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Refresh Roundup: week of April 23rd, 2012

Zachary Lutz — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 21:15:00 EST

Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging for an update. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it's easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don't escape without notice, we've gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery we could find during the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!

Continue reading Refresh Roundup: week of April 23rd, 2012

Refresh Roundup: week of April 23rd, 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 29 Apr 2012 21:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Acer releases app to hurry the ICS-ification of Iconia slates (video)

James Trew — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 14:44:00 EST

Patience, they say, is a virtue. Try telling that to a tech-savvy tablet owner, whose friend already got an ICS update. Acer started pushing out an Android 4 update to lucky Iconia 500 owners earlier in the week, but for those who've yet to receive it, all is not lost. The tablet maker has taken the unusual step of releasing an app dedicated to getting you the upgrade asap. Can't wait a moment longer? Point your slate at the Play store and search for "Acer" and then simply look for the free Iconia Tab Update Enhancement app. Virtues are overrated anyway.

Continue reading Acer releases app to hurry the ICS-ification of Iconia slates (video)

Acer releases app to hurry the ICS-ification of Iconia slates (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 29 Apr 2012 14:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Acer's A100 and A500 tablets getting Ice Cream Sandwich on April 27th

Dante Cesa — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 02:45:00 EST

With April nearly over, it's high time Acer came clean on when exactly its promised Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade for the A100 and A500 would land. Today the company did just that, revealing that US owners of either tablet can opt-in for their frozen makeovers starting on the 27th. Bad news if you're rocking AT&T's variant of the latter though, as the listing on the company's support page for the A501 says "no update planned." Those not tied Ma Bell can expect Acer's skin -- including that ring launcher -- grafted onto Google's latest, much like the A200's ICS upgrade back in February. Already pumped? Go ahead and bookmark that source link. Do it, we won't judge.

Acer's A100 and A500 tablets getting Ice Cream Sandwich on April 27th originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Apr 2012 02:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Refresh Roundup: week of March 19th, 2012

Zachary Lutz — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 19:14:00 EST

Continue reading Refresh Roundup: week of March 19th, 2012

Refresh Roundup: week of March 19th, 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 25 Mar 2012 19:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Refresh Roundup: week of February 20th, 2012

Zachary Lutz — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 17:04:00 EST

Continue reading Refresh Roundup: week of February 20th, 2012

Refresh Roundup: week of February 20th, 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 26 Feb 2012 17:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Engadget's holiday gift guide 2011: tablets

Dana Wollman — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 12:00:00 EST

Welcome to the Engadget Holiday Gift Guide! We're well aware of the heartbreaking difficulties surrounding the seasonal shopping experience, so we're here to help you sort out this year's tech treasures. Below is today's bevy of curated picks, and you can head back to the Gift Guide hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the holiday season.

Of all the electronic gifts you could buy someone right now, a tablet seems like one of the safer bets. It's a cheaper way of saying "I love you" than bestowing a $1,000 laptop, and it takes less chutzpah than signing someone up for a smartphone (along with two years of data fees). And let's be real here: what's more festive than flopping onto the couch in pajamas after opening gifts and lazily playing Angry Birds while It's A Wonderful Life airs in the background? Yeah, we can't think of anything either.

Sadly, we don't have any webOS-flavored tablets this time around, and we couldn't include some hotly anticipated numbers like the Transformer Prime, since they're not shipping yet and we don't even know much they'll cost. Still, we managed to find a slew of Android tablets (and one iPad) across a range of budgets. Been on the fence about what to get? Skip past the break for some ideas.

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Engadget's holiday gift guide 2011: tablets originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Nov 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Acer Iconia Tab A100 review

Dana Wollman — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 08:00:00 EST

It's been nine months -- nine months! -- since Acer first announced it was getting into the tablet game, with a promise of both 7- and 10-inch slates. Well, the 10-inch Iconia Tab A500 has been on the scene for months, but until now we've been tapping our feet impatiently waiting for the other tab to drop. Acer came out and said it wouldn't be here until the second half of the year, and meanwhile we'd heard rumors it would arrive in September and that it was delayed due to "Honeycomb compatibility issues".

Well, folks, dog years later it's finally here. Say hello to the Acer Iconia Tab A100, the company's first 7-inch tablet, and the first 7-inch tablet to run Android 3.2. Other than its OS, its specs are fairly run-of-the-mill: a Tegra 2 SoC, five- and two-megapixel cameras, and micro-USB and micro-HDMI ports. And rejoice, geeks, because that's vanilla Honeycomb loaded on there -- you won't find any custom skins or proprietary widgets clogging your home screens. As much promise as these vitals might have for nerds, though, Acer is clear the tablet is for mainstream consumers ("moms," among others, according to the press release). We're not sure how your mother would feel about the precious pattern on the back, but chances are she'd appreciate the bargain factor: the 8GB version costs $329.99 while the 16GB number rings in at a reasonable $349.99, undercutting the 16GB HTC Flyer by $150. We've been lucky to get some quality time with the A100 the past few days, and let's just say we're coming away with some mixed feelings. But do we like it enough that we feel this little guy was worth the wait? That's a toughie, guys.

Gallery: Acer Iconia Tab A100 review

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Acer Iconia Tab A100 review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Aug 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Elusive Acer Iconia Tab A100 coming to Walmart for $349 (updated)

Dana Wollman — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 15:51:00 EST

Typically, the whole fun of spotting products in the wild is that they haven't been officially announced to the world yet, but in the case of the Acer Iconia Tab A100, we're just amazed it's finally here, and that it's so... unassuming. Just weeks after rearing its head in FCC drawings, the delayed Tab has quietly surfaced at Walmart with a price tag of $349. That sticker there says it all, but for the money you'll get Tegra 2 innards with 8GB of internal storage, a 2 megapixel front-facing camera, and a 5 megapixel one 'round the back. And of course, it runs Android 3.0 at a time when most other 7-inchers still tap out at Android 2.3 -- possibly the reason it was delayed in the first place. There's no listing on Walmart's website just yet, and our tipsters indicated it wasn't actually on display. Still, if we're seeing a price and tag, that means we're beyond the point of any more delays... right?

Update: What you see in the wild is a display tag -- not the elusive A100, of course. You can't pop into a Walmart to buy one yet, but if that sticker is any indication, that'll change soon.

Update 2: One sneaky reader snagged a sheet of wally-world pricetags, see the A100's barcode hanging with tags for the Iconia A500 and HP Touchpad after the break.

[Thanks, Mat, David, Jared, and Clyde]

Continue reading Elusive Acer Iconia Tab A100 coming to Walmart for $349 (updated)

Elusive Acer Iconia Tab A100 coming to Walmart for $349 (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Jun 2011 15:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Acer Iconia Tab A100 hits the FCC

Donald Melanson — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 16:44:00 EST

It hasn't been an easy few months for anyone holding out for Acer's 7-inch Iconia Tab A100. After being announced without a firm release date, it then went up for pre-order in the UK with a promised April 20th ship date, only to be delayed until the second half of the year a month later -- possibly due to some Honeycomb compatibility issues. Now the device has finally hit the FCC, which could indicate that an eventual release will at least be closer to the beginning of the second half of the year than the end. Unfortunately, the FCC's still holding back on any actual pictures, so you'll have to get your gadget dissection fix another day.

Acer Iconia Tab A100 hits the FCC originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Jun 2011 16:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Acer Iconia Tab A100 delayed due to Honeycomb compatibility issues?

Dana Wollman — Wed, 25 May 2011 11:23:00 EST

Acer was already kind enough to give us a heads up that it would not be launching the Iconia Tab A100 in May, as planned. But the company wasn't exactly champing at the bit to explain why its 7-inch, Tegra 2-powered tablet is taking such a tedious trip to market. According to a DigiTimes report, at least, the hangup comes down to compatibility issues with Honeycomb, an OS that so far hasn't been seen on many 7-inch slates. Specifically, the site's unnamed sources say Acer has encountered problems with certain applications and that Google, meanwhile, is "busy resolving other issues." All in all, precisely the kind of complication that Ice Cream Sandwich promises to circumvent. Oh, and speaking of delays, DigiTimes adds that the Iconia Smart might go on sale in July due to earthquake-related supply shortages. We asked Acer for clarification, but the company declined to comment, so it looks like we'll just have to wait and see what goodies late summer brings.

Acer Iconia Tab A100 delayed due to Honeycomb compatibility issues? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 May 2011 11:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Acer postpones Iconia Tab A100 launch to second half of the year

Vlad Savov — Tue, 17 May 2011 06:39:00 EST

Looks like Acer's 7-inch Iconia Tab A100 has opted for a fashionably late entrance. We've just been informed by the company that its Honeycomb-sporting, Tegra 2-powered slate will not be arriving, as had been expected, right around now, but will in fact make its debut in the second half of 2011. No reasons have been given for the move, other than to say that the device has been postponed. The thing that prompted us to query Acer's PR team was a report out of Poland suggesting the A100 had been cancelled. Acer's UK reps are adamant that's not been the case, but anyone who was looking forward to grabbing one soon will be disappointed either way.

Acer postpones Iconia Tab A100 launch to second half of the year originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 May 2011 06:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Acer's 3G-equipped Iconia Tab A100 up for pre-order on Amazon UK for £400

Michael Gorman — Thu, 05 May 2011 00:13:00 EST

When we first caught wind of the pending release of Acer's Iconia Tab A100 WiFi version, we were amazed by its Amazonian pre-order promise of Android 3.0 for a mere £300. Now, a second version of the seven-inch slate has hit the same site with a May 14 release date, a sprinkling of 3G, and the cut-rate cost of its cousin has been replaced with a £400 ($660) price tag. Unfortunately, the extra hundred pounds takes the A500's 3G baby brother out of the bargain basement, but you didn't think you'd get all those G's for free, did you?

Acer's 3G-equipped Iconia Tab A100 up for pre-order on Amazon UK for £400 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 May 2011 00:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Acer's 7-inch Iconia Tab A100 priced at £300 in UK, launching April 20th

Vlad Savov — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 04:05:00 EST

Boy oh boy, these Taiwanese companies are seriously gunning to take the bottom out of the Honeycomb tablet market. After we saw ASUS stride forward with very competitive pricing on its 10-inch Eee Pad Transformer, we're now being treated to Acer's riposte, an eminently reasonable £300 ($483) price tag attached to its 7-inch Iconia Tab. Nothing is really skimped on here, you get the dual-core Tegra 2 and Android 3.0 one-two punch of hardware and software that's become so popular lately, and of course the RAM is 512MB, not KB as indicated on Amazon's listing. Perhaps the 8GB of storage will be a little on the light side, but given the price, we consider that a most forgivable shortcoming. Amazon notes the release date as April 20th in the UK and we doubt the rest of the world will have to wait much longer either.

Acer's 7-inch Iconia Tab A100 priced at £300 in UK, launching April 20th originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 04:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Acer announces UK Iconia Tab pricing: Windows or Android starting at £449

Donald Melanson — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 13:22:00 EST

There's still no official word on pricing for the eventual US release, but Acer has now finally confirmed the UK pricing for its new Iconia Tab series of tablets. The WiFi-only versions of both the Windows 7-based Iconia Tab W500 and Android-based A500 will demand £449 apiece (or about $720) when they launch in the UK on April 8th, while the 3G-equipped W500 will set you back £529, or roughly $850 -- there's curiously no pricing for the 3G version of the A500 at the moment. Also available at the same time is a keyboard dock that will set you back £90 on its own or £529 in a bundle, and you can look for the smaller 7-inch A100 and W100 models to follow in May, or possibly later -- apparently with €349 price tag, if recent retailer pricing is any indication.

Acer announces UK Iconia Tab pricing: Windows or Android starting at £449 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Mar 2011 13:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola Xoom, LG Optimus Pad, Acer Iconia A100, and ASUS Eee Pad get Euro retailer pricing

Vlad Savov — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 09:19:00 EST

The Carphone Warehouse, known under the brand name of Phone House across Europe, has revealed its future pricing for a quartet of Android Honeycomb tablets in the latest version of its device catalog. The 7-inch Acer Iconia A100 scoops the prize for being most affordable with a €349 sticker, while the 10-inch Xoom's €699 price is confirmed and the 8.9-inch Optimus Pad gets its lowest pricing yet, at a still unaffordable €849. The Eee Pad on display here isn't explicitly named, but we suspect it to be the 10.1-inch Transformer, packing a dual-core Tegra 2 and running version 3.0 of Android -- just like all the others in this group. Oddly enough, these are all detailed in the March version of the document, but unless we're sorely mistaken, none of these tablets has yet reached the stage of general availability in Europe. Well, at least it lets us know how much each one will cost when they do eventually hit retail.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Motorola Xoom, LG Optimus Pad, Acer Iconia A100, and ASUS Eee Pad get Euro retailer pricing originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Mar 2011 09:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Neverware's Juicebox 100 squeezes new life into aging school computers (video)

Sean Hollister — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 08:16:00 EST

Your typical school computer is probably not a machine you'd like to use on a daily basis -- perennially behind the curve in terms of technology, since educators can't afford smokin' hot video cards and primo processors year after year. Budgets and the resulting reluctance inevitably lead to stale hardware which then goes obsolete... but a tiny startup called Neverware thinks it can end the cycle of woe with virtualization technology. Its single product, the Juicebox a100, can serve up one hundred Windows 7 virtual desktops to existing hardware, pretty much regardless of its age -- all computers need is a working LAN jack, a 500MHz processor and 128MB of memory, so schools could keep their beige boxes and just upgrade the Juicebox instead. Founder Jonathan Hefter doesn't have pricing worked out yet -- and his tiny company only has three of the boxes working at present -- but he's piloted the technology in a pair of schools and is planning a beta soon -- all the while dreaming about how our mountains of e-waste could be transformed into useful computers for the poorer nations of the world. Good luck, dude! Video after the break.

Continue reading Neverware's Juicebox 100 squeezes new life into aging school computers (video)

Neverware's Juicebox 100 squeezes new life into aging school computers (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Jan 2011 08:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fuji expands A-series with A150 and A100 boringcams

Nilay Patel — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 12:44:00 EST

Although we're expecting big things from FujiFilm's Super CCD EXR-packing F200, we can't say we're nearly as intrigued with the two new A-series compacts the company also saw fit to release this morning. The A100 and A150 are pretty much the basic kit you've come to expect at the bottom end of things: both have 10 megapixel sensors with ISO 1600 sensitivity, 3x optical zooms with image stabilization, face detection, QVGA video recording, and a bunch of scene modes that shouldn't be too hard to completely ignore. The only difference between the two are the screen sizes -- the A100 does it at 2.7 inches, while the A150 sports a three-inch screen. No word on pricing, but we'd guess cheap.

Read - A100
Read - A150

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Fuji expands A-series with A150 and A100 boringcams originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Feb 2009 12:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Windows 7 gets installed on Amtek U560 UMPC, what's next?

Donald Melanson — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 04:04:00 EST

It may not be quite the all purpose OS that Windows XP has become, but Windows 7 is certainly proving to at least be a good deal more versatile than its immediate predecessor, and folks just can't seem to stop testing its limits. One of the latest to be put through the wringer is the Amtek U560 UMPC, which is based on a pre-Atom A100 processor that clocks in at a mere 600MHz. Despite that, however, and the system's paltry 512MB RAM, the UMPC seems to have been more than up to the task, with it snagging a passable Windows 7 Experience Index rating of 1.2. Head on past the break to check it out in action.

[Via SlashGear]

Continue reading Windows 7 gets installed on Amtek U560 UMPC, what's next?

Filed under: Handhelds

Windows 7 gets installed on Amtek U560 UMPC, what's next? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Jan 2009 04:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony's Advanced Amateur DSLR called the Alpha a700?

Evan Blass — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 11:30:00 EST

Anyone who's the least bit into digital photography knows that Sony is coming out with two new DSLRs -- the Flagship and Advanced Amateur models -- sometime in the future, but other than a few in the wild shots and rumored specs, we still don't know much about the mysterious duo. Info is slowing coming to light, however, with several of Sony's foreign sites now showing a flash video that clearly depicts the Advanced Amateur model branded as the a700 -- which would follow the original a100 and perhaps signal an a900 branding for the Flagship. Seems like we're getting close to an actual announcement here, so we'll keep you posted.

