Hasta La Gadget!

We had a feeling we’d be hearing about Intel’s Atom for smartphones here at Mobile World Congress, and Intel did in fact take the stage today to talk about its forthcoming Medfield processor. The company has announced that it is starting to sample or test its 32nm Medfield processor for mobile devices with its customers (obviously, it’s not telling us with ones) and more importantly that it will ship in a phone. Yep, Intel’s Senior Vice President Anand Chandrasekher spoke quite firmly about how the platform will in fact ship in smartphones and that it will also support Android. He pulled out the phone above just as a proof point, and while he didn’t say who made it, we have a sneaking suspicion it is that Aava Mobile phone we’ve heard about.

Chandraskher also took direct aim at ARM (he even called out ARM’s CEO Warren East), and hammered home Intel’s focus on battery life. He didn’t quote exact run time, but he did say that “on active power we are most efficient architecture on the planet.” We actually believe he repeated that will have the “longest usage time” at least three times. What about standby? He was a bit more vague on that, but did say it would be competitive there as well. We’ll be doing our best to track down that Medfield-powered handset up there, so stay tuned.

Update: Our friend Chippy from CarryPad caught a bit of Aand’s talk on video. Hit the break for that.

Continue reading Intel talks Medfield: will ship in a phone and have the longest usage time

Intel talks Medfield: will ship in a phone and have the longest usage time originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Feb 2011 07:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve got very little information here, but Dell’s just announced that it’s planning to bring a 10-inch Windows 7 tablet to market later this year. According to the press release, it will be aimed at commercial and enterprise markets. Sound familiar? Yep, it sounds like a HP Slate in the making, but let’s hope this one is faster and sticks to its shipping schedule. We’ve got no other details for now, but we’re hoping to dig up more at the “Dell Means Business” event, which should be starting any moment now. Stay tuned…

Update: Well, that was a letdown — Dell didn’t share any additional details at the event, but CNET did snap the shot above of a plastic mockup that was shown off. Wondering how much of a mockup it is? We are told by our guys on the ground that it is like a “fake IKEA TV.” Hit the break for the full press release.

Continue reading Dell promises a 10-inch Windows 7 tablet later this year

Dell promises a 10-inch Windows 7 tablet later this year originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 08 Feb 2011 13:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Notbook (n.) — An affordable ultraportable laptop, typically with a 11.6-inch or 12-inch display that is not a netbook. It packs more power than a netbook (i.e. can handle 1080p video and Flash at fullscreen) and provides a more comfortable computing experience than the typical, 10-inch underpowered, shrunken Atom-based laptop. Most do not have optical drives, but do last for over five hours on a charge. Unlike pricey ultraportable laptops, notbooks are more affordable and start at around $400.

About six months ago, the 11.6-inch Dell Inspiron M101z arrived on my doorstep for review. The AMD Neo-powered system looked like a slightly enlarged netbook, but in a briefing with Dell, the product manager reinforced quite a few times that the system was absolutely “not a netbook.” I can’t remember his exact wording, but he made it crystal clear — the $449 Inspiron M101z was so much more powerful than an Intel Atom netbook that it could be one’s primary machine. Obviously, I started calling these sorts of laptops “notbooks,” and over the next few months, more and more of them started popping up. Some of them paired Atom with an NVIDIA Ion GPU (e.g. Eee PC 1215N), while others used AMD’s Neo chip and more recently AMD’s new Fusion Zacate APU. (Intel’s Core ULV-powered systems are frankly too expensive to be considered in this category, though some Pentium / Core 2 Duo systems, like the Acer Timeline X1810T, could qualify.)

Uh, so what? There’s a new crop of more powerful, affordable, and highly mobile laptops — what’s the big deal? Well, while many think tablets are what will ultimately cut the netbook market down to size, it’s the notbooks that will also seriously hit the Atom-based lilliputian laptops of today where it really hurts. Don’t get me wrong, ARM-powered tablets like the iPad and Motorola Xoom are going to impact netbook sales in a big way, too (heck, they already have!), but mark my words, notbooks or affordable ultraportables will take a noticeable chunk of both the netbook and the mainstream laptop market. There’s finally a class of laptops that provide a terrific balance between primary and mobile computing without breaking the bank. Think I’m crazy? Hit the break to understand what I’m talking about.

Continue reading Editorial: The rise of the notbook, the fall of the netbook

Editorial: The rise of the notbook, the fall of the netbook originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 Jan 2011 12:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We saw the mockup back in July and, soon, we’ll be seeing the real thing. Construction of the Bloodhound SSC is underway, with a planned top speed of over 1,000mph courtesy of a jet engine borrowed from a Typhoon jet fighter sitting in the back — and a trio of Intel Atom processors in the cockpit that will run a number of onboard diagnostics and telemetry systems. Sure, they won’t be adding to the overall thrust of the thing but neither will they be putting much of a drain on the electrical system. If all goes according to plan the car will be completed by the end of this year and will start speed runs by the beginning of 2012. Maybe by then Intel will have something a little quicker to slap in there.

Continue reading Bloodhound SuperSonic Car begins construction: 1,000mph on Intel Atom processors (video)

Bloodhound SuperSonic Car begins construction: 1,000mph on Intel Atom processors (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Jan 2011 11:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Whoa, Nelly! We just made a beeline to Razer’s booth here on the CES show floor, and were presented with a fairly technical talk surrounding the newly launched Switchblade. While officially deemed a concept, we came away with a serious impression that Razer’s not investing loads of time and money on this just for kicks. In other words, we’d cautiously expect to see this thing on sale at some point next year — but let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. We spent a good half-hour toying with this Windows 7-based mini netbook, and we came away seriously impressed by what’s happening here. Head on past the break for more of our impressions.

Continue reading Razer Switchblade preview: 3G, Intel Oak Trail, almost definitely going on sale

Razer Switchblade preview: 3G, Intel Oak Trail, almost definitely going on sale originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Jan 2011 15:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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