Hasta La Gadget!

Acer’s done plenty of boasting about its very first 3D laptop, the Aspire 5738DG, but it’s just now gotten completely official, and let a few lucky folks get their hands on it. As you might expect, PC Magazine found the 3D part of the laptop to be something of a gimmick, although not entirely unimpressive. More specifically, while attempts at gaming or viewing standard video converted to 3D were apparently quite a letdown, the included TriDef software did reportedly do a pretty impressive job with photos, and the special 3D layer on top of the screen thankfully doesn’t cause any nasty side effects when you’re not using the 3D glasses. Otherwise, the laptop is expectedly just your basic mid-range Aspire: inexpensive (just $779 even with the 3D glasses), and capable enough for most folks not looking for a screaming gaming rig (2.2GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB of RAM, and ATI Radeon HD 4570 graphics).

Read – SlashGear, “Acer gets official with Aspire 5738DG 3D notebook”
Read – PC Magazine, “Hands On with Acer’s 3D Laptop”

Filed under: Laptops

Acer’s 3D-equipped Aspire 5738DG laptop gets official, examined originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Acer is set to launch one of the first notebooks that will come with a 3-D display and run Microsoft’s latest Windows 7 operating system.

The Aspire 5738DG laptop throws up images with 3-D depth, perception, while maintaining the performance and features of a general notebook, says the company.

“This holiday season, we are seeing 3D content become more prevalent in popular films and games,” said Ray Sawall, senior manager of product marketing for Acer America in a statement. “The Aspire notebook enables consumers to enjoy 3D entertainment on a mobile PC that can also replicate a 3D experience from standard 2D content.”

Consumer electronics makers are trying to create devices that will make 3-D content accessible to users. So far, much of the discussion around 3-D displays has been in TVs. Companies such as Panasonic, Mitsubishi and Sony, are betting on 3-D, with compatible TV sets planned for the market in 2010. Acer is among the few PC manufacturers attempting to bring the 3-D trend to notebooks.

The Acer Aspire notebook comes with a 3-D screen, software and polarized glasses. Users can switch from applications such as spreadsheets, documents and email to 3-D viewing with a mouse click. Customers can also view 3-D multimedia without the need for a special graphics card, says Acer.

The laptop has a 15.6-inch HD display coated with a special 3-D film to help the LCD deliver a 3-D image. Customers can also use the a bundled tool to enable 2-D to 3-D conversion for some games and applications.

The $780 notebook will run Microsoft’s latest Windows 7 operating system and will be available later this week.

All this is fueled by an Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570 graphics chip, 4GB memory, 320GB disk drive, webcam and a multi-gesture touchpad. The notebook weighs 6.16 lbs.

See Also:

• Sneak Peek: 3-D TV Menu Systems Surprisingly Complicated …
• Wired Explains: How 3-D Television Works
• 3-D Printers Make Manufacturing Accessible
• Self-Assembling DNA Makes Super 3-D Nano Machines
• Fujifilm’s 3D Digicam Almost Ready for Stores

Photo: Aspire 5738DG/Acer

After what seemed like a full lifetime of waiting, Acer’s recently-launched neoTouch S200 is finally making its way into some reviewing hands. The fine young cannibals over at Phone Arena have just given it the head to toe treatment, and we have to say, we’re glad they’ve done the dirty work for us. This WinMo 6.5 handset, according to their impressions, seems to be a not fully baked affair — sluggishness and random crashing are both reported, as is a rather serious sounding call quality issue. The battery also seems to be inadequate for a workday, coming in at around five hours. Overall, the phone suffers from software optimization problems more than hardware issues. The one ray of light in all this is of course that 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU, which can multitask and handle several things at once without flinching — but it’s rather hard to get pumped about it in the face of all that sadness. Hit the read link for the full, exhaustive review.

Filed under: Cellphones

Acer neoTouch S200 reviewed, not recommended originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Generic form factor? Check. Default Android skin? Check. Sure, that’s nothing exciting, but the real draw of Acer Liquid’s gonna be its large, 800 x 480 resolution screen (the exact size of which we still don’t know) and its 1GHz Snapdragon chipset. Unfortunately for the guys at Pocket-Lint, they didn’t get to play with the Donut-powered handset long enough to really push those two selling points, but on the bright side they did discover a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and some ISO adjustment options, GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and what appears to be a 3.5mm headphone jack. Perhaps more importantly, they nabbed some pictures of the thing powered on and in action. Jealous? Yes, yes we are.

Update: We finally have the first images (above) showing Acer’s customized Android UI and social networking integration (after the break) courtesy of HDBlog.it. It not quite the full-blown replacement a la HTC Sense, but they’ve clearly brought a new bag of tricks in an attempt to make the vanilla OS experience Acer-unique.

[Thanks, Josh]

Continue reading Acer Liquid slips through human fingers, but not before divulging new specs (updated)

Filed under: Cellphones

Acer Liquid slips through human fingers, but not before divulging new specs (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Oct 2009 02:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We had heard that Acer had some touch-enabled Windows 7 devices in the works, and it looks like the company is now finally starting to deliver on that promise, and then some, with its new Aspire Z5610 all-in-one PC. Boasting a 24-inch HD touchscreen with full multitouch support, this one rounds things out with some decent if unremarkable specs, including a Pentium Dual Core E5300 processor, ATI Mobility Radeon HD4570 graphics, 4GB of RAM, and a 320GB hard drive, among other standard fare. It’s the design of the desktop that’s sure to turn the most heads, however, and while Acer’s claim of it being a “timeless piece” might be a bit of a stretch, there are certainly plenty of touches that are a cut above the rest — we’re especially curious to see how the illuminated strip between the LCD and soundbar works (it’s designed to light up the keyboard in the dark). Best of all, this one packs an MSRP of just $899, and should be available sometime this holiday season.

Filed under: Desktops

Acer debuts stylish, multitouch-enabled Aspire Z5610 all-in-one PC originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 01:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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