Monday, May 30, 2011

Android Phone Fans

Android Phone Fans

Asus Slider Hands-on at Computex 2011

Posted: 30 May 2011 02:32 PM PDT

This image has no alt text


Our time with the Asus Eee Pad Slider stretches all the way back to its unveiling at CES in January of this year, but it was once again on hand at Computex where our pal Charbax caught up with the slate. The tablet remains the same with its slide-out keyboard, but Asus has made good on its promise and delivered a fresh Honeycomb build. Things look in order here, and if the Asus Transformer is any indication, expect the Slider to be an equally hot item.

Asus Padfone Unveiled at Computex 2011

Posted: 30 May 2011 02:27 PM PDT

This image has no alt text

Is it a pad or is it a phone? That’s the question Asus has been teasing us with, and, while they managed to keep some elements a secret, we saw the new Asus Padfone coming from a mile away. Still, the new device with its phone-in-pad design made its debut at Computex 2011. After a bit of on-stage theatrics, we get down to the nitty gritty. The Padfone reminds us a bit of the Motorola Atrix and its laptop dock. Did we say a bit? We meant a lot, but we aren’t sure how the concept will play out. Check out the full video above courtesy of our friend Charbax.

Hands-on with the Asus Memo, World’s First 7-inch Honeycomb Tablet

Posted: 30 May 2011 02:19 PM PDT

This image has no alt text

Computex is in full swing, and the Android gadgets are out in force. As you might expect, tablets continue to be one of the biggest trends at trade shows near and far, and we had the pleasure of going hands-on with the new Asus Memo, the self-proclaimed world’s first 7-inch Honeycomb tablet. While we have heard talk that Honeycomb isn’t exactly pretty on the smaller screen size, Asus seems to prove that notion wrong with this one. Our buddy Charbax was on site at Computex and fed us over some footage of the Asus slate. Note the Bluetooth handset accessory for placing calls. Seven inches may be small for a Honeycomb tab, but it’s still a bit too big to be holding up against your face.

Samsung Prepping Samsung Galaxy S III for First Half of 2012

Posted: 30 May 2011 11:35 AM PDT

This image has no alt text

A good portion of the world (North America) has yet to receive the Galaxy S II and we’re already hearing about a Galaxy S III. JK Shin, head of Samsung Mobile, has mentioned to the Wall Street Journal that they’re aiming to release the next generation flagship in the first half of 2012.

We don’t know anything about the Samsung Galaxy S III at all, but we do know Samsung likes to one-up themselves as each release goes by. That’s not to predict we’ll be seeing a quad-core chip inside the GSIII alongside a ton of other beast-like specs, but we don’t expect to be disappointed. He also mentioned they’d be bringing a 4G LTE-equipped Tab 10.1 and 8.9 later this year, but we’ve known that since CTIA. [via BGR]

Download: Evernote for Android Tablets Beta

Posted: 30 May 2011 11:18 AM PDT

This image has no alt text

More Honeycomb apps, you say? Why, of course! Evernote, who received honors of being Phandroid’s highest-ranked note taking application, has gotten a tablet version and is now in public beta. While the phone-specific application was still great on tablets, we always appreciate developers taking the time and effort to further refine the user experience and adapt their applications to tablets. There won’t be much different outside of the obvious user interface changes compared to the application on Android phones, but it’s always nice to have a native option. Click here to get started. [via Droid-Life]

Android Market (Web) Gets Improved Screenshot Navigation

Posted: 30 May 2011 11:11 AM PDT

This image has no alt text

This probably seems small, but one of the biggest annoyances I had with the web version of the Android market is how frustrating it was to navigate screenshots. Previously, if you opened a screenshot you had to close it before you opened another one. And you couldn’t just click away from the screenshot to close it – you had to specifically press that X.

Google’s made a quick change, however, that’ll make viewing screenshots far more enjoyable and efficient. You’ll get arrows to go back and forth between shots and you can even rotate them. And yes, clicking away from it now closes the screenshot. Like I said, not the biggest change in the world but it was a much needed one. Go ahead and try it out for yourself at market.android.com.

NVIDIA Shows Off Kal-El (Tegra 3) With Glowball Demo [Video]

Posted: 30 May 2011 08:47 AM PDT

This image has no alt text

NVIDIA’s still hammering away at Kal-El and the result of all their work on it seems to be turning out great. Their latest demo is one called Glowball. It shows off the power that Kal-El can give developers who need realistic and dynamic lighting engines. And more than that, it showed off the chipset’s ability to provide enough power for realistic physics.

Getting a ball rolling is nothing new, but having that ball roll into a piece of cloth that transforms realistically is. (For phone sand tablets, anyway.) They made full use of Kal-El’s (Tegra 3′s) four cores for this demo, and they say this isn’t even close to how fast the production chipset will be. The production chipset is said to be 25%-30% faster than the revision they used for the demo.

NVIDIA’s posted more information about what’s going on with Kal-El and the Glowball demo here, but be sure to watch the video above to get a close look for yourself. And yes, clowns creep me out, too.

Apparent Nexus 3 Photos Leaked, Promptly Yanked

Posted: 30 May 2011 08:03 AM PDT

This image has no alt text

We’ve already known a new Nexus phone was coming – that much was confirmed by Andy Rubin, the father of Android. What we didn’t know, however, was who would be making it, what it’d look like, and what kind of specs it would be rocking. The device pictured here is said to be manufactured by HTC, but TechHog’s sources say Google’s looking at both LG and HTC for the next Nexus device.

As for HTC’s version, you might have already been able to tell that this one has no capacitive buttons. It’ll come with Ice Cream Sandwich at launch, we hear, and those virtual navigation buttons do away with the need for physical ones. The screen looks to be somewhere between 4.5 and 5 inches with limited bezel.

The device is said to have “freaking amazing specs”, which we imagine will include a dual-core processor. Also confirmed is a front-facing camera and support for both HSPA+ and CDMA technology. Considering how closely Google has been working with Sprint lately, with their latest collaboration being Google Wallet, we won’t be surprised to see the Nexus 3 launched on the Now Network first.

TechHog took their original image and information down, but nothing ever dies on the interwebs. We’re not sure if we can trust the information yet, but it’s the best we have to go on for now. Enjoy it for a bit, folks, and let’s hope more details trickle out in the coming months. [TechHog, Thanks Chris!]
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)