Hasta La Gadget!

We’ve collided head-on with the month of August, and today we had some interesting news stories to ring in the eighth month of the year. Surprisingly enough, we didn’t have too much news about the ongoing trial between Apple and Samsung, except for the part where Samsung made Apple really angry by sending evidence that the original iPhone was inspired by Sony designs out to the press. Samsung found itself in a bit of hot water after that leak, so this evening it seems that Samsung has managed to get on Judge Lucy Koh’s bad side. The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said today that the Galaxy Nexus can remain on sale until August 20 despite Apple’s request for its preliminary injunction against the phone to be restored, so if you’ve been planning to buy one, your window to do so has been extended.

Moving right along, Lenovo suffered a pretty big leak today, and now details about the ThinkPad 2 are all over the place. Samsung has been granted the title of top phone brand for Q2, but interestingly enough, Apple’s iOS is growing at a faster rate than Android is. Google Wallet has received an update that increases the range of credit and debit cards you can use with the app, and we were right there to talk about whether or not the app is safe. Definitely give it a read if you’re considering using Google Wallet now that this update has arrived.

Speaking of Google, the company introduced a new set of rules for Android app developers today, and there’s a nasty little rumor going around that claims AT&T has been discouraging iPhone sales. AT&T, for its part, naturally says that the rumor is false, but that report definitely did a lot to pique our interest. The iPhone rumors don’t stop there, however, as we’ve been hearing whispers that Apple’s new dock connector may come with a MagSafe-like design when it arrives with the iPhone 5, and that the phone itself will be sporting Bluetooth 4 tech.

Microsoft was in the news a little bit today, as it was revealed that the company’s freshly-rebranded Outlook.com managed to attract one million users in just a few hours. Windows 8 has been released to manufacturing, which is the last step in development before Microsoft releases the OS to its OEM partners. The long-awaited Kickstarter campaign for the Oculus Rift kicked off today too, and managed to hit its funding goal in just a few hours. Is virtual reality about to make a comeback, or will it just leave us with a headache again?

Finally, we’ve got a couple reviews to share with you this evening, like this review of the myTouch and myTouch Q from T-Mobile, and this one of the Nintendo 3DS XL. Enjoy the rest of your Wednesday evening, everyone!

SlashGear Evening Wrap-Up: August 1, 2012 is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Lenovo’s been racking up its IdeaTab portfolio with slates like the S2109 and S2110, but apparently there’s a lot more where that came from. The Chinese company’s currently showcasing two new US-bound, ICS-based IdeaTabs on its website, starting with the 7-inch A2107 which had previously made the rounds in China under a different moniker, and followed by a 9-inch (1280 x 800) A2109 that’s said to be “full size fun on a small budget.” Unfortunately, full spec and pricing details are relatively scarce at the moment, though Lenovo’s product page does tell us they should both be available at some point next month. For now, feel free to head over to the source link below if you’d like to give ’em a quick view.

Filed under: Tablet PCs

Lenovo teases IdeaTab A2107 and A2109, hints at September US availability originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Aug 2012 15:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple took top spot in worldwide PC shipments in Q2 2012, according to one research firm, making up almost 20-percent alone when tablets are lumped in with desktops and notebooks. Year-on-year growth for the Mac and iPad maker reached almost 60-percent to more than 21m units for the three month period, Canalys calculates, comfortably exceeding HP, Lenovo, Acer and Dell.

HP just squeezed into second place for the quarter, with a dwindling 0.4-percent marketshare lead over Lenovo in third place. HP’s share amounted to 12.5-percent, a fall of 11.3-percent compared to Q2 2011 when it held the top spot in shipments.

Lenovo mustered 12.1-percent and managed to make the biggest growth year-on-year, at 27-percent. Acer and Dell both sit below the 10-percent mark, Dell slipping from third place in Q2 2011 to fifth place this year.

iPad sales particularly helped Apple, pushing the company back to pole position. However, Samsung also did well, its Galaxy Tab shipments estimated to have doubled year-on-year, while ASUS made strong advances thanks to the sub-$400 TF300. That advantage is expected to continue now that the sub-$200 Nexus 7 is on the market.

