Craigly is one amongst several other competing apps, and is going to be under our microscope today. The app comes in two variants – Craigly for iPhone costs $0.99 and Craigly Premium costs $1.99. Craigly Premium is a universal binary supporting iPad and packs an additional Text to Speech feature.

Pick Your Location

At launch, Craigly asks if it can use your current location when searching for classifieds. This option avoids the hassle of setting up your address every time you search. Once you have allowed or disallowed this, the search page is unmasked.

Geo Location

With just five fields, the search page is neat, clutter free and intuitive. The location is by default set to Nearest taking advantage of the geo-location feature. With the location aware feature turned on, you can start searching for deals right away based on price range and category. A fabulous representation of all the listings on Google Maps can be viewed from the search results page.

Adding Locations

If you want to search for classifieds posted beyond your current geographic location, just tap on the Locations field to add more to the list.

New locations can be added in two ways – by locating or searching for cities, and by choosing the nearest locations based on the distance.

Adding Locations & Nearby Locations

The first way is by straight forward addition of a city or town from an exhaustive list. Before jumping into the list of cities, I should mention the fine job done to categorize the locations. Locations are available in seven large categories – three for US locations and four for International locations.

Location Categories & US Cities by Name

Adding a new location begins and ends with tapping on the name of the city. You can select and add any number cities to your search. Locations are arranged alphabetically and I was surprised that there is no search option to find the location you have in mind. You will have to scroll down or tap on the appropriate alphabet to find the city you are looking for.

Adding Multiple Locations

If you just want to view listings posted from places nearby (that you can drive to in a couple of hours) the search by nearby locations is the right option for you. Just drag the slider to the maximum distance you can cover and select the neighbourhoods.

Categories

Whatever the specifics of what you’re looking for on Craigslist, it will be neatly tucked away into a particular categories – one of nine. Once you have selected the category, you are taken to a list of sub-categories.

Categories & Sub Categories

Only one sub category can be selected at a time and, unfortunately, there is no search option here too and you have to embark on a tedious scrolling mission to find the right category.

Performing a Search

Now that we have added our location preferences and product/service category of choice, let’s go ahead and search for what we are looking for.

Once entering the search string, you can fine tune the search based on your budget. You can also opt to search only for those listings with images and search only the title of the classified & not the rest of its content or descriptions.

Executing a Search

After a brief status message showing the number of searches to be completed before the results are displayed, we are shown the search results. The advertisements are listed by freshness i.e. the date of posting – with the most recent post at the top.

Search Results

The listings are displayed in the built in browser, equipped with basic social sharing options. You can save the advertisements you like by adding them to the favorites list.

Replies to the advertisers can be sent directly from the app without the need for a registered account. Sending a reply opens up the mail app with the advertiser’s email id, the link to the ad and options to add your current location via Google Maps and a photo if need be.

Image View & Posting a Reply

If you are in a hurry, images can viewed and comments added from the search results page itself without having to tap and view the entire classified. However, the icons enabling those functionalities are a bit too small for convenient access.

If you like the results of a search with the right mix of keywords, locations, categories etc., you can save it for later use. The same search can be performed later in a single click from the Saved Searches section.

Saved Search

Posting a Classified

Craigly allows us to post our own classified advertisement right from the app. For posting an ad, you will need a Craigslist account which can be created without leaving the app, if you don’t have one.

Adding Accounts & Signing Up

Multiple accounts can added and managed from Craigly.

Creating a Classified

After creating or logging into your account, select the location, product/service category and images. Once you have added them, the posting page shows up in the built in browser for adding details like price range, product descriptions and the like.

Posting a Classified

To jazz up your experience while using Craigly, you can create a playlist, add songs and listen to them from the More Settings section. A prime example of an application adding functionality that is, more or less, completely irrelevant!

Final Thoughts

One thing the Craigly app should be given full points for is its ability to take out the complexity of Craigslist and package it into an app with a simple interface.

