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Jan

AT&T Gets A 4.3″ 4G Phone To Call Its Own – Introducing The HTC Inspire 4G

Posted by Nate Kimmey in AT&T, HTC, Inspire 4G (Ace, Stallion), News

Last Updated: January 27th, 2011

Eyeing the HTC Thunderbolt or EVO 4G with envy but stuck on AT&T? Fortunately, the carrier, which has a long reputation of not embracing Android (none of their Android phones can officially sideload apps) has just announced its next "superphone." The HTC Inspire 4G looks to be just about the same as the Thunderbolt, with a 4.3" screen and 4G connectivity, although it will support AT&T's HSPA+ network instead of their upcoming LTE network. Also worth noting is that this device will launch with the latest Sense UI, the same as we've seen on the Desire HD and Desire Z abroad, which will allow access to HTCSense.com as well as extra features such as offline maps and fastboot.

Jan

Comcast: Streaming Of Live And On-Demand Content Coming To Android Tablets Later This Year

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in News, Tablets

Android isn't exactly the most media-centric smartphone OS, but that may change soon, with the introduction of Honeycomb and more third-party media stores (like Samsung's Media Hub).

The latest development comes from Comcast, who is, apparently, planning to bring both live and On Demand content to Android tablets (and iPads) across the nation. The company hasn't announced much yet, but from the looks of it, we can expect to see an app (or a tablet-optimized website) that will allow users to watch live news, TV shows, and movies right on their favorite Android tablet.

Great, but before getting too excited, I'd like to know how much Comcast plans to charge for this - that trivial piece of information somehow escaped the press release (which can be found below).

Jan

Ultra Low Power Qualcomm Mirasol Color eInk-like Screen Technology Teased Ahead Of CES Demos

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in News, Videos

Qualcomm's Mirasol technology has been in prototype form for a while, but at this year's CES, it seems like we'll finally see a working product - an Android e-reader by PocketBook that is called simply Mirasol.

For those who haven't been following Mirasol, it is a functional equivalent of a traditional black-and-white eInk display that has become so popular in e-readers over the last few years, except it is capable of displaying color and playing videos (refresh rates are rumored to be anywhere from 12 to 30 fps). At its core, Mirasol screens use a reflective display technology which "can create various colors through the interference of reflected light." Mirasol displays consume very little power and have superb visibility in direct sunlight.

Jan

CES 2011: Parrot Introduces An Android-Powered Asteroid Car Stereo [Video]

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Asteroid, News, Parrot

Last night at the CES Unveiled preview event, I got a chance to see a new product made by Parrot, called Asteroid.

Asteroid is a voice-activated, Android-powered car deck that replaces your existing single DIN car stereo. It has a small non-touch 3.2" color screen, runs on a specialized version of Android (the presenter didn't seem to know which Android version it was based on exactly), is capable of running custom Android apps (SDK for which is coming out later), and can accept a variety of inputs, such as your iPhone, iPod, USB storage, SD card (the left half detaches to reveal the SD slot), Bluetooth, 3.5mm jack, 3G and GPS dongles, and AM/FM/RDS.

Jan

CES 2011: LG Officially Unveils Optimus Black - The World's Thinnest Android Smartphone With NOVA Display

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in LG, Optimus Black (p970)

During the LG press conference (see our live coverage), LG officially revealed to the world the Optimus Black Android smartphone, previously known as Optimus "B."

This upcoming looker features a brand new NOVA display technology, which LG touts as "breakthrough, brightest, clearest, and most readable among mobile screens, with 700 nits of brightness (Nit: a unit of luminance equal to 1 candela per square meter)." The NOVA display supposedly performs very well under strong sunlight and uses up to 50% less power compared to LCD screens and AMOLED screens that are displaying a totally white image (AMOLED doesn't use energy to display blacks).

Jan

Lenovo's IdeaPad U1 Hybrid With LePad Spotted; Rocks Android 2.2

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Lenovo, News, Tablets

The idea sounds good in theory: a device that has the comfort and usability of a laptop combined with the portability of a tablet. Lenovo's LePad was rumoured earlier this year and it has finally been unveiled together with the IdeaPad U1 Hybrid Netbook partner.

The LePad comes with a customised version of Android 2.2 (called LeOS) and runs on a 1.3 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. The U1 comes with Windows 7 Home Premium and runs on a 1.2 Ghz Intel Core i5-540UM (with an i7 option). Both devices have a 10.1-inch (1280 x 800) capacitive multi-touch display. While the LePad can be used as a stand-alone tablet, it can also be docked with the U1.

Jan

CES 2011: LG Press Conference Live Blog

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in LG, News, Optimus 2X (Star, p990), Optimus Black (p970)

The LG press conference just started, and we're here, covering it live. The Internet is very slow, so hopefully we'll be able to keep up.

<a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php/option=com_mobile/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=53abff72fd" class="external" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">CES 2011 LG Press conference</a>

The Optimus 2X unveiling video:

Jan

Photos And Videos Of Rumored LG Optimus Pad Hit Engadget

Posted by Stephen Tenerowicz in LG, News

Well, well, well, what do we have here? The device Engadget found in LG's CES booth (see the thumbnail above and the video at the source link) could very well be the long-rumored Optimus Pad. The 8.9-inch device, which is said to be powered by a Tegra 2 dual-core processor, is something I have been lusting after for a while now.

While we can't be sure that the device in the thumbnail is the Optimus Pad, it sure looks a lot like the render below. Obviously, at this point, we have no way to confirm the exact specs, so all we can do is speculate - hopefully, LG will clear this up at CES.

Jan

ASUS Announces Eee Pad Slider And Eee Pad Transformer, Mixes Honeycomb Tablets And Physical Keyboards Into One Delicious Mix

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in ASUS, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News

If you love the idea behind ASUS' recently announced MeMO tablet but want a physical keyboard, you'll be delighted to know that the company has just announced two more Android tablets in the Eee Pad line - namely, the Slider and the Transformer.

For the most part, the two share the same specs:

Honeycomb
Tegra 2 processor
512MB RAM, 1GB ROM
10.1" 1280x800 capacitive IPS display
1.2 MP front-facing camera, 5 MP rear
Mini HDMI port
Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n

However, there are also some key differentiators between the Slider and the Transformer - for example, the former includes a USB 2.0 port, while the latter comes with 16, 32, or 64 GB of eMMC storage (as opposed to the Slider's 16 or 32 GB of flash).

Jan

ASUS Eee Pad MeMO Honeycomb Tablet Official, Makes Styluses Cool Again

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in ASUS, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News

It's been a long time since I was excited about putting a stylus to a touchscreen, but ASUS' new Eee Pad MeMO might just have what it takes to win me over. For starters, it's running Honeycomb, has a dual-core Qualcomm 8260 CPU clocked at 1.2GHz, and features both a 1.2MP front-facing camera and a 5MP rear counterpart.

The specs are only half the story, though - the tablet will also come with Media Note, which is a glorified notes app, as well as Painter, a painting app where the included capacitive stylus could really come in handy.

The MeMO will also ship with phone functionality of some sort, and ASUS will be selling the MeMic, a stereo Bluetooth headset, to complement it.