Hands on with Archos’ slate of slates at IFA 2010
Archos brought no fewer than five models of its new "internet tablets" to IFA 2010: Archos 28, Archos 32, Archos 43, Archos 70, and Archos 10.1. We’re fond of pretty much all of them. They all run Android 2.2 Froyo and have a "light" skin that doesn’t get in the way too much. The larger ones rock a 1GHz Cortex A8 processor that doesn’t exactly make them sing, but definitely keeps up and along with some graphics acceleration makes display of 720p HD video a breeze.
One choice we’re not so sure about is the decision to toss the main Android buttons – Home, Menu, Search, and Back – into the screen itself instead of having them be dedicated hardware buttons. It means that for certain things – like watching video – you’re two taps away from what should really be a one-tap experience.
Video and photos after the break!
Posted originally at Android Central
Sponsored by Android Cases and Accessories
Hands-on with the Viewsonic Viewpad – 10 in. of Android-Windows 7 dual-boot
Take 10 inches of tablet. Add Android. Stir in a healthy helping of Windows 7. And with that, you have the Viewsonic Viewpad 100. That’s right, this sucker dual-boots Windows 7 with … wait for it … Android 1.6. It’s a processor thing, unfortunately. But we love the idea of dual-boot, even if it’s never really taken off in the past (HTC tried it with Windows Mobile and Windows XP back in the day.)
Otherwise, we’re looking at a 1024×600 LCD display, 1GB of RAM, a 16GB solid-state hard drive, and the lingering question of whether we’ll actually see this anywhere near the United States. In the meantime, photos and video will have to do, and we’ve got them both after the break.
Posted originally at Android Central
Sponsored by Android Cases and Accessories
Hands on with Huawei Ideos S7 Tablet [Video]
Huawei hasn’t yet made a big splash in the U.S. (though that may be changing), and the Ideos S7 Tablet they’re showing off at IFA 2010 doesn’t quite look like it’s going to change that. What’s you’re looking at is a 7-inch screen running with 800×480 screen resolution, Android 2.1, 3G, a fairly small 2200mAh battery, a front-facing 2mp camera, and the now de-rigeur ability to play back 720p video. The processor is the Qualcomm Snapdragon, there’s 256 megs of RAM under the hood.
Huawei’s custom skin isn’t the most beautiful thing we’ve ever seen, but it does get points for usability: naming the different pages on their homescreen is a nice touch and we especially like the drop-down controls in the upper-righthand corner. A dual notification screen/task manager may bring back painful Windows Mobile memories for some, but the ability to quickly close or switch apps from a simple text list isn’t anything to spit at as far as we’re concerned.
More photos and hands-on video after the break!
Posted originally at Android Central
Sponsored by Android Cases and Accessories
Hands On with Viewsonic Viewtab 7 & Viewtab 100
Viewsonic is jumping into the Android tablet game with the Viewpad 7 and the Viewpad 100. Both are fairly straightforward Android tablets with little to speak of in terms of customization.
The Viewpad 7 offers a much better overall Android experience — it’s running Froyo with a properly sized keyboard with what would seem like a pokey 600MHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and 512 megs of RAM. As always with Android, though, the real test is the implementation and in this case we found the Viewpad 7 to hold its own in terms of speed and responsiveness. Nothing to write home about, but nothing to cry about either. Unfortunately, the display here is a paltry 800×480 pixels, so perhaps it’s no wonder that it’s responding to taps as we’d like.
The Viewpad 100 is both more exciting and less. More exciting because it’s a 10-inch tablet with 1024×600 resolution that’s able to boot into a full version of Windows 7 if you’d like. Less so because it’s running on Android 1.6 because later versions of Android aren’t yet playing nice with the Viewpad 100′s Atom processor. In general, this version didn’t feel fully baked – Viewsonic has yet to build the interface for dual-booting the device, but on the bright side the sucker did boot faster than most Android smartphones we’ve laid eyes on.
Both Viewpads should hit Europe in October, no word yet when they’re coming stateside. Images and video after the break!
Posted originally at Android Central
Sponsored by Android Cases and Accessories
Samsung Galaxy Player 50 hands-on
Take the Samsung Galaxy S, low-end it a tad, and take out the radios. What you’re left with is the Samsung Galaxy Player 50, a 3.2-inch multitouch multimedia player running Android 2.1. The screen itself is LCD and not Super AMOLED like the Galaxy S phones, but this guy has a 2MP camera and 802.11n Wifi. It comes in either 8GB or 16GB versions, plus up to 32GB extra with a microSD card.
As is the case at an event like IFA, we’re unlikely to see the particular version in the United States — the center home button design is a bit of a giveaway, as the Samsung usually keeps the square buttons at home in Korea. But it would be an interesting alternative to the iPod. More pictures and press release after the break.
Posted originally at Android Central
Sponsored by Android Cases and Accessories
Toshiba Folio 100 Hands-On
We took a gander at Toshiba’s Folio 100 today and here’s the main takeaway: sucker be huge. It has a 10.1" screen and a fairly reasonable bezel around it – though the resolution on that screen is still only 1024×600, same as the 7" Galaxy Tab. The whole thing is hard plastic with a small texture to the back and felt fine despite being what we suspect is still pre-production hardware. It weighs in at 1.7 pounds and is carry-able, sure, but it’s such a large, wide screen that this is pretty much a sit-down device only. The battery died on us pretty quickly – at 1020mAh it’s probably difficult to get through an entire day of IFA fondling. Toshiba claims 7 hours of battery life.
The HDMI-out and USB-host (yay!) ports are hidden underneath a port cover. There’s 16gigs on board and it’s expandable via a standard, large SD card slot. Combine that full-sized SD card slot, the USB Host port, and the HDMI-out and we’re thinking this is a business-focused device that has aspirations of being a professional photographer’s bestest friend ever.
We were looking at at build of Android 2.2 that didn’t look quite optimized for the big screen and definitely isn’t final build ("TOSHIBA_FOLIO_AND_A 2.2 3.0004 for IFA test-keys" is a pretty good hint there), but we did find it to be responsive and quick – for the most part. There was the occasional lag and jaggy transition, due to that early build moreso than the Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, which should be the definition of fast. We would definitely like to see the final build on this – we bet that the included Opera Mobile browser will simply fly.
$540 in "late October" for the WiFi only version is what they quoted us in the booth, with the 3G version coming next year. Catch more photos after the break!
Posted originally at Android Central
Sponsored by Android Cases and Accessories
Hands-on with the Galaxy Tab keyboard and dock
Looking for the Samsung Galaxy Tab keyboard? We got our hands on it, as well as the desktop dock. The keyboard isn’t quite full size, but it’s close. The key action isn’t anything to write home about, but it’s hardly the worst, either.
The keyboard isn’t quite as thick as you’ll see in the pictures here; it was taped to some sort of pad on the table. You’re not going to be writing "War and Peace" with this thing, but it will do.
We also got a closer look at the desktop dock for the Galaxy Tab. Pictures of both are after the break.
Posted originally at Android Central
Sponsored by Android Cases and Accessories
Toshiba announces Folio 100 tablet — 10.1 inches of Android 2.2
Toshiba officially announced its Folio 100 tablet today — a 10.1-inch device running Android 2.2 (Froyo).
It’s a very intriguing device and the specs sounds great:
- 10.1-inch capacitive touchscreen
- 1024 x 600
- Android 2.2 (Froyo)
- NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor
- 16 GB internal storage (32 GB available SD expansion)
- Adobe Flash 10.1
- 1.3 MP front-facing camera
- Mini-HDMI
- USB 2.0
- Bluetooth 2.1
- WLAN (802.11)
- Mobile broadband (available Q1 2011)
For those who have been unhappy that the Galaxy Tab appears to be 3G-only, the Folio 100 will be Wi-Fi first, with 3G coming in 2011.
Some pre-installed software on the device: Opera Mobile, Toshiba Media Player, Fring, Evernote and Docs to Go.
Price is about $540 for the Wifi-only version. For a more detailed outline of the device, check the source for the full press release. Toshiba’s first Android tablet looks great on paper, coming with USB and HDMI connectors and a Wifi-only version. [Toshiba - pdf warning]
Posted originally at Android Central
Sponsored by Android Cases and Accessories
Hannspree to introduce a beastly Android tablet at IFA 2010
Expect Android tablet news to flow like water as IFA 2010 gets into gear, so let’s start things off with a bang. According to German site Areamobile.de, Chinese manufacturer Hannspree will be introducing a nice, high spec piece of kit that sets a very high bar for others to follow:
- 10.1 inch 1024×600 display
- 14 mm thick
- 1 GHz dual core Nvidia Tegra 2 system on chip
- 16 GB internal memory
- HDMI output @ 1080p
- Accelerometer and ambient light sensor
- Wifi and Bluetooth
- Android 2.2
Pick your chin up, and keep an eye out for more news about this one and more from IFA 2010, Dieter’s there on the ground, and as long as there’s not a beer tent he’ll keep us informed. [Areamobile.de] Thanks GaMMeLHaNsy!
Posted originally at Android Central
Sponsored by Android Cases and Accessories