Items tend to sell better when they’re cheaper. There are rare moments when items sell better at higher prices, but that hasn’t been the case with tablets – think HP’s TouchPad. With the iPad as the current king of tablets, times are especially tough for BlackBerry PlayBook. RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie said that there would […]
Oh, sure — HP’s webOS may be one of the most sophisticated tablet operating systems in existence, but with a permanently stagnant market, The CM Team has decided that your fire sale TouchPad may be better off running Android. You know, from a long-term perspective. All jesting aside, the crew has been pounding the pavement on a new (and vastly improved) CyanogenMod 7 for Android, with this build providing functional WiFi, access to the Android Market, audio (albeit a bit fast) and an operational accelerometer. There’s no code being released just yet — the team’s still working to cull the aforesaid Hamsterdance effect — but you can catch a sneak peek of everything in action just above.
CyanogenMod 7 update brings WiFi, sound and accelerometer support to TouchPad (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 18 Sep 2011 11:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Fusion Garage’s Grid 10 tablet is now set to launch October 1. Image: Fusion Garage
Everyone making a tablet that doesn’t run on iOS is getting serious about unseating Apple’ iPad from its lofty throne. More and more are deciding to sacrifice the bottom line for a bit of user adoption.
The latest example is Fusion Garage, which is dropping the price of its Grid 10 tablet from $499 and $599 (for Wi-Fi and 3G models), to $299 and $399, respectively. Carriers for the 3G model have not been announced yet.
We got to check out the Grid 10 tablet firsthand, and it was pretty cool. It’s based on the Android kernel, but completely re-skinned to provide a unique grid-based user interface. It’s got a 10-inch, 1366 x 768 resolution display and a front screen free of buttons.
We’ve seen a number of tablet makers drop their price points below the iPad in recent weeks, after iPad-like prices haven’t fared so well. One case in point: the Motorola Xoom. Lenovo’s A1 tablet will start at $200, making it one of the cheapest options out there. Amazon is purported to be debuting a $250 7-inch tablet in the coming months. And the HP TouchPad positively flew off shelves once HP dropped it down to $99.
According to Fusion Garage, the reason for the price drop was that the company “was able to negotiate better supply chain pricing from its manufacturing partner.”
Fusion Garage’s Grid 10 was set to debut September 15, but that date has been pushed to October 1 to accommodate testing to satisfy Adobe Flash Player’s new certification requirements.
Fine by me. We’ve seen what happens when a tablet (or any product) is pushed out too soon, with the Blackberry PlayBook being a recent case. Although the Playbook’s launch was delayed, it still shipped prematurely, without native support for important features like e-mail, contacts or messaging and with problems displaying Flash. It ended up getting panned by critics and consumers.
Update: Annnnnnd that’s all she wrote. QVC is now listing the TouchPad bundle as unavailable.
One last hurrah? HP TouchPad on sale at QVC, sans complimentary steak knives originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Sep 2011 17:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Welcome to IRL, an ongoing feature where we talk about the gadgets, apps and toys we’re using in real life and take a second look at products that already got the formal review treatment.
Welcome back to IRL, a new column where we dissect, defend and gripe about the gadgets we’re using in real life. This week, Dante gets a firesale TouchPad, Dana ditches her Shuffle for a Sansa Clip Zip, Tim’s on a boat with the DeLorme PN-60 and Darren explains why, exactly, he’s still clinging to his Nexus One.
Continue reading IRL: Nexus One, Sansa Clip Zip, DeLorme PN-60 and the HP TouchPad
IRL: Nexus One, Sansa Clip Zip, DeLorme PN-60 and the HP TouchPad originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Sep 2011 14:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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TouchPad mania has been in full effect since the slate went on blue-light special a few weeks ago. Yet, with the future of webOS in flux, crowds have clamored to get Google’s green bots on the woebegone tablet. Last week, Team-Touchdroid gave the TouchPad a slice of Gingerbread, and now it’s delivered full 10-point multitouch as well. Of course, the video below only shows it doing the trick on a testing app, but it’s a good start. Shouldn’t be long now before you TouchPad owners can get touchy-feely with any Android app your hearts desire.
Continue reading HP TouchPad gets multitouch drivers for Android courtesy of Team-Touchdroid
HP TouchPad gets multitouch drivers for Android courtesy of Team-Touchdroid originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Sep 2011 16:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging to get updated. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it’s easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don’t escape without notice, we’ve gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery from the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!
Official Android updates
Unofficial Android updates / custom ROMs / misc hackery
Other platforms
Updates already covered this week
Refresh Roundup: week of August 29, 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 04 Sep 2011 10:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The race to get Android working on the now budget-friendly HP TouchPad is on. We’ve already heard rumors of the little green robot coming pre-installed on the ill-fated slate and we’ve seen the first CM7 boot, but no one’s gone all the way quite yet. While progress is slow, a team of dedicated TouchPad hackers, calling itself Team-Touchdroid, is now showing off a dual-boot configuration with Android 2.3.5. As with CM7, the touchscreen still doesn’t work, but the demo video is quite dramatic — that is until the credits stop rolling. If early-stage flip-flopping OSs are your thing, hop on past the break, but don’t say we didn’t warn you: it’s going to get weird.
Continue reading Team-Touchdroid dual boots Android on TouchPad — touchscreen not included
Team-Touchdroid dual boots Android on TouchPad — touchscreen not included originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 03 Sep 2011 20:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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[Thanks, OneLove]
Continue reading HP: Limited supply of TouchPads on the way
HP: Limited supply of TouchPads on the way originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Aug 2011 14:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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HP: TouchPad will receive OTA update for added ‘functionality’ originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Aug 2011 08:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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