Details of Samsung’s ‘Alex’ Chrome OS netbook leaked, Atom N550 in tow
As we approach the expected mid-2011 launch for a few Chrome OS devices, it seems inevitable that some details are bound to slip out ahead of time — here’s looking at you, Acer ZGB and Seaboard. The latest victim outed by a Chromium bug report is the Samsung “Alex,” which sports a 1280 x 800 display (probably at 10 inches as previously rumored; like the mockup above), 1.5GHz dual-core Atom N550, SanDisk SSD P4 of unknown capacity, and 2GB RAM. Also listed are a Qualcomm Gobi 2000 3G card, Bluetooth, WiFi, webcam, and a Synaptics touchpad. Well, not long to go now — perhaps the Alex might even make a cheeky appearance at Google I/O in two weeks’ time? Screenshot of the bug report after the break.
[Thanks, Marco]
Continue reading Details of Samsung’s ‘Alex’ Chrome OS netbook leaked, Atom N550 in tow
Details of Samsung’s ‘Alex’ Chrome OS netbook leaked, Atom N550 in tow originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Apr 2011 06:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Barnes & Noble licenses Alex e-reader patents from Spring Design, settles dispute
Continue reading Barnes & Noble licenses Alex e-reader patents from Spring Design, settles dispute
Barnes & Noble licenses Alex e-reader patents from Spring Design, settles dispute originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Mar 2011 17:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Spring Design Alex dies, forever remembered as the one that looked like the Nook
The Spring Design Alex, introduced in late 2009, died today. The causes aren’t exactly known, but it is said that the company’s investor “stopped the money.” We surmise its $399 price point at least put it on life support. The Alex lived a rather short life, in which it battled Barnes & Noble’s Nook on shelves as well as in courts. The E-ink and LCD e-reader did, however, live to be rooted and sideloaded with apps. We’ll always remember the Spring Design Alex as a brave Android, dual-screen e-reader willing to venture into tablet territories. Spring Design has confirmed the passing, but hasn’t said if it plans to bring more children into the world. We wish them the best in this tough time.
Spring Design Alex dies, forever remembered as the one that looked like the Nook originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Feb 2011 18:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Spring Design Alex e-reader gets rooted
With the onslaught of e-readers in the works, and the tablet device craze gaining steam, life has to be tough for the Alex. It clearly has slipped off the radar recently, even the announcement that it’s started shipping already didn’t find much coverage. I’ve not had a chance to fiddle with it, but I can see why some of the competition gets more favorable press. It’s big. It’s still running Cupcake. It has no menu button !?!
It does have however a nice, easy-to-read e-ink display. And as of late Sunday afternoon, it
has something else that many will be interested in – A mystery hacker by the name of
Bluebrain has got the thing cracked open. It looks to be a relatively simple task, all the
hard work has been wrapped up nicely into a single download.
I’m not convinced that this will be enough to save the Alex from a doomed life in the shadow
of iPads and Nooks, but it certainly piqued my interest in the device a little bit. We’ll
keep an eye on things, and if any sort of outside development community springs up (pun
intended – zing!) I know I’ll be looking at it a little harder. Anyone out there using an
Alex? We’d love to hear your thoughts and opinions in the comments! [via engadget]
Where is the Spring Design Alex E-Reader?
We’d love to give you guys good news about the Android-powered Spring Design Alex e-reader but sadly that’s not the case. It’s not entirely bad news so that’s something to hang your hat on (kind of). But the Alex e-reader that was originally supposed to become available at the end of February is no where to be found. Their own website currently says that orders will begin in the first week of March, and that has gone by as well. Engadget says that they’ve been re-assured by the company that orders will begin in the "next week or two" and customers will get the Alex e-reader by "early spring", whatever that means.
The Alex e-reader, which we got a hands-on with at CES, is an impressive little device that combines a LCD screen and e-ink screen on one slate (like the Nook). Unlike the Nook, Android is front and center and we thought everything worked really well together. We hope that Spring Design can hammer out the final details because we think that the Alex e-reader can be that Android-powered e-reader we never knew we wanted.
Spring Design Alex E-Reader Announces Partnership With Borders, Drops Price
If you didn’t notice our excitement in the Spring Design Alex E-Book Reader yet, you will now. Spring Design just announced that they’ll be partnering with the Borders’ eBook store for their Android-powered Alex E-Reader. This is awesome news because one of the biggest sells (and underrated aspects) for E-Readers is to have an ecosystem in place to easily get books onto the device. Having a partnership with Borders solves this for Spring Design and should absolutely get Amazon’s and Barnes & Noble’s attention. In a sense, their competitors are joining forces.
The good news doesn’t stop there. They’ll be dropping the price of the Alex E-Reader by a solid $40, bringing it down to $359. The price is still hefty, and we wished they would drop it more, but a price cut is a price cut is a price cut, right?
Press release after the jump!
Hands-On With Spring Design Alex Android-Powered Dual Screen E-Reader
Watch out Nook, you have a real competitor for that Android-powered, Dual-screen E-Book Reader space. We spent a little time with the Spring Design Alex E-Reader at CES and came away pretty impressed. Unlike the Nook (un-rooted, of course), Android is front and center with this puppy, you can easily set up your e-mail, browse web pages via the browser and even search a million free Google Books all under the Android OS. Take a look at the pictures, it’s unmistakably Android.
The hardware was surprisingly nice as well. It was thin and light yet not cheap feeling at all. Definitely thinner than the Nook but not as polished as the Kindle. The E-ink screen performed well (page transitions are a bit choppy, expectedly) and the color touchscreen was very responsive. Basically, the Spring Design Alex is full featured enough to be thought of as a E-Reader and Android phone mash-up.
Unfortunately, reports are showing that the Spring Design Alex will cost $399, shipping February 22nd. That’s significantly more expensive than the Nook, $140 to be specific. Though we still remain positive about this device, more so than the Nook, the price dampens our excitement just a little bit.
Hit the jump to see another shot of the Spring Design Alex E-Reader!
Android-powered Alex e-reader gets access to Google books library
Spring Design’s Alex e-reader, which still isn’t actually available (though we expect to see it this week at CES), has announce a deal that gives it access to Google’s books library, gaining the use of more than 1 million items online or downloaded onto the reader.
With the Alex touch screen browser, users can access the Internet to search and read eBooks directly on Alex’s eReader’s 6” EPD (Electronic Paper Display) screen while browsing in full color on the Internet simultaneously. Users can click on hyperlinks within online books that lead to relevant web-based information or multimedia content found online to enrich their reading experience. EPUB digital books can be searched and downloaded using Google API applications provided by Alex’s eReader.
Very cool. We’ll definitely be checking that out this week. [Presser]