Senin, 14 Februari 2011

What's new on SlashGear.com

What's new on SlashGear.com

MeeGo Preview At MWC 2011 Disappoints

Posted: 14 Feb 2011 02:19 PM PST

Intel previewed MeeGo at MWC 2011 today and to say that industry bloggers were less than impressed would be an understatement. MeeGo is a collaboration between Intel's Moblin and Nokia's Maemo, an announcnment the two companies made just one year ago from the stages of MWC 2010 in Barcelona. Almost exactly one year later, Meego has developed very little and the future of Nokia has changed quite a lot.

Nokia announced its partnership with Microsoft and adopting Windows Phone 7 platform last week, abandoning Meego as its future smartphone and tablet platforms. Many are saying that the system has not progressed nor improved from its early alpha stages in the summer. It is so far behind other systems that Nokia had no other choice but to find another OS. Intel has decided it will stay with Meego and push its development for now. Users at MWC have said the software is buggy and slow, and very disappointing.

Meego utilizes a system of sliding panels that lets the user access photos, music, apps, web video, and friends. Tapping on a panel expands it to full screen and a longer press brings up menus. The Chromium-based web browser doesn't support pinch-to-zoom right now, but does allow cut-and-paste.

Compared to the polished and refined platforms that run Android 3.0 tablets, HP's webOS, and Apple's iOS it doesn't look like Meego will be a serious competitor anytime soon. Intel says they are "disappointed" with Nokia's decision, but it isn't hard to fault Nokia after reading these reports. Nokia hasn't completely left Meego, the company says it might develop the system to be placed in automobiles, netbooks, and possibly other devices.

[Via GigaOM]

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Windows Phone 7 Major Update To Include Multitasking And IE9

Posted: 14 Feb 2011 02:08 PM PST


Microsoft just announced at the MWC today what lies ahead for Windows Phone 7. Several new features are scheduled for an update due out in the first two weeks of March while several other major features should be updated by the second half of this year.

Coming this March, the much needed copy-and-paste function will be implemented along with substantially improved performance, a better Marketplace interface, and CDMA support. The added CDMA support confirms plans for WP7 devices to be available through Verizon and Sprint in the first half of this year.

For the major update due later this year, Microsoft intends to introduce many new features including but not limited to multitasking similar to webOS’s card-based task switcher, the ability for third-party apps to run in the background, Internet Explorer 9, and Twitter integration into the People hub. Additional updates could be possible and further details on their SDK improvements will be revealed at the MIX 11 conference in April.

[Via ArsTechnica]

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Motorola Xoom $1200 Best Buy Pre-Order Page Pulled

Posted: 14 Feb 2011 01:44 PM PST

Best Buy had published an ad on their site for taking pre-orders on the Motorola Xoom listing it at $1200. This seemed way over-priced, double that of an entry-level iPad, and much more than the anticipated but already hefty $800 price point. However, today, it seems that Best Buy has pulled the ad. What’s going on?

The listing link here took us to a page as shown in the screenshot above. But clicking on it today shows us a page not found. We pondered whether the original $1200 listing was just a typo by the person updating Best Buy’s website or if the initial high price was purposely set to make a later price drop seem like a greater deal.

Either way, if Motorola Xoom really wants to compete with the iPad, it has to find a middle ground. Its hardware specs along with running Android 3.0 Honeycomb has got the iPad beat, but for most consumers that may not be worth paying double the price.

[Via PCMag]

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Qualcomm Makes a Slew of Announcements at MWC 2011

Posted: 14 Feb 2011 01:07 PM PST

SlashGear is live at MWC 2011 in Barcelona, where Qualcomm just released a series of announcements about new product releases, including Quad-Core Snapdragon for Next-Gen Tablets, Next-generation Snapdragon Mobile Chipset, Commercial Availability of Gobi3000 Modules, Chipset with Support for Next-generation Release 9 HSPA+, New, Higher Speed LTE Devices, Netflix streaming on Android devices and much more. Continue after the cut to see the whole slew…

Quad-Core Snapdragon for Next Generation Tablets and Computing Devices
The APQ8064 chipset has been designed to meet the requirements of next generation tablets with 28nm micro-architechture, redefining performance and achieving speeds of up to 2.5GHz per core. It also minimizes power consumption and heat generation, allowing for new, thin and light form factors.

Qualcomm Announces Next-generation Snapdragon Mobile Chipset Family
The new processor micro-architecture in the next-generation Snapdragon will redefine performance for the industry, offering speeds of up to 2.5GHz per core and delivering 150% higher overall performance, as well as 65 percent lower power than currently available ARM-based CPU cores. These chipsets will be available in single-, dual- and quad-core versions and include a new Adreno GPU series with up to four 3D cores, as well as an integrated multi-mode LTE modem.

Qualcomm's Snapdragon Platform to Help Enable Instant Streaming from Netflix on Android Devices
Android devices powered by the Snapdragon platform will now have access to instant streaming of TV shows and movies from Netflix. Snapdragon processors are designed to deliver dynamic performance and media protection features in a turnkey package, allowing the devices they power to more easily pass through the approval process required for Netflix certification. Netflix video decoding is handled by highly efficient dedicated hardware, extending battery life and improving picture quality.

Qualcomm Announces Commercial Availability of Gobi3000 Modules
The next-generation embedded Gobi3000 certified reference design provides a combination of performance and flexibility enhancements, extending wireless leadership to multiple forms of connected devices. Gobi3000-based modules are now available from Huawei, Novatel Wireless, Option, Sierra Wireless and ZTE.

Qualcomm Announces Chipset with Support for Next-generation Release 9 HSPA+
The new Mobile Data Modem (MDM) will support HSPA+ Release 9, the latest version of the popular mobile broadband standard, which incorporates technology enhancements that help the chipset deliver data rates of up to 84 Mbps on the downlink. The MDM8225 will be fabricated using the 28nm technology node.


Qualcomm Delivers a Faster Mobile Broadband Experience with New, Higher Speed LTE Devices
The new Mobile Data Modem (MDM) chipsets, the MDM9625 and MDM9225, will support the LTE FDD and LTE TDD UE Category 4 mobile broadband standards, which offer peak downlink data rates of up to 150 Mbps. The chipsets also are backwards compatible with previous generations of LTE and other wireless broadband standards, giving consumers an uninterrupted broadband data connection on nearly any network around the world. The chipsets will be fabricated using the 28nm technology node.

Qualcomm Introduces 28nm Mass Market LTE/DC-HSPA+ Chipsets for Mobile Broadband Products
The new chipsets are anticipated to further drive broadband data products into the mass market on 3G and 4G networks, worldwide. The next generation MDM9615 will support LTE (FDD and TDD), DC-HSPA+, EV-DO Rev-B and TD-SCDMA, while the MDM8215 will support DC-HSPA+.

Qualcomm Demonstrates New Telematics Solutions for the Insurance Market and Commercial Fleet Industry
The new insurance telematics and driver safety solution for the automobile insurance market and commercial fleet industry provides in-vehicle connectivity for real-time driver feedback and actionable reporting to improve safety. It is now commercially available for the auto insurance market and will be released for commercial fleets in June 2011.

Xiam Recommendations Technology to Help Power Telefónica's Personalized Customer Experiences
The integration of Xiam's recommendation technology into Telefónica's multi-channel touch points will enable Telefónica to provide its customers with content, services and offers uniquely tailored to their individual needs and interests across all of their connected devices. By identifying relevant and interesting content, Xiam's technology will help Telefónica address the needs of their more than 300 million subscribers across Europe and Latin America.

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Apple To Buy $7.8 Billion Worth Of Samsung Components

Posted: 14 Feb 2011 12:52 PM PST

Reports are that Apple will be purchasing $7.8 billion dollars worth of components from their competitor/partner Samsung. A report from the Wall Street Journal says that the parts will include LCD screens, NAND flash memory chips, and application processors.

The batch of components looks to be intended for the next generation of iPhones and iPads. If the deal goes through, Samsung will become Apple's supplier, even though both are competitors in the smartphone and tablet market.

This type of deal is nothing new for the tech giants. There were earlier reports about Samsung building a new processing plant in Austin, with the bulk load of shipments intended for Apple.

[Via iTechMax]

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Optimus 3D vs Optimus Tab: Not all HD 3D video is created equal

Posted: 14 Feb 2011 12:37 PM PST

When we caught up with LG earlier today, to check out the freshly announced Optimus 3D and Optimus Tab, we couldn’t help but wonder about the discrepancy between the smartphone’s 1080p Full HD 3D recording capabilities and the tablet’s 720p HD 3D recording. Turns out, there’s more to a 1GHz, dual-core chipset than just its ARM cores: the Optimus 3D’s Texas Instruments OMAP4430 has native support for Full HD recording in 3D, while the NVIDIA Tegra 2 in the Tab doesn’t.

Talking to TI earlier today, the company was at pains to highlight that it had been talking about – and, more importantly, working on building in support for at the chipset level – Full HD 3D support in its chips since the first days of the OMAP4, whereas rivals have come to those capabilities more recently. That means on Tegra 2 the ARM processor has to do the crunching, whereas in the OMAP4 it’s shunted to dedicated DSP.

TI’s OMAP5, meanwhile, will add in chipset-level support for four simultaneous camera streams, which will mean devices using it will be able to record 3D using twin cameras on both sides. That opens the door to 3D streaming video calls.

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Twitter Launches Crowdsourced Translation Center To Add Indonesian, Russian, and Turkish

Posted: 14 Feb 2011 12:28 PM PST

Tweets have been resounding around the world with Twitter already rolled out in English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, and Korean. However, its full steam ahead to make Twitter available in even more languages with the help of volunteers in Twitters newly established “Translation Center.”

Twitter just officially announced the Translation Center on their blog stating that it will allow them to “crowdsource translations from our passionate users in order to more quickly launch Twitter in additional languages.” Volunteers will be translating Twitter, the product itself, such as the settings and intro pages, rather than individual tweets.

Anyone can sign up at the Translation Center, choose a language, and begin translating right away. Twitter needs help localizing not only twitter.com, but also mobile.twitter.com, Twitter app for iPhone and iPad, Twitter for Android, Twitter Help, and the Twitter Business Center.

They are looking specifically for translators in the following languages: French, Indonesian, Italian, German, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish, and Turkish.

[Via Twitter]

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Netflix Available Now On Boxee Box

Posted: 14 Feb 2011 12:14 PM PST

As if to give us a lovely Valentine’s Day present, Boxee has gifted us with news that they now support Netflix on their set-up box, the Boxee Box. Owners can start streaming movies and TV shows from Netflix once they update the software. The service is available now to customers in the US and Canada.

Adding Netflix capability is big with its massive library of content and more than 20 million members.  With VUDU previously available and now Netflix, Boxee Box owners won't need to leave their couches very often.
 
The Box will update the software automatically within the next 24 hours, or owners can manually update the device themselves. Netflix on the Box will be different from the PC/Mac versions of Boxee as it has the brand new Netflix UI. There are also more discovery options such as unique Netflix recommendations. HD movies are also available.

[Via Boxee]

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Acer Iconia Tab W500 tablet hands-on

Posted: 14 Feb 2011 12:10 PM PST

Acer’s third tablet departs from the Iconia Tab A100 and A500 by virtue of its OS; rather than running Android 3.0 Honeycomb, the Acer Iconia Tab W500 gets Windows 7 instead. Powered by an AMD C-50 processor and AMD Radeon HD6250 graphics, the 10.1-inch multitouch slate comes with an optional docking keyboard for easier text entry.

