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May 10

Lenovo officially rolls out new IdeaPad Z Series

Posted in: AMD, hands-on, intel, lenovo, Today's Chili

Typical loose-lipped Lenovo had a bit of a hard time keeping its new IdeaPad Z Series a secret, but at least now we can see why. First off, the new line of laptops ditches the glossy, fingerprint-loving covers for ones with a “metallic effect,” and even better, the entire line sports chiclet keyboards that are similar to that on the S10-3. If you haven’t noticed, we really have a major thing for Lenovo keyboards lately. And while the laptops may come in at under 1.2-inches thick, the 13.3-inch Z360 and the 15.6-inch Z560 have onboard optical drives, and both pack standard-voltage Intel Core i3, i5 and i7 processor options. Oddly, Lenovo doesn’t seem to be announcing the 14-inch Z460 we had seen a few weeks back, but we assume that one will be up for grabs in other markets. Though the lowest end $649 config won’t have NVIDIA GeForce 315M graphics or Blu-ray, it should pack enough power to handle watching that cute girl cry over Justin Bieber on YouTube and those other necessary productivity tasks. Sneaking into the new family is also the 15.6-inch Z565, which differs from its new-born brothers with a glossy black cover and AMD internals. Like the HP ProBooks and Dell Inspiron M501R, the Z565 can be configured with AMD’s newest quad-core Phenom II X4, as well as with other new Phenom II, Turion II, Athlon II and V Series processors. We’d imagine there will be good deals popping up all over the place, but unfortunately all of the systems won’t be available until June. In the meantime, you’ve always got the the gallery and press release below to cheer you up.

Gallery: Lenovo IdeaPad Z Series press/hands-on pics

Continue reading Lenovo officially rolls out new IdeaPad Z Series

Lenovo officially rolls out new IdeaPad Z Series originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 May 2010 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 10

Lenovo IdeaPad U Series updated with Core i3, i5, i7 ULV processors

Posted in: hands-on, intel, lenovo, Today's Chili

Well, thank you, Lenovo! Not only for updating the thin and light IdeaPad U Series laptops with new chiclet keyboards and ambient light sensors, but for finally giving us some details on Intel’s new Core i3, i5 and i7 ULV processors. That’s right, the new IdeaPad U lappies will be available at the beginning of June and will pack brand new Core 2010 ULV chips, which is in line with what we have heard about the release. Like the current U Series, the 11.6-inch U160, 13-inch U360,14-inch U460 and 15-inch U560 all measure less an an inch-thick and don’t weigh more than 3.8 pounds. And according to the spec sheets, all will be configurable with your pick of ultra-low-voltage Core i7 (1.6GHz Core i7-640UM, 1.06GHz Core i7-620UM), Core i5 (1.2GHz Core i5-540UM, 1.06GHz Core i5-520UM, 1.2GHz Core i5-430UM) and Core i3 (1.2GHz Core i3-330UM) processors. There’s no indication of discrete graphics options, but on the lower end there are also be Pentium and Celeron processor choices — we’re assuming the $679 starting SKU doesn’t get the Core 2010 ULV love. We don’t have any performance stats from Lenovo, but it does claim that the entire series continues to be all about portability and long battery life. Regardless, we’re still extremely excited about the entire group, though something about that 11.6-inch U160 and the ability to configure it with a Core i7 UM processor has us exceptionally giddy. We’re hoping to spend more time with these soon, but till then, be sure and check out the hands-on pics below.

Gallery: Lenovo IdeaPad U Series press / hands-on shots

Continue reading Lenovo IdeaPad U Series updated with Core i3, i5, i7 ULV processors

Lenovo IdeaPad U Series updated with Core i3, i5, i7 ULV processors originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 May 2010 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 06

Hands On: The Cloak Bag, Camouflage for Your Camera

Posted in: hands-on, Today's Chili

There are several reasons you might not want to be too flagrant about having your expensive D-SLR camera out there, exposed, in the open. Mainly, because it’s expensive: Why tempt the morally weak to grab it? (We won’t go into the other reasons you might want to be an incognito photographer, but just use your imagination.)

