Netbook makers like Lenovo, Gigabyte and ASUS have been quietly releasing new systems with Intel's new mobile, dual-core N550 processor, but HP's not keeping its use of the fresh chip in 10-inch netbooks a secret... anymore. Just as we've previously heard, the professional-aimed $399 Mini 5103 will be getting a dual-core 1.8GHz processor option, which HP tells us can improve benchmark performance by up to 20 percent without a significant impact on battery life. It's also been updated with a new "espresso" color and will have HP's Day Starter instant-on OS -- no WebOS buried in there yet.

On the consumer end, the HP Mini 210 has also been refreshed -- actually, more like gutted -- with a new design. The 10.1-inch netbook is now available in a bunch of cleverly named colors, including crimson red and ocean drive, and has been revamped with a new back that integrates the battery into the bottom of the chassis. Don't worry: the battery is still swappable and you can open the bottom cover to replace the RAM and hard drive. It still has that chiclet keyboard we like so much, the rather hit-or-miss ClickPad touchpad and a Broadcom Crystal Accelerator option for 1080p playback. The Mini 210 will start at $330 with a single core Atom CPU and six-cell battery, but will be available with the N550 processor for a bit more (we're guessing around $75). The full release is after the break and some snazzy hands-on pics are below.

Continue reading HP Mini 210 and Mini 5103 officially announced with dual-core Atom power

HP Mini 210 and Mini 5103 officially announced with dual-core Atom power originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We've already seen a Samsung Galaxy Tab in the wild with a not-so-subtle CDMA sticker on it, and now BGR has a leaked screenshot that shows the seven-inch tablet headed to Verizon. That certainly sounds like it could be the Samsung i800 tablet we've seen on Verizon's well-leaked roadmap, and we can also say that we've heard (but not confirmed) that the Tab will have 512MB of RAM, that the interface is quite smooth but still stuttery in areas, and that battery life is about six hours -- but we'd take all that with a grain of salt, since anything can change before release. We're definitely poking around for more, we'll let you know.

Samsung Galaxy Tab headed to Verizon? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Aug 2010 22:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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And you thought a dual-core 1.2GHz chip was quick. If all goes to plan (that's a big "if," by the way), Qualcomm will one-up its Computex standout before the end of this year, with vice president of product management Mark Frankel affirming that his company is on track to ship a 1.5GHz dual-core QSD8672 chip prior to the dawn of 2011. He's quoted as saying that the blazing new Snapdragon could find a home in smartphones, low-cost laptops and tablet PCs, and while we're led to believe that the vast majority of said products won't actually greet consumers until early next year, a few aggressive partners may get wares out "by Christmas." For those unfamiliar, the fancy new 8672 is based on an ARM design and will be crafted using a 45nm process technology, and the individual voltage scaling will enable each core to be clocked independently of the other in order to maximize battery life and performance. Naturally, 1080p video playback will be supported, as will DDR2, DDR3 and HDMI interfaces. Oh, and don't sweat it -- you've still got plenty of time to get on Santa's 'good' list.

Qualcomm to ship 1.5GHz QSD8672 Snapdragon processor in Q4 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Aug 2010 03:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Your EVO 4G, EPIC, DROID 2, and DROID X all have hotspot capabilities when they leave the factory. So why not your car? Audi has announced that they will have a factory installed “Marvell Mobile Hotspot” built-in to the new 2011 Audi A8 that is set to debut later this year. The hotspot will allow you to connect up to eight devices to your car, bringing sweet, sweet eyes-off-the-road internet capabilities to your German luxury sedan. The hotspot works by installing a data capable SIM into the A8’s car-phone or by connecting to a device equipped with the SIM Access Profile. Marvell has said the technology is “optimized for extremely low power consumption on battery-powered consumer electronics, enabling passengers to connect to the vehicle’s network without affecting the battery life of their connected devices.” Pricing for the 2011 model has not yet been announced, but the 2010 A8 has a base MSRP of $78,400. I better start writing some more blog posts!

