Hasta La Gadget!

Well… this is interesting. Prior to Kinect hitting the masses in November, one Eedoo looks to be doing the world one better (or worse) with the eBox. In what can only be described as a bizarre tale of mystery, a Lenovo co-founded company has decided to produce what amounts to an Xbox 360 knockoff as well as a motion sensing peripheral that unquestionably takes inspiration from Kinect. In fact, we don’t even know if conventional controllers are a part of the deal, but word on the street has this one getting official in November and shipping early in 2011. Beyond that, details are few and far between, but you can follow the links below for a couple of videos (one’s after the break) and a smattering of cellphone snapshots.

Continue reading Lenovo side project to launch Xbox 360 / Kinect knockoff in China: hello, eBox

Lenovo side project to launch Xbox 360 / Kinect knockoff in China: hello, eBox originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Aug 2010 14:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Based on our experience with the original zenPad — one that we wouldn’t wish upon our worst enemy’s enemies — we had a feeling that Enso’s latest crop of wares wouldn’t exactly be teeming with high quality components. One kindhearted tipster of ours managed to ignore our advice and order up a $199 zenPad 4, which is just another iPad KIRF for all intents and purposes. Loaded with Android 2.1 and doused in mediocrity, this 10.2-inch tablet actually ships in a knockoff iPad box… one that proudly sports a perfectly random Internet Explorer icon on the front. Trust us, the laughs don’t end there. It was also said to be about half as responsive to key presses as the iPad, and when pressing down on the bezel, it actually leaves momentary indentations that require a tick to flatten back out. Classy. Head on past the break for a purely comedic video unboxing and preview — if you’ve had a rough one, you owe it to yourself.

[Thanks, Michael]

Continue reading Enso’s Android-based zenPad 4 ships, gets unboxed and politely berated on video

Enso’s Android-based zenPad 4 ships, gets unboxed and politely berated on video originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Aug 2010 17:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Can you believe we’ve waited on the N8 long enough for (at least) three KIRF versions to beat it to market? This latest one’s pretty special too, as it gives us a glimpse into one of the fevered dream of Engadget commenters: a Nokia flagship rocking Android (2.1, in this case). The iZiNN CJ-3 copies the N8’s form factor, styling, and 3.5-inch screen, but throws in an upgrade of its own by going with a higher-res 800 x 480 capacitive panel. Yeah, we’re shocked too. A 5 megapixel imager, a budget Rockchip CPU, and an HDMI port fill out the rest of the known specs, while a release in China is expected some time later this month. Anyone know why this thing isn’t being built and sold by a legitimate manufacturer?

[Thanks, Ludger]

Keepin’ it real fake: Nokia’s Android N8 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 Aug 2010 09:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Holy moly! We genuinely never saw this coming. If you recall, the last we heard from OQO was when it said its final goodbye back in May 2009, and even today its website still declares the company “out of business.” Well, that’s not exactly the case anymore — a little research led us to CCW, which reports that Audiotone — OQO’s business partner in China — confirmed a successful merger with the UMPC manufacturer in April this year (on the condition that the latter’s R&D to remain in the US). This would explain why OQO’s Chinese site was still being updated with news after the “closure,” while its Western counterpart remained frozen in time.

The juicier news, however, is that OQO’s launching a Model 03 for Chinese buyers in Q3 2010 (and the website’s banner specifically says August). Don’t be fooled by the model number, though — this 15-ounce device essentially shares the same chassis with the Model 02, but is now packed with Windows 7, Intel Atom Z500 series chip, SSD, 3G radio (compatible with WCDMA, EVDO and TD-SCDMA), and a 4.8-inch 1024 x 600 multitouch LCD (previously 5-inch 800 x 480 single-touch). You’ll also get the same old Bluetooth, WiFi, built-in mic and HDMI across the four flavors: Gold, Diamond, Elite and Business, which range from 1.2GHz to 2GHz, 32GB to 128GB (1GB to 2GB of RAM), and ¥12,999 ($1,919) to a whopping ¥31,888 ($4,708). Well, these are still far from what most of us would consider as affordable, so here’s hoping the Chinese market will keep OQO alive until it can bring us some cheaper alternatives. Or at least avoid sending the company to its second funeral.

Update: Eerily, the long static OQO home page has been updated with a brief, but telling bit of text at the bottom of the page: “We did not sell out to Audiotone. Anything by them is a Clone.” So much for the ressurrection. [Thanks, Picasso]

Update 2: Looks like the previous OQO home page update is a hack… by zombies!

OQO crawls back from the dead, releasing Model 03 in China this month (Updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Aug 2010 01:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Chinese company TESO has an unrequited love for all things Apple. Not that it cares, we’re sure it’s doing just fine on the grey market with its KIRFy Cupertino crafts. But maybe it’s time for this Shenzhen cloner to go mainstream with what’s purported to be a 9.7-inch tablet running “MeGoo” (a MeeGo typo, certainly) or “Andriod2.2” (that’d be Froyo) OSes on a 14-mm thick LPAD powered by Intel’s newest 1.9GHz Z600-series Moorestown processor. Of course, it’s a hell of a lot easier to list specs on paper than it is to ship highly spec’d product. And given TESO’s inability to correctly copy the names of its choosen operating systems onto a sheet of paper, what hope is there of it cloning the user experience of a class-leading tablet?

Keepin’ it real fake: TESO LPAD runs ‘MeGoo’ or ‘Andriod’ on Moorestown originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Jul 2010 08:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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