Toshiba launched the 3D HDTV in Japan last November, with limited availability, as the 55X3. The screen itself is a 3850 x 2160 panel – that’s Quad Full High Definition – and uses 240-zone intelligent backlighting. Toshiba has implemented a face tracking system for the glasses-free 3D, using a lenticular sheet placed across the panel, and up to nine viewers are supported simultaneously.

2D to 3D conversion is also possible, though only at 1,280 x 720 resolution. If you’re not interested in 3D, then it’s likely to be the 4k2k resolution that’s most interesting: although projectors supporting that sort of detail are reasonably broadly available, 4k2k TVs are less common.

Still unclear is price. In Japan, the 55X3 comes in at roughly $10,000, which means the set is likely to be similarly expensive when it arrives in North America.

The Galaxy Note is what Samsung is placing in its own category, saying that it’s not exactly a tablet, yet not exactly a smartphone either. What it does amount to is a pretty neat little in-between complete with Gingerbread, a built-in stylus, and the promise of Ice Cream Sandwich early on in 2012. There’s currently a white as well as a black version, both to be released soon. Another device we’ve got to look forward to soon is the ASUS Padfone, this device having now gone through a couple of iterations since its first announcement and set to be officially unveiled for release at MWC 2012.

For readers there wasn’t one whole heck of a lot of differentiation to be made between the masses, but the Kyobo Mirasol eReader did catch our eye with its unique method of lighting, it’s logo reflecting the butterfly-like feature of the display. There was also the Jetbook Color eReader, a CES award winner, whose maker we got to sit down with and have a talk about.

As for the Windows 8 world, groups like Qualcomm and their S4 chip showed off what WILL be possible in just a few weeks or months. We’ve already also had a look at a developer tablet running Windows 8 inside 2011, but will be looking forward to the full real deal in early 2012.

The team at Acer came to the show swinging, it’s early Sunday showing of their newest Android-based Acer Iconia Tab showing us what it means to rock with a fabulously high definition display and the NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core chip inside. They also re-showed a slightly less impressive tablet/laptop combo by the name of Iconia Tab W500, this showing us that they’ve more than likely got better concepts in the works for Windows 8, or we can hope! Toshiba brought with them a couple of slight upgrades from their already released line, one being the smaller version of the Thrive we’ve already reviewed in the Toshiba Thrive 7, bringing then the lovely thin and fully functional Toshiba Excite x10 as well for a real contender in 2012.

Then it was Asus all the way – bringing the fire with not one, not two, but three new tablets that all had a bump over not only their own previous models, but the competition as well. Not to be mistaken for one-another, Asus brought forth two 7-inch MeMO devices, one designated 171, the other called 370t. The first one, the Asus MeMO 171, is rolling out with a Qualcomm 8260 1.2GHz dual-core processor and Honeycomb, also bringing with it a built-in stylus for note-taking glory. The other device, the Asus MeMO 370t, is the real gem of the show as it’s got an NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor, comes out with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and costs a mere $249. That’s an industry changer, if you did not know.

NVIDIA then stole the show again with Asus’ upgraded Transformer Prime 700 series, complete with a massive display, updated casing, and a bump in the front-facing camera for fun. NVIDIA showed that the Prime (in either its first or second iteration) was capable of using the Tegra 3 processor to the fullest, running Skyrim via Splashtop, moving on to play the first multiplayer mobile shooter in a brand new upgraded version of Shadowgun for Tegra, and displaying the fact that it will be first with Ice Cream Sandwich, officially.

Look like a good showing to you? If you could have any one of these devices in your hands right now, which one would it be? Better yet, when these devices are released to the market, which one are you most likely to buy?

BONUS: Don’t forget the Fujitsu Arrows Tablet, complete with waterproofing, and the Pantech Element, an AT&T-bound tiny tablet with waterproofing as well!

This application works with data from Rovi, it providing users with an extensive, descriptive set of megadata on the shows they’ve got access to. Inside is more than 2.5 million program descriptions, shows as they pop up, and searchable data on TV series and celebrities that goes back to 1960, and more! Have a peek at how this app will work on your tablet, for example.

The Rovi group supports digital broadcasting throughout North America, incase you were wondering, they providing the data to whoever so chooses to license it. Connected to your Toshiba L7200 of L6200, both of them equipped with wi-fi connectivity, this setup is able to “access, discover, organize, and recommend” the internet-based content you want to watch as well. Streaming data including video, music, and photos can be stored on your local network and streamed without effort, a few taps and you’re good to go!

The Toshiba L7200 series will blow your eyeballs out of their sockets with Edge-lit LED brightness on an X-Gen panel, it, again, bringing you an unhindered picture with its ultra-narrow bezel. This television has a 240Hz refresh rate, and on-board Wi-fi to keep you connected to your favorite streaming services. Along the back you’ll find a generous 4 HDMI input ports, and SmartCentral will be your user interface guide. You’ll control the TV with a full QWERTY wi-fi enabled keyboard that’s included in the box – this keyboard was not available at the time of the hands-on, but I assure you, it exists.

Inside this beast you’ll find a dual-core processor for hefty handling of the programs you want to interact with, it assisting in accelerating your CQ Video Engine for superior graphics when you’re streaming from the web. Then for those of you that love the third dimension, this TV includes what Toshiba is calling “trivector” 2D to 3D conversion on the fly. Also, again, you’ll need no glasses to see this 3D effect, it showing up to your human eyes with no additional assistance.

We’re entering a really strange age for television, that’s for sure, and Toshiba isn’t going to be left behind – not by a long shot.

BONUS very BRIEF video for your enjoyment:

That difference in speed between the two SSD brands commonly used inside the Air may be even more noticeable this year. According to 9to5Mac, Samsung has discontinued the SSD that it was providing Apple in large quantities. The SSD was the 470, the new SSD that will take its place is called the 830, and it is considerably faster than the old 470 series. The 830 SSDs have typical speeds of 400MB/s write and 500MB/s read.

