Hasta La Gadget!

As if hanging out with videogame characters wasn’t cool enough, Mickey Mouse and his Disney pals are connecting with geeks even more with the introduction of this awesome Bandai Chogokin action figure.

As with other super robots, this one is made of smaller robots: Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Goofy and Pluto. It’s possible that there are other elements to the uber-robot that are not included in the gallery below. Either that or Pluto’s doghouse pops out of his butt.

I wonder if it has a huge keyblade. Kotaku says the action figure will sell for ¥13,440 (~$168 USD). It won’t be available until March 2013, but Bandai will show off a prototype of the action figure at Akihabara UDX from October 26-29, 2012.

[via GetNews via Kotaku]

In case you haven’t heard, a lot — and we mean a lot — of Windows devices are going on sale this week. Today it’s ASUS’ turn to give its lineup a formal coming-out party: the company is hosting a press event here in New York City, where it just announced the dockable VivoTab RT will be available on October 26th, starting at $599 for the 32GB model, keyboard included. Alternatively, you can buy the 64GB tablet and docking station for $699. As we previously reported, an LTE version is coming to AT&T. Finally, ASUS says it will also sell the tablet and dock individually, but we haven’t yet learned final pricing for those items. We’ll update this post when we do.

If this is your first introduction to the VivoTab RT, here’s a quick recap: it basically offers everything people loved about ASUS’ Android-based Transformer tablets, except it runs Windows RT instead. Like the Infinity and other recent ASUS tablets, it has a 600-nit Super IPS+ display, offering 178-degree viewing angles and Gorilla Glass protection. Other specs include a quad-core Tegra 3 chip (the new T30, to be exact), 2GB of RAM, NFC and an 8-megapixel rear camera with an auto-focusing f/2.2 lens. Then there’s that keyboard dock, which has a USB 2.0 port and built-in battery rated for seven hours. (The tablet itself is said to last up to nine hours.) Finally, of course, as a Windows RT device it comes loaded with all of the same stock applications you’ll find in full Windows 8 (Mail, IE 10, etc.), along with Office 2013 Home & Student. The main difference: you won’t be able to install legacy Windows programs.

The VivoTab RT arrives the same day as the Surface for Windows RT and indeed, we’ll be eager to compare the two, especially since pricing for the keyboard-tablet bundles is identical. In fact, ASUS sent us one to test, and you can expect a review any day now. Until then, we’ve embedded some press photos below, in case you’re just getting your first look.

Continue reading ASUS VivoTab RT tablet arrives October 26th, starting at $599 for the 32GB model; keyboard dock included (update: eyes-on!)

Filed under: Tablets, ASUS

ASUS VivoTab RT tablet arrives October 26th, starting at $599 for the 32GB model; keyboard dock included (update: eyes-on!) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Oct 2012 15:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The iPad mini was announced today as expected, and it is a super impressive piece of hardware, judging by my brief hands-on experience. The smaller iPad retains much of the charm of its larger sibling, thanks to design decisions that make the most out of a much smaller physical footprint, and you’ll be amazed at how light and easy to hold it is.

The finish of the device is matte on the back, making for a very nice feeling in the hand. The weight is really the most impressive part, though – as with the iPhone 5, but to an even greater degree, the iPad mini feels almost weightless when compared to its predecessors. It’s so thin and light as to feel almost like a prop, rather than a functional device.

But functional it is. The 1024×768 display looks great, and seems larger than its 7.9 inches thanks to the narrower bezels on either side of the screen itself. And while it’s slightly trickier to hold as a result of that thinner strip, the screen seems to have a certain amount of false touch detection built-in, so that you won’t accidentally open apps or page through things while simply holding it.

Using apps on the mini is what you’d expect from an iOS device: fast, smooth and overall a pleasant experience. But the best part is that there won’t be an update curve as there was for the iPhone 5 or iPad with Retina display, since it retains the same resolution of the original iPad, meaning apps designed to work on that device work out of the box. I tried out a number of native and non-native apps, and all worked flawlessly. The camera is also completely usable for walkaround casual shooting, something that will please the growing number of folks who seem to want to use a tablet as their camera.

I’ve long been a believer that smaller form factor tablets have a real place in the market, but I’ve been consistently disappointed by the experience on competing platforms, including BlackBerry and Android. But the iPad mini feels like a revelation: proof that a diminutive tablet works, and works well.

Check out the gallery below for plenty of pics of both the white and black versions of Apple’s newest tablet, which I’m fairly sure will be yet another home run for the electronics maker, judging by my experience.

We finally know all the juicy details about the forever-rumored iPad Mini so now it’s small-tablet decision time. Is that svelte new iPad the tablet for you, or would Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD be a better bet? Here’s the breakdown. More »

If you’re a PC maker launching a new lineup of Windows 8 devices, you’re going to look awfully square if you don’t have at least one touch-enabled all-in-one to show off. Clearly, ASUS got the memo. Here at a press event in New York City, the company announced the ET2300, a 23-inch desktop whose display can be pushed down to lie basically flat — a pretty ubiquitous form factor these days. Starting with that IPS screen, it has 1080p resolution and promises horizontal viewing angles of 178 degrees. Under the hood, it runs your choice of Core i3, i5 or i7 processor, with either integrated Intel graphics or NVIDIA’s GT 630M GPU. (Even then, you can choose between one and two gigs of dedicated video memory.) Other specs include up to 8GB of RAM, up to 2TB in HDD storage, a slot-loading DVD drive, Intel Wireless Display and optional Thunderbolt connectivity. Additionally, like ASUS’ other products (even its tablets and phones), it makes use of SonicMaster’s audio technology. We haven’t heard anything regarding pricing or availability just yet, but we’ll update this post if we do.

Mat Smith contributed to this report.

Filed under: Desktops, ASUS

ASUS outs ET2300 all-in-one desktop with articulating, 23-inch touchscreen, optional Thunderbolt (update: eyes-on!) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Oct 2012 14:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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