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Here's how to watch Sony's IFA 2015 press event
Sony is taking over IFA 2015 for the next hour or so. Based on recent leaks and rumors, the Japanese company is expected to announce a new smartphone -- but it could more than one. Aside from that, Sony will likely also introduce other type of devices, as well as go over some of its recent products across different categories. The press conference starts at 10AM ET, and you can watch it live from Berlin via Sony's website. Of course, we'll be there too, so make sure you tune into our liveblog right here.
The Mate S is Huawei's answer to the iPhone 6 Plus
Today at its IFA 2015 press event, Huawei unveiled the Mate S, a follow-up to last year's fingerprint sensor-enabled Ascend Mate 7. The device, which has now shrunk in size from six inches to a more manageable 5.5 inches, is a refresh that borrows the all-metal looks of its predecessor. But more so than looking back to the Ascend Mate 7, Huawei's new flagship draws heavy comparison to Apple's marquee smartphone: the iPhone 6 Plus.
Huawei Watch will reach American wrists starting September 17th
Huawei's upmarket take on an Android Wear watch has been a long time coming; we first saw it back in Barcelona at MWC shortly before the Chinese company stopped talking about it completely. Well, it just ended its vow of silence to confirm you can buy one of your own starting on September 17th (though if you're a little too eager, you can pre-order one now).
ASUS' ZenWatch 2 is dirt cheap and arrives next month
It's been a few months now since we first clapped eyes on the ASUS ZenWatch 2, the company's second stab at an Android Wear timepiece. Today, we've got a smattering of new details to go along with those first impressions: specifically, price and availability. The larger 49mm model will cost around €149 (about $170), while the dinkier 45mm variant will set you back €169 ($190). Both will be hitting store shelves worldwide in October. If you need a reminder, the wearables feature a new metal crown, AMOLED screens and a Snapdragon 400 processor. They also support a magnetic charger cable -- an improvement over the old plastic cradle -- and superior dust-and water-resistance ratings of IP67. It'll debut in three colors, silver, gunmetal and rose gold, along with a plethora of rubber, leather and stainless steel straps to help you match your personal sense of style.
Here's how to watch Huawei's IFA 2015 press event
Not everyone has the luxury of jetting off to Berlin, Germany to see the latest whizzbang gadgets to hail from IFA. But the next best to actually being there is watching a livestream from the comfort of your own home. So tune into Huawei's IFA mini site or its YouTube channel at 8:30AM ET/2:30PM CEST to soak in all of the company's new product announcements live.
ASUS unveils the Intel-powered, Windows 10 VivoStick
Intel generated a storm of interest when it launched the HDMI-based Compute Stick, but is anybody willing to buy a tiny, underpowered PC? Who knows, but ASUS has just launched its own model that trumps Intel's in nearly every way. It's a lot less clunky-looking and one-ups Intel's Atom CPU with a Cherry Trail model, while adding an extra USB 3.0 port and headphone jack for good measure. Otherwise, it has the same 2GB of RAM and 32GB storage, and works in the same way: You plug it into any HDMI TV, add a keyboard and mouse and then compute away on Windows 10.
The latest ROG laptop comes with a giant water cooler
ASUS is one of a rare few companies that's both a mainstream PC manufacturer and a respected name among the gaming community. Its ROG (Republic Of Gamers) line is a favorite, with giant laptops like the G751 earning top marks from gamers and reviewers alike. We're looking forward to its replacement, the ROG G752, but first let's talk about the GX700 in the image above. ASUS is only teasing this laptop, but it's going to have an overclockable Intel K-series Skylake processor, the latest graphics from NVIDIA and, a 17-inch 4K display. Oh... and that giant thing you see next to it? That's apparently a water-cooling system. Details are scant, but an educated guess would suggest you'll only be able to overclock the GX700's processor and graphics when you're docked to it. I don't know whether to laugh or take out my wallet.
