Hasta La Gadget!

Remember those eccentric ASUS Android tablets at CES? Yeah, it’s all a bit of a blur for us as well, but turns out both the Eee Pad Transformer and Slider prototypes just made it to the BETT (British Educational Training and Technology) Show in London this morning, so we decided to wander along to get our hands dirty again. Sadly, the Transformer had a bit of a rough ride from Vegas and remained dormant, but we were still able to admire its sturdy keyboard dock with great key press travel. And in case you’ve forgotten, said dock is also an external battery that doubles the juice up to 16 hours. UK shoppers will see this slate popping up in the stores around May or June for £379 ($597), and its docking kit for £100 ($158).

We were more fortunate with the functioning Slider prototype, even though it had the same sliding issue we saw at CES. But fear not, as we were told that the engineers are already reworking the mechanism, and here’s hoping that they’ll do something about the flexing keyboard as well. As for software, we didn’t have time to test everything, but we were surprised by the general snappiness of the current Froyo test build. And speaking of which, we’re not too sure what the plan is with ASUS’ Android roadmap — even though we were told at CES that Honeycomb will be on these tablets at launch, the folks we met today said that they’ll be shipped with Gingerbread instead; and even then, there’s no time frame for the 3.0 upgrade just yet. Anyhow, this is less of a concern for the Slider given its July or August launch, but it’ll cost you a hefty £429 ($676).

Additionally, both tablets will see their 3G variants in the UK a quarter after their respective launches, but regardless, it’s never too soon to start a petition for your carrier to spread the ASUS tablet fever.

ASUS Eee Pad Transformer and Slider: another look originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Jan 2011 18:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Yes, folks, more fun infotainment systems to hope that your manufacturer of choice picks up before your ‘Ol Bessie gives up the ghost and has to be put out to pasture. Regardless of which logo you prefer on your grille there’s a good chance that Harman works with them, and so maybe they’ll pick up this. It’s called the Experimental HMI and it’s basically a netbook for your dash — minus the keyboard and junk. It’s running an Atom processor and has a Flash-based interface, making it easy to develop for. The killer app at this point is an augmented reality navigation system you can see demoed in the video below, but it’ll ultimately be up to the manufacturers to do what they will with it.

Continue reading Harman Experimental HMI with netbook internals, augmented reality aspirations hands-on (video)

Harman Experimental HMI with netbook internals, augmented reality aspirations hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Jan 2011 12:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Smartphone integration in your car’s head unit isn’t of all that much use if it’s only going to play nice with one brand or another (we’re looking at you, Mini Connected). Johnson Controls is being rather more open with what it’s calling the Connected Center Stack, basically a framework that OEMs and aftermarket radio makers can build upon to create their ultimate infotainment system. It quite naturally connected and played audio over USB or Bluetooth, augmenting that with support for Pandora and even Terminal Mode, as implemented on a Nokia N97, replicating the phone’s UI exactly. There are both touchscreen and jog dial controls, and the unit can get data either directly from a smartphone or through a USB connected 3G modem. Or that’s the theory, at least. The unit on display was a little buggy and not reliable enough for us to get a video of it in action, but with any luck it’ll be cleaned up and hitting production center stacks… eventually.

Johnson Controls Connected Center Stack plays nice with a quartet of smartphones, we go hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Jan 2011 11:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

When offered a chance to take a Ford Focus Electric for a spin we jumped at it, though were admittedly a bit perplexed when told it would be on the show floor. As it turns out the company set up a loop upon which a Transit Van and Focus Electric were driving, one after the next, up a steep incline and over the heads of fellow journalists, stopping at a little dyno to see just what this thing was putting down, and then back around to where it all started. No shocking information was gleaned, and we still can’t get anyone to confirm or deny the ability for a 480v quick-charge, but it sure beat walking.

Continue reading Ford takes us on the world’s shortest test drive in the Focus Electric (video)

Ford takes us on the world’s shortest test drive in the Focus Electric (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Jan 2011 09:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

While we weren’t busy kicking up dust on the CES floors, we sat down with Taiwan-based Yantouch to have a fiddle with its latest product, the Black Diamond. When not in use, it really is just a gorgeous spherical black diamond, or at least its faceted front half is; but slip in an iPhone 4 with the Black Diamond app enabled, and you get a funky sound sensitive mood lamp. On top of that, the dock also charges up your iPhone while it shows off its colors, and somewhere at the bottom there’s some black magic that channels out amplified audio from the phone, although actual speakers would be even nicer.

Ultimately, Yantouch sees the Black Diamond as a developing platform for potential applications like an outdoor temperature indicator, or some sort of caller ID color tagging tool for seeing from afar who’s calling. If all goes well, Yantouch will even consider making an Android version, but we’re not sure if the $79 price tag will immediately catch on. Anyhow, check out our hands-on video after the break.

Continue reading Yantouch Black Diamond 3D ambience iPhone dock hands-on

Yantouch Black Diamond 3D ambience iPhone dock hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Jan 2011 20:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments