Smaller Google tablets coming soon

Google Android 3.2 has been revealed as the new version of Android Honeycomb that will run a range of new tablet sizes to rival the iPad

A new version of Google’s Android operating system, Honeycomb, will run on a range of new tablet sizes, it has been revealed.

Version 3.1 has been used on 10” tablets such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1”, but now Honeycomb 3.2 will run smaller devices such as the newly announced Huawei MediaPad. The Chinese company claims that this will be the first Android 3.2 machine, and that it will launch by September. Honeycomb 3.2 will also allow existing devices such as HTC’s Flyer to be upgraded, if manufacturers are willing to invest in updating their software.

The Huawei MediaPad features a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, and two cameras, at 1.3mp and 5mp respectively.

At last month’s Google I/O conference, the company announced that it would release Honeycomb 3.1, with a range of minor updates including resizeable widgets, but that a totally new release, codenamed Ice Cream Sandwich, will follow in the last quarter of 2011. This will include new features such as face recognition for video-conferencing, and will be the first version of Android that will run on a range of tablet sizes.

Meanwhile, version 3.2 of Honeycomb is set to offer improved hardware acceleration and updates to Google’s music and movies applications, as well as improvements to widgets and Movie Studio. Details have not yet been announced, however.

The new form factors may not produce the Android tablet boost that some analysts expect, however. A new Bernstein Research survey claims, “we find that consumers are not interested in form factors that deviate from the benchmark set by Apple. Few consumers, less than 15 percent prefer the 7? screen size versus the 10? screen of the iPad. Over 50 percent of respondents are firmly in favor of the 10? screen, which leads us to conclude that the 7? tablet models recently launched, like the BlackBerry PlayBook, are destined for failure. Consumer’s preference for the 10? form factor explains the lukewarm response to Samsung’s 7? Galaxy tablet and the rapid introduction of larger screen models in that series.” The survey also found that over 50 per cent of respondents explicitly wanted an Apple device.

By Matt Warman
The Telegraph

Aluratek Libre Touch Ebook Reader

The idea behind the Barnes & Noble Nook Color ($249, 4 stars) is an excellent one—a reading-focused tablet for users that want the simplicity and immersion E Ink-based readers like the Amazon Kindle offer, but with some of the extra features and applications tablets offer. The Nook Color has done well, too, earning an Editors' Choice for color ebook readers. The Aluratek Libre Touch copies the Nook's blueprint, offering an Android-based system, apps for email and calendar, a full Web browser, and an LCD instead of the E Ink display. Unfortunately, the features checklist is where the comparison ends: the Libre Touch is infuriating to use, its Android tweaks hurt more than help, and its dim, cloudy, glare-prone screen makes reading difficult. At $149, it might be a fun toy for an Android hacker to play with, but it's certainly not an ebook reader or a tablet a consumer should consider.

Design

Aesthetically, there's a lot to like about the Libre Touch. At 8.0 by 4.9 by 0.5 inches (HWD) and weighing 11.9 ounces, it's a nice size that's easy to hold in one hand, matte black and nicely minimalistic. On the front is a Libre Touch logo, a silver do-everything hardware button, page forward/back controls on the right side, and the 7-inch screen. On top is the power button; the bottom houses a headphone jack, volume controls, a micro-SD card slot, and a micro-USB port for connecting the Libre Touch to a computer. Around back is an Aluratek logo and a single speaker.

Now, about that 7-inch screen: It's a 800 by 480 TFT LCD. It's resistive rather than capacitive, which means you'll need to press harder than normal to make presses register. That's totally forgivable for a $150 device. More problematic is the fact that the screen is downright difficult to look at for more than a couple of minutes. The screen almost appears to move, as if it's getting some interference and is displaying static. This glittery, moving look makes it hard to look at the screen for long, and it's certainly not something you'd want to read a book with. The screen is also extremely dim by default, and even turned up to the battery-crushing brightest setting it isn't very bright.

Aluratek rates the battery life of the Libre Touch at 8 hours. In my tests, that was about right, and it's pretty disappointing for an ebook reader. The Nook Color isn't any better, but when most ebook readers can get battery lives of weeks with E Ink screens, it's still a problem. And the tradeoffs make more sense considering the Nook Color's excellent screen.

Reading

The Libre Touch has reading problems beyond just the screen. First is the bookstore, which at first is extremely confusing to deal with. The bookstore is powered by Kobo, which is a good thing; Kobo has plenty of books, and good apps on many other devices. However, it's not a real bookstore app, since all you get is a mobile version of the Kobo website. That's fine, once you get there, but first you'll need to sign in with an Adobe Digital Editions account, which requires going to the Adobe site and setting it up. It's more unnecessary hassle, just to get you to a website.

The Kobo website works pretty well, and downloading books is simple enough: Just sign in or sign up, and two taps downloads the book to your device. Books are downloaded as ePub files, and for some inexplicable reason are not automatically added to your library, so you'll spend a lot of time digging through the file explorer app to find your books. Once reading, pages turned fairly responsively when I used the hardware buttons, but tapping on the screen was hit or miss—and mostly miss.

The Libre Touch comes with 100 books pre-loaded, all classics now available in the public domain. They're all just plain text files, which means anything from footnotes to images is going to get messed up. ePub files worked much better, and fortunately all files can be easily exported off the Libre Touch onto another device.

