Acer Aspire S3 Ultrabook hits the US and Canada this week, rings in at $899

And the Ultrabooks have arrived! We just got word that the Acer Aspire S3 will go on sale in the US and Canada this week for $899 — making it the first pinch-thin, MacBook Air competitor to hit the market, landing ahead of competing models from Toshiba, Lenovo and ASUS. To recap, this 2.98-pound aluminum beaut has a 13.3-inch (1366 x 768) panel, is rated for six hours (or 50 standby days!) of battery life and promises to wake from sleep in a mere two seconds. For the money, you’ll get an ultra low voltage Core i5 CPU, 4GB of RAM and 20GB of solid-state storage combined with a 320GB HDD. No word yet on how many additional configs will be available, though Acer did confirm that this $899 version will be followed by models with Core i3 and i7 processors and beefier storage capacity. Intrigued? Have a gander at our hands-on preview if you missed it the first time around, and find some fancy press shots below.

Continue reading Acer Aspire S3 Ultrabook hits the US and Canada this week, rings in at $899

Acer Aspire S3 Ultrabook hits the US and Canada this week, rings in at $899 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC Amaze 4G, Samsung Galaxy S II sign-up pages go live on T-Mobile, 42Mbps speeds within reach

You can buy it on Sprint, snag in on October 2nd at AT&T, or just sit tight and wait for Magenta to get its Galaxy S II release ball rolling. Hot on the heels of yesterday’s Mobilize announcement, T-Mobile’s thrown up a product page for its particular variant of Samsung’s uber-hyped handset, in addition to a landing page for the recently unveiled HTC Amaze 4G (a rebranded Sensation XE for the states). The operator’s set an official October 12th launch date for its 42Mbps HSPA+ smartphones, with concrete pricing that pegs HTC’s amazing device at $260, and Sammy’s TouchWiz-inflected beast at $230 — both after a $50 rebate on a new two-year contract. If you’re as jazzed about these closer to 4G fine, faux-G phones as we are, be sure to hit up the source link below to sign-up for an early order notification.

HTC Amaze 4G, Samsung Galaxy S II sign-up pages go live on T-Mobile, 42Mbps speeds within reach originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Sep 2011 14:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Huawei gives October shipping date for MediaPad in Malaysia, US and China by year’s end

Huawei MediaPad

Been wondering when you were gonna get a chance to smear fingerprints all over 7-inches of Android 3.2, courtesy of Huawei’s MediaPad? Well, if you happen to live in Malaysia, it should be by the middle of October. The rest of you shouldn’t fret though — the company plans to have it on shelves in the US, China, Hong Kong and Thailand before the end of the year. Meanwhile, folks in Singapore can already place pre-orders for $598 SGD, roughly $473 USD. It’s a bit later than the Q3 ship date we were originally told but, as they say, better late than never. Though, we’re more apt to cry “gimme, gimme, gimme.”

Huawei gives October shipping date for MediaPad in Malaysia, US and China by year’s end originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Sep 2011 14:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fusion Garage hacks $200 off of Grid 10 tablet, aims to play the undercutting game

Looks like we’re all indebted to HP in one way or another. Since the TouchPad fire sale began, we’ve seen a noticeable southward shift in tablet pricing — it’s as if iPad rivals finally figured out that battling on price was just about the only way to make a dent in Apple’s enviable market share. Now, we’re seeing Fusion Garage wipe a full $200 from its Grid 10 tabletbefore the thing even ships. If you’ll recall, the outfit was aiming for a September 15th release date here in the States, with initial pricing for its 16GB model set for $499 (WiFi-only) / $599 (WiFi + 3G). Out of the blue, those pre-order rates have plummeted to $299 / $399 this morning, giving prospective Grid OS adopters entirely more motivation to buy in. It seems that Amazon hasn’t received the memo quite yet, so those hoping to get in the low-cost line should scurry down to the source link. Naturally, we’ll be bringing you a full-on review as soon as we procure one, and we’re guessing that just became a lot more relevant to your interests.

Update: A Fusion Garage spokesperson told Engadget that the company had planned to launch with the lower price all along, but negotiations with an ODM made it impossible to announce the price earlier. The company also added that the Grid 10 will experience a slight shipping delay, being pushed back to October 1st due to a “new criteria in [the] Adobe Flash Player (FP) 10.3 approval process.”

[Thanks, Jeff]

Fusion Garage hacks $200 off of Grid 10 tablet, aims to play the undercutting game originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Sep 2011 10:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Acer Iconia Tab A501 with HSPA+ hits AT&T on September 18th: $330 on contract

As promised, the Acer Iconia Tab A501 is hitting AT&T just before summer draws to an official close. The carrier just announced it’ll start selling the 16GB model next Sunday, September 18th for $480 — or $330 with a two-year contract. When we first heard about this way back in March, we knew it would be a “4G” device, and today AT&T clarified that this means HSPA+, not LTE, so sorry to burst anyone’s bubble. Even so, five months after the A500 went on sale it remains one of a select few slates with a full-sized USB port, so there’s that to consider if you’re still on the fence about getting a tablet. As planned, it’ll ship with Android 3.0, and an Acer rep confirms 3.1 is coming via an over-the-air update, though she couldn’t say when, exactly, that’ll happen. You can sign up for a monthly plan, if you so choose, though you can also pay as you go, with $15 getting you 250MB and $25 expanding your allowance to 2GB. Customers who commit to two-year agreements will have the same choices, to be honest, except they’ll also have to contend with overage fees — $10 per gigabyte or $15 per 250MB, depending on the plan.

