Hasta La Gadget!

We inevitably miss things at tradeshows, and here’s one we regret — we didn’t catch this obscure Australian tablet in the flesh at CES 2011. Apparently, this Evolve III Maestro was casually chilling at Intel’s booth with Android, Windows 7 and a 1.83GHz Atom N475 CPU inside, but representatives were willing to reveal grander plans if you spent a little time with the device. You see, come Q2 2011, the slate will graduate to a dual-core Oak Trail CPU, and add MeeGo to the stack for a grand total of three operating systems. TabletPCBuzz says Windows 7 and Android are getting eight and sixteen hours of battery life on the Oak Trail chip respectively, and the tablet weighs less than two pounds.

It’s hard to say what other features the Oak Trail version will have, but even the existing tablet isn’t a pushover, with a 10.1-inch, 1024 x 600 capacitive touchscreen, 2GB of DDR3 RAM, up to 32GB of solid state storage, 3G and 802.11 b/g/n WiFi and a pair of full-size USB ports on one edge. Sources suggest the original will find a $500 price point, with the Oak Trail commanding an additional $100. After the break, you’ll find a disappointingly static video, but follow the links below for a walkthrough of the MeeGo UI and all the specs you could want.

[Thanks, Garf]

Continue reading Evolve III Maestro slate triple-boots Android, MeeGo and Windows 7 (video)

Evolve III Maestro slate triple-boots Android, MeeGo and Windows 7 (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Jan 2011 00:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Even amongst the ever increasing competition, it seems that Research in Motion is fairly confident of the success of its upcoming business-minded tablet, the Playbook. According to that perennial source of third-party supplier rumors, DigiTimes, the BlackBerry manufacturer will be shipping more than one million PlayBook tablets in the first quarter of this year. BlackBerry parts provider Quanta would not comment on the number.

The tablet, which was announced back in late October, made a public debut last week at CES in Las Vegas–along with around 80 or so other tablets. Unlike the largely Android-and Windows 7-based tablets, RIM’s version runs the company’s own proprietary software.

DigiTimes recently reported that another top tablet from CES–Motorola’s Xoom–is expected to ship between 700,000 to 800,000 units.

Let’s see, if there’s a ViewPad 10 and a ViewPad 4, logic would dictate that a ViewPad 7 couldn’t be far out, right? Unfortunately for those convinced, Viewsonic actually has a 7-inch ViewPad on the market already, and the device you’re peering at above most certainly isn’t it. This gem was spotted by CarryPad at Zinio’s CES booth, complete with Android 2.2, the outfit’s own content software and… well, who knows what else. Chippy noted that booth attendees weren’t exactly hip with him toying around with the device, though he did remark that performance seemed snappier than usual when compared to the other 7-inchers out there. So, will Viewsonic come clean with its LTE-enabled, 7-inch miracle-of-a-tablet? Highly doubtful, but who said dreaming was a crime?

Mysterious 7-inch Viewsonic Android tablet breaks cover, reveals little originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Jan 2011 08:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Remember those eccentric ASUS Android tablets at CES? Yeah, it’s all a bit of a blur for us as well, but turns out both the Eee Pad Transformer and Slider prototypes just made it to the BETT (British Educational Training and Technology) Show in London this morning, so we decided to wander along to get our hands dirty again. Sadly, the Transformer had a bit of a rough ride from Vegas and remained dormant, but we were still able to admire its sturdy keyboard dock with great key press travel. And in case you’ve forgotten, said dock is also an external battery that doubles the juice up to 16 hours. UK shoppers will see this slate popping up in the stores around May or June for £379 ($597), and its docking kit for £100 ($158).

We were more fortunate with the functioning Slider prototype, even though it had the same sliding issue we saw at CES. But fear not, as we were told that the engineers are already reworking the mechanism, and here’s hoping that they’ll do something about the flexing keyboard as well. As for software, we didn’t have time to test everything, but we were surprised by the general snappiness of the current Froyo test build. And speaking of which, we’re not too sure what the plan is with ASUS’ Android roadmap — even though we were told at CES that Honeycomb will be on these tablets at launch, the folks we met today said that they’ll be shipped with Gingerbread instead; and even then, there’s no time frame for the 3.0 upgrade just yet. Anyhow, this is less of a concern for the Slider given its July or August launch, but it’ll cost you a hefty £429 ($676).

Additionally, both tablets will see their 3G variants in the UK a quarter after their respective launches, but regardless, it’s never too soon to start a petition for your carrier to spread the ASUS tablet fever.

ASUS Eee Pad Transformer and Slider: another look originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Jan 2011 18:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What now, Verizon? Just a few days after Big Red lowered the price of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab to $500 off-contract, Sprint’s version has shed $100 — which means you can now score it for $300 on a two-year deal. As long as you’re willing to put your name on the dotted line, that now means that Sprint can put you into a Tab for less money than anyone but regional carrier US Cellular, which offers it for a bargain-basement $200. Interestingly, Sprint’s shift comes on the heels of an LTE-tweaked version of the Tab for Verizon with a faster processor and better camera, suggesting that a WiMAX model could definitely be in the works these guys — which might be what this “industry first” event is all about early next month. Pure speculation on our part, but it’d make some sense.

Update: US Cellular wrote in to let us know that the $200 promotion on its version of the Tab has actually expired — now, you get two for the price of one at $399 after a $100 mail-in rebate. In other words, if you just want a single Tab, Sprint’s the best deal in town right now.

Sprint drops Galaxy Tab down to $300, undercuts everyone but US Cellular originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Jan 2011 16:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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