At this point, we’re not really sure which date has been discussed more in the history of humanity — the Mayan doomsday prediction or Microsoft’s October 22, 2009 launch of Windows 7. Lenovo’s S12 was originally supposed to be the first ION-sporting netbook on the scene, but the Chinese company opted to hold back the NVIDIA infusion till Windows 7 showed up, and has been shipping a version of the 12-inch IdeaPad with only standard netbook specs so far. Well, come this Thursday it’s out with the old and in with theHD video-decoding new in Japan, where the ION-powered S12 will be unleashed with 2GB RAM, 250GB HDD, a 1280 x 800 glossy display, multicard reader and a HDMI port for company. Priced somewhere near ¥68,800 (about $757), the new machines (available only in white) are likely to dip below $600 when they make their inevitable journey Stateside.

From engadget
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The T-Mobile BlackBerry Gemini 8520 is slated as a low-end BlackBerry Curve, and it will definitely suit the intended market. While Power Users are going to yawn, early Pearl owners are going to want to upgrade to this device, especially because we’ve heard it’s going to come in some beautiful colors.

Before reading this review, as usual it’s not a commercially available device and therefore may not be the device you pick up from T-Mobile.

The 85xx Series Devices

The BlackBerry 8520 is a new-generation Curve and while the xx20 is the only device in the series so far, it surely won’t be the last. In the coming months (year), we can expect a rollout similar to that of other BlackBerry devices. The BlackBerry 8510 will have GPS and the 8530 will be CDMA.

About the OS

The 8520 that I’m using is running OS 4.6.1.227, which seems to be the consensus around other sites who have got their hands on the device. While OS 4.6.1 is decent, it isn’t the OS 5 that we’ve all been waiting to use. Because this is a pre-release device, it could possibly ship with OS 5, which would be a dream come true.

The Trackpad

The first thing that hits you about this device is obviously the trackpad. The shift to a trackpad is likely in response to the number of complaints from BlackBerry users about having to replacing the trackball because it got sand or dust in it. The trackpad seems impervious to this sort of damage and is sure to make your device last longer. At first, you may find the trackpad doesn’t respond exactly how you remember the trackball responding. Make sure to go into your settings, in the same place where you change your trackball sensitivity, and crank it up for a smoother trackpad experience.

While I like the new trackpad strategy, there is a learning Curve (pun intended). While navigating menus and browsing the internet, I found I was missing the mark a lot. This is because the trackpad requires a slightly different approach which I can only explain as “swiping” versus “rolling.” With a trackball, you can almost feel the cursor movement but with the trackpad, I felt I had to swipe my finger across the pad, and adjust. If this doesn’t make sense, all I can tell you is that it feels weird at first but you get used to it quickly. I didn’t test the trackpad in varying lighting conditions but I’ve heard this may have an impact on the responsiveness.

3G versus EDGE

Not having 3G doesn’t really have anything to do with RIM, and this is a decision that is made at the carrier relation level. It’s the same deal with WiFi, where I wish every BlackBerry came with WiFi but it’s clearly the carriers who put the kibosh on it. Since WiFi saves on data, carriers don’t want it on their consumer devices because they want their customers eating up large amounts of costly data. While it would be great to have 3G on all BlackBerry devices, EDGE is still a large market that needs servicing.

BlackBerry 8520 specs

For a consumer device, the 8520 has an average screen size and resolution at 320 x 240 pixels and 65,536 colors in TFT. For a device that is rumored to be a consumer phone, I’m a little surprised at the lack of consumer features. For example, the camera megapixels have been downgraded from the average 3.2 that comes with devices today, to only 2 megapixels with no flash. Picture and video are therefore going to be less than attractive for this device.

The battery has 1150 mAh (Milliamp Hours), which means it won’t be able to store as much charge as previous Curve devices. Perhaps this is where no flash will actually help in that there is less charge but less to use up the charge.

Form Factor

The first thing you notice about the form factor is the rubber bezel. The bezel gives it an Otterbox feel that makes you think you could drop it and never worry about scratches. Looking at my 8300 devices, the sides and corners are scratched up which would be almost totally eliminated with this device. The side keys are rubberized too, which will mean sand and dust won’t be able to get into the crevices and lock up your convenience keys. Overall, when you pick up this device, you immediately get the sense that it’s a sturdy device that will last a long time.

Although the form factor does make for longevity, there are some downsides to this new form factor. The fact that the case is completely rubberized, means it’s missing the charging contacts. This means there are a ton of accessories that won’t be compatible with the device. I don’t see how charging docks will work with the device. Also, signal boosting accessories will have a difficult time as many of them require access to the contacts to boost the signal. It’s not only the lack of contacts which conflict with accessories out there, it’s also the case market. I can’t see anyone being able to buy a new case for this device, as it already has one. Perhaps this is part of what seems to be the 8520’s strategy of being indestructible. RIM has seen the money in the case market, and decided to cut the middle man out.

Another big improvement on the 8520 are the media keys at the top of the device. These media keys are a great addition for the consumer who likes to listen to music on their device. I personally use my device as my main music player, and while the keys don’t really help the browsing experience, they’re great if you have a playlist going.

As I’ve already mentioned, the battery cover on the 8520 gave me a big headache. For some reason, I simply can’t get the thing open without using some aid such as a key. Bla1ze from CB pointed out that the 8520 he’s been using has the complete opposite characteristics and it’s really easy to open. At this point, it’s clear that we’re all just reviewing pre-release devices and we can’t be certain of the experience.

Keyboard

The keyboard on the 8520 is like the Curve 8900 in the way the keys are positioned, but the keys themselves feel like the 8300. While the keys on the 8900 were lower, the 8520 feel raised, and will surely remind you of typing on your 8330.

Overall, this device is going to be a hit with the Curve market, and I’m interested to see where and what carriers pick up the device. This 8520 is branded T-Mobile, so we’re sure to see it with them, but other EDGE supporting carriers will surely pick it up as well.

As this is just one man’s opinion, I’ve sent the device over to Nan Palmero whose going to give it a whirl. He’ll have much more insight than myself. I can’t even work a battery cover.

More beautiful pictures of the BlackBerry Gemini 8520

Picture comparison of the BlackBerry Gemini 8520 with the BlackBerry Curve series

The Palm Pixi has officially arrived, and if you’re an avid reader of Engadget (you’d better be), this device should look a little bit familiar to you. We first broke specs and images of the phone — codenamed Eos and the alternately-spelled “Pixie” — back in April, when we nabbed what appeared to be a leak of a new, Centro-esque phone headed to AT&T. Today, Palm has announced that the Pixi — a tiny, sleek webOS-based handset — will be coming to Sprint this holiday season. The phone will hit shelves sans-WiFi (EV-DO Rev. A only here), with 8GB of storage onboard (a nice bump up from the rumored 4GB), 2 megapixel camera (with flash), a full QWERTY keyboard, and a minute, 2.63-inch, 320 x 400 capacitive display.

Along with the new handset, Palm will offer five artist-designed back covers in the “Palm Pixi Artist Series” — similar to Zune Originals and Dell’s Design Studio laptops — which can be purchased separately… of course. Touchstone owners take heart: those backs, as well as a separate black backing that you’ll also pay extra for, are all compatible with the accessory. In addition to the hardware, Palm will be introducing a native Facebook app when the Pixi hits, as well as new Yahoo! and LinkedIn integration for Synergy. Right now no date for launch has been set, though Palm says the phone will be ready in time for the holidays. The company is also mum on price, but coupled with the news that Sprint will be slimming the Pre’s entry point down to $149.99, we have to assume it’s going to be in the $99-or-less ballpark. We had a chance to play around with the new phone, so read on after the break for our initial, early impressions.

Gallery: Palm Pixi official shots

Palm is still tweaking the device, so we aren’t making any final judgments on the Pixi — though what we saw is mostly heartening.

For starters, the phone is really quite handsome. In terms of industrial design, the clean lines and smart choices in materials belie the Pixi’s likely price-point. In your hands it feels solid, though it’s shocking just how tiny it is. The standard backing is a soft-touch material (not unlike the Touchstone back for the Pre), and perhaps due to the lack of moving parts here, the phone feels really well put together. Just as with the Pre, the Pixi includes a ringer on / off switch and 3.5mm headphone jack, as well as a removable 1150mAh battery.

The body of the phone is — as we said — very small, but the thickness is where it really struts its stuff… or lack of stuff. The Pixi is just 0.43-inches thick. To put that in perspective, the iPhone 3GS is 0.48-inches — which means anyone who has complaints about sliding a handset into their pocket should be swooning.

Instead of a center button, Palm has made the middle of the gesture area (part of its capacitive coating) take on the duty. The target is represented by a small, white slit, and the same gestures that webOS is known for seem to work flawlessly around it. While the screen gets 80 pixels lopped off compared with the Pre (and the iPhone, G1, Hero, and Storm, to name a few), it looked clean and crisp to us. The responsiveness on the main part of the display was just as tight — if not tighter — than the Pre, and that’s a plus. Of course, webOS makes clever use of the cramped space by squashing card and app sizes down to fit. It’s a tremendous example of the UI’s literal scalability.

The QWERTY keyboard on the Pixi was also a bit of a shocker — even though the keys are tiny and tightly spaced, it’s definitely usable. The reps we spoke with noted that due to the candybar form factor and lack of a sliding mechanism, they were able to get more height on the keys. Besides the more pronounced buttons, the Pixi’s keyboard seemed to have a more tactile click than that of the Pre, and honestly, we might have liked the Pixi’s variation better.

Inside, the phone is powered by a completely different CPU than its big brother. In this case, Palm chose to use the Qualcomm MSM7627, a smaller chip which enabled them to mint the micro form factor. The CPU itself isn’t dramatically different than the 7200 series, though it is noticeably less charged than the TI OMAP3 chip in the Pre. Regardless of what’s cranking the gears, the phone seemed pretty snappy when it was demoed for us (you can see it in action in the videos below). We did notice a few hangups during big image scaling and heavy webpages, but again, this is early software on an early device.

We’ve been wondering when Panasonic would do something a little more interesting with a Micro Four Thirds sensor than simply pack it into an SLR-style body, and it looks like the new Lumix DMC-GF1 is the first step along that road. First leaked early last month, the spec sheet aligns pretty closely to the similarly sweet-looking Olympus E-P1, although most of the numbers max out a little lower: 12.1 megapixel Live MOS sensor with ISO 3200 sensitivity, 720p 30fps AVCHD Lite or Motion JPEG video (sorry, no mic input), three-inch LCD, and HDMI out. (In terms of size it’s a wash: the GF1 is less wide, but it’s a tick taller, and they’re both about the same thickness, although the GF1 has a built-in flash.) Ready for the bad news? Panny’s going to be selling this thing in two kits come October, one with a 20mm/f1.7 “pancake” lens and the other with a 14-45mm/f3.5-5.6 zoom, and both are priced at $900 — not including the optional viewfinder attachment. Yeah, that’s a lot of scratch, especially since the E-P1 has slightly better specs and lists for $800. We’ll see what street prices look like after a couple months, but for now we’re, oh, let’s say, “waiting to be convinced.”

Update: Well, what do you know? PhotographyBLOG has a nice gallery of sample shots up to give you a solid idea of what this bad boy’s capable of.

From engadget

We’ve obtained pictures of a device that we’re told is the “Onyx,” a 3G-enabled GSM BlackBerry that looks like a slightly sexier, smaller version of the Bold with some Niagara / Tour genes thrown in for good measure. We’d previously heard that this phone is ultimately destined for AT&T (while a UMA-enabled version might come to T-Mobile as the Driftwood), which definitely takes the edge off of the impending 8900launch over there — but then again, this is a prototype, and it’ll be many moons (at best) before this thing gets launched. Every time we look at the Bold, it looks more out of proportion — and sexy beasts like this one certainly aren’t helping matters. Keep on keepin’ on, RIM.

Gallery: BlackBerry “Onyx” in the wild

From engadget

We’ve got a VAIO P in the house, and we thought it’d only be fitting to put the quintessential “it’s not a netbook, we swear!” up against the quintessential netbook, ASUS’s Eee PC (in convenient 7-inch and 10-inch flavors). Stand by for further impressions, but boy is that screen densely packed with pixels.

Gallery: VAIO P vs Eee PC… fight!

From engadget

While we got some early time with Dell’s super-secret Adamo prototype, it looks like we weren’t the only ones — and it also looks like we didn’t get the whole enchilada: there’s a wicked-sexy white version hiding in the Palms as well. Still no more details than before, but bub.blicio.us was also allowed to boot the aluminum ultraportable, so at least we know that there’s chips in that box. We’re actually headed back to check out the Mini 10, so we’ll dig for even more (and try to get pictures in a better-lit room), but for now check these latest Adamo pictures in the gallery.

Gallery: More Adamo Images

From engadget

The dust has begun to settle around Palm’s event yesterday, and we’re still sorting through all the news. Palm certainly packed a lot of “New-ness” (yet weirdly, no actual “New-ness”) into its announcements yesterday, and it’s pretty easy to get lost among all the Palm Pre / webOS related news. Lucky for you, we’ve consolidated the goods below, so feel free to experience all the Palm-related bliss you can handle.

The liveblog

Live from Palm’s CES press conference

Impressions / hands-on coverage

Palm Pre first hands-on with live updates!
Palm Pre in-depth impressions, video, and huge hands-on gallery
Palm Pre interface tour

Product announcements

The Palm Pre
Palm announces webOS platform
Palm Pre’s wireless charger, the Touchstone

In depth / details

There will be a GSM-friendly 3G Palm Pre
Palm stock on a rocket to recovery
Palm’s Pre gets its own spot on Sprint’s website
Palm Pre website now live with official images, video
Palm’s the master of its own domain, the king of its own Castle
Palm’s Pre boxed
Palm Pre’s “New-ness” event video now viewable
Palm Pre ads appear on Engadget

From engadget

Video from Vimeo:

Palm’s 2009 CES Keynote from DevilsRejection on Vimeo.

We hit up Dell for a few more minutes with the sleek new Studio XPS 13 and 16, and our positive early impressions just got better with time. We’re really digging the leather panel on the lid, and while the machines are total fingerprint magnets, when they’re cleaned up they’re pretty eye-catching — particularly the light-up circles on the hinges and the backlit keyboard and mouse buttons. Even the bottom is slick — it’s nicely detailed and the whole things lifts off (Dell calls it a “garage door”) for easy access to the RAM and hard drive. We nabbed a ton of shots, check it out in the gallery!

Gallery: Dell Studio XPS 13 and 16 hands-on

from engadget

Viliv’s S7 “productivity MID” got announced in August at the Intel Developer Forum, and, while we were impressed by the form factor and the promise, it’s always hard to get too excited without a full spec sheet and an MSRP. Now at CES we’re still in the dark about price (and availability), but are finally hearing just what’s going on under the keyboard; Atom processors in 1.3GHz and 1.6GHz flavors, a 7-inch, 1024 x 600 screen, 1GB of RAM, and either 16GB worth of SSD or 60GB served up on platters. Wireless connectivity is handled over 802.11b/g, WiMAX, and HSDPA, and the device promises “blueray HD video playback” — which we’re taking to mean it can display 1080p footage without completely choking, but we’re not sure just where that video would come from given the lack of optical drive. But, hey, look at that sexy picture! Rest assured we’ll prop this up against a VAIO P as soon as we can get our hands on one.

[Via UMPC Portal]
more info
from engadget

This isn’t a Palm-branded party favor, a paperweight, or a doorstop. Actually, sure, it could be any of those things if you really wanted it to be — but Palm’s Touchstone is mainly about charging your Pre and making sure it looks pretty while it’s getting juiced. It’s a pretty wild product (and the first accessory purchase for many a would-be Pre owner, we’d bet), so we wanted to spend a little quality time with it. We weren’t allowed to do much charging on our own, but the magnets buried in the Pre certainly seemed to do their job of keeping it glued to the base in portrait and landscape orientations. Oh, and just to validate what we know you’re thinking right now, yes: we overheard several Palm employees call it “the puck,” so you should, too.

Gallery: Palm Pre Touchstone eyes-on

From engadget

We just caught up with the Dell Mini 10, and while it’s not as crazy hot as the white Adamo, it’s still pretty sweet — much nicer looking than the Mini 9, and more compact than the Mini 12. No wonder Dell’s calling it a “perfect 10.” The multitouch trackpad is really similar to the one on the newest Macbooks, but it’s a little less intuitive — the buttons are pushed into the corners, so a middle press doesn’t do a lot. On the other hand, it’s a little more useful — not only can you do the usual zooming and scrolling, laying three fingers on the pad brings up a slick little launcher screen. Too bad we don’t have pricing or availabilty — if this thing comes in at a reasonable number, it’s going to be our favorite netbook. We stacked the 10 up against the 9, the 12, and a MacBook Air, check it all out in the gallery below!

Gallery: Dell Mini 10 hands-on

From engadget

First stop at CES Unveiled tonight was MSI’s booth to check out the new X320. Always good to us, MSI gave us some exclusive time with the very slim and affordable ultraportable (the video below gives a good glimpse of the hardware). When MSI first told us about the notebook (then called the U300) they said we would be “shocked” by its ultra-thin stature. Indeed we were  pretty damn shocked when we laid eyes on the thinner than a rail 13-inch notebook.   Think MacBook Air (those clever guys at SlashGear even grabbed some shots of it next to an Air). More impressive is that even despite its thinness it packs a good amount of ports, including 3 USB, Ethernet, VGA Out and a mic and headphone. It also has a card reader. As for weight, we sure believe the 2.9 pound claim since the notebook was very light. Like the Wind, the X320 has a minimalist design and is available in champagne, black and white.  The glossy champagne lid wasn’t flashy and we appreciated how the MSI logo centered on the lid was backlit (stealing yet another design cue from the Air). Under the lid is a 13.4 inch glossy display surrounded by a fairly thick, glossy black bezel. The X320 has a full-size keyboard with a similar feel to the one on the Wind. While the trackpad is large and spacious, there is that same single mouse button that we didn’t exactly love on the original Wind.

Did we mention that this system will retail between $700 and $900? No longer will you have to pay top dollar for one of the thinnest laptops on the market and Intel’s Atom Z520 processor receives the thanks for that. The pre-production model that we saw packed 2GB of RAM and was running Microsoft Vista Basic. Of course, we can’t really judge the performance from the brief hands-on, but we did test application open times and they were nowhere near as sluggish as we saw on the Dell Inspiron Mini 12 with the same processor and Vista, but only 1GB of RAM. Let’s hope that extra memory really pushes performance a notch above what we saw on the Mini 12. According to MSI, the flush with the system battery will provide 10 hours of battery life in its ECO mode. We look forward to testing that. Shocked is definitely our reaction to the X320. Not only because it is so slender, but also because this type of ultraportable notebook will be more affordable than ever at a price point between $700 and $900. We plan to check out the system more at the show. MSI plans to ship this notebook in April.

from laptopmag and crunchgear