Hasta La Gadget!

We don’t know what it is, but there’s just something a bit too “netbook” about Samsung’s netbooks. We took a look at the new N210, NB30 and N150 models that Samsung is showing here at CES, and while there’s nothing precisely wrong with any of them, they just felt a little uninspired. Like almost everybody these days, Samsung has moved to chiclet keys, which would be alright if they were as quality as previous generations of Sammy’s netbook keyboards, but they just felt a little plastic and shallow. At least the NB30 has an excuse, with its water-resistant keyboard tray, and to the lineup’s credit, there was very little flex to any of the keyboards — a common netbook problem. The durable, ridged plastic that encases the NB30 is also pretty nice, but nothing to make our heart aflutter. We spied the NB150 sporting a rather unique pink shell and accents, but apparently the final model will come in a rather more tame black. Interestingly, the most inspired netbook in Samsung’s lineup was the N127 (pictured), which they aren’t even planning on bringing to market (yet). The unit runs Moblin at a lightning fast pace, has the old school “good” Samsung keyboard, and if it came to retail would likely undercut its Windows brethren by a nice margin. We’re not sure if Moblin is ready for the mass market, and obviously Samsung isn’t either, but it would be a fun experiment from our perspective. After all, if you’re going to bother building three formulaic netbooks, what’s the harm in cutting a little loose on the fourth?

Samsung’s new netbook line goes hands-on, Moblin makes a cameo originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 09 Jan 2010 18:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Good news and bad news: the good news is that we got to look at Synaptics’ Fuse concept phone, which pairs capacitive touch overload with tilt sensing, squeeze sensing and a fair bit of haptics. The bad news is that Synaptics is holding off on showing the actual UI until MWC in February. So for now we’ve got a working prototype that demonstrates that the sensors really do work. It’s an abstract affair, involving the formation of little 3D spheres that roll around on the screen and can be tweaked, pushed and generally confused by the various input methods. Everything works great, with wonderful touch sensitivity on the back of the “phone” being one of our favorite elements we’d like to see in more devices. One thing that became clear while playing with the phone is that while it’s targeted at improving one-handed operation, it’s actually impossible to actuate all the various sensors simultaneously with one hand, which we suppose Synaptics should see as a mark of distinction. Check out a couple videos of the demo in action after the break.

Continue reading Synaptics Fuse concept hands-on

Synaptics Fuse concept hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 09 Jan 2010 17:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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One major trend dominating CES 2010 is the massive uptick in manufacturers showing off e-reader devices, software and technology. Vendors of all sizes are here in Las Vegas introducing products they hope will capitalize on piqued consumer interest and the predicted growth in the e-book market in the year ahead.

The biggest (literally) and most impressive electronic ink devices at the show are easily the 8.5 x 11-inch 10.5-inch Plastic Logic Que proReader and 11.5-inch (displays measured diagonally) Skiff Reader. Two touchscreen devices with integrated 3G targeting two totally different audiences. The Que proReader’s gunning to replace bulky stacks of business papers with support for truVue PDF files, MS Office docs, e-mail, and Outlook calendar support. The Skiff Reader, on the other hand, is being pitched as a consumer device with a compelling value proposition for publishers (by publishers) and content owners that will ultimately deliver multimedia on a wide range of devices and display types hooked into the Skiff Store — just not the flagship Skiff Reader with traditional e-paper display.

Otherwise, the CES show floor is absolutely littered with electronic ink also-rans, hybrids, and new screen technologies looking to knock-off the incumbent Kindle, underlying E Ink technology, and Amazon juggernaut. If we’re lucky, that’s exactly what’s going to happen later in the year. Read on to find out why.

Continue reading The e-Reader story of CES 2010

The e-Reader story of CES 2010 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 09 Jan 2010 16:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dell may have been the first to experiment with Moblin on an Atom-based netbook for developers, but it looks like MSI is the first to actually get one intended for regular consumers out the door, with it now announcing that it’s shipping a version of its U135 netbook pre-loaded with Novell’s SUSE Moblin OS (version 2.1, of course). Apart from that, the netbook itself apparently remains the same as the U135 we got our hands on last month, which packed a 10-inch screen, a 1.66GHz Atom N450 CPU, 1GB of RAM, and a 250GB hard drive. No word on any difference in price just yet, but it should be available sometime next month.

MSI rolls out U135 netbook pre-loaded with SUSE Moblin originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 09 Jan 2010 15:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oh UMID mBook BZ, it’s not easy being the unwanted offspring of a netbook and a MID, is it? Well, it sure isn’t easy on us either. After spending a bit of time with the hand-sized device, we just don’t really see how anyone could use the small clamshell for more than a few minutes at a time. But hit the break for some hands-on impressions and a video of the $549 lilliputian laptop and decide for yourself.

Continue reading UMID mBook BZ two-fingers on

UMID mBook BZ two-fingers on originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 09 Jan 2010 14:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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