Hasta La Gadget!

Ladies and gentlemen, the days of spending $600 for an Android Honeycomb tablet are nearly done — on April 24th, the Acer Iconia Tab A500 will wash that price away with waves of brushed aluminum. That’s when the WiFi-only version of Acer’s Android 3.0 tablet will hit Best Buy and online retail for $450 sans contract, but with the same basic raft of specs as the WiFi-only Motorola Xoom: a dual-core 1GHz Tegra 250 SOC, a 10.1-inch 1280 x 800 LCD screen, 1GB of RAM, a 5 megapixel camera around back and a 2 megapixel imager up front, HDMI-out, not to mention a pair of 3260mAh batteries that Acer claims are capable of eight full hours of life while playing HD video. Sure, it’s a wee bit thicker and heavier and only sports half the flash storage (16GB), too, but if you’re attracted to shiny things, look for our review in the coming weeks — or wait until this summer to get one with AT&T. PR after the break.

Update: As Acer mentioned in its press release, pre-orders for the device are beginning exclusively at Best Buy today, and you can now get your order in online.

Continue reading Acer’s Iconia Tab A500 soaks up the WiFi rays, hits shelves April 24th for $450

Acer’s Iconia Tab A500 soaks up the WiFi rays, hits shelves April 24th for $450 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Apr 2011 08:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Okay, so Nikon kind of spoiled the surprise with this one, but we can now enlighten you with the full details of its upcoming midrange (or “advanced beginner” as Nikon calls it) DSLR refresh. The D5100 takes the spot of the venerable D5000, but follows the previous generation’s recipe for success pretty closely. The D5000 was a stripped-down D90 in a simpler, smaller package that came with an articulating LCD, and the D5100 just so happens to feature the same mighty 16.2 megapixel sensor as the D7000 (Nikon’s current high-end consumer DSLR) augmented with a flipout screen. Having the D7000’s internals helps the new shooter churn out 1080p video at 24fps, 25fps, or 30fps, depending on your preference for up to a maximum of 20 minutes. The D5000 is only capable of five-minute bursts of 720/24p video and isn’t able to continually autofocus, which the D5100 can. The D5100 also betters its predecessor in terms of physical fitness, coming in at a healthy 10 percent lighter and smaller, while a good number of the physical controls have been repositioned in order to allow for a new horizontal opening mechanism. That’ll be a well appreciated tweak for tripod users. The new screen’s also 17 percent thinner, we’re told, and steps up to a 3-inch diagonal with a 920k-dot resolution. Solid stuff. After the break you’ll find a full spec sheet along with some video action with the D5100. Pricing for this camera is set at $800 / €777 / £670 for the body only or $900 / €904 / £780 for the body plus an 18-55mm VR kit lens. The ME-1 external mic introduced alongside it — did we not mention the D5100 has an external mic input — will cost $180 / €139 / £120 and both are expected in stores on April 21st.

Continue reading Nikon D5100 and ME-1 external mic coming April 21st, we go hands-on (video)

Nikon D5100 and ME-1 external mic coming April 21st, we go hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Apr 2011 00:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Acer’s board and CEO don’t seem to have been getting along too brilliantly lately and now the situation’s come to a point with the resignation of one Mr. Gianfranco Lanci from the company’s helm. In a press release just distributed, Acer points out that Lanci held different views from the majority of board members about the “importance on scale, growth, customer value creation, brand position enhancement, and on resource allocation and methods of implementation.” Following a few months of discussions that failed to deliver a consensus, both parties have decided it’s best to part ways. For now, things continue as normal with Acer’s goal still being globalization of its product portfolio, whose centerpiece will remain the personal computer, according to Chairman JT Wang. He’ll be the man to take over for Lanci while Acer seeks out a replacement for the outspoken Italian.

Continue reading Acer CEO and President Gianfranco Lanci resigns amid disagreement about company’s future direction

Acer CEO and President Gianfranco Lanci resigns amid disagreement about company’s future direction originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 04:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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They said they would do it, and by golly it’s nearly here — Samsung just revealed that its assembly lines are starting to churn out see-thru computer screens that don’t require power-sucking backlights to function. Unfortunately, it looks like the amazing AMOLED variety is still on the drawing board, but ambient light-powered LCDs are on the way, with Samsung offering a 22-inch, 1680 x 1050 resolution panel with a 500:1 contrast ratio to begin with. Sammy suggests we’ll see it in HDMI and USB-compatible monitors and suspects it’ll be used in advertising and teleconferencing first — which suggests this display won’t come cheap — but we all know the true killer app will be a nice big frameless laptop screen. We’ll take two, please. PR after the break.

Continue reading Samsung mass producing 22-inch transparent LCD, your desktop monitor seethes with jealousy

Samsung mass producing 22-inch transparent LCD, your desktop monitor seethes with jealousy originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 00:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So far Canadian Netflix users have had to deal with a far more limited streaming library than their US cousins, exacerbated by the lack of a DVD / Blu-ray library to fall back on, but that’s about to change. Netflix has struck a deal in Canada with Paramount for premium pay TV window access covering “exclusive subscription television rights to all first-run films.” Currently in the US Netflix’s deal with Epix gives it access to many of the same movies (Iron Man 2 — already available since the 25th in Canada, while not currently ready for streaming in the US — Titanic, Zoolander, The Last Airbender) eventually, but that’s clearly not exclusive. While it’s previously cut deals with smaller distributors like Relativity Media and Nu Image/Millennium Films for pay TV window access, the combo of exclusive and a major studio like Paramount makes Netflix a pay TV channel competitor in a whole new way. This backs up its earlier move in that direction by signing up for a new original show to debut on the service in 2012 and potentially adds a new edge to rumored negotiations for the Miramax back catalog, press release follows after the break.

Continue reading Netflix nabs exclusive subscription pay TV rights to Paramount movies — in Canada

Netflix nabs exclusive subscription pay TV rights to Paramount movies — in Canada originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Mar 2011 10:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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