Sterling
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Dell's 2011 smartphone and tablet lineup leaked: Android Ice Cream, WP7 sliders, and a slate running Windows 8
Wrigley, Hancock, Millennium, Gallo, Sterling, Rosemount, Silver Oak, Peju and Opus One. What are we rattling off? Oh, just the list of codenames from one of the largest leaks we've ever seen out of Dell. WPCentral and Android Central got their hands on alleged smartphone and tablet roadmaps for the entire year, detailing the company's plans for devices running operating systems that have yet to be formally announced, including Android Ice Cream (yes, Ice Cream!) and Windows 8 as well as the tablet-friendly Honeycomb. Here's the full rundown. Smartphones: Things look pretty boring (and by boring, we mean beautifully curvy) until approximately mid-April of this year, when the Venue Pro gets some "additional features and enhancements" which we're pretty sure we can name. Then, Q3 brings the Wrigley, what looks like a vertical QWERTY slider identifying itself as "Windows Phone 7 Next Gen," and sporting a 1GHz CPU, 4-inch 800 x 480 screen, and a 8 megapixel camera with 720p video recording. Nothing out of the ordinary, as far as we know. By September, things should get very interesting as Android Ice Cream will apparently be out, and Dell's Hancock will scoop it onto a 4-inch qHD screen with dual cameras, dual-core processing and 1080p recording. Starting Q4, would-be Hancock buyers will have a dual-core multimedia slate alternative, as the Millennium drops the keyboard for a larger 4.3-inch screen and DLNA support (though the front-facing camera is limited to VGA resolution.) Tablets: Dell's Streak 10 won't keep us waiting for long: come April, the Gallo will reportedly be chomping away at some tasty Honeycomb. But that's not all -- Dell lists a handwriting update for the Gallo in October or thereabouts. There's also a Streak 7 update scheduled for July -- we imagine that's the point when Dell believes it can shoehorn Android 3.0 onto its older brother. Meanwhile, Dell's 10-inch Windows 7 slate, internally known as Rosemount, is slated for June, with a 1366 x 768 resolution that should allow for native playback of 720p video. We can't tell you what the Sterling is, but it's likely a mid-sized one, as it's slated to take over the Streak 7's duties in or about October with Android Honeycomb on board. Finally, come CES 2012 in January, we now expect Dell to drop three new tablets at once: the Opus One and Silver Oak running Android Honeycomb, and the Peju with Windows 8. (The Streak 10 / Gallo will apparently soldier on.) Numbers on the left of the charge suggest that the Opus will be small, the Silver Oak mid-sized, and the Peju large. As noted at the head of the slide, all details here are subject to change, but we're sure as heck a lot more confident that Dell plans to do something with all those tacky mockups. One more chart after the break!
Something old, something new: Spyker brings two models to CeBIT
We don't know what it is with boutique brands picking up year-old Haiers and passing them off as new wares, but it's a trend that appears to be picking up some steam. Spyker, the Dutch auto manufacturer, got into the phone branding game last year and is set to roll out a pair of new midrange models at CeBIT this week. The first model, LaTurby, has a name that's extremely fun to say (seriously, give it a try) -- but that's about all that's notable about it seeing how it's the Haier Sterling we saw last year with 1GB of internal storage, Bluetooth, and a 2 megapixel cam. The metal MonteCarlo slider looks a bit more interesting -- and more importantly, fresh -- and should have specs roughly in line with its more amusingly-named sib. No word on pricing or availability for these yet, but needless to say, we're thinking they'll be both cheaper and easier to obtain than a Spyker automobile.
Hands-on with the Haier "Sterling"
While devices like the iPhone, the N95, and the RAZR 2 get the lion's share of the spotlight, a variety of less well-known manufacturers plod along in the background, quietly creating a plethora of decent handsets capable of servicing just about every segment of the market. One of those darkhorses is Haier, a company with a pretty sizable device lineup outside the US that, by all appearances, is now gingerly trying its hand at scoring some points with the fickle American consumer base. Its first serious effort was the Elegance -- alias "Black Pearl" -- a tiny, mirrored candybar that left us fairly impressed in our brief time with it earlier this year. Now we're getting a peek at the "Sterling," and while the name has changed, the concept has not.%Gallery-5329%
Haier's shiny Sterling handset gets official
Way back in January we were able to get our comparatively large palms around Haier's minuscule Elegance, and now the company's latest mirrored handset has gotten official with a pre-order price and release date. The oh-so-shiny Sterling brings back the bling factor in a serious way, and while it may look like there's no external display on this bad boy, we promise it's just an illusion. Underneath the facade resides a 1.8-inch color LCD, 1.3-megapixel camera, a pair of "music puzzle games," support for MP3, WMA, MP4, and AAC files, USB 2.0 connectivity, Bluetooth, 128MB of internal memory, a microSD card slot, and a battery capable of staying alive through three solid hours of yapping. Interestingly, you can plunk down a "non-refundable" deposit of $199 now in order to secure a position in line when it launches worldwide in July, but considering that there's no word on how much extra you will be billed upon shipment, we'd be mighty hesitant to pull the trigger just yet.[Via I4U, thanks Luigi]
Price parity for Wii in Europe, UK
A Nintendo UK spokesperson has confirmed that the Wii will go on sale in Europe at around the same price point as has been announced for the US and Japan. Yesterday we got word that the Wii won't cost more than $250 (around £135) so if we combine that word with this latest statement we can conclude that the UK could see a launch price of around £150 (if you add 17.5% VAT) with Europe seeing a price point of around €200.We've complained endlessly (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) about the price disparity between the U.S., Japan and Europe so it's great to finally see that Europe is getting a fair deal. Hopefully this will set a precedent that Microsoft and Sony will follow.[Via Engadget]
