Shenzhen netvertible flips its lid, apes Dell Inspiron Duo with days to spare
If you thought the Inspiron Duo would be the only netvertible to have a slick spinning screen, think again — with less than three months since Dell’s design debuted and ten days till it ships, that trap-door design’s been copied by the gadget giants of Shenzhen. This time around, it’s not an obvious KIRF, but it’s also not a terribly powerful little PC — where Dell at least attempted to push the envelope with a dual-core Atom N550 processor, 2GB of RAM and a Broadcom Crystal HD chip, here we’re looking at a bargain-basement netbook with all the usual suspects (Atom N450, 1GB RAM, 120GB HDD, Intel GMA 3150) and what looks like a tiny optical trackpad. At least it’s got a capacitive screen! No word on when or how much you can expect to pay if flipping bezels are your thing.
Hands on with the Dell Inspiron Duo Convertible Netbook
Our friends over at Laptop Mag have spent some time with Dell’s new convertible systems the Inspiron Duo. The Duo comes with a premium 320GB 7,200 rpm drive as well as a dual-core 1.5-GHz Intel Atom N550 CPU, 2GB of RAM, and Windows 7 home premium. That it also comes with a 1366 x 768 screen, and it’s a huge step up from low-end netbooks.
This netvertible is different then every other convertible netbook on the market since you spin the screen around that then rotate the whole lid left or right. So the screen screen not the lid is rotatable. This is an interesting design concept since it allows the device to use the firm hinges of a regular notebook. The biggest down side to this innovation is that the bezel is incredibly thick not only does it have a rubberized lid around the screen, but also some black padding on the screen itself. This form factor has always had one draw back and its the hinge however the rotating mechanism seems incredibly sturdy. No matter how many times they flipped it, the lid quickly slapped firmly into place. Read more 
Acer Iconia dual touchscreen touches down
This dual screen notebook is in fact, the newly announced Acer Iconia, a touch friendly machine that does away with the traditional controls, such as a touchpad and a keyboard, and throws in two touchscreen displays instead.
Both 14-inch screens are capable of 720p HD displays (they have 1366 x 768 resolutions), and can work independently of one another, which is handy if you fancy watching a movie and doing a bit of Facebooking at the same time.
They also support all-point, multi-touch functionality meaning that you can use all 10 of your fingers to control the Iconia.
“Intel is proud that our close collaboration with Acer has helped to deliver the world’s first 10 finger multi-touch dual-screen notebook with an exciting and innovative end-user experience, powered by the Intel Core i5 processor”, said Mooly Eden, vice-president of PC Client Group, Intel Corporation.
The Acer Ring feature also means that placing five fingers down will give you a nice circular media control option as well. And, of course, the bottom screen can become a virtual keyboard.
The tech on board is pretty impressive too, with Windows 7 Premium running via a choice of Intel Core i5 CPUs (i5-480M/i5-560M/i5-580M with3 MB L3 cache, 2.66/2.66/2.66 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 2.93/3.20/3.33 GHz), backed up by 4GB RAM and Intel HD Graphics with 128 MB of dedicated system memory.
There’s a 320 – 750GB HDD for all of your media storage, and connectivity should be a doddle with Wi-Fi, 3G and a USB 3.0 port (there’s also two old-school USB ports as well).
There’s also a HDMI output, for those rare occasions that two screens just aren’t enough.
Reports suggest that prices will start from £1499 with the machine set to land in the UK on 15 January, although there is nothing official as of yet.
Onkyo outs 3G Windows 7 tablet for Japan only
Onkyo’s outed a new Windows 7 tablet — seems to be all the rage these days — with KDDI 3G onboard. The 11.6-inch TW317A7 tablet (which is essentially a re-badge of the ExoPC Slate which we reviewed) boasts a 1.66 GHz Intel Atom N450 CPU, 2GB of RAM, a 32GB SSD, plus Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity, a 1.3 megapixel webcam, card reader, two USB 2.0 ports, and stereo speakers. The 11.6-inch multitouch display has a 1366 x 768 resolution, and the tablet brings with it Onkyo’s new custom ExTOUCH software which is apparently designed to enhance finger input in the OS and boasts a dedicated app launcher. The TW317A7 will be available in Japan very soon — as in this week — but Onkyo has yet to announce pricing.
Exo PC slate review
Why have a tablet PC running a mobile OS (iOS 4 or Android) when you can have one running a full version of Windows 7 Home Premium edition.
That’s the argument you are likely to hear from Exo PC, makers of a new slate/tablet device that is coming out in the very near future.
The new tablet, which Pocket-lint is the first to see in the UK, will sport a very responsive 11.6-inch LCD touchscreen with a 1366 x 768 resolution and be powered by a 1.66GHz Intel Pineview-M N450 processor.
You get 2GB of on-board RAM and storage options of 32GB or 64GB to complete with the Apple iPad.
The rest of the specs read like a mobile phone, complete with Wi-Fi (b/g/n), Bluetooth, a 1.3-megapixel forward facing camera for video calling, and an SD card reader so you can add pictures or video from your camera.
For all intense purposes this is a netbook PC without the keyboard or clamshell design. You can of course just plug in a keyboard and mouse to complete the experience if that’s what you are after.
