Hasta La Gadget!

The rumors about 3D support on LG’s G-Slate tablet (both recording and viewing) have reached a dull roar in recent days, and a little teaser just posted on T-Mobile’s official Facebook account certainly isn’t going to do anything to quell the trend. The simple clipart image of some old-school red / blue anaglyphic glasses pretty much says everything you need to know — that there’s something 3D in store from these guys — and the Honeycomb-powered G-Slate is the only thing in T-Mobile’s immediate future that we know has had 3D rumors attached to it. Any other solid theories out there?

T-Mobile teases 3D capability (on LG G-Slate, probably) in the vaguest possible way originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Feb 2011 21:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Just a few days back, Samsung announced it had moved around 2 million Galaxy Tabs in the latter part of 2010. According to new data released by ITG Investment Research using tracked point-of-sale info, however, the story is a little more complicated. The company tracked about 6,000 retail stores in the United States from the November date of release of the tab through January 15th, and the return rate hovered around 13 percent, rising even further — to about 16 percent — with holiday sales returns. Now, rates of return estimates are just that — estimates — but 6,000 locations is nothing to shrug off. We’ll have to wait and see longer term what this means for the Tab’s legacy, but let us know your thoughts in the comments: have you returned a Galaxy Tab, or are you still in love?

Samsung experiencing a 16 percent return rate on the Galaxy Tab? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Feb 2011 10:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Dell Streak 7 will be available from T-Mobile starting Feb. 2.

For those of you with lengthy tech-toy wish lists and not-so-deep pockets, T-Mobile’s new tablet offering may provide the answer you’ve been waiting for.

Beginning Feb. 2, the Dell Streak 7 tablet will be available for $200, after a $50 mail-in rebate and two-year contract, T-Mobile has announced. Off-contract, the tablet will retail for $450.

The new 7-inch Streak is a bump up in size from Dell’s last 5-inch offering, as well as a dip in price from the $300 charged for the 5-inch AT&T version. But unlike its teensy predecessor, the Streak 7 will be able to connect to T-Mobile’s HSPA+ 4G network — although as we’ve recently noted, the term “4G” seems to be in the eye of the beholder.

We got our hands on the Streak 7 today, and our first impressions are generally positive. (We’ll follow up with a full review later in the week.)

It’s chunkier in shape than the iPad, but with rounder edges than the Galaxy Tab. It rests comfortably in one hand or two, suggesting it will serve just as well for passive reading and video watching as it will for more-active browsing.

The interface will be familiar to anyone who’s used Android, and neither T-Mobile nor Dell have mucked up the basic operating system with too many widgets.

The screen is bright and somewhat responsive, although it’s a little “jumpy.” While the screen moves quickly, it’s not quite as smooth as the iPad at tracking your finger motions when you swipe or pinch the screen. It’s as if the makers decided to compensate for the touchscreen’s lack of sensitivity by making the screen move faster, and the result is that the screen sometimes feels as if it’s jumping ahead of your finger.

Web browsing and video playback were all quite smooth, and stereo speakers built into the case provide decent if somewhat anemic audio.

The Streak will come packing one of Nvidia’s much-hyped dual-core Tegra 2 processors, while touting the suite of recent tablet debut standards — SD card slot, Wi-Fi access, Bluetooth 2.1 connectivity, 5-megapixel back-facing camera for photos and 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera with video-chat capability.

T-Mobile is targeting the lower-priced end of the tablet market with the $200 tag, beating out the Samsung Galaxy Tab, which recently dropped its sticker price to $250, after a $50 mail-in rebate. Though the Streak’s off-contract $450 isn’t exactly a bargain-basement price, its still 50 bucks cheaper than the lowest-priced iPad.

The Streak 7’s debut comes at the forefront of a 2011 tablet-debut onslaught. Rumors of a March release for HP’s new webOS-powered “Topaz” have been circulating recently, with the Android-fueled Motorola Xoom soon to follow. While the Streak may have a leg up on Motorola in terms of pricing — leaked screenshots suggest a hefty $800 price tag for the tablet on debut — it might be at a disadvantage running the antiquated Android version 2.2 (Froyo) against the version 3.0 Honeycomb-powered Xoom.

But despite version-fragmentation issues, a relatively low-cost option like the Streak 7 may be impetus enough for shoppers to jump on one of the first big tablet offerings of the year.

A textured back makes the Dell Streak 7 comfortable to hold.

Photos: Jonathan Snyder/Wired.com

The growing pains of being a small company dealing with big demand have bitten Notion Ink again, as the company has had to dish out a disappointing email to some Adam buyers informing them their delivery has been delayed to February 14th. The culprit in this sad case is a shipment of damaged touchscreens, which company chief Rohan Shravan estimates will affect just over five percent of all orders. Touchscreen supplier Sintek has promised to work through the Chinese New Year to refill that stock, so hopefully the bump back to Valentine’s Day will be the last, seemingly fitting, one for the Adam.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Notion Ink delays some Adam shipments to February 14th due to touchscreens damaged in transit originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 Jan 2011 13:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s been an interesting few weeks of rumored Dell Streak 7 prices, but as promised, T-Mobile’s setting the record straight with some official dollar figures. Yep, that predicted $330 price was indeed pretty far off — turns out, T-Mobile will be offering the 7-inch, Android 2.2 tablet for just $200 (okay, $199.99 to be exact) on contract starting this Wednesday, February 2nd. Of course, you’ll have to sign a two-year contract to get that sweet deal as well as send in a $50 mail-in rebate. Those looking for a bit more freedom can snatch up the NVIDIA Tegra 2-powered, T-Mobile HSPA+ slate for 450 bucks, which actually seems like a pretty sweet deal to us considering the Samsung Galaxy Tab is still about $500 off contract and $300 with two years of service. Sure, the Galaxy Tab has a few more things going for it, including a higher resolution display and bigger battery, but you’ll just have to wait for our full review of the Streak 7 to find out if Dell’s got a killer “4G” Android tablet hitting shelves later this week.

Dell Streak 7 launching at T-Mobile on February 2nd: $200 with two-year contract, $450 without originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 Jan 2011 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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