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Qualcomm axes its own Mirasol production, will only bring some devices to market itself
Talk about flying under the radar. While everyone's focus on Qualcomm's results last week centered on the mobile chip business going gangbusters, the company quietly revealed during its fiscal results call that it's backing out of producing Mirasol displays itself. CEO Paul Jacobs instead wants the company licensing out the butterfly-inspired screens to interested companies and will limit its direct commercialization to "certain" devices. The company isn't explaining why beyond the plan more closely matching "addressable opportunities," although the absence of any widescale launches (and unconfirmed but repeated talk of low yields at The Digital Reader) suggests that factory output never quite reached critical mass. We're hoping that someone picks up the color e-reader torch before too long and delivers more than just the reference model derivatives we've seen to date.
Hanvon C-18 Mirasol e-reader hands-on (video)
Qualcomm unveiled its new C-18 Mirasol e-reader yesterday, and today, we managed to get our hands on it here at CES. Manufactured by Hanvon, this device is officially labeled as an e-reader, though to be honest, it felt more like a tablet to us. Unlike the lightweight Kindle, the C-18 felt a tad heavy in our hands, with backlighting more typical of a slate than reader. It also runs its own Android skin, which raises some interesting questions of how many Android apps it would support. The color Mirasol display certainly piqued our interests, though we'll have to wait a little bit longer before we get a closer look at it, as the C-18 won't hit the Chinese market until February, with no set date for a US launch yet (price remains equally opaque). For more details, check out our gallery below, along with the hands-on video, after the break. Mat Smith contributed to this report.
Qualcomm shows off new Hanvon Mirasol e-reader, juggles video and text
Alongside the wireless goodness, and new Snapdragons, Qualcomm's pulled out a new Mirasol e-reader. Manufactured by Hanvon, we're promised that 90 percent of content will be in color, and perhaps more notably, it'll be able to juggle both text and video. The e-reader is destined for China, with 150,000 titles and over 100 newspapers to keep our Sino friends in wordage for a while. No word just yet on pricing and launch dates.
Hanvon brings world's first color E Ink reader to CES, we go hands-on (video)
Hanvon is aiming to fill the chasm between monochromatic e-readers and color LCD-based tablets at CES this year with its all-new color e-reader. It features the famed 9.7-inch color E Ink panel, the first of its kind, and offers the rather spectacular resolution of 1200 x 1600. We managed to spend a few precious moments with a prototype unit and were impressed by the solid and thin construction and the excellent viewing angles on offer. Sadly, there's plenty of bad news here too: the E920's colors are muted and not really on par with what you'd expect from even a mediocre LCD, refresh rates are pretty glacial, and the touchscreen functionality is of the resistive kind, meaning you'll have to resort to using the integrated stylus for navigation. The biggest downer, however, is that China, the first market for this e-reader, won't be getting it until May at the earliest. That's a long time to wait for a $500-ish slate. Video after the break. Update: There was some initial confusion about the device's name and specs, which has since been rectified and the post updated accordingly. [Thanks, Michalis] %Gallery-113561%
Hanvon's color e-reader up for pre-order in China -- for just $530
We'll rarely be accused of being proper economists here, but we do have to question Hanvon's calculations in throwing up a pre-order price for its brand new color e-reader of 3,500 Chinese Yuan. That's the report coming out of DigiTimes this morning, placing the device at around the $530 mark in a market that's not exactly known for its rampant consumption of tech luxuries. Then again, what we're talking about here will indeed be the very first E Ink Triton-equipped device anywhere once deliveries commence in February, so there's the cachet of short-term exclusivity to look forward to. Or it might be very long-term exclusivity if nobody thinks that color is worth paying that massive premium over more conventional e-readers. We shall wait and see.
Hanvon to be first with color E Ink reader, sizes it at 10 inches, makes it a touchscreen
While Amazon and Sony are still hemming and hawing about taking their ebook-reading adventure into the color E Ink realm, China's Hanvon is plunging straight in. The New York Times is reporting that the company intends to grace this year's FPD International trade show with the news that a 10-inch touchscreen e-reader, equipped with the first color-displaying panels from E Ink Holdings, will be arriving in the Chinese market in March. That's a little later than the originally promised "by the end of 2010," but it's not like anyone else is beating Hanvon to the market. Pricing in China is expected at around $440, and though there are no plans to bring it Stateside just yet, we imagine Hanvon would do so quite willingly if it can reach the volume necessary to offer up a more palatable price. And we'd be very happy if it does, the Nook Color's been looking a little lonely in the color ebook reader room.
E Ink begins sampling color and capacitive touch displays, on track for late 2010 launch
E Ink Holdings, the company behind the power-sipping screens contained within Amazon's Kindle and Sony's Readers, is keeping to its schedule for the biggest overhaul of its display technology yet. Color panels are reportedly now sampling out to device vendors and China-based Hanvon has already answered the call -- it promises to deliver color E Ink readers by the end of this year. Two varieties of touchscreens are also being prepared: the first is a capacitive panel to sate the kids' need to flick and swipe everywhere, while the second will include a pen-friendly digitizer that should make annotations a doddle (or should that be a doodle?). Better response times and reflectivity are also being touted, though the big question is obviously when this good stuff will make its way into mainstream devices like the Kindle. If you believe Jeff Bezos, that won't be any time soon.
Hanvon CEO smashes Apple effigy at TouchPad launch (video)
Want to draw attention to an otherwise ordinary piece of consumer electronics? Do something emotive like, say, smash a giant Apple ice sculpture in front of the world's Chinese press. Besides putting the boys in Cupertino on notice, Hanvon's officially launching the company's TouchPad B10 -- a 10.1-inch multitouch capacitive slate that we went hands-on with back in March. A €500ish device that runs Windows 7 on a retired 1.3GHz Celeron M ULV743 processor and Intel GMA 4500 graphics capable of delivering about 3.5 hours of battery life. Other specs include 2GB of memory, a regular ol' 2.5-inch 250GB or 320GB hard disk, HDMI-out, and WiFi. Watch the theatrics after the break while we wait for Hanvon's 1 million units sold announcement.
Hanvon suffers the tablet curse, delays multitouch B10, talks up cheaper F10 model
Manufacturers just can't seem to figure out this whole tablet deal. The poor things get delayed, canceled, or just make you fear that you've been ripped off. Hanvon's TouchPad B10 hasn't suffered the worst of those fates, but it is going to be a little later than planned. The last we heard they were due to ship on March 25, but according to jkkmobile the devices have just entered volume production and will instead ship to Chinese buyers sometime toward the end of May, while Europeans (and maybe lowly Americans) won't see theirs until June. Meanwhile, Hanvon is also talking about its H10 model, which uses a 1.6GHz Atom Z530 processor and lacks the multitouch of the B10, instead offering a stylus-based electromagnetic panel like the WISEreader. Cost is said to be "much less" than the B10, which is estimated to cost around $877 -- a figure that hopefully won't get any larger in the coming weeks.
Hanvon's multitouch tablet previewed, surfaces in China March 25th with 1080p playback
Though cheap Android craptablets were a commodity item at CeBIT 2010, that doesn't mean we didn't find the occasional diamond in the rough. Specifically, the Hanvon Touchpad BC10C, a sleek, multitouch Windows 7 device with specs firmly entrenched in high-end netbook territory. Thanks to our friend jkkmobile, we now know exactly what's powering this thing -- a comparatively juice-gulping 1.3GHz Celeron M ULV 743 CPU and GMA4500 graphics -- and that when it comes to the US and Europe, it'll cost a little more than we thought, hovering around $877. Mind you, that price bump might be worth it when you consider just how smoothly the 10-inch tablet performs (peep 1080p video and Microsoft Surface Globe demos after the break) but also know your YouTube surfing sessions will be limited by a simply sad 3.5 hours of battery life. For when "mobile" isn't an important word in your vocabulary... the BC10C launches in China March 25th.