The Cloak Bag is a clever solution. It’s a tough water-resistant nylon bag of convertible length that’s open at the bottom and has slits at the side. You fasten your camera into the Cloak with a couple straps and a screw that attaches to your tripod mount, and pull the top flap over, and your camera is covered. Then when you see a shot you want to take, simply slide your hands into the side slits, and shoot right through the bottom of the bag (see our pic after the jump). All the camera’s controls are easily reachable.

When I first tried it, I wasn’t exactly sure where to put my hands; I had to go to the company’s site and check out the videos posted there. I also couldn’t get mine folded up quite as neatly as the folks in the pictures and videos (Velcro strips inside hold the bag length in place). Once I got it figured out, though, I was pleased; the Cloak is a lot less bulky than a traditional camera bag (though of course, it offers no real protection other than the nylon cover), and shooting was as easy as the company promises.

The company says the Cloak fits cameras as large as the Canon 5D Mark II and as small as the Canon Rebel Xi. The bag has a small pocket in front that’s perfect for stashing extra
memory cards and batteries. It’s a pretty sharp-looking design, too, and comes in a silvery-gray with a turquoise stripe, like the one in our photos, or in a coffee-brown with green, at $49 direct.

May 05

Archos Vision 3 with VGA cam arriving this summer

Posted in: archos, hands-on, MP3, PMP, Today's Chili

Oh, we see what you’re doing here with the updated Vision 3, Archos — going straight for the $149 iPod Nano’s jugular by pricing the 8GB, VGA cam-toting player under $100. Pretty clever, and after spending a few minutes with the small PMP, we have reason to believe that Archos may just have better luck than ever before. The 3-inch touchscreen on the Vision A30VC is responsive and the interface easy to navigate, and though the 640×480-resolution camera won’t capture award-winning footage, you can tap to record video and snap some stills. Sure, the plastic body feels much cheaper than the iPod’s anodized aluminum back, but at under $100 we’re not complaining. Check out some hands-on pics of the gadget below, and look for the little guy to hit retailers in late summer.

Gallery: Archos Vision A30VC

Archos Vision 3 with VGA cam arriving this summer originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 May 2010 22:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 05

An eyeful of Adobe’s Android / Tegra prototype tablet running Air

Posted in: adobe, Android, flash, GoogleAndroid, hands-on, prototype, tablet, tegra, tegra 2, Tegra2, Today's Chili, video

After getting a pretty great glimpse of Adobe’s Tegra 2- and Android-powered prototype tablet yesterday, we decided to head over to the Web 2.0 Expo show floor ourselves to get some first-hand impressions. Unfortunately, the company couldn’t get a single website to open (Flash-based or otherwise) given lackluster WiFi, leaving us with only a tease of its power via an Air-based slideshow. To drive home what we heard yesterday, this prototype isn’t being prepped for release at any point in the future — more so, this is to serve as a showcase for the future potential of Adobe on Tegra 2 tablets. We’ll stop by again tomorrow morning and hope the show floor’s connection will be better by then, but in the meantime, enjoy the smattering of pictures and video we managed to get this afternoon.

Gallery: Adobe’s Android / Tegra prototype tablet running Air

Continue reading An eyeful of Adobe’s Android / Tegra prototype tablet running Air

An eyeful of Adobe’s Android / Tegra prototype tablet running Air originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 May 2010 20:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 05

HP Mini 210 updated with trippy lids, Pavilion dm1 with new AMD processors

Posted in: AMD, hands-on, HP, laptop, Mini, netbook, netbooks, Today's Chili

Aww, HP, so nice of you guys to think of the little guys amidst your massive unleash of mainstream laptops. While the Mini 210 was just released at CES, the 10-inch netbook will be available starting June 15th for a couple extra bucks — $355 to be exact — with some “fashionable” new lids. We definitely prefer the “crystal white” to “preppy pink” covering, but both use a pretty cool in-mold layering technique — when you look closely at the lid and matching underside there’s a 3D-like effect where some colors and shades appear above or below others. HP’s also expanding its netbook line with the Mini 110, which at $280 buys you a six-cell battery and standard Atom parts. The netbooks don’t get any internal updates — nope, all the new performance parts go to the 11.6-inch Pavilion dm1. Though it still sports the same chassis as the Mini 311, the dm1 will grab AMD’s newest Turion II Neo dual core and Athlon Neo processors, which promise improved performance and battery life over the previous generation. We’re hoping that’s the case, because our experience with those chips haven’t exactly been peaches and cream. That’s all we got for you, but if you are in a pink mood head on down below for some hands-on pics, or after the break for the sort of “Pretty in Pink” we don’t mind rocking.