The Toshiba model that is in the Air is according to 9to5Mac capable of only a bit over 200MB/s read and 175MB/s write. That is a huge performance gap. Samsung apparently didn’t confirm that it was shipping the 830 series to Apple, but if the old drives are no more and Apple keeps buying from Samsung; it will have to go with the new parts once stocks expire. Granted Apple could be sitting on a huge stockpile of 470 SSDs and could simply opt to change providers.

[via 9to5Mac]

Lenovo and LG opened proceedings, unable in their excitement to even wait for the CES preview days to spill the beans on the Lenovo ThinkPad T430u and LG Super Ultrabook Z330/Z430. Lenovo has been pushing ultrathin notebooks for years now, but with the T430u it shaves just enough off to fit into Intel’s sub-20mm category.

It’s likely to appeal more to road warriors counting on their IT departments to furnish their computing kit, perhaps, unlike the more consumer-centric LG Z330 and LG Z430. They offer the full gamut of Core i3, i5 and i7 processors and either 13.3- or 14-inch displays, and use a hybrid SSD/HDD setup to provide both rapid boot/resume times and capacious media storage.

So far so good, but LG’s machines were somewhat forgotten when Acer unveiled its waifish Aspire S5. A slimline mag-alloy chassis that tapers to a razor edge at the front, Acer’s machine has some neat design touches like the drop down full-width port panel on the back. Never one to shy away from spectacle, the whole process is motorized.

Acer in fact had more than one ultrabook to show, with the Aspire Timeline Ultra series stretching the category at the fringes. Larger displays and even integrated optical drives mean they’re not quite the ultrabook Intel intended, but perhaps better considered a hybrid of ultraportable and regular notebook.

HP hasn’t been shy about ultrabooks in the past, though it’s arguable whether the 14-inch HP ENVY 14 Spectre quite counts. Still, with a choice of Core i5 or i7 processors, both HDMI and Mini DisplayPort video outputs, Beats Audio and a sub-$1,400 starting price, there’s no shortage of things to like.

Samsung already had an ultrabook-a-like in its back catalog, and so the Samsung Series 9 merely refined the proposition in its second generation. Clad in an eye-catching “stone metal” finish, it’s under half an inch thick and short of 2.5lbs, yet still manages to pack backlit keys.

It’s joined by the Samsung Series 5, a 15-inch almost-ultrabook in the same manner as the Acer Timeline Ultra. The LED display is a particular stand-out feature, managing to look clear, vivid and crisp even in dodgy trade-show lighting, and its sub-$1,400 tag will undercut the Series 9 too.

So far so good, but Dell through a spanner in its rivals’ works with the late launch of the Dell XPS 13. The company’s first ultrabook – though a machine with ultraportable heritage in the shape of the Adamo, among others – the XPS 13 turns to carbon-fiber for part of its construction, allowing Dell to fit a hefty Core i7 processor inside without worrying about overheating. “It’s the world’s best ultrabook” Dell insisted to us.

Then there’s the ultrabook pipeline, and both Toshiba and Intel stepped up with possible products we could expect to see late in 2012. Toshiba‘s 14-inch prototype relied on Windows 8 for its appeal, though had a slickly curved aluminum casing so that you could still catch admiring glances in the coffee shop.

Intel, meanwhile, pushed the boat out with a sliding, tilting concept that packs a 12- to 13-inch display – potentially a touchscreen – with a full QWERTY ‘board and the flexibility to use it either flat when walking around or notebook-style on a desk. Intel is hoping its OEM partners decide to adopt the design for future models, probably when Windows 8 brings its finger-friendliness to market later in the year.

Most eye-catching, though, had to be Intel’s Nikiski concept, an ultrabook packing a transparent, full-width trackpad that could be used as a preview display when the notebook was closed. Sadly the likelihood of the Nikiski reaching the market is around about zero.

Of course there’s another big name in ultrabooks, even if the company itself isn’t calling its ultraportable that. Apple‘s MacBook Air arguably helped shape each and every one of the machines mentioned above, and stands as the notebook to beat in the extreme-ultraportable segment.

Last refreshed in July 2011, with new Core i5 and i7 processors along with Thunderbolt connectivity – still only matched by the ASUS Aspire S5 this week – rumors late last year suggested Apple was already looking to bring out an updated model sometime in Q1. That’s likely to set the cat among the pigeons once again.

Convinced by Ultrabooks? Standing by with credit card in hand? Let us know in the SlashGear poll:

[poll id="24"]

Despite the waifish build, the Excite X10 is flex-free and feels solid; weight actually comes in at 1.18-pounds. There’s plenty squeezed inside, too: a 1.2GHz dual-core TI OMAP 4430 processor, 1GB of memory, a choice of 16GB or 32GB of storage – plus a microSD card slot to augment it – and twin cameras, with 5-megapixels on the back and 2-megapixels on the front.

Connectivity includes WiFi b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, along with microUSB and microHDMI, while there’s the usual bevy of sensors including GPS, a digital compass, gyroscope, accelerometer and ambient light. It’s being shown off at CES running Android 3.x Honeycomb, but all Toshiba’s press release will say is that it’ll launch with the “latest Android technology” which leaves us moderately hopeful it’ll arrive with Ice Cream Sandwich onboard. Even so, performance of the – notoriously jerky at times – Honeycomb is slick.

The Toshiba Excite X10 should arrive midway through this quarter, priced at $529.99 for the 16GB model or $599 for the 32GB version. That seems on the high side to us, especially given we’re expecting a fair few new slates at CES this week.

After a little fumbling, we managed to find our way into the “old” Windows 7 desktop and locate the specs of the Toshiba machine. The laptop runs on a mere 1.3Ghz Corei3 processor and 4GB of RAM. Toshiba’s graced it with a 128GB SSD drive. The Windows 8 interface runs on integrated graphics, though we couldn’t determine what kind. This is extremely early hardware, so things may be a little sketchy as far as the OS reporting goes.