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Let's be honest -- you saw this one coming, didn't you? Today Amazon is introducing a new reading device for e-book aficionados dubbed simply... the Kindle. The new handheld -- slated to be released on August 27th -- is 21 percent smaller and 15 percent lighter than the previous model, has a 20 percent faster refresh rate on its E Ink (yep, still E Ink) screen, and will now come in two colors (graphite, like its big brother the DX, and the original white). In addition to the color changes, there will be two radio configurations available: a $139 WiFi only version, and a $189 3G version (utilizing AT&T's network, just like the last model). The screen will remain the same 6-inch size as the last two Kindles, though the company claims page turns are faster and contrast is improved. The internal storage on the device has been cranked to 4GB, and the battery life is now rated at a month with no wireless, and 10 days with wireless switched on. The company also announced plans for a UK-localized version at £109 and £149, respectively, as well as a UK eBook store. Along with the big changes, there have been minor tweaks as well -- the keyboard and 5-way controls have been streamlined and altered slightly. The rocker is now more compact and flush with the device, and the side buttons have been modified in length to emphasize the forward paddles, while the back buttons have been downsized. Software wise, there are some interesting new features, the most notable being the inclusion of an "experimental" Webkit-based browser.

We had a chance to play with the device for a short while during a meeting with the company, and we can report that the Kindle is still very much the reading device you know and love (or hate... depending on your preferences). The build quality and materials used did seem slightly more polished than the previous version, and we really liked the new, more subtle rocker. We can also attest to screen refreshes and overall navigation feeling noticeably more responsive and snappy compared with the previous generation. Amazon was showing off a jacket accessory which will be made available at launch that includes a small, pull-out light for late-night reading sessions. We're sure it will please a lot of folks eager to keep their partners undisturbed while they tear through The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. We'll have a full review as soon as we can get our hands on the device, but for now, check out all the details in the video and PR after the break, and feast your eyes on the handful of press shots in the gallery below.

Continue reading New Amazon Kindle announced: $139 WiFi-only version and $189 3G model available August 27th in the US and UK

New Amazon Kindle announced: $139 WiFi-only version and $189 3G model available August 27th in the US and UK originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 19:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Display-centric blog oled-display.net is reporting that Samsung’s mobile display division will double the lifespan of its much sought-after AMOLED displays (from 50 kilowatt hours to over 100 kilowatt hours) while decreasing power consumption (from 62 watts to under 30 watts) by the end of 2011. The blog reports that: “By increasing of substrate size from 4 to the new 5.5 gen line the number of same size panels produced from one substrate increase and it will bring more production efficiency also for larger OLED-Television devices.” Sounds like great news for mobile phone battery life and handset longevity, let’s just hope Samsung can crank these displays out fast enough for the manufacturers who need them.

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That didn't take too long, did it? That pulled EVO 4G update promising a handful of fixes for WiFi, Exchange, and battery life (no Froyo yet, sorry) is back online according to our contacts at Sprint -- and indeed, we're getting prompted on our own unit, so that's that. Go forth, readers; get your update on, now with less brick than ever before.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Update: To be clear, you don't need to apply this update if you already have done so successfully -- the only change that we're aware of here is that attempting to apply the update multiple times won't kill the phone.

Latest EVO 4G update is back online, presumably won't brick your phone this time originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Jun 2010 11:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Even though it was the first carrier to bring Android to Canada, Rogers has always had a bit of a tough time convincing Canadians to ditch their beloved BlackBerrys and iPhones in order to get their Google on. Recently it released the Acer Liquid e, a curious little device that many people know nothing about. We managed to snag one shortly after launch and gave it a spin, so if your curious to know our thoughts on it click on through to  check out our Acer Liquid e hands on!

First and foremost, let’s get one thing out of the way. This isn’t a phone that’s intended to be a flagship or hero device, and that’s immediately evident when you pick it up. Made entirely out of plastic and measuring out at 115mm x 64mm x 12.75mm and weighing 135g, the phones does feel quite cheap in the hands. Not poorly built; just cheap.

