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Acer announces Orbe: a wireless storage hub for its cloud service (update: hands-on photos)
On stage at Acer's press event at Computex 2013 in Taipei, wrapping up a day of new Ultrabooks, tablets and smartphones, it revealed the Orbe, a new storage hub that connects to AcerCloud. You'll be able to tap into 2TB of storage with the curiously-shaped device, which will connect to... yep, Ultrabooks, tablets and smartphones -- something that's particularly useful given the cloud service's relatively recent update allowing any Android or iOS device to connect. Unfortunately we have yet to dig up any more specs on the device, but you can take a closer look at the hardware in our hands-on photos below.%Gallery-190070% Zach Honig contributed to this report.
Acer updating its AcerCloud service with full Android and iOS support
Until now, Acer's online storage service AcerCloud has been a one-way affair: you could upload files from your PC and access them on an Android device, but you couldn't back up anything stored on your phone or tablet. Well, fortunately for all of you who like to mix and match operating systems, that's about to change. The company just announced it's updating the service to support Android and iOS, in addition to Windows. Now, you'll be able to share files from your mobile device and have that count toward the cloud storage that comes with your Acer PC. Additionally, a new "Remote Files" feature lets you access your Windows machine from your Android or iOS device, and download anything stored there. Rounding out the list of enhancements, a feature called PicStream lets you push your photos across different devices, while AcerCloud Docs does the same thing for Office documents. According to Acer, the updated service will go live sometime this month, and will come installed on all of Acer's consumer PCs starting in Q2. Follow all the latest CES 2013 news at our event hub.
Acer Aspire ZS600 AIO announced at IFA 2012: 23-inch multi-touch Windows 8 PC (hands-on)
As we inch closer towards that October 26th release, the glut of announced Windows 8 devices continues to grow and today is no exception. At Acer's press conference here at IFA 2012, the company unveiled its new all-in-one PC: the Aspire ZS600. At first glance, the AIO's adjustable aluminum frame enclosure didn't much strike us "contemporary" per the company's claims, as it seemed to blend into the vast array of similar PCs showcased at the booth. And without any available keyboard dock to help us navigate that vibrant 23-inch full HD display, we were left to make use of the screen's 10-point multi-touch which proved a tad frustrating, bordering on ineffectual -- at least on this demo model. We also witnessed a considerable amount of glare in our brief time testing the product, though it's worth noting we were surrounded by a multitude of showroom lighting. Powering this multimedia-focused family AIO along is Intel's 3rd generation chipsets (up to Core i7) joined by Dolby Home Theatre 4.1 for superior sound and AcerCloud for convenient personal media streaming. The company's offering users the ability to configure it with up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GT 640, as well as a generous 2TB SATA hard disk. As far as optical options go, consumers can choose from a Blu-ray player or standard DVD drive. You'll have to sit tight for this fella to head to market, but rest assured you should see it on retails shelves before year's end -- we hope. While you wait, why not check out our gallery below? %Gallery-163994% Mat Smith contributed to this report.
AcerCloud blows into Europe, bringing remote access to your (Acer) laptop
We took a good look at the AcerCloud service early this year and its companion Android handset, the award-winning CloudMobile phone. Now, Acer has launched a beta service in Europe, so buyers of the company's new laptops and desktop machines over there will be able to try it out for themselves. To get it working, you can install the portal app onto your Android device and Acer PC, allowing you to download images and other files between the pair. You can also send files back to your computer for backup, expanding the storage of your smartphone or slate through your own mini-cloud. Everything will be synced through the service, which will store the data if your home machine isn't fired up -- and transfer everything when it's alive again. There's no word on when users will be able to partake stateside, but if you're across the pond, hit the source link for the mobile app.
Acer Aspire S5 Ultrabook arriving this month for $1,400, S3 gets updated with Ivy Bridge and new color
It was only last week that Acer unveiled its first touchscreen Ultrabook, so you'd be forgiven if you forgot about the company's other pinch-thin laptop -- the one that was announced back in January at CES. That would be the Aspire S5, and now, five months later, it's finally going on sale. We just got word that it will hit shelves the last week of this month, with a starting price of $1,400. To recap (in case you've been overwhelmed by all the Ultrabooks on display lately), this is the one with the motorized, drop-down door hiding HDMI, USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt ports. If fourteen hundred bucks seems expensive, remember that these specs (a Core i7 Ivy Bridge processor and 256GB SSD) are actually pretty standard for the money. And, at 2.65 pounds, it's lighter than almost every other 13-inch Ultrabook we've seen. Still, at that price we'd expect something a little crisper than a 1366 x 768 display. For what it's worth, too, the S5 is the first product to ship in the US with the company's free AcerCloud service baked in. In brief, you get unlimited storage for backing up your stuff, all of which you can access remotely using an Android app (Acer has said iOS and Windows Phone versions are on the way). As with other syncing services, your computer needs to be asleep, not powered-off, in order for you to retrieve your files, so avoid shutting down if you think you'll need to reach into your PC later. In other news, Acer is refreshing its first-gen S3 Ultrabook with a new champagne color, and will now offer it with an Ivy Bridge Core i7 processor and 256GB hard drive. The starting price has dropped to $648 with a Sandy Bridge CPU, with the highest-end models fetching about $1,000. Look for these upgraded models sometime next week.%Gallery-158067%
More specs of the Acer CloudMobile revealed, we take a second look (video)
We can't say it was necessarily love at first sight, but a second passover certainly helped our heart grow fonder. In our first hands-on of the Acer CloudMobile, a phone with a product design award under its belt, we weren't completely convinced that it was worthy of such a prize. However, we were given the opportunity to spend a significant amount of time with the device and previously unknown specs to go along with it. Here's what we discovered during our reacquaintance.%Gallery-149040%
Acer CloudMobile phone wins design award, lets cat out of the bag
Sometimes, you're just so darn full of pride you can get lost in the moment. We assume that's what Acer's done, having revealed possibly its trump handset weeks before the global mobile event, MWC, even starts. Its CloudMobile has won the iF design award for 2012, and the company just wanted everyone to know. So what can we expect to see later this month? Well, the phone will pack a 4.3-inch high-definition touchscreen, with a Dolby-branded speaker plate on the back, all wrapped in a sub-10mm "Sleeve DNA" contoured shell. Expect the device to be tightly integrated with Acer's cloud technology -- we grabbed a hands-on with this just last month -- using peer-to-peer connectivity to sync pictures, music and other files, while also offering up printer functionality. Pocket-Lint believes we'll see the device running Android 4.0 on arrival -- it's currently posited for a Q3 release. We'll be scouring the show floor for it when Mobile World Congress kicks off in earnest.
A closer look at AcerCloud (video)
Acer unveiled so much hardware this week that it's easy to forget it also teased a cloud-based storage service. In brief, AcerCloud, allows you to remotely access whatever's on your Acer laptop, even if it's asleep or in hibernation mode, and even if you're not connected to the same WiFi network. Storage is unlimited, and you can upload music, photos, videos and documents. Also, it's free. So how does this work, if not over WiFi? Whenever possible, AcerCloud will try to create a peer-to-peer connection between your laptop and phone, but when that fails a security token inside the laptop allows the cloud service to play matchmaker between the notebook and the app, which is of course tied to your account. At launch, there will be separate mobile applications for music, photos, et cetera. It will be Android-only, though Acer reps tell us they intend to to create versions for Windows Phone and even iOS (assuming Apple approves it). They also say they're considering developing a file manager where you can access all your content, and not just music or pictures. For now, at least, the discrete apps are intuitively designed, and the best part is that you can play back media inside of them. Good news for anyone not satisfied with their Android phone's native music player. Expect this to start rolling out in North America and China in the second quarter, followed by a worldwide release sometime in Q4. It'll also become an eventual staple on Acer PCs, including things like all-in-ones, but in the beginning it will be exclusive to Acer's Ultrabooks. Until Q2 rolls around, though, you can head past the break for a short demo of the music app. We hope you're not too sick of Lady Gaga. Billy Steele contributed to this report.
Acer AcerCloud promo images look just like iCloud
Wow, what a surprising turn of events! Yet another consumer electronics manufacturer has unveiled something "new" that appears to be a blatant copy of something that Apple created. In this case, the guilty party is Taiwanese computer manufacturer Acer. When they're not jumping on the "Ultrabook" bandwagon along with other manufacturers who are designing MacBook Air clones, they're busy parroting Apple's iCloud service. The Verge published images from Acer (above) and Apple (below) presentations of their respective cloud services. As you can see, they're remarkably similar. Sure, the clouds are shaped differently, but both contain exactly 20 images. Both images contain a laptop, a tablet, and a smartphone. Acer has even named their photo sharing element "PicStream," which sounds remarkably similar to Photo Stream. The only major changes are the location of the devices, the location of the phrase "30 days," and the addition of a tacky Wi-Fi signal indicator. Both slides are done on a gradient background, although the colors are different. As Acer fans are likely to point out in the comments, Apple didn't invent the concept of cloud computing. SugarSync's old ads even used to show three devices being fed media from a cloud. But when a major manufacturer is so desperate to be like Apple that they do their best to even mimic presentation slides, it shows an amazing lack of imagination and taste. It's just surprising that Acer didn't have a Steve Jobs lookalike make the presentation at CES 2012... [Images via The Verge]
AcerCloud unveiled, bringing free cloud connectivity to all future Acer PCs
Acer's just previewed its latest entry to cloud computing, aptly titled AcerCloud, allowing users to access multimedia and data files remotely whether or not their main PC is asleep. The feature will be available free of cost on all future consumer Acer PCs. Acer's latest enlists the outfit's Always Connect service to wake up PCs from sleep mode, enabling transfer from smartphones and tablets. Among the services included are PicStream, which allows for cloud-based photo sharing, AcerCloud Docs, for storing and accessing (guess what?) documents, and clear.fi that allows for streaming of media from the cloud to almost any device. Compatibility is currently limited to Android smartphones and tablets, but support is apparently in the works for Windows-based devices. The feature will start popping up on new PCs in Q2 2012 and will launch worldwide in Q4. You can sign up now and get a notice when it's available. For more, check out the full PR after the break.
