A new breed of smartphones has emerged at the ICES (International Consumer Electronics Show) recently. In this giant gadget manufacturer meet that was portrayed as an amazing event as per the live reports from the event, a race of smartphones made a mark. This was an event where a lot of gadgets were on display, produced by different manufacturers all round the globe. The gadgets that were put on display in the event ranged everything from the head mounted headphones to a variety of amazing phones and computers.

But the same event also carried some bad and frustrating news for the customers of Sprint and AT&T who established a cutting edge for 4G smartphones in the previous year. So, the real problem vests with the fact that this phone will soon be outdated. When it came to tapping into the all new and faster fourth generation networks, Sprint Nextel and AT&T Mobility were the first two companies to have unveiled some of the first league of smartphones.

This new class of smartphones that emerged at the ICES may be an attempt to stand against its potential contemporaries. Over the time, launching 4G network from Sprint is continuously being talked about. And the talks had been doing rounds since the successful launch of the previous one, way back in 2008. This followed the launch of its premier phone, HTC’s Evo 4G in the preceding year. In the meanwhile, it was AT&T that begun adding the short, impressive yet a powerful word “4G” to almost all its smartphones names recently.

But the progress does not take a backseat here! AT&T and Sprint, two of the largest U.S. cellular carriers are actually working hard to get another 4G system on the front. LTE (Long Term Evolution) will be an additional thing to the two mobile carrier giants. This was made available so that it can compete with the wireless version of Verizon that was launched almost a year back.

If T-Mobile USA is to be believed then it has 4G that stands quite similar to the old 4G service of AT&T but the talks about the plans for the 4G LTE deployment is still pending. It’s unclear how AT&T and Sprint will be able to explain to their customers more on the investments they have made in order to have one of the most talked about technology. This seems unclear also because both AT&T and Sprint have earlier exhausted the usage of 4G in marketing.

Last year, it was at the CES where Verizon hosted two high profile news conferences and also went into operating huge sales promotion booth so that the official launch of its 4G network receives promotion too. On the contrary, things this year appeared different since it was visible how the company managed to keep a low profile at the most talked about event.

AT&T announced eight of the new LTE products at CES that included the smartphones and tablets. Now the first LTE based windows phone better known as Lumia 900 is expected to arrive in March. Before the announcement of the break-up of T-mobile, the first ever 4G LTE phones for AT&T already hit the stores in November, last year.

Sprint at the CES announced three new and amazing gadgets that included Samsung phones, a portable wireless hotspot and Galaxy Nexus that is a product of Samsung & Google partnership. It’s expected that Sprint’s new 4G LTE network will surpass its older versions with the elimination of slower 4G network too.

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This is a guest post by Emily Steves, who is associated with various internet security related companies as their freelance and staff writer. She has been linked with some of the best web media companies and offers various ways for internet solutions. She excels in writing articles related to internet security, internet plans, best broadband, comcast deals, etc. 

So, Lenovo is officially back to this netbooks/tablets game after freezing its high-end U1 Hybrid project for a while in order to do some serious thinking. And as we’ve said, they are back again, appear ready and able to kick some real ass with what’s now being called the IdeaPad U1 Hybrid with LePad tablet. So what has changed, you’re asking? The new skin version is now powered by Google’s Android 2.2 version (called LeOS) instead of the sluggish Linux Skylight platform. Additionally, you’ll be getting even more powerful processors inside, as the U1 base unit is now equipped with a 1.2GHz Intel Core i5-540UM (optional i7) and the LePad tablet boasts a 1.3GHz Snapdragon flavor. Design wise, the netbook station now has a nice and more efficient chiclet keyboard within, along with a dimpled trackpad at the bottom and an overall sense of high and lavish style. Other than that, we’re glad to see substantial improvements in the LePad screen as well. The 10.1-incher is much more responsive than its sluggish and resistive predecessor, and seems to have a 1280 x 800 capacitive multitouch panel on board. Switching between Windows (base unit) to Android (tablet) is as simple as docking and undocking the LePad unit from its U1 platform. The process for itself often seems super fast when it comes to disconnecting between the two devices, while a bit slower the other way around. As for pricing and availability, the LePad is coming at ya (in case you live in China) sometime this quarter with a base price of $520, while the full package, including both the tablet and the U1 unit will run you for a whopping $1300. Expensive! Regretfully, there’s no further info about US availability at the moment, but you can take a look at. Engadget’s Joanna Stern hands-on video or read the full PR after the break.

