Hasta La Gadget!

Oh Michael, such a teaser you are. Word has it that the head honcho of Dell Inc. has just pulled out yet another Android tablet from his pocket, only this time it’s a 7-inch whopper. Sadly, Mr. Dell left us high and dry with dates and specs (and the lack of photos from the event doesn’t help, either), but we’ll bet you that this is the long-rumored Looking Glass. On a more solid note, Dell also announced that the smaller Streak is heading to Best Buy next month. That’s great, except some of us would rather see the tabletphone getting its share of Froyo sooner — here’s hoping that this bigger tablet won’t disappoint us with an outdated OS.

Update: As it just so happens, Reuters snapped a pic of Mr. Dell himself holding the tablet on stage, and sure enough, it resembles that leaked Looking Glass even from quite a distance away.

Michael Dell teases new 7-inch Android tablet, says Streak to land in Best Buy next month (update: pic) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Sep 2010 15:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Wall Street Journal, ABC  | Email this | Comments

Despite perennial delays that have mysteriously kept every slate of note from formally shipping out, there are actually a surprising number of Tegra 2 tablets floating around. Like this 10-inch Malata SMB-A1011, for instance, which seems to be very closely related to Hannspree tablet and the Interpad — all 1GHz, 1024 x 600 tablets with theoretically fabulous spec sheets including Froyo and HDMI-out. We found the device sitting alone and unloved at Allegorithmic’s texture compression booth, but after spending a few minutes of quality time we figured out why — though the Tegra 2 T20 was plenty powerful enough to tilt windmills in real time, build quality was severely lacking.

Though not light by any stretch of the imagination, the chassis nonetheless flexed when we picked it up, and we nearly dropped it more than once due to the lack of a good place to grip. There’s no stand of any sort to prop it up on a table, but the screen’s viewing angles are so poor (especially in the vertical directions) as to completely wash out or darken the screen when we set it down… and at least a half-dozen times the capacitive multitouch digitizer totally failed to respond to our finger. Though Froyo looked clean and had plenty of real estate to work with, the official Google suite of apps (and the Android Market) were lacking, often a major concern even on quality Android devices, and possibly the nail in the coffin for this one at the €399 (about $528) that Hannspree and E-Noa figure their versions are worth. Take a gander at the half-baked hardware yourself in our gallery immediately below, and for Tegra’s sake pray that things improve before the Malata hits the market.

Malata’s SMB-A1011 Tegra 2 tablet spotted at GTC 2010, we go hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Sep 2010 12:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Android phones and their eternal struggle to get the latest version update, it’s a book that needs to be written. It was only last night that we were hearing that the Froyo upgrade for Spanish Galaxy S users would be pushed back till late October, yet today our emotions are swung back the other way by news of T-Mobile UK promising the exact same update by the end of this month. If our solar calendars are accurate, that means there’ll be no more than a 10-day wait left for T-Mo customers using this 4-incher. We’ll bug the other UK networks as well to see whether their 2.2 updates are in the mail or still lost somewhere in the frozen isle.

Continue reading Samsung Galaxy S meets Froyo by month’s end for T-Mobile UK customers

Samsung Galaxy S meets Froyo by month’s end for T-Mobile UK customers originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Sep 2010 09:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  T-Mobile UK  | Email this | Comments

Good way to start Wednesday, indeed. Right on schedule (and not a minute too soon), the over-the-air Android 2.2 (aka Froyo) update for Motorola Droid X has started propagating the radio waves. We’ve received dozens of tips already, from those who both checked manually and received notification in the status bar. In addition to a new Android, there’s also improves visual voicemail with Bluetooth support, a refreshed mobile hotspot app, and a fix to prevent data connections from dropping as you move between WiFi and 3G coverage. Go on, check your phone now — and don’t forget to pick up the new Gmail when you’re done updating.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Motorola Droid X now getting OTA Android 2.2 update originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Sep 2010 00:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Samsung’s indicated in the past that all versions of its ubiquitous Galaxy S would be getting Froyo upgrades in harmony (more or less) — and it had also indicated that those updates would be happening in September. Well, you know how these things tend to go: plans change, bugs crop up, engineers go on vacation at inopportune times, and delays happen. On that note, Samsung Mobile’s Spanish division is now saying that the Galaxy S will be getting Froyo in “late October” through the Kies desktop app, though we don’t know whether España speaks for the rest of the world — it’s entirely possible that this is a Spain-specific announcement. More on this one as we get it, but for now, we wouldn’t count on many (if any) of these bad boys getting official updates in the next few days.

Samsung Mobile Spain pegs Galaxy S update for late October originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Sep 2010 16:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink oled-display.net  |  Samsung Mobile España (Facebook)  | Email this | Comments