HTC gave us a quick session to play around with its latest handset, the Desire C. No, it’s not part of the consolidated One series, nor is the company revealing precisely what that “C” stands for — heaven forfend it’s “cheap.” While a humble 320 x 480 touchscreen and 600MHz processor might not set many smartphone obsessives’ hearts a’ racing, it still manages to eke out a HTC Sense-skinned Android 4.0 UI — no mere feat, in our opinion. A 5-megapixel camera and expandable microSD slot are some other welcome specifications and it’s all wrapped up in an attractive matte finish — you can take your pick form black and white in the UK. Catch our quick video run-through of the sub-$300 handset right after the break.

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HTC Desire C hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 May 2012 10:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Yeah, it’s not $99 and it’s refurbished but it’s still a TouchPad. The tablet was once heralded as an iPad killer. Now, I’m not sure if it could even kill a Notion Ink Adam in a head-to-head sales battle. But still, thanks to an honestly smart move from HP, the TouchPad and webOS is valuable to some in the development community.

But you better act fast like previous TouchPad offers. This deal is up on Woot, where the Amazon subsidiary only has a limited number of items. The price is $195 for a 32GB WiFi TouchPad — not a bad deal for a slightly bulky tab capable of running Android.

HP debuted the TouchPad as a true iPad competitor when it hit stores last summer. But for $500 it was a tough sale even though it was a capable device. Consumers apparently agreed as HP killed the product after just 49 days and eventually cleared out the remaining stock with a $99 firesale. Since then, HP released webOS to the open source community and essentially gutted the departments. This Woot sale might be the last time you can grab an HP TouchPad.

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By Alexander George. This article was originally published on The Wirecutter, a “list of great technology” curated by Wired alum Brian Lam.

The iPhone’s camera is good, but we spent a good amount of time searching for the best gear to make it better.

On top of the homework, we also spoke to some friends from Instagram, like Jessica Zollman, one of the original members of Instagram’s community team. And photographer Cole Rise, a designer of some of the filters (including the “rise” filter) and the Instagram app icon itself.

We started out with a list of a few dozen accessories, but since most of the value of the iPhone comes from its apps, there are very few accessories that will really improve your shots, and honestly, only the Olloclip — first up in our gallery, and described below — is the must-have device in this list. The rest are good, useful and novel, and if you have a specific need in mind, proven technology.

Best iPhone Wide Lens: Olloclip

The Olloclip slips on over the iPhone’s corner and, depending on which direction it’s turned, gives a fish-eye, macro, or wide-angle effect to your shots. The simplicity and sturdiness of its design trumps other lens options that are obtrusive, flimsy and inconvenient by comparison.

Wired magazine’s iPhone lens round-up test bullet-points its qualities: “A must-have for Instagram addicts. Attaches in seconds. The most versatile lens set in the test.”  Jessica Zollman, a member of the community team at Instagram, attests: “It’s my favorite for amazing macro photos and I carry it around with me everywhere I go. You never know when some beautiful bug is gonna pose long enough for you to snap its picture. There are some pretty incredible photographs on Instagram tagged with #olloclipmacro too.”

Laptop Magazine agreed, and expounded on the potential the device unlocks. They noted that a dedicated point-and-shoot couldn’t swap a fish-eye for a macro as quickly as the Olloclip can. Macworld like that “the fisheye and wide-angle lenses also have secure, plastic lens caps, so you don’t need to worry about the glass getting scratched while bouncing around in a bag with sharp items.” Engadget held lenses to professional standards, and only found “minor barrel distortion” compared to that of a DSLR’s wide-angle lens.

The one grievance reviewers agreed on is that the Olloclip can’t attach over an iPhone case. This was a deciding point for iLounge, with its staff of iPhone case advocates. They said, “In short, despite its capabilities, the 3-in-One Photo Lens wasn’t something any of us would actually use, and mounting was as much to blame as anything else.” But if you’re anything like our own Kyle VanHemert or Instagram superstar Doctor Popular, both of whom carry their phones au naturel, this isn’t a problem.

The Olloclip has few competitors, but the devices that perform a similar function are complicated and expensive. Still, The Tech Block found that Schneider Optic’s iPro Lens System, which attaches its lenses to a metal iPhone casing, is great. It’s image quality, especially with the fish eye, is much better. They said, “The Olloclip, you see, goes for $69, while the iPro Len System will set you back almost three times that, at $199.” They added: “…for casual users who’d like to spice up their phone’s camera without breaking the bank or toting around extra hardware, the Olloclip’s just fine.”

Is the Schneider Optics system worth the extra $130? We don’t think so, but the coated glass on the lenses is, as Wired explains, the same quality as low-distortion SLR hardware. Reviewer Grayson Schaffer says, “When the whole rig is on, the iPhone feels like a serious camera, even though the mount means that some quality is lost between lens and sensor.”

Another option is something like Photojojo’s Dial. The case, while intriguing, hasn’t had any evaluative coverage. For us, at $70, (the dial will run you $250) the Olloclip still wins.

Other companies have figured out how to attach a true SLR lens on the iPhone, but no one seems to think the rigging is worth the effort. One example is the Turtleback TurtleJacket SLR Mount, which isn’t responsible for the problems involved with DLSR-ing an iPhone. Since the phone doesn’t have a correcting mirror, you’re shooting all images upside-down while manual focusing.

For the money, the Olloclip can’t be beat.

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Unless you’re lucky enough to live in Scandinavia, you’ll have to wait till the end of summer to get your Cotton Candy fix. Aching to nab yourself a computer-on-a-stick before then? If you’re willing to step down in specs, the Chinese-made MK802 could be the PC in your pocket. For $74 (versus $199 for the Cotton Candy), this 7-ounce device gives you a 1.5-GHz Allwinner A10 CPU, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of storage and, like the Cotton Candy, Android 4.0. FXI’s version, on the other hand, packs a dual-core 1.2-GHz Samsung Exynos processor, and while the MK802 offers an HDMI port, the Cotton Candy includes an HDMI connector. The MK802 is slightly bulkier than its sweetly named competitor (3.5 inches vs. 3.1), but that Android logo on the front does wonders for its design cred. AliExpress.com is currently selling the MK802 with free shipping to the US — click the source link for a gander.

$74 MK802 PC-on-a-stick beats Cotton Candy to market, has ICS on board originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 May 2012 14:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amazon could be stoking a bigger Fire. Photo: Victor J. Blue/Wired.com

If rumors are to be believed, Apple and Amazon are both working on tablets that would invade each other’s turf. The latest scuttlebutt has Amazon preparing for a 10-inch Kindle Fire: DigiTimes reports that “market rumors” are pointing to a 10-inch Amazon tablet launching in the third quarter of this year.

While Amazon is notoriously tight lipped about its sales figures, the Kindle Fire has been pegged as the number one selling Android tablet on the market, with a 54 percent share among a vast field of competitors. With such a commanding lead, it makes sense that Amazon would set its sights on expanding the Fire line, and taking on the iPad in the 10-inch tablet market.

The irony, of course, is that Apple is rumored to be working on a 7-inch iPad mini. The smallish 7-inch form factor — once blasted by Steve Jobs as being dead-on-arrival — is actually doing quite well for Amazon’s Fire, and conventional wisdom says Apple is finding the prospect of lucrative 7-inch iPad sales too hard to ignore.

Both companies’ tablets support robust digital ecosystems that make money on their own. Apple makes a tidy profit on all its iPad sales, but also takes a 30 percent cut of all iOS app sales. And of course Apple makes money on iTunes movie, TV show and music sales as well.

Amazon, meanwhile, takes a different route: It doesn’t make any money on its rock-bottom-priced, $200 Kindle Fire, but recoups everything on the back end (and then some) via all the digital and physical goods it sells via the tablet, a veritable gateway drug to rampant consumerism. Thanks to this pricing model, the company could effectively subsidize a 10-inch Kindle Fire, selling it for cost at between $300 and $350. At this price, consumers could wave off the iPad and its heady $500 entry fee, and save a bit of cash.

Of course, the 7-inch Kindle Fire isn’t in the same league as the current 10-inch iPad in terms of performance, U.I. and available apps. So, if Apple were to release a 7-inch iPad, Amazon could find itself up against a true competitor in the mini-tablet space. Apple has shown that it can sell hardware at a premium price and still garner a healthy profit.

With each company allegedly looking to drink from the other’s milkshake, the tablet market could get very, very interesting by the end of the year.

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