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Toshiba Thrive pre-order now live, starts at $430 and ends up in your hands in mid-July
As promised, Toshiba is marking June 13th with pre-order availability of its Thrive Android (3.1!) tablet, a device whose life aspiration and name happen to coincide perfectly. This 10-inch Tegra 2 portable has the usual 1280 x 800 resolution, dual cameras (5 megapixel on the back, 2 megapixel up front), a gigabyte of RAM, and a 23WHr battery, but it also brings nice expandability with full-size HDMI, USB 2.0 and SD card slots. The Easy Grip back covers can be swapped -- which, yes, means you can also replace the battery -- though you'll have to splash out $20 for any non-black hues. The 8GB Thrive costs $430, followed by the 16GB unit at $480 and the 32GB option at $580. You can order yours directly from Toshiba or at Amazon, Best Buy or Office Direct, with deliveries slated for mid-July. [Thanks, Matthew]
ASUS slipping Eee Pad Slider and Transformer 3G into UK hands this August
Oh, ASUS -- what a teaser. Especially when it comes to the release dates and exact prices of your latest keyboard-packing Eee Pad 10.1-inch Android tablets. The word remains mum regarding final pricing, but the company's UK division recently announced via its Facebook page that the Transformer 3G and Slider tabs will be available in the region during August; and sadly, that's about all. It'll be letting out more details on how to snag one just before they're out, and hopefully you'll get a chance to before they sell clean out. For now, you can re-skim our review of the UK Transformer and additional Slider coverage -- just think of it as a consolation prize.
Madfinger demos and dishes details on its forthcoming Shadowgun game
Shadowgun looked good when we saw footage of it last month, and at E3 2011 we got to chat with the game's creators about the Tegra-optimized title. Madfinger, the game's creator, worked closely with NVIDIA to wring the maximum performance possible out of the Tegra 2 platform, but it said Shadowgun will still look stunning on other silicon. The game is built on the multi-platform Unity engine and will be coming to iOS and Android devices around the world in September (prices TBD). As you can see in the video above, it runs smooth as silk on an LG G2x (55-60fps) and Motorola's Xoom (30fps). Madfinger said we can also expect 60fps on the iPad 2 and devices packing Kal-El chips, and 30fps on other Android handsets and the iPhone 4 when the game debuts. If you've got a hankering for some more video of the game, check the official trailer after the break.
Dell Streak 10 Pro tablet to launch in China this summer, US may get it next year
John Thode, Dell's Vice President for mobile devices, has shared a Honeycomb-flavored snippet of his company's tablet roadmap with CNET. The 10-inch Android tablet that we saw at CES and suspected could be with us this month will indeed be making its debut in the summer, according to Thode, but its launch market will be China, not the US. He points to a number of "inhibitors and barriers to success" in Dell's homeland -- such as mobile carriers dictating pricing models that stifle the adoption of tablets and users being unaware of "what exactly Android is bringing" -- as the causes for Round Rock's atypical decision. The Streak 10 Pro, as it'll officially be known, comes with a Honeycomb-standard 1280 x 800 resolution screen, an edge-to-edge glass surface, two cameras (one of them reaching a 5 megapixel res), an SD card slot, a thickness of 12mm, and 1080p video playback capabilities courtesy of an unspecified NVIDIA Tegra dual-core processor. An additional dock will allow the 10 Pro to act as a USB host, while augmenting its connectivity with HDMI, Ethernet, and, obviously, a set of USB ports. The US may still get to enjoy this bounty of options, but we're told it won't happen until 2012. By which point we'll probably have a taste for fresher, icier versions of Android. Update: Dell has confirmed all of the foregoing in a blog post.
