Compal
Latest
Expect to see plenty more kid-friendly wearables soon
Qualcomm has signed a deal with three lesser-known tech companies to bring its new Snapdragon for wearables chip to a more niche branch of smartwatches. The most interesting outfit to sign on the dotted line is Infomark, which has no interest in making yet another Android Wear device. The business makes the JooN watch phone for kids, and is looking to produce similar gear that's targeted toward the elderly. Another new partner, Borqs, is similarly investigating "kid watches and elderly watches" for its growing wearables division.
The next 'Toshiba' TV you see will be made by a different company
Toshiba has undertaken many attempts to reshape its TV segment over the years with "Cloud Portal" and Cell TV, but none have hit the mark and now it's getting out of the business entirely in North America. Following other Japanese manufacturers that have axed (Pioneer), scaled back (Panasonic), or reorganized (Sony) their TV operations, Toshiba will license its name to Taiwan's Compal. New TVs from the venture will be on shelves in March, so don't be surprised if they're a bit different. It already switched to more outsourcing after axing jobs in 2013, so the shift may turn out to be subtle. Toshiba has always been willing to bring some unique -- if not always appreciated -- aspects to the game, and we'll be sad to see them go. The plan now is to "develop new technologies and services" while it works on securing a stable profit.
Nokia reportedly 'in talks' to build 10-inch Windows RT slate with Qualcomm and Compal
There's been no shortage of chin-wagging about a Nokia slate in the past, but needless to say it's never amounted to much. In fact, the murmurs and patent applications largely died away prior to the coming of Windows RT, leading us to conclude that the Finnish manufacturer had decided to step back from the tablet tussle rather than wade in. That said, Digitimes is now reporting that Nokia is once again "talking" to hardware partners -- namely Qualcomm and Compal -- about developing a Windows RT device. Mobilegeeks and our own sources have stepped up to support the gist of this report, although they didn't go nearly as far as Digitimes in claiming that a 10-inch product would be done and dusted in time for MWC, which means we're left with nothing concrete. One thing does seem likely: Surface may not be selling well enough, despite its merits, which potentially creates room for another Microsoft-aligned manufacturer to carry the RT baton forward.
Fusion Garage's Grid 10 just won't die, preparing comeback as Compal's Smart Pad PBJ40
Usually, once a gadget gets canned it either just disappears or it ends up stumbling back under a different brand. Because, you know, some unfortunate manufacturer may have an orphaned stock to get rid of, or maybe it doesn't want to waste the expensive tooling developed for the failed product. Either way, judging by a fresh NCC (Taiwan's FCC, basically) filing dug up by our brethren over at Engadget Chinese, it looks like the Grid 10 from the now-defunct Fusion Garage may well crawl out of its grave just like that. While there's still the "Grid 10" branding on the back of the tablet, the two-day-old NCC document recognizes Compal as the company brand (presumably it was Fusion Garage's OEM partner for this), and there's also a new but rather mundane name for the device: "Smart Pad," model "PBJ40." Sadly, there's not much else to look at here apart from the vanilla Android Froyo or Gingerbread (instead of Grid OS) sighting in the pics, as well as the Bluetooth and 802.11b/g/n WiFi mention. So the question is: what will Compal do with this Smart Pad? Resurrect Fusion Garage in Taiwan? Unlikely (though Chandra does like to surprise people). Offload the lot to Taiwanese carriers or stores? We'll bet our money on that.
AMD shows off its first Windows 8 concept tablet, we go hands-on (video)
If Intel and Microsoft have been the royal couple of Computex 2012 (aka the world's biggest Windows 8 Ultrabook tradeshow), AMD has been the third wheel. That doesn't mean it's opted out of the festivities, though. Nope, it's chosen this week to show off its Trinity chips, and it even has its first Windows 8 concept device on display. The reference design, made by Compal, has the same form factor we've seen over and over again this week: an 11.6-inch, 1366 x 768 tablet paired with a keyboard dock. The main differences are that it has a kickstand, and packs one of AMD's Trinity A6 APUs. The chassis is on the chunky side, at a shade under 20mm, and the screen's a fingerprint magnet, but then again, we don't put too much stock in prototype designs; such details are subject to change. Performance seemed smooth so far as we could tell, but then again, we haven't had the chance to put it through its paces, streaming HD video or attempting anything of productive value. We wish we could tell you a bit about rated battery life, but alas, AMD isn't ready to make any public claims just yet. As for the accompanying dock, the keyboard is far more spacious than what we're used to. Want to see it in action? We've got a quick walk-through of the design, with photos and video below.%Gallery-157280%
AMD reveals Trinity specs, claims to beat Intel on price, multimedia, gaming
Itching for the details of AMD's latest Accelerated Processing Units (APUs)? Then get ready to scratch: Trinity has arrived and, as of today, it's ready to start powering the next generation of low-power ultra-portables, laptops and desktops that, erm, don't run Intel. The new architecture boasts up to double the performance-per-watt of last year's immensely popular Llano APUs, with improved "discrete-class" integrated graphics and without adding to the burden on battery life. How is that possible? By how much will Trinity-equipped devices beat Intel on price? And will it play Crysis: Warhead? Read on to find out.
