Hasta La Gadget!

Japan’s KDDI is in the midst of its biannual hardware refresh and in among its new roster of phones is a familiar 7-inch slate device we’re more familiar with as the Galaxy Tab. Samsung has stripped all branding (and 3G, boo!) from the SMT-i9100, while refashioning its exterior a little and letting KDDI throw in a bit of custom au-branded software aboard. Beyond the cosmetic changes, which include the capacitive buttons being aligned for landscape (rather than portrait) utilization, you’re mostly looking at the same machine as the rest of the world, with a 1024 x 600 resolution, 512MB of RAM, MicroSD expandability, and a built-in webcam. The internal storage is quite a bit more frugal at 4GB, but you will get a handy docking cradle as a consolation prize, plus a mobile router that’ll turn this into something very similar to Verizon’s iPad plus MiFi offering in the US. All that said, KDDI won’t have the i9100 on sale until February, by which time the Android tablet market could be somewhat better populated.

Continue reading Samsung Galaxy Tab redesigned for KDDI, hitting Japan in late February as SMT-i9100

Samsung Galaxy Tab redesigned for KDDI, hitting Japan in late February as SMT-i9100 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Oct 2010 06:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Vega, a Tegra 2-powered Android tablet, has had a long and painful birth, but it looks as if it is just about to see the light of day. First shown off in November 2009, back when we were still calling the iPad the “Apple Tablet”, the Vega should soon be on sale in the UK, for a bargain-priced £250 ($395).

To be sold in the UK by the Dixons Group (in PC World and Currys stores), the Vega is incredibly well appointed for the price. At it’s heart is a 1GHz Nvidia T20 Tegra 2 processor and a 10.1-inch capacitive 1024 x 600 touch-screen. Then things get ridiculous: A micro SD-card slot (with 4GB card supplied), 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, 3G-ready SIM-slot, a microphone, Bluetooth, 1.3-megapixel webcam and a battery which will play n1080p video for up to six and a half hours.

There is also a 1.5-Watt speaker, a USB-port and even and HDMI-port. The OS is Android 2.2 Froyo, and the RAM is 512MB, with 1GB option. Whew.

But it’s bound to be junk, right? How could they make it so cheap, with so many things packed inside? Well, take a look at this video and you’ll see that it actually runs pretty well:

Pretty amazing, huh? Apart from that awful keyboard, I mean. Without any official announcement of pricing and availability, we’ll have to wait and see if that figure is really correct. The Vega will sell under the Advent brand, which is just a rebadging for Dixon’s stores (the original MSI Wind netbook was also sold under the Advent brand, for instance). This appears to be the same Vega that was announced by Converged Devices all those months ago.

It’s been a while but, with this and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab due very soon, the competition for the iPad is starting to arrive. That’s good for everyone: iPad haters get alternatives, and iPad lovers benefit from Apple’s response to competition.

Advent Android tablets set to hit the Dixons Group stores shortly [Android Modaco Forums]

See Also:

• Vega Tablet Beats Apple and Crunchpad
• Why 2010 Will Be the Year of the Tablet
• How the Tablet Will Change the World
• Tablet Rumors Multiply as iPad Sales Soar

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

The low-end Android game just got real, folks, with Sprint’s introduction of the LG Optimus S, a $50 (on-contract, post-rebate) Android slatephone running Froyo on a 3.2-inch HVGA screen, with mobile hotspot functionality for up to five devices, 802.11 b/g WiFi and a 600MHz processor to run the whole shebang. As you’d expect in a world of 1GHz smartphones at the $200 price point, it’s not quite up to spec, but that doesn’t keep it from having a super-solid build, durable and weighty, that belies its low price. It honestly feels much like a Nexus One in the hand, though with nice big physical buttons instead of capacitive function keys, and of course a lower-quality LCD screen. There’s an auto-focusing 3.2 megapixel camera on the back and a fairly responsive capacitive touchscreen up front, and though browsing was a little painful on the low-res screen, the Android 2.2 device sped through the UI without skipping a beat. If this device impresses as much after we throw it through a barrage of tests, I’ll be hard to imagine ever spending a cent on a regular ol’ featurephone again.

