Lenovo is doing 2 versions of their Tegra2 Android tablets, the IdeaPad is for consumers, the ThinkPad is for enterprise. It’s got to do with different components and design, different software and other.
Category: Exclusive videos
Lenovo A1, 7″ 1024×600 Single-core Gingerbread Tablet
Posted by – September 1, 2011
Here’s a cheap new Lenovo Tablet targetted at the sub-$300 price point. It might use the Rockchip RK2918, or it might be some other processor similar to that, to be confirmed. Please post in the comments if you find out which processor it is using..
Samsung NX200 camera, 20.3Megapixels APS-C sensor, interchangeable lenses
Posted by – September 1, 2011
Samsung releases their new slim mirror-less DSLR-alternative of a photo camera with interchangeable lenses and a bunch of new camera UI features.
Samsung Multiview MV800 camera with fold-out screen and touch screen functions
Posted by – September 1, 2011
This is Samsung’s new Multiview MV800 has a fold-out 3″ AMOLED screen, takes pictures, and provides a bunch of picture modes that can be accessed through the Home screen menu on the touch screen on this camera.
Samsung Wave 3, Bada 2.0, 4″ Super AMOLED Plus
Posted by – September 1, 2011
Here’s the newest Samsung Bada phone, running the Bada 2.0 software on a 4″ Super AMOLED Plus screen, this is probably aimed at lower cost, although Android does allow Samsung to lower the cost of smartphones as well, so I am not really sure what Samsung is trying to do with Bada. Maybe Samsung wants to option of being able to own a smartphone ecosystem to try to profit as much as possible on every level of the value chain of the phone all the while trying to sell it for cheap. I prefer the cheap Samsung Android phones though.
Windows Phone General Manager leaves Microsoft
Posted by – August 9, 2011
Category: Exclusive videos, Windows
Charlie Kindel, Windows Phone Developer Ecosystem General Manager, quit his job at Microsoft to start a new (Android?) startup in Seattle. Windows Phone is kind of a failure and is rapidly losing market share to the superior Android platform in the smart phone and tablet race. To remain a fair competitor in this market, will Microsoft stop suing Android companies for bogus patents and bogus licences, stop charging licences for Windows (give it away for free!) and even open up the source? How can anyone (fairly) compete with open source and free?
Here is my video interview with Charlie Kindel filmed at last year’s LeWeb conference in Paris:
Found via: techmeme.com
Related articles
- Windows Phone GM leaving Microsoft, with a rallying cry (geekwire.com)
- Charlie Kindel is Leaving Microsoft (windowsphonesecrets.com)
- Microsoft GM for Windows Phone 7 Leaves to Starts His Own Company (readwriteweb.com)
- Windows Phone dev GM splits with Microsoft (go.theregister.com)
- Windows Phone boss Charlie Kindel leaves Microsoft (seattlepi.com)
- Microsoft Windows Phone boss Charlie Kindel is leaving the company (winrumors.com)
- Windows Phone GM Charlie Kindel leaves Microsoft for mystery startup (venturebeat.com)
- Windows Phone GM Charlie Kindel leaves Microsoft to launch startup (engadget.com)
Best Tablet in the World: Archos 80 and 101 G9, my first hands-on
Posted by – July 13, 2011
I got lucky enough to be able to play around with the new Archos G9 tablets for a few minutes (as I am the admin on http://forum.archosfans.com), they are awesome. Here are some of the features that I think makes this probably one of the best tablets in the world when it comes out in September:
– 50% faster than iPad2/Xoom/Transformer/Tab101/etc, 1.5Ghz Dual-core OMAP4460 ARM Cortex-A9 vs 1Ghz for the others (Quad-cores such as Nvidia Tegra3 are rumored to come at 1.2Ghz so this dual-core may be 25% faster for some things that are not too parallel and perhaps about 20% slower on other more parallel processed things)
– Optional unlocked $49 3G Dongle slides in the back
– Built-in kick-stand
– HDMI-out (1080p All Codecs High Profile High Bitrates) with most powerful Video/Audio/Photo apps on any device with automatic meta-data and Upnp/Samba streaming support
– 2x USB Host (one is dedicated for 3G Dongle)
– Honeycomb 3.2 with official Google Marketplace pre-installed
– Most importantly, starts at $279 for 8″, $349 for 10.1″, there will be all kinds of options though, 16GB Flash or 250GB hard drive (the 250GB version is likely around $100 more than the 16GB flash version, to be confirmed) don’t worry about hard drive speed/failures, all the Android OS and apps are on 4GB Flash based ROM cache so the OS feels 100% as fast as on a Flash based tablet, the HDD only spins up when loading big video files into memory while you probably are not likely to be running around with it anyway.
