NvidiaTegra2
Latest
Dell Streak 7 review
Let's be honest, the original Dell Streak had a bit of an identity crisis. The 5-inch device wasn't sure if it belonged in the tablet or smartphone world, and ultimately it was targeted at a pretty niche user. But its larger brother, the Streak 7, is more self-aware. It's a honest-to-goodness tablet meant for doing all those tablet-y things -- surfing the web, reading e-books, watching video and more. Sure, the Streak 7 may just look like an enlarged version of the 5-inch version, but they differ in more than just screen size: the 7 packs a powerful 1GHz dual-core Tegra T20 processor, 1.3 megapixel front facing camera, 5 megapixel lens on the rear, T-Mobile "4G" HSPA+ connectivity, and 16GB of internal memory. The tablet runs Android 2.2 with Dell's Stage UI for now, but Dell promises an upgrade to Honeycomb once it's ready. It sounds like one of the more well-rounded 7-inch tablets on the market right now and at just $200 on contract at T-Mobile (it's $450 without), it's actually quite well priced. However, there are quite a few things that are going to keep 7-inch tablet seekers from forking over the cash. What are those? We'll tell all in our full review -- read on for more! %Gallery-115437%
Dell Streak 7 official on T-Mobile's 4G network, bringing dual-core Tegra 2 and Froyo
Dell's Looking Glass tablet has just received its official papers, being dubbed the Streak 7 and packed off to T-Mobile HSPA+ network. Alas, unlike its fellow CES debutants from the likes of Motorola and LG, this slate only has Android 2.2 on board, no Honeycomb, but you do get a front-facing 1.3 megapixel camera, a Gorilla Glass-protected screen, 16GB of internal memory, and of course the greatness and glory of that 1GHz dual-core Tegra 2 processor. T-Mobile retail stores and Dell's direct online outlet should have the Streak 7 "in the coming weeks." Full PR and an introductory video follow after the break. %Gallery-113037%
NVIDIA talks up the beginning of a new era, Tegra 2 'super phones'
NVIDIA's press conference at CES has just concluded and we were on site to hear what Jen-Hsun Huang and company had to say to the world. The Green Team's CEO wasn't timid in talking up the revolutionary nature of this year's CES, describing it as the harbinger of a change on a par with what we experienced way back in 1995 with the introduction of Windows 95. Unsurprisingly, Huang's vision of how we're going to leap into our ultra-modern new era involves NVIDIA's Tegra 2 hardware, a chip which is "less than the size of a dime and can leap tall buildings." Jen-Hsun sees the future of mobile computing in devices that move beyond phones with enhanced capabilities, or smartphones, to an entirely new category: "a computer first and a phone second." Tegra 2 announcements will be "sprinkled throughout the week," but the LG Optimus 2X did get a proper announcement and demo, including a quick game of Angry Birds with the phone hooked up to a HDTV via HDMI and the feed also being played on the giant projector screen alongside that. Biggest game of Angry Birds ever? Probably. %Gallery-112766% NVIDIA's calling these new machines super phones, not an entirely new or innovative name, but it conveys the point rather well. A highlight quote was also provided from LG's VP who joined Jen-Hsun on stage -- he described the motivation for putting the Optimus 2X and its internals together as "beauty outside, but monster inside." Adobe's Shantanu Narayen also hit the stage, to talk Flash. Just to thwart any misguided expectations of the rich web media format's oncoming demise, Shantanu told us that Flash Player 10.1 had the fastest adoption rate of any version in the software's history. A cool 120 petabytes of video was streamed last month, says the Adobe President and CEO, with the implication being that the vast majority of that came through Adobe's pervasive format. The Unreal Engine 3-based Dungeon Defenders also got a demo, neatly illustrating Jen-Hsun's point about Tegra 2 offering "console-like gaming." The game was shown playing on a PC, a PS3, and an Optimus 2X. All three had smooth frame rates, shockingly enough, but the a significant quote from the developer was that his team "didn't have to scale anything back" when porting the code to Android. NVIDIA closed the event on the bombshell that it's working on Project Denver, a high performance ARM CPU intended to challenge Intel and AMD in the personal computer and supercomputer realms. Somebody's playing for keeps! %Gallery-112765%
ASUS Eee Pad Slider and Transformer arrive for those that can't imagine using a tablet without a physical keyboard
Here they are: ASUS's duo of Tegra 2-powered, 10.1-inch tablets with unique physical keyboards. Starting with the craziest of them, is the Eee Pad Slider (pictured on the left), which reminds us a lot of HTC's old school Shift with its slide out QWERTY keyboard. The device is planned to run Google's Honeycomb, sports a IPS, 1280 x 800-resolution display, and houses mini-HDMI and miniUSB ports as well as a microSD card slot. The 2.2-pound / .5-inch thick slab also has dual cameras -- a 1.2 megapixel front-facing one and a 5 megapixel one with an LED flash on the back. We have to say we love the idea of always having that keyboard around, but if you don't want to drag along a physical keyboard all the time, ASUS has something for you too. It's the Transformer, and like the Eee Pad we saw at Computex, it's a 10.1-inch tablet that will come with a laptop like dock with a full size keyboard and touchpad. The tablet part -- like the Slider -- will run Android 3.0 and packs a dual-core Tegra 2 processor, two cameras, and a 1280 x 800-resolution IPS display, however, the dock has an integrated battery that will keep the tablet running for 16 hours on a charge -- the tablet on its own should last eight. We're obviously aching in our seats here waiting to get these two in our hands so stay tuned for some crazy videos of the two in action -- until then we leave you with the specs after the break. Update: How much will it cost you to keyboard-ify your slate and how long will you have to wait? ASUS says the Transformer will run between $400 and $700 and the Slider from $500 to $800. Expect them in April and May respectively. %Gallery-112500% %Gallery-112544%
Viewsonic G Tablet pulled from Staples stores, 'manufacturing defect' to blame
Oh boy, we've not been shy about our love for NVIDIA's Tegra 2, but the tablets that have opted to use it so far keep meeting the same miserable end: discontinuation from shop floor availability. First the Toshiba Folio 100 bit the British dust because of a bunch of quality control issues, and now Viewsonic's G Tablet is getting its marching orders from Staples, with only a "manufacturing defect" cited as the cause. If we weren't such charitable souls, we might suggest the defect was simply that this tablet wasn't very good yet someone still chose to manufacture it. Let's not be hasty, though -- it's a good idea to see what Office Depot does with its inventory before completely writing the G Tablet off. [Thanks, Rob]
Hannspree's HSG1164 10.1-inch Froyo tablet drops by the FCC
You know what they say about a trip to the FCC's database, right? Why, it's much like the step just prior to achieving manhood -- one more leap from here, and you'll be ripe for the pickin'. Just a few months after Hannspree teased us with a formal introduction of its (then unnamed) 10.1-inch multitouch Froyo tablet, it looks as if that very device has now found a moniker. The 1.6-pound HSG1164 will eventually bring a fairly impressive build of materials to light, offering a 1GHz Tegra 2 chip, 16GB of internal storage, 512MB of NAND Flash, a microSD slot, Android 2.2, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, mini USB / HDMI connector, an inbuilt light sensor, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR and a Li-ion battery of unspecified size. There's obviously no direct mention of a ship date in the documentation here, but we're putting our money on an early 2011 release. Care to wager, too?
LG Star preview
<div style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://www.engadget.com/lg-star/preview/"><img border="1" hspace="4" vspace="4" alt="" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/12/10x1210fbfu5xbd.jpg"/></a></div> The LG Star. The dual-core beast from the east that was once a mere <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/16/exclusive-lgs-4-inch-android-phone-with-dual-core-tegra-2-and/">twinkle in our eye</a> has managed to find its way to the Engadget mansions, having been lent to us by a very generous (and very anonymous) tipster. It's clearly a test device, as evidenced by its diagnostics menus and lack of a lockscreen, but there's no disguising the power that lies within it. We put the Star through a battery of common Android benchmarks and the results were, in a word, outstanding. Basically, <a href="http://www.engadget.com/all/tegra2">Tegra 2</a> will give anything your <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/10/smartphone-buyers-guide-the-best-phones-for-atandt-verizon-spr/">current phone</a>'s running an inferiority complex. Join us after the break as we delve deeper into this upcoming powerhouse of a handset from LG. One thing's for sure: CES 2011 can't come soon enough.<br /> %Gallery-110305%
Office Depot welcomes 10-inch ViewSonic G Tablet into the fold, slaps $399 sticker on it
If your tablet wishlist includes things like Tegra 2, Android 2.2, and 1080p video playback, you might want to drop by your nearest Office Depot some time soonish. ViewSonic's G Tablet has just been made available for purchase at the store's many outlets across the US and is also supposed to be up for grabs at its online portal. We say "supposed" because we can't find it anywhere on officedepot.com, but that's probably just a temporary issue. The main point is that $399 will buy you a seat on the Froyo tablet bandwagon, a very glossy 10-inch seat with 1024 x 600 resolution. Skip past the break for the full PR.
Woow Digital's The One tablet cooks up Tegra 2 with Gingerbread just in time for Christmas
No, we can't say we've ever heard of Woow Digital before either, but we've just received some very legit-looking imagery of the company's forthcoming tablet, modestly titled The One. Google's impending Android Gingerbread release is promised as the OS, while the internal equipment includes an NVIDIA Tegra 2 core, 1GB of RAM, and 16GB of flash storage. Up front you'll find a 10-inch display spanning a 1024 x 600 resolution, while wireless connectivity is taken care of with Bluetooth, WiFi and WCDMA 3G radios built in. Woow tells us it plans to launch The One in Japan before Christmas at a price of ¥42,000 ($504), which will be followed up by availability in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Europe. Well, it had better hope that release schedule doesn't shift, because come CES 2011, we should be up to our ears in Tegra 2 tablets and phones.%Gallery-108272%
Exclusive: LG's 4-inch Android phone with dual-core Tegra 2 and 1080p video coming in early 2011
Wow. LG did say it'd bring some heat to its Android Optimus line and here's our first look at it, folks! An 8 megapixel camera-wearing, 1080p video-recording, dual-core superphone to appease all the spec fanatics out there. Aimed for release early next year, as the very first dual-core Android handset, this device will finally bring NVIDIA's Tegra 2 into the smartphone realm. Our tipster tells us it's codenamed Star internally, though that's certain to change in the final product nomenclature. You might think that massive Google logo on the back would imply stock Android and you'd be right -- we're told it'll be a nearly untouched representation of the Google OS, though it's still not clear which version it'll be. We've also spotted a front-facing camera on the front, while the innards are said to include microSD memory expandability, microUSB connectivity, and a 1500mAh battery. Nexus who?%Gallery-107512%
PC World stops selling the Toshiba Folio 100, we go hands-on to find out why (video)
£999.99 ($1,612) for a Toshiba Folio 100?! That's a fair bit more expensive than its original $560 price point -- either its Tegra 2 chip's made out of gold (which would explain its rarity) or someone got super bored at that PC World store in the British Midlands. Soon after receiving this photo, we put on our detective hat and headed over to our local branch in London, only to find that it had already stopped selling the offending Android tablet merely ten days after its European launch. We quizzed the staff about the aforementioned £999.99 pricing and then all was clear: apparently this is a standard internal convention to stop its folks from selling certain products, so the price tag and display unit you see above weren't supposed to be there at all. Oopsie! So why is PC World (and the whole DSG International chain) pulling the Folio 100? Turns out this has nothing to do with Toshiba; but it's simply because of a high return rate from disappointed customers. In fact, head over to MoDaCo and you'll see a screenshot of PC World's internal memo that confirms this sad news. We had already given the tablet some decent (and disheartening) hands-on time back at IFA, but since our new friends at the store kindly offered to let us unbox a Folio 100 for a giggle, we decided to give it another go. And boy, it sure was a letdown: you'll see in our hands-on video after the break that the 10.1-inch LCD is haunted by an inferior pixel density plus narrow viewing angles; and the cheap plastic casing doesn't help, either. Most importantly, the official Android Market app was still MIA, which is no doubt the biggest turn-off for the buyers. Too bad, Toshiba, but do come back next year when you have Honeycomb and some decent screens. [Thanks, John L. and Adam C.] Update: Some commenters are pointing out that many software bugs -- especially in the Toshiba Market Place app -- and the lack of pinch-to-zoom in the browser are to be blamed as well. Yikes.%Gallery-107388%
Toshiba Folio 100 now shipping its Tegra 2-powered Froyo wares around Europe
If you're LG, you wait until Android becomes a tablet-worthy OS before bringing out your Tegra 2 slate. If you're Toshiba, you're too busy shipping your 10-inch Froyo tablet to care. The Folio 100, powered by NVIDIA's latest and greatest ARM SOC, is making its promised Q4 2010 arrival today, as it begins shipping all across Europe. There are still no release plans for the US, but Euros can now enjoy a 1024 x 600 resolution, 16GB of internal storage, a 1.3 megapixel webcam, mini-HDMI, USB and SD card-reading ports, and up to seven hours of battery life. €399 ($560) is the last price we heard for this Android Market-deprived slate, though we'd recommend trying one in person before letting go of that cash -- our own impressions of the Folio 100 weren't overwhelmingly positive. Update: Toshiba has furnished us with updated pricing. Germany will have to pony up €429 for the 3G-less Folio 100 or €529 for the 3G-equipped SKU (available Q1 2011), whereas Italy gets both of them cheaper at €399 and €499, respectively, and UK buyers will have to find £329 for the thriftier model. All prices include local sales tax.
