Aigo’s surprisingly sexy 7-inch N700 tablet packs Android 2.1 and Tegra 2

Go ‘head Aigo! Get down with your bad self. Quite frankly, we never anticipated Aigo / Patriot to come through with a me-too tablet that actually made us take a second glance, but darn if this one isn’t quite the looker. And that’s before you’ve even had a moment to digest the specifications sheet. According to new details surfacing in China, this 7-inch machine will hum along on a 1GHz ARM Cortex A9 processor and feature NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 graphics chipset. There’s also 512MB of DDR2 memory, an 800 x 480 pixel multitouch display, 4/16/32GB of inbuilt storage, a USB socket, microSD slot, HDMI output, inbuilt WiFi, optional 3G WWAN, audio in / out and a 3,120mAh battery. Android 2.1 will be the OS of choice, but crucial details surrounding price and availability are sorely missing. Call us crazy, but we’ll actually be keeping an eye out for specifics on both.

Update: Well, what do you know? Seems as if this here device may in fact be a Compal NAZ-10 in disguise, and if this YouTube video is to be believed, it’ll boast 16 hours of HD video playback on a single charge and a $300 price tag. Can you say “tempting?” Thanks, Alain!

Aigo’s surprisingly sexy 7-inch N700 tablet packs Android 2.1 and Tegra 2 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 May 2010 03:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink ChiniTech  |  sourcePC Pop  | Email this | Comments

Apple purchases Intrinsity, just 498 more ARM licensees to go

With P.A. Semi under its belt, and now “people familiar with the deal” reporting to The New York Times that a purchase of Intrinsity is a go, Apple’s march to ARM preeminence is becoming much more clear. A rumor about an Intrinsity purchase surfaced a few weeks ago when the processor design firm’s website went down and a few of its employees switched their LinkedIn employee status over to Apple, but now we’ve got some solid confirmation — though Apple and Intrinsity are still staying tight-lipped about the deal. Intrinsity’s rumored contribution to the iPad’s A4 chip is a modified A8 core it designed dubbed the Hummingbird, which squeezes 1GHz of performance out of a chip regularly limited to a mere 650MHz. It’s unlikely that this acquisition will shed much more light on the internals of the iPad or future Apple devices — in fact, it might help obfuscate them — but it’s clear that Apple is dead set on owning as much IP and “smart people” in relation to ARM as it can muster. Of course, the next big rumor on this front is a purchase of ARM itself, but that’s an entirely different can of worms.

Apple purchases Intrinsity, just 498 more ARM licensees to go originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Apr 2010 17:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceThe New York Times  | Email this | Comments

TomTom Go Live 1000 to offer capacitive touchscreen, WebKit-based UI

TomTom has just outed its new flagship PND, the Go Live 1000, and wouldn’t you know it, it’s the first of the company’s stable to offer a capacitive touchscreen. This comes mere days after Garmin updated its lineup with capacitive options. The 1000 is a little slimmer than its predecessors, but its major feature is “instant” route planning and re-planning once it has a satellite lock — the industry’s fastest. Achieved using a custom-built Broadcom GPS module, that capability is backed up by a 500MHz ARM11 CPU (yawn), 4GB of storage, 128MB of RAM, a new WebKit-based UI, and 12 months of free TomTom Live services. Beginning in June, this suite of services will be rolled out to 33 countries across Europe, featuring local information about petrol prices, services and weather, while its headline HD Traffic — which tracks congestion on secondary roads as well as motorways — and safety camera alert features will come to only 16 nations. It’s a decent year-long freebie to have and TomTom promises it’ll cost less than €50 ($67) per annum thereafter. That’s more reasonable than the previous $9.95 monthly cost, but still not price-competitive with Google and Nokia’s offerings. There’s also a SIM card slot, but don’t expect to be developing new modes of sidetalking, it’s most likely there purely to facilitate all those data transactions. Check out the new UI in the gallery below and expect the TomTom Go 1000 Live to show up in Europe some time this summer.