Which is where the naysayers are probably going to say that you shouldn’t even consider using a user interface that is designed for a mouse and keyboard – Windows 7 we are looking at you.
Funny you should say that, because that’s what the chaps at Exo PC think too and so they’ve created a customised user interface (UI), called the Exo skin, to make the most of that touch screen design.
What that means is you end up with an interface that looks very much like the game Connect 4 (yes you can get this as a game) with apps appearing on buttons ready for you to press – allowing you to quickly and easily access apps, but with the knowledge that there is a fully functioning operating system sitting behind it all including Flash and Quicktime support.
HP Slate 500, rings up at $799
Nope, you’re not dreaming, but feel free to pinch yourself, rub your eyes or take a cold shower! You’ve read right — the HP Slate is finally official, and after all the teasing, back and forth, and (very recent) leaks, the Atom-powered, Windows 7 Slate will finally see the light of day — though in a different way than originally intended. While the first videos released by HP may have made it seem like it would be for consumers, HP’s tactfully changed its tune (don’t forget it’s got Palm / WebOS tablets on the way) and is now aiming the Slate at the enterprise and business market. Still, it will be available on HP’s site for $799 to anyone who wishes to purchase one.
So, what does $800 of your hard earned cash buy you? Well, in addition to the dock and case, which are included in the box, the tablet packs pretty much everything we’d heard over the last year — it’s powered by a 1.86GHz Intel Atom Z540 processor, 2GB of RAM, 64GB SSD and packs Broadcom’s Crystal HD accelerator for handling 1080p video. (The included dock has an HDMI-out port if you want to hook it up to the big screen.) Obviously, the 8.9-inch capacitive touch Slate runs Windows 7 Professional, but it’s got a Wacom active digitizer for taking notes, which certainly sets it apart from the other Win 7 tablets we’ve seen over the last couple of weeks. Oh, and don’t forget its front facing VGA cam and 3 megapixel camera on its back. We got a chance to finally grope the tablet earlier this week, so hit the break for our early impressions and a short video.
CTL 2goPad SL10 Review
Last time we left off in the tale of Windows 7 tablets, we’d taken a look at Netbook Navigator’s Nav 9 slate, which by review’s end had us not only wanting to send it back as soon as humanly possible, but concluding that something better just had to be on the horizon. Well, as luck would have it, just a few days later CTL’s 10-inch 2goPad SL10 showed up on our doorstep with some very promising ingredients — a capacitive touchscreen, accelerometer, front facing camera, and a Win 7 software layer. As we said in our early hands-on, we’ve been more impressed with the $499 (it will go up to $599 in late October) 2goPad than we ever thought we would be, but ultimately its Atom N450 processor and its software stand in its way of being the Win 7 tablet to kill ’em all. You’ll want to hit the break to read all about it in our full review. Read more
CTL 2goPad SL10 with Windows 7 starts shipping for $499, arrives looking better than expected
We’ve been keeping an eye on CTL’s 10-inch 2goPad SL10 since we saw it chilling out at Computex back in June, but as of today it’s no longer just another elusive Win 7 slate: the company’s finally boxing up and shipping the Atom-powered tablets. Compared to some of the other Win 7 Home Premium slates we’ve seen lately, the 2goPad has an impressive array of specs for the price — it packs a Atom N450 processor, 2GB of RAM, an 250GB hard drive, and a front facing VGA camera all for $499 (though, it will go up to $599 on October 20). However, it’s the touchscreen experience that’ll obviously make or break the SL10, and from what we’ve seen so far, it may just be one of the better ones out there right now. We just got our review unit yesterday, but we’ve been finding the capacitive display to be very responsive to finger swipes and light taps. Our major complaint about the screen is actually its distracting glossy coating, but at least it packs an accelerometer, which rotates the orientation at a decent pace. As for software, CTL’s preloaded something called QuickBits, which is really just a menu with large shortcut buttons, but it’s certainly better than nothing.
TEGA V2: Dual-boot Windows 7/ Android Tablet
Australian manufacturer Tegatech has just reveled plans for a similar device that, like the ViewPad 100, will offer two operating systems – Windows 7 and Android 1.6.
Now, you might be a bit miffed with the ancient Android version, but Tegatech’s website states that it is working on 2.1 and 2.2 updates.
On board you’ve got an Intel Atom N455 1.66GHz processor, with 1GB of DDR3 RAM and Intel Generation 3.5 integrated GMA 3150 graphics.
Storage is the SSD variety and comes in 16, 32 or 64 variants.It’s got a 10.1-inch capacitive touchscreen, with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity as standard and optional 3G, Wimax and Wibro.
Port-wise, you’re looking at an SD card reader, two USBs and a VGA. There’s also room for a SIM if you want to go down the 3G route.
The Tega v2 comes with either a 0.3 or 1.3-megapixel camera and the device measures 243 x 190 x 14mm and weighs in at 870g.
The most apparent drawback of the device is a maximum battery life of just four to five hours.
The Tega v2 will launch worldwide on 15 October, although as yet there is no UK release plans as Tegatech is “still looking for more partners in the UK”.
AIVAnet 