Hasta La Gadget!

Elaborating from the battery-saving PRISM screen tech that we saw on Tegra 3 devices, the NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang showed off a new software-based touchscreen technology that allows you to use a simple capacitive stylus with a degree of pressure-based input. Showing of his writing skills at Computex on an experimental 7-inch tablet, he used a simple (ie. non-digitizer) stylus to write at several different thicknesses, utilizing a flat surface at the other end of the pen to erase any mistakes — there’s sensitivity to the millimeter, apparently. NVIDIA reckons this will improve battery life while using the stylus and offers a high detection rate (thanks to the software-based processes) for slick, curved lines. The primary hardware necessary? No less than NVIDIA’s new Tegra 4 chip, of course, and DirectTouch. Check out the gallery of the stylus in action below, and we can expect the company to elaborate on which devices will house the feature in the near-future.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Software, Mobile, NVIDIA

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Promising to transform our devices and our lives, Jonny Shih revealed the Transformer Pad Infinity to a packed press room here at Computex 2013. Its 10.1-inch screen packs a potent 2,560 x 1,600 resolution, alongside a quad-core Tegra 4 chip clocked at 1.9GHz, USB 3.0 port, Bluetooth 3.0 and, whoa, 4K output via HDMI. There’s 32GB of internal storage, residing inside a spun metallic-finished that’s very similar to the current Zenbook series and last-generation Infinity tablets, while you’ll get an SD slot through its companion dock too. We’re waiting on more specifics (namely something closer to a date and pricing) and we’ll let you know here when we hear ’em. For now, a quick hands-on video and some impressions are right after the break.

Filed under: Tablets, ASUS

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The Envy x2 has never been our favorite Windows 8 tablet, but that hasn’t stopped HP from selling loads of them. The device has been such a success, in fact, that the company is expanding the x2 series to make room for two follow-on products: the Split x2 (a Windows 8 hybrid) and the SlateBook x2 (an Android tablet). Starting with the Split (pictured above), this is the first time HP’s made a laptop / tablet hybrid with a laptop processor inside, though Microsoft and others have of course done this already. In brief, it’s a 13-inch slate with a 1,366 x 768 display and your choice of Core i3 or i5 CPU (these are Intel’s Y-series Ivy Bridge chips we’re talking about). As you’d expect, the keyboard dock packs a second battery, though it also makes room for an optional 500GB hard drive to complement the SSD inside the actual tablet. Other specs include two USB ports (one 2.0, one 3.0), HDMI, Beats Audio, WiDi and expansion slots for both microSD and full SD cards.

The SlateBook (shown below) is a 10-inch tablet with a Tegra 4 chip — one of the first to be announced by any company, in fact. Though it’s a companion to the $169 Slate 7, it packs considerably higher-end specs. There’s that Tegra 4 SoC, for one, as well as a 1,920 x 1,200, 400-nit IPS display and the latest version of Jelly Bean (4.2.2). As with other dockable tablets, its keyboard has a battery built in. Here, though, the keyboard also includes a shortcut for Google voice search. There’s even a laptop-style trackpad supporting multitouch gestures — a rarity on products like this. The hardware itself weighs about 2.8 pounds in total, with a spec list that includes two USB sockets, stereo speakers and SD / microSD readers. Both products will be available in August, with the Split x2 priced at $800 and the SlateBook x2 going for $480 (docks included). Now all we need are some battery life claims. In the meantime, check out our hands-on photos below. (Pssst: the Split unit we photographed was just a mockup.)

Filed under: Tablets, HP

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OUYA and NVIDIA have a kind of love thing going on right now. The $99 Android-powered game console designed by Yves Béhar’s fuseproject is powered by NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 — this much we already know. What we didn’t know is that the folks at OUYA are working directly with a team of folks at NVIDIA on the project, and that NVIDIA is helping the company to max out its Tegra 3 processor for use on a console rather than a mobile (no battery dependency means the little chip can go much further than usual).

“The partner that we’ve worked the most with, that is incredibly supportive of developers, NVIDIA, they have multiple people on their team dedicated to our account,” OUYA CEO Julie Uhrman told is in a recent interview. She was responding to a question regarding partnerships the company’s forged to make OUYA a reality, such as the aforementioned involvement with Béhar’s fuseproject studio. Despite the OUYA running Google’s mobile OS, Uhrman said, “We haven’t worked very much with Google.” As for NVIDIA, however, the American chipmaker is going all in, helping the OUYA to be the, “best Tegra 3 device on the market,” according to Uhrman.

That praise isn’t all one-sided, of course; NVIDIA had praise to heap as well. “We have a dedicated team working with OUYA to ensure that Tegra 3’s performance is being maximized. They’ve been amazing to work with,” NVIDIA senior VP of Content and Technology Tony Tamasi told us. “The rich catalog of optimized and differentiated TegraZone games — along with the work being done with developers — ensures a flourishing ecosystem is in place and continues to grow.” That support is unlikely to end with this year’s OUYA. Uhrman said her company’s console, unlike the big three console manufacturers, will launch anew annually, following the mobile model. And that model means beefier internals, such as NVIDIA’s Tegra 4, announced just over a month ago at CES. In so many words, we very much expect NVIDIA and OUYA’s lovefest to continue.

Filed under: Gaming, HD, NVIDIA

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You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

Continue reading The Daily Roundup for 01.09.2013

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