Hasta La Gadget!

Amazon may not be shipping HP’s first webOS tablet until July 17th, but why wait? The outfit itself just affirmed that the long-awaited TouchPad will go on sale to eager Americans on July 1st, with the UK, Ireland, France and Germany a few days later (and Canada in mid-July). Following that, a phased rollout will take it to Australia, Hong Kong, Italy, New Zealand, Singapore and Spain “later this year.” It’ll be on sale pretty much everywhere for $499.99 (16GB) / $599.99 (32GB) — or £399 / £479 across the pond — with pre-orders starting at your favorite e-tailer just ten days from today. For those looking for a highly connected version HP also made clear that it’ll be partnering with AT&T for a 3G (or will it be “4G?”) edition later in the summer. Head on past the break for a look at the full retail partner list, and yeah, yesterday would be a great time to start saving up.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Official: HP TouchPad ships July 1st in US, 3G model coming to AT&T ‘this summer’

Official: HP TouchPad ships July 1st in US, 3G model coming to AT&T ‘this summer’ originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Jun 2011 09:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We always have to chuckle when laptop makers talk about making business systems look more palatable to the employees toting ’em. After all, it’s not like we’re going to walk off the job because we don’t like the looks of that black box we’ve been assigned. Or are we? Nonetheless, laptop manufacturers are going out of their way to make their corporate systems look (and perform) more in line with their sexier consumer cousins. Take the Lenovo ThinkPad X1, for instance, a slimmed-down version of the company’s signature design — updated with a buttonless touchpad, Dolby sound, and a much-maligned glossy display. Toshiba, meanwhile, recently revamped its line of business notebooks to look like the lightweight Portege R705 — also a crossover hit.

Which brings us to the HP ProBook 5330m. This 13.3-incher has a metal-clad body and Beats Audio — a first on an HP business machine, but a staple across its consumer stable. And yet, the company’s wooing the IT guys, too, with a matte display, optional prepaid mobile broadband, Intel vPro technology, and TPM circuitry. With a starting price of $799, it scores big points for value, but can it hang? Let’s find out.

Continue reading HP ProBook 5330m review

HP ProBook 5330m review originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Jun 2011 14:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The latest ComScore results from the last quarter are in, and the US mobile device wars were hotter than ever as 13% more people reported owning a smartphone. Google conquered most users’ territory with Android climbing just over five percent (now totaling 36.4%) and still claiming first for mobile software platforms. Apple’s iOS destroyer took second place (at 26%) partially due to RIM’s S.S. BlackBerry OS sinking about five percent (now 25.7%) to claim third, while Microsoft and HP / Palm rounded out the bunch struggling to stay in the fight with even lower single-digit scores. In the OEM region Samsung claimed first yet again (although slightly dropping to 24.5%), with LG and Motorola landing in second and third respectively, each keeping its place from the prior quarter. In the last two slots, Apple again bested RIM whose devices barely dropped half of a percent, but enough to let the slight growth of iDevices snatch up 4th. The source link below is waiting to be clicked if you want the full battle statistics.

ComScore: Android grows larger than ever among US subscribers, Apple belittles RIM originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Jun 2011 04:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We just wrapped up our liveblog of HP CEO Leo Apotheker’s appearance here at D9, and while he certainly spoke far too frequently about printers, there was one nugget that we just couldn’t overlook. When speaking casually about the future of webOS on non-HP handsets, he noted that the firm was looking to license webOS to various other hardware manufacturers. Granted, the bulk of these are likely to be wrapped up in the enterprise, but he’s not tossing out the idea of using webOS on other mobile devices. When asked if he’d consider licensing webOS to a company like HTC, he confessed to being very willing to having that conversation should the scenario present itself — a stance that’s quite different than the one held by the “old HP.” It’s hard to say if he’s just shooting the breeze or if there’s already a company or two behind the scenes looking to do just that, but either way, you can bet we’ll be keeping our eyes peeled for any webOS creations sans HP’s labeling. Talk about a serious play to get the attention of developers.

HP’s Leo Apotheker totally open to licensing webOS to other handset makers originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Jun 2011 15:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading HP TouchPad available at OfficeMax on July 17th?

HP TouchPad available at OfficeMax on July 17th? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 May 2011 09:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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