Hasta La Gadget!

Sure, it’s lacking the Pro moniker, but it’s also lacking a built-in keyboard. A fair trade, we suppose. Dell’s Venue is actually nothing at all like the once-titled Lightning, boasting a slate-style form factor and Android 2.2 in place of Windows Phone 7. To this day, it remains one of the few unlocked phones available for sale in the US with support for AT&T’s 3G bands, and for those who missed out on the Nexus One (or just opted for this for any number of other reasons), we’re curious to see how your experience with the Thunder has been. Were you impressed / let down by the Stage UI? How’d you manage the heft? Would you have tweaked the build materials any? Opted for WP7 over Froyo? Kept the Thunder name? We’re guessing that Dell’s still squarely in the learning phase when it comes to handset making, so go ahead and get real honest in comments below. Honestly.

How would you change Dell’s Venue? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 09 Apr 2011 22:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Since the very first day we saw the Dell Inspiron Duo’s crazy swiveling hinge in action, we knew we wanted a laptop that swung that way — but the Inspiron Duo itself turned out to be a sluggish netvertible with poor battery life. Well, it looks like Dell may be looking for a second chance, because a “Dell Panerai” just hit the FCC, which looks like might have sprung from the same minds who dreamt up the original’s sexy frame. Believe it or not, we can thank Intel for revealing this Dell P12F and Canada for pointing out its convertible nature, because of a little-known test specifically designed for transforming tablets like these — our northern neighbors require that hybrid laptop / tablet computers get checked for face-melting radioactivity if they have antennas built into the display, and that’s just what happened to the dual-band Intel 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi radio inside this machine. Oh, and judging by our calculations (based on the size of that orange label), the unit could sport a 15-inch screen. Sweet.

Dell Panerai convertible tablet leaks at FCC, could be part of Inspiron Duo family? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 22:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dell’s Windows 7 Rosemount tablet may not make it to the beach with you this summer, but that doesn’t mean the company won’t have an Android alternative when it’s time to start applying sunblock. According to Forbes, the 10-inch Android-powered slate we got an oh-so-quick glimpse of at CES should be ready to hit the market somewhere around mid-June, just a little bit later than we’d previously heard. The publication also hints that the tablet heretofore referred to as the Streak 10 may not retain that moniker when it’s time to launch, but it will most definitely be running Honeycomb, though we’re not sure if it’ll keep the Stage UI. Either way, summer 2011 is shaping up to be the season of Honeycomb, and we’re excited to see just what each manufacturer will do to differentiate themselves in the increasingly-crowded space.

Dell Streak 10 to launch mid-June with Honeycomb, possible name change in the works originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Apr 2011 17:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dell has announced that it’s going to begin testing a new type of packaging, making it the first company in the world to use mushroom-based packages.

The mushroom-material will be used inside the boxes that Dell products are shipped in, providing cushioning to protect the electronics inside. Dell has said that it’s already been tested significantly internally, and now the company is going to start using it commercially.

“The process works like this,” explained Dell’s Oliver Campbell, “Waste product like cotton hulls are placed in a mold which is then inoculated with mushroom spawn. Our cushions take five to 10 days to grow as the spawn, which become the root structure — or by the scientific name, mycelium — of the mushroom.

“All the energy needed to form the cushion is supplied by the carbohydrates and sugars in the ag waste. There’s no need for energy based on carbon or nuclear fuels.”

Through initiatives like this Dell is hoping to eliminate 20 million pounds of packaging waste by 2012. This includes increasing the amount of sustainable materials used by 40 percent and making 75 percent of all packing materials recyclable.

First, Alienware’s M17x got a bit of spit and polish with a new Sandy Bridge CPU and a 3D display, then the M11x got Intel’s speedy new silicon too. Now, the middle alien child appears to have gotten a similar makeover. Christened the M14x, rumor has it that Alienware’s newest portable rig packs an Intel Core i7-2820QM 2.3 GHz CPU, up to a 750GB 7200RPM HDD, 256GB SATA2 or SATA3 SDD, a robust NVIDIA GT555M GPU, LTE or WiMAX connectivity, and your choice of 14-inch screens: either a 1366 x 768 display or a Full HD 1920 x 1080 LCD. Following its big brother’s lead, the M14x also rolls with a pair of Klipsch speakers for hi-fi fragging. No word on when this mothership lands, but with those specs, we wouldn’t mind making first contact — would you?

Alienware’s M14x revealed: classic middle-child overachiever, none of the simmering sibling resentment originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Apr 2011 04:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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