Motorola XT882 bringing Tegra 2, dualing modes and SIMs to China Telecom
Motorola is aiming to change your perception of dual-SIM phones -- typically a hallmark of KIRF and the low-end -- with an uncharacteristically high-end creation that features a 1.2GHz Tegra 2 CPU and 4-inch qHD display. Wasting no time with a clever name, the XT882 supports dual-standby that keeps both SIMs alert and ready to receive calls, and -- when GSM 900 / 1800 / 1900 isn't an option -- it handles CDMA 800. Additionally, the phone sports an 8 megapixel camera that captures 720p video, alongside a dual-LED flash. (A nice finishing touch to the "dual" theme, don't you think?) The XT882 will arrive at China Telecom this month for 5,380 yuan (approximately $830 if you speak green), and unlike some of Motorola's finest in the States, this one has Gingerbread. Engadget China scored hands-on time with the Moto, complete with views of its pattern of 8's on the back side -- good fortune for the home crowd. If you're feeling lucky, follow the break for the PR. [Thanks, Julian]
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 on sale at NYC Best Buy today, pre-orders now open
The Galaxy Tab 10.1 is finally among us. At noon Eastern Time today, Best Buy's New York City store at Union Square will start selling Samsung's extra-slim 10-inch Tegra 2 tablet, with the first 200 buyers also receiving a matching leather pouch to store their precious inside of. Geographically challenged Android tablet lovers will also be able to pre-order the Tab 10.1 from Best Buy today (eventually, the pre-order button doesn't currently work) and widespread US availability is still expected on June 17th. Pricing isn't explicitly listed on Best Buy's landing page, but we presume it's the same as we've been told earlier: $499 for the 16GB or $599 for the 32GB WiFi-only versions. If you can't live without some LTE goodness in your mobile life, Verizon's also promised pre-orders for the 4G-capable Galaxy Tab 10.1 today, though that costs a far less palatable $530 (16GB) and $630 (32GB) on top of a two-year data contract. [Thanks, Jack and Arturo] Update: Best Buy has sorted out its systems and all four WiFi variants (black or white, with 16GB or 32GB storage) are up for pre-order.
Toshiba Thrive hands-on (video)
Toshiba didn't exactly jump into the tablet market head first, but now that it's come clean with the Thrive, its first pad for the US market, it's wasting no time -- we just got some hands-on with the 10.1-inch, Android 3.1-powered slate -- which, by the by, is the first we know of to sport a removable battery. It's also got a few more rarities: full-sized USB and HDMI ports and a full-sized SDHC / SDXC slot. Oh, and its $429 starting price ain't bad either. So was Toshiba's entry into the world of Android tablets worth the wait? Join us for a tour past the break, and decide for yourself. %Gallery-125646%
Atrix 4G available for $100 from AT&T, just 50 bucks per Tegra 2 core
We're not going to mince words, the Motorola Atrix has a number of urgent software issues that make it tough to recommend, but at least AT&T is pricing the Blur-saddled smartphone into the realm of reason. As of right now, the dual-core Tegra 2 device can be purchased for $99.99 when signing a two-year agreement with Ma Bell. Its qHD display resolution, 1GB of RAM and 14.4Mbps HSPA+ capabilities are still pretty much top notch, so if you can figure out a way to make peace with Motorola's software, now might be the time to strike. [Thanks, Logan]
Motorola Xoom hits 1.7GHz, teeters on the edge of oblivion
Just when we thought the Motorola Xoom had hit its stride at a blazing 1.504 billion operations cycles per second, the trusty Tiamat kernel has strapped on an veritable afterburner capable of 1.7GHz. What happens when your shaking hands flip that switch and give that Tegra 2 all the jet fuel it can take? Well, anecdotal cases from the XDA-developers forums suggest it'll probably just reboot anticlimactically. If you're lucky enough to have the magic silicon, however, you'll be treated to a benchmark-blitzing rig, reportedly capable of 70 MFLOPS in Linpack, 1480ms runs in SunSpider, and Quadrant scores approaching a smooth 5,000. See just how far that rainbow benchmark bar can stretch in a screencap after the break. Update: There's a jolly discussion in comments about whether gigahertz can be directly translated to operations per second in the case of the Tegra 2 -- we'll err on the side of caution and say cycles per second instead.
