Tag Archives: official

tablets

HTC’s EVO View 4G Tablet Officially Breaks Cover

We must welcome the rain of tablets that falls down on us so that the seed will grow. And the way it looks right now I think it’ll really take off. For instance, take a look at HTC’s latest and greatest 4G Evo View tablet, which has finally turned official with a 7-inch, 1024 x 600 multi-touchscreen display, WiMAX radio,  a 1.5GHz processor, and a microSD card slot. Has any of you ever thought of it this way? probably not. But it’s here, live and kicking’, and will be offered housing 32GB of storage and duo cameras on the back (5MP) and up front (1.3MP). At this point, we’re still waiting to hear details of pricing and availability, and it remains to become accessible somewhere, hopefully, this summer via Sprint’s 4G network. And it’s Honeycomb by the way. Hit the jump for the full specs, along with PR blurbs.

 

Continue reading HTC’s EVO View 4G Tablet Officially Breaks Cover →

tablets

Motorola Xoom $599 WiFi Only Version Goes Up For Pre-Order on B&H

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If you’re thinking of looking more into this Motorola Xoom Android Honeycomb tablet, but paying $800 isn’t exactly your kind of thing, then you’ve just come to the right place because New York-based retailer B&H has just listed the much anticipated wifi-only Motorola XOOM version online, and it allows people pre-order theirs today for only $599. And while shipping dates are yet to be determined, the number of units offered for sale is said to be very limited. We’re guessing that a “1st week of April” time frame was just made for the fools, eh?

Update1: It looks like B&H isn’t the only one to sell the Motorola Xoom sans 3G connectivity for the bargain price of $599. As a matter of fact a few other giant retailers including Amazon, Best Buy, Costco, RadioShack, Sam’s Club, Staples, and even Walmart are said to be offering the Honeycomb tablet, starting March 27th of this year, and not a single day before. Full PR after the break.

Update2: And the WiFi-only Motorola Xoom is finally up for preorder from both Best Buy and Future Shop in Canada, and set to ship on April 8th, with the same US price tag ($599.99).

Update3: Word on the street is that the 10.1-inch WiFi-only Xoom tablet should be getting Google’s latest and greatest Android 3.1 update “within the next several weeks.” In that regard, we’re guessing that the upcoming upgrade will not skip the 3G-enabled devices, which are more expensive, to say the least. More details at the official Motorola support forum.

[B&H]

Continue reading Motorola Xoom $599 WiFi Only Version Goes Up For Pre-Order on B&H →

tablets

Apple iPad 2 Officially Announced, Claimed To Be Thinner, Lighter and Faster

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Apple has ended months of speculation by officially unveiling the iPad 2, company’s most anticipated second-gen tablet that will start shipping Stateside on March 11th and March 25th in other countries, with prices as follows: $499 (16GB), $599 (32GB), $699 (64GB), add $130 for 3G. The formal announcement which took place this morning at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, California was super exciting, with Apple CEO Steve Jobs surprisingly taking the stage himself.

The iPad2 is only 8.8mm thick, 33% thinner than the original one (and thinner than iPhone 4), weighs 1.35 pounds, and has that same 9.7-inch LED-backlit IPS display (Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating) that offers a full capacitive touch screen, supported by 1024-by-768-pixel resolution at 132 pixels per inch. Apple promising a “nine times faster on graphics” 1GHz custom built A5 (dual-core) chip (twice faster on cpu), while tablet capacities are claimed to be the same traditional ones, at 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB of flash storage.

The iPad2 comes either in black or White hues, with 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth 2.1 plus EDR technology, as well as a large speaker on its back, microphone, 512MB or RAM, and a 30-pin dock connector, downstairs. The new iPad will also be available in a 3G flavor with speeds up to 7.2Mbps, while battery life is estimated at 10 hours or so. In addition, the industry giant and innovator says “…that 2011 will be the year of iPad 2” with 65,000 apps compared to 100 only on Google’s Honeycomb.

So, what else is new in iPad 2, you ask? Well, there are two built-in cameras inside, one on rear, capable recording a 720p video at 30fps, and a front-facing one, supporting 5x digital zoom. Some cool accessories that Apple is tossing, such as the HDMI video out which will run for $39, and a stunning smart cover case, made of materials like micro-fiber and “magnet” elements – that’s $39 for the plastic version or $69 for the leather.

