Hasta La Gadget!

It was just last spring at Engadget Expand that Lenovo teased the ThinkPad T431s business Ultrabook, and now it’s already coming out with a follow-on product. The company today announced the refreshed T440s, along with the T440, the X240 (shown above) and two mid-range Ultrabooks, the S440 and the S540. In fact, though the S540 isn’t the highest-end machine on offer here, even that’s worth mention, as it’s the company’s first 15-inch Ultrabook aimed at businesses. (Guess that bigger-screen trend is going strong, eh?)

Diving right in, the 14-inch T440s represents a fairly modest upgrade, as the T431s already ushered in some fairly big design changes (buttonless trackpad, latchless lid, 180-degree hinge, et cetera). The T440s has all that too, except it makes the natural shift to Intel’s fourth-generation Haswell processors, along with an optional NVIDIA GeForce GT 730M GPU (which won’t be offered here in North America). The T440 is closely related, as you’d expect, with similar configuration options (optional touchscreens, up to 12GB of RAM and up to either a 1TB HDD or a 512GB SSD). The main difference is that the resolution on the T440 is also capped at 1,600 x 900, whereas the T440s goes up to 1080p. Also, the T440s is a good lighter than the T440 (read: half a pound less).%Gallery-slideshow73415%

Filed under: Laptops, Lenovo

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Having sat through Meizu’s entire launch event in Beijing, we have to admit: the new MX3 took us by surprise. We weren’t expecting much after knowing some of the key specs from the leaks, and to be frank, the Chinese company lost its way with the MX2; but Jack Wong’s team seems to have put its focus back in place with its latest flagship. First off, while the MX3 has preserved the predecessor’s metallic-rim design, Meizu has now managed to refine the manufacturing process to remove all the sharp edges, and boy does that new body feel good. The TOL (touch-on-lens) display may look odd with its 1,800 x 1,080 resolution, but it looked good on the demo units, and that 15:9 aspect ratio has some advantage for web browsing in portrait mode.

There were many other features that we couldn’t comment on based on our hands-on, such as the audio quality from the Wolfson chip and the image quality from the third-gen Sony 8-megapixel sensor, but the presence of these components suggests that Meizu may be headed back in the right direction. The number of improvements on the slick, Android 4.2-based Flyme 3.0 is also impressive, making it slightly more user-friendly (especially for first-timers) as well as more pleasing to the eye. It’ll just take some getting used to with Meizu’s own soft key approach (virtual buttons on a “Smart Bar” plus a capacitive home button). Much like the battery life and radio performance, we’ll only be able to properly comment on the software part over an extended period of usage, so do keep an eye out for our MX3 review in the near future. Oh, and we have a hands-on video after the break. %Gallery-slideshow77154%

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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It’s a strange one. Canon’s new pocketable camera certainly isn’t your typical video camera. Aimed squarely at those looking to capture themselves, the Legria mini records up to 1080p video through a special wide-angle (170-degree) lens, ensuring you can fit your whole family (or dance crew?) into your clips. With a 180-degree flexible display on board too, you can adjust the camera’s position as needed. When we tested an early unit in Canon’s home turf in Japan, the combination of both a posable screen and a stand beneath the unit meant getting a good angle from the floor or work surface was a simple task. Behind that wide-angle f/2.8 lens, there’s a 1/2.3-inch CMOS sensor, mechanical shutter, Canon’s DIGIC DV 4 processor and (in case you needed it) a 12.8-megapixel sensor for stills. Looking to improve your video coverage of, well, you? We’ve got more details and impressions after the break. %Gallery-slideshow76482%

Filed under: Cameras, Canon

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With the LG G2 the ante has been upped by LG – and not just by the addition of backside-facing physical buttons. Here we’re taking an early look at the smartphone in its international iteration with a series of benchmark tests, ranging from internet-based to processor-based – but beware: this device does not have an […]

So we’ve already spent some hands-on time with Kobo’s Aura e-reader and the Arc 10HD. That leaves two more devices, right? Well, here’s the thing — as much as the 10-inch tablet wasn’t ready in time for tonight’s event, the company at least managed to trot it out. As for the seven-inchers, well, the Arc 7HD didn’t show, and while the Arc 7 was here, the slate was running a constant demo, meaning we couldn’t take it through its paces. As for the hardware? On the face of it, the tablet looks a fair bit like the original Kindle Fire and a number of other seven-inch rectangular tablets. On the top is the standard red Kobo power button, on the right side of the device is a volume rocker and on the left are the headphone jack, micro-HDMI and microUSB ports.

Like its bigger brother, the soft touch rear of the device has borrowed some of the angular design language from the Aura HD around the corners. On the bottom, you’ll find a single speaker grille. All three of Kobo’s new tablets are set to launch on October 16th — we’re sure we’ll be able to spend a bit more time with this guy before then. When it does land, it’ll run you $150, with its HD sibling starting at $200.%Gallery-slideshow73876%

Filed under: Tablets

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