Hasta La Gadget!

Say hello to the latest hardware news from Boxee, as Viewsonic was showing its new TV amongst its existing Android tablet lineup featuring the software and requisite Intel CE4100 processor built in. It didn’t appear to integrate live TV or other inputs into the Boxee software, instead of opting to run the software as its own app, offering a similar experience to the existing Boxee Box, minus the box of course. This TV should drop in “early Q2,” press release details are after the break.

Continue reading Viewsonic introduces the first TV with Boxee (& Intel) inside

Viewsonic introduces the first TV with Boxee (& Intel) inside originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Jan 2011 14:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In case you missed it, this weekend Staples announced that it was no longer offering the 10.1-inch Viewsonic G Tablet because of a “manufacturing defect.” Well, as it turns out, Viewsonic is claiming there’s really no hardware defect at all — instead, the manufacturer of the Android 2.2, Tegra 2-powered tablet is reporting that there’s really a “user experience issue.” Nope, that doesn’t sound much better, but according to Viewsonic’s VP of Marketing Adam Hanin, the G Tablet saw a fair number of returns because of its sluggish software experience, which was caused by the preloaded Tap and Tap Android layer. A number of issues were also caused by the lack of Flash, which Adobe hasn’t yet certified for Tegra 2 (we hear that’s finally coming at the end of January). “We believe it is the user experience that caused all the returns, and we are taking important steps forward with the G Tablet,” Hanin told us.

So, what are those steps exactly? Viewsonic will be releasing an over-the-air software update before the end of the week and will also provide links for users to manually download and install a beta version of Flash on its support page. Naturally, we asked Hanin why the G Tablet was shipped in this half-finished state at all — he told us that while Android and Tegra are great platforms, Google’s lack of support for larger devices means that companies like Viewsonic have to “go out and put together their own software and app stores.” We’re not sure that’s a great answer — in fact, it sort of sounds like Viewsonic is trying to blame Google, Adobe, and NVIDIA for its own half-finished and laggy software, when it released the tablet on its accord own to retailers. Either way, we’ve now seen more than enough terrible “user experience” issues on the early crop of Android tablets — Honeycomb, where are you?

Continue reading Viewsonic: There’s no G Tablet ‘manufacturing defect,’ it’s a user experience issue

Viewsonic: There’s no G Tablet ‘manufacturing defect,’ it’s a user experience issue originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Dec 2010 21:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Welcome to the Engadget Holiday Gift Guide! The team here is well aware of the heartbreaking difficulties of the seasonal shopping experience, and we want to help you sort through the trash and come up with the treasures this year. Below is today’s bevy of hand curated picks, and you can head back to the Gift Guide hub to see the rest of the product guides as they’re added throughout the holiday season.

You didn’t think we’d let the holiday season go by without an official Engadget Tablet Gift Guide did you? Hey, give us more credit — we know it’s not 2009 anymore! The past year has seen an explosion in the tablet category, and while the iPad may still be the market leader, there’s no shortage of Android and Windows 7 alternatives out there that let you surf the web, read books, and watch videos with just a flick of a finger. Sure, more are on the way, and all signs point to Apple updating the iPad in early 2011, but if you’ve got to have a touchscreen slab before the end of the year, we’re here to lend a helping hand. Hit the break for a rundown of the best choices by price category.

Continue reading Engadget’s Holiday Gift Guide: Tablets

Engadget’s Holiday Gift Guide: Tablets originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Dec 2010 12:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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No thanks.

ViewSonic’s trade-in program: send in your laptop for a ViewPad discount originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Nov 2010 06:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Excuse us, ViewSonic, but we think there’s been some sort of mistake — your ViewPad 7 tablet is on sale at Amazon for $599, over a hundred dollars more than you said it would cost just two weeks back. Yes, we certainly understand you have to import the OlivePad rebadge from a substantial distance and negotiate with Google for its Android Market innards, but we’re not exactly ecstatic about the 600MHz ARM CPU — even with front- and rear-facing cameras on board. Given that Samsung’s Galaxy Tab doesn’t have phone functionality stateside, we admit there’s a market for a seven-inch Froyo tablet that can do voice calls, but did you really have to take Sammy’s controversial price point as well?

[Thanks, onelove]

ViewSonic ViewPad 7 tablet up for pre-order, now costs a wallet-crunching $599 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Nov 2010 08:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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