Curvy, sumptuous concept and prototype electric vehicles are definitely easy on the eyes, but if you’ve been searching for something a touch more “real,” fresh-out-of-bankruptcy Chrysler has one car that’s not going back to the drawing board. Our compatriots over at Autoblog report that the all-electric Fiat 500 EV — which saw a limited run of 100 in Europe and made a cameo at this year’s Detroit Auto Show — will actually be produced and sold in the US starting in 2012. Since the automaker’s not talking specs, it’s hard to say how it’ll compare to a Volt or a Leaf, but history (peek the ‘More Coverage’ link down below) tells us the original electric Fiat 500 got up to 120 miles on a charge. We’d caution you not to get too worked up by that hot hatch action, though — despite the fact that the Peapod made it briefly to market, this isn’t the first time Chrysler’s told us to expect a commercial vehicle we can charge. Here’s hoping for better results this go ’round.

Chrysler says all-electric Fiat 500 will carry Americans, American Touristers in 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Mar 2010 19:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Magellan’s new eXplorist GC for geocachers is far too easy to find originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Mar 2010 18:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve just received a veritable cornucopia of information around Samsung’s supposed announcements out at CTIA this week — and seeing how this is the biggest wireless show the US has to offer, you might imagine that the reveals are fairly US-focused while still hanging onto some global relevance. Here’s what we know:

• The company’s so-called “Smart Life” philosophy for smartphone design and differentiation — something we’ve heard referred to as S Life in the past, including here at CTIA — will be formally introduced. It won’t so much be a product or a smartphone platform (as far as we can tell) so much as an overarching strategy.
• A 1GHz applications processor will be announced as the “new standard” in Sammy’s premium smartphone segment for 2010; in all likelihood, this is the Cortex A8-based core announced in the middle of last year.
• A huge content push will be announced (US market mercifully included) with full-length movies and shows that are “optimized” to take advantage of the company’s new Super AMOLED displays. You’ll also see some book and magazine deals get struck for straight-to-mobile delivery, but it sounds like we won’t get the straight dope on how it’ll all work (and who’s involved, exactly) this week.
• Kicking off S Life from the hardware side will be the Galaxy S, Samsung’s big phone announcement for the week. As far as we can tell, it’ll be an Android device taking advantage of Super AMOLED and the company’s homegrown 1GHz core — and it’ll be available in the US this year.

That’s all we’ve got so far, but Sammy’s mobile prez J.K. Shin has a keynote tomorrow morning along with an event immediately afterward, so we expect to get this fleshed out in the next day or so. Stay tuned!

Samsung to announce Galaxy S smartphone, content initiatives this week originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Mar 2010 18:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We heard from 9 to 5 Mac that Apple was due to begin selling a contract-free variant of the iPhone in the near future “at list price.” And guess what happened when we inquired to an Apple store? That’s right folks — you can now pick one up for $499 (3G), $599, or $699 (3GS). We’ve confirmed this info at no less than five stores, so you should be hearing the same message at your local Appletorium. Given the current unfriendly climate between Apple and Google, this could be seen as nasty jab, though the devices are still carrier-locked to AT&T, so you’re not being given much freedom… and it’s certainly not much of a statement. In many parts of Europe (France and Poland, for example) you can pick up the carrier-unattached device (and we mean totally unlocked), but that doesn’t appear to be the case here.

Update: We’re getting mixed reports on the unlock status of these phones. One store says yes to the unlock, while others are saying they’re still AT&T-locked devices being sold off contract. We’re digging for more info on this now, so stay tuned.

Update 2: It’s looking like those initial reports of unlocked devices are inaccurate. It sounds like these devices are still locked to AT&T — so you’re just looking at an off contract pricing scheme. Which is also totally lame.

Official: Apple now offering iPhones contract free (updated: not unlocked) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Mar 2010 18:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Happy Monday, everybody! We thought we’d start off this week with a nice little give away to prove our affection… the kind folks at MusicSkins have provided us with five special edition Beatles Abbey Road MusicSkins to give to you. These particular MusicSkins are for iPhone or iPod touch so if you’re in the market for one of these, read the rules and get commenting. (The full rules are after the break).

Special thanks to MusicSkins for providing the gear.

Continue reading Engadget giveaway: win some Beatles MusicSkins

Engadget giveaway: win some Beatles MusicSkins originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Mar 2010 17:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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