Compal Trinity ODM reference design eyes-on
Here at AMD's Financial Analyst day, the company had a little demo area which is where we spotted this little number -- an ODM reference unit from Compal, stuffed with the company's upcoming Trinity APU. We're told the unit above is one of several, which are proof-of-concepts used to convince and show OEMs powerful, yet thin machines the duo hopes they'll bring to market. Inside this particular prototype is one of the lower voltage variants of Trinity (read: either the 17W or 25W part), which enables that svelte 18mm profile. Seeing as it is a one-off (and one that'll never come to market in this form), our impressions are moot, yet we'd be remiss if we didn't point out we were a little dismayed by its chassis, which was flimsy enough to put the existing flex champion, Toshiba's Z830, on notice. Still, with an estimated starting price of half an Ultrabook (roughly in the $500 to $600 range), we'll leave it up to you to decide exactly how much you value torsional rigidity. Other then that, viewing angles seemed good from the brief demo reel we watched, and there's plenty of connectivity onboard, with two USB 3.0 ports, mini-DisplayPort and HDMI flanking the left, followed by audio jacks, another USB, Ethernet and power along the right. Looks like thin and lights are about to get a whole lot more interesting later in the year, which, frankly is great -- it's about time Chipzilla got some worthy competition.
Ultrabook or tablet? Compal shows off hybrid reference design (video)
We knew CES would bring a slew of Ultrabooks, but who could have predicted 2012 would be the year of the franken-gadget? So far this week, we've seen Lenovo's IdeaPad Yoga, two hybrids from Gigabyte and a pair of 13- and 5.5-inch tablet prototypes from Toshiba. And that's saying nothing of Intel's Nikiski prototype and its promise of accelerometer-based gaming on Ultrabooks. With that as our backdrop, we have the Compal QAV20, a reference design sitting in Intel's booth, alongside all the plain, months-old laptops we've already reviewed. From afar, it looks like the Samsung Series 7 Slate, but up close you'll see it has a larger, 13.3-inch, 1366 x 768 display, along with a keyboard dock. On the inside, meanwhile, it packs a Core i5 ULV CPU -- the same guts you'll find inside other Ultrabooks.In our brief hands-on, we were stunned by how light the fiber glass device feels -- certainly, it's much less dense than the similarly sized Yoga. The dock itself is home to various ports, including Ethernet, dual USB 2.0 sockets, HDMI and a headphone jack. And though it's no Transformer Prime dock, it's still light enough that you shouldn't have problem stuffing it in your bag. No word on what, if any, OEMs will re-badge this, but no matter -- we've gotten video and photos for you to peruse even if this thing never makes it to market. And no, we didn't film this in the Batcave; Intel just loves it some blue mood lighting.
Microsoft signs Compal deal, now takes money from half of all Android ODMs
Despite Steve Ballmer's apparent disdain for the Googly OS, he must love it really. He's now making money from ten separate Android and Chrome licensing deals, having just inked yet another agreement with Compal -- a large Taiwanese original design manufacturer (ODM) that builds tablets and smartphones for brands like Lenovo. From this point on, a "reasonable and fair" chunk of Compal's $28 billion annual income will be diverted to the coffers at Redmond. Overall, this means that Microsoft's tentacles have spread across 55 percent of the Android ODM industry and -- more importantly -- are poked firmly into two different mobile OS pies. As cut-throat as this approach might seem, however, it's surely better than freezing the market with cold and ceaseless waves of litigation. PR after the break. [Thanks, Majed]
Acer planning a sliding Android tab for the holidays, won't fit in your stocking
Rumor has it that ASUS wont be the only company with a sliding Android tablet this holiday season -- DigiTimes claims to have it on good authority that Acer will be launching its own 10.1-inch slate with a peekaboo QWERTY stashed behind the screen. The ARM-powered device is reportedly being manufactured by Compal, but beyond that your guess is as good as ours. By the time it lands we should be getting our first taste of Ice Cream Sandwich, but it's a pretty safe bet if this unnamed device does ship later this year, it'll do so with Honeycomb on board.
