Dec 13

Microsoft to demo new slate PCs, Windows 8 tablet functionality at CES?

Posted in: intel atom, IntelAtom, Microsoft, samsung, steve ballmer, tablets, Today's Chili, windows 7, windows 8, Windows7, Windows8
The CES 2010 Ballmernote has become something of a black mark for Microsoft — the company’s delivered almost nothing in the year after Steve demoed the HP Slate and talked about future Windows 7 Slate PCs — but as one would assume, Redmond’s expected to pick up right where it left off in just a few weeks at CES 2011. According to the New York Times, Microsoft’s prepping to explain how it will target the iPad with the help of a number of partners, including Samsung and Dell. While the article is quite vague, it looks like the keynote will include a few new tablet demos, including one of a new Samsung device that sports a “slick” slide out keyboard — we’d put money on that being the 10.1-inch Gloria. The Times says the Samsung tablet (not to be confused with the Samsung Galaxy Tab) will run some sort of software layer when “the keyboard is hiding and the device is held in portrait mode,” but Microsoft’s is also reportedly eschewing a central app store for native tablet apps and instead encouraging software companies to build HTML5 -based web apps. That certainly sounds a lot Google’s Chrome strategy (and a strategy that could backfire since HTML5 apps will work on Chrome OS devices and iPad equally well), but the Times‘ source didn’t know if these “apps” would be ready for CES as they are “still in production.”

As far as we can tell, a lot of this is still built upon Windows 7, but it’s also rumored that the Redmond gang will tease Windows 8 on stage — something that sounds extremely plausible to us, since we’ve heard from numerous sources that Microsoft’s real tablet strategy will rely on Windows 8 and a new all-touch interface that the company has been working incredibly hard on. While Windows 8 isn’t due out until the later half of 2011 / early 2012, Ballmer would do well to use his CES time to tell us about Microsoft’s “riskiest” product bet and finally do something to address Microsoft’s notable absence from the modern tablet market. Of course, nothing’s for sure, except for the fact that we’ll be there, providing live coverage of the entire thing.

Update: We’ve been thinking about it (as well as keeping an ear on our chatty Tweeps) and there’s also a chance that Microsoft could show off its own Windows 7 software layer for tablets. Either way, we’re hoping to get some major answers.

Microsoft to demo new slate PCs, Windows 8 tablet functionality at CES? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 20:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dec 13

MSI to reintroduce WindPad tablets at CES, claims Oak Trail improves performance and battery life

Posted in: Android, exclusive, gingerbread, honeycomb, intel atom, IntelAtom, msi, tablets, tegra, tegra 2, Tegra2, Today's Chili, windows 7, Windows7
You’ll remember that back at Computex MSI introduced two tablets or so-called WinPads — there was the Windows 7 / Atom slate and another one of the Android / ARM variety. Well, MSI is planning to resurrect those with some slight improvements for CES, and this time it’s gearing up to actually release them both. First up is the 10.1-inch Windows 7 Home Premium version, which will be one of the first Intel Atom Oak Trail-powered devices out there, says the company. According to MSI’s Director of North American Sales Andy Tung, Intel’s tablet solution does show both battery life and performance improvements over the current Atom chips, but it’s “not extremely significant.” Based on our discussion with Tung, we got the feeling that it’s a step in the right direction for Atom but still not as long-lasting as it needs to be to compete with ARM-based tablets. Beyond that, the tablet measures less than an inch thick and will have a 1024 x 600-resolution, multitouch display, mini-HDMI and mini-USB ports, an SD card slot, and an accelerometer. Tung wasn’t ready to reveal pricing, but he said it should be available in early 2011.

On the Android side of things, MSI’s got a dual-core Tegra 2-powered 10.1-inch, 1280 x 800-resolution slate prepped with the same selection of ports and features — although, this one is slightly thinner and also has a drop-proof design. So, what version of Android will it run? Well, that depends on Google’s timing, says Tung. If Android 3.0 or Honeycomb is available by the February / March timeframe MSI will go with that option — however, if it’s not, it will go with Gingerbread, so it can hit the market earlier in 2011. We have to say both tablets sound rather intriguing, but will they be able to go up against the hundreds of others coming at CES: The Tablet Year? We’ll know more in Vegas, that’s for sure!

MSI to reintroduce WindPad tablets at CES, claims Oak Trail improves performance and battery life originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 11:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dec 12

Sphero toy ball rolls itself, you control it with your smartphone

Posted in: Android, Apple, Games, iPhone, robot, robotics, smartphone, Today's Chili, toy, video
Don’t have the airspace required for an AR.Drone? Gearing up for its CES 2011 debut, Sphero is a small, robotic toy ball made by Orbotix, and controlled remotely via Bluetooth and your smartphone’s tilt sensor. A ball that moves by itself? Call us lazy (too lazy to roll a ball even), but we think this is a toy whose time has come. Sure, the whole thing is pretty straightforward, although we hope that once iPhone and Android developers get ahold of that open API we’ll see plenty in the way of augmented reality gameplay: a maze or a racing game of some sort would make this thing quite coveted, in our opinion. Catch a video of the prototype in action after the break.

Continue reading Sphero toy ball rolls itself, you control it with your smartphone

Sphero toy ball rolls itself, you control it with your smartphone originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Dec 2010 18:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dec 11

LG Star preview

Posted in: Android, benchmark, dual-core, DualCore, froyo, Google, hands-on, impressions, leak, LG, NVIDIA, Pre-Release, preview, prototype, smartphone, tegra 2, Tegra2, Today's Chili, video

The LG Star. The dual-core beast from the east that was once a mere twinkle in our eye has managed to find its way to the Engadget mansions, having been lent to us by a very generous (and very anonymous) tipster. It’s clearly a test device, as evidenced by its diagnostics menus and lack of a lockscreen, but there’s no disguising the power that lies within it. We put the Star through a battery of common Android benchmarks and the results were, in a word, outstanding. Basically, Tegra 2 will give anything your current phone‘s running an inferiority complex. Join us after the break as we delve deeper into this upcoming powerhouse of a handset from LG. One thing’s for sure: CES 2011 can’t come soon enough.

Gallery: LG Star hands-on

Continue reading LG Star preview

LG Star preview originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 11 Dec 2010 11:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dec 08

LG’s next set of 3D glasses were designed by a designer, will grace CES 2011

Posted in: 3d tv, Fashion, LG, luxury, Today's Chili

Alain Mikli, for those of you (and us) who didn’t know, is a highly regarded designer of eyeglasses. LG, as we’re all aware, is a 3D-peddling purveyor of HDTVs. Marry the two together and the offspring is a rather fetching set of 3D goggles, built out of “select metals,” and featuring a co-patented nose bridge and perfect weight balancing for the utmost in user comfort. LG promises to let us play around with the new eyewear at CES next month, which we’ll be more than happy to do — telling you about the eventual price tag, on the other hand, probably won’t be such a pleasant experience. More imagery of the specs and the full press release follow after the break.

Continue reading LG’s next set of 3D glasses were designed by a designer, will grace CES 2011

LG’s next set of 3D glasses were designed by a designer, will grace CES 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Dec 2010 06:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dec 07

Toshiba planning trio of tablets for CES: one each for Android, Chrome OS and Windows 7

Posted in: Android, chrome os, ChromeOs, Google, plans, roadmap, rumor, schedule, slate, speculation, tablet, tablets, Today's Chili, Toshiba, windows 7, Windows7

So what if the Libretto exited the common consciousness almost as quickly as it entered it while the Folio 100 was bad enough to get its major UK retailer to discontinue it? Toshiba promised it’d have a family of tablets for us by the end of 2011’s first quarter and the plan apparently hasn’t changed. DigiTimes is reporting today that three new Toshiba slates are set for their debut at CES in a month’s time, two of them equipped with 10.1-inch screens and a third sized at 11.6 inches. Microsoft’s Windows 7 and Google’s Chrome OS and Android will each be responsible for providing the operating environment on one of these new tablets, indicating that Toshiba — much like the rest of the world — has yet to make up its mind about what the best tablet OS out there is. We should know more in just a few short weeks.

Toshiba planning trio of tablets for CES: one each for Android, Chrome OS and Windows 7 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Dec 2010 08:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dec 05

TDK debuts $499 ‘Three-Speaker Boombox’

Posted in: Today's Chili
Some recent attempts at a modern boombox may have been less than faithful to the original incarnation, but TDK looks to at least have its heart in the right place with its simply-named “Three-Speaker Boombox.” Set for an official debut at CES in January, the $499 device boasts a streamlined design compared to the 1980s-era originals, but it’s still unmistakably a boombox and, according to Crave‘s early hands-on, it pumps out a surprising amount of sound from its 35 watt RMS speakers. You’ll also get a full range of audio inputs (including iPhone / iPod support via USB, rather than a dedicated dock), a built-in AM / FM radio, an OLED display on the front and, perhaps best of all, some oversized aluminum knobs. Needless to say, we’ll be keeping our eyes out for this one at CES.

TDK debuts $499 ‘Three-Speaker Boombox’ originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 05 Dec 2010 02:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dec 03

Motorola planning 4G devices for Verizon, 7- and 10-inch tablets early next year

Posted in: 4G, lte, motorola, tablet, tablets, Today's Chili

It looks like this CES could be a hot one for Motorola. Can you believe it was only a bit more than a year ago that Motorola introduced the Droid? Now it has a whole lineup of incredibly hot phones, and CES seems like a perfect time for the beating of chests in front of an industry. Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha just went on record during a keynote at the Credit Suisse 2010 Technology Conference, saying Motorola will be entering the tablet space ‘in the near future.’ He also said that he sees both 7-inch and 10-inch tablets as viable sizes — something that seems perfectly logical to us, and might jibe with how we initially heard of Motorola’s “Stingray” tablet as a smaller device, but later heard it was a full 10-incher upgradeable to LTE. This all follow’s on Sanjay’s statement in September that Motorola wouldn’t be joining in on the tablet space until next year, a year which is rapidly approaching. Meanwhile, Sanjay also confirmed that Motorola would have 4G devices “early” next year, which also sounds like a CES hint to us, though it might just be 4G modems and hotspots at the outset. Still, bring it on.

Motorola planning 4G devices for Verizon, 7- and 10-inch tablets early next year originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Dec 2010 20:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dec 02

Polaroid’s CES 2011 teaser hints at instant photography’s rebirth

Posted in: camera, digital camera, DigitalCamera, photography, teaser, Today's Chili

Technically speaking, Polaroid returned to instant photography earlier this year with the introduction of the 300, but we all know that thing was forgotten as soon as it was revealed. The famed camera outfit — despite being a shell of its former self — just dropped a luscious teaser into our inbox to let us know about an exclusive event it’ll be hosting at CES 2011 next month. The image you see above is severely distorted, but we did so to give you a better idea of what’s truly to come — unless that’s an outrageously shaped projector, we’re guessing it’s some sort of next generation instant camera. The slot on the bottom definitely helped push us over the edge, but if you’d rather cover the whole thing in mystique and guess for yourself, the un-doctored (er, unmutilated) teaser is just after the break. Oh, and we’ll be bringing you the blow-by-blow on what this thing really is on January 6th, hopefully with Outkast blaring in the background.

Continue reading Polaroid’s CES 2011 teaser hints at instant photography’s rebirth

Polaroid’s CES 2011 teaser hints at instant photography’s rebirth originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Dec 2010 18:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nov 27

Intel’s Sandy Bridge CPUs start to seep out, 2GHz quad-core i7-2630QM coming to HP dv7

Posted in: CoreI7, HP, intel, laptop, Laptops, leak, Pre-Release, processor, sandy bridge, SandyBridge, Today's Chili

Intel’s Core i7-2630QM chip has made the leap from the company’s roadmap onto its first spec sheet, courtesy of HP’s dv7. We’ve come across a provisional component list for an update to HP’s gaming laptop, which includes the 2GHz quad-core CPU as the star of its show. Now, of course, neither HP nor Intel has said anything official on the matter, but Laptoping has also been snooping around and found listings at online retailers for laptops from Gateway and Lenovo also offering the still unannounced part. It’s not exactly a secret that Intel intends to blow the bloody doors off CES 2011 with its Sandy Bridge processor line, but it’s reassuring to see vendors looking eager and ready so far in advance of the launch date — it should mean no shortage of choice when Paul Otellini finally steps to the stage and makes things officially official.

Intel’s Sandy Bridge CPUs start to seep out, 2GHz quad-core i7-2630QM coming to HP dv7 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 27 Nov 2010 15:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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