You can take high or low-angle shots that would be either difficult or impossible to shoot without the flip-out panel. I could hold my G3 over the heads of a crowd (I'm tall, so this is like 8'6" up) or shoot low subjects like pets. I desperately missed this feature when I switched to a DSLR (Rebel XT) and even the LiveView of my current 50D doesn't cut it. I'd kill to have a swing out, articulated panel on a DSLR.
Any word of whether there will be a DLC compilation for the PC like the Knights of the Nine set did for Oblivion? I got FO3 the say it came out and 55 hours in, I'm still picking thru the terrain and a long way away from finishing the story. I don't want to drop another $50 for the GOTY version if I could get the DLC for $20-$30.
I am a musician (i.e. I can play REAL guitar) and when my g/f (indie label owner w/no musical ability) and I visit our friends (who are a techno duo), we get drunk and play Rock Band and just have a blast. We all know how to create music and express ourselves, but it's fun to cut loose and "play" songs outside of our fields of expertise or musical abilities. (e.g. Dragonforce) When we see crybabies like thisissh*t filling their diapers about "learn to play real guitar," we know what miserable twits they are. Go collect Pokemons, mon.
I've had mine since June 9th and other than three isolated and unrepeated software glitch incidents, I haven't had any problems with it. No dead pixels; no slider issues; no scratches or cracking. I had the thing slip out of my shirt pocket and clunk 3 feet onto a hardwood floor, but it didn't break. (Whew!) I see people complaining about getting theirs scratched in the context of "I keep mine in my pocket with my keys and a Leatherman" and I wonder how they managed to drive to the Sprint store without killing anyone since they have the IQ of a turnip. Anyone who says that multi-tasking isn't important has either never done it - even on a computer - or just blindly accepts what Lord Jobs tells them and if He says they don't need it, they don't need it. Uh-huh.
It's not flawless - they should've made the case out of a matte material that is oleophobic because it retains fingerprints like a greasy layer (ick) and perhaps put a rubberized rim so it doesn't feel like it could slip out of the hand. (My g/f is afraid she'll drop it.) The Synergy contact system is kinda cool, but the problem isn't the overload of Facebook friends, but the zillions of people who wrote you once on Gmail cluttering up your list. More apps are needed and some buffing of the OS and existing PIM stuff would be nice, but for a 1.0 effort, it's quite good.
As for the iTrolls acting true to form; their terror and panic amuses me. They don't have something as basic as MMS and AT&T is raping them on the services fees and they think that because they have 20K iFart and Pedobear apps, they're more highly evolved. Raff.
Two RRoDs ago - yeah, I know; had three total across two 360s - they were supposed to send a coffin and I waited several days and it never showed. Call 'em back and they suddenly needed my serial # again. Call 'em the next day after I got it and they tell me they could either send a coffin or a printable pre-paid shipping label. WTF didn't you offer that the first time?!?!?
With the latest RRoD, I went to the Xbox.com site instead of calling and they just offered the pre-paid label option. I printed it out and my g/f boxed it up in a box the exact size of the Xbox, but without any padding. They fixed it and sent it back without a comment. Funny thing though, it's suddenly gotten picky about DVDs it plays. Hmmmmm....uh-oh.
These lengthy, lunatic, spittle-flecked barkings of the rabid iPhone worshipers perfectly illustrate the general psychosis of Apple cultists. They are pathetic simps who desperately clutch onto anything that they're told is "cool" in the vain hope that they too will be considered something better than they actually are if they can be seen in possession of a +5 Talisman of Relevance.
Since their identities are inextricably intertwined with an inanimate object, they have no choice but to rally to the battlements to shout down anyone who dare take away the spotlight from their object of affection for if the light goes toward another, how can they bask in its reflected glory? If another phone becomes the New Hotness, then what are they but yesterday's news? They can't go back to their old lives after tasting the warmth of the herd.
No one who is buying a Pre is doing so because they need a gadget to make them relevant. They are buying the phone that suits their purposes. If anything, we are conveying our blessing upon the Pre, not the other way around. The mewling iPhone partisans see their phones as a Holy Sacrament from the Church of Apple; a sign that Lord Jobs loves them, and no heretics will be allowed to choose for themselves. I pity them for they are truly lost souls.
Translation: "Lord Jobs, my Master and Commander, has deemed that I don't need it, and thus I don't even desire it!"