This is my first video showing how those tablets are. Look forward to many more videos that I will post about the Archos G9 if I can get some review samples at one point in the next few weeks until and after they are released in September worldwide.
I would have liked to see them do 5″ and 7″ G9 tablets as well to be more pocketable (pants 5″ or jacket 7″ pockets), but for now, Archos has nothing to announce regarding more sizes for the G9 series, it’s open to speculation, my speculation is that it may be the reason for them to have to wait for Honeycomb and Ice Cream Sandwich to come and support more screen sizes officially and also it may be a question of production capacity and limiting the amount of skews they release.
The OMAP4460 that comes in the Archos G9 series is quite amazing. It can do 1080p at 60 frames per second, for sure all codecs high profile high bitrates at 30 frames per second. It’s got an awesome overclocked Imagination GPU for advanced 3D graphics making HDMI out 3D games smooth and totally making this a potential up to N64/PS/DC emulator console replacement on your HDTV. HD Netflix can be supported. You can easily do 720p video conferencing, even 1080p video conferencing can be supported if a 1080p USB Webcam can be made to work on this Android.
Related articles
- Archos 80 G9 and 101 G9 Tablets hands-on [Video] (slashgear.com)
- Archos steps up its game with two new Honeycomb tablets (intomobile.com)
- Archos Announces 80 G9 and 101 G9: 250GB Of Storage And 1.5GHz Dual-Core Processor In A Honeycomb Shell (androidpolice.com)
Freescale MPL3115A2 pressure sensor / altimeter
Posted by – July 11, 2011
Freescale launches the new altimeter MPL3115A2. This device uses a piezoresistive bridge as its sensor element. It also includes a dedicated ASIC which performs ADC conversions, oversampling, trim compensation, data path calculations and I2C port control. What this means is that your next smartphone can detect on which floor you are in a building, it can detect the altitude of your smartphone in theory to as small a distance as 3cm (they guarantee 30cm because of potential interference and uncertainties). IT can also do barometric weather forecast and measure the ambient temperature. When you combine this new sensor with all the other sensors in a device such as accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer you can get a complete inertial navigation system which helps you to have a more accurate positioning for indoor and outdoor navigation.
Freescale Healthcare products
Posted by – July 11, 2011
Connect a new blood glucose meter, blood pressure monitor, weight scale, digital thermometer, spirometers and other devices to sensors in your bed, on your arm and to your smartphone, tablets etc to monitor your health and help improve lifestyles and prevent disease. Freescale presents a whole range of new technologies to lower the cost of those healthcare devices so everyone can afford to have them at home and want to use them regularly as the data being wirelessly transfered and visualized online makes it easier and very useful for everyone to live a healthy lifestyle, eat good food, sleep well and do enough exercise.
