Mar 11

Toshiba will have its own family of slates by this time next year

Posted in: handheld, slate, tablet, tablet pc, TabletPc, Today's Chili, Toshiba, touchscreen

Before the iPad and before the Slate, the most exciting touchy tablety thing in our lives was Toshiba’s JournE multimedia tablet. Now that the Japanese compu-maker has seen what the competition has on offer, it’s proudly proclaimed itself back in the running with an entire family of slate devices it’s planning to introduce near the end of 2010 or in early 2011. “It has proved to be a mistake to underestimate these new categories” is the word from Toshiba’s Jeff Barney, which indicates that not even he sees that much potential in the form factor, but his company is pushing ahead with its plans for fear of being left behind. Also quoted in the Fortune piece is ASUS’ inimitable Jonney Shih, who makes sure to remind us that without multitasking, Flash support, or a webcam for videoconferencing, the iPad leaves plenty of room for devices richer in features to grab market share. All we know for certain is that the major players are falling in line to make 2010 truly the year of tablet — whether or not consumers will place their stamp of approval on this vendor-driven craze, though, remains to be seen.

Toshiba will have its own family of slates by this time next year originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 06:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Feb 26

Haleron’s 7-inch iLet Mini HAL costs $199, ships March 1

Posted in: 7-inch, Android, android tablet, AndroidOs, AndroidTablet, handheld, tablet, tablet pc, TabletPc, Today's Chili, touchscreen

Want a tablet computer sans all the brand loyalty drama and eye-opening prices? Haleron‘s got just the thing for you with its iLet Mini HAL. Its humble spec brings only a 600MHz VIA CPU and 128MB of DDR2 RAM to the table, but it runs Android 1.6 and if all you want is a tablet to access the web with, do you really need more? Additionally, the onboard 2GB of flash storage is augmented with 10GB of cloud storage and the cheap expandability that’s on offer via flash memory cards or USB drives. The iLet Mini HAL costs $199 with shipping starting next week, and we’ve been reliably informed that there’ll be no additional charges no matter how many poor Space Odyssey jokes you decide to make.

Haleron’s 7-inch iLet Mini HAL costs $199, ships March 1 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 26 Feb 2010 11:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink best tablet review  |  sourceHaleron  | Email this | Comments

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Feb 26

Dell Mini 5 to be the vanguard of ‘a family of tablets’

Posted in: Android, android tablet, AndroidTablet, Apple, apple ipad, AppleIpad, att, handheld, ipad, slate, smartphone, tablet, tablet pc, TabletPc, Today's Chili

Well isn’t this good to know. The Mini 5 isn’t even coming out for at least another month, yet already we’re hearing Dell has big plans for what’s to follow. Wired has the dish straight from Neeraj Choubey, GM of Dell’s tablet division, that there will be “a family of tablets” which will “scale up to a variety of sizes.” It appears there will be a common feature set throughout the forthcoming portfolio, so it’s likely going to be Android all the way, while Choubey also shared his company’s intention to bundle “inexpensive data plans” with the new devices — indicating a belief that carriers will accede to such ambitious ideas. And speaking of network operators, in a separate interview with Laptop, the loquacious gentleman has confirmed that Dell’s working with AT&T on bringing the Mini 5 to the masses. Good to know, indeed — now how about a release date?

Dell Mini 5 to be the vanguard of ‘a family of tablets’ originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 26 Feb 2010 10:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink SlashGear  |  sourceWired, Laptop  | Email this | Comments

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Feb 19

Dell Mini 5 prototype impressions

Posted in: Android, cellphone, exclusive, handheld, hands-on, impressions, MID, mobile phone, MobilePhone, smartphone, streak, tablet, Today's Chili

Dell’s puzzled the world for quite some time with its outlandish Mini 5 — at first glance it’s just another Android-based MID, but a quick fiddle with it reveals the full-fledged 3G phone inside. So will it fit in a pocket? Can we carry it around like a normal phone? Is this the future form factor that will bring the ultimate balance between portability and practicality? With such heavy dose of curiosity, we eventually traveled all the way to Shenzhen literally just to grab this prototype. Now, before you read on, do bear in mind that some of its features — especially the OS — may not make it to the final design when it comes out later this year, nor do we know what stage this prototype was at. We good? OK.

Let’s start with the basics: the main specs on our unit include Android 1.6 (which will definitely be obsolete for the final product), five-inch 800 x 480 capacitive touchscreen, Snapdragon QSD8250 chipset (with CPU clocked at 1GHz), Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS and WCDMA radio. Sadly, we have no info on whether the Mini 5 will have other cellular radio options, but it wouldn’t hurt to send Dell a petition regarding this matter. For those who want the dimensions and weight in numbers, it’s about 152mm x 78mm x 10mm at 8 ounces (including the battery, which lasts for almost a day for normal usage on 3G). Memory-wise there’s 405MB RAM and 1.63GB of internal storage — a slight let-down for the latter, so let’s hope the retail unit will be given a more generous dose of silicon. You can add a microSD card next to the battery on the back, but it appears that the mysterious second card slot we saw in the earlier teardown only gave us false hope — we couldn’t find a way to get to it without prying open the housing. Connection to your computer relies on a proprietary port — similar but slightly larger than the iPod’s — to USB cable, which may suggest that we will see some more peripherals made for the Mini 5 and its future siblings.