ASUS' spiky router promises the 'world's fastest WiFi'
If you wanted an insane-looking router with an almost as-insane boast, then say hello to ASUS' new router. Touting it as the best for gaming, 4K streaming and smart home networking, the RT-AC5300 will apparently deliver speeds that are 67 percent faster than first-gen, tri-band routers. In particular, ASUS is promising up to 1 Gbps connections over 2.4GHz and up to 2.167 Gbps on each of the two 5GHz bands, and is calling this the world's fastest WiFi. In short: Google just got a new router challenger.
Here's how to watch ASUS' IFA 2015 press event
It's nearly ASUS' turn to take to the stage at this year's IFA conference, and so we invite you to join us here in Berlin, albeit virtually. The company's teased a couple of announcements on the social medias, hinting at a new smartwatch and a PC-on-a-stick, among other things. The press conference will kick off in around 30 minutes, so head on over to the livestream page if you'd like to pull up a seat next to us and find out what ASUS has in store.
Acer has a gnarly gaming phone with a deca-core processor
Acer's at IFA in force this year, showing off a wide array of gaming PCs, laptops, tablets and now, a phone. The Predator 6 looks a lot like the company's new gaming tablet, with some super-gnarly black-and-red styling and four front-facing speakers. Details are thin on the ground at the moment, but inside is an unspecified (but probably this) MediaTek deca-core processor with 4GB of RAM and dual haptic feedback motors for rumbles. It has a 6-inch HD display; it runs Android; and around the back there's a 21-megapixel camera. We don't have pricing or a release date on this just yet, but rest assured we'll keep on poking Acer until someone gives us more info.
Acer's latest Chromebook gets a flip-around screen
Acer has announced the Chromebook R11, the company's first Chrome OS-running device that comes with a 360-degree rotating hinge, as made famous by Lenovo's Yoga. Your eyes will be staring into an 11.6-inch 1,366 x 768 touchscreen, while below the keyboard you'll find an Intel Celeron processor paired with 4GB RAM and 32GB storage. Connectivity-wise, there's dual-band MIMO 802.11ac WiFi, as well as a single ultra-fast USB 3.0 port. The headline feature, really, is the ability to turn that screen whichever way you choose to enable one of four modes: laptop, tablet, tent or display, much like the ASUS Chromebook Flip.
Acer's Nitro notebooks put gaming power into a regular case
Acer has revealed its latest Aspire V Nitro notebooks that are aimed at gamers -- without looking like gaming laptops. Dressed in basic-black, tapered cases, the 15- and 17-inch models still bring the latest Intel Skylake sixth-gen Core i7 and i5 mobile chips and NVIDIA GTX960M graphics with up to 4GB of RAM. You also get up to 512GB of M.4 SSD storage (2TB if you opt for hard disks), 32GB max of DDR4 RAM, USB 3.1 Type-C ports and 40 Gbps Thunderbolt 3 on the top-end "Black Edition" models. All models can also be had with up to 4K screens.
Acer adds two laptops and a tablet to its Predator gaming line
Acer revealed an aggressive new design for its duo of Predator gaming desktops earlier this month, but at IFA today, the company's focusing on powerful portability. Acer's been pretty open about its plan to introduce Predator laptops and a gaming-centric tablet, but details have been sparse. Now, we've got the full skinny, starting with the new Predator 15 and Predator 17 notebooks. If you hadn't guessed already, the main difference between the two is their screen sizes. The Predator 17 sports a 17.3-inch 1080p display, while the smaller model's 15.6-inch screen comes in full HD and 4K options.
Acer's Revo Build is the Project Ara of PCs
Acer has announced the Revo Build M1-601, a super-small Windows 10 unit that can be expanded and customized with a series of stackable blocks. So, in the base unit you'll find a super small form factor PC that only occupies 125 millimeters square on your table and comes with a low-power Intel Pentium or Celeron chip. Then, if you want to expand the machine's 32GB storage, you can plonk on a 500GB or 1TB external hard drive in a case that sits perfectly on top. Each block connects to the one below using magnetic coupling and pogo pins -- like a tower of single Duplo bricks -- and enables you to create a PC that grows in capability with each addition.
