Engadget

As of recently, the PS Vita has become available in the locales of America, Europe and PAL territories, and now Sony's updated sales figures are in. How does "over 1.2 million units worldwide" sound? Because that's how many systems were purchased as of February 26th. If you'll recall, just two days after its December 19th arrival in Japan, the Vita rushed out of the gate, with Sony citing 321,000 units sold. Sales quickly slowed, however, despite the system making its way across Asia, as that number only rose to 500,000 by the time CES hit in January. Considering that means an additional 700K+ units were moved in less than two months, it seems that Sony's latest handheld isn't doing too shabby. Furthermore, it looks like a healthy amount of early adopters stocked up on games, as Sony also noted that more than two million pieces of software have been sold (out of 25 currently available titles) via retail and the PlayStation Store -- that said, there's no telling how popular those slightly cheaper digital editions have proved. Hit up the press release after the break for all the details, courtesy of the House of Kevin Butler Kaz Hirai.

China Mobile announced a deal with Clearwire last fall to speed up the rollout of its TD-LTE network, and now China's largest wireless provider has revealed some additional details about when that rollout will take place and just how big it will be. Speaking at Mobile World Congress, China Mobile president Li Yu said that the company will have over 20,000 TD-LTE base stations in operation by the end of this year, and a full 200,000 up and running by the end of 2013. That initial deployment will occur in the six trial cities already announced, as well as three additional cities confirmed at MWC: Beijing, Tianjin and Qingdao. Two of those cities, Hangzhou and Shenzhen, are expected to have full TD-LTE coverage of their urban areas this year, while the others will have more isolated coverage until the next phase of the deployment begins.

The last time we showed you the Galaxy Note 10.1, we had time for a few hands-on shots, but not quite enough to get to know the tablet, to warm up to the idea of interacting with one of our favorite 10-inchers using a stylus pen. Now that we've had a chance to park ourselves at Samsung's Mobile World Congress and get acclimated to the various S Pen apps, we wanted to hit back with one more hands-on, this time focusing on what makes the Note 10.1 so special: the writing experience. Meet us past the break and we'll share some early impressions, along with a walk-through video. Only have a minute to spare? Consider those photos below your Cliff's Notes.

Remember Audience? Sure you do. The outfit was behind the iPhone 4's noise-canceling wizardry that would be later built directly into the 4S' A5 heart. Now, the company has announced its earSmart eS110 advanced voice processor for feature phones. Touting "the same voice quality" as those more expensive phones that we all covet, the single microphone tech will suppress unwanted noise like cars passing by or that loud guy next to you at a bar. The eS110 offers crisp calls for both handset and speakerphone uses thanks to processors designed around how humans filter the sounds that we hear. Entry-level smartphones are targets as well and the kit's 3.5 x 3.5mm stature should make for easy integration. Audience says that samples will be sent out to manufacturers in March and should show up in handsets by the end of the year. In search of a few more details? Hit the full PR below to find out more.

Sprint's SEC filings have revealed that the carrier has committed to purchasing $15.5 billion worth of iPhones as part of the long-promised $20 billion gamble. If each handset costs around $630 at trade, then we're talking about the network holding nearly 24 million units. Given that the company most recently ate a loss of $1.3 billion, most of which was caused by carrier subsidies for the 4S, there's a genuine fear that the company won't be able to make enough back on each customer to offset the initial outlay. Given the Baller-style purchasing decisions of Dan Hesse of late, we'll be watching how this unfolds with great interest and our fingers very firmly crossed.

There's a lot of signs pointing to the release of a brand new iPad floating around these days: myriad rumors, retina displays, and even Apple event invites. Now, a freshly taken pic from an anonymous tipster has given us a little more grease for the iPad 3 rumor mill. As you can see above, starting today all iPad 2 SKUs at Radio Shack are getting $20-50 lopped off their prices, which sure seems like a good way to clear out stock to make room for a newer, pricier version. And, the good news for Apple fans doesn't stop there, as the Shack will also be discounting the iPhone 4 and 4S by $25 from March 1st - 4th. So, is this more evidence of the iPad 3, or just a retailer trying to move more product? We'll know for sure next week.

[Thanks, Anonymous]

Samsung's going to bring "premium HD video content" to Media Hub after pairing up Qualcomm's StudioAccess and ARM's TrustZone DRM systems. The first device that will benefit from the rollout is the Galaxy Note thanks to its enormous 1280 x 800 HD display. Owners of the large phone / small tablet hybrid will find HD content appearing alongside SD editions of your favorite movies and shows -- previously unavailable because of copyright concerns. There's PR after the break, but we'd suggest reading it only if you enjoy paragraph upon paragraph of executives praising DRM to the hilt.