On the whole, the device performs very well. This is despite the fact its Snapdragon processor has been underclocked from 1GHz to 768MHz. Acer did this to help preserve battery life, but it appears to have made little difference. It really only took one work day to drain the battery, and even then we only touched the thing a handful of times.

Call quality is above average, with not a whole lot of background noise and minimal hiss whether using the earpiece or speakerphone. The phone has great reception and consistently pulled down data at just over 3Mbps in during our speed tests. Those two things are great, right? Yup. They sure are. Except that it in no time at all the phone gets so hot that you could fry an egg on it.

The Liquid e ruins Android 2.1 aka Eclair with the assistance of a few customizations. Some of them, such as the bookmark and photo album widgets, are useful, but for the most part they’re complete and utter crap. Sorry, but we just don’t see a reason why anyone should have to have a phone with junk like urFooz (look it up) pre-loaded. Thankfully not lost in all of this customization nonsense is the ability to install non-Market applications.

The 3.5″ WVGA display should please most people. Text is very sharp and there is no shortage of vibrancy to images. This isn’t to say it is without its share of issues. During our time with the Liquid e we noticed something that we feel we shouldn’t have: 112 dots which happen to be the sensors responsible for mapping where your fingers are. Granted not everyone will have good enough eyesight to notice the sensors (they’re fairly small), but if you do, it will irritate you to no end. Our device also had a dead pixel straight out of the box.

And then there’s the camera. It has a 5 megapixel sensor with autofocus. In ideal lighting, the camera does a good job with pictures with fairly accurate colors, if not a bit heavy on the red. The autofocus is fairly fast and you won’t need to wait a lot of time between pictures. If you find yourself in a lot of low-light environments, you might as well bring a pencil and sketch book because the photos the Liquid e produces without an abundance of light is quite horriffic. The Liquid e also has video capture capabilities. The resolution of the videos is only VGA, though they’re pretty decent.

Normally we fret over what to say in our conclusion knowing that our word carries a lot of weight. But in this instance, it’s not hard at all. Instead of signing up for a 3-year contract and getting the Acer Liquid e, we strongly recommend that you take that $49.99 and put it into something more exciting like a Government Savings Bond. Yeah.

Taipei's been far too kind to us Westerners, and with Computex drawing to a close here on this side of the world, we can't help but pull ourselves together for a moment and look back at the trade show that was. It's been a fairly wild week in news, in large part thanks to the smorgasbord of tablets that have surfaced for the first time during the 30th running of this great event. Both Intel and Microsoft dropped bombshells on the tech world this week, with ASUS, iiView and even the xpPhone making bigger-than-life impressions. If you missed any of the blow-by-blow action over the past week, we'll work on forgiving you, and while you can relive the memories by visiting the links below, you simply can't move on with your life without living vicariously through us during our trip to the one and only Windows 7-themed '100 Seafood' restaurant. So long, Taiwan -- we'll be back before you know it.

Major news / product releases:

• ARM: 'Eagle' to follow Cortex-A9, will support Google TV
• MSI WindPad 100 is a 10-inch, Intel Atom-powered Windows 7 tablet
• MSI WindPad 110: a 10-inch Tegra 2-powered Android tablet
• ASUS Eee Pad official: Intel CULV processors, Windows 7, and a 10-hour battery life
• ASUS Eee Tablet goes official
• NVIDIA ushers in the '3D PC' with ASUS G51Jx-EE, Eee Top ET2400 and CD5390
• Intel 'Oak Trail' is headed for tablets in early 2011
• Intel boosts netbooks with dual-core Atom, slims 'em down with 'Canoe Lake'
• Qualcomm ships first dual-core Snapdragon chipsets clocking 1.2GHz
• ASUS EPad: like the EeePad, but with less ecstasy

Hands-on / previews:

