Apple’s MacBook Air left many mobile users with a difficult decision back in late 2010. The unibody ultraportable was certainly beautiful, but its ULV processor left some wary that OS X might not be able to keep up with their lifestyle. The new 2011 MacBook Air fixes that, slotting in Intel’s latest Core i5 and i7 chips and adding other niceties such as a backlit keyboard. Is this the best ultraportable on the market today? Read on for the full SlashGear review.
Apple’s long-awaited MacBook Air refresh has finally been delivered, and SlashGear caught up with the Cupertino company to find out what makes the new notebook special. Now up to date with Intel Sandy Bridge processors – and NVIDIA conspicuously off the menu – could the Air be not just the best ultraportable on the market but perhaps the best laptop? Read on for our first impressions.
Lenovo has launched its two first attempts at Android 3.1 Honeycomb tablets, the IdeaPad K1 and ThinkPad Tablet, and we met up with the company to grab some hands-on time with both models. Targeted at consumers and at enterprise, respectively, the K1 and ThinkPad slates each tick most of the Tegra 2 Honeycomb boxes we’ve already seen from rival tablets; however, Lenovo also has a few tricks to differentiate them. Read on for our first-impressions.
July 1 2011 marks the one-year anniversary of HP buying Palm, and it’s celebrating with the launch of webOS 3.0. Making its debut on the HP TouchPad, the company’s big push for the consumer tablet market, but then headed to HP smartphones too, webOS 3.0 promises to take the simplicity, elegance and flexibility we’ve been praising in previous iterations of the platform, and bring it bang up to speed when compared to Android Honeycomb and the imminent iOS 5. Check out the full SlashGear review after the cut.
We’ve been demanding a tablet running webOS for years now, and it’s taken HP’s new stewardship of the software to guide just that onto store shelves. Palm’s mobile platform always seemed to good to be left solely to smartphones, and the HP TouchPad is the inevitable result. Problem is, the iPad has already made its presence well and truly known, dominating the consumer tablet market, and Android’s Honeycomb drive gains OEM support by the week. Can the multitasking charms of webOS 3.0 promise the TouchPad a bright future, or is it simply a case of too late to the party? Check out the full SlashGear review after the cut.
It’s been eight long months since we reviewed our first Windows Phone 7 handset. Microsoft’s rebooted platform launched with a bang at the tail end of 2010, promising not only a new start from the Windows Mobile days of old, but a fresh interpretation of what a smartphone should be like. A tentative hit with reviewers but less so among consumers, however, Windows Phone’s impetus fizzled out as new devices failed to appear. Now, Windows Phone 7.1 “Mango” is coming to fill in some of the gaps, tidy up some of the loose ends and – Microsoft hopes – make the platform a more realistic competitor to iOS and Android. Check out the SlashGear review after the cut.
It’s Father’s Day and I wish dads out there a wonderful day with your sons and daughters. I never understood my father’s love as well as the sacrifices he made until the arrival of my daughter, Allison, a little over a year ago. That being said, it’s nice having one day out of year where dads all over the world are being shown how much they’re appreciated. Giving presents or a Father’s Day card is the norm and presents can range from a drawing to an expensive flatscreen TV.
(photo credit: Daniel Lim)
Barnes & Noble’s original NOOK threw complexity at Amazon’s Kindle to try to carve a spot in the growing ereader market. A dual-screen device pairing both E Ink and touchscreen LCD panels, it found some favor among users but undoubtedly intimidated others looking for a purist reading experience. No such complaints about focus with the All-New NOOK, however: a simple, black-framed e-paper square with discrete touchscreen control and its attention fixed on reading. Check out our unboxing and first impressions after the cut.
Nintendo has unveiled its next-gen console, the Wii U, and while the name may be vaguely familiar, the hardware has undergone a significant revolution. Gone is the Wiimote, to be replaced by tablet-style touchscreen controllers with their own front-facing cameras. We’ve been playing with the Wii U here at E3 2011; check out our first impressions after the cut.
The approach of the T-Mobile Sensation 4G may have been keeping Android fans awake at night, but I wasn’t one of them. I have to admit, I haven’t been feeling HTC’s recent handsets. Sure, they’re well made and reliable, but it also felt like the company had taken a cookie-cutter approach, churning out little-changed me-too phones across the carriers. HTC’s – since moderated – attitude towards bootloader locking didn’t help. More importantly, I’ve been using an imported Samsung Galaxy S II and fell in love with the smoking fast dual-core, slim and light build, brilliant Super AMOLED Plus display and excellent camera. For me, the GSII was the phone to have right now; could the Sensation 4G convince me otherwise?
The first device to use Qualcomm's mirasol display technology has been cancelled, according to CEO Paul Jacobs. Speaking at Uplinq 2011 this week, Jacobs revealed that the device - an ereader expected to sell in low-volumes as a trial in the market for the backlight-free color epaper screen - fell short of his expectations and so the company decided to shelve it and focus on its successor.
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For a while, Motorola’s original DROID X on Verizon led the pack. Offering a big screen, a big camera and a slender chassis, it helped drive the race toward oversized Android handsets that has led us to the Galaxy S II, Infuse 4G and Sensation. Now comes the Motorola DROID X2, boosting screen resolution and throwing in a second processor core, but wrapped up in the same sober suit. Has the company done enough to keep the DROID X2 topical, or is this sequel a flop? Check out the full SlashGear review after the cut.
