Touch screen all-in-one
sadly has all the hang-ups
we’ve seen in netbooks.
—Nicole Price Fasig
For the full-length, free-verse ASUS Eee Top 1602 review check out PCMag.com.
ASUS’ Eee PC 1000HE, which managed to garner some pretty high praise amongst reviewers, is now shipping out to eager buyers. For those that missed it, this here netbook sports a 1.66GHz Atom N280 and a high-capacity battery that could last up to 9.5 hours under perfectly ideal conditions. And for under $400, how in the world can you complain with that? If you too have received your tracking number, feel free to gloat about it in comments below. Might want to hold the actual digits close to your chest, though — we hear netbook interceptions are on the rise.
[Thanks, Mitchell]
Filed under: Laptops
ASUS begins shipping ultra-longevous Eee PC 1000HE originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Feb 2009 05:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Despite the fact that LTE looks to be the de facto standard for next-gen mobile data, ASUS has an unwavering love affair with WiMAX. In fact, we’ve already seen the company introduce a WiMAX-equipped laptop, and a WiMAX-enabled Eee PC was demoed way back at CES 2008. That said, the company is just now getting around to producing a new one for the adoring public, but for whatever reason, it’s not even boasting about it. Tucked deep, deep within a release gloating about the Eee PC 1003HA and T91‘s ability to handle Windows 7 Beta is the promise of an Eee PC 1000HG. Said netbook will include both WiMAX and WiFi capabilities — or, more specifically, IEEE 802.16e, WAVE2 and WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n support in the 2.4GHz~2.7GHz and 5.1GHz~5.8GHz bands. Of course, “future” could mean “we’ll release this in late 2019,” but we’re banking on hearing more details sooner rather than later.
Filed under: Laptops
ASUS announces WiMAX-equipped Eee PC 1000HG originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Feb 2009 13:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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We got a bumpy car ride through Barcelona, and handled the newly spruced-up and official Garmin-Asus nuvifone G60 along the way. The phone has come a very long way since we last saw it, with a snappy, smooth interface, and nary a glitch or crash. The touchscreen keyboard — usable in portrait and landscape modes — is no pretender to the iPhone’s throne, but is one of the best we’ve seen on a resistive touch device. We also found the WebKit-based browser to be one of the smoother ones we’ve seen outside the T-Mobile G1 and the iPhone. The phone is pretty slow when reorienting itself or entering certain applications, and, as feared, there seems a general lack of depth to the functionality of the actual “smartphone” features like calendar or contacts, but the location-based services — in the car and out — really do bring a lot to the table.
Update: we added a video after the break, pardon the bumps!
Gallery: Garmin-Asus nuvifone G60 hands-on
Continue reading Garmin-Asus nuvifone G60 hands-on (Update: now with video!)
Filed under: Cellphones, GPS, Handhelds
Garmin-Asus nuvifone G60 hands-on (Update: now with video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 15 Feb 2009 17:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
According to a recent online survey conducted by a market research firm, AT&T is at least considering carrying netbooks in their stores.
Survey materials tease not only a wide variety of netbook models at AT&T, but 30-minute in-store consultation for those who may need a tutorial to get up and running. While AT&T is already in the netbook-subsidy business, the company has relied upon third parties like RadioShack to sell the hardware and service. Now it looks like AT&T is gearing up to geek out on their own accord. [Thanks tipster!]
The original G50V reared its somewhat unsightly head way back in June of last year, but the torture-testing crew over at HotHardware managed to get its paws around the slightly refined G50Vt. The 7.5 pound machine (dubbed a partial boat anchor, for the record) sat through a nice video recording session, and afterwards, it smiled real pretty while it was benchmarked and given a critique. For just $949, it actually fared pretty well under medium-to-serious gaming pressures, and it proved capable enough to warrant a recommendation for anyone scouting a “powerful desktop replacement or semi-portable laptop.” For a closer look, head on past the break for the video and down to the read link for everything else.