• ExoPC Slate hands-on
• ASUS Eee Pad EP101TC and EP121 preview
• ASUS Eee Tablet preview
• Exclusive: LG UX10 tablet preview at Computex
• Intel 'Canoe Lake' prototype netbook preview
• MeeGo Moorestown-powered tablet preview
• Microsoft reveals Windows Embedded Compact 7, hosts heaps of tablets
• Pixel Qi introduces tablet-ready screens, we go hands-on (video)
• Intel demos Android 2.1 on Moorestown smartphone (video)
• Microsoft Windows Embedded Compact 7 tablet prototype preview
• Huawei S7 runs 1GHz Snapdragon and Android 2.1 like a champ (video)
• iiView M1Touch is a 10-inch iPhone tablet, seriously (video)
• Innoversal's Pixel Qi-based tablet prototype: $530 for the display of your dreams
• ITG xpPhone functioning at Computex, we go head-on (video)

Everything else:

• Labor practice protest goes down at Computex, Steve Jobs called an 'OEM profit bloodsucker'
• Microsoft: Windows Phone 7 not planned to hit tablets, Courier was always a concept
• Windows 7 tablet roundup from Computex, nay Tabletex
• Engadget dines at Taipei's Windows 7-themed restaurant (video)
• Terror in Taipei: Computex taxi drivers watch live TV, video chat while cruising

After all of that, we're still just skimming the surface. For the full monty, be sure to check out our Engadget Computex 2010 landing page right here.

A huge, huge thanks goes out to Andy Yang for his invaluable translation skills and all-around incredulousness during the show. Another major thank you to the entire Engadget Chinese team for their hospitality and kindness. One final thank you to the nation of Taiwan and city of Taipei -- without you, the world would be far less awesome.

Computex 2010 wrap-up: tablets, a Windows 7 eatery, and a few more tablets originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 06 Jun 2010 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iRiver's just announced two new lines of cheap PMPs for your fanciful, color-loving ears. First up, the T8 Candy Bar boasts a classic USB stick design, and is available in eight outrageous colors. They pack 4GB of storage and a battery life of up to 17 hours -- but not much else. Up next the slightly more interesting S100, which comes in both 4GB and 8GB varieties, with a 2.83-inch, 240 x 320 resolution color display, FM Radio, microSD slot, and 720p video playback. Both the T8 Candy Bar and the S100 are available in Korea only so far, and the T8 runs 69,000 Won (around $58) while the S100 starts at 129,000 Won (around $106) with several different configurations. Shot of the S100 is after the break.

Continue reading iRiver busts out low end T8 Candy Bar and S100 PMPs in Korea

iRiver busts out low end T8 Candy Bar and S100 PMPs in Korea originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Jun 2010 04:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Computex 2010 started off with a bang as ASUS unveiled the two newest products in its Eee product line, the Eee Pad and Eee Tablet. Being two dissimilar devices with different markets in mind, let’s start off with the consumer-friendly Eee Pad which just so happens to come in two flavors. The first and no doubt most appealing will be the EP121. Featuring a 12″ touch screen display, webcam and USB port, the EP121 is powered by a CULV Intel Core 2 Duo processor, runs Windows 7 Home Premium, and said to have a battery that can withstand up to 10 hours of continual use. When it comes to market, EP121 owners will have the option of picking up what is billed as “innovative hybrid keyboard/docking station”. More portable than the EP121 is the EP101TC. Exactly what it brings to the table is unclear for now, but we do know it has a 10″ display, webcam, USB port and comes pre-loaded with Windows Embedded Compact 7. The two Eee Pads are said to range in price from around $399 to $499 and are tentatively due for release in Q1 2011. Moving on we have the Eee Tablet. It’s probably not as fancy of a device as you might have predicted, but it’s definitely a notetaker’s dream thanks to its stylus-dependant 2450 dpi resistive touchscreen display (which obviously makes no sense, but according to ASUS means the screen is really striking and “gives the user the feel of writing on paper”). The Tablet’s 2 megapixel camera is said to be useful for taking pictures of whiteboards and lecture notes, while the OS’s support for tagging allows for quick retrieval of information while super speedy 0.1 second page load times make navigation a dream. Wi-Fi, a USB port, support for microSD cards and a battery life rated at 10 hours round out the rest of the known specs. The Eee Tablet should be available come September in the neighborhood of $199 to $299. You know where to click for the press releases.