We’re hoping Acer do a little extra polishing before the production units hit the market in early March 2011, however, since right now the W500 feels a little shaky in its hinge mechanism. The slate docks to the single hinge via a USB connector and two small metal pins, and the whole setup doesn’t feel quite as solid as, say, a regular convertible tablet (which, admittedly, wouldn’t allow the keyboard and screen section to detach). It’s only a swivel hinge away from being the modern day successor to the much-loved HP tc1100.

The keyboard has relatively shallow travel and only has space for a trackpoint, not a trackpad, but it’s still faster than Windows 7′s (surprisingly accurate) handwriting recognition. Microsoft’s OS still isn’t anywhere near as finger-friendly as Honeycomb, but if you want to run enterprise apps them it might still be a solid choice.

The Acer Iconia Tab W500 will hit the UK in early March, priced at £449 ($720) without the keyboard or £529 ($848) with it. No word on availability in other markets, however.

Press Release:

Acer's new ICONIA Tab W500

The best from PCs, the best from tablets

Barcelona, February 14th, 2011 – Fun and productivity, entertainment and work. Our lives are made of different sides, that seamlessly blend one into the other. The devices we use should reflect this flexibility and ability to multitask, allowing us to enjoy and share content as well as be productive when there is the need. This is why Acer created the ICONIA TAB W500, with an innovative design that effectively combines the best of two worlds: tablet and PC.

Capable of reconciling the opposites, ICONIA TAB W500 brings together the user-friendliness of the tablet with the familiarity of the PC, letting users enjoy the greatest entertainment or be productive, at home or on the go, according to their needs. The ICONIA TAB W500 effectively creates a bridge between the worlds of entertainment and productivity.

How? Acer ICONIA TAB W500 is a 10.1-inch multi-touch screen tablet that is complemented by a full-size chiclet docking keyboard. Calling the Acer ICONIA TAB W500 simply a tablet would be reductive. While the high-resolution screen, together with Dolby® optimized audio, are synonyms of fabulous entertainment, the handy docking keyboard is perfect for productivity.

The Acer ICONIA TAB is the perfect device for users who want to enjoy a flawless touch experience, but are not ready to retire the keyboard yet. The full-size chiclet keyboard doubles as a docking station providing optimal ergonomics and extended connectivity; plus it features the Acer FineTrack™ pointing device with two buttons for convenient navigation, an Ethernet port for fast Internet connections, and a USB port for external devices.

You can count on the Acer ICONIA TAB W500 to keep you updated on what's going in your social networks, or have the latest news at your fingertips, check your mails or watch a movie on the fly, review a presentation or enjoy fun touch games. This is the beauty of having a multi-touch screen tablet that seamlessly transforms into a PC simply by docking it!
Starting point of the ICONIA TAB W500 touch experience is the Acer Ring. Easy to launch with a simple grab gesture, it offers immediate access to all the special features and touch application pre-loaded on Acer ICONIA TAB W500.

Utilities in the Acer Ring include Clean Disk, to manage and optimize disk space; Snipping Tool, to quickly select, tag and clip screen images; Device Control, to fine tune the tablet settings; Camera, to launch Acer Crystal Eye Webcam; Calculator and Game, to reach the games stored on Acer ICONIA TAB W500 in a breeze.

The Acer Ring also features a series of AppCards to effortlessly browse through and launch useful touch applications:
· TouchBrowser, designed to provide a better user experience, it lets you search, open, resize, select content from the web with the tips of your fingers.
· SocialJogger,
· My Journal, where you can collect web clips that are dynamically updated to keep you posted on any news in the websites you find interesting.
· clear.fi to search, share, and playback favourite music, photo, and video.

Acer clear.fi is Acer media sharing system that lets you enjoy your multimedia content across your home quickly and effortlessly. Thanks to clear.fi and the HDMI port your can stream and appreciate the multimedia stored on Acer ICONIA TAB W500 on any of the devices connected to your home network and clear.fi enabled.

Running on Windows 7 OS, Acer ICONIA TAB is equipped with AMD C-50 processor and AMD Radeon™ HD6250 graphics, for excellent visuals and gaming. Easy communication is a given with the ICONIA TAB W500, thanks to multiple connectivity options including Wi-Fi, 3G (on selected models) or Bluetooth® 3.0. To top it off, the dual, back and front, Acer Crystal Eye 1.3MP webcam, not only allows you to engage in video chats or video calls with your friends, it also enables you to record HD videos and share them on Facebook or YouTube.

Acer ICONIA TAB W500 will be available in the UK early March 2011 with an RRP of £449 inc Vat or £529 inc Vat with chiclet keyboard.

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The Umeox Apollo Solar Powered Cell Phone – with Android

Posted: 14 Feb 2011 12:10 PM PST

The latest solar powered cell phone was just announced at Mobile World Congress in Spain, the Umeox Apollo. The phone runs on Android, and would take about 2.5 hours of sunlight for refilling the battery after daily use. This is great news if you want to go camping and not be without your smartphone. The phone is headed for production, but there is no word on when it will actually be available in the US.

The phone could also be great for travelling. But for daily use, leaving your phone out in the sun for 2.5 hours at a time probably isn’t realistic. More likely, the phone would charge for 10-15 minutes throughout the day in between uses. In the event the phone goes completely dead, it would take up to 17 hours in the sun to charge it back.

While it is great to be able to use the sun to charge your phone, even supplementally, there are things to consider. Like, will the solar panel get scratched up in your pocket or purse? Will the phone get damaged by extended exposure to sunlight? Maybe a solar powered removable case would be a better idea.

There are two models: one for the US (MTK6573) with support for 850/1900Mhz bands, and one (MTK6516) that works in Europe and much of Asia.

Specs:

  • 3.2″ 320×480 Display
  • 1GB storage internally, with a microSD card slot
  • FM Radio
  • Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP
  • 3 megapixel rear camera
  • 3.5mm audio jack

[via Treehugger]
from MobileCrunch

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EPOS Ultrasonic Pen turns your table into a tablet [Video]

Posted: 14 Feb 2011 11:52 AM PST

Texas Instrument’s OMAP4 platform, star of MWC 2010, is now filtering out onto the market in devices like the LG Optimus 3D and BlackBerry PlayBook, but we’re yet to see anything quite make the most of its hardware abilities. We caught up with EPOS, who have used the OMAP4′s triple microphone array to develop an ultrasonic pen system that can track handwriting in the space a foot around a device.

Video demo after the cut

The pad of paper is completely normal; the only specialist hardware is a stylus with an ultrasonic emitter at the tip. Three microphones feed directly into the OMAP4 chipset, which has DSP to do the necessary positioning crunching. In the current demo – which EPOS only took a month to put together – the OMAP4 Blaze developer device tracks pen movement in a pad-sized area to the side of the device, but eventually it will be able to monitor the full 360-degrees around.

It works surprisingly well, even in this prototype stage. EPOS’s existing product uses a clip-on sensor array that fits to the top of a pad, but with the new system you could simply put your phone down on a table, pull out the special stylus and start writing, with the text being saved digitally on the device. You could then run handwriting recognition, or squirt it into something like Evernote which can search handwritten notes.

The best thing about the system is, the hardware requirements are core to the abilities of the OMAP4 chipset; all the device needs is a triple microphone array, to triangulate the position of the pen. No word on release dates at this stage.

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Texas Instruments OMAP4 Gesture Recognition

Posted: 14 Feb 2011 11:33 AM PST

Texas Instruments was showing gesture recognition back at MWC 2010, but with OMAP4 the system has really come of age. The chipset – to be found at the heart of the LG Optimus 3D and the BlackBerry PlayBook – uses the camera support to track hand and arm movements; TI showed a demo where a Blaze developer unit could respond to waves to navigate through a photo gallery.

Video demo after the cut

By rotating and clenching a fist in front of the camera, the gallery could be zoomed and panned around in 3D space. TI envisage it being used in HD-capable smartphones, plugged into an HDTV and then gestures for navigating through content, allowing you to control your media without, say, getting up from the couch or reaching for the remote.

However, in future a single device – with a high powered OMAP5 chipset – could run a Minority Report style gesture system, well exceeding the power of an Atom CPU in a smartphone-scale form-factor. OMAP5 devices are expected to reach the market by the holiday 2012 season.

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SG Comics Presents: Survivor Mobile OS

Posted: 14 Feb 2011 11:19 AM PST

Mobile/tablet OS platforms are duking it out for survival as platform updates, new product launches, dubious alliances and speculations continue to brew. Android OS is increasingly dominating the marketplace, with Apple’s iOS attempting to regain momentum and stirring up the media with plenty of rumors. Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer and Nokia’s Stephen Elop just made a surprise announcement last week to put Windows Phone 7 on future Nokia phones–seemingly a take-over of Nokia and an imminent demise for Symbian and MeeGo–a move that blindsided Intel and slighted Google. And still earlier last week HP/Palm introduced new phones and tablets to push their own webOS platform. The competition’s getting rough. Can all the operating systems at least just allow us to truly multitask our apps for now?

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Intel Shipping XMM 6260 HSPA+ modem, Introduces LTE XMM 7060

Posted: 14 Feb 2011 11:09 AM PST

Intel announced on Monday that it will begin shipping the XMM 6260 platform to key partners. The plaform supports HSPA+ networks with download speeds up to 21Mbps and upload speeds up to 11.5Mbps. The platform is said to use less power than competitor’s products (especially ARM). XMM 6260 is built with the 40nm manufacturing process, and is based on the X-GOLD 626 baseband processor and the SMARTi UE2 RF transceiver.

The platform was earlier tied to a MeeGo-powered handset, and can also be used in USB modems, according to Intel.

Intel also announced the multimode XMM 7060 platform will support 2G, 3G, and LTE networks. The platform is paired with the X-GOLD 706 multimode baseband processor and the SMARTi 4G multimode RF transceiver. The modem with be capable of serving up to five LTE bands, five 3G bands, and four 2G bands at the same time. Samples of the chip will ship this summer, and volume shipments will arrive during the second half of 2012.

Both will be exhibited at MWC in Spain, probably in a handset with the Medfield processor. SlashGear is covering MWC live, and will bring you more details as they become available.

[via Electronista]

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Acer Iconia Tab A100 hands-on

Posted: 14 Feb 2011 10:35 AM PST

Earlier we reported from MWC 2011 with a hands-on of the Acer Iconia Tab A500. Well, now we have a hands-on with its little brother, the A100. Again, unlike the Iconia Smart, which is more of a phone and tablet hybrid, the A100 focuses on being a full tablet but smaller with a 7-inch display.

The Iconia Tab A100 will be running Android 3.0 Honeycomb, although the hands-on model at MWC is still using an earlier version of Android. The device is optimized for rich multimedia consumption including HD viewing, 3D and console-quality gaming, and can even feed HD movies to your TV thanks to 1080p HD video playback.

The device has a 7″ (1024×600) 16:9 full touchscreen display with multi-touch and gyro meter control for a rich gaming experience. A 5MP auto-focus camera on the back side, and a 2MP front-facing camera makes it useful for taking photos as well as live chat. WiFi, 3G, Bluetooth 2.1, HDMI port, and USB ports allow for many connectivity options. The device will be available in April. Pricing information is not yet announced.

Press Release:

Acer's ICONIA TAB A100
Mobility at its best

Barcelona, February 14th, 2011 – Whether you are into gaming, social network or enjoying your multimedia on the go, the new Acer ICONIA TAB A100 is your dream come true. Stylish and compact, this 7" tablet offers unrivalled portability and matches it with the ultimate high performance, taking your mobile experience to the next level.

The Acer ICONIA TAB A100 primary focus is on providing a truly rich user experience. This is why it will be equipped with Android 3.0 "Honeycomb", the new Android operating system specifically optimized for tablets. On the home page, resources are grouped into four main content usages, within easy reach of your fingertips:

- Games Zone: here you can find a variety of compelling preloaded games – online 3D, console and casual – that you'll certainly enjoy.
- eReading, where you can find the tools you need to download or read magazines and books. Magazines with Zinio, books with Nook and LumiRead.
- Multimedia groups all the apps you need to enjoy music, videos and photos.
- SNS brings your social life together. Not only you can find the links to Facebook, Twitter, but also Acer SocialJogger that lets you check, post and update all of your accounts at a glance.

Also pre-loaded on the Acer ICONIA TAB is clear.fi, the Acer media sharing system that enables the seamless integration of the device in the home clear.fi environment to easily access, play and share multimedia across the home network and to instantly publish updates to social media networks.

To provide a truly outstanding user experience, a device must have a powerful engine. The Acer ICONIA TAB A100 will be powered the dual-core NVIDIA® Tegra™ 2, the first mobile dual core CPU, that delivers up to two time faster browsing, for the best web experience ever. Plus, the ultra-low power (ULP) NVIDIA® GeForce® GPU with Flash 10.1 support, ensures amazing graphics for optimized HD viewing, 3D and console-quality gaming, and multimedia playback anywhere. What's more you can relish movies, photos and more on your big screen TV in full HD glory thanks to 1080p HD video playback.

Don't be fooled by size of the screen. On this 7" (1024×600) full touch screen tablet with a 16:9 aspect ratio, you can enjoy photos, videos and movies as well as read books and magazines, and most impressively you'll be able to run and play premium HD arcade games and complex online 3D games, thanks to the multi-touch screen and gyro meter control, for a gaming experience on par with the best consoles.

The Acer ICONIA TAB A100 is also a joy for the ears. Complete with Dolby Mobile technology providing rich vibrant audio with extended bass performance and added depth, this tablet takes the entertainment experience to a new level. To top off the rich entertainment experience, the ICONIA TAB A100 comes with a 5MP auto-focus rear camera, to capture you're life best moments and quickly upload them to your social networks, and a 2MP front-facing camera to engage in live chat with your friends.

Multiple connectivity options, including Wi-Fi, 3G or Bluetooth® 2.1, maximise your mobile experience and keep you in touch with all you care about. Complete with a built-in HDMI port and 1080p output, it may also be used to enjoy HD content in full HD on a big screen TV or monitor, while a full-size and a mini USB help connecting the ICONIA TAB A100 to other devices.

Compact and stylish, is easy to handle and flaunts a trendy back cover embellished by an eye-catching pattern.

Discover a new world of interaction with the Acer ICONIA TAB A100!

The Acer ICONIA TAB A100 will be available in the UK towards the end of April 2011, pricing TBA.

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Off the Burning Platform and into the Holding Pattern? WP7 not Ready

Posted: 14 Feb 2011 10:24 AM PST

After all of the excitement surrounding Nokia’s move to abandon Symbian (the burning platform) and move to Windows Phone 7, there might be a long wait before it actually appears on Nokia’s phones. Windows Phone 7′s capabilities have some limitations that Nokia will need to deal with, and it may not be easy for them. Nokia had hoped to lower its R&D expenditure by adopting WP7, and maybe they will in the long run, but that doesn’t look likely in the near future. There are some problems that need to be addressed first.


For example:

  • Devices with WP7 must have three buttons, not four
  • WP7 currently supports just one CPU and one screen size
  • Third party applications in WP7 can’t multitask (something that Symbian did very well)

Microsoft has been very rigid about how OEMs can build phones with WP7, but likely they had to loosed those restrictions to make this deal with Nokia. Nevertheless, making the new ecosystem work is going to take time, and if Nokia wants to get WP7 devices out this year, time is short. Meanwhile, the iPhone and Android have set a high standard that WP7 may have trouble living up to.

Nokia developers have been discussing some of the limitations of WP7 here. Also, check out SlashGear’s analysis of Nokia’s choice of WP7.
[via The Register]

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Book Listings on Amazon Could Indicate July Launch of Mac OS X Lion

Posted: 14 Feb 2011 09:56 AM PST

Book listings on Amazon.co.uk could indicate that Mac OS X Lion will be launched in July or August of this year. The books include Mac OS X Lion For Dummies, Mac OS X Lion All-in-One For Dummies, Mac OS X Lion Bible, Teach Yourself Visually Mac OS X Lion, Mac OS X Lion Portable Genius, and Mac OS X Lion Simplified. All are set to ship in July or August.


Book launches don’t always predict Apple product launches, but it is unusual for so many books to be scheduled for release in a short timeframe. Apple has given OS X Lion a loose “summer” launch time. The company most likely wants to focus more attention on the launch of the next generation iPad and iPhone, pushing the OS X Lion launch date back. The OS X Lion operating system will probably get an in depth preview at this year’s WWDC event, expected in early June.
[via macnn]

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AT&T Clearance On iPad Accessories To Make Way For iPad 2?

Posted: 14 Feb 2011 09:49 AM PST

All the rumors about an upcoming iPad 2 may just be validated with AT&T’s massive clearance on all current iPad accessories. The sale starts today and offers a whopping 50% off current iPad accessories to really clear out the inventory. Now isn’t that proof enough of an iPad 2 release just around the corner?

The iPad 2 is believed to hit Apple Stores no later than April, although no official announcements have been made yet. However, with the clearance going on so early, it’s possible that the iPad 2 may make its appearance even earlier than speculated.

This clearance also suggests that current accessories likely will not work with the next-generation iPad and makes us wonder just what form factor changes the iPad 2 will bring about. For current iPad owners with no plans to make the switch anytime soon, this is a good time to go shopping.

[Via Cult of Mac]

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T-Mobile G-Slate hands-on [Video]

Posted: 14 Feb 2011 09:44 AM PST

After a brief on-stage appearance at CES 2011, T-Mobile has brought along the LG G-Slate to MWC 2011 to launch alongside its European Optimus Pad cousin. As we’ve already seen, it’s a slick 8.9-inch slate running Tegra 2 and Android 3.0 Honeycomb; it also has support for T-Mobile USA’s HSPA+ network for high-speed connectivity on the go.

Video after the cut

While we weren’t sure about 3D on a tablet-scale device before – especially without a glasses-free display – the slick user experience on the G-Slate is making us consider a change of heart. You need red/green glasses, but LG has finessed in added controls to switch between twin-view, 3D and 2D previews, and the process of getting content from the slate and onto a big-screen 3D TV is thankfully straightforward.

T-Mobile G-Slate hands-on:

The rest of the UI is standard Honeycomb, leaving only the light weight, sober but classic styling and more compact display in the G-Slate’s favor. So much will be dependent on pricing, and T-Mobile isn’t talking figures until the tablet launches later this year.

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World’s Smallest Engraving on Razor’s Edge

Posted: 14 Feb 2011 09:34 AM PST

Graham Short, after 150 attempts, has succeeded in etching the words “Nothing Is Impossible” on the edge of a Wilkinson Sword razor blade. The engraving measures only a tenth of a millimeter, and can only be viewed with a medical microscope at 400x magnification. As you might expect, creating this engraving required an almost superhuman level of concentration and dedication. Mr. Short worked at night, when traffic vibrations were at a minimum, with his arm strapped to his chair with a luggage strap to minimize random movements. He monitored his heart with a stethoscope, and only attempted to make a letter stroke between beats. Continue after the break to find out more.


Mr. Short is an avid swimmer, swimming up to 10,000 meters every day, and is able to lower his heart rate to only 30 beats per minute at rest. He sits still for 90 minutes, breathing and slowing his heart rate, before starting his engraving session. He worked from midnight to 5am five or six nights a week, completing 3 letters on a good night.

Mr. Short is a copper and steel engraver by profession, and has done miniature engravings in the past, including engraving all 278 letters of the Lord’s Prayer on the head of a gold pin. His razor blade engraving is for sale for about $76,000, or £47,500. He says that his wife is supportive of this self-described obsession: "Nobody else is mad enough to do it, but she positively encourages me.”

[via PSFK]
from The Telegraph

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MIT Lab Creates Recompose, A Gesture Controlled Surface

Posted: 14 Feb 2011 09:29 AM PST

There are more ways for using your Kinect than just playing games. Some folks over at MIT managed to create an actuated surface that can be gesture controlled–a system made possible by employing openCV, Kinect, and probably lots of brain power.

Dubbed Recompose, the system was created by a team including Anthony DeVincenzi, David Lakatos, Matthew Blackshaw, Daniel Leithinger, and Hiroshi Ishii at the MIT Lab. It has a surface consisting of 120 individual pins that can be actuated to different heights in response to different hand gestures.

They describe it more eloquently:

Our system builds upon the Relief table, developed by Leithinger. The table consists of an array of 120 individually addressable pins, whose height can be actuated and read back simultaneously, thus allowing the user to utilize them as both input and output. Building upon this system, we have furthered the design by placing a depth camera above the tabletop surface. By gaining access to the depth information we are able to detect basic gestures from the user. In order to provide visual feedback related to user interaction, a projector is mounted above the table and calibrated to be coincident with the depth camera. Computer vision is utilized to determine and recognize the position, orientation, and height of hands and fingers, in order to detect gestural input.

[Via Creative Applications]

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Samsung Dumping Own Processors in Future Super Phones?

Posted: 14 Feb 2011 09:21 AM PST

Yesterday Samsung announced that their latest tablet the Galaxy Tab 10.1 will be running NVIDIA’s dual core Tegra 2 processor.  However at the bottom of the press release we observed an interesting concluding point. The last line of the joint company press release states:

“ The companies are also partnering to bring a new Android-based super phone with a dual-core CPU to consumers, for never-before-seen experiences.”

Samsung normally uses their own processors in their smart phones and tablets called Exynos. However they are yet to launch a dual core Exynos chipset which could explain switching to Tegra 2 in order to get a dual core smart phone to market.

It’s only pure speculation at this point as to whether Samsung is moving to Tegra 2 in all smart phones in the future. None the less we are excited to what “never-before-seen experiences” the two companies create together.

Both Samsung and HTC are the only top tier smart phone makers who are yet to launch a dual core smart phone.

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Build Your Own Telepresence Robot For $500

Posted: 14 Feb 2011 09:07 AM PST

Remember that Vgo telepresence robot for the kid that couldn’t go to school? The one that cost the school $6000 plus $1200 a year service contract? Well, a hacker by the name Johnny Chung Lee has come up with a way to create his own telepresence robot that’s a whole lot more affordable. His hack robot is made from relatively cheap components including a netbook and an iRobot, each costing $250, plus an acrylic stand. Watch the video after the cut for full directions on making your own.

Johnny Chung Lee made this creation due to having to leave his partner temporarily due to work relocation. This was a simple way–for hackers at least–to maintain a presence at home. Using a netbook on top provided a nice large screen and made it easy to use the freely available Skype video conferencing software.

The base is a hack of an iRobot so it probably wont be able to traverse anywhere beyond the house. But compared to the telepresence robots in the thousands of dollars, this hack alternative is an awesome way of putting together affordable and existing technologies to achieve similar functionality. Now wouldn’t be neat if it could still vacuum at the same time?

[Via Make]

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LG Partners with YouTube 3D

Posted: 14 Feb 2011 08:24 AM PST

LG announced at their press conference this morning here at Mobile World Congress 2011 their new Optimus 3D smart phone.  This device’s claim to fame is that it can capture and play back 3D content without the need of 3D glasses.   They also announced a partnership with YouTube’s 3D channel for easy upload and sharing of captured 3D content from the Optimus 3D directly to YouTube’s dedicated 3D channel.