Update: We’ve added Acer’s official press release below. Heads up: you’ll notice that Acer lists the price as $499.99 for the 16GB model and $549.99 for the 32GB version. That’s just the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP). It doesn’t say so in the press release, but AT&T confirmed to us before we published this story that it will actually be selling the 16GB version only, and for $480 (again, that $330 with a two-year contract).

Update 2: We’ve swapped in AT&T’s press release, which fully spells out the pricing.

Continue reading Acer Iconia Tab A501 with HSPA+ hits AT&T on September 18th: $330 on contract

Acer Iconia Tab A501 with HSPA+ hits AT&T on September 18th: $330 on contract originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 11 Sep 2011 20:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nintendo on price reduction: no glasses required to see 3DS sales boost

The Big N has today confirmed our suspicions: people buy more things when they’re cheaper, and in turn, the laws of economics are still sound. The longer version is after the break.

Continue reading Nintendo on price reduction: no glasses required to see 3DS sales boost

Nintendo on price reduction: no glasses required to see 3DS sales boost originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Sep 2011 19:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Xcom Global opens LAX service center, the jetset get data without borders

We’ve sung Xcom Global’s praises to the heavens before, and that’s because it’s made our always-on internet addiction an easy fix abroad. Well, prepare to add the international wireless convenience to your list of last minute carry-ons. Announced today, the company has opened its first satellite service center at Los Angeles’ LAX airport, bringing unlimited roaming data to US-based travelers starting at $12.95/day. The rental MiFi Hotspot units, available prior to boarding, come packaged with an Unlimited aXcess plan, and can feed up to five of your data-hungry devices. So, if you’re headed out on that next Eurotrip, or just a terminal-bound refugee from Krakozhia, you might want to give this internet lifeline a whirl.

Continue reading Xcom Global opens LAX service center, the jetset get data without borders

Xcom Global opens LAX service center, the jetset get data without borders originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Sep 2011 16:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BlackBerry Bold 9930, Torch 9850 go on sale at Sprint for $200, $150

As expected, the BlackBerry Torch 9850 and BlackBerry Bold 9930 went on sale at Sprint yesterday as part of its BlackBerry 7 lineup. Both phones feature 1.2GHz Snapdragon processors and five-megapixel cameras, but the 9850 has a 3.7-inch touch-only display compared to the Bold’s 2.8-inch screen and keyboard combination. Purchased online with contracts and after rebates, the 9850 is selling for $150 while the 9930 is going for a cool $200 — a departure from the originally announced Bold price tag of $249, with no mention of cash back. For Sprint users, a rebate is clearly better than no rebate — even if it does require a stamp.

BlackBerry Bold 9930, Torch 9850 go on sale at Sprint for $200, $150 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Aug 2011 14:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HP TouchPad price drop goes permanent (update: confirmed)

Pricing has long been one of our biggest concerns with HP’s webOS-tastic TouchPad. So, when the company offered up a $100 discount on the slate, things certainly seemed headed in the right direction. The drop was only tease, sadly, and the price went right back to normal levels two days later. Apparently consumers liked the price cut as well, and HP, in turn, liked that, moving the company to implement the reduction on a more permanent basis. This is according to a reported internal memo from the company highlighting the decision to permanently price the 16GB and 32GB WiFi versions of the tablet at $399 and $499 “effective immediately.”

Update: We just heard back from an HP representative, who confirmed the pricing is indeed legit and in fact is in effect on HP’s site.

[Thanks all]

HP TouchPad price drop goes permanent (update: confirmed) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Aug 2011 14:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Intel Ultrabooks to sell for under $1000, take a page from ASUS’ design book?

Back at Computex, Intel whipped out its magic 8-ball to predict a “you may rely on it” 40 percent share for the upcoming Ultrabooks market. While we can neither confirm, nor deny the company’s powers of retail clairvoyance, we can point you to a purported bill of materials that would usher its line in at a sub-$1000 price. The report from Digitimes doesn’t lay out the specific assembly costs, but pegs the chipmaker’s 18mm and 21mm thick laptops at $493 – $710 and $475 – $650, respectively. Intel is also reportedly meeting with manufacturers in Taipei next week to figure out a way to deliver on the budget-friendly goal, aimed at producing 11 – 13-inch models for the thinner entries and girthier 14 – 17-inch models. If you’re wondering what sort of form factor the company’s after, take a glance at ASUS’ UX21 and UX31 ultrabooks — supposed reference designs for the svelte, Ivy Bridge-powered computers. We hope that’s the only bit of strategy Intel cops, otherwise we’re all in for a disappointingly priced ultraslim future.

Intel Ultrabooks to sell for under $1000, take a page from ASUS’ design book? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Aug 2011 14:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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