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LG Lucid becomes official on Verizon, can be yours March 29th for $80
That LG Lucid we've heard so much about lately? Yep, it's real, and Verizon is now ready to publicly acknowledge its existence.The LTE-capable device resides in the mid-range, but for $80 (with a two-year commitment and after a $50 mail-in rebate) you're getting a 4-inch display covered in Gorilla Glass, 1.2GHz dual-core CPU, 1GB of RAM, 5MP rear-facing camera with 1080p video capture and a front-facing cam of unknown resolution. And for the folks keeping track at home, the Lucid will be shipping with Gingerbread installed, though Verizon is quick to admit that ICS is in the works. Sound like your cup o' tea? You won't have to wait long -- it's heading your way on March 29th.
Point of View Mobii netbook has Ion inside, psychedelia outside
Just by looking at the Mobii ION 230, you can tell it's a netbook keen on standing out from the crowd. This desire extends through its internals, which rely on NVIDIA's Ion platform to power an Atom N230 CPU, usually a nettop part, alongside an upgradeable 1GB of RAM and 160GB HDD. Hence, while battery life might take a comparative beating, graphical and processing ability should be appreciably superior to your run-of-the-mill netbook. Point of View promises flawless 1080p playback and DirectX 10 and Shader Model 4.0 support, with an HDMI-out if you don't feel the 10.2-inch display at 1024x 600 resolution does those features justice. You'd be wrong to expect anything more than a slideshow in graphically intensive games, but it's good to know the netbook market is getting a juiced-up option, and fret not, there's a conservative black paintjob available too. European prices are expected around the €349 ($495) mark and availability should hit within the next few weeks.[Via Netbook News]
iMac 24-inch surprise: graphics card is upgradeable?
MacsimumNews broke down a MacGeneration post (a French publication) revealing that the new 24-inch iMac Apple introduced this week could quite possibly be the first iMac with a truly upgradeable graphics card. Thanks to a new Mobile PCI Express Module (MXM - originally designed for high-end notebooks) standard in the biggest iMac of 'em all, owners might be able to upgrade their own graphics card and (finally) ditch that old just throw it out when you want to upgrade stigma - if this is true, of course. You can also thank NVIDIA and their partnership with some of the industry leading notebook manufacturers (we would imagine Alienware and even Dell, believe it or not) for this standard that was quite a long time coming. Why this much-requested feature isn't getting any spotlight time on the new iMac's graphics page, or why the 24-inch is the only model to receive the coveted upgrade-ability treatment, definitely doesn't help our skeptical side. We'll be investigating this further, as it could easily be that Apple adopted the standard for one reason or another (like cheaper manufacturing costs), but still soldered the card (which will most surely cause an uproar, if true).We'd also like to echo MacsimumNews' observation that it would be stellar if Apple could work this standard into the next MacBook Pro revision, as the company kinda dropped the ball with their current lineup.Thanks Michael!
Sony clears up some PS3 confusion
Sony has officially commented on earlier rumors (that we did our best to debunk earlier) regarding the lack of upgradability in the "core" $500 version of the system. The rumor stated that the lower model would be unable to use wireless controllers (suggesting the console would ship with wired controllers) and that the 20GB hard drive would be unable to be upgraded. A Sony spokesperson told GamesIndustry.biz, "Both configurations will support Bluetooth PS3 controllers." As for the second rumor, Phil Harrison told GI.biz earlier, "You can put in any drive that you like - it is a computer, after all."What about the other disparities between the two systems? Sony says both a Wi-Fi adapter and a card reader will be available for the system leaving HDMI output as the "only non-upgradeable feature of the 20GB configuration."[Via Engadget]
