Dell’s 10-inch Android and Windows tablets get names, specs, release dates

leaked Dell tablets

Well, well, what have we here? A pair of 10-inch Dell tablets, one running Windows 7 on those fancy new Oak Trail chips from Intel and the other pushing Android 3.0 with a Tegra T25. We already saw these devices leaked in February, but now we have some specs and release dates. The Wintel powered Latitude ST boasts a resolution of 1366 x 768, 2GB of RAM, up to a 128GB SSD, GPS, an accelerometer, both front- and rear-facing cameras, an 8-hour removable battery, and “1080p video output,” which we assume means HDMI-out. The Android-flavored Streak Pro opts for a 1200 x 800 panel, but keeps the pair of cameras (and two mics) for video chats, while adding an unspecified mobile broadband radio and slathering Dell’s Stage UI on top of Honeycomb (whether or not that’s a good thing is purely a matter of taste). Pricing is still up in the air, but the leaked roadmap indicates the Streak Pro will land in June, followed by the Latitude XT3 convertible tablet in July, and the Latitude ST in October.

Dell’s 10-inch Android and Windows tablets get names, specs, release dates originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 23 Apr 2011 18:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC Flyer up for preorder for $499 at Best Buy on April 24th

Europeans have been able to preorder the HTC Flyer for months, and now curious Yanks are about to get their chance, too. The tablet will be available for preorder on April 24th (that’s this Sunday) for $499 with Best Buy as the exclusive seller. Though our friends across the pond have been able to snag 3G versions, the one about to come stateside just has WiFi. The Flyer, as you’ll remember, is the phone maker’s first tablet, and has a 7-inch (1024 x 600) display, aluminum body, 1.5GHz Qualcomm chip, and a version of the company’s Sense UI that was tweaked with slates in mind. Alas, It’ll ship with Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), but HTC is promising an eventual upgrade to 3.0 (Honeycomb) and all of the bigger-screen goodies that come with it.

Continue reading HTC Flyer up for preorder for $499 at Best Buy on April 24th

HTC Flyer up for preorder for $499 at Best Buy on April 24th originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 23 Apr 2011 16:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PSA: T-Mobile G2x and LG Optimus 2X include two-button screencap function (video)

Taking screenshots on Android has always been an ordeal akin to an emergency visit to the dentist — you know you have to do it but you just don’t want to. The convoluted process involves either installing the Android SDK on a computer, enabling USB debugging on the target device, and running ddms, or rooting the specimen and firing up one of the many existing (and potentially shady) screenshot apps. In contrast, taking screenshots on other platforms is often simply a matter of pressing the right key combination in the right order, like holding the sleep / wake button and then clicking the home button in iOS 4. Well it looks like the folks at LG have decided to grace both the T-Mobile G2x and its Optimus 2X sibling with a rather simple yet nifty bit of code that lets you take screenshots by simultaneously pressing both the power / lock and home buttons… Huzzah! Now let’s just hope Google borrows this idea and makes it a standard feature in all future Android versions. Take a look at our demo video after the break.

[Thanks, redman12]

Continue reading PSA: T-Mobile G2x and LG Optimus 2X include two-button screencap function (video)

PSA: T-Mobile G2x and LG Optimus 2X include two-button screencap function (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 23 Apr 2011 15:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Enryu rescue robot gets Fukushima mission

A rescue robot called Enryu is being deployed to the Fukushima nuclear plant. It will be the first Japanese robot to help move rubble.

Oppo’s awesome-sounding Blu-ray player

Oppo’s BDP-95 Blu-ray player also spins SACDs, DVD-Audio discs, WAV, FLAC files, and more.

Originally posted at The Audiophiliac

Norio Ohga, former Sony chairman and multimedia pioneer, dies at 81

There’s more sad news out of Japan this morning, we’re afraid — Sony is reporting that former chairman Norio Ohga passed away in Tokyo yesterday from multiple organ failure. He was 81. You may not personally remember a Sony under his reign — Ohga directly helmed the company from 1982 to 1995 after decades of service in product planning — but Norio Ohga was arguably the man responsible for turning Sony from a high-profile analog electronics manufacturer into a digital multimedia conglomerate. He helmed the deals that formed Sony Music, paved the way for Sony Pictures and established the very same Sony Computer Entertainment that would birth the PlayStation, and it was he who pushed the optical compact disc standard that all but replaced the magnetic cassettes and diskettes that held portable media. Without him, DVDs and Blu-rays might have fallen by the wayside, and that’s another thought that brings tears to our eyes. You’ll find Ohga’s official obituary after the break.

Continue reading Norio Ohga, former Sony chairman and multimedia pioneer, dies at 81

Norio Ohga, former Sony chairman and multimedia pioneer, dies at 81 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 23 Apr 2011 12:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dell XPS 8300 review: Jack-of-all-trades desktop

Review of Dell’s XPS 8300 performance desktops.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 shows up online, looks freakishly thin

ThinkPad aficionados mourning the loss of the X300 series of ultraportable laptops might have something mighty fine to look forward to in the near future. A ThinkPad X1 has shown up at Swiss e-tailer Tell IT systems and other online locations, replete with a 2.5GHz Core i5-2520M CPU, a 160GB SSD, a 13.3-inch Gorilla Glass screen, and as you can see above, a profile thin enough to rival the likes of the Samsung Series 9 and Apple MacBook Air. The X1 is said to be 21.5mm thick, so it doesn’t quite match those crazy cats, but — provided we’re not looking at an extremely elaborate hoax here — it’ll still be the thinnest ThinkPad by far when it launches. One 8GB stick of RAM, an SDXC card reader, and a 1366 x 768 resolution fill out the list of salient specs, while a price of 2,585 CHF ($2,920) sits alongside a promised delivery date of May 20th on Tell IT’s website. You’ll find a couple more images of Lenovo’s purported new bread slicer after the break.

[Thanks, Ivan]

Continue reading Lenovo ThinkPad X1 shows up online, looks freakishly thin

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 shows up online, looks freakishly thin originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 23 Apr 2011 11:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Thinkpads forum, Notebook Review forum  |  sourceTell IT systems, ThinkPad Center, 51nb  | Email this | Comments

PlayStation Network outage caused by ‘external intrusion,’ continues for third day

It started on a quiet Wednesday night, with PlayStation gamers finding their Network unresponsive to their login attempts, and now continues well into its third day. Sony has now finally shed some light on the problems it’s been having with PSN and, to nobody’s surprise, the culprit for its troubles has been identified as “an external intrusion.” The current downtime for PSN is the second of its kind this month, with the Anonymous group of online crusaders claiming responsibility for the first. Sony now intends to keep both PSN and its Qriocity music streaming service offline until it can pinpoint the vulnerability that has been exploited and put a stop to it. Skip past the break for the company’s full statement.

Update: The PlayStation Blog has added an update to its US portal this evening that suggests the service disruption may continue for a good while longer — according to Sony’s Patrick Seybold, the company is “rebuilding our system to further strengthen our network infrastructure,” and working non-stop to do so.

[Thanks, Christian and Joe]

Continue reading PlayStation Network outage caused by ‘external intrusion,’ continues for third day

PlayStation Network outage caused by ‘external intrusion,’ continues for third day originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 23 Apr 2011 10:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Frida factory robot won’t crush your fingers

Switzerland’s ABB has a concept factory robot that’s humanoid and agile, and it won’t crush a stray human hand.