Hasta La Gadget!

4K TV, Windows tableteering, segment straddling smartphones, and cross-company sniping: another year, another IFA. We’ve seen the show coalesce around a few key themes before, and 2012 proved no different, as manufacturers took a suck-it-and-see strategy to try to cash in on holiday hardware sales. As always, the specter of Apple loomed heavy, despite the Cupertino firm’s resolute absence. Read on for the highlights of IFA 2012.

Windows tablets have been the weeds of IFA, springing up just about everywhere you looked. Samsung, Dell, Sony, and others each brought along their interpretation of an iPad-rivaling, usually keyboard-toting slate, with sometimes multiple models – often split between Windows 8 and Windows RT – from individual firms.

It’s a strong showing of support out of the gate for Microsoft, certainly, though with just about all of the hardware left unpriced (and with release dates generally vague) there’s really no telling whether any of the models will be competitive. That’s even before you get to quite how practical some of the hardware itself is; just because a tablet has a keyboard, it doesn’t make it the perfect hybrid of notebook and slate.

In contrast there was only one “phablet” at IFA, but Samsung’s Galaxy Note II is arguably more compelling than any of the Windows touchscreen models shown. If the original Note, announced a year ago at IFA 2011, was a tentative step into a new market, then the Note II is an altogether more confident product. Samsung, buoyed by widespread popular response to the idea of a sizable, pen-enabled smartphone and rewarded by surprisingly strong sales, has come up with a more refined product that doesn’t stint where it’s most important: software.

“Too often we’ve seen great hardware let down by sloppy software”

Too often we’ve seen great hardware ideas let down by sloppy or simply absent software support, but that’s not a fate destined for the Note II. Samsung has continued to polish its stylus experience, signing up compelling names like Moleskine in the process, and giving Galaxy Note II buyers not only a good reason to pick up the phablet on day one, but to keep using it in the months after.

Check out our hands-on with the Galaxy Note II for more details!

Big screens weren’t limited to phones. 4K TVs, promising resolution four times that of regular HD, made themselves known at IFA this year, and while they’re still targeting the richest living rooms, basking in their extra detail is enough to convince where 3D might still leave you cold. Where Samsung could flesh out the Note II with its own suite of functionality, however, the TV industry is stuck waiting for 4K content to proliferate. Right now, it’s a case of resolution oneupmanship; more boastful than truly beneficial.

It’s also been a show of jostling and sniping, as companies in an increasingly litigious and competitive marketplace jostle for position. Samsung CEO JK Shin got the ball rolling, obliquely describing courtroom rival Apple as a “hindrance” that the company would be sure to overcome. (Apple snapped back by adding the Galaxy S III and other recent devices to the list of devices it hopes to eject from stores.) Lenovo’s EMEA chief Gianfranco Lanci was somewhat more sanguine about Microsoft’s Surface and its potential for undermining the company’s own ThinkPad Tablet 2, suggesting the own-brand slate was “very welcome” and acted as “a good advert for us.”

Welcoming competition is all IFA’s starlets can really do. With several weeks of high-profile launches ahead – including Nokia’s new Windows Phone 8 range, Amazon’s Kindle refresh, and of course the inescapable iPhone 5 – the Berlin show was an opportunity to get in early with headlines, if not actual sales. How many of the products of the past week will be remembered when the dust settles at the end of September remains to be seen.

You can find all our IFA 2012 coverage in the show hub!

Messe Berlin subsidized SlashGear’s trip to IFA, contributing to airfare and accommodation costs. No requirements, guidelines or expectations were placed on coverage or content, and Messe Berlin had no involvement in our editorial processes.

IFA 2012: Note II, 4K TV, Windows wobbles and more is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If you thought the fabulous accessory lineup that came with the Samsung Galaxy S III was about to stop with the smartphone, you were wrong. There’s a whole load of Galaxy Note II covers, protectors, and pens you can grab for the next-generation Galaxy Note phablet, and they’re being shown off this week in Berlin at IFA 2012. This set of accessories pretty much replicates what’s already available for the Galaxy S III, but a couple more colors have been introduced – and of course they’ve got an spot so the S-Pen can exit the machine.

