Hasta La Gadget!

It’s been a few years now that Toshiba’s been making external hard drives, so it makes sense that the company would want to venture into larger disks as a next step. Indeed, the company just took the wraps off Canvio Personal Cloud, its first network-attached storage product. The drive itself will be offered in two flavors — 2TB and 3TB — but the hook, of course, is that you can use various apps to upload your files and then access them remotely. These applications include desktop software, as well as mobile apps for iOS and Android. In either case, the applications are designed to upload music, video, photos and documents, and all of this content is searchable by date and other filters. The drive will be available sometime next month, starting at $220 for the 2TB version and going up to $250 for 3TB. If you’re curious, we’ve got hands-on photos of the UI past the break.

Filed under: Storage

Toshiba launches Canvio Personal Cloud, network-attached storage with iOS and Android apps originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Aug 2012 04:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You didn’t think the world’s top PC maker was going to sit out the laptop / tablet hybrid trend, now did you? HP, one of the last OEMs to share its Windows 8 plans, just announced the Envy x2, an 11-inch tablet that comes with a keyboard dock. And while that form factor may already seem tired, HP is dressing it up with some higher-end features, including an aluminum build, NFC, pen support, Beats Audio and a 400-nit, IPS display. (The resolution is 1,366 x 768, as is the case for many of these 11-inch Windows 8 hybrids.)

The tablet itself measures about 8.5mm thick and weighs 1.5 pounds, while the dock weighs 1.6. Unlike competing products, the device combines magnets and a mechanical latch to keep the tablet from falling out of its dock (watch us manhandle the x2 in the video below to see what we’re talking about). All told, we were impressed by how surprisingly light the tablet and dock feel — given the metal armor encasing it all, it’s easy to assume otherwise.

Under the hood, the x2 runs an Atom-based Clover Trail processor. Though HP isn’t ready to talk battery life, we’ve noticed that every other OEM releasing a Clover Trail device is promising between nine and 10 hours of runtime, so we expect the x2 to deliver comparable performance. What’s more, the dock has a built-in battery of its own, so you’ll definitely have some reserve power there. Poke around on the dock and you’ll find two USB ports, HDMI output and a full-size SD slot. The tablet itself is home to an 8-megapixel rear camera and microSD slot, in case the 64GB of built-in storage isn’t capacious enough.

Right now, it’s unknown how much the x2 will cost, or when, exactly, it will go on sale, except that it’s expected to arrive in time for the holiday shopping season. For now, feel free to poke around our hands-on photo gallery, and avail yourselves of our walk-through, embedded just past the break.

Continue reading HP unveils Envy x2 laptop / tablet hybrid: 11-inch IPS screen, NFC and pen support, arriving later this year

Filed under: Laptops, Tablets

HP unveils Envy x2 laptop / tablet hybrid: 11-inch IPS screen, NFC and pen support, arriving later this year originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Aug 2012 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung’s Galaxy Note II may have some slick new hardware, but it’s software where the company is making its most significant changes to everyday usability. Two of the biggest enhancements are Air View and Quick Command, using a combination of the S Pen digital stylus and gesture recognition, and taking advantage of Wacom’s active digitizer technology. Head on past the cut for a video demo.

Air View also works with contacts – showing phone number, email and other details when you hover over entries in your address book – and messages, along with calendar entries and content in other apps. When you’re playing back video, meanwhile, you can trace the nib across the timeline and see thumbnails of the coming scenes, which makes a big difference in finding a particular spot. Windows pen-enabled tablets have long used stylus hover to mimic hovering the mouse pointer over something without necessarily clicking, and it’s a welcome improvement to the Note II’s interface.

Galaxy Note II Air View and Quick Command hands-on:

Quick Command is a mashup of sketched shortcuts and quick launching: hold down the barrel button on the side of the S Pen, swipe up the screen, and the dialog loads. Samsung’s most proud of how it can be used to flick off a speedy email – handwrite “@ Simon” and a quick note, and a new mail opens up addressed to “Simon” and with the message pasted into the body; if you have more than one Simon in your contacts, you’re presented with a list of the options. Unfortunately it can’t be used with Google’s Gmail app, only Samsung’s customized Mail version, though other S Pen improvements will be opened up to third-party developers when v2.2 of the SDK is released on August 30.

Other features of Quick Command include settings toggling or loading other apps, such as drawing an equals sign to boot up the calculator, and you can create your own with your choice of shortcut sketches. What’s not clear is how much of the new S Pen functionality will be brought to the original Note, Samsung telling us that hardware differences will mean only select features will be ported back.

There’s more on the Galaxy Note II in our full hands-on.

Galaxy Note II: Air View and Quick Command demo is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
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Logitech acquired Ultimate Ears awhile back to take advantage of its experience with professional audio, and now it’s leveraged some of that institutional knowledge to create a UE line of headphones aimed at consumers. First up, there’s the $100 UE 4000 on-ear model that comes in three colors: black, blue and magenta, plus a detachable cord with an in-line mic and audio controls compatible with iOS devices. The UE 6000 model takes things up a notch with an over-ear design that folds up for easy storage on the go, has an in-line remote, plus it adds active noise cancellation technology for $200. Then there’s the UE 9000 Bluetooth wireless cans that also have ANC and a full suite of on-ear controls for iPhone or iPad, which can be had for $400. Lastly, there’s the $400 UE 900 in-ear headphones sporting a quad-armature design and two sets braided cables — one with in-line controls, and one without. All of the UE models start shipping in the US today, and will be available in Europe next month. We got to try on and try out all of Logitech’s new gear for a brief listening session awhile back, so join us after the break for our impressions.

Continue reading Logitech unveils lineup of UE headphones for in, on and around your ears (hands-on)

Filed under: Portable Audio/Video

Logitech unveils lineup of UE headphones for in, on and around your ears (hands-on) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Aug 2012 15:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In addition to producing a slew of new headphones, Logitech’s latest collaboration with Ultimate Ears has produced a pair of Bluetooth speakers and a Smart Radio. The UE Smart Radio comes equipped with 802.11b/g WiFi on board to pull audio from directly from the likes of Spotify and Pandora or from local sources like Mac, PC, iOS or Android devices. A 2.4-inch LCD is on the front, along with the usual audio controls, plus there are six preset buttons that can be programmed to easily access playlists from myriad locales. It’s also got a rechargeable battery, good for a claimed six hours of playback, and will set you back $180 when it goes on sale next month.

Logitech’s UE Mobile Boombox replaces the firm’s Mini Boombox, but keeps its $100 price. It comes in five colors (red, yellow, blue, white and black) and can both stream your tunes via Bluetooth and serve as a speakerphone using its omni-directional mic. You can pair up to eight devices with the Mobile Boombox, and its rechargeable battery promises up to ten hours of listening pleasure. In our brief ears-on, we found it offered clear sound, though unsurprisingly, it struggled to pump out much bass. That said, we really liked its solid rubber construction, and can see it holding up well to abuse. Its big brother, the $250 UE Boombox, has much better low-end response and a fuller sound generally thanks to its eight drivers. Like the Mini, it also can pair with eight devices and has a rechargeable battery, though it promises only six hours of audio. We really dig its cast aluminum chassis and clean lines, and the handle on top begs to be used in old-school fashion — with the Boombox propped up on your shoulder bumping some choice hip-hop. Both of these Bluetooth speakers start shipping this month, and our friends in grand Europa get them in September.

Continue reading Logitech’s UE Smart Radio, Boombox, and Mobile Boombox give you wireless audio on the go (hands-on)

Filed under: Portable Audio/Video

Logitech’s UE Smart Radio, Boombox, and Mobile Boombox give you wireless audio on the go (hands-on) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Aug 2012 15:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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