack (for charging and data transfer)
10) Bluetooth
11) Two separate batteries in the phone (both charged at the same time). One feeds the phone and texting, the other feeds the camera and MP3 player. Because I want to have my phone in an emergency regardless of my listening to music.
Bonus points: Full user control of text font, color, background, and ring tones both in-phone and through a simple desktop application.
I'll pay $150 for this phone before 2-year contract discounts.
While I'll second the vote for Liliputing for completely selfish reasons (thanks Tim!), one of my favorite sites for FCC listings is http://www.wirelessgoodness.com/. It's a tech blog that posts nothing but discoveries found on the FCC website. They often catch things the rest of us miss.
www.bgr.com. They cover all things handheld. www.gizmodo.com is another really good site. Both include rumors and current news on everything from hardware to software to patent trolling.
I mostly just follow Engadget as mentioned above and (since I'm Canadian) http://mobilesyrup.com/ which covers mobile news/releases releases in Canada.
Pretty much everything else is already available, except for the multiple batteries. Why not have one battery and have the option for the system to disallow anything but phone/text once it drops past a certain level?
http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheBoyGeniusReport
http://feeds.feedburner.com/DroidLife
http://feeds.feedburner.com/AndroidPolice
reddit:
http://www.reddit.com/r/android
Also GSMArena
The site MobilityBeat.com is a good mobile tech aggregator. It combines a number of the top mobile tech sites into one newsstream.
http://mobilitybeat.com
such a good little consumer you are!
just a pawn in the game of capitalism.
Just get a job at apple and you will know when all the new products come out like the rest of us. :)
Phone Arena is another good one. http://www.phonearena.com/
I don't know if YouTube is full of these, but here is a nice mobile gadget channel.
I use the forums at
http://www.howardforums.com/forum.php
http://forums.androidcentral.com/
Several posters on these forums work for the bit phone manufacturers or wireless carriers and the speculation is that they are coached on what and when to leak info. Don't know if that's true, but they, and others, have been fairly good at getting facts before the "official" announcements.
If you're bored, take a look at the ongoing Bionic threads. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll wish you didn't waste all that time for so little reward.
tom
Phonescoop.com provides what you're looking for and more. It details information on devices once they are posted to the FCC and then also provides demos on reviews on devices prior to release dates. It is used as a reference by wireless carrier employees on a daily basis.
Its also helpful to search the manufactures of the parts involved in the phones. For example Nvidia have a road map for their next 4 socs (system on a chip), by looking up the next product code name you can substitute that in front of 'smartphone', and Google news will bring back information from all kinds of sources on all kinds of phones. This can be repeated for Qualcomm, Intel, Texas instruments, Samsung or screen and communication manufactures.
Rocket Surgeon.
It has very through and more importantly, unbiased reviews on cellphones. I like the fact they provide rather scientific tests for audio and camera analysis of a device, as well 360 view.
Also, as site focusing solely on reviewing cellphones, they also tend to have the latest scoop.
I am an ACCA student. Got a query on Accountancy/Finance? Maybe I can help!