We know that Windows 8 will run on current-generation hardware, and for the most part, that’s what we’re seeing. But we were surprised at just how well it did. Obviously there’s a user interface barrier to overcome, especially since Windows 8′s gestures weren’t working on the laptop’s trackpad. (This will absolutely be fixed long before a final version of either the software or the hardware hit shelves.)

In the meantime, we’ve got a good idea of how well Windows 8 handles even relatively light hardware. It leaves us with a lot of hope for later this year, when Windows 8 machines of all shapes and sizes – and perhaps most importantly, ultrabooks and tablets. Check out our full hands-on with this prototype ultrabook as well for good measure.

With an already solid lineup with products like the Portege Z835 they have a strong offering but we wont turn away an ultra-sleek, ultra-powerful 14″ laptop — right? It’s worth mentioning that it isn’t clear what Toshiba will be calling this new 14″ laptop but it sure does look pretty. From what we understand it will be consumer focused and priced.

Just like the Portege Z835 mentioned above this new Ultrabook features the same rounded edges and simplistic design although not the magnesium alloy construction. Instead, this new Ultrabook is wrapped in aluminum and it manages to stay extremely thin and super lightweight.

All of the LED lights and chrome-accented hinges have been replaced with a more elegant design but nothing groundbreaking or extremely new — but definetaly a step up from current offerings. The chicklet style LED-backlit keyboard is a nice addition but something we’d expect from an ultrabook in this day and age. While this is an early unit that clearly didn’t have a name we do have USB 3.0, two USB 2.0 ports, HDMI-out, Ethernet and the usual SD card readers and headphone/microphone ports. Remember that while being extremely new and only a prototype all that can be subject to change. One good note is we’ll be working along with Windows 8 whenever this makes way to consumers hands.

Once we see more we’ll be sure to update with additional details. Stay tuned for hands-on video.

The Toshiba 55-inch 4K 3DTV is already available in Japan as the 55X3 and in Germany as the 55LZ2, launching back in December with a whopping price tag of a little over $10,000 worth in each country’s respective currencies. Hence, it’s safe to assume that the US version will be demanding a similar price, although CNET sources did not confirm exact pricing yet.

The glasses-free 3D technology in this TV creates the 3D illusion by showing separate views to your left and right eye. Since there could be many people watching TV at a time with each sitting at a different angle to the screen, the technology divides the viewing area into 9 separate regions so that everyone can get the 3D effect. It can also convert 2D to 3D, but 3D resolution is at 1,280 x 720 pixels instead of 4K.

The company is expected to show another prototype at CES next week that is dramatically improved from last year’s prototype and also slightly different from the commercial unit that will be launched early this year.

Those budget ambitions means this is unlikely to be the OLED display toting tablet Toshiba has also been teasing, which is likely to carry a more premium price tag when it arrives. Connectivity for the cheaper model includes WiFi, Bluetooth, microSD and microUSB – no surprises there – and there’s a rear camera but no LED flash.

In contrast to September’s Thrive 7, the new model is slightly longer and apparently slightly thinner, too, though it’s also likely to be less powerful than the Thrive 7′s Tegra 2 chipset and, of course, runs at a lower resolution than the earlier slate’s 1280 x 800.

On this sort of device, pricing is everything: Toshiba will be up against low-cost options like the $249 NOOK Tablet after all, while you can pick up the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus for around $340. We’ll know full details at CES next week.

A high-brightness OLED tablet with a supposedly thin profile is particularly interesting, given so far we’ve only really seen OLED commercially applied to small scale devices like smartphones. We can’t say we’re upset at the idea of the vivid colors and huge viewing angles OLED generally delivers being offered on a slate, however.

There’ll also be a waterproof wireless tablet and some new TV kit to demonstrate, including models with four times the usual Full HD resolution, and a 55-inch glasses-free 3D prototype. Finally, Toshiba wants to show off its progress in “smart home” technology, with a “Life Design Box” home gateway pulling together all of your gadgets.

We’ll know more at the show next week, so stay tuned for all the details from SlashGear!

By that time we expect Toshiba to once again be in the same boat – with a tablet that on its own is certainly worth the cash that a person dropped on it, but compared to the rest of the current Android tablet lineup just does not compete. Even though this tablet will still be 7.7mm thin, will have a 5 megapixel camera on the back, a 2 megapixel camera on the front, and will of course have a 16GB and a 32GB option, will certainly be shut out by such masterpieces as the Asus Transformer Prime. A brighter screen, twice as powerful a processor, and two color choices to boot? I think so, yes.

That said, the OMAP4 is certainly nothing to scoff at, and this unit does look quite enticing to the eye with its stark aluminum silvery back and its microSD card slot, not to mention its miniHDMI-out port. Like the original Toshiba Android tablet, we’ll certainly have a few options for connections. With a market of consumers looking to get the tablet that suits them perfectly, it’ll be the people who trust the name TOSHIBA that pick this bad boy up — other than that, those who love things that are SHINY.

[via Toshiba]

Your money gets you quite a bit of advanced technology, mind. The QFHD – or Quad Full High Definition – display offers more pixels than most people would know what to do with, and there’s 240-zone intelligent backlighting. Face tracking is used for the glasses-free 3D, with a lenticular sheet placed across the panel and up to nine viewers supported simultaneously. It’s possible to convert 2D to 3D, too, though it’s worth noting that in 3D mode you don’t get that 3850 x 2160 resolution.

Toshiba’s REGZA CEVO Duo engine is at the heart of the 55X3, and there’s support for Full HD video recording to a USB-attached hard drive. Three TV tuners are present, for digital terrestrial reception in Japan. No word on availability outside of the country at this stage.

[via AV Watch]

Qualcomm is believed to have picked Samsung and Sony, with the Korean company’s strengths in component manufacturing – including displays, memory and other elements – singling it out for attention, along with the fact that it already has a solid presence in the tablet market. Texas Instruments selected Toshiba as well as also opting for Samsung.

