Hasta La Gadget!

In just a few days now, Google’s Chrome and Android chief Sundar Pichai will be joined by a slew of journalists and media types to nosh on some breakfast and show off the newly-revamped Nexus 7. If you haven’t yet had your fill of leaks, none other than @evleaks has come through with one final (seemingly press quality) image of the updated tablet and its gigantic bezels ahead of its July 24 unveiling.

Yeah, the new Asus-made tab doesn’t look too different from the version we’re all so used to, though the dimples that flecked the back of the original are gone, and that front-facing camera has finally found a friend in a 5-megapixel sensor that sits on the device’s rear. One of the bigger gains here is the addition of a much higher resolution 7-inch display — the updated 7′s screen will run at 1920 x 1200, a big leap from the 720p panel we saw the first time around. As usual, we can’t discount what’s ticking under that redesigned hood, and the new Nexus tab is expected to pack a quad-core chipset running at 1.5GHz, 2 or 4GB of RAM, and dual rear-facing speakers.

Perhaps most tantalizing is the possibility that the Nexus 7 redux will offer up our first real glimpse of Android 4.3, unless you count those leaked builds that started trickling out soon after Google began selling its Google Play Edition Ones and S4s. Mobile aficionados poking around those leaked builds have already pointed out improved touch sensitivity and support for low-energy Bluetooth, but I suspect that’s only the tip of the iceberg.

You can expect to see the new Nexus 7 in the Google Play Store, but a few big-box retailers seem to be getting in on the launch action as well — images from Staples’ internal employee news system point to a July 31 release date, but now it looks like ailing electronics retailer Best Buy is gearing up to launch the device on the 30th instead. Whether the tablet will pop up in the Play Store in ahead of then is another question entirely, but the broader retail reach from the get-go is much appreciated considering the issues Google had getting the original Nexus 7 out to its customers. Let’s just hope there are enough to go around.

Been paying attention to Twitter recently? You might have noticed Apple developers complaining about the company’s developer portal, which has been out of service for a number of days. Today, Apple acknowledged the outage, explaining that the site was taken down to combat a security breach. “Sensitive personal information was encrypted and cannot be accessed,” Cupertino told developers in an email. “However, we have not been able to rule out the possibility that some developers’ names, mailing address and/or email addresses may have been accessed.”

Naturally, the company is taking the breach very seriously, and has said that it’ll be rebuilding its entire developer system database and updating servers to prevent future incursions. Apple also assured developers whose developer accounts were up for renewal during the outage would not have their software pulled from the App Store. Furthermore, the company told MacWorld that customer information and app code was not compromised during the attack.

Filed under: Misc, Apple

Comments

Via: MacWorld

Source: Apple

The new Nexus 7’s official unveiling might still be a few days away, but impatient tablet fans can get a peek right now: @evleaks seems to have come across the alleged device’s official press render. The image doesn’t do much to confirm the 7-inch tablet’s internal specifications, but what we can see matches previous leaks, giving us a clearer view of the device’s rumored 5MP rear-facing camera and and a branded backside — now lacking the dimples of the original. A pair of speakers can be seen on the rear’s north and south ends and volume, power and a microphone input line the tablet’s right edge.

On the front we can see an offset front-facing shooter, an underlining notification LED and what is most likely Android 4.3. Although the press shot doesn’t reveal anything about the device’s screen, a Best Buy ad featuring it pegs it as a 1,920 x 1,200 display, pricing the 16GB variant of the upcoming tablet at $229 –$40 less than the reported price of the slate’s 32GB model. Phone Arena says the leaked ad is scheduled to run next week, placing the circular’s promised Tuesday availability for the Nexus 7 on July 30th. We’ll wait for Google to give us the full story on the 24th before jumping the gun, but if you just can’t wait, feel free to ogle Best Buy’s unreleased insert after the break.

Filed under: Tablets, ASUS

Comments

Source: @evleaks, Phone Arena

You might say the week is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workweek, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Weekly Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past seven days — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

Comments

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

Connor “Con” Sumer looked up at the beast that stalked him ever since flat-panel TV sales began to flatten out. “Stereoscopy,” he thought, “the word even sounded like an uncomfortable medical procedure.” This was far from the first time 3D tried to take over the world. Fueled by a steady diet of hype, the fight continued for years this time, but now, at last, it was coming to an end.

Con looked down at his tattered clothes. They weren’t torn in the battle. Rather, he just wasn’t able to afford new ones after all the money he spent on a 3D television. He was viewed as a hero, but the beast itself did so much to self-destruct — high prices, glasses incompatibility, forcing choices between resolution and convenience and limited content.

Filed under: Displays, Home Entertainment

Comments