Stay Connected and Multitask with the Eee Pad

Engineering excellence meets stunning design in the ASUS Eee Pad, an ultra-slim and light yet high-performance slate device designed to provide users with a real time cloud computing experience. The Eee Pad will be available in two configurations.

The 12″ Eee Pad EP121 is a full-featured slate computer that serves as a multimedia player, e-reader, and compact computing device. Powered by a CULV Intel® Coreâ„¢ 2 Duo processor and the Windows® 7 Home Premium operating system, it effortlessly handles multitasking tasks whether enabling users to check their email and calendars, have video conferences, or process Microsoft Word and Excel documents simultaneously. The ASUS Eee Pad EP121 offers two convenient modes of character input-an embedded virtual keyboard or an innovative hybrid keyboard/docking station design. All of this power is available in a personal computing device that delivers up to 10 hours of usage.

For users seeking additional mobility, ASUS is proud to present the 10” Eee Pad EP101TC that runs Windows Embedded Compact 7, which provides an engaging user experience and delivers instant connectivity to the Windows world. It also provides a familiar full-featured user experience across various connected devices and cloud computing services.

* * *

ASUS Provides Tomorrow’s Technologies Today at Computex 2010

Innovative Eee Pad and Eee Tablet extend ASUS’ leadership in Cloud Computing

Fremont, California (May 31, 2010) – ASUS’ leadership in innovation and design will once again be the focus at Computex 2010 in Taipei, Taiwan. ASUS will proudly showcase a wide range of products across five major categories: cloud computing, gaming, enthusiast-level PC components, multimedia and green computing. As a technological leader in cloud computing, ASUS offers a broad lineup of cloud-connected devices featuring on-the-fly data and multimedia sharing capabilities that consumers crave in today’s market.

The Notepad Goes Digital with the Eee Tablet

Innovation meets cloud computing at Computex 2010 with the ASUS Eee Tablet. With a 2450 dpi touch resolution screen, the Eee Tablet is one of the world’s most accurate and sensitive digital note taking devices, and gives the user the feel of writing on paper. Users can select one of the built-in notepad templates and have the option to store, sort and tag, organize or browse through them. Real time text annotations can also be made on-the-fly. The Eee Tablet makes reading easy, with text file page turns taking just 0.1 seconds-nine times faster than the page turns of normal e-readers. Reading documents or books remains easy on the users’ eyes even after prolonged viewing periods.

The ASUS Eee Tablet features a built-in 2 megapixel camera that captures detailed images, letting the user grab screenshots of lecture slides and write notes on them instantly. It easily syncs up with a PC or notebook via USB or Micro SD to ensure that all notes, content, and calendars are constantly kept up-to-date. With up to 10-hours of battery life, the Eee Tablet has enough power for a variety of tasks. At the end of the day, users not only have an electronic notepad, but a media player and e-reader as well.

There’s not too much to say about this one. Apple fired off a press release a little earlier stating that since the iPad launch on April 3rd, they have sold over 2,000,000 devices. That’s in only 59 days — pretty amazing. The sales figures include both Wi-Fi and 3G models as well as the recent international launch of the “magical” unit. Full press release is after the break!

CUPERTINO, Calif., May 31 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple® today announced that iPad™ sales have topped two million in less than 60 days since its launch on April 3. Apple began shipping iPad in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK this past weekend. iPad will be available in nine more countries in July and additional countries later this year.

