Hasta La Gadget!

We’ve seen our fair share of budget tablets from the Augens, Cobys, and Viewsonics of the world over the last six months, but let’s not forget that before everyone and their mother jumped into the cheap-o Android tablet pool, Archos was already in the shallow end with its own sub-$200 tablets. But, while the company was first to market, products like the Archos 5 and 7 Home Tablet certainly weren’t anything to wait in line for — they both packed slow processors, resistive displays, and ran outdated versions of Google’s mobile OS. Whether it was the mediocre reviews or the competition coming up behind them, the French company knew it was time to step it up, and its Archos 70 and 101 attempt to right all those wrongs. The 7- and 10-inch tablet both have Android 2.2, 1GHz ARM Cortex A8 processors, and capacitive screens. Oh, and don’t forget the front-facing VGA cameras. With each ringing up at $299, has Archos finally mastered the art of the cheap tablet? Find out in our full review!

Continue reading Archos 70 and 101 Internet Tablet review

Archos 70 and 101 Internet Tablet review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Dec 2010 12:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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• EX-01 Homme ($15) Entering the boardroom at 8:30 AM – everyone awaits a decision. Mentally going over the broader picture. Calmly sitting down at the end of the table. Placing the phone quietly on its black glass surface. Time: 8:31. Let the meeting begin.
• F-01 M’elle ($7) Strolling down Rue Saint-Florentin. New dress: Check. Artichokes: Check. Hometown Crémant: Check. All is ready. Thinking about his smile on the last date. Loving the scent of vanilla from the bakery across the road. 7:10 PM. Incoming text message: “Chéri – Can’t wait to see you tonight.”
• M-01 Jaune ($3) Finally got around to reading Fritz Neumeyer’s essay on Mies Van Der Rohe. 3:05 PM, Sunday afternoon – Coldplay in the background. Sitting comfortably with a tall glass of Chablis. The patterns of rain on the terrace windows are simply amazing. Page 122.
• M-02 Verte (Coming soon!) 12:30 PM, Singapore. Lunch break at the School of Art & Design. On the rooftop enjoying a Katong Laksa. Green as far as the eye can see. Remembering a Murakami sentence. Watching a plane go by. How time flies. Have to return to the lecture. Guess that’s ok.

At this point you’re probably asking yourself if this is all a joke, or if these guys are serious — and to be honest, we can’t tell either. But we do know this: $15 is quite a lot to spend on a watch app, even if it does display hours, minutes, and seconds. PR after the break.

Continue reading Moine-Garde offers finely rendered watch apps for indiscriminate Android owners

Moine-Garde offers finely rendered watch apps for indiscriminate Android owners originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Dec 2010 13:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We were expecting to see a slew of new Google TV-powered displays and boxes at CES in a couple of weeks, but now The New York Times is reporting the list of new product partners at the show may be much shorter than expected. The cause is reported to be Google’s last minute decision to ask for more time to work on its software first, resulting in no new hardware from LG, Sharp and Toshiba at the show, leaving only Samsung and VIZIO to show off their products. The always popular unnamed sources now peg timing for the next full fledged assault of Google TV hardware as after the company completes updates including the addition of the Android Market some time next year. Of course, Chrome OS and Honeycomb already provide plenty of examples of a disconnect between the good folks at Mountain View and their hardware partners, but with some already casting doubt on the platform’s potential, and the company’s ability to work out licensing deals with Hollywood, it’d be good to see more than last week’s partial facelift as a sign of what is to come.

NYT: Next batch of Google TV devices delayed, pending software updates originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 19 Dec 2010 22:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You had to know the hacking community was going to have a field day with the Nook Color — a $249 Android Tablet hiding behind with a thin e-reader coating. Indeed it didn’t take long to get rooted nor for Android 2.2 to get installed on there, but that particular hack comes with an interesting potential side-effect: small-scale thermonuclear explosions. Enabling FroYo requires disabling the device’s battery monitoring process, the very one that would be responsible for shutting down the device before the cells start overheating and, ultimately, going critical. Yeah it’s unlikely, but it could happen. Meanwhile, another hack has enabled the Android Market, but those instructions begin with a very daunting warning: “Very smart people have failed at this. If the following instructions confuse you, you might want to wait until an easier method has been developed.”

And, thankfully, there might be a much easier way coming, with Barnes & Noble reportedly telling Smartphone Mag that Android 2.2 will be officially coming to the Nook Color in January. Yes, Android 2.3 is what’s happening, but this is still an exciting upgrade as it will finally also allow access to a traditional Android home screen and even enable the Android Market.

Update: Okay, cancel that order for an asbestos carrying case. One of the developers of the Nook Color root wrote in to let us know that there is a secondary temperature monitor which should keep things below the ignition point. Hack away — or just wait a month.

Update 2: Barnes & Noble PR just got back to us to reiterate that Nook Color’s own shop will begin adding apps in early 2011 and that there are currently no plans to enable Android Market. Move along, nothing to see here, folks.

[Thanks, Ryan]

Nook Color getting Android 2.2 and Market in January, current hacks could make it blow up? (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Dec 2010 10:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hey, Google just rolled out Gmail for Android 2.3.2, which improves support for Priority Inbox and adds in a couple much-needed compose and send options. Priority Inbox gets some buffed-up views and controls to change importance settings, and Gmail can now send a notification upon receipt of an important email, which is incredibly cool. Even better, the compose screen now lets you specify any sending address you’ve setup in desktop Gmail, which is a slice of pure email heaven for those of us who juggle multiple accounts from one inbox. You can also respond to messages inline now and swap between reply, reply-all, and forward much more easily. Best of all, if you’re running Froyo you can hit that QR code and go grab the update right now since Google broke Gmail out into a Market app — no need to wait for your pokey manufacturer / carrier to roll out Gingerbread. (Then again, if you’re still waiting for Froyo you might not be quite as pleased.) Ain’t modularity grand?

Gmail for Android update improves Priority Inbox, adds additional compose and send options originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Dec 2010 16:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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