There’s a set of three pouches made of either leather or faux-leather that you can slide the Galaxy Note II into while it sits in your bag or pocket. There’s a collection of protective cases prepped for the device with a bumper around the edges to protect against drops, the back appearing to have a relatively thick plastic in the same set of colors currently revealed for the Note II – and there’s a lovely soft pink for you cuties out there. These cases protect the sides and the back of the device and include an S-Pen slot.

The Galaxy S III Flip Cover is back, this time large enough for the Samsung Galaxy Note II. These Flip Covers come in a wild variety of colors like blue, green, electric yellow, pink, another pink, mustard yellow, red, black and white – if you want to keep with the basic model color, of course. These flip covers replace the back of the device (the battery cover) and have a cover that swings around the front for front-facing protection. Amongst the Galaxy Note 10.1 cases shown at IFA 2012 are a set of vehicle docks for the Galaxy Note II as well – they’re stuck right up over there to the right.

A set of alternate S-Pen devices appear here not quite a size that’s made for docking, just a bit larger for larger-handed users. A set of battery chargers is here too, all of them ready for launch later this year. At the moment there’s no pricing or release information attached, but you can bet they’ll all be hitting the market right around the same time as the actual device.

Samsung Galaxy Note II accessories get colorful showing at IFA is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If each tech show has an unofficial theme, then IFA 2012‘s must be Windows 8 tablets. Microsoft’s new OS – in both full 8 and pared-back RT forms – has shown up on touchscreen hardware from all of the main manufacturers, each trying slightly different combinations of size, specs and accessories in the hope of standing out from the crowd. Options are great, of course, but are there signs that Microsoft’s tablet desperation is rubbing off on its OEMs?

Windows may still be dominant on desktops and notebooks, but Microsoft’s footprint in tablets has been underwhelming for years. The company has seen Apple eat not only its lunch but its breakfast, dinner, and afternoon snack in slates, with the iPad helping spread the iOS/OS X ecosystem into all areas of users’ lives.

Microsoft knows it needs to score big with Windows 8/RT (not to mention Windows Phone 8), hence taking matters into its own hands and producing the Surface. Faced with a solid “own-brand” option, Windows OEMs have apparently decided that outlandish riffs are the way to go.

Detachable keyboards have been done already with Android slates, but that hasn’t stopped the idea being well reheated for Windows 8 and RT models. Samsung threw the most devices into the mixture, with the ATIV Tab and Smart PC Pro range each offering removable keyboard docks, but Dell’s XPS 10 and Lenovo’s ThinkPad Tablet 2, HP’s ENVY x2, and ASUS Vivo Tab and Vivo Tab RT, all play with the form-factor.

You can see the appeal of the strategy. Adding full QWERTY is a simple and obvious way to differentiate from the iPad: Apple says its tablet users don’t really need a keyboard, so Windows tablets will sweep up those who still think they really do. That only works, though, when there are keyboards worth typing on, and that certainly wasn’t the case across the board. Chasing competitively light form-factors left some manufacturers with models that are top-heavy – Samsung’s more powerful ATIV Smart PC suffered this fate – and others that simply lacked the sort of key-travel and responsiveness that makes a physical keyboard worthwhile.

“Even a fixed keyboard doesn’t guarantee a decent typing experience”

Even having a fixed keyboard isn’t necessarily a guarantee that you’ll have a decent typing experience. Sony chose to keep its keyboard permanently attached, and instead make the VAIO Duo 11 a tilting-slider; Toshiba did the same with the Satellite U920t, though its screen could at least be adjusted to different angles, rather than the fixed-position VAIO. Dell took a different approach again with the XPS Duo 12, making a device that’s arguably an ultrabook first and then – with the flip of a screen – a tablet second.

Of the three, the Toshiba and Dell had the best feel, though it’s worth noting that they were each significantly larger than the 10-inch tablet norm. Both have a 12.1-inch display; the 11.6-inch VAIO managed to feel cramped, particularly with the bottom edge of the display section ending its travel just above the function key row.