Gallery: Dell Mini 5 prototype impressions

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Dell Mini 5 prototype impressions originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 12:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Feb 11

Finalized Pandora handhelds start shipping, proves that dreams really do come true

Posted in: gaming, handheld, Today's Chili, unboxing

It’s been over two solid years since we first caught wind of this here gaming handheld, and while we were initially led to believe that finalized units would be in the hands of emulation junkies long before now, we suppose loyalists are finding that late really is superior to never. After months and months of “almosts,” the first wave of final Pandora handhelds are shipping out, with many community followers posting up unboxing shots as they come. We’re also expecting a flood of homebrewed applications to start surfacing as more of these filter out, so be sure and drop us a line if you discover and / or create something otherworldly. Plenty more shots in the links below — you know, if you’re still patiently awaiting the arrival of your own.

[Thanks, Paul]

Finalized Pandora handhelds start shipping, proves that dreams really do come true originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Feb 2010 00:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceGP32x, openXile  | Email this | Comments

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Feb 02

Fujitsu LifeBook UH900 now available in US for $850

Posted in: handheld, MID, Today's Chili, windows 7, Windows7
Remember back at CES, when we got ahold of Fujitsu’s LifeBook UH900? Well, it looks like you won’t have to wait any longer if you were dying to get one of your own — you can grab one up on Fujitsu’s US website now. The 5.6-inch, multitouch-boasting little guy’s got a 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 CPU, 2GB of RAM, a 62GB SSD, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS, and it comes with Windows 7 installed. The suggested retail price on this puppy is $999, but Fujitsu’s offering it right now for $849 — that’s a lot more than many MIDs, but the spec sheet is enough to keep us interested.

Fujitsu LifeBook UH900 now available in US for $850 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Feb 2010 11:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Feb 02

Jill Stuart’s Sweet Limited Package PSP makes its own innuendos, coming in March

Posted in: gaming, handheld, psp, sony, Today's Chili

¥21,000 ($232), Japan, March 4. All of the foregoing should be irrelevant information because we’re absolutely, positively, definitely sure you’re not going to actually buy one. Right? Look, even if you genuinely don’t object to Blossom Pink as your color scheme, and if you quite rightly find yourself attracted by the handy soft pouch for ensconcing your new PSP-3000 in, don’t you care about what other people might think? And that’s entirely aside from the generic and lazy expectation that women will buy anything so long as it bears a hue from the pink portion of the spectrum. Either way, this bundle of corporate greed and malevolence is coming in about a month’s time, if you’re weird enough to care.

Gallery: Jill Stuart Limited Edition PSP-3000

Jill Stuart’s Sweet Limited Package PSP makes its own innuendos, coming in March originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Feb 2010 08:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Game Watch  |  sourcePlayStation Japan  | Email this | Comments

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Jan 31

Sony’s John Koller: Apple’s entrance into gaming market drives consumers to PSP

Posted in: Apple, gaming, handheld, ipad, playstation, psp, sony, Today's Chili

Um, okay? Just days after Apple introduced its exceedingly underwhelming iPad while simultaneously attempting to convince that masses that said product was the portable gaming device they had been waiting their whole lives for, Sony’s own hardware marketing honcho has come forward and extolled Cupertino’s decision to finally make the gaming leap. In a recent interview, John stated the following:

“Apple’s entrance into the portable gaming space has been a net positive for Sony. When people want a deeper, richer console, they start playing on a PSP.”

While we can’t seem to shake the suspicion that Mr. Koller is drawing links that probably don’t exist (at least fully) in reality, research firm NPD does show that sales of the PSP have “nearly tripled since the iPhone went on sale in June 2007.” Of course, it’s not like the PSP has gained functionality, become the home of more than a few killer titles and spawned a UMD-less sibling since the heydays of ’07, but hey — who are we to question the suit?

Sony’s John Koller: Apple’s entrance into gaming market drives consumers to PSP originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 31 Jan 2010 15:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Joystiq  |  sourceFox Business  | Email this | Comments

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Jan 26

Thomson PoMMeS IPTV tablet hits the FCC

Posted in: handheld, tablet, Today's Chili
A tablet with the name “pommes” turning up courtesy of the FCC a day before a certain, possibly tablet-related event? Yeah, it’s not even close to what you think, but it is something: Thomson’s new PoMMeS tablet. Somewhat uniquely, this device is apparently designed primarily for IPTV streaming, although you’ll also get a front-mounted webcam for video calls, and at least some basic web browsing capabilities (it’s still not clear what this thing runs on). Complete specs are also a bit light at the moment, but this one does apparently pack an 8-inch, 800 x 480 touchscreen display, and includes a dock that will also conveniently prop up the device for easy viewing. No indication of a price or release date, of course, but there’s plenty more pictures (including a look inside) at the link below.

Thomson PoMMeS IPTV tablet hits the FCC originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Jan 2010 11:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 22

PSP Go disassembled in awesome stop motion video

Posted in: console, gaming, handheld, playstation, psp, sony, Today's Chili, unboxing, video

Oh sure, we’ve seen Sony’s UMD-hatin’ PSP Go splayed before, but never like this. Call us crazy, but we’re calling stop motion video the future of unboxings and tear downs. Seriously — this is one wild two minute ride that you simply have to take. Peek the video after the break, won’t you?

Continue reading PSP Go disassembled in awesome stop motion video

PSP Go disassembled in awesome stop motion video originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Jan 2010 20:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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