Tag Archive

Lenovo CEO says mobile internet products will soon account for ‘70 to 80 percent’ of sales

Lenovo CEO says mobile internet products will soon account for ‘70 to 80 percent’ of sales originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Physorg  | Email this | Comments

Eston N97 MID runs on Android OS

Looks like the Android OS is gaining traction not only among notable hardware manufacturers, but those who walk on the clone side as well. Here we are with the Eston N97 Mobile Internet Device (MID) which was announced in November last year, where it comes with a trackball located right under the display, a pre-installed copy of the Android OS with the option to run Windows CE and Ubuntu as well, a 624MHZ Marvell PXA303 processor, a 7″ touchscreen display at 800 × 480 resolution, Wi-Fi connectivity and a 2,800mAh battery that supposedly offers up to 4 hours of working time. No idea on storage capacity and pricing details, but you can place a pre-order in China already.

Permalink: Eston N97 MID runs on Android OS from Ubergizmo | RSS Sponsor: Win a Fellowes Microshred Paper Shredder!

Google to stop censoring Chinese search results ’soon,’ China warns of consequences

According to the Wall Street Journal, Google is making headway with its plans to stop filtering search results in China. Quoting Eric Schmidt as saying that “something will happen soon,” the latest report is that Google is engaged in negotiations with multiple government agencies in China, and the likeliest scenario at this point is that the search giant will remain in the People’s Republic, though it may be in a slightly altered state. “There will be a way for Google to not pull out 100%” says a source familiar with the ongoing discussions, who expects that El Goog will find a patchwork arrangement by which it’ll be able to maintain some parts of its business running while no longer adhering to China’s censorship fiat. For its part, China is keeping up its tough posturing, with the latest statement from its IT ministry describing Google’s plans as “unfriendly and irresponsible” and warning that the company will have to bear the consequences of its actions. What appears certain at this point, however, is that there’ll be no going back to censored Google search results, which is a win in our books whatever the final outcome.

Google to stop censoring Chinese search results ’soon,’ China warns of consequences originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 06:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Wall Street Journal, Yahoo  | Email this | Comments

Shuo tablet is phenomenally huge

Shuo of China has come up with a tablet that is surprisingly large, considering it packs a massive 10.1″ device. Underneath the hood however, you will find a 1.2GHz processor of either VIA or Atom variety, and it can hold up to 2GB RAM. You do get HDMI out as well, but without any mention of a HD-capable playback chip, we do wonder what the whole point of that output port is for. Rumor has it that Windows 7 is the operating system of choice, but we will just have to wait until official word on its pricing and availability are revealed.

Permalink: Shuo tablet is phenomenally huge from Ubergizmo | RSS Sponsor: Win a Fellowes Microshred Paper Shredder!

Hott MD500 rocks to Android

With the slew of tablets as well as iPad wannabes rolling out from China these days, the law of probability points toward a winner through the plethora of candidates, and perhaps one that might just edge out the iPad in terms of popularity? Perhaps in another lifetime, but kudos to Hott for their MD500 which is powered by the Android operating system. This tablet sports a 4.8″ touchscreen display that was specially customized to function with the ARM9 Rockchip processor, featuring full video playback support, a minimal screen bezel and interesting Android customizations.

Permalink: Hott MD500 rocks to Android from Ubergizmo | RSS Sponsor: Win a Fellowes Microshred Paper Shredder!

Mio S400 GPS navigation system

Mio has rolled out their S400 GPS navigation system in Korea, where it picked up China’s ‘If’ design award so you can be pretty sure that this is easy on the eyes. The Mio S400 will be powered by the Windows CE operating system, where it will house the vaunted SiRFStar III GPS chipset and equipped with a 4.3″ touchscreen display and holds up to 16GB of external memory thanks to a memory card slot. You can pick up the 2GB model of the Mio S400 for around $100 after conversion.

Permalink: Mio S400 GPS navigation system from Ubergizmo | RSS Sponsor: Win a Fellowes Microshred Paper Shredder!

HOTT HD390 portable media player

HOTT of China has rolled out another HD390 portable media player in the market, where you will get white color on the back alongside a black frame on the front side, where rounded corners offer it a clean and nice look. Features are pretty rudimentary, including a 4.3″ display at 480 x 272 resolution, support for the H.264 codec, AVI, RM/RMVB, MKV, FLV, DAT, VOB, WMV, MPG, MMP4 and M4V video formats as well as a rather exhaustive MP3, WMA, WAV, APE, FLAC and OGG audio formats. Nice to know a HDMI port has been thrown in for good measure, letting you output your videos over to a HDTV. Price and availability details are still unconfirmed, so stay tuned.

Permalink: HOTT HD390 portable media player from Ubergizmo | RSS Sponsor: Win a Fellowes Microshred Paper Shredder!

Motorola And Microsoft Strike A Deal To Put Bing On Cell Phones

Oh the irony of some things. The folks over at Google certainly aren’t going to be too amused to hear that Motorola has just struck up a deal with Microsoft that will see Bing search and mapping services come standard on Motorola’s phones that are powered by Google’s Android OS. In short, there will be a Bing bookmark and search widget loaded by default on your cell phone, starting with Motorola’s phones in China. This might be related to Google’s dispute with the Chinese government, not to mention the possibility that Google might be pulling out of the Chinese market. This news continues the recent trend of setting other search engines are the default on Google’s Android, such as the deal between AT&T and Motorola for the Backflip.