Finally, NVIDIA is said to have gone for Lenovo and Acer, with Lenovo selected as major partner for its heft in the Chinese market. Conspicuous by its absence is ASUS, despite the fact that the company is already believed to be working on Windows 8 tablets – albeit likely using x86 processors, not ARM-based chipsets – for release in the second half of 2012.

Exactly how soon we can expect to see ARM-based products from any of these companies remains to be seen, however. According to previous leaks, Windows 8 on ARM tablets aren’t likely to go on sale until mid-2013, a delay analysts are already suggesting will leave Microsoft significantly disadvantaged up against the iPad and Android-based slates.

There are four base models of the Ultrabook to choose from, all with 13.3-inch displays. Prices start at $929 for the Z835 and go up to $1,429 for the higher-end Z830. The Z835 features a 1.4Ghz Core i3 processor with 4GB of RAM, and a 128GB SSD.

The Z830 comes in two configurations with either a 1.7GHz Core i5 model with 4GB of RAM for $1,199 or a 1.8GHz Core i7 model with 6GB of RAM for $1,429. Both include 127GB of SSD storage. For more details, photos, and videos of the Toshiba Portege Z830 and Z835 Ultrabooks, make sure to check out our hands-on.

[via PC World]

The agreement is in place with the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan to integrate all three display businesses. The resulting company will be a semi-public entity and INCJ will hold 70% of the new firm called Japan Display Inc. The three original firms will each have 10% of the merged company. Once merged there will be $2.6 billion in new shares issued to INCJ for its part of the new company.

Japan Display has also announced that it intends to buy the small and medium LCD making facilities that Panasonic owns for an undisclosed amount. The plant in question is located in Mobara near Tokyo, Japan and makes in the area of 600,000 LCD TVs monthly. The deal should be final next April.

[via TechCrunch]

Each of the models up with pricing on the UK Toshiba site right this moment are as follows: for the 1.4GHZ Intel i3-2367M processor toting model, you’ll be paying £899.99, and that also gets you 4GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD as well as Windows 7 Home Premium. For the next step up, you’ll be paying £969.99 and getting Windows 7 Professional in addition to the same specs as the bottom step. For the top of the pack (for now,) you’ll be paying £1099.99 for no less than the lovely 1.7GHz Intel i5-2557M processor inside.

Take note: the i7 processor option does not yet exist on the UK site, but head over to the US-based Toshiba webpage and you’ll find a different story unfolding. Are we to understand that the i7 processor wont show up in the UK at all – or that the USA has simply not yet taken the listing down? While we wait for answers, have a look at our hands-on video from our first encounter with this monster:

It also packs in far more pixels than the Tab 7.7, which had already impressed us back at IFA 2011 with its 1280 x 800 resolution. The Toshiba Mobile Display panel has a 1,000:1 contrast ratio and offers 16.7m colors, covering 61-percent of the NTSC color gamut. Viewing angles are 176-degrees both horizontally and vertically, making it ideal for tablets since they’re usually flipped regularly between portrait and landscape orientation.

While the current model runs in 2D, Toshiba suggests that future iterations could show 3D images instead. One possible implementation could be a high-res glasses-free 3D display; usually, such panels – as found on the Nintendo 3DS – offer low resolutions as they split alternate lines of pixels between each eye, thus halving the number of vertical lines that each eye sees. Toshiba’s new display, however, isn’t short on vertical lines, meaning even if halved it would still be far higher than current compact LCD panels.

Toshiba will show off the new 2,560 x 1,600 display next week, but isn’t saying when the panel might make it into full production. We’d definitely be interested in some super-high resolution tableteering using the screen, however, having seen the print-quality text 498ppi is capable of delivering.

[via NewLaunches]

This tablet is a miraculous 7.7mm thin, making it the thinnest tablet in the world if it’s released before anyone else gets there. And get there it shall if the FCC is to be trusted, today the tablet winning approval with both Wi-fi and Bluetooth capabilities in-tact. An interesting fact to note: the FCC documents from the listing show this device to have been constructed by Quanta, the same Chinese OEM that’s about to be responsible for the Amazon Kindle Fire and the RIM BlackBerry PlayBook – a device which the Kindle Fire was modeled after.

This device also features the same 1.2GHz dual-core processor from Texas Instruments that the other two tablets mentioned do and will, imagine that! This tablet will run Android 3.2 Honeycomb right out of the box, and will have 64GB of storage right off the bat. In Europe, the device is set to be released in Q4 of 2011, right on time for the holidays, and USA price and release date have not yet been confirmed.

Have a look at our hands-on with this device courtesy of Chris Davies who sought out this device at IFA 2011 a few weeks ago:

[via WirelessGoodness]

There’s also a microphone input, HDMI output and a remote control. Both the X400 and X416 also get a “Pause” video recording function which allows users to temporarily cease filming and then resume later on, saving footage the same file rather than starting a new clip.

As for the Toshiba Camileo X200, that has a 12x optical zoom and also gets an HDMI port and remote control. The Camileo X400 is available now, priced at $249.99, while the Camileo X200 is also on sale now, priced at $199.99. The X416 will arrive later this month, for $319.99 (though that’s likely to come down with an instant rebate).

Toshiba also notes that the set doesn’t need any glasses to view 3D content on the screen. The set also offers control over the direct backlight LED for accurate colors and deeper black levels. The 3D tech that the set uses is parallax barrier with a lenticular sheet over the entire screen. The set also supports 2D content as well.

It appears that you can view four programs on the screen at once in full 1080p. The TV has network capability and a USB HDD that allows the set to record two programs at one time. The set can also play content from Regza tablets as well. The TV is model number 55X3 and will land in mid-December in Japan with pricing not specified.

On the back there’s a 5-megapixel camera, paired with an LED flash, while up front is a 2-megapixel camera for video calls and vanity shots. There’s WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS – though no 3G/4G option, at least for the moment – while wired connectivity includes mini USB, micro HSMI and a microSD card slot.

