IcdUltra
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ICD Ultra Android tablet hands-on
As you may have noticed, we had a chance to get our hands on a fairly interesting little tablet made by ICD dubbed the Ultra. The 7-inch, touchscreen tablet (resistive in the version we saw, but with capacitive versions to come) sports quite an impressive set of specs, including a 1GHz Tegra T20 CPU, 512MB of RAM and 512MB of ROM, 4GB of hardwired storage, 2G / 3G radios, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1, a 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera, HDMI out, USB 2.0, and a microSD slot. The device also has an accelerometer, ambient light sensor, and 3.5mm headphone jack. The version we had a chance to play with -- a prototype running Android 2.0 -- was blazingly fast when it came to 1080p playback and web browsing (as you can see in the video), but was pretty incomplete as far as the rest of the software was concerned (though the company says they're working on optimizing the experience all around). In terms of pricing, ICD reps didn't have a solid number, though they said they expect the Ultra to sell for somewhere in the $249 price range, with potential for free, subsidized versions depending on what kind of deals they work out with partners. We expect to see a whole slew of devices like this at CES in just a few weeks, but this is nice a taste of things to come. Check out our exclusive hands-on pics in the gallery below! Update: The video in question is right here! %Gallery-80649%
NVIDIA unveils 12 Tegra devices, 25 days of music or 10 hours of 1080p video on single charge (updated)
You've read about it, maybe even dreamed about it in your fantasies of a Microsoft Pink smartphone drizzled with Zune media. Now we've got Tegra taking center stage at Computex with a dozen "mobile internet devices" powered by the Tegra processor, the "world's smallest and lowest power computer-on-a-chip" according to NVIDIA. Of notable importance, the latest Tegra press release contradicts the Mobinnova Elan release by claiming 1080p video playback is supported by Tegra, not just 720p. Something we saw for ourselves (and had confirmed by NVIDIA) during our hands-on with the Elan. Now, get this; NVIDIA is using the term MID unlike Intel uses MID even though the terminology is of Intel origin. Instead of referring to handheld devices for consumers, NVIDIA's MIDs are classed as Tegra-based netbooks and tablets. In other words, the 8.9-inch Elan is a MID. Ugh. Semantics aside, the platform is smokin' hot with promise offering the following benefits: 25 days of music or 10-hours of 1080p video playback on a single charge video games play at up to 46 frames per second GPU accelerated Adobe Flash animations (huzzah for Hulu!) always-on processors for instant access to the network 3G, WiFi, and WiMax solutions support Great on paper, but still not available for purchase. Rest assured, we'll be hands-on with more Tegra devices on the quick.Update: Tegra devices are expected to land before 2009 is through, priced around $200 or less with carrier subsidies.
