Hasta La Gadget!

And that, as they say, is a wrap. We’ve departed a shockingly sunny San Francisco, but not without a huge helping of Google news to mull over on the long ride home. In typical Goog fashion, the outfit served up a double-dose of keynotes this year, both of which seemed to delight both developers and media alike. Sure, no new superphones used the show as a launching pad, but plenty of other nuggets were unearthed. From the reveal of Music Beta to the official introduction of the world’s first commercial Chromebooks, the 2011 edition of Google I/O packed plenty of punch. If you missed even a second of our continuous coverage, we’ve got you covered — the best of the best is recapped below. We’ll see you next year, I/O… you bring the tiramisu, we’ll bring the Ice Cream Sandwich.

Keynotes / liveblogs:
Day 1: Music Beta, Android 3.1, Ice Cream Sandwich, Open Accessory, ADK
Day 2: Chrome, Angry Birds, Chrome OS, Chromebooks

Editorials / previews:
Google Music Beta walkthrough: what it is and how it works (video)
Editorial: Engadget on Google Music and Movies for Android
Google Music Beta versus the titans of the streaming music space: a chart
Editorial: Google clarifies Chromebook subscriptions, might have just changed the industry

Hands-ons:
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Limited Edition (white) hands-on from Google I/O!
Samsung Series 5 Chrome OS laptop hands-on at Google I/O
Fossil Meta Watch wrists-on at Google I/O (video)
Hasbro’s experimental Nexus-powered robot toy hands-on at Google I/O (video)
Lighting Science demos Android @ Home bulbs, promises dead-simple home automation (hands-on)
Google’s Arduino-based ADK powers robots, home gardens and giant Labyrinth (video)
LifeFitness exercise bike interfaces with Nexus S, makes fitness marginally enjoyable (video)
iRobot Ava mobile robotics platform hands-on at Google I/O (video)
Groupme’s group messaging app demoed at Google I/O, complete with data / location (video)

Head on past the break for more!

Continue reading Google I/O 2011 recap: Chromebooks, Music Beta, Movies and more

Google I/O 2011 recap: Chromebooks, Music Beta, Movies and more originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 May 2011 12:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

SAN FRANCISCO — Google announced a new generation of Chrome OS–based laptops at the company’s I/O developer conference here Wednesday.

The new device will be called the Chromebook, and its interface will be based entirely on Google’s Chrome browser. In other words, everything you do with a Chromebook will be on and through the web.

Google has formed partnerships with two manufacturers to build the hardware, Acer and Samsung. Each of the companies will produce one Chrome netbook.

Acer’s model will run on Intel’s dual-core Atom processor, with an 11.6-inch HD display. Google claims a 6-hour battery life, with instant-on capability. It weighs just under 3 pounds, and will come in Wi-Fi or 3G models, starting at $350.

Samsung’s model is similar, though a bit bigger. Its larger 12.1-inch display puts Samsung’s Chromebook at 3¼ pounds, so it’s also somewhat heavier. But the makers promise better battery life, at 8.5 hours. It will run on the same Intel Atom dual-core processor, and have the same USB and SD card slots that the Acer model will have. Samsung’s model will start at $430 for Wi-Fi, and $500 for a 3G version.

Google’s initial foray into this market launched last year with the CR-48 web-only laptop. Google said the pilot program had over 1 million participants. Initial feedback was generally positive, except for scathing reviews of the CR-48’s trackpad.

Google vice president of Chrome Sundar Pichai assured the developer audience that the new Chromebooks will come with “fully reworked trackpads.”

And in a hacker-friendly nod to its developers, Pichai said Chromebooks will come with “full jailbreaking mode built in, so you can play around with the kernel all you want.”

The Chromebook will be available to the public through Amazon.com and BestBuy.com beginning June 15 for U.S. customers. It will also be available in a small number of other countries: Britain, France, Spain, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.

All photos courtesy Google.

If that offbeat Acer Aspire One 722 we told you about last month caught your fancy, well, we still don’t know when you’ll be able to buy it or how many pretty pennies it’ll cost. In the meantime, the folks at NewGadgets, at least, got to spend some time with one and gave it the full hands-on treatment, including a video (embedded below for your viewing pleasure) and gallery of close-up shots. So if you like your netbooks blue, dented, and loaded with AMD innards, head on past the break to get your eyeful. Now if only this had a release date to go with it…

Continue reading Acer Aspire One 722 caught in the wild (video)

Acer Aspire One 722 caught in the wild (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 07 May 2011 09:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  NewGadgets  | Email this | Comments

Plowing through bug reports is a reliable way to dig up juicy morsels of info, and thanks to that timeless tactic we’ve got some specs on a pair of unannounced Chrome OS devices. First up is a netbook from Acer codenamed ZGB which, according to a recently filed report, will have a 1366 x 768 panel, presumably in the 10 to 12 inch range. We also know that you can hook up an external display to it via an HDMI port powered by an encoder chip from Chrontel. Since AMD’s Fusion netbook platform supports HDMI natively, we can also safely assume that the ZGB will be running the web-only OS on an Atom processor. That’s where the details end for now but, hey, it’s better than nothing.

The other device, Seaboard, has been floating around the Chrome OS flaw depot for some time, but reports are finally starting to reveal some tantalizing details. We now know that it is powered by a Tegra 2 and sports a touchscreen — the perfect place to test out those finger-friendly tweaks we’ve heard so much about. There are also mentions of a “lid switch” and a physical keyboard, indicating it may be a convertible or something in the vein of the Eee Pad Slider rather than a pure slate. The hybrid form factor would make perfect sense since it will house a pair of USB ports and an HDMI jack, which could make for a rather chunky tablet. Obviously, neither of these devices are confirmed yet (and Seaboard is most likely being used for internal testing only) but at least we’ve got a better idea of what to expect when the browser-based OS comes to consumers later this year.

Chrome OS machines leaked in bug reports: Acer netbook and touch-friendly Seaboard originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Apr 2011 13:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink CrunchGear  |  Macles, Chrome Story  | Email this | Comments

Acer promised a 4.8-inch, 1024 x 480 tabletphone would arrive in April 2011, and April’s nearly through — but don’t cross off the Acer Iconia Smart yet, because that brushed aluminum frame has just materialized at our favorite government institution. Yes, the FCC laid eyes on radiation test reports for the Android 2.3 device, which reveal that the quad-band GSM handset is headed to both Canada and the US. Given that the North American version only has 850, 1900 and 2100MHz 3G frequencies, it sounds like a lock for AT&T. Inside, you’ll find a 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8255 processor, 512MB each of ROM and RAM, an 8 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash, a 2 megapixel front-facing cam, micro-HDMI output capable of 720p, a 1500mAh user-replaceable battery and all the usual 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1 and GPS trimmings you’d expect. Now, Acer, how about a new release date?

Acer Iconia Smart hits the FCC, readies to smack AT&T with 1024 x 480 screen? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Apr 2011 21:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  FCC  | Email this | Comments