Sep 18

ViewSonic VNB132 laptop and VNB102 netbook hit the massage table

Posted in: hands-on, laptop, netbook, Today's Chili, ultraportable, viewsonic

If you believe Jon Rubinstein, mobile computing is the future, but if you look at the VNB102’s spec sheet, you’ll find that the future still comes with an Atom N270 CPU, 1GB of RAM and a 160GB hard disk. Should that still satisfy your humble needs, it’ll cost you $349 with a 3-cell battery or $399 for the 6-cell edition. Now for grown-up people, ViewSonic ditches the glossy casing and throws up a most righteous 13.3-inch 1280 x 800 display, riding atop an SU7300 CULV processor, 2GB RAM and 320GB HDD. For $899, you’ll even get a DVD rewriter, or you can sacrifice it to save a hundred bucks and get an even thinner machine. The VNB132 (pictured) is set to ship with the release of Windows 7, but check the read link below to see it handled today.

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ViewSonic VNB132 laptop and VNB102 netbook hit the massage table originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Sep 2009 06:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 17

Pentax K-x hands-on

Posted in: 720p, dslr, Features, hands-on, Today's Chili

We just got a quick look at Pentax’s value priced, 720p-shootin’ DSLR, the K-x. Unfortunately, the models we saw were pretty early prototypes, so we didn’t get to really see how the camera performs. Overall the build quality seems solid, but nothing incredible — though quite good for the $650 pricepoint. We were sad to hear that those crazy color options will be Japan only: the US is only getting red, white, blue and black. But how about that red! We can honestly say it’s one of the wilder shades we’ve seen on a consumer electronics product, and our camera seemed have a trouble comprehending the particular shade of red. We look forward to all the curious looks we’ll get when we have a final build of the product to play with in the wild.

Gallery: Pentax K-x hands-on

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Pentax K-x hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Sep 2009 23:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 17

ASUS UL80 and N61Vg hands-on

Posted in: ASUS, Features, hands-on, Today's Chili, windows 7, Windows7

Windows 7 has inspired an expected new model bonanza among PC manufacturers, and ASUS is no exception. Just for starters the new UL80 (pictured running Windows Vista) and N61Vg offer up some “mainstream” prices and performance up against that Win 7 hotness. The UL80 makes like a thin and light, with a new dual-core CULV SU7300 processor and a quoted 12 hours of battery life, but also works in switchable discreet graphics, Turbo33 tech for selective overclocking the processor, and a disc drive. It’s still relatively thin and light, and to our eyes has a pretty snazzy display. The N61Vg has a bit of a new design language for ASUS, with a pleasant rubberized palm rest. It also has a multi-touch trackpad, strong multimedia features and a decent size / weight for a 16-inch Core 2 Quad machine. The existing UL80 configuration, without the overclocking, goes for about $849, so we expect the new UL80 to be in that ballpark, while the N61Vg is slated for around $1,049.

Gallery: ASUS UL80 hands-on

Gallery: ASUS N61Vg hands-on

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ASUS UL80 and N61Vg hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Sep 2009 13:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 16

HP’s new DreamScreens pack Pandora and Facebook into a wireless photo frame

Posted in: breaking news, BreakingNews, Features, hands-on, HP, Today's Chili

Photo frames sure have come a long way — from back when they were photo frames. The new HP DreamScreen 100 and 130 (which we spotted back in July) pack in 2GB of built-in storage, and all the assorted connectivity for pulling in photos from a camera, drive or networked PC (802.11b/g or Ethernet), but stack on top of that 10,000 internet radio stations, Facebook, Snapfish internet photos, a full-featured music player, Pandora, weather and even a fancy clock. The unit has a built-in speaker, but you’ll probably want to use the sound-out jack to get any reasonable enjoyment in listening. The 10-inch DreamScreen 100 goes for $249 and is available today, while the DreamScreen 130 bumps it up to 13.3-inches and will be out this fall for $299. PR is after the break.

Gallery: HP DreamScreen press shots

Gallery: HP DreamScreen hands-on

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HP’s new DreamScreens pack Pandora and Facebook into a wireless photo frame originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Sep 2009 00:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 16

HTC Hero for Sprint hands-on and impressions

Posted in: Android, cdma, Features, Google, hands-on, HandsOn, hero, impressions, Sprint, Today's Chili

When we first caught wind of HTC’s Hero coming to Sprint, we were more than a little hopeful that the issues we experienced with the European version would be alleviated. If you’ll recall, we had a bit of a love-hate affair going on with the chinny, wine-drinking iteration of the Android-powered phone due to a seeming lack of horsepower required to push HTC’s totally amazing Sense UI. In the last few weeks, we’ve heard lots of chatter about the forthcoming Hero update and the wonders it would do for the speed of this phone… but unfortunately there’s no such luck in the US, CDMA version of this device.

So, the point here is we were planning on doing a whole new review to showcase the differences between the old and new version of the Hero, but there really aren’t any besides the obvious physical changes. Sprint has added some great new apps, like its visual voicemail, which works like a charm (oh by the way Coleen, you got that job — maybe you should give them your new number too), and Sprint Navigation, though it’s also muddied up the mix by including the yawn-maker NASCAR app. Of course, this phone provides a full-on 3G experience, unlike the European version (for obvious reasons), and Sprint’s network seems as snappy as ever — general web browsing was a noticeably more enjoyable experience, for instance.

Here is what we can say about the phone: the industrial design of this version versus the older model is a marked improvement, chucking that awkward chin shape for a proper bottom half, and rearranging the hard buttons so that you’re not constantly getting your hands cramped up. We also have to mention the trackball, which is the most comfortable we’ve ever used. While the performance is still not where we think it should be, the Hero is an awesome addition to Sprint’s growing line of serious contenders in the smartphone game. If that new update is all it’s supposed to be (and if Sprint is expedient in bringing it to market), many of our complaints should be quelled — and this will be the killer device we know it can be.

Update: To commenters asking for a longer review, or asking about discrepancies in our findings versus other sites — we can only report on what we observed. In our eyes, there is nothing significantly different or improved about the Sprint version to warrant a second review. There are some very minor differences in camera quality, and obviously the network performance is better (since it’s not EDGE), but a full-length review did not seem necessary (you’ll note many of our contemporaries also have short-form reviews). While reports may differ (especially those stating that this phone has the updated ROM we’ve heard about), we’re still seeing the same kind of sluggishness and slowdown we experienced with the European version. What we said in the original Hero review very much applies to the Sprint version, and we suggest you take a peek.

Gallery: HTC Hero for Sprint hands-on

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HTC Hero for Sprint hands-on and impressions originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Sep 2009 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 16

Seagate gets NASty with Pogoplug-based FreeAgent DockStar: hands-on

Posted in: hands-on, nas, pics, pictures, storage, Today's Chili

Hard to believe this is Seagate’s first consumer NAS offering (keyword being “consumer“), but sure enough, the FreeAgent DockStar is the company’s first major effort to get its own line of FreeAgent Go hard drives onto your network. Without getting into too much detail, this simple dock is essentially a Pogoplug with a built-in cradle for one’s FreeAgent Go USB (read: not FireWire) HDD. Thankfully, a trifecta of USB 2.0 sockets are littered about the edges, ensuring that at least three standard USB drives can also be connected and accessed over the web. We’ve yet to have a chance to put this bugger through its paces, but since we know all about the underlying technology, you can probably learn everything you need to know from our Pogoplug review. For those who’d rather opt for a Seagate’d version of an already available product, this DockStar is shipping today for $99.99. Oh, and we should mention that it comes with a year of the Pogoplug service, but after that, you’ll be shelling out $29.99 per year for unlimited sharing and remote access.

In related news, Seagate is also introducing three new capacities for its FreeAgent Go family. In addition to the 250GB, 320GB, 500GB and 640GB versions already out there, the range will now include a 750GB, 880GB and 1TB version. Too bad no pricing or release details are available on those, but we’ll be keeping an eye out.

Gallery: Seagate gets NASty with Pogoplug-based FreeAgent DockStar

Gallery: Seagate FreeAgent DockStar

Continue reading Seagate gets NASty with Pogoplug-based FreeAgent DockStar: hands-on

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Seagate gets NASty with Pogoplug-based FreeAgent DockStar: hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Sep 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 15

DJ Hero controller hands-on faceoff with an SL-1200MK2

Posted in: controller, Features, hands-on, HandsOn, Today's Chili, xbox, xbox 360, Xbox360

Activision was kind enough to send over an early evaluation copy of DJ Hero, and while we haven’t had a chance to dive deeply into the game yet, we thought you might want to see how the controller itself stacks up against one of our Technics SL-1200MK2s. As you might expect, compared to the legendarily tank-like construction of the MK2, the DJ Hero controller looks and feels exactly like the plastic game controller it is, although the wheel itself is nice and weighty and the buttons are pleasantly clicky. We definitely have some doubts about how this is all going to work when actually trying to mix tunes together, but we’re eager to try it out — in the meantime, hit the gallery for the full set of pics.

Gallery: DJ Hero hands-on faceoff with Technics SL-1200

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DJ Hero controller hands-on faceoff with an SL-1200MK2 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 15

Archos 5 Internet Tablet makes an honest PMP out of Android

Posted in: Android, archos, breaking news, BreakingNews, Features, hands-on, Today's Chili

Android has become many things to many people, but high-powered media devices haven’t latched on to the OS just yet. Much of it has to do with the Android’s immaturity: from what we hear, it doesn’t even support hardware graphics acceleration, much less embrace multimedia and games. Archos has punched through that barrier by porting over its existing media-happy application layer from Linux to make good use of the 800MHz OMAP3440 processor they’ve stuffed inside the brand new (much leaked) Archos 5 Internet Tablet. The tablet runs a 4.8-inch 800 x 480 screen, and can pump out 720p video (including WMV and H.264) over HDMI. Because it’s Archos’ own special sauce, the device also supports protected WMV and protected WMA (hooray PlaysForSure), a rarity for Linux. With the optional DVR Station the device can do VGA TV recording, though you’ll probably want to spring for one of the beefy HDD models, which offer capacity up to 500GB, but double the girth of the basic 0.4-inch thick flash player. There’s also 802.11n WiFi, a bit of a rarity in portable devices like this, and quite a treat for 2.4GHz-addled city dwellers.

But that’s all pretty regular Archos-ey stuff. The newness for Archos comes in the form of Android, which has been fairly seamlessly melded with the Archos layer — which hovers over the vanilla Android install when needed. The OS scales up pretty nicely to 800 x 480, which is a relief because the touchscreen keyboard is a bit of a chore with the 5’s resistive touchscreen. Since it’s not a Google-blessed device, you’ll have to score a copy of Gmail on your own time, but the regular Market is available if you want to risk going around the 5-optimized AppsLib store. Several third party apps are included out of the gate, including ThinkFree Mobile, which should be updated to allow for document editing in the near future. When plugged into a dock and paired with an optional mini-QWERTY keypad (or any regular Bluetooth keyboard and mouse) the 5 becomes a rather nice way to surf the internet on your TV. It’s missing in-browser Flash, but there should be an update to rectify that soon. Out of the house the tablet offers a high-end GPS experience, including hugemongous birds eye photo maps of major cities, and can tether with a 3G phone over Bluetooth for a bit of data. So, Archos 5 might not be Android’s killer device, mainly because it isn’t a phone and doesn’t make for pleasurable mobile data entry or consumption. Still, it’s doing stuff with media that the relatively sluggish crop of Android handsets have failed at so far, and hopefully will spur the community to greater heights. The player is available as of today, with prices ranging from $250 to $440, not to mention accessories galore. Check out videos of the tablet in action after the break.

Gallery: Archos 5 press shots

Gallery: Archo 5 hands-on

Continue reading Archos 5 Internet Tablet makes an honest PMP out of Android

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Archos 5 Internet Tablet makes an honest PMP out of Android originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 15

Video: Spawn Labs HD-720 aims to be the Slingbox to your game console, we go hands-on

Posted in: 720p, Features, game, hands-on, HandsOn, media streamer, MediaStreamer, stream, streamer, streaming, Today's Chili, video

Sure, your heart may be aflutter with thoughts of gaming cloud services like OnLive and OTOY, but quietly making its debut this week is Spawn Labs with its “Bring Your Own console” HD-720 video game streamer, due out this November for $199.95. In a nutshell, the device works as a Slingbox for your Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PS2, or GameCube and lets you play those consoles over the internet on your Windows PC (a Mac client is said to be in the works). The AV cables — component or composite, no HDMI at this point — are connected and can be then passed through to a TV as normal. A USB connection is used to sync up the controller, and there’s also an IR signal for turning the connected system(s) on and off. On the computer, you can log the Spawn Labs website and play either your own system or jump onto one of your friends’ systems for some faux-local co-op or to be a spectator.

We had a chance to take a look at the streamer and talk with some of the minds behind it at TechCrunch 50 to fill in some of the missing details. In a fairly controlled environment — the device hooked up via ethernet to a private router on the show floor — we were able to competently play Soul Calibur IV with what we were told was around 100ms audio / video and 5ms controller lag. Under ideal situations, it streams 720p / 30 frames per second in H.264 video with AAC-LC audio, but that can automatically downscale when the connection slows — should we decide we’re too lazy to make it from our bedroom to the couch to play Halo (an all too frequent scenario), it’ll clearly work fine over a local network, but it’s gonna be how well it works across that internet that’s the real deal-breaker, and we weren’t able to test that. Cross-continent play isn’t recommended, but you can have spectators from all over the world and it won’t at all affect your latency. Any PC controller can work and be custom-mapped, including just keyboard and mouse, although if you’re wanting to use a PS3 pad you’ll have to find the drivers for it yourself. The game window itself has buttons along the bottom for pulling up the system’s specific guide menu or recording the video for upload to YouTube. What’s impressive to us is that it’s said to work with any computer that can handle a 720p video stream, and so far in the labs they’ve apparently got it working well on an ION-based netbook — but we didn’t get to see that for ourselves, so we’ll hold applause until we can put it through its paces ourselves. See a video demonstration for yourself after the break.

Gallery: Spawn Labs HD-720 press shots

Continue reading Video: Spawn Labs HD-720 aims to be the Slingbox to your game console, we go hands-on

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Video: Spawn Labs HD-720 aims to be the Slingbox to your game console, we go hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 15

Seagate launches FreeAgent Theater+ HD media player, we go hands-on

Posted in: Features, hands-on, media player, MediaPlayer, pics, pictures, streaming, Today's Chili

Remember when Seagate introduced its Betamax-esque FreeAgent Theater HD way back at CES this year? Of course not — you were locked onto the Palm Pre keynote. At any rate, the next generation of that very device somehow made it through the product development stage and now sits in our very hands, and we have to say, it’s no more modern in person than it is in press shots. Equipped with the usual assortment of ports (HDMI, component, composite, Toslink, Ethernet and two USB) ports, the FreeAgent Theater+ HD media player gets all of its content from a FreeAgent Go USB 2.0 hard drive (sold separately or in a bundle) or whatever you shove into those USB sockets. You can count on 1080p output and a pretty standard UI, and while it’s wired-or-die right now, Seagate’s hoping to pop out a USB WiFi adapter ($69.99) for it next month.

We’ve yet to really put this player through its paces, but we can say for sure that it’s not made for abuse. The mostly-plastic box is staggeringly light, and one drop from atop your AV rack could lead to utter disaster. Furthermore, this is really only useful for those wound tightly around Seagate’s finger; the bulk of its functionality relies on having a FreeAgent USB drive at your disposal, and if you’ve selected any other portable HDD, you’ll have to deal with connecting it the old fashion way and ditching the “clean look.” At $149.99 sans an HDD, it’s one of the cheaper options on the market, but it still can’t beat Popcorn Hour’s heralded lineup when it comes to value and format support. Those looking for an all-in-one deal can opt for the $289.99 bundle, which throws in a 500GB FreeAgent Go drive. Have a look at retro exemplified in the gallery below.

Gallery: Seagate launches FreeAgent Theater+ HD media player, we go hands-on

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Seagate launches FreeAgent Theater+ HD media player, we go hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Sep 2009 09:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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