We’re trying to do everything we can to ease the crushing pain our dual-pivot loving readers face each and every day that the U740 goes unreleased — and on that note, here’s another batch of eye candy. We hope it serves as a gentle reminder to Verizon that we’d like this thing to launch this century s’il vous plait, and as a reminder to D307 fans not to give up hope just yet (if you’re willing to switch networks, anyway). Click on for more!

from engadgetmobile
Continue Reading

Sony just coughed up their new Vista-enabled VAIO lineup for Japan. The biggest news here is that the latest T, F, F TV, G, S, and type U ultra-portable all come pre-loaded with Vista starting January 30th. Otherwise, we’re just looking at minor spec jumps and color changes. On the color tip, the 11.1-inch Vaio T (pictured) now hits in your choice of Bordeaux, green or rose; the Vaio U can now be ordered in blue when opting for the 32GB SSD model; and the 12.1-inch Vaio G sports a new premium brown carbon fiber chassis in addition to black. Models touting a bump in specs include the 13.3-inch Vaio S which now features a 2.33GHz T7600 Core 2 Duo processor; the 17-inch Vaio A now maxed out with the T7200 Core 2 Duo proc; the 15.4-inch Vaio F series sportin’ a 1.66GHz T2300 Core Duo and nVidia GeForce Go 7600; and the 15.4-inch Vaio F TV now with a terrestrial tuner built standard into all models with the top-ender packing a T7400 Core 2 Duo processor, 200GB of disk, and webcam. All hit Japan starting January 30th. Pics of the other models after the break.

More info
from engadget
Continue Reading

If you’re interested in getting into the semi-ruggedized laptop game, but aren’t quite ready to sacrifice those Dell, um, good looks, then you might dig this new ATG D620 Latitude from your boringbook manufacturer of choice, which claimed to be considering going rugged late last year. The new laptop plays off of that plain vanilla D620 we saw early last year, but beefs up the exterior, shock-mounts the hard drive, spill-resists the keyboard and covers up those ports to defend against the harsh outdoors and / or occasional board meeting skirmish. The 1280 x 800 14.1-inch display is the same as its non-rugged counterpart, with the notable exception of 500 nits of brightness, making the display much more viewable outdoors. The laptop also includes ATG task lights for finding the keyboard in the dark, and that lovable selection of WWAN options Dell is so fond of providing these days. No pre-loaded Vista here, but the laptop does come Vista ready, and with Core 2 Duo processors and room for 4GB of RAM, there should be plenty under the hood to manage the new OS. Prices start at $2499. The folks over at Notebook Review already got their hands on one of these, and they seemed to enjoy the 500 nit screen, thought the battery life to be good with the 9-cell option, and found the rugged feel to be “convincing.” Downsides of the laptop include the lack of dedicated graphics, the 1.8-inch HDD (since the full-size drives don’t fit with all that padding) and a few other more minor quibbles.

Read – Dell Launches its First Ruggedized Notebook
Read – Dell Latitude ATG D620 Semi-Rugged Notebook Review
from engadget

Not a whole lot more info than we had last time around — in fact, zero more info for anyone keeping track — but we haven’t managed to get close to the E61i before now. No real surprises here, and this is just a dummy unit, so we don’t even have any screen brightness to assess, but hey, beggers can’t be choosers, and those additional smart buttons and spiced up d-pad look promising, even if the phone for the most part seems relatively unchanged. Peep the back of the phone (including camera hawterness) after the break.

[Via Ring Nokia]
More info
from engadget
Continue Reading

Unboxing plain ol’ released products is so 2006. The hip new thing is unboxing products that have yet to be released, like this here HTC Cavalier, and to a lesser extent, the iPhone. Boy Genius, international man of mystery, does the honors on this one, and while we don’t see a box anywhere in sight, he makes up for it with a myriad of pics, so we’re going to take his word for it that there was a box somewhere in these proceedings. As for the phone, that 400MHz processor, side mounted touch-wheel and 2 megapixel camera look just as promising in the flesh as they do on those oft-leaked spec sheets. Unfortunately, the phone seems to share its progenitor’s curse of looking odd for the camera, but if it’s as good in person as the Excalibur, we could still have a winner here. Unfortunately, HTC has sent out word that the phone is currently “postponed indefinitely,” so we’ll have to see what’s up with that before we get our hopes too high for this little HSDPA number. Check another pic after the break, or peep the read link for the whole collection.

More info
from engadget
Continue Reading

Taiwan’s Gigabyte Technology just launched a pair of laptops into the highly competitive Japanese market. The 12.1-inch W251U-512 (pictured) and 15.4-inch W551N-712 both hit on January 30th and come with a Vista pre-load as you’d expect. The 12.1-incher packs a 1280×800 (WXGA) glossy panel resolution, 2GHz T7200 Core 2 Duo, up to 2GB of memory and 80GB of disk, a DVD super multi-drive, and Intel 945GM Express graphics in a 1.9-kg (4.19-pounds) 23~32-mm (0.94~1.26-inch) thick wedge. The 15.4-incher features pretty much the same specs only with better graphics (but same pixel resolution) by slapping 128MB of GeForce Go 7400 into the 2.8-kg (6.17-pound) 25.5~35.5-mm (1.0~1.4-inch) thick sled. It also features a remote control to make the most of its Windows Vista Ultimate Media Center OS. Considering the Spring refresh to Sony’s domestic VAIOs, well, let’s just say that Gigabyte’s got their work cut out. The W551N-712 is tagged at Â¥169,800 (about $1,405) while the W251U-512 is set to pop for Â¥159,800 ($1,323). Click-on for a picture of the W551N-712.

[Via Impress]
more info
from engadget
Continue Reading

The words “ultra-portable” and “rugged” are seldom used to describe the same laptop. However, Panasonic just loosed an oxymoronic edition of the Toughbook on to an unsuspecting public. The R6 weighs just 930-grams (2.05-pounds) yet packs a drip-proof keyboard and gutsy shell capable of withstanding a fall from up to 76-cm (2.5-feet) without giving up the ghost. Panny’s new fanless laptop features a 10.4-inch, 1024×768 (XGA) display, a 1.06GHz U2400 Core Duo processor, up to 1.5GB of memory and 120GB of disk, and Intel 945GSM Express graphics. It also packs an SD slot, 802.11a/b/g, 8-hour battery, and room for expansion via a PCMCIA slot and 2x USB 2.0. It’s a bit chubbier than that picture suggests at a meaty 29.4~42.4-mm (1.16~1.67-inches) thick wedge. Fully equipped, this tough little waif will set you back about Â¥240,000 (nearly $2,000) in your choice of platinum, very red, blue apple, pink petal, white air, or black stone — the perfect accessory to your Sleater-Kinney.

More info
from engadget