Could it be that manufacturers are chasing unusual form-factors for the sake of form-factors; simply for being noticeably different on store shelves rather than truly delivering on the functionality promise they imply? It’s worth noting that not all of the keyboard docks include batteries, either, a somewhat common-sense addition presumably ditched for its impact on weight.

Microsoft’s Windows partners need the platform to succeed. The iPad is just as damaging to Sony, Samsung, and the others as it is to Microsoft, while Android has shown itself to be – though wildly popular in smartphones – less than capable of a clean sweep in tablets. Windows 8 and Windows RT represent a third contender to keep the slate segment moving, as well as a doorway into those enterprise markets yet to be convinced by the iPad’s business credentials.

That desperation has created a glut of products that, after our first look at IFA, don’t all hold up to scrutiny. Choice of models is important, yes, but so is a product that not only makes sense in ticking spec-sheet boxes but in everyday use. Not all of the Windows 8 tablets brought to Berlin this past week look likely to succeed in both those categories.

Check out all our IFA 2012 coverage in the show hub.

The great Windows tablet keyboard crapshoot is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If one Engadget Mobile Podcaster is talking about phones, but she’s at Burning Man, does she make a sound? Brad, Dana, and Jon explore these and other questions surrounding a technology conference in Berlin that’s all the rage this week. Don’t get left behind.

Hosts: Brad Molen
Guest: Dana Wollman, Joe Fingas
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Music: Tycho – Coastal Brake (Ghostly International)

02:50 – Samsung Galaxy Note II unveiled: 5.5-inch HD Super AMOLED display, Android Jelly Bean and more S Pen functionality
04:40 – Samsung Galaxy Note II: what’s changed?
09:36 – Samsung Galaxy Note II: hands-on with the new S Pen-toting phablet (video)
18:00 – HTC Desire X hands-on (video)
21:06 – Samsung announces ATIV S, a 4.8-inch Windows Phone 8 device
36:30 – HP unveils Envy x2 laptop / tablet hybrid: 11-inch IPS screen, NFC and pen support, arriving later this year
45:22 – Samsung announces EK-GC100 Galaxy Camera with Android Jelly Bean, massive 4.8-inch display, 21x zoom, WiFi and 4G connectivity (hands-on)
54:10 – Exclusive: Motorola Droid RAZR M 4G LTE gets hands-on treatment (video)
01:02:20 – Is Motorola announcing an Intel Medfield-powered phone on September 18th?

Hear the podcast

Subscribe to the podcast
[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes
[RSS MP3] Add the Engadget Mobile Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically
[RSS AAC] Add the Engadget Mobile Podcast feed (in enhanced AAC) to your RSS aggregator
[Zune] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in the Zune Marketplace

Download the podcast
LISTEN (MP3)
LISTEN (AAC)

Contact the podcast
podcast (at) engadgetmobile (dot) com.

Follow us on Twitter
@phonewisdom @engadgetmobile @danawollman

Filed under: Podcasts, Mobile

Engadget Mobile Podcast 151: IFA Edition – 09.01.2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 01 Sep 2012 10:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Along with a few IFA 2012 announcements, Sennheiser peeled back the wraps from its HDVA 600 headphone amp, an analog flavor of the previously unveiled HDVD 800. Like its sibling, the freshly revealed hardware sports a glass panel for peeking at its innards and an anodized aluminum exterior, but leaves the digital inputs behind. While the 800 carries a hefty $2,000 price tag, the 600 will set customers back a smaller — but still substantial — sum of $1,600. Both units are tailored for the likes of Senn’s flagship HD 800 headphones, so they should easily be able to drive cans that require up to 300-ohms. The pair won’t be available in the US until later this fall, but in the meantime, you can breeze past the break for specs and more details in the press release.

Continue reading Sennheiser unveils HDVA 600 analog headphone amp, asks for $1,600

Filed under: Portable Audio/Video, Wearables

Sennheiser unveils HDVA 600 analog headphone amp, asks for $1,600 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 01 Sep 2012 08:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments