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LG Optimus 4X HD hands-on (video)
The quad-cores have arrived and the first out of the blocks is LG's sequel to its dual-core Optimus 2X. The Korean phone maker has apparently recruited its "best engineers "on this wafer-thin slab of power and it shows; the phone is light and slim. It's taken a detour from the Prada Phone stylings we've seen on the Optimus Vu and L-series, but looks noticeably more mature than last year's efforts and Android's Ice Cream Sandwich is in attendance -- with some tweaks. Our video hands-on and impressions are waiting after the break. Until then, take a 360-degree tour of the device at our gallery below.
Adobe Air peer-to-peer video call concept Android app hands-on (video)
If you recall, a few days ago we stumbled upon a cheekily-named concept app (which has since been renamed for obvious reasons) from Adobe that does video-calling on Android. This is pretty rad considering it's just Qik and Fring offering the same service for the green bot right now, so we trotted along to Adobe's London office to get a closer look at this demo. As with many things in life, not all went as planned as you can see after the break -- the video stream froze up on several occasions, but then again Adobe's Mark Doherty only spent three days cooking this simple app. Regardless, this should still help Android developers understand the beefed-up peer-to-peer capabilities in the forthcoming Air 2.5 runtime, which is now "feature-complete" and undergoing extensive testing ahead of launch later this year. Things are less positive for Flash availability on other mobile platforms, though. While Nokia's just waiting for a Linux SDK before it can start porting Flash apps to its devices within 2010, Adobe implied that it's still waiting for two other vendors to respond -- Palm's already been shown a Flash build running on webOS devices, and it's just a matter of the company signing up for Adobe's device certification system; RIM, on the other hand, is a bit more vague, but we were told it's definitely interested in both Air and Flash. And here's the surprise of the day: no comment on Flash for iOS (not to be confused with its digital publishing tools for the iPad), but there's no stopping you from hacking it in yourself. Update: Adobe's Mark Doherty has sent us a statement to emphasize the industrial backing of the Air and Flash platforms for mobile. We've posted it after the break.
Acer Aspire One 521 and 721 spotted in France handling HD video, eying a croissant
You could say this is one of the odder ways to make something official, but Acer's Aspire One 521 and 721 have been deemed just that after surfacing at an event today in France. Just as we'd heard the 10-inch 521, is rocking a heretofore unheard of AMD 1.2GHz V105 (single-core) processor, 160GB hard drive, 1GB of RAM, ATI's Radeon HD 4225 GPU and a penchant for handling 1080p video without breaking a sweat. It's also equipped with VGA / HDMI outputs, a media card reader, three USB sockets, audio in / out, Ethernet jack and a native 1,024 x 600 resolution. The 11.6-inch 721, on the other hand, has AMD's newer 1.3GHz Athlon II Neo K325, which similarly sports full HD playback on its 1366x768 resolution screen. And oddly, Acer seems to also have a new Aspire 1551 lying around, which also has an 11.6-inch display and dual-core Athlon II Neo K325/K625 processor options. Sadly, no further details were available, but we suspect they'll be outed faster than you can turn yourself around, mash play on the video past the break and ping your financial manager to get his / her thoughts on picking this up alongside a new Ditch Witch.
Albatron's 42 inches of optical touch monitor get examined on video
While Dell and HP were busy holding a competition to see who could do a worse job of announcing their new optical multitouch displays, Albatron was crafting away a 42-inch monstrosity to completely steal their thunder. The optical part refers to a pair of CMOS sensors embedded in the bezel which are responsible for touch detection, a cheaper alternative to your typical capacitive and resistive tech, which requires an extra USB connection between the monitor and computer. Although some issues were found with Windows 7's multitouch implementation, the promise of recognizing more than two fingers with the proper software support and the general responsiveness of the unit whet our appetite for more. Alas, nobody dares speak of a price, but a 1080p 22-inch model is already available for $450, in case you wanted to add to your touchy-feely shortlist. The video after the break contains the hands-on and a little mystery -- why is there Bulgarian handwriting on the whiteboard in the background?
VUDU's streaming service demoed live on an LG TV
We've seen it in the flesh, and we must say VUDU is doing things right with its move to a device-agnostic service. They haven't chucked a single feature, and the interface is rather responsive for a TV-based video service (though not quite as flashy as its PS3 and Xbox 360 counterparts). Even with a bit of crummy hotel internet getting in the way, the device managed to buffer streams of 720p and 1080p content at a fairly rapid rate -- besting a best-case-scenario Netflix buffer time in most cases. It's clear that the 5.1 surround, 1080p-equipped HDX format, which can downgrade its bitrate based on available bandwidth, is really going to eat up your pipes, but the 720p looks quite good even in the face of a somewhat limited connection. While LG and Vizio are the jumping off point for this service, it's VUDU's stated aim to land on pretty much any home theater device that'll have them -- we can't imagine Microsoft or Sony taking very kindly to the offer, but it's hard to argue with this level of HD selection. Video of the service in action is after the break.
Skytone's Alpha 680 tablet, Android interface gets underwhelming hands-on treatment
We're still not sold on the $250 price tag for Skytone's Android-powered Alpha 680, and these video hands-on of the tablet / netbook from netbooknews.de don't help. While the apps shown off run smoothly -- browser, Maps, Skype, Office, etc. -- they also serve as painful reminders that multitasking's just not gonna work when each app takes up the full screen and can only be opened one at a time. Not that we necessarily expected to do nine things at once with an ARM-based processor, but something tells us we'd be reaching for the Jaunty Jackalope before too long. See for yourself in the two-part video series after the break.
