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TwitterPeek review

by Laura June posted Nov 5th 2009 at 3:19PM

Peek is a company with ideas -- but they like to tackle them one at a time. Last year, amid snickering and cries of uselessness from the gadget world, the tiny company launched an email-only handheld that's attempted to bring the idea of email on the go to the smartphone fearing crowd... and we do know at least one avid user. Now the company has turned around and tried it again, this time with a seemingly even less essential device, the TwitterPeek.

The TwitterPeek works in conjunction with Twitter, and only with Twitter. It's that simple. There's nothing else to figure out or set up, so presumably, the idea is that the device, like the original Peek, is intended for the dumbphone lover who just can't go without a constant stream of Tweets. So, fair enough -- those of us who are more than a little tech savvy may find reason to smile at this, but supposedly this will be attractive to someone. Right?

So how did the TwitterPeek fare when we got our mitts on it? Read on to find out.

Gallery: TwitterPeek hands-on

Continue reading TwitterPeek review

Eston's 7-inch Android MID believes it's an N97, can play full HD

by Vladislav Savov posted Nov 3rd 2009 at 5:46AM

We'll go out on a limb here and suggest that Nokia probably doesn't care about Shenzhen Eston's N97-branded device, but what really matters is whether you should care about it. Positioned slap bang in the middle between smartphones and netbooks, this Android-driven MID offers 7 inches of viewing real estate and 4 hours of battery, as well as integrated WiFi, 3G, Flash player, web browser, and ebook reader, plus the purported ability to play back full HD content. Don't ask us how anyone can squeeze that kind of processing power out of a Marvell PXA303 chip, but if you want to know more, the read link is your ever-loyal best friend.

[Via Cloned in China]

eviGroup's Pad is a 10-inch 3G tablet with personality

by Vladislav Savov posted Oct 26th 2009 at 2:24PM

Time to freshen up the old netbook market with a dash of Windows 7, a pinch of touchscreen functionality, and a generous helping of... Seline10? eviGroup, the crew responsible for the attractive 5-inch Wallet MID, has announced the 10.2-inch Pad, whose pièce de résistance is the Seline10 artificial intelligence software that's been in development for a decade, if you can believe it. Its purpose is to act as your secretary / assistant, and while the novelty's good, we all know how well Clippy worked out. Fret not though, it's just an optional extra and shouldn't detract from the appeal of a device that offers 3G and a/b/g WiFi connectivity, one VGA and three USB ports, multicard reader, webcam, microphone, and the old faithful 1.6GHz of Atom power. A price of under €500 is being touted, with further details set to emerge over the coming days.

Archos 5 firmware 1.1.01 rights all wrongs?

by Vladislav Savov posted Oct 16th 2009 at 4:51AM

Charbax of ArchosFans.com reports that the majority of issues encountered by early adopters of the Android-equipped Archos 5 Internet Tablet (not to be confused with the older Internet Media Tablet, ugh) have been remedied by the caped crusader that is firmware revision 1.1.01. Forum members do seem to corroborate that the previously habitual lockups are no more, but the complex update procedure has already (probably temporarily) bricked one user's device, while another still has random disconnects when transferring files from his PC under the new firmware. Still, if you've been among the unfortunate victims of the sloppy original software, this is a ray of light for you, and the read link -- featuring input from a source within Archos -- should be considered required reading.

Peek offers disgruntled Sidekick owners a free Pronto, internet high-five

by Darren Murph posted Oct 14th 2009 at 12:33PM

As Microsoft and Apple have so precisely demonstrated, there's nothing like a face full of egg to make the competition fire up the sucker punch machine. Take Peek, for example, who is now offering angered Sidekick users (you know, the ones that probably lost all of their data recently) a gratis Pronto for their trouble. All that's required is an image of you, a frowny face, your wiped Sidekick and a T-Mobile bill -- once that's sent over to Peek's dedicated inbox, you'll soon receive your Pronto in the mail. 'Course, it's up to you to foot the $20 monthly bill for keeping the thing active, but hey, free's free. Kind of.

Archos 5 has 99 problems and a glitch is one, 160GB version pulled by Amazon

by Vladislav Savov posted Oct 12th 2009 at 4:05AM

It was only just allowed out to play, but Archos' five-inch, Android-sporting internet tablet has been called back in by its fastidious mother, a role played by Amazon in this case. Only the hard drive-based 160GB model is affected at present, with the 32GB version selling as normal and the half terabyte option out of stock already. Charbax of ArchosFans.com, a man in the know on this subject, has suggested this might have been caused by a firmware update wiping out some pre-installed Android apps, which is now being addressed. His site's forums and Amazon customer reviews, however, paint a different picture: there are consistent complaints about bugs and lock ups -- software issues that could well affect the other models in the line -- with some going so far as to suggest Archos has used its customers as Beta testers. There doesn't appear to be anything structurally wrong with the device, meaning a robust firmware update could remedy all ills, so now it's just a matter of waiting for Archos to do what it should have done before release.

[Via Pocketables]

Read - Amazon product page
Read - Archos Fans forums

Pandora rolls into production this month, emulates Dreamcast now

by Joseph L. Flatley posted Oct 2nd 2009 at 1:57PM

The OpenPandora kids have dropped us a line to say that yes, finally, "after a lot of serious tweaking," it looks like Pandora is ready to roll. And as an added bonus, they've given us a little demonstration of the open source game platform rocking a Dreamcast emulator. Not that you'll be able to play The House of The Dead 2 flawlessly on the thing -- apparently the CPU suffers from some sort of floating point unit problem and a great many texture / blending modes are not supported. So don't abandon that Dreamcast Tablet just yet. As far as getting your hands on the handheld yourself, here's the skinny: of the four thousand devices in the initial lot, there are about a hundred units unspoken for and still available for pre-order. Priced at $330 each, if you're interested you'd better jump now -- there won't be another batch until 2010. In the meantime, you can see that Dreamcast emulator we told you about in action after the break.

[Thanks, Devon]

Continue reading Pandora rolls into production this month, emulates Dreamcast now

Android-based ODROID handheld shows off its SNES emulation skills on video

by Joshua Topolsky posted Oct 1st 2009 at 3:53PM

We've seen a few odds and ends on the ODROID -- an Android-powered gaming device due this December -- but we've never gotten a look at the handheld in action. That all changes today, as we're privy to a new video of the spec-stacked (833MHz Samsung S5PC100 CPU, 512MB RAM) gamer taking an SNES emulator out for a spin. As you can probably guess, the device doesn't flinch at a screenful of Space Megaforce sprites, but that's not surprising given the horsepower. Now if only someone could get this configuration into a phone. While you impatiently wait for that to happen, hit the clip after the break to see what kind of damage the ODROID does on its own.

[Via SlashGear]

Continue reading Android-based ODROID handheld shows off its SNES emulation skills on video

Sony's PSP Go available t-t-t-today junior!

by Darren Murph posted Oct 1st 2009 at 10:14AM

It may not do UMDs, but it does fun, and it does it well. Just in case you've forgotten -- after all, it's not like anything really happened in September to mess with your memory -- today's the day to find Sony's PSP Go on store shelves. $249.99, you, your local retailer and some fancy digital content -- it's a date. Isn't it?

Smart Devices SmartQ5a MID... now with Android!

by Joseph L. Flatley posted Sep 30th 2009 at 2:09PM

If you're a MID fan that's curious about this crazy "Android" you've been hearing about, it looks like the realms are colliding in many new and interesting ways as of late. E World, which seems to be owned by China Mobile, is selling the SmartQ5a touchscreen device pre-installed with Android 1.5 for $199.99. We know some of the more hardcore have been taking it upon yourself to install the open source OS on Smart Devices' 4.3-inch wonder for a while, but now the whole affair appears to have the stamp of approval of the People's Republic itself. We're just wondering who you'd contact if you have to take advantage of the one year warranty.

Video: PSP Go torn down, owners counseled on warranty violation

by Joseph L. Flatley posted Sep 28th 2009 at 11:49AM

Sure, most of you are interested in the playability and durability of your gaming devices -- that's why we do our extensive, award-winning reviews (for instance, our latest PSP Go review is quite a page-turner). But sometimes you just want to rip into a device and see the chips and the solder -- that's why we're grateful that the kids at iFixit have provided us with a complete tear-down guide, featuring step-by-step instructions and plenty of pretty pictures. Apparently, the Go owes its diminutive size to the fact that it eschews an internal metal framework altogether (instead relying on the external plastic shell to provide structural integrity). But don't take our word for it! Check out the full video below -- it's basically Hostel with a handheld gaming device.

