Hasta La Gadget!

Lenovo unveils its Android 3.1 ThinkPad and IdeaPad K1 tablets, both of which are priced at $499 and available in August 2011.

Originally posted at Android Atlas

We know, we know — Windows 8 isn’t splashing down on consumer devices for a good long while, but seriously, how’s a boy to get excited about something that’s already old hat? And moreover, something that has never, ever worked out. Every single Windows 7 tablet that we’ve tested has suffered a similar fate: too bulky, too sluggish, not longevous enough and too difficult to to operate sans a keyboard and mouse. That said, Lenovo’s providing a darkhorse option for those uninterested in its duo of new Honeycomb tablets, with the IdeaPad Tablet P1 bringing Windows 7 into a familiar 10.1-inch shell. Within, you’ll find a 1.5GHz Intel processor, a 1280 x 800 capacitive touchpanel, up to 2GB of DDR2 memory, up to 64GB of SSD storage, built-in Bluetooth / 3G / WiFi, a USB 2.0 connector, microSD card slot and a docking port.

You’ll also get an integrated 2 megapixel webcam up front, support for stylus input and an enclosure that’s 14.5mm thick; for perspective, the absolutely delectable Galaxy Tab 10.1 measures just 10.9mm from top to bottom. The company’s giving you the option of snagging this in silver-gray or “Clementine Orange,” the latter of which is obviously the frontrunner in the race to awesome. The sealed two-cell battery is said to be good for six hours of use, compared to the 8.7 hours that the same cell gets while situated in the Android-powered K1. Lenovo’s not serving up pricing details on this one just yet, but you can look forward to not looking forward to its Q4 2011 arrival.

Lenovo intros 10.1-inch IdeaPad Tablet P1 with Windows 7, should’ve waited for Windows 8 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Jul 2011 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You read that correctly — Netflix streaming is about to get really real on impending Honeycomb tablets. One of the nuggets that makes Lenovo’s newly unveiled IdeaPad K1 so special is the internal DRM module that allows it to play nice with a fresh build of the Netflix app. As we saw back at MWC with the LG Revolution, future Android 3.x tablets (with an unspecified hardware inclusion) will not only support native Watch Instantly streaming over mini-HDMI / HDMI, but it’ll also enable something totally new: local storage. The fresh build of the app — which will remain exclusive to Lenovo for “a short while” — will have a heretofore unseen option that’ll let subscribers store flicks locally for offline viewing. We’re told by Lenovo that files can be stored on the internal flash as well as on microSD cards, and while we’ve yet to get a hands-on look at the app, we’ll be doing everything we can to change that.

Just to answer the obvious question: no, your existing Honeycomb tablet won’t be able to support this goodness through a firmware update. You’ll actually need a slate with the requisite hardware within to take advantage, and it’s hard to say at this point who will follow Lenovo down the path. We’re hoping that the added functionality won’t lead to a boost in Netflix’s monthly rate, but given the history of the app, we can’t say we’re too terrified about that possibility. So, how fast will the APK be ripped from the fabric of a K1 and thrown out onto the web? Somewhere between “quickly” and “you’ve got to be kidding me,” we’re surmising.

Netflix to stream natively from HDMI-equipped tablets, enable local storage with hardware DRM module originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Jul 2011 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Roku 2 series of video-streaming boxes are smaller and offer casual gaming with a Wii-like motion controller.

If you’ve ever wondered what companies take your advice (read: complaints) to heart, here’s yet another one that is: Sprint. Recently, HTC received oodles of praise from a minuscule-but-passionate group of folks who appreciate the company’s stance on unlocking its bootloaders, and today we learned that folks at The Now Network made a similarly impressive change after hearing yet another enthusiastic sect… our readers. If you’ll recall, Sprint’s VP of Product Development Fared Adib appeared on the November 2010 episode of The Engadget Show, and it was during that appearance that he heard a rather shrill cry of users begging for a smaller amount of “bloatware,” or at the very least, bloatware that users could customize or outright remove. For those unfamiliar with the term, it generally refers to applications that are preloaded onto devices from the carrier; by and large, these clutter up the application grid, and many power users aren’t exactly enthralled by any carrier-imposed OS changes.

In speaking at length today with Adib during a Sprint campus walkthrough, he confessed that he jetted back from NYC and immediately informed his team that the bloatware needed to go. To quote: “Ben, we’ve got to get rid of these preloaded apps on our devices. A lot of customers don’t want this.” You may have noticed a dearth of those very apps on the EVO 3D, and according to Fared, customer feedback on the newly cleaned slate has been overwhelmingly positive. We inquired on whether this approach would be pushed across the company’s product spectrum, and he seemed eager to admit that it would. In fact, Sprint’s taking quite the different approach internally than some folks may be used to. It’s effectively trying to get out of the way in as many areas as possible, and in turn, litter your future phones with as little content as possible. In fact, he’s pushing to make whatever programs Sprint does preload user-removable, and it’s a mantra we can only hope other carriers latch onto. Nothing against NASCAR, of course, but having the ability to burn rubber in our own way is definitely preferred.

P.S. – This slide was just one of many, and is definitely not a comprehensive view of partners and plans. We were specifically informed to not read into it as a solo slide.

Sprint’s Fared Adib: we made a conscious decision to scale back bloatware on smartphones originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Jul 2011 21:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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