The prospect for Windows PCs isn’t quite so rosy. Canalys isn’t convinced that Microsoft’s Surface will open any new doors, likely being low on profit potential as well as potentially damaging the company’s relationship with other Windows OEMs. “We expect the Surface pads to have a similar impact on the PC industry as the Zune did in portable music players” analyst Tim Coulling says ominously.

Apple tops Q2 computing and MS Surface will sink say analysts is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Back in June at Computex, we got to spend a little quality time with Lenovo’s forthcoming Windows 8 tablet — not too long after, the FCC got to play around a similarly specked device, as well. Now, courtesy of some leaked info, we’re seeing a slate from the company that looks awfully familiar. According to the spec sheet, which compares the product head-to-head with Apple’s iPad, the Windows 8 ThinkPad Tablet 2 will feature a 10.1-inch 1,366 x 768 IPS display, in excess of 10 hours of battery life and two cameras, including an eight megapixel one on the rear. Also on board is NFC and a fingerprint reader, all packed into a 9.8mm body. Oh, and in keeping with the Lenovo’s businessy focus, we’ve also got a glimpse of a very ThinkPad-looking keyboard dock, complete with the customary pointing stick. Check that out after the break.

Continue reading Leaked Lenovo Windows 8 ThinkPad Tablet 2 specs tip NFC, keyboard dock, uninspired name

Filed under: Tablet PCs

Leaked Lenovo Windows 8 ThinkPad Tablet 2 specs tip NFC, keyboard dock, uninspired name originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Aug 2012 10:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When we talk about the younger generation, most of the time, we would think of them being irresponsible with a dash of cheekiness, and who can blame them for their youthful optimism? There is a downside to that though, as some of them do take things in life lightly, and as such, getting them a shiny new device for their birthday might not be such a good idea. After all, with the number of scrapes and falls that your son or daughter had gone through over the years, do you think giving them a shiny new MacBook Pro is going to help slow them down? Woe to your wallet when they return home from school with a broken display on their MacBook Pro.

Well, here we are with Lenovo who has a heart to help out this particular group of consumers – with the latest release, the Lenovo ThinkPad X131e. Lenovo says that “we know from experience that students are our toughest customers – literally – and for that reason we make it a point to go above and beyond our standard ruggedness features in the laptops we introduce for education.” Let us see how far they have gone with this particular promise right after the jump.

Built specially for students using technologies which enhance classroom learning alongside a rugged design that is meant to meet the physical demands of the average school day and beyond, the Lenovo ThinkPad X131e will come in two choices where processor options are concerned – the Intel Core or the Celeron processors, where they are also accompanied by AMD E-Series Accelerated Processing Units (APUs) to deliver strong performance, Dolby Advanced Audio for rich and resonant sound so that your ears will also benefit from the experience, vibrant HD graphics and USB 3.0 connectivity – useful when it comes to transferring data in the blink of an eye.

Teachers, too, will fall in love with the Lenovo ThinkPad X131e simply because it also comes with a wireless activity LED indicator on its cover. This makes it easy for teachers to help identify those students who are connected to a Wi-Fi network in the classroom, checking out their Facebook account instead of working on that assignment. I can think of a few ways to circumvent this though, so while it is a nice thought, it might not work as intended due to the ingenuity of our youth these days.

Among the heavy duty features that can withstand the rigors of a student’s life include reinforced hinges, stainless steel hinge brackets, a tightly aligned keyboard, a dustless fan, a strengthened AC adapter cable, an enhanced HDD shock performance among others. It is rather affordable when you think about it – price start from $499 upwards.

Press Release

[ Lenovo ThinkPad X131e plays nice with students in classrooms copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]