Hasta La Gadget!

When Kobo released the Vox, its first tablet, Engadget had just recently abolished review scores. In retrospect, that was a good thing for the company, as we didn’t have very many nice things to say about it. The product suffered from short battery life, for one, along with sluggish performance and WiFi connectivity issues. It’s no wonder, then, that Kobo is loathe to call its new Arc tablet a “follow-up” to the Vox so much as a “re-thinking.” The tablet, which will go on sale in mid-November starting at $199, brings a faster 1.5GHz TI processor, a battery rated for 10 to 12 hours of runtime and a re-tooled software experience built on Ice Cream Sandwich. Is that enough to unseat the new Kindle Fire HD or the Nexus 7? That, friends, is a question best answered in our forthcoming review, but after a few minutes of hands-on time we can at least say that we’re pleasantly surprised. Meet us past the break to find out why.

Continue reading Kobo Arc tablet hands-on (video)

Filed under: Tablets

Kobo Arc tablet hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Sep 2012 10:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When it comes to LG’s latest flagship, it appears there can be no shortage of official announcements. So, while the news from overseas may not be quite so fresh, there’s certainly nothing stale about the Optimus G. Today the company held a second celebration in honor of its powerhouse — the first to pack Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 Pro: a quad-core SoC clocked at 1.5GHz. Buffered by a heaping 2GB RAM and an Adreno 320 GPU this absolutely beastly device is officially coming to American shores in the fourth quarter of this year. The 4.7-inch phone may ship with some slightly different specs, depending on carrier, but they’ll still find a home for the 1280 x 768 True HD, in-cell, IPS display. There’s no specifics about carriers or pricing as yet, but we’ll let you know when we do.

Update: Hit the break for LG’s Optimus G PR video.

Continue reading LG Optimus G and its quad-core 1.5GHz S4 Pro coming to US shores in Q4 (update: video)

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile

LG Optimus G and its quad-core 1.5GHz S4 Pro coming to US shores in Q4 (update: video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Sep 2012 08:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re in Seoul for the launch of LG’s latest flagship smartphone, the Optimus G, and we finally managed to spend a few minutes with a demo unit. This is a powerhouse — the first handset built around Qualcomm’s 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro. It features LTE, a 4.7-inch 1280×768 True HD IPS PLUS display, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of built-in storage, a 13-megapixel autofocus camera, a sealed 2100mAh battery, and NFC.

We like the simple and elegant design, which is reminiscent of LG’s Chocolate and Prada models — it’s thin (8.45mm / 0.33 inches) and reasonably light for its size (145g / 5.11oz). The front sports a glass surface with three capacitive buttons and the back showcases the company’s Crystal Reflection process — an attractive patterned glass-like finish that’s a bit of a fingerprint magnet. Materials and build quality are excellent (better than the Galaxy S III) and the Optimus G feels pleasant in hand.

You’ll find a volume rocker and micro-SIM slot on the left edge and the power / lock key on the right. There’s a notification light next to the 1.3MP front-facing camera. A standard headphone jack sits on the top side, with the micro-USB / MHL connector on the bottom. The speaker and main camera are in the back, pretty much where you’d expect them. While the display is definitely high quality, it’s not mind blowing (the One X screen still looks better) — we expected better viewing angles from LG’s True HD IPS PLUS and Zerogap Touch technologies.

Sadly, we didn’t spend much time using the software, but the Optimus G runs Android 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) with a skin similar to what we saw on the Optimus 4X HD and performance is definitely impressive. We’ll get more seat time with LG’s flagship over the next few days, so stay tuned for more impressions. In the meantime, enjoy our gallery below and our hands-on video after the break.

Update: We’ve added pictures of the white model and screenshots to the gallery.

Continue reading LG Optimus G: hands-on with Korea’s latest powerhouse (video) (updated)

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

LG Optimus G: hands-on with Korea’s latest powerhouse (video) (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Sep 2012 22:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Something big has been brewing at HTC, most often referred to as the DLX or by its less-than-flattering 6435LVW name. While there have been unconfirmed photos of prototypes floating around, a Sina Weibo user has posted what we have reason to believe is an authentic press image of the finished result: meet the One X 5. As the name and image suggest, the phablet-class device should be dominated by a 5-inch (and possibly 1080p) screen that makes even a regular One X look dainty. Internal details haven’t been nailed down alongside the looks, although previous benchmarks have had it using a Snapdragon S4 that might ultimately be a quad-core S4 Pro. There’s no immediate signs of a stylus or other tricks besides that sea of glass. We may not have long to wait before we find out, however. HTC just happens to have a New York City event planned for this Wednesday, and previously detected links between the 6435LVW and Verizon could see the One X 5 quickly reach the US if it’s meant to show at that gathering — although it might get another name change to fit into the Droid family.

Update: We’ve been given a heads-up that this is a device posted as a “concept” by Danny Tu on Flickr, which raises doubt that we’ll see exactly what’s on show here (or see that name). However, it still lines up with earlier photos and what we’ve heard. We’ll keep you posted as to whether or not it reflects reality in the end.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

HTC’s 5-inch behemoth phone spied in press render, may be called One X 5 (update: some caution) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Sep 2012 14:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you had your heart set on a Kindle Fire, Fire HD 7 or Reader, you can now plunk down your plastic and receive one as fast as your shipper can wheel it over. The 1,280 x 800 Fire HD 7-inch model, which we recently put through the wringer, is available in a 16GB version for $199, and Amazon says the 32GB version will arrive October 25th. As we noted, it carries a new dual-band WiFi system for greater surfing speed, dual speakers, a front HD camera and a TI-made dual-core ARM Cortex A-9 processor. The updated Kindle Fire can be had as well for $159, with double the RAM of the last version, a new processor and a bigger battery. Finally, the new Kindle Reader is also up for grabs at an ad-supported cost of $69, while the 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD should be along in November at $299 ($499 for a 4G version). So, if you’re already looking ahead to a certain holiday, check the sources to see how to get one.

Filed under: Tablets

PSA: Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD 7, new Fire and Reader now stocked originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Sep 2012 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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