Vega
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Balrog: Behind the Glory is a fan-made Street Fighter masterpiece
Street Fighter has a surprisingly rich, complex, and storied mythos surrounding its characters, especially considering the fact that it's a game about beating people unconscious. Balrog: Behind the Glory takes that history and puts it in a format we can all understand: the mockumentary.
Pantech Vega No.5 bringing sexy back to tabletphones, packs 1.5GHz dual-core chip
Yes, tabletphones are coming back! Joining the eccentric Dell Streak 5 is Pantech's conveniently named Vega No.5 (or IM-T100K), a 5-inch Android 2.3.3 smartphone powered by Qualcomm's brawny dual-core 1.5GHz MSM8660. Apart from the extra 0.7 inches of screen size, what we have here is essentially the same package as the Vega Racer: 800 x 480 LCD, 8 megapixel 1080p camera, front-facing camera, 1GB DDR2 RAM, 16GB of memory, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, and 14.4Mbps HSPA+ connectivity. No word on international availability, but expect this slate to hit the shops in Korea later this month. Hands-on video after the break.
Pantech cooks up world's first 1.5 GHz dual-core phone, tablet in the works
If you keep a close eye on the latest dual-core superphones, you'll be blown away by the latest offering from...Pantech? The Korea-based company may not have a large smartphone presence in the West, but it throws together some decent devices at home. The latest in its Android lineup is the Vega Racer, the world's first superphone with a 1.5 GHz dual-core chip inside. With plans to go on sale later this month on SK-Telecom, it's got some real power under the hood with Qualcomm's MSM8660 Snapdragon chip, 1GB RAM, and Adreno 220 GPU. On top of these killer specs, the Racer also sports a 4.3-inch Sharp ASV TFT LCD display with 800x480 WVGA resolution, dual cameras at 8MP / 1.3MP, and 1650 mAh battery. Not bad for a phone that weighs 120g (4.23 oz) and is 9mm thin. Apart from the Vega Racer, Pantech is hopping on the tablet bandwagon and development is said to be "in full swing." When those slates will swing into retail, however, remains to be seen. [Thanks, Han]
Advent's Vega tablet gets a little sweeter with the addition of Android 3.0 (video)
There's plenty of Android tablets out there, but you could certainly do a lot worse than the Advent Vega with its Tegra 2 innards and £199 ($326) asking price. You may take issue with its outdated OS, but thankfully a couple of hackers have replaced the Vega's antiquated Android 2.2 with a heaping helping of Honeycomb. It's currently an alpha release, so while widgets and apps are working well, camera capabilities, screen rotation, web-surfing on WiFi, and most everything else is currently off limits. There's still plenty of work to be done, but seeing Advent's slate running buttery smooth Android 3.0 with aplomb (even if unofficially) makes us think it's a better bargain than ever before. Check out how the Vega looks sporting its slick new threads in the video after the break.
Advent Vega finally gets its Flash Player
The Advent Vega tablet shipped late last year but quickly had its Flash Player pulled due to a little spat with Adobe about certifications. Now that's been fixed and this 10.1-inch, Android 2.2 and Tegra 2-powered slab can finally take off its mask and show us what it can do. If you're an owner, get yourself the 1.09 software update on the other end of the source link below.
Pantech Vega Xpress comes with DDR2 memory, extravagant performance claims
Pantech's bringing a new wrinkle to the mobile hardware space with its newly announced Vega Xpress handset. This 4-inch Android 2.2 beastie will come equipped with an unspecified amount of DDR2 RAM -- yes, the stuff that usually goes into x86 laptop and desktop computers -- which Pantech will have you believe is going to blow the competition out of the proverbial water. The company claims the new phone doubles 3D graphics performance relative to its previous best, while power efficiency is also said to be two to three times better. Other specs include a 5 megapixel autofocus camera, 802.11n WiFi, an 800 x 480 resolution, and a 1500mAh battery. Yours, provided you're anywhere near Korea, some time soon.
