Nintendo 3DS: The Details

Nintendo Japan has announced that they will present the newest portable console, the Nintendo 3DS, in June. The new handheld will offer 3D viewing without glasses. Here's all the information we have gathered so far:

• With the announcement slated for E3 in June, Nintendo's shooting a bit early in their Japanese press release by saying it will go on sale sometime between April 2010 - March 2011.

• You won't need to wear 3D glasses to enjoy the 3D effects. This may work likeRittai Kakushi e Attakoreda, the Nintendo DSi game that uses the frontal camera to track the viewer eyes. By tracking the user's eyes—a trick first shown by Johnny Chung Lee's Wii hack—the machine can alter the perspective in the game to make it look as if the player is looking into a 3D virtual space.

• It's unclear if this would be the only 3D element in the console.

• Backwards compatibility will be incorporated for DS and DSi games support.

• It may have an accelerometer for tilt-controls with motion-led gaming, just like the iPhone/iPod Touch.

• The screen might be higher-res than anything we've seen from Nintendo before, maybe reaching 720p—and measuring around the same size as the DS.

• It'll have two screens just like previous portables, but they'll be used in conjunction as one giant screen, according to RPAD.tv, who convinced developers to talk to them at GDC.

• A Tegra chip could be powering it.

• Nintendo might put a 3G sim in, for over-the-air downloads.

• Those over-the-air downloads might include ebooks, something already seen on the DSi XL.

UPDATE

• It'll include two cameras (one backwards-facing, one forward-facing), just like the DSi—for DSi backwards compatibility support.

• The Japanese publication Asahi is claiming it'll use one of Sharp's parallax barrier LCDs.

• 3D control sticks may help with gaming, if Nikkei's report is correct, and the 3DS itself could vibrate like an old Rumble Pak.

AT&T's Palm Pixi Plus and Pre Plus hands-on

We just spent a few fleeting moments with AT&T's just-announced Pre Plus and Pixi Plus from Palm, and they're pretty much exactly what you'd expect: GSM remixes of the models available on Verizon (we weren't allowed to take a peek at the SIM slots, but rest assured, there's an AT&T carrier logo up there at the top left). Both devices seemed relatively zippy -- yes, even the Pixi -- though that can naturally change pretty quickly once you've got a few cards chugging away. We were delighted to see that Palm loaded our very own Engadget app on their demo devices -- a good way for booth stoppers-by to catch up on show news, eh? Check out the gallery below, and keep an eye out for more coverage throughout the day!

AT&T's Palm Pixi Plus and Pre Plus hands-on

As Apple continues to test applications for use on its forthcoming multimedia iPad, nearly half fall into the games category, while just 3 percent are books.

New statistics from analytics firm Flurry provided to AppleInsider show that the lion's share of applications being tested on the iPad are games, which command 44 percent. The next most popular App Store category, in a distant second place with just 14 percent, is entertainment.

Peter Farago, vice president of marketing with Flurry, said the applications seen on iPhone OS 3.2 via the iPad have likely been used by Apple for testing purposes with its new hardware, due to be released April 3. He said the company is unable, however, to comment on the number of applications they are seeing, or the specific devices they are seeing them on.

Flurry's data was the first to spot hardware running iPhone OS 3.2 before Apple formally announced the iPad. The analytics firm found about 50 iPad devices were being tested prior to the iPad reveal in late January. At the time, many had incorrectly expected the new hardware would run iPhone OS 4.0.

The iPads were first spotted in October of 2009, but saw a dramatic increase in testing in January. At the time, it was said that tested applications had a strong focus on reading and news, though the vast majority were games.

Following the announcement of the iPad, Flurry found that developer interest in Apple's App Store nearly tripled. The company, which has tracking data in over 20,000 mobile applications, found that developers integrating Flurry analytics into iPhone OS applications in January dramatically increased from January. More than 1,600 new applications were started with Flurry in January, compared with under 600 in December.
Games command 44% of apps tested by Apple for use with iPad

That high interest from developers was reiterated last week, when the firm's latest Smartphone Industry Pulse survey was released. The company said a "significant increase" in new application starts was maintained through the month of February.

Apple has pitched the launch of the iPad as a "whole new gold rush" for developers, as the device and its 9.7-inch screen will run existing App Store software as well as new applications designed specifically for the hardware and its larger touchscreen. First released in January, the iPhone 3.2 beta software development kit allows developers to create iPad-specific software.

Last Friday, Apple began accepting iPad applications to the App Store. Applications submitted by March 27 that meet all of the requirements set forth by Apple should be available for the product launch on April 3.

Palm moving to Android to stay alive? Not according to Palm

You may be seeing a rumor doing the rounds today about Palm throwing in the towel and moving to the Android platform as a means of survival -- but just hang on. Most reports are citing an email that made its way to the inbox of what looks like every major tech outlet, stating that CEO Jon Rubinstein issued an internal memo to software developers at the company about the switch. The supposed memo quotes Jon as saying, "While Palm is incredibly proud of our engineers who spent timeless work and effort to bring us this advanced operating system, consumers simply have not caught on. To provide a better future for ourselves and our customers, the only logical choice is to transition our hardware and software to the Android platform." The plan -- according to this email -- would be to create a kind of Sense UI-ish webOS interface on Palm devices, while leveraging Android's market footprint. The anonymous emailer went on to say that the full memo would be made available on Wikileaks at midnight last night.

But guess what? Not only did the memo not appear at the stroke of 12, but when we picked up the phone and actually spoke to Palm, they had a pretty quick response. Their answer? Our sources at the company essentially laughed when they heard this news, and they emphatically stated that there was no memo, and no move internally towards Android. Furthermore, many of the reports are citing a bunk piece of news from Monday which erroneously stated that Palm had halted production -- that news has also been refuted by the company. Admittedly, our minds reel at the concept of Android with a webOS UI, but until we get some real, verifiable evidence of that (and not just a random email), we're going to assume it's not happening. You should do the same.

Opera Mini Submitted to App Store, Complete with Passive Aggressive "Countup" Clock

Norwegian browser makers Opera Software have submitted Opera Mini to Apple's App Store. And because Apple hasn't let any third-party browsers on iPhone, Opera is calling them out with a timer to measure how long approval takes. Waiting's fun! [via]

Sent From My iPad

That's what Gran Capitán Jobs sent to an Apple user yesterday. Oh, Steve, you teaser, you.

I can imagine him on his sofa, the warm colorful light of a Tiffany Lamp, with the iPad on his lap, listening to some Bob Dylan vinyl on his record player. [The Apple Lounge]