Hasta La Gadget!

Unfortunately, we don’t know much about this new Marvell powered tablet, but we couldn’t resist sharing our impressions of the very svelte 10-inch device. We only got a few minutes to play around with the slate at the Netbook Summit, but we can tell you that it has a brushed metal back and there’s an opening on the front for a camera. As for the internals, it’s based on Marvell’s Moby reference design, which uses its Snapdragon-class Armada 610 processor, and will run Android 2.1 Eclair. The rest will be up to whatever Marvell customer is bringing this bad boy to market — the Marvell executive that let us catch a glance at the device wouldn’t turn it on as he feared we may see the mystery customer’s logo. We told you we didn’t know much, but from what we saw today it sure looks promising. Now, if only we felt Android was ready Google would give us a tablet-ready version of Android…

Marvell shows off 10-inch Android tablet at Netbook Summit originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 May 2010 16:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Looking for a cheap Android tablet that’s neither KIRF nor vaporware? You could do worse than the $199 Archos 7 Home Tablet, now shipping from Amazon a full week ahead of its “early June” release window. For three Benjamins less than that other slate, you’ll get a thin, spacious device that serves as an excellent media player, coupled with a sub-par Android 1.5 experience and a resistive touchscreen. If the lack of Android Market isn’t a dealbreaker, you can slap down your bills right after the break, but we’d recommend reading through our full review to see it in action (complete with video) and find out exactly what you’re getting yourself into.

Archos 7 Home Tablet now shipping, days ahead of schedule originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 May 2010 01:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well we just got to lay hands on the above Foxconn-manufactured, Tegra 2-powered Android prototype, and we’ll be honest — it was awfully sweet. There wasn’t much going on beyond some gaming action — we didn’t see it boot into standard Android — though it was running the 3D football title you see above at a pretty healthy clip (check out the video after the break). NVIDIA reps weren’t very keen on sharing info about the device, though we can tell you that it’s apparently got 1GB of RAM inside cuddled up to that 1GHz ARM Cortex 9 CPU, a front-facing camera, and the WSVGA screen measures 8.9-inches (it’s also a much wider aspect ratio than something like the iPad). We’re going to hold any judgment till we see this thing cooking with a full UI, but we’re not knocking it — get this in at the right price, and we’ll likely be first in line.

Update: Correction, the screen size is 8.9-inches, not 9.7.

Continue reading Foxconn’s Tegra 2-powered Android tablet hands-on (video)

Filed under: Handhelds

Foxconn’s Tegra 2-powered Android tablet hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 May 2010 19:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The first serious challenge to the Apple iPad is coming from the most obvious of teams: According to Verizon Chief Exec Lowell McAdam, the carrier is working with Google on “a tablet computer.” This should be fun. More »

Well, here’s something of a surprise. In addition to demonstrating Flash running on phones like the Nexus One and Palm Pre at the now-happening Web 2.0 Expo, Adobe also has a prototype Android tablet of some sort on hand that, according to Zedomax, runs Flash and Air apps “flawlessly.” Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be any details at all on the tablet itself, and judging from the looks of things, it is a prototype in the truest sense of the word (check out the other shot after the break). It does seem to deliver the goods when it comes to Air and Flash, however, with it able to run Wired’s Air-based magazine app and play YouTube videos without so much as a hiccup, although we’d definitely like to see it in a few more taxing situations. See for yourself in a pair of all too brief videos after the break.

Update: looks like that “flawless” Flash performance is all thanks to Tegra 2, as we’ve been informed by NVIDIA just now. Here’s the statement:

“It is indeed Tegra 2. We worked closely with Adobe to show how next-gen Tegra can bring the complete web to tablets at Web 2.0.

You can expect to start seeing Tegra 2 devices appearing this summer, with plenty on the way in the third and fourth quarters of the year.”

Continue reading Adobe shows off prototype Android tablet running Air and Flash ‘flawlessly’ (update: it’s Tegra 2!)

Adobe shows off prototype Android tablet running Air and Flash ‘flawlessly’ (update: it’s Tegra 2!) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 May 2010 20:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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