Hanvon TouchPad BC10C and BA10E hands-on
Remind us to send a thank-you note to Hanvon for taking a break from cranking out e-readers to work on some of the best tablets we've seen at CeBIT yet -- much more advanced that what was shown by the company back in September. While the TouchPad BC10C and BA10E didn't have any special software running on top of Windows 7 Home Premium, both of their 10.1-inch, capacitive multitouch displays were extremely responsive. The BA10E was the more aesthetically-pleasing of the duo, with a smooth grey bezel and a thin, lightweight body that was cool to the touch. If you hadn't guessed already, that beauty comes at a cost to processing speed, with just a 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 processor inside. (Although the official specs list Windows XP and stylus input, as you can see in the video it was clearly using Windows 7 and multitouch -- the Atom CPU might also be an error, but the rep on hand couldn't say.) The BC10C, while bulkier, boasts an Intel Celeron chip -- a little more power, but we can't help but wonder how battery life would suffer. Hanvon told us these babies would run for about 500 euros, with release date currently unknown. You know the drill: gallery below, and video after the break. %Gallery-86929%
Hanvon WISEreader e-book lineup hands-on
Another day, another company pimping a slew of e-readers here at CES. Up next is Hanvon, with its WISEreader lineup of 5-inch E-Ink display-based readers on display. They're pretty basic in both the design and functionality departments, with support for text, images, and audio in the usual array of formats -- including DRM'ed EPUBs. The N518 and N526 models both have touchscreens, though you'll need to use a stylus for handwriting and note-taking. Other than that, there wasn't really much of note, though we were told that there's a capacitive version in the works but it wasn't quite ready to bring out of their labs in Taiwan just yet. There's always next year. %Gallery-82332%
Hanvon debuts new line of WISEreader e-book readers
Hanvon (also known as Hanwang) hasn't exactly been churning out one product after the other as of late, but it has made a fairly respectable showing for itself at CES, where it's just introduced five new models in its WISEreader line. Those include the N500, N618 (pictured above), N628, N638, and N800, which all sport Vizplex e-ink displays that range in size form five to eight inches and, in all but one case (the N638), use an electromagnetic panel and pen for note-taking complete with handwriting recognition. Even more surprising, Hanvon says that the whole lot will be available in the US sometime this year -- although they could well show up under a number of different brands, as Hanvon also works as an OEM. Hit up the gallery below for a look at the rest, and head on past the break to peruse the complete specs in convenient press release form. %Gallery-81900%
Video: Hanvon / Hanwang's aluminum-clad tablet does Windows 7 multitouch
You know that tablet we keep waiting for? Well, here's something that looks very much like it, but for the Windows 7 operating system and purported Atom processor inside. This 8.9-inch, two USB port-sporting device can pull off multi-touch pinching and zooming -- albeit with a lag akin to wading through water -- and is outfitted in a rather becoming all-aluminum case. It could make for a pretty desirable movie-playing machine on the go, provided it has the battery prowess for such tasks. Chinese folks will know for sure pretty soon, with the release coming before year's end -- presumably just as soon as the company figures out which westernized version of its name to use. Check out the video after the break.
Hanvon taps E Ink for Vizplex tech in N510 e-book reader
If you've been disinterested in the current wave of e-book readers due to their size, have a gander at Hanvon's N510. Yeah, you'll have to look a little harder than usual given its diminutive size, but it's there (we promise). Hailed as the world's first five-inch e-book to use electrophoretic technology, this power-sipping device relies on an E Ink Vizplex display and offers up 180-degrees viewing, an 11-millimeter thick frame and support for TXT, HTML, PNG, JPG, PDF, XEB, CEB, MP3 and MTXT formats. The daylight-viewable screen boasts an SVGA (800 x 600) resolution, and it comes loaded with a 1GB SD card and a mini USB port. There's no direct mention of availability, but it should start floating around soon (somewhere in the world, at least) for $295.[Via Slashgear]