Permalink: Motorola And Microsoft Strike A Deal To Put Bing On Cell Phones from Ubergizmo | RSS Sponsor: Win a Fellowes Microshred Paper Shredder!

Motorola partners with Microsoft, will use Bing search and maps on Chinese Android phones

digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/gadgets/Motorola_s_Android_phones_to_use_Bing_search_in_China’; Uh, whoa. When we heard Google’s threatened pullout of China had prompted Motorola to seek out an alternative search provider for its China-bound handsets, we can’t say we were expecting a partnership with Microsoft to result. But here we are, staring at a press release announcing the Bing search and Maps will be the default on Moto’s Chinese Android phones starting in Q1 — and the partnership is described as “global,” so there’s a chance it could spread. That’s just one more slap in Google’s face from Moto, following the release of the Yahoo-powered AT&T Backflip — and another step away from the tight relationship that produced the Droid. And does this mean Motorola might yet build a Windows Phone 7 Series device, despite a very public commitment to Android? We’d say Eric and Sanjay have some unresolved differences to work through.

Motorola partners with Microsoft, will use Bing search and maps on Chinese Android phones originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  PR Newswire  | Email this | Comments

US mineral companies to tech industry: drill, baby, drill

Even if your favorite gadget isn’t flaunting them, rare earth metals are vital to all sorts of high-tech gizmos, from your flat-panel TV and computer hard drive to the hefty batteries that power the Toyota Prius. But over 95% of the world’s rare earth comes from China; and late last year, China told the world that they’d like to keep the lion’s share all to themselves. What will we Westerners do? Well, we could let China continue producing mountains of e-waste on our behalf. But we could also find plenty of rare earth just by digging in our own backyard. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the United States has over 13 million metric tons of rare earth with concentrated deposits in Mountain Pass, California and Diamond Creek, Idaho. But since the private firms that control those deposits aren’t willing to spend the requisite eight years and minimum $500 million to construct a chemical separation plant, Idaho-based U.S. Rare Earths is just sitting on their ore for now, while California’s Molycorp Minerals is forced to send their material all the way to China (once again) for processing.

“No one wants to be first to jump into the market because of the cost of building a separation plant,” former USGS rare earth specialist Jim Hedrick told LiveScience. Should China’s export dwindle and the U.S. feel the pinch, that may change, but for now it’s good to know that when the global game of StarCraft tells us “not enough minerals,” we’ll know exactly where to look.

US mineral companies to tech industry: drill, baby, drill originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  LiveScience, USGS (PDF)  | Email this | Comments

Over 50 ARM-based tablets launching this year

While the verdict is still out with regard to consumer appetites for a 3rd portable computing device, PC makers are betting the farm on consumer interest in tablets that fill the gap between small-screened smartphones and bulky (by comparison) netbooks/laptops. We’ve already seen an uptick in tablet devices on display at the big CES and CeBIT trade shows, now tablet and MID device vendors look ready to blow out Computex when it kicks off on June 1st in Taipei. According to Roy Chen, ARM’s ODM manager for worldwide mobile computing, more than 50 ARM-based tablet PCs will launch in 2010 starting in Q2 with “a lot more” landing in the third quarter — a date that just happens to line up with the most optimistic Chrome OS launch schedule. ARM’s seeing so much interest that it had to rent additional floor space to show off the devices. Chen said that many of the tablets are slated for China although all of the world’s top 10 carriers have signed up as well. ARM was showing off two Android based tablets at the press event, including the 7-inch Compal device (pictured above) we gave a whirl at CES. Let’s just hope that tablet makers have plans for some compelling content and service hook-ups with a focus on the user experience — 50 near-identical slabs of touchscreen computing won’t generate much enthusiasm around here.

Over 50 ARM-based tablets launching this year originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 05:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Computerworld  | Email this | Comments

China Unicom To Introduce iPhone With Wi-Fi In China

If you bought a China Unicom iPhone in China, you’ll most likely have noticed that it doesn’t offer Wi-Fi, as it was initially disabled for the Chinese market, thanks to government regulations that favored the home-developed WAPI security standard. The rules have been relaxed since then, so Wi-Fi iPhones are now allowed, as long as they continue to include support for the WAPI standard as an added function. China Unicom’s Chief Executive, Chang Xiaobing, was quoted in the Wall Street Journal saying that the company would consider giving some form of compensation to existing iPhone owners in the form of improved 3G tariffs, though chances are users would much rather see Wi-Fi in their phones. Word is also going around that Unicom might lower the iPhone’s asking price from 4,999-6,999 Yuan to 3,000-3,500 Yuan, and if that’s true, it’ll certainly help boost the iPhone sales in China.

Permalink: China Unicom To Introduce iPhone With Wi-Fi In China from Ubergizmo | RSS Sponsor: Win a Fellowes Microshred Paper Shredder!