Hasta La Gadget!

You didn’t think that Acer wouldn’t be sharing some of its new tablets with its still-kicking Packard Bell subsidiary, did you? The latter has now debuted the Liberty Tab, its own spin on Acer’s Iconia Tab A500. As you might expect, however, there aren’t many differences beyond the name, with this one packing the same styling, 10-inch screen, Tegra 2 processor, dual cameras, and Honeycomb OS as its more widely-available counterpart. Launch details are still a bit iffy, but you can apparently expect this one to hit Europe sometime in June, with pricing to vary by country. Head on past the break for a hands-on video courtesy of Notebook Italia.

[Thanks, Marco]

Continue reading Packard Bell debuts Liberty Tab Honeycomb tablet, clearly adores freedom

Packard Bell debuts Liberty Tab Honeycomb tablet, clearly adores freedom originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 09 Apr 2011 09:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Like it or not, it’s a Big Red kind of day. The latest VZW news to splash down in our inbox is the shot you see above — the first hint of promotional material surrounding Samsung’s Droid Charge. If you’ll recall, this phone began its (public) life at CES 2011 sans a name, but as a source correctly predicted, the name shown above will be the one that sticks. Proving that the Atrix 4G setup was more than just a fluke, Sammy’s also showcasing a must-have peripheral: the multimedia desktop dock. Said accessory ships with a built-in battery charger and spare cell, but with no apparent signs of a video output, we’re having a hard time getting too hot and bothered.

Samsung’s Droid Charge spotted in leaked promo material, multimedia dock in tow originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Apr 2011 15:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony Ericsson debuted its Xperia Arc smartphone, pictured above, at this year\’s Consumer Electronics Show in January. Photo courtesy of Sony Ericsson

Sony Ericsson’s Xperia line of Android smartphones were set to launch this spring. The earthquake that struck Japan last month, however, has delayed a wide release of the Xperia Neo model till the fall.

“Due to supply chain disruptions resulting from the situation in Japan, we have shifted the timing of Xperia Neo’s broader launch,” a spokesperson from Sony Ericsson told Wired.com. The phone is now scheduled to be released in the fall.

Sony Ericsson also stated that “some volume” of Xperia Arc and Xperia Play phones were affected by the quake, although the company declined to state whether the global releases of either phone would be impeded. The Xperia Play — an Android-based smartphone capable of running Playstation games which can be downloaded from the Android Market — was released in Europe in April, as well as the Xperia Arc.

Sony Ericsson says it will address the delays further in its April 19 financial results conference call.

With its 3.7-inch touchscreen, the Xperia Neo is the veritable younger brother to the Xperia Arc (which measures in with a 4.2-inch screen). But the Neo and the Arc share many of the same specs under their hoods — both come with 8 gigs of microSD card storage, an 8-megapixel back facing camera, and a 1-GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor running the latest version of Android for phones, 2.3 (Gingerbread).

The Neo will retail for 400 GBP in the UK, or about $650 US.

See Also:

• Sony Ericsson Xperia Play Hands-On
• Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc, a Slim Gingerbread Phone
• Hands-On With Sony Ericsson's Xperia Arc Smartphone
• Sony Ericsson W890i

In this week’s Gadget Lab podcast, the usual dorks gawk at a homemade gear composed of möbius strips. It’s probably not very useful, but it sure looks awesome.

We shift gears into the debate on whether Google’s Android operating system is “open” or “closed.” Google is holding off on opening the source code for Honeycomb, a version of Android for tablets. We think it’s a good idea for Google to exert some control to avoid hardware fragmentation.

Speaking of Google, the company inserted a clever Easter egg in its search engine: Search for the word Tilt, and you’ll get a little surprise. An extra surprise is that the search brings up an outdated AT&T ad for the Tilt cellphone, which is no longer available.

Last, we zoom in on Uber, an extremely cool startup using iPhone and Android apps to run a car service. Booking an Uber car is simple: Launch the app and tap a button to request a ride. However, under the hood, Uber is an extremely complex operation, crunching crazy mathematical algorithms to station drivers effectively throughout the city.

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Like the show? You can also get the Gadget Lab video podcast on iTunes, or if you don’t want to be distracted by our unholy on-camera talent, check out the Gadget Lab audio podcast. Prefer RSS? You can subscribe to the Gadget Lab video or audio podcast feeds.

Or listen to the audio here:

Gadget Lab audio podcast #111

http://downloads.wired.com/podcasts/assets/gadgetlabaudio/GadgetLabAudio0111.mp3

Smartphone apps are great for controlling things like GPS and cameras, but what if you need to add a bit of gear that isn’t built into your handset? Enter the IOIO (pronounced “yoyo”). This little board lets Android developers interface with any number of electronics components through Java, the language used to write Android apps. Think of it like an Arduino for your cell phone: it makes it possible to control anything connected to the little board using an app on the phone. It doesn’t even require any modification to the phone’s hardware or firmware. Your warranty remains intact if you want to tinker around with homemade phone accessories.

Created by DIY-er Ytai in Tel Aviv, the device is coming to the online retailer Sparkfun soon. When the board ships, Ytai has promised to open source the hardware and software behind it with a “very permissive license,” so if you decide to monetize your weekend project, it might not be out of the cards. It’ll be absolutely fascinating to see what inspired developers do with this board if it has anywhere close to the same impact as the Arduino. And hardware hackers, if you’re listening, an iCade for Android would be pretty nice.

[via Make, Ytai]