Palm’s tablet is codenamed ‘Topaz,’ keyboard accessory leaks out

Okay, it’s not exactly the new webOS hardware we’ve been waiting for, but we just got this shot of a Palm Bluetooth keyboard from a trusted source — we’re told it’s an accessory for Palm’s upcoming tablet, which is codenamed “Topaz.” Interestingly, we’re told the keyboard features a Windows key in addition to some webOS-specific keys — we’d guess that HP will sell it for general use as well. As for the Topaz tablet, it’s said to be extremely slick, with no hard buttons on the front and a design that echoes the design of the keyboard — we’re told it’s due out in the first half of 2011, which matches up with what we’ve heard from Palm.

We’re also told Palm’s planning a low-end teen phone that’s something like a Pre with no keyboard — it’s codenamed “Castle,” (just like the original Pre and Pixi) and due to hit Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T. That seems like a likely followup to the Pixi, but what we’re really anxious for is some news on a new high-end phone and the Topaz tablet — we’ll keep digging and let you know.

Palm’s tablet is codenamed ‘Topaz,’ keyboard accessory leaks out originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Dec 2010 15:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Verizon’s Palm Pre 2 shown briefly in pulled eBay auction?

Still in disbelief that Big Red will one day be home to Palm’s Pre 2? Can’t say we blame you, but the evidence is certainly building. Just three months after taking a peek at inside information hinting at the smartphone’s arrival on Verizon, along comes an eBay auction for a nondescript P102EWW — known amongst the FCC hounds as a CDMA Palm Pre 2. After the folks at Pre Central started questioning the seller, the auction was mysteriously yanked, possibly due to worry from the sudden stroke of enlightenment. It’s obviously impossible to know if the phone up for sale was indeed an early build meant for America’s largest carrier, but the photos capped before the auction was pulled sure are hard to discredit. So, can we just get this out in the open now, or what?

Verizon’s Palm Pre 2 shown briefly in pulled eBay auction? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Dec 2010 11:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Telus to bundle free Xbox 360 with every WP7 activation or renewal for a limited time, says leak

Buy this phone, won’t you please buy this phone? We’ve no idea why Telus has to try so hard to convince Canadian buyers to grab themselves a Windows Phone 7 handset, but the carrier’s expected to sweeten the deal dramatically over the next few days by bundling a freebie Xbox 360 with every WP7 device activation or renewal. The offer starts today, according to this leaked memo, and will last through to the end of the week, December 19th. Telus carries the HTC 7 Surround and LG Optimus 7, neither of which would seem to have caught fire quite the way Microsoft would have wanted. Ah well, if you’re going to sell your wireless soul for a whole three years, you might as well do it for a phone-plus-console combo.

[Thanks, Sean]

Telus to bundle free Xbox 360 with every WP7 activation or renewal for a limited time, says leak originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Dec 2010 04:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LG Optimus 2X looks like a dual-core Star, shows off HDMI-out while embarrassing the Galaxy S on video

LG has, in the most casual fashion possible, revealed the name of a new smartphone it intends to launch in the Korean market: the Optimus 2X. That brand name was buried deep in a release yesterday about exclusive Ennio Morricone content bundled with the Optimus Mach, though some studious folks have unearthed it and subsequently found YouTube content showing off the handset. Codenamed the SU660, the 2X looks almost identical to the LG Star we handled for ourselves recently, with the only differences being in product code (the Star was dubbed P990) and the button array at the bottom. Looking at the videos after the break, most of the onboard content bears LG’s local branding of Cyon, leading us to suspect the 660 is just the Korean variant of the Star. Either way, that LG presser also notes that the Optimus 2X should be launching within the next couple of months — just in time to take the Nexus S down a notch or two, eh LG?

Continue reading LG Optimus 2X looks like a dual-core Star, shows off HDMI-out while embarrassing the Galaxy S on video

LG Optimus 2X looks like a dual-core Star, shows off HDMI-out while embarrassing the Galaxy S on video originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Dec 2010 03:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dell ‘Fractal’ workstation designs revealed

Look, we don’t normally get too stoked over workstations, they remind us too much of “work.” Also, “stations.” Still, a chance to see some unreleased workstations from Dell? That actually look pretty sweet? Sure, we’ll go in on that. A tipster found these “Fractal design language” renders just floating helplessly around the internet and forwarded them over. They presumably relate to the upcoming Precision T7600, T5600, and T3600 lines (refreshes for the T7500, T5500, and T3600, respectively). One of Dell’s favorite design houses is responsible for the images, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the final products will look like this. We also don’t know anything about internals, but it seems like a brand new look would fit with those brand new Sandy Bridge chips Intel is about to push out. Oh man, CAD is gonna be so much fun next year.

[Thanks, Stephen F.]

Dell ‘Fractal’ workstation designs revealed originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Dec 2010 20:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC EVO Shift 4G (Knight / Speedy) gets leaked picture, January 9th release date?