Update: We’ve just been informed that the Optimus S has 256MB 512 MB of RAM and 512MB of ROM, an MSM7627 chipset and Bluetooth 2.1, but there’s more — it pulls a respectable 430 in the Quadrant benchmark thanks to Qualcomm Adreno 200 graphics, and we’ve got visual proof. See some direct-from-device screenshots and a couple sample pics from the Optimus S’s camera in our second gallery below!

Update 2: Video after the break!

Myriam Joire contributed to this report.

Continue reading LG Optimus S, first hands-on! (update: video)

LG Optimus S, first hands-on! (update: video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Oct 2010 18:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LG fans waiting for the company to launch a tablet may want to consider the iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab or the BlackBerry PlayBook instead. LG has decided to cancel plans to launch an Android tablet by the end of the year, according to a Reuters report.

LG says it wants to wait for a newer version of Android to support its efforts to bring a tablet to market. That could mean an LG Android tablet is unlikely to launch before mid-2011.

The move is a setback for LG, which is now likely to lose ground to competitors in the tablet category.

Since the launch of the iPad in April, tablets have become one of the hottest consumer products of the year. So far, Apple has sold more than 3 million iPads. Meanwhile, Dell, Samsung and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion have introduced or announced new tablets.

Though, LG  has scrapped its Android tablet, the operating system is being used by other tablet makers. The Dell Streak, a device with a 5-inch screen, and the Samsung Galaxy, a tablet with a 7-inch touchscreen display, both use Android OS. The Streak runs Android 1.6 but Dell has said it plans to upgrade it to Android 2.2 later this year, while the Galaxy tablet will debut with Android 2.2 Froyo.

That makes LG’s decision puzzling. LG has had a checkered past when it comes to its tablet plans. The company was working on a prototype based on the Windows 7 operating system but it seems to have abandoned that.

Now it seems LG wants to wait for Android 3.0 ‘Gingerbread,’ which arrives next year.

So far, Google hasn’t been clear on what kind of devices are best supported by the current version of Android OS. Though Android is open source, Google controls the app store, Android Market. Devices that don’t meet Google’s guidelines for Android systems don’t have access to the Android Market.

However, Samsung has been able to convince Google to support its 7-inch tablet. All apps from the Android market can run on the Galaxy Tab though not every app will be optimized for the device.

LG could have done the same.

See Also:

• Why 2010 Will Be the Year of the Tablet
• How the Tablet Will Change the World
• Build Your Own Tablet for $400
• Samsung Introduces 7-Inch Tablet to Rival iPad
• RIM Unveils Tethered Tablet, the BlackBerry PlayBook

Photo: Samsung’s Android tablet/Samsung

Looking a bit like a myTouch 3G Slide sans slide, the newly-announced myTouch — yes, just “myTouch” — is the latest addition to the consumer-centric side of T-Mobile’s Android lineup, featuring a 3.8-inch WVGA display, 5 megapixel primary camera with 720p capture, and a next-gen MSM8255 Snapdragon core running at 1GHz. Notice how we said “primary camera”? Yep, it’s true: the myTouch features a second, front-facing cam as well, becoming just the second phone from T-Mobile (and one of the first in the States, of course) to offer video calling. Looks like it’ll be supported over both WiFi and 3G using Qik and Yahoo Messenger, so you’ll be able to see the beautiful faces of your EVO-sporting friends from afar. Like the G2, it’s got full support for T-Mobile’s up-and-coming HSPA+ network along with 802.11n and Android 2.2 out of the box. We don’t have pricing or a launch date yet, but we’re told it’ll be available “in time for the holidays” in your choice of four scintillating colors: white, black, plum, and red. Follow the break for the full press release.

Continue reading T-Mobile myTouch announced: Android 2.2, video calling, and HSPA+

T-Mobile myTouch announced: Android 2.2, video calling, and HSPA+ originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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