Hasta La Gadget!

This wouldn’t be the first time we’ve heard of Android being lovingly grafted onto Nokia’s N900, but this looks to be the most proactive effort yet to get it functional enough for lay N900 users (read: us) to actually install. Eclair’s now up and running on the device, complete with both keyboard and touchscreen support — important fundamentals, we reckon — and it looks like there’s enough chatter on the subject going on over in Maemo’s official forums to keep this ball rolling. Everything’s being managed under the so-called NITDroid project that aims to get Android ready to roll on both the N900 and the N8x0 series of tablets, so feel free to chip in some advice if you like — a functional radio stack would have to be high on the priority list, you can bet. Follow the break for a little video of brilliant hackery in action.

[Thanks, Nosa]

Continue reading Nokia N900 running Android 2.1, still rough around the edges

Nokia N900 running Android 2.1, still rough around the edges originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 May 2010 01:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re not going to lie, it’s a little late in the game for Dell to update its Latitude netbook with Intel’s Pine Trail processors — you know, since the chips were released back in January — but it’s better late than never, we suppose. The 10-inch Latitude 2110, like the previous 2100, is still very much aimed at students, and keeps its chassis in tact with the same rubber cover (available in red, blue and black) as well as that anti-microbial keyboard to protect against insect secretions, misplaced mayonnaise and far-flung mucus particles. The studious laptop will be available with an Atom N450 processor, 1GB of RAM and Ubuntu for $389, and clicking the Windows Starter option should boost the price to $419. That’s a bit more expensive than the average Pine Trail netbook these days, but who wouldn’t pay a bit extra for some added durability for the kids? In case you haven’t seen the little guy before, we’ve got a few beauty shots below (and a press release after the break).

Continue reading Dell Latitude 2110 updated with Pine Trail Atom, already thinking about fall semester

Dell Latitude 2110 updated with Pine Trail Atom, already thinking about fall semester originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 May 2010 01:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Could 2010 be the year AMD poses a real threat to Intel on the laptop front? Well, you know that rumor that it’s gonna be powering 109 new laptops? Not only is that true, but it’s also going to be in 26 more thin and light systems. Frankly, we’re not all that surprised, particularly since it’s been no huge secret that AMD’s had a bunch of new processors floating about — some of which have been finding homes in new HP, Lenovo, Acer, and Dell laptops. Thankfully, the silicon heavyweight is finally revealing the source of all this mojo by sharing details about these mighty, yet energy efficient slabs of silicon. Up first is the Ultrathin platform (codenamed “Nile”), which now includes the new 23w Turion II Neo dual-core, Athlon II Neo dual-core, and Athlon II Neo processors — there’s clock speed and TDP specifics of each in the gallery, if that’s your sort of thing. To be found in 11- to 13- inch laptops like HP’s dm1 and Acer’s Aspire One 721, the CPUs can be coupled with ATI Radeon HD 5400 or Radeon 4200 integrated graphics options, not to mention DDR3 and Direct X 10.1 support. The biggest change? Apparently, the line up has been improved in terms of battery life and thermals, and AMD’s promising over eight hours of usage when fully charged. Given that battery life and heat were our biggest issues with the previous Neo processors, we’re happy to see those problem areas being addressed, but we’ll believe it when we really test some of these bad boys in the near future.

On the mainstream side of things, AMD continues to cram desktop power into its Athlon II dual-core, Athlon Turion II dual-core, Phenom II dual-, triple- and quad-core processors. There’s 12 new chips in all, but the top of the line 2.3GHz quad-core Phenom II Black Edition X920 is definitely the most juicy, and should give some Core i7 rigs a run for their money. Obviously those powerful CPUs can all be paired with ATI’s Radeon HD 4500 or higher discrete graphics (which will support Direct X11) or a lower-end Radeon 4200 integrated graphics option. Because AMD now likes to use simple terms with its Vision branding, it didn’t provide any hard benchmark numbers, but it promises 80 percent smoother gaming performance than comparable competitive mainstream systems, and 30 percent longer battery life than AMD’s previous generation of processors. Hit the break for the full presser, and click on through the gallery for a closer look at the technical details.

Continue reading AMD promises better battery life and thermals with new Neo CPUs, more power with Phenom II platform

AMD promises better battery life and thermals with new Neo CPUs, more power with Phenom II platform originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 May 2010 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dell’s wasting no time appropriating AMD’s new Phenom II X6 chips, pushing out a brand new Studio XPS line to deal with the new top of the line (and a few quad cores as well) from “that other processor company.” While AMD can crow about having more cores at a mid-range price, Dell isn’t trying to pass these off as pure competition for Intel’s brood: the Studio XPS 7100 line is AMD-only, while the Core i-based Studio XPS 8100 desktops are a clear step up model number-wise. The 7100 baseline system, with integrated graphics, goes for $699, but Dell’s doing this with an enthusiast slant, packing in a 460 watt power supply to power up some fancy graphics and giving hardcore users room to grow.

We got to check out a $1,199 system running the AMD Phenom II X6 1050T, which is supposed to be somewhat comparable to an Intel Core i5 760, and paired up with ATI Radeon HD 5870 graphics and 6GB of RAM the machine makes for a pretty tight gaming rig. Unfortunately, AMD’s top-of-line 5970 graphics are being held for the Studio XPS 8100, and AMD’s best new X6 chip, the 1090T (roughly a Core i7 870), won’t be available from Dell until this summer. Still, if you’re looking for a nice balance between price and performance, AMD and Dell might have something to offer with this new understated desktop setup.

Dell sticks AMD’s latest crop inside new Dell Studio XPS 7100 line originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 May 2010 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While Adobe evangelist Ryan Stewart wants us to focus on Flash 10.1 performance — admittedly impressive — running on his Nexus One, we can’t help but be distracted by the Android 2.2 “Froyo” build apparently supporting his device. Can you blame us? It’s not like we’re alone with waning interest in Flash, especially for video playback. Anyway, from the looks of the homescreen in the grab above, we’ll be treated to an updated launcher, Android tutorial, and global search box when the OS is revealed (presumably) at Google I/O starting May 19. And with the giant Froyo statue apparently already delivered to the GooglePlex’s confectionary art show, well, the stage is set for 2.2 to be launched in time for Adobe’s planned June release of Flash 10.1. Get your glimpse into the future of Flash and Android in the video after the break.

Update: How much faster is a Nexus One running Froyo? 450 percent faster, according to the Android Police. They claim to have a device running the as-yet-unreleased firmware that can perform over 37 million floating-point operations per second in the Linpack benchmark… compared to about 7 megaflops without. Oh yeeaaah.

[Thanks, Taylor]

Continue reading Android 2.2 ‘Froyo’ and Flash run like butter on Nexus One (update)

Android 2.2 ‘Froyo’ and Flash run like butter on Nexus One (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 May 2010 23:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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