Continue reading Video: ASUS G50Vt gaming laptop gets benchmarked, reviewed
Filed under: Laptops
Video: ASUS G50Vt gaming laptop gets benchmarked, reviewed originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Feb 2009 18:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Not a lot to go on here, but PC World is quoting an “ASUS representative” who says that the Eee Phone will be announced later this year. Unlike the Garmin-ASUS offerings, the Eee Phone would be a low-cost consumer jobbie as previously confirmed by ASUS’ chairman, Jonney Shih. As such, we expect it to have a massive bezel, a cheap, over-sized plastic case and some kind of open-source OS that consumers can’t resist. Hey ASUS, you got lucky with the Eee PC, don’t push it.
Filed under: Cellphones
ASUS Eee Phone on track for “later this year” originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Feb 2009 09:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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We’d been secretly holding out hope that Garmin-Asus would pull an Android piece out of its pocket in time for MWC next week, but it’s looking pretty unlikely with the announcement of the M20. The second model in the nuvifone series following the G60, the new piece runs Windows Mobile 6.1 and features a 2.8-inch VGA touchscreen, quadband EDGE / triband HSDPA up to 7.2Mbps, WiFi, Bluetooth, and — naturally — Garmin-provided satellite navigation. You’ll also find support for real-time traffic, weather, movie times, and other tidbits of information you’re probably interested in when you’re navigating, either 4 or 8GB of onboard storage, and a service Garmin is calling Ciao! — basically a friend-finder along the lines of Google’s Latitude. Look for pricing and availability to be announced in the first half of the year. Check out the gallery below, and the full spec sheet after the break.
[Via MarketWatch]
Continue reading Garmin-Asus announces Windows Mobile-based nuvifone M20
Filed under: Cellphones, GPS, Handhelds
Garmin-Asus announces Windows Mobile-based nuvifone M20 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Feb 2009 09:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Even a solid year after its announcement, we still don’t have an exact price or date for the nuvifone G60 — but we do have a little bit better of an idea of what exactly we’re going to be getting. We already knew that it’d feature a 3.5-inch (well, 3.55-inch, to be exact) display and HSDPA, and now we know that it’ll feature the same Ciao! buddy-finding software found in its M20 stablemate. There’ll be a 3 megapixel autofocus cam complete with geotagging, WiFi, preloaded maps for either North American or Eastern and Western Europe depending on your region, and dummy-resistant tools like “Where am I?” that should be familiar to current nuvi users. The interface looks promising — and the specs are still reasonably competitive by 2009 standards — but all will be revealed when the G60 gets put through its paces in a few days.
Continue reading Garmin slips out a few more nuvifone G60 details
Filed under: Cellphones, GPS, Handhelds
Garmin slips out a few more nuvifone G60 details originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Feb 2009 02:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Garmin-Asus will launch the M20, a Windows Mobile 6.1 phone, sometime this year. True to the name, this cute touchscreen handset comes with car dock and a full set of GPS maps for deep-country use.
As we mentioned last week, this never-before-seen handset will actually be the second Nuvifone to hit the market, after the G60 that Garmin was showing off as early as January of last year. The M20 is Garmin-Asus’ first venture into Windows Mobile, and is presumed to be followed, eventually, by an Android phone.
In the phone department, the M20 hits the necessary specs: It’s a GSM-based phone with HSDPA data capability, along with both wi-fi and Bluetooth. As a WinMo phone, it’s got the email people like and the browser they don’t (sorry, but it’s true). Garmin-Asus has reskinned the home page a bit to make it more Garmin-like, with some quick access to the navigational options when it’s pivoted sideways, as you can see in the gallery. Only thing is, the touch-sensitive screen is just 2.8″, so it might not always be the best for quick-glance info.
The key to this is that the GPS isn’t going to crap out when there’s no phone service. In addition to the microSD slot, there’s between 4GB and 8GB of onboard memory, and in there is the gig of national map data and POIs that usually comes in a regular Nuvi navigator. This means if you’re out in the woods, unable to make a call, you can still navigate like a standalone portable GPS device. It also comes with a car dock and power cable, so you can really treat it like you would a standard Nuvi. Only it’s better: It’s got a 3-megapixel camera that automatically geotags every shot.
Pricing, availability and carrier details are not out yet, probably because Garmin-Asus is headed to Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress starting Monday to show this sucka off to the carriers. We’re assuming T-Mo and AT&T will both be interested, but as they’ve both got flagship badass phones already—and Garmin-Asus is also trying to push its original G60—it’s hard to guess how this will play out.
