ASUS’ PadFone is currently splitting opinion at Computex 2011, and not just because the company has bizarrely chosen to brand the décolletage of its demo model. As well as a couple of ASUS-made demos, we’re seeing a number of hands-on first impressions of the hybrid phone/tablet prototype, and we’ve gathered them all up for you after the cut.
ASUS is mighty proud of its PadFone, but it seems in its hurry to get the prototype ready for Computex 2011 this week, some of the more unusual features have gone unmentioned: namely, the fact that Internet Explorer 8 apparently runs on the tablet. In what we're guessing is a mockup accident, the new ASUS "Behind the Scenes" video showing the PadFone's design journey shows Microsoft's IE8 getting some surfing playtime, where we'd normally expect to see the regular Android Honeycomb browser.
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Famed designer Dieter Rams has described how, rather than being offended by the oft-commented similarity in themes between Apple's hardware design and his own work, he takes it as a compliment that Jonathan Ives and the rest of the Apple team follow the same core tenets as he did. Speaking to Co.Design, Rams - whose uncomplicated and exceedingly elegant designs still managed to look fresh and modern, despite dating back several decades in some cases - recalled being approached while at a party by an indignant Philippe Starck claiming "Apple is copying you!"
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Garmin has released its latest PND, and the nuvi 2565RT promises not only to tell you where to go but watch you as you drive there. The 5-inch unit has a user-positionable GDR-10 camera that records 720p HD video to microSD, and which can be clipped onto the windshield mount so as to create a geotagged log.
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Windows Phone 7.1 Mango bakes plenty of functionality directly into the OS rather than relying on third-party apps, and one such example is the visual search. Users will be able to trigger Bing searches and pull up other details on items with regular or 2D barcodes, or Microsoft's own Tags glyph system. Check out our hands-on demo after the cut.
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Microsoft has detailed the new multitasking system for Windows Phone 7.1 "Mango", and it seems the company has been looking long and hard at both iOS and webOS for its inspiration. Like iOS, Mango will make use of frozen app states to conserve memory and prevent a background app from running away with all the CPU cycles; like webOS, however, it will have a system of card-like app previews which can be paged through to jump between software.
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Nokia has confirmed that its first Windows Phone device will run with the new “Mango” build Microsoft has officially demonstrated today. “This is the software that will be used on the first Nokia with Windows Phone device,” the company’s official blog comments, “and so should be of keen interest to Nokia-watchers everywhere.”
When your car has 5-inch thick military grade armor, is biochemically sealed, has its own oxygen supply, and can fire tear gas and infrared smoke grenades, it's easy to assume you're driving the perfect urban tank. Unfortunately, as US president Barack Obama - and his presumably red-faced driver - discovered in Dublin, Ireland today, all of that clever kit makes your car surprisingly heavy, too, and simple speed bumps become a whole lot more treacherous.
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Sony has demonstrated a so-called SmartAR system that offers marker-free augmented reality using object recognition. Rather than relying on 2D barcodes to identify and track movement in 3D space, Sony SmartAR can intelligently spot unique elements - such as posters, magazines or more complex forms, like body outlines - and then overlay computer graphics on top of them, such as when viewed on a smartphone.
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Are you ready for a fight? The HTC Sensation and the Samsung Galaxy S II: two smartphones overflowing with superlatives, high-end specs and consumer appeal. We’ve already given the Galaxy S II a thorough going-over and come away mightily impressed, but how does it stand up next to the Sensation, with its extra pixels and polished Sense interface? Read on for round one of what’s likely to be an extended war.
An explosion at the Foxconn Chengdu production facility in China has been reported, the facility where Apple produces much of its iPad 2 supply. According to MIC Gadget, the explosion happened at 19:10 local time; numbers of injured are unknown, though one report suggests that 6-7 people have already been seen by doctors at the scene, and more are expected imminently.
We had high expectations for HTC’s first dual-core smartphone, and the company delivered with the HTC Sensation. A mixture of evolution and revolution, the family resemblance is clear: a 4.3-inch display like the Desire HD, only now running at qHD 960 x 540 resolution; a Snapdragon processor like the Desire S, only now Qualcomm’s new 1.2GHz dual-core MSM8260 processor; and HTC Sense, only v3.0 with a new intelligent lock-screen and HTC Watch for video rentals and downloads. All in all, the HTC Sensation is shaping up to be one of the smartphones to beat in 2011; check out our full unboxing and first-impressions after the cut.
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