Hasta La Gadget!

Well, would you look at that. Just days after Apple made official its purchase of Liquidmetal’s IP, now the world is finding out how the two love birds are working together. Or, should we say, have been working together. According to Atakan Peker, the alloy’s co-inventor, the SIM ejector tool that ships with older iPhone units is made of Liquidmetal’s materials. To quote: “That’s my metal. I recognized it immediately. Take it from an expert, that’s Liquidmetal.” Cult of Mac has also confirmed independently that the tool is relying on the newfound acquisition (and Wired assumes the same is true on the iPad 3G), and from a supply chain standpoint, this oddity definitely makes sense. Apple’s no fan of relying on a sole supplier for anything, and given that Liquidmetal is one of a kind, it’s testing the waters on a relatively non-essential part of the puzzle. There’s still no word on how Apple plans to integrate the metal into future products, but given that the pair have apparently already been in cahoots, you can bet they’ll be able to skip right over the pleasantries and get down to what’s important.

Apple purportedly utilizing Liquidmetal alloy in SIM ejector tool originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Aug 2010 09:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You know the old ‘smoke and fire’ adage by now, and while the alarms aren’t sounding just yet, we get the feeling that they will be shortly. We’ve heard Samsung itself confirm that an Android-based tablet would be departing its labs sometime this year, and since then, we’ve also heard an IFA debut tossed around. Given that said show is but a few weeks out, it’s halfway logical to think that Sammy would be notifying some of its launch partners of its intentions. We can’t be certain that things are locked in just yet, but a ‘Samsung Galaxy Tablet’ has recently surfaced within Vodafone UK’s systems (as shown above). There’s no price or release date accompanying the mention, but it may signal that a 3G-enabled version could be coming to Britons following a proper unveiling in Berlin next month. We’ll keep digging for more, and you can bet we’ll be on the ground in Deutschland for a hands-on should the opportunity arise.

[Thanks, Anonymous]

Samsung Galaxy Tablet coming soon to Vodafone UK? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 15 Aug 2010 06:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading $35 Tablet makes an appearance on Indian TV (video)

$35 Tablet makes an appearance on Indian TV (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Aug 2010 14:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The late Joker said it best: “If you’re good at something, never do it for free.” The truth ingrained in that very statement makes the bold words of OLPC founder Nicholas Negroponte all the more curious here. In an open letter to the Indian government published in the Times of India, Nik Neg has seemingly eased up on his apparent grudge against the nation, but there’s a decent chance that something’s in it for him. Largely, no one with any link to reality believes that India will indeed deliver $35 laptops — their $10 laptop eventually soared to $100 before evaporating completely. But in the letter, Negroponte offers the Indian Ministry of Human Resource Development “full access to all of [OLPC’s] technology, cost free,” further urging them to “send a team to MIT and OLPC at your earliest convenience” in order to talk about world domination, the latest Cricket happenings and janky PCs that may or may not ever land in the classroom. Of course, some are surmising that the scheme will enable the MHRD to easily give up their own aspirations, buy a truckload of XO-3s and save face in the process, but hey — so long as the children win, it’s all good. Right?

OLPC’s Negroponte offers India help in realizing $35 tablet dream, probably has a few other motives originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Aug 2010 04:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oh, Enso — must you really give us a reason to hope? After dealing with what felt like a case of the vaporwares, and then being epically disappointed with the zenPad (which is now out of stock, curiously) that you finally shipped, we just can’t muster up the courage to look fondly upon the five new products that are gracing your webstore. That said, those that don’t mind risk taking and actually enjoy the thought of fighting for a refund have three new MIDs / slates to ponder along with a pair of Android-based smartphones to consider. Let’s break ’em down real quick, shall we?

• zenPad 2 ($219; shipping now): Here you have a 5-inch, Android 1.5-based MID with an 800 x 480 resolution resistive touchscreen, a bundled stylus, inbuilt 3G, 802.11a/b/g WiFi, microSD slot (8GB included), 128MB of RAM, 256MB NAND Flash, a 624MHz Marvell PXA303 Xscale CPU, integrated accelerometer, onboard GPS, micro-USB port, 3.5mm headphone jack and a battery good for 4.5 hours of use. We’re told that an Android 2.1 update is “imminent,” but we believe that about as much as we believe BP’s promise to “make it right.”
• zenPad 3 ($249; pre-order): This here tablet boasts the exact same specifications as the zenPad 2 (right down to the battery life and resolution), but it rocks a 7-inch design that’ll aid those who can’t squint hard enough to see fonts on the 5-inch sibling.
• zenPad 4 ($199; shipping now): We hate to state the obvious, but this is quite obviously an iPad KIRF — right down to the Home button. You’ll find a 10.2-inch resistive touchpanel with a 1,024 x 600 resolution (one that Enso swears up and down “has a fast response and works very well”), along with Android 2.1, 802.11a/b/g WiFi, 256MB of RAM, 2GB of storage, a microSD slot (8GB included), a 1GHz Cortex A8 CPU, built-in accelerometer and a 2,400mAh battery that’s good for 5 to 7 hours of life.
• zenPhone ($349; shipping now): So… it looks like a Nexus One KIRF, it’s called a zenPhone, yet it says it’s a MID. Oh, and it’s not this ZenPhone. Whatever the case, it’s got a 4.3-inch resistive touchscreen (800 x 480), 3G HSDPA radio, 802.11a/b/g WiFi, Bluetooth, 256MB of NAND Flash, a microSD slot (8GB included), a 3.2 megapixel rear camera, 0.3 megapixel front-facing camera, a 2,600mAh battery, onboard GPS, 3.5mm headphone jack and — wait for it — Maemo 5 running the show. Yeah, seriously.
• zenDroid ($319; pre-order): In the market for a Droid KIRF, are you? You’ve come to the right place, with this one offering a 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen (800 x 480), 3G HSDPA, 802.11a/b/g WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, an FM radio tuner, Android 2.1 (“upgradable to 2.2,” we’re told), a microSD slot (8GB bundled in), 512MB of NAND Flash, a 624MHz Marvell PXA935 processor, 5 megapixel rear camera, 0.3 megapixel front-facing camera, a 1,500mAh battery, onboard GPS, 3.5mm headphone jack and a micro-USB connector.

[Thanks, Neil]

Enso whips up two smartphones and three new slates, but we wouldn’t order any of ’em originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Jul 2010 08:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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