| HP has announced that it will launch a series of Windows 7 tablets this fall. But while the HP Slate had originally been designed as a consumer oriented device, it looks like HP is now targeting the HP Slate 500 as a device for enterprise customers.
There are still no details on the specs or exactly when this fall the tablet will be available. But it looks like HP is dividing its tablets into two camps: consumer oriented WebOS devices and enterprise focused Windows 7 devices. Palm’s Jon Rubinstein also says HP and Palm are working on other WebOS products including smartphones and… netbooks. This is actually the second time we’ve heard HP/Palm use the big N word in relation to WebOS.This seems to contradict earlier statements that HP wouldn’t bring a WebOS netbook to market. I guess everyone’s entitled to change their mind once in a while. An earlier version of this article stated that HP would be launching its WebOS slate this fall, but it turns out it’s actually the Windows 7 tablet due out in that time frame. News Source: Liliputing |
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HP says Windows 7 slates due this fall, for enterprise customers
Submitted by shc-boomer on Fri, 07/23/2010 - 06:53Does the fate of the Google Nexus One spell doom for the mythical Google Tablet?
Submitted by shc-boomer on Fri, 07/23/2010 - 06:52| There’ve been rumors going around for ages that Google plans to build a tablet. They’ve pretty much replaced the earlier rumors that Google would be bringing a netbook to market under its own name. For a long time critics could easily point out that Google is a software company and doesn’t produce consumer electronics. And then came the Google Nexus One: A phone with the Google name all over it.
This week Google sold the last Nexus One through its web store, and the company doesn’t plan to offer any more (although you can still pick up some through partners overseas). The phone wasn’t a blockbuster success and Google sold only a fraction of the number of Apple iPhone, Motorola Droid, or HTC anything phones typically sell. Google still said the Nexus One was a success, since it pushed the boundaries of what people should expect from an Android phone. And looking at the current crop of Android smartphones from HTC, Motorola, Samsung, Acerm and other companies it’s hard to disagree. We’re seeing plenty of phones with big screens, 1GHz processors, excellent graphics, and the latest versions of the Android operating system. It’s possible we would have seen them even without the Nexus One, but maybe we wouldn’t have. But now that the Nexus One experiment is pretty much finished and Google has no plans to sell any more phones through its web store, the folks at OStatic raise a good point: What does this mean for a Google netbook or a Google Tablet running the upcoming Chrome OS operating system? It’s possible that Google may decide that none of its hardware partners is ready to build a mobile device that live up to the company’s expectations for Chrome OS hardware. And so Google could repeat its experiment. But let’s be honest. Not a lot of people bought the Nexus One from Google. And Google had to confront the fact that it was making software not just for its own device, but for other manufacturers that probably weren’t all that happy with the competition. Why go through that drama again with another product category? What do you think? Will we ever see a Google tablet or a Google netbook? Or was the relatively small commercial success of the Google Nexus One the nail in the coffin? News Source: Liliputing |
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ARM announces plans for 20nm chips
Submitted by shc-boomer on Thu, 07/22/2010 - 06:13| Chip designer ARM has announced an agreement with semiconductor manufacturer TSMC that could lead to tinier chips that are both more powerful and more energy efficient. Specifically, the two companies plan to develop technology allowing ARM chips to be built first with a 28nm process and then a ridiculously tiny 20nm process.
The most recent chips from ARM and TSCM, for example, use a 40nm process. ARM says the agreement will allow the company to start developing the technology for the new chips as soon as possible — although it could be a while before we see these new chips hit the streets. ARM’s low power chips power smartphones, embedded systems including set top boxes and a growing number of tablet and smartbook-style computers. News Source: Liliputing |
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It’s official: HP’s Windows 7 tablet isn’t dead (yet)
Submitted by shc-boomer on Thu, 07/22/2010 - 06:13| OK, we know that HP is working on a tablet computer running the Palm WebOS operating system. So what’s up with that HP Slate 500 tablet that was spotted on the HP web site yesterday? You know, the one running Windows 7? Didn’t HP kill off its Windows 7 tablet plans months ago?
Well it turns out that HP is still working on a Windows tablet. Engadget received confirmation from HP that the Slate 500 is a real product — although at this point it’s in “customer evaluations.” In other words, the whole thing could still be scrapped. But there’s a chance that HP might bring this thing to market, which would probably explain why someone bothered to go through the trouble of adding some images and details to the HP web site this week. Of course, there were indications a few months ago that the Windows 7 Slate project weren’t entirely dead. But it certainly looks like this tablet won’t launch in the next few weeks. News Source: Liliputing |
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EKING introduces a portable tablet with a slide-out keyboard
Submitted by shc-boomer on Thu, 07/22/2010 - 06:13| Chinese device maker EKING is apparently working on a new mobile computer that appears to be a sort of touchscreen tablet with a 5 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display. What makes it different from all the other touchscreen tablets out there is the fact that you can slide the screen to reveal a QWERTY keyboard.
While the device looks an awful lot like a a smartphone, it actually runs Windows 7 (despite the fact that the rendered images show it running Windows XP). The EKING mobile computer will reportedly have a multitouch LCD, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, and 3G capabilities. No word on how much it will cost, when it will be released, or if it will be available outside of China. News Source: Liliputing |
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Lenovo LePad Android tablet due out by year’s end
Submitted by shc-boomer on Wed, 07/21/2010 - 06:16| Lenovo is the latest company to throw its hat in the Android powered tablet PC ring. Lenovo says that the tablet will be known as the LePad and will likely launch in China before the US. That’s the same approach the Chinese-based company is taking with the LePhone, Lenovo’s first smartphone, which also runs Google’s Android operating system.
There aren’t really any details about the LePad at this point — other than the fact that it looks like Apple has successfully convinced the world that the proper nomenclature for tablets is “pad” rather than “slate,” “tablet,” or pretty much anything else you can think of. After all, we’ve already seen the Eee Pad, and possibly the PalmPad. Now we have the LePad. Lenovo showed off a device earlier this year called the IdeaPad U1 Hybrid, which was a sort of laptop with a removable display that could function as a standalone tablet. At the time, the tablet featured a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 10 inch multitouch display, and a custom version of Linux called Skylight that had been developed in-house. It’s possible that Lenovo will repurpose some of the design elements of the U1 Hybrid in developing its upcoming Android tablet. News Source: Liliputing |
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HP Slate 500 Windows tablet shows up on HP.com
Submitted by shc-boomer on Wed, 07/21/2010 - 06:15| While the blogosphere’s attention has been turned toward the upcoming WebOS Slate from HP, it looks like the company might be getting ready to launch a Windows 7 powered tablet. A device called the HP Slate 500 has started appearing on some HP web sites.
There aren’t a lot of details, but here’s what we know about the HP Slate 500 so far: * It has an 8.9 inch display The HP Slate 500 will also reportedly support pen input — although it’s not clear at this point whether that means it has an active digitizer, a resistive touchscreen or some other form of touch input. It looks like there will be at least 8 different configurations, but it’s not clear what differences will exist between these models. News Source: Liliputing |
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MSI introduces Wind U230 Light notebook for $400
Submitted by shc-boomer on Wed, 07/21/2010 - 06:15| MSI has launched a new version of its Wind U230 thin and light notebook. The original U230 had a 12.1 inch display, but the new MSI Wind U230 Light has a slightly smaller 11.6 inch display.
The screen size is the primary difference between the new Light model and earlier versions of the U230. Like its predecessors, the enw laptop has a 1.6GHz AMD Athlon Neo MV-40 CPU, 2GB of RAM, and a 250GB hard drive. It has a 1366 x 768 pixel display, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, HDMI ouput, and runs Windows 7 Home Premium. The MSI Wind U230 Light is available for $399.99 from Amazon. News Source: Liliputing |
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Coby to bring a 13.3 inch AMD powered netbook to the US?
Submitted by shc-boomer on Wed, 07/21/2010 - 06:15| Coby is best known for making cheap consumer electronics ranging from headphones to mp3 players and portable video devices. But the company has been dipping its toes in the low cost laptop space for the last few years as well. Last time I checked Coby had only sold a handful of 7 to 10 inch netbooks in the US, but most of the models I’d seen at trade shows featured Intel components. Now it looks like coby is branching out with a 13.3 inch notebook powered by an AMD Neo processor.
The FCC has published documents related to a Coby NBPC1330. The machine has a large 13.3 inch LCD display, but it only has a 1024 x 600 pixel resolution, which seems a bit… insane for a notebook this large. The NBPC1330 also has a 1.6GHz AMD Athlon Neo MV-40 CPU, 160GB hard drive, and 1GB of DDR2 memory. It supports 802.11b/g/n WiFi and has VGA and HDMI ports. It comes with 3 USB ports, mic and headphone jacks, a 0.3MP webcam, SD card reader, and a 3 cell battery. There’s no word on how much this notebook will cost — or if it will actually come to market. The user manual does suggest that all specs are subject to change, so I can only hope that the information about the display resolution is either wrong or will be changed before the Coby NBPC1330 is released. News Source: Liliputing |
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AMD Ontario chips for netbooks could ship this year
Submitted by shc-boomer on Tue, 07/20/2010 - 06:16| After years of pretty much sitting on the sidelines, AMD is starting to play in the netbook and low cost portable laptop space. We’re already seeing a handful of machines with AMD Nile chips, such as the Acer Aspire One 521 and Acer Aspire 1551. But AMD has another chip design in the works that’s aimed specifically at the sort of netbooks that currently ship with Intel Atom chips.
In a recent earnings call, AMD officials outlines some of the company’s plans for the new Ontario chips. Ontario is a low power chip built with a 40nm processor. It will be targeted at netbooks, and is on track to launch ahead of schedule in the fourth quarter of 2010. That means AMD’s partners will get it before the end of the year. We should see actual computers based around the new chipset in early 2011. Without getting into specifics, AMD CEO Dirk Meyer said that Ontario chips would basically offer the same kind of performance we can expect from low end notebook chips today, such as an Athlon II dual core mobile processor. It will also include significantly higher performance graphics than Intel’s Atom chipset. News Source: Liliputing |
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HP files for a trademark on the term PalmPad
Submitted by shc-boomer on Tue, 07/20/2010 - 06:16| HP is working on a tablet. We know that. It will probably use a version of the Palm WebOS operating system. We’re pretty sure we know that too. What we don’t know is what HP will call the thing… although a recent FCC filing may shed some light on the matter.
MyHPMini notes that HP has filed for a US trademark on the term “PalmPad.” The trademark would apply to computers, portable and handheld computers, PDAs, electronic notepads, and mobile digital electronic devices. Sounds like that would cover a tablet, wouldn’t it? I kind of hope that this is just one of the options HP is considering, because PalmPad really just doesn’t sound right. But I guess the world got over the awkwardness of the Apple iPad quickly enough. Maybe PalmPad will grow on us too. News Source: Liliputing |
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Pixel Qi display tested: Prolongs netbook battery life by about 25%
Submitted by shc-boomer on Tue, 07/20/2010 - 06:16| Pixel Qi‘s 3qi display is a low power dual mode LCD display that can be used either with or without a backlight. With the backlight on, the screen looks pretty much like any other LCD display — and uses maybe a tiny bit less power. Turn off the backlight and you can easily read the screen outdoors in direct sunlight thanks to a sort of black and white mode — and the screen draws 80% less power.
But what does that mean in real world conditions? Clearly a display is only one of many laptop components that draws power. A few weeks ago Pixel Qi and MakerShed started shipping 3qi displays that hardware hackers could use to replace the screens in some 10 inch netbooks. Engadget’s Joanna Stern took one of these kits for a test, and she was impressed both with how well the screen looked outside and how much it improved battery life. You can check out the complete post for details and a step by step guide to opening up a Lenovo IdeaPad S10-2 netbook and replacing the screen. But the short version is that the netbook ran for about 5 hours and 45 minutes during a video rundown test while the backlight was turned off. That’s about 1 hour, 14 minutes longer than the netbook ran for with the screen set at 70% brightness. And with the LCD that shipped with the netbook, the S10-2 ran for just 4 hours, 21 minutes in the same test. Keep in mind, that’s a video rundown test. Most computer batteries will give out pretty quickly if you’re not doing anything but playing videos. Joanna says the computer lasted about 8 hours when she was using it as an oversized eBook reader. And that’s not bad for a netbook that was never really known for its battery endurance. You should probably expect even better results from a machine like the Asus Eee PC 1005PE, which gets around 10 hours of run time even a normal LCD display. You can check out Joanna’s hands-on video after the break, and find more photos and details at Engadget. News Source: Liliputing |
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Lenovo to release Android tablet PC at year's end
Submitted by shc-boomer on Tue, 07/20/2010 - 06:15| After releasing its own handset to compete with Apple's iPhone, Lenovo looks like it may be preparing to take on the iPad. The Chinese company plans on releasing its own tablet PC at the end of the year.
The device will be called the "LePad" and will use the Android mobile operating system, according to recent comments made by Liu Jun, senior vice president and president at Lenovo's Consumer Business Group, and confirmed by the company. The product's development comes as Lenovo's chairman said earlier this month that Apple CEO Steve Job hasn't been focused on the Chinese market. "If Apple were to spend the same effort on the Chinese consumer as we do, (Lenovo) would be in trouble," Liu Chuanzhi told the Financial Times. This year, Lenovo began selling its own smartphone called "LePhone." The company has said in the past Lenovo's strategy is to "win" in China before Lenovo begins selling the phone abroad. Lenovo also believes the mobile Internet hardware and services could become 10 to 20 percent of the company's business over these next five years. Other Chinese companies have also developed their own tablets, with some even billing their devices as imitation iPads. But Lenovo would be one of the larger companies to take on building such a device. "Lenovo has a strong brand name that resonates with local buyers. That's something that's in their favor," said Bryan Ma, associate vice president for IDC Asia-Pacific, of the company's plans. News Source: InfoWorld |
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Asus UL20FT thin and light netbook to ship in August
Submitted by shc-boomer on Mon, 07/19/2010 - 06:14| The Asus UL20FT is a 3.3 pound laptop with a 12.1 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel display. First spotted in May, it looks like the new model should begin shipping next month. Excaliber PC is taking pre-orders for the Asus UL20FT-A1. It’s going for $579, and the store says it should arrive around August 6th, 2010.
The new notebook is a successor to the Asus UL20A, which I reviewed last year. While the two laptops are pretty much the same size and both ship with Windows 7 Home Premium, 2GB of memory, and 250GB hard drives, there’s one key difference. The Asus UL20A comes with an Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 CULV processor, while the UL20FT has a new Intel core i3-330UM 1.2GHz CPU with Turbo boost technology. I haven’t had a chance to test a system with the Core i3-330UM CPU yet, but it should provide a bit of a speed boost while consuming even less memory. Rounding out the specs for the new notebook are 3 USB ports, mic and headphone jacks, a 0.3MP webcam, a 5-in-1 card reader, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, and Gigabit Ethernet. The laptop comes with a 6 cell, 4400mAh battery and measures 11.8? x 8.4? x 1?. Update: As Soliton points out in the comments, Intel says this particular processor does not have Turbo Boost. But I suspect Asus may use a version of its hybrid engine software that allows you to overclock and underclock chips. News Source: Liliputing |
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Asus Eee PC 1215N with NVIDIA ION up for pre-order
Submitted by shc-boomer on Mon, 07/19/2010 - 06:14| The Asus Eee PC 1215N is one of the most exciting NVIDIA ION-powered netbooks on the horizon. That’s because it will be one of the first to feature NVDIIA’s Optimus technology which automatically switches between the integrated low power Intel graphics and the higher performance NVIDIA graphics depending on what you’re doing with your computer. This should help prolong battery life while providing a performance boost when you need it.
The Eee PC 1215N will also come with a dual core Intel Atom D525 processor. This is a chip that’s normally reserved for desktop computers rather than laptops since it draws more power. ExcaliberPC is taking pre-orders for the Eee PC 1215N for $499. The retailer says the laptop should begin shipping around August 31st, although that may just be an estimate. A few weeks ago Engadget reported that the Eee PC 1215N could ship as soon as August 23rd. News Source: Liliputing |
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HP delays its Android tablet: Related story: HP was working on Android tablet
Submitted by shc-boomer on Fri, 07/16/2010 - 06:18| HP is going to come out with a tablet one of these days. That’s no surprise. The company showed off a Windows 7 tablet prototype earlier this year. And while plans for that particular device were put on hold indefinitely, HP is definitely on track to launch a tablet running Palm WebOS at some point.
But it turns out Windows and WebOS weren’t the only operating systems HP was working with. All Things Digital reports that the company was also planning to launch an Android tablet in the fourth quarter of 2010. Don’t get your hopes up though… even though we’re just not learning about this particular tablet, we’re also learning that it’s been delayed. The report suggests that HP is putting its Android tablet on hold for now. It’s not clear how final this move is. HP may still launch an Android tablet… some day. Or it might not. And now you don’t know much more about HP’s tablet plans than you did when you started reading this article. Sorry about that. But at least we know HP is considering — and then ruling out — its options. News Source: Liliputing |
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Apple may be developing smaller MacBook Air
Submitted by shc-boomer on Fri, 07/16/2010 - 06:18| Apple has spent much of the last two years explaining that the company has no interest in launching a netbook. Instead, Apple launched the iPad this summer. Sure, it costs more than most netbooks, and lacks a hardware keyboard. But like a netbook, the iPad is a light weight, portable device with good battery life, a web browser, and the ability to run thousands of applications.
But the iPad isn’t a netbook. It’s harder to type on and doesn’t run full blown desktop apps. The closest thing Apple has that runs a full version of OS X, is the Macbook Air, a thing, light weight and super-expensive Macbook that was launched a few years ago. But even though the MacBook Air weighs just 3 pounds, it has a 13.3 inch display, which makes it a bit bulkier and harder to carry around than a netbook or an iPad. Now DigiTimes reports that Apple is preparing to launch an updated version of the MacBook Air. Rumor has it that the new model will have a smaller 11.6 inch display. While that would still make the laptop a bit bigger than most netbooks, it would leave room for a full sized keyboard while leaving enough room inside the computer for a speedier (and more energy-hungry) processor than that found in a netbook or iPad. According to DigiTimes, the new version of the MacBook Air will use an Intel core i-series processor and should be available in the second half of 2010 — which would be any day now. Maybe Apple has no plans to talk about iPhone 4 reception issues at tomorrow’s press conference after all. Maybe Steve Jobs is just going to introduce a new toy to take people’s mind off of their dropped calls… nah, probably not. Rumor has it that the new MacBook Air will be even thinner and lighter than the original — although I suspect that could mean it will carry an even higher price tag than the current model, which sells for $1499 and up. News Source: Liliputing |
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eMachines eM350 netbook: This year’s CPU, last year’s OS
Submitted by shc-boomer on Fri, 07/16/2010 - 06:18| Acer tends to pull out the eMachines brand name when it’s got a cheap product to sell. And the eMachines eM350 is no exception. While the cheapest Acer Aspire One netbook with an Intel Atom N450 processor has a list price of about $300, the eMachines eM350 goes for $280.
Sure, $20 might not seem like a big difference, but when you’re talking about dirt cheap computers, every little bit counts. There is a slight catch though. Kind of. Most recently launched Acer netbooks ship with Windows 7 Starter Edition. The eMachines eM350 ships with Windows XP. Some folks might consider that an upgrade though. Rounding out the specs are 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, 10/100Mbps Ethernet, 2 USB ports, and a 10 inch 1024 x 600 pixel display. The computer measures 10.2? x 7.3? x 1? and weighs 2.4 pounds. it has a 3 cell, 2200mAh battery. You can find some hands-on photos at Blogeee. The eMachines eM350-2074 is available from B&H for $279.99 plus free shipping. News Source: Liliputing |
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Archos 5 Internet Tablet now available with 64GB SSD (in France)
Submitted by shc-boomer on Fri, 07/16/2010 - 06:18| The Archos 5 Internet Tablet is an Android tablet with a 4.8 inch display and some of the best multimedia capabilities you’ll find on any machine running Google Android. But up until recently, if you wanted to purchase the tablet with a durable and low power solid state disk instead of a hard drive, you had to settle for just 32GB of storage or less.
Sure, that’s plenty of space to store your music collection, but what about all those high definition videos you were hoping to watch on your next vacation? Now Archos has added a 64GB SSD model to its lineup… in France anyway. You an pick up the new Archos 5 64GB for just under 400 Euros in France. The new version isn’t available in the US yet. Of course, you could also get a 500GB model for the same price, but then you”ll have to settle for an old fashioned hard drive. News Source: Liliputing |
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2 Acer tablets coming this year?
Submitted by shc-boomer on Thu, 07/15/2010 - 08:12| It shouldn’t come as a huge surprise to anybody that PC Maker Acer is planning on launching a tablet or two this year. But the company hasn’t shared many details so far. Now Digitimes reports that there will be two Acer tablets coming in the fourth quarter of 2010.
Both models will reportedly feature ARM-based processor and run Google’s Android operating system. According to DigiTimes, one will have a 7 inch display while the other will sport a 10 inch screen. Both will feature multimedia capabilities and support Adobe Flash Player 10.1 — assuming they ship with Android 2.2 Froyo or a newer version of Android. It’s possible that we’ve already seen the 7 inch tablet. Acer showed of a 7 inch eBook reader with a Qualcomm processor at Computex last month. While the device was described as an eBook reader, it was running Google Android and sure looked an awful lot like an all-purpose tablet. If you were hoping for a Windows tablet from Acer, you might have to look at a larger model such as the 11.6 inch Acer Aspire 1825PTZ convertible notebook-style tablet. News Source: Liliputing |
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