Continue reading Video: PSP Go torn down, owners counseled on warranty violation

eviGroup's Android-based Wallet MID debuts in France (avec video)

by Donald Melanson posted Sep 23rd 2009 at 2:24PM

Haven't found a tablet or MID to your liking just yet? Then you may just want to wait another 24 hours, 'cause that's about the rate they seem to be cropping up these days. This latest one comes from France's eviGroup, and distinguishes itself somewhat by using Android for an OS, although there doesn't appear to be any UI customizations to speak of. Otherwise, it looks like this "Wallet" will be able to more hold its own, if not completely stand out form the pack, with it packing a 5-inch 800 x 480 touchscreen, 8GB of internal memory, a miniSD card slot for further expansion, an integrated digital camera, and the trifecta of built-in WiFi, GPS and 3G. Still no word on a release over here, but the folks at eviGroup are promising to launch it in Europe at the "beginning of 2010" for €300 (or about $440), and they've kindly gone ahead and put together a thorough video overview that you can watch right now (after the break).

[Via Android France]

Continue reading eviGroup's Android-based Wallet MID debuts in France (avec video)

Peek manages to survive a whole year, promises more features for year two

by Darren Murph posted Sep 22nd 2009 at 11:12PM

We actually first caught wind of the Peek email-only handheld around 13 months ago, but today Peek is celebrating its first year as a company with a shipping product. During the past year, it has managed to ship two distinct devices and a good bit of functionality, but most importantly, it has managed to survive. Not sure if you've noticed, but the past dozen months have been twelve of the most tumultuous (financially, anyway) in American history, yet this startup is still going strong and looking forward to a second year full of "new features and services" and even a few international launches. Generally we don't stop to wish companies a happy first birthday, but seriously -- how many of you expected this firm to be around in late 2009?

Read - First Peek birthday
Read - Tales of survival

Sinchun's UMPC-501 5-inch tablet makes its grand entrance

by Joseph L. Flatley posted Sep 10th 2009 at 6:06AM

You know, for all the buzz surrounding Android-powered MIDs -- most of which we'll probably never see -- it sure is nice to see an actual device that's ready to hit the shelves for a change. Case in point: the UMPC-501 A is a rather nondescript 5-inch (800 x 480) touchscreen device by Sinchun Electronic Co., a company located deep within the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone. Weighing a mere 350g and measuring 6.3 x 3.75 x .87 inches, this bad boy sports a 1.1GHz Atom Z510 processor, 1G RAM, SSD storage (size to be determined), Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, 3G, a SiRF Star III GPS, a removable battery (so this is definitely not the Apple Tablet then?) and ships with Windows XP Home (yeah, guess not). Barring any unforeseen events, it should be available sometime this month for under 3000 Yuan ($441). Now if only someone would stick this thing to a fridge. Get a closer look after the break.

[Via SlashGear]

Continue reading Sinchun's UMPC-501 5-inch tablet makes its grand entrance

Sanyo's Gorilla Lite PND packs 4GB in an incredibly thin frame

by Joseph L. Flatley posted Sep 2nd 2009 at 8:10PM

Sanyo, a company best known among mid-80s McKean Elementary school students for the portable cassette recorder Henry Hutchinson used to incessantly play "Mr. Telephone Man" by New Edition (true story), seems to be going from strength to strength with its Gorilla line of handheld PNDs. The NV-LB50DT Gorilla Lite packs a 5-inch touchscreen, LED backlight, and 4GB SSD in a package a mere 18.8mm thin. The device also features a 1Seg digital TV tuner, an accelerometer for switching between landscape and portrait mode, support for MP4, JPEG, MP3, and WMA playback, and Sanyo ECO mode (which tells you if your driving style is good or bad for the environment). Sure, this isn't the DVD playing, CD-ripping powerhorse that we last saw from the company, but you probably knew that as soon as you saw the word "Lite" in the name. Available soon for a price to be determined.

[Via Akihabara News]