Hasta La Gadget!

Why hello there, Archos. My, what nice Android you have there. Tucked away in a little booth at CeBIT, the PMP maker was showcasing its latest 7-inch Home Tablet. Unfortunately, it was pretty barebones as far as content goes, but the vanilla Android 1.6 was running smooth, and if company precedence indicates anything, the video playback is still fairly solid. The selling point here, really, is a decent screen and that $200 or so price tag. No dice on espying Archos 8, though; we’ve passed by the company’s booth twice now, and both times it had yet to be sent to the show floor. Instead, on hand were the A14VG and AV15VS, but there isn’t a lot to say about music players with the same feature set you’d find in PMPs sold at grocery stores — there’s definitely a market, but it’s targeted at your wallet more than your desire for cutting edge goods. Video of Archos 7 after the break.

Continue reading Archos 7 Home Tablet (and PMPs) hands-on

Archos 7 Home Tablet (and PMPs) hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 08:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve gotten our first look at the new TiVo Premiere interface, and it sure is shiny. You sure wouldn’t see that it’s running in Flash at first blush, since the UI is quite responsive and “native” feeling, with live streams of video playing without a hitch. The biggest hint that there’s a big amount of reliance on the internet is the fact that the choked connection here was causing thumbnails and even some UI icons to take a little while to pop in. The rep we spoke with said that TiVo is still considering what elements exactly they’ll be caching.

The new ways to find and promote relevant content are pretty intuitive and helpful. Everything is “connected,” so it’s easy to start from a category like the “Oscars” or an actor like “Jack McBrayer” and end up on the other end of the universe, IMDB style. There’s a certain amount of dumbing down, to be sure, and nothing’s going to beat your laptop for speed or comprehensiveness in bopping around this sort of information. Although, TiVo helps out a bit in this department with the optional QWERTY remote. Unfortunately, while we appreciate the full QWERTY input, the sliding mechanism is utterly cheap and shoddy — we’re assured that it’s a couple revisions away from a final design, and we certainly hope so! The QWERTY buttons themselves are rubbery and not very clicky, but perhaps they’ll helped along as well by this promised revision.

Update: We’ve got video. It can be found after the break, though unfortunately you can’t hear a single thing our helpful guide says because she’s drowned out by the “fist pumping” good times of the party that TiVo’s event devolved into.

Continue reading TiVo Premiere hands-on (update: video!)

TiVo Premiere hands-on (update: video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Mar 2010 21:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bewildering. We’re pretty sure that’s the only way to describe our adventure at Smartbook’s CeBIT booth. First off, let us just clear up that there are absolutely no smartbooks on display — don’t forget that this is the company that’s going after Qualcomm’s jugular for using the term smartbook in the first place. Now that that’s out of the way, the German outfit introduced two new 11.6-inch laptops at the show, both which are clearly a rip on Apple and Sony laptops. What’s confusing there? Well, the fact that they are actually nice. First you have the Atom N280-powered Razor that’s clad in a brushed aluminum that feels impeccably similar to the unibody MacBook. Sure, it will run like a last-generation Windows 7 netbook, but it felt seriously solid in hand. Next up is that ULV-packing Logo we told you about last week, and with a glowing power button embedded in its circular hinge there’s no doubt that it was Sony VAIO “inspired.” Again, the make is actually quite good, and we were shocked to feel how sturdy the chiclet keyboard was. Both KIRFs the Smartbook Logo and Razor should go for about 699 Euros when they become available in Europe this spring. Not amused yet? The pictures of the Swarovski covered netbook below should just about do it — and we have video proof after the break, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Continue reading Smartbook’s laptops hands-on: a MacBook and a VAIO walk into a bar…

Smartbook’s laptops hands-on: a MacBook and a VAIO walk into a bar… originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Has it really been almost a year (to the day!) since we last gave some first-hand thoughts on ASUS’ audacious Eee Keyboard PC? Given the recent news of an apparent April release date, we thought we’d give the perennially-delayed machine another walkthrough, albeit via the touchpad only since it wasn’t connected to an external display. The software is definitely still in need of some work — we managed to crash the sucker within minutes, but the startup to Windows XP (the full version) was quick and admittedly pretty interesting to witness — maybe at some point we could get a miniature game of Peggle going. When working, the menu was pretty smooth. None of the shortcuts were working, unfortunately , as the internet was down in the booth. As a keyboard, it feel pretty strong, resilient, and most of all clicky. Live through us vicariously, via still shots and moving pictures below.

Continue reading ASUS EeeKeyboard PC hands-on (slight return)

ASUS EeeKeyboard PC hands-on (slight return) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Score one for the kids! We just got to toy around with the new convertible Classmate PC and, boy, does it feel solid. Though it feels quite heavy in hand, it definitely feels like it can take a beating in a backpack and, as you can see in the video below, survive a decent fall. We’re less impressed, however, with the resistive touchscreen performance. Though we’re keeping in mind that these were pre-production units, the resistive touchscreen was quite unresponsive to the pen input when we tried to draw on the screen. Can’t you hear the youngins, Intel? They want multitouch! We still appreciate that rotating webcam and the improvements made to the expanded the keyboard and touchpad. You’ll have to hang tight on getting one of these for little Jimmy — Intel tells us these will be brought to you by OEMs sometime in April.

Continue reading Intel’s new convertible Classmate PC hands-on

Intel’s new convertible Classmate PC hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Mar 2010 06:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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