Aug 11

Enso’s Android-based zenPad 4 ships, gets unboxed and politely berated on video

Posted in: Android, android tablet, AndroidTablet, exclusive, hands-on, ipad, kirf, slate, tablet, Today's Chili, unboxing, video

Based on our experience with the original zenPad — one that we wouldn’t wish upon our worst enemy’s enemies — we had a feeling that Enso’s latest crop of wares wouldn’t exactly be teeming with high quality components. One kindhearted tipster of ours managed to ignore our advice and order up a $199 zenPad 4, which is just another iPad KIRF for all intents and purposes. Loaded with Android 2.1 and doused in mediocrity, this 10.2-inch tablet actually ships in a knockoff iPad box… one that proudly sports a perfectly random Internet Explorer icon on the front. Trust us, the laughs don’t end there. It was also said to be about half as responsive to key presses as the iPad, and when pressing down on the bezel, it actually leaves momentary indentations that require a tick to flatten back out. Classy. Head on past the break for a purely comedic video unboxing and preview — if you’ve had a rough one, you owe it to yourself.

[Thanks, Michael]

Gallery: Enso zenPad 4 unboxing

Continue reading Enso’s Android-based zenPad 4 ships, gets unboxed and politely berated on video

Enso’s Android-based zenPad 4 ships, gets unboxed and politely berated on video originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Aug 2010 17:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aug 11

The Armor X10gx Tablet Can Beat up your iPad

Posted in: rugged, tablet, Today's Chili

ArmorX10gx.jpg

While you’re wrapping your iPad in a protective skin to keep its delicate shell all nice and shiny, some tablets are doing real work. Meet the Armor X10gx, a rugged tablet from DRS Technologies of Parsippany, New Jersey. It’s outfitted with AT&T Wireless (nobody’s perfect), mobile broadband, 802.11n Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth v2.0+EDR. It also has integrated GPS.

The Armor X10gx is meant for people working in field service, transportation, rail and port facilities, public safety, and other jobs in challenging environments. It’s protected against dust, can survive in up to 1 meter of water, and is approved by Underwriters Laboratories for use in explosive areas. It runs on an Intel Core2 Duo processor and can be built with a 160GB hard drive. It may not run iTunes Store apps, but it would make you feel more manly, for sure. It’ll ship by September 15, 2010.

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Aug 11

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

Posted in: education, slate, tablet, tablet pc, TabletPc, Today's Chili, video
The Gadget Gurus, the Subcontinent’s answer to The Engadget Show, got a special hands-on with that $35 Tablet PC the world’s been buzzing about — delivered by none other than India’s Human Resource Development Minister, Kapil Sibal himself. While constantly referring to “the $35 laptop” (we guess you could hold it in your lap) Mr. Sibal gave us the following info: it sports 2GB RAM, WiFI and 3G, microSD storage, and it runs the Android OS. Additionally, it rocks video out and a webcam — in short, it’s an Android tablet. Don’t expect to see this bad boy hit retail channels soon: the government plans on making it available to students and universities in mid-2011, with no plans yet for sales to the general public. To watch the man himself (as well as some wild and wonderful Indian television) check out the video after the break — fast-forward two and a half minutes to get to the main attraction.

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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Aug 11

Dell’s Streak Tablet Is Priced Like a Phone

Posted in: Android, att, availability, phone, sale, streak, tablet, tablets, Today's Chili

Dell’s Android-powered Streak with its 5-inch display is being billed as a tablet. But when it comes to pricing the device, it’s being sold like a phone.

After a false start last month, Dell has announced that the Streak will be available to U.S. consumers starting Thursday. The Streak will cost $300 with a two-year contract on AT&T and $560 without one.

The Streak is targeted at smartphone users who crave a larger display but at the same time need a device that’s portable and could potentially replace their phone. The Streak has a 5-inch display, a 5-megapixel camera, phone, browser and access to Android apps. (Read Wired.com’s review of the Dell Streak.)

But does the Streak deserve the ‘tablet’ tag attached to it?

With its 9.7-inch display and a monthly data plan that requires no contract, Apple iPad doesn’t draw direct comparisons against a smartphone.

So far with the Streak, Dell has done everything that it would with a smartphone–including pricing the device on a long-term contract. The only thing that sets the Streak apart from other Android-powered smartphones is that the home screen on the Streak is locked in the landscape mode.

Meanwhile, Android smartphones are getting bigger–the Motorola Droid X and HTC Evo have a 4.3-inch display. The Streak with its 5-inch screen is not a big leap forward.

Dell may be insisting on calling the Streak a tablet because the company is afraid to directly jump into the extremely competitive and crowded Android smartphone market. With devices such as the Evo and Droid X, HTC and Motorola are constantly pushing the hardware specs for a phone.

By positioning the Streak as a tablet, Dell can avoid being directly compared to these other devices. At the same time, it can tap into the consumer demand for tablets. After all, Apple sold more than 3 million iPads in just about 80 days of the launch of the product in April and it says it hasn’t seen signs of demand slowing down.

If that’s the case, calling the Streak a tablet is clever marketing wizardry but it may not be enough to convince consumers.

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Photo: Dell Streak (Priya Ganapati/Wired.com)




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Aug 10

Samsung’s Galaxy Tab said to be debuting at IFA next month

Posted in: Android, galaxy, GalaxyTab, samsung, tab, tablet, Today's Chili

We’d already heard that Samsung’s 7-inch Android-based tablet (apparently known as the Galaxy Tab) would be rolling out sometime in the third quarter of this year, and it looks like we now also know when it’ll be making its official debut. According to South Korea’s JoongAng Daily, an unnamed “high-ranking official” at Samsung has confirmed that the device will be officially unveiled at IFA, which kicks off September 3rd in Berlin. No more new details beyond that, unfortunately, but previous reports have suggested that the device will match its smartphone counterpart with an AMOLED display, and boast some decent specs across the board, including Android 2.2, a 1.2GHz Cortex A8 processor, 16GB of on-board memory, and both WiFi and 3G connectivity.

Samsung’s Galaxy Tab said to be debuting at IFA next month originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Aug 2010 18:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aug 10

HP tells employees webOS tablet coming Q1 2011

Posted in: exclusive, HP, leak, leaks, palm, rumor, rumors, tablet, Today's Chili, webos

We’ve been trying to find out when HP would launch a webOS tablet since the company first bought Palm, and we’re now hearing from several trusted sources that it’ll be calendar Q1 2011. We’re told Personal Systems Group VP Todd Bradley mentioned the date during an all-hands employee meeting yesterday, and that the project is indeed known internally as “Hurricane.” (We’re assuming this is what that PalmPad trademark filing was for, but we can’t confirm that.) Shipping a killer tablet would be one way to change the subject from ex-CEO Mark Hurd’s recent troubles, we suppose — but we’re definitely wondering if HP is actually going to support three different tablet operating systems after it launches the Windows 7-based Slate for the enterprise and the Android-based Zeen e-reader tablet for consumers as well. We’ll see — Q1 could be mighty interesting.

HP tells employees webOS tablet coming Q1 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Aug 2010 13:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aug 10

Notion Ink Adam delayed, this time investors are to blame (updated!)

Posted in: Android, exclusive, tablet, tablet pc, TabletPc, Today's Chili
The last time we brought you news of Notion Ink’s long awaited Adam things weren’t looking good, but we had some hope since its CEO Rohan Shravan assured us that it would hit some markets in Q3. He also promised that a pre-order page for the Tegra 2-powered, Pixel Qi-sporting slate would launch soon. It really does pain us to say this, but it doesn’t look like any of that’s going to be happening anytime soon — we’ve received word that the company has lost a great deal of cash and that some of its major investors walked away a few weeks ago. As we’ve heard it, the company missed its July / August timeline to ramp up manufacturing because of a very big loss from an early investor. As such, the India-based company had to look for new funding, and apparently seek out a new manufacturer. We’re told they’ve secured more cash now, but things are on shaky ground. Shravan wouldn’t comment on the news, but he did tell us that he still plans to bring the Adam to market before the end of 2010. We admire that persistence and certainly believe the Adam is one of the more innovative tablets out there, but we’re gonna hold on to these tissues until we see an order page and some real evidence that things are turning around for the start-up.

Updated: Slashgear has an in-depth rundown of Notion Ink’s saga. We’ve still been told that the company has been delayed in bringing the Adam to market because of funding issues, though it has now acquired more cash. Apparently, if all goes as planned, it will begin manufacturing in November and ship later that month or in December. That lines up with what Shravan told us, but again, we will believe it when we see it.

Update 2: Here’s Shravan’s official statement…

“We will have the device before the year ends. It will be introduced at a major event after which you can order it online. It has to be placed strategically, as this is our maiden effort. Whatever has happened cannot be changed, but with the support we are getting from all, we might just become a part of the history. Also on the pricing, all the 3 devices will be lower than even the basic model of iPad.”

Notion Ink Adam delayed, this time investors are to blame (updated!) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Aug 2010 11:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aug 09

Verizon rumors: LTE, Android 3.0 tablets, a Droid Pro, and more

Posted in: 4G, Android, gingerbread, Google, HTC, lte, moto, motorola, rumor, samsung, tablet, Today's Chili, verizon, Verizon Wireless, VerizonWireless, vzw

BGR’s lined up a handful of very believable rumors for Big Red today — and if you’re an Android fan, you’re going to want to pay very close attention (heck, even if you’re not, you should probably take a look). First up, Motorola’s said to have a full-touch Android 2.2 handset in the works with global roaming capability on GSM and presumably HSPA — a first in the CDMA Android world — that apparently looks a bit like a Motorola Q (without the keyboard, of course). Interestingly, we’ve recently been clued into a global roaming Moto from a trusted tipster of ours with the codename “Venus” that’s slated to enter internal testing on the 27th of this month, so that lines up pretty nicely with this rumor — but Venus could also be another global Android smartphone allegedly in the pipeline from Motorola, the Droid Pro. As its name suggests, BGR says the Droid Pro will be a monster, featuring a 1.3GHz core (faster than the 1GHz Droid X and Droid 2) and a 4-inch screen with a target street date in November — just in time for the holidays. There are also apparently global Android handsets in store from Samsung and HTC; additionally, our tipster tells us that there will be a Motorola “Ciena” sans global roaming, a phone could possibly be that WX445 we saw not long ago. It’s entering carrier acceptance testing on the 17th.

Follow the break for the rest of the lowdown!

[Thanks, HTC Kid]

Continue reading Verizon rumors: LTE, Android 3.0 tablets, a Droid Pro, and more

Verizon rumors: LTE, Android 3.0 tablets, a Droid Pro, and more originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Aug 2010 16:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aug 09

BlackBerry Tablet ‘BlackPad’ Readies to Take On the iPad

Posted in: Apple, BlackBerry, ipad, tablet, tablets, Today's Chili

Research In Motion is moving closer to the production of its tablet called the ‘BlackPad’. The company has chosen Taiwanese notebook manufacturer Quanta to produce at least two million tablets this year, says a Chinese language paper Apple Daily.

RIM and Quanta are reportedly targeting a September shipping and a $500 price tag for the BlackPad to make it competitive against Apple’s iPad.

The BlackPad will support Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 3G connectivity through tethering to a Blackberry smartphone, says the paper.

This is not the first time that information about the BlackPad has leaked out. In June, the Wall Street Journal reported that RIM is testing a tablet that could act as a “companion” to its BlackBerry phone. Before that, the Boy Genius Report web site said the BlackBerry tablet is likely to have a 8.9-inch screen.

The BlackPad, when it launches, could be the pill that makes RIM more competitive against other smartphones and gives the company a new product to get potential customers excited about.

RIM has been trying to go beyond its core audience of business users and attract more consumers. Last week, it introduced a new smartphone called Torch that includes a touchscreen and a keyboard in a slider form similar to the Palm Pre.

The Torch is targeted at consumers. But initial reports about the device suggest the Torch won’t be enough to stem the decline in market share that RIM has seen recently. BlackBerry phones have been losing out to Apple’s iPhone and the growing gaggle of Android devices.

A tablet like the BlackPad could help give RIM the edge. The device could help bridge the gap between the BlackBerry keyboard-focused phones and the consumer appetite for larger touchscreen devices. The BlackPad’s strong connection to the BlackBerry phones through tethering could also help RIM sell more BlackBerry phones.

So far, Apple’s iPad is the only tablet available to consumers from a major PC maker. Since its launch in April, Apple has sold more than 3 million iPads. While Dell and HP are working on tablets, the devices are yet to make their debut.

If the reports about the BlackPad are true, RIM is certainly moving fast to fill any void.

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Photo: (seantoyer/Flickr)




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Aug 09

Screen Grabs: Ari Gold will definitely fire this guy once he notices he’s using an iPad

Posted in: Apple, ipad, slate, tablet, tablets, Television, Today's Chili, TV
Screen Grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today’s movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dt com.

The latest episode of HBO’s Entourage (if that’s the kind of thing you’re into) might have been a bit of an eye opener if you’re also the kind of person who keeps an eye open for gadgets. Ari Gold’s legal adviser (seen in around the 4th minute of the episode if you need the proof) has an iPad set up, keyboard and all. Now, we know Ari’s character pretty well. He’s the BlackBerry Bold type — and while his wife uses an iPhone, we have a hard time believing Ari’s going to put up with the iPad in the office nonsense for very long. You, young man, are on very thin ice. There’s one more shot after the break.

[Thanks, Pat]

Continue reading Screen Grabs: Ari Gold will definitely fire this guy once he notices he’s using an iPad

Screen Grabs: Ari Gold will definitely fire this guy once he notices he’s using an iPad originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Aug 2010 12:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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