Continue reading TomTom Go Live 1000 to offer capacitive touchscreen, WebKit-based UI

TomTom Go Live 1000 to offer capacitive touchscreen, WebKit-based UI originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Apr 2010 06:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung’s ARM roadmap lays coordinates through 2013: Aquila, Venus, and Draco (oh my)

Ah, leaked company presentation slides, they have a clarity only Mr. Blurrycam would despise. EETimes got a batch of them from Samsung dated November 2009 making the rounds, but more important than revealing its equal love for both Roman and Greek mythology, we get a glimpse at its then-planned ARM chip roadmap (yeah, another one) through 2013. In a nutshell, for the Cortex A9 crowd we’ve got the 800MHz dual core “Orion” due for mass production in Q1 2011, a 1GHz single core “Pegasus” for Q4 2011, a 1GHz dual core “Hercules” for Q1 2012, and for sometime in 2012 / 2013, a 1.2GHz dual core “Draco” and quad core “Aquila.” Fear not, Cortex A5 fanatics, you’ve got gifts as well, in the form of 600MHz single core “Mercury” and dual core “Venus” chips, slated for 2010 / 2011 and 2012 / 2013, respectively. We don’t expect the nomenclature to extend beyond internal usage, but frankly, who cares — it’s the devices that count, and unfortunately all we can do is doodle our future gadget hopes and dreams onto scraps of paper while we wait.

Samsung’s ARM roadmap lays coordinates through 2013: Aquila, Venus, and Draco (oh my) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Apr 2010 16:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Slashgear  |  sourceEETimes  | Email this | Comments

ARM CEO dampens talk of Apple acquisition, says ‘nobody has to buy the company’

Apple buying ARM may not seem like the likeliest of rumors, but talk of an acquisition has been enough to send ARM shares to their highest point since 2002, which has now prompted ARM CEO Warren East to comment on the matter. While he’s obviously pleased to see his company’s stock doing so well, East says that “common sense tells us that our standard business model is an excellent way for technology companies to gain access to our technology,” adding that, “nobody has to buy the company.” Of course, saying that nobody has to buy the company doesn’t exactly rule out the possibility of an acquisition — Apple or otherwise — and, last we checked, ARM’s stock was still edging up higher into positive territory, so dampening talk doesn’t seem to be dampening investors’ interest just yet.

ARM CEO dampens talk of Apple acquisition, says ‘nobody has to buy the company’ originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Apr 2010 18:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rumor: Apple to Consider Acquisition of ARM

clockApple is rumored to be considering a bid for ARM, the British company that designs the processors found in some smartphones including the iPhone, according to The London Evening Standard.

ARM’s share prices soared to an eight-year high on Wednesday as a result of the rumor, but ARM chief executive Warren East today told The Guardian that there was no necessity for the company, whose market capitalization stands at $4.6 billion, to be acquired.

“Exciting though it is to have the share price pushed up by these rumors, common sense tells us that our standard business model is an excellent way for technology companies to gain access to our technology,” East told the Guardian. “Nobody has to buy the company.”

However, that statement does not deny the rumor, as some publications have suggested. Companies sometimes use statements provided to the press to talk tough and indirectly negotiate with potential buyers, using ambiguous statements such as East’s.

The takeover offer is rumored to be in the $8 billion range, which would be 20 percent of Apple’s $41.7 billion cash reserves, as MacRumors’ Arnold Kim points out.

The benefits of such a buyout are, however, questionable. Some suggest Apple could acquire ARM to shut out competitors wishing to use the processor, but that wouldn’t prevent them from using mobile processors from other companies. Also, Apple purchased chipmaker PA Semi in April 2008, and Steve Jobs has said the purpose of that buyout was to make system-on chips for mobile devices.

“PA Semi is going to do system-on-chips for iPhones and iPods,” Jobs told NY Times in June 2008.

(A teardown of the iPad, however, reveals Apple is still using an ARM-designed processor.)

Also, Apple is ARM’s biggest customer, and ARM pockets royalties for every iPhone and iPad sold, as well as other mobile devices using ARM chips. Given those facts, an ARM acquistion does seem unnecessary indeed.

City aflame with takeover talk of ARM and Xtrata [London Evening Standard]

See Also:

