Hasta La Gadget!

iTablet has found itself on the pages of Engadget before, primarily for vaporware slates and cheap attempts to garner attention with its iMoniker. Now its parent company AHX Global is back with an actual product — a thumb-friendly Bluetooth keyboard. That’s right, no capacitive touch screens here, just backlit QWERTY keys and a “patented rear-facing touchpad” (oh, you mean like the Backflip). You can order the inventively named Thumb Keyboard now at the source link for £79.99 (about $132) but, having only seen renders and considering the company’s track record, we’re hedging our bets on whether this thing is actually shipping yet. Full PR is after the break.

Continue reading Bluetooth Thumb Keyboard apes Backflip, may or may not be shipping now

Bluetooth Thumb Keyboard apes Backflip, may or may not be shipping now originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 May 2011 16:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Soon enough you’ll be able to transfer photos from your digital camera straight to your Xoom, provided you’re willing to shell out $20 for the Xoom Camera Connection Kit. We already knew that the tablet was capable of reading USB drives with a little trickery, but Motorola’s upcoming update will officially unlock that functionality (albeit in a limited form). The glorified micro-USB cable isn’t available online yet, but we’ve heard if you call Verizon and ask nicely for item number MOTMZ600ADPKIT they’re more than happy to send one your way. If asking for a random series of letters and numbers seems a little strange, just pretend you’re a secret agent and it’s some kind of cipher — preferably one that doesn’t remind you to drink your Ovaltine.

Xoom Camera Connection Kit makes us lust for Photoshop on Honeycomb originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Apr 2011 11:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What happens when you decide to sell a device that brazenly features an apple logo you’re not allowed to use? Well, not much actually, the robocops don’t come busting through your door or anything, but evidently the Cupertino lawyers are on top of their game (they’ve certainly had enough practice lately) and have shot out a kindly note to the M.I.C. Store guys to ask them to halt sales of the iHub. That’s exactly what’s happened with the $10 USB hub, and before we get in a huff about Apple acting all totalitarian again, let’s remember that a trademark is only as good as the enforcement you attach to it, so this pretty much had to happen. Strangely, M.I.C. still promises to complete delivery for those who’ve already placed an order, and this latest development should make it feel that much more special if and when it does arrive.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

iHub gets shut down by the iPolice originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Apr 2011 08:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The world’s love affair with tablets may have been bubbling along under the surface for a while, but it really got started in earnest during CES 2010. Back in those wild days, you could see 15-inch jumbo screens, TV tuners, and even hybrid pseudo-laptops stalking the tablet area of your favorite trade show. ASUS was there too, of course, though it still believed in the upstart smartbook category — a modernized take on the netbook that relied on an ARM CPU and a mobile OS to extract more battery life out of a lighter, thinner device — and was busy showing off a seductively slim prototype of just such a machine. Alas, nothing came of that Neo concept, most likely because it was relying on Android 1.6 and a Tegra 2 system-on-chip that was then still months away from hitting the market.

Today, however, is a different day. The 1GHz dual-core Tegra 2 is finally being produced in volume, Google has evolved Android to version 3.0, specifically targeting higher-resolution displays, and ASUS has abandoned the idea that a keyboard is crucial to mobile computing. No, wait, that last bit’s still there. The Eee Pad Transformer is a 10.1-inch Honeycomb tablet very much in keeping with the current trend, but it also has an optional keyboard dock that turns it into a, you guessed it, instant smartbook. So, does that mean you’ll get two devices in one or has ASUS been overly ambitious and compromised too much? We got to grips with the £380 16GB WiFi-only model and its keyboard buddy (£430 when bought as a pair) in an effort to find out. Answers await just past the break.

Continue reading ASUS Eee Pad Transformer (UK edition) review

ASUS Eee Pad Transformer (UK edition) review originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Apr 2011 14:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Ion iCade, our favorite April Fools’ joke turned actual product, has just passed through the FCC and moved one step closer to retail reality. The arcade cabinet for your iPad had all its Bluetoothy bits laid bare and even brought along its user manual, in case you’re the type who bothers to read those sordid things. There aren’t too many surprises here except, perhaps, the inclusion of an Ikea-esque hex key — some assembly required. With the green light from the feds, though, that means the iCade is right on schedule for its May 31st release. If you want to ensure you nab one of the first batch, you can pre-order it now for $99 from either GameStop or ThinkGeek. And, while you wait for the blissful marriage of Atari’s Greatest Hits and Bluetooth joystick, you can peep the pics in the gallery after the break.

Continue reading iCade hits FCC, gets torn asunder

iCade hits FCC, gets torn asunder originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Apr 2011 22:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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