Compal's 'Ultra Mobile' Ultrabook eyes-on
Intel's already teased Compal's "Ultra Mobile" Ultrabook from afar, but when this Ivy Bridge laptop popped up on the show floor after the Computex keynote, we decided to give it a closer look. While this prototype isn't quite in the same league as ASUS' gorgeous UX21, do bear in mind that we're still looking at a relatively slim package for a 14- to 15-inch Core i7 rig. Also visible around the machine are a couple of USB 3.0 ports, an HDMI-out port, a LAN socket, and an SD card reader. Until we hear more about this Ultra Mobile, enjoy our eyes-on photos below. %Gallery-125292%
Honeycomb on Oak Trail gets benchmarked on prototype Compal tablet, numbers ensue
We know that Intel is gunning for ARM with its Oak Trail platform, and indeed there were a few early tablets at Computex following that very path to Honeycomb. The question on everyone's minds, of course, is how well this dual-core 1.5GHz platform can compare to the Tegra 2 competition. If you believe the results from a suite of tests that tweakers.net ran on a prototype Compal unit, then the answer is "not very well." On benchmarks like CaffeineMark, Linpak, and Quadrant the platform was largely left in the dust by ARM competition with bigger biceps, but the Oak Trail machine did clean the floor with everyone else on the SunSpider browser benchmark. What does it all mean? Not a heck of a lot at this point, we're afraid. It's far too early to be drawing performance conclusions about a platform based on a prototype fresh out of the fabricator, and we have our doubts that these benchmark apps are optimized for the new platform -- so don't give up on 'ol x86 just yet.
Intel shows off Oak Trail-based Android Honeycomb tablets, confirms Android Market support
At a time when ARM and Android are dominating the mobile computing world, Intel's only just starting to catch up with some green robot-friendly prototypes, like these Oak Trail-based 10-inch tablets at Computex 2011. Starting from the left we have the Intel Green Ridge, Foxconn F150, Quanta QXZI, an unnamed Compal device, Intel Marco Polo 2, and Intel Carrot. Sadly, Intel wouldn't give the names of the ODMs behind its own reference tablets, so your guess is just as good as ours. With the exception of the Gingerbread-powered Foxconn slate, these were all running on Honeycomb 3.0.1 OS -- well, we say running, but just barely. As you'll see in our hands-on video after the break, most of the devices were struggling to keep up with the launcher animation, and needless to say, Intel wasn't keen on letting us test video playback on them. We also noticed that Android Market was missing on the prototypes, but Intel assured us that it'll be available on the final products, and that current Android apps are already supported by Oak Trail. In terms of build quality it left much to be desired, though this is forgivable at a trade show; it's the software that we're concerned with. From what we've seen here at Computex, Android on Oak Trail is far from ready, so it'll be interesting to see if Acer can actually pull off a July launch for its rumored Oak Trail Honeycomb tablet. Update: OK, our in-depth hands-on video is finally working. Check it out after the break. %Gallery-124843%
Lenovo's LePad going global with IdeaPad Tablet K1 moniker?
At last, here's a sign of Lenovo's Android tablet making its way out of the fertile land of China. While there's no direct mention in this FCC application, the speakers at the bottom suggest that this slate -- dubbed IdeaPad Tablet K1 and made by Compal -- is a variant of the China-only LePad as opposed to the shinier U1 Hybrid (which is more likely to be the Skylight slate, anyway). Also bear in mind that Lenovo's already confirmed a global June launch for the LePad, so the timing of this document is just right. Of course, the only question left is will we be seeing some Honeycomb love here instead of Froyo? And should we not bother with this hefty 10-incher and just wait for Lenovo's slimmer offering a few months later? We'll see what the price tag says.
Acer said to be using LG Shuriken display in upcoming laptop -- less bezel, less thickness, more awesome
The zany guys and gals at DigiTimes have a saucy new rumor to start our week off with a bang. A newfangled LG display, dubbed Shuriken, is apparently being recruited in Acer's fight against irrelevance. The Taiwanese company will reputedly use it in an upcoming 14.1-inch laptop, but here's the kicker: the physical size of the laptop will be no bigger than that of a 13.3-inch model. That's because the Shuriken's panel will require less bezel (8mm instead of 12mm) and less thickness, slimming itself down to just 4mm. LG already has the 12.5-inch Xnote P210, which would seem to be employing similar technology, so it's not a stretch to believe the company's war on bezels has stepped up to the 14-inch size class. Acer is expected to launch this new laptop as early as next month, though the cost of the Shuriken displays is cited as the reason they haven't been taken up more widely yet, meaning the price of the eventual product will be almost as intriguing as its looks.
eLocity A7 tablet finally shipping, $399 still buys you Froyo and Tegra 2
Looking for a bargain bin tablet without the bargain bin stigma? We told you around three months ago to look Stream TV's way, but it seems that the same message could be applied today. For whatever reason, the 7-inch eLocity A7 tablet actually didn't ship in September, but according to a fresh piece of PR, that's being remedied today. The A7 -- complete with Android 2.2 and NVIDIA's Tegra 2 silicon -- has started shipping today to those who placed a pre-order, and it's also found a safe and secure spot on Amazon's website. 'Course, it's listed as "out of stock" for the time being, but as soon as the factory lines start cranking at a decent clip, the $399 slate should make an appearance at Walmart, NewEgg, BJs, Tiger Direct and Micro Center (among other places). Emphasis on should.
