Socle Technology’s ARM-powered, 1080p tablet platform due later this year

Socle Technology, a system-on-a-chip manufacturer based in Taiwan, has just announced its sPad A11 design and development platform. Consisting of the GlobalFoundries 65nm chipset, the ARM 1176 CPU and FPU core, Mali 3D Graphic Core, and a full HD 1080p Video CODEC application processor, this bad boy supports multitasking, 3D graphics, and sports a camera, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi. This is a device for those of you who believe there aren’t enough Android tablets in the world — or at least for those of you who realize that the Intel Atom and the Apple A4 aren’t the only games in town. Are you an enterprising young businessman or woman hoping to get into the slate game, and in a hurry? We thought so (you do have that “look” about you). The company promises that this thing’ll be available sometime in the second half of this year. For more info, peep the PR after the break.

Continue reading Socle Technology’s ARM-powered, 1080p tablet platform due later this year

Socle Technology’s ARM-powered, 1080p tablet platform due later this year originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Apr 2010 14:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sharp’s 46-inch Quattron LE821E HDTV and its integrated Freeview HD DVR make reviewers gush

Now this is more like it. Instead of chewing on another underwhelming 3D display, the Tech Radar crew have pulled in one of Sharp’s hot new Quattron sets — distinguishable, if you look really really closely, by the addition of yellow to the standard RGB colors in each pixel — and their experience has certainly been something to write about. Describing the LE821E’s color response as “utterly spectacular,” they go on to praise the LCD’s improved brightness thanks to the yellow sub-pixel’s higher transparency, confident upscaling of standard def pictures to Full HD resolution, and “inspired onscreen menus.” Counteracting the good stuff were mildly disappointing black levels and a £2,000 ($3,053) price for the 46-inch model. Sure it’s steep, but with Freeview HD and an 8GB HDD built into the box, we can think of a few ways to justify the expense. As ever, the source link will give you the unabridged verdict, so read on.

[Thanks, David]

Sharp’s 46-inch Quattron LE821E HDTV and its integrated Freeview HD DVR make reviewers gush originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Apr 2010 05:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Vision Research’s Phantom Flex captures 1080p at 2,800fps, our full attention

Inside tech fiends the world over, there is a deep-seated desire to film lightning strikes, bullets penetrating glass and objects dropped into water, if only to see the fantastic, chaotic patterns played back in slow motion. (Peep an example after the break.) Thing is, most cameras fast enough to catch such phenomena do so with a tradeoff — like the Phantom V12, which had a tiny 256 x 8 picture at its impressive 1,000,000fps. But now, Vision Research claims they have a camera that does it all: the Phantom Flex, which captures 1080p images at up to 2,800fps — with 1000 ISO sensitivity — and can shoot higher (2560 x 1600 at 1,560fps), faster (640 x 480 at 13,000fps) or even slower (down to 5fps) for regular filming. Since the high speed modes fill the onboard 16 or 32GB of memory in the blink of an eye, the sexy black number supports hot-swappable SSD modules for storage, and can even be synced in pairs to film blue alien Pocahontas reenactments in stereoscopic 3D. Hit the source link for a mouthwatering spec sheet, and don’t ask how much it costs. You really don’t want to know.

Continue reading Vision Research’s Phantom Flex captures 1080p at 2,800fps, our full attention

Vision Research’s Phantom Flex captures 1080p at 2,800fps, our full attention originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Apr 2010 05:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Onda VX560 looks like a slate, acts like a PMP, outputs 1080p

The kids at Onda have had a sideline in nondescript PMPs for years now, but that doesn’t mean they lack dreams and aspirations, no sir! The VX560 shows ’em taking a cautious step up the evolutionary ladder with a 7-inch touchscreen slate that rocks 1080p video output via HDMI, support for a plethora of video formats (including H.264, AVI, MOV, MPG, and FLV), a 800 x 480 display, an array of ebook formats (including PDF, PDB, and CHM), and text-to-speech — although exactly what language it will be reading in is anybody’s guess. You know what else is “anybody’s guess?” When it will be released, and for what price.

Onda VX560 looks like a slate, acts like a PMP, outputs 1080p originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Apr 2010 10:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung announces 1080p in-bezel CMOS sensor, webcam spying going HD

Next time you hit your local electronics emporium, you might just find the HD moniker attached to an unfamiliar category: bezel-integrated webcams. Samsung’s newly announced S5K6A1 CMOS sensor can perform 720p video recording at 30fps or shoot 1.3 megapixel images, while its senior sibling S5K5B3 elevates those values to 1080p / 30fps and 2.1 megapixels, respectively. Touting an autofocus feature that helps with reading barcodes and business cards as well as improved low-light performance, Samsung tells us these new must-have laptop parts are set for mass production in the second quarter of this year. Samples are available today, so if your name’s Michael Dell or Arimasa Naitoh, why not give Sammy a call?

