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Motorola Droid X is hit among consumers, having sold out at most Verizon stores, but for some the phone’s display has been an issue.

Some Motorola’s Droid X phone users are experiencing flickering of their display, horizontal and vertical bands in it, and at times a blackout of the entire screen.

But those problems may be fixed soon, says Verizon.

Verizon has issued a statement to say only “a very small number” of users are facing the issue. And help for them is on the way.

“Motorola has resolved the issue and is continuing to ship the phones. Any consumer who experiences a flickering or banding display should contact a Motorola customer support center or Verizon Wireless,” a Verizon Wireless spokesperson told Engadget.

Motorola announced the Droid X on June 23 and the phone hit retail shelves on July 15. The $200 Droid X (after a $100 rebate and with a two-year Verizon contract) has a 4.3-inch screen and a 1 GHz processor. The phone launched with Android 2.1 operating system, but is expected to get an upgrade to Android 2.2 Froyo in the summer.

Droid X’ debut though has left more than just users with display problems unhappy. Last week, Android geeks found that Motorola has made difficult for hackers to mod the Droid X by using a bootloader and chip combination that could potentially brick the phone if it is broken. Motorola has said that the chip combination will boot the phone only when software is installed, squishing hackers’ hopes that they can quickly get custom-ROMs on the device.

Meanwhile, check out this video of a Droid X user whose phone screen started flickering after the device was woken up from its sleep mode.

Photo: Stefan Armijo/Wired.com

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Livescribe’s Pulse smart pen that can automatically digitize written notes is a big hit among students and business professionals who want to move away from paper.

Now the company has introduced a slimmer version of the its pen called Echo that offers more storage and improved features including support for PDF files.

The Echo pen has double the capacity of the Pulse and is available in 4 GB and 8 GB models that record 400 and 800 hours of data respectively. The 4 GB version will cost $170 and the 8 GB version is priced at $200. The 2 GB Pulse pen will cost $130, down from $200 when it was first introduced.

Livescribe has also added a 3.5 mm audio jack so consumers can use their own headphones, instead of having to buy specifically designed ones from LiveScribe.

Livescribe introduced its first smart pen Pulse in March 2008. Users write notes on Livescribe’s sheets of paper, just as they would on a notepad. The Pulse pen captures everything the user hears using a audio record feature. As for the notes, they can be accessed by simply tapping the pen at any point on the sheet of the paper or through a computer using the Livescribe desktop software. The only drawback is that the pen will work only with Livescribe’s proprietary paper. The company also launched an app store that now has more than 60 apps including study aids and dictionaries.

With Echo, Livescribe has updated the user interface so it is easier to access apps, added features such as password protection so the audio recorded on the smartpen can have more privacy, and introduced the idea of custom notebooks so users can group and organize notes more easily.

Later this year, Livescribe plans to add new software called Connect, which will allow users to email notes, audio and PDFs from the smartpen and paper when the pen is is docked to a Mac or PC.

The company also plans to introduce a collaboration software called Paper Tablet, that will allow consumers to communicate directly from a Livescribe notebook to a computer using the Echo pen and a USB cable. That means if you draw an image on the Livescribe notebook then it can directly appear on the screen in real time–a feature that should be very useful for creating graphics and for artists.

Check out Livescribe’s video of the Echo pen and some of its key features:

Photo: Livescribe

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews