AdvanceTC’s 4.8-inch tabletphone runs Windows 7 on a 1.6GHz Atom CPU

It may not sound like the most practical combination, but we’ve got to hand it to AdvanceTC — it’s shoehorned telephony into a Windows 7 tablet, fulfilling our dark desire for a spiritual successor to the xpPhone. Yes, that’s not Windows Phone 7 you’re looking at above, but rather full desktop Windows running on a sizable quad-band GSM brick, whose insides hold a 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 CPU, 1GB of RAM, a 32GB SSD, a 4.8-inch 800 x 480 touchscreen, a 1.3 megapixel webcam and a chunky 3200mAh battery to power the whole thing. Calls are handled via AdvanceTC’s custom UI layer and there’s some software trickery to keep that battery in check, as the device can automatically wake from sleep when it detects an incoming call or text message. We doubt we’d much enjoy navigating Windows 7 on a screen that small, but AdvanceTC also gives the Atrix a nod, claiming that the device can act like a full nettop PC when connected to an HDMI dock. We’ll let you know if the company gives us a price, release date, or any indication that it will actually hit retail at all.

AdvanceTC’s 4.8-inch tabletphone runs Windows 7 on a 1.6GHz Atom CPU originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Feb 2011 02:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Archos Arnova 8 and 10 tablets hit the bargain bin (video)

We know, Archos already makes fairly cheap tablets, but believe it or not, the company’s going after an even cheaper segment with its new Arnova 8 and 10. The two have been popping up all around the web — they stopped by the FCC earlier this week and there was an early spec leak from a Russian site — but now we’re finally getting some real details and hands-on impressions courtesy of Charbax, who is quite possibly the biggest Archos fan in the world. The $199 10.1-inch Arnova 10, which we have to say looks a lot like the Archos 101, packs a 600MHz Rockchip RK2818 processor, resistive touchscreen, 8GB of storage, and Android 2.1 — but before you gag, know that there should also be a 1GHz ARM Cortex-A8 Rockchip RK 2918 / capacitive touchscreen version coming in April. Meanwhile, the 8-inch Arnova 8 rings up at $150 with the same processor and resistive touchscreen, but only 4GB of storage. If the cut corners don’t faze you and you’re in the mood for a closer look, we suggest you hit the break for some Charbax video originals.

Continue reading Archos Arnova 8 and 10 tablets hit the bargain bin (video)

Archos Arnova 8 and 10 tablets hit the bargain bin (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 26 Feb 2011 23:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Intel Oak Trail Atom Z670 tablets to arrive at the end of March

Intel’s spent the last nine months prepping its Oak Trail silicon to improve the battery life and performance of Windows 7 tablets, and come the end of next month we should finally have some slates with the new 1.5GHz Atom Z670 chip inside. While Fudzilla has heard that the tablets will hit in the general March time frame, the eagle-eyed guys at Netbook News spotted the Fujitsu Stylistic Q550 press materials stating that the new platform will launch on March 30, 2011. That seems to line up with what we’ve heard on timing, since both the Oak Trail-powered Samsung Sliding PC 7 and MSI WindPad 100W were announced with March availability. Chances are we will hear more about it all at CeBIT next week, but honestly, at this point we’re just really eager to get one of these in our hands to see what Chipzilla’s really improved.

Intel Oak Trail Atom Z670 tablets to arrive at the end of March originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Feb 2011 18:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceNetbookNews, Fudzilla  | Email this | Comments

Motorola Xoom Gets Teardown Treatment

Moto Zoom Teardown.jpg

I seem to remember a time when a new gadget was allowed to exist for a week or so without having someone with a screwdriver go all Alien Autopsy on it with a screwdriver. Those days are long gone, of course, thanks in large part to folks at iFixit.
In this week’s installment, the site got its hands on the Motorola Xoom–the great hope of the Android tablets, which hit shelves this week. First up on the iFixit checklist: an investigation into the “convoluted” process for getting the company to upgrade the thing to 4G.
The discovery: “It looks like the Xoom was specifically designed with this upgrade in mind.” iFixit estimates that the whole process should take a user with the right screwdrivers 10 minutes or less to complete. “Heck, a donkey could probably pull it off in less than two hours.” Fair enough, but with those hooves, using the touchscreen is probably a real pain in the, well, you know.

Motorola Xoom rooted in two hours flat, sinister transforming exoskeleton jetpack returns in Verizon ad

What’s the first thing you’re going to do with your Motorola Xoom? If you’re Koush, the answer’s clear — install your very own ClockworkMod recovery image and ROM Manager, and grant the latter superuser permissions. That’s right, on the very day of release, the Motorola Xoom’s all but ready for custom builds of Android and all the joy they bring.

