Notebooks, Tablets, Smartphones, Wearables And Gadgets
In-depth product reviews and news of notebooks, tablets, smartphones, wearable technologies and gadgets. We're now living in a contextually-aware computing world and mobile devices can not only help us enjoy the ride but create and capture new experiences as well.
Earlier this year, Pandigital announced a firmware upgrade for its 7-inch Pandigital Novel line of products that transformed the eReaders into full Android tablets. Although the Pandigital Multimedia Novel 7-inch Android tablet doesn't have the same powerful processor or specs as some of the other tablets we've reviewed recently, its low price...
Read more...
AT&T continues to flesh out their 4G capable smartphone offerings with a device that some might consider a "superphone," as the term has been coined recently. Take a goosed up, Samsung Hummingbird processor at 1.2GHz, drop in Samsung's gorgeous and gargantuan 4.5-inch Super AMOLED Plus display, power it with Android 2.2 (Froyo) along with...
Read more...
Virtually all of the system builders on the planet are looking to hop on board Intel's Sandy Bridge platform, but not all systems are created equal. Serving as a testament to the architecture's flexibility, some Sandy Bridge systems take aim at gamers, while other have multimedia chores in mind. Hewlett Packard's EliteBook 8560p can do...
Read more...
When RIM Revealed the BlackBerry PlayBook in September 2010, the tablet was met with great excitement and hype, particularly from the professional, die-hard BlackBerry crowd. According to RIM, the PlayBook was designed to "give users what they want, including uncompromised web browsing, true multitasking and high performance multimedia, while...
Read more...
There was a period of time last year where it seemed like every other ultraportable was based on Intel's CULV platform. At the time, we figured that was just the way it was going to be for a while with ultralight notebooks. But then, AMD finally got around to shipping some Fusion based APUs. And since then, the mobile space...
Read more...
We knew HTC's Thunderbolt wouldn't be the only 4G LTE smartphone available on Verizon Wireless' network for long. Less than two months after the Thunderbolt made its debut, the Droid Charge by Samsung joined Verizon Wireless' lineup of 4G LTE smartphones. This smartphone boasts of a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus display, 1GHz application processor,...
Read more...
Not too long ago, we took a look at Dell's Venue smartphone. A slate-styled phone with Android 2.2 along with the company's own Stage UI. But it's arguable that the Venue is the quiet brother compared to the boisterous Venue Pro. Those who closely follow the smartphone space will likely remember Dell's early ambitions, and while the Aero never...
Read more...
Half-baked. That would describe the large majority of Android-based tablets we've seen come through our test labs here at HotHardware thus far. Even Motorola's Xoom, though infused with Google's latest Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) release, felt like it could use a bit of polish in spots, though most of the refinement wouldn't need to come...
Read more...
We've seen a number of hot smartphones hit the market recently, including the HTC Thunderbolt, Droid Charge, and others. Although each phone has its own appeal, there are also a lot of similarities among today's hottest smartphones—most have a 1GHz processor, at least 16GB of storage in one form or another, at least a 4-inch...
Read more...
The Asus Eee Pad Transformer tablet is one of the more interesting Android tablets on the market in that it has a keyboard docking station that essentially allows it to convert to an Android 3.0 Honeycomb-based netbook on the fly. Add to that a powerful dual core 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor and a reasonable MSRP of $399 (just the tablet,...
Read more...
The Motorola Xoom tablet has been met with plenty of hype, and perhaps rightfully so since it is the first tablet to ship with Android 3.0 (aka Honeycomb), the first version of Android designed specifically for tablets. Although there are a number of tablets slated to hit the market this year, Motorola has the benefit of being the first company...
Read more...
At this point, there's no shame in saying it: the floodgates have opened up for AMD's Fusion. What began as a trickle -- as AMD finally introduced a shipping version of the long-awaited Fusion platform -- has turned into a steady stream, and we're definitely excited to see APUs, as AMD calls the product, finally making an impact. AMD had played...
Read more...
Of the six smart phones on the market that run Microsoft's latest phone OS, Windows Phone 7, HTC designed and manufactures three of them. It's latest, and most expensive, is Sprint's first-and currently only-WP7 option, the HTC Arrive and it arrived at Sprint just last month. Meanwhile, prices on WP7 phones from AT&T and T-Mobile have...
Read more...
Many enthusiasts generally prefer to roll their own rigs, but when it comes to notebooks, the notion of building a system from scratch becomes less practical and appealing. Things tend to get expensive, your build options aren't as robust as they are with desktops, and working in tight quarters will test your patience. That's where system...
Read more...
HTC was the first manufacturer to provide a 4G phone though a US carrier when it shipped the HTC EVO 4G from Sprint. At the end of last year, HTC promised it would once again be the first to 4G with another carrier. And days later, the company announced the Thunderbolt smartphone with Verizon Wireless. It's been a few months since the...
Read more...
With the dust having settled on Intel's staggered Sandy Bridge launch and the early chipset issues having been ironed out, we're finally starting to see PC makers come out with builds based on the Santa Clara chip maker's second generation Core architecture. And if there's a platform ideally suited to showcase what Sandy Bridge is capable...
Read more...
Just a few years ago, it would have been a stretch to think Dell would venture into the smartphone business. With the exception of a few stand-outs, Dell has always been fairly conservative with their products and had never really strayed too far from the PC and its associated peripherals and accessories, although they did make a...
Read more...
If you are in the market for an ultralight notebook with a gorgeous LED backlit LCD and don't want to spend more than $1,000, the Lenovo IdeaPad U260 should be on your short list. The U260's claim to fame is its 12.5-inch form-factor, making it larger than your average netbook--but at a mere 18mm thick and 3 lbs, it's almost as light...
Read more...
When it comes to smartphones and wireless data services, 4G is definitely one of the hottest features today. And while various wireless service providers are touting their 4G networks and upcoming plans for 4G, there are still a relatively small number of smartphones that actually support 4G technology and can take full advantage of the speed...
Read more...
With the early 2011 refresh of the MacBook Pro family, Apple came out with both guns blazing. Not only is the entire lineup now powered by Intel’s second generation Core i5 and i7 mobile processors (commonly known by its codename, Sandy Bridge), but the new MacBook Pros also feature the brand-new Thunderbolt I/O technology (the official...
Read more...
For their new generation of notebook processors, Intel decided to take the opposite approach that they took in their desktop architecture, where they launched their mid-range quad-core product first, with a promise of top-end multi-core performance to come just a bit further down their roadmap. From a mobile standpoint, the Core i7 2820QM...
Read more...
The magic is back for a second act, baby, and it doesn't play for the Lakers (that's the other Magic). The magic we're talking about plays for team Apple, and while the competition tries to come up with a so-called "iPad killer," Apple may have beat them to the punch. How's that for irony? We're of course referring to the iPad 2, Apple's second...
Read more...