Software wise, iOS 4.3 being announced (available for download on March 11, free of charge) with new iTunes Home Sharing features, Airplay updates, and Nitro Javscript Safari improvements, delivering much faster surfing results. Other than that, we’re looking at the new ability to “share your 3G connection via wifi” which is best known as Mifi personal hotspot, a lovely revamped Photo Booth edition, supporting nine live video streams at once, Apple’s FaceTime feature for video conferencing purposes , a whole new version of iMovie, that takes advantage of the iPad’s big screen (about $4.99) and the most famous “touch instruments” OS X app, GarageBand  that will join the lineup with 8track recording, 250+ loops, effects, amps and plenty stuff more for a very small price tag ($4.99).

So there you go ladies and gentlemen. Who’s buying the new iPad and who’s not?

Hit the jump for the video introductions along some few more pics and full PR notes.

[Apple]

Continue reading Apple iPad 2 Officially Announced, Claimed To Be Thinner, Lighter and Faster →

tablets

HTC Flyer 7-inch Android 2.4 Tablet With 1.5GHz CPU Debuts

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Today at MWC in Barcelona, HTC officially announced the Flyer, an Android-based tablet with a 7-inch 1024 x 600 pixel resolution capacitive touchscreen display and a 1.5GHz single-core processor on board. Titles aside, the Flyer will reportedly ship in Q2 2011 with an Android 2.4 platform (AKA: Gingerbread), alongside a 1GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage, a 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera and another one, at 5 megapixels, attached to the back. Moreover, the good looking aluminum unibody tablet offers inbuilt Wifi connectivity, paired with a 4000mAh battery pack, Bluetooth 3.0, a microSD card reader, HDMI out, a micro USB hub and DLNA support. No prices available at the moment, but the Full PR is somewhere down the road.

Update1: Also, make sure to stop by and check out the two “first-look” Flyer tablet videos we’ve just added after the break.

Update2: Not sure I like this all “pressure sensitive” thing, It feels a bit dubious. That said, the Flyer does seem to include a stylus pen for taking onscreen notes, or playing back audio recordings from the time a note was written.

Update3: What’s this? Looks like Amazon.de has just listed HTC’s latest and greatest Flyer tablet at €669, which means a little more than 700 US Dollars. Expensive, isn’t it?

Update4: And just in case you were wondering, HTC’s WiFi-only Flyer tablet is set to be released Stateside somewhere “this spring”. And while prices remain vague at the moment, the 7-incher is said to run exclusively via Best Buy’s nationwide retail stores, while others may join the selling later on.

Update5: HTC has just posted a Flyer demo video that seems to demonstrate the level of qualities the tablet has to offer. Check it out after the break (3rd video).

Update6: HTC confirms Flyer tablet will get Honeycomb sometime this year or so. Hopefully. According to the company’s Twitter account it “will be offering a Honeycomb upgrade when it’s made available.” A bit vague, especially when it comes to launching dates, but still good enough to give us all a ray of hope.

Update7: And looks like the HTC Flyer has finally made it into the UK market with pre-order prices starting at a whopping £600 (about $985) at Carphone Warehouse. This amount will grant you a 7-inch tablet device, powered by a 1.5GHz Qualcomm CPU, 32GB of storage, 3G connectivity and Android Gingerbread running on top. Did someone say expensive?

Update8: And if you’re looking for more reasonable prices, US retailer Best Buy is said to begin selling the Flyer on April 24th with a $499 starting price and all the good things we’ve already talked about, running on board. Regretfully, It’ll ship with Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), but we’re told an Honeycomb upgrade is something we should all look for.

Continue reading HTC Flyer 7-inch Android 2.4 Tablet With 1.5GHz CPU Debuts →

tablets

Motorola Xoom Hits Best Buy on February 24th For $800, Says New Ad

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Oh! What’s this? Looks like Best Buy is done trying to hide the one secret (actually two) that Motorola’s been keeping from us for quite a while. And when we say ‘secret’ we’re actually referring to price and availability, the two missing parts in the Motorola Xoom Android Honeycomb tablet, which were recently detailed in Best Buy’s new ad – black on yellow. So, $799 for a 10-inch android 3.0 tablet, that’s pretty expensive, isn’t it? Not to mention there’s a WiFi “lock-down” which binds to a 1 month of 3G mobile broadband data at Verizon ($20 per month for a 1GB package or $80 for the 10GB flavor). That’s one major flaw! and someone from the big M needs to intervene. As a matter of fact, there’s plenty of time to fix that crap – We are now less than two weeks, away from the official roll out, which takes place on Thursday, February 24th. C’mon guys, let’s have a little tablets competition around, shall we?

Update1: Motorola just launched the Xoom portal. Let the game begin!

Update2: Reuters is citing Motorola’s CEO, Sanjay Jha, who has just confirmed a $799 price tag  for the 32GB Honeycomb tablet, also known as the Xoom (WiFi+3G). While a WiFi-only version will run for merely $600, which is roughly equal to 32GB iPad. Is anyone surprised?

Update3: The Motorola Xoom is finally up for pre order at Best Buy, titled as “the world’s first tablet to run Android 3.0” platform on board. And the Feb. 24th release date and integrated front-facing camera for video calling makes this a perfect Valentine’s gift, don’t you think? Well, depends if you’re willing to spend $800 on your partners in exchange for a 3G-enabled 10.1-inch Honeycomb tablet and some LOVE.

Update4: According to Verizon‘s web page, the Motorola Xoom that we’ are all expecting to see out on Feb 24th, won;t have flash support on launch. What? Yes, that’s exactly what the small caption down left says: “Adobe Flash expected Spring 2011.” BUMMER!!!

Update5: Motorola has just confirmed the release of its 10.1-inch Xoom sans Adobe Flash support:

“Motorola XOOM will include full support for Adobe® Flash® Player® for accessing the rich video and animations of the web, to be available after launch.”

[via Engadget]

tablets

Sharp’s Galapagos Media Tablets Officially Introduced

At this point it’s really hard to tell which is more accurate to describe Sharp’s new Galapagos lineup:  an e-reader, a tablet or maybe just an oversized phone (without a 3G connection, of course). One way or another, it’s going to cost us way too much – and to be even more specific, ¥39,800 ($475) and ¥54,800 ($655), for each of the two following versions that the Japanese corp is offering us – a 5.5-inch 1024 x 600 slate and a 10.8-inch 1366 x 800 tablet. And while we cannot be sure exactly what to expect or when we might actually see them out, this year or in the next one, there’s something inside us that tells us the story, which in Sharp’s case is, that we probably won’t see them live on our side of the pond.

Update1: Save the date: Friday, December 10 is when the Galapagos series will be officially released for trendy and most fashionable Japs.

Update2: According to a Mainichi Daily News report, Sharp is planning a big and techy refresh for its upcoming US Galapagos lineup. And when we say “refresh” we mean that the company is said to to include a few things that you probably won’t be able to find inside the Japanese models, such as 3G connectivity, global EPUB content format, and even a proprietary e-book store. Official release date is scheduled for early 2011, but chances are that we’ll find out about it next week at the CES show.

[Sharp]

Media Players

Cowon’s 4.3-inch X7 PMP is Now Out in Korea (Update: Also in Europe)

While some folks strangely cling to the belief that PMPs have gone obsolete, others hold on to the idea there is still a lot of untapped potential with this specific department. Well, mainly strong names like Cowon, that has recently launched a brand new player of its own. And it’s been pre-named for your convenience as Cowon X7, so if you’re planning on getting one, mind you it’d cost 339,000 KRW in local currency or about $304 in US silver coins. The 4.3-inch player which was designed explicitly to consume audio and video content will pack 160GB of storage and is allegedly capable of playing up to 10 hours of video playback or 103(!) hours when switched to audio mode. Besides that it will also include a Bluetooth 2.1 connectivity, and is said to deliver a very wide range of codecs support. Availability wise, the South Korean users will probably be able to get one immediately, but Western fanboys will likely have to wait just a little bit more.

Update: While still unavailable Stateside, the new 4.3-inch Cowon X7 player has apparently begun to show up in some European countries. With a built-in bluetooth connectivity on board but NO WiFi at all (shame), the 480 x 272 screen resolution PMP will run you in France for €299 (120GB) or €329 (160GB). Wanna see more? Check out Le Journal du Geek hands-on cover before you buy your own.

