Hasta La Gadget!

The first of June could see the introduction of the Eee Pad tablet if DigiTimes‘ proven ASUS sources are correct. The device has been rumored since early December and now appears to be heading to Computex Taipei for its big reveal with a price set below $500. The tablet was already rumored to feature a multitouch display, Tegra (Tegra 2, presumably) and an OS other than Windows CE. And with a name that sounds suspiciously like a feminine hygiene product for a robot, well, we’ll let you guess at which Google OS the Eee Pad will run.

Update: JKKMobile linked us to a video he shot of an ASUS concept tablet running Android on Tegra 2 at CES. Somehow we missed it… we blame the Waveface.

ASUS’ Tegra-powered Eee Pad tablet to make sub-$500 Computex debut? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Jan 2010 06:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS may be in the process of spinning off the Pegatron brand, but for now it’s still the same company behind this here slick white smartbook. Running the inevitable Android OS on a 10-inch display, but offering the never-boring Tegra 2 combo of 1080p playback and up to a “full day” of WiFi-enabled battery juice, the prototype machine was being shown off to give us a hint of what’s to come. We’re told the Neo is definitely coming later in the year, though the particulars of the price tag and distributor badge are not yet revealed. For our money, this was a spectacularly thin and light pseudo-laptop — it’s hard to overstate just how deprived of weight this thing is. Opening it up shows an appealing layout and keyboard, which were rather spoiled by a number of creaky and unstable parts. We found deep flex in the keyboard panel and around the hinges, but our optimistic souls are willing to put those things down to it being a demo unit. If this featherweight design makes it to market without sacrificing any of the good bits while getting rid of the bad ones, we’d recommend it in a hot and sweaty second.

ASUS / Pegatron Neo with Tegra 2 hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Jan 2010 23:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You have to have a pretty special product to get two Engadget posts discussing your wares during the maelstrom of CES, but this Adam thing just won’t leave us alone with its Pixel Qi display, Tegra 2 innards and bona fide potential to blow the bloody doors off the homogeneous tablet market. We’ve gone back and grabbed video of the device in direct sunlight and it just kept on impressing us. The screen resolutely refused to be overpowered by the light, whether its backlight was on or off, but that was merely the tip of the iceberg as far as the happy impressions. Come past the break to find out more about buttery smooth 1080p playback (with a handy HDMI out), Notion Ink’s plans for modifying the Android OS, and more on the likely pricing of the device which is set to land in quarter two of 2010. Oh, and yea — we totally ripped it open and photographed the insides. Check that out below.

Continue reading Notion Ink Adam stripped bare and our in-depth video hands-on

Notion Ink Adam stripped bare and our in-depth video hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Jan 2010 15:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve already seen that early builds of Google’s Chromium OS can be hacked onto existing machines, but those Chrome OS netbooks that the software giant has planned for next year have remained curiously elusive until now. According to both IBTimes and Netbook News, the company is in talks with a number of outfits in order to bring at least a few sub-$300 options to the market that are well suited to power through its first non-mobile operating system. For starters, we’re told that the 10.1-inch machine will be ARM-based, while NVIDIA’s Tegra platform (likely the second generation) steers the graphical ship. There’s also promise of a multitouch panel (1,280 x 720 resolution), 64GB SSD, WiFi, 2GB of RAM, integrated 3G connectivity, Bluetooth, an Ethernet jack, an undisclosed amount of USB sockets, webcam, 3.5mm audio jack, a multi-card reader, a 4- or 6-cell battery and optional GPS. Wilder still, a $200 configuration could very well pop up, and it looks as if (at least initially) Google will sell the device(s) directly through its own website — much like Fusion Garage has done with the Joojoo tablet. ‘Course, it’ll still take some arm twisting to get the low-end crowd to try anything not labeled “Windows,” but if anyone can do it, it’s the company that inexplicably kept Gmail in “beta” for over five years.

Google’s Chrome OS-based netbook specs leak out originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Dec 2009 07:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Details on ASUS’s rumored Eee Pad were fairly light when the rumors first surfaced, but it looks like things are now starting to get fleshed out a bit more as we near a possible announcement at CES next month. The latest word comes from Netbooknews‘ sources, who have reportedly all but confirmed that the tablet / handheld will indeed have full multitouch capabilities, and that it definitely won’t be running Windows CE (still no word what it will be running). Slightly less certain but more interesting is talk that the Eee Pad will run on NVIDIA’s Tegra platform — or, possibly, Tegra 2, which just so happens to be slated to launch at CES as well.

ASUS Eee Pad rumored to have multitouch, Tegra originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Dec 2009 19:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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