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With CES 2011 just a couple of weeks away, Motorola is one company that seems to be generating quiet a lot of publicity. Especially when it comes to the company’s future line of tablet machines, which Motorola defines, in a recent video teaser, as the “next chapter in tablet evolution.” Yes, that’s exactly what it’s saying, along with some other interesting stuff such as: good graphics in a portable slate, high durability / flexibility, and high-resolution screen with muli-lingual support. In addition to that, the firm that has brought to the world the BlackBerry phone, is now finding itself head-to-head against some big opponents like Apple or Samsung, and judging by the video, doesn’t appear to be afraid. As a matter of fact, it’s actually mocking them by naming the iPad as a “giant iPhone” or by stating that in practice, the Galaxy Tab runs an Android OS  ”for a phone” rather than a suited platform for a tablet device. OH! And this lovely bee that you see at the end…Well, you just never know, there might be an Honeycomb in there, somewhere.

[YouTube]

The Pine Trail procession seems to go even further, with LG to join the marchers by uncovering two Atom N450 netbooks, X140 and X200, both to run Windows 7 Starter onboard. The X140 is claimed to include basic specs like 1GB of RAM, a 10.1 1024×600 display, a 160GB hard drive, WiFi, Bluetooth, optional 3G modem and a 6 cell battery, while the more advanced version, X200 will presumably house a more updated components such as Intel’s GMA 3150 graphics, 2GB RAM, a 250GB hard drive, Bluetooth, 802.11n Wi-Fi and a 10.1-inch display, this time with 1366 x 768 HD resolution support. Availability and prices are still undetermined, but suppose to surface at the CeBIT show, next week.

Update: We’ve added a CES 2010 X200 hands-on video, courtesy of NetbookNews. Check it out after the break.

[via Electronista]

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CES 2010 is over, but that as a fact doesn’t mean release frequency of Pineview-based netbooks has necessarily slowed down. On the contrary, it  probably grown even more lately. And one that already made its way out, with no a price tag mentioned, is FIC’s Atom N450 SVE00, a 10.1-inch netbook which sports Windows 7 OS, running Intel’s latest 1.66GHz Atom CPU, together with 1GB of RAM, either 500GB HDD or 32GB SSD, WiFi, Bluetooth, HSDPA connectivity, and last but not least, WiMax support. Impressive lineup, isn’t it?

[via Akihabara News]

It’s up to you to decide how to call MSI’s new dual-screen device, whether it’s a netbook, a smartbook, an E-Reader, a tablet, a MID, a courier, you name it, it’s your call – but one thing’s for sure – you want it and so do we! It’s still a prototype and no one can really tell when or where it would get a “Go”. It packs dual 10-inch displays (one on each side), both include capacitive multitouch screens, with pretty fast respond. There’s no official name for this one at the moment, but it runs a Windows 7 Home Premium platform with all the pomp and innards involved, like a virtual keyboard control, an ebook reader, 1.86 GHz Atom Z540 processor, 2GB of RAM, 32GB SSD storage and finally, two USB ports. You will hear about it a lot more, but until then, hit the break and watch the show. 

[via pocket-lint]

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Care for one more tablet device? the kind that packs a 7-inch touchscreen and runs an Android 2.0 platform inside? in that case Compal would like to have a word with you. The reason, if you haven’t heard, is the company’s new Tegra-powered tablet, that recently introduced at the CES show in Vegas (by Nvidia) and looked like it has no problems playing any 1080p files, “stutter-free”. At this early stage, it would be hard to figure how much will it cost or when will it start shipping, but till then, bare in mind it packs a WiFi connectivity, along SIM card slot and microSD expansion, tucked with a non-friendly resistive touchscreen and an HDMI port to pump vids out.  More on that, later.

[via Gizmodo]

It’s really hard to figure out what exactly are you holding in your hand these days, whether it’s a media player or maybe a phone, smartphone, “superphone”, etc. And Viliv wasn’t making it easy on us either, in that matter. Therefor we were a bit in the dark when first read about the company’s P3 PMP device. Now we know, it’s a multimedia player, back then we weren’t sure, but that’s why you have the CES show to straight things up, isn’t it?  And although we still can’t tell when this thing goes upon sale and how much will it cost, we do know it sports a 3.7-inch 800 x 480 AMOLED display, paired with a strong 800MHz Cortex A8 processor and storage up to 32GB. The 1.7mm thin device also offers a microSD slot expansion at the bottom, next to a 720p TV-output, and optional T-DMB and DAB tuners within. The model that was spotted in Viliv’s booth included an Android platform but it would run a Windows CE dual-boot OS as well. Until then, stay tuned. Hands-on video right after the break.