Be it locations or categories, Craigly eliminates the “in your face” design of the web app into a bunch of intuitive lists & sections. You can choose to see what you want to see.

Absence of search options in the location and category listings is quite frustrating – particularly annoying when you are scrolling down a mammoth list of all US cities.

In summary, Craigly is one of the best among a bunch of Craigslist based apps available in the App Store. If you’re looking for something to help with this specific task, you could do far worse!

Folks over at HDblog have installed yesterday’s leaked Android 2.2 build for Galaxy S and captured a video of the device running the latest Android OS for our viewing pleasure. As we’ve told you before, it’s a test ROM and more updates will come before its certified for all consumers. However, we did see some new features in this test version and the most interesting is the rotation lock.

Galaxy S will also have a rotation lock in the quick notification bar to stop automatic orientation of screen.

• Samsung Galaxy S (I9000) Review
• Galaxy S (I9000) Android 2.2 build leaked
• Samsung plans to sell 10m Galaxy S, over million already sold
• Video: Samsung Galaxy S Unboxing

Clearly dissatisfied with what it sees in the mirror, Panasonic has today announced its decision to bulk up. A new share issue expected to raise ¥500 billion ($5.7 billion) will be enacted soon as part of raising the cash to complete the buyout of Sanyo Electric and Panasonic Electric Works. Don’t ask us why a company named Panasonic has to buy another company with Panasonic in its name, but them’s the facts. The total outlay is expected to come in at around $9.4 billion and is justified by Panasonic as fundamental to its future strategy of expanding into environmentally friendly tech and developing a three-pronged operating paradigm by 2012. The Osaka-based company is also reporting a ¥43.7b ($498 million) profit for the last quarter — a major upswing from a ¥53b loss in the same period last year — though that’s information the market seems to have ignored. Panasonic shares have plunged down 7.7% in the immediate aftermath of the acquisitions being announced, while Sanyo’s have shot up. Click past the break for the novella-sized press release explaining the details of the deal.

Continue reading Panasonic to spend $9.4b on buying out Sanyo and PEW shares, posts robust quarterly profits

Panasonic to spend $9.4b on buying out Sanyo and PEW shares, posts robust quarterly profits originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 06:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nintendo issues a 3DS release date date originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 05:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Earlier this summer, Sony closed another fiscal year of being in the red, but it’s starting the 2010/11 ledger with its quill dipped firmly in the black inkwell. For the quarter ending June 30, the Japanese megacorp clocked up ¥25.7 billion ($293 million) in pure, unadulterated profit off the back of a ¥67 billion operating income. When you compare that to the performance this time last year, a ¥37 billion loss, you have to agree that the Stringer purse-tightening program seems to have delivered the desired effect. The primary drivers for the current resurgence are pinpointed as the PlayStation 3 and Bravia lines (frankly, we consider the two utterly inseparable), and Sony’s feeling so buoyant about it all that it’s revising its projection for the coming year’s revenues upwards today. The good news is tempered, however, by the threat of a rising Yen, which has already claimed Nintendo’s profits as its first victim.

PS3 and Bravia sales boost quarterly Sony profits above expectations originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 05:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung Russia has confirmed to bring Wave 525 and Wave 533 aka Wave 2 and Wave 2 Pro in September but Germany is scheduled to get it a month early. Samsung has announced new bada OS-equipped phones’ pricing and availability for the German market. The touchscreen-only Wave 525 and touchscreen-plus-QWERTY Wave 533 will arrive in August for a price of 299 euros.

Specifications expectedly, remain the same with 3.2-inch WQVGA TFT LCD, 3MP camera, Bluetooth 2.1, Wi-Fi 802.11n, A-GPS, accelerometer, ActiveSync support, Social Hub, TouchWiz 3.0, Dolfin browser 2.0, Samsung Apps, 3.5mm headphone jack, FM Radio, music player with SoundAlive, 80MB internal memory, microSD card slot (up to 16GB) and 1,200mAh battery.

