Daily Roundup: Sony's Cyber-shot QX100, Kindle Fire HDX 7 hands-on, Valve's Steam Machines, and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Sony Cyber-shot QX100 hands-on
We already reviewed Sony's attachable lens camera -- the QX10 -- just last week, but today we got the chance to go a little deeper with the device's bigger brother: the QX100. At $500, the camera accessory is an expensive addition to your smartphone, but given that the $750 RX100 Mark II features similar specs, the price is a bit easier to swallow. Sony's optical add-on is more than adequate for smartphone photographers, but if you need a serious shooter, the QX100 isn't for you. Read on for more.
Kindle Fire HDX 7 hands-on
"Today, we're going to show you the third leg of our device business strategy," Jeff Bezos told us before announcing Amazon's latest Kindle: the Fire HDX 7. The slate -- like its predecessor -- comes in 7 and 8.9-inch configurations, except this time both versions are sporting a much higher resolution screen. Other changes include a significant drop in weight, a 2.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor, and twice as much RAM. Both tablets are available for pre-order now, with the 7-incher running at $229 and the 8.9-inch version starting at $379. Click on through for our full hands-on.
Roku's new product line: it's as simple as 1, 2, 3
Today, Roku announced plans to do away with its confusing product titles. Whereas before, American users had to decide between the LT, HD, 2XD and 3, the company has now adopted a newer, much simpler lineup: Good, Better, and Best. We reviewed Roku's flagship, the 3, back in April, but the other two devices have been newly refreshed. So, which one is right for you? Read on and let us take you through the differences.
Valve unveils its hardware beta, Steam Machines
Valve announced its new "Steam Machines" today -- a hardware beta -- as part of its initiative to bring the company's popular game distribution service, Steam, to consumers' living rooms. Valve plans on issuing just 300 hardware prototypes in 2013, "free of charge, for testing," and you can enter to become one of those lucky few through your existing Steam account. The company's third and final piece of promised news this week will be released on Friday, and if the rumors are true, we should see some kind of controller. Click through for more details.
