Hasta La Gadget!

If you’ve been following the ongoing saga of Dell’s Streak, you’ve probably already read our review of O2 UK’s version — thing is, the British perspective can be very different from the Yankee one (we didn’t see eye-to-eye during the War of 1812, for instance). To that end, we wanted to circle back now that the gargantuan Android beast is finally coming close to a US release and get another quick take.

As a refresher, this thing matches or exceeds the specs you’d expect to find on any modern high-end smartphone in most respects, starting with a 1GHz Snapdragon core, a 5 megapixel camera with dual LED flash, 850 / 1900MHz 3G for use on AT&T, Rogers, Bell, and Telus, and 2GB of internal storage coupled with a bundled and pre-installed 16GB microSDHC card. Where the Streak sets itself far, far apart from the crowd, though, is with an absolutely enormous 5-inch capacitive touchscreen at 800 x 480 resolution. Needless to say, it’s a polarizing feature — and for many, it’ll singlehandedly determine whether the phone is a buy or a no-buy.

Our original review ultimately concluded that the Streak was a promising device in need of an update from Android 1.6 to Froyo. On second look, does our American reviewer agree? Read on.

Continue reading Dell Streak review redux: thoughts from the New World

Dell Streak review redux: thoughts from the New World originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Jul 2010 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Asus is working on a 3G Eee Pad tablet computer, and it will run on Google’s Android operating system. Our friends from the German site Netbook News headed over to Asus HQ and got the details.

The Eee Pad was originally slated to use Windows CE, but has dropped that in favor of whichever flavor of Android will be available at launch. And talking of launch dates, we’re looking at the beginning of next year, by which time Android 3.0 (Gingerbread) should be ready. And the 3G part? Asus will be handing off testing units to telcos in December, so if all goes to plan a Q1 Eee Pad looks good.

Android is likely to be the OS of choice amongst tablet-makers (apart from HP, with its newly acquired webOS and Apple, of course). It’s free, it is designed for mobile devices and above all it doesn’t have to fight against an incumbent Windows market. One of the problems with the first wave of Linux netbooks was their lack of familiarity: people buying cheap computers were used to Windows. This problem doesn’t yet exist with tablets, so Android may in fact become the next Windows.

ASUS EP101TC Now Shipping with Android [Netbooks News. Thanks, Sascha!]

Image: Netbooks News

See Also:

• Asus Eee Pad Tablet 'Inspired by Rumors'
• Asus, MSI Tablets Lead the Charge Against the iPad

Liu Jun, Senior VP and President of Lenovo’s Consumer Business Group, has revealed his company’s intention to deliver an Android tablet by the end of this year. To be known as LePad, this apparent resurrection of the Skylight / U1 Hybrid R&D effort seems destined to follow LePhone in seeking its fortunes in China first before expanding out to the rest of the world. Lenovo’s chairman did recently note that Apple’s relative inaction toward mainland China creates opportunities for others, so this may well represent the IdeaPad maker’s play for that burgeoning market. Of course, we’d love to be wrong and see a simultaneous release around the world — it’s about time the iPad got some legitimate competition in the slate realm.

Lenovo promises LePad Android tablet for the end of the year originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Jul 2010 04:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  PC World  | Email this | Comments

Okay, this one’s a complete and very welcome surprise — some extremely blurry pictures and a quick video of what appears to be a smaller Motorola portrait QWERTY Android slider for Verizon just popped up on the Chinese Hiapk forums — and yes, it’s got the glowing red Droid eye. We’re not sure if that means the Droid line is about to get a smaller midrange sibling or what, but Motorola’s definitely pushing out some of the more interesting Android form factors lately, and this mini Droid certainly fits right in with the Flipout and the Charm. A couple more shots and the video after the break.

Continue reading Motorola mini Droid slider caught by Mr. Blurrycam

Motorola mini Droid slider caught by Mr. Blurrycam originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Jul 2010 15:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Android and Me  |  Hiapk forums  | Email this | Comments

“What’s this?” a girl at a party asked, as I handed her my phone. She touched a square, and everything flipped away. “It’s Microsoft’s brand new phone. Kind of like a fresh start,” I explained. “Oh. It’s… neat.” More »