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Motorola Droid RAZR Maxx review
Most of today's smartphones, especially those of the LTE-enabled persuasion, have earned a bad rap for exceptionally bad battery life, with large displays and hungry radios that suck the juice out faster than a three year-old can down a CapriSun. The race to construct the thinnest phones on the market doesn't help much either, since whittling down handsets results in less space for generously sized battery packs. The Motorola Droid RAZR is currently the slimmest phone this side of the Pacific, offering a thickness of 7.1mm at its thinnest end, and the title likely won't hold for long as new phones like the Huawei Ascend P1 S aim to knock the RAZR off its throne. But at what point do we stand up and insist on adding a little extra heft for the sake of having a bigger battery? Droid RAZR review Droid RAZR Maxx available now Droid RAZR Maxx hands-on at CES Enter the Motorola Droid RAZR Maxx. A mere two months after its predecessor was released on Verizon, this new contender came around to challenge the battery life of every single next-gen phone we've ever used. Its back end has been filled out somewhat to make room for a bigger battery, but at 8.99mm, it's still slimmer than a huge number of competing handsets on the market today. So what makes the Maxx different from the RAZR? Is it worth paying $300 with a two-year commitment -- a $100 premium over its original? Read on to find out.
VantagePoint delivers 132 inches of multitouch to HP's business customers
There are those out there that laugh at the idea of a 10-inch multitouch screen, and even some chuckle the thought of settling for a mere 40 inches. For those with such demanding requirements (primarily retailers and businesses), there's HP's VantagePoint. The main point of interaction with the video wall is six 47-inch Ultra-Micro Bezel displays that combine to offer 132 inches of diagonal real estate with a 4098 x 1536 resolution. That rather generous pile of pixels is pushed to the Gorilla Glass-fronted panels by a Z800 workstation, while a separate desktop is dedicated to audio and color processing. As you might expect, the set up doesn't come cheap -- businesses will have to cough up around $125,000 for the pleasure of such a beastly interactive installation. Check out the PR and data sheet at the source and some videos of it in action at the more coverage link.
Corning Gorilla Glass 2 hands-on (video)
Corning's got some new Gorilla Glass on display here at CES, and it's really, really durable. How durable? Durable enough to stonewall our best attempts to crack it. And we lift weights. We got the chance to test out the latest Gorilla Glass 2 during a demonstration at Pepcom this evening, and found out that the company's fresh glass is about 20 percent stronger than its predecessor. In fact, it didn't even crack under 120 pounds of pressure, which is like, a third of what we bench. Do yourself a solid and check out the gallery below, followed by the olympic video, after the break.
HP Envy 14 Spectre official: 3.97 pounds, NFC, Radiance display and glass chassis, arriving February 8 for $1,400
As far as product launches go, this one wasn't very subtle. Just last week, HP's PR team widely disseminated a brief video teasing a wispy laptop called the Spectre. We couldn't parse too many details for all the shadows and quick-cuts, but we gathered this much: it seemed to be thin, and far too sleek to be just another business-centric Ultrabook. Nope, it would be arresting, bold and highly stylized. And this time, it would be meant for mainstream consumers.Well, folks: we were right (except for the thin part, anyway). HP just unveiled the Envy 14 Spectre, and is billing it as a "premium Ultrabook." Which makes sense, since the laptop starts at $1,400, making it even pricier than the 13-inch MacBook Air (to say nothing of all those $900 ultraportables hitting the market). Above all, the company is justifying that price with a daring glass design, which HP insists makes the laptop more durable, not less so. In addition to cost, though, the trade-off to all that armor is some extra heft: the Spectre weighs in at 3.97 pounds and measures 20mm thick, making it the chubbiest 13-inch Ultrabook we've seen yet.So what does $1,400 get you, aside from a memorable design? We're told the laptop comes standard with a 14-inch, 1600 x 900 Radiance Display (hurrah!), Core i5-2467M CPU, 4GB of RAM, a nine-hour battery, backlit keyboard, carrying case and -- get this -- an NFC chip built into the palm rest for transferring URLs from your phone's browser. Other bells and whistles include Intel Wireless Display, HP's CoolSense technology, Beats, HP Wireless Audio, full copies of Photoshop and Premiere Elements and a two-year subscription to Norton Internet Security. Got that, guys? Upgrade options include a 256GB SSD and an extra 4GB of RAM, but other than that, what you see is what you get (and to be fair, you get a lot).The Spectre will go on sale in the US on February 8, continuing on to Canada, the UK, Switzerland, Germany, Australia, Japan, Singapore, Chile and Mexico in March. For now, though, head past the break for a walk-through video and some early impressions from yours truly.
ASUS Eee Pad MeMO ME171, ME370T and high-end Transformer Prime TF700T revealed
Flustered with the original Transformer Prime you just purchased? We'd advise you to have a seat. ASUS just took the wraps off an all new Transformer Prime (the TF700T) here at CES, which is presumably designed to rival Acer's newly-announced Iconia Tab A700. Notably, this guy won't be an outright replacement for the existing TF201 model; it's simply an upmarket alternative for those tired of the same specs over and over again. Speaking of, let's dive under the hood of this one, shall we? It's a 10.1-incher with NVIDIA's Tegra 3 within (1.3GHz quad-core Cortex A9), a Super IPS+ / Gorilla Glass 10.1-inch display with a downright silly 1,920 x 1,200 resolution (watch out, Lenovo!) and 32GB or 64GB of internal storage space. There's also an 8 megapixel rear camera / 2 megapixel front-facing cam, support for 1080p playback, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, a micro-HDMI port, microSD card reader, a 25WHr Lithium-Polymer battery and a chassis that weighs just over a pound. It'll ship with Android 4.0.1 onboard (yeah, that's Ice Cream Sandwich), and will be compatible with the exact same keyboard dock as the existing Prime. Needless to say, ASUS is aiming for the stars with a build sheet like this, and the $599 to $699 retail price points enable you to know it. It'll land next quarter here in North America, and no, there's no GPS functionality listed on the spec sheet after the break; though we've been informed that this new Prime will come with a new back panel design (pictured after the break) that should enhance WiFi, BT and GPS performance. Moving onto more diminutive offerings, the Eee Pad MeMO (ME171) that we saw months ago is getting a formal reveal here in Las Vegas, boasting a 7-inch WXGA (1,280 x 800) IPS capacitive touchpanel, a 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm 8260 processor, a gigabyte of memory, 16GB / 32GB of storage, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, a 1.2 megapixel front / 5 megapixel rear camera (with 1080p recording), an A-GPS sensor, gyroscope, proximity sensor and a micro-USB port. There's a 4,400mAh Li-polymer battery reportedly good for some 8.5 hours of video playback, and it'll be Android 4.0.1 running the show. The unit checks in with dimensions of 7.8- x 4.6- x 0.50-inches (and a weight of 14.2 ounces), and while mum's the word on price (sadly), it'll supposedly ship in Q2 to North American adobes.
Toshiba AT200 tablet coming to the US as the Excite X10, starting at $530 for 16GB
When Toshiba said its skinny AT200 tablet wouldn't be available until January, anyone with a casual interest in gadgets could have guessed that meant a splashy CES launch was in order. Sure enough, everyone's favorite trade show has rolled around, and the company is finally ready to talk pricing and availability, four months after it first announced the thing. As we've suspected for some time now, it'll go on sale in the US under the name "Excite" (Excite X10, to be exact), starting at $530 for the 16GB model, with a $600 32GB flavor also available. To recap, this is supposed to be the premium slate the Thrive wasn't, with a 1280 x 800 Gorilla Glass display, 178-degree viewing angles, TI OMAP 4430 chip, an anti-smudge coating and a 7.7mm-thick chassis, making it the thinnest 10-inch tablet on the market. It'll also ship with Android 3.2, though Toshiba says it's ICS-ready. And don't let that serious metal exterior fool you: for all its gravitas, the 1.2-pound tab is lighter than it looks. (We should know: we got hands-on ages ago.) So is a super slim design enough to make this Tegra 2 slate worth choosing over the Tegra 3-packing Transformer Prime which starts at $500 with 32GB of storage? To be honest, we suspect not, given that the Prime isn't much thicker and is also due for an upgrade to ICS. And besides, who knows what other Android tablets will surface at CES this week?