[Via Photography Blog]

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Sony's Advanced Amateur DSLR called the Alpha a700? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Sep 2007 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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More pics of Sony's new Alpha DSLRs surface

Donald Melanson — Thu, 17 May 2007 14:39:00 EST

While Sony was showing off its new Alpha DSLRs all the way back at PMA in March (where we snapped up plenty of pics of 'em), it looks like the company is just now starting to let loose some official shots to flaunt the cameras in their best possible light. Unfortunately, they aren't yet providing any specs to go along with the pics, although we do know that the cameras will boast the same BIONZ image processor and image stabilization of Sony's A100, which these cams are set to succeed. From the looks of it, Sony will have more to say about 'em at the Seoul International Photo & Imaging Industry Show that's just getting underway. Until then, you can check out a couple more pics of the various models after the break.

Continue reading More pics of Sony's new Alpha DSLRs surface

Filed under: Digital Cameras

More pics of Sony's new Alpha DSLRs surface originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 May 2007 14:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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DSLR dust removal / sensor cleaning shootout

Darren Murph — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 04:49:00 EST

We already know that megapixels don't matter (right?), but an oft hyped (but untested) feature that has emerged on DSLRs is automatic sensor cleaning. The anti-dust capabilities (or lack thereof) of Canon's EOS-400D, Olympus' E-300, Pentax's K10D, and Sony's Alpha A100 were put to the test, and although the methodology was less than scientific, the results were intriguing nonetheless. Essentially, each camera was given a before / after test shot in order to judge the results, and after the digicams sat through a dirtying process, they were "self-cleaned" 25 times and finally rated. Considering that Olympus was given credit as being the first manufacturer to include dust cleaning technology in its products, it's not too surprising that it took home the gold, but even sitting in first place, the E-300's effectiveness was only rated at 50-percent. Canon's EOS-400D came in with high expectations, but received a "poor" rating as the cleaning effectiveness clocked in a paltry five-percent. If you thought these two were bad, it only got worse when the Pentax K10D and Alpha A100 stepped to the plate, as both highly-regarded cams were deemed "useless" in the anti-dust department. So if your number one priority in a new DSLR is how well it cleans up after itself, there doesn't seem to be a standout option just yet, but feel free to hit the read link and decide for yourself.

[Thanks, Romain B.]

Filed under: Digital Cameras

DSLR dust removal / sensor cleaning shootout originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Mar 2007 04:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony shows off Alpha DSLR "Flagship" and "High Amateurs" models

Ryan Block — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 18:37:00 EST

Though the models and exact specs aren't yet announced, Sony was showing two new prototype DSLRs in their Alpha line as "a sign of things to come." The two models being shown were the "Flagship" and "High Amatuers" Alphas, which are both stated to have the BIONZ image processor and image stabilization, just as the A100. We'll be keeping an eye out, Sony. Peep the gallery.

Gallery: Sony shows off Alpha DSLR "Flagship" and "High Amatuers" models

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Sony shows off Alpha DSLR "Flagship" and "High Amateurs" models originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Mar 2007 18:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony Alpha 100 DSLR previewed

Paul Miller — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 15:05:00 EST

The first DSLR from Sony is sure getting plenty of hype, but we think we'll reserve judgement until we spy a solid review of a production unit. Until then we'll have to make do with this hands-on preview of the 10 megapixel Sony Alpha A100, and try not to get caught up in that fancy Greek lettering. Luckily, things are looking plenty good in pre-production, with features galore, and a potential to rival the image quality of cameras nearly twice as expensive. Specially notable is an eye sensor to automagically activate auto-focus, Sony's special sauce image stabilisation that mixes the best of Sony and Konica Minolta tech, the 2.5-inch 230,000 pixel LCD, and of course the large 10 megapixel CCD. The camera build is pretty solid, shooting speed is fairly fast, and other little niceties like Konica Minolta and Minolta lens compatibility make this camera very attractive. PopPhoto is predicting a roughly $800 street price, and while the similarly specced $1700 Nikon D200 might have it beat in a few (important) areas, Sony's new kid on the block might have a chance to do battle with Canon's EOS 30D or at least pose a serious threat to its own price range.

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Sony Alpha 100 DSLR previewed originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Jun 2006 15:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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