Leadtek AMOR 8218 DECT phone with Tegra 2 Android tablet hands-on
While combing through the show floor at Computex, our fortunate selves stumbled upon a new phone-tablet duo at Leadtek's booth. Oh, don't worry, this isn't yet another phone-in-pad design; but actually a VoIP / home phone docked next to an Android tablet. Dubbed AMOR Multimedia Phone 8218, the idea here is that the docking station acts as both a DECT base and a WiFi router, but also packs ZigBee radio to relay data from compatible devices (for healthcare, home surveillance, home automation, etc.) to the web. Alas, there's no direct interaction between the phone and the tablet, but we were still intrigued by the latter's specs: Android 2.3 (although this demo unit had 2.2), Tegra 2, 7-inch 1,280 x 720 LCD, HDMI-out, and a front-facing camera for video calls. For a home device, this is actually a pretty powerful package and certainly a significant upgrade from the AMOR 8210 announced earlier this year. No word on US availability, but Taiwanese buyers will be able to grab hold of an 8218 starting in September. %Gallery-125294%
MSI WindPad 100A, 110W, and 120W hands-on (video)
What's this? It looks like the MSI WindPad 100A that we discovered at CES and the WindPad 110W that we first saw at CeBit decided to make an appearance on the show floor here at Computex 2011. Only this time around they brought a new friend along to the party -- namely the MSI WindPad 120W. To refresh your memory, the WindPad 100A is a 10-inch NVIDIA Tegra 2-equipped tablet running Android (Gingerbread here in Taipei, but potentially Honeycomb in the future) while the 110W uses AMD's Brazos platform paired with Windows 7. The Windpad 120W shares the same exact 10-inch chassis as the 110W but swaps AMD's Fusion APU for an Intel Cedar Trail-based chipset together with a tasty serving of WiDi and HSPA wireless. We still have no information about availability or pricing, but for now we invite you to check out the gallery below and hit the break for our hands-on videos. %Gallery-124832%
Shuttle tablets at Computex 2011 (hands-on)
Computex 2011 is fast approaching here in Taipei, and today Shuttle introduced a trio of Android-based tablets to complement its fleet of small form factor computers. The 10-inch (WXGA) N10CN12 and 9-inch (XGA) N09CN01 models are both based on NVIDIA's Tegra 2 CPU paired with 1GB RAM, and target the consumer market. The 8-inch (SVGA) V08CT01 -- a ruggedized tablet for education -- features an 800 MHz Texas Instruments Cortex A8 processor and 512MB of memory. Pricing and availability are still up in the air -- no surprise considering the Froyo-running devices we handled still felt very much like prototypes. Take a look at our hands-on gallery below and hit the break for the full press release. %Gallery-124733%
ViewPad 7x aims to become world's first 7-inch Honeycomb tablet, adds HSPA+ for good measure
Guess who's sneakily beating the pack to the title of having the globe's first 7-inch Honeycomb tablet... why, it's none other than ViewSonic! The ViewPad 7x (1024 x 600 resolution) managed to leak out earlier this month, but now it's fully official with Google's Android 3.0.1 OS, HSPA+ connectivity, and a pair of cameras, one on the front and one on the back. A Tegra 2 dual-core processor plus an HDMI-out have also been included inside a featherweight 380g package. Ironically, ViewSonic's neglected to provide a release date for this "world first" tablet, but we'll be hitting up its booth here at Computex for some more hands-on time and making sure to collect that and every other salient detail about the ViewPad 7x. %Gallery-124731%
Droid Bionic benchmark reports PowerVR GPU, new SOC inside?
A very strange thing popped up on mobile graphic benchmarking site NenaMark the other day -- an entry for the Droid Bionic. Now, it would be very easy to fake this test, and you'd be right to be skeptical given the incomplete score and the fact that it's reporting PowerVR's SGX 540 GPU, instead of the Tegra 2 we saw at CES. But, let's not be too hasty -- we heard back in April that NVIDIA's mobile chip wasn't playing nice with Verizon's LTE. Perhaps when Motorola said it was delaying the Bionic to incorporate "several enhancements" it really meant "rebuilding the phone with a more LTE friendly CPU." Both Samsung and Texas Instruments use the SGX 540, and Moto has previously turned to TI's OMAP for the Droid, Droid 2, and Droid X. Then again, a single, suspiciously low benchmark score isn't the most convincing basis for a rumor.
Madfinger announces new Shadowgun game, with Tegra 2 and Kal-El support (update: video)
Madfinger Games, the Czech Republic-based company behind Samurai II: Vengeance, has just announced Shadowgun -- a futuristic, shoot 'em up game for Tegra 2-equipped Android phones and tablets. Available on both the Tegra Zone app and Android Market, Shadowgun promises to bring console-quality graphics and performance to mobile platforms -- presumably with the extra geometric detail and high-res textures we've seen in other Tegra 2-tailored games. Madfinger is also developing a version for devices powered by NVIDIA's forthcoming quad-core processor, alluringly known as Project Kal-El. Price and availability have yet to be announced, but you can find more information in the PR after the break. Update: NVIDIA has just released a demo video, see it for yourself after the break. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Sprint teams up with Motorola for June 9 event, finally launching a Tegra 2 device?