Gallery: HP Mini 210 preppy pink, crystal press shots

Gallery: HP Mini 210 preppy pink hands-on

Continue reading HP Mini 210 updated with trippy lids, Pavilion dm1 with new AMD processors

HP Mini 210 updated with trippy lids, Pavilion dm1 with new AMD processors originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 May 2010 06:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 04

HP Envy 14 and 17 officially official, Envy 13 slowly waves goodbye

Posted in: CoreI5, CoreI7, hands-on, HP, laptop, Laptops, Today's Chili

The existence of the 14- and 17-inch Envys may not be a shocker, but HP has surely been able to keep some of the more juicy details to themselves — well, until today that is. Let’s start with the external updates that have been made to the all-aluminum machines: both versions now have backlit keyboards, slot-loading optical drives, and on-board DisplayPort, HDMI, and VGA jacks. That’s pretty much everything we asked for in our review of the Envy 15, but here’s where we politely tell you that the beautiful systems still have the same touchpad, or ClickPad as HP calls it, though it has apparently been significantly retooled on the software end. In our few minutes playing around with the systems it did seem less finicky when we kept one thumb on the left button and used our index finger to navigate the desktop.

Oh, and we’re not done with the meaty updates. Taking the place of the Envy 13 is the $999 14.5-inch Envy 14 — oh yes, we just said it starts at under a grand — which packs a Core i5 processor, ATI Mobility Radeon discrete graphics and 7,200rpm hard drive options. Unfortunately, we don’t get any of that Optimus graphics technology here, but HP’s still claiming up to eight hours of battery life with the discrete GPU turned off. Obviously, the Envy 17 steps it up a notch in the performance arena — come May 19 the 17-incher will be available with Core i5 and i7 options, ATI graphics that support Eyefinity technology, and up to 2TB of storage. Told ya there were still some good nuggets! We promise we’ll eventually have a full review, but in the meantime check out the hands-on pics and official PR below.

Gallery: HP Envy 14 and Envy 17 press shots

Gallery: HP Envy 14 and Envy 17 hands-on

Continue reading HP Envy 14 and 17 officially official, Envy 13 slowly waves goodbye

HP Envy 14 and 17 officially official, Envy 13 slowly waves goodbye originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 May 2010 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 04

HP Pavilion line made over with metal casing, new AMD and Intel processors

Posted in: AMD, CoreI7, hands-on, HP, intel, laptop, Today's Chili

See that up there? That’s the new HP dm4, and you better believe that this aluminum housed 14-inch laptop not only packs a Core i5 processor and plenty of sex appeal, but starts at $729. In a nutshell, that’s basically the whole story of the four new HP Pavilions — gone are the glossy lids and LED touch shortcuts, though remaining in tact are the affordable prices and mainstream power. The inch-thick dm4 happens to be our favorite of the bunch — it’s got a soft etched pattern along the lid, chiclet-style keyboard, on-board optical drive, and is available with different Core i5 CPU and ATI discrete graphics options. And if that 14-incher isn’t for you, there’s also the 14.5-inch dv5, which instead of the brushed aluminum lid, has a matte imprinted cover that’s available in black, red and champagne. Starting at $649, the dv5 is available with Core i3, i5 and AMD’s upcoming Turion II processors, and while it doesn’t have discrete graphics options, the Intel versions will support Intel’s WiDi technology.

Going on up in size, the 15.6-inch Pavilion dv6 is all about choices — you can configure it with either a brushed aluminum or HP Imprint finish, a mulitouch screen, and AMD or Intel Core 2010 processors. The AMD variant will start at $530 and the Intel Core i5 version at $649. Last but not least is the dv7 powerhouse, which now has a Beats Audio option. No surprises here, the 17-incher can be pimped with quad-core AMD or Intel CPUs and ATI discrete graphics. We’re planning to review at least a few of these models before back to school laptop shopping season gets fully underway, but for now, feel free to head on past the break for the full press release and feast your eyes on some of these far-from-budget-looking lappies down in the galleries below.

Gallery: HP Pavilion dm4, dv5, dv6, dv7 press shots

Gallery: HP Pavilion dm4, dv5, dv6, dv7 hands-on

Continue reading HP Pavilion line made over with metal casing, new AMD and Intel processors

HP Pavilion line made over with metal casing, new AMD and Intel processors originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 May 2010 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 04

HP unleashes seven new ProBooks, cuddles up with AMD

Posted in: AMD, hands-on, HP, laptop, Today's Chili

No, we wouldn’t say we’ve been looking at AMD lately, HP — but we’ve got a strong feeling that we’re about to with the slew of not-yet-announced processors that are powering these new affordable business laptops. The HP ProBook 4325s, 4425s, and 4525 may look like their brushed-aluminum business laptop brethren, but instead of Intel inside, they can be configured with AMD’s new Phenom II quad-core, Phenom II triple-core, Turion II or Athlon II processors — all which are apparently 69 percent faster than previous generation HP AMD laptops. Add in an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 530v discrete graphics option and an $619 starting price, and the S-series may just be our new favorite HP sub-brand — though we’ll reserve final judgment until we test these puppies and check out the battery life. In addition to those three, the 14-inch 6445b and 15-inch 6555b pack the same new processor options, but for $799 they have a more durable case with a spill-resistant keyboard. Oh don’t worry Intel, the ProBook line hasn’t forgotten about you: there’s still some Core i3, i5 and i7 love in the new HP ProBook 6450b and 6550b, which now also have vPro remote management technology.

And just when you thought HP couldn’t go any lower in price with its business line up, the 14-inch HP 425 and 15.6-inch 625 emerge at $550. While these guys aren’t exactly the thinnest or lightest of the bunch, they should still provide an ample amount of performance with AMD’s new 2.3GHz Turion II dual-core, 2.1GHz Athlon II dual-core and V Series processors and ATI Radeon HD 4200 integrated graphics. Not a bad time to be in the boardroom, huh? Head down below for some glossy press shots and the full releases.

Gallery: HP ProBook S-Series and B-Series press shots

Continue reading HP unleashes seven new ProBooks, cuddles up with AMD

HP unleashes seven new ProBooks, cuddles up with AMD originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 May 2010 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 03

T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide official: Android 2.1, QWERTY, coming in June (we go hands-on)

Posted in: Android, breaking news, BreakingNews, hands-on, HTC, qwerty, sense, slider, t-mobile, Today's Chili

Hey, CLIQ, better check that rear-view mirror, because you’ve got an interesting competitor coming right up on your tail. T-Mobile is launching another midrange Android QWERTY slider — some might argue the G1’s true successor — christened the myTouch 3G Slide (not quite the “myTouch Slide” we’ve been hearing for a few months) with a 3.4-inch HVGA display, 5 megapixel camera, and a pretty heavily-customized skin based on Android 2.1. How custom are we talking, exactly? Well, it’s not quite like anything we’ve seen on a production Android device before, featuring a host of custom apps including the “Faves Gallery,” a social aggregator for your most dearly beloved contacts; “myModes,” a profile manager that can change the phone’s themes and settings based on time or location; the Swype keyboard in place of Google’s option; and the so-called “Genius Button,” which seeks to extend Android’s already decent voice command and text-to-speech systems by allowing you to do just about anything on the phone using your voice, hear messages read back to you, and so on. In the myTouch 3G tradition, the Slide will come in a selection of colors when it launches in June — black, white, or red — for a to-be-announced price. Check out T-Mobile’s full press release along with our impressions of the device after the break

Gallery: T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide official: Android 2.1, available in June