Hasta La Gadget!

Welcome to Engadget’s back to school guide! The end of summer vacation isn’t nearly as much fun as the weeks that come before, but a chance to update your tech tools likely helps to ease the pain. Today, we’re leaning back with our tablets — and you can head to the back to school hub to see the rest of the product guides as they’re added throughout the month. Be sure to keep checking back — at the end of August we’ll be giving away a ton of the gear featured in our guides — you can hit up the hub page right here!

Your back may be straining from the textbooks, laptop, gym gear and lunch in that dangling overstuffed messenger, but you’re still gonna want to save room for one more item — a tablet. After all, while you can surf, tweet, play games and watch video from your other devices, there’s nothing like doing it from a simple glass window that sits in the palm of your hand. As the hardware gets more powerful, these devices are rapidly becoming versatile enough to let you justify leaving the laptop at home on less-intensive days, so why not check out our picks of the finest devices you should be using and abusing before, during and after class.

Continue reading Engadget’s back to school guide 2012: tablets

Filed under: Tablet PCs

Engadget’s back to school guide 2012: tablets originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Aug 2012 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Acer executives have criticized Microsoft’s decision to build its own tablet in the past, but now the firm’s CEO has offered Redmond a more direct warning. “We have said [to Microsoft] think it over,” Acer CEO JT Wang told the Financial Times. “Think Twice. It will create a huge negative impact for the ecosystem and other brands may take a negative reaction.” Microsoft has acknowledged Surface’s potential to frustrate its OEM partners, telling the Security and Exchange Commission that competing directly with manufactures might “affect their commitment” to the firm’s platform. Not only does Wang agree with this admission, he seems worried that Microsoft will cause this damage for nothing. “It is not something you are good at,” he continued, “so please think twice.” Polite, but a bit bold. Then again, Acer has never been shy about telling Microsoft exactly what it thinks.

Filed under: Tablet PCs

CE-Oh no he didn’t!: Acer’s JT Wang tells Microsoft to ‘think twice’ about Surface originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Aug 2012 01:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung and LG have already embraced the tiny-tablet form factor. It only makes sense that HTC would want to carve out a niche of this niche for themselves. Rumors of a five-inch HTC device have been circulating for some time, but now a report from DigiTimes is lending some credence to those murmurings, and a mysterious handset from the Taiwanese manufacturer has popped up over at GLBenchmark. According to unnamed sources the company has been working on a flagship level (One XXL?) device with a stunning 1,794 x 1,080 display, due to be released in either September or October. If you’re taking that claim with a grain of salt, we don’t blame you. But, an entry for the HTC 6435LVW that just popped up at GLBenchmark.com seems to fit the bill pretty nicely. It has the same listed resolution, which we assume is actually a 1,920 x 1,080 panel with room set aside for Android’s soft keys. The device info has it running ICS, version 4.0.4 to be specific, on a 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 — which should make it quite the powerful piece of hardware. The software build also singles it out as a Verizon handset, which means it’ll be packing an LTE radio as well. Whether the rumored stylus is included, a la the Flyer, remains to be seen, but, we shouldn’t have to wait much longer to find out for sure.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablet PCs

Rumored HTC Verizon phablet may land soon, with 1080p screen and 1.5GHz Snapdragon originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Aug 2012 17:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you were hoping that you could force Windows 8 to bypass the don’t-call-it-Metro homescreen and boot straight to the familiar desktop you’ve come to know and love, we’ve got bad news. Word on the street is, Microsoft has removed this ability from the latest builds of the OS — so you’re gonna have to stare at a pile of tiles when you boot up, whether you like it or not. According to Rafael Rivera, one of the authors of Windows 8 Secrets, there is a work around that involves creating a shortcut to the desktop and scheduling it to run at boot. But, it appears that even enterprise customers will be blocked from making the standard desktop the default environment. While Redmond is no doubt implementing such a policy to enforce consistency, it could prove to be a source of frustration for big businesses, which are notoriously resistant to change. We’ll just have to wait for the final release to find out for sure.

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops, Tablet PCs, Software

Windows 8 may not let you boot to the desktop, demands you accept not-Metro originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Aug 2012 15:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Like web peanut butter, the Stitcher List site is a tasty way to find popular radio streams but was begging to be stirred into the chocolate of the main Stitcher Radio app. Luckily, that confection is now done and can be downloaded in iOS or Android flavors from each platform’s store. The list addition lets you see popular podcasts or streams ranked in their category’s top 50; new programs trending fast; and the most popular shows on social media. All that will work together with the main app, which serves up internet radio choices based on your personal fancies — and of course, will still let your friends admire your software-enhanced sense of taste via Twitter.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablet PCs, Software

Stitcher List burrows into Radio app, gets you in the loop quicker originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Aug 2012 12:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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