[via engadget]

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Lenovo has really given a thought lately to what bring us geeks out and make us extremely excited whenever approaching new gadgets. And clearly, the company has spent a lot of time and budgets when it first came up with the idea of creating a product that combines a laptop and a tablet under one single hood. Well, the product is now officially out and youm can call it IdeaPad U1 Hybrid. It looks both innovative and stylish at the same time, and packs a 11.6-inch laptop with a detachable multitouch display that turns the screen into a nice portable tablet, running Lenovo’s proprietary Skylight Linux platform and powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset, paired with a 16GB SSD and that nice looking multitouch slate. The entire pack, including the tablet and the laptop together, weighs only 3.8 pound and boasts a CULV Intel Core 2 Duo processor , lining up with a chicklet-style keyboard, a 128GB SSD, a big integrated touchpad and Windows 7 Premium preloaded onboard. Price wise, it would cost you $999 from the moments it gets released, somewhere in June. Vids and PR right after the break.

[via engadget]

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Nothing much to share at this point, but Dell has revealed a new slate/tablet device at its keynote speech at CES in Vegas. Designed like a business smartphone, and some would say it is one considering the SIM slot it boasts, the new Reddish device  includes an Android platform preloaded inside, and a 5-inch touchscreen on top. There’s also an integrated 5MP camera at the back and three clickable buttons on the right – Home, Back and (maybe) apps. Furthermore, up the hill, it houses three additional buttons which looks like ON/OFF, camera and volume support. We’ve also spotted a built-in mic and Bluetooth, but that’s all we have for now.

Update1: engadget guys were lucky to sit around the table with Dell’s representative who was kind enough to give a quick tour and show them Dell’s new mysterious slate in a snap. From first impression we’re guessing it’s an Android 1.6 platform that runs inside, but quiet positive there’s a nice numpad add-on included in the keyboard and a tiny face camera right on front. We’re not sure whether it’d be called Mini 5 or codename Streak, but color us impressed from the way it performed. Vid and thumbs, after the break.

Update2: Turns out it’s a 5-inch mid, boasting 800 x 480 capacitive touchscreen,along integrated WiFi and 3G WWAN connectivity. It runs Android 2.0 (Eclair) instead of that 1.6 flavor and seems to endure a dual-LED flash 5mp camera behind and a 1,300mAh battery within. We’ve added another video after the break, courtesy of Slashgear and some Vietnamese chaps.

Update3: The Tinhte team has taken Dell’s Android-based Mini 5 slate/mid to a teardown session, and guess what they’ve found under the hood – a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, two microSD slots, integrated SIM card with 3G radio and a 1,530mAh battery, stronger than expected. Dissecting video after the break.

Update4: TechCrunch guys have managed to catch up with Michael Dell himself somewhere outside Davos conference halls, and look what he got, a “Mini 5″ slate, in his words, which suppose to go live “in “a couple of months” with an Android based platform, 3G connectivity, 5MP camera and other good stuff. Dell refused to disclose any details about price or chipset.Checkout the third video after the break.

Update5: Dell says its latest Mini 5 will not run an Android 1.6 platform, but “something newer”, which we can’t confirm yet. In any case, it’s going to be refreshing and upgradable.

Update6: Apparently, the Mini 5 has a docking station which suppose to include HDMI output and a USB port. Check it out in T3 Greek Edition’s video after the break.

Update7: Looks like there’s plenty of stuff ahead. According to Neeraj Choubey, Dell’s tablet division GM, the Mini 5 is part of “a family of tablets” that will “scale up to a variety of sizes.” Some, are claimed to include “inexpensive data plans” in the bundle, some just Android powered.

Update8: Apart from the 5-inch 800 x 480 WVGA touchscreen, 5 megapixel camera, and the 30-pin docking connector, it seems that Dell will offer the Mini 5 (or Streak, depends who you ask) in wide range of premium colors. Hit the break to see your options.

Update9: Michael Dell says his 5-inch Streak “…will be available starting next month, first with our partner 02 Telefonica in Europe, then later this summer with our pretty good partner here in the United States, AT&T.” You hear that. Next month!

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Lenovo definitely shows a lot of creativity at this year’s CES show in Vegas. And just in case you were thinking the Chinese would likely settle with their latest good-looking Skylight, think twice, because the way it looks, there’s a lot more down in their sleeves. Hence the first one in this session, is the IdeaPad S10-3 which Lenovo completely revamped and stuffed inside a beautiful 10-inch screen, paired with an Atom N470 CPU, nice chicklet-style keys, a 3-cell battery (optional 6-cell) and premium chassis design that weighs only 2.4 pounds and attractively priced at $399, or 20 bucks less at Amazon’s online store. The second, and more interesting between these two, is the IdeaPad S10-3t tablet netbook which packs a stunning 10-inch swivel screen that boasts a Natural Touch interface plus a highly responsive accelerometer. It would cost you a bit higher, $499 to be accurate, but you will also receive Windows 7 Home Premium and 6-cell Lithium-ion battery, both bundled in the pack. The engadget guys had their hands on it so get a glimpse, after the break.

Update1: And looks like Lenovo’s Ideapad S10-3t tablet netbook is now available to take your online orders, configured with either Atom N450/N470 processors, 1/2GB of RAM, Windows 7 Premium edition and 160/250GB storage capacities at your choice. Prices stand at $549 and $649, respectively.

Update2: The guys at at Netbook News were fortunate to get themselves a piece of this 10-inch netbook tablet, and luckily filmed their unboxing experience to share with geeks across the world. Hit the break to see it live.

[via engadget; wired]

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Ladies and gentlemen, this is it! HP’s long awaited tablet officially announced. It actually came up during Steve Ballmer’s CES keynote event and immediately became “hot”, but this way or another, it’s way too early and we’re still missing a lot. And even though this is just a prototype slate and we are few months away from seeing it out, we’re more than sure this cool multi-touch gadget is something ‘ya all would probably want. It runs Windows 7 to handle it and a Kindle reader software, but as we’ve seen from Microsoft’s CEO, you can even play with it Frogger. There’s more of it few scrolls after, including a mysterious video teaser and an image of Ballmer. Stay tuned.

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It’s not a party without Dell, you know it, we know it and the guys at Dell apparently know it, as well. And that is probably the reason why the company just rolled out an Atom N450-based Inspiron Mini 10 lineup, available on Dell’s online page for $299, joining the growing batch of netbooks to include the Pine Trail platform as part of their specs. True, we’ve already seen it last month when Dell proudly announced the Mini 10 new design and features, but today, it gets official. To recall, for that very competitive price -offered, you receive a 10-inch netbook, tucked with a full fledged keyboard, a 9.5 hour battery, built-in GPS, an integrated HDTV receiver, an optional TV tuner and a powerful Broadcom Crystal HD graphics accelerator. Pick a color and ride into the future.

[Dell]

We’ve already seen that Eee PC 1008P, coated with alligator patterns upside down, back in December 2009. At that time, we were told it would be branded as a “Seashell 2″ edition, but now, when it’s officially out, we know for sure it’s a Pine Trail netbook, packing Atom N450 processor inside. Designed by Karim Rashid, the hot pink/coffee brown machine runs a Windows 7 Home Premium under a 10.1-inch hood, which also hides within 1GB of DDR2 RAM, a 250GB hard drive, 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth, Intel’s GMA 3150 graphics, 1.3MP camera, and a cool swappable 3-cell battery, providing up to 6 hours life. Both price and availability are yet to be determined. Meanwhile, you can take a look at the rusty Brown flavor right after the break.

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It’s Samsung’s turn to officially come out and introduce its latest Pine Trail Atom N450 lineup (although we’ve already seen the N220 across the pond) which includes the N210, N220, N150 and NB30 netbooks – all to include Intel’s Atom N450 processor, together with a a 10.1-inch anti-reflective display and a very unique mark-and-scratch resistant casing , to protect your netbook from dirt and smudges. Other than that, what makes this new series so special is the battery life, that somehow manages to surprise with long working life for every single charge. The N210 and 220 versions are claimed to reach 12 hours of “connected mobility”, while the NB30 will get you up to 11 hours and the N150 “only” 8.5 hours. Three out of the four netbooks don’t have an integrated hinge at the far end of the chassis, but the N150 does have one. As the NB30 is the only machine that includes HDD protection sensor and a water-resistive coat (up to 50cc) – just in case, you know. PR announcement after the break.

Update1: We’ve added a quick unboxing video of Samsung’s New NB30 netbook with Atom N450 inside. Check it out after the break.

Update2: Samsung’s 10.1-inch N150 is now offered for $379 (and that same specs) in myriad colors including Flamingo Pink, Bermuda Blue and Caribbean Yellow. See for yourself half past the break.

[via Newswire]

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For a start, we’d like to express our sincere gratitude and appreciation to the readers who washed themselves in the Pine Trail rain we’ve been pouring over their heads lately. At this point, it’s just hard to ignore the flow of devices that sprout out with Intel’s new platform planted deep in their bowels – and looking at the growing list, it ain’t going to stop. And if you’ve been asking yourself where exactly is MSI in that Atom N450 flood, you’re only few words from getting the dope – as the Chinese corp announces its decent representant, a 10.1-inch Wind U160 netbook, that carries an MSI chop. It suppose to make a debut at the CES, in January, with that same Pine View processor we just mentioned and a good looking lid on top – I mean seriously, where did they take that stunning hinge from, Sony Vaio or what? In any case, the company claims for a 10 hours battery and a $350 starting price, when this thing goes live – so lets hope.