Another incentive German users will have is a free Samsung Apps voucher worth 10 euros if the user registers before August 18.

Via

• Samsung announces Wave 525 (Wave 2) and Wave 533 (Wave 2 Pro) in Russia
• Samsung debuts Wave 2, Wave 2 Pro, Omnia Pro 4, Omnia Pro 5, I5800 at CommunicAsia 2010
• Samsung to unveil Wave 2, Wave 2 Pro and Omnia Pro 4 at CommunicAsia 2010
• Samsung Galaxy 3 (I5800) announced for Germany

Site ChipChick nailed it when noting the similarity between this 8GB steampunk USB drive and Rosie the Robot of Jetsons yore. The drive’s creator, however, says it was inspired by a “narrow bridge” sign seen on a old country road. Really? Just look at that barrel-shaped cap staring down at you from atop a frilly gear collar; hands on hips in a tempestuous pose that makes us feel like we’ve somehow wronged her. Regardless, for $300 she’ll make a fine addition to your alternate-history abode.

A steampunk USB drive that could clean H. G. Wells’ house originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 05:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Although foreshadowed, it’s hard to believe that the once mighty Ninty, a company with unshakable profits even during last year’s global economic downturn, just recorded a Q1 net loss of ¥25.22 billion ($288 million) compared to a net profit of ¥42.32 billion during the same 3-month period a year earlier. Revenues dropped from ¥253.50 billion to ¥188.65 billion. Lower DS portable gaming machine prices coupled with a strong Yen (86.5 percent of its sales were outside of Japan) helped pull Nintendo into the red. Regardless, Nintendo continues to forecast a full year net profit of ¥200 billion on revenue of ¥1.4 trillion. We’ll see.

Nintendo posts Q1 loss on strong Yen and lower DS prices originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 04:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Sky 3D channel has so far been officially available only in 1,500 or so UK pubs, but now its residential launch for all Sky+HD customers is slated for October 1. The 2010 Ryder Cup will serve as a launch event with three days of live coverage from Celtic Manor as the US and European teams do battle; the first ever in 3D, but the third such event it’s covered in high definition. Golf fans won’t be the only ones catered to, Premier League football will be returning once the season starts and today’s announcement coincided with a SkyArts 3D filming arranged by the English National Ballet. Hollywood’s major studios have already agreed to provide 3D movies including Bolt, Monsters vs. Aliens, Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince and more, while Sky has commissioned its own original 3D flick, Flying Monsters presented by Sir David Attenborough. Not quite ready for the 3D revolution? Feel free to put that on the backburner — at least until the 2012 London Olympics — as the network is also adding content from HBO, a large slate of new comedies, Anytime+ VOD, and a Sky Mobile TV iPad app. With an HD channel count of 43 and plans to reach 50 by year-end, there should be a little something there for everyone to enjoy.

Continue reading Sky 3D channel comes home October 1 with Ryder Cup, EPL, movies and more

Sky 3D channel comes home October 1 with Ryder Cup, EPL, movies and more originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 04:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A wordy headline, to be sure, but a pleasing one nonetheless. We came across HTC’s Chinese web portal listing the Desire as coming with Android 2.2 (with Sense!) and simply had to ping the official source for confirmation. It turns out the info up there is no mistake: all HTC Android handsets shipping to China — which includes the Wildfire and Tianyi — will do so with Froyo preloaded, cutting down on your upgrade angst at least until the Gingerbread man comes a’knocking. HTC has also reiterated that a 2.2 update for its phones already on the market will be delivered “very soon,” so if all goes well, we should be looking at a Froyo-dominated August in the land of High Tech Computers.

[Thanks, Christian]

HTC will ship all Android phones in China with Froyo on board, fuels fire for immediate update closer to home originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 03:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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