Samsung's Q2 profit drops 26 percent due to sluggish TV sales, demand for phones explodes

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/07/samsungs-q2-profit-drops-26-percent-due-to-sluggish-tv-sales-d/

You may or may not have noticed, but we're once again in the thick of earnings season, and today Samsung's in the hot seat. The company has reported that its second-quarter profit fell 26 percent year-over-year to 3.7 trillion won ($3.5 billion), largely thanks to underwhelming sales of flat screen TVs and, to a lesser extent, semiconductors. That's a shade worse than the whiz kids over on Wall Street were expecting, according to Bloomberg. In fact, the demand for televisions was so disappointing that it overshadowed what was actually an impressive quarter for the outfit's mobile division -- sales of feature and smartphones quadrupled year-over-year to 19.2 million units, putting the company on track to further narrow the gap with Nokia, the world's bestselling handset maker. All told, this balanced out to a modest growth in revenue -- an uptick of 2.9 percent to 39 trillion won ($36.7 billion).

Samsung's Q2 profit drops 26 percent due to sluggish TV sales, demand for phones explodes originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jul 2011 11:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WiFi Xoom sheds $100, could stand to lose a few more Benjamins

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/07/wifi-xoom-sheds-100-could-stand-to-lose-a-few-more-benjamins/

Oh Xoom, you're but a few months old -- still only a babe -- and Motorola already has you on a diet. Sure, maybe it was a mistake to jump right into the deep end where big boys play, but you had to try right? Well, now that you've shed a $100 in weight, treading water alongside the rest of the WiFi tablets should be a little bit easier and, with 32GB of storage, you're more well-endowed than your $499 brethren. Still, it might be too little too late with the Galaxy Tab 10.1 muscling in on your territory and "iPad" quickly becoming a generic word for slates. Maybe if you dropped another $100 you'd have better luck -- and talk to your 3G-packing sibling, he's looking a little plump around the price tag too, if you ask us.

WiFi Xoom sheds $100, could stand to lose a few more Benjamins originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jul 2011 11:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone 4 SLR Mount lets you shoot 5-megapixel photos with your $3,000 lens

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/07/iphone-4-slr-mount-lets-you-shoot-5-megapixel-photos-with-your/

So you flew around the world for a photo assignment, camera bag packed full of high-end lenses, but forgot the DSLR on the kitchen counter. Not to worry! You never leave home without your iPhone 4 and its new must-have accessory: the iPhone SLR Mount. $190 $249 scores you one of these aluminum bad boys, eager to pair with your multi-thousand dollar Canon or Nikon optics, bringing "powerful depth of field" and manual focus to your smartphone's itsy bitsy image sensor. You can reportedly use the new pricey mobile rig to capture photos with shallow depth of field, without the need to add one of those "unethical" $5 digital filter apps. The accessory is ready to ship, so you're just 24 hours (and a couple hundred dollars) away from having this life-changing masterpiece sent straight to your door. As for us? We're holding out a bit longer for the iPad version.

Update: The folks at Photojojo wrote in to let us know that the $190 price provided earlier today was incorrect -- the iPhone 4 mount will actually set you back a cool $249.

iPhone 4 SLR Mount lets you shoot 5-megapixel photos with your $3,000 lens originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jul 2011 13:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola's LTE-infused Xoom 2 tablet caught skipping through the FCC?

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/07/motorolas-lte-infused-xoom-2-tablet-caught-skipping-through-the/

There's nothing but a photo, a few dimensions and confirmation that LTE / CDMA radios are onboard, but it's sure looking like the device linked down in the source is Motorola's elusive followup to the Xoom. For those camped out under a boulder the past day or so, the Xoom recently saw a permanent $100 price drop for the WiFi-only model, and eagle-eyed observers may recall a brief glimpse of what appeared to be an unannounced Verizon Wireless slate a few weeks back. Of course, having a storyline that fits is only half the battle, but with the IHDP56LU2 measuring 259mm long and 166mm wide, it's getting harder and harder to reject any lingering thoughts that the Xoom 2 may indeed be on its way. For the curious, those dimensions are ever-so-slightly more compact than the existing Xoom, and it's not just anything that gets hooked up with radios to support both of VZW's native networks. So, what say you? Is the Xoom 2 really getting ready to bust your summer wide open? Or are we looking at the world's largest LTE smartphone?

Motorola's LTE-infused Xoom 2 tablet caught skipping through the FCC? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jul 2011 15:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Xperia Arc hits the US unlocked and ready for action

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/07/xperia-arc-hits-the-us-unlocked-and-ready-for-action/

The Xperia Arc is one the best handsets we've seen from Sony Ericsson, but US consumers have had to sit by and watch as the thing popped up in other markets around the world -- until now, that is. The unlocked AT&T-compatible quad-band 3G handset just hit Sony's store. The Gingerbread-packing smartphone has a 4.2-inch Reality Display, 512MB of RAM, an 8 megapixel camera, and will start shipping tomorrow. The Xperia Arc will run you $600 -- that's the price you pay for contractual freedom.

Xperia Arc hits the US unlocked and ready for action originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jul 2011 17:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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