Corning to show off Gorilla Glass 2 at CES 2012
Gorilla Glass is tough, real tough. And it's got a solid reputation as a durable screen for small and large displays alike. But by no means is it perfect, and Corning has been hard at work to make the product's sequel even better. We're pretty dry on the details so far, but Corning SVP / GM James Steiner mentioned that his company's positioned to meet the challenge of accommodating phones and tablets with more functionality from thinner designs. We'll find out a lot more information about the latest version of the glass in an announcement this coming Monday at CES, so stay tuned as we find out the juicy tidbits.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Hybrid official: instant-on OS based on Android doubles battery life, arrives in Q2 for $1,599
Well, look at what we have here. Though it didn't arrive as early as rumored, the ThinkPad X1 Hybrid running Android is, in fact, a real, whirring product. Lenovo just unveiled the laptop, which has a fanless "Instant Media Mode" promising to double the original X1's (rather skimpy) battery life to as much as ten hours. And while we've seen notebooks with instant-on operating systems, Lenovo's done something unique by installing a dual-core Qualcomm CPU on the motherboard and building a custom OS based on the Android kernel. In fact, its launcher should look awfully familiar to the customization we've seen on the IdeaPad K1 and other Lenovo tablets. Here, too, you can check email, surf the web, organize photos, listen to music, play videos, change the wallpaper and add widgets to the three home screens, though access to Android Market is a no-go. We got to spend a few minutes with the X1 Hybrid a few weeks ago, and if first impressions are to be believed, the battery-saving prowess works as advertised: immediately after switching modes, the estimated remaining runtime jumped from an hour and 16 minutes to four hours and 19 minutes. The OS also booted in about two seconds, as Lenovo says it should. We were also relieved to learn that there's no back-door way of accessing the OS: if the laptop goes to sleep while you're in Instant Media Mode, you'll have to return to Windows to log in again. In every other respect, this is the X1 we reviewed last spring: it has a durable, 3.7-pound chassis, integrated Intel graphics and a glossy, 13-inch (1366 x 768) Gorilla Glass display with brightness rated at 350 nits. It'll be offered with Core i3, i5 and i7 processors, a 3G radio and a slice battery that adds up to five more hours of juice. It'll be available sometime in the second quarter for $1,599 and up -- about a $300 premium over the original. And no, current X1 owners can't download Instant Media Mode as an update -- as you can imagine, that whole "SoC on a motherboard" requirement makes that impossible. Hey, no one ever said being an early adopter was easy.
Motorola Pro+ 4G rides into Canada November 7th, will kick off shoes and stay a while
We knew it was planning to grace Europe and Asia with its presence this month, but now we're hearing the Motorola Pro+ 4G is ready to make its North American debut at Bell Canada. We're not seeing any large differences here compared to the overseas model, though the addition of "4G" to the title is an obvious exception. The device offers a 1GHz CPU, 512MB of RAM, Android 2.3, a 5MP camera, 3.1-inch VGA (640 x 480) display with Gorilla Glass, HSPA 14.4 (hence the "4G" name) and a lot of Enterprise-friendly security features. We know it'll be hitting shelves on November 7th, but no price has been announced so far. To find out the full shebang, head south for the press release. Update: We've confirmed with an inside source that it'll sell for $349.95, but there's no word on whether subsidies will apply for long-term contracts.
Dell Latitude ST tablet gets official with vague press release, dead links (video)
Remember that Latitude ST that Dell gave us a sneak peek at earlier in the week? Well it's slowly inching its way towards an official release, appearing on Dell's Corporate Blog early this morning. The Windows 7-based enterprise tablet is powered by an Intel Atom processor and includes a 10-inch multi-touch display with stylus, WiFi, mobile broadband options, front and rear webcams and a mic. There are also durability features like Gorilla Glass and a rubber bumper, enabling it to survive violent impacts with plush office carpeting. Port details are rather vague in the PR, though USB, HDMI and an SD card reader get their 15 seconds of fame in the promo video. There are also security features, like remote hard drive wipe, Microsoft Bitlocker support (this is a Windows 7 tablet, after all) and a Kensington Lock slot. Pricing details are absent and the product page isn't live quite yet (though that didn't stop Dell from linking to it from the blog post), but it looks like we could see these ship as soon as November 1st. Ready to get your tap and sketch on? Jump past the break for an enterprise montage, complete with doctors, educators and suit-sporting business pros. Update: Looks like the specs have leaked out overseas, so we're guessing it'll get official soon enough. Update 2: And here come the unboxing videos! Update 3: And Dell's business page is up! Thanks, One Love!