Meanwhile, Verizon’s decided to bring us the latter half of the abruptly cut Xoom TV ad, which actually differs significantly depending on whether or not Spanish is your primary language. Either way, it’s a fairly sordid affair, with no Iron Man feats of stratospheric skill to be found, merely a quick demonstration of gaming with the accelerometer and a few quick swipes through Honeycomb. You’ll still watch it if we tell you it’s after the break though, won’t you?

Continue reading Motorola Xoom rooted in two hours flat, sinister transforming exoskeleton jetpack returns in Verizon ad

Motorola Xoom rooted in two hours flat, sinister transforming exoskeleton jetpack returns in Verizon ad originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Feb 2011 02:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink PhoneArena, Droid-Life  |  sourceVerizonWireless (YouTube), Koushik Dutta  | Email this | Comments

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 hitting Vodafone Portugal in March for €699

We’ve been waiting for the pricing and availability pieces of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 puzzle, and a short press release from Vodafone Portugal seems to at least help fill out the edges. While we thought Vodafone’s UK branch had exclusive dibs on the 10.1-inch Honeycomb tablet, it looks like it will be hitting Vodafone Portugal first in March for €699. That’s not exactly a bargain, but it’s in line with the pricing of the other Android tablets overseas. Now, if only we knew more about when this one was going to learn English and hit the US. As always, we’re digging as hard as we can on that one.

Updated: It looks like Vodafone Spain announced pricing last week, too. Our friends at Engadget Spanish report that the tablet will go for €349 on-contract sometime this spring.

[Thanks, The Wizard]

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 hitting Vodafone Portugal in March for €699 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Feb 2011 12:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Verizon charging for one month’s data with Samsung Galaxy Tab, too?

Looks like Verizon’s idea of levying mandatory data fees on tablet buyers may be a global thing — not only will new Xoom owners have to activate and pay for a month of data, but an eagle-eyed tipster sent in this image of a Best Buy price tag that confirms the very same for Samsung’s Galaxy Tab. There’s nothing to suggest that WiFi-only versions of either tablet would be subject to the surcharge — with these cellular variants, we can almost understand — but we don’t see 3G iPads carrying mandatory activations, so what’s the deal, Verizon?

[Thanks, Brian R.]

Verizon charging for one month’s data with Samsung Galaxy Tab, too? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Feb 2011 23:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola Xoom Launching Without Flash

moto tablet finger.jpg

For all of Motorola’s boastings, it seems that the company’s eagerly awaited Honeycomb tablet won’t be sporting Adobe Flash playback capabilities at launch. This news comes according to the Verizon Website, which notes that the tablet won’t be capable of managing the near-ubiquitous Web publishing software until “Spring 2011,” a cloudy date that’s no doubt some time after the Xoom launches later this month.

While the lack of Flash is likely not a deal breaker for most potential Xoom buyers (particularly when an update is likely coming in a month or two), the feature was one that the company has touted as a selling point for the device, versus the iPad–which, naturally, will never see Flash, thanks to Steve Jobs’s one man crusade against the software.

Information Week speculates on the matter, chalking it up to a lack of compabilty between Android Honeycomb 3.0 (which will be launching the same time as the Xoom) and Flash Player Mobile 10.2

Visualized: Motorola Xoom rolls into Best Buy

Sure, you’ve probably seen plenty of the Motorola Xoom by now, but have you seen a stack of them being rolled into a Best Buy? Didn’t think so. Well, you can now rest assured that they are indeed arriving in stores ahead of the big Thursday launch date, thanks to the helpful tipster who sent us this image. Unfortunately, it seems that a few pieces fell off the truck on the road to retail.

Visualized: Motorola Xoom rolls into Best Buy originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Feb 2011 17:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola Xoom Goes Up For Pre-Order

pm_xoom_110218.jpg

It’s official: The first Honeycomb tablet is only a few days away from release. Best Buy has put up a pre-order page for the Motorola Xoom with prices, accessories and a launch date and, unlike last time, this one doesn’t look like a mistake. On Thursday, you’ll be able to walk into your local Best Buy and walk out with the dual-core, ten inch tablet for $800. If you’re planning to use the 3G-enabled version of the device over wi-fi, be prepared to pay up for some Verizon data; the 802.11n wi-fi is locked without a minimum purchase of at least one month of cell data.

The pre-order page also lists four accessories for the slate: A case, a keyboard and two docks (one with built-in speakers and one without). No word on the wi-fi-only version, which was officially announced by Motorola last week and will cost $600, $200 less than the 3G version.

[via Engadget, Best Buy]