Hasta La Gadget!

Always thought the iPad should’ve really just been an enlarged iPhone? No, seriously — like an iPhone after one of those “Honey, I Blew Up the Kids” incidents? Well, iiView is bringing just that to market this month, except its M1Touch runs Windows 7 Premium and packs an Intel Atom N450 processor along with 2GB of RAM. It also has a 250GB hard drive and a 1.3-megapixel cam on its left bezel. We finally got to see the tablet up close and personal — it’s been under lock and key in the Microsoft booth all week — and it’s pretty much the biggest iPhone you’ve ever seen. The capacitive touchscreen was fairly responsive, though there was a noticeable lag in opening programs. We’re told it also has an accelerometer and that the familiar circular button on the right bezel will bring you back to the desktop, but both were disabled on the display model. Around the edges you’ll spot a trio of ports, a SIM slot, a mini HDMI output and a microphone jack. As for the actual feel of this thing, it’s pretty thick from the sides and weighs 1.5 pounds. Chances are that you stopped reading this post a few minutes ago and started clicking through the gallery to see shots of bugger alongside a normal iPhone, but we’d encourage you to also peek the video waiting just past the break. Oh, and if you’d like to give your iPhone an inferiority complex, you can always head on over to that source link and order one of these for $499.

Continue reading iiView M1Touch is a 10-inch iPhone tablet, seriously (video)

iiView M1Touch is a 10-inch iPhone tablet, seriously (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 Jun 2010 09:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Taiwan may be a comparatively small place, but it’s well known for a few things: incredible eats, incredible technology, and the best Little League World Series teams this planet has ever seen. We’re experiencing the best of those first two this week at Computex, and since we were all the way over on the other side of the planet, we couldn’t help but stop by the Windows 7-themed eatery that opened up for just a couple of months surrounding the nation’s only hosted consumer electronics show of this magnitude. The place, as we were told by the one and only Andy Yang from Engadget Chinese, is Taiwanese through and though. It typically goes by 100 Seafood, but for a couple of months it has been transformed into a 64-bit dining location with Windows 7 wallpaper, stickers, banners, and even mugs. Each day there’s a special menu item that sells for just NT$77 (around $2.38 in the US), but considering that said special was some form of intestines on the evening that we showed up, Engadget and company sprung for dishes with a bit less relation to the digestive system. In all seriousness, the grub hit the spot after a long day on the trade show floor, and the take-home mugs for us media folk made the journey even more worthwhile. Now, to see if the lid closes over if we don’t activate the thing in 30 days…

Take a trip to this magical place yourself in the galleries below, or do one even better and jump past the break for a video!

Continue reading Engadget dines at Taipei’s Windows 7-themed restaurant (video)

Engadget dines at Taipei’s Windows 7-themed restaurant (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Jun 2010 21:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft has been all over Computex this week, and we caught a few minutes with the software giant’s OEM vice pres Steve Guggenheimer (aka the Guggs) after his keynote this afternoon. Obviously, tablets were top of mind for us and he reinforced that Microsoft plans to push Windows 7 hard for the category, just as we have recently heard. “People are looking for a premium experience and the benefit of Windows familiarity,” he said. When we asked him about Windows Phone 7 scaling up into the larger-screened devices or even a tablet version of Windows 7, he was quite firm in saying that the current PC offering is the platform of choice. He cited netbooks being the record for the company, and that people want to use slates not only for “content consumption,” but also creation. On the other hand, Microsoft also has its Embeded Compact 7 for ARM-based tablets and devices.

Lastly, we couldn’t let Guggs talk about tablets without answering our questions about the Courier. As we have previously heard, he cited that the dualscreen tablet has always been a concept for the company. To paraphrase, he said that Microsoft’s constantly envisioning new platforms to see what flows. Well, that’s that then.

Microsoft: Windows Phone 7 not planned to hit tablets, Courier was always a concept originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Jun 2010 05:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple is set to face some competition as Taiwanese PC makers get their iPad challengers ready. Companies such as Asus and MSI are showing Android- and Windows-based tablets that they say will be cheaper than the iPad.

At the ongoing Computex trade show in Taipei, Taiwan, Asus announced its first tablet, called the Eee Pad.

The Eee Pad has a 12-inch touchscreen display and is a “full-featured slate computer that serves as a multimedia player, e-reader, compact PC and internet device,” says the company. The Eee Pad has an Intel Core 2 Duo processor and Windows 7 operating system. The company offers a 10-inch display version of the Eee Pad.