LG stated that 3D was one of the trends for mobile devices in 2011 that they want to take a lead with, which is why they created a phone with 3D as its core differentiator.   In a joint statement from LG and YouTube the companies stated:

“The new partnership is part of a broader push into 3D entertainment by LG and the world’s largest online video community,” the companies said in a joint statement. “YouTube and LG collaborated to enable the delivery and sharing of 3D video onto mobile devices in a way that makes it simple and easy for consumers.”

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Acer Iconia Tab A500 hands-on

Posted: 14 Feb 2011 07:27 AM PST

Acer’s Iconia Smart was something of a hybrid, but the company also has a number of new slates for MWC 2011 that are definitely all tablet. The Acer Iconia Tab A500 is a 10.1-inch rival to the XOOM and Galaxy Tab 10.1, powered by NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 and offering 1080p HD playback.

What makes the Iconia Tab A500 difficult to judge, however, is the fact that while Acer expects the slate to launch running Android 3.0 Honeycomb, right now the prototypes are running an earlier, smartphone-centric version. Still, the hardware has promise – a 13.3mm slender slice of aluminum with HDMI, WiFi, 3G and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, along with a 5-megapixel camera on the back and a webcam up front that’s good enough for HD video calls. Acer is also slotting in its clear.fi media streaming system, so if you’ve already got Acer kit then the Iconia Tab A500 should slot in reasonably well.

What we’re hoping is that Acer’s pricing will be low enough to drag the entry point of Honeycomb slates down into the affordable range, though right now the company isn’t saying exactly what the Iconia Tab A500 will cost. It’ll go on sale in April 2011.

Press Release:

Acer's ICONIA TAB A500
 Full touch experience in HD

Barcelona, February 14th, 2011 – Mobility and innovation, which have always been part of Acer's DNA, now find a new form of expression in the new Acer ICONIA TAB A500, a 10.1-inch tablet designed to maximize content enjoyment, providing the same rich multimedia, gaming and Web experience you can enjoy on your home PC with the added user-friendliness of multi-touch technology.

Sleek, smart and full of innovative features, the ICONIA Tab A500 will be equipped with the latest, highly intuitive Google Android 3.0 "Honeycomb" operating system, the new version of the Android platform specifically optimized for tablets, combined with Acer UI to reach a whole new level of interactivity.

What's more, the Acer clear.fi media sharing system will be preloaded on the device for seamless integration in the home clear.fi environment to easily access, play and share multimedia across the home network and to instantly publish updates to social media networks.

Designed for rich multimedia entertainment, this tablet comes with a high resolution, high colour contrast 10.1" display with wide viewing angle providing higher colour accuracy for better visuals from different perspective, allowing users to play or share HD video with friends on the go. Complete with a built-in HDMI port and 1080p output, it may also be used to enjoy HD content in full HD on a big screen TV or monitor.

The 10.1" full capacitive multi-touch screen ensures an optimal on-screen experience from every angle. Aluminum casing provides a cool look and feel, while its high gloss finish anodizing decorated with laser engraved textures demonstrates subtle sophistication. And despite being just 13.3mm thick, it's powerful enough to provide fun and productivity in any location.

One of the tablet's most impressive features is its ability to run and play premium HD arcade games and complex online 3D games, thanks to the multi-touch screen and gyro meter control, which guarantees an entertainment experience on par with the best game consoles.

The Acer ICONIA TAB A500 will be equipped with the dual-core NVIDIA® Tegra™ 2, the first mobile dual core CPU, that delivers up to two time faster browsing, for the best web experience ever, and amazing graphics, for optimized HD viewing, 3D and console-quality gaming, and multimedia playback anywhere thanks to the ultra-low power (ULP) NVIDIA® GeForce® GPU with Flash 10.1 support. What's more you can relish movies, photos and more on your big screen TV in full HD glory thanks to 1080p HD video playback.

Multiple connectivity options, including Wi-Fi, 3G or Bluetooth® 2.1, maximise your mobile experience and keep you in touch with all you care about. The 5MP rear-facing camera plus HD front-facing camera are just perfect for video recording, video chat, or quickly snap a picture and upload it to Facebook, YouTube, Picasa; it can also be used as a barcode scanner

The Acer ICONIA TAB A500 will available from April 2011, pricing TBA.

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LG Optimus Pad hands-on [Video]

Posted: 14 Feb 2011 07:11 AM PST

Another day, another Honeycomb tablet. After the XOOM and the Galaxy Tab 10.1 there’s a certain sense of familiarity about the LG Optimus Pad, aka T-Mobile’s LG G-Tablet. Running Android 3.0 on a Tegra 2 processor, the Optimus Pad differs somewhat in that it uses an 8.9-inch panel, slotting in-between the spate of 7- and 10-inch slates we’ve seen recently. Check out our hands-on impressions after the cut.

That makes for a more compact device, and a more hand-friendly one. In fact, the Optimus Pad is surprisingly easy to hold , though the highly glossy front panel makes for a fingerprint magnet; within seconds of swiping through Honeycomb’s homescreen panes there were noticeable streaks across the display.

Unlike the Optimus 3D, the Optimus Pad doesn’t have a glasses-free 3D display. While it can record 1080p Full HD 2D video or 720p HD 3D video, you can only watch it on the slate itself using 3D red/green glasses (you can preview the filming process in red/green, or trust the slate itself and look at a 2D view); alternatively there’s the same HDMI output and DLNA wireless streaming for pushing it over to an HDTV. Curiously, LG told us that, despite having the same cameras as the Optimus 3D, the Pad won’t actually shoot 3D stills.

