Black HTC One peeks out of AT&T and Sprint web stores, promises to be available soon

Stealth black HTC One peeks out of AT&T and Sprint web stores, promises to be available 'soon'

Torn between getting an HTC One right now and waiting for that sleek black variant? We know the feeling, and the folks at Sprint and AT&T aren't making it easier: both providers have tossed up a product page for the color. Unfortunately, a solid street date is nowhere to be seen -- Sprint only promises that it'll be available "soon." The tease won't make the wait any more bearable, but if you want to ogle that press image a bit more, check out the product pages at source.

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Via: Phone Arena

Source: Sprint, AT&T

The Engadget Show Mini: Mobile World Congress with Stephen Elop and more

That's right, we went to Barcelona, so you don't have to. Join the Engadget team halfway across the world for a very special mini-episode of the Engadget Show, where we take you to center stage for the year's biggest mobile event. Back in January at CES, we bemoaned the lack of smartphone releases -- did those companies make up for lost time this year in Spain? Or will the trend toward single product events continue to rob the bigger shows of their highlights?

We'll take you around the floor to show off some of our favorite MWC products like the HP Slate 7, ZTE Grand Memo and, of course, that GPS cane. We'll also be speaking to top execs like Nokia's Stephen Elop and Stephen Sneeden of Sony. Join us after the break for all the Mobile World Congress action you could ever possibly need (or at least as much as we could cram into a 16-minute serving).

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Emblaze Mobile’s ex-CEO: First Else was eventually ready but the market had changed

Emblaze Mobile's exCEO

We were rather heartbroken when Emblaze Mobile announced the premature death of its First Else project back in June 2010, with the culprit being "critical delays in deliveries;" so when we caught up with ex-CEO Amir Kupervas -- who's now running a startup called UIU -- at MWC, we had to see if he had anything to add to the sad story. "It was ambitious for a small Israeli company to come into consumer electronics, build a brand and try to push it," Kupervas emphasized. "When we started this project it wasn't about ecosystem and apps and things like that. Eventually the iPhone came with its app store, and then Android came with its app store, and we were left behind."

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UIU Android launcher targets non-techie users with easy cloud management (video)

UIU

Emblaze Mobile's First Else may be no more, but its legacy lives on. During MWC we caught up with the company's ex-CEO, Amir Kupervas, who started a company called UIU in June 2011 -- only a month after his departure and almost a year after the tantalizing First Else got canned. Over at UIU, Kupervas and UX strategist Itay Levin (who also took part in the First Else project) have a more humble ambition: to offer an Android launcher and an accompanying cloud management platform that are simple enough for non-techie users. "In the US, smartphones generate twice as much the amount of calls to the customer centers than the featurephones," said Kupervas. "There's a lot of hustle and a lot of confusion on how to work these guys. People are struggling with them, even existing users."

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DigitalOptics’ fast MEMS camera enables Lytro-like post-capture refocus (video)

DigitalOptics' fast MEMS lens actuator enables Lytrolike postcapture refocus video

Tech shows like CES and MWC are great for taking a peek at what's coming up in the world of consumer electronics, even down to the component level. At the latter show this year, we came across DigitalOptics whose name may not sound familiar, but you may already be using its HDR, red eye removal, face tracking, face beautification and other related technologies on many phones (like Oppo's) and cameras (sorry, not allowed to name them here). Now, this year the company will also be offering its MEMS (microelectromechanical system) lens actuator which, compared to its traditional voice coil counterpart, is apparently more reliable, longer lasting, more efficient and faster with a 10ms settling time instead of the usual 20 to 25ms.

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The Engadget Interview: Sony product marketing manager Stephen Sneeden at MWC 2013

The Engadget Interview Sony product marketing manager Stephen Sneeden at MWC 2013

After wowing us at CES with the Xperia Z, Sony enticed us at Mobile World Congress with the Xperia Tablet Z. Both devices combine top-notch specs with beautiful industrial design -- pure rectangular forms with a mirror-like finish packaged in thin, light and water-resistant shells. We sat down with product marketing manager Stephen Sneeden in Barcelona to talk about these iconic products. We discussed the "omni-balance" design and the common user experience shared by both devices, which was spearheaded when Kuni Suzuki became Sony Mobile's president and CEO. He explained that some of these design elements will likely be incorporated into future (non-mobile) products and that the both the Xperia Z and Tablet Z are premium, aspirational devices which will become reference points for more affordable models. We then chatted about the Tablet Z's specs, in particular its impressive thickness (6.9mm / 0.27 inches) and best-in-class weight (495g / 0.99lbs). Mr. Sneeden mentioned the TV SideView app, an electronic programming guide with voice activation that's available from the Play Store and takes advantage of the Tablet Z's built-in IR blaster -- he also pointed out that Sony's Music Unlimited and Walkman Player apps will be fully integrated by summer. We touched upon a few other topics, including the Xperia Play and PlayStation Certified program for phones. Check out the full video interview after the break.