Other Apps and Multimedia

Android 1.5 powers the Libre Touch. (The Nook Color runs Android 2.2, and many tablets are up to Android 3.0 now.) It has a full Web browser, and email and calendar clients. All are basic, but all work well enough. The Libre Touch has Wi-Fi built in, and once you connect you can sync your Google email and calendar, or a variety of other services. (Of course, given how unreliable and difficult the screen is, it might take you a few tries to get your password right.)

Unfortunately, there's no access to the Android Market, so your only available apps are those that come pre-installed (or you can manually download and install your own, by checking the Unknown Sources box in Settings): Alarm Clock, Browser, Calculator, Email, Explorer (a file browser), Global Time, Music, Photo Viewer, and Video. All are basic, and look like phone-sized apps blown up to fit the 7-inch screen, but work fine. Files can be loaded via a micro-SD card, or via USB onto the 2.8GB of free internal storage. Between the screen's low resolution and difficult interaction, though, things like scrolling a webpage become a chore, and watching a video isn't exactly a nice experience on a 7-inch, 800 by 480 screen.

There's more I could discuss about the Aluratek Libre Touch, but there's no reason to pile on. The long and short of it is this: Don't buy this device. Even at $149, it's not worth the user experience headaches, the outdated software, the low-res and difficult screen, and the low quality of the reading experience. If what you want is to read, buy an Amazon Kindle ($139, 4 stars) or a Barnes & Noble Nook ($139, 4.5 stars)—they're hard to beat when it comes to reading experience. If you want a tablet, pony up the extra $100 for the Nook Color, which is everything the Aluratek Libre Touch isn't.

PC Magazine

iPhone 5 fall release date signaled by iOS 5 concurrent hint

iPhone 5 release date watchers should be out partying, not setting home fretting. Apple has unveiled iOS 5 in broad strokes and declared that it’ll be delivered in the fall of 2011. That means, in nearly certain terms, that the iPhone 5 will arrive in the fall along with it. In fact, Apple’s proclivity for tying each new iPhone release to the release of the concurrent new operating system means that iOS 5 and the iPhone 5 can be counted on to arrive in the same week. So why all this talk of the iPhone 5 not arriving until 2012, or some nonsensical “iPhone 4S” in between? Because, it seems, some observers can’t count to five – or, at least, they can’t connect the dots which show that the iPhone 5 will be here in the fall. But, then, what exactly does “fall” mean?

The textbook definition of the autumn, the annual season, is from late September to late December. But scratch that latter part, as a major December hardware release would spell disaster from a retail, distribution, inventory, turnover, and even marketing standpoint. In fact iPhone 5 will undoubtedly be in place well before the beginning of the holiday shopping season, which kicks off Thanksgiving week. Backing up even further, Apple’s own history reveals that over the past five years it has always introduced new hardware no later on the calendar than early September, and shipped it no later than late September.

That dovetails nicely with the fact that the fall season just happens to begin in late September. So there’s your answer as to the iPhone 5 release date, more or less. iPhone 5 developer beta testing could end up taking longer than hoped, which could push the iOS 5 launch (and the iPhone 5 launch with it) into perhaps October – but that’s the latest we’d expect to see it under almost any circumstances. If anything, it’s more likely to show up earlier – say, August – as no one ever complains about a product arriving early. Except, of course, for those who just bought a Verizon iPhone 4 or a white iPhone 4 the month prior. But then again, some folks just aren’t paying attention to the signals Apple has been sending regarding the iPhone 5 release date.

Beatweek

Turning your smartphone into a smarter TV remote

Maksim Ioffe was sitting around his San Francisco living room watching TV one day in 2009 when he noted how ridiculous it was that on his coffee table were no less than five remote controls. He thought to himself, "This has got to go."

But instead of replacing them all with yet another remote, he looked to something he already owned: his smartphone.

Fast forward to 2011, and that germ of an idea two years ago has spawned the Dijit Universal Remote App, which turns an iPhone--or iPod Touch, iPad, or Android phone--into a remote control.

Ioffe is not alone in looking for ways to substitute the smartphone for a remote control. There's actually a whole crop of companies that are trying to break into what some are calling the "smart-remote" business by taking advantage of the device that one-third of all U.S. cell phone owners already have on hand.

There's no agreed-on standard just yet for how best to replace the ubiquitous multibuttoned plastic living room staple. Different approaches are being offered, from free apps that control individual devices, like just your TV or just your set-top box, to a hardware accessory paired with an accompanying app that lets you control both "dumb" devices that only take infrared input and "smart" or Internet-connected devices in your home entertainment setup.

The cost can vary depending on the solution, from free to about $100. The appeal is the convenience: you probably already own a smartphone. And then there's the vast potential that the smartphone, really a minicomputer, brings to the coffee table: a bright screen with rich graphics, the ability to customize onscreen buttons as you wish, and the power of the Web to help you discover new programming or filter for just the stuff you like.

Of course there will be home theater devotees who insist they just can't give up their fancy 80-button universal remote, but there are plenty of advantages that could prove tempting for others looking for a simple and decidedly 21st century solution.

Take it from Tom Cullen, one of the founders of Sonos, the whole-house music system trailblazer that started nine years ago. As part of the Sonos system, the company also sells a $350 dedicated remote and has a free iPhone or Android app. Guess which one most people go for?

"When we started, our own physical controller was what we sold to 100 percent of our customers," Cullen said in a phone interview last week. "Today 20 percent of new customers use a dedicated Sonos controller."

In other words, the rest of them, or 8 out of 10 new buyers, choose to just use the free iPhone or Android app now with their new Sonos system. "It's extraordinary how it's moved," he said. And he and others within the company credit their first iPhone app as "one of the most important things that ever happened to us."