Longing to get back into the EV game after your MINI E got sent back to the mothership? If you didn't hop on the BMW Group's other electric trial, the 1 Series-based ActiveE, how about giving a shake to a car from its rival in Ingolstadt? At the TED2012 conference, Audi just confirmed prior plans to lease its electrified hatchback, the A3 e-tron. Just like last time we espied it, the electric city-dweller will have a top speed of 90MPH and rather languid 0-60 sprint of eleven seconds. No word on price, though, but those serious on joining the pilot will have to call San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington DC or Denver home. That quartet of locales represents a diverse range of climates, which it'll use to gleam important real-world data for future e-tron endeavors. We're not entirely sure how we feel about possibly paying to be a transportation guinea-pig, but can you really say no to those red-lined rims? Us neither. Catch them in a video form alongside PR after the break.

We loved the original Pacemaker, and were sad to hear of its eventual discontinuation. News just in this morning, however, is that the DJ tool is back as a PlayBook app thanks to an exclusive collaboration with the tablet's maker. Details are sparse right now, as the information spilled at RIM's event this morning at MWC, but we do know that there will be auto beatmatching, vinyl mode with scratching, digital mode, looping, loop travel, pitch control, beat skip and "pro level" effects. All we have in terms of availability is that it will be out this spring, with no word on price. In the meantime we're going to start prepping up that music collection.

We've already from Verizon's CEO Lowell McAdam that the carrier was planning to offer shared data plans. And leaks have indicated that the carrier is already prepping its backend system for the change. Now CFO Fran Shammo has narrowed down the time frame a bit for us, telling a group of investors that family data plans should debut towards the middle of the year. But, he was quick to clarify this isn't as simple as setting a launch date. The shift to the new billing system will take time and not everyone will be migrated on day one. Still, Shammo indicated it will be an important part of the ongoing transition to 4G and its future plans for mobile dominance.

Update: We mistakenly identified Fran Shammo as the CTO when, in fact, he is the CFO.

The electric vehicle is still a fresh enough concept that the issue of redirecting the bill when filling up at a public outlet or a friend's house is of little concern. But once EVs gain more traction and the cost of electricity during that monthly dinner party starts to run upwards of 50 bucks, you'll definitely take notice. ELVIIS, a research collaboration between Ericsson and the Viktoria Institute in Sweden, may be the solution. Instead of pulling power from the grid blindly and billing the outlet's owner, the system provides driver and vehicle information to a server before charging begins, then redirects the cost for power consumed to whatever account you've registered with the vehicle, alleviating any concern about unexpected electricity bills. ELVIIS can theoretically serve other purposes, allowing you to select the least-expensive energy source, for example, or set the car to wait to charge until late-night, when rates are lower.

We jumped into the passenger seat of one of five existing ELVIIS cars -- built around an all-electric Volvo C30 -- and poked around the charging interface. The project isn't fully operational just yet, and was running in demo mode so there's no way to verify that it works as described, but it definitely appears to be solid, with Ericsson providing financial and development support. Eventually, it will use the car's GPS to identify nearby power outlets -- for now, you need to enter a specific outlet ID. There's also an Android app that allows you to monitor and reschedule charging, so if you programmed your car to be completely charged by 7AM but realized that you need to leave at 6, you can make sure you're covered without getting out of bed. But you don't need to go anywhere to see it in action -- just click on past the break.

Sony's odd, dual-screened, folding Tablet P is finally getting a "4G" version here the US, courtesy of AT&T. In this case, those 4G speeds are being "delivered" by an HSPA+ radio, a fact that carrier managed to bury in the PR. The Honeycomb device will be bringing its unique set of 5.5-inch screens to Ma Bell starting March 4th for the rather steep price of $400 with a two year contract. If you don't want to sign your soul over you can pick one up unsubsidized for $550, which is still quite a bit less than the cost of importing one of its £500 UK siblings. Check out the complete announcement after the break.

You know that One phone announced by HTC on Sunday? Well, it's actually a series of three phones, and we already know that a couple of them (at least) are going to be landing on the shelves of your friendly American corner retail store. We got a look at one of them today -- specifically, the One S destined for T-Mobile. We conjecture that this will be offered as Magenta's premium device, and it's not hard to see why. Its owners will enjoy nearly all of the same privileges as every other user around the world: a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 (Krait) CPU, 1GB of RAM, a durable and scratch-resistant ceramic unibody build and 8MP rear camera with f/2.0 and LED flash.

In nearly every respect, the model we saw was the same as the global version we got acquainted with just two days ago. The only exceptions were found in T-Mo's choice of color (more of a gun metal grey flanked by light black on the top and bottom) and the obligatory carrier-branded bloatware. The apps aren't going anywhere, of course, but T-Mobile was quick to point out that the hardware and software aren't final. We believe it -- evidenced by the lack of any carrier branding on the phone -- but we can't be sure exactly how different it'll look by the time it comes hot off the press. Either way, we still captured a few images to keep your level of intrigue up to the max.