MID - SlashGear

‘MID’ Stories

Samsung’s displays get video demo: dual-AMOLED MID, flexible screens & transparent notebooks

Chris Davies, Nov 10th 2010 Discuss [0]

Samsung's new displays have been all over the place today, with 7-inch Super AMOLED panels for the next-gen Galaxy Tab, and a 10.1-inch skinny screen for a tablet teaser. It turns out they were only the start of it: NetbookNews spotted a dual-screen 4.5-inch PenTile AMOLED MID prototype, various flexible displays - including one being folded in half - and a transparent 14-inch AMOLED shown in a notebook mockup. Video demo after the cut Read The Full Story

Nokia Z500 tablet gets Ovi Store confirmation?

Chris Davies, Nov 1st 2010 Discuss [1]

Reports of a Nokia tablet back in June have reignited, with a listing for the Nokia Z500 being spotted in the company's Ovi Store. Z500 was the tablet product name tipped earlier in the year by notorious insider Eldar Murtazin, with the device expected to run the MeeGo OS. Read The Full Story

Sharp IS01 Android MID hits US for $246

Chris Davies, Oct 28th 2010 Discuss [3]

Sharp's 5-inch Android MID, the IS01, has finally made it to US shores, though it's not quite the perfect release we were hoping for. Importer Conics are doing the honors, rather than Sharp itself: they've listed the clamshell handset for a mere $246, which gets you a 5-inch 960 x 480 capacitive touchscreen, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS and twin cameras. Read The Full Story

Reviews

Toshiba AC100 Review

Chris Davies, Oct 21st 2010 Discuss [6]

Companion devices come in all shapes and sizes, from big-screen smartphones through tablets to netbooks and ultraportables, but Toshiba is hoping that by borrowing a little of each they’ll find a gap in the market. The Toshiba AC100 looks like a netbook but runs Android, an OS we’re more familiar with on smartphones or, more recently, tablets. The company reckons a traditional keyboard and NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 processor should make the AC100 the best multimedia, browsing and communication ultraportable around, but is Android being asked to do more than it’s currently capable of? Check out the full SlashGear review after the cut.

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Dell: no more Streak Android 2.1 OTA as we focus on Froyo

Chris Davies, Oct 13th 2010 Discuss [0]

Dell has confirmed it has no plans to release any further Android 2.1 updates for its Streak MID, either for those already running Eclair on their handsets or for those still waiting for it. According to the company's blog, time limitations mean that Dell is concentrating on getting Android 2.2 Froyo ready for global release by the end of the year. Read The Full Story

Toshiba AC100 dumps Android for Ubuntu 10.10, gets useful

Chris Davies, Oct 1st 2010 Discuss [3]

Toshiba's AC100 is certainly an interesting notebook on the face of it: Tegra 2 processor, full QWERTY and plenty of battery life, but the Android OS does mean it's definitely a companion device and not your sole ultraportable. That could all change, however, now a hack for loading Ubuntu onto the AC100 has been developed; Carrypad pulled together the instructions and files from tosh-ac100.wetpaint.org, ac100.gudinna.com and the official Toshiba forums and managed to get his AC100 up and running with Ubuntu 10.10. Read The Full Story

Eking M5 UMPC gets reviewed: hot-swap battery good, price bad

Chris Davies, Sep 23rd 2010 Discuss [0]

Eking's M5 UMPC has been a few months in coming, since its first teasing photos on Chinese forums, but the 5-inch ultraportable has finally dropped for a review over at UMPC Fever. For the equivalent of around $772 you get an Intel Atom Z515 1.2GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, a 16GB SSD and 3G, along with a backlit, full QWERTY keyboard. That's expensive, especially when you make the inevitable iPad comparisons, though Eking have added in a few neat touches. Read The Full Story

Buggy Sharp DoCoMo LYNX SH-10B Android MID sales frozen; only 7k bought in 2 months

Chris Davies, Sep 17th 2010 Discuss [0]

Looks like NTT DoCoMo aren't having much luck with Sharp's LYNX SH-10B Android MID. The company froze sales of the QWERTY handheld a week ago, after discovering a security loophole that could allow malicious software to harvest text, then settled on an update that apparently fixed the flaw and would let the carrier put the SH-10B back on sale from tomorrow. Now that's changed again, with the discovery of a further bug in the MID. Read The Full Story

Tablets killed Smartbooks says Qualcomm CEO

Chris Davies, Sep 8th 2010 Discuss [1]

Qualcomm has all but confirmed that the smartbook is dead, with CEO Paul Jacobs admitting during the company's IQ 2010 event this morning that tablets such as the iPad had already occupied the niche his company expected smartbooks to. Jacobs described slates like the iPad as delivering the concept of "always-on, all-day devices" that smartbooks had initially promised. Read The Full Story

Toshiba AC100 arrives in UK; no sign of 3G version

Chris Davies, Sep 6th 2010 Discuss [1]

Toshiba are finally offering their AC100 MID, the Tegra 2 based smartbook running Android 2.1 with the company's own custom UI. Priced at £292.52 including tax ($449), so far only the non-3G AC100-10Z model - with WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth and 8GB of flash storage - is available. Read The Full Story

Huawei Ideos U8150, S7 tablet & Hx concept hands-on [Video]

Chris Davies, Sep 3rd 2010 Discuss [1]

Huawei are another company going in for Android in a big way, already behind several of the operator-branded budget smartphones on the market and hoping to follow up that success with the new Ideos U8150, a Froyo 2.2 smartphone with what's tipped to be a roughly $150 unsubsidized price tag. As well as playing with the U8150 at IFA 2010 today, we also grabbed a fleeting moment with the Ideos S7 tablet and a (non-functional) Huawei prototype for their idea of a potential gaming MID. Video demos after the cut Read The Full Story

Archos 28, 32 and 43 hands-on [Video]

Chris Davies, Sep 3rd 2010 Discuss [0]

Though Archos' larger internet tablets grabbed our attention first, we spent some time playing with the French company's three smaller models too: the Archos 28, 32 and 43. Ranging in size from 2.8-inches QVGA, through 3.2-inches WQVGA, to 4.3-inches FWVGA, the three palm-sized tablets are Archos' attempt at hybrid PMP/MIDs, hitting price points from $99.99 to $149.99 to $199. Read The Full Story