The latest DigiTimes rumors are in, and this time they don’t seem all that unlikely. According to industry sources in Taiwan, Acer’s F1 and HTC’s Leo – both using the Qualcomm Snapdragon 1GHz chipset – will each drop in Q4 this year, complete with Windows Mobile 6.5. They also finger ASUS and Inventec as developing Snapdragon-based smartphones, though those are unlikely to hit full-scale production until the first half of 2010.
Wacom’s upcoming Bamboo Touch multitouch tablet has not only been spotted in the wild, but prematurely bought, unboxed and reviewed, all with no official word from Wacom themselves. Meanwhile, Wacom’s corporate site has confirmed that [pdf link] they’ve begun mass production of a Windows 7 compatible multitouch panels for notebooks, which can be combined with the company’s pen sensor.
Video unboxing and review after the cut
If asked what’s the next big evolution in desk lamps, I can’t imagine many people would say “why, an integrated digital photo frame, of course” but that’s what Sungale have delivered. Over at Zatz Not Funny they’ve been playing around with the unusual desk accessory, and reckon that while it pretty much delivers what it promises, they can’t help but wish it promised more.
It’s not just the Zune HD that Microsoft dropped off; they also sent a bundle of the new accessories for the touchscreen OLED PMP, including the Zune HD AV Dock, Jam Jacket’s CordSaver and Action Jacket cases, and Incipio’s underground case. Check out our first impressions of the accessories after the cut.
Lenovo have announced two new ThinkPads, each with multitouch-capable touchscreens. The ThinkPad T400s and ThinkPad X200 Tablet can recognize four and two finger touches respectively, and come with Lenovo’s new SimpleTap control panel that offers chunky, fingertip access to volume, system settings, applications and bookmarks.
If you’re looking for a 13.3-inch ultraportable with some style, reasonable performance and a sub-$1,000 price tag then, according to NetbookLive, you should immediately be wiring your money to ASUS. They’ve been reviewing the ASUS UL30A, and reckon it’s actually the best ultraportable on offer in its price-bracket.
Garmin-ASUS’ nuvifone has been a long time coming, and in fact if it’s the original you’re waiting for then you’ll have to hold on a little longer. If, though, you’re willing to make do with the nuvifone M20 – the collaboration’s Windows Mobile 6.1 model – then phoneArena’s review will be of interest. They’ve been putting the compact PND/smartphone hybrid through its paces, to see if you’re better off putting all your eggs in one basket or not.
HTC’s Touch2 was a strange little smartphone injection into the midst of Nokia World last week, but the entry-level Windows Mobile 6.5 handset still has some charm with its new Sense-inspired UI. Perpetually-premature Mobile-Review have managed to score an early model to review, and have been putting it through its paces.
While expensive ultraportables may get the bulk of online attention, the real battle is going on at the budget end of the market, where netbooks, CULV ultra-thins and cheap notebooks are fighting it out for a slice of the lucrative back-to-school audience. Into the fray steps Gateway, no stranger to the segment, and they’ve brought along their NV5214u, very much the desktop-replacing notebook rather than a slick but underpowered netbook. With an MRSP of $499.99 it certainly ticks the budget box; check out the full SlashGear review after the cut to see if it can tick any others.
Where netbooks go, their deskbound nettop brethren eventually follow, and as NVIDIA’s Ion GPU has made its impact on the graphics capabilities of budget ultraportables, so it has its sights set on compact desktops too. ASRock and NVIDIA worked together on the ION 330-BD, a Blu-ray toting nettop that pairs Intel’s Atom processor with NVIDIA’s ION platform, and sent one over to prove to SlashGear that just because the footprint is small, it doesn’t mean the performance is too.
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SlashGear Japan