The customer response Sonos saw could easily be considered a case study for where the smart-remote business could go some day.

What are the options?

Most Internet-connected or "smart" TVs from Samsung, LG, Sony, and others make single-purpose Android and iOS apps that will control their TVs from a phone, tablet, or iPod Touch. TiVo has an iPad app--with an iPhone version coming soon--and of course Apple has its own Remote app that can control Apple TV and iTunes over your Wi-Fi network.

There are also apps that come paired with a piece of hardware that connects to the phone's headphone jack. My TV Remote is a $10 round dongle that plugs into an iPhone. The accompanying free app enables customizable remote buttons on screen for TVs and a variety of set-top boxes, allows users to search for shows in a program guide on the phone, and gives users the ability to see what friends are watching, chat with friends in the app, and comment on the shows.

The L5 Remote is a little more basic: it's a $50 hardware attachment that also turns an iPhone into a universal remote for most home entertainment devices that use IR (infrared) signals. It's also programmable, so you can delete buttons you don't use and save and back up different remote configurations you create.

Peel TV is a bit more involved when it comes to hardware. For $100, it's an iPhone app and IR blaster, the latter rather cheekily disguised in the shape of a plastic pear that sits on your coffee table. The app turns your phone into a universal remote for your TV, DVR, cable box, game console, and audio receiver. It works over your home Wi-Fi network and through IR.

The Dijit Universal Remote App, the one Ioffee created, is a free iPhone app that can control some connected devices, including the Roku set-top box, with no extra hardware needed. You can also update your Netlflix queue, discover new shows, and make recommendations to your social networks. But Dijit has also partnered with Griffin to work with the Beacon, an IR blaster that sits near your TV. That lets your smartphone talk to your TV and other devices than can receive only IR input. Dijit's plan is eventually to have direct access to a host of Web-enabled TVs, TiVo, and other entertainment devices without need for the Beacon.

Putting the "smart" in smart remote

Both Dijit and Peel, like My TV Remote and others, have apps that do what a plastic remote can't: take advantage of the two-way nature of the Web.

With a remote app, you're not just pushing buttons and telling the TV or your TiVo what channel to flip to. Instead a smart remote can suggest to you what to watch, or what your friends are watching, and in real time.

It makes TV watching more interactive, and it's also a potential way for these companies to make money, notes Ross Rubin, consumer electronics analyst for The NPD Group.

"Many of the companies pursuing these products are focused on building or facilitating social networks and trying to drive discovery of TV shows," said Rubin. "Which they can then leverage to garner potential interest from networks or advertisers to drive revenue."

This space and the best way to make money in it is still up for grabs, as no clear leader has emerged. The beauty of selling customers an app is that a company can adjust and update the product as needed by sending a software update to your phone--as opposed to traditional remote control makers, which have to try to sell you another piece of hardware.

And that's handy, since the still-expanding potential of smartphones makes changes necessary in order to stay ahead of or keep pace with the competition.

Cullen said the initial Sonos app boosted sales right away when released in late 2008, but that the company has seen an even steeper growth curve since iOS added multitasking capability last year.

Jeremy Toeman, chief product officer at Dijit (and an infrequent blogger for CNET, but not a paid employee of the company), acknowledged that the Dijit app will evolve as the available technology progresses: "In a year, the product will look remarkably different because this world is changing so fast."

Cnet

HTC EVO View 4G (Sprint)

Here's the deal: We've already reviewed the HTC EVO View 4G, under a different name. This tablet is just a re-packaged, re-branded HTC Flyer, with a few key changes, the addition of Sprint 4G coverage chief among them. If you buy the EVO View, you'll be getting the same Android-plus-Sense-UI experience, the same fast 1.5GHz Qualcomm processor, the same excellent pen input features, and, unfortunately, the same limitations of the non-tablet-specific Android 2.3 ("Gingerbread") that hurt the Flyer. For the in-depth nuts and bolts of you need to know about the EVO View, read our HTC Flyer review. Again, there are some differences, however, so read on if you're interested in the EVO View.

The short version of the Flyer review: It's a very capable tablet that's aimed at a specific type of user. It doesn't run a dual-core, but instead uses a 1.5GHz Qualcomm processor that helps it zip along as fast as any Tegra-powered tablet. The 7-inch touch screen works well, but it's smaller than many of the Honeycomb tablets we've seen so far with 10-inch screens. The biggest upside of the Flyer, and thus the View, is the pen input system, making it a great choice for those who want to draw on their tablets. Powered by a company called N-Trig, the tablet is remarkably detailed and accurate with pen input, and will let you do things like annotate a screenshot, or free-draw, with just the tap of a button.

The main downside of the Flyer/View is that it runs Gingerbread, which means the operating system you're getting is one meant for phones, and not for tablets. HTC's Sense UI covers up some of the glaring issues, but you're still not getting Google's best tablet effort, and without Honeycomb, which is version 3.0, you can't get things like the updated Gmail app or video chat in Google Talk. There are some good apps on the device, like HTC Watch for video and OnLive for gaming, but the browser's performance can be slow and the cameras are nothing special.

Pricing for the Flyer is simple: $499 for a single 32GB, Wi-Fi-only iteration. And there's only one option for the EVO View: $399.99 plus between $29.99 and $89.99 for monthly service. A 4G plan will either cost you $59.99 per month (unlimited 4G, plus 5GB of 3G bandwidth) or $89.99 per month for unlimited 4G and 10GB of 3G. At least for now, unlike with the Flyer, you don't need to pay the extra $80 for the Smart pen accessory, which you don't need to operate the tablet, but is nice to have. It's part of the introductory promotion with the EVO View, which will be available at Sprint stores later this month.

Design Changes

The HTC EVO View 4G is sleeker and more business-like than the Flyer, sticking to the tablet norm of black and dark gray, rather than the more noticeable but more toy-like light gray and white you get with the Flyer. The bezel around the screen is black, and the device's shell is dark gray with lighter gray accents, and the occasional red flourish. It's a very Droid-like color scheme, and the View actually looks like a bigger HTC Droid Incredible 2 ($199.99, 3.5 stars), with the bump-out camera lens and bumpy back. Otherwise, it's the same device in weight and dimensions, and the same 7-inch 1,024-by-600 touch-screen LCD that is so responsive and sensitive to pen input.

New Apps

You get plenty of carrier bloatware with the EVO View. It ranges from shortcuts to websites that you'll probably never use and games you'll likely never play, to apps that let you access your Sprint account or other carrier services. Others, like TeleNav GPS Navigator, might be useful to some, but for many, they'll just take up space in the app drawer. You can't delete them, but you'll learn to ignore them.

There are two important new cellular-coverage-related apps here. First is Sprint Hotspot, which lets you share your 3G or 4G connection as a Wi-Fi network (for a $30 per month fee). It works well as a way to get the whole family online through a single, unlimited 4G connection. The other is Messages, which is a full text-messaging client—pieced together with Google Voice or Skype apps, the EVO View could be a nice full-service phone all by itself. There's an internal mic, but it's not strong, so if you want to use the View as a phone you'll want to pair it with a Bluetooth headset like the Aliph Jawbone Era ($129, 4.5 stars).

3G and 4G Coverage

The biggest difference between the Flyer and the View is all the G's: the Flyer has none, and the View has 4. Sprint's 4G coverage isn't everywhere yet, but it's growing, and where it's available it's fast. In my tests, in midtown Manhattan, I got 5Mbps down, and 954Kbps up, both about as can be expected from Sprint's WiMAX network. 3G is more reliably available, but not quite as fast.

4G can be toggled on and off with just a tap in the Quick Settings menu, accessible via the pull-down Notifications windowshade; that's key to battery life, because 4G can a serial battery killer. Toggling between 3G and 4G creates about five seconds of disconnect, but that's not a huge problem unless you're on a video call, and it's nice to be able to choose between fast speeds or long life. Our own battery tests are underway, and will be posted here shortly.

Conclusions

The HTC EVO View 4G is a solid tablet, that's bolstered by its excellent pen input, but somewhat hampered by its lack of Google's tablet-specific OS. HTC's Sense UI helps, but it's not a replacement for true tablet Android, which is Honeycomb. Overall, the View/Flyer is neither the best tablet nor even the best Android tablet your money can buy, but if handwriting, drawing and doodling are things that appeal to you, and the 7-inch screen size is right, it might be just the tablet for you. Similarly, if 4G coverage is something you must have, then you must have the EVO View 4G over the Flyer. If you want the best tablet you can buy, the Apple iPad 2 (4.5 stars, $499) still can't be beat. But if it's Android you're after, the Asus Eee Pad Transformer ($399, 3.5 stars) has enough unique features, like a laptop-like docking system, to send it to the head of the Honeycomb class—for now.

PCMag

Acer's new Honeycomb driven Iconia Tab A500 tablet

As the table in AnandTech's review demonstrates, the interior of most tablets is dominated by a 1 Ghz ARM Cortex A9 with Tegra 2 doing the heavily graphical lifting.  This puts the onus for standing out among the crowd on the look of the tablet and the compatible peripherals as well as the pice.   Acer's design was not particularly well received at AnandTech, with several seams reducing their enjoyment of the tablet.  On the plus side is the peripheral support, with HDMI and both a microSD card reader and a miniUSB port you will have no problems interfacing with your other gadgets.  With a cost just under $400 AnandTech does like the tablet but they can't help but point out that with quad core ICS/Android 4.0 and Kal-El just around the corner you might want to wait for the next generation.

"Next in our series of Honeycomb tablet reviews is the Acer Iconia Tab A500. The A500 was the second Honeycomb tablet to go on sale, and is one of four on the market at present, all of which are very similar. They share basic specs—10.1” 1280x800 displays, NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 underhood, 1GB LPDDR2 RAM, 16-64GB onboard NAND, front and rear facing cameras with HD video capture, basic wireless connectivity options, and stock versions of Android 3.0/3.1 Honeycomb (albeit with different preloaded software packages). The hardware similarities makes things like design and price that much more important, and the latter is where Acer seemed to have an edge."

PC Perspective

ASUS B53F Business Notebook

If you are searching for a new business laptop, then check out the ASUS B53F. The 15.6-inch notebook runs on the second generation Intel Core family processor and the Microsoft Windows 7 Professional OS. The ASUS B53F comes equipped with an Intel GMA HD graphics, up to 8GB DDR3 memory, a 320GB hard drive, a DVD burner, Ethernet, WiFi, a webcam, a card reader and a fingerprint reader. Other specs include eSATA USB combo, two USB 2.0 ports, D-Sub, HDMI and DisplayPort. [PCLaunches]

 

ChillBed Laptop Cooling Stand Review

One of the problems with laptops is their tendency to overheat, which can damage internal components. Their small size doesn't allow a lot of venting nor big cooling fans to keep down heat. And their portability often means that people are using them places that can block the cooling vents - like on laps or teenagers who use them while lying on the bed. There are a lot of products that try to address the cooling problems inherent with laptops. Some products are as simple as little plastic feet to elevate the back of the laptop and allow airflow on all sides. Some are more elaborate lapdesks or stands with fans to blow air across the laptop, but those often draw their power from the laptop and shorten battery life. ChillBed Industries has an aluminum laptop stand that they say is designed to absorb and dissipate heat without the use of fans. I received a 13" ChillBed for review. Let's give it a closer look.

The photos in this review, including the top photo and the tabular data, can be clicked for an enlarged view.

The ChillBed laptop stands are made of solid aluminum. They have a Z-shape that's lower in the front. The front and bottom edges are wrapped with rubbery black plastic to prevent scratches to the laptop and the tabletop. The back also has four little silicone feet. The front two also help protect the table, and all four protect your laptop when you are carrying the stand and laptop in a bag. There's a large, green logo on the top; it appears to be silk-screened on. There's also a small "Made in Canada" sticker on the bottom.

The ChillBed stands are available in sizes for 13", 15", and 17" laptops; the ChillBeds themselves are a bit narrower than the stated sizes. ChillBed Industries say their stands are designed "with Mac notebooks in mind, but will keep any laptop running cooler". They are also available in the natural aluminum and in powder-coated jet black. I asked for and received a 13" ChillBed in natural aluminum.

Back "leg" of the ChillBed

The ChillBed stand I received weighs 13.4 oz on my digital scale. It is 12.4" wide, and it is about 0.5" tall in the front and 1.4" tall in the back. My 13" MacBook Pro fits on the stand with only the smallest amount of overhang on both sides. The laptop is very stable on the ChillBed stand. The ChillBed itself can slide around on the table a bit, or at least it does on my molded plastic-topped table I use as my laptop stand and on my retro Formica kitchen table. It doesn't slide as much on my wood coffee table, so the rubber strip and the silicone pads "grip" some surfaces better than others.

I like the angle the ChillBed lifts my laptop. Typing is comfortable, and the angle seems to be a good one to prevent my wrists from tiring quickly. It also lifts my screen up a bit, and that makes the viewing angle more comfortable. I feel I can sit a bit straighter in my chair.

The ChillBed is also designed to travel in your laptop bag and provide some extra protection. You just flip the stand over and lay your laptop screen-side down on those four silicone feet. Put both pieces into your laptop bag, and the aluminum stand provides some extra screen protection. I have a couple of laptop bags now, including a Tom Bihn Zephyr that the ChillBed fits easily. I bought that Zephyr for the 15.4" Dell I used to have, and lately I've been using the Cocoon Kips Bay bag designed for the 13" MacBook Pro. The Kips Bay is much smaller than my other bags, and the laptop compartment is sized just for the laptop. I didn't think there was room for anything else, but you can see the laptop and stand both fit in the compartment. The stand was a bit taller than the compartment, but I was able to close and zip the Cocoon bag with no problem. The Kips Bay bag is hard-sided to protect the laptop, but extra protection never hurts. And I'll have my stand for comfortable typing anywhere I go.

Okay, so it's a comfortable stand and a protective travel companion. It's time to evaluate cooling. I have a MacBook Pro purchased in May 2011. I use it for writing, photo editing, email, and surfing most of the time; in other words, I don't usually use it teetering at the edge of bursting into flames. Even when I am doing something that causes the computer's case to feel warm to the hand, I've never heard a fan.

I needed a way to quantify cooling function, so I found the MagicanPaster application in the Mac App store. In addition to a lot of other parameters, the MagicanPaster application monitors various internal temperatures. I left the MagicanPaster app running in the background while I used the laptop without the ChillBed for several days. I took screenshots of the temperatures randomly as I used the laptop. I then put the laptop on the ChillBed and took temperatures at random times as I used it in my normal patterns. You can see from the tabulated data there isn't a clear pattern of temperature reduction while using the ChillBed.

I decided to find a way to exercise the laptop a bit harder. My husband was watching golf on his computer recently, and the Flash video worked the computer so hard you could burn your hand on the bottom of the aluminum chassis. I had found my method! I took a starting temperature reading, then I took the computer off the stand and ran the video for 9 minutes before checking again. MagicanPaster was showing a red reading for the CPU temp, flagging it as overly hot. I put the laptop on the ChillBed and ran the video for six minutes before checking. The temperature was even higher with the ChillBed. I stopped the test.

Perhaps it was unfair to let the computer get overheated before putting it on the ChillBed. I thought a better test of the ChillBed would be to see if it could prevent the temperature from getting that high. I waited until the next day for the next test to be sure my computer was back to normal - and golf tournaments go on forever, so I could use the same Flash feed for the second test. I again took a starting reading with the computer on the ChillBed, then I started up the golf game video again. I waited six minutes before taking a temperature reading. Again, my CPU reading was in the red. The ChillBed stand didn't prevent the computer from overheating.

I like the ChillBed as a stand for my laptop. It's stable, and it holds my laptop at a comfortable viewing and typing angle. I didn't see any cooling benefit, but my laptop is new and tends to run cool anyway. I think you'll find the ChillBed comfortable to use, and your cooling mileage may vary if you have a laptop with vents on the bottom or a laptop that tends to run hotter than mine.
source: The Gadgeteer

LG Xnote P530 Notebook Now Available In South Korea

LG has finally released the Xnote P530 in South Korea. The 15.6-inch laptop comes jam packed with a choice of Intel Core i5 or Core i7 processor, an nVidia GeForce GT520M or an Intel HD Graphics 3000 graphics, a 520GB HDD, and up to 8GB of RAM. Unfortunately, there is no info on pricing so far. [LG]

LG's Sandy Bridge based Xnote P530 notebook now available in Korea

Unveiled earlier in May, LG's new Xnote P530 featuring LG's shuriken LCD or Super Slim LED LCD (4.7mm) is now set to sail in Korea! This Xnote P530 also comes with a Narrow Bezel 15.6" LCD features now Intel's 2nd generation Quad Core CPU (Sandy Bridge) Core i5 or i7, comes with up to 8GB of RAM, 500GB of HDD and Nvidia GeForce GT520M graphics. No words on the pricing of this new baby yet.
source: Akihabara News

eMachines eME443-BZ602 15.6-Inch Laptop For Only $329.99

Here's another affordable 15.6-inch laptop for you to grab, the eME443-BZ602 from eMachines. Available via Newegg, the system is equipped with a 15.6-inch 1366 x 768 display, a 1GHz AMD Fusion C-50 APU dual-core processor, an AMD Radeon HD 6250 integrated graphics, a 2GB DDR3 RAM, a 250GB hard drive, a 0.3-megapixel webcam, a DVD burner, a 2-in-1 card reader, WiFi, a 6-cell battery and pre-loaded with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OS. The eMachines eME443-BZ602 can be yours for just $329.99.
source: TechFresh

HP reportedly launching 7-inch tablet

Hewlett-Packard will reportedly unveil a 7-inch tablet in August following the July 1 debut of its 9.7-inch TouchPad.

HP has ordered 400,000 to 450,000 TouchPad tablets per month from supplier Inventec, says a story in Friday's Taiwan Economic News. Inventec will supply HP with the upcoming 9.7-inch TouchPad as well as the new 7-inch tablet.

An industry insider cited by Taiwan Economic News says that HP will order around 3 million tablets from Inventec this year.

Beyond the August kickoff date, no details were revealed about the 7-inch tablet. A request to HP for comment on the prospective tablet was not immediately returned.

HP will launch its 9.7-inch TouchPad in the U.S. this coming Friday. Priced at $499.99 for the 16GB and $599.99 for the 32GB model, the tablet will be sold through a variety of retailers, including Amazon.com, Best Buy, Wal-Mart, and Staples.

Running HP's WebOS and powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 1.2GHz dual-CPU, the HP TouchPad will offer a 1024x768 display and a front-facing 1.3-megapixel webcam, along with built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

Cnet

Samsung Galaxy S II First Impressions

The Samsung Galaxy S II is coming to Canada soon. We aren’t able to divulge carrier details but during a media briefing we had a chance to play with the device, my first impressions are below and will follow up with a full review shortly.

Samsung has a solid competitor not only to the iPhone, but to the rest of the highly-competitive smartphone market. It seems like they’ve taken their hard-earned lessons to heart, and improved in every way upon the original.

Hardware

The hardware is all plastic, but its lineage owes far more to the Nexus S and Infuse 4G than to the original Galaxy S series. It’s clear Samsung learned a few things from the original: plastic is fine as long as it doesn’t creak; plastic is fine as long as it doesn’t invite fingerprints.

The SGS2 improves upon the first in both respects: the main plastic body extends through the sides and partway to the back, creating a very sturdy “unibody” casing that feels far sturdier than any previous Samsung device I’ve used, while keeping it admirably thin at 8.5mm. That’s 1.4mm thinner than the original.

Before moving onto the front, I must note that the battery cover, which only fits over a portion of the entire back, seems flimsy and breakable. But Samsung has done some wonderful things with plastic, as this thing bends and bends while maintaining its shape. It also has a wonderful ribbed pattern that feels great in the hand and provides more grip than the smooth back of the original Galaxy S.

The screen is hands-down the best in the business. Discount for a second that the 4.3? display still displays the same number of pixels as the 4? original, and some 30% fewer than the 3.5? iPhone 4. Once you see it, you will understand. The blacks are the blackest, the colours the most vivid, the text the sharpest. I don’t know how else to explain it, but when I am reading black text on a white background it feels like I’m reading a piece of paper. There is no screen at all. This is likely because the screen itself is so close to the glass, preventing that disconnected feeling you get from looking at a lower-quality LCD. I wish this didn’t read like hyperbole, but it’s the only way I can describe it. With a slightly higher resolution, the Super AMOLED display of the Galaxy S II would be perfect. As it stands, there are issues with pixel density and aliasing that are not present on the iPhone 4's Retina Display. But the 4.3? size makes it far easier, for me at least, to comfortably read articles, books and web pages.

The design is also commendable. There is a simplicity to the face that is absent from most other Androids. When the screen is off, only the Home button is visible, as the Back and Menu buttons are lit only when needed. There is a noble austerity to the entire device, from its solid lightness to its lack of pretension. It has just two ports: a combination USB/HDMI port on the bottom (known as a MHL port) and a 3.5mm headphone jack on top. The left side finds the small black volume rocker and on the right a power button. There is a single speaker on the bottom rear of the device, where a small chin protrudes.

The phone at 116g is meagre, but weighted perfectly. Holding it to talk is not cumbersome, despite its ample size.

Software

The Galaxy S II ships with TouchWIZ 4, a skin which at first resembles its much-derided predecessor. Luckily, Samsung has made some drastic improvements to performance and aesthetic over the past year, and I can happily say it rivals Sense in responsiveness and usefulness.

Give me a stock Android skin any day of the week, but some of the features Samsung has added to the new TouchWIZ are admirable. But more than anything, this is Android running flawlessly, without slowdowns, crashes or memory problems. That it took a device with a 1.2Ghz dual-core processor and 1GB RAM to finally tame the wild beast that is Android is a bit mystifying, but tame Android it does.

Browsing flies. The stock browser is hardware-accelerated, and over 3G or WiFi performance is unprecedented. There is an iOS-like kinetic scrolling mechanism that all but does away with j***y Android browser scrolling. Pinching your fingers together brings up the tab menu. It’s a simple thing that, combined with the flawless performance, makes me want to use the stock browser. I haven’t done that since 2008.

Elsewhere

The Galaxy S II has Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread loaded, and the dark aesthetic has been adapted nicely to work with TouchWIZ. The camera app has been given a nice visual overhaul, and the 8MP camera takes great shots. Focus is fast, and photos have a nice amount of detail, though colours are somewhat muted giving surroundings a dreary look. Some people prefer the way colours “POP” on the iPhone 4, but I think it’s a misnomer to say its quality is superior. Rather, it seems that Samsung captures colours more accurately, and certainly with more detail. It’s a matter of opinion whether purists will prefer Samsung’s results. The 2MP front camera also take nice photos in good lighting and the phone natively supports video calling, though as far as I can tell only between Samsung devices.

Bundled apps are appreciated, but cannot be removed, which is a shame. There are four hubs: Games, Social, Music and Readers, each powered by a different third-party service. For example, Music is a modified version of 7Digital’s Android app, and Readers is a combination of Zinio, PressDisplay and Kobo. Surely Samsung could have left these out without opposition, but for them it’s a matter of trying to sell content on the device a la iTunes and differentiate from the other Android manufacturers who are without licensing deals.

While the SGS2 doesn’t have a Tegra 2 processor in it, it’s arguably a better gaming machine than the equivalent Optimus 2X or Motorola Atrix. It achieves an awesome 3200+ points on the Quadrant benchmark, compared to around 1500 from the Nexus S and 2500 from the Atrix.

Battery life has proven a marvel. At 1600mAh, it’s some 300milliamps less than the Atrix, and yet it seems to last far longer. In fact, the Galaxy S II has the best battery life of any Android device I’ve tested to date. I clocked nearly 26 hours on a single charge and still had 19% left before I recharged it, and that was with doing what I normally do through the day: browsing, calls, Twitter, email and camera. I’ve heard good things from other users, too, so I know I’m not a lucky aberration.

I’ll leave the rest for the review, but so far, so good. If you’ve had a bad experience with Android before, there is still a lot to like about the Samsung Galaxy S II. Make no mistake though, this is one of the smoothest smartphone experiences I’ve ever had, and that includes extensive use of the iPhone 4. Sure, the experience is different, and some would say not as refined, but there are few if any tasks one cannot accomplish as quickly or easily on the SGS2 as they can on an iOS device. It’s taken this long, but with the latest iteration of Samsung, HTC and Motorola devices, it seems that the hardware has finally caught up with the demands of the Android software.

—-

In no particular order, here are a couple field notes of what Samsung has added to the experience:

- Double-tap the home screen for Vlingo-powered voice commands. This also works at the home screen
- Touch two points of a web page / photo and tilt the phone to zoom in and out
- Move icons around the homescreens by tilting the phone
- Mute incoming calls and sounds by turning over the phone
- Press and hold an empty part of the home screen to bring up a custom editing menu with excellent widget support
- 7Digital-powered Music Hub
- Extensive social media support through the Social Hub
- Readers Hub with News/Books/Magazine support (PressDisplay/Kobo/Zinio)
- Game Hub powered by mobage
- Built-in Video Maker and Photo Editor
- Kies air management to connect phone to PC or Mac
- Built-in IM client, FM Radio, Polaris Office

By Daniel Bader
Mobilesyrup

Nokia E7 review

Nokia's last gasp Symbian smartphone, the E7, is here. Does it go out in a blaze of glory or is it a damp squib? Julian Prokaza finds out in our review.

Nokia has been having a bit of a hard time of late. The Finnish mobile phone giant recently ditched the ailing Symbian as its mobile operating system of choice (in favour of Windows Phone 7) and then announced 7,000 job losses in April as part of a €1 billion cost-cutting measure. So, with the future of both the company and Symbian still uncertain, now might not seem like an ideal time to invest in a new Symbian smartphone from Nokia, which is unfortunate, as that’s just what the E7 is.

To Nokia’s credit, the E7 is an extremely stylish smartphone. It has a sleek, all-aluminium shell with rounded edges and neatly capped-off ends, along with a 4in screen that fills the entire front of the handset. It sits nicely in the hand too, although the finish does make it rather slippy. At 176g, it isn’t too heavy to tote around in a jacket pocket.

All-screen it may be, but the E7 also packs a physical Qwerty keyboard — although it takes a short while to figure where this lurks. As with similar smartphones from other manufacturers, the keyboard is actually hidden beneath the screen, but the two halves of the case fit together so snugly that it isn’t immediately obvious how to get at it.

Flipping up the E7's screen to reveal the keyboard is a Herculean task.

Unfortunately, even when armed with the requisite knowledge, getting the case to open still isn’t easy. The E7’s smooth, rounded edges don’t give much purchase for a finger and it takes two hands — and two thumbs — to push the screen out of the way. With a firm shove though, the screen slides up (in landscape orientation) to sit at a 30-degree tilt that’s ideal for use while typing.

