We bumped into NVIDIA at CTIA in Vegas last week, and even NVIDIA itself expressed some frustration at not having any finished
Tegra 2-powered products to show us, but there was no talk of delays -- not that we really have many hard dates for any of the Tegra 2 devices to push up against. This morning, however,
SlashGear ran a rumor from a "trusted source" saying that there were hardware and software "technical problems" with the platform, including a problem with Flash, which were delaying various tablets, including products from
Notion Ink,
Compal, and
ICD. The source said that the Compal, which was due for a June release, has been bumped to September, while the ICD tablets won't hit until October. We asked NVIDIA for a statement, and they said that "The rumors aren't true. Everything's on track." With that sort of terse reply, we're not really sure which aspects of this rumor NVIDIA is rebutting, but we have to assume NVIDIA is at least saying that there aren't issues with Tegra 2 that are holding things back. As for when we'll see Tegra 2 tablets and smartbooks hit the market? That's anyone's guess.
posted April 1st 2010 8:02PM
Please come out anyway Notion Ink Adam! "Delays" shouldn't stop you....
@SolidSnake
Now THAT is the tablet I am waiting to pay my $500 for.
@abedinthehouse
I am waiting for the ICD Vega. That is a good 500 bucks right there.
@SolidSnake Hopefully this one will be more worthy of the 'magical' moniker than the one from that fruit company.
@SolidSnake
Oh, what to have for dinner...
IPad Thai or Compal chicken?
@SolidSnake
I "heard" these rumours were created by a guy in black turtleneck shirt.
@SolidSnake
As much as I want it to come out I just spent the money for it on a Nexus One so I'm OK with a bit of time for my poor wallet to recover.
@AltairDusk
Yeah same here , my N900 really caused serious injuries :\
!
!
@abedinthehouse Amen, Notion Ink looks SWEET!
Yawwnn, wake me up when Ion ONE becomes mainstream...
@ROFL
It'll never happen. It was build for the first generation Atom chips, which have now been surpassed. That doesn't make it any less awesome, it just had bad timing. Also, I don't really see what an x86 chipset has to do with an ARM SoC
1. That image on the device would make an awesome wallpaper, anyone know where its from?
2. I hope the Tegra 2 makes it into the 3DS, having the Tegra 2's dual core Cortex A9 at 1GHz would be a phenominal spec bump from the DS's 67MHz ARM9 (the DSi has a faster processor but developers have to program for the slowest one).
What do they mean by "on track"? on track to be delayed like their fermi cards?
@unknown714
Maybe they mean stock is low because of the iPhone HD. They [nVidia] are on track, just that the tablet makers aren't.
A man can hope, atleast in one hand. The other hand well.....
hopefully this summer!? notion ink!!
Sigh... I am a sad panda today... I want an Adam so bad...
GET YOUR SHIII TOGETHER NVIDIA!
They already refuted the rumor. Why is this making Engadget headlines??
Tegra 2 was extensively demoed on netbooks 10 months ago, LIVE, in front of a huge audience, with smooth YouTube HD running in the browser, and 4 1080p HD videos running simultaneously.
@TareG 10 Months ago? It was announced during CES in January....3 months ago
Cocaîne much?
@NigelL
Nope.
Tegra 2 was demoed on netbooks in October..... 7 months ago, Ok.
@TareG
http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/06/nvidia-tegra-2-to-double-performance-arrive-in-2010/
This is the first rumor Engadget has regarding Tegra 2. There weren't any demos "7 months ago". I will have to repeat what he said: Cocaine much?
@Goc
Actually, here's the video of the Tegra 2 demo, SEVEN MONTHS AGO.
Tegra 2 netbook unveiled - October 2nd, 2009 (a.k.a. seven months ago)
http://armnews.wordpress.com/2009/10/09/tegra-2-netbook-unveiled/
@TareG
Actually only 6 months ago, well, one day shy of six months. But still, it was certainly well before January
@TareG
LMAO you certainly are rabid like LAY to attack what you see as some conspiracy.
I want a Tegra 2 phone! What's the problem? The original tegra is in the Zune HD, is the new one too big or power hungry? I thought tegra chips were supposed to be extremely power efficient.
@iCello
The new one is too big, the SoC is 5 inch square. Supposedly we still have tegra 1 phones in the pipe.
@ChaosGoat
Stop making stuff up. Tegra 2 smartphones are slated for an H2 2010 release. They're not "too big" or anything.
Can Nvidia do anything right these days? I was really looking forward to picking one of these up!
I don't understand why Engadget gets so bent out of shape about comments they don't like. Isn't it a little crazy to turn off the comments as soon as they start accusing you of something? As for as internet comments go, they are quite civil in expressing discontent. You guys are acting like they're threatening your family.
@Giantenemycrab
To be honest, I was disappointed with the 1-minute hands on of the Joojoo.... While the browsing experience was amazing, having choppy YouTube HD was a bummer, and no video/music player was a shocker to me, and finally, no apps.... I mean, the Joojoo is a bit disappointing.
I guess the NotionInk is the real deal.
@Giantenemycrab
By shutting off the comments, they really showed us!
@Giantenemycrab
You trolls are out of hand. You guys attack them viciously without any remorse. You constantly question the integrity of this website (although it's not your website and NONE of your business).
Quite simply if you don't like Engadget then GO SOMEWHERE ELSE. No one is forcing you tor read this BLOG. This is not the New York Times or WSJ. If Engadget favors one device over another they are entitled to do so. They are not beholden to the people who read this website. It's their freaking site you HATER.
@TheLondonExchange
By using the word "hater," you forfeited your credibility. The comments ARE relatively civil. Imagine 4chan coming around.
At least this is not Gizmodo, they had like 15 out of their 20 posts today talking about the iPad.
@TheLondonExchange Here's the thing: Engadget, in many ways, works for the audience. So, we should tell them what we want, asking for a 30 minute video, edited down by someone you pay $100 bucks for 2 hours of work, wouldn't kill their budget. The amount of outcry was justified, and the fact that they shut off comments means they might have been worried about more people jumping on the "troll" bandwagon. I mean, heaven forbid that we actually ask for something we reward with daily patronage. I believe, we have as much a right to ask for a review, as they have a right to ask for better hardware/software. Yes, while we perhaps ask in mass, and some people are downright rude, the hundreds of comments (including potential comments here) mean they should do something. Isn't that why Apple products get so much buzz on Engadget, because they simply get readers and comments? Well, we tried to do the same by getting an, albeit quick, review.
Don't ever believe what nVidia says. Their PR has always been FOS. Latetly event their top engineers have been told to BS (see Fermi announcemnt launch, etc...)
i think that milk has gone off..
@glenskey
That is some rotten milk.
No wonder the posts are starting to get spare on the ADAM facebook page.
SOMEBODY PLEASE TELL ME THERE IS A VIDEO OF THE SCREENSHOT FOR THIS ARTICLE ! ! !
It looks so beautiful... I would easily pay $10 for an App like that!
Please respond. I'm quite excited right now as I am researching Fluid Dynamics.
@Philip Han: Nevermind, I can clearly see it's a Photoshopped Background... The perspective of the Paint/Drop is off and you would never be able to create a drop like that on a hard surface.
I think these rumors have started circulating to increase iPad sales.
All I know is Tegra is super slow to hit market (except for Zune HD), even worse than Sony Ericsson is at getting a new smartphone released.
I've been dreaming of having an Android smartphone with Nvidia's Tegra 2 chip, days of battery use, hardware flash acceleration, awesome 3d graphics, 1080p video playback etc etc...
If smartphones don't come out in "the summer" like their marketing guy Mike Rayfield said, then to hell with it as far as I'm concerned.
They already made false promises before when they said smartphones and smartbooks would be out before "the holidays" 2009.
@Wesley
I wish we'd see some PMPs use Zii's SoCs. The ZMS-05 (to my knowledge) was the first SoC ever developed that could handle 1080p out, at the same time that Tegra was just released to the ability at handling 720p. Now they're even so far as having the ZMS-08 released, but I haven't seen a single PMP or smartphone use them.
It pisses me off.
@Prevacator The ZMS-08 looks very good on paper. If you want, you can buy a Zii Egg from zii.com for $399 if you say you are a software deveolper or something...
Other good processors I look forward to seeing in smartphones are the Marvell Armada and ST Ericsson U8500 - both 1.2Ghz Cortex A9.
This rumor is BS we have a tegra 2 chipset for software development at my office and works VERY WELL. There may be some "technical problems" but so are there with the combustion engine....and that's been on the market for bit =p
Mmmm, delicious Notion Ink Adam with 1080p out, transflective screen, and Pixel Qi monitor.
Nvidia would never lie to the industry *cough bumpgate*
the 'source' in the origin(al) of this rumor really smacks of bs, carefuly placed somewhere along the lines of "...all of you waiting for those other pads - you'll be waiting a looong time, 'cause Tegra 2 is bad. but look here, here's the ipad and it's here now. why wait..."
that's what I picked up from it:
http://www.slashgear.com/tegra-2-serious-issues-delaying-notion-ink-icd-compal-tablets-0179993/
What is happening to these small outfits like Fusion Garage and Notion Ink is that they don't have any leverage over manufacturers. They're essentially at the mercy of whatever Nvidia or Samsung or Pegatron or Foxconn decide to do at a given time. That chewbacca-looking fellow from JooJoo fame can't pick up the phone and tell the Nvidia CEO to get his act together and ramp up production or develop something custom-made.
Even companies such as HP have very limited pull in this regard. Where Apple shines is that they control the whole widget (in their own words), so if someone is fucking up the supply chain they can throw money or their weight around and fix the problems right away.
JooJoo and Notion Ink guys have come across a free operating system and some components and hope to challenge the big players. No way in hell they can duplicate that over and over until they become viable figures in the field.
This is the reason why these hobby devices are doomed. It's someone's crazy ass dream put into practice but the reality catches up with them fast and the users end up holding a brick just because they were naïve enough to participate in an experiment that was destined to fail.
Few months from now no one is going to remember these companies or their tragic products.