“Customers around the world are experiencing the magic of iPad, and seem to be loving it as much as we do,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We appreciate their patience, and are working hard to build enough iPads for everyone.”

iPad allows users to connect with their apps, content and the Internet in a more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before. Users can browse the web, read and send email, enjoy and share photos, watch HD videos, listen to music, play games, read ebooks and much more, all using iPad’s revolutionary Multi-Touchâ„¢ user interface. iPad is 0.5 inches thin and weighs just 1.5 pounds-thinner and lighter than any laptop or netbook-and delivers up to 10 hours of battery life.*

Developers have created over 5,000 exciting new apps for iPad that take advantage of its Multi-Touch user interface, large screen and high-quality graphics. iPad will run almost all of the more than 200,000 apps on the App Store, including apps already purchased for your iPhone® or iPod touch®.

*Battery life depends on device settings, usage and other factors. Actual results vary.

Commodore USA unveiling Eee Keyboard rival? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 May 2010 16:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Netflix is easily one of the best iPad applications available to date. Unfortunately, however, it’s not available for the iPhone. That is until this weekend when a ModMyi reader showed the world it is possible to run the app on a jailbroken iPhone. Getting the app loaded up is surprisingly simple. In fact, all you really need to do is extract and make minor changes to the Netflix .app file, borrow the iPad’s MediaPlayer.framework folder, change a few permissions and you’re pretty much good to go. If you’re planning on trying this out thinking it’ll be all rainbows and kittens, we should warn you that there are a few drawbacks. In particular, battery life is said to suffer horribly and the app takes a while to load and buffer videos, and it is prone to crashing if you race through the catalog too fast. But if you’re feeling adventurous this long weekend, why not give it a try?

Thanks, David!

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We can't say this one is much of a surprise, but it sure is good to get the official details on Intel's latest ultra-low voltage Core i3, i5 and i7 processors. Just as we had heard, the new dual-core CPUs will be landing this June, and though they won't be replacing the current Celeron and Pentium ULVs on the market, they'll certainly provide a more powerful option for the "ultra-thin" category. All the new 32-nanometer Nehalam chips are said to provide 32 percent better performance than previous ULVs, but a 20 percent power reduction than standard-voltage Core 2010 CPUs. And just like those regular Core 2010 processors, these get the same Turbo Boost and Hyper-threading performance advantages. All the processors have TDPs of 17 watts which is what is enabling the 50 percent improvement in thermal performance. That's all the technical details Intel shared this morning, but it shouldn't be long before we up and testing the performance and battery life of these new chips in slim laptops from MSI, Lenovo and Acer. Until then, there's the full press release after the break.

Continue reading Intel officially outs Core i3, i5 and i7 ULV processors for those ultra-thin laptops

Intel officially outs Core i3, i5 and i7 ULV processors for those ultra-thin laptops originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 May 2010 10:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As we expected, Apple has refreshed its solitary plastic MacBook (favored by cheap-ass students), bumping it from 2.26GHz to 2.4GHz. Hard drive capacity is the same as last October's refresh, but the real story is the extra three hours' battery-life. More »

Apple - MacBook - Macintosh - Hardware - MacBook Air

It's hard to differentiate yourself in the netbook world nowadays -- pretty much every manufacturer is trudging along the same Pine Trail, with the same one, maybe two, gigabytes of RAM and 160GB to 320GB in storage. So ASUS, the original gangster of this sector, is aiming to wow consumers with a scintillating 13.5 hours of autonomous use courtesy of its 6-cell 63Wh battery pack. The EeePC 1015P and 1015PE differ only in aesthetics, with both sporting 10.1-inch 1024 x 600 screens and Atom N450 processors. No, that's not going to break any performance records, but if that longevity number proves true, we suspect there'll be plenty of eager buyers out there. Price and availability haven't yet been revealed, but ASUS doesn't usually keep us waiting so look out for these in the very near future.

ASUS makes EeePC 1015P and 1015PE official, endows them with 13.5 hours of battery life originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 16 May 2010 15:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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