Hasta La Gadget!

The US already knows when Samsung will launch its updated Galaxy Tab models and for how much, but that picture hasn’t been quite as lucid over in Europe. Amazon.de is doing its best to dissipate the mists of unknowing by listing the 16GB Galaxy Tab 8.9 at a price of €606.50 ($852), whether you’re buying the version with a black or white back. That sounds a relatively steep price, but it’s not clear whether we’re talking about the WiFi-only or 3G-equipped model. Notably, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 option is also listed alongside its 8.9-inch brethren, but there’s no price attached to it yet. All we can really say for now is that the wheels are in motion and these Honeycomb tablets look to be on their way to the Euro market at about the same time as they’ll hit the American one. Égalité!

Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 priced at €606 by Amazon.de, joined by 10.1 model in a pre-order dance originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 May 2011 03:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Information about Toshiba’s Honeycomb tablet has been spotty at best since the company unveiled it amid a sea of like-minded slates way back in January at CES. We’ve seen it teased and were subjected to some naming confusion, when the company filed a trademark for “Thrive” shortly before the tablet surfaced with the unfortunate ANT moniker — and on Friday we caught wind via some chatty Twitter accounts that Toshiba is sticking to the former, a fact seemingly verified by new J&R listings for the device. The retailer has 8GB and 32GB versions of the tablet up for pre-order at $449 and $579, respectively. Specs also include a 10.1-inch screen, an NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor, 1GB of RAM, WiFi connectivity, and 2MP / 5MP front and rear cameras. The tablet is listed as “coming soon” on the site, though signs seem to point to a release not too long after its Japanese counterpart, at which point we’ll see if the Thrive actually manages to live up to that name.

Toshiba Thrive tablet up for pre-order starting at $449, may finally have an official name originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 22 May 2011 18:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Android Honeycomb OS, 10-inch screen size with 1280 x 800 resolution, and NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 (T20) chip on the inside. If those specs sound familiar, it’s because most manufacturers already have a tablet just like Dell’s upcoming Streak Pro. This slate from Round Rock got us a little hot under the collar recently, when it appeared it would ship with the T25 Tegra 2 silicon — which runs at 1.2GHz and offers 3D support — but nope, it’s same old, same old from Michael and company. Still, the Streak Pro will apparently come will a brushed aluminum back, 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB storage options, dual mics, dual cameras (2 megapixel on the front, 5 megapixel ’round back), and a choice of four colors: blue, pink, black, and red. If that’s not enough customization for you, Dell’s also adding its Stage UI atop Android, while support for AT&T’s LTE network is also said to be under consideration. You can see some of the new tablet’s accessories at the source link below, which also advises us to expect the Streak to go Pro in June, as previously anticipated.

Dell Streak Pro Honeycomb tablet pictured, likely to be with us in June originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 May 2011 03:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola’s Droid X2 features Nvidia’s dual-core processor, the Tegra 2. Photo courtesy of Motorola

Good news for Verizon customers waiting for powerful hardware: Dual-core is coming to town.

Motorola’s Droid X2 smartphone hits stores on May 26, and you’ll be able to pre-order it online beginning May 19. The phone is powered by Nvidia’s Tegra 2 dual-core 1 GHz processor, the powerful chip found in a number of recent tablet and smartphone releases. It’s the first Verizon-carried phone to include a dual-core chip.

Like its predecessor, the Droid X2 will flaunt a 4.3-inch screen, just big enough to watch HD video on without having to squint. It also has HDMI-mirroring capabilities, which means you can watch those videos on your big screen via HDMI output.

The phone only comes running Android version 2.2 (Froyo), but Motorola says it will be upgrading the software to 2.3 (Gingerbread) soon. Of course, we can’t speak to what “soon” actually translates to in actual, real-world wait time.

A big bummer: the Droid X2 only runs on Verizon’s 3G network. That means if you’re tethering up to five Wi-Fi enabled devices using it as a mobile hotspot, you won’t be getting 4G speeds. And from our time spent on the network with the Thunderbolt, we’re digging Verizon’s flavor of 4G.

LG was the first phone manufacturer to release a dual-core phone this year with its Optimus 2X, which initially dropped in Europe before the U.S. version (the G2X) was released in April on T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network. Motorola was soon to follow with its Atrix on AT&T’s 4G network. All three phones run on the Tegra 2 processor.

Out of the big four U.S. telecommunications companies, Sprint is the only carrier not offering a dual-core smartphone.

The Droid X2 will be available in Verizon Wireless stores for $200 with a two-year Verizon Wireless contract beginning May 26.

It may be a bit difficult to pay attention to the spate of Honeycomb tablets that seem to be popping up left, right and center — you know, now that Ice Cream Sandwich has been officially promised — but what’s not easy to overlook is an 8.6mm slate. Checking in at a sliver of a pinch thinner than the illustrious iPad 2, Samsung’s rethought-out, redesigned and definitely-not-renamed Galaxy Tab 10.1 is the first Android tablet to date that seriously goes toe-to-toe with Apple in both specifications and design. Granted, the consumer models aren’t slated to ship out until June 8th, but given that Google handed us one last week during its annual I/O conference, we figured we’d spend the following weekend wisely. You know, photographing, benchmarking and testing this thing to the hilt. (Of note, the unit tested here was the Limited Edition model, devoid of TouchWiz, 3G and a microSD card slot, but is otherwise identical to shipping units aside from the design on the rear.)

The Tab 10.1 — not to be confused with the older, since-relabeled Tab 10.1v — weighs just 1.31 pounds (marginally besting the iPad 2’s 1.33 pound chassis), and if looks could kill, few people would’ve made it out of Moscone West with all organs functional. But as you well know, style only gets you in the door — it’s the guts, the software, and the marriage of it all that makes or breaks the tablet experience. Hop on past the jump to find out why we think Samsung truly delivered on the promise of a Google-powered tablet, and why you should all seriously consider socking away funds as early June approaches.

Continue reading Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Limited Edition review

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Limited Edition review originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 May 2011 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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