The Apple cultists are so enslaved to their religion's First Commandment, "Thou shalt not want what we don't tell you you want," that they can't even imagine having the same multi-tasking functionality on a phone that they take for granted on the computers (or Macs) they're tapping their sniveling missives from now. I doubt that cgpublic would be happy if he had to close his browser because he had to send an email or have his calender poof out of sight because his telephone rang. (Then again, I could be wrong and he's only capable of holding one thought in his head at a time. Mac users aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer, as the single mouse button attests to; Apple knows their herd, er, target market.)
Since I couldn't order online, I wandered into a nearby Sprint store and checked it out. When the girl handed it to me, I thought it'd be one of those dummy units like they have on the display stands and the front looked like a sticker. Then she swiped up the Launcher. WHOA!!! The thing was real! It didn't even look like an LCD, the pixel pitch is so tight.
They were able to take an order - if you prepay, they'll send it to the store in a day as opposed to waiting until Friday for the normal restocking shipment - and while I waited, I was able to play around with it. The keyboard is teeny, but OK. The screen is stunning. The iPhone fanboys are poo-pooing multitasking, but it's the shiznatch to bounce from web, Google maps, Accuweather, YouTube, etc. at will. The speaker was pretty loud and clear as I watched videos. The accelerometer was a little wonky leading me to suspect the initial units will have some build quality issues as some reviews have noted. (e.g. one review says the speaker is weak while another says it's fine.)
I also like that the service will be around $65/mo. with the insurance and taxes and it includes the Sprint navigation and unlimited everything but talk, but since mobile-to-mobile is free and almost everyone I call is on cells, I will never run out of my 450 min. allotment. (The crushing sticker price for AT&T was why I never entertained the iPhone.) I'll be able to stop lugging my Dell Axim PDA and Garmin GPS units around and as more apps come online, it's only going to get slicker.
The top things that have kept me from getting an iPhone for the past two years have been the lack of basic features like multitasking and C&P and the brutal pricing of AT&T. I don't live on my cell phone like some people do, so the ticket was too steep for me.
Sprint has MUCH better pricing even if I didn't get a 23% discount thru my work (alas, Simply Everything isn't included, but Everything Data w/450 mins. is and I don't talk much) and Sprint put a repeater in my building so I'm going to have killer signal quality.
Thank you for the comprehensive review - by far the best of the half-dozen REAL reviews I've seen tonight now that the embargo is lifted - and especially the videos. I was stoked, but a little apprehensive as the Apple fanboys/boobirds really stepped up the FUD, but this review has me anxious for Saturday indeed!
What's interesting is how the Pre is being compared to the upcoming THIRD version of the iPhone and not Apple's first try. There was no App Store for a year with Apple, so can we fairly bash Palm for not having 40,000 iFart apps by Sunday afternoon? Many of the rough edges only seem so because the rest of it is so slick and polished. If Palm is speedy and diligent about getting the odd bits fixed up, only those eager beavers who just GOTTAHAVEIT the first day will notice it wasn't all sweetness and light from the get go.
Canon PowerShot G11 hands-on
Aug 19th 2009 11:19AM (Engadget)2nd Fallout 3 DLC pack at retail Aug. 25; GOTY edition listed for Oct. 13
Aug 11th 2009 6:37PM (Joystiq)Guitar Hero 5 axe takes an evolutionary step forward
Jul 14th 2009 10:10AM (Engadget)See the (amazing) Mass Effect 2 gameplay we saw at E3
Jul 11th 2009 2:56PM (Joystiq)Poll: How's your Palm Pre holding up?
Jul 4th 2009 5:39PM (Engadget)It's not flawless - they should've made the case out of a matte material that is oleophobic because it retains fingerprints like a greasy layer (ick) and perhaps put a rubberized rim so it doesn't feel like it could slip out of the hand. (My g/f is afraid she'll drop it.) The Synergy contact system is kinda cool, but the problem isn't the overload of Facebook friends, but the zillions of people who wrote you once on Gmail cluttering up your list. More apps are needed and some buffing of the OS and existing PIM stuff would be nice, but for a 1.0 effort, it's quite good.
As for the iTrolls acting true to form; their terror and panic amuses me. They don't have something as basic as MMS and AT&T is raping them on the services fees and they think that because they have 20K iFart and Pedobear apps, they're more highly evolved. Raff.
