Hasta La Gadget!

Playing some Sudoku and reading Engadget on our Nook? Yeah, we are! Obviously, after hearing about the Nook 1.3 firmware update this morning, us bookworms nabbed the latest software to check out the added features. The over-the-air update took about a total of ten minutes from start to finish, and when the e-reader had restarted the new Games, Wi-Fi, Audio, and Web shortcuts were more than obvious on the main menu. The browsing experience, which is clearly marked beta, is very similar to that on the Spring Design Alex — you input the address on the touchscreen and an expanded view of whatever site you’re visiting appears on the E-Ink display. You can use the LCD to navigate the page, though the physical page turn buttons work as well, which is actually a nice trick. It isn’t the fastest browsing experience, but it’ll definitely be useful for quickly reading some news or checking the weather when you are near a WiFi network – we got a page not found message over 3G.

As for the Sudoku and chess games, it’s all pretty standard — the boards appear on the E-Ink screen and you use the touchscreen to input numbers or move pieces. We weren’t near a Barnes & Noble to check out the borrow-a-book feature, but the navigation seems to have gotten even snappier since the 1.2 update, and the lower screen is refreshing noticeably faster. Our early verdict? Those Best Buy shoppers are getting a heck of a much better Nook than we did a few months ago.

Barnes & Noble Nook gaming and web browsing impressions originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Apr 2010 15:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Some alleged spy shots of a brand-new Android tablet materialized in our inbox this afternoon, and after sending a few e-mails and making a quick phone call, we can confirm they’re 100 percent legit: boutique PC retailer Velocity Micro‘s getting in the tablet game something fierce, with a whole new lineup of touchscreen devices it’s dubbed “Cruz.” Designed to compete with both e-readers and tablets, Cruz will appear in both 4 x 3 and 16 x 9 configurations over the coming months, with the high-end devices sporting 7-inch capacitive multitouch screens, 800MHz processors and Android 2.1 (complete with Flash 10.1) right out of the box. Best of all, Velocity Micro tells us they’ll be relatively affordable — all will arrive under the $300 line. A company rep couldn’t tell us whether Android Market would be included or when exactly the tablets are due, but he hazarded a guess of “late summer.” Hit up our gallery to see the first prototype.

[Thanks, Kendall]

Velocity Micro’s Cruz Tablet has Android 2.1 with full Flash support originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Apr 2010 22:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Looks like that blurry leak we got was dead-on: Target and Amazon just officially announced that the Kindle will be sold in the Minneapolis Target flagship store and 102 southern Florida stores starting April 25, with the rest of the chain getting units as the year goes on. That’s the first time Jeff Bezo’s e-reader will be sold in a brick-and-mortar store, a big step for Amazon we’re taking as a response to Barnes & Noble’s heavy in-store promotion of the Nook — although Target already carries the Sony Reader line, so it’s not totally crazy. We’ll see how this affects sales in the months to come — and whether or not Target follows this up by selling the iPad as well. Full press release after the break.

Update: A kind, anonymous tipster has sent us in that little photo of what appears to be the Kindle’s Target packaging. Thanks!

Continue reading Kindle officially going on sale at Target on April 25

Kindle officially going on sale at Target on April 25 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Apr 2010 16:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Onda VX560 looks like a slate, acts like a PMP, outputs 1080p originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Apr 2010 10:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’d gripe about the wait, but given all the e-book readers we saw at CES that’ve fallen off the radar or been delayed to oblivion, we’re actually pretty proud of Spring Design for shipping the Alex at last. Orders will start going out tomorrow for the $399 dual screen reader. Not sure it’s worth the price? Well, we’re not positive either. Check out our review for a bit of help deciding.

Spring Design Alex starts shipping tomorrow originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Apr 2010 21:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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