Hasta La Gadget!

Microsoft offered a brief glimpse of its revised Surface earlier this week at the Ballmer keynote, but now we’ve had a chance to check the Samsung SUR40 for Microsoft Surface (as its officially termed) for ourselves. The “2.0 experience” firmware is early and a bit buggy right now (especially with finger input), but there’s plenty of time fix that up before its launch later this year. The hardware itself is much thinner, with a 4-inch profile that can now be placed vertically against the wall (although we suggest using the stylish legs when possible). The 40-inch 1920 x 1080 gorilla glass display was crisp as all out, but since we could get close and scrutinize, you’ll definitely notice the pixels. The first demo we got to see is also probably the most impressive, wherein a paper with “I can see” written on it is scanned and read very clearly (a dev monitor was hooked up to show what Surface could “see”). Meanwhile, we couldn’t help but touch every point to watch the ripple effect emanate from our fingers.

Apps are arranged in a row that you can sift through or rotate 180 degrees for someone facing opposite. We kept accidentally opening apps when we tried to scroll through, which is annoying but again, we were reminded it’s early firmware. Some of the apps we have seen before with the original Surface — some changes are required to make compatible, but we’re told it’s a fairly smooth transition process. Some highlights from what we saw:

• Bing, which for now only does image search (maps and local to come). The screen right now is a bit too sensitive and would detect sleeves as much as it would our fingers (you can see typos galore in the gallery). Images are scattered about a new results widget, and you can move around a bit from there or pull out individual ones to rotate and scan.
• A Red Bull with a printed code on the bottom that launches on-screen prompts for videos that you can smoothly rotate and scale on the fly, and a RBC Royal Bank that’ll make you feel really guilty about that cup of coffee from this morning.
• Oldies like Social Stream, Garibaldi Panorama, and Galactic Alliance.

Another plus for the SUR40? It’s cheaper than its predecessor — but at $7,600, it’s still not ready for consumer market. We’ve got a ton of pics below and video after the break!

Update: We’ve added our full impressions and cleaned up the footage after the break. Enjoy!

Continue reading Samsung SUR40 for Microsoft Surface hands-on with video! (update)

Samsung SUR40 for Microsoft Surface hands-on with video! (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Jan 2011 14:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Ford just made some tire marks on the stage at CES unveiling its Focus Electric, the first new major vehicle announced at the show. We of course knew it was coming, and we have all the details right here of both the car itself and the MyTouch Mobile app, but we were given an opportunity to get up and close with them both. Click on through for some impressions — both in visual and textual formats.

Continue reading Ford Focus Electric and MyFord Mobile hands-on (video)

Ford Focus Electric and MyFord Mobile hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Jan 2011 14:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Idapt has its new i4 and i1 Eco universal chargers on the CES show floor, and if you’re not a fan of iGo products but hate the need for multiple chargers you should maybe give these a look. The i2+ simultaneously charges three different devices (plus one via USB), and comes bundled with six tips for charging pretty much any gadget you can throw at it. The tips can be interchanged quickly by clicking on either side, and it even puts your devices on display. The i1 Eco utilizes the same interchangeable tip system, but only has room for one in addition to a USB port. This one has hot swappable end tips for charging in the car or on the go, and costs around $25. Check out both of them in the gallery below.

Idapt 2011 charging systems hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Jan 2011 13:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Continue reading Cricket Muve music service and Samsung Suede hands-on

Filed under: Cellphones

Cricket Muve music service and Samsung Suede hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Jan 2011 13:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

If you’re an avid Engadget reader, you’re familiar with a dream of ours — we have always wanted a netbook / tablet hybrid (netverible as we like to call ’em) that actually works really well. We don’t want to get our hopes up too much, but the Samsung Sliding PC 7 Series could be it. While we got a chance to see the 10.1-inch tablet with its slide out keyboard just a few days ago, we caught some one-on-one time with the device behind closed doors here at the show and came out having a lot of hope in the product. The unit we saw, and the one being shown on the show floor here at CES, is still pre-production, but even so the sliding mechanism worked pretty smoothly. That’s not to say it doesn’t still feel delicate, but it actually auto-slides open once you start to push up the screen. As you’ll see in the video, it’s a rather exhilarating process, although, we were slightly worried that the back of the screen was going to shave off a keyboard key or two. Speaking of the keyboard, those smooth, shiny chiclet keys feel pretty good, though as you’d expect the layout is a little bit cramped.

When held in tablet mode the 2.18-pound device is a little heavy for one-handed use, but it’s nowhere near as thick or bulky as the Dell Inspiron Duo. However, to maintain those trim dimensions, Samsung has had to cut out a full sized USB port, and instead, the device will use its mini-HDMI port — it will come with a mini-HDMI-to-USB 2.0 adapter. It also has a MicroSD slot and 3G-card insert, and both front- and back-facing cameras. We didn’t get to spend too much with Samsung’s Touch Launcher, but it’s one of the nicer looking Windows 7 layers we’ve seen in our day, and it can be launched by just touching that bright blue strip on the screen bezel. Of course, we’re slightly worried that it will be sluggish, but Samsung is using Intel’s forthcoming 1.5GHz Oak Trail processor, which we’ve heard will speed up Win 7 and improve battery life. As for the 340-nit, 1366 x 768-resolution screen itself, it was nice and bright on maximum setting, and the viewing angles seemed to be fairly decent. Unfortunately, it’s also fairly glossy, so we’ll have to see how it holds up outdoors. It also supports up to 16 points of contact — we’re not sure how useful that is on a ten-inch screen, but it’s a nice bragging point. Samsung maintains the Sliding PC 7 Series should be hitting for $699 in May — don’t let us down Sammy, we’ve got dreams.

Sam Sheffer and Sean Hollister contributed to this report.

Updated: The price is said to be $699, not $599. We’ve heard different things on the release time frame so we’re sticking to May at the moment.

Continue reading Samsung Sliding PC 7 Series hands-on preview (video)

Samsung Sliding PC 7 Series hands-on preview (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Jan 2011 12:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments