Hasta La Gadget!

Lenovo’s been playing coy with the A1-07, giving us little to go on since we first caught wind of it at the FCC last month. Well, it appears it’s time to ditch those Blurrycam photos for some real-deal promo stills, because this mysterious slate quietly made its debut in China earlier this week — and from the looks of things, it’s already got its mind set on a vacation. Along with a smattering of photographs that picture the slab kicking it seaside, the official LePad A1-07 page shows off some familiar looking specs. As we’d previously heard, this LePad sports a 7-inch, 1024 x 600 display and a microSD slot. Unfortunately, our instincts were also right about the A1-07 lacking Honeycomb; this one’s running Android 2.3. What’s more, it packs a 1GHz TI OMAP3622 processor — not the OMAP3621 previously reported — 512MB of RAM, 16GB of storage, front and back-facing cameras, and a micro-USB port. The LePad A1-07 will set our friends in China back ¥2,500 (about $390), but Lenovo’s not giving up US details just yet. Perhaps we’ll see this 7-incher on the other side of its late summer vacay, but until then, check out its beach body in the gallery below.

[Thanks, Peter]

Lenovo LePad A1-07 tablet makes Chinese debut in beach-ready attire originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Aug 2011 19:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Taobao (Translated)  |  Lenovo  | Email this | Comments

Earlier this year, NVIDIA teased us all with the promise of its forthcoming Kal-El SoC, indicating an August debut. Well, we’re currently in the thick of that hot and hazy month with no clear sign of an incoming quad-core tablet, but certainly more release gossip. According to Fudzilla, multiple sources have confirmed ASUS’ next Eee Pad Transformer will indeed be first in line to pack four cores, lending credence to Chairman Jonney Shih’s claims the tab would be “impressive.” Concrete launch details for the slate have yet to be announced, but if Shih’s pre-CES timeline pans out, you’ll only have four long months to wait for a Glow Ball hands-on.

ASUS’ next gen Eee Pad Transformer to be first Kal-El device? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Aug 2011 11:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink NetBookNews  |  Fudzilla  | Email this | Comments

Logitech’s clip-on tablet speaker latches onto your slate for dear life, doubles as a stand originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Aug 2011 23:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Logitech  | Email this | Comments

Yesterday we gave you the lowdown on Fusion Garage’s second foray into tablet computing, the Grid 10. While its tablet world topping pixel density, Tegra 2 silicon, and fresh to death OS certainly sound awesome, we had to get our grubby mitts on one to see if it’s as good as its spec sheet would have us believe. So, is the JooJoo’s successor a superior slate, or is it destined to disappoint like its elder sibling? Read on past the break to find out.

Continue reading Fusion Garage Grid 10 tablet and Grid 4 smartphone hands-on

Fusion Garage Grid 10 tablet and Grid 4 smartphone hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Aug 2011 18:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

The most telling moment of our conversation with Chandra Rathakrishnan came at the end, just before the recording device shut off. The interview wrapped, and we politely thanked the Fusion Garage CEO for taking the time to speak with us. “Thank you for taking the time,” he echoed, adding, “And for giving us another chance.” Rathakrishnan never goes so far as to use the word “failure” to describe the company’s poorly received JooJoo tablet — at least not during the course of our interview — but it seems clear that he harbors few illusions with regards to what the device truly was: a misfire. A grandiose experiment that was rushed out the door far too fast, with far too few resources.

The device’s origins weren’t all that pretty, either. The company teamed up with TechCrunch to offer up a $200 internet tablet dubbed the CrunchPad — a plan that soon soured, with the two parting ways on a less-than-positive note. Fusion Garage rebranded the CrunchPad the JooJoo, and began a long journey of delays and price hikes. Despite its best efforts, it missed the boat, failing to release the device ahead of Apple’s industry shaping iPad. When the 4GB tablet finally hit the market, it carried a $499 price tag — more than double its initial utopian target.

Read on for the full interview.

Continue reading The Engadget Interview: Fusion Garage’s Chandra Rathakrishnan

The Engadget Interview: Fusion Garage’s Chandra Rathakrishnan originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Aug 2011 15:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments