CES 2011 - 2/6 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Jan

CES 2011: ASUS's Eee Pad MeMO - Dual-Core Snapdragon Sketchpad

Posted by Brian O'Toole in ASUS, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News

Last Updated: January 11th, 2011

ASUS turned a few heads with their recent device unveilings, with one of the more intriguing ones being their Eee Pad MeMO. Unlike almost every other tablet device here at CES, the MeMO is not using a Tegra II processor but will instead be powered by the latest Snapdragon. The MSM8260 is the first dual core processor we've seen from Qualcomm, and we were eager to put the 1.2 GHz chip through its paces. Unfortunately, the MeMO crashed during the 3D rendering section of the Quadrant benchmark. Prior to this, the Neocore benchmark had gone into some kind of endless loop, so our attempts at empirical measurement of the device's capabilities were frustrated.

Jan

CES 2011: A Look At RCA's Android TV Prototype

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Google TV, News

At the RCA booth today we got a quick glimpseat something they're working on. It's a 42" full HD TV, that runs Android 2.2 at the same time. The OS can be controlled from the TV's remote or with what looked strikingly similar to the Brando Rii Bluetooth keyboard. The UI is a custom media-centric launcher which allows you to view images and videos on the large screen. Around the back we found a USB port which indicates that you should be able to play external media from your own storage devices.

As you can see in the notecard, the Android TV supposedly has access to the Android Market.

Jan

Samsung Shows Off Two Google TV Boxes, Calls Them An "Experiment"

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Google TV, News, Samsung

Google TV has met a lot of troubles on its quest to popularize Internet-connected TVs, not the least of which has been several lackluster reviews. So it isn't surprising that manufacturers have either ditched plans to develop their own Google TV products or at least held off on announcing them until after CES. Samsung, however, has decided to show off two of their own boxes running the software, though they aren't throwing their support behind the platform just yet.

The two boxes - one a stand-alone set top box (similar to Logitech's Revue) and the other a Blu-Ray player - are not even close to their final form, and neither even had a controller yet.

Jan

MSI Shows Off Its Android-Powered WindPad 100A

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in MSI, News

MSI announced two new tablets at CES 2011: the Android-powered WindPad 100A and the Windows-operated WindPad 100W.

A few months ago, MSI demoed its WindPad 110 at Computex. The device sported a 10" capacitive touch screen and was powered by NVIDIA's Tegra 2 chip. Engadget's hands-on demonstrated a fairly unpolished interface that needed a lot of work.

The newly rechristened WindPad 100A is a slim 10.1" device weighing in at 1.6 pounds and packing:

An ARM Cortex A8 chip (from an undisclosed vendor)
1GB of RAM
A digital compass
A GPS Locator
G-Sensor gravity detection (protects the internal hardware in case the unit is dropped)
ALS light sensor (adjusts screen brightness according to the surrounding light source)
WiFi with a 3G option
USB and HDMI slots
Front and rear cameras

MSI estimates that the WindPad's battery will last about 8-10 hours on a single charge.

Jan

Mavizon's Mavia 3G-Enabled Gizmo Plugs Into Your Car, Acts As A LoJack, Texts Your Family, Diagnoses Your Check Engine Light [Video]

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in News, Videos

Walking around CES Unveiled on the first day of CES 2011, I ran into a little company called Mavizon Tech, showcasing their product with a beautiful name Mavia. I you've never heard of Mavizon, don't feel bad - they don't have many consumer-facing products just yet, but it's all about to change when Mavia hits the market later this year.

What is Mavia? It's a little gizmo box that plugs into your car's diagnostics port and sits there, drawing the power from the aforementioned port. Inside the Mavia - a GPS module and a 3G radio that is able to broadcast a signal anywhere there is 3G reception (I forgot whether they use T-Mobile or AT&T, but it's one of those).

Jan

CES 2011: Deep Dive Preview Of The Sony Ericsson Xperia arc - Video Walkthrough And Details Galore

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Gingerbread 2.3, News, Sony Ericsson, Videos, Xperia Arc (Anzu, X12)

Last Updated: January 11th, 2011

Following on from their press release on Wednesday, Sony Ericsson invited the media this morning to a designated conference room at the Hard Rock Hotel for some play time with their newest Android device. We spent over an hour with the handset to get an idea of what to expect when it hits the market.

The reps there acknowledged the difficulties they had experienced with their previous Android handsets, and showed what appeared to be decisive commitment to putting those hold-ups behind them. With the Xperia arc (sic), Sony Ericsson has trumped its competition at CES with the first Gingerbread device to be announced since the Nexus S.

Jan

CES 2011: Hands-On With Motorola's Dual-Core Atrix 4G For AT&T: There's A Dock For That

Posted by Brian O'Toole in AT&T, Atrix 4G (Olympus), Motorola, News, Videos

At Motorola's booth today, we got a chance to play with the Atrix 4G - a dual-core HSPA+ equipped slate handset, sporting a whopping 1GB of RAM and packing a couple of notable features. Along with the laptop dock demoed in the video below, the Atrix 4G also has a media dock (called "HD dock") which allows you to connect it to a larger screen (and use the same WebTop desktop-like interface) as well as plug in a keyboard and a mouse. The Motorola rep also informed us of plans for regular charging and car docks, so it looks like wherever you may be, the Atrix will have a bespoke resting place.

Jan

Hulu Plus Confirmed For Android 2.2

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Applications, News

Having long been rumored, Hulu Plus for Android was finally confirmed during Samsung's press conference at CES. During the Keynote, Hulu's CEO Jason Kilar demoed the app running on the Samsung Galaxy S, announcing, for the first time, that the subscription service was being developed for Android.

Google and Hulu have not always seen eye-to-eye, so it was fortuitous that Samsung was able to mend the bridges and bring this amazing service to the Android platform.

Image courtesy of Gadgetsteria

According to Hulu's Blog, Hulu Plus will be available on select Android mobile phones (Android 2.2 and above) in coming months.

Jan

CES 2011: Hands-On With T-Mobile's Dual-Core HSPA+ Dell Streak 7 Android Tablet

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Dell, Devices By Manufacturer, News, Streak 7, Videos

At T-Mobile's press schmoozing session this evening, a few HSPA+ devices were available for the blogging masses to clench in their clammy hands. One in particular that we were keen to try was the Dell Streak 7, the new big brother of the original Dell Streak (Mini 5), announced earlier today. With the 7" tablet boasting a Tegra II dual-core processing unit, our interest was piqued, so we took a look in the video below:

As you can see, the performance fell short of the hype and anticipation that many of us felt with this CES's dual-core bonanza. It might be slightly hard to detect with the frame rate of the video recording, but scrolling still felt choppy despite the power contained within.

Jan

Huawei Ideos X5 HSPA+ Android Smartphone Officially Announced

Posted by Josh Cooter in Android OS, Huawei

Today, Huawei announced the Ideos X5, its latest addition to the smartphone line targeted at busy professionals whose focus is productivity and connectivity. The device boasts an ultra slim form factor, at just 11.4 millimeters thick, and ergonomic curves complemented by a brushed metal finish.

Other Specs:

3.8" 800x480 px TFT capacitive display
5MP camera with 720p HD video capturing capability, autofocus, and flash
HSPA+ compatible
WiFi 802.11n (most likely with b/g as well)
4GB onboard memory with expandable SD slot
Bluetooth 2.1, A-GPS, compass
1500 mAh battery

Huawei strives to provide constant connectivity with Facebook and Twitter applications as well as an office suite for business professionals, complete with Word and Excel for creation on-the-go.