Hasta La Gadget!

Archos recently dropped a few hints about a Gen 10 tablet, and, just as promised, three weeks later the device is getting its official unveiling. Meet the Archos 101 XS, a 10-inch slate running Ice Cream Sandwich and a dual-core TI OMAP-4470 processor.

Staying true to the company’s budget-friendly rep, the 101 XS will go for $400 when it drops in November, and that includes the tablet’s main attraction: a keyboard dock that also acts as a cover to protect the 1,280 x 800 display. The so-called Coverboard attaches to the tablet’s body magnetically, and there’s a dock for securing the device when you want to type. The Coverboard sports a full QWERTY layout along with home, back and recently open buttons for navigating the Android OS. Speaking of which, Archos says the XS will be upgradeable to Jelly Bean in October. Other key specs include 16GB of internal storage, a 1.3-megapixel, 720p webcam and a 1.3-pound, 0.31-inch-thick design.

To complement its new slab, Archos has also announced several new docks and covers. The Boombox speaker dock will charge your 101 XS while you soak up 32 watts of music playback. If you’d prefer to hook it up to your existing system, the Cradle dock has audio-out ports alongside a pair of USB sockets that can be connected to portable hard drives — and more music. A selection of pouches and sleeves will also be up for grabs for anyone who’s willing to leave that Coverboard behind. Pricing info for these accessories is yet to come.

For more info, head past the break for the press release (and photos). We also have a full review of the 101 XS — check it out here.

Jamie Rigg contributed to this report.

Continue reading Archos announces 101 XS tablet with built-in keyboard dock, arriving in November for $400

Filed under: Tablet PCs

Archos announces 101 XS tablet with built-in keyboard dock, arriving in November for $400 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Aug 2012 12:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Like Jelly Beans, custom Android ROMs tend to have different flavors — and CyanogenMod happens to be a fan favorite. Good thing then, that the CM10 team is now serving nightly builds of its Jelly Bean-based custom ROM update. According to the CyanogenMod Google+ page, CM10 nightlies are now available for the US Samsung Galaxy S III variants, the original Galaxy S and the Galaxy S II (i9100g), the Galaxy Nexus, the Nexus S and Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 (P3), Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 (P5), Nexus 7, Transformer and Transformer Prime tablets. The list will fill out with more devices when they are ready, the team says, and will continue to have CM9 updates (now weekly, rather then nightly) at their disposal.

CM10 nightly builds now rolling out to select devices originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 18 Aug 2012 04:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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At last, no more secrets. Announced in Beijing just now is the Xiaomi Phone 2, and with the exception of the appearance, most of the specs match the many leaks we’ve come across: 4.3-inch 720p IPS display by Sharp, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 Pro APQ8064 quad-core chip, 2GB RAM and 16GB memory. To power this beast, Xiaomi’s throwing in a 2,000mAh cell, but you can also purchase a 3,000mAh version if you don’t mind the extra 2mm thickness on the phone. As for photography, you get a 28mm two-megapixel imager at the front along with a 27mm F2.0 eight-megapixel BSI camera on the back — we saw some stunning untouched shots from the latter at the launch event.

The good news doesn’t stop there. On the software front Xiaomi’s decided to jump straight to Android Jelly Bean for the phone’s MIUI ROM, which itself packs several new features as well. Just to name a few: enhanced security, phone finder, Chinese voice assistant (apparently with 85 percent comprehension accuracy), more interactive themes and 5GB of cloud storage service with online client.

As you can already see, all of this will cost just ¥1,999 (about $310) — the same as the original Xiaomi Phone announced this time last year — when it launches in October, and local carriers China Unicom plus China Telecom will also be offering the DC-HSPA+ handset at subsidized prices. Interestingly, Xiaomi co-founder Lei Jun even admitted on the stage that the phone’s raw cost is ¥2,350 ($370) per unit, so hopefully it’ll go down sooner than later for his sake. But if ¥1,999 is still too much, there’s also the ¥1,499 ($235) Xiaomi Phone 1S which, as we’ve already seen, is very much just the original Xiaomi but bumped up from 1.5GHz to 1.7GHz, along with a front-facing camera.

Until we get hold of the phones to play with, here are some photos from the event.

Update: Now we have some photos from our very brief hands-on — each person was only given 90 seconds with the beta units! That said, the Xiaomi Phone 2s already felt pretty solid and the UI animation was slick, so we look forward to the more refined engineering samples next month.

Update 2: Forgot to mention that both devices support WCDMA 850、1900 and 2100MHz. So yes, it’ll work just fine on AT&T!

Filed under: Cellphones

Xiaomi Phone 2 now official: 4.3-inch 720p IPS, quad core and Jelly Bean for just $310 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Aug 2012 05:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Need a Jelly Bean surface to drag your S-Pen across? Worry not, while the Galaxy Note 10.1 won’t be packing Android 4.1 right out of the box, Samsung is assuring consumers that the tablet will be getting the OS upgrade later this year, a fact the company reiterated during today’s press conference. Until then, it’s TouchWized Ice Cream Sandwich for you early adopters.

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 getting its Jelly Bean on later this year originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Aug 2012 12:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It appears that Dropbox is also tweaking its Android app to better suit the Nexus 7 and Jelly Bean. The cloud storage outfit made a recent build (2.1.8.6 to be exact) of its mobile software available for download as a sneak preview of sorts. A few fortunate subscribers got first dibs, but you can grab a look for yourself at the improvements. The tweaks include video thumbnails, improved video playback on both ICS and Jelly Bean, a Nexus 7-friendly UI and the ability to open Dropbox files directly from other applications. If you’re jonesin’ for a look, visit the source link below to do just that.

Filed under: Internet, Software

Dropbox Android preview shows off video thumbnails and Nexus 7 UI, yearns for your approval originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Aug 2012 10:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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