Samsung announces 1080p in-bezel CMOS sensor, webcam spying going HD originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Apr 2010 07:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sanyo’s DMX-CG100 and DMX-GH1 camcorders do 1080p up in here

Sanyo's DMX-CG100 and DMX-GH1 camcorders do 1080p up in here

Another day, another little camcorder that can fill up memory cards quick with 1080p on tap. Sanyo’s DMX-CG100 and DMX-GH1 can record 30fps progressively at 12Mbps, or 60 at 16Mbps if you don’t mind interlacing, through 5x optical zoom lenses with two separate ranges: 40mm at the widest end and 480mm on the telephoto side. Both offer SDXC support for up to 64GB of storage and the only real difference between them is design, with the CG100 (above) offering a vertical style and the GH1 (after the break) going for the more traditional (and apparently less comfortable) horizontal design. Both start shooting in Japan next week, but Sanyo’s not saying how much you’ll need to pay for admission to this party. Hands-on photos of the CG100 (VPC-CG100 in Europe) from the UK’s The Gadget Show Live below.

Continue reading Sanyo’s DMX-CG100 and DMX-GH1 camcorders do 1080p up in here

Sanyo’s DMX-CG100 and DMX-GH1 camcorders do 1080p up in here originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Apr 2010 20:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mitsubishi’s Unisen LCD HDTVs, now with more speakers, LED, WiFi, apps, cowbell

Just in case you prefer a slimmer profile to your television viewing experience without all that 3D nonsense, Mitsubishi has also refreshed its Unisen LCD HDTVs. All the new models have StreamTV a.k.a. VUDU Apps built in, plus playback from USB devices, and edge LED backlighting. While the LT-55154 drops a few speakers (if you brought your own), the step-up 164 line is sized from 40- to 55-inches including 16 speakers built in, integrated WiFi, Bluetooth streaming and more while the top of the line 265 models add two more speakers to the mix and upgrade to 240 Hz motion, an iPhone remote control app plus a few other configuration tweaks for the high end. Check after the break for prices (between $1,699 & $3,199) and more specs, though exact shipping information is still TBA.

Continue reading Mitsubishi’s Unisen LCD HDTVs, now with more speakers, LED, WiFi, apps, cowbell

Mitsubishi’s Unisen LCD HDTVs, now with more speakers, LED, WiFi, apps, cowbell originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Apr 2010 16:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sharp squeezes DivX HD playback into new Quattron HDTVs

Apparently there was still a HDTV or two without the DivX stamp, but that should be mostly resolved now after a new deal with Sharp. The new AQUOS LE820 LCDs — featuring the apparently astonishing Quattron quad-pixel technology — are able to play 1080p DivX HD files from a connected USB drive. Not quite the embedded content service we saw at CES, but as previous announcements have revealed, DivX has been very effective at squeezing a toe in the door and eventually widening it to include more devices and compatibility. The best part? We don’t have to re-rip all those DVDs prepared for the upcoming Galaxy S smartphone.

Sharp squeezes DivX HD playback into new Quattron HDTVs originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Apr 2010 20:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Canon Rebel T2i / 550D receives plaudit-heavy reviews

We’ve seen plenty of the headline 1080p / 30fps video mode on the Rebel T2i, but what’s been missing till now are the equally comprehensive reviews of this new 18 megapixel shooter‘s other talents. Starting off with image quality — still the bread and butter of any DSLR — Camera Labs informs us that “the EOS 550D / T2i delivered images which were essentially the same as those from the EOS 7D,” describing them as highly detailed and exhibiting no greater noise than can be found on Nikon’s 12 megapixel competitors. An impressive feat, you will agree. Further appreciation is meted out for the newly improved LCD screen on the back, whose 3:2 ratio matches the sensor’s dimensions, but there’s also warning that the 7D retains a significant advantage in terms of ergonomics, weatherproofing, continuous burst mode, and autofocus. Even so, both reviews were happy to pin their “highly recommended” badges on the T2i, and you can discover the more nuanced reasons for doing so at the source links below.

Canon Rebel T2i / 550D receives plaudit-heavy reviews originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Mar 2010 10:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS O!Play AIR reviewed, deemed ‘capable’

When we first saw the ASUS O!Play Air set-top box the latter part of last year, we were interested — when looking for a networked media player, it’s definitely good to have options. Now that the kids at Bit-Tech have got their hands on a review unit, however, are enthusiasm has dampened quite a bit. Sure, it looks good in print: HDMI 1.3, composite video and audio output (for lovers of antiques), eSATA and USB ports, CF, SD+MMC, MS+MS Duo card readers, and 802.11n — none too shabby, eh? Once you got past the “greasy plastic outer surface,” however, things were not so awesome. The interface felt “sluggish” as the reviewer “repeatedly watching the timer… waiting for menus to load,” and the device itself eschews support for Dolby TrueHD and DTS MasterHD in lieu of multichannel HD LPCM audio over HDMI — a tongue twister for sure, but also a deal-breaker for some. On the other hand, the kids did find the UI intuitive, and an automatic media preview especially helpful for wonky filenames. The question remains — is it worth it for $130?

ASUS O!Play AIR reviewed, deemed ‘capable’ originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Mar 2010 14:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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