Well, here’s the shiny little Centro, in all its slightly-less-than-breathtaking beauty. Truth be told, the phone doesn’t look or feel too bad — we still don’t get the gray stripe through the middle, but what can you do? The keyboard is unbelievably tiny, but we’ll take it where we can get it. The surface of the cherry red or metallic black phone is quite slick, and we suspect will go tumbling out of sweaty hands like gang busters. Of course, the EV-DO connection was snappy, but the thing we’re most stoked about is the fact that Palm has finally eliminated that 2-pixel border around the screen. Hey, no new OS… but that border is gone. The Centro is due mid-October for the shockingly low price of $99.99, which should help push more than a couple of these out the door. Hit the gallery and check out all the hot photos.

Gallery: Hands-on with the Palm Centro

    

from engadget

ASUS is showing off their design chops again today with the introduction of the U6S. That nudges their total laptop model tally to 48 by our count — we’re not talking custom builds mind you; ASUS now offers forty-fracking-eight different series of laptops with an endlessly complex matrix of submodels — the apparent curse of being both an OEM and retail brand. That travesty aside, the new 12.1-inch U6S design is simply smokin’ in our not so humble opinion. Hitting Europe in October for €1,999 (about $2,833), it offers a balanced compromise of power and portability with a sweet list of specs tucked into that sleek little 3.3-pound (1.5-kg) package.

[Via DailyTech]

• LED backlit 1,280 x 800 display with an integrated 0.3 megapixel webcam
• Core 2 Duo T7500 processor
• HDMI and SPDIF outputs
  
• 802.11a/g/n WiFi, Gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, and HSDPA data
• 128MB of nVIDIA GeForce 8400M G graphics
• 250GB disk and 2GB DDR2 memory
• Dual-layer DVD writer
• ExpressCard 54/34 slot, fingerprint reader, 8-in-1 memory card reader, 4x USB
  
• 5-hours of juice off optional 6-cell battery
  

Also announced are updates to their G2S and F8S laptops. In short, the 14.1-inch F8S sees a bump to 512MB of ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2600 graphics while G2S Extreme Limited Edition now offers an overclockable 2.6GHz X7800 Core 2 Extreme processor for all your gaming delights.

more info
from engadget

ASUS’ R2H UMPC — one of the original trio of UMPCs — has finally ditched that 900MHz Celeron in favor of Intel’s latest A110 processor. Better yet perhaps, the new R2E UMPC now combines HSDPA with 802.11b/g WiFi to live up to its previously unrealized, “ultra-mobile” namesake. There’s also a beefier 80GB disk option with up to 1GB of DDR2-400 memory now supported. Otherwise, its physical appearance remains unchanged as does that 7-inch 800 x 480 display and optional integrated GPS. €1,119 (incl. VAT) or about $1,586 when it drops for Europe next month.

[Via DailyTech]
more info
from engadget

We just caught sight of three new Asus laptops, but it looks like that’s not all the company has up its sleeve, with its ultra-portable U1E model now also making its first appearance. This one boasts an even smaller form factor than the company’s just-announced 12.1-inch, 3.3 pound U6S laptop, in this case shrinking things down to an 11.1-inch WXGA display and a mere 2.2 pound carrying weight (albeit with only a 3 cell battery). Otherwise, you’ll get an Intel Core Duo ULV7500 processor, up to 2GB of RAM, a 100GB hard drive, and built-in WiFi and Bluetooth, with an external DVD burner thrown in for good measure. A nine cell battery is also available for those that actually want to get some work done, with it apparently promising upwards of six hours of running time. Look for this one to be available next month, in Italy at least, for €1,999 (or $2,844).

more info
from engadget