We’ll warn you that we have nothing but the word of an alleged Sprint employee that this is the real deal, but we don’t know what else it could be — if it walks like a duck and quacks like an EVO with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, we’re inclined to believe it’s the HTC EVO Shift 4G. Factor in the noticeable lack of front-facing camera, silver trackpad and those throwback flat keys, and we’re even willing to forgive those hastily penciled watermarks on the keyboard and on top of the clearly ‘shopped screen. Even if this shot is legit, we haven’t seen the full device yet — it sure looks like this Knight is wearing a suit of plastic armor around the edges.

In possibly related news, Android Central nabbed an alleged screenshot of a Sprint database showing an “HTC A7373” handset coming to Sprint on January 9th, and while one Russian e-tailer seems to think that codename refers to the GSM-friendly Desire Z, we have to imagine a Knight / Speedy / EVO Shift release is far more likely than a T-Mobile G2 redux on Sprint’s CDMA frequencies.

Update: Just to be clear, there are a few things about this image that irk us, not least of which that pasted-on screen. We’re inclined to think this might be a dummy unit that was touched up to look like a real phone.

HTC EVO Shift 4G (Knight / Speedy) gets leaked picture, January 9th release date? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 11 Dec 2010 18:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Pocketnow, Phone Arena  |  sourceSprint Users, Android Central  | Email this | Comments

LG Star preview

The LG Star. The dual-core beast from the east that was once a mere twinkle in our eye has managed to find its way to the Engadget mansions, having been lent to us by a very generous (and very anonymous) tipster. It’s clearly a test device, as evidenced by its diagnostics menus and lack of a lockscreen, but there’s no disguising the power that lies within it. We put the Star through a battery of common Android benchmarks and the results were, in a word, outstanding. Basically, Tegra 2 will give anything your current phone‘s running an inferiority complex. Join us after the break as we delve deeper into this upcoming powerhouse of a handset from LG. One thing’s for sure: CES 2011 can’t come soon enough.

Continue reading LG Star preview

LG Star preview originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 11 Dec 2010 11:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola Android tablet specs and Honeycomb home screen leaked in Taiwan?

Turns out Andy Rubin might not be the only fella who’s been showing off the elusive Motorola Android tablet. Earlier this week, some lucky guy from Taiwan claims to have stumbled upon the same Honeycomb device, and was kind enough to share the above homescreen spy shot as well as some thoughts on his one-hour hands-on. We’re told that there’ll be a 7-inch version as well as a 10-inch version (the latter appears to be what Rubin had), and the one we’re looking at here has a 1280 x 800 display of unknown size, NVIDIA Tegra 2 T20 dual-core chip, gyroscope, a 5 megapixel main camera, and a 2 megapixel front camera. Memory-wise it has a 32GB embedded MMC and a microSD slot.

The poster reckons the hardware — which is “pretty light” — is all ready for launch, but Honeycomb still needs some final fine-tuning. Sadly, he hasn’t got a date, but said device will apparently be priced like the current Motorola high-end phones, and will be available in three flavors: UMTS, CDMA, and LTE (which we heard about a little while back). Well, only time will tell whether this guy really does have a good friend at Motorola, or that he’s been talking to some unicorns.

[Thanks, Samson]

Update: And just like that, the poster’s removed the offending screenshot and trimmed down his first post.

Motorola Android tablet specs and Honeycomb home screen leaked in Taiwan? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Dec 2010 13:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPad 2 will have rear and front-facing cameras, say multiple sources

Hey, it’s December, what else are you going to do but monger rumors of the next iPad? Reuters has rounded up no less than four sources from within Apple’s component suppliers, all expressing their belief that the hallowed tablet will be refreshed some time in early 2011. A pair of the tipsters could only go so far as to say that production at places like Wintek and Simplo is expected to ramp up in the first quarter, while the other two were more decisive in identifying the cause for the extra activity as Apple’s next tablet iteration. As to the future iPad’s camera or cameras, one source says it’ll feature both a back-mounted and a front-facing module, with Largan and Genius identified as having received new orders from Cupertino for churning out imagers. Notably, the latter is currently also supplying the iPhone 4’s photon collector and there’s no confirmation that whatever they produce will inevitably land in an iPad 2, but the tea leaves seem to be in agreement: parts are targeted for a February shipment in preparation for an April iPad refresh. Whether the new slate arrives at that time, however, will be another matter altogether.

iPad 2 will have rear and front-facing cameras, say multiple sources originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Dec 2010 03:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Apple Insider  |  sourceReuters (Yahoo! Finance)  | Email this | Comments

Samsung Gloria to be a 10-inch Windows 7 tablet with slide-out keyboard?

Like a netbook, only not. The latest thing to drop into our “crazy rumor” inbox is the Windows 7 tablet conceptualized above. Blogeee have it on the authority of two separate sources that Samsung is planning a 10-inch slate device dubbed Gloria, which would run Windows 7 and have a slide-out keyboard. What you see above is only a mockup of how this Gloria might appear — if she ever does appear at all — though we’re told it’ll include a Samsung software overlay to make Windows 7 that little bit more touch-friendly. We’ve yet to find any other corroboration for this beyond Blogeee‘s sources, so treat it as the unconfirmed bit of salacious info that it is, but if you must feel hopeful about the future, March and April are the months mentioned for a potential release.

Samsung Gloria to be a 10-inch Windows 7 tablet with slide-out keyboard? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Dec 2010 06:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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