[via Akihabara News]

Mobile, News, tablets

Dell’s 5-Inch Streak Gets Official, Due Out June 4

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Hey boys and girls, guess what? Dell has just gone official with its captivating 5-inch Streak (AKA: Mini 5), which is set for release on June 4th in the UK, and is expected to hit the rest of Europe sometime after, with US debut to take place only later this summer. First and foremost it’s a tablet with everything you could want, including a gorgeous 800 x 480 multitouch display, a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 16GB of integrated memory (expandable up to 32GB more through a microSD slot), a 5 megapixel camera, WiFi, Bluetooth, Android 1.6 for the OS and Dell’s customized UI layer, sitting on top. And despite Dell’s best efforts to keep us thinking it is “the ultimate portable tablet pc” that you will ever need on-the-go, in practice it’s also an HSDPA 7.2Mbps / HSUPA 5.76 Mbps smartphone that can easily dial-in and dial-out your phone calls, in case you’re using either UMTS 900/2100 & UMTS 850/1900/2100 or GSM/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 networks. Video and full PR after the break.

Update1: If  you think that Android 1.6 is too “old” to handle the Streak, then get this: Android 2.2 and Flash 10.1 updates are rumored to be available later this year – huzzah!

Update2: Word at the D8 conference says that Dell will be offering the 5-inch smartphone/tablet for online purchase, UNLOCKED, for $500. Stay tuned for more details to come.

Continue reading Dell’s 5-Inch Streak Gets Official, Due Out June 4 →

Computers, News

ASUS EeePC 1015P and 1015PE Sprout Out Officially, Deliver Up To 13.5 Hours Of Battery Work

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It’s all about battery life and longevity these days, especially when it comes to laptops and portable media devices. And Asus, more than anyone else in this industry, seems to understand it pretty well, otherwise, how can you explain these two 10.1-inch netbooks, EeePC 1015P and 1015PE, that recently announced with Pine Trail CPUs inside along with a massive 6-cell 63Wh battery pack delivering up to 13.5 hours of continuous work – now that’s a lot, isn’t it? Besides that, you get the usual components you’d probably expect to find in any other powerful netbooks available in the pond, including two gigs of RAM, 160GB to 320GB capacities to choose from, Windows 7 for the OS, WiFi, Bluetooth, built-in webcam and finally, Atom N450 processors. On that note, you should know that the difference between the two versions is essentially cosmetic. Price and availability are yet to be determined though.

[via Eee PC News]

Audio, Media Players, Mobile, News, Phones, Video

Meizu M8 Apparently Gets Official In China

The “Never Ending Meizu Story” continues to make splashes around the globe, as we hear that Meizu’s M8 revolutionary/clone smartphone is making a debut in China nowadays, coming up with either 8GB ($348) or 16GB ($421) versions, a 3.4-inch 720 x 480 touchscreen, Windows CE 6.0-powered OS, Built-in 3.2MP Camera and wide range of codecs support, including MP3, WMA, AAC, Ogg, FLAC, APE, AMR, MPEG-4, WMV, Divx, Xvid, H.264, or FLV. Battery wise, you can expect getting up to 21.5 hours of Audio and 7 hours of video, while using the M8 as a multimedia device. Otherwise it’s just another cellular unit, supporting WCDMA (3G), GSM EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 standards that will allow any user to speak all over the world. Mind you, according to Meizu, the 16GB model is currently “out of stock”, so stay tuned for more tales to be told.

[Via DAP Review]

Computers, News

Asus Eee PC S101 High-End Netbook Gets Official

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Eee PC S101 high-end netbook was officially announced, and will be available in brown, champagne and graphite hues, together with a 10.2-inch 16:9 LED backlit display, Intel Atom-based 1.6GHz N270 processor (945GME chipset) and only 2.2cm thick. It will be running either Windows XP or Linux, while storing a 4-in-1 card reader, three USB 2.0 ports, Bluetooth 2.0, WiFi 802.11n and up to 64GB SSD. As for pricing, it’s not going to be cheap – $699 for 16GB SSD, Windows XP version or $699 for 32GB SSD with Linux version or $799 for 64GB SSD version with Linux onboard.

Update1: It looks stunningly thin and impressive. Take a look after the break, or surf your way in here.

Update2: Press shots are available here.

Update3: 22.10.2008 – The Eee PC S101 US release is now scheduled to November 1st, priced at $699.

[via hardwarezone]

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