LG Optimus Pad hands-on:

As a Google Experience device this is Honeycomb in its unmodified form, good for getting prompt updates but unlikely to help LG differentiate on the software side. Still, Android 3.0 runs reasonably smoothly – a few crashes notwithstanding – on the NVIDIA chipset. Whether LG can make a convincing sales argument about the 3D abilities, or whether it will be the more compact size that swings things for the Optimus Pad remains to be seen when the slate goes on sale, price tba, in Q2 2011.

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LG Optimus 3D hands-on [Video]

Posted: 14 Feb 2011 06:54 AM PST

LG is the first to admit its 2010 range of devices wasn’t exactly the most inspiring; as the company said to us at MWC 2011 today, “we sat there and watched our rivals bring out smartphone after smartphone.” For 2011 the Korean company’s plans are far more ambitious, hence the LG Optimus 3D and the play for the nascent 3D smartphone market. Hands-on impressions after the cut.

At first glance it’s another big, touchscreen slab, and indeed LG are keen to point out that the 4.3-inch touchscreen works just as well as a 2D display as any of its WVGA rivals. The dual-core TI OMAP4430 processor keeps Android 2.2 Froyo moving swiftly; there will be a Gingerbread update around a month after the Optimus 3D’s initial May 2011 release. Of course, it’s the glasses-free 3D that’s the big story here, and with a tap of the dedicated 3D button on the side you boot into a 3D carousel. That has links to media, the camera, games and other apps.

It’s the camera which most people will be interested in, a pair of 5-megapixel lenses on the back which can either shoot regular video or 3D footage. Played back on the phone, the parallax barrier display does a solid job of presenting a 3D picture, though unfortunately you can’t see it in our video demo. You can also squirt it to a 3D-capable HDTV, either via the HDMI output or wirelessly using DLNA if your set supports it.

Three games, meanwhile, are preloaded, and they also show off the 3D effect reasonably well. You can also play those on a big screen via the HDMI or DLNA; in 3D, too, if your set supports it. The dual-core processor keeps things moving along slickly after a somewhat prolonged boot time.

The question of 3D media remains, however. You can shoot your own videos and photos, but third-party content is in short supply; it’s also going to be tricky finding people to share it with, unless you have friends who also use the Optimus 3D. Of course, as LG says, five years ago the company put a touchscreen on a cellphone and people didn’t get it; now it’s reasonably rare to find a non-touchscreen device. It’s hoping that the glasses-free display technology will similarly catch on, spreading throughout the price range and meaning that there’s more chance your contacts will be able to see the content.

We’ll save our final impressions for the production models – the software on these prototype demo units was relatively buggy, unsurprising given there are still a few months before the Optimus 3D is expected to go on sale. Still, as a differentiator, 3D certainly will help the LG stand out in store displays, and given the number of touchscreen slabs out there, that can’t be a bad thing.

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Sierra Wireless AirCard 753S and 754S debut at MWC 2011

Posted: 14 Feb 2011 05:59 AM PST

Sierra Wireless has announced a pair of new WiFi hotspots at MWC 2011 in Barcelona. The two new hotspots are the AirCard 753S and the 754S. Both of the devices are about the size of a deck of cards and are made to be lightweight for portability. The hotspots are easy to use and allow the user to connect in under a minute.

Both have LCD screens on them to provide a look at battery life, network strength, and the device connected. They have audible alerts for status of the device and more. The difference between the two devices is that the 754S supports 4G LTE networks and the 753s is a 3G only device.

The 753S is good for up to 42Mbps download and 5.76Mbps upload on DC-HSPA+ networks. The 754S is good for up to 100Mbps download and up to 50Mbps upload on LTE networks and will operate on 3G networks as well. Pricing and availability are unannounced.

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MWC 2011: SwissQual’s Diversity Ranger is the Backpack of the Future

Posted: 14 Feb 2011 05:55 AM PST

Looking to do some network benchmarking in the Swiss Alps? Want to test which wireless network gets the best signal in isolated volcano islands? Probably not. But it’s nice to know the option exists. After a few hours of playing with tablets and playing with more tablets, I decided to drop by SwissQual’s booth to see just how tough their new Diversity Ranger network benchmarking pack was.

Normally, network benchmarking solutions like this are unwieldy and fragile. But the new Diversity Ranger has a slick, hiking backpack form-factor. It packs a GPS unit and scanner options, plus dual hot-swappable batteries. The PR folks at the SwissQual claim it can get ten hours of use with both batteries charged.

This is what the Diversity Ranger looks like on the inside:

This is how it looks folded closed:

And this is it in “backpack mode” completely hidden and looking pretty much like every other hiking pack in the world. SwissQual claims it can survive being sprayed with 50 liters of water per minute and drops of 30 cm while running.

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Acer Iconia Smart hands-on [Video]

Posted: 14 Feb 2011 05:29 AM PST

When does a phone become a tablet? The Dell Streak 5 blurred the boundaries with its 5-inch WVGA display, and now the Acer Iconia Smart is doing its part to make categorisation complicated with its 4.8-inch, 21:9 aspect smartphone. Powered by Qualcomm’s 1GHz Snapdragon and Android Gingerbread, the Iconia Smart seems almost tailor-made for web addicts with long, narrow pockets.

It’s a slender device – the 21:9 ratio helps that – but it’s not exactly thin. Still, Acer has used the space to pack in both an 8-megapixel camera on the front and a 2-megapixel camera on the back; there’s also HSDPA, WiFi b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR. Happily Flash Player 10.1 compatibility means video can make the most of that broad display; you could even stage a miniature Philips Cinema HDTV setup.

In use, Gingerbread is snappy and the phone feels well made, if a little plasticky. It’s not all that light, either, and the long screen – while making sense for web – doesn’t really work for regular-widescreen video clips. It also makes the onscreen horizontal keyboard pretty broad, whereas the portrait keyboard is surprisingly narrow. Definitely a niche smartphone, but one we’re looking forward to reviewing when it arrives in the UK on May 1 2011, pricing tba.

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