Sadly, the physical Qwerty keyboard itself isn’t so good. The keys are a reasonable size, but they’re very shallow and not particularly tactile. The keyboard’s width (it stretches across almost the whole case) also means two-thumb typing involves a lot of reaching back and forth, although we suspect this is a matter of personal preference rather than some kind of inherent design flaw.

Keyboard side, the Nokia E7 has a flush-fitting button on its top edge that provides the usual Symbian options for powering off and switching profiles, plus a metallic slider on the left for quickly locking and unlocking the screen. There’s a similar slider on the right for the volume control, plus a button that activates digital camera mode and then works as a shutter release. Lastly, a wide button below the screen returns the Symbian Home screen when pressed in any application, and brings up a list of installed apps when pressed at the Home screen itself.

The image quality of photos taken with camera is best described as average. The eight-megapixel photos look little better than those from lower resolution smartphone cameras.

The 4in AMOLED screen on the E7 looks great. It’s bright and vibrant, but the 640 x 360 pixel resolution seems a little meagre with 800 x 480 displays now commonplace, even if it still renders text relatively crisply. The capacitive glass screen feels fine under the finger, but the super-snappy response that’s a trademark of iOS and (to a lesser degree) Android is absent — and that’s where the E7’s problems really lie.

The shortcomings of Symbian for modern smartphone use are well known, of course – that’s why Nokia has decided to dump it, after all. The version of Symbian^3 used on the E7 has been reworked for touchscreen use and, superficially, it looks the part. Start to use it, however, and it soon becomes an exercise in frustration, with its counter-intuitive controls and cryptic settings squirrelled away in the menu system.

The web browser, for example, feels wholly inadequate and struggles to render some web pages accurately. The screen lacks the resolution to render text-based pages readable in full-page view, but double-tap to zoom in and rather than the main column of body text being enlarged to fit the screen width (a standard feature on other smartphone OSes), the whole page is simply magnified by some seemingly random amount.

Pinch the screen to get a better text fit and everything jerkily steps up and down in size, with embedded images still usually left half off-screen. It’s a similar annoying story with other apps — Maps doggedly refused to download any maps data, despite incessant prompts to do so, for instance. This kind of OS silliness simply has no place on a smartphone in this day and age.

As for other modern smartphone hardware features, the E7 packs them all — including a mini HDMI-out port — and call quality is commendable enough. The non-removable 1200mAh battery is rated by Nokia at up to 9 hours talk time and 430 hours standby, and ran for just over five and a half hours in a video playback test.

ITPRO

Toshiba Launches Satellite P745 / P755 / P775 Entertainment Laptop Line

The new P models include the 14-inch P745, 15.6-inch P755 and its 3D-capable version P755 3D, as well as the P775 17.3-incher.

The notebooks are powered by the Intel Core i3, i5, and i7, or an AMD A6 Fusion processor. Some configurations include the Nvidia GeForce GT 540M dedicated GPUs and Optimus switchable graphics, Blu-ray drives, Intel Wireless Display (WiDi) technology, and 4G WiMAX mobile broadband modules.

These higher-end mobile machines feature up to 750GB of storage, isle-style keyboards, Harman/Kardon stereo speakers with Dolby sound, USB 3.0, and HDMI.

The Satellite P755 3D additionally sports a 15.6-inch 120Hz 3D screen, powered by Nvidia 3D Vision technology. It ships with a pair of active shutter glasses.

Design of the new laptops includes platinum-colored Fusion X2 finish.

The basic Satellite P745 configuration will be priced at $700, while the P755 and P755 3D will start at $630 and $1,200, respectively. Toshiba's Satellite P775 will also have a base price of $629.99. They are expected to start shipping on June 21.
source: Laptoping.com

Finished Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 already rooted

Less than two weeks after the finished retail edition of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 arrived on the market, the device has already been rooted. Enthusiasts at XDA-Developers have posted a tutorial and files that are said to be necessary to gain root access. The exploit is allegedly reversible, allowing users to unroot their devices if necessary.

The Tab 10.1 runs the latest official release of Google's tablet-optimized OS, Android 3.1, limiting the range of potential customizations until users have a chance to explore the possibilities. Both the retail variant and pre-release tablet, distributed at Google's I/O event, have been rooted.

Samsung's latest tablet centers around a 10.1-inch display with 1280x800 resolution, with a dual-core Tegra 2 processor and choice between 16GB or 32GB of storage.

Electronista

Olympus E-PM1 PEN Mini leaks out

A photo of the Olympus PEN mini E-PM1 has been leaked to 43 Rumors. The new Micro Four Thirds format camera compares in size with the Olympus XZ-1, being slightly larger in width and comparable height and depth. Olympus has promised the new PEN camera will feature an ultrafast autofocus that the company says is faster than the Panasonic GH2 AF and many DSLR cameras on the market today.

The E-PM1 PEN will also have a touchscreen and a new imaging engine and sensor. Improved circuitry should deliver reduced power consumption and increased battery life.

The Olympus E-PM1 PEN will have its official unveiling on June 30.

Electronista

Sony Ericsson expects Android 2.3 on Xperia X10 in August

Despite Sony Ericsson's promise that its Xperia X10 handset would be updated with Android 2.3 by late spring, the company has confirmed that it will not meet the original goal. In a blog post, the company suggests it is now planning to begin the roll-out sometime in the beginning of August. Users will still be able to take advantage of software functionality close to that of the newer Xperia Arc handset.

The Gingerbread build will bring a new UI with a pinch-to-overview gesture, along with a customizable app tray in horizontal orientation. Other features taken from the latest Xperia lineup include revamped media widgets and an integrated equalizer in the music player, however users will not be able to utilize DLNA media streaming.