Design-wise, Toshiba has stuck with the original Thrive’s somewhat industrial aesthetic; the Thrive 7″ has a rubberized back panel with an easy-grip ridged texture that leaves it looking chunkier than even its actual 0.47-inch thickness would suggest. Weight is 0.88 pounds, and inside there’s a gyroscope and an unspecified battery, with Toshiba yet to confirm exact runtimes.

Availability of the Toshiba Thrive 7″ is expected in November 2011, according to the company’s site, though we’ve also been told early December by the company’s reps. No word on pricing at this stage.

The machine also comes with a wireless mouse that uses Bluetooth. Both the mouse and keyboard are paired out of the box so the machine is ready to use. The AIO has a HDMI input to allow the connection of game consoles or other components. Toshiba also gave the AIO Onkyo speakers for sound quality when gaming or watching movies on the screen.

The hardware includes a second gen Intel Core i5 or i7 processor, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, and a 1TB HDD. The computer also has a USB 3.0 port with Sleep and Charge and a quartet of USB 2.0 ports. An integrated SuperMulti drive is located on the side of the machine. It will launch October 2 for $956.99 and will be available in Best Buy locations.

All versions are pre-loaded with the software needed to perform backups on your computer. The software used is NTI BackupNow EX with step-by-step backups to make saving your data easy. The Canvio is also able to look at the files it is backing up and suggest which to back up on the cloud rather than local storage.

Toshiba is also showing off the new Canvio Basics line with USB 3.0 and 500GB, 750GB, or 1TB capacities. The Canvio 3.0 pricing ranges from $89.99 up to $139.99 depending on capacity. The Canvio Basics 3.0 line ranges from $79.99 to $129.99. The drives are available now.

HP actually climbed a point itself, to 88, and is considerably higher than its Compaq brand-sibling, which brought up the rear in the ACSI ratings with a satisfaction score of just 75. Meanwhile, Dell, Acer, Toshiba, Lenovo and Sony all come in at 77, unchanged from 2010′s rankings.

The added glamor of tablets over and above more mundane PCs is one of the reasons for the stagnating computing scores, ACSI concludes. Apple has, with the iPad, handled that demand well, “spinning off technologies into entirely new directions” to dominate the slate segment. Whether that will change as Honeycomb tablets continue to emerge, and indeed as Windows 8 models arrive in 2012, remains to be seen.

We got the chance to go hands-on with this television this past week at Pepcom’s 2011 Holiday Spectacular in New York City and have come back with a video that runs you through the switches. What you’ve got here is a 3D TV that’s also “smart”, smart with the ability to run Yahoo widgets and a slew of other TV-minded applications that’ll have you Netflixing in no time.

You’ll also be working with full 1080p resolution playback on all the video you’ve got set up to do so, 240hz, local dimming, and of course, Toshiba’s Natural 3D technology. This lovely way of viewing the 3D universe is done through 3D glasses, four sets of which come with the set right out of the box. You can also purchase a “Party Pack” of glasses for right around $60 USD (depending on where you shop). Look like a pretty neat television set to you?

This isn’t the first TV set we looked at in the event, the rest available by you clicking on the big [Pepcom Holiday Spectacular 2011 portal] to catch em all. You’ll also be able to see a whole couple of handfuls of gadgets and technologically superior products from all corners of the universe there, hands-on videos of them all. Check em out!

Other features include a Blu-ray drive and Onkyo speakers so you can hear the movies and multimedia you play on the computer. The computer will be offered with a choice of different Intel Core processors including Core i5 and i3 offerings with cheaper Pentium offerings for budget shoppers. The AIO can be fitted with up to 6GB of RAM and up to 1TB of storage space.

The DX730 also has WiFi inside along with Bluetooth 3.0. The mouse and keyboard that are included are wireless as well. The price and launch date are not offered. Toshiba only states the DX730 will ship later this year. The computer will launch in the UK and pricing details will come closer to launch.

The cause of their reticence is apparently two-fold. First is the nigh-unstoppable Apple juggernaut, with expectations that the Cupertino company’s MacBook Air will continue to dominate ultraportable sales in the near future. Second, however, is having been burnt before by Intel’s previous ultra-thin experiment, so-called CULV (Consumer Ultra-Low Voltage) notebooks.

Those CULV machines used low-power, underclocked processors to delivery netbook-style runtimes in what were usually 11.6-inch and 13.3-inch chassis. However, underwhelming performance and overlap in pricing between netbooks at the low-end and regular notebooks for the mainstream market saw CULV machines struggle.

Yesterday, ASUS CEO Jerry Chen poured doubt on Intel’s prediction that ultrabooks would account for 40-percent of consumer notebook sales by the end of 2012, arguing that the new niche would take longer to impact the market overall. The real uplift may not take place until Q2 next year, when Intel’s 22nm Ivy Bridge chips using 22nm Tri-Gate 3D production processes arrive.

Disclosure: IFA contributed to SlashGear’s travel/accommodation costs. However, as always, there was no editorial control over what we covered, how we covered it, or which companies we met with.

Tablets

Samsung stole IFA 2010 with the original 7-inch Galaxy Tab, and the company brought along its successor to this year’s show. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 answers most of our complaints about the original: the slightly larger screen uses the company’s own Super AMOLED Plus technology, runs at a higher 1280 x 800 resolution, is thinner, lighter and made from metal rather than plastic.

It’s not the only Honeycomb slate we saw, either. ViewSonic has targeted the more affordable end of the market with the ViewPad 7x, though its ViewPad 7e – which will be under $200 when it hits stores – falls back on Gingerbread to hit that price point. IFA was also a chance for companies to release their second-gen slates, with both Toshiba (with the AT200) and Lenovo (with the IdeaPad A1) addressing criticisms that their first models were oversized and ugly. Sony put plenty of money into its Tablet P and Tablet S launch, too, though our early review of the Tablet S left us somewhat unsure that it’ll be quite as successful as the company hopes.