HP contracts 5 or 6 new Palm devices for 2011?
Underwhelmed by the feeling of sameness with the Pre 2? Well, you may or may not be in luck; Chinese-based CENS.com is reporting that manufacturers Foxconn and Compal now have contracts to manufacturer up to six new Palm devices for 2011. That boils down to one for Compal, and either four or five for Foxconn. We'd venture a guess that PalmPad's at least one of those, seeing as it's due early next year, but what about the others? Whatever (stackable) cards HP / Palm have in hand aren't exactly being laid out, and while we can't confirm this report ourselves, rest assured, we're hoping really hard that there'll be more webOS options with non-pebble form factors.
Intel's Light Peak optical interconnect shrinks slightly, LaCie, WD, Compal and Avid begin prototyping
Intel's Light Peak isn't setting any new speed records at IDF 2010 -- it's still rated at 10Gbps for now -- but the optical data transfer system is finally looking like it might appear in some actual products. As you can see immediately above, a Light Peak to HDMI converter has shrunk considerably since May, and a number of optically-infused sample products were on display at Intel's Light Peak booth. Compal's got a laptop with the optical interconnect built in, while Western Digital showed an external hard drive, from which the Compal could pull and edit multimedia in real-time using a Light Peak-enabled Avid rackmount. Meanwhile, LaCie showed off what appeared to be a 4big Quadra RAID array with two Light Peak ports catapulting high-definition video content at 770MB/s to a nearby Samsung TV, though we should warn you that the TV itself was a bit of a hack job, and not a collaboration with Samsung -- note the big, honking EVGA video card sticking out of the back. Though obviously a good bit of work went into these prototypes, Intel reps told us none would necessarily become a reality. Either way, don't expect to see Light Peak products until sometime next year.
StreamTV Elocity A7 tablet packs Tegra 2 and Android 2.2, coming to Amazon for $399 in September
We can't say we'd ever heard of StreamTV, but all the company had to say was "Tegra 2 Android Froyo tablet" to get us to meet up with them in NYC earlier today. The Philadelphia start-up is planning to bring its Elocity A7 -- essentially a re-badged Compal's NAZ-10 -- to an Amazon order page near you, and from what we saw during the hour-long demo it may just be a contender for your stashed away $399. The 7-inch tablet has an extremely responsive 800 x 480 resolution, capacitive touchscreen -- yes, multitouch worked in the browser and photo gallery -- with a front-facing 1.3 megapixel cam on the left bezel. We actually got to make a quick Fring video call to one of the other tablets in the room, though it was rather lagging since we were running over it all 3G. Surrounding the tablet is an SD card slot along with USB and HDMI ports, the latter of which did come very handy for hooking up the tablet to a 22-inch HDTV and watching an extremely smooth 1080p clip. (Thank you 1GHz Tegra II-720 CPU!) Speaking of, we also got to play a racing game, Asphalt 5, on the device, though the accelerometer steering was a bit flaky. Besides that, we've got to say the entire tablet experience was pretty smooth -- you can see for yourself after the break and in the upcoming episode of the Engadget Show -- but the unit we saw was running Android 2.1. The SteamTV's CEO says they'll only be shipping 2.2-running units come October and with a supplemental GetJar app store since it cannot preload Google's Marketplace because of restrictions. He also tells us they'll be including an HDMI cord and wireless keyboard in the box -- all for $399. It all sounds rather promising, but so do all these future Android tablets!
Pioneer Computers soon shipping 7-inch Tegra 2-powered DreamBook ePad N7 to dags down under
Is the device above familiar to you? It should be if you've been following the release of Android Tegra 2 tablets, as it looks conspicuously like Aigo's N700, which is, itself, a rebadged Compal NAZ-10. It's now the recipient of another applique, this time getting inked with the name "Pioneer Computers" (an Aussie company unrelated to that other Pioneer) and now up for pre-order with a price of AUD $599 -- about $530 US. For that you get a seven-inch tablet with a 800 x 480 capacitive touchscreen, Tegra 2 internals, 512MB of RAM with 4GB of internal storage and microSD expansion, HDMI output, and 802.11b/g wireless. A 3G antenna will cost you another $99, though if you order right now they'll throw in the optional 1.3 megapixel webcam for free. That's a nice offer on a somewhat overpriced tablet, but it remains to be seen whether this sucker is eligible for Android 2.2 (it's currently rocking 2.1) and, indeed, whether it's a licensed install with the Market and whatnot. We'd guess the answer is "no," as earlier rebrands of these tablets went without, but we're always ready for surprises.