Acer's all-in-one has Intel's latest chips and depth camera
Laptops are the biggest winners with Intel's less power-hungry Skylake chips, but desktop computers do get some perks. Acer has just launched the U5-710, a new all-in-one (AIO), that uses the new CPUs along with Intel RealSense cameras. The high-end Aspire U (U5-710) model gets the latest Core i5 or i7 sixth-generation desktop chips, most of which have four cores and a modest performance bump over the earlier Haswell models. They do use slightly less juice, however, and support up to 16GB of faster (and pricier) DDR4 RAM.
Intel's Core M processors are being tested in phones
Intel's fresh-faced sixth-generation processors improve on pretty much all the important fronts: more power efficiency, more graphical oomph and that's especially true for its important Core M series that beats inside laptops and tablets. According to Kirk Skaugen, Intel's general manager, it's now making its way into even smaller devices, namely "phablets." (He said it, not us.) While the line between tablets and phones couldn't be blurrier these days, if Intel's Core M family of chips makes it into your next Android phone, it'd be powerful enough to do almost everything your laptop does. Check out all the news from Berlin at our IFA 2015 hub.
Watch Acer unveil new stuff at its IFA press event
You may have already noticed, but Team Engadget is on the ground in Berlin covering IFA, Europe's biggest and busiest consumer tech show. As it happens, we won't be liveblogging Acer's keynote, but that doesn't mean you can't still follow along from home. Click here to watch the livestream, and then stay tuned as we post our inevitable first impressions of all the company's new stuff.
Toshiba unveils a 12-inch convertible laptop with a 4K display
Toshiba may have been, er, less than original when it unveiled its Yoga-like Satellite Radius series, but the latest model in its laptop-slash-tablet line does quite a lot to stand on its own merits. The newly launched Satellite Radius 12 packs a 12.5-inch 4K touchscreen into a compact convertible that measures a scant 0.6 inches thick and weighs 2.9 pounds. That's more than a little impressive when you consider that Lenovo's equally new (and equally light) ThinkPad Yoga 260 sticks you with a 1080p display. You'll also get your choice of speedier, more energy-efficient sixth-generation Intel Core processors and an infrared camera that can sign you in using facial recognition.
Lenovo's new PCs include a $189 Windows laptop
Today marks the start of IFA, Europe's largest consumer tech show, and Lenovo is kicking things off with a slew of product announcements. In addition to some new ThinkPad Yogas, the company just unveiled a handful of laptops in a variety of sizes and price ranges. Perhaps the most interesting is the Ideapad 100S, an 11.6-inch Windows machine that will retail for just $189. (There will also be a 14-inch version for $259). This isn't the first time we've seen a sub-$200 notebook, but it's interesting to see Lenovo, one of the world's biggest PC makers, enter the super-cheap-laptop fray. Like other machines in this class, the 100S cuts corners with a low-powered processor (an Intel Celeron N3050), minimal RAM (2GB) and little on-board storage (up to 32GB). Essentially, it's the closest thing to the Windows equivalent of a Chromebook. Speaking of the sort, Lenovo will also sell a Chrome OS version of the 100S, priced at $179. (That, too, is pretty cheap compared to the competition.)
Lenovo's new ThinkPad Yogas are thinner, lighter and... silverier
The black, boxy ThinkPad design is so iconic, so predictable, that even a simple color change is enough to make us do a double-take. That was our first reaction to Lenovo's new ThinkPad 260 and 460, both of which are arriving this fall with a silver option -- the first time in a while that we've seen Lenovo put out a business notebook in anything other than basic black. Aside from the lighter color choice, both laptops stick to the signature Yoga design, meaning they have a 360-degree hinge allowing the screen to fold back into tablet, "Stand" or "Tent" mode. As on previous ThinkPad Yogas, the 260 and 460 feature Lenovo's "Lift 'n' Lock" keyboard, which flattens out the keys as you flip it back. There's also a slot on both models for the accompanying pen, which recharges when it's in its garage.