LG Pad coming in Q1 2011, with Android Honeycomb, dual-core Tegra 2, and 8.9-inch screen
Want some specificity about LG's super-duper tablet roadmap? Last we heard from the Korean tech giant, it was canning plans for a Froyo slate and looking forward to a more suitable iteration of Android, which a senior official at the company has today clarified to mean Honeycomb, describing it as the "tablet PC-version" of the OS. He's even gone beyond the call of PR duty in placing a release schedule for the 8.9-inch LG Pad in the first quarter of 2011, boasting that it'll come with a dual-core Tegra 2 chip inside. That sounds terribly delicious to us, as does the note that LG has worked hard to accommodate the needs and wants of European and North American consumers -- the release window is explicitly said to be for both domestic and overseas markets. Update: We've just heard back from LG on the matter and the company says it has nothing official to tell us. It'd seem whoever the cited official in this piece is, he was dishing details that LG doesn't want the world to know yet. LG's PR team has also pulled a tweet about this story, ostensibly to cover its tracks.
HTC said to have placed production order with Pegatron for mythical 'tablet PC'
DigiTimes reports can be shaky at the best of times, but this one takes the digi-biscuit. Reporting on an apparent order by HTC with Pegatron for the production of a new Android-based "tablet PC," DigiTimes claims the new development will help Pegatron achieve its goal of being one of the top four global notebook manufacturers. So is this a tablet or, dare we say it, a smartbook? Nobody clarifies that point, but specs are said to include a 1280 x 720 widescreen display, a 32GB SSD, 2GB of RAM, and Tegra 2 under the hood. Android Market support is also expected (huzzah!), though pricing might be steep at around $790 unsubsidized. At this stage, we'd be more surprised if HTC doesn't bring out a tablet in the next few months, but we wouldn't invest too much of our emotions into this report just yet. Maybe once Mr. Blurrycam decides to join the fray and give us something to look at.
ViewSonic outs 10-inch G Tablet: Android 2.2, NVIDIA Tegra 2 on the inside
Don't blink -- you might just mistake ViewSonic's new G Tablet for the ViewPad that we handled back at IFA. This guy, however, packs a very different list of internal specifications in a 10-inch tablet form factor that's beginning to look all too familiar. Showcased for the first time last night in New York City, this guy dumps Intel's Atom in favor of NVIDIA's Tegra 2, and rather than booting a pair of operating systems, it relies solely on Android 2.2 -- a mobile OS that Google has specifically said isn't tailored for use on slates. At any rate, there's also 1GB of RAM, a 1024 x 600 resolution panel, USB / HDMI, 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1, 16GB of storage, a 1.3 megapixel camera and a chassis that measures 9.96- x 6.5- x 0.5-inches. We're told that it handled 1080p media without any trouble, and while the capacitive touchpanel was deemed "beautiful," the ultra glossy coating will certainly turn off those who plan to visit the great outdoors. It's expected to hit shelves in October with a lofty $529 $429 retail price, and with that, we'll simply wish it the best of luck and point you to the video past the break. Update: We've been contacted by the Powers That Be and told that our source had misquoted the price by one Benjamin. Readjust your memory, it's $429. It's always been $429.
Elocity A7 goes up for pre-order on Amazon with Android 2.2, Tegra 2, and a $370 price tag
Galaxy Tab? Who needs that overpriced prima donna? Here's the tablet the economical among us have been waiting for. Alright, so the Elocity A7 didn't elicit the highest of praise when it made its cameo on The Engadget Show, but let's congratulate its makers on achieving a pair of feats. Firstly, StreamTV has managed to get its Froyo tablet listed for pre-order on Amazon -- which is no mean feat in itself, just ask Notion Ink -- and secondly, it's done so at an even lower price point than promised, with an encouraging $370 tag. Even if you're like us and not entirely blown away by its performance, you've got root for this little slate to complete the narrative and start selling -- if for no other reason than that it might incite others to stoop to the same price point.
Hannspree pairs Android 2.2 with Tegra 2 for a 10.1-inch multitouch tablet
Yearning for a bit of dual-core action on the move? Who isn't. Hannspree will soon try to quell that 1080p-sized hunger in all of us with its freshly announced €399 ($507) Froyo tablet. There's no lack of spec sheet ambition here: a 1GHz Tegra 2 SOC is surrounded by 16GB of internal storage (expandable via MicroSD), an accelerometer, WiFi and Bluetooth 2.1 connectivity, a 1,024 x 600-pixel capacitive touchscreen, and mini versions of HDMI and USB ports. Flash 10.1 is also proudly supported, while the 3,500mAh battery is said to last up to 8 hours when playing 1080p movies. We'd be getting real excited right about now, but we've learnt to be cautious with such lofty promises -- remember the Gemini?
Toshiba's Tegra 2-powered Android Smart Pad to be called Folio 100?
A Smart Pad? That's just Toshiba's product category, according to Netbook Italia's latest post on the tablet (it's previously shown off some apparent imagery). The publication has published new renders -- including a dock peripheral -- and some purported specs. Here's what's being said: Android 2.2, NVIDIA Tegra 2 (both of which we've heard in other whispers), a 10.1-inch 1024 x 600 screen, 16GB internal memory, 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth, 3G, SD and MMC card readers, HDMI and USB 2.0 ports, a 1.3 megapixel webcam, and a 1020mAh battery with a battery life of up to 7 hours with mixed use (browsing and video playback). Software-wise, it's got Opera mobile browser, Flash 10.1, an e-book reader, and some office applications. The doubting Thomas in us still remains hesitant until Toshi gives the official word, but nothing here seems too crazy for the tablet mania most companies seem to have this year. One thing's for sure, its claimed official name -- Folio 100 -- is a few degrees to close to some bad memories of ours.
Notion Ink Adam priced at $498, lives up to promise of being below $499
Notion Ink, the plucky Indian startup intent on shaking up the tablet industry, was most recently spotted turning over the sofa cushions looking for spare change, but that isn't stopping the company from announcing pricing for its mythical first product. The Adam, it has now been revealed, will be available for $498 with WiFi, 3G, GPS, and a Tegra 2 system-on-chip powering things, with prices dipping down to $449 if you exclude either the 3G or Pixel Qi display option, and $399 if you drop both and make do with a WiFi-only LCD-based tablet. That certainly adheres to the promise of aggressive pricing, but the Q3 launch -- which in itself was a slip from a Q2 pledge -- has now also been definitively scratched off the board of possibilities, as the device won't be submitted to the FCC for certification until November. Notion Ink claims that from there on it'll be just a matter of waiting on the FCC to clear the Adam for its US launch, which could happen in late 2010 or CES 2011 at the latest. Or, you know, never.
Shocker! Notion Ink Adam likely delayed (update)
Another day, another exciting tablet delayed. The Notion Ink Adam -- that 10-inch, Tegra 2-powered tablet with a Pixel Qi screen that we fell pretty hard for at CES -- is apparently going to be delayed. We can't say we're really at all surprised, but according to Slashgear, the company looks to be slipping past its Q3 ship date. Word got out that it wouldn't ship until November, though apparently there's still a sliver of a chance it could launch in some countries prior. The hold-up seems to have to do with "investor preferences," but Notion Ink CEO Rohan Shravan said it will be revealing the official launch date soon. We'll be waiting, but don't get offended if our doubts on a 2010 debut begin to swell. Updated: We heard from Rohan and apparently the Adam will hit only some countries in November, the initial list of target countires will get the tablet earlier. He tells us pre-orders in the US will start soon!
