Hasta La Gadget!

Well, would you look at what we found hanging around Toshiba’s CES kick-off party. Okay, so Tosh’s still unnamed tablet wasn’t running Honeycomb like the final unit will, but Toshiba’s loaded Android 2.2 on there to give us a better idea of how it will work when it’s finally ready. There’s really not much we can say that we didn’t already say before — it’s still a very nicely made tablet and we’re really digging that rubberized back. As for the screen, the viewing angles were quite wide and Toshiba showed off its Resolution +, which will enhance video or photos on the fly to make them look more HDish. If you’re interested in seeing a bit more, hit the break for a short video.

Continue reading Toshiba’s unnamed Tegra 2-powered Android tablet powers on!

Toshiba’s unnamed Tegra 2-powered Android tablet powers on! originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Jan 2011 02:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We just had our first in-depth experience with the Vizio Tablet, the company’s opening overture into the world of Android slates, and we’ve got to say — we like what we see. The device — which was just announced Monday afternoon along with the company’s new smartphone, the Vizio Phone — is still rather unfinished (the model we looked at was a hand-built device), but based on this early look, the company is moving down the right roads. We had a good chance to play around with the tablet, and we’ve got all the details, specs, and an in-depth video after the break!

Continue reading Vizio Tablet hands-on preview

Vizio Tablet hands-on preview originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Jan 2011 01:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sick of tablets yet? Might want to sit the rest of the week out. After announcements from Lenovo and ASUS today to that effect, here’s a welcome change: a tablet from a company you likely haven’t heard of. iTablet, from a company called AHX Global is Windows 7-based. It features a 10.1 touchscreen with 32GB of memory on-board.

There’s 802.11b/g/n built-in and a 2MP Webcam–it can also run Flash, unlike, ahem, some other tablets. The thing is running an Intel Atom 1.6GHz processor and has 2GB of RAM, standard. The system comes loaded with a trial version of Office 2010, which you can use with the on-screen virtual keyboard–or, if you so choose, a keyboard plugged in via one of the device’s two USB ports.

The company’s CEO calls it “is the hardest working tablet computer,” for whatever that’s worth.

Remember last year at CES 2010 when Lenovo made a huge scene with the tablet / netbook U1 Hybrid, which ran Windows when docked and Lenovo’s Skylight Linux in tablet mode? And then Lenovo killed Skylight in favor of Android and put everything on hold? Well, it’s back — and we just got some serious hands-on time with production-ready Chinese versions of what’s now being called the IdeaPad U1 Hybrid with LePad tablet. Things have substantially changed for the better in the past year and since we saw a pre-pro model last month — in addition to Lenovo’s skinned version of Android 2.2 (called LeOS, sigh), there’s now a newer 1.3GHz Snapdragon in the LePad and an 1.2GHz Intel Core i5-540UM in the U1 base, with an optional i7 available. Switching from Windows to Android just requires disengaging the latch on the base — the flip to Android is basically instantaneous, while getting back to Windows takes a few seconds. The U1 base is much nicer than the unit we played with last year — it’s been restyled and features a chiclet-style keyboard and dimpled trackpad. Best of all, the LePad now features a 10.1 1280 x 800 capacitive multitouch display, instead of the floppy resistive unit we saw last year. Both pieces are pretty thin individually, but docked up it makes for a pretty chunky laptop — but you are getting two machines for the price of one.

Now for the bad news — the LePad will run for about $520 when it arrives in China this quarter, but the full U1 kit will run $1300. There’s also no US availability or pricing right now — and Lenovo told us the U1 won’t hit the States until it runs Android 3.0, so we could be waiting months while the company reskins the OS. And we might have to wait even longer for Lenny to retool the LePad to meet that supposed dual-core CPU requirement — but then, it’s already been a year. We can wait a little longer, we suppose. You know, for love. Video and PR after the break.

Continue reading Lenovo LePad tablet and IdeaPad U1 Hybrid return with Android 2.2 in tow

Lenovo LePad tablet and IdeaPad U1 Hybrid return with Android 2.2 in tow originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Jan 2011 16:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It looks like RIM’s really sticking to this “you don’t need an app for the web” mantra for its hotly anticipated PlayBook — at least according to the latest crop of videos the company has outed. In what is no doubt an attempt to drum up some buzz before a swarm of other tablets descends on CES, the company has chosen to highlight its latest browser improvements to prove just how “real” the web is on the PlayBook. HTML5 video playback looks super smooth, as does Flash video in the desktop YouTube site. Impressively, the entire Facebook experience works exactly like it does on the desktop — even supporting Facebook chat, which the iPad’s browser can’t handle. They demonstrate Flash games working without a hitch, so you can breathe a sigh of relief, Farmville-addicts. The second video explores the SDK — no doubt in an attempt to reiterate the ease of programming for the PlayBook — and while there’s a good bit of technical jargon, we have to say that the Fantasy Football app shown off looks pretty sweet. Why RIM can’t somehow manage to bring these improvements to its already-shipping BlackBerry line, we still can’t quite comprehend, but we’ll be visiting the RIM booth as soon as the show opens to see the latest improvements for ourselves. In the meantime, peep the videos after the break.

Continue reading RIM shows off PlayBook’s browser chops, SDK in latest round of teaser vids

RIM shows off PlayBook’s browser chops, SDK in latest round of teaser vids originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Jan 2011 13:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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