Samsung Galaxy Nexus confirmed to have 'fortified glass,' not Gorilla Glass
For all the talk of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus in recent days, there's still quite a few questions surrounding the flagship Ice Cream Sandwich phone. Last week we learned that the phone's 4.65-inch screen was a standard Super AMOLED display and not a Super AMOLED Plus variation (as seen on the Galaxy S II), and now Corning has confirmed that the device doesn't use its trademark Gorilla Glass as you may have assumed given its high-end status. According to Samsung, however, it does use a type of "fortified glass," but the company isn't getting any more specific than that. We guess we'll have to wait for some stress tests (or clumsy hands) to see just how well it holds up.
Nokia N9 review
MeeGo to be folded into Linux-based Tizen OS, slated to arrive in 2012 Want a Nokia N9 in the US? Expansys has some, but it'll cost ya Motorola Droid 2 stars in its first video, touts 1GHz CPU and 512MB of RAM? It's taken a long time for Nokia's MeeGo-packing N9 to make its way into our top-secret labs (the N9 moniker was first applied to early E7 prototypes), but it's here in our dirty little hands, at last, and it's glorious -- well, as glorious as a stillborn product can be, anyway. The N9 is the latest and greatest in a long line of quirky, interesting, yet ultimately flawed touchscreen experiments from Nokia that includes the Hildon-sporting 7710, a series of Maemo-based "internet tablets" (770, N800, N810, N900) and most recently, the N950 MeeGo handset for developers. What makes the N9 special is that it represents Nokia's last flagship phone as an independent player. MeeGo is already dead, and future high-end devices from the manufacturer will run Windows Phone and use Microsoft's services. So, is this the company's final bittersweet hurrah? Did MeeGo ever stand a chance against Android, iOS and Mango? In its attempt to stay relevant, is Nokia throwing out the baby with the bathwater? Most importantly, how does the N9 fare in today's merciless dual-core world? Find out after the break. %Gallery-137175%
Motorola unveils rugged ET1 Android tablet for enterprise types (video)
Well, here it is. After months of beta tests, Motorola's ET1 tablet was finally unveiled today, bringing a taste of Android 2.3 to the enterprise market. Powered by a 1GHz dual-core CPU, this rugged slate packs 8GB of internal storage, along with a 32GB microSD card slot, and features a seven-inch, Gorilla Glass capacitive touchscreen with 1024 x 600 resolution. Weighing in at 1.4 pounds, the ET1 also boasts an eight megapixel rear camera, a front-facing shooter designed for videoconferencing and 720p video capabilities. Plus, retailers can choose to outfit the tablet with a host of accessories, including a barcode reader, magnetic stripe reader, handstrap and holster. At this point, the ET1 boasts only WiFi connectivity, though Motorola Solutions' Sheldon Safir says a Wide Area Network version is in the works. The manufacturer didn't offer a specific price, but Safir tells Computer World that bulk purchases should cost less than $1,000 by the time the slab hits the market, later this year. Head past the break for a full platter of PR, along with a demo video.
Motorola LTE handset emerges with qHD Super AMOLED display, questionable identity
Well, what do we have here? According to "trusted sources" over at This Is My Next it's a Motorola Spyder, or a Droid RAZR, or maybe even the Droid HD we peeped back in August. Whatever the name, the phone is apparently packing a first-of-its-kind 4.3-inch, 960 x 540 qHD super AMOLED display. The rumored LTE handset also supposedly contains a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, an 8 megapixel, 1080p rear-facing camera and HD front-facing camera, and is apparently outfitted in Gorilla Glass and Kevlar. TIMN is also boasting exclusive new details for the recently outed Atrix 2. It seems the name is confirmed as well as a handful of previously identified specs. What's more, the phone's got a couple of accessories on board, including a laptop dock called the Lapdock 100, also rumored to play nice with the Spyder, or RAZR, or HD. More images of both devices await you at the source links below.
