Hasta La Gadget!

You didn’t think that Acer wouldn’t be sharing some of its new tablets with its still-kicking Packard Bell subsidiary, did you? The latter has now debuted the Liberty Tab, its own spin on Acer’s Iconia Tab A500. As you might expect, however, there aren’t many differences beyond the name, with this one packing the same styling, 10-inch screen, Tegra 2 processor, dual cameras, and Honeycomb OS as its more widely-available counterpart. Launch details are still a bit iffy, but you can apparently expect this one to hit Europe sometime in June, with pricing to vary by country. Head on past the break for a hands-on video courtesy of Notebook Italia.

[Thanks, Marco]

Continue reading Packard Bell debuts Liberty Tab Honeycomb tablet, clearly adores freedom

Packard Bell debuts Liberty Tab Honeycomb tablet, clearly adores freedom originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 09 Apr 2011 09:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Acer’s Honeycomb-powered Iconia A500 is the latest Android tablet to hit the market. Photo: Acer

With the debut of the Iconia Tab A500, Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Acer is the latest to throw its hat into the tablet ring.

As of Friday morning, the 10.1-inch, Android 3.0-powered A500 is up for pre-order on Best Buy’s website for $450. It will be ready for purchase in Best Buy retail stores beginning April 24.

The price is less than the cheapest iPad 2, which costs $500 for a Wi-Fi only, 16-GB model. The Iconia A500 also has 16 GB of storage.

Most comparable tablets have had difficulty matching the iPad’s price. For instance, Motorola’s Xoom (the only other Honeycomb tablet currently available) costs $600, although that gets you a full 32 GB of internal storage, among other things.

Acer’s tablet will run Android version 3.0 (Honeycomb) on its NVidia Tegra 250 1-GHz dual-core processor, supported by a gig of RAM.

The Iconia A500 will be available in a Wi-Fi version first, and a 4G version will eventually make its way to AT&T’s network.

The A500’s 10.1-inch display boasts a 1280×800 resolution ratio (equal to that of the Xoom, and better than the iPad 2). You can watch HD 720p video on the screen, or use the HDMI output to view stored media on external screens. A 5-megapixel rear-facing camera comes for shooting photos and video, while the 2-megapixel front-facing camera allows for video chat.

Like the other Android tablets to debut in 2011, the A500 will trail Google’s flagship Honeycomb device, Motorola’s Xoom, to market. Samsung’s currently available version of its seven-inch Galaxy Tab runs Android version 2.2 — not until the 10.1-inch version will we see Honeycomb on a Samsung device (although delays have pushed back the larger version’s release).

The A500 will support Flash eventually, but won’t ship with it. Motorola’s Xoom, which debuted six weeks ago, also launched without Flash, though a beta release is currently available for Honeycomb in the Android Market.

With the BlackBerry Playbook set to debut on April 19 and a number of offerings to follow, Acer’s will be entering the tablet market just as it heats up with some serious competition.

See Also:

• Motorola Xoom Launches Without Flash
• Motorola Xoom, Atrix Too Pricey for the Public
• iPad 2 Cover Is Smart, All Right — If You're Steve Jobs
• Hands-On With Apple's Skinnier, Faster iPad 2
• 10 Apps You Should Download for iPad 2
• Want an iPad 2? Be Prepared to Wait
• HP Launches WebOS-Powered Tablet, Phones
• HP Says WebOS Will Land on PCs in 2012

We’re still sitting here playing with our Decepticon and Autobot toys, Jetfire and Starscream continuing their battle for airborne supremacy. It’s how we entertain ourselves whilst waiting for ASUS to release its Transformer tablet on the world, but now we can at least get our hands on what makes it tick. The source code for that 10.1-inch tablet with its IPS screen and Honeycomb flavor has just been lobbed up onto the company’s site and, with just a few clicks, you can continue its trajectory right onto your storage device of choice — though you’ll need to run it through an unzipper before it can really have any impact. What you do with it after that is up to you, but you’re going to have to wait a bit longer before you’ll have anywhere to deploy the results of the included makefile.

ASUS releases Eee Pad Transformer source code, physical bits to come later originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Apr 2011 07:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Since the very first day we saw the Dell Inspiron Duo’s crazy swiveling hinge in action, we knew we wanted a laptop that swung that way — but the Inspiron Duo itself turned out to be a sluggish netvertible with poor battery life. Well, it looks like Dell may be looking for a second chance, because a “Dell Panerai” just hit the FCC, which looks like might have sprung from the same minds who dreamt up the original’s sexy frame. Believe it or not, we can thank Intel for revealing this Dell P12F and Canada for pointing out its convertible nature, because of a little-known test specifically designed for transforming tablets like these — our northern neighbors require that hybrid laptop / tablet computers get checked for face-melting radioactivity if they have antennas built into the display, and that’s just what happened to the dual-band Intel 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi radio inside this machine. Oh, and judging by our calculations (based on the size of that orange label), the unit could sport a 15-inch screen. Sweet.

Dell Panerai convertible tablet leaks at FCC, could be part of Inspiron Duo family? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 22:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As you might recall, we weren’t exactly head over heels for eFun’s new line of tablets when we got our hands on the things at CES. Well, we’ve yet to see much of the sluggish Next4, but both the Next5 and Next6 have quietly made their way to market. Like we said before, the Next6 is more of an e-reader than a tablet, and the same goes for its sibling. Both sport Android 2.1, 7-inch LCD touchscreens, 800 x 480 displays, and WiFi connectivity — the Next6 sports 4GB of memory, while the Next5 offers 2GB and a 600MHz dual-core processor, based on the ARM926EJ. We’ve said it once, and we’ll say it again, the best thing about these slabs is probably the price: the Next5 rings in at $200 and the Next6 at $230. But feel free to judge for yourself — both are currently in stock at the source link below.

[Thanks, Nathan]

eFun’s Nextbook Next5, Next6 now available, likely not the next big tablets originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 11:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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