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Acer slaps $1,200 price tag on dual-screen Iconia-6120 touchbook, lets US and Canada pre-order
Acer's had its fair share of Iconia's land in the past few months, but none are as breathtaking (and potentially world-changing) as the Iconia-6120. Said machine was priced at €1,499 earlier in the year, but that doesn't mean an awful lot to folks situated in America and the Great White North. As of today, consumers in both of those nations have a price and release date to ponder, with $1,199.99 (both US and CAD) netting you a touchbook with two 14-inch Gorilla Glass touchpanels, a Core i5 CPU, 4GB of memory, integrated Intel HD graphics and a 64-bit copy of Windows 7 Home Premium. You'll also get USB 3.0 support, a 640GB hard drive, a 1.3 megapixel camera, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, an HDMI output, gigabit Ethernet, a chassis that weighs in at 5.95 pounds and a battery that'll probably sputter along for nine or ten minutes (on a good day). Lookin' to dive right in? Amazon, as well as "other" fine e-tailers, should be taking orders momentarily. %Gallery-119891%
Always Innovating Touch Book unboxed, previewed and stuck to a fridge for good measure
Always Innovating sure made good on the promise of removable tablet embedded in a netbook form factor and price -- we've gone from hardly believable renders in March to a now-shipping $400 ($300 without the base) product as of now. The impressions are already trickling in, but our favorite observation so far is this fridge magnet implementation. The main complaint so far is that the machine altogether is rather heavy for a netbook. It makes sense given that all the computer internals are in the MID-style touchscreen, while the keyboard base adds on 7 hours of purported battery life. So far it doesn't sound like this is the sexy-slim way to get into the netbook game if you're not in it for the removable MID capabilities, but for the MID affectionate the Touch Book could provide a nice alternative to the same old same old. [Via Engadget Spanish] Read - Touch Book first impressions Read - Touch Book unboxing
Always Innovating's Touch Book now shipping
If you're anything like us, you're always waiting anxiously for the next netbook to drop. The Always Innovating Touch Book -- a hybrid netbook / tablet -- which we knew was very nearly on its way, is now, apparently, on its way! That's correct -- if you were smart enough to pre-order, you've probably already received an email confirming that your Touch Book has shipped. We'll be anxious to see one of these dudes in a photoshoot, that's for sure. If you've forgotten, these dudes pack an 8.9-inch, 1,024 x 600 touchscreen, a USB 802.11 b/g/n adapter, Bluetooth, a TI OMAP3530 CPU, and 512MB of memory (split 50 / 50 between RAM and NAND), plus a further 8GB of storage on an SD card. The company's website says it may take "several weeks" to fulfill all the pre-orders, so we'll let you know if we get any updates. What about you? Did you order a Touch Book -- or know anyone who did?
Always Innovating's Touch Book in production, finally pictured in non-render form
Always Innovating has stopped innovating for a moment and started production. Its transformer of a netbook/tablet called the Touch Book is now rolling off manufacturing lines on track for shipments starting next month. Anyone who has pre-ordered already will be happy to know that the prices we spied in April are still in effect, meaning $299 for the tablet itself, while the clip-on keyboard comes in at $99 extra. For that price you get an 8.9-inch 1024 x 600 touchscreen, a USB 802.11 b/g/n adapter, Bluetooth, a TI OMAP3430 OMAP3530 processor, and 512MB of memory split evenly between RAM and NAND, plus a further 8GB of storage on an SD card. Not exactly a screamer, but performance running Linux (the only OS available) should be reasonably snappy, and we're curious to see what enterprising coders will do with its internal accelerometer. It does look a little like a knob-free Etch A Sketch...Update: As Kaa pointed out in the comments, we were off by 100 on the CPU revision. It's an OMAP3530, not 3430.[Thanks, Jeff]
Always Innovating's half-finished online store lists Touch Book tablet in stock, $99 keyboard sold separately
Remember Always Innovative's Touch Book? Looks like the company's gearing up to start selling the rather unique netbook / removable tablet hybrid, as noted by its under construction X-Cart powered online store. Four entries are currently listed -- two for the Touch Book tablet and two for the keyboard, both available in grey and red and with 100 units in stock for each. Prices were $299 for the tablet and $99 for keyboard and, yeah, we get the feeling you'll want to buy both for the full experience. No indication of an actual ship date. Try as we might, we couldn't manage to check out with our order, but perhaps we'll get some news shortly.Update: We've been contacted by Always Innovating, who confirmed that the store was viewable by way of an error, and that the Touch Book can still be pre-ordered for summer shipping. The company also confirmed that the keyboard will be available separately for $99, the tablet for $299, with the whole deal going for $399.[Thanks, Jeff]
Switched On: Connecting mobile, mantle and metal objects (Part 1)
Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology. Given that venture capitalists generally are not as excited about young companies that sell atoms as opposed to bits, companies innovating in hardware are a rare species at DEMO, the long-running technology startup parade. At this year's spring conference, two companies introduced new devices. The plainly named Always Innovating introduced the Touch Book, a new entrant in the netbook category while the vowel diversity-challenged Avaak introduced the Vue personal video system designed for remote surveillance of a home. Both products cater to an increasingly mobile society that demands digital access on the go and share some similar characteristics, but the states of the market they address could make a major difference for them. Always Innovating's Touch Book is a lightweight touchscreen computing device that will sell for $299. It's two signature features are a detachable keyboard – enabling the netbook to transform from a traditional clamshell to a "pure" tablet – and exceptional battery life of 10 to 15 hours on a single charge. The versatility of the hardware make the design one of the most appealing consumer tablet computing devices to date although the need to put the battery and processing guts behind the screen results in a thicker top half than one would find on most notebooks of similar size. Still, one can use the device to casually surf the Web on the couch using the new mobile version of Firefox, show photos as a digital picture frame, or even attach it to a refrigerator using the magnetic backing that the company has put on the tablet. It's a fine collection of atoms, but there's one Atom you won't find inside the Touch Book.
Touch Book from Always Innovating harbors removable tablet, netbook pricepoint
It's not every day we see an all-new angle on the laptop form factor, much less a netbook with aims at innovation. Perhaps it should come as no surprise that a company dubbed "Always Innovating" is trying to spice things up a bit. The Touch Book is an ARM-powered netbook that weighs less than two pounds and claims battery life of 10 to 15 hours, but the real magic happens with the removable screen -- it slides right out of its keyboard dock and acts as a fully functional touchscreen tablet. When docked, the screen can lay out flat, and the keyboard can even be folded all the way under into an "inverted V" shape. There are other oddities like internal USB plugs to cut down on dongle mess, and the whole screen is magnetic for mounting on a fridge. The machine is running a Linux OS with a touchable 3D UI. The only press shots right now are these sketchy-looking renders, but Always Innovating is currently previewing the Touch Book at DEMO 09 in California, and plans to ship in Spring of this year with a starting pricetag of $299.%Gallery-46194%