Here’s the presser:
Garmin-Asus Introduces nüvifone™ M20
BARCELONA, Spain/February 12, 2009/Business Wire – Garmin-Asus, a co-branded alliance between Garmin® Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN), and ASUSTeK Computer Inc. (TAIEX: 2357), today announced the Garmin-Asus nüvifone M20, an all-in-one phone, mobile web-browser and premium navigation system with a Windows Mobile operating system. The Garmin-Asus nüvifone M20 will be on display at GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, February 16-19, 2009, at the Garmin-Asus exhibit (Hall 7, #7C37).
As the first Garmin-Asus nüvifone powered by Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional with enterprise email, the sleek and colorful nüvifone M20 is designed for on-the-go professionals who want a fashionable and functional smartphone to manage their busy work and personal lives. This powerful device combines a dual-band 3.5G/tri-band GSM phone with Wi-Fi connectivity, desktop-like internet browser, push email, document viewing, multi-media capability, Bluetooth® and Garmin sat nav.
The nüvifone M20’s full QWERTY soft keyboard makes it easy to send and receive SMS, MMS and emails. The nüvifone M20 can also be synched with a computer so that contacts and emails are always available. HSDPA wireless connectivity and enterprise grade Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g) ensure messages are sent and received quickly, including those with attachments.
Recognizing that location is relevant to every aspect of every day, the nüvifone M20 is designed with location based services (LBS) at its core and has the most advanced LBS experience of any Windows Mobile phone. Navigation functions are linked to frequently used applications such as calendar, contacts, email, internet applications and more, simplifying the nüvifone user’s day as they travel from one location to another.
The nüvifone M20 supports download speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps and offers a desktop-style web browsing experience. Users can zoom and pan web pages with their finger as they view the information in either portrait or landscape orientation. In addition, they can easily navigate to an address on a web page with only a few taps of the screen.
The GPS features of the nüvifone M20 usher in a level of sophistication never seen before on a Windows Mobile smartphone. It has the navigation capability of a premium Garmin nüvi® sat nav, and comes with preloaded maps and points of interest (POIs) – hotels, restaurants, stores, fuel stations and more – for North America, Eastern and Western Europe, or other regions. Selecting a destination is straightforward and requires limited input from the user. For example, users can search for a destination by typing in the specific name or address of an establishment, search by category, or navigate to addresses in the nüvifone M20’s contact database or on the web. The device then gives turn-by-turn voice-prompted directions and automatically recalculates if a turn is missed along the way. In addition, the nüvifone includes quick access to online points of interest through internet enabled local search. The nüvifone harnesses the power of the worldwide web and information about local merchants and attractions is continually updated.
The nüvifone M20 takes GPS navigation one step further via Connected Services, a suite of online applications and data from Garmin-Asus that adds location intelligence to navigation, phone and browser functions. The expandable list of applications includes content like real-time traffic information, White Pages, weather, flight status, local events, and movie times.
The nüvifone product line also includes Ciao!™, a ground-breaking LBS application that helps users stay up to date on their friends’ whereabouts and status by linking numerous location-centric social networks. Through Ciao!, nüvifone users will see their friends’ location on a map and then be able to navigate to that location with ease. Nüvifone users can also choose to have the nüvifone automatically update their social network location information.
The nüvifone M20 has exceptional entertainment capabilities with the combination of a 2.8″ TFT touch lens display, built-in microphone and speakers, built-in 4Gb/8Gb My Storage, and ActiveSync® for Outlook®, Microsoft® Office, and multi-media synchronization. The VGA (640×480) display brings action to life when watching video or looking at photographs. The three megapixel camera automatically geotags images with the exact latitude and longitudinal coordinates. Users can then save the image on their phone, email it to a friend, or navigate to where the image was taken.
Garmin-Asus expects to announce the nüvifone M20’s pricing and availability information in the first half of 2009. Journalists should contact Garmin-Asus media representatives to arrange product demonstrations or interviews. Additional information about the nüvifone product line is available at www.GarminAsus.com.
About Garmin-Asus
Garmin-Asus is a co-branded strategic alliance that enables Garmin Ltd. and ASUSTeK Computer Inc. to combine their complementary resources to develop world class LBS-centric mobile phones.
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