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The Engadget Interview: VP of design Scott Croyle talks HTC One at MWC 2013

The Engadget Interview VP of design Scott Croyle talks HTC One at MWC 2013

It's no secret that we're big fans of the HTC One here at Engadget -- we've already written at length about the handset's hardware design, software features and imaging chops. At MWC, we were lucky to spend some time with Scott Croyle, VP of design, to discuss the company's latest superphone. We talked about the handset's delightful zero-gap aluminum and plastic unibody and how HTC wanted to "break down that last barrier" of integrating antennae in a metal casing without making compromises. He explained that the One's design was inspired by high-end watches, and it turns out that the zero-gap machining process was developed in-house specifically for this device. Some of the antennae (such as WiFi and GPS) are actually machined as part of the unibody and coexist on the same aluminum panel.

We then chatted about the gorgeous 4.7-inch 1080p display which was supplied by the same manufacturer which provided the screen for the Droid DNA and One X, and the daring Ultrapixel camera, which packs four million large (2µm) pixels and OIS. Mr. Croyle mentioned that while the business side is incredibly important, the decision to use Ultrapixels was focused on the needs of consumers. We asked if limiting the number of pixels was in any way driven by the software -- the desire to implement Zoe and perhaps curtail the massive amounts of data gathered and processed by the feature. It turns out that the development of the sensor and optics started a long time before the software. As for Zoe, "nobody's redefined what a photograph could mean" and HTC was eager to try something new. Our full video interview is yours to watch after the break.

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The Engadget Interview: VP of design Scott Croyle talks HTC One at MWC 2013

The Engadget Interview VP of design Scott Croyle talks HTC One at MWC 2013

It's no secret that we're big fans of the HTC One here at Engadget -- we've already written at length about the handset's hardware design, software features and imaging chops. At MWC, we were lucky to spend some time with Scott Croyle, VP of design, to discuss the company's latest superphone. We talked about the handset's delightful zero-gap aluminum and plastic unibody and how HTC wanted to "break down that last barrier" of integrating antennae in a metal casing without making compromises. He explained that the One's design was inspired by high-end watches, and it turns out that the zero-gap machining process was developed in-house specifically for this device. Some of the antennae (such as WiFi and GPS) are actually machined as part of the unibody and coexist on the same aluminum panel.

We then chatted about the gorgeous 4.7-inch 1080p display which was supplied by the same manufacturer which provided the screen for the Droid DNA and One X, and the daring Ultrapixel camera, which packs four million large (2µm) pixels and OIS. Mr. Croyle mentioned that while the business side is incredibly important, the decision to use Ultrapixels was focused on the needs of consumers. We asked if limiting the number of pixels was in any way driven by the software -- the desire to implement Zoe and perhaps curtail the massive amounts of data gathered and processed by the feature. It turns out that the development of the sensor and optics started a long time before the software. As for Zoe, "nobody's redefined what a photograph could mean" and HTC was eager to try something new. Our full video interview is yours to watch after the break.

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The Engadget Interview: VP of design Scott Croyle talks HTC One at MWC 2013

The Engadget Interview VP of design Scott Croyle talks HTC One at MWC 2013

It's no secret that we're big fans of the HTC One here at Engadget -- we've already written at length about the handset's hardware design, software features and imaging chops. At MWC, we were lucky to spend some time with Scott Croyle, VP of design, to discuss the company's latest superphone. We talked about the handset's delightful zero-gap aluminum and plastic unibody and how HTC wanted to "break down that last barrier" of integrating antennae in a metal casing without making compromises. He explained that the One's design was inspired by high-end watches, and it turns out that the zero-gap machining process was developed in-house specifically for this device. Some of the antennae (such as WiFi and GPS) are actually machined as part of the unibody and coexist on the same aluminum panel.

We then chatted about the gorgeous 4.7-inch 1080p display which was supplied by the same manufacturer which provided the screen for the Droid DNA and One X, and the daring Ultrapixel camera, which packs four million large (2µm) pixels and OIS. Mr. Croyle mentioned that while the business side is incredibly important, the decision to use Ultrapixels was focused on the needs of consumers. We asked if limiting the number of pixels was in any way driven by the software -- the desire to implement Zoe and perhaps curtail the massive amounts of data gathered and processed by the feature. It turns out that the development of the sensor and optics started a long time before the software. As for Zoe, "nobody's redefined what a photograph could mean" and HTC was eager to try something new. Our full video interview is yours to watch after the break.

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The Engadget Interview: ARM president Simon Segars at MWC 2013

The Engadget Interview ARM president Simon Segars at MWC 2013

We met up with ARM president Simon Segars at Mobile World Congress to talk about the company's recent milestones -- 8-core big.LITTLE processors, the powerful yet efficient Cortex-A50 architecture (which we discussed with James Bruce last year), MediaTek's Cortex-A7 quad-core SoC (the first of its kind) and Samsung's octa-core Exynos 5 chip -- to name a few. Hit the break to watch our video and read the interview transcript.

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