Hasta La Gadget!

Sure, it’s not unusual for gadgets to miss their shipping targets, suffering months-long delays as they jump through the varies hoops necessary before a release. Fortunately, ASUS can now check FCC approval off the Eee Pad Slider’s to do list, with the Honeycomb QWERTY tablet receiving a green light from the feds late last week. ASUS has already confirmed August availability in the UK (after previously promising a May ship date), so we can only hope that the same timeframe applies stateside as well. We’re also curious to see whether or not ASUS was able to use this unexpected delay to beef up supplies, so the Slide doesn’t suffer a hangup similar to that of its Transformer cousin. The company has yet to confirm Slider pricing in the U.S., though we imagine those details will be revealed along with a shipping date within the next few weeks.

ASUS Eee Pad SL101 slides through the FCC, still misses promised May release originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Jul 2011 13:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’ve seen this handsome screen on your Asus Transformer, it means you’ve finally managed to root it. Congratulations. And yet, it’s all so… anticlimactic. What was the point of it? In fact, what’s the point of anything? Hey, don’t go down that road. Install Netflix instead, courtesy of a new patch from XDA Developers at the source link below. Then watch Kung Fu Panda one more time and the sense of order in your life will magically return. Like the wise Oogway said: “You may wish for an apple or an orange, but you will get a peach.”

[Thanks everyone who sent this in]

Netflix patch arrives for rooted Asus Transformers, it’s okay to be happy originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Jul 2011 14:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Two Lenovo tablets in the same evening? Nah, it’s not the midsummer sun melting your cerebrum, but the same result just might happen after you ingest this one. True to rumors, the ThinkPad Tablet (yeah, that’s seriously the whole name) will indeed be shipping with a full-size USB port and an optional dedicated folio / case, and oddly enough, it’s that very peripheral that could set this unit apart from the masses. While it’s obviously no big chore to find a Bluetooth-enabled keyboard folio for the iPad, you probably won’t find a perfectly matching case with a tried-and-true Lenovo keyboard and a newfangled optical trackpad unless you’re ponying up for this guy. Internally, we’re looking at the same 1GHz Tegra 2 silicon as found in the more consumery IdeaPad K1, a 10.1-inch (1280 x 800) IPS display, a battery good for up to 8.7 hours of use, 1GB of RAM, 16/32/64GB of storage, 3-in-1 card reader, A-GPS, an accelerometer, ambient light sensor, front (2MP) / rear (5MP) cameras, a mini HDMI port (1080p capable!) and Lenovo’s own app launcher / app market.

In our discussions with Lenovo, it was made fairly clear that this guy was being aimed more at companies and less at consumers, but there’s absolutely nothing stopping the latter from enjoying a solid Honeycomb experience here. In fact, the ability to plug in a common mouse or trackpad (or combo device, for that matter) makes it far more useful than many of the ultraslim slates it’ll inevitably go up against. Also unique to the Tablet is a built-in active stylus, which is tailor-made to jot down highly important information cartoons in the company’s homegrown note-taking program.

The full-size USB port also puts it squarely in Eee Transformer territory, with the Keyboard Folio shown above making perfect use of it. In practice, the accessory worked beautifully, and while the $99 price tag may seem a bit steep, it’s not exactly cheap to go out and get a third-party case, keyboard and mouse. The company’s demanding $499 (and up) for it’s Android 3.1-based biz slate, with initial shipments starting today. Peek the hands-on video just after the break!

Continue reading Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet and Keyboard Folio case hands-on (video)

Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet and Keyboard Folio case hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Jul 2011 00:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You read that correctly — Netflix streaming is about to get really real on impending Honeycomb tablets. One of the nuggets that makes Lenovo’s newly unveiled IdeaPad K1 so special is the internal DRM module that allows it to play nice with a fresh build of the Netflix app. As we saw back at MWC with the LG Revolution, future Android 3.x tablets (with an unspecified hardware inclusion) will not only support native Watch Instantly streaming over mini-HDMI / HDMI, but it’ll also enable something totally new: local storage. The fresh build of the app — which will remain exclusive to Lenovo for “a short while” — will have a heretofore unseen option that’ll let subscribers store flicks locally for offline viewing. We’re told by Lenovo that files can be stored on the internal flash as well as on microSD cards, and while we’ve yet to get a hands-on look at the app, we’ll be doing everything we can to change that.

Just to answer the obvious question: no, your existing Honeycomb tablet won’t be able to support this goodness through a firmware update. You’ll actually need a slate with the requisite hardware within to take advantage, and it’s hard to say at this point who will follow Lenovo down the path. We’re hoping that the added functionality won’t lead to a boost in Netflix’s monthly rate, but given the history of the app, we can’t say we’re too terrified about that possibility. So, how fast will the APK be ripped from the fabric of a K1 and thrown out onto the web? Somewhere between “quickly” and “you’ve got to be kidding me,” we’re surmising.

Netflix to stream natively from HDMI-equipped tablets, enable local storage with hardware DRM module originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Jul 2011 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While the device worked during Wired.com’s testing period without issue, numerous customers have experienced problems with Toshiba’s new Thrive tablet. Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

Toshiba confirmed on Tuesday malfunctions with its newly released Android tablet, promising a fix to come soon.

In a series of message board complaints on Monday, customers reported problems waking the tablet from its sleep mode. Instead of normally pressing the power button on the side of the device to turn on the screen, a number of users needed to do hard reboot — or a complete restart of the system software — in order to use the tablet. The complaints from forum members were first reported by Engadget.

“Toshiba is aware a limited number of Thrive Tablet users are experiencing Resume issues when in Sleep mode,” the company declared in a statement issued to Wired.com. ” We are aggressively working to implement a fix that resolves this issue and will push an update as soon as possible.”

It’s rough news for Toshiba, as its new tablet product launches in a market packed with Android slate offerings. Beginning in February with the Motorola Xoom, close to a dozen new Android-powered tablets have been released in 2011. Most attacks on Android’s tablet-optimized version, Honeycomb, focus on a “not quite finished” quality of the software. Toshiba’s issues right out of the gate only exacerbate the beta-like feel of Honeycomb, which may bar customers from picking up a Thrive.

A number of Thrive owners posted their efforts in figuring out a workaround solution to the problem, with varied success. Some fixes included removing the battery and plugging the device into an A/C charger, tweaking the screen power setting so that it won’t turn off (a horrible battery drain), and other more complicated workarounds.

But as one forum user states, “for the average consumer, that is a lot of hoop jumping for something that should just work.”

During Wired.com’s period of testing of the Thrive tablet, we did not observe any issues with sleep mode.

Toshiba also plans to issue a software update to the tablet with system enhancements, most likely in an effort to distract from the negative attention.

“Toshiba will push an update to enhance the multi-tasking capabilities of the device within the next 48 hours,” the company said in a statement. “As a general practice, Toshiba recommends users download the latest system updates.”

Toshiba has yet to give an ETA on a fix for the Thrive’s sleep issues, but customers should expect an over-the-air update soon.