Asus rival MSI is fieldng two tablets: One features the Windows 7 operating system and the other is powered by Google’s Android OS. The tablets, called Wind-Pad, have 10-inch screens, 2 GB of RAM and a 1.6-GHz Atom processor. The tablets will offer 3G and Wi-Fi capability. Both are expected to be available in the third quarter of the year.

“We understand that people are only willing to pay less than $500 for a tablet,” Andy Tung, vice-president of sales for MSI told Wired.com. “And because the OS is one of the biggest costs in the device, our Android tablet will be at least 20 percent cheaper than the Windows version.”

Separately, Korean company Yukyung Tech has demoed an Android tablet under the brand name Viliv. It has a 10-inch capacitive touchscreen and claims to beat the iPad at display quality. The Viliv X10 tablet has an ARM-based processor, USB port, SD card reader, Wi-Fi and 3G capability. The company hasn’t offered detailed specs or pricing for the device.

We haven’t heard about Viliv before, but it’s apparently big in Korea. The company has not said whether its X10 tablet would be available outside the country.

MSI 'Wind-Pad' Tablet

Apple’s iPad has jumpstarted the tablets category. Since it went on sale in April, at least 2 million iPads have been sold, Apple says. Not surprisingly, other PC makers have taken notice of the demand and the hype.

Dell says its 5-inch Android tablet will go on sale in the U.K. starting June 4. The Dell Streak will be free on a $36 (25 pounds) a month data contract with O2, or you’ll be able to buy it outright for $630 (429 pounds).

Consumers that buy these new crop of tablets will consider factors such as mobility and applications, says Tung.

“If you are looking at netbook-like super mobility then a Windows device will be important because you will want to do more than just surf with the tablet,” says Tung. “But if you just want a portable web device, then Android is a better choice.”

At a time when HP has reportedly given up on its Windows-powered Slate in favor of a Palm webOS-based tablet, the arrival of Windows-based tablets should be good news for Microsoft and its fans.

But Microsoft’s vision for a tablet could fall short of consumer expectations, says Michael Cherry, vice-president of research for operating systems at independent research firm Directions on Microsoft.

“Microsoft’s vision for the tablet is an extension of the laptop family,” he says. “So things you can do on a tablet are the same as what you can do on a PC. But the downside is the battery life doesn’t last beyond four hours and the device boots slowly — both of which are becoming negative attributes.”

Tung says that MSI has extended the battery life on its tablets to up to eight hours.

Ultimately, Tung says flexibility and options are what will drive tablet sales.

“Apple has a very strong app store, which helps the iPad,” he says. “But there are enough Windows- and Android-based apps out there to make our tablets attractive to consumers.”

Photos: (Masaru Kamikawa/Flickr)

See Also:

• Tablet Rumors Multiply as iPad Sales Soar
• Dell’s Tablet Aims to Stick It to Apple’s iPad
• Gallery: 8 Tablets That Aren’t Made by Apple
• E-Readers Will Survive the Onslaught of Tablets

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We’ve been hearing about / poking fun of ITG’s xpPhone since June of last year, but amazingly enough, we’d yet to actually see one in the flesh until today. Slyly stuck in the back corner of Microsoft’s Computex booth were a trio of xpPhones, at least one of which was shockingly functional. As the story goes, the company has decided to axe Windows XP in favor of a much more lightweight version of WinXP Embedded, and responsiveness seemed suitable enough given the circumstances. And by “circumstances,” we mean “the outrageous size.” You see, we’ve no qualms making and receiving calls on an ultra-sleek Dell Streak, but this bad boy was pushing a solid inch in thickness. Sure, there’s a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, optical sensor and integrated Bluetooth, but that hardly makes it viable in a world where smartphones are thinner than wallets and full-fledged laptops are rolling in at under 10mm. During our time with the device, we found the display to be surprisingly crisp, and while our finger presses were easily recognized, the omission of an accelerometer, the tremendous size, inexcusable weight and the tremendous size kept us from falling head over heels. We will say, though — it’d make a darn good weapon should someone pull a fast one in the alley, and we’d probably buy one for kicks at under $150. Comedy ensues after the break.

Continue reading ITG xpPhone functioning at Computex, we go head-on (video)

ITG xpPhone functioning at Computex, we go head-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Jun 2010 10:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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