Hasta La Gadget!

Lenovo has just announced the LePhone for the Chinese WCDMA market, available in May this year. Notable features include a vibrant 3.7-inch 800×480 capacitive touchscreen (not OLED, sadly), 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon, 3.5mm headphone jack, a camera on both the front and back (3 megapixels for the latter), A-GPS, WiFi (but no WAPI, strangely), removable battery and a proprietary 9-pin dock connector. Lovers of physical keyboards may be interested in the optional external keyboard — the way the phone snaps onto it is very similar to the IdeaPad U1 Hybrid‘s. On the software front the LePhone will have Android 1.6 (yeah, we know) which is somewhat enhanced with accelerometer-based gesture control (read: tilting) and, dare we say, a few design cues from the iPhone OS — the voice-call interface shown in the presentation video is a perfect example. There will also be a carrier-specific application store which Lenovo couldn’t demo at the event. Similarly, details on prices, carriers and plans of international launch were missing. Presentation and hands-on videos after the break.

Continue reading Lenovo announces LePhone Android device for China (update: hands-on video!)

Lenovo announces LePhone Android device for China (update: hands-on video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 19:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Buried in Panasonic’s flood of CES 2010 announcements is the official confirmation that DirecTV will be first in the U.S. to offer 3D TV. The three dedicated channels (PPV, DirecTV On Demand and a free 3D sample demo) offered at launch will be “presented by Panasonic” for the first year they’re on-air and available to all DirecTV HD customers via a software upgrade. Additional content partners include AEG/AEG Digital Media, CBS, Fox Sports/FSN, Golden Boy Promotions, HDNet, MTV, NBC Universal and Turner Broadcasting System — are we the only ones hoping the Mayweather/Pacquiao bout gets pushed back and broadcast in 3D?

DirecTV 3D broadcasts officially announced, coming in June originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 19:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re here in the middle of Samsung’s CES press conference, and the company’s just revealed its first e-book reader. We don’t have many details yet — we know there will be a 10- and 6-inch model, both with touchscreens, that Google is the content partner, and that it’s got a soft QWERTY keyboard and wireless but no 3G (a bit of a downer). The two readers — dubbed the E6 and E101 — will feature on-screen handwriting capabilities, Bluetooth 2.0, and 802.11b/g WiFi. The 6-incher will clock in at $399, while the bigger version will sell for $699, and both will be available in “early 2010.”

Update: We just nabbed a quick hands-on. It’s pretty thin, and it’s hiding a secret: it’s a slider with hidden controls! The touch sensitivity seemed pretty okay, but we’ll have to spend some non-rushed time with it to get a true feel for things. Check out more in the gallery, and see the full press release after the break.

Continue reading Samsung announces E6 and E10 e-book readers at CES

Samsung announces E6 and E10 e-book readers at CES originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 17:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Originally envisioned last year as a 4k x 2k monstrosity, Toshiba’s ZX900 Cell TV has been humbled slightly for its market debut. Still, the processing power is what’s really on display here, and Toshiba claims that it’s packed 143 times the processing power over existing televisions. That processing makes way for Toshiba’s Resolution+ upscaling, a 480Hz frame rate (completely ready for 3D), and some home media server capabilities as well. The centerpiece is the Net TV applications, which include Netflix, VUDU, CinemaNow and Pandora, and there’s 802.11n WiFi and 1TB of HDD for streaming and storage. There’s also mention of video phone capability, but it’s unclear if has a built-in webcam (doubtful) or if you’ve got to bring your own USB number. Unfortunately, the biggest draw of this TV in its Japanese incarnation is its eight tuners, and for whatever reason that special distinction has been removed from this US version. The 55-inch and 65-inch displays use KIRA2 LED-backlit displays with 512 zones of localized dimming, and just in case this was wasn’t enough, the sets have built-in Wireless HD and to connect the Cell-packing set-top box to the display wire-free. Of course, once you involve a set-top box you’re kind of nullifying some of the magic of building a TV “with a Cell processor,” but we’ll let it slide. Just this once, Toshiba. Both TVs will be out “later this year” for an undisclosed, sure-to-be-huge price. A press release is after the break.

Continue reading Toshiba introduces ZX900 Series 55-inch and 65-inch Cell TVs for the US

Toshiba introduces ZX900 Series 55-inch and 65-inch Cell TVs for the US originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 13:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve already seen it in China and Brazil, now Dell’s first modern smartphone — the Mini 3 — is headed to the US in the loving arms of AT&T 3G. We expect the specs to remain pretty much the same: 3.5-inch 640×360 display, Bluetooth, 3 megapixel auto-focus camera with flash, microSD, and GPS, though we’ll have to wait to get that confirmed. And from the looks of that pic of a prototype supplied by Direct2Dell, this Android handset will be custom skinned for AT&T. Look for it to hit sometime in the first half of 2010. Bonus pic after the break.

Continue reading Dell Mini 3 headed to AT&T running Android

Dell Mini 3 headed to AT&T running Android originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 13:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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