Advent Vega's Flash Player yanked due to missing Adobe certification
The Advent Vega was never the most polished Android tablet in the world -- after all, we had to rely on a custom ROM just to get native Android Market access -- but a reasonable price tag and NVIDIA's Tegra 2 has still made it hard to resist. For those who've managed to snag one already, you may have noticed that the Flash playback isn't exactly... awesome. That's probably because the version loaded onto already-shipped versions isn't certified by Adobe, and in order to fend off future complaints, the company's yanking Flash Player entirely from newly-shipping models for the time being. The certification process is apparently underway, and the outfit expects Vega tablets shipped "in the early part of 2011" to have a green-lit build pre-installed; as for everyone else, they'll be provided a gratis update as soon as it can be pushed out onto the interwebs. Head on past the break for the full statement.
Advent Vega nabs Android Market access courtesy of MoDaCo custom ROM
The Advent Vega seems to be gaining some serious traction overseas, but despite the low price, not having access to Google's bona fide Android Market is a huge Debbie Downer. Well, it was. The fine folks over at MoDaCo have cooked up a custom ROM for the 10-inch tablet, and if you've nothing better to do on a Black Friday than tinker with software, the v1.04 build hosted in the source link promises a "full Google experience" including Gmail, Maps with Street View, Talk, Voice Search and even Android Market access. All the steps you'll need to follow are just a click away, so allow us to ask you this: what's the holdup?
Advent Vega goes on sale in the UK, promptly sells out
No Android Market? No problem! The 10-inch Advent Vega tablet, famously boasting NVIDIA's Tegra 2 chipset, just went on sale across the pond earlier today, and after a matter of hours, the £249 device has already sold out. In a message that sounds eerily similar to that uttered by HP regarding its Slate, PC World has confessed that the first shipment "sold out nearly as quickly as 'Take That' tickets." It's hard to say just how "unprecedented" the demand was with no actual sales figures, but it looks as if this here tablet will be quite the item this holiday season. The Tickle Me Elmo of slates? Maybe, just maybe. Update: We've touched base with PC World and Currys in the UK, and both reckon that it'll be "another week or two" before stock is replenished.
Advent Vega tablet won't come with Android Market, might get it as part of Gingerbread update (video)
Lack of Google's official app store has been a thorn in the side of would-be Android tablet makers for a good long while, and it looks like the Tegra 2-powered Advent Vega will be no exception when it hits the high street tomorrow. Electricpig took the £249 device for a spin, chatting up Advent product manager Adam Lockyer the whole time, and discovered that while the 10-inch tablet will come with the 5,000-app-strong Archos AppsLib store, it won't have Android Market at launch. "The plan is that when you get to January time, there's a new release of Android and you'll be able to get the marketplace on this product," Lockyer said, suggesting that maybe -- just maybe -- the availability of Android Market itself might be one of the fragmentation issues Google intends to fix in Gingerbread. Wouldn't that be nice? Video after the break. [Thanks, Chak I.]
Specs released for Advent Vega, the £249 Android Tegra tablet, 'read like a wish list'
It's been a long, long time since the Tegra-powered Vega tablet came to be officially, and things have changed considerably since then. The biggest modification is the size, down to 10-inches from 15, though the 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra chipset is still in there with its 1080p abilities in tow. Alas, a 1024 x 600 resolution on the capacitive touchscreen puts something of a damper on that, but HDMI output means it'll tickle the pixels nicely on your HDTV. There's a 1.3 megapixel webcam, 802.11bg WiFi, a 3G SIM slot, 512MB each of ROM and RAM, and naturally microSD expandability, with a 4GB card included. The OS is Android 2.2 (Market support unknown) and battery life is rated at a quite impressive 6.5 hours of 1080p video, enough to watch both the animated and JCV-featuring Street Fighter movies in one sitting. The best part? The thing is supposed to hit giant UK retailer Dixons next week, on October 18, for £249 -- just under $400 American. That's an unsubsidized price, and a rather attractive one at that. Update: Video after the break, and Android Community managed a hands-on. Thanks, Kevin.
Pantech's Vega IM-A650S launched in Korea, packs Android 2.1 and a bit of kimchi
Pan-who? You know, the guys behind the long-forgotten Helio devices? Doesn't matter, because the Korean firm's back with a follow-up model to its Sirius Android handset. Dubbed the Vega (IM-A650S), Pantech's latest 4.02-ounce offering -- a mere 0.14 ounces less than the Samsung Vibrant -- is pretty much just a lighter rehash of its predecessor: 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 3.7-inch 800 x 480 AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, Android 2.1, 5 megapixel camera, 500MB internal storage, and 8GB external memory to boot. If this phone's somehow tickling your fancy, then you're in luck -- Pantech claims to be "in talks with AT&T and Verizon" to bring this baby to US of A. They better hurry up though -- that Froyo ain't gonna stay frozen forever.
Super Street Fighter IV character rebalancing detailed
Ever been playing vanilla Street Fighter IV and thought to yourself, "Man, this Guile character sure could be more Guile-like!"? Really? Wow, Capcom must be reading your mind! In Super Street Fighter IV, the developer claims to have taken Guile and made him, uh, himself again. According to Capcom-Unity, beyond the tweaks to Guile, "Vega got helpful buffs, Dhalsim does more damage (!), M. Bison's psycho crusher has become a scary move again, and Sagat can still be a beast even without making you feel like you got robbed when he beats you." Well then! Additionally, in a future dev blog update, Capcom has promised to reveal details about the tweaks to El Fuerte, C.Viper, Abel, Rufus, Seth, Akuma, and Gouken. So, will Gouken be even more Gouken-like? The suspense is killing us!
ICD's Tegra tablet officially dubbed the Vega, headed to T-Mobile UK
It's been a long, strange trip for this particular tablet, but it looks like ICD's once mysterious Tegra tablet has now finally found a home at T-Mobile UK, where it will soon be offered as the Vega. Somewhat interestingly, T-Mobile is now positioning this one as a tablet for the whole family, and says that the device is designed primarily to sit in the kitchen to let families keep watch on the household calendar and manage their schedules -- although it's also of course still capable of things like 1080p video playback, and just about everything else you'd expect from a 15-inch Android-based tablet. Otherwise, it seems to be mostly unchanged from what we've seen in prototype form, although T-Mobile is still describing it as a concept "in the final stages of development," so some things could still get shaken up before it rolls out sometime before the end of the year.
NVIDIA Tegra tablet prototype hands-on
Hey, remember that mystery tablet NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang was pimping a mere couple of weeks ago? Well, it's made its way to London, and woe betide the Engadget editor who didn't get a hands-on with such an exclusive piece of hardware. So what we're looking at here is a Windows CE-powered, resistive touchscreen display spanning somewhere around 15 to 16 inches, with the same Tegra internals as may be found in the Zune HD or one of them smartbook devices. As we reported earlier, the company behind the machine is ICD, and this particular unit was built to try and entice T-Mobile into placing a few orders. Being a prototype, the device on hand was quite literally rough around the edges, but what we saw was appetite-whetting. The overall construction is under an inch thin, 720p video playback was excellent, and there's even a terrific-looking wireless recharge station cum base accessory -- think of Palm's Touchstone, only enlarged and magnetized to the point where it can support the whole tablet in an upright position. If somebody marries all that hardware potential with the Stantum multitouch firmware and a more finger-friendly OS, this thing just might make the whole Apple tablet brouhaha utterly irrelevant. Video after the break.
ICD confirms Vega tablet, includes Android 2.0, Tegra processor, our hearts
The CrunchPad may be dead, but with devices like this on the docket forgive us if we're not shedding any tears. The mystery tablet from earlier this week is the Vega from Innovative Converged Devices, or ICD. Available in 7-, 11-, and 15-inch sizes it's a simple but beautifully svelte design, and with that Tegra processor should have plenty of muscle. The resistive nature of those screens may be a bit of a bummer for some, but naturally it'll do everything Android does -- though without a GPS sensor we're guessing Google Navigation is out. The only questions left left now are when, how much, and who will be pumping the bits to its cellular antennae? Those are answers we hope to bring you from Vegas in two months' time.
Raon Digital: maker of UMPC monstrosities meets its maker?
There's nothing official yet, but evidence is mounting to suggest that Raon Digital has closed up shop in similar fashion to OQO before it. Following rumors of bankruptcy and anecdotal observations of limited stock and reduced service, all Raon Digital communications have gone silent and the website's been taken offline. If true, then the demise will be met with styli held at half mast by UMPC enthusiasts who were particularly fond of the overpriced ($879 at launch) and problematic Everun Note "premium" netbook. For everyone else, rejoice, your fears of a Vega 2 may have been assuaged. [Via Pocketables]
PC Live Arcade: Dubbed 'Vega,' aims to roll out with 10-20 games in Nov.
Already mentioned at Gamefest 2007, Microsoft is planning to launch a Games For Windows variant of Xbox Live Arcade. The digital distribution service will naturally be aimed at the gamer who's more likely to be rearranging jewels on the desktop than snarling faces. A trusted source has furnished Joystiq with further details regarding the service, as well as a strange urge to refer to themselves in third person. Internally labeled as "Vega" (possibly referring to the star and not the Street Fighter weirdo), the service is expected to launch in early November with 10-20 games. The portfolio of Live-enabled casual titles will match the taxonomy of Xbox Live Arcade and hopes to be bolstered by 2-4 new games every month following launch. Potential users will be funneled to the service from numerous Microsoft outlets, including MSN Games and the official Xbox website. Much like Live Anywhere, Vega contributes to Microsoft's goal of spreading the Live experiencing across multiple linked platforms -- and likewise aims to entice more and more people with Live subscriptions.Developers, who will be responsible for costs associated with development, localization, rating and certification, will receive 60% of earned revenue, with Microsoft taking the remaining 40%. Game pricing will be similar to that of Xbox Live Arcade and can be set at either $5, $10, $15, $20 or $30. The 150MB size limit is also present, though developers will be allowed to exceed it when providing adequate justification. The list of launch titles is currently unknown, a fact that will change once Microsoft's marketing machine lights up Vega come this November.[Update: "We don't have any additional details to share at this time," said Microsoft, "but we are excited to be implementing this next phase of Games for Windows – LIVE. Please stay tuned!"]
Street Fighter's Blanka: an electrical oompa loompa
This and other gems are what you get out of the third installment of Street Fighter: The Later Years. It's a brilliant ongoing series at CollegeHumor.com that follows the lives of everyone's favorite Street Fighter characters, years after the game has come and gone. This is the sort of thing we'd like to see on G4, or any sort of video gaming channel. Toss in this, some Red vs. Blue, some in-game feed, game guides, This Spartan Life, a World of Warcraft show, and some Major League Gaming, and you've got yourself something people will watch.Of course, we need to cram a Joystiq show in there somewhere. Video is after the jump. Give it a whirl, and brace yourself for Christmas. Note, if the video isn't embedded for some reason, like CollegeHumor.com's code not being up to snuff, then click the image above or here for the vid.
PC MicroWorks's Vega super notebook tops out at over $7,000
Although it's a re-brand of another 20.1-inch laptop design, and it certainly isn't the first dual core, SLI capable notebook in the world, the step up in specifications that the new Vega laptop brings to the -- hopefully fortified -- table is quite impressive. When it's maxed-out, the Vega packs a dual core AMD Turion X2 processor, 20.1-inch 1,680 x 1,050 display, 4GB of DDR2 RAM, 600GB of storage, a dual layer Blu-Ray burner, and dual nVIDIA GeForce GO 7950GTX graphics cards running in SLI mode. Tack on options like EV-DO, GPS, and a TV tuner and you're looking at a desktop replacement to rule all others: until the Vega Mk.2 comes out, that is. The only drag, as always, is the price. For the above configuration you'll have to pay $7,175, or commit yourself and your family to a life of crime. We have a feeling your spouse won't be OK with that, so you'd better mark this one down on your "to do: if I win the lottery" list.[Via Yahoo]
