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Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 preview (video)
Mobile World Congress, a debutante ball of sorts for the wireless industry, is an oddity; set against a landscape more famous for its modernist accents and marathon nightlife than propensity for forward-facing gadgetry. Yet every year, despite this cultural contrast, mobile's best, brightest and even little known descend upon Barcelona to showcase the incoming tide of next-gen wares. It's a wonder, then, that for all the bombast and spectacle, Samsung, a titan in the cluttered Android field, chose to occupy a sizable swathe of the event's booth real estate with a glut of mid-range and less-than-fresh devices. Save for one notable product.Without the halo of its still secret unicorn, the Galaxy S III, to power the brand's visibility, the company turned the spotlight on its other flagship -- the Galaxy Note 10.1 -- as more of a rightful successor to its O.G. Galaxy Tab of the same size, not the recently debuted Tab 2 (10.1). Confused? That's understandable, but this broad-screened fella's outing marks a stark transition away from the Note as smartphone, established by its 5.3-inch forebear, to a concrete series of S-Pen equipped products. Its beefier dual-core 1.4GHz CPU and 1GB RAM notwithstanding, this is, for all intents and purposes, more of a gentle update than a full-on refresh, as most of the build, screen (1,280 x 800) and camera setup remains virtually unchanged.Solidifying the unit's place atop the industry's top-shelf mantel, is its inclusion of Google's latest ICS OS (4.0.3), slathered here in a TouchWiz skin, and the addition of two pre-installed S-Pen apps: Adobe PS Touch and Ideas. So, software improvements aside, why should this tablet, an admitted work-in-progress that's lacking the finishing touches of a final production model, occupy a space on your finely tuned tech radar? Why should you devote a portion of your gadget-lusting heart to the promise of a killer device currently lacking any known pricing or availability? Well, to answer those questions, Samsung let us spend some brief, albeit quality time with the Note's in-development next of kin. So follow on after the break as we explore its digitizer-optimized nooks and crannies and whet your appetites for what's to come.
Dell "designs," you decide: lame or very lame?
Can't help but chuckle at Dell's semi-admirable attempts at "community involvement" in product design decisions. To its credit, Dell does seem to be listening up on the Linux issue -- though we have to wait and see how well the execution goes -- but this latest "You Choose" question posed to the Dell IdeaStorm community isn't exactly going to change the world. Dell wants your vote on two different clear sidepanel designs for its XPS 710 H2C desktop which was unveiled at CES. Sounds like a good idea, unfortunately, the options are laughable: you can vote for a decent but perhaps over the top "X" design, or a square window that was clearly drummed up after the marketing team decided it'd be a good thing to "ask the community" in an attempt to generate interest. In the end, it's all pretty silly -- don't they know that what the people really want is to pay double the price for a gaming desktop with pretty pictures on it?[Via Geekzone]
Dell: we're going Linux, and it's all because of you
Dell, oddly enough, is listening to the many thousands of direct requests its customers made during its big public brainstorm (aka IdeaStorm) not so far back. The result of nearly 70% of participants requesting Linux on Dell machines? Linux will soon be pre-installed on consumer desktops and laptops outside their server and Precision desktop lineup -- hoorah! What we're most curious about: when going to configure your system, how much money will one save by ducking out of the "Microsoft tax"? No word on when we'll get to find out what the magic number is, but we imagine the Linux rollover won't be immediate since Dell still has some serious work to do not only with the driver and software end of things to make future machines fully open-source, but also prepping and training its end-user support staff to get Linux-compatible, as it were.[Via PC World]
Dell customers root for Linux option
If the customer's always right, then let's hope that Dell's ready to deliver. Since February 16 when it launched Ideastorm, a customer-based crowdsourcing site, over 100,000 comments have addressed the possibility of offering leading Linux versions preinstalled in addition to, or in place of Windows. Dell spokesman David Lord confirms that the Linux buzz is being "taken into consideration" and tells us we should "certainly stay tuned." Despite the vague update, Dell no longer has the luxury of turning a blind eye to high customer demand since it's getting exactly what it asked for in the first place. Believe it or not, Dell is no stranger to Linux, according to Lord who explains that it sells custom-designed, high-end Linux desktops for use in oil and gas exploration. There's no doubt that systems pre-loaded with Linux instead of Windows would cost less, but it's hard to say how much since it isn't clear what Dell tacks on for Windows. In addition, some customers are pushing to swap MS Office with OpenOffice, which is another way to reduce system prices. So it looks like Dell's got a real (Idea)storm a-brewin' and an interesting opportunity to make some big changes -- but stalling seems to be the plan du jour for now.Read - Dell Ideastorm siteRead - Reuters