Photo of a DIY digital clock equipped with an ARM processor: htomari/Flickr


Apple rumor roundup: Intrinsity behind the A4, ARM being eyed

Mama always said that downpours followed Spring showers, and sure enough, the Apple news has been flowing hot and heavy overnight. For starters, an IEEE Spectrum report has people talking once more about Intrinsity; if you’ll recall, rumors flared up earlier in the month about Apple nabbing said company, similar to the way it acquired P.A. Semi way back in the naughties. Now, it seems that round two of those whispers are gaining steam, with some analysts suggesting that without Intrinsity’s expertise, there was simply no way the silicon within the iPad could’ve been pushed to 1GHz in time for launch. In related news, we’re also hearing that Cupertino is interested in acquiring ARM Holdings, and considering just how much business Apple pushes ARM’s way, it’s not illogical to imagine Apple wanting to just bring ARM in-house. If the deal went down, Apple would obviously hold a huge amount of control over whether or not ARM chips ended up in rival products, and if it yanked those Cortex slabs out from the market place, you can bet there would be a mad scramble to create a competitive portfolio to serve those suddenly chip-less product makers. Finally, a new iPhone OS 4 (beta 2) video has surfaced, giving the world a solid look at a new circular side-swapped animation that occurs when switching apps — head on past the break to check it out, and give those links below a visit for more of that succulent nitty-gritty.

Continue reading Apple rumor roundup: Intrinsity behind the A4, ARM being eyed

Apple rumor roundup: Intrinsity behind the A4, ARM being eyed originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Apr 2010 07:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceLondon Evening Standard, Apple Insider, IEEE Spectrum  | Email this | Comments

Sharp’s NetWalker PC-T1 is the very definition of a MID, coming in May

You’ll recall, wise and knowledgeable as you are, that we weren’t exactly bowled over by Sharp’s keyboard-equipped PC-Z1 portable when we got to play with it at IFA last year. Coming back for another bite at the cherry, the Japanese company has just announced the NetWalker PC-T1, which does away with the disappointing keyboard but retains the crazy pixel density (1024 x 600 resolution on a 5-inch display) and Freescale i.MX515 CPU of its predecessor. Also on offer are Bluetooth and 802.11b/g wireless options, Ubuntu 9.04 as the OS, and USB and MicroSD ports for a nice bit of expandability. An Anglo-Japanese dictionary comes pre-installed plus you’ll get access to Sharp’s e-bookstore, which has over 25,000 titles on offer. Of course, all that good stuff is tempered by a mediocre 6-hour battery life and a ¥47,000 ($510) price tag. Look for this MID archetype to hit stores in Japan next month.

Sharp’s NetWalker PC-T1 is the very definition of a MID, coming in May originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Apr 2010 04:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink PC Watch Impress  |  sourceSharp  | Email this | Comments

GPNC Korea announces the first me-too Android HDTV

Anyone opposed to another Android packing TV announced by a foreign manufacturer of questionable validity? We figured you weren’t, so say hello to GPNC Korea’s television running Android 1.5 on a 833 Mhz ARM Cortex A8 chip. While it’s claiming NTSC and ATSC support among other broadcast standards, the USA doesn’t appear to have made the cut for availability, with 10 different countries including Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Poland, Australia and Dubai. Practically identical to People of Lava’s effort, it is slated for 42-, 47- and 55-inch LED-backlit versions with no real price or date, and even this promo pic looks very familiar. GPNC managed to keep the screen clear of error messages this time, but its website is flagged by Google as “dangerous” so we’d probably wait for something more official before making any attempts to preorder. At this rate, these TVs will be as ubiquitous as Android/ARM tablets before long — let’s hope Sony and Intel spill the details on those Google TV plans sooner rather than later.

GPNC Korea announces the first me-too Android HDTV originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Apr 2010 18:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Android Community  |  sourceAkihabara News  | Email this | Comments

ODROID tablet sports Hummingbird application processor, shows off naked dev edition on video

Time to add another candidate for the tablet portion of your gadget budget. The ODROID tablet — being developed by Hardkernel, the folks behind the ODROID portable console — has at its heart a 1GHz Samsung S5PC110 application processor. Also known as Hummingbird, this chip can drive 1080p video at 30fps according to Samsung, and its ability to deliver a flawlessly smooth user experience was demonstrated in our Galaxy S hands-on. It is an extremely promising core to build around, and the 10.1-inch capacitive touchscreen with 1,366 x 768 resolution and Android 2.1 inclusions are nothing to sniff at either. For now, all we have is the demo video after the break — starring your favorite tech blog — but we’ll surely keep an eye out for developments with this device. Particularly if the bezel matches the thin metal frame we’re seeing right now.

Continue reading ODROID tablet sports Hummingbird application processor, shows off naked dev edition on video

ODROID tablet sports Hummingbird application processor, shows off naked dev edition on video originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Apr 2010 09:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Netbook News  |  sourceYouTube  | Email this | Comments