Freescale i.MX50 processor series for e-readers launched
Posted by – July 11, 2011
Freescale is expanding their line of processors that are customized for e-reader type of applications with the i.MX502, i.MX503, i.MX507 and i.MX508 processors. Compared with i.MX51/53, i.MX50 is built to lack GPU for 3D acceleration (unnecessary on e-readers) but they can do 2D and have the option (i.MX503 and i.MX508) to hardware accelerate vector graphics through the OpenVG accelerator. This series is the first processor on the market to combine ARM Cortex-A8 with an EPD controller. Those are in different configurations to be used for e-ink (i.MX508 with OpenVG and i.MX507 without) or LCD e-readers (i.MX503 with OpenVG and i.MX502 without). Read the full press release here. Find more info at freescale.com
Freescale Kinnetis K50 ARM Cortex-M4 for Healthcare products
Posted by – June 27, 2011
The Kinnetis K50 has integrated operational amplifiers and transimpedance amplifiers, allows to reduce the PCB size and thus cost of healthcare sensor products. Expect to see many Healthcare oriented products arrive on the market using this Cortex-M4 processor. You can find more information at http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/prod_summary.jsp?code=K50
Android for cars using COQOS by OpenSynergy
They have Android running on the Freescale i.MX53, but it’s running virtualized using a separation micro-kernel they call COQOS offering the real-time features that are required in a car running the industry-standard AUTOSAR software also at the same time, thus this solution is fully secure. You can find more information at http://www.opensynergy.com/en/Products/COQOS
Michelin Active Wheel, electric traction, suspension, breaking
Posted by – June 27, 2011
This new type of wheel includes two motors controlled by Freescale procecssors, one to accelerate the car and to have regenerative breaking, and the second is the manage the suspension and the control of the chassis. This could be transformational for cars, no more engine could be needed under the hood, no more traditional suspension system, and no more gearbox or transmission as all the essential components have been integrated into the wheel itself. The Active Wheel System could outperform Ferrari and Porsche in a straight line when it comes to braking. While a typical high performance supercar takes about six seconds to come to a complete halt from 100km/h, the Michelin concept does it in a mere 2.8 seconds at up to 1G. Find more information: motorauthority.com and gizmag.com
Freescale’s High Resolution 77Ghz Radar System
Posted by – June 27, 2011
This is the 77Ghz chipset demonstrating Freescale’s for Automotive Radar Millimeter-Wave Technology, this is a demo of a radar for cars to see through the dark, through rain, through any weather. Find more information at http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/overview.jsp?code=AUTRMWT
Freescale Xtrinsic radar chipsets are the most advanced SiGe technology on the market, consisting of a transmitter and a multi-channel receiver with an integrated phase-locked loop (PLL). Freescale’s 77 GHz technology allows a device to switch between long- and short-range functionality simply by issuing a serial peripheral interface (SPI) command. This enables the same radar module to be used for multiple safety systems, such as adaptive cruise control, headway alert, collision warning and mitigation. Long-range radar, used for adaptive cruise control and lane departure warnings, has long and narrow coverage directly in front and back of the car. Short-range radar, ideal for blind spot detection, pre-crash and stop-and-go applications, monitors the car’s immediate surroundings with a wide spatial view that covers shorter distances.
Freescale MakeIt Challenge, third place winner, search and rescue robot
Posted by – June 25, 2011
Tom Minnich presents his Freescale powered search and rescue remote controlled robot.
AllGoConnect for Auto Head-unit to smart phone connectivity
Posted by – June 25, 2011
Last year, AllGo presented the $35 tablet idea, which they are still working on. This year they are focusing their FTF presentation on their Android powered in-car interactivity features, with Nokia Terminal Mode and USB/MTP/iPod playback.
Freescale’s touch sensing software suite
Posted by – June 25, 2011
Different ways to use Freescale’s touch sensors in actual products.
Microsoft Windows at the Freescale Technology Forum
Posted by – June 25, 2011
Microsoft is preparing Windows 8 on ARM, but until then, there are Windows CE solutions in use and in the works such as these solutions demonstrated in this video. What do you think about Microsoft’s positionning in this embedded software market? Paul Wright offers his opinions on Windows in the second half of this video.
Freescale MMA9550 powered pedometer
Posted by – June 25, 2011
They are showing their Sensor Fusion as a pedometer.
Kobo Touch, $129 i.MX508 WiFi infrared-touch e-reader
Posted by – June 23, 2011
This may be the best e-reader on the market today. If it does run Android, if Kobo decides to open up the access to those Android features and not lock it down to only be about buying ebooks on their ebook store. Right now it may not be running Android at all, at least Kobo is not taking advantage of the potential Android openness yet. Hopefully Kobo updates their firmware for it to run a fully open Android, they can monetize e-readers in other new ways not only by locking it for a e-book store.
