Advance interest in Nokia’s Booklet 3G is, if you believe the rumors, so strong that the Finnish company is already preparing the sequel, but we’ll wait until the first shipping units get played with before getting too excited. The Nokia netbooks have just started to ship in Europe, with O2 Germany offering the Booklet 3G for €249 ($371) with a 24-month, €20 ($30) data plan.
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Attention for French firm eviGroup's upcoming Pad UMPC is growing, the company has released full specifications for the 10.6-inch touchscreen slate. The Pad has a 1.6GHz Atom CPU, 1GB of RAM (which, unlike many netbooks, is removable) and a 160GB 2.5-inch hard-drive, together with WiFi a/b/g and 3G (WCDMA/TD-SCDMA/CDMA).
By now we know that the Verizon Droid not only looks good, but has plenty of technical promise too, and BGR have followed up their preliminary hands-on with a more comprehensive preview of the Android smartphone. The Motorola Droid gets praised for its “sharp, vibrant, bright and really, really responsive” 3.7-inch capacitive touchscreen, while the keyboard may lack travel and feature closely-packed buttons but it’s good enough for “efficient” typing and is better than the T-Mobile G1. Meanwhile the charging dock/multimedia station (which you can see in a video demo after the cut) automatically turns the Droid into a weather station.
Droid feedback, plus news on AT&T’s Droid and a whole Droid army after the cut
Amazon have rejigged their Kindle range, seemingly discontinuing the previous US-only Kindle 2 and reducing the price of the international version to $259. Presumably acting in response to the recently announced Barnes and Noble nook, which is also priced at $259, Amazon have been informing international Kindle buyers that they’ll get a $20 refund
French tablet company eviGroup have unveiled their large-display device – the eviGroup Pad – and like the rumors suggested it’s an Atom-based 10.2-inch touchscreen slate. The Pad has a 1024 x 600 display, integrated WiFi a/b/g and 3G, and runs Windows 7; it also works with French software project Seline, a so-called “artificial intelligence” interface that supports spoken, text and handwriting control over various aspects of a computer system.
After Dell CEO Michael Dell confirmed that the company’s Android smartphone would, in fact, make it to the US – albeit with some changes from the original Chinese model – details of a second Android-based device have leaked. According to Tinhte.com and another image supplied to SlashGear, you’re looking at the Dell Streak, a 5-inch WVGA 800 x 480 touchscreen Android 2.0 Donut MID, with WiFi, Bluetooth and 3G WWAN connectivity. Front photos of the Dell Streak – together with size comparison shots – in the gallery, together with a hands-on video after the cut.
Spring Design’s Alex dual-display ebook reader was a surprise announcement earlier this week, seemingly diving into the public eye to make some headlines before Barnes and Noble’s nook grabbed all the attention. The company have followed up their render with a jerky video of the device in action, demonstrating its smaller Android display and how you can shoot content from the web-browser up to the larger e-ink panel for easier reading.
Video demo after the cut
MiFi 2200 owners in the US have a treat in store, with a new firmware update available seemingly for both the Verizon and Sprint versions of the intelligent mobile hotspot. The new firmware addresses WiFi compatibility issues with the Nintendo DS and BlackBerry Curve, as well as – for the Sprint MiFi 2200 at least – enabling “international roaming”. However don’t get too excited; that doesn’t mean Novatel have suddenly unlocked GSM support in the hitherto CDMA-only hotspot.
Barnes and Noble’s nook may not be the first wireless ebook reader we’ve seen, but with its dual displays, color touchscreen, compact form-factor and Android OS it’s perhaps the most distinctive. The nook isn’t expected to launch until the end of November, but SlashGear were at the B&N launch event in NYC today. Check out our coverage – and some first impressions – after the cut.
Updated with video after the cut
Barnes and Noble have officially announced their ebook reader, the Barnes and Noble nook, complete with dual displays and free 3G and WiFi b/g wireless. The nook has a 6-inch E Ink Vizplex E Ink display up top and a 3.5-inch color touchscreen underneath, with the whole thing based on Android and measuring 7.7 x 4.9 x 0.5-inches while tipping the scales at 11.2oz. B&N have partnered with AT&T for the nook’s 3G access, and owners will be able to use the retailer’s in-store WiFi connections for free as well.
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