Update1: We’ve added the hands-on video, taken out of the CES show, courtesy of engadget. As you can see, the Wind U160 comes with a Windows 7 Starter edition which handles a 250GB hard drive, 6-cell battery, a chicklet keyboard and 1GB of RAM – all priced for $399. Sony Vaio, watch behind you.

Update2: And looks like MSI’s Wind U160 netbook is up on sale at Newegg and Buy.com for $380, with Atom N450 inside and 14 hours of claimed battery life.

[via engadget]

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“All roads lead to Rome” says the sentence – in our case they lead to Vegas, where the CES show is about to start in few weeks from now. But before we get there, here’s another Pine Trail contender, this time from Japanese corp Fujitsu that officially announces the Atom N450-based MH380 netbook, which was approved by the FCC a month ago and suppose to include a 10.1-inch 1366×768 screen, along 2GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive, 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth, 1.3MP webcam and a 6-cell battery, claimed to provide up to 7.5 hours of work time. Besides that, this beautiful machine, combined of Brown, Ivory White and Black Diamond flavors, boasts an integrated scroll wheel nob which seats on top of the keyboard surface, few inches from that usual trackpad floor. Regretfully, we’re still lack of info how this new motion scrolling dot will actually affect the price, but with a Windows 7 Starter edition already preloaded onboard, it’s surely going to cost a lot.

Update1: Netbooked now updates that Fujitsu’s MH380 will run for $449 and will go live “somewhere next month” (remember that?). In any case, official announcement is half past the break.

Update2: As promised, Fujitsu’s new Pine trail based netbook, also known as MH380 is up and available on the company’s website for your orders, priced, as we’ve already mentioned, at $449.

[via Netbooked]

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Asus, as you may have heard, has planned to introduce this cool Pinky-flavored Seashell 2 netbook (1008P), designed by Karim Rashid, next month at the CES show, but the guys at HardwareZone apparently managed to take some photos of this foursquare textured wonder a lot before its time. From what we know so far, it’s going to include Intel’s latest N450 processor, along a 10-inch display, 1GB of RAM, 160GB HDD and VGA output, stuffed into a mini-USB adapter. Other ports are closed behind small compartment doors and additional battery (if you have one at your disposal) now has a special room to hide, right at the back.  Besides that, we have no other details to share, so be patient until next month and meanwhile, enjoy the Taiwanese new Eee PC style.

[via blogeee]

After a quick appearance at the CES show, Samsung has officially launched the MBP200 micro projector unit in Korea, to be available for ? 400,000.00 (€225). Sized only 109.7×48.8x19mm at 140g, the new ultra portable device features a 2.2-inch 320 X 240 color LCD, along with 190MB of internal memory (expendable up to 16GB with both included microSD/SD card slots), DMB TV tuner and photo viewer. But if projecting your stuff isn’t enough, the MBP200 can also be used as an mp3 player, supporting most common formats, like MP3, WMA, OGG, AAC, and WAV for audio playback, or DivX, Xvid, WMV9 Simple Profile, MPEG-2, and MPEG-4 for video broadcasting. Additionally, you’ll be able to read your Adobe/Office documents through the machine itself, which can easily load up PDF, PPT, DOC, XLS, and TXT files whenever you’d like. Still no word when this thing is about to make a Stateside debut, but in the meantime you can hit the jump to read the full specs.

[via akihabaranews]

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We know, touchscreen players are the hottest thing around the block, and many companies are doing enormous efforts to take a share from Apple’s control over the market. Although it is unproclaimed, Sony has a great interest to confront the iPod Touch head-to head when it shows out its latest NWZ-X1000, a 3-inch OLED touchscreen Walkman player with WiFi capabilities and either 16GB ($299) or 32GB ($299) capacities to choose from – pretty much identical to the iPod Touch – heh. Additionally, the UI unveils sort of a “cover flow” feature to handle your music, while technologically the Japanese has finally integrated the noise cancelation element, in case you’re using a 13.5mm EX headphones. We’re still lack of any further details concerning other specs or availability, but meanwhile you can checkout the video after the break.

Update: Feb 25th – It is now available to order from Amazon UK, as shipment is set to 5 weeks. The 16GB Sony Walkman NWZ-X1051is priced at £214 ($310) while the 32GB version, the Sony Walkman NWZ-X1061,will set you back for £283 ($410).

[Via anythingbutipod]

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