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- Samsung DualView TL225 camera reviewed: good idea, poor implementation
- Dell Adamo XPS prototypes played with multitouch trackpads, touch-sensitive keyboards, more
- Lenovo ThinkPad X100e netbook tipped for Jan 5th 2010 launch
- Microsoft Research demo prototype glass screen PC with gesture and eye-tracking control
- HTC “carefully looking” at netbook possibilities
- Xbox 360 Wireless N adapter appears – then yanked – from Costco site
- Dell Mini 3iX clears FCC with AT&T 3G and WiFi
- ASUS Eee PC 1201N arriving December; Smartbook delayed until Q2 2010?
- LG Snapdragon Android smartphone coming Q2 2010
- Sprint to offer BlackBerry Curve 8530 too: no price or date
| Samsung DualView TL225 camera reviewed: good idea, poor implementation Posted: 06 Nov 2009 05:54 AM PST
The best laid plans can so easily go awry, and while Samsung’s DualView TL225 digital camera – which has a second, front-mounted display – seemed like such a great idea, the end result is actually tipped as more than a little disappointing. Wired have been putting the TL225 through its paces, and they’ve concluded that not only does the second screen cause its own share of problems rather than solve them, the underlying camera itself is a let-down.
The front display does make lining up shots straightforward, Wired found, but unfortunately it then encourages those in the picture to look to the side of the lens. The end result is a well-framed photo with nobody looking at the camera. As for the TL225’s image abilities themselves, photos are reportedly less than impressive in anything other than bright light, and there’s plenty of shutter lag in-between pressing the button and the shot being captured. For $300 it seems like a gimmick that’s gone wrong. [via CrunchGear] Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| Dell Adamo XPS prototypes played with multitouch trackpads, touch-sensitive keyboards, more Posted: 06 Nov 2009 05:43 AM PST
Dell’s Adamo XPS is certainly a striking piece of tech – any notebook that thin is going to grab our attention, and that’s before you add in a spytastic touch-strip to open it – but it turns out the company had even more ambitious plans initially. PC World managed to score some time with some of Dell’s Adamo XPS prototypes, including versions with multitouch LCD trackpads and even a zero-profile touchscreen keyboard.
Like the Sharp Mebius NJ70A, one of Dell’s concepts in the run up to design finalisation had an LCD touchscreen serving double-duty as a trackpad. In the end, though, they axed the idea because they felt it would add too much cost to what’s already a costly machine. As for the touchscreen keyboard, that used the same technology as the opening-strip, but the absence of tactile feedback saw it shelved. Finally – and this one really goes to show the lust for skinniness among Dell’s engineers these days – they tried a version with the ports hidden in a pop-up section, but it added a tiny bit more thickness, so got canned. In the end, the Adamo XPS ended up reasonably gimmick-free (though only when you compare it to the prototypes) but no less tempting. [via Gizmodo] Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| Lenovo ThinkPad X100e netbook tipped for Jan 5th 2010 launch Posted: 06 Nov 2009 03:09 AM PST
The thought of a ThinkPad netbook is enough to make anyone even vaguely familiar with Lenovo suspicious, but according to ThinkPadToday that’s exactly what the company have up their corporate sleeve. They’re claiming that the rumored ThinkPad X200e will actually drop as the Lenovo ThinkPad X100e on January 5th 2010, with the tagline “Entry level ultra portable, the first ThinkPad of its size”.
While the various leaked shots purporting to be of the upcoming Lenovo netbook have had a white casing, ThinkPadToday reckon a matte-black shell is the only way Lenovo will go with the X100e. That, they think, is how they’ll maintain ThinkPad continuity and differentiate the X100e from Lenovo’s other, more consumer-centric netbooks in the IdeaPad line. As for specifications, there’s nothing definite at this stage, but they’re putting their neck out and tipping either AMD’s Athlon 1.6GHz Neo processor with ATI Radeon HD3410 graphics or Intel’s Centrino 2 ULV 1.4GHz processor paired with GMA 4500MHD graphics. Either way they’re suggesting a 12.1-inch WXGA 1280 x 800 panel with 3GB of RAM, various HDD and SSD options and optional Gobi 3G. Oh, and for the occasionally desk-bound road warrior an UltraBase docking station with integrated optical drive is predicted. Heady stuff, and there’s not all that long to wait to see if it pans out.
[via GadgetMix; images via Zol] Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| Microsoft Research demo prototype glass screen PC with gesture and eye-tracking control Posted: 06 Nov 2009 02:54 AM PST
Say what you like about Microsoft, but their Research arm certainly know how to put together an eye-catching demo. Chief research and strategy officer Craig Mundie has been doing a tour of US colleges showing off a prototype next-gen computer – among other things – that has a transparent glass display and can be controlled by pen, voice, touch-free gestures and eye-tracking.
The prototype machine docks with the transparent display – probably not something you’d want to throw into your laptop bag – and can be used to flick through large quantities of information such as text, photos or video timelines by tracking what your eyes are looking at. Some of the functionality seems to have been previewed by Microsoft’s “Look Ahead” vision of computing in 2019 which similarly impressed us earlier this year. Mundie’s other talks centered on environmentally-friendly and carbon-neutral computing, and what user interfaces and design paradigms may be central in the years to come. There are videos of the transparent computer prototype in action on Microsoft’s College Tour virtual press room, or at istartedsomething linked below. [via istartedsomething] Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| HTC “carefully looking” at netbook possibilities Posted: 06 Nov 2009 02:29 AM PST
HTC’s CEO Peter Chou has reignited speculation that the company is preparing some sort of netbook. Chou apparently told reporters at the Taiwanese launch of the HTC HD2 that the company was “carefully looking into that category and how it can be part of that”; the comment echoes the chief executive’s vague allusions to a tablet or MID style device when SlashGear talked to him at the HD2’s debut in London last month.
Then, as now, Chou pointed out that the company would want to see something with real market appeal before jumping into the segment. That, he defined in Taiwan this week, would be a device with “unique value” rather than a “me-too” netbook such as we’ve seen flooding the market over the past twelve to eighteen months. Chou also reminded SlashGear that HTC are not complete strangers to the idea of a larger wireless-enabled touchscreen device, with the HTC Shift in their back catalog. We reviewed the Shift back in June 2008 and reckoned most users would be better off with a separate smartphone and laptop, but experiments with Windows 7 showed the Shift gained a new lease of life with the more efficient OS. Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| Xbox 360 Wireless N adapter appears – then yanked – from Costco site Posted: 06 Nov 2009 02:15 AM PST
Microsoft’s Xbox 360 Wireless N Networking Adapter has been spotted gracing the virtual shelves at Costco, and if their listing is correct it’s set to go on sale come November 10th. The adapter – which was initially tipped to be around $100 – was priced at $87.99 with free shipping; however the listing has since been taken down.
The accessory basically does exactly what it says on the box, which is add WiFi 802.11n support to the Xbox 360. According to earlier rumors, the n-support adapter will go on sale alongside, rather than replacing, the existing WiFi b/g adapter, which at the time we presumed because it was expected to appeal to a smaller subset of users looking to stream high-definition video content. That rumor, however, is yet to be confirmed. Since the 802.11n adapter has been yanked from the Costco online store we won’t count our chickens until they hatch, perhaps on the 10th. [via Engadget] Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| Dell Mini 3iX clears FCC with AT&T 3G and WiFi Posted: 06 Nov 2009 02:00 AM PST
Dell’s upcoming Android smartphone has been caught clearing the FCC, complete with support for AT&T’s 3G bands. The Dell Mini 3iX was spotted in Brazil earlier this week, when it was said to support triband UMTS; the FCC listing for the handset mentions 850 and 1900 band support, which are the 3G bands AT&T uses for its high-speed network, together with WiFi (missing from the Chinese-version Mini 3i).
The rest of the phone’s specifications are unclear, thanks to Dell’s confidentiality requests, but going by the Chinese device and recent leaks we’re expecting the Mini 3iX to have a 3.5-inch capacitive touchscreen (which in China runs at 360 x 640 resolution; we’re keeping our fingers crossed for a boost to WVGA) together with a 3-megapixel camera with autofocus and LED flash. Right now the prediction is that the Dell Mini 3iX will arrive on AT&T in early 2010, making it the first Android smartphone both from the company and the network. So far Dell have not publicly acknowledged the North American version of the smartphone. [via Unwired View] Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| ASUS Eee PC 1201N arriving December; Smartbook delayed until Q2 2010? Posted: 06 Nov 2009 01:43 AM PST
According to ASUS UK, the company’s upcoming Eee PC 1201N complete with NVIDIA Ion graphics will be arriving in stores come December. Speaking to Electricpig, the company confirmed that the 12-inch Ion machine was imminent, but are yet to define the actual specifications. Meanwhile, ASUS’ first Smartbook has apparently been delayed according to a market specialist at the company, and is now not expected until Q2 2010.
The Smartbook was, last we heard, set to launch in Q1 2010, with ASUS CEO Jerry Shen talking publicly about a very promising budget price tag in the region of $180. However, according to RegHardware’s source at the company, market specialist Judy Wu, the Smartbook – which will have a screen sized between 5 and 7-inches, and the processor for which is as yet unconfirmed – has been delayed until the next quarter for unspecified reasons. In fact, it might not even see a UK or US release; Wu believes the primary opportunity for the Smartbook will be emerging markets and the Asia-Pacific region. As for the Eee PC 1201N, while official specifications are yet to be confirmed, a leak in October suggested the Ion ultraportable would have a 1.6GHz Intel Atom 330 processor, 3GB of RAM, a 320GB hard-drive and both WiFi and Bluetooth. The 6-cell battery is tipped for up to 8hrs use. Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| LG Snapdragon Android smartphone coming Q2 2010 Posted: 06 Nov 2009 01:22 AM PST
LG have announced that they will be offering a Snapdragon-based Android smartphone in Q2 2010. The device – which will initially be available in the Korean market – has not yet been named, and LG are keeping full specifications close to their chest, but according to the company’s VP of electronics, it will be a “more mature” device than the LG GW620 Eve which went on sale in Canada this week.
That might mean that LG squeeze in some mobile digital TV technology, popular in Korea, and which would be unlikely to make it over to European and North American markets. Still, the company is apparently “considering” availability outside of Korea, which potentially sets up an interesting Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 versus LG Android showdown. [via Tech Ticker] Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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| Sprint to offer BlackBerry Curve 8530 too: no price or date Posted: 06 Nov 2009 01:12 AM PST
Verizon’s BlackBerry Curve 8530 isn’t quite on sale yet – you’ll have to wait until November 20th for that – but Sprint would like you to know that they’ll also be offering the QWERTY smartphone. The Sprint BlackBerry Curve 8530 gets the same WiFi, GPS, 2-megapixel camera and EVDO Rev.A connectivity, which means the only thing really lacking right now is a price and a release date.
Instead there’s a pre-interest page where you can sign up for updates about when the Curve 8530 becomes available. One thing Verizon don’t seem to have is a “royal purple” version of the smartphone, which is certainly distinctive; happily a plain black model will also be offered for those feeling less regal, together with a red version which isn’t shown on the sign-up page but does get a name-check in the press release. Sprint will also be pre-loading the BlackBerry with Media Sync, Sprint TV, Sprint Music Store and Pandora. The Curve 8530 will be priced at $99.99 with a new, two-year agreement (and following the usual wretched mail-in rebate) on Verizon, so we’re expecting Sprint to do something similarly sub-$100. Relevant Entries on SlashGear
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