Sneak peek at Archos Gen 9 tablets: 1.6 GHz dual-core A9 processor, 250GB HDD for €400 in June
March 20, 2011 No Comment
Word on the street was Archos planned to give us a couple of new tablets at IFA this year, but it turns out the upscale Gen 9 hardware is coming a couple months prior to the September trade show. The new Honeycomb slates are set for a June 2011 release and pack a 1.6GHz ARM A9 dual-core chip (the prospect of which should get you spec-heads drooling), up to a 250GB HDD / 32GB SSD, and a patent-pending “disruptive 3G modem” — all for €400 (about $566). Archos’ fiendish plan is to steal some of the iPad 2′s thunder with its speedy processor and competitive price, but history tells us it’ll need more than “competitive” to truly yank any marketshare . Too bad the post-PC world can’t be bothered to care, right Steve? Sneak peek at Archos Gen 9 tablets: 1.6 GHz dual-core A9 processor, 250GB HDD for €400 in June originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 20 Mar 2011 09:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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We’ve had an affinity for INQ’s Cloud Touch since we Poked and prodded the little device back in February , and now thanks to Carphone Warehouse we’ve got the all important pricetag to accompany the specs. Starting April 6, you’ll be able to pick up the Facebook-ified device in the UK completely SIM-free for
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Unless you’re blind, or just plain out of the loop, you’ve probably noticed a proliferation of folks rocking spectacles as accessories of late, but for those of us who wear the things out of necessity, there’s no taking ‘em off when our lenses fog up. Lucky for us, a team of Canadian researchers have patented a new permanent anti-fog coating that they claim is the first of its kind. To make sure the stuff wouldn’t wash away, the crew applied four successive layers of molecules to a transparent material (either glass or plastic) before overlaying it with polyvinyl alcohol , allowing water to spread uniformly and avoiding the steamy-windows effect. The result? A super durable, multilayer coating that won’t rub off, regardless of the freakish conditions you and your face encounter. Its creators see endless applications for their invention, including windshields, visors, camera lenses, and, of course, eyewear. Now that that’s out of the way, we suggest they concentrate their efforts on sweat-less nose pads. Permanent anti-fog coating could mean end to steamy specs originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 20 Mar 2011 04:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Microsoft and ASUS show off all the stylish stylus action you can have on an Eee Slate (video)
March 20, 2011 No Comment
It’s the year 2011, but it might as well be 2001. The company that Bill built is still going strong in the pursuit of its founding father’s dream: a pen-based tablet computer . The latest, and perhaps best, exhibitor of this ideal is ASUS’ Eee Slate , a 12.1-inch, Core i5-equipped Windows 7 tablet that comes with a Wacom digitizer and a dedicated silo in its side for accommodating that snow-white stylus. A Bluetooth keyboard also comes in the box, leading Microsoft to describe it as a device that’s simultaneously “very PC” and “not very PC.” To understand what the Redmond brainboxes mean by this apparent case of doublethink, make your way past the break and soak up all the video action. Continue reading Microsoft and ASUS show off all the stylish stylus action you can have on an Eee Slate (video) Microsoft and ASUS show off all the stylish stylus action you can have on an Eee Slate (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 20 Mar 2011 04:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Nanoparticle inks print 3D antennas ‘orders of magnitude’ better than your boring 2D antenna
March 19, 2011 No Comment
If you want better cellphone reception it’s time to go small or go home, with researchers at the University of Illinois coming up with a nanoscale printing technique that allows for the creation of so-called 3D antennas. Of course, unless you’re hunting for signal in Flatland all antennas are to some degree three-dimensional, but these suckers are printed using nanoparticle silver ink onto a curved substrate, as shown up yonder. The resulting components “exhibit performance metrics that are an order of magnitude better than those realized by monopole antenna designs.” In fact these creations are said to approach the Chu-Harrington Limit of theoretical performance in an antenna. Most important? They look pretty darned cool. Shame they’ll likely find themselves tucked away inside of a device’s chassis — whenever they actually go into production. Continue reading Nanoparticle inks print 3D antennas ‘orders of magnitude’ better than your boring 2D antenna Nanoparticle inks print 3D antennas ‘orders of magnitude’ better than your boring 2D antenna originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 20 Mar 2011 01:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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The first phone to ship with Android 2.3 has been kicking around for a solid quarter now, which means it’s just about time to roast it here on How Would You Change. The Nexus S didn’t provide the same system shock as did the Nexus One, but bringing a curved display, Gingerbread and an embedded NFC chip to US airwaves definitely made an impact. ‘Course, we’re still waiting for a version to ship with support for AT&T’s 3G bands , but we’re confident that quite a few T-Mobilers have bit the bullet by this point. You’ve heard our thoughts on the matter, and now it’s your turn — if you were in control of dictating the second-ever Nexus phone, how would you have done things differently? Would you have stuck with HTC rather than heading over to Samsung? Shipped it on a different carrier from day-one? Thrown in a white version just to rub things in? Get creative down in comments below — there’s no telling how your nuggets of wisdom will shape the inevitable Nexus T 2. How would you change Samsung’s Nexus S? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 Mar 2011 22:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Sony’s top-secret prototype labs must be clocking hours like mad, as Sony Insider reports that the company has two more surprises in store — in addition to a PlayStation tablet , dual-screen clamshell and sliding PC , the skunk works has cooked up a Chrome OS notebook, as well as a “VAIO Hybrid PC” that defies any sort of meaningful explanation in just three words. The Chrome OS device is reportedly modeled after Google’s own Cr-48 reference design with roughly the same dimensions and keyboard but an oh-so-slightly smaller 11.6-inch screen, and NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 running the show alongside 1GB of RAM and 16GB of flash storage. Sony’s also shooting for eight hours of battery life, and a weight of just 2.2 pounds. All of that pales in comparison to what Sony’s plotting for this “Hybrid PC,” though. The publication says we’re looking at a thin-and-light Core i7 notebook with an incredible 8 to 16.5 hours of battery life, Intel Thunderbolt and an internal SSD, all of which plugs into a dock of some sort that adds a Blu-ray burner and external graphics (by AMD) for gaming and multimedia. We don’t have any pictures or proof at this point, but it sounds like a whopper of a tale, and just the sort of thing that Intel was talking about making possible with the 10Gbps of bandwidth that Thunderbolt brings. Sony crafting VAIOs with Chrome OS, external GPUs and Thunderbolt tech? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 Mar 2011 19:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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They thought it would be easy , but they were wrong — AndIRC developers reportedly spent the last 72 hours readying the HTC Thunderbolt for custom ROMs. Today, they emerge victorious, but that victory is bittersweet, because it may signify the end of a generally homebrew-friendly era from the folks at HTC. While devices from the Taiwanese manufacturer have traditionally been easy to modify, the hacker community found Verizon’s LTE flagship fully locked down, with a signed kernel, signed recovery image and a signed bootloader. FOF. Of course, if you’re just looking for a way to overclock your Thunderbolt, you probably don’t care about all that. You’ll find all the instructions you need at Android Police . Just be careful out there! [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Continue reading HTC Thunderbolt rooted for real, locked files nearly sour the deal HTC Thunderbolt rooted for real, locked files nearly sour the deal originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 Mar 2011 20:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Motorola Xoom, LG Optimus Pad, Acer Iconia A100, and ASUS Eee Pad get Euro retailer pricing
March 19, 2011 No Comment
The Carphone Warehouse, known under the brand name of Phone House across Europe, has revealed its future pricing for a quartet of Android Honeycomb tablets in the latest version of its device catalog. The 7-inch Acer Iconia A100 scoops the prize for being most affordable with a €349 sticker, while the 10-inch Xoom’s €699 price is confirmed and the 8.9-inch Optimus Pad gets its lowest pricing yet , at a still unaffordable €849. The Eee Pad on display here isn’t explicitly named, but we suspect it to be the 10.1-inch Transformer , packing a dual-core Tegra 2 and running version 3.0 of Android — just like all the others in this group. Oddly enough, these are all detailed in the March version of the document, but unless we’re sorely mistaken, none of these tablets has yet reached the stage of general availability in Europe. Well, at least it lets us know how much each one will cost when they do eventually hit retail. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Motorola Xoom, LG Optimus Pad, Acer Iconia A100, and ASUS Eee Pad get Euro retailer pricing originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Mar 2011 09:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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That we didn’t spot a successor to Mitsubishi’s well-received line of Unisen LCD HDTVs at CES 2011 should have been a signal, but now the company has made it official — it is downsizing TV operations, closing some offices and leaving the LCD TV business entirely. As the only company still selling rear projection sets to consumers, a letter from senior VP Cayce Blanchard (included after the break) indicates the plan is to focus on selling DLP and Laservue TVs in sizes above 73-inches where its flat panel competitors rarely reach. It will also keep selling projectors, display walls, printers and large public display screens — like the Cowboys Stadium set — to other companies. Of course, as sad as everyone is to see the LCDs go, that just means there’s even more time to focus on the 92-inch DLP that should hit shelves later this year. Time well spent, we’d say. Continue reading Mitsubishi drops LCD HDTVs to focus on 73-inch and above sized displays Mitsubishi drops LCD HDTVs to focus on 73-inch and above sized displays originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 Mar 2011 18:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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