Hasta La Gadget!

Often when you hear minimum spec doom and gloom, it proves to be wildly inaccurate, or only part of the picture. This time, however, it’s worth a closer look. PC Magazine‘s Sascha Segan is confidently citing the director of Enspert, a Korean consumer electronics company (which recently announced its own Android tablet), who claims that Honeycomb will require a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor. He’s also confident that Motorola’s tablet will be the first device to market with the new version of Android, and his other minimum specs line up with the idea of Honeycomb being initially a tablet-only release. Apparently 1280 x 720 is going to be the minimum resolution, with screen sizes “as small as” 7-inches, though it sounds like 10-inches could be the default. These specs seem to clearly leave out Galaxy Tab, along with anything else on the market or soon to arrive that doesn’t have a Tegra 2 chip. It also makes sense that the Galaxy Tab 2 is going to be using Tegra 2 — Samsung clearly won’t be deterred.

And how about phones for Honeycomb? The picture is decidedly murkier, other than the fact that we could see a temporary splintering of the platform while tablets show off their new Honeycomb digs, with enough battery to back up that dual-core proc. Of course, dual-core handsets are right around the corner, so we doubt handsets will be without Honeycomb for long — Google should know which side its bread is buttered on. There’s also the possibility that this Enspert source is only talking tablets, and phones (which are required to push way fewer pixels, and have much stricter battery requirements) will get a pass on the dual-core requirement altogether. No matter what, you should settle in for a year of entertainment as Google continues to iterate its wildly successful operating system, and manufacturers strain to keep up.

[Thanks, Jason]

Honeycomb to require dual-core processor, initially tablet-only? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 Jan 2011 20:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, that was fast. Not long after we saw Dell’s 7-inch tablet earn its WiFi certification, we happened upon a treatment for its in-production commercial — exhausted Android mascot and all. Of course the video’ll touting the gaming, social, and internet capabilities, but it’s also got Blio reader, Stage UI (same skin as the 5-inch Streak), the new campaign slogan (“You can tell [it’s] Dell”), and yes, even a name: Streak 7, as said by the voice over. Not the most original, but when you got a brand, might as well keep it going. Looks like we’ve got something else to keep an eye out for when CES rolls around in a few weeks. Peep the treatment for yourself below.

Exclusive: the Dell Streak 7 will be televised, here’s the ad treatment originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Dec 2010 15:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s like a Cruz Tablet, but with a T301 thrown into the mix. All jesting aside, we’d wager that the vast majority of simpletons wouldn’t spot the differences between the existing Cruz Tablet and the T301 at a glance, and honestly, we wish Velocity Micro would’ve done a little work to remedy that. For whatever reason, the 7-inch slate is shipping with Android 2.0, and while the 800 x 600 capacitive touchpanel sounds lovely indeed, it’s hard to get riled up for such a stale operating system. For those unconcerned with the luxuries present in Eclair and Froyo, there’s an 802.11n WiFi radio, built-in Kindle app and a user replaceable Li-Ion battery that could last up to ten hours on a good day… or so the company says. Without question, the highlight here is the price — at just $249.99, it’s definitely creeping down into LCD e-reader territory, with a lot of bells and whistles to boot. She’s shipping today if you’re so inclined.

Velocity Micro’s 7-inch Cruz T301 Android 2.0 tablet surfaces on Amazon, shipping now for $250 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 18 Dec 2010 15:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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By now you’re probably familiar with this slate, seeing as how Google’s Andy Rubin recently unveiled it on stage, but we’re willing to bet you’ve never seen the top edge — you know, the part now bearing a front-facing webcam and a conspicuous Verizon tattoo. Yes, this is Motorola’s 10-inch Honeycomb tablet, and it’s playing for Team Red just as foretold, though the tipster who obtained these images isn’t sure whether it will bear the name Stingray, Everest or even potentially “Trygon.” Spec-wise, we’re told our previous tipster was right on the money, and it’ll have a 1GHz Tegra 2 T20, a gyroscope and 32GB of storage underneath that 1280 x 800 multitouch screen, as well as 512MB of RAM and a slot for an up-to-32GB microSD card. It also sure looks like there’s a micro-USB jack, a mini-HDMI port and a 3.5mm headphone socket, as well as some contacts for a likely dock, though as always Mr. Blurrycam’s handiwork is such that we can’t quite tell. No matter — see for yourself in the gallery below.

Update: What’s that button on the back of the unit, right next to the speaker and dual LED flash? Why, it’s the power toggle, of course.

[Thanks, wnrussell]

Motorola’s 10-inch Honeycomb tablet meets Mr. Blurrycam, shows off Verizon logo originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Dec 2010 19:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wondering just how well a tablet would do if picked up and marketed by all four major carriers in America? We’re still waiting for the breakdown within our borders, but there’s hardly a doubt that the unprecedented carrier arrangement has helped Samsung shatter its estimates on Galaxy Tab sales. Purportedly, the outfit has just passed the one million mark in global sales of the 7-inch Android tablet, but Information Week is quick to point out that Sammy’s not clear on whether that’s units in the sales channel or units in the hands of consumers. Either way, one million’s nothing to scoff at, particularly when you consider that only 600,000 had been sold as of November 22nd. The firm’s now hoping to move 1.5 million of ’em by the year’s end, and while that’s still well short of the estimated seven million iPads that have been sold to date, it’s a sales rate that we’re sure no one at Samsung is kvetching about.

Update: CNET heard from a Samsung representative that the company hasn’t officially announced the sales figure here, but hopefully we’ll get some clarification soon. It’s possible that the PR team simply isn’t ready to dish out the number in official fashion yet. We’ll keep you posted.

Update II: So, it’s just what we expected — the numbers are real, but Samsung wasn’t quite ready to come clean with ’em. According to Kim Titus, Director of Public Relations for Samsung Mobile, the company has “sold one million Galaxy Tabs globally.” Good on ’em!

Samsung sells one million Galaxy Tab units (update: confirmed) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Dec 2010 11:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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