ASUS Eee Slate B121 slabs it up for the enterprise market
Temper that excitement. This isn't the rumored quad-core, Kal-El running Transformer 2. Still, ASUS is doing its best to port the tab buzz to the enterprise set with its quietly introduced Eee Slate B121. Unlike its tablet PC brethren, this business-minded slate runs Windows 7 Professional atop an Intel Core i5 processor, and comes loaded with the security tweaks necessary for the corporate road warrior: like Computrace LoJack for remote location and data wipe, and a Trusted Platform Module microchip that stores encrypted data. Also tacked on to the $1,500 12.1-inch package are a Bluetooth keyboard and Wacom Digitizer stylus. As for the specs, well, there's a 1280 x 800 LED Gorilla Glass display, 4GB RAM, 64GB of storage, dual USB 2.0 ports, mini-HDMI out, SD card slot and 2 megapixel front-facing camera. No official word on exactly when this biz-friendly tablet'll be available, but now would be a good time to convince your IT department to order it up. Be sure to hit the source below for the company's soft sell.
ASUS Eee Pad Transformer resists Canadian coins, does not survive slings and arrows (video)
ASUS hasn't really had to twist consumers' wallet-carrying wrists to get its Eee Pad Transformer off retailers' shelves and into homes -- the tablet practically walks itself. Which makes the company's latest attempt at viral marketing come off as more of an exercise in unnecessary bragging, than a straight, feature-touting webmercial. The video, made for the hardware maker's college-focused Campus Life website, walks viewers through a brief description of the Gorilla Glass coating that gives the Honeycomb-based tab its damage-resistant properties, before putting the slate through a series of stress tests. While we've always been told sticks and stones would break our bones, apparently keys, Canadian change and screws won't harm the Transformer. The sole chink in this popular pad's ion exchanging armor? Archery, of course.
Motorola Defy+ leaves the gym, coming this fall with slightly more muscle
You'd be hard-pressed to find many phones that look relatively stylish, are thin and light enough to carry comfortably in your pocket, and can hang out underwater for ten minutes. That's why, we suppose, the Motorola Defy became popular worldwide; it's difficult to build a device to be a tank without looking like one, and it's even more tough to do it right. Naturally, when you've got a good thing going, it's ideal to improve upon that model. The Motorola Defy+ aims to do just that -- keep the form factor, Gorilla Glass and IP67 certification, but beef up the internal components and throw in better firmware. The new iteration -- slated for a Q3 release -- will house a single-core 1GHz TI OMAP 3620, Android 2.3.4 with Moto's latest UI skin (still curiously referred to as MotoBlur) on top, and a 1700mAh battery while the rest of the specs remain the same as its predecessor. No word on specific carrier availability was given, though HelloMoto aims to launch it in Asia, Latin America, and Europe in the fall. Full press release can be found after the break.
Nokia N9 countdown page goes live, 49 days to launch?
Google's powers of awkward PR translation may have been right on the MeeGo-money, judging by this countdown page for the N9. The Swedish site, which just went live today, has begun its 49 days and counting creep to the Gorilla Glass-clad handset's eventual overseas debut. We'd previously heard whispers of an impending September 15th release pegged for the OEM's backyard, but we'll err on the side of Nokia's official launch clock. Head to the source to watch this tantalizing tease of time ticking by. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
HTC Status review
For many smartphone users, a quality keyboard is the only feature that truly matters. These passionate devotees will proudly live and die with their thumbs blazing, and for of all RIM's recent troubles, it's currently floating on a life preserver: a compelling handset with a portrait QWERTY keyboard doesn't exist for Android. The HTC Status ($50 on contract) attempts to succeed where others have failed, and -- if it's any good -- could entice many BlackBerry-toting teens that want a new handheld fixation. They rarely bother with email, as text messages and Facebook reign supreme for communication. To that end, the Status promotes itself as the perfect phone for Facebook users, but is the integration truly useful, or simply a chintzy add-on? More so, can HTC successfully marry Gingerbread with an upright keyboard? Join us after the break to learn whether we "Like" the HTC Status. %Gallery-128742%
HTC Wildfire S review
Following the commercial success (and technical disappointment) of the original Wildfire -- which featured a miserly 528MHz CPU and QVGA display -- HTC has returned with the Wildfire S ($290). Like the Desire S and Incredible S, the company is sticking to its formula of providing incremental updates to stay competitive for 2011. Not only is this little one sporting improved hardware, but this time it's strutting around with Gingerbread. Will this be HTC's budget-line breakthrough, or will it fall face first into the land of mobile misfits? For the answer, check out the full review after the break.