Android and the tablets that run it continue to be overshadowed by legal concerns, however, with Samsung forced to pull the Galaxy Tab 7.7 from its IFA booth after Apple filed an injunction over patent infringement allegations. The German courts have already taken Apple’s side once, over the Galaxy Tab 10.1, and while Samsung went so far as to put stickers saying that there’d be no availability in Germany on each Tab 7.7 unit, that obviously wasn’t enough to stay the judge’s hand.

Smartphones

The stand-out phone from IFA actually could’ve fallen into the tablet category, too. Samsung continued its strong showing with the Galaxy Note, a 5.3-inch 1280 x 800 Super AMOLED HD smartphone running Android 2.3 Gingerbread and offering a digital “S Pen” stylus that can be used to annotate, take handwritten notes, and more. It’s not exactly a new concept – HTC tried it with the Flyer, after all – but the difference is that the inking experience works on the Galaxy Note: the virtual ink flow is smooth and precise enough to make using it as a notepad replacement realistic. Whether mainstream users will blanch at the size remains to be seen, however.

Samsung Galaxy Note close-up:

Also thinking big is the HTC Titan, one of the company’s two new Windows Phone 7 Mango devices and, as the name hints at, packing a sizable display: 4.7-inches in this case. It also brings a faster processor than we’re used to: 1.5GHz, as opposed to the 1GHz benchmark of first-gen Windows Phones. One aspect we’re particularly excited about is the camera, with HTC using a back-illuminated, f2.2 sensor that promises to answer criticisms of patchy low-light performance in previous devices. That’s shared with HTC’s other new Mango handset, the smaller Radar.

Ultrabooks

Call them a cynical rebranding of ultraportables or a semi-desperate attempt to claw away sales from the MacBook Air, but Intel’s ultrabook segment got some high-profile support from big-name brands in Berlin this past week. Acer, Lenovo and Toshiba all brought models to IFA, attempting to balance Apple-rivaling style with the sort of connectivity PC users expect.

Toshiba arguably does the best on that front, managing to squeeze ethernet, HDMI and VGA into the Portege Z830, along with three USB ports (one of which is USB 3.0), audio in/out and an SD card reader. Still, the Lenovo IdeaPad U300s finds room for USB 3.0 and HDMI, and all in a particularly attractive chassis with an eye-catching routed-edge design. Lastly there’s the Acer Aspire S3, which promises to best the Air on multimedia performance thanks to its Dolby Home Theater tuning.

The rest…

Samsung didn’t have an ultrabook, but it did have the Series 7 Chronos. While we weren’t entirely convinced by the Apple-esque styling, the company’s advanced LCD technology – which means you get roughly an inch extra of screen compared to what would normally fit into each chassis – complete with anti-reflective finish and super-strength brightness lent no small degree of appeal.

Toshiba’s utterly vast 55-inch HDTV, the ZL2, was hard to avoid, offering as it did glasses-free 3D using a face-tracking system similar to that we’ve seen on recent Toshiba notebooks. Unfortunately the company still isn’t committing to a release date.

Finally, there were the more unusual products and prototypes. The Fraunhofer Institute brought along its flickering-LED based Visible Light Communication networking system, bypassing WiFi and ethernet, in what could make for flight- and hospital-safe high-speed connectivity. Then there was E Ink’s Triton color epaper display, as well as confirmation that LG, Sony, Samsung and HP are all beavering away on flexible ereader panels.

What we didn’t see…

Big screen TVs were certainly in evidence at IFA, but we’re still yet to see a meaningful, joined-up Smart TV experience. Apple’s continued treatment of the Apple TV as more of a hobby than a focus has left the door open for other firms to take the lead, but beyond some basic DLNA streaming there’s still little in the way of linked thinking about how a home with multiple screens of a broad range of sizes will play best together.

Wrap-Up

Just as it did with CES 2011, Apple managed to cast a significant shadow over IFA 2011 despite not even being in attendance. The injunction against Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 7.7 was the Cupertino company’s most obvious impact, but the specters of the iPhone 5 and iPad 3 waiting in the wings were the unmentioned black cloud on many vendors’ horizons.

Perhaps as a result – or perhaps because the tech market as a whole is saturated with more segments and sub-segments than it can stomach – many of the announcements felt evolutionary rather than revolutionary. That’s not to say that the Galaxy Note, Portege Z830 and HTC Titan aren’t interesting devices, but they’re refinements on a theme more than anything else. On the flip side, though, refinement is what’s needed if each company wants to compete, and that adds up to not only more consumer choice overall but a generally stronger selection to choose from.

You can read all our show coverage by using the IFA 2011 tag, and don’t forget to let us know what your favorite product(s) are in the comments!

The lenses are f3.2 and there’s 5-megapixel still capture alongside the Full HD video recording. An LED flash light is mounted underneath the lens array, too, there’s an optical zoom, and recording is supported in either 2D or 3D, as you’d expect.

Storage is via SD card, and while there’s no touchscreen there’s a reasonably straightforward little joystick on the back which falls neatly under your thumb. No word on pricing or availability at this stage.

Toshiba also unveiled the X200 and X400 camcorders. All three of the new camcorders can record in 1080p video resolution and use only SD cards to store the video. The X200 has 12x optical zoom and the X400 has 23x zoom. Price details are not offered right now, but the cameras are expected to land in Q4 for Europe. I would expect to see them in the US as well. The cameras record in 1920 x 1080 format at 30 fps in H.264 HD format.

The three cameras all have a 1.5-inch LCD and electronic image stabilization. The sensors are 5MP units and they can shoot still photos at up to 16MP resolution. The Clip has 10x optical zoom and all come with software for editing and uploading video. I suspect these will all be relatively cheap offerings.

