Pry open any Android-powered game console on the market today, and you'll likely find a mobile processor -- an ARM-based chip originally designed for tablets, smartphones and maybe the odd specialty device. It seems to make sense -- after all, isn't Android a mobile OS? Christopher Price, CEO of Mobile Media Ventures, doesn't seem to think so. "Android is the future of personal computing," Price told Engadget. "Even on the desktop." According to Price, developers just haven't had a chance to play with a truly powerful Android gaming machine. So, naturally, he's building one.

Despite its Apple-esque name, the iConsole.tv is billed as the most powerful Android device to date. It's a bold claim, but the specs add up: the company's Unit 00 developer kit runs Android on a 3.3GHz Intel Ivy Bridge CPU, 8GB of DDR3 RAM and two 500GB hard drives. Graphics are handled by Intel's integrated HD 4000 chipset -- a surprisingly capable GPU, though still a far cry from dedicated hardware. Price stressed that these specifications are for the $999 developer version the company announced today. The final product's build hasn't been finalized, but we were told it would ring it at a notably lower price. Still, considering all that power, we had to wonder why MMV chose Android. Price reiterated the potential he sees in the platform. "We're pushing the envelope and adapting it for high-performance gaming, but we see Android being the change agent in personal computing, on the TV and the desktop. People hate walled gardens, and they hate maintaining their PCs. Android can solve that, and we're going to help make that happen."

Gallery: iConsole.tv hands-on

Filed under: Gaming, Intel

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While we've seen broadcasters and other content providers launch smart TV apps with only one manufacturer, ITV's decided to give Samsung rare exclusive Android access to its ITV Player. The Korean outfit announced it would get the refreshed app all to itself until August 31st, meaning Brits who use the previous, Android-agnostic ITV Player will have to forego the new version until that time. The update now includes landscape navigation support for smartphones and tablets, along with 3G/4G streaming, improved video playback and support for older versions of Android. ITV says it's offering the app exclusively to Samsung "for an initial period while we endeavor to optimize and improve the experience before releasing to other device manufacturers." Oddly enough, Samsung didn't mention that beta-testing aspect in its own PR, which is right after the break.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, HD, Mobile, Samsung

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Source: ITV Player (Google Play)

Quite frankly, Huawei's 6.18mm-thick P6-U06 is quickly becoming the company's worst leak in this half of 2013. Following yesterday's spy shots of said phone in black, today we received three new ones courtesy of an anonymous tipster, and this time we have a close-up of the brushed metallic back of the phone. Interestingly, the camera looks different than the one -- what appears to be a dual-SIM model -- in the TENAA filing, and we also noticed that the volume rocker is on the left side of the phone this time, while the headphone jack is now located at the top left side instead of at the bottom left. The overall shape of the device matches what we've seen before, though.

On a related note, we've also been notified of an upcoming Huawei launch event in London on June 18th (Huawei Device chairman Richard Yu told us he's attending), and we wouldn't be surprised to see this slim phone popping up there -- hopefully alongside the mysterious Edge that was leaked in March. Two more shots of the P6-U06 after the break.

Update: Meixcan blog Circular got hold of a couple of photos -- embedded after the break -- of the P6-U06 lit up. One of the shots reveal that the phone features a 1.5GHz quad-core chip, 2GB RAM and 8GB of storage space, along with Emotion UI 1.6 running on top of Android. We're not sure if the "No SD card found" message is an indication of microSD expansion, though.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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After yesterday's news about Nokia investing in Pelican Imaging's plenoptic camera system, it was hard not to feel impatient about exactly when this technology might arrive in real, commercially available smartphones. Well, we have an update on that front: although the company's CEO, Chris Pickett, wouldn't tell us which OEM(s) he's been talking to, he did say that his product is currently being trialed by device manufacturers and is scheduled to be part of at least one new smartphone launching in 2014. Now, this next bit is pure speculation on our part, but given that carrier testing alone can take six months, and we're already nearly halfway through 2013, this strongly implies that a hardware deal has already been inked -- which means next year could potentially bring the biggest news in smartphone cameras since the eternally underappreciated Nokia PureView 808. Speaking of which, Pelican Imaging also has some intriguing things to say about what could happen if its array camera was paired with Nokia's PureView technology -- read on for more.

Gallery: Pelican Imaging 16-lens reference design samples

Filed under: Cellphones, Cameras, Mobile, Nokia

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You might be inclined to think that airport security is not the best place to wear Google Glass. You'd probably be right, but given the amount that I travel it was pretty-well inevitable that I'd cross through some security checkpoint before the course of this testing would be through.

I'm honored to be part of the XPRIZE Visioneering conference this week, a gathering of incredible minds putting their considerable brainpower behind the creation of competitions to make the world a better place. But, to take part I'd have to get out to California, and that meant yet another long flight across the country -- and another trip through the full-body scanner. The question is, how would the folks at airport security react to it?

Filed under: Wearables, Google

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The keyboard lover's BlackBerry is on its way, and the first place to sell it will be none other than our old favorite, Selfridges. The UK department store will carry a black version of the Blackberry Q10 exclusively between April 26th and April 28th, according to a tweet from Blackberry UK, well before other retailers. You can pre-order it now for £580 (at the source) or, if you'd like to meet other people who also love keyboards, grab one at the store starting Friday.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Blackberry

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Via: Pocket Lint

Source: Selfridges

2011 sure doesn't feel like that long ago, but it's evidently long enough for Verizon to realize that demand for innovation is booming in Silicon Valley. Not quite two years after the company cracked open the doors to its San Francisco-based Innovation Center, it's already looking to expand. During a briefing today at its other Innovation Center -- the one located just outside of Boston -- we were told that plans are underway to expand the SF facility. Presently, the Waltham, Mass. center is the vaster of the two, and it's Verizon's goal to stretch the California edition to (roughly) match the original location.

We were also told that the company has looked at a variety of other cities where potential Innovation Centers could be planted, and while "three to four" undisclosed metropolises are in play, the company wants to nail the execution of its first two before hastily expanding into new locales. According to Praveen Atreya, director of Verizon's Innovation Program, there's just too much involved in the incubation and launch process to not devote the proper amount of manpower to it. In other words, there's more to launching a product than just design and manufacturing; a lot of TLC goes on in order to make something have a successful shelf life.

Filed under: Cellphones, Networking, Mobile, Verizon

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