Sprint and Motorola have a little special something up their sleeves, and are rolling them up to show off their latest "collaborations" at a press luncheon on June 9th. Since big bosses CEO Dan Hesse and Sanjay Jha will be in attendance, and the event will be held during Apple's WWDC, we have a feeling this is going to be something big. Whatever this project is, it's been kept under the radar very well -- until now. We're hearing buzz about a Tegra 2-powered device planned for a launch next month; different reports have come out over the last few days claiming Sprint will finally take a turn sporting a Tegra 2 Android -- the yin to the EVO 3D's yang, we suppose -- sometime next month. The device may be called the Motorola Photon 4G, a name that first appeared in a WiFi certification form (seen after the break) a month ago. According to the rumors, Sprint was ready to launch its own version of the Atrix 4G back in March, but stalled the phone's release in order to make a few design changes. Some of these changes supposedly include a 4.3-inch display, Gingerbread pre-installed, and a look that closely resembles the EVO 4G (it would even come with a kickstand). The Photon 4G is a probability for the event, but note that the invite mentions "collaborations," implying there will be more than one product to showcase. This could mean a Xoom with WiMAX is just about ready for primetime -- or perhaps it's something else magical and unexpected. No matter what's hiding in Hesse's pocket on June 9th, we'll be there to tell you all about it.
Acer Iconia Tab A100 delayed due to Honeycomb compatibility issues?
Acer was already kind enough to give us a heads up that it would not be launching the Iconia Tab A100 in May, as planned. But the company wasn't exactly champing at the bit to explain why its 7-inch, Tegra 2-powered tablet is taking such a tedious trip to market. According to a DigiTimes report, at least, the hangup comes down to compatibility issues with Honeycomb, an OS that so far hasn't been seen on many 7-inch slates. Specifically, the site's unnamed sources say Acer has encountered problems with certain applications and that Google, meanwhile, is "busy resolving other issues." All in all, precisely the kind of complication that Ice Cream Sandwich promises to circumvent. Oh, and speaking of delays, DigiTimes adds that the Iconia Smart might go on sale in July due to earthquake-related supply shortages. We asked Acer for clarification, but the company declined to comment, so it looks like we'll just have to wait and see what goodies late summer brings.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 priced at €606 by Amazon.de, joined by 10.1 model in a pre-order dance
The US already knows when Samsung will launch its updated Galaxy Tab models and for how much, but that picture hasn't been quite as lucid over in Europe. Amazon.de is doing its best to dissipate the mists of unknowing by listing the 16GB Galaxy Tab 8.9 at a price of €606.50 ($852), whether you're buying the version with a black or white back. That sounds a relatively steep price, but it's not clear whether we're talking about the WiFi-only or 3G-equipped model. Notably, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 option is also listed alongside its 8.9-inch brethren, but there's no price attached to it yet. All we can really say for now is that the wheels are in motion and these Honeycomb tablets look to be on their way to the Euro market at about the same time as they'll hit the American one. Égalité!
Droid 3 details leaked: dual-core processor, 4-inch qHD screen, no LTE?
You've probably already seen the leaked pictures of the Droid 3, but what you really want to know is what's going on underneath that chrome trim. TechnoBuffalo claims to have the inside scoop and it sounds like the latest landscape slider from Motorola is packing a number of nice improvements. According to a tipster the screen has been upgraded to a 4-inch qHD panel and inside is one of those fancy dual-cores all the cool phones are rockin' these days -- presumably of the Tegra 2 variety like its Droid X2 cousin. As spied in the photos it also has a new 5-row keyboard layout and front facing camera for video calls, while the rear-facing shooter is getting bumped to 8 megapixels. There is one disappointing, but not entirely shocking, detail though -- the Droid 3 will lack LTE. We can't confirm these specs, but they're perfectly logical assumptions and raise no alarms and no surprises.
Toshiba Thrive tablet up for pre-order starting at $449, may finally have an official name
Information about Toshiba's Honeycomb tablet has been spotty at best since the company unveiled it amid a sea of like-minded slates way back in January at CES. We've seen it teased and were subjected to some naming confusion, when the company filed a trademark for "Thrive" shortly before the tablet surfaced with the unfortunate ANT moniker -- and on Friday we caught wind via some chatty Twitter accounts that Toshiba is sticking to the former, a fact seemingly verified by new J&R listings for the device. The retailer has 8GB and 32GB versions of the tablet up for pre-order at $449 and $579, respectively. Specs also include a 10.1-inch screen, an NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor, 1GB of RAM, WiFi connectivity, and 2MP / 5MP front and rear cameras. The tablet is listed as "coming soon" on the site, though signs seem to point to a release not too long after its Japanese counterpart, at which point we'll see if the Thrive actually manages to live up to that name.
