Hasta La Gadget!

ViewSonic hasn’t settled on a name for this thing yet, vacillating between the ViewPad 100 and the ViewPad 10i. What it has settled on is a pretty delicious for factor for an Atom N455-based Windows 7 tablet, and the dual boot option to Android is really just gravy. Unfortunately it’s rather outdated gravy: Android 1.6 is the most recent version to support x86 processors, so we won’t be seeing any of the new Android goodness on here unless Google pulls together another Intel-friendly version of the OS in the near future — which seems relatively unlikely with Chrome OS around the corner, but you never know. Other specs include 1GB of RAM, 16GB SSD, and a 10-inch 1024 x 600 LCD (the same resolution as the new Galaxy Tab, incidentally). We weren’t impressed with the quality of the display, or with the pixel density, but at least the capacitive touch seemed to be working fine — we actually managed to do a bit of typing with Windows 7’s touchscreen keyboard, if you can imagine that. The actual hardware is delightfully thin and light, though a bit on the plasticy side, and we particular appreciated the thumb friendly buttons to the right side of the display. The tablet has a quoted price of “sub 500 euros” and a sketched in release date for later this year. Check out a video hands-on, including the super exciting boot-up process, after the break.

Continue reading ViewSonic 10-inch dual boot ViewPad preview

ViewSonic 10-inch dual boot ViewPad preview originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 07:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Been having lurid dreams of 1080p-playin’ Windows 7 tablets with a touch-delighting UI layer on top? Probably not, but if that sounds like your kind of thing, you’ll want to know that ExoPC is about to collect its first pre-orders starting on September 3. The slate’s makers are being nice to their forum members by allowing the first 1,200 on board to have first bite at this cherry, which will be shipped out to them on September 30. Ten days before that, on September 20, is when the initial 120 production units will roll off the assembly line, though they’ve already been assigned to potential distribution partners. The really interesting date here will be October 15, as that’s when the Ciara Vibe — the first rebadged partner slate — is expected to hit retail availability in Canada. Let’s just hope this schedule isn’t written with a Sharpie Liquid Pencil, eh?

ExoPC sets a shipping schedule, now let’s see if it keeps it originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Aug 2010 05:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Windows Live Essentials 2011 gets another Beta release, Facebook and Flickr video integration originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Aug 2010 14:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS just dumped Windows Embedded Compact 7 for Android for its lower-end tablet devices, and CEO Jerry Shen is passing along the savings. He’s pledging that the 10-inch Eee Pad EP101TC, due to ship in March, will cost under $399 — and if the Notion Ink Adam is any indication that means it’ll be $398. Then there’s the EP121, a 12-inch tablet running Windows 7 that’s positioned rather higher up in the market, as indicated by its $1,000 price tag. Shen says this high cost is due to that docking station able to intriguingly transform it into a laptop when it ships around December or January. Next is yet another Eee Pad due around January, one that will run Windows Embedded Compact 7 on a 10-inch screen and at a price somewhere south of $499. Finally, there’s the grayscale Eee Tablet e-reader thing, formerly rumored to be under $599 but now priced at a solid $300 and, supposedly, shipping in October. Surely we’re mere months away from tablet saturation at this point.

ASUS prices 10-inch Android Eee Pad under $399, 8-inch Eee Tablet at $300, other tablets too originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Aug 2010 07:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Holy moly! We genuinely never saw this coming. If you recall, the last we heard from OQO was when it said its final goodbye back in May 2009, and even today its website still declares the company “out of business.” Well, that’s not exactly the case anymore — a little research led us to CCW, which reports that Audiotone — OQO’s business partner in China — confirmed a successful merger with the UMPC manufacturer in April this year (on the condition that the latter’s R&D to remain in the US). This would explain why OQO’s Chinese site was still being updated with news after the “closure,” while its Western counterpart remained frozen in time.

The juicier news, however, is that OQO’s launching a Model 03 for Chinese buyers in Q3 2010 (and the website’s banner specifically says August). Don’t be fooled by the model number, though — this 15-ounce device essentially shares the same chassis with the Model 02, but is now packed with Windows 7, Intel Atom Z500 series chip, SSD, 3G radio (compatible with WCDMA, EVDO and TD-SCDMA), and a 4.8-inch 1024 x 600 multitouch LCD (previously 5-inch 800 x 480 single-touch). You’ll also get the same old Bluetooth, WiFi, built-in mic and HDMI across the four flavors: Gold, Diamond, Elite and Business, which range from 1.2GHz to 2GHz, 32GB to 128GB (1GB to 2GB of RAM), and ¥12,999 ($1,919) to a whopping ¥31,888 ($4,708). Well, these are still far from what most of us would consider as affordable, so here’s hoping the Chinese market will keep OQO alive until it can bring us some cheaper alternatives. Or at least avoid sending the company to its second funeral.

Update: Eerily, the long static OQO home page has been updated with a brief, but telling bit of text at the bottom of the page: “We did not sell out to Audiotone. Anything by them is a Clone.” So much for the ressurrection. [Thanks, Picasso]

Update 2: Looks like the previous OQO home page update is a hack… by zombies!

OQO crawls back from the dead, releasing Model 03 in China this month (Updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Aug 2010 01:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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