Hasta La Gadget!

Corporate earnings calls can be tedious affairs. But sometimes, if you listen closely enough, you’ll be treated to a nugget of product strategy in between those bursts of mind-numbing financial data. Intel’s call was just such an affair, with chief Paul S. Otellini providing a quick update on Intel’s tablet and smartphone plans. Regarding the emerging tablet market, Otellini said that Intel will have “quite a bit of tablet demonstrations” at Computex running MeeGo, Windows, and Android operating systems. “We’re heads down on a number of designs on tablets on all three of those operating systems,” he added. Regarding Android, Intel’s fifth CEO said, “We’ve received Android code – the Honeycomb version of Android source code – from Google, and we’re actively doing the port on that, and expect to be able to ramp those machines over the course of this year for a number of customers.” Yes, we’re looking at you right now Acer — wink, wink.

Regarding smarpthones, Otellini told reporters and analysts, “In terms of phones, obviously, we lost Nokia, which took a lot of the wind out of the sails for phones this year. We’ve redirected those resources onto a number of other major accounts focusing on carriers who want their own devices and also own handset manufacturers. They are all based on Medfield.” With regards to timing, Otellini observed, “The limit in terms of them getting to market is going to be the interoperability testing of the networks at this point in time. I would be very disappointed if we didn’t see Intel-based phones for sale 12 months from now.” Us too Paul, us too… ARM’s not exactly standing still.

Intel porting Honeycomb to its tablets, Medfield smartphones on the way originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Apr 2011 05:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It appears Motorola is taking a page from the Samsung playbook and making the Xoom carrier-agnostic. Verizon and Sprint are already marching along and, according Wireless Goodness, an AT&T version is about to join the parade. The FCC approved a “hand held device” from Motorola that packs an HSDPA-capable radio on the 850MHz and 1900MHz bands, which just so happen to be the very same frequencies used by AT&T. A screen shot snapped by Wireless Goodness refers to the product as a “wireless tablet with embedded WLAN,” though that description is conspicuously absent from the documents now. The filing also makes mention of MOTOTalk, two-way radio functionality, a feature missing from other Xoom versions that seems like a perfect fit for the rumored rugged tablet the company is working on. Looks like that little bundle of “4G” tablet joy teased during CES is finally on its way.

GSM-flavored Xoom passes FCC muster, bound for AT&T? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Apr 2011 18:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Acer’s Iconia Tab A500 is one of the latest Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) tablets to hit the market. Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Ever since Google’s tablet-optimized version of its Android OS debuted on the Xoom in February, manufacturers have been scrambling to bring their tablets to market. Next up on the list is Acer’s offering, the Iconia Tab A500.

If you haven’t used Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) before — and unless you own a Xoom, odds are you probably haven’t — it takes a bit of getting used to. Eliminating the four buttons that anchored so many Android phone faces means retraining yourself to handle a new interface. Instead of physical buttons, the system bar that lines the bottom of the screen holds three “soft” navigation buttons.

The Iconia Tab’s form takes advantage of the new user interface, as the large amount of screen real estate allows for lots of room to customize the five different home-screen menus.

Like a number of its Android brethren, the Iconia Tab runs on Nvidia’s dual-core, 1-GHz Tegra 2 processor. Playing one of the HD games that came loaded on the tablet showed solid performance, and the integrated GeForce GPU handled the graphics well.

The tablet also supports Adobe Flash (unlike the iPad 2), though as of now the Flash player release for Honeycomb tablets is only a beta version. And believe me, it shows. YouTube test videos were unreliable, running smoothly at some points, and choppily at others. Some Flash games (Bejeweled) ran well enough, while others were nearly unplayable.

In a recent interview, Adobe told us the delay in producing a final version for Honeycomb-based tablets had to do with “fundamental changes in the browser implementation,” which held up the plug-in’s release even for the launch of the Xoom.

At 1.69 pounds, the Iconia Tab is only slightly heftier than the comparable Xoom (1.6 pounds), though its metal exterior would fool you into thinking otherwise. The 10.1-inch display runs 720p HD video quite well, but don’t expect to be watching any 1080p until a software update coming later this summer.

It has two cameras: a 5-megapixel back-facing camera and a 2-megapixel front-facing one for video chat. Nothing really new here, except for the interface on which you take your photos. Shooting pictures on a Honeycomb tablet for the first time is, frankly, a little weird. Holding the tablet in both hands and pointing feels like trying to deflect debris with a cafeteria lunch tray.

Acer’s tablet has a 5-megapixel back-facing camera for photos. Be forewarned: Taking pictures with a tablet takes getting used to. Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Much like the Xoom, Acer’s tablet is seriously lacking in the sound department. The speakers are located on the back side of the device, projecting audio away from the user. Even if you were to flip the tablet around while listening, speaker quality just isn’t there. Tinny, distorted highs and crunchy lows makes for an awful aural experience.

Acer has decided to price the Iconia Tab at $450, cheaper than most of the premium tablets we’re going to see released over the next few months. Because the tablet seems a bit like plain vanilla to us, the relatively low price is probably Acer’s best bet to steal customers away from choosing Apple, Motorola or RIM’s recent BlackBerry PlayBook tablet.

The Iconia Tab A500 is currently up for pre-order on Bestbuy.com, and will be available exclusively at Best Buy retail stores and online April 24.

See Also:

• Acer's New Wi-Fi Android Tablet Unveiled
• Report: Motorola Xoom Tablet to Cost a Hefty $800
• Motorola Xoom Launches Without Flash
• Motorola Xoom, Atrix Too Pricey for the Public
• Video: Android 'Honeycomb' Tablet OS Revealed
• Google Unveils Graphics, Other Enhancements to Honeycomb
• What We Know About Honeycomb, the Android for Tablets

Under the hood, there’s not much separating the T-Mobile G-Slate from its nearest known competitor, the Motorola Xoom. Both run stock builds of Android Honeycomb. Both use the Tegra 2 chipset. Both have 1 gig of RAM. Both come equipped with 5 megapixel and 2 megapixel rear/front cameras. So what’s different? Aside from size, the G-Slate uses T-Mobile’s 4G-ish network and has “3D” capabilities, if you really want to call it that. More »

Right now two camps seem to be getting the most supporters: seven-inchers, like the Streak 7 and BlackBerry PlayBook, and 10-inchers, like the Motorola Xoom and the Apple iPad. But, sometimes weapon systems need to be a little more specialized. Sometimes the templates don’t fit, and the $530 (after rebate, on-contract) T-Mobile G-Slate by LG isn’t fitting into those categories, slotting somewhere in between with its 8.9-inch display backed with Tegra 2 graphics, 4G HSPA+ wireless, and all the oomph you want in a modern Android device. It’s a little smaller and little lighter than the 10-inchers, bigger and meatier than the sevens and, by cutting down the middle, it hits almost all the right marks.

Continue reading T-Mobile G-Slate review

T-Mobile G-Slate review originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Apr 2011 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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