Hasta La Gadget!

We’d already heard that Dell was working on larger tablets, and tonight’s huge leak brought us tons of info on the Looking Glass, a seven-inch big brother to the Streak 5 that’s due out in November. For starters, it’s running Android 2.1 on a Tegra 2 processor, with an optional TV tuner module so you can watch ATSC or DVB-T programming on the seven-inch 800×480 display — the same resolution as the Streak, which is sort of weak. In addition, the render on the slide shows an AT&T U-verse browser, though, which is interesting — too bad there’s no more info about it. RAM is pegged at 4GB, with another 4GB of flash for storage and an SDHC slot for up to 32GB of expansion, and there’s a 1.3 megapixel camera. Yep, it’s pretty much just a bigger Streak with a different, potentially awesomer processor — imagine how slick you’ll look with this bad boy held to your face on a call.

Dell Looking Glass tablet leaks: Tegra 2 coming your way in November originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Apr 2010 21:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We bumped into NVIDIA at CTIA in Vegas last week, and even NVIDIA itself expressed some frustration at not having any finished Tegra 2-powered products to show us, but there was no talk of delays — not that we really have many hard dates for any of the Tegra 2 devices to push up against. This morning, however, SlashGear ran a rumor from a “trusted source” saying that there were hardware and software “technical problems” with the platform, including a problem with Flash, which were delaying various tablets, including products from Notion Ink, Compal, and ICD. The source said that the Compal, which was due for a June release, has been bumped to September, while the ICD tablets won’t hit until October. We asked NVIDIA for a statement, and they said that “The rumors aren’t true. Everything’s on track.” With that sort of terse reply, we’re not really sure which aspects of this rumor NVIDIA is rebutting, but we have to assume NVIDIA is at least saying that there aren’t issues with Tegra 2 that are holding things back. As for when we’ll see Tegra 2 tablets and smartbooks hit the market? That’s anyone’s guess.

Tegra 2 delay rumor makes the rounds, NVIDIA says ‘everything’s on track’ originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Apr 2010 20:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While the verdict is still out with regard to consumer appetites for a 3rd portable computing device, PC makers are betting the farm on consumer interest in tablets that fill the gap between small-screened smartphones and bulky (by comparison) netbooks/laptops. We’ve already seen an uptick in tablet devices on display at the big CES and CeBIT trade shows, now tablet and MID device vendors look ready to blow out Computex when it kicks off on June 1st in Taipei. According to Roy Chen, ARM’s ODM manager for worldwide mobile computing, more than 50 ARM-based tablet PCs will launch in 2010 starting in Q2 with “a lot more” landing in the third quarter — a date that just happens to line-up with the most optimistic Chrome OS launch schedule. ARM’s seeing so much interest that it had to rent additional floor space to show off the devices. Chen said that many of the tablets are slated for China although all of the world’s top 10 carriers have signed up as well. ARM was showing off two Android based tablets at the press event, including the 7-inch Compal device (pictured above) we gave a whirl at CES. Let’s just hope that tablet makers have plans for some compelling content and service hook-ups with a focus on the user experience — 50 near-identical slabs of touchscreen computing won’t generate much enthusiasm around here.

Over 50 ARM-based tablets launching this year originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 05:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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They might not have been revealed at MWC, but that doesn’t mean the news flow on Microsoft’s long-rumored Pink phones needs to stop. Following the FCC entries that hinted at the future character of these devices, we now have word of an industrious hacker getting hold of the firmware for both the Turtle and Pure handsets. According to his data, the Turtle (believed to look like the square-ish creature on the left) will sport a 320 x 240 screen, while the Pure will have a more generous 480 x 320. Neither would encourage much hope for seeing these as the vanguard handsets of the Windows Phone 7 movement, but a litany of references to Premium Mobile Experiences would both confirm our earlier information and suggest that Microsoft is still going to hit us with something more than a simple feature phone. This is backed up by “a strong connection” to NVIDIA’s Tegra chipset, which would be powerful enough to service the rumored video and media management capabilities. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, separate codenames of Lion and Pride have been uncovered, indicating CDMA versions of the Pure and Turtle, whose names are attached to the GSM variants of the two phones. Now if we can just get a release date, we’ll be all set.

Microsoft’s ‘Turtle’ and ‘Pure’ phones linked to Tegra chipset, expected in both GSM and CDMA varieties originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Feb 2010 09:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ready for some more tablet news? Yeah, we know, this one’s different. Promise. It’s MSI’s 10-inch, Tegra-powered machine we checked out a few weeks back at CES. We were reasonably smitten then and, despite the new competition, we still think it looks promising. But, a $500 MSRP probably isn’t going to help things much when it launches sometime in the second half of this year, if a report from DigiTimes proves to be correct. Specifications are said to be “flexible” and the company will “launch different models based on market demand,” meaning if everyone coughs at that price point there’s a good chance MSI will dig deep and release an even cheaper model. Sounds like a good idea to us.

MSI’s 10-inch tablet launching this year at $500, patently ignoring the elephant in the room? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Jan 2010 10:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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