mid-range
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UK boards the Acer Liquid Express, Tom Hanks not embedded with NFC
Because phones, like fashion, must always look to the future, Acer's hitching its ride to NFC. The oft-talked about, but still sparsely used tech gets top-billing here as the company refreshes its Liquid line for T-Mobile UK and Orange UK with the Express. It's a solidly mid-range Gingerbread affair, packing an 800MHz Qualcomm 7227 processor, Android 2.3 and 5 megapixel shooter into a 3.5-inch package. Okay, so it's not the best of what's around in wireless, but can you really argue with free (on a two-year contract)? We didn't think so. Follow on past the break for the official presser.
HotHardware surveys the Cougar Point motherboard horizon, spots a winner
There's an ocean of possibilities when it comes to choosing the right Socket LGA 1155 board to mother your Sandy Bridge processor. But a roundup review at HotHardware funnels it down to just five rivals within a $179-$267 price bracket and based on Intel's P67 chipset: two offerings from Asus, plus one each from ASRock, Gigabyte and MSI. The reviewers found clear favorites depending on what you're looking for: The ASRock Fatal1ty P67 Professional and MSI P67A-GD80 can both bring serious aesthetics to your super rig, and the former has a particularly good bang-for-buck ratio. The Asus P8P67 WS Revolution stands out with four full-length PCI Express lanes for crazy graphics, while the more conservative Asus P8P67 Professional has the lowest idle power consumption of the lot. Click the source link now if you'd prefer to discover the overall winner for yourself. Otherwise, all we can say is, viva la Revolution.
Motorola Spice is the Brazilian Android portrait slider of your mid-range dreams
Hey, remember that weirdo Motorola XT300 portrait slider we saw with hints of Droid branding back in August? It was just announced at CTIA (and released in Brazil) as the Spice. Apart from the form factor, it's basically a Flipout with a different hinge -- it's got Android 2.1 with Motoblur, a 528MHz processor, a 3.2-inch QVGA screen, Motorola's crazy "Backtrack" rear trackpad, and a 3.2 megapixel camera -- but it was apparently designed and built entirely in Brazil, so that's something. We're assuming AT&T passed on this one when it chose to release the Flipout, Flipside and Bravo instead, but damn -- can someone please take this form factor and put it together with a high-end Android spec sheet already? We have cash money.
Ask Engadget: Best DSLR for a committed amateur?
With the holiday season fast approaching, there's nothing that warms the heart like giving a gift with no expectation of anything in return. It's with that spirit that we pass along Dylan's incredibly important question: "I've been nagging myself to get into digital photography and with Christmas coming soon I've decided to get a DSLR so I can dive in. I'm leaning heavily toward the Sony Alpha 350. I've always been a big Sony fan but I can back off of that if someone gives me good reason to try Nikon, Canon, etc. I would like to hang around the price range of the Alpha 350; ultimately, I'm looking for a good camera for a newcomer to the scene but I don't want to have to upgrade soon." We hear ya Dylan, and our dutiful readers do too. (Right? Right.) After giving this one a response, feel free to send in your own inquiry to ask at engadget dawt com.
Ask Engadget HD: What's the best short-to-mid-range OTA antenna?
Following up on last week's promise, we present to you a similar (but very different) question about pulling in OTA signals: "I'm relatively close to my local TV stations, and I'm not looking to overtake my roof with chicken wire in order to get a signal. I want an OTA antenna that can be setup indoors, preferably something that's either easily hidden or not atrocious. The short-to-mid-range antenna market is so over-saturated -- someone, please help me pick the best one!" Your turn, city dwellers. What indoor antenna do you use to fetch relatively nearby TV signals? Know of a good deal on it? Dole out your masterful advice below.Got a burning question that you'd love to toss out for Engadget HD (or its readers) to take a look at? Tired of Google's blank stares when you ask for real-world experiences? Hit us up at ask at engadgethd dawt com and keep an eye on this space -- your inquiry could be next.
Nokia firms up touchscreen phone plans, says it will focus on 'mid-range' markets
We've been hearing whispers about Nokia's touchscreen "Tube" phone for what seems like ages, and now it appears that the wait is almost over... with potentially less than inspiring results. In a statement released today from the company's head of devices, Kai Oistamo, the phone-maker says it will be launching a series of touchscreen devices in the second half the year, with the first model -- likely the Tube -- aimed at the "volume market." Oistamo claims that the mid-range market (not the high-end sector that devices like the iPhone 3G occupy) account for 50 percent of the total value of the touchscreen phone game. Essentially, it looks like Nokia's strategy will be business as usual, likely flooding the field with unspectacular mid-range phones, rather than taking on pricier competition like recent Apple and Samsung devices head-to-head, at least initially. Of course, who can argue with the company that shipped 122 million units in Q2 2008?