Microsoft ends Xbox 360 RROD "coffin" program, still paying for shipping
Jun 9th 2009 6:19PM (Engadget)With the latest RRoD, I went to the Xbox.com site instead of calling and they just offered the pre-paid label option. I printed it out and my g/f boxed it up in a box the exact size of the Xbox, but without any padding. They fixed it and sent it back without a comment. Funny thing though, it's suddenly gotten picky about DVDs it plays. Hmmmmm....uh-oh.
Palm Pre goes on sale nationwide, line forms on the right
Jun 6th 2009 6:39PM (Engadget)Since their identities are inextricably intertwined with an inanimate object, they have no choice but to rally to the battlements to shout down anyone who dare take away the spotlight from their object of affection for if the light goes toward another, how can they bask in its reflected glory? If another phone becomes the New Hotness, then what are they but yesterday's news? They can't go back to their old lives after tasting the warmth of the herd.
No one who is buying a Pre is doing so because they need a gadget to make them relevant. They are buying the phone that suits their purposes. If anything, we are conveying our blessing upon the Pre, not the other way around. The mewling iPhone partisans see their phones as a Holy Sacrament from the Church of Apple; a sign that Lord Jobs loves them, and no heretics will be allowed to choose for themselves. I pity them for they are truly lost souls.
Palm Pre goes on sale nationwide, line forms on the right
Jun 6th 2009 4:37PM (Engadget)Translation: "Lord Jobs, my Master and Commander, has deemed that I don't need it, and thus I don't even desire it!"
The Apple cultists are so enslaved to their religion's First Commandment, "Thou shalt not want what we don't tell you you want," that they can't even imagine having the same multi-tasking functionality on a phone that they take for granted on the computers (or Macs) they're tapping their sniveling missives from now. I doubt that cgpublic would be happy if he had to close his browser because he had to send an email or have his calender poof out of sight because his telephone rang. (Then again, I could be wrong and he's only capable of holding one thought in his head at a time. Mac users aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer, as the single mouse button attests to; Apple knows their herd, er, target market.)
Since I couldn't order online, I wandered into a nearby Sprint store and checked it out. When the girl handed it to me, I thought it'd be one of those dummy units like they have on the display stands and the front looked like a sticker. Then she swiped up the Launcher. WHOA!!! The thing was real! It didn't even look like an LCD, the pixel pitch is so tight.
They were able to take an order - if you prepay, they'll send it to the store in a day as opposed to waiting until Friday for the normal restocking shipment - and while I waited, I was able to play around with it. The keyboard is teeny, but OK. The screen is stunning. The iPhone fanboys are poo-pooing multitasking, but it's the shiznatch to bounce from web, Google maps, Accuweather, YouTube, etc. at will. The speaker was pretty loud and clear as I watched videos. The accelerometer was a little wonky leading me to suspect the initial units will have some build quality issues as some reviews have noted. (e.g. one review says the speaker is weak while another says it's fine.)
I also like that the service will be around $65/mo. with the insurance and taxes and it includes the Sprint navigation and unlimited everything but talk, but since mobile-to-mobile is free and almost everyone I call is on cells, I will never run out of my 450 min. allotment. (The crushing sticker price for AT&T was why I never entertained the iPhone.) I'll be able to stop lugging my Dell Axim PDA and Garmin GPS units around and as more apps come online, it's only going to get slicker.
Palm Pre review
Jun 4th 2009 12:07AM (Engadget)Sprint has MUCH better pricing even if I didn't get a 23% discount thru my work (alas, Simply Everything isn't included, but Everything Data w/450 mins. is and I don't talk much) and Sprint put a repeater in my building so I'm going to have killer signal quality.
Palm Pre review
Jun 3rd 2009 11:49PM (Engadget)What's interesting is how the Pre is being compared to the upcoming THIRD version of the iPhone and not Apple's first try. There was no App Store for a year with Apple, so can we fairly bash Palm for not having 40,000 iFart apps by Sunday afternoon? Many of the rough edges only seem so because the rest of it is so slick and polished. If Palm is speedy and diligent about getting the odd bits fixed up, only those eager beavers who just GOTTAHAVEIT the first day will notice it wasn't all sweetness and light from the get go.