Hasta La Gadget!

Given that September 9 is unlikely to finally reveal the fabled Apple tablet, this might be the nearest thing we have to it for a while yet — and it has one other advantage: it’s real. The iTab Mini is a mod project of the “more time and energy than sense” variety (our favorite kind) that melds together a 12.1-inch resistive touchscreen display with the remnants of an old PowerBook and a decidedly modern Core 2 Duo 2.16GHz, 2GB RAM, 160GB HDD spec. The outcome is, in a word, stunning. You can find a full run-through of the build at the read link.

Filed under: Handhelds, Laptops

MacCores iTab Mini mod gives us a taste of the future originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Aug 2009 06:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There isn’t a lot to go by here, but if the Wall Street Journal’s sources are to believed, recently-returned Apple CEO Steve Jobs is currently focusing the vast majority of his attention on the oft rumored tablet device, micromanaging every detail much in the way he did with the iPhone. The report also says that the tablet project has been twice killed by Jobs in recent years — first time because of bad battery life, which we get, and second because of insufficient memory, which seems a little less believable. Interestingly and uncharacteristically, Jobs took it upon himself to respond, saying via email, “much of your information is incorrect.” If Apple really is ramping up to unveiling a tablet, the first of its kind for the company, we have no doubt Jobs would be personally watching over every minute detail of it — what we really want to know is when we might see something materialize, and that’s still very much a mystery.

Filed under: Handhelds, Laptops

WSJ: Steve Jobs ‘pouring almost all of his attention’ into an Apple tablet originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Aug 2009 21:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Normally, we’d take a look at something like this and say, “yeah, could be real, could be fake.” Goodness knows there are enough mega-talented graphic designers in the world with the free time to craft this. Here’s the thing, though: this phone / MID hybrid — the latest in Nokia’s Internet Tablet series — has already been outed enough times so that we know this has to be a genuine press shot. If we had to guess, Espoo fashioned it in preparation for its Nokia World event in Germany early next month where the N900 will presumably be announced into officialdom; there’s no sign on when or how the T-Mobile USA version will be unveiled, but we’re getting pretty amped for it.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Nokia N900 puts on makeup, does hair for leaked press shot originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Aug 2009 13:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mike Rayfield, the general manager of NVIDIA’s mobile unit, sat down for a lengthy — if somewhat restrained — chat with Hexus recently, and he had some fairly interesting things to say about his company’s Tegra strategy. The discussion mostly consists of generalities about the roadmap for the high-power, low-weight chipset, but it takes a more interesting turn when Rayfield goes into detail on the types of devices we can expect to see in the near future. At about two minutes into the conversation, there’s mention of a “media pad,” which prompts some further inquiry from the interviewer. Rayfield goes on to describe the device as a “3G capable touchpad” ranging in size from 7- to 13-inches. Now what’s notable about the mention is that back in April reports were flying hot and heavy that Apple was working on a “media pad” device in partnership with Verizon which would “define the damn category.” We don’t like to wildly speculate, but since Apple and NVIDIA have a healthy history of teaming up on special projects, and since the rumored focus of the mythical Apple tablet is media playback and gaming, we wouldn’t rule out a possible connection here. If you want to do your own sleuthing, check out the full video for yourself after the break — and we recommend a frame-by-frame look at 2:23.

Continue reading Tegra to hit ‘media pads’ soon says company man Mike Rayfield

Filed under: Handhelds

Tegra to hit ‘media pads’ soon says company man Mike Rayfield originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Aug 2009 11:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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With Windows 7 on the horizon, multi-touch support in tow, people are suddenly interested in tablets all over again; a form factor that didn’t quite revolutionize portable computing as envisioned by an enthusiastic Bill Gates showing that first prototype way back in 2001. And with an Apple event just weeks away (presumably), fanboys of both persuasions seem convinced that tablets are once more the future of mobile computing. Manufacturers are certainly on board. Case in point: Kohjinsha, that just announced its EX6 convertible tablet with 1366×768 pixels slathered across a 11.6-inch LED-backlit capacitive resistive touchscreen. Inside you’ll find a 1.6GHz Atom N270 and 945GSE chipset, up to 2GB of memory and 160GB of disk, 802.11n WiFi, gigabit Ethernet, a pair of front and back-facing cameras, 2600mAh battery, 2x USB, and slots for SDHC/microSDHC, ExpressCard 34 cards, and even DVDs. Unfortunately, it’ll be shipped with XP when it hits retail at the end of this month for ¥59,800 (about $635) — something we expect you’ll rectify on October 22nd. As to whether it’ll support multi-touch under Win7, well, anybody see the appropriate sticker?

Filed under: Laptops, Tablet PCs

Kohjinsha’s 11.6-inch EX6 convertible tablet says XP, means Windows 7 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Aug 2009 03:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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