[via NexGadget]

The Toshiba TL Series 3D TV may be more budget-friendly but it isn’t a slouch. It comes in a range of sizes from 40-inch to 46-inch and boasts a Full HD 1080p 3D LED display with an ultra-smooth 200fps refresh rate. It also packs all the Smart TV features we’ve come to expect with WiFi connectivity for accessing on-demand content and online applications through the Toshiba Places portal.

However, the WiFi connectivity comes via an additional dongle, but the TL Series does provide four HDMI ports and two USB inputs as well as DLNA that will let you connect all sorts of other external devices to it, including Blu-ray players and game consoles. Also, unlike its revolutionary big brother ZL2 announced earlier today, the TL Series will require active shutter 3D glasses that are sold separately.

Exactly how much value the TL Series will deliver is still unknown, since no official pricing nor release date has been announced yet.

The ZL2 also claims to be the first to offer a consumer-targeted TV with a Quad Full HD display that has a 3840 x 2160 pixel resolution. This means an amazing 2D viewing experience as well with four times your usual Full HD resolution.

The 3D technology used is based on delivering slightly offset pictures to the left and right eye to achieve a 3D effect. And since there can be multiple viewers facing the screen at varying angles, the ZL2 utilizes a range of lenticular lenslets along with face recognition to provide 3D images for up to nine different viewing positions.

Content that wasn’t originally formatted for 3D, can be upscaled to 3D, including DVD, Blu-ray and even regular TV broadcasts. The conversion also includes depth control so that you can adjust the 3D depth to your liking.

Besides upscaling from 2D to 3D, you can also upscale resolution to the ZL2′s Quad Full HD display with Toshiba’s Resolution+ image enhancement technology. Again, content that can be upscaled include DVD, Blu-ray, and even your regular TV programs that are in SD or HD resolution.

Other features include Auto Calibration support that ensures color and grayscale levels are presented correctly, while WiFi connectivity offers a host of content viewing and sharing capabilities. Through Toshiba Places, you can access on-demand videos and other internet services such as Facebook.

However, the Toshiba ZL2 Series has not been given an official price or release date yet. For now, you can soak up the features list and some more photos of the TV below:

Toshiba ZL2 features:
- 139.7cm (55”) Glasses-Free 3D TV
- Quad Full HD (3840 x 2160) resolution display
- Face tracking technology via integrated camera
- 2D to 3D conversion with depth control
- Built in Wi-Fi, DLNA® and Windows 7 compatibility
- Freeview HD ready tuner
- Resolution+ and 3D Resolution+
- Toshiba Places
- YouTubeTM, BBC iPlayer
- Personal TV
- Remote control operation via iPhone®
- AutoView ambient light sensor
- Built-in subwoofer
- USB HDD Video Recording
- Auto Calibration
- 4x HDMI, 2x USB
- REGZA-LINK (HDMI CEC)

The keyboard is a little short on travel in comparison to larger machines – no surprise given the relatively shallow key tray on offer – but we’ll forgive Toshiba since they used the space to add an 8-cell 47Wh battery. The keys themselves are backlit, too, and water resistant, while above the 13.3-inch display looked bright despite the strong show lighting and the necessarily compact backlighting.

Unlike, say, Apple’s MacBook Air, the Z830 gets an ethernet port, and both HDMI and VGA. There’s also an SD card slot and three USB ports, two USB 2.0 and a USB 3.0 for higher-speed data transfers. Audio in and out round out the main ports, plus there’s WiFi b/g/n inside.

Toshiba Portege Z830 video:

Toshiba isn’t talking pricing yet, but if it can bring the Portege Z830 in at under the $1,000 mark – as Intel originally promised for ultrabooks – with similar specifications to what Apple offers on the MacBook Air, then we can see the company having a hit on its hands. Release date isn’t announced at this stage, but you know SlashGear will be waiting.

Toshiba Portege Z830 walkthrough:

But before you jump on that claim, pointing to the Eye-Fi as a pre-existing WiFi-enabled SD card, the FlashAir works a bit differently. Whereas the Eye-Fi could only transmit files from a camera directly to a computer or smartphone, the FlashAir can do the same but also receive and transfer peer-to-peer.

The FlashAir lets users transfer photos and other data to and from computers and smartphones over WiFi, but also can transfer wirelessly to and from other digital cameras that are FlashAir compliant. The 8GB Class 6 card will be sampled starting November but will not begin sales until February 2012. Also, no pricing information has been announced yet.

The card will be shown off during IFA 2011, where there’s been a deluge of exciting announcements this morning, including the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7, the Galaxy Note, and the Toshiba AT200. More cool gadgets are sure to come throughout this week so stay tuned here on SlashGear as we’re in Berlin covering the event from September 2-7.

In fact, at 7.7mm thick it’s 0.9mm thinner than the Samsung, and the crisp edges and metal chassis is likely to win it some admirers. It also manages to pack a higher resolution camera than the Samsung, too, at 5-megapixels on the back.

We couldn’t tell what performance is like, and of course this is pre-production hardware so it’s too early to say conclusively, but the 1.2GHz TI OMAP 4430 processor is a change from the 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 we’ve grown used to seeing in Android slates. We’ll be benchmarking it when review units are available, later on in the year.

Toshiba AT200 video:

From the official press release we can tell you this is a 10.1″ Android 3.2 Honeycomb tablet measuring only 7.7mm thick, making it one of the thinnest tablets to date and could be a real treat not to mention thinner than Samsung’s current offering. As usual the 10.1″ display as a 1280 x 800 resolution and this ultra-thin device is powered by a dual-core TI OMAP 4430 processor at 1.2GHz and 1GB of RAM. We are hearing 16, 32, and even a 64GB flavor will also be offered by Toshiba.

According to the press release we can expect to see a 5 MP camera on the rear with LED flash, and a 2 MP shooter up front for video chat. As usual we have micro SD, micro USB, and even mini HDMI-Out. Toshiba is promising 8-10 hours of battery life too. The entire tab will come with a brushed aluminum back and it does look pretty. No pricing or official release date was given but we can expect to see the device before the end of the year.

Stay tuned, We’ll be back with some hands-on soon.

Before we get into the details of what we might expect from the event, I’ve got to let you know why they call it IFA instead of CEU Consumer Electronics Unlimited as their logo notes. IFA stands for Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin (International radio exhibition Berlin, aka ‘Berlin Radio Show’) and started in 1924 back when radios were what you used to listen to War news. Now the IFA is one of the world’s largest international consumer electronics and home appliances shows. IFA takes place September 2nd-7th and unofficially starts off with the Samsung Unpacked event the morning of the 1st.

The Samsung Unpacked event starts at 11AM local Berlin time, that being 4AM Central Standard Time — aka you’ll either need to be getting a good night’s rest beforehand or you’ll want to bust out the old 2 liter of SURGE to stay up all night. Already in the mix we’ve got confirmation that there’ll be a Samsung Galaxy S II and Galaxy Tab 8.9, both of them with LTE, the GSII with an expanded display and upgraded processor. Next there’s the Samsung Galaxy Q, a 5.3-inch tablet/phone hybrid from outer space.

Next there’s the mysterious Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 alongside the other leaked devices including the Galaxy Note and the Wave 3 (powered by Bada.) There’s a whole new line of low to mid-tier Android devices on the way, plus we’ve got some sweet teaser videos for Unpacked that may well reveal what we already know to be true:

Here’s the second video first:

Then the first video next:

For LG we’ve got a couple of tips, the first being for some fabulous new monitors, the second being for a cool new 3D game conversion engine for smartphones. Toshiba has what’s possibly a brand new super-thin Android tablet in the works. HTC will likely give us more information on the HTC Puccini tablet. Very likely we’ll see some manner of Mango Phone from Microsoft’s Windows Phone line.

Join us all this next week via our [IFA 2011] portal.

And don’t forget to join us tomorrow for the official reveal of the USA Samsung Galaxy S II family over in New York City. A full week coming up this week!

Hardware

The specific configuration we have with model number L755D-S5204 comes with an AMD Fusion (aka Llano) quad-core A6-3400M processor. Various Intel processors are available in other configurations of the series. The A6-3400M clocks in at 2.3GHz and is paired with AMD’s Radeon HD 6520G Graphics. The laptop also has 4GB of DDR3 1333MHz RAM, a 640GB HDD with 5400 RPM, and a DVD SuperMulti optical disk drive.

As for the exterior, our model has a brushed aluminum blue that looks very stylish and sleek. It has a slight sheen and is smooth and cool to the touch, while the underside of the laptop is a textured black plastic material. The laptop is also available in four other colors with a Fusion Matrix pattern, including brown, silver, white, graphite, and red.

The same blue-colored brushed aluminum found on the lid continues onto the palm rest area where there is a multitouch trackpad that supports pinch, swipe, rotate, and scroll gestures and includes physical left- and right-click buttons as well. The black keyboard is not chiclet-style, but it does sport a full 10-key numeric keypad to the right. Above the keyboard are two standard stereo speakers with Dolby Advanced Audio.

The 15.6-inch TruBrite LED backlit display supports 720p HD and has a 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio with a 1366 x 768 resolution. Embedded in the bezel is a standard webcam and mic for video chatting.

As for connectivity and ports, the L755D-S5204 features WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0, an RJ45 Ethernet port, two regular USB 2.0 ports, and one special USB 2.0 port that supports Toshiba’s Sleep-and-Charge feature. This functionality lets users charge other devices via USB through the laptop without needing to power on the laptop. Additionally, it has a slot for a security lock cable, microphone and headphone jacks, and a built-in SD memory card reader.

Unboxing & Hands-on Video

Software & Performance

As for software, the L755D-S5204 runs Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) and comes with the Microsoft Office Starter 2010 bundle as well as the Microsoft Windows Live essentials like Photo Gallery, Messenger, Mail, Writers, and Movie Maker. It also has a slew of preloaded applications that add a bit more bloat, including Toshiba Face Recognition, Toshiba Upconvert, Toshiba App Place, Toshiba Bulletin Board, and Toshiba Service Station, to name a few.

Using the synthetic benchmarking tool Geekbench to measure the laptop’s performance, we found that the L755D-S5204 scored only 3826. This is a bit disappointing and somewhat noticeable. Booting up took quite some time, while playing a DVD showed some initial lag and jitters.

Video quality was decent and the large 15.6-inch screen provides a comfortable viewing experience but viewing angles are not so good. Slightly tilting the display up and down or sitting off-center shows some color distortion. Audio quality is average and leans towards the quiet side.

Battery

The L755D-S5204 has a surprisingly short battery life with its 48Wh 6-Cell Lithium-Ion battery. Sporting an AMD A6 accelerated processor that’s supposedly superior in energy efficiency, the laptop somehow ended up with a battery rating of only up to 3 hours and 56 minutes. Other models in the series with Intel processors are interestingly rated at up to 5.7 hours. We got similar numbers with our own casual battery test, which involved playing a DVD at 100% brightness and 100% volume on the higher consumption power management mode called “Balance” —as opposed to the energy saving mode called “Eco.” About an hour into the movie, the laptop was down to 61% remaining battery life.

Wrap-Up

The Toshiba Satellite L755D-S5204 looks sophisticated in its brushed aluminum skin, but underneath it’s not nearly as refined. After all it is a budget-friendly 15.6-inch laptop priced at $548. Its AMD A6-3400M processing performance is a bit disappointing and so is its weak battery life. Capable of only under 4 hours of unplugged operation, it’s not an ideal on-the-go laptop, but it could find a place as a desktop replacement.

However, if a desktop replacement is what you’re really looking for, another Toshiba Satellite L series configuration such as the L775D-S7206 may be a better option. For roughly $150 more, you get a larger 17.3-inch screen, the same AMD quad-core processor, a Blu-ray drive, and slightly improved battery